Why Minneapolis Has Beautiful Bike Freeways→

Heather Smith, writing for Grist:

Heather Smith

“I had been biking around Minneapolis for several days before I realized what was missing. It was a pleasant city, even though I was lost a lot, because most of the bike routes have very tiny signs that are hard to read, if they have signs at all. At night the bike paths were so dark that I worried I might not see an obstacle in the road, even with my headlight on, and I got even more lost, until I just gave up and biked very slowly with my phone in one hand, watching the blue dot that was myself on the map to make sure that I didn’t drift off the path, fall off my bike, and get eaten by bears. Not that there are any bears in Minneapolis.

But none of that mattered, really. Here was the thing that was missing for the first time since I became a bicycle commuter: fear.”

Hmm. In the end, people against bikes and public transit are those who follow the dark side.

Power Line Rights of Way: Opportunities for Cost Savings and Habitat→

Richard Conniff, writing for Yale360 Environment:

dalioPhoto, Flickr

“The open, scrubby habitat under some transmission lines is already the best place to hunt for wild bees, says Sam Droege of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland, and that potential habitat will inevitably become more important as the United States becomes more urbanized. He thinks utility rights-of-way — currently adding up in the U.S. to about nine million acres for power transmission lines, and another 12 million for pipelines — could eventually serve as a network of conservation reserves roughly one third the area of the national park system.

Remarkably, some power companies agree. Three utilities — New York Power Authority, Arizona Public Service, and Vermont Electric Power Company — have already completed a certification program from the Right of Way Stewardship Council, a new group established to set standards for right-of-way management, with the aim of encouraging low-growth vegetation and thus, incidentally, promoting native wildlife. Three more utilities, all from Western states, are currently seeking certification.”

Many of our solutions depend on changing our point of view.

Nature Makes Better Students→

Dave Levitan, Conservation This Week:

“It shouldn’t be surprising anymore that green spaces make us happier, healthier, and just generally better, but every time a hard finding on the topic pops up it seems incredible once again. Just being near nature is enough to bump up kids’ grades—though we’ll need more data to back this up, it probably can’t hurt to head out and look at some trees any chance you and your kids can get.”

We must unlearn what we have learned. Nature makes us great, factory schools not.

Human-Assisted Migration→

Greg Breining, writing for Ensia:

iStockphoto.com/jimkruger

“During the last two springs, contract planters for The Nature Conservancy have spread out through the pine, spruce and aspen forest of northeastern Minnesota. Wielding steel hoedads, they have planted almost 110,000 tree seedlings on public land.

What’s noteworthy about planting trees in a forest? Usually foresters plant seedlings grown from seeds harvested nearby, on the assumption that local genotypes are best suited to local conditions. But these TNC workers were planting red and bur oak (which are uncommon in northern Minnesota) from seed sources more than 200 miles to the southwest, and white pine from as far away as the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, 400 miles to the southeast.

TNC is anticipating a day soon — within the lifespan of a tree — when a changing climate may make the forest unsuitable for some tree species and varieties that now live there. Projections for northeastern Minnesota predict warmer and possibly drier conditions — bad news for the boreal species such as white spruce, balsam fir and paper birch that have defined the forest here for centuries. But a warmer, drier climate would likely make the area better suited for species such as oaks.”

Helping trees move with change, patience you must have my young padawan.

Lake Polluted, Politicians Talk, Now What?→

Dan Egan, reporting for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Dan Egan, Journal Sentinel

“When Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel first ran for Congress in 2002, he vowed that protecting the Great Lakes would be high on his agenda. The primary concerns at the time were environmental damage wrought by invasive species such as zebra mussels, as well as urban and industrial pollutions.

Twelve years and three jobs later — Emanuel went from Congress to chief of staff for President Barack Obama before becoming mayor of Chicago in 2011 — the Great Lakes have received some $1.6 billion in federal restoration funds.

Yet despite all of that money earmarked for things like combating the spread of invasive species, cleaning up toxic hot spots and restoring wetlands, Emanuel said Wednesday that the world’s largest freshwater system has just entered an era of unprecedented peril.”

To be Jedi is to face the truth, and choose. Provide solutions, or avoid challenges, Padawan. Be a candle, or the night.

Sauk River Chain of Lakes Face Pollution →

Kirsti Marohn, reporting for the St. Cloud Times:

Kimm Anderson, St. Cloud Times

“An active watershed district and lake association have taken ambitious steps to curb pollution entering the lakes. By most accounts, the lakes’ clarity has vastly improved and fish are more abundant. “The condition of the chain was dramatically worse water quality than it currently is,” said Greg Van Eeckhout, environmental specialist with the MPCA.

