The Infinite Sphere

Department of Interior Halts Leasing of Utah Wilderness

2009-02-04T19:08:00.002-06:00

This is one of the many reasons I voted for the Democrat this year.

Bold Action by Department of Interior Halts Leasing of Utah Wilderness

WASHINGTON (February 4, 2009) – More than 100,000 acres of Utah wilderness will be protected from oil and gas drilling after the Department of Interior announced today that it will cancel 77 leases issued under the Bush administration. This is among the first actions taken by the Obama administration to protect America’s wild lands. Since December, a coalition of environmental groups – led by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA), Earthjustice, and the Wilderness Society – have been working to protect these public lands. In December, the coalition filed suit to stop the leasing, and, in January, Judge Ricardo M. Urbina of the U.S. District Court granted a temporary restraining order preventing the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from moving forward with these leases.

“I see this announcement as a sign that after eight long years of rapacious greed and backdoor dealings, our government is returning a sense of balance to the way it manages our lands," said Robert Redford, an NRDC trustee. "American citizens once again have a say in the fate of their public lands, which in this case happen to be some of the last pristine places on earth.”

42 foot long snake?

2009-02-04T19:05:00.002-06:00

Wow, this is pretty cool. Although I'm glad snakes this big don't still roam the woods...

Named Titanoboa cerrejonensis by its discoverers, the size of the snake's vertebrae suggest it weighed 1140 kg (2,500 pounds) and measured 13 metres (42.7 feet) nose to tail tip. A report describing the find appears in this week's Nature.

Green Gigs

2009-02-02T19:18:00.002-06:00

This sure is a fun site for virtual environmental jobs:

Green Gigs

I know I'm going to start visiting regularly!

Is clean coal realistic?

2009-01-28T22:06:00.007-06:00

The short answer: no. Not without completely restructuring not only the way coal burning power plants operate, but also completely restructuring the way the mining industry is regulated and monitored.

On December 22, 5.4 million cubic yards of toxic coal ash sludge spilled out of a 40-acre retention pond when a dam burst at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Coal Plant. The amount of sludge was enough to fill 1,660 Olympic-size swimming pools, and the volume released was about 50 times larger than the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. How did this happen? TVA was using an unregulated and unlined dam more than 50 feet high to store coal ash, the residue that results from burning coal. Some companies dump this ash into old coal mines. Others use it in cement. But much of the ash is stored in ponds which do not seem to be regulated in any way. This was a huge disaster for not only the people who live in the area, but for the area's soil and waterways. The toxic heavy metals and sludge will contaminate this area for many years to come. On January 1, 2009 the first independent test results, conducted at the Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry laboratories at Appalachian State University, showed significantly elevated levels of toxic metals (including arsenic, copper, barium, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, nickel, and thallium) in samples of slurry and river water. Of course, a TVA spokesman said that the TVA was "taking steps to stabilize runoff from this incident." In response to a video that showed dead fish, he stated "in terms of toxicity, until an analysis comes in, you can't call it toxic." While describing the coal ash, he said "it does have some heavy metals within it, but it's not toxic or anything." Hmmm. I would guess that the heavy metal contamination of fields will last for hundreds of years. Will TVA be forced to change the way they store coal ash? I certainly hope so. As long as coal ash is stored in this manner, coal is not clean. Here's a video showing what the river looked like several days after the spill. It's really quite disgusting.

So... is this the first time a disaster like this has happened? No. Another dam associated with an actual mining operation occurred in 2000, and another dam near Guntersville, AL leaked this month. There are many more examples of problems with these ponds. To learn more about the 2000 incident in Kentucky, which the responsible mining company was only fined $5000, watch the following 30 minute video (available for free until the end of January).

http://appalshop.org/sludge/stream.php

Until these kinds of abuses are stopped, until the mining and power industry faces strong regulation, disasters like this will continue to occur, and in the process will continue to destroy homes, fields, water supplies, and waterways.

Some additional disturbing articles about this issue:

Toxic Coal Ash Piling up in ponds in 32 states: Records indicate that states storing the most coal ash in ponds are Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Georgia and Alabama.

Coal Ash More Radioactive Than Nuclear Waste

Kingston article on Wikipedia (usually I don't like linking to Wiki, but this articles has good information).

Yummy! Mercury!

