Mass Extinction

Arthur Chapman

Several recent articles on EXTINCTION and Population Declines

John Timmer, writing for ArsTechnia:

“At various times in its past, the Earth has succeeded in killing off most of its inhabitants. Although the impact that killed the non-avian dinosaurs and many other species gets most of the attention, the majority of the mass extinctions we’re aware of were driven by geological processes and the changes in climate that they triggered.

Unfortunately, based on the current rate at which animals are vanishing for good, we’re currently in the midst of another mass extinction, this one driven by a single species: humans. (And many of the extinctions occurred before we started getting serious about messing with the climate.) This week’s edition of Science contains a series of articles tracking the pace of the extinction and examining our initial efforts to contain it.”

Janet Fang, writing for IFLScience!:

“A comprehensive review of birds has identified hundreds of new species that have previously been lumped with known ones — and a quarter of the newly discovered birds are already being listed as threatened.

BirdLife International assessed the 361 newly recognized bird species on behalf of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). More than 25 percent of them were instantly placed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. About 13 percent of all birds are already listed. ”

Justine Alford, writing for IFLScience!:

“The decline of various animal populations and species loss are occurring at alarming rates on Earth, contributing to the world’s sixth mass extinction. While these deadly events may ultimately pave way for the emergence of new species, Stanford scientists have warned that if this “defaunation” that we are currently experiencing continues, it will likely have serious downstream impacts on human health. The study has been published in Science.

Biodiversity on Earth is extremely rich at present; it’s estimated to be the highest in the history of life on our planet. But scientists have been recording species abundance and population numbers for some time now and it is evident that we are experiencing a sharp downward trend. While the extinction of a species is normal and occurs at a natural “background” rate of around 1-5 per year, species loss is currently occurring at over 1,000 times the background rate.”

Reference: The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert

Extinct is less. It cannot be fully described with words. You must feel the loss to understand it. To feel the loss is what you will learn.

Straits of Mackinac Oil Pipeline Failure Would be Disastrous→

Keith Matheny, reporting for Detroit Free Press: 

ThiloG: Flickr.com

“A rupture of 61-year-old, underwater oil pipelines running through the Straits of Mackinac would be “the worst possible place” for a spill on the Great Lakes, with catastrophic results, according to a University of Michigan researcher studying potential impacts of a spill.

David Schwab, a research scientist at the U-M Water Center, retired from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, where he studied Great Lakes water flows and dynamics for more than 30 years. He’s the author of a new study done in collaboration with the National Wildlife Federation looking at different scenarios for potential oil spills in the Straits from Canadian oil transport giant Enbridge’s Line 5.

“I can’t think — in my experience — of another place on the Great Lakes where an oil spill would have as wide an area of impact, in as short of time, as at the Straits of Mackinac,” Schwab said.

Line 5 is a set of two oil pipelines that runs from Superior, Wis., through the Upper Peninsula, underwater through the Straits and then down through the Lower Peninsula before connecting to a hub in Sarnia, Ontario. The lines transport about 23 million gallons of oil and other petroleum products, such as natural gas liquids, through the Straits daily.”

Pain, suffering, death I feel would happen. Something terrible may happen. Terrible pain for this Black Swan.

Lake Erie Pollution→

Layla Klamt, writing for Liberty Voice:

“The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released its forecast on Lake Erie’s summer algae bloom for 2014 this week, and at first glance, the numbers are alarming. NOAA and the International Joint Commission say that even though pollutants causing the algae bloom in Lake Erie are high, they are still on the decline from 2011.

Lake Erie is the smallest and shallowest of all five Great Lakes and also has the most river tributaries. Ohio, New York and Ontario, Canada share its borders, and Lake Erie is seen as a vital economic waterway, a source for drinking water and a valuable sewer treatment. The lake has been plagued by many ecological problems since the late 60s, including the toxic algae blooms, a number of invasive species and high levels of Mercury in its edible fish supply. Unfortunately because of all these problems, Lake Erie has come to be known as an environmental sore spot for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the NOAA. Efforts to clean up the lake’s shores and protect species have thus seemed like an uphill battle at times.”

Powerful the pollution consequences become, the dark side I sense in them.