But the chain still faces many challenges. It’s fed by the Sauk River, which drains a huge area of largely agricultural land. Most of the chain’s lakes are considered impaired because of high nutrient levels. Algae blooms still make the water murky at times. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is proposing new standards for the lake that would aim to reduce those nutrient levels and improve the clarity of the water. But one environmental group says the standards are too lenient.

As the debate over the Sauk Chain’s future heats up, nearly everyone seems to agree that much progress has been made in the past few decades.”

If no mistake have you made, yet losing you are … a different game you should play. Change standards without changing system, skeptical we are.

Monarch Migration and Genetics→

IFLScience:

Jaap De Roode, Emory University

“To understand the evolutionary origin and genetic basis of these two hallmark monarch traits, a team led by Marcus Kronforst from the University of Chicago and Shuai Zhan from the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences sequenced 92 Danaus plexippus genomes from around the world — including non-migratory and white varieties — as well as nine closely related species.

They found that monarchs are ancestrally migratory. These butterflies are predominantly a North American species, though their broad distribution now includes South and Central America and Western Europe. The team traced the lineage back to a migratory population that likely originated in the southern U.S. or northern Mexico. The butterflies then dispersed out of North America in three separate events: to Central and South America, across the Atlantic, and across the Pacific. In all three cases, the butterfly lost its migratory behavior; only North American monarchs migrate. ”

Much to learn you still have…my old padawan. This is just the beginning to better understand our Monarch friends.

Gallons per 1000 miles versus Miles per Gallon→

DataGenetics:

“In the USA, 28% of all energy consumed is used for transportation. Of this transportation energy, 93% comes from petroleum. Cars and light trucks account for 59% of US transportation use, with the average fuel consumption of cars in the USA being around 23 mpg...

A car with a higher fuel efficiency (higher mpg), will always use less fuel than one with a lower fuel efficiency; you should always go for the most fuel efficient car you can, but what I am showing is that similar linear increases in mpg efficiency make different improvements in fuel savings.

The more fuel inefficient a vehicle is, the bigger the improvement in fuel savings will be for a small improvement in efficiency. Replacing a car with a fuel efficiency of 10 mpg with one with a fuel efficiency of 11 mpg will save more fuel than replacing a car with a rate of 30 mpg with one with a rate of 41 mpg!

If your family really needs a huge full-size monster of a vehicle, exchanging it with even a slightly more efficient equivalent monster (possibly a hybrid?) could make a substantial difference to your monthly fuel costs. Conversely, changing an already highly efficient car into a hyper efficient car is not going to make a big change in your monthly fuel bills, even with a, potentially, large step up in efficiency.”

This has been a very positive test for people seeking energy savings.

Aral Sea - A Large Lake No More→

Enjoli Liston, writing for the Guardian:

NASA

Aral Sea

“Images from the US space agency’s Terra satellite released last week show that the eastern basin of the Central Asian inland sea – which stretched across Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and was once the fourth largest in the world – was totally parched in August. Images taken in 2000 show an extensive body of water covering the same area.

“This is the first time the eastern basin has completely dried in modern times,” Philip Micklin, a geographer emeritus from Western Michigan University told Nasa. “And it is likely the first time it has completely dried in 600 years, since Medieval desiccation associated with diversion of Amu Darya to the Caspian Sea.”

In the 1950s, two of the region’s major rivers – the Amu Darya and and the Syr Darya – were diverted by the Soviet government to provide irrigation for cotton production in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, starving the Aral. It has been diminishing ever since, with the sea level dropping 16 metres between 1960 and 1996, according to the World Bank. Water levels are believed to be down to less than 10 per cent of what they were five decades ago.”

If into the image recordings you go, only pain will you find.

Monarchs on Radar→

John Metcalfe, writing for CityLab:

Michael Warwick; Shutterstock

“Meteorologists in St. Louis noticed a cloud acting peculiarly: It was beating a path toward Mexico while changing into a variety of odd shapes. Was it a radar glitch? The debris signature of a south-moving tornado?

The answer was more heartening—and bizarre. After analyzing the reflections, the National Weather Service concluded they showed an immense swarm of Monarch butterflies migrating to their winter home in the Mexican mountains.”

NWS St. Louis

May the Force be with you.

Road Salt and Urban Streams→

National Science Foundation:

Paul Mayer, US EPA

“Urban landscapes are more complex than they seem, but from coast to coast may work in surprisingly similar ways, says Kaushal.