2009-01-28T21:50:00.005-06:00

Several years ago I turned into a fanatical label reader. I avoid products with hydrogenated oil and high fructose corn syrup. Why corn syrup? It's just a sweetener, after all. Well, I have read too many things about it to feel good about eating it. An article I just read makes me happy I cut this food item out of my diet:

Studies Find Mercury in Much US Corn Syrup
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Many common foods made using commercial high fructose corn syrup contain mercury as well, researchers reported on Tuesday, while another study suggested the corn syrup itself is contaminated.

Food processors and the corn syrup industry group attacked the findings as flawed and outdated, but the researchers said it was important for people to know about any potential sources of the toxic metal in their food.

In one study, published in the journal Environmental Health, former Food and Drug Administration scientist Renee Dufault and colleagues tested 20 samples of high fructose corn syrup and found detectable mercury in nine of the 20 samples.

There are a couple of things about the study of actual food items that don't seem well designed. If you read the entire article you may wonder why the study on actual food items didn't also test food without corn syrup but manufactured in the same plants to see if the mercury was actually in the corn syrup or was a byproduct of the manufacturing process. Either answer would be equally bad, but would be more conclusive. But the first study by itself is enough to make me quite happy to continue to avoid the yummy sounding high fructose corn syrup.

Good news, bad news, getting back to normal

2009-01-27T19:21:00.005-06:00

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted. My brain just hurt after this political season (really the last 2 years). I'd been glued to political commentary sites, Obama volunteer remailers, and other resources trying to do my very small part to help Obama win. I just needed a break. On the other hand, even after the election, I felt compelled to scour news sites every day to see what last minute mischief Bush was up to (lots, apparently). But now, I feel a complete and total sense of relief. So far I've been pleased with Obama's performance on the job. It's just so refreshing to have a president I actually respect, and even better, a president who respects our Constitution. But those of us who worked our hineys off to get a Democrat into office shouldn't just skip off into the sunset singing kumbaya. There's still bad news out there and lots to do. I just read a disturbing report from NOAA about the real impact of climate change:

…the climate change that is taking place because of increases in carbon dioxide concentration is largely irreversible for 1,000 years after emissions stop…. Among illustrative irreversible impacts that should be expected if atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations increase from current levels near 385 parts per million by volume (ppmv) to a peak of 450-600 ppmv over the coming century are irreversible dry-season rainfall reductions in several regions comparable to those of the ”dust bowl” era and inexorable sea level rise.

That's scary. Is there anything we can really do to prevent such a catastrophe? Another piece of disturbing news (and one of the main reasons I have yet to give in to my desire to move to southeastern Utah)--the American southwest may "permanent dry up":

The serious hydrological changes and impacts known to have occurred in both historic and prehistoric times over North America reflect large-scale changes in the climate system that can develop in a matter of years and, in the case of the more severe past megadroughts, persist for decades. Such hydrological changes fit the definition of abrupt change because they occur faster than the time scales needed for human and natural systems to adapt, leading to substantial disruptions in those systems. In the Southwest, for example, the models project a permanent drying by the mid-21st century that reaches the level of aridity seen in historical droughts, and a quarter of the projections may reach this level of aridity much earlier.

The desert southwest has experienced very severe and prolonged drought in the prehistoric past, but at that time, there weren't all that many people there. When drought worsened, people generally just picked up and moved to more hospitable areas. Now, the southwest has millions and millions of people relying on water resources that evidently may just completely dry up. Not good.

So among all the good political news, there is still lots of work for conservationists to do. But at least we now have a president who will listen to and value scientists.

Green Lynx Spider

2008-11-19T20:05:00.002-06:00

Going through some old photos, and here's a picture of a gorgeous spider.

Another last minute present from W

2008-11-16T19:02:00.004-06:00

Gaaacckk... I really despise the Bush administration. Those guys just seem hell-bent on destroying as much as they can before they leave office. I sure hope this is one thing Obama will reverse with an executive order immediately when he takes office. Domestic drilling is fine in some places, but within sight of one of the most famous natural wonders in our country? Seriously?? Idiots.

SALT LAKE CITY — The view of Delicate Arch natural bridge _ an unspoiled landmark so iconic it's on Utah's license plates _ could one day include a drilling platform under a proposal that environmentalists call a Bush administration "fire sale" for the oil and gas industry.

Late on Election Day, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced a Dec. 19 auction of more than 50,000 acres of oil and gas parcels alongside or within view of Arches National Park and two other redrock national parks in Utah: Dinosaur and Canyonlands.
...
"This is the fire sale, the Bush administration's last great gift to the oil and gas industry," said Stephen Bloch, a staff attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.