Let 'Em Eat Dirt→

Timothy Egan, writing for the New York Times:

“Today, serendipity is something that’s penciled on a kid’s busy, busy, busy calendar. But let that kid wander outside the parental orbit, or explore beyond the bounds of controlled play — God forbid. Twenty-first century Huck doesn’t light out for the country. He plugs into it. And a frog, or a snake, or a spider — ewwww! You’ll never understand what robin’s-egg blue is until you see the color, in a nest in a tree.

What’s wrong with our boys? So goes the lament. They’re insecure, falling behind, unsure of their role. Maybe letting them have a day without a GPS would help.

When you push parents about being too wussy, they bring up a couple of things. Safety, of course. Seatbelts, life jackets, sun screen and bike helmets are great leaps forward. No argument there. But beyond the common-sensical, how long should the leash be?”

Alba Soler

Nature is part of life. Rejoice for those around you who immerse into the full Force of Nature. Mourn those that do not. 

Quest to Save Groundwater→

Elizabeth Dunbar, reporting for MPR:

“Summer water bills that spike and cities that scramble to pump enough groundwater to keep neighborhoods lush and green, even during droughts, are nothing new in the Twin Cities.

But fresh doubts about groundwater supplies are testing long-held assumptions that water is both cheap and plentiful. New technology, more aggressive pricing structures and shifting attitudes are beginning to change how some Minnesotans view and care for their lawns.”

Rachel

Named must your insanity be before banish it you can. The waste of drinking water that is.

Zebra & Quagga Mussels are Change Agents in Lake Erie→

“Creatures living on, near, or below the bottom of the lake—is “fundamentally changed from its past,” according to a paper published online in the current journal of the Journal of Great Lakes Research. Lyubov Burlakova, who works with the Great Lakes Center at SUNY Buffalo State, is the first author. The coauthors are Alexander Y. Karatayev, director of the center; Christopher Pennuto, a research associate with the center and biology professor at Buffalo State; and Christine Mayer, associate professor of ecology at the University of Toledo.

“The story of Lake Erie shows how profoundly human activity can affect an ecosystem,” said Burlakova. She traces that activity as far back as the early 1800s, when people cut down forests and built sawmills and dams.”

SUNY Buffalo State

This one a long time have I watched. All it's history many have looked away… to the future, to the horizon. Never our mind on what is best for the lake. Hmm? What are we doing?

Lake of the Woods Algal Blooms are Worsening→

Ron Meador, reporting for MinnPost:

Lee Grim

“Key points from the International Joint Commission’s second “State of the Basin” report, released on Tuesday:

- Massive blooms of blue-green algae are on the rise in Lake of the Woods, despite reductions in flows of phosphorus into upstream lakes and streams from industrial polluters; some of this seems to be driven by phosphorus releases from lake sediments, and some by climate change.
- Rivers in the basin are showing improved water quality, primarily because of controls on paper mills and other industrial sources.
- Walleye, lake trout and sturgeon populations have been recovering as a result of special management efforts, and certain bird populations have returned to healthy levels thanks to reduced pesticide use.
- Mercury levels in fish remain high in many lakes, such that anglers are advised to check the status of public-health advisories before eating any fish caught anywhere in the basin.”

IJC State of the Basin Report

We always find what we dumped in.

Define “Beneficial”, Define "Harmful"→

Dave Levitan, writing for Conservation:

grafvision - shutterstock.com

“When we discuss invasive Asian carp, we’re usually just talking about a few specific species of carp, the silver, black, and the bighead. This is with good reason—in some parts of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers those fish now make up 97 percent of the total biomass, with no predators around to hold them back. The grass carp, meanwhile, though found in all of the Great Lakes and plenty of other places, was actually introduced—theoretically, this was done quite carefully—and has not been considered a nuisance species at all. But new research suggests that even those invasives we think of as beneficial, often aren’t.”

You will find only what values you bring in.

Urban Walkability→

Nyla Hughes, writing for the Great Lakes Echo:

“Despite recent economic challenges, Detroit’s future as a walkable city is promising, according to a recent study by George Washington University.

Significant improvement is expected due to the investment in 40 office, retail, and residential structures by Quicken Loans, according to the study by Chris Leinberger and Patrick Lynch at the university’s school of business. Also, Detroit’s suburbs of Ann Arbor, Ferndale, Royal Oak, and Birmingham are making strides in walkable urbanism.”

