Tag Archives: nature

Environment, Featured News, News, Travel, World

Scientists race to prevent wipeout of world’s coral reefs

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There were startling colors here just a year ago, a dazzling array of life beneath the waves. Now this Maldivian reef is dead, killed by the stress of rising ocean temperatures.

What’s left is a haunting expanse of gray, a scene repeated in reefs across the globe in what has fast become a full-blown ecological catastrophe.

The world has lost roughly half its coral reefs in the last 30 years. Scientists are now scrambling to ensure that at least a fraction of these unique ecosystems survives beyond the next three decades. The health of the planet depends on it: Coral reefs support a quarter of all marine species, as well as half a billion people around the world.

“This isn’t something that’s going to happen 100 years from now. We’re losing them right now,” said marine biologist Julia Baum of Canada’s University of Victoria. “We’re losing them really quickly, much more quickly than I think any of us ever could have imagined.”

Even if the world could halt global warming now, scientists still expect that more than 90 percent of corals will die by 2050. Without drastic intervention, we risk losing them all.

“To lose coral reefs is to fundamentally undermine the health of a very large proportion of the human race,” said Ruth Gates, director of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology.

Coral reefs produce some of the oxygen we breathe. Often described as underwater rainforests, they populate a tiny fraction of the ocean but provide habitats for one in four marine species. Reefs also form crucial barriers that protect coastlines from the full force of storms.

They provide billions of dollars in revenue from tourism, fishing and other commerce, and are used in medical research for cures to diseases including cancer, arthritis and bacterial or viral infections.

“Whether you’re living in North America or Europe or Australia, you should be concerned,” said biologist Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, director of the Global Change Institute at Australia’s University of Queensland. “This is not just some distant dive destination, a holiday destination. This is the fabric of the ecosystem that supports us.”

And that fabric is being torn apart.

“You couldn’t be more dumb … to erode the very thing that life depends on — the ecosystem — and hope that you’ll get away with it,” Hoegh-Guldberg said.

Corals are invertebrates, living mostly in tropical waters. They secrete calcium carbonate to build protective skeletons that grow and take on impressive colors, thanks to a symbiotic relationship with algae that live in their tissues and provide them with energy.

But corals are sensitive to temperature fluctuations, and are suffering from rising ocean temperatures and acidification, as well as from overfishing, pollution, coastal development and agricultural runoff.

A temperature change of just 1 to 2 degrees Celsius (1.8 to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) can force coral to expel the algae, leaving their white skeletons visible in a process known as “bleaching.”

Bleached coral can recover if the water cools, but if high temperatures persist for months, the coral will die. Eventually the reef will degrade, leaving fish without habitats and coastlines less protected from storm surges.

The first global bleaching event occurred in 1998, when 16 percent of corals died. The problem spiraled dramatically in 2015-2016 amid an extended El Nino natural weather phenomenon that warmed Pacific waters near the equator and triggered the most widespread bleaching ever documented. This third global bleaching event, as it is known, continues today even after El Nino ended.

Headlines have focused on damage to Australia’s famed Great Barrier Reef, but other reefs have fared just as badly or worse across the world, from Japan to Hawaii to Florida.

Around the islands of the Maldives, an idyllic Indian Ocean tourism destination, some 73 percent of surveyed reefs suffered bleaching between March and May 2016, according to the country’s Marine Research Center.

“This bleaching episode seems to have impacted the entire Maldives, but the severity of bleaching varies” between reefs, according to local conditions, said Nizam Ibrahim, the center’s senior research officer.

Worst hit have been areas in the central Pacific, where the University of Victoria’s Baum has been conducting research on Kiritimati, or Christmas Island, in the Republic of Kiribati. Warmer water temperatures lasted there for 10 months in 2015-2016, killing a staggering 90 percent of the reef.

Baum had never seen anything like it.

“As scientists, we were all on brand new territory,” Baum said, “as were the corals in terms of the thermal stress they were subjected to.”

To make matters worse, scientists are predicting another wave of elevated ocean temperatures starting next month.

“The models indicate that we will see the return of bleaching in the South Pacific soon, along with a possibility of bleaching in both the eastern and western parts of the Indian Ocean,” said Mark Eakin, coral reef specialist and coordinator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coral Reef Watch, which uses satellites to monitor environmental conditions around reefs. It may not be as bad as last year, but could further stress “reefs that are still hurting from the last two years.”

The speed of the destruction is what alarms scientists and conservationists, as damaged coral might not have time to recover before it is hit again by warmer temperatures.

But some may have a chance.

