1. Once-in-a-lifetime housing opportunity
2. Bird watching on the beach in Pacifica Sunday 28
3. SPUR lunchtime forums - TODAY, and July 7
4. A once and future opportunity to get the skinny on Hetch Hetchy damming
5. End the occupation of Yosemite: March in the San Francisco Pride Parade this
Sunday
6. Crissy Field Center temporary relocation FONSI online
7. The History of Public Funding and the Arts – The Legacy of the New Deal, July 2
8. Keeping poultry in cities
9. Feedback: Dams, renewable energy, feral cats, lead shot
10. CNPS field trip this Saturday 27 June
11. Positive thinking's negative results
12. Voyage of the Dammed: Beaver experts gather to chart a path to a wetter West
13. Paradise Lost: Smyrna 1922 - The Destruction of Islam's City of Tolerance
1. Great house-buying opportunity
Peter Vaernet:
Hi Jake 345 Shields St, SF 94132 will soon be on the market. 3 bedrooms 2 baths...7 acre back yard...Where are the true native plant enthusiasts that will buy this place??? I need some help here for God's sake!!!!!!!!
(Peter is referring to the stewardship of Brooks Park, and he does need help. It is a wonderful park that includes an extensive natural area full of wildflowers in the spring, a large butterfly/wildlife garden, a children's playground, a Tai Chi area, and large community garden. All this in your own backyard! This chance may never happen again.)
***************************
2.
Sunday, June 28, 12:30 p.m. til 2 p.m. or later
Bird Watching on the Beach
Meet on Pacifica State Beach at the Monterey Cypress Tree, located at Highway One and Crespi Drive. Get an education on the birds commonly found on and around Pacifica State Beach. Learn the difference between a Western Snowy Plover and a Sanderling. Bring binoculars if you have them. All ages welcome!
This is a regular hike on the fourth sunday of the month.
Please contact us for more information or other Pacifica birdwalks:
outreach@pacificashorebird.org
www.pacificashorebird.org
*****************************
3. SPUR LUNCHTIME FORUMS
The Progressive origins of good government
Thursday, June 25, 12:30-1:30 p.m.
Charter reform, civil service, and settlement houses are all part of the intriguing tale of how progressive reformers responded to big-city "bossism." Buck Delventhal, deputy city attorney for San Francisco, and Phil Ginsburg, former director of the San Francisco Department of Human Resources, explore the origins and legacy of these turn-of-the-century reform efforts.
San Francisco Great Streets Project presents Enrique Peñalosa, Former Mayor of Bogotá, Colombia
Tuesday, July 7th 5:30-7:30 p.m.; Koret Auditorium, Main Public Library in San Francisco; Free, open to the public; Valet bicycle parking provided
Meet Enrique Peñalosa, former Mayor of Bogotá, Colombia and internationally-renowned innovator in the fields of transportation, housing and land use for large cities, as he discusses how San Francisco can learn from international best practices in urban public space development. San Francisco's successful Sunday Streets program is based on similar efforts in Bogotá. Thanks to Mayor Peñalosa, Bogota has also become an international gold standard for Bus Rapid Transit. Peñalosa will discuss how San Francisco can accomplish and benefit from further improvements to our city's public realm. This event will also celebrate the launch of the San Francisco Great Streets Project, a new campaign to catalyze the return of our city's streets to their rightful place as the center of civic life in this wonderful city by working with government, business and neighborhood leaders to test, analyze and institutionalize placemaking. Co-presented by SPUR and the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. This event is free and open to the public. No RSVPs are necessary.
(How do you like that - Valet bicycle parking!! Times have definitely changed.)
****************************
4. Unfortunately, I received this too late for posting in last newsletter:
LUNCHTIME FORUM
The story of Hetch Hetchy
Tuesday, June 23, 12:30-1:30 p.m.
Ever since the movie "Chinatown," Los Angeles has gotten bad press for "stealing" the Owens River to urbanize the San Fernando Valley. But why did San Francisco's leaders choose an expensive alternative, the Tuolumne River, to augment our local water supply, and then dam Hetch Hetchy Valley despite a nationwide outcry? Gray Brechin, historical geographer and author, explains the process by which arid land can be made to yield its most lucrative crop - a megalopolis.
(JS: However, I will try to find another venue for a return visit, as this topic is of immense interest to me. We were never told the true story of some of these environmentally devastating projects, and the particular interests that were served. The following note from Gray)
Gray:
Weirdly, an elderly Russian attacked me from the audience for being so anti-capitalist and wanting to live under a dictator like Stalin as had he. He was so angry that it was hard for me to make out what he was spluttering. He asked me if I hated capitalism so much, what alternative would I prefer: I said "Norway," and then called on the next person while he inveighed against THAT country. There's no winning!
I thought about what he had to say as illustrative of the false dualities we are given. Ursula LeGuin wrote about this in her novel THE DISPOSSESSED: both alternatives are hell. (As head of the "free world," Franklin Roosevelt once said "Necessitous men are not free men.") My perspective is always biocentric: both unrestrained capitalism and communism destroy nature. In the wonderful movie THE GOLDEN COMPASS, the young girl Lyra Belacqua discovers that there are multiple parallel universes about which the ruling Magisterium does not want people to know. That is why I've been studying the New Deal and the Scandinavian systems since they demonstrate that there is a third or fourth or fifth way that might lead us out of the false choice with which I was challenged yesterday.
***********************
5. End the Occupation of Yosemite
March with Restore Hetch Hetchy!
On June 28th Restore Hetch Hetchy is marching in the San Francisco Pride Parade. SF Pride is the largest public event in Northern California, and we want you to be part of our large and noisy contingent.
In the spirit of irony and fun, which is ever-present at the Pride Parade, each of our marchers will receive a limited edition t-shirt that has our logo on the front and says, "End the Occupation of Yosemite" on the back.
The parade route is about 1 mile. Our contingent will line up for the parade at 10 AM on Beale St. between Howard and Folsom and we'll be marching roughly 1 mile up Market to Civic Center. Our marchers will have banners, signs, stickers, t-shirts, and some light breakfast snacks provided. We hope you'll join us to support the restoration of the Hetch Hetchy Valley, and you're encouraged to bring your friends and family. If you want to participate don't forget to tell us your t-shirt size!
Contact Max with any questions and to RSVP: (415) 956-0401 or by email at max@hetchhetchy.org.
(MORE HETCHY IN THE FEEDBACK SECTION, BELOW)
***********************
6.
Release of FONSI for the Crissy Field Center Temporary Relocation Project
View the FONSI online at:
http://parkplanning.nps.gov/goga (click on project title)
************************
7. (Save the date: event location was not supplied, so it will be in next newsletter.)
Panel Discussion: The History of Public Funding and the Arts – The Legacy of the New Deal
Thursday, July 2, 2009, 6:00-8:00pm
Speakers: Lincoln Cushing, Tim Drescher, Mark Johnson
Moderator: Gray Brechin, Project Scholar, California’s Living New Deal Project
Funding public artwork benefits more than the artists – viewers witness their space transformed and the art enhances the urban landscape. The arts were greatly supported during the New Deal era and many WPA projects are located in the San Francisco Bay Area. With the recent election of a new president, will money be used to fund art and culture? Panelists speak to the similarities between the present era and the New Deal as they relate to public arts and government funding.
Lincoln Cushing is a librarian, archivist, lecturer, and archival consultant for nonprofit and community organizations. He is the author of a number of books, including the forthcoming Agitate! Educate! Organize! - American Labor Posters, Cornell University Press, expected 2009, which he co-authored with Timothy Drescher. Timothy W. Drescher, Ph.D. is an independent scholar who has been studying, documenting, and photographing community murals since 1972. Mark Dean Johnson is gallery director at San Francisco State University. His curatorial work includes a focus on California contemporary and historical art, and several of his projects have explored under-represented contributions to regional art history.
*************************
8.
Keeping poultry in cities
Checking out the chicks
The financial and health reasons behind a new craze
ONE day Judith Haller was watching television and saw that Martha Stewart had chickens. “I was very envious that she had her own chicken manure,” she recalls. So last year, she got a couple of chickens on behalf of her vegetable garden. They proved to be industrious providers and pleasant companions. Now there are 13 hens pecking around the yard. And Ms Haller has become an advocate for a hot movement: backyard chickens. In April, as part of Austin’s first Funky Chicken Coop Tour, she hosted 637 visitors.
Chickens are having a moment. For Americans who are concerned about eating locally or organically, hens can help. They produce fresh, free-range eggs. They eat table scraps, and their waste goes in the compost pile. Finances are a factor for some families. Mimi Bernhardt says that she and her partner became more reflective about sustainability when the economy worsened. Now they are growing melons, tomatoes, onions and aubergines, and they raise ducks as well as chickens. Their grocery bill has plummeted. There is also a pet aspect. Hens are soft and fluffy, if not very affectionate. As Ms Haller puts it, they make cats seem like dogs.
It is impossible to know exactly how many Americans have joined this trend. The Department of Agriculture does not track hobbyists. Owners can register via the National Animal Identification System, but it is strictly voluntary. This is a sore point with some health experts, who say that America needs a better way to keep track of its animals.
In any case, signs point to a bird surge. Hatcheries that deliver chicks by mail have reported backlogs. Rob Ludlow, the owner of BackyardChickens.com, says that his forum has 35,000 members and about 100 more joining each day. Backyard poultry groups meet in at least two dozen cities, from Seattle in Washington to Tallahassee in Florida. Over the past few years many cities have, in response to public pressure, relaxed ordinances against the birds.
Andy Schneider, a radio host known as the Chicken Whisperer, says he gets calls every day from people who are interested in challenging their city council on this score. Web sites like Craigslist, Facebook and Twitter help them organise. “If you have 50 people wearing buttons saying ‘I love chickens’ on the steps of the courthouse, it does make a statement,” he says.
The Economist, 20 June 2009
************************
9. Feedback
Christopher Swan wrote:
Victoria Smith's piece is good insofar as it goes, but there are some other elements. You might forward this to her?
* Dams destroy far more than the river, they result in less groundwater recharging and the result land subsidence, increasing salts on the surface of the land and ultimately grasslands or farms turn to deserts. If anyone doubts this they might want to take a look at the land, it's obvious. Desertification is marching north in the Central Valley.
* Diverting water from rivers has also destroying a vast estuary in California, and in countless other places, first by destruction of upstream habitat, second by changing salinity in the estuary, third by eliminating seasonal wetlands and marshes that function as nursery for fish, and fourth by decreasing the quantity of natural salts that would otherwise reach the bay and ocean. Note that carbon dioxide is now shifting the ocean's pH to acidity, this is (almost certainly) due in part to the lack of natural salts entering the sea.
* About 48% of freshwater in the US goes directly to centralized power plants for boiler feed water, and that means the primary function of many reservoirs is to serve other power plants. The dams were "sold" as a means of obtaining freshwater, but in fact people actually drink a tiny portion (~1%) and 74% of the US population drinks bottled water according to USGS.
* Hydroelectric power from big dams is not dependable due to weather and competing demands for water. A major drought, as in Rocky Mountains, essentially reduces the hydroelectric output. From one year to the next one cannot assume a given hydroelectric facility will function at or even near capacity.
* The notion that such power is "green" is ludicrous considering net energy analysis and downstream damage. What is the cost of lost fisheries? What is the cost in jobs and sustainable yield from those fisheries? How much energy was consumed in building the dam, and how much is produced and how much is lost in transmission?
* Saving water with reservoirs is a myth. Evaporation rates are very high, so it's a highly questionable claim. But what's really not noticed is the relative value of storing water underground. The Central Valley was one big underground reservoir, and there were artesian wells. No longer.
* Flood protection is fantasyland. Check the rivers and how they rise as a result of silt accumulation in the bed of the river. There are places in the Central Valley where the top of the levee, and the river in winter, can be 30 feet above the surrounding land, which is kept dry with pumps that use electricity, gobs of it. The risk of catastrophic floods in the CV is greater now than it ever was.
* Recreation value of reservoirs was one reason for their development, but in fact that's rarely materialized and where it has it's not a significant or dependable economy.