"The tracts of land offered here, next to Arches National Park or above Desolation Canyon, these are the crown jewels of America's lands that the BLM is offering to the highest bidder," he said.

An examination of the parcels, superimposing low-resolution government graphics onto Google Earth maps, shows that in one case drilling parcels bordering Arches National Park are just 1.3 miles from Delicate Arch.

Oh yes, let's please let oil companies put oil rigs right behind the Arch. Let's turn this:

Into this:

Oekologie returns!

2008-11-16T09:22:00.011-06:00

Welcome back to Oekologie! This edition includes a variety of posts that explore issues across the world. Since November has been a month of incredible excitement in US politics, it's fitting to start with some political news.

Politics, nature, and society
Do humans have a right to nature? The people of Ecuador think so. In October, the citizens of Ecuador voted to adopt a new constitution. Most news coverage of the referendum has focused on how it could allow leftist president, Rafael Correa, to solidify his power. To Ben Connor Barrie, the most interesting aspect of the new constitution is that it grants its citizens inalienable rights to nature. Photo to the left: Rio Tiputini in Amazonian Ecuador, photo by Ben Connor Barrie.

Conservation and social responsibility
Next up, how do our actions impact the environment? We have three posts about this issue.

First, does thinking about the environment and your impact on it make you a treehugger, an activist, or simply a responsible citizen? Nathan Creitz shares his thoughts.

And this month's host is a confirmed political junkie and would like to share an article in the New York Times that links food production, climate change, and national security issues. Our next president will have a lot on his plate!

Sustainable Design Update reports on a recent publication that shows Sustainable Farming Maintains Biodiversity. As global demand for food increases with our ever-growing population, it will become ever more important to employ agricultural methods that don’t negatively impact biodiversity.

On a related note, Yemen may need taller wheat. Luigi Guarino discusses why farmers in Yemen still plant varieties of wheat that yield lower grain yield. The answer is that people in Yemen build mud brick homes, and while the new varieties produce a higher grain yield, the wheat is too short to make the mud bricks they used to build their homes.

Now, what about sustainable fisheries? GrrlScientist reviews one of my very favorite books, Bottomfeeder. Are there really plenty of fish in the sea? Unfortunately, the answer is no. If you love seafood, but are concerned about how to eat in an environmentally responsible way, read this book!! GrrlScientist reports she's already started changing her eating habits as a result of this book, and so have I. I'm now a fan of smoked kippers, a food I never though about trying until the author Taras Grescoe sung its praises .

Invasive Species
When I think of invasive species, I usually think of plants. But animals can also be invasive.

For example, what do you do when there are too many cats and too few people? Ros Peacock discusses feral cat issues in Australia. Trap, neuter, and release is a model many in the United States embrace, but does it work in Australia?

GrrlScientist shares a post about exotic invasive parrot species: there's more than meets the eye! In fact, molecular genetic analyses of an exotic invasive parrot species reveals (1) a cryptic species and (2) support for the notion that the pet trade was involved in establishing this invasive species in the USA. Image to the right from Arthur Grosset.

Rare and Endangered Species
Even in times of declining biodiversity across the planet, we are still pleasantly surprised by news of scientists finding new species, or rediscovering species thought to be extinct.

GrrlScientist tells us about a Tiny Gecko Species Discovered in Vanuatu Rainforest.
According to scientists at France's National Museum of Natural History, a new species of gecko has been discovered -- after it hatched from an egg removed from a nest on a South Pacific island and carried 12,000 miles to Paris in a box lined with Kleenex. The island, Espiritu Santo, is one of the larger South Pacific islands of the Vanuatu Archipelago, east of Australia.

Some wonderful new as an Endangered Cockatoo Species is Rediscovered in Indonesia. The world's rarest cockatoo, known as the Masakambing (Abbott's) yellow-crested cockatoo, Cacatua sulphurea abbotti, is a subspecies of Yellow (Sulfur)-crested cockatoo, which are endemic to several small islands of Indonesia. Worldwide, five cockatoo species are critically endangered -- four of which are yellow-crested cockatoos that are found only in Indonesia. Last seen more than twenty years ago when the total population numbered between roughly five and ten individuals, these birds have remained enigmatic due to their rarity and to the immediate threat of extinction.