Last month, Hoegh-Guldberg helped launch an initiative called 50 Reefs, aiming to identify those reefs with the best chance of survival in warming oceans and raise public awareness. His project partner is Richard Vevers, who heads the XL Catlin Seaview Survey, which has been documenting coral reefs worldwide.

“For the reefs that are least vulnerable to climate change, the key will be to protect them from all the other issues they are facing _ pollution, overfishing, coastal development,” said Vevers, who founded The Ocean Agency, an Australian organization seeking new technologies to help mitigate some of the ocean’s greatest challenges. If the reefs remain healthy and resilient, “they can hopefully become the vital seed-centers that can repopulate surrounding reefs.”

Nature itself is providing small glimmers of hope. Some of Kiritimati’s corals, for example, are showing tentative signs of a comeback.

But scientists don’t want to leave it to chance, and are racing ahead with experiments they hope might stave off extinction.

“We’ve lost 50 percent of the reefs, but that means we still have 50 percent left,” said Gates, who is working in Hawaii to breed corals that can better withstand increasing temperatures. “We definitely don’t want to get to the point where we don’t intervene until we have 2 percent left.”

Going a step further, she is also trying to “train” corals to survive rising temperatures, exposing them to sub-lethal heat stress in the hope they can “somehow fix that in their memory” and survive similar stress in the future.

“It’s probably time that we start thinking outside the box,” Gates said. “It’s sort of a no-win game if we do nothing.”

 

On the web

NOAA Coral Reef Conservation: http://coralreef.noaa.gov

The Ocean Agency: http://www.theoceanagency.org

50 Reefs: https://50reefs.org

 

Environment, Featured News, News, Political

EPA chief ignores scientific consensus, says carbon dioxide not primary cause of warming

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The new chief of the Environmental Protection Agency said this week he does not believe that carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to global warming, a statement at odds with mainstream scientific consensus and his own agency.

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who has made his riches in the fossil fuel industry, said measuring the effect of human activity on the climate is “very challenging” and that “there’s tremendous disagreement about the degree of impact” of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

“So, no, I would not agree that (carbon dioxide) is a primary contributor to the global warming that we see,” Pruitt told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

Pruitt’s view is contrary to mainstream climate science, including NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the EPA itself.

NASA and NOAA reported in January that earth’s 2016 temperatures were the warmest ever. The planet’s average surface temperature has risen about 2 degrees Fahrenheit since the late 19th century, “a change driven largely by increased carbon dioxide and other human-made emissions into the atmosphere,” the agencies said in a joint statement.

The EPA says on its website that “carbon dioxide is the primary greenhouse gas that is contributing to recent climate change.” The agency notes that human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels, “release large amounts of CO2, causing concentrations in the atmosphere to rise.”

Kerry Emanuel, professor of atmospheric science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said “Scott Pruitt is just plain wrong on this.”

Emanuel, co-director of the Lorenz Center at MIT, said the most authoritative compilation of scientific research has shown that increasing carbon dioxide has been the dominant source of global warming, followed by methane and other gases.

Environmental groups and Democrats seized on Pruitt’s comments as evidence he is unfit for the office he holds.

“The arsonist is now in charge of the fire department and he seems happy to let the climate crisis burn out of control,” said Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune.

Pruitt “is spewing corporate polluter talking points rather than fulfilling the EPA’s mission of protecting our air, our water and our communities,” Brune said, noting that EPA has a legal responsibility to address carbon pollution.

Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said the comments underscore that Pruitt is a “climate denier” and insisted lawmakers will stand up to him.

“Anyone who denies over a century’s worth of established science and basic facts is unqualified to be the administrator of the EPA,” Schatz said in a statement.

Pruitt previously served as Oklahoma attorney general, where he rose to prominence as a leader in coordinated efforts by Republican attorneys general to challenge former President Barack Obama’s regulatory agenda. He sued or took part in legal actions against the EPA 14 times.

Pruitt said during his confirmation hearing in January that climate change is real — breaking with President Donald Trump and his own past statements.

Pruitt told Democratic senators that he disagreed with Trump’s earlier claims that global warming is a hoax created by the Chinese to harm the economic competitiveness of the United States.

“I do not believe climate change is a hoax,” Pruitt said.

The Republican has previously cast doubt on the extensive body of scientific evidence showing that the planet is warming and man-made carbon emissions are to blame. In a 2016 opinion article, Pruitt suggested that the debate over global warming “is far from settled” and he said “scientists continue to disagree about the degree and extent of global warming and its connection to the actions of mankind.”

Environment, Featured Views, Opinion, Views & Opinions, Walker Watch, Wisconsin

Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters: Leading on Lead testimony

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The Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters offered testimony in support of Senate Bill 48, or the “Leading on Lead” bill, at a public hearing in front of the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee.