In sum, given what we are facing in terms of global ecological and climatic change I have come to the conclusion that humanity needs to return rivers and river systems to their natural state of existence as fast as humanly possible. The shift to renewable energy translates to that 48% of freshwater returning to rivers, and recycling water in buildings translates to "use" of less than five percent of what we're using now.
Or to put it another way, why are we moving water hundreds of miles from remote reservoirs, dirtying it, then cleaning it, then throwing it in the ocean and claiming we have a water shortage and thus building desalinization plants? Then we ignored the fact that most cities receive more in rain than they do from reservoirs, and we clean this in many cities and pour it down the drain. This is insane.
What would the value of fisheries be, in jobs and food, if we restored the entire SF Bay watershed?
Onward,
Christopher Swan
Frank Noto:
Jake - Interesting stuff, as always.
I'm not sure the math on renewable energy is quite as daunting as MacKay makes it out. First of all, he assumes that we will (or need to) change entirely to renewable sources. That's unlikely. And my impression is that some non-renewable sources (e.g., gas) are relatively clean when it comes to climate changing emissions. Let's assume then that 30% of our energy comes from non-renewables in some future decade.
The second fallacy in his argument is that he entirely ignores other sources of renewable energy -- hydro, biomass, thermal, co-generation, wave, etc. Let's assume that 20% of our energy comes from those sources (I'm making these numbers up, others may have better information about why my estimates are unduly optimistic or pessimistic. My guess is that they could be much higher, but I am no expert).
Thirdly, I'm not sure why a 100-fold or 2.5 fold increase in US wind or nuclear power is not feasible over time (if we reduce our need for renewables by 50% then 100 fold /2.5 fold are presumably the appropriate numbers). Other nations certainly have ten times as much solar or nuclear use as we do already, for example, so why not 100 times or 2.5 times as much? I just do not intuitively believe his "mathematical" argument holds water.
And of course, this analysis does not include fusion, lasers, "clean coal," or other more long-range dreams of power. These could shred his argument entirely -- though for now they appear to just be dreams.
By the way, I'm not advocating for or against any one source of energy. I was not a fan of T. Boone Pickens' plan to convert California vehicles to natural gas on the taxpayers dime, nor am I an advocate for subsidized nuclear power. I just think things are not quite as gloomy as Mackay indicates in terms of engineering solutions.
I wish you would be gloomy, Frank. I see us going down a road and that we haven't the vaguest idea where it's taking us. There are costs to everything, including renewables. As I said in my response to an item in the same newsletter that you're responding to, it would be nice if, for once, we'd look down the road to see the consequences of our "solutions". We're talking more than just energy, Frank. I would hope that we're more than economic creatures that consume on one end and excrete on the other--that there's such a thing as life worth living. No one is talking about quality of life, only energy and how to generate it. The facile response is "Jake, people aren't going to think about those things when they're hungry", which is true--but not to the point. Before we get to such a desperate state why not think first and develop a plan based on what is known? There won't avoid unforeseeable problems down the road, but we would have done our best to anticipate them. Won't happen; we will continue to lurch from one "solution" to another until we're in that straitjacket where there are no options left, just sheer survival to the next moment.
I wish you would be gloomy, Frank.
I'm not sure we disagree much, Jake. While I believe the engineering solutions are available, I'm not so sure about what is politically feasible. I'm pretty gloomy about political solutions, too, though we are far better off regarding what comes out of the next 4 years, than we would have been with 4 years of McBush/Palin.
Before we get to such a desperate state why not think first and develop a plan based on what is known?
Can't disagree with you there, Jake. But planning for the future is not a strong point of democratic governments ... Or of any governments anywhere, come to think of it, when the costs are high in the present and the benefits are many years away, and the future is uncertain.
I do think it makes sense to build a constituency in our democracy for planning for our future. Let's work together on that, shall we?
I reprint from last email:
Ian: You have lobbed this grenade into my bunker just as I am about to succumb to permanent depression about this energy thing and where it's taking us. When your email arrived I was in the midst of visions of solar panels stretched across all the world's deserts and arid areas, of windmills atop every windy ridge in the country (slicing up birds, to boot), of turbines lining our shores, capturing the energy of the tides, and, and, and...
Be careful of this renewable energy thing; it's dynamite. And no thought will be given the consequences down the road. Consequences? Perish the thought. It's not our way of doing business.
Susan, Feral Cat Volunteer:
Dear Jake, What do you expect from the American Bird Conservancy, a film that has anything good to say about cats living outdoors. I wish the NAP people would look beyond one-sided anti-cat rhetoric and see that the people doing T-N-R in San Francisco are working for the interests of all animals. We are reducing the numbers of cats by spaying and neutering, removing kittens and tame newly dumped strays. The statistics from the Bird Conservancy are often out of date. Where T-N-R has been in place as it has in San Francisco, outdoor cat populations go down. Golden Gate Park used to have a large number of cats, now there are only a few, largely geriatric cats left. Susan, Feral Cat Volunteer
Susan: Don't shoot the messenger. I post items that people send me, evaluate them to the extent I can, and hope to stimulate constructive conversation--which often happens. Are you saying that the Trap, Neuter, Release program is working in San Francisco, counter to what my correspondent's item stated? And how does the public know when it is working and when not? I strive to provide factual information to my newsletter recipients. (I'm not always successful.)
I take exception to your remark about "NAP people". Who are they? If you're talking about the SF Rec-Park Natural Areas Program, they definitely are not guilty of anti-cat rhetoric; they are part of a public agency, and they do not engage in advocacy or rhetoric. Nor do I, nor any of my friends and associates who work as volunteers with the NAP. We all want dialogue, but it needs to be based in fact, otherwise it's pointless.
I certainly didn't think I was shooting anyone, just trying to get out the word. Yes, Trap-Neuter-Return is working brilliantly in San Francisco.Because of it, hundreds of thousands of cats have never been born and when new, unsterilized cats show up, they get fixed as soon as someone can catch them. I have been involved with T-N-R for a long time, and have first-hand experience with cat colonies in a number of areas in San Francisco.Colonies where there are kittens can be reduced dramatically right away. I have heard the American Bird Conservancy's mantra over and over. It is though they are stuck in a time-warp of cats rrunning wild through streets and parks.
As for NAP, the current Environmental Impact Report singles cats out and a few sections need to be changed.
My fondest hope is that both the bird people and the cat people can come together and try to work together, recognizing that both birds and cats are important. Have you heard about Project Bay Cat in Foster City? There is a nature trail where cats had been dumped and had bred. Foster City Officials, the Audubon Society and a very energetic cat lover named Cimeron Morrissey worked together to spay and neuter all the cats, remove kittens and move cat colonies away from nesting birds. It has gotten national attention as a collaboration that has been a win for all sides. I would like to see the same thing in San Francisco which has great spay-neuter resources. Honest collaboration really does work better than demonization-something the Bird Conservancy unhappily does well.
Thanks, Susan. It's nice to have a civilized conversation with people about a topic that is too often divisive and emotional. On this particular item we have opinions that the San Francisco TNR is not working and that it is working. Regardless of what the situation is, it is apparent that you are doing valuable work--and I thank you for it.
In regard to the NAP EIR--cats definitely have an impact, so an EIR cannot ignore the subject. They catch birds and other wildlife, and alter the natural system in various unseen ways. I understand your feeling toward them and your advocacy on their behalf. A working TNR is very helpful in reducing impacts and reducing the number of cats in the wild. But it does not solve the problem nor does it stop the impacts on wildlife. You are focused on this aspect, and I am focused on natural systems, so we have difficulty talking to each other. But talking is important, so let's keep it up for awhile until we start repeating ourselves.
Jeff Miller:
Hi Jake - regarding item #10 on lead ammunition poisoning, Eli sent his comments to me also (as well as a number of other activists on this issue). We are reasonably certain Eli was responding to a NRA alert on this issue and is using NRA talking points to try to counter the information on lead poisonings from ammunition. His arguments have no basis in fact. Here is the response I sent to Eli:
The evidence of lead poisonings of birds and mammals from ingesting lead shot and bullet fragments as well as lead sinkers and fishing tackle is extensive and overwhelming. There is no credible debate about whether this is occurring.
There is an abundance of scientific research showing that lead ammunition is the primary cause of lead toxicology for scavenging birds, and ingestion of lead fishing weights is the primary cause of lead toxicology for ducks, swans, dabbling birds, game birds, etc. and predators of those birds.
Please read these sources:
Proceedings of the Peregrine Fund Conference, Ingestion of Lead from Spent Ammunition: Implications for Wildlife and Humans http://www.peregrinefund.org/Lead_conference/2008PbConf_Proceedings.htm
This review of scientific studies in 2006 found 59 bird species that have so far been documented to have ingested lead or suffered lead poisoning from ammunition sources:
http://www.ventanaws.org/pdf/species_condor_lead/LeadPoisoningStudyFisher_et_al2006.pdf
NPS list of scientific studies:
http://www.nps.gov/pinn/naturescience/leadstudies.htm
Center for Biological Diversity web page on the lead poisoning of condors, which is the leading cause of death for condors and the biggest threat to their recovery:
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/get_the_lead_out/index.html
10.California Native Plant Society field trip
Saturday 27 June, 1 pm to 4 pm
Fire-follower field trip to Owl and Buckeye Canyons (San Bruno Mountain)
Leaders: Jake Sigg, Doug Allshouse, Joe Cannon
This trip follows our February field trip to the same place to see the progress of recovery from the very hot June 2008 fire. On our February excursion, fortunately, our worst fears--that prolonged, intense heat would root-kill perennial grasses and forbs--did not happen. And late-June should give us more information than was available in late winter. A few of the less-than-common plants: angelica, aster, California hazelnut, tinker's penny (Hypericum anagalloides), thimbleberry, hummingbird sage, blue elderberry, yellow-eyed grass, and one plant of blue witch (Solanum umbelliferum). There were many grasses rushes, and sedges, many of which we were not able to identify in early season. This may be a challenge for those of you who are into these groups of interesting plants.
Please RSVP to Doug Allshouse: dougsr228@comcast.net, 415-584-5114. He will supply directions to meeting place.
**************************
11.
Positive thinking's negative results
Words of wisdom
For some people, optimistic thoughts can do more harm than good
“I CAN pass this exam”, “I am a wonderful person and will find love again” and “I am capable and deserve that pay rise” are phrases that students, the broken-hearted and driven employees may repeat to themselves over and over again in the face of adversity. Self-help books through the ages, including Norman Vincent Peale’s 1952 classic, “The Power of Positive Thinking”, have encouraged people with low self-esteem to make positive self-statements. New research, however, suggests it may do more harm than good.
Getty Images I am important. I am, really
Since the 1960s psychologists have known that people are more accepting of ideas close to their own views and resistant to those that differ. With regard to self-perception, if a person who believes they are reasonably friendly is told that they are extremely gregarious, they will probably accept the idea. But if told they are socially aloof, the idea will most likely be met with resistance and doubt.
...Dr Wood suggests that positive self-statements cause negative moods in people with low self-esteem because they conflict with those people’s views of themselves. When positive self-statements strongly conflict with self-perception, she argues, there is not mere resistance but a reinforcing of self-perception. People who view themselves as unlovable find saying that they are so unbelievable that it strengthens their own negative view rather than reversing it. Given that many readers of self-help books that encourage positive self-statements are likely to suffer from low self-esteem, they may be worse than useless.
Excerpted from The Economist 13.06.09
*************************
12. Voyage of the Dammed
Beaver experts gather to chart a path to a wetter West
...North America had at least 60 million beaver before European settlement...Explorer David Thompson walked across much of the continent about 200 years ago and observed that it was "in the possession of two distinct races of beings, man and the beaver."
Historical trapping records in the Colorado Rockies show "60 to 80 beaver" per mile of stream, says (an analyst). that abundance was repeated across the West.
But after a century of heavy trapping, the nationwide beaver population had shrunk to an estimated 100,000, and the West held just a fraction of that. Beaver have made a comeback from that low point, but there's a long way to go..."People go into the mountains and love to see a meadow and love to see a pond, and so often in the West those were formed by beaver dams.