And now, a bridge to birds!
Greg Laden tells us about a newly discovered species of dinosaur that demonstrates the evolution of a bird-like respiratory system in an animal that is definitely not bird-like in most other ways. Check out Aerosteon riocoloradensis: A Very Cool Dinosaur from Argentina.

And now... Birds!
This month we're innundated with bird posts! Must be related to the start of fall migration...

A DC Birding Blog discusses two studies that show greater bird diversity reduces the chances of human infection with the West Nile Virus. The studies highlight something many people don't realize: protection from disease is yet another reason to protect wildlife diversity.

Grrlscientist was on a roll with submissions this past month. She's provided lots of interesting posts about birds and bird behavior. In a post titled Race to save the world's rarest bird, she reviews the new book by Alvin Powell about the desperate struggle to save the world's rarest bird, the Po'ouli of Hawaii. This book reveals the strengths and weaknesses of the US Endangered Species Act.

Mystery bird! Try to guess what it is before reading the caption. From near-extinction less than a century ago, this species has rebounded in its North American range to be the most abundant breeding duck in the eastern US -- and it is increasing in the west, too.

Finally, we learn about the rare (and beautiful) Endangered Rimatara Lories. They're busy Making Babies! Photo to the right is of this gorgeous species from Gerald McCormack.

Thanks for visiting! We really need hosts for future editions of Oekologie! If you're interested in hosting, please leave a comment and we'll contact you!

Hooray!

2008-11-09T10:09:00.001-06:00

This is why I voted for the Democratic candidate this year:

Transition advisers to President-elect Barack Obama have compiled a list of about 200 Bush administration actions and executive orders that could be swiftly undone to reverse White House policies on climate change, stem cell research, reproductive rights and other issues, according to congressional Democrats, campaign aides and experts working with the transition team.

A team of four dozen advisers, working for months in virtual solitude, set out to identify regulatory and policy changes Obama could implement soon after his inauguration. The team is now consulting with liberal advocacy groups, Capitol Hill staffers and potential agency chiefs to prioritize those they regard as the most onerous or ideologically offensive, said a top transition official who was not permitted to speak on the record about the inner workings of the transition.

"The kind of regulations they are looking at" are those imposed by Bush for "overtly political" reasons, in pursuit of what Democrats say was a partisan Republican agenda, said Dan Mendelson, a former associate administrator for health in the Clinton administration's Office of Management and Budget. The list of executive orders targeted by Obama's team could well get longer in the coming days, as Bush's appointees rush to enact a number of last-minute policies in an effort to extend his legacy.

What an odd feeling

2008-11-07T18:11:00.004-06:00

Looks like President Bush is eager to ram through several changes to weaken environmental policy before he leaves office in January. But for a change, I'm not furious. I'm also not frantically looking up ways to protest the proposed changes. Now that we have a competent new president ready to come in and take over in a short few months, I am confident that the Obama administration will return our federal agencies over to people who respect science. I suspect that new administrators at the EPA, FDA, Department of the Interior, and every other agency in our government, will spend quite a lot of time undoing the damage the Bush administration has wrought over the last 8 years. But I am confident that in time, the new administration will indeed undo much of the damage.

What Tuesday night meant to me

2008-11-06T07:04:00.005-06:00

Tuesday night was phenomenal, a history-changing moment for not only our country, but the world. For several years, I've been horrified as I watched my president and his staff do things in my name that made me ashamed to be an American: torture, domestic spying, the Katrina response, incompetent leadership in Iraq, signing statements, extraordinary rendition, ignoring sound science, to name only a few. In 2004, when Bush was re-elected for a second term, I lost hope in the intelligence and insight of my fellow citizens. But last night, all that was erased. Even though President-elect Obama (wow!) will certainly not be perfect, is certainly no messiah, and will not be able to fix many of our enormous problems in his first term, still... I now have faith in my country, and its people, again. A majority of us recognized that we needed a new direction, a new party in power, a new start. We said loudly and clearly: we love our country just as much as you, and we're taking it back! I'm proud that I live in a country with a democratic system that allows such sweeping changes to happen.

And I would be remiss if I didn't thank one person who set the stage for this historic night: George W. Bush. If Bush had not been so incompetent, displayed such contempt for our Constitution, and so completely disgusted so many people just like me, we might not be here today. By 2006 I was so horrified by what the Republican party had become that I vowed to work hard during the 2006 and 2008 elections to elect Democrats. I had never been active in politics before. I'd never volunteered, made a monetary contribution, or worked to get out the vote. Before Obama inspired me to volunteer for his campaign, Bush inspired me to work hard against his party. This year I got involved. I knocked on doors. I called total strangers. I donated a bit of money. I passed out fliers. So George Bush, thanks for pissing off so many citizens that we got out and participated in our political system this year!