Michigan Municipal League; Traverse City, Michigan: 

Foot Traffic Ahead: Ranking Walkable Urbanism in America’s Largest Metros

Quantify must your amenity be before cherish it you can.

Forests are Good for Fish→

Jason G. Goldman, writing for Conservation:

“Fish rely on forests for their very survival. That’s because, in a way, they eat them. Debris from forests finds their way into rivers, lakes, and streams. The bacteria in the water break down the leaves and bits of tree bark and dead animals. Then the zooplankton eat those bacteria, and the fish eat the zooplankton.”

Matt Tillett

One can eat only what is brought in.

Lakes Legacy→

Tony Randgaard, writing for MinnPost:

Joe Bielawa

“Last week, Mound Mayor Mark Hanus and state Sen. David Osmek, R-Mound, went on the offensive to blame the Met Council for the disastrous recent overflow of raw sewage into Lake Minnetonka and three other lakes. The Met Council fired back, stating that its sanitary sewage systems worked normally during the record weekend rainfall and were not the cause of the overflow. While this is sorted out, it might be instructive to look back at how we once worked together to clean up our landmark city lakes.”

Control, control, you must learn control! To be Honorable is to face the truth, and choose. Give off light, or darkness. Be a candle, or the night.”

Road Salt Changes Urban Ecosystems→

Jason G. Goldman, reporting for Conservation This Week:

Pahz

“In the urban parts of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, around three hundred thousand tons of salt are dumped onto roads each winter. That’s because sodium chloride lowers the freezing point of water, making the formation of ice on the surface of roadways less likely. It keeps drivers safer, since car tires can hold onto imperfect road surfaces better than they can grip slippery, wet ice.

But dumping all that salt into the ecosystem doesn’t just keep drivers safer. It also changes the chemical composition of the soil near roadways, and that added sodium chloride finds its way into plants, into bodies of water, and into animals. And all that added salt could shift the dynamics of natural selection and the animals’ fitness, altering the course of evolution. That’s how natural selection works – it’s neither good or bad – but it’s worth at least being aware of the sometimes nuanced effects that human behavior have on natural ecosystems.”

Mudhole? Slimy? Salty? My home this is!

Alleyways become Pathways→

Eric Peterson, writing for Elevation DC:

“Most of Denver’s 4,000 alleys have been paved, and there are plans to pave the remaining 150 unimproved alleys by 2016. But the alleys are home to tens of thousands of dumpsters, which in turn attract illegal dumping, which in turn means plenty of scavenging.

But change is afoot. Last fall, the Rialto Cafe organized Brewer’s Alley, a beer-tasting event, in the alley behind the restaurant. Several plans are in the works to activate downtown alleys...”

somenametoforget

Garrett Coakley

[You] I can’t believe it. [Me] That is why you fail.

Mercury Pollution Decreasing in Minnesota→

USGS news room:

“Methylmercury contamination is decreasing in some lakes in northern Minnesota as a result of reduced mercury pollution, according to a U.S. Geological Survey study. Mercury from man-made pollution is converted in lakes and wetlands to methylmercury, a toxic form of mercury that accumulates in fish.

The study also found that levels of mercury, sulfate and hydrogen ion in precipitation decreased from 1998 to 2012 in northern Minnesota. These decreases likely resulted from reduced atmospheric pollution in the U.S. and Canada, and may have contributed to the reduced methylmercury contamination in the [Voyageurs National] park’s lakes.”

J Stephen Conn

Additional information

Do or do not. There is no try.

Decline of Monarch Butterflies Linked to Agriculture→

Kate Prengaman, writing for Ars Technica:

“The massive migration of monarch butterflies is amazing—the insects go from grazing on milkweed plants as caterpillars in the midwest to spending winters in Mexico. But Monarch populations have been on the decline for some time, with a variety of factors being considered: lost habitat in Mexico, damage from pesticides, or climate change.

Conservation strategy for a species that traverses thousands of miles is complicated business, so a team of scientists from the University of Guelph decided to sort out which factors were the most responsible for the monarch’s population declines—changes at the breeding grounds, the wintering sites, or climate changes.