...a supervisor in the Office of the Columbia River, is intrigued by the way beaver dams can change the timing of water: Spring runoff that normally gooshes away can be slowed, because beaver dams stretch out the release into late summer. But he warns that politicians will only laugh at beavers, unless the benefits of their dams can be scientifically measured...The ecological benefits are becoming clearer: They report exciting discoveries: Beaver ponds provide habitat for over-wintering juvenile steelhead, in much the way they shelter juvenile coho salmon, an endangered species, in coastal Washington and Oregon. And thermal imaging shows that the water temperature drops between 2 and 4 degrees centigrade when Bridge Creek passes through a section with beaver dams. This counters the conventional wisdom that beaver dams raise water temperature and are harmful to fish.
Excerpted from High Country News June 2009
****************************
13. Paradise Lost: Smyrna 1922 - The Destruction of Islam's City of Tolerance, by Giles Milton
Smyrna was one of the Ottoman empire's great mercantile centres. Even during the first world war, it was a place where Turks, Greeks, Jews, Armenians, Levantines and Europeans could live in peace. Though it fell to the Greeks during the bloody conflict Turks call the war of independence, non-Muslims were not unduly fearful when Turkish soldiers recaptured Smynra in 1922. They hoped Ataturk would view this city as an asset to the new republic. Four days later Smyrna was in flames, and a half a million of its inhabitants had fled to the quayside. While Turkish irregulars moved among them, raping and killing, Ataturk sat watching from a friend's villa in the hills. Every Greek child knows this story; that Turkish children hear a santised version cannot be too surprising. But few in Europe know that, though the allied powers had many ships in the harbour, they chose to do nothing. Milton sets the record straight.
Mini-review in Guardian Weekly 05.06.09
Friday, June 26, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
Special to Bayview Hill-Jake Sigg's Nature News
1. More on state budget, and action you can take
2. Experience the undersea world beneath the waves - Thursday 25
3. The Lawn Goodbye at SF Main Library Wednesday 24, 6-7.30 pm
4. More thoughts on restoring Hetch Hetchy
5. Yummy summer and fall classes at Tilden Park botanic garden
6. Conservation and Ecology of California's Coastal Prairie June 25 at Moss Landing
7. Frogs in elephant dung
8. A bottle of coke costs less than a bottle of water!
9. A quarter-million experimental Frankentrees to be grown in U.S.
10. Loss of wildlife from lead shot questioned
11. Feedback: Questions about renewable energy
12. This stock collapse is petty when compared to the nature crunch
13. More Americans born in 2007 than in any year in history
14. Why is Washington states so much more moderate than California?
15. President Ahmadinejad asks "Who are our enemies" and "Why do they hate us?"
16. Descent into chess
17. Bird that loves Ray Charles
1. STATE BUDGET CONFERENCE COMMITTEE TAKES ACTION ON PARK FUNDING, OIL EXTRACTION FEES
For the past several weeks, the bipartisan Budget Conference Committee has been reviewing the Governor's proposed budget, hearing testimony, and crafting its own proposals to close the estimated $24 billion budget gap. This week, the Conference Committee voted to cut billions of dollars from education, social safety net programs, and state prisons. They also acted on two key environmental issues - California's state parks and offshore oil drilling.
The Conference Committee voted to eliminate $70 million for the state parks system for the next fiscal year. However, in an effort to keep the parks open, the committee voted to adopt the State Park Access Pass Program. This program mandates a $15 tax on non-commercial vehicle license fees, giving California citizens free day-use access to state parks, and the state an estimated $400 million in revenue. The new revenue would cover the $143 million state parks budget, allocate additional funding to the parks system, create jobs, and leave $140-145 million to the general fund.
Unfortunately, Governor Schwarzenegger has said he wants the state parks budget cuts, but does not believe the Park Access Pass Program is the best way to keep the parks open. Please call the Governor and ask him to support of the State Park Access Pass Program to keep our parks open!
(Side note on language, as it appears on California State Parks Foundation website: How does the Vehicle Park Pass introduced by the Legislature defer (sic) from the State Parks Access Pass?)
*************************
2.
Experience the Undersea World Beneath the Waves!
Guest speaker Mike Boom
7:30pm, Thursday June 25, 2009
Randall Museum, 199 Museum Way
Info: 415.554.9600 or www.randallmuseum.org
Mike Boom is an award winning underwater videographer who’s been shooting in the Monterey Bay and other bay area locations. He will share his footage and perspectives of undersea life off our shores.
Mike Boom has been scuba diving around the world since 1993, and has used his camcorder to record marine life in Hawaii, Alaska, British Columbia, Fiji, Belize, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, and here in California.
FREE; donations encouraged.
More information about our speaker: www.laughingeel.com
*****************************
3. The Stegner Environmental Center and San Francisco Dept of the Environment are cosponsoring a Green Stacks program event at the Main Library, presenting
alternative uses for land dedicated to lawns and why it makes sense to replace your lawn with a garden.
The Lawn Goodbye
Wednesday, June 24, 2009, 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm
San Francisco Public Library (Main), Latino/Hispanic Community Room
100 Larkin St. (at Grove) San Francisco, CA
Fred Bove, Permaculturist and former Director of Adult Education at the Botanical Gardens at Strybing Arboretum and Jake Sigg, wildlife habitat and
biodiversity advocate, will be at the library to discuss our plant and lawn options during this dry time in California.
"Lawns are a cultural inheritance that make increasingly little sense, and are often planted and maintained out of habit or expectation. Making alternate use of the land can bring benefits beyond saving water, labor, and other resources.
While resident and migratory birds, butterflies and solitary bees have been almost pushed out of the city, they have persisted in small fragments of the original landscape. Plantings that attract wildlife make room for creatures that have been here for tens of thousands of years.
Create color and interest for yourself and your neighbors while inviting your historical neighbors back into your garden!"
*******************************
4. Rebuttal to Steve Lawrence's feedback on Hetch Hetchy in previous newsletter:
The points you make, Steve, are all familiar arguments, and some of them have validity, and I am sympathetic to most of them. But you become a little wild in much of what you write. It would require a big chunk of my day to rebut some of the statements, so I must let them pass. I had my own struggles with some of these questions before I became convinced that reclaiming the Valley is not only desirable but imperative.
It is all a question of values, and you and I differ on that question, so point-by-point rebuttal will get us nowhere, as our stances are rooted in basic values. Choices depend on differing ideas of what constitutes "need". As a society, we have been making bad choices. Industrial civilization, busy creating artificial wants and clever at making us discontent with our lives so we must strive constantly to satisfy these artificial needs, must grow and grow and grow. If it swallows up priceless, irreplaceable natural assets such as Yosemite and Hetch Hetchy, well, that's the way the system works. What we have lost so far is incalculable and gone forever. Hetchy is one that is not necessarily gone forever; we can reclaim it, and we should--and we should pay the necessary price. (Actually, the price to pay is much less than detractors would have us believe--eg, we don't need to give up any water, all we need do is store it in a different place.)
And I've heard many people say that we shouldn't have dammed it in the first place, but now that it's dammed...That argument is nonsense; we made a horrendous mistake and we need to undo it. Ask yourself whether we should dam Yosemite Valley, Hetchy's twin. Further, if we had dammed it, should it be undone? Both Yosemite and Hetchy are unique (although they are often described as twins, they are not identical twins).
Rather than go on about this, read an article I am posting in next newsletter--probably going out today. (See a few lines down.)
There's political hay to be made fostering the dream. Everyone loves a dreamer.
Everyone doesn't love a dreamer, Steve; dreamers are often ridiculed and marginalized, especially when they interfere with powerful vested interests.
Here is an article that everyone should read before making up their mind:
Why Hetch Hetchy Power is Not Green, by Victoria Smith
President Obama just signed a $787 billion stimulus package, $60 billion of which will go towards clean energy, environmental projects, and scientific research. None of this money will go to large hydropower projects such as Hetch Hetchy. Once touted as clean and renewable, years of study now show the negative impacts of big hydro projects. Hydroelectricity does not get the Obama administration’s “green” stamp of approval, nor does it qualify as renewable under the standards of the California Energy Commission.
The environmental impacts of large-scale hydroelectric projects include changes in the flow, nutrient levels, salinity, temperature and water levels in rivers downstream of dams. When the natural flow of a river is blocked, oxygen levels downstream of the dam drop, which has a negative effect on river vegetation and wildlife. Dam-created reservoirs displace many animals, birds and fish, including some at-risk species. Even with fish ladders, many species are still unable to complete their migratory journey, and are being pushed towards extinction.
Then there is the effect dams have on our oceans. The two may at first seem unrelated until you hear what aquatic ecologist Irwin Haydock and oceanographer and hydrologist Michael Rozengurt have to say. They outlined the link between the decline of the earth’s oceans and dams in a letter to Bill Clinton. In it they explain, “The watersheds and their coastal zones form a single complex ecosystem; damage to one reach is eventually seen in the other. Decades of careful study and experience has shown us that oceanic decline stems primarily from the cumulative effects of dam building and subsequent freshwater diversions to serve human needs. For too long we have failed to understand the nature of this link. We have been looking in the wrong place for the cause of the ocean’s decline! It is time to focus on the critical link between watersheds and seas.”
This letter was written to President Clinton in 1998. Since then large-scale hydropower project development has continued unabated. The drive for more hydropower comes at a time when many freshwater ecosystems are already in crisis. According to the United Nations, 60% of the world’s 227 largest rivers are already severely fragmented by dams, diversions and canals, leading to the degradation of ecosystems. It is time to move away from environmentally destructive hydro projects, and focus on other truly “green” forms of energy.
Each hydropower project is unique and some are far more destructive than others. Although the Hetch Hetchy reservoir does not release methane gas there is no question it is profoundly destructive to animal and plant life in Yosemite National Park. And there is no question of the debilitating effect the O’Shaughnessy Dam has on the Tuolumne River long after it leaves the boundaries of the park. Just because energy is not carbon-producing does not automatically mean it is “green”. Nor should one believe that, since the dam was built 100 years ago the damage is already done—the damage to the ecosystem of the Tuolumne River from its watershed to the San Francisco Bay repeats itself every day the reservoir remains in existence.
************************
5.
Summer and Fall Classes 2009
Friends of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden
East Bay Regional Park District
http://www.nativeplants.org/events.html
Wildflowers of Central Sierra
Bay Area Dragonflies
Semi-dormant pruning basics
Pruning native trees and shrubs into their natural habits
Composites in gardens
Botanizing northern Sonoma coast
Building ponds for wildlife
Growing ferns from spores
And much, much more
*************************
6. Conservation and Ecology of California's Coastal Prairie
June 25th - 8:30-5:30
Half -day lecture at Moss Landing, Half-day field session, Marine Lab's Seminar Room
This one day event will feature information about the distribution and composition of coastal prairie grasslands, some of the associated rare biota, methodologies for evaluating the extent of these habitats, legal and regulatory concerns, as well as an introduction to management and restoration of this system. We will examine different types of coastal
prairies in the field with discussion of avoidance, restoration, and mitigation measures.
You can learn more and register at http://www.elkhornsloughctp.org/training/
Cost: $30
*********************************
7. From Jeff Caldwell:
The current issue of HerpDigest points out a story about the discovery of frogs living in elephant dung:
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0610-hance_elephantdung.html
Kinda makes one wonder what we lost with the mammoths ...
(No shit!)
*********************************
8. Sacrificing Health for Efficiency
A bottle of coke costs less than a bottle of water. What's wrong with this?
For filmmaker Robert Kenner, what started out as a furrowed brow turned into a six-year investigation into the American food industry, resulting in his latest documentary, Food, Inc. Collaborating with authors Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and Michael Pollan (Omnivore's Dilemma), Food, Inc. does more than lift the veil from consciously concealed
corporate corruption. It pieces together information about what we eat with how...
Article taken from California Literary Review - http://calitreview.com
URL to article: http://calitreview.com/3354
************************************
9. A Quarter Million Experimental "Frankentrees" to Be Grown in U.S
The USDA is currently taking public comments on whether or not the company ArborGen should be allowed to conduct 29 field trials of genetically engineered "cold tolerant" eucalyptus trees in the U.S. This massive experiment, which is on the verge of being green-lighted, will literally be using nature as the laboratory to test more than 260,000 frankentrees. Scientists across the U.S. are voicing concerns over this proposal including:
-The USDA failed to do an Environmental Impact Statement to assess potential negative issues related to the proposed field trials.