The bill, introduced by Committee Chair Sen. Rob Cowles, aims to provide communities new tools to assist homeowners in replacing lead pipes.

League legislative director Jennifer Giegerich issued the following testimony to the committee:

We know at least 81 water systems in Wisconsin have tested for unsafe levels of lead. We also know that between 1996 and 2016 more than 200,000 children were diagnosed as being lead-poisoned.

The threat is real and it can be devastating. Lead – even in the smallest amounts – interferes with the synapses in a child’s brain. This damage manifests as decreased IQ, learning disability, and behavior dysfunction.

Lead leaches into water via lead water mains, lead laterals, old pipes, solder, and fixtures. The threat increases when municipalities replace pipes on public property and homeowners don’t replace them on their property. That’s because more lead is released into the drinking water supply when new lead-free pipes are soldered onto older lead pipes. Currently, water utilities have little flexibility to help homeowners replace lead pipes in their homes and on their property.

This bill would give communities the tools necessary to help get rid of these toxic lead pipes, allowing them to provide greater financial assistance to homeowners replacing them.

We again thank Sen. Cowles for his leadership on this issue and urge members of the committee to support SB 48.

Environment, Featured, Featured Views, Opinion, Views & Opinions

If there is a spill, they will have oil and blood on their hands

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A federal judge today declined to temporarily stop construction of the final section of the Dakota Access pipeline. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg’s decision came a week after he held a Feb. 28 hearing. The following is the response from Chase Iron Eyes, Lakota People’s Law Project Lead Counsel:

It is simply unacceptable that the government is allowing Energy Transfer Partners to build this pipeline through our sacred lands. The water the pipeline threatens supplies the Lakota and more than 17 million other people downstream.

Sunoco, which will operate Dakota Access upon its completion, is the worst pipeline company in America, responsible for more oil spills than any of its competitors. Sunoco is to blame for 254 pipeline leaks in the past 10 years alone, totaling nearly 1,200,000 gallons of oil despoiling Grandmother Earth in that time.

It’s reprehensible that Mr. Trump has fast-tracked this threat. It’s unconscionable that this administration is willing to forego the crucial environmental review demanded by tens of thousands of concerned citizens — not just the tribes, but people from all over the country who recognize the pipeline’s inherent danger. It’s unforgivable that there is no Plan B in the likely event of yet another spill.

Oil should never be allowed to flow through this pipeline until the legal process has played out in the courts, including the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s motion for a summary judgment. Now we have just learned that the army trusted a confidential memo from Energy Transfer Partners that intentionally masked the environmental and social justice impacts on our community.

Once again, the federal government and the army are treating the original inhabitants of this land as though we are less than human, as though our lives and lands are something to be ignored and discarded in the never-ending quest for profit.

The latest court ruling against my people is unjust and unacceptable. But I am here to tell you, this fight is not over and we will not surrender. Several steps remain in the legal process.

On March 10, Native Nations and water protectors from around the country will converge in Washington, D.C., to let the president, Judge Boasberg and the army know that they are accomplices to a dangerous, criminal corporation. If there is a spill, they will have oil and blood on their hands, and we will not let them forget it.

Lakota People’s Law Project is a project of the Romero Institute, a federally-recognized 501(c) (3) nonprofit based in Santa Cruz, CA.

Entertainment, Environment, Featured, Featured Entertainment, Screen

Epic ‘Planet Earth II’ offers creatures’-eye view of nature

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From jungles to deserts to mountains, the BBC’s epic nature series “Planet Earth II” takes viewers around the world — and around many genres of television.

The fortitude of a penguin family tugs heartstrings like a love story. The snail’s-pace courtship of a three-toed sloth is soothing comfort TV. And a life-or-death contest between baby iguanas and writhing racer snakes is heart-in-mouth action thriller.

The seven-part series, which begins in the U.S. on Saturday with a simulcast on BBC America, AMC and SundanceTV, is a spectacular demonstration of how far nature programs have come. And no one has been more closely linked to their evolution than David Attenborough, the 90-year-old naturalist who narrates “Planet Earth II.”

Attenborough has been making wildlife documentaries for so long that, when asked about the biggest technological change he’s seen, suggests “the shift from black-and-white to color” before settling on the transformative power of digital photography.

Speaking to The Associated Press ahead of the show’s U.S. premiere, he said in the days of celluloid film, “I went for as long as 2 1/2 months without seeing what I’d filmed.”

A decade ago, the BBC’s original “Planet Earth” was the first nature series filmed in high definition. The new series — shot in razor-sharp ultra-HD — uses even more technological wizardry. Stabilizers and drones let the cameras roam, capturing creatures’-eye-views of leaping lemurs and fighting Komodo dragons. Remote camera traps allowed close-ups of elusive snow leopards and grizzly bears.