This election has not only changed our country, it has changed me. It has made me believe that I can make a difference. I don't know what will happen in the next few years, but I do know one thing. I will continue to stay involved, continue to work to make our country a better place for all of us, and I will continue to feel a real sense of pride in the country that I love.

Palin: fruit fly research has gotta go!

2008-10-30T08:32:00.003-05:00

Oh for crying out loud...

One of the major benefits of taking biology classes over the last several years has been learning about lab research. Fruit flies are one of the best model organisms to study to help us understand genetics, neurology, and a variety of human diseases. Scientists are currently using fruit flies as genetic models to study diseases such as Parkinson's, Huntington's, diabetes, cancer, and Alzheimer's. Sigh. It sure is easy to discount scientific research when you don't take the time to really understand what you're talking about, you betcha!

I've already voted. And you can bet I didn't vote for the ticket that is the most likely to give us another 4 years of ignoring science and research.

Bio lab on barrier island... huh?

2008-10-30T07:55:00.003-05:00

The University of Texas will open a new facility next month to study some of the deadliest viruses on the planet, including Ebola, anthrax, tularemia, West Nile virus, drug-resistant tuberculosis, bubonic plague, avian influenza and typhus. Great, we need to learn more about these viruses! But where is the new facility located? On Galveston Island, a barrier island that is extremely susceptible to hurricanes. It seems like a seriously bad idea to locate a facility like this on an island that will get hit again by a hurricane much worse than this year's category 2 Ike.

I'm one of the weirdos who don't think people should build anything on barrier islands. I've watched over the years as condos and other structures at my favorite beach vacation spots suffered catastrophic damage (some have gotten hit 3 times in my short memory) as hurricanes blew through. Well, let me rephrase that. People should be free to build homes or businesses on barrier islands, but they shouldn't get any federal relief when a hurricane blows through and destroys their home. That might sound harsh, but barrier islands are just not smart places to build anything.

So... I'm just speechless about this lab, especially now that we're entering a more active hurricane cycle. It seems completely crazy and irresponsible to me.

Last-minute presents from the President

2008-10-21T17:02:00.000-05:00

Ug, I can't believe that even though the election is in 14 days (14 days!!) we still have to put up with Bush for another 2 months after that. And it sounds like he's trying to make his final mark on Appalachia before he leaves:

The Bush administration is writing one more sad chapter in the long, tortured history of Appalachia’s coal-rich hills. Last week, the Interior Department’s Office of Surface Mining proposed a revision, amounting to a repeal, of one of the last regulatory protections against an environmentally ruinous mining practice called mountaintop removal.
...
In 2002, for instance, the Environmental Protection Agency found itself inconvenienced by a rule explicitly prohibiting the use of mining waste as “fill” in streams and wetlands for development and other purposes. So the administration simply rewrote the regulations.
The nettlesome buffer zone rule still remained in place, so in 2004 the administration began a systematic effort to weaken it as well. That culminated Friday when the Office of Surface Mining sent its proposal for gutting the rule to the E.P.A., whose concurrence is required.
Both John McCain and Barack Obama have said in the last month that they oppose mountaintop removal, which may explain the administration’s mad dash to rewrite the rule before a more conservation-minded administration arrives in town. Their opposition also inspires slim hopes among environmentalists that Stephen Johnson, the E.P.A.’s administrator, would withhold his approval. That would be an enormous surprise, but also enormously welcome.

I wonder what other last-minute decisions we can look forward to?

Big Frog

2008-10-21T15:57:00.010-05:00

"You know, a guy got killed by a bear up there a few years ago," my friend Angela mused as we discussed our weekend backpacking trip to the Big Frog Wilderness on the Tennessee/Georgia border.

"Oh we'll be fine, I have pepper spray!" I responded.

But in all seriousness, planning a trip to the Big Frog does require some planning. Guidebooks note that many of the trails are unmarked (usually because bears claw up signs) so you have to be able to read a map and use a compass. Most trails feature steep elevation gains (3,000 feet in many cases), so hikers must be in good condition. Plus, encountering a bear is a real concern; hikers must know what to do if they encounter a bear, not to mention know how to keep a clean camp so bears don't think your campsite is a dinner buffet.

