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Environment

South Florida wading birds nested like crazy in 2018, a great sign for the Everglades

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Spoonbills an indicator of health for Florida Bay

Dr. Jerry Lorenz, Audubon Florida research director, explains during a visit to South Nest Key why roseate spoonbills, along with other wading birds, are a major indicator of the health of Florida Bay. By Carl Juste
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Dr. Jerry Lorenz, Audubon Florida research director, explains during a visit to South Nest Key why roseate spoonbills, along with other wading birds, are a major indicator of the health of Florida Bay. By Carl Juste

Wading birds in the Everglades built more nests in 2018 than any other year in the last 80, a record-breaking nesting event made possible by the right balance of wet and dry conditions in the delicate ecosystem. And after heading north to nest in recent years, the birds returned to the southern Everglades, their traditional nesting grounds.

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Earth Day: Not a Single Environmental Prediction of the Last 50 Years Has Come True

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By Nicolas Loris – Re-Blogged From Bangor Daily News

This Earth Day, it almost feels like we should be carving some turkey. Why? Because we have a lot to be thankful for since the first Earth Day event occurred 49 years ago.

We should be thankful that the gloom-and-doom predictions made throughout the past several decades haven’t come true. Fear-mongering about explosive population growth, food crises and the imminent depletion of natural resources have been a staple of Earth Day events since 1970. And the common thread among them is that they’ve stirred up a lot more emotions than facts.

George Danby | BDN
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Why Renewables Can’t Save the Planet

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By Michael Shellenberger – Re-Blogged From Quillette

When I was a boy, my parents would sometimes take my sister and me camping in the desert. A lot of people think deserts are empty, but my parents taught us to see the wildlife all around us, including hawks, eagles, and tortoises.

After college, I moved to California to work on environmental campaigns. I helped save the state’s last ancient redwood forest and blocked a proposed radioactive waste repository set for the desert.

In 2002, shortly after I turned 30, I decided I wanted to dedicate myself to addressing climate change. I was worried that global warming would end up destroying many of the natural environments that people had worked so hard to protect.

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Looming US Technology-Security Minerals Crisis?

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By Paul Driessen – Re-Blogged From WUWT

Impacts from the 1973 OPEC oil embargo could pale by comparison to an embargo or other disrupted access to the exotic, critical and strategic metals and minerals that are essential for energy, computer, defense and other technologies that are the foundation for virtually every facet of US economy and security. Right now, the United States imports up to 100% of those materials – and two dozen of them come 60% to 100% from China, Russia or mines controlled by those two countries.

Ironically, we likely have all of them right under our feet. But the United States is the only nation in the world that locks them up, makes them inaccessible under almost any conditions. My article lays out some of the steps that must be taken to address this untenable, unsustainable situation … and cites a new book that provides fascinating and disturbing details about it.

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Electri-Fried Fusion

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By Renee Hannon – Re-Blogged From WUWT

My dad is an off-the-grid kind of guy and the cost of his lifestyle choice is usually secondary. He was one of the first in Delaware to install a solar hot water heater on his roof in the early 1970s. During the past decades a gorgeous oak tree grew tall and shaded his solar panels. But that’s OK because the oak tree brought birds, squirrels and other wildlife near his deck for countless hours of viewing pleasure. So, in a sunny spot he put solar panels on the garage roof plus a new free-standing solar panel by the driveway. That free-standing solar panel is big enough to park a car under and, so far, the neighbors haven’t complained. I’m not sure what those solar panels cost but his electric bill is about $5 a month. Continue reading →

We All Must Sacrifice for the Environment

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Foreword by Paul Dreissen – Re-Blogged From WUWT

Being “hoisted by his own petard” means the bomb maker gets blown up and lifted sky high by his own explosive device. Former Colorado Department of Natural Resources director Greg Walcher notes that the term applies with delicious irony to the in-your-face, holier-than-thou environmentalists who inhabit and run San Francisco.

Determined to save locally endangered salmon populations, they and the State of California have long demanded and imposed water use reductions by Central Valley farmers. But now the California Water Resources Board wants further water use reductions – and this time those reductions will also hit city residences, schools and businesses, and hit them hard: a hefty portion of 98 billion to 220 billion gallons less water per year! Imagine how many baths, showers, laundry and dishwasher loads, and other “essentials” that would mean.

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Taming the EPA Regulatory Hydra

usissuescom GDP & Employment, Regulation , , , ,

Foreword by Paul Dreissen – Re-Blogged From WUWT

In recent years, the US Environmental Protection Agency published over 25% of all pages of regulations issued by all federal government agencies, including 13 of the 28 most costly rules. In fact, EPA has been responsible for half of all costs imposed by federal regulations on American businesses and families – often for few or no actual environmental, health or welfare benefits.

The Trump Administration has taken important steps to rein in this Regulatory Hydra. However, another anti-business, hyper-regulatory administration could reverse those gains, especially because a single Administrator runs an agency that has shown a penchant for exaggerating risks and hiding or ignoring any scientific evidence that questions its claims and proposals.

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