The result is a show that gets viewers closer to the animals than ever before — and more emotionally involved. Broadcast in Britain in the fall, “Planet Earth II” has been sold around the world and starts airing this week in Canada and Australia.

Attenborough says in the past, program-makers felt “we weren’t giving the viewers the climax that they wanted” if a predator failed to catch their prey. In real life, he said, “the failure is more common and more significant than the catching. … Lions fail about eight times out of 10.”

Nowadays, producers understand that viewers often want to cheer for the underdog. When “Planet Earth II” aired in Britain, millions watched, caught between horror and hope, as newly hatched baby iguanas tried to make it across a Galapagos beach without being devoured by hungry racer snakes.

Series producer Tom Hugh-Jones said he thinks a growing number of female producers has added “a lot more emotion” to wildlife programs.

“They see different things, little looks or tender moments,” he said. “The male producers tend to go for the more bombastic stuff.”

The crew, who spent more than 2,000 days filming in 40 countries, also faced the fraught question of whether to intervene in life-and-death situations.

“We wouldn’t stop a predator from catching its prey, because that’s the natural cycle of things. And the predator needs to eat as much as the prey,” Hugh-Jones said.

But crew members stepped in to save a fledgling noddy bird that had become covered in sticky seeds.

“In certain situations, where you can see very little benefit of that bird dying, apart from maybe a bit of fertilizer for the tree, it feels fair enough to help the animal out of a sticky situation,” Hugh-Jones said.

It’s not just technology but the planet that has changed in the decade since the first “Planet Earth.” For one thing, a majority of the world’s population now lives in cities.

Alongside episodes exploring islands, mountains, jungles, deserts and grasslands, “Planet Earth II” devotes one episode to urban wildlife _ including Mumbai’s leopards, Manhattan’s peregrine falcons and the pesky raccoons of Toronto.

Climate change is also reshaping the globe and creating new dangers. It worries Attenborough, who has been exploring the beauty of the natural world for nine decades.

He admits he is not an optimist about the future of the natural world.

“I don’t think the world is going to recover to what it was like when I was a boy,” he said “But I am persuaded that we can ameliorate things. We can prevent things getting worse than they might be if we did nothing.”

Attenborough thinks the keys to that are cutting waste and getting far more of our energy from renewable sources. He’s among the scientists and educators behind the Global Apollo Program, aimed at drastically cutting the cost of carbon-free energy.

Attenborough believes plentiful and cheap green energy is “just out there, just beyond our reach. And all we need to do is organize scientific research to solve the particular problems on that roadmap.”

“It’s not there yet, but it’s possible,” he said. “And while there’s possibility, there’s hope.”

 

Environment, Featured, Featured News, News, Political, Tracking Trump

170 conservation groups urge Senate to reject Zinke for Interior Secretary

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Some 170 conservation groups are calling on the U.S. Senate to reject Rep. Ryan Zinke as the next interior secretary.

Senators will vote in the coming weeks on whether to place Zinke in charge of the nation’s more than 1,500 endangered species, as well as more than 500 million acres of public lands and minerals leasing for oil, gas and coal across the country and in waters.

A letter signed by the groups says Zinke earned just a 3 percent rating from the League of Conservation Voters during his two years in Congress.

At his Jan. 17 nomination hearing, he offered no indication he would manage the Department of the Interior differently from what his congressional voting record indicates: that he consistently put special interests ahead of the nation’s wildlife, natural heritage and climate.

“Zinke’s voting record qualifies him to be an exterminator, not the chief protector of America’s endangered animals and beautiful public lands,” said Kierán Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, one group that signed the letter.

As interior secretary, Zinke would oversee the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, one of two federal agencies responsible for administering the Endangered Species Act.

In Congress Zinke cast 21 votes against endangered species protections. He even opposed a crackdown on black-market ivory from poached African elephants.

At his confirmation hearing, Zinke endorsed increased fossil fuel extraction on public lands despite the fact that existing oil, gas and coal leases on public lands already account for a significant portion of the U.S.’s carbon pollution.

Additional reserves on public lands contain an estimated 450 billion tons of potential greenhouse gas pollution, which if fully tapped would dangerously tip the scales toward an unlivable planet for future generations.

“Forty percent of America’s coal and 21 percent of our oil are produced on federal land under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of the Interior. To address climate change, protect our environment, and prevent another BP-type oil catastrophe, we need an interior secretary who understands the science of climate change and will stand up to Big Coal and Big Oil. Zinke’s confirmation hearing made clear that he is the wrong man for this important job, and the Senate should not confirm him,” said Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen.

