Environmental Science Bulletin Board – 5 October 2020

Slide show of Fall Foliage

·        https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/tripideas/these-stunning-photos-of-fall-foliage-remind-us-why-we-love-autumn/ss-BB191MeV

World Rabies Day was 28 September but still a great need for awareness

·        https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDAAPHIS/bulletins/2a1f8a9

CRS Report: The US Energy Information Administration

·        https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R46524

City of Honolulu withdraws from HART rail project due to escalating costs

·        https://www.civilbeat.org/2020/09/honolulu-pulls-out-of-public-private-partnership-plan-for-rail/

Utah asks federal government to delay decision on underground Lake Powell pipeline to transport Colorado River water – 14,000 public comments on draft EIS

·        https://apnews.com/article/arizona-colorado-utah-lakes-environment-89063af637c16e656039e2b16e9eaa9c

·        Lake Powell Pipeline project: https://utahrivers.org/lake-powell-pipeline

Disaster declaration issued after one death from Naegleria fowleri in Lake Jackson, Texas

·        https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/texas-governor-issues-disaster-declaration-after-brain-eating-amoeba-kills-6-year-old-boy/ar-BB19vjt1

Fatal falls in New Hampshire: at Arethusa Falls in Crawford Notch State Park & Rumney Climbing Rooks

·        https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/celebrity/hiker-falls-to-death-from-waterfall-in-n-h-park-state-s-3rd-climbing-related-death-in-a-week/ar-BB19zR9S

Half of emissions in Houston, Texas, are from transportation & emphasize need to reduce carbon emissions to address climate change – Houston is “car-centric”

·        https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/transportation/2020/09/24/382606/transportation-creates-half-of-houstons-emissions-heres-how-that-could-change/

US Army COE reinstates permits for construction of Mountain Valley Pipeline project

·        https://apnews.com/article/mountains-technology-business-virginia-environment-11886393dccc61bce4d43ccf7b22b30d

·        https://roanoke.com/business/local/mountain-valley-pipeline-regains-permit-to-cross-streams-wetlands/article_fa8f564b-122a-5ea0-b801-bb65e8776d19.html

New Jersey PBU order sets parameters for publicly accessible light-duty EV charging stations

·        https://njbmagazine.com/njb-news-now/bpu-moves-to-increase-electric-vehicle-infrastructure-in-nj/

More hype on global warming & carbon emissions

·        https://www.globalccsinstitute.com/resources/publications-reports-research/net-zero-and-geospheric-return-actions-today-for-2030-and-beyond/

·        Report: https://www.globalccsinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Netzero-and-Geospheric-Return-2.pdf

Wyoming appealing to hunters to come kill mountain goats in Grand Teton National Park

·        https://www.yahoo.com/news/wyoming-appeals-hunters-visit-state-162108760.html 

1700-km inland freight rail project will link Melbourne & Brisbane, Australia

·        https://www.2gb.com/freight-rail-project-an-engineering-marvel-connecting-capital-cities/

Risks of homogenization of the terrestrial water cycle

·        https://www.udel.edu/udaily/2020/september/studying-world-water-cycle-ecohydrology-diverse-vegetation/

Perspective: “Up in Smoke” – direct & indirect radiative feedbacks and risks

·        https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-020-00647-3

Dangerously high levels of lead in soils in New York City parks & communities pose threats of poisoning sincere there is “no safe level” of lead in the bloodstream

·        https://eos.org/articles/leaded-soil-endangers-residents-in-new-york-neighborhoods

More O&G wells in southwestern Pennsylvania linked to multiple heath complaints

·        https://eos.org/articles/more-gas-wells-linked-to-more-symptoms-in-pennsylvania-residents

·        Paper: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0237325

River capture affects the evolution of aquatic organisms

·        https://eos.org/research-spotlights/how-river-capture-affects-the-evolution-of-aquatic-organisms

Centuries of human colonization and development have significantly impacted the environment – contaminants & landscape modification

·        https://eos.org/science-updates/critical-agents-of-change-at-earths-surface

Visualizing range of Electric Vehicles on major highway routs

·        https://www.visualcapitalist.com/range-evs-major-highway-routes/

3D visualization of US Cities with highest economic output

·        https://www.visualcapitalist.com/3d-map-the-u-s-cities-with-the-highest-economic-output/

Tarantula season at Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico

·        https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2020/09/its-tarantula-season-bandelier-national-monument

Jade became symbol of environmental tragedy in Myanmar

·        https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/09/29/915604532/how-a-beloved-gemstone-became-a-symbol-of-environmental-tragedy-in-myanmar

Monarch butterfly migration is at risk – plans to help save it

·        https://theconversation.com/monarch-butterflies-spectacular-migration-is-at-risk-an-ambitious-new-plan-aims-to-help-save-it-136479