-The spread of the these plants into the wild through seeds and plant matter is highly likely, and the impacts on native ecosystems from this invader are unknown
.-One of the experimental GE tree varieties is a known host for cryptococcus gatti, a fatal fungal pathogen whose spores cause meningitis in people and animals.
Comments are being accepted by the USDA until July 6, 2009.
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/642/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27451
_______________
NPR Reports on Controversy Surrounding Genetically Engineered Trees
Scientists are developing genetically modified trees for the forests of the future. Ann Peterman of the Global Justice Ecology Program tells "Living on the Earth's" host Bruce Gellerman that these designer trees don't measure up to what a real forest provides.
Listen Please also watch this web video: A Silent Forest - The Threat of Genetically Engineered Trees
**************************
10. From Eli Stair (edited, and regarding lead shot in condors et al):
I was curious to hear the foundation and references of your statement that there is significant (or otherwise notable) lead-poisoning of animals documented. What I have seen is that the only (scientific) conclusion drawn regarding wild animals found dead from any cause, and found to show any lead poisoning, was that they are most likely to become poisoned from eating lead weights from cars [1] or from waters known to be poisoned (from any other source), and confirmation that humans can absorb lead through eating animals which contained lead (shot or bullets) [2].
Given the (tremendous) numbers in tonnes [1] of lead lost on highways every year from cars, vs. the unstudied volume of bullets fired "in the wild" [3], there appears to be no one who has actually done the scientific research indicating that bullets are the cause, and in fact indicating that birds are unlikely to eat lead shot directly [4]...
I'm wondering if the basis for the statement that you're basing your rendition on, is one of the oft-cited [5], but unsupported claims ... I am intensely interested in the topic, from the perspective of one who enjoys nature, wants it protected, and wishes to avoid our legislation to perpetually enact more restrictions (of any kind) without scientific basis. In the event that there is scientific (not merely biased polemic) evidence against lead bullets, then I fully believe there will be both support, even from hunters and other gun owners, for a ban AS WELL as commercial support for replacement products, and legislation requiring their use.
[1] http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2006/1111/2006-1111.pdf
[2] http://www.ndhan.gov/media/news/view.asp?ID=509
[3] http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2001AM/finalprogram/abstract_25926.htm
[4] http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/11/041104005801.htm
[5] http://www.celsias.com/article/lead-poisoning-rose-colored-glasses-the-california/
*****************************
11. Feedback
Regarding 8. New film shows failure of Trap, Neuter, and Release (TNR) for feral cats
Jake - This is a contentious issue. None other than (I think) EO Wilson said in his Bird book that cats were fourth or fifth on the list of predators of birds. I can't find the book right now, but first was removal of habitat -- new buildings, specifically, second was enlargement of other predators who aren't any longer being preyed upon, such as raccoons, and third may be pesticides. I don't remember the next one or two.
We are responsible for the the first three -- the first deliberately and the other in self interest (bears and large cats, and then pesticides). And south east of the piers is where all those huge towers have sprung up. But the point is that domestic cats are fourth or fifth and humans have a much bigger role. We just don't acknowledge that.
OK, Louise, but what does that have to do with the failure of TNR?
I don't know if it has to do with TNR in San Francisco, or what. The one in Santa Cruz is working well.
Ruth Gravanis:
The May 18th issue of Nature News included a recommendation from Kay Loughman to visit www.bugguide.net to get help with identifying insects. I tried it out and it's quite wonderful. My submissions can be found here:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/288832/438669/438669/438251/438251
and
http://bugguide.net/node/view/278659
I couldn't quite figure how this works, but it's not necessary as I'm sure my astute readers know how to get around the internet. Ruth said to just click on "home" or "ID Request" or whatever's in the bar at the top of the page.
Ian Wilson:
Hi everyone, Sorry to bother you with yet another petition, but this one is important. If we send Congress enough emails (there's a form that only takes a few moments to fill out) there's a chance we can push this country a little further along the path to permanent freedom from fossil fuels. And if you agree with the sentiments of Environment California's message, please send it to everyone you think may be interested, put it on Facebook, etc.
Ian: You have lobbed this grenade into my bunker just as I am about to succumb to permanent depression about this energy thing and where it's taking us. When your email arrived I was in the midst of visions of solar panels stretched across our deserts, of windmills atop every windy ridge in the country, of turbines lining our shores, capturing the energy of the tides, and, and, and...
Be careful of this renewable energy thing; it's dynamite. And no thought will be given the consequences down the road. Consequences? Perish the thought. It's not our way of doing business.
Hello Jake, Yes, I know what you mean. Did you see the article by David Mackay called "Let's get real about alternative energy"?
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/05/13/mackay.energy/index.html
David MacKay is a professor of physics at the University of Cambridge. His book, "Sustainable Energy - Without the Hot Air," is published by UIT Cambridge and is also available in electronic form for free from http://www.withouthotair.com/.
David MacKay says people engage in wishful thinking about energy because they don't look at the math.
In total, the European lifestyle uses 125 kWh per day per person for transport, heating, manufacturing, and electricity. That's equivalent to every person having 125 light bulbs switched on all the time. The average American uses 250 kWh per day: 250 light bulbs.
As a thought-experiment, let's imagine that technology switches and lifestyle changes manage to halve American energy consumption to 125 kWh per day per person. How big would the solar, wind and nuclear facilities need to be to supply this halved consumption? For simplicity, let's imagine getting one-third of the energy supply from each.
To supply 42 kWh per day per person from solar power requires roughly 80 square meters per person of solar panels.
To deliver 42 kWh per day per person from wind for everyone in the United States would require wind farms with a total area roughly equal to the area of California, a 200-fold increase in United States wind power.
To get 42 kWh per day per person from nuclear power would require 525 one-gigawatt nuclear power stations, a roughly five-fold increase over today's levels.
Some possible technological solutions are discussed in a book called Prescription for the Planet by Tom Blees -- however a friend who works in the field of alternative energy expressed some skepticism about integral fast reactors (which are supposedly extremely efficient and basically run on depleted uranium, i.e. nuclear waste.) His comment was "my understanding is the technology is not there yet and some nuclear specialists I know seem pretty skeptical about its viability".
http://www.amazon.com/Prescription-Planet-Painless-Remedy-Environmental/dp/1419655825/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242486554&sr=1-1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integral_fast_reactor
Anyway, to end on a positive note -- the Peruvian Congress has revoked the land laws that caused the clash a couple of weeks ago:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/in_depth/8108388.stm
There's a nice video too -- these "native amazonians" know exactly what's at stake.
***************************
12. This stock collapse is petty when compared to the nature crunch
The financial crisis at least affords us an opportunity to now rethink our catastrophic ecological trajectory
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/14/climatechange-marketturmoil
**************************
13.
Data Points
The New Boomers
More Americans were born in 2007 than in any other year in history. According to preliminary data from the National Center for Health Statistics, births topped the previous record of 1957, at the height of the baby boom. Birth rates have been inching up in recent years, for reasons that are not entirely clear. Women living in the U.S. in 2007 will have an average 2.1 children over their lifetimes, a number that demographers consider the bare minimum to sustain population levels without immigration. In addition, U.S. women are having far fewer babies than in the 1950s--before the birth-control pill became available--when the average was nearly four children per woman. But the population is almost twice as large now, which is the main reason behind the record-breaking number of births.
U.S. in 1957: U.S. in 2007
Population 171 million Population 301 million
Births 4.308,000 Births 4,317,119
Births per 1,000 women 122 Births per 1,000 69
ages 15-44
Scientific American July 2009
***************************
14.
Primaries in Washington state
The centrist north-west
What explains the remarkably moderate politics of one state?
WE IN Washington state “get our business done”, says Lisa Brown, a Democrat who leads the state’s Senate and may be a future candidate for governor. In contrast to California, say, Washington passes its budgets on time. Districts are drawn in a neutral process. Party machines are weak, heresy condoned. Ms Brown’s own Senate caucus recently grew by two Republican defections.
Rob McKenna, the state’s boyish attorney-general and a likely Republican candidate for governor, also declares himself proudly centrist. Like everybody he knows, he never votes a straight ticket: “I always voted for a state auditor who is a Democrat, because he’s good,” he says.
And so it goes. Stuart Elway, a leading pollster, says that moderation runs deep in a state that voted twice for Ronald Reagan and then for Michael Dukakis. Washington leans left to the west of the Cascade mountains, right to their east, but very few of its political outcomes are extreme.
In polarised and dysfunctional states such as California, the search is on to find the reason for this moderation in order to import it. There are several factors, but one stands out. It is, says Sam Reed, Washington’s secretary of state, the state’s long tradition of holding non-partisan primary elections. Because independents, Democrats and Republicans vote on the same ballot, “you do tend to get people who fit the centre of the electorate,” he says. It is a tradition, however, that Washington state has been forced to refine in recent years.
(Omitted: US Supreme Court throws out Washington’s blanket primaries.)
…Mr Reed then had the idea of changing the primaries so that they ceased being a “nominating process” and became instead a simple mechanism to find the top two vote-getters. In such a system, a Republican and a Democrat might face off in the general election, or two Republicans or two Democrats. And Washingtonians could again avoid declaring an affiliation.
Party bosses fought that idea bitterly. In 2004, for the first time since the 1930s, Washingtonians could vote in only one party’s primary, and they hated it. But Mr Reed, increasingly popular, kept fighting all the way back to the Supreme Court and eventually won. At last, in 2008, Washingtonians had their non-partisan primaries back. As advertised, the winners were moderates, and some races indeed ended with two Republicans or two Democrats in the run-off.
Daniel Evans, a three-term governor of Washington in the 1960s and 1970s and the epitome of moderation admits that it is too early, after just one cycle, to say that “top-two” primaries always lead to centrism. In places with gerrymandered districts, the outcome could even be more polarisation. But so far the system looks promising, and California is right to consider it. Maybe the country should, too.
Slightly condensed from The Economist 06.06.09
*************************
15.
Earlier this year Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaking to his country's parliament, posed two questions: “Who are our enemies?” and “Why do they hate us?” He described an axis of evil, with Iran's enemies being “all the wicked men of the world, whether abroad or at home”. The root cause of their hatred was religious--a loathing of “whomsoever should serve the glory of God”. Having described George Bush's atrocities, he told the cheering MPs, “Truly, your great enemy is the American--through that enmity that is in him against all that is of God in you.” Fortunately, Iran would not fight alone: it had the support of Muslims around the world. Be bold, he advised, and “you will find that you act for a very great many people that are God's own.”
For Mr Ahmadinejad read Oliver Cromwell; for Iran, England; and for America, Catholic Spain. The quotes above come from a speech made by Cromwell to the English Parliament in 1656. Parliament then passed an oath of loyalty in which English Catholics were asked to disown the pope and most of the canons of Catholic belief, or face losing two-thirds of their worldly goods. Shortly afterwards Cromwell invaded Ireland.
“Faith is a source of conflict,” reads a sign at St Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace in the City of London--adding that it can also be “a resource to transform conflict”. Appropriately, the centre was built in a church blown up in 1993 by Irish terrorists, brought up, no doubt, with tales of Cromwell's atrocities.
Excerpt from The Economist 3 Nov 07
**************************
16. Descent into Chess
"A pernicious excitement to learn and play chess has spread all over the country, and numerous clubs for practicing this game have been formed in cities and villages. Why should we regret this? It may be asked. We answer, chess is a mere amusement of a very inferior character, which robs the mind of valuable time that might be devoted to nobler acquirements, while it affords no benefit whatever to the body. Chess has acquired a high reputation as being a means to discipline the mind, but persons engaged in sedentary occupations should never practice this cheerless game; they require out-door exercises--not this sort of mental gladiatorship."
Scientific American, July 1859
(Take that, Boris Spassky and Bobby Fisher.)