“Donald Trump has turned our foreign policy over to Big Oil and now he wants to hand them our public lands as well,” said Friends of the Earth president Erich Pica. “A movement formed to keep fossil fuels in the ground and that movement will resist Trump and his polluting agenda.”

 

Environment, Featured, Featured News, News, Political, Tracking Trump

RESIST: People’s Climate March set for April 29

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Climate activists have announced a major People’s Climate March on April 29 in Washington, D.C., and solidarity marches the country.

The effort is being organized by the coalition formed out of 2014’s People’s Climate March, which brought more than 400,000 people to the streets of New York City and many more around the world.

The April 29 march comes in response to outrage against President Donald Trump’s anti-climate agenda, including his executive orders advancing the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines.

“The climate crisis is an outcome of the long term disinvestment of low-income communities, and low-income communities of color,” said Rae Breaux, lead climate justice organizer for People’s Action Institute.

“President Trump’s First 100 Days plan is a clear sign that he will fast-track profits for corporations before he invests in the needs of the American people. Now is the time to come together and build an economy where investments are made to benefit workers, communities of color and low-income folks – an economy that is structured to reflect the fact that black, brown and indigenous lives matter,” she continued.

The People’s Climate Movement grew out of the largest climate march in U.S. history in New York in September 2014, creating a coalition of green and environmental justice groups, labor unions, faith, students, indigenous peoples and civil rights groups working to advance a climate agenda rooted in economic and racial justice.

Here’s what others are saying about climate action and standing up to Trump:

Jeremiah Lowery, environmental justice organizer, Washington, D.C.: “As a community member of the frontline, we must not be forgotten. The next 100 days are critical. Trump’s policies will have devastating impact on communities directly impacted by climate change. Supporting local organizing efforts will be important in any effort to stop Trump’s attack on our environment, health, and ultimately collective well-being”

Denise Abdul-Rahman, NAACP Indiana executive board member: “The NAACP mantra is about advocating for civil rights. Our grassroots based organization has injected civil disobedience to oppose the current attorney general appointee, we are asserting our voices and calling for a more just and inclusive policies and appointees. We are strategizing at local, state and federal level to curtail the oppressive policies espoused by the Koch Brothers and Alec. These are policies that disproportionately impact our communities, such as criminal justice, voting rights, jobs, women’s rights, health care, climate and education. We are with the People, and the People’s Climate Movement.”

The Rev. Leo Woodbury, Kingdom Living Temple in Florence, South Carolina: “President Trump’s issuing of executive orders rolling back President Obama’s climate agenda in his first days of office and his efforts at dismantling the EPA is a serious threat to our communities. In South Carolina and across the country, communities of color and low-income people are on the front-lines of the climate crisis and we need to fight back. This year we are rebuilding our church for the second time in two years due to flooding from storms that were stronger due to climate change. In our communities, and others across the country, people are dealing with wells and drinking water contaminated with human waste, pesticides and toxic chemicals due to overflow from storms that are stronger than ever before as a result of global warming.  We need to come together under the People’s Climate Movement banner in Washington, D.C. on April 29 to say we are fighting for our planet and our communities.”

Angela Adrar, executive director, Climate Justice Alliance: “For the next 100 days and as long as it will take, the Climate Justice Alliance is standing side by side across the U.S. in unity with the people — in defiance of those who want to divide us. Women of color will not be sacrificed, our communities will not be sacrificed — now is the time to fight for climate justice as it is key to our liberation and justice for all. Defenders of water, land, air, food, our bodies, and homes will unite across struggles to grow the resistance. Inauguration was just the beginning of a social movement uprising that is making Her-story.”

Aura Vasquez, director of climate justice, Center for Popular Democracy: “Around the country and the world, we agreed that climate change is real and affects those most vulnerable. We cannot afford to continue polluting our air and water. Our families deserve a healthy environment to live in. CPD is committed to continue pushing for climate justice with some of the strongest grassroots organizations in the country. We can’t back down now. We need climate solutions that protect the most vulnerable from climate change-related damage while finding viable solutions to our current climate crisis.”

Michelle Suarez, Florida Institute for Reform and Empowerment (FIRE):  “As the climate crisis worsens, it’s clear that women, children, indigenous nations, low-income and communities of color must lead the way. Marginalized communities can no longer be ignored, instead, real solutions must come from more intentional relationships with one another, an intersectional approach as we empower, educate, and mobilize towards ensuring more resilient communities, justice and equity for all.”

Chloe Jackson,Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment: “Communities across the country have been working for environmental and social justice for centuries. Now it’s time for our struggles to unite and work together across borders to fight racism, sexism, xenophobia, and environmental destruction. We have a lot of work to do, and we are stronger together. Our vision for a better future can be achieved if we join hands in this struggle and support each other.”