Perspective: Disaster vulnerability & flooding outside the 100-year flood zone

·        https://theconversation.com/homes-are-flooding-outside-femas-100-year-flood-zones-and-racial-inequality-is-showing-through-146728

The “dirty” secret behind “clean electric vehicles”

·        https://www.forbes.com/sites/tilakdoshi/2020/08/02/the-dirty-secrets-of-clean-electric-vehicles/#23a80e8a650b

Brown bear broke into the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage and killed an alpaca

·        https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/anchorage/2020/09/23/brown-bear-breaks-into-alaska-zoo-kills-alpaca-named-caesar/

Grizzly Bear accustomed to human food is put down in Denali National Park

·        https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2020/09/grizzly-bear-accustomed-human-food-put-down-denali-national-park

Long-banned (legacy) toxic chemicals still accumulating in birds in the Great Lakes region

·        https://www.ehn.org/great-lakes-pollution-birds-2647732152.html

·        Paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412020320201?via%3Dihub

Paracelsus said: “All things are poisons, for there is nothing without poisonous qualities. It is only the dose which makes a thing poison.” – in this case, too much licorice candy

·        https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/09/rare-case-of-black-licorice-poisoning-kills-man-in-massachusetts/

International pet trade threatens thousands of species

·        https://www.terradaily.com/reports/Pet_trade_threatens_thousands_of_species_especially_reptiles_999.html

National Preparedness Month – landslides & sinkholes

·        https://www.usgs.gov/news/national-preparedness-month-2020-landslides-and-sinkholes

New volcano monitors increase safety

·        https://tdn.com/opinion/columnists/community-voices-new-volcano-monitors-increase-safety/article_4f84006c-4368-57b3-8a86-f8c50e7429d6.html

“global warming hype” – Perspective: how humanity can survive existential threat

·        https://www.jpost.com/jerusalem-report/climate-change-an-existential-threat-to-humanity-and-how-we-can-survive-643267

Mining legacy in Goa is taking toll on agriculture

·        https://scroll.in/article/974419/two-years-after-mining-was-stopped-in-goa-it-is-still-taking-a-toll-on-the-states-farmers

Wildfire containment research addresses risk & safety – consider ecological, social & policy

·        https://phys.org/news/2020-09-safety.html

UK onshore O&G regulations are “woefully inadequate” – risk of environmental damage

·        https://drillordrop.com/2020/09/29/woefully-inadequate-regulation-of-uk-onshore-oil-and-gas-risks-environmental-damage-new-study/

Toxic hexavalent chromium could form in drinking water under appropriate chemical conditions

·        https://phys.org/news/2020-09-toxic-chromium-species.html

CRS Report: “Daylight Saving Time” - time to stop ‘spring forward-fall back’

·        https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45208

Cause of the 1990s cholera epidemic in Argentina

·        https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-10-1990s-argentina-cholera-epidemic-uncovered.html

·        Paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-18647-7

Optimistic that all basic human needs can be met by 2050 – decent living

·        https://phys.org/news/2020-10-decent-earth.html

·        Paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378020307512?via%3Dihub

Perspective: change the metric for assessing wildfires to emphasize human impacts not nature

·        https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02740-4

Elephants who eat plastic garbage often die of starvation

·        https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/herd-wild-sri-lankan-elephants-141653390.html

Providence, Rhode Island, now getting all needed power from solar

·        https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20201001/providence-water-utility-now-getting-all-its-power-from-solar

CORONAVIRUS

Coronavirus COVID-19 statistics by country (click on USA to get State statistics)

·        https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

·        https://time.com/5800901/coronavirus-map/

·        interactive maps: https://geodacenter.github.io/covid/map.html

Opioid deaths increasing since “pandemic” declared

·        https://news.yahoo.com/vermont-making-progress-against-opioid-190310057.html

Justification for slaughtering massive numbers of sharks – “short-sighted, unpredictable & unsustainable”

·        https://www.yahoo.com/news/500-000-sharks-may-die-192510978.html

Frequency of alcohol consumption increases significantly

·        https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/29/health/americans-drinking-more-pandemic-wellness-trnd/index.html

Study suggests people with Neanderthal genes are susceptible to more severe cases

·        https://www.huffpost.com/entry/covid-19-neanderthal-dna_n_5f74a8edc5b6374c5587ef63

Reusables can be safe to use – can avoid increasing use of single-use plastics

·        https://www.treehugger.com/reusables-are-safe-during-pandemic-5077495

·        Report: https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/greenpeace-report-reusables-are-doable-august-2020.pdf

Exposure to the virus or to the toxicity of disinfectants and cleaning agents

·        https://www.ehn.org/cleaning-products-toxics-covid-19-2647681704.html

History of mismanagement has exacerbated conditions in Nepal

·        https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/nepal-in-the-face-of-intersectional-crises-a-history-of-mismanagement/

Perspective: growing concerns regarding vaccine trails

·        https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02706-6