****************************
17. Bird that loves Ray Charles: http://www.maniacworld.com/bird-loves-ray-charles.html
2. Experience the undersea world beneath the waves - Thursday 25
3. The Lawn Goodbye at SF Main Library Wednesday 24, 6-7.30 pm
4. More thoughts on restoring Hetch Hetchy
5. Yummy summer and fall classes at Tilden Park botanic garden
6. Conservation and Ecology of California's Coastal Prairie June 25 at Moss Landing
7. Frogs in elephant dung
8. A bottle of coke costs less than a bottle of water!
9. A quarter-million experimental Frankentrees to be grown in U.S.
10. Loss of wildlife from lead shot questioned
11. Feedback: Questions about renewable energy
12. This stock collapse is petty when compared to the nature crunch
13. More Americans born in 2007 than in any year in history
14. Why is Washington states so much more moderate than California?
15. President Ahmadinejad asks "Who are our enemies" and "Why do they hate us?"
16. Descent into chess
17. Bird that loves Ray Charles
1. STATE BUDGET CONFERENCE COMMITTEE TAKES ACTION ON PARK FUNDING, OIL EXTRACTION FEES
For the past several weeks, the bipartisan Budget Conference Committee has been reviewing the Governor's proposed budget, hearing testimony, and crafting its own proposals to close the estimated $24 billion budget gap. This week, the Conference Committee voted to cut billions of dollars from education, social safety net programs, and state prisons. They also acted on two key environmental issues - California's state parks and offshore oil drilling.
The Conference Committee voted to eliminate $70 million for the state parks system for the next fiscal year. However, in an effort to keep the parks open, the committee voted to adopt the State Park Access Pass Program. This program mandates a $15 tax on non-commercial vehicle license fees, giving California citizens free day-use access to state parks, and the state an estimated $400 million in revenue. The new revenue would cover the $143 million state parks budget, allocate additional funding to the parks system, create jobs, and leave $140-145 million to the general fund.
Unfortunately, Governor Schwarzenegger has said he wants the state parks budget cuts, but does not believe the Park Access Pass Program is the best way to keep the parks open. Please call the Governor and ask him to support of the State Park Access Pass Program to keep our parks open!
(Side note on language, as it appears on California State Parks Foundation website: How does the Vehicle Park Pass introduced by the Legislature defer (sic) from the State Parks Access Pass?)
*************************
2.
Experience the Undersea World Beneath the Waves!
Guest speaker Mike Boom
7:30pm, Thursday June 25, 2009
Randall Museum, 199 Museum Way
Info: 415.554.9600 or www.randallmuseum.org
Mike Boom is an award winning underwater videographer who’s been shooting in the Monterey Bay and other bay area locations. He will share his footage and perspectives of undersea life off our shores.
Mike Boom has been scuba diving around the world since 1993, and has used his camcorder to record marine life in Hawaii, Alaska, British Columbia, Fiji, Belize, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, and here in California.
FREE; donations encouraged.
More information about our speaker: www.laughingeel.com
*****************************
3. The Stegner Environmental Center and San Francisco Dept of the Environment are cosponsoring a Green Stacks program event at the Main Library, presenting
alternative uses for land dedicated to lawns and why it makes sense to replace your lawn with a garden.
The Lawn Goodbye
Wednesday, June 24, 2009, 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm
San Francisco Public Library (Main), Latino/Hispanic Community Room
100 Larkin St. (at Grove) San Francisco, CA
Fred Bove, Permaculturist and former Director of Adult Education at the Botanical Gardens at Strybing Arboretum and Jake Sigg, wildlife habitat and
biodiversity advocate, will be at the library to discuss our plant and lawn options during this dry time in California.
"Lawns are a cultural inheritance that make increasingly little sense, and are often planted and maintained out of habit or expectation. Making alternate use of the land can bring benefits beyond saving water, labor, and other resources.
While resident and migratory birds, butterflies and solitary bees have been almost pushed out of the city, they have persisted in small fragments of the original landscape. Plantings that attract wildlife make room for creatures that have been here for tens of thousands of years.
Create color and interest for yourself and your neighbors while inviting your historical neighbors back into your garden!"
*******************************
4. Rebuttal to Steve Lawrence's feedback on Hetch Hetchy in previous newsletter:
The points you make, Steve, are all familiar arguments, and some of them have validity, and I am sympathetic to most of them. But you become a little wild in much of what you write. It would require a big chunk of my day to rebut some of the statements, so I must let them pass. I had my own struggles with some of these questions before I became convinced that reclaiming the Valley is not only desirable but imperative.
It is all a question of values, and you and I differ on that question, so point-by-point rebuttal will get us nowhere, as our stances are rooted in basic values. Choices depend on differing ideas of what constitutes "need". As a society, we have been making bad choices. Industrial civilization, busy creating artificial wants and clever at making us discontent with our lives so we must strive constantly to satisfy these artificial needs, must grow and grow and grow. If it swallows up priceless, irreplaceable natural assets such as Yosemite and Hetch Hetchy, well, that's the way the system works. What we have lost so far is incalculable and gone forever. Hetchy is one that is not necessarily gone forever; we can reclaim it, and we should--and we should pay the necessary price. (Actually, the price to pay is much less than detractors would have us believe--eg, we don't need to give up any water, all we need do is store it in a different place.)
And I've heard many people say that we shouldn't have dammed it in the first place, but now that it's dammed...That argument is nonsense; we made a horrendous mistake and we need to undo it. Ask yourself whether we should dam Yosemite Valley, Hetchy's twin. Further, if we had dammed it, should it be undone? Both Yosemite and Hetchy are unique (although they are often described as twins, they are not identical twins).
Rather than go on about this, read an article I am posting in next newsletter--probably going out today. (See a few lines down.)
There's political hay to be made fostering the dream. Everyone loves a dreamer.
Everyone doesn't love a dreamer, Steve; dreamers are often ridiculed and marginalized, especially when they interfere with powerful vested interests.
Here is an article that everyone should read before making up their mind:
Why Hetch Hetchy Power is Not Green, by Victoria Smith
President Obama just signed a $787 billion stimulus package, $60 billion of which will go towards clean energy, environmental projects, and scientific research. None of this money will go to large hydropower projects such as Hetch Hetchy. Once touted as clean and renewable, years of study now show the negative impacts of big hydro projects. Hydroelectricity does not get the Obama administration’s “green” stamp of approval, nor does it qualify as renewable under the standards of the California Energy Commission.
The environmental impacts of large-scale hydroelectric projects include changes in the flow, nutrient levels, salinity, temperature and water levels in rivers downstream of dams. When the natural flow of a river is blocked, oxygen levels downstream of the dam drop, which has a negative effect on river vegetation and wildlife. Dam-created reservoirs displace many animals, birds and fish, including some at-risk species. Even with fish ladders, many species are still unable to complete their migratory journey, and are being pushed towards extinction.
Then there is the effect dams have on our oceans. The two may at first seem unrelated until you hear what aquatic ecologist Irwin Haydock and oceanographer and hydrologist Michael Rozengurt have to say. They outlined the link between the decline of the earth’s oceans and dams in a letter to Bill Clinton. In it they explain, “The watersheds and their coastal zones form a single complex ecosystem; damage to one reach is eventually seen in the other. Decades of careful study and experience has shown us that oceanic decline stems primarily from the cumulative effects of dam building and subsequent freshwater diversions to serve human needs. For too long we have failed to understand the nature of this link. We have been looking in the wrong place for the cause of the ocean’s decline! It is time to focus on the critical link between watersheds and seas.”
This letter was written to President Clinton in 1998. Since then large-scale hydropower project development has continued unabated. The drive for more hydropower comes at a time when many freshwater ecosystems are already in crisis. According to the United Nations, 60% of the world’s 227 largest rivers are already severely fragmented by dams, diversions and canals, leading to the degradation of ecosystems. It is time to move away from environmentally destructive hydro projects, and focus on other truly “green” forms of energy.
Each hydropower project is unique and some are far more destructive than others. Although the Hetch Hetchy reservoir does not release methane gas there is no question it is profoundly destructive to animal and plant life in Yosemite National Park. And there is no question of the debilitating effect the O’Shaughnessy Dam has on the Tuolumne River long after it leaves the boundaries of the park. Just because energy is not carbon-producing does not automatically mean it is “green”. Nor should one believe that, since the dam was built 100 years ago the damage is already done—the damage to the ecosystem of the Tuolumne River from its watershed to the San Francisco Bay repeats itself every day the reservoir remains in existence.
************************
5.
Summer and Fall Classes 2009
Friends of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden
East Bay Regional Park District
http://www.nativeplants.org/events.html
Wildflowers of Central Sierra
Bay Area Dragonflies
Semi-dormant pruning basics
Pruning native trees and shrubs into their natural habits
Composites in gardens
Botanizing northern Sonoma coast
Building ponds for wildlife
Growing ferns from spores
And much, much more
*************************
6. Conservation and Ecology of California's Coastal Prairie
June 25th - 8:30-5:30
Half -day lecture at Moss Landing, Half-day field session, Marine Lab's Seminar Room
This one day event will feature information about the distribution and composition of coastal prairie grasslands, some of the associated rare biota, methodologies for evaluating the extent of these habitats, legal and regulatory concerns, as well as an introduction to management and restoration of this system. We will examine different types of coastal
prairies in the field with discussion of avoidance, restoration, and mitigation measures.
You can learn more and register at http://www.elkhornsloughctp.org/training/
Cost: $30
*********************************
7. From Jeff Caldwell:
The current issue of HerpDigest points out a story about the discovery of frogs living in elephant dung:
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0610-hance_elephantdung.html
Kinda makes one wonder what we lost with the mammoths ...
(No shit!)
*********************************
8. Sacrificing Health for Efficiency
A bottle of coke costs less than a bottle of water. What's wrong with this?
For filmmaker Robert Kenner, what started out as a furrowed brow turned into a six-year investigation into the American food industry, resulting in his latest documentary, Food, Inc. Collaborating with authors Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and Michael Pollan (Omnivore's Dilemma), Food, Inc. does more than lift the veil from consciously concealed
corporate corruption. It pieces together information about what we eat with how...
Article taken from California Literary Review - http://calitreview.com
URL to article: http://calitreview.com/3354
************************************
9. A Quarter Million Experimental "Frankentrees" to Be Grown in U.S
The USDA is currently taking public comments on whether or not the company ArborGen should be allowed to conduct 29 field trials of genetically engineered "cold tolerant" eucalyptus trees in the U.S. This massive experiment, which is on the verge of being green-lighted, will literally be using nature as the laboratory to test more than 260,000 frankentrees. Scientists across the U.S. are voicing concerns over this proposal including:
-The USDA failed to do an Environmental Impact Statement to assess potential negative issues related to the proposed field trials.
-The spread of the these plants into the wild through seeds and plant matter is highly likely, and the impacts on native ecosystems from this invader are unknown
.-One of the experimental GE tree varieties is a known host for cryptococcus gatti, a fatal fungal pathogen whose spores cause meningitis in people and animals.
Comments are being accepted by the USDA until July 6, 2009.
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/642/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27451
_______________
NPR Reports on Controversy Surrounding Genetically Engineered Trees
Scientists are developing genetically modified trees for the forests of the future. Ann Peterman of the Global Justice Ecology Program tells "Living on the Earth's" host Bruce Gellerman that these designer trees don't measure up to what a real forest provides.
Listen Please also watch this web video: A Silent Forest - The Threat of Genetically Engineered Trees
**************************
10. From Eli Stair (edited, and regarding lead shot in condors et al):
I was curious to hear the foundation and references of your statement that there is significant (or otherwise notable) lead-poisoning of animals documented. What I have seen is that the only (scientific) conclusion drawn regarding wild animals found dead from any cause, and found to show any lead poisoning, was that they are most likely to become poisoned from eating lead weights from cars [1] or from waters known to be poisoned (from any other source), and confirmation that humans can absorb lead through eating animals which contained lead (shot or bullets) [2].
Given the (tremendous) numbers in tonnes [1] of lead lost on highways every year from cars, vs. the unstudied volume of bullets fired "in the wild" [3], there appears to be no one who has actually done the scientific research indicating that bullets are the cause, and in fact indicating that birds are unlikely to eat lead shot directly [4]...
I'm wondering if the basis for the statement that you're basing your rendition on, is one of the oft-cited [5], but unsupported claims ... I am intensely interested in the topic, from the perspective of one who enjoys nature, wants it protected, and wishes to avoid our legislation to perpetually enact more restrictions (of any kind) without scientific basis. In the event that there is scientific (not merely biased polemic) evidence against lead bullets, then I fully believe there will be both support, even from hunters and other gun owners, for a ban AS WELL as commercial support for replacement products, and legislation requiring their use.