We got to our trailhead early in the afternoon, and saw several small groups of car campers lounging around in very nice campsites under the dark hemlock canopy. The trail immediately started uphill, winding back and forth through nice oak/hickory forest. The trail often seemed to cling to the edge of a mountain, with steep dropoffs down into more heavily forested terrain. We kept going up. And up. And up. My legs started to ache. I ate a Snickers to give myself a boost. It didn't work. Finally, after gaining probably 2,500 feet, we gained the top of a ridge, and the uphill jaunts became less tiresome. We encountered a trail marker that was simply a piece of wooden 4x4 stuck into the ground, covered with very large claw marks. The actual sign marking the trails was gone. Someone had written the trail names on the marker in pen (very useful!).

We started looking for a campsite, but everything we'd seen so far had been a steep slope uphill, or a steep slope downhill. No flat spots anywhere, except right in the middle of the trail. We finally came to a saddle that was relatively flat. A small trail led downhill and to the right. There was no trail marker, except for a pile of rocks, so we though "hmm, maybe this leads to a nice campsite." Angela checked it out, and the trail was well used, led to no flat spots, and kept going.

We finally decided that the flat spots along the side of the ridgetop trail were the best we were going to find before dark, so we stopped and set up camp. The view was spectacular. We were very high up by this point, and could see for miles both east and west. Sunset painted the sky vivid red, and lingered long after dusk. We were careful with our food, didn't spill anything, and hung our food on a string well out of reach of bears, or any other clawed creatures that might happen by our camp in the night. I will admit I kept my pepper spray next to my pillow, just in case.

I got up early the next morning to find fog clinging to all the valleys on both side of the ridge. Simply gorgeous. After lounging around drinking coffee then packing up, we headed up the trail (yes, still going uphill). According to the map, the next turn we needed to take was not too far ahead. We hiked a good bit farther that we thought we should. We hadn't seen any other trail markers, so kept going. Finally, we reached another 4x4 trail marker, again with no signs. We looked at the map and thought we knew where we were, and chose the trail we thought was correct. According to the map, the trail would start downhill on a ridge, then head sharply downhill on the side of the mountain. We headed downhill on a ridge. And stayed on a ridge for several miles. We were on the wrong trail. We eventually figured out that the pile of rocks we saw next to the obscure trail Angela checked out was the trail we should have taken.

But we knew which trail we were on, and it just came out of the wilderness a mile or so away from our vehicle. We kept going. We passed yet another trail marker, this time with the actual trail names (along with more bear claw marks and a tuft of bear fur). Eventually, we popped out on an old Forest Service road, which is what we expected. But we had evidently veered off on a side trail, and reached the road much sooner than we should have. We walked for probably 3 miles on this road until finally reaching the road leading to Angela's truck. We walked another couple of miles on the road back to the truck (and happily for me, a peanut butter sandwich). Because of our wrong turn (it was the bear's fault!) we hiked about 5 more miles than we'd planned, gained 3,500 feet in elevation overall, but it was worth it.

For anyone who cares, we started at trailhead 3 on the map, turned left on trail 2 (which featured the first clawed-up sign), and camped near the junction to trail 4. Trail 4 is the one that we missed, marked only by a pile of rocks. We meant to take this trail back to the truck. We continued to Big Frog Mountain and turned north on trail 5 (also unmarked except by a clawed up 4x4) until we reached the road.

The Big Frog was really a treat. It's true wilderness. Even though we didn't actually see a bear, we saw so many signs of bears that we knew they were nearby. I was happy to be in a part of the country where such wild creatures not only live, but evidently thrive.

The coming decline

2008-10-14T09:07:00.006-05:00

This is lovely. Not only has the Bush administration and today's GOP destroyed America's moral standing in the world, trashed our economy, socialized our banking system, and broken our debt clock, now I read that the current economic crisis will almost certainly have a disastrous impact on our place as the world's science and technology leader:

Now signs of changing times are more stark, with world leaders frustrated and even angry over a global financial crisis many see as caused by American policy mistakes. Meanwhile the monetary meltdown is likely to force cuts in public and private science and technology investment — a cornerstone of the American economic engine that has historically driven the nation's preeminence.
...
"Long term, I think prospects also get shakier," he said. "We are the world’s science and technology leader. Graduate students want to come here to study, and often to then work. This has been slipping as industrializing countries enhance their own R&D [research and development] capabilities and universities, and as terrorism fears make it harder to come here. I would anticipate that the next U.S. administration will have to face the reality of balancing its budget or face bankruptcy. That will likely squeeze federal R&D funding, worsening these trends."