Mark Magaña, president and CEO, GreenLatinos: “Latino communities and GreenLatinos members across this country will stand together with the People’s Climate Movement and lift our voices for justice; the right to clean air and clean water; the right to a healthy, clean, and protected environment; the right to live. Latinos have a culture that is grounded in environmentalism and conservationism. It is a way of being for our community, and it is in our DNA. GreenLatinos members from across the country will join the People’s Climate March in Washington, DC on April 29th to bring that collective culture and wisdom to bare on the most anti-environment administration and Congress in generations.”

Jamie Henn, 350.org strategic communications director: “As Trump’s corrupt cabinet presents a dark and divisive vision for our world, we envision a world powered by renewable energy with an economy that works for all of us. For too long, a small few have exploited people and planet all in the name of profit. Now, we all must come together to fight for the world we know is possible.”

Dr. Rachel Cleetus, Union of Concerned Scientists: “Climate change is contributing to an increase in extreme weather disasters. We’re seeing more rains that come as deluges, stronger North Atlantic hurricanes, worsening droughts and heat waves, and a longer, more severe Western wildfire season. When disaster strikes, we see the same old pattern: low-income and minority communities are hit harder than others and have a much harder time recovering.”

Patrick Carolan, executive director, Franciscan Action Network: “Pope Francis, in his encyclical on ecology, Laudato Si, calls on “every person living on this planet” (LS#3) to “move forward in a bold cultural revolution.” (LS#114) It is our moral responsibility to enter in to dialogue with political and faith leaders and ardently work to care for our common home.”

Dominique Browning, Moms Clean Air Force: “We represent a million moms—and dads—from across the country. Republican and Democrat, we want to see action to cut the carbon and methane emissions that are changing our climate to so dangerously, and so rapidly. Climate change threatens the health of our children. We are ready to march, to show elected officials that we expect them to respect science, respect medicine, and do the right thing.”

Karina Castillo, Miami-based meteorologist and Moms Clean Air Force Organizer: “In Florida, Latinas understand that climate change is a major threat to our health, our livelihood, and our future. Our families and communities are on the line. We are going to make that loud and clear.”

Kieran Suckling, executive director, Center for Biological Diversity: “From coast-to-coast, we’ve seen a massive movement building to resist Trump and any policies that would hurt wildlife, marginalize entire classes of people and drive the climate deeper into crisis,” said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, which just completed its 16-city Earth2Trump tour across the country. “People from all walks of life, are speaking with a single voice of resistance against Trump and his corrupt agenda to gut climate progress and dig fossil fuels from the ground. It’s a powerful movement that will show its mighty political force at the People’s Climate March in 2017 and over the next four years.”

Margrete Strand Rangnes, Public Citizen: “Despite the Trump Administration’s insistence to bury its head in the sand and deny the overwhelming scientific evidence, climate change is real and is impacting people’s lives. Moving away from fossil fuels and toward energy efficiency and renewable energy will not only lower energy prices for consumers, but also save lives and improve the health of people and communities”

Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune: “On April 29th, it’s going to be much clearer to Donald Trump that he won’t drag America or the world backwards on climate without the fight of his life. Our planet is in crisis, and voices from around the nation must and will be heard.”

Eva Lin (18 years old), Alliance for Climate Education fellow: “As a young person, a woman, and an immigrant, Trump’s presidency threatens my future career as an environmental activist, my bodily autonomy, and my right to simply exist in this country.”

Gene Karpinski, League of Conservation Voters: “The Trump administration’s agenda for the environment is a polluter’s dream. It’s one of the most dangerous we’ve seen yet. We must fight back — but it’s going to take all of us.”

Ernesto Vargas, League of Conservation Voters: “We must grow the resistance to this administration’s disregard for our climate and our communities. We must organize to guarantee that the political power of communities of color is seen, heard and felt at the White House.”

Alexa Aispuro,  League of Conservation Voters: “As a young woman, I believe now more than ever our communities are ready to stand up for Mother Earth. I want to ensure that future generations have access to clean air and water, hope for curbing climate change. That’s why I look forward to joining the April 29th march and encouraging others in my state and around the country to do the same.”

Mike Tidwell, Chesapeake Climate Action Network: “This morning, Trump made clear that he is putting pipelines over people. We want to make clear: We will never stop fighting. In Trump’s first 100 days of office, we will continue mobilizing a historic movement to protect our water, our climate, and our communities.”

Environment, Featured, Featured News, News, Political

Baldwin, Johnson introduce bill to lift protections for wolves

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U.S. Sens. Tammy Baldwin and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin are co-sponsors of legislation that would lift federal protections for gray wolves in the Midwest and Wyoming.