[1] http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2006/1111/2006-1111.pdf
[2] http://www.ndhan.gov/media/news/view.asp?ID=509
[3] http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2001AM/finalprogram/abstract_25926.htm
[4] http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/11/041104005801.htm
[5] http://www.celsias.com/article/lead-poisoning-rose-colored-glasses-the-california/
*****************************
11. Feedback
Regarding 8. New film shows failure of Trap, Neuter, and Release (TNR) for feral cats
Jake - This is a contentious issue. None other than (I think) EO Wilson said in his Bird book that cats were fourth or fifth on the list of predators of birds. I can't find the book right now, but first was removal of habitat -- new buildings, specifically, second was enlargement of other predators who aren't any longer being preyed upon, such as raccoons, and third may be pesticides. I don't remember the next one or two.
We are responsible for the the first three -- the first deliberately and the other in self interest (bears and large cats, and then pesticides). And south east of the piers is where all those huge towers have sprung up. But the point is that domestic cats are fourth or fifth and humans have a much bigger role. We just don't acknowledge that.
OK, Louise, but what does that have to do with the failure of TNR?
I don't know if it has to do with TNR in San Francisco, or what. The one in Santa Cruz is working well.
Ruth Gravanis:
The May 18th issue of Nature News included a recommendation from Kay Loughman to visit www.bugguide.net to get help with identifying insects. I tried it out and it's quite wonderful. My submissions can be found here:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/288832/438669/438669/438251/438251
and
http://bugguide.net/node/view/278659
I couldn't quite figure how this works, but it's not necessary as I'm sure my astute readers know how to get around the internet. Ruth said to just click on "home" or "ID Request" or whatever's in the bar at the top of the page.
Ian Wilson:
Hi everyone, Sorry to bother you with yet another petition, but this one is important. If we send Congress enough emails (there's a form that only takes a few moments to fill out) there's a chance we can push this country a little further along the path to permanent freedom from fossil fuels. And if you agree with the sentiments of Environment California's message, please send it to everyone you think may be interested, put it on Facebook, etc.
Ian: You have lobbed this grenade into my bunker just as I am about to succumb to permanent depression about this energy thing and where it's taking us. When your email arrived I was in the midst of visions of solar panels stretched across our deserts, of windmills atop every windy ridge in the country, of turbines lining our shores, capturing the energy of the tides, and, and, and...
Be careful of this renewable energy thing; it's dynamite. And no thought will be given the consequences down the road. Consequences? Perish the thought. It's not our way of doing business.
Hello Jake, Yes, I know what you mean. Did you see the article by David Mackay called "Let's get real about alternative energy"?
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/05/13/mackay.energy/index.html
David MacKay is a professor of physics at the University of Cambridge. His book, "Sustainable Energy - Without the Hot Air," is published by UIT Cambridge and is also available in electronic form for free from http://www.withouthotair.com/.
David MacKay says people engage in wishful thinking about energy because they don't look at the math.
In total, the European lifestyle uses 125 kWh per day per person for transport, heating, manufacturing, and electricity. That's equivalent to every person having 125 light bulbs switched on all the time. The average American uses 250 kWh per day: 250 light bulbs.
As a thought-experiment, let's imagine that technology switches and lifestyle changes manage to halve American energy consumption to 125 kWh per day per person. How big would the solar, wind and nuclear facilities need to be to supply this halved consumption? For simplicity, let's imagine getting one-third of the energy supply from each.
To supply 42 kWh per day per person from solar power requires roughly 80 square meters per person of solar panels.
To deliver 42 kWh per day per person from wind for everyone in the United States would require wind farms with a total area roughly equal to the area of California, a 200-fold increase in United States wind power.
To get 42 kWh per day per person from nuclear power would require 525 one-gigawatt nuclear power stations, a roughly five-fold increase over today's levels.
Some possible technological solutions are discussed in a book called Prescription for the Planet by Tom Blees -- however a friend who works in the field of alternative energy expressed some skepticism about integral fast reactors (which are supposedly extremely efficient and basically run on depleted uranium, i.e. nuclear waste.) His comment was "my understanding is the technology is not there yet and some nuclear specialists I know seem pretty skeptical about its viability".
http://www.amazon.com/Prescription-Planet-Painless-Remedy-Environmental/dp/1419655825/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242486554&sr=1-1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integral_fast_reactor
Anyway, to end on a positive note -- the Peruvian Congress has revoked the land laws that caused the clash a couple of weeks ago:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/in_depth/8108388.stm
There's a nice video too -- these "native amazonians" know exactly what's at stake.
***************************
12. This stock collapse is petty when compared to the nature crunch
The financial crisis at least affords us an opportunity to now rethink our catastrophic ecological trajectory
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/14/climatechange-marketturmoil
**************************
13.
Data Points
The New Boomers
More Americans were born in 2007 than in any other year in history. According to preliminary data from the National Center for Health Statistics, births topped the previous record of 1957, at the height of the baby boom. Birth rates have been inching up in recent years, for reasons that are not entirely clear. Women living in the U.S. in 2007 will have an average 2.1 children over their lifetimes, a number that demographers consider the bare minimum to sustain population levels without immigration. In addition, U.S. women are having far fewer babies than in the 1950s--before the birth-control pill became available--when the average was nearly four children per woman. But the population is almost twice as large now, which is the main reason behind the record-breaking number of births.
U.S. in 1957: U.S. in 2007
Population 171 million Population 301 million
Births 4.308,000 Births 4,317,119
Births per 1,000 women 122 Births per 1,000 69
ages 15-44
Scientific American July 2009
***************************
14.
Primaries in Washington state
The centrist north-west
What explains the remarkably moderate politics of one state?
WE IN Washington state “get our business done”, says Lisa Brown, a Democrat who leads the state’s Senate and may be a future candidate for governor. In contrast to California, say, Washington passes its budgets on time. Districts are drawn in a neutral process. Party machines are weak, heresy condoned. Ms Brown’s own Senate caucus recently grew by two Republican defections.
Rob McKenna, the state’s boyish attorney-general and a likely Republican candidate for governor, also declares himself proudly centrist. Like everybody he knows, he never votes a straight ticket: “I always voted for a state auditor who is a Democrat, because he’s good,” he says.
And so it goes. Stuart Elway, a leading pollster, says that moderation runs deep in a state that voted twice for Ronald Reagan and then for Michael Dukakis. Washington leans left to the west of the Cascade mountains, right to their east, but very few of its political outcomes are extreme.
In polarised and dysfunctional states such as California, the search is on to find the reason for this moderation in order to import it. There are several factors, but one stands out. It is, says Sam Reed, Washington’s secretary of state, the state’s long tradition of holding non-partisan primary elections. Because independents, Democrats and Republicans vote on the same ballot, “you do tend to get people who fit the centre of the electorate,” he says. It is a tradition, however, that Washington state has been forced to refine in recent years.
(Omitted: US Supreme Court throws out Washington’s blanket primaries.)
…Mr Reed then had the idea of changing the primaries so that they ceased being a “nominating process” and became instead a simple mechanism to find the top two vote-getters. In such a system, a Republican and a Democrat might face off in the general election, or two Republicans or two Democrats. And Washingtonians could again avoid declaring an affiliation.
Party bosses fought that idea bitterly. In 2004, for the first time since the 1930s, Washingtonians could vote in only one party’s primary, and they hated it. But Mr Reed, increasingly popular, kept fighting all the way back to the Supreme Court and eventually won. At last, in 2008, Washingtonians had their non-partisan primaries back. As advertised, the winners were moderates, and some races indeed ended with two Republicans or two Democrats in the run-off.
Daniel Evans, a three-term governor of Washington in the 1960s and 1970s and the epitome of moderation admits that it is too early, after just one cycle, to say that “top-two” primaries always lead to centrism. In places with gerrymandered districts, the outcome could even be more polarisation. But so far the system looks promising, and California is right to consider it. Maybe the country should, too.
Slightly condensed from The Economist 06.06.09
*************************
15.
Earlier this year Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaking to his country's parliament, posed two questions: “Who are our enemies?” and “Why do they hate us?” He described an axis of evil, with Iran's enemies being “all the wicked men of the world, whether abroad or at home”. The root cause of their hatred was religious--a loathing of “whomsoever should serve the glory of God”. Having described George Bush's atrocities, he told the cheering MPs, “Truly, your great enemy is the American--through that enmity that is in him against all that is of God in you.” Fortunately, Iran would not fight alone: it had the support of Muslims around the world. Be bold, he advised, and “you will find that you act for a very great many people that are God's own.”
For Mr Ahmadinejad read Oliver Cromwell; for Iran, England; and for America, Catholic Spain. The quotes above come from a speech made by Cromwell to the English Parliament in 1656. Parliament then passed an oath of loyalty in which English Catholics were asked to disown the pope and most of the canons of Catholic belief, or face losing two-thirds of their worldly goods. Shortly afterwards Cromwell invaded Ireland.
“Faith is a source of conflict,” reads a sign at St Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace in the City of London--adding that it can also be “a resource to transform conflict”. Appropriately, the centre was built in a church blown up in 1993 by Irish terrorists, brought up, no doubt, with tales of Cromwell's atrocities.
Excerpt from The Economist 3 Nov 07
**************************
16. Descent into Chess
"A pernicious excitement to learn and play chess has spread all over the country, and numerous clubs for practicing this game have been formed in cities and villages. Why should we regret this? It may be asked. We answer, chess is a mere amusement of a very inferior character, which robs the mind of valuable time that might be devoted to nobler acquirements, while it affords no benefit whatever to the body. Chess has acquired a high reputation as being a means to discipline the mind, but persons engaged in sedentary occupations should never practice this cheerless game; they require out-door exercises--not this sort of mental gladiatorship."
Scientific American, July 1859
(Take that, Boris Spassky and Bobby Fisher.)
****************************
17. Bird that loves Ray Charles: http://www.maniacworld.com/bird-loves-ray-charles.html
Friday, June 19, 2009
Special to Bayview Hill-Jake Sigg's Nature News
1. SF Recreation-Park Dept budget decisions/support state parks
2. Fish & Game Commission considering lead shot issue again--and NRA is there
3. India Basin Draft Area Plan - June 25
4. Bus Rapid Transit on Van Ness - vacancy on Citizens Advisory Committee
5. 2009 Summer Service Kick-off: Youth Service Day June 25
6. Audubon presentation on Snowy Plovers
7. San Francisco Annual Butterfly Count June 24
8. New film shows failure of Trap, Neuter, and Release for feral cats
9. Donate a few hours this weekend to Restore Hetch Hetchy
10. LTE - from a mouse
11. Financial crash course - you may learn something
12. Feedback
13. Summer solstice celebration at Garden for the Environment, Saturday 20 June
14. Cracking down on illegal immigration, the Missouri way
15. Discover the cosmos--Astronomy Picture of the Day
16. Obituary: Danny La Rue, female impersonator
17. Late addition: SalmonAid Festival June 20-21
1. From Neighborhood Parks Council
Board of Supervisors to Make RPD Budget Decisions
The City's budget woes this year are severe and we all must work together to reach a reasonable balance. Like other departments, Rec and Park is facing a substantial overall reduction in General Fund support, with proposed cuts totaling more than a 20% decrease in funding. It's time to remind our civic leaders of how important parks are to our city as final negotiations on the budget occur. (Go to www.sfgov.org to view the 2009-2010 Budget.) Please take the time to get informed about cuts proposed to RPD's budget and let Supervisors Avalos, Mirkarimi, Chu, Campos, and Dufty of the Budget & Finance Committee your thoughts. Please send a quick email showing your support for the healthiest park system possible to your Supervisor and the Committee members today!
The Budget & Finance Committee will be holding 3 hearings that are of particular interest to park supporters. Hearing dates and information are as follows:
* First Hearing of the RPD Budget: Wednesday June 17th City Hall, room 250, at 11 AM. (limited public comment)
* BOS Hearing on the City's Budget: Monday, June 22th City Hall, room 250, at 5 PM (public comment)
* Second Hearing of the RPD Budget: Wednesday, June 24th City Hall, room 250, at 11 AM. (public comment on proposed fees only)
Among the other Departments likely to be the target of significant reductions is the City's 311 customer service system, NPC's partner on ParkScan and park maintenance reporting. Given the language services and simplified access to a human being who can help negotiate government bureaucracies that 311 provides, it would be a shame to see it eliminated. San Franciscans deserve to be able to access information and services as easily as possible.