It won't be just U.S. researchers that suffer, of course.

There could be "very dramatic reduction in available funds for research in all sorts of countries," said Richard Leakey, a paleoanthropologist who has unearthed important fossils of ancient humans in Africa. Leakey notes that a lot of science funding comes from institutions and donations by wealthy individuals, two sources that are dealing with their own reduced balance sheets. "I think it's extremely worrying for science," he said.

I knew the Bush administration was hostile to science. I guess they've succeeded in ensuring that the next president will be hard-pressed to make research and development a top priority. That's too bad since the way we'll solve our most serious problems (fuel, climate change, food security) are all based on science.

Food production, climate change, and national security

2008-10-14T07:58:00.007-05:00

There's a fascinating article on the New York Times webpage about food production and how we need to change the way we look at food in the coming years. I've long thought the way we subsidize farmers to grow huge monoculture crops is pretty ridiculous, but it's actually now becoming dangerous for a variety of reasons. Here are some sobering statistics:

After cars, the food system uses more fossil fuel than any other sector of the economy — 19 percent. And while the experts disagree about the exact amount, the way we feed ourselves contributes more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere than anything else we do — as much as 37 percent, according to one study. Whenever farmers clear land for crops and till the soil, large quantities of carbon are released into the air. But the 20th-century industrialization of agriculture has increased the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by the food system by an order of magnitude; chemical fertilizers (made from natural gas), pesticides (made from petroleum), farm machinery, modern food processing and packaging and transportation have together transformed a system that in 1940 produced 2.3 calories of food energy for every calorie of fossil-fuel energy it used into one that now takes 10 calories of fossil-fuel energy to produce a single calorie of modern supermarket food. Put another way, when we eat from the industrial-food system, we are eating oil and spewing greenhouse gases. This state of affairs appears all the more absurd when you recall that every calorie we eat is ultimately the product of photosynthesis — a process based on making food energy from sunshine. There is hope and possibility in that simple fact.

The article goes on to discuss some really interesting points about how food production is tied to climate change, and even national security. The amount of fossil fuel we use to simply grow food makes us even more reliant on foreign countries. This article has some great ideas on how to reform our food production systems to get away from the glut of fossil fuels, monoculture crops, and get back to real food production.

The ideas outlined in this article include many of the reasons I don't eat hardly any meat, avoid packaged food like the plague, and buy as many veggies as possible from my local farmer's market. If you're interested in climate change, energy issues, and how food production is polluting our world, you need to read this article.

Poem for the day

2008-10-13T20:20:00.010-05:00

I was going through some old books and found an enormous English lit text with a tattered post-it note marking the following:

LXXII
I live not in myself, but I become
Portion of that around me; and to me
High mountains are a feeling, but the hum
Of human cities torture: I can see
Nothing to loathe in nature, save to be
A link reluctant in a fleshly chain,
Class'd among creatures, when the soul can flee,
And with the sky -- the peak -- the heaving plain
Of ocean, or the stars, mingle -- and not in vain.

This is a very short section from Childe Harold's Pilgrimage by Lord Byron, a writer of the same generation that turned out classics such as Frankenstein. Just thought I'd post this section that jumped out and grabbed me the first time I read it, and still speaks to me today.

Big news for cavers and conservation

2008-10-13T18:20:00.006-05:00

For many years I've been a member of a great grassroots conservation organization called the Southeastern Cave Conservancy. They were the first conservancy to focus solely on caves, and they now own more than 1,250 acres, 60 caves23 cave preserves, and over $1.5 million in land assets. The amazing thing is all of their purchases have been funded 100% from donations from the caving community. Just recently the SCC bought yet another, and in my opinion, its best property yet. It's Surprise Pit, part of Fern Cave in Alabama. Surprise Pit is 437 feet deep, the deepest vertical drop in the state, and one of the deepest in the country. It's quite an achievement for this group! The pit is just one small part of a cave complex with five entrances and over 16 miles of very complex passage. In addition, the cave is the winter home to over 1.5 million gray bats.

This is a cave my husband and I really love and spend a lot of time visiting, so we're heading up the fundraising effort for the purchase. We're going to have a lot of work to do as in the coming years, but we're really looking forward to it.