The other sponsors are John Barrasso and Mike Enzi of Wyoming and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.

Similar legislation was introduced earlier this year in the U.S. House by Wisconsin Congressman Sean Duffy.

The aim of these lawmakers is to prevent courts from overruling a decision by the Interior Department to remove wolves in Wyoming, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan from the endangered species list.

In a news release, Johnson said, “I strongly agree with the feedback I’ve heard from Wisconsin stakeholders such as farmers, ranchers, loggers and sportsmen that future gray wolf listing decisions should come from wildlife experts, not from courtrooms.”

Baldwin said, “The Endangered Species Act plays a critical role in saving species from the brink of extinction, and when it does, we must acknowledge we have succeeded in restoring wildlife populations by delisting them. According to both federal and state wildlife biologists, this goal has been achieved with the gray wolf.”

She said she also heard “from farmers, sportsmen and wildlife experts, and they all agree. The wolf has recovered and we must return its management back to the state of Wisconsin, both for the safety and economic well-being of Wisconsinites and the balance of our environment.”

The  news release said the senators’ measure would “allow wolf management plans that are based on federal and state wildlife expertise to move forward without any legal ambiguity.”

Those management plans allow the trapping and hunting of wolves, including using dogs in the “sport” in Wisconsin. In Wyoming, the management plan allows unlimited shoot-on-sight killing of wolves across 85 percent of the state.

“A new Congress has resurfaced an old vendetta against imperiled wolves,” said Marjorie Mulhall, senior legislative counsel at Earthjustice. “If this legislation is signed into law, wolves  in Wyoming will be subjected to unregulated killing across the vast majority of the state and even on the borders of Yellowstone National Park numerous legal loopholes will authorize widespread wolf killing.”

She continued, “We urge those who support the protection of wolves to call their senators and representatives and tell them to vote down this lethal legislation.”

On the Web

The House bill.

The Senate bill.

Wisconsin congressional delegation contacts.

Featured, Featured News, News, Walker Watch, Wisconsin

Position cuts, mission shift lead to scaled-back DNR under Walker

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Gov. Scott Walker promised to transform the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. And he has — cutting scientists, shrinking its budget and pushing the agency to be more receptive to industry.

And even more changes could be in store. Walker and Republican lawmakers, who hold their largest majorities in decades, are pondering whether to eliminate the agency and spread its duties across state government as well as charge people more to get into state parks and to hunt. It all adds up to a picture of a struggling agency no one recognizes any more, critics say.

“They want this chamber of commerce mentality,” said Scott Hassett, who served as DNR secretary under former Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle. “That’s a different image than protector of natural resources. It’s sad.”

Agency officials and the Walker administration counter that the DNR is doing fine, carrying out its mission to protect the environment and enhance resources while becoming more customer-friendly.

Walker spokesman Tom Evenson said the DNR has become “more efficient, effective, transparent, and accountable” since Walker took office.

Republicans have long criticized the DNR, saying its pollution and hunting regulations are too strict, making it difficult for businesses to expand and draining the fun from outdoor sports.

Walker’s three state budgets cut $59 million from the DNR and eliminated nearly 200 positions, including half of its science researchers.

Last month DNR officials announced a major reorganization to deal with staffing cuts, including allowing large livestock farm operators to use consultants to help write permit applications so DNR staff won’t have to spend so much time on them.

The budgets also have scaled back the stewardship program and removed support for state parks, leaving them to survive on fees.

That’s created a $1.4 million deficit in the parks account, and Walker’s now mulling raising access fees.

In 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cited 75 deficiencies in how the DNR handles water regulation. Two environmental groups sued the DNR in 2014 to force the agency to adopt federal air pollution standards that were published a year earlier. The agency finally adopted them late last year.

This past June, state auditors found the agency wasn’t following its own policies for policing pollution from large livestock farms and wastewater treatment plants.

The audit also found a permit backlog for large farms, with DNR employees not having enough time to closely monitor the farms’ operations.

Last fall federal regulators visited the DNR to investigate claims that the agency is failing to enforce water pollution laws and regulations. The EPA hasn’t released any findings yet. And last month the agency removed language from its website that stated human activities are causing climate change, saying instead that the cause is debatable even though most scientists agree burning fossil fuels causes global warming.

What’s more, waning interest in hunting has resulted in fewer license purchases, creating a $4 million gap between revenue and spending authority for habitat management projects. The DNR has suggested Walker make up the difference by raising hunting and fishing license fees.