Show your support for Candlestick Park NOW and on June 20-21
On June 15th, the Budget Conference Committee weighed in on the Governor's proposal to close state parks. On a divided vote, the committee voted to agree to eliminate General Fund support for state parks, but also to implement the State Park Access Pass.
The Budget Conference Committee voted to eliminate $70 million in General Fund support for the state park system for the 2009-2010 fiscal year. As an additional action, the committee also voted to adopt the State Park Access Pass and develop a dedicated funding source to keep California's state parks open. The State Park Access Pass would institute a $15 surcharge on vehicle license fees of non-commercial vehicles, in order to provide Californians with free day-use access to state parks, and generate much-needed revenues for the state park system..
This is great news, but only one step toward a final budget victory. Since the vote was divided, this proposal still has a high hurdle to overcome, in order to be enacted. Please TAKE ACTION and send a message to your legislator supporting the State Park Access Pass and urging the Legislature to Save Our State Parks!
What else you can do: You can join the SOS (Save our State Parks) Weekend on June 20th and 21st. Demonstrate your support for Candlestick Park and have some fun! Visit the park and show your support by taking a picture while you are there of you and your friends wearing a green ribbon, wearing green or holding a sign you made or downloaded below!
Where: Candlestick Park. If you can go camping, great. If not, then a day visit is perfect. If you can't make it to a State Park, then have an event in your front yard, backyard, or wherever you choose.
*************************
2. From Eric Mills:
SEE THE ENCLOSED ALERT (not enclosed here) FROM THE NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION REGARDING THE LEAD SHOT ISSUE IN CONDOR COUNTRY. Paranoia runs deep, apparently. In my book, anybody who thinks lead in the environment is not a problem is about two sandwiches short of a picnic. The evidence is in, and has been for years.
The NRA is hoping to pack next week's Fish & Game Commission meeting in Woodland with pro-lead supporters. Here's hoping that ethical hunters, the environmental community, animal advocates, and the general public will be there to counter them.
It's not only the condors which suffer from lead in the environment. There's a great deal of secondary poisoning of scavengers and others:
eagles, vultures, ravens, coyotes, foxes, badgers, skunks, etc. Not to mention humans. We imposed a ban for waterfowl hunting, why not for ALL wildlife, pray?
The Commission meets both Wednesday and Thursday of next week. The condor/lead shot issue is #5 on the Wednesday agenda (which begins at 10:00 a.m.). Then on Thursday (beginning at 8:30 a.m., #16 on the agenda is the receipt of public testimony re small game and upland gamebird shooting within the range of the California condor.
SEE FISH & GAME COMMISSION WEBSITE FOR DETAILS.
And if you can't attend, please contact the Commission with your opinions before the meeting. We still need a state-wide/nation-wide ban on the use of lead for ALL hunting and fishing.
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
The Commission can be contacted by phone at (916) 653-4899, by fax at (916) 653-5040, or email fgc@fgc.ca.gov.
****************************
3. AREA C WORKSHOP #6: INDIA BASIN DRAFT AREA PLAN
Location: Bayview Opera House - 4705 Third Street (at Newcomb)
Date: Thursday, June 25, 2009 Time: 6:00-7:30pm
Link: Visit for more information
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Community members are invited to an informational workshop on the Draft Sub-Area Plan, Design Guidelines, Zoning Proposal and Redevelopment Plan Amendments for Area C, which have been revised and refined based on input from the last Area C workshop. Policies for the Draft Plan are based upon community input gathered to date, and include an emphasis on creating a unique sense of place in Area C. This workshop will allow community members to read, view, and ask questions about the Draft Plan and the associated
planning documents. Agency and City Planning staff will be on hand to explain, answer any questions, or receive feedback on the materials. Following the workshop, community members will have sixty days to submit written comments on the materials distributed. Staff will also conduct office hours during this period to receive additional input.
Can't attend but would still like to provide feedback? Please email Lila Hussain at or call 415-749-2431, and we will send you materials.
From Margo Bors:
("Area C" whose future is being discussed, contains Hunters Pt. Hillside, a serpentine area with the native locally rare Calochortus luteus lily. Come and support keeping the hillside open space. MB)
*************************
4. Join the Van Ness Avenue Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Citizens Advisory Committee!
The San Francisco County Transportation Authority is http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifcurhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifrently preparing an environmental impact analysis of BRT on Van Ness Avenue. The Van Ness BRT Citizens Advisory Committee (VN CAC) has been meeting quarterly since September, 2007, to advise Auhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifthority staff throughout the environmental study process.
One vacancy only – apply now!
For an application, go to or call 415.522.4800 or email rachel.hiatt@sfcta.org
Applications are due July 15, 2009.
BRT on Van Ness Avenue would close a key gap in San Francisco’s rapid transit network through bus-only lanes, transit signal priority, high quality bus stops, and pedestrian improvements, all designed to reduce transit travel times and increase comfort and convenience for transit riders.
For more information, visit ,
Email rachel.hiatt@sfcta.org, or call 415.522.4800
**************************
5. Title: 2009 Summer Service Kick-Off: Youth Service Day at Golden Gate National Parks
Description:
Official Kick-Off of the U.S. Department of the Interior's Outdoor Youth Mentoring Program
The global challenges of our time demand local action now: reinvigorated community involvement, renewed civic spirit, and YOU! Join us to officially kick-off the U.S. Department of the Interior's Summer Service Initiative and Outdoor Youth Mentoring Program by volunteering in the Golden Gate National Parks-the cherished parklands at our doorstep. Help with vital restoration work and enjoy a great summer day outside.
We will host several projects at park sites in Marin and San Francisco, with activities including habitat restoration, native-plant cultivation, beach cleanups, painting, trail work, and more. Choose your favorite activity and site, and come with good energy, your waiver form, and the proper clothing. We'll takehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif care of the rest (tools, supplies, and project leadership). Bring the whole family and friends - the event is for EVERYONE. It's fun, it's healthy, and it makes a difference!
Individuals and groups are welcome. RSVP is requested and appreciated.
Project Sites: Ocean Beach, Lands End, Presidio, Crissy Field, Fort Mason, Fort Baker, Marin Headlands, Muir Woods
Date: Thursday, June 25, 2009http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Time: varies by project
9AM - 4PM (morning and afternoon projects)
Contact information: (415) 561-3077 or volunteer@parksconservancy.org.
View details for this event at:
*************************
6.
2009 Golden Gate Audubon Speaker Series Schedule:
Thursday, June 18th, 7.30 pm at our NEW location--First Unitarian Universalist Church and Center located at 1187 Franklin street (at Geary)
Programs are free
Western Snowy Plovers in the San Francisco Bay
Caitlin Robinson, Waterbird Program Supervisor
San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory
The threatened Western Snowy Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus nivosus) is a small shorebird that nests in open areas such as coastal sandy beaches and alkaline areas of western North America. The Pacific Coast population of snowy plovers has declined from habitat degradation and increased populations of both native and non-native predators. In the San Francisco Bay, plovers nest on dry salt evaporation ponds in the South Bay. For the past six years, the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory has joined biologists from the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge in monitoring this threatened species in the South Bay.
Want to learn more about the threatened Western Snowy Plover? Then join Caitlin Robinson, the Waterbird Program Supervisor at the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory as she discusses Snowy Plover ecology and challenges plovers face in the South Bay, including the ever-growing California Gull population and the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project. She will also describe research into ways to enhance Snowy Plover breeding habitat and the preliminary results of our plover nest cameras which were designed to determine nest predators.
**************************
7. San Francisco Annual Butterfly Count (rescheduled) from June 3)
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 9:am The Randall Museum.
Pack a lunch and be prepared to be out all day till 5:pm. Novices will be with experts. We need everyone that can attend! A $3.00 donation is requested that goes towards butterfly conservation. Would love to get a head count as to who plans to attend: Liam O'Brien liammail56@yahoo.com
We'll have the new Nature-in-the-City "The Butterflies of San Francisco" field guide for all attendees.
****************************
8. New Film Shows Failure of Popular Stray Cat Management Program
The American Bird Conservancy has produced a new, short film Trap,http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif Neuter, and Release: Bad for Cats, Disaster for Birds. The film reveals how a feral cat management program called trap, neuter, and release is failing to substantially reduce cat numbers despite advocates' claims, and is contributing to the deaths of millions of birds each year, including endangered species.
This phenomenon occurs in San Francisco as well. Local groups that are well intentioned have continued a well organized, feral cat feeding program around the city, and the cat population is actually increasing! As Nature in the City Steering Committee member and local naturalist, Josiah Clark wrote, "These cats are likely the ones we see hunting in wetland areas just to the south and east of the piers. Impacts on breeding wetland birds and their chicks are a primary concern."
*********************************
9. Festivals, Farmers Markets, Parades, Oh My!
This past weekend Restore Hetch Hetchy was out in full force with nearly a dozen volunteers. Our team educated the public about the history of this fight and why San Francisco should make it official policy to move the reservoir to bring the Hetch Hetchy Valley back to life. We signed up many supporters, received several donations, and raised the visibility of this issue with thousands of festival goers.
In the next few weeks we will have a presence at the Noe Valley Farmer's Market, Dolores Park, and at the San Francisco Pride Festival and Parade. Our volunteers will be speaking face to face with the public in order to educate them about this important issue.
Can you volunteer a few hours of your time to help Restore Hetch Hetchy? Here is a schedule of the times we need your help:
max@hetchhetchy.org
Dolores Park (Dolores & 18th St.)
Saturday, June 20th
10:00 am - 12:30 pm
max@hetchhetchy.org
Noe Valley Farmer's Market (24th between Sanchez & Vicksburg)
Sunday, June 21st
11:00 am - 1:30 pm
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm
The SF Pride Parade on 6/28 is a great opportunity to get involved and it's very different from working at a booth. We are putting together an army of marchers for the 1.3 mile parade. It's fun, it's good exercise, and it's the single largest public event in Northern California. Email us for details:max@hetchhetchy.org.
*****************************
10. LTE, Edgewood Explorer (newsletter of Friends of Edgewood Natural Preserve), June 2009
Dear Editor,
I am writing to let you know how much we meadow mice have been enjoying your column in the Explorer. My family and I, and all our numerous friends and relatives, have been hoping you would write about us, but, alas, you have not. "Perhaps," we thought, "we are so small and shy, she doesn't know we exist!" "Perhaps," we thought some more, "we should write her and tell her." And then, because at 3 years I am the oldest by far, they chose me to do the writing.
Before I go any further, I must ask you to forgive this narrow stationery, but, as I am sure you will appreciate, traversing a wide piece of paper is very difficult and most tiring, not to mention messy, for a very small creature writing with the tip of his ink-dipped tail.
Now, to begin. After taking a survey of all the meadow mice in Edgewood, it has become clear there are some items of great concern they would like me to address in this letter. The first is our name. Although many of your kind insist on referring to us as the California vole, you should know that we much prefer our equally valid and definitely more poetic name of California meadow mouse, which, if nothing else, keeps us from being confused with the dreaded mole. Let me be very clear: vole though we may be, we are not now, nor have we ever been, a mole! The mole is a carnivorous creature, who eats worms, grubs, and insects, just the thought of which makes me shudder. Besides that, the mole, being a member of the Order Soricomorpha, isn't even a rodent!
And speaking of our Order, Rodentia, we take great exception to the rude manner in which that brush rabbit spoke about rodents in your December column. We would like Ms Brush Rabbit to know that not all rodents are the same; that some rodents, like us, are not omnivorous garbage eaters, but are primarily herbivores, just like her. We would also like her to know that we meadow mice build tunnels through the grass, just like her (although unlike her, we also build extensive underground tunnels and burrows). As for our yellow front teeth, about which she had nothing good to say, they are not only vital to our survival, they are the very source of our Order's name, for the word Rodentia is derived from the Latin verb, rodere, which means "to gnaw." And immodest though it may be for me to say so, I am willing to wager there is no one anywhere, even among the brush rabbits, who would deny that when it comes to gnawing, rodents rule!