”Urban ecosystems can change relatively quickly in response to human activities,” he says. “These changes can result in rapid losses of ecosystem functions, like flood protection and pollution filtration—or can result in progress toward ecological health and productivity. The difference depends on how they are managed.”

In an overview article, Kaushal, McDowell and Wollheim point out the factors that affect the evolution of urban ecosystems. For example, the streams, lakes and land surfaces that make up cities’ watersheds show consistent patterns of change over time.

Urban waters are becoming saltier, partly due to road salt used for de-icing, and partly because the salt people eat ends up in urban streams.”

You will find what you spread on the road and lawn. A cause and effect.

Public Transit Support High, Use Not So Much→

Eric Jaffe, writing for CityLab:

Chris; Flickr

“Enthusiasm for public transportation far, far outweighs the actual use of it. Last week, for instance, the American Public Transportation Association reported that 74 percent of people support more mass transit spending. But only 5 percent of commuters travel by mass transit. This support, in other words, is largely for others.

What’s more striking about the support-usage gap is that it doesn’t just exist on paper. In addition to saying they support transit funding, Americans back up that support with their own pocketbooks. Time and again at the polls, people are willing to raise local taxes to maintain or expand the transit service that so few of them actually use. According to the Center for Transportation Excellence, there were 62 transportation measures on ballots across the country in 2012—many with a considerable transit component—and nearly 80 percent of them succeeded.”

Through the Force, things you will see. Other places. Other forms of transportation. The future…the past. Old streetcars long gone.

Carbon Dioxide Emissions Map→

View fullsize

“An international research team led by ASU scientists has developed a new approach to estimate CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels – one that provides crucial information to policymakers. Called the “Fossil Fuel Data Assimilation System,” or FFDAS, this new system was used to quantify 15 years of CO2 emissions, every hour, for the entire planet – down to the city scale. Until now, scientists have estimated greenhouse gas emissions at coarser scales or used less reliable techniques.

“With this system, we are taking a big step toward creating a global monitoring system for greenhouse gases, something that is needed as the world considers how best to meet greenhouse gas reductions,” said Kevin Robert Gurney, lead investigator and associate professor in ASU’s School of Life Sciences. “Now we can provide all countries with detailed information about their CO2 emissions and show that independent, scientific monitoring of greenhouse gases is possible.””

Already know you that which you need.

Pesticide Use and Levels in Our Streams→

Michael Wines, reporting for the New York Times:

“The study, conducted by the United States Geological Survey and published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, monitored scores of pesticides from 1992 to 2011 at more than 200 sampling points on rivers and streams. In both of the last two decades, researchers reported, they found insecticides and herbicides in virtually all of the waterways...

“It’s very clear in the data that regulatory changes in use do affect what you see in the streams,” said Wes Stone, a hydrologist with the Geological Survey in Indianapolis and the lead researcher on the survey. “It’s showing what you would expect, and that’s good.” Mr. Stone and the study’s other two authors, Robert Gilliom and Karen Ryberg, conducted the research as part of the Geological Survey’s National Water-Quality Assessment Program.”

MinnPost's article on the same study.

USGS's report and data (pdf and xlsx)

Integrated, integrated, integrated, we must learn integrated pest management!

Widely Used Insecticides Are Leaching Into Midwest Rivers→

Maanvi Singh, reporting for NPR:

Dean Bergmann

“A class of insecticides called neonicotinoids, which are used on a lot of big corn and soybean fields, has been getting a pretty bad rap lately.

Researchers have implicated these chemicals, which are similar to nicotine, as a contributor to the alarming decline of bee colonies. That led the European Union to place a moratorium on their use, and environmentalists want the U.S. to do the same.

In a study published July 24, researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey found that these chemicals are also leaching into streams and rivers in the Midwest — including the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. And that may be bad news for aquatic life in the region, the scientists say.”

USGS Study

In a dark place we find ourselves, and a potentially a widely used pesticide may be the cause.

Neonicotinoids In Our Food and Water→

Dave Orrick, reporting for the Pioneer Press:

“Nicotine-related insecticides widely used on crops are finding their way into the food we eat and the water we drink, two national studies published in the past two months have concluded.

A study released this week by the U.S. Geological Survey found neonicotinoids — a relatively new family of insect-killing chemicals exploding in use in the Farm Belt and a leading suspect in the collapse of bee populations — in nine Midwestern rivers, including the Mississippi and Missouri.

Last month, a study by the Harvard School of Public Health found “neonics” in fruits, vegetables and honey purchased from grocery stores.”

In a dark place we find ourselves, and a little more poison kills us slowly.