Their conclusions suggest that we can’t blame deforestation in Mexico for this environmental problem. The monarchs are suffering from a lack of milkweed, the only plant the caterpillars eat. In fact, a model built by the researchers suggested that monarch populations were four times more sensitive to the loss of milkweed on their breeding grounds than the loss of the forested habitat in which they spend the winters.”

William Warby

When you look at the dark side, careful you must be. For the dark side looks back. Nature surrounds us and binds us. Help it we must. Neglect and indifference to nature leads to the dark side.

Classic Charles Marohn Articles→

Quantification is the path to the light side. Information leads to action. Action leads to change. Change leads to Strong Towns.

Green Up Cities→

Henry Grabar, reporting for Salon:

“When Bill Drayton looks at New York, he sees a tremendous missed opportunity. The structural skeleton of this metropolis, as in other American cities of its age, is the hollow block: a group of homes, row houses or low multi-family buildings grouped around an open middle space. Former New York City Mayor Robert Wagner once estimated that 60 percent of the city’s 3,000+ blocks were “hollow.”

Drayton would like to see every one of those hollows transformed into a private park for surrounding residents. Each core is nearly an acre and a half — twice the size of a playground at an NYC primary school; one-and-a-half times the size of the median NYC park. As an open expanse of grass beneath great trees, a shared backyard would be large enough for soccer games, picnics and barbecues, but secured from the surrounding city by the walls of neighbors. A checkerboard of private backyards is, he believes, a squandered resource.

In cities where large parks are few and far between, the future of parkland is right in front of us (or behind us, as it were): thousands of shared parks, playgrounds for the city’s children, meeting places for its adults, and crucibles for building community ties.”

You will know the good from the bad when you are calm, at peace. Passive. A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and green redevelopment, never for destruction.

How to Elevate the Twin Cities→

Jay Walljasper, writing for MinnPost:

“As to improving life for those who are struggling economically, Penalosa recommends: “There is nothing that government could do that would have a higher impact on middle-class families than to enable them to switch from two cars to one, and for poor families to switch from one to none.” In a region like Minneapolis-St. Paul, he says, two-car suburban families typically spend 27 percent of their income on transportation.”

Jeremiah Peterson

Yes, a city's strength flows from public transportation. But beware of the dark side. Sprawl, suburbia, lack of transportation options; the dark side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will, as it did most cities in North America.

The Internet with a Human Face→

Maciej Ceglowski writes and presents about the shortcomings of the internet and along the way uses our car dependence as an analogy:

“The Interstate made it possible to build things no one had imagined before. Like McDonald’s! With a nationwide distribution network, you could have a nationwide, standardized restaurant chain...

Postwar car culture also gave us the landscape we call suburbia. To early adopters, the suburbs were a magical place. You could work in the city while your spouse and children enjoyed clean living in the fresh country air. Instead of a crowded city apartment, you lived in a stand-alone house of your own, complete with a little piece of land. The suburbs seemed to combine the best of town and country.

And best of all, you had that car! The car gave you total freedom.

As time went on, we learned about the drawbacks of car culture. The wide-open spaces that first attracted people to the suburbs were soon filled with cookie-cutter buildings. Our commercial spaces became windowless islands in a sea of parking lots.

We discovered gridlock, smog, and the frustrations of trying to walk in a landscape not designed for people. When everyone has a car, it means you can’t get anywhere without one. Instead of freeing you, the car becomes a cage.”

Your cars, you will not need them.

Reuse: The Next Wave for Water Conservation→

Rachel Cernansky, writing for ENSIA: 

“Today, due mainly to increasing drought conditions and groundwater depletion, nonpotable uses are expanding. Municipalities are figuring out more ways to treat sewage less like waste and more like a resource. In addition to watering golf greens, recycled water is being used for street cleaning, fire-fighting, geothermal energy production, preventing seawater intrusion into freshwater aquifers, industrial processing, commercial laundering, restoring natural wetlands and creating constructed wetlands.

“Everything that goes down the drain here is treated and reused,” says Greg Flores, vice president of public affairs for the San Antonio Water System, citing university campuses, the San Antonio River Walk, and Toyota and Microsoft facilities as examples.

The more notable change, however, is that a growing number of municipalities are shifting toward or considering “potable reuse” — recycling wastewater into drinking water.”

Steve Crise, AWWA

Do not assume anything. Clear your mind must be if you are to discover the real benefits of water reuse.