“So many changes and roadblocks have tied DNR’s hands so dramatically that they’re really not able to do the job the public expects them to be doing,” said Amber Meyer Smith, a lobbyist for environmental advocacy group Clean Wisconsin, a plaintiff in the air lawsuit.

Scott Manley, a lobbyist for Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the state’s largest business group and a key Republican constituency, said the DNR has become friendlier to businesses and is still doing its job despite the staffing cuts.

DNR spokesman James Dick cited a list of accomplishments. They included improved air quality — a DNR report released in September found air pollution has dropped statewide over the last decade — efforts to recruit hunters and the purchase of a conservation easement on 67,000 acres in northern Wisconsin, the largest conservation purchase in state history.

He also pointed out the agency is working to correct the EPA-identified deficiencies, walleye stocking has expanded and the agency has made strides in building a customer service image.

“There will always be critics who vocally disagree with what we’re doing but we prefer to note the accomplishments we’ve made over the last five years,” Dick said. “Since the start of this DNR administration, we have always believed it is possible to protect the environment, wildlife habitat and other natural resources without impeding the economic growth and development of our state.”

The agency still isn’t getting any love from GOP lawmakers. Rep. Adam Jarchow has resurrected a proposal to split the DNR into two new departments that would handle wildlife and pollution and spread the rest of the agency’s duties across three existing agencies. He has said the DNR doesn’t function in its current form.

Republicans have tried to break up the agency before but have failed in the face of opposition from outdoor clubs and environmental groups. Still, Walker has said the plan is worth pursuing. Five former DNR secretaries who served under both Democrats and Republicans, including Hassett and George Meyer, now executive director of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation, sent Walker a letter last week urging him to keep the agency intact.

Meyer, who served under Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson, said in a telephone interview that Walker is building a “negative” environmental legacy.

“His idea of customer service,” Meyer said, “is really just a business customer service.”

Environment, Featured, Featured News, News, Progressive, Wisconsin

Wisconsin tribe wants pipeline removed

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A Chippewa tribe in Wisconsin is calling for 12 miles of pipeline to be removed from its reservation after 64 years of operation, saying they want to protect their land and water from oil spills.

The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa’s tribal council approved a resolution earlier this month refusing to renew easements for 11 parcels of land along a section of Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline, which carries oil and natural gas liquids 645 miles from Canada to eastern Michigan.

The resolution also calls for decommissioning the pipeline and removing it from the tribe’s reservation along the shores of Lake Superior in far northern Wisconsin. The resolution also directs tribal staff to prepare recycling, disposal and surface restoration work that would come with removal.

“We depend upon everything that the creator put here before us to live mino-bimaadiziwin, a good and healthy life,” Bad River Chairman Robert Blanchard said in a news release. “These environmental threats not only threaten our health, but they threaten our very way of life as (Chippewa).”

But it isn’t clear whether the tribe can force removal of the pipeline.

Brad Shamla, Enbridge’s vice president of U.S. operations, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview  it was too early to speculate on what authority the tribe may have.

Officials with Calgary-based Enbridge say there’s never been a spill on the Bad River reservation.

The resolution surprised the company, Shamla said, because Enbridge and the tribe have been negotiating renewal of easements on the 11 parcels – which expired in 2013 – for the last three years. The easements for the majority of the remaining parcels on Bad River tribal land extend until 2043 or rest in perpetuity.

“We’d really like to understand better what’s prompting this at this time,” Shamla said.

Dylan Jennings, a Bad River council member, said in a telephone interview that the tribe believes it’s only a matter of time until the aging pipeline ruptures. No amount of compensation or negotiation will change its position, he said.

“A 64-year-old pipe in the ground is not something we’re prepared to leave behind for future generations,” he said.

Asked about next steps, Jennings said the Bad River is a sovereign nation and shouldn’t need approval from any federal or state regulators to force the line out. But the situation is unprecedented — most people stop pipelines before they go in, not after they’re built, he said — and the tribe will need “guidance.”

Jennings said the push to remove the pipe has nothing to do with protests in North Dakota over Energy Transfer Partners’ plans to build a section of the Dakota Access oil pipeline under a Missouri River reservoir. The Standing Rock Sioux and the Cheyenne River Sioux are challenging the pipeline’s permits at numerous water crossings.

Enbridge’s Line 5 has been a flashpoint of contention in Michigan. Environmentalists fear a portion of pipeline that runs beneath the Straits of Mackinac, which link Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, could rupture and cause catastrophic damage to the Great Lakes.

Shamla insisted the line is safe and is inspected at least once every five years to determine the extent of corrosion as well as spot dents, potential cracks and other problems. The company checks the portion that runs beneath the Straits of Mackinac every two years, he said.

“We’ve maintained and operated this line safely for more than 60 years,” he said.