Trout Like Mice →

Matt Miller, writing for The Nature Conservancy:

“Rainbow trout and grayling actually key in on shrews every two to three years when the mammals may be at peak abundance, much as trout will focus on mayflies or caddis flies when these insects hatch. The small mammals could provide important nutritional value to fish. In peak years, about 25 percent of rainbow trout and grayling larger than 12 inches had eaten the small mammals.

Peter Lisi, lead author of the study, was working on other fish research while completing his doctorate under Daniel Schindler at the University of Washington (Lisi is now a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison). The researchers kept finding trout and grayling with shrews in their stomachs. They wondered how often this actually occurred.”

No! Try not. Eat, or eat not. There is no try.

History of Lake Itasca, Source of the Mississippi River→

Steven Penick, writing for MinnPost:

Randen Pederson, Flickr

“The Itasca forest during the late nineteenth century contained towering pines and numerous lakes. Individuals like surveyor Jacob Brower became captivated by the region and the wildlife that inhabited it. They recognized that the economic potential of northern Minnesota would change its landscape. Their effort to preserve Lake Itasca led them to contend with the lumber industry, public interests, and the politics that weaved between them.

People have long appreciated Lake Itasca’s beauty and resources. Some eight thousand years ago indigenous hunters left spears at a bison kill site in the area. Around 1200 CE the Blackduck people created a village there, eventually leaving remnants of their unique pottery behind. Ojibwe groups have lived in the lake’s vicinity since the 1700s.

The U.S. government slowly began turning their attention to the region after buying Louisiana Territory from France in 1803. In 1832 the Ojibwe leader Ozaawindib brought Henry Schoolcraft to Omushkos Lake and the Mississippi headwaters. Schoolcraft renamed the lake Itasca by combining the Latin words veritas (truth) and caput (head).”

On many long journeys have I gone. And waited, too, for others to return from journeys of their own. Some return; some are broken; some come back so different only their names remain. Be brave, Lake Itasca go you must.

Pavement Science→

Bill Lindeke, writing for MinnPost:

Barr Engineering

““There are two types of pavement, concrete and asphalt, and these industries compete with each other,” explained Lev Khazanovich, an engineering professor at the University of Minnesota. “Each is always trying to improve their product, and so asphalt and concrete in Minnesota are much better than what was built 30, 40 years ago.”

The difference between the two pavements comes down to cost and lifespan. Concrete is harder and more durable, but asphalt is cheaper. In fact, considered philosophically, these two technologies might even be diametrical opposites.

“Fundamentally, asphalt is a mechanical compaction of the paving products,” Steve Lund explained to me. “It’s a physical compaction and pressing, whereas on the concrete side it’s more of a chemical reaction and hardening of the paving product.”

Concrete is composed of water, aggregate and cement (with occasional other kinds of material, such as coal ash from coal power plant filters). The chemical reaction between cement and water causes it to harden. It can thus be molded, like plastic, into a seemingly infinite variety of shapes. Asphalt, on the other hand, is a form of petroleum mixed with aggregate (mostly sand and gravel), heated up and then pressed down to form our roads, bike paths and parking lots...

“There are several different types of pervious concrete,” explained Nathan Campeau, another engineer at Barr. “It has been around for quite a while now, 10 to 12 years, and installed in several locations around the state. And there’s a corollary in porous asphalt, special mixes that have a lot of void spaces in them. They’re basically like a sponge, and allow water to go from the surface down to the sub-grade below the pavement.”

While the benefits of new pervious pavements are clear, they also present technological challenges. First, it can be tricky to install them, and they require specific equipment and time-consuming construction processes. Many contractors struggle with pervious technologies when using them for the first time.

Second, cities like Shoreview have to carefully maintain their pervious pavements, so that sediment and grit does not clog up its “void spaces.” To do this, cities and property owners have to actually vacuum the sediment out of their pervious roads and parking lots.”

Use pervious surfaces, we must. They are our city rainwater management  hope.

Mercury Levels in the Environment→

Erik Stokstad, writing for AAAS:

Peter Buckley, Flickr

“The most comprehensive estimate of mercury released into the environment is putting a new spotlight on the potent neurotoxin. By accounting for mercury in consumer products, such as thermostats, and released by industrial processes, the calculations more than double previous tallies of the amount of mercury that has entered the environment since 1850. The analysis also reveals a previously unknown spike in mercury emissions during the 1970s.

The finding doesn’t indicate a greater risk to human health; scientists already know how much mercury most people are exposed to. But it does show how tighter regulations over the past 4 decades have lowered the total amount of mercury emitted to the global environment—even as some industries in the developing world continue to expand.”

When you use mercury, careful you must be. For the mercury poisons back.”