(photo from Willie Hunt's web page: http://www.cs.indiana.edu/~willie/)

Here are some other photos from my friend John Van Swearingen IV:

Here's the ledge going out to the pit. It's a 437 drop off to the left...

Oekologie here on November 15

2008-10-13T18:15:00.002-05:00

Blogging has been very light lately as I've been busy with a number of things in real life. But one item of note: Oekologie, which has been on a brief hiatus as Jeremy and I have been swamped, will resume here on November 15. If you have a blog post about ecology or environmental science, send me a link and I'll add it to the carnival! Or, just fill out the submission form available here (for some reason you'll have to scroll down to find the submission form).

Oh, and everyone needs to visit Jeremy's blog and harass him about resuming blogging. We miss him!

A cheerful picture

2008-09-20T10:26:00.000-05:00

This past weekend I went backpacking in central Tennessee (a gorgeous area). On the way home, just north of Tullahoma, TN, we noticed several cars pulled off on the side of the road and people milling around. That always means something interesting (or really bad) is going on so I slowed down. The picture above is what I saw--an enormous field full of sunflowers. It was honestly one of the most cheerful sights I've seen in quite a long time. But why, I wondered, would anyone plant such a pretty crop?

We talked to one fellow gawker with a rather large camera. He said that he lived nearby and has been photographing the field over the course of the past week. He'd met the farmer (and his six dogs) the previous day and found out that the farmer is growing the sunflowers for biofuel. Go figure.

I think I'm going to plant sunflowers next year. They just make me happy.

From most polluted to popular tourist destination

2008-09-03T07:28:00.000-05:00

Driving into Chattanooga, TN you would never know that this used to be one of the most polluted cities in the United States. But the city's ties to industry, and pollution, began very early in its history. With easy access to the Tennessee River, Chattanooga quickly became not only a major port city, but also an industrial center. Railroad lines from Chattanooga linked together other key southern cities. Lookout Mountain, with a commanding view of the Tennessee River and the city of Chattanooga, was the location of several key battles during the Civil War.

As industry ramped up during WWII, Chattanooga stepped up to the plate. Unfortunately, so did pollution. Coke ovens and iron smelters pumped out products day and night, while the waste from the factories, including fairly nasty coal tar, was pumped right into waterways. After the war ended, Chattanooga's manufacturing industry continued to grow, including plants that manufactured pesticides and various chemicals. The air quality plummeted, and by 1969 Chattanooga had the worst air quality rankings in the entire country. Most of its waterways were so polluted that simply dipping your hand in the water could result in chemical burns.

Instead of ignoring such a dubious distinction, the people of Chattanooga decided to change their city. Industry ended up not only installing scrubbers in local smokestacks to reduce pollution (as a result of new regulations), but they decided to start manufacturing scrubbers in the city, creating new jobs in the process. Local groups started efforts to clean up not only the filthy Tennessee River, but also its tributaries. Others worked to plant trees, beautify the city, and create a more sustainable community. Today, electric shuttles are available in the downtown area for commuters and the business district has a goal of becoming a zero-emissions area. The city is home to the world's largest freshwater aquarium; the aquarium also works with various conservation groups to captively breed fish and turtles that are quickly disappearing in the wild around the southeast.

The city is far from perfect. Water bodies are still not as clean as they should be. Urban sprawl is a problem. You still have to drive most places. But the city is an example of how everyone in a community can work together to improve the environment, create new jobs and industries, create popular tourist attractions, all while improving the quality of life for area residents.

Uh oh.

2008-08-29T14:51:00.001-05:00

Drought evidence in cave formations

2008-08-26T20:21:00.002-05:00

I loved this article since it combines research about drought and caves! The idea of studying cave formations to understand environmental cycles really fascinates me.

Dips in the sun's activity have triggered centuries-long droughts in eastern North America, according to a new study that examined the geologic record stored within a stalagmite from a West Virginia cave.

The link between periodic droughts and changes in solar activity initially was proposed by geologist Gerald Bond. He suggested that every 1,500 years, weak solar activity caused by fluctuations in the sun's magnetic fields cooled the North Atlantic Ocean and created more icebergs and ice rafting, or the movement of sediment to the ocean floor. This caused less precipitation to fall, creating drought conditions.

The climate record preserved by trace elements such as strontium, carbon and oxygen in stalagmites is clearer and more detailed than records previously taken from lake sediments. During dry periods, strontium is concentrated in stalagmites. Carbon isotopes also record drought because drier soils slow biological activity.