And finally, although referring to ourselves as meadow mouse keeps us from being identified with the mole, it does tend to cause us to be identified with the house mouse, which is equally off the mark. Well, not quite equally, as the house mouse is without question a rodent. I guess you could say we are cousins. Here's how it looks on paper:
MEADOW MOUSE HOUSE MOUSE
Order: Rodentia Order: Rodentia
Suborder: Myomorpha Suborder: Myomorpha
Family: Cricetidae Family: Muridae
Subfamily: Arvicolinae Subfamily: Murinae
Genus: Microtus Genus: Mus
Species: Microtus californicus Species: Mus musculus
Aesop clearly understood this difference between Microtus and Mus (although he got the part about us eating bacon wrong), and since I, not to mention my tail, am exhausted from all this writing, I'll just include a copy of Aesop's fable for now, and then write you another letter soon, as there's so much more to tell you about us.
Sincerely yours,
m.m.
*************************
11. Financial crash course
The financial crisis is viewed as that, and the experts are all financial/economic folks. But I view it as an environmental crisis, and that this crisis is evincing itself in the financial area. To view it as the latter is to not understand its nature. The below URL forwarded by Lewis Buchner carries a similar view. (Although I only sampled it. Most of what I heard sounded like something I had written.)
Here is a precis of the theses in the below URL:
It's very important to distinguish between facts, opinions, and beliefs. So let me be right upfront about this. I hold three beliefs, which I'm going to share with you and then spend the rest of our time showing you how I got to these beliefs.
The first is that the next twenty years are going to be completely unlike the last twenty years. Second, I believe that its possible that the pace and/or scope of change could overwhelm the ability of our key social and support institutions to adapt. Third, I believe we do not lack any technology or understanding neceshttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifsary to build ourselves a better future. http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
______
Massive change is upon us. To understand the nature of this change, we need to understand the three “E”s – the Economy, Energy, and the Environment - which is where we’ll spend the rest of our time in the Crash Course.
Lewis Buchner:
Jake, Check out this set of online videos. Kind of daunting but well-researched and eye-opening.
Thanks for the reference, Lewis. I am deeply concerned about what I think this guy is talking about. I was concerned about it over a year ago, and my fears have been growing ever since. Much as I love Obama, I think he may make the problem worse.
Jake, I think you can take the course without registering by viewing the lessons in lower res on Youtube instead of on his site.
Nonetheless it takes almost 4 hours.
I have to say I was captivated. The guy is good - and explains complex topics (like where does money come from - how can the Fed print money) very clearly.
The ideas in a nutshell are: all of the crucial issues can be graphed an an exponential line - the "hockey stick". Population, oil use, cost of oil extraction, energy use, personal and national debt, money supply, diminishing natural resources. In all cases we are on the almost vertical line of the curve now.
Inflation is much higher than reported - the numbers are cooked - he explains that clearly.
With true inflation counted in, GDP has NOT risen (no surprise) and we see what we are all working harder for a lower standard of living.
(Maybe a good thing - we are exceeding the carrying capacity of our ecosystem anyway).
Hyper inflation is likely.
The next 20 years are NOT going to be like the last 20 years.
We should be investing in things that have value (land, shelter, water, gold) rather than in things backed by paper money.
It's a very clear and very calm "crash course" in the intersection of economy, energy, and environment.
Keep up the good work.
OK, Lewis, you persuaded me to sample it. I listened to the first three. They confirmed what I already know; I'm already a believer.
As to investing in real things, besides buying a house in 1967 (best move I ever made), I bought gold in 1987. By that time it was apparent to me that governments cannot be trusted, and that if it comes to a choice between deflation and inflation, they will inflate--and that's what they're doing now, although it may take months, or even a couple of years to experience serious inflation. My brother-in-law, an investor, always laughed at my gold, especially since its price went south right after I got it--and stayed down there for 20 years. I told him it wasn't an investment, it was insurance. He's not laughing any more.
So, even though I'm already a believer, thanks for the website, which I plan to post for the benefit of others who are not yet convinced of the dire straits we are in, and who may possibly take steps to protect themselves.
BTW, that exponential growth curve portrayed by Chris Martenson portrays a parallel phenomenon occurring in Einstein's Relativity--you know, E=mc2. Take that equation far enough, and it means that accelerating even a minuscule amount of matter to near the speed of light requires just about all the energy and matter in the universe--which by definition means that you can never accelerate even a grain of sand or even an atom to the speed of light. The curve looks like the same hockey stick of the mathematician's graph showing this exponential growth. The line climbs only very gradually at first, becoming incrementally steeper for awhile, then steeper and steeper until it is running almost parallel to the vertical axis. To accelerate from, say 99.99% of the speed of light to, say, 99.997% the speed of light requires as much energy as it took to accelerate it from 0% to 99.9%. (I grabbed those figures out of the air, and they may not be strictly accurate, but they illustrate the point, and are probably not far off the mark.)
Mr Martenson overlooked a more mundane example well known to laypeople: breeding rabbits. How long it will take a pair of rabbits to double their numbers, double them again...and so on. The graph of increase soon resembles the above Relativity curve. The human race is doing the same thing, but we're inside looking out, instead of outside looking in, so we can't see what we're doing. (A few thoughtful people can see it, but most can't.)
For another view of this subject, see Feedback - from Alex Lantsberg, below.
*************************
12. Feedback
Tom Radulovich:
To Arlene Gemmel's point that BCDC is now pointless, because sea level rise will reverse the 150-year trend of the bay getting smaller: yes she is right, but her argument misses an important point – while the bay may get bigger over the next century, wetlands will probably disappear. The reason for this is that, as sea levels start to rise, property owners will protect their property with levees and seawalls. areas that are now tidal wetlands will become open water, but the wetlands won't be able to move inland onto what is now dry land because of the levees and seawalls. The bay is likely to become a diked bathtub with few or no wetlands. Finding current uplands that can become new wetlands may become BCDC's new mission; or we may decide that, in order to ensure that we will continue to have tidal wetlands in the future, we need to add fill to portions of the bay to bring them into, or keep them in, the tidal zone, constructing new tidal marshes on what is currently or what will soon be open water.
I have always wondered, however, why we need five specialized regional agencies – The Bay Conservation and Development Commission, Regional Water Quality Control Board, Bay Area Air Quality Management District, Association of Bay Area Governments, and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. It has always seemed to me that Bay protection, water quality, air quality, transportation, and housing and land use are interdependent, and that we might do better with an elected, general-purpose regional/bioregional Bay Area government, responsible for reconciling all these imperatives.
Dominik Mosur (regarding sensitivity toward bird-nesting season):
Jake, Thank you!! You're putting out invaluable info that is hard to find in "mainstream" news sources. I really apreciate your work.
Mary Keitelmen:
Dear Jake, I would like to add, re the hummingbirds
We were hiking in southeast Arizona several years ago and I noticed a Calliope hummingbird acting strangely. We watched her for a few minutes and saw what she was doing: feeding a young fledgling on the ground! We watched for a while, calculating how long it would be before the young bird would be able to fly on its own (a day or so we thought) and although it was a somewhat popular trail, they were off to the side. We figured the odds were fairly good that the young bird would survive to adulthood, since it was clear it had its mother's full attention!
I like to think we were right about this!
Steve Lawrence:
14. San Francisco consumes 96 gallons of water per day per person but the average person drinks less than a gallon of H2Oper day. In other words, only1% of the water stored in Hetch Hetchy Valley is consumed by humans.
Ninety-six must be derived by dividing total city water consumption by population; something like: 80.1 mgd (million gallons per day) divided by a population of say 825,000.
But 96 gallons includes water used by industry and commercial buildings, schools, government, and more.
Sixty-two percent of water used in San Francisco is residential use. Residents use 56.9 gallons per day, which is low compared to other places, mainly because we have few lawns and less than average landscaping, which can use 2/3 of the water a suburban dweller uses.
The average San Franciscan's water usage has declined in recent years, as has the city's total usage. But it must decline further. By 2018 the average San Franciscan must use 54.2 gallons per day, 4.4% less than today. We have made formal commitments that require this. In drought we will need to ration and use less still, perhaps 47 gallons per day.
Water is used not only as drink but also to flush toilets, wash clothes and dishes, in cooking, for bathing, and for growing green things in home and garden. Public health and sanitation depend on water, as does fire control.
Thanks, Steve, for the information.
It's not clear to me whether you think any of those statements contradicts those statement in italics ("The average San Franciscan drinks less than one gallon of water per day"), which refers to drinking water. I think the force of the statement is that Hetchy water is touted as being such high quality, coming direct from the Sierra. That's nice for drinking, but most of the other uses cited do not call for the drowning of a mountain valley. Which, just writing this, stirs my soul to dig up some Muir quotes:
Hetch Hetchy is a grand landscape garden, one of nature's rarest and most precious mountain temples. As in Yosemite, the sublime rocks of its walls seem to glow with life . . . while birds, bees, and butterflies help the river and waterfalls to stir all the air into music. . . . These temple destroyers, devotees of ravaging commercialism, seem to have a perfect contempt for Nature, and, instead of lifting their eyes to the God of the mountains, lift them to the Almighty Dollar. . . . Dam Hetch Hetchy! As well dam for water-tanks the people's cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the heart of man. John Muir , 1912
“As age comes on, one source of enjoyment after another is closed, but Nature’s sources never fail. Like a generous host, she offers her brimming cup in endless variety, served in a grand hall, the sky its ceiling, the mountains its walls, decorated with glorious paintings and enlivened with the bands of music ever playing.”
"Everybody needs beauty
as well as bread,
places to play and pray in,
where Nature may heal
and cheer and give strength
to body and soul alike."
- John Muir
I think it is important to recognize that drinking is but one of many important uses of water. It is true that for putting out fires one does not need pure Hetchy water. (Yet, oddly, the Fire Dept refuses to allow recycled water in their special system. I don't know why. I'm not prepared to criticize; they may have good reasons.) For cooking, for laundry, for dishes...Hetchy purity sure is nice, if not essential to life. For making computer chips I understand purity is very important.
Other people in other places buy bottled water (transported by CO2 spewing trucks), buy water softeners, ruin clothes and machines more quickly, and worry about what seeps into their water table, such as the MTBE (?) additive to gasoline twenty years ago. We in blessed SF concern ourselves with none of this.
It is true that we drowned a beautiful valley. Some say, hopefully, that in fifty years it might become beautiful again.
Then, where do we get our water? We might capture it at lower elevation, losing the ability to produce power, and having to use much more power to pump what gravity now makes flow. We might ruin some other watershed, I suppose. We might discourage growth in SF, or even shrink the population. Are people here hard on the environment? No, living in SF they are light on it. People living in Tracy and such places are much harder on the environment; they use more water, A/C, gasoline, etc. They have lawns and pools. Where will people live if SF is unavailable?
We have a water system. At today's cost the cost of rebuilding it would be prohibitive, and doing so would stress the environment, albeit other parts of it, not Yosemite. We might regain a valley, but what would be lost?
The reservoir behind O'Shaugnessey Dam is a key component of the water system we have. It is a whole bunch of our water storage. It is desirable storage in that we can release the water gradually, generating both power and force to bring the water to the Bay Area by gravity. If we had to store below, well, we might increase the level of Don Pedro. (We don't own it and can't do this, but ideally.) That would wipe out much land below. We're not having an easy time restoring Calaveras Dam to its historic, former size; how much harder would it be to enlarge it; there are too many environmental effects on fish and habitat. Where else? Snow storage is going to decline. Water is going to flood down in February and March in future, warmed years. Got to capture it when it comes. That's always been the way, and will only be harder to do.
Desal? Got nukes? Needs lots and lots of power.
It is wonderful to dream of restoring a once beautiful valley, but we've got a city and region that depends on what was done. I don't see starting over. If we do, it will come dearly, both in dollars and effects on humans and the environment.
So you are right we drink little. But humans in the developed world need water. One hundred years ago our lifespans were 50; now they are more, very largely due to public health, which requires water.
We've never experienced a horrible earthquake, or even a 1918 type flu epidemic, much less cholera or something worse. It is then that toilets and washing machines are more than conveniences; they are life savers. Let's hope we've no need to learn from experience; but let's not forget.
(I had no time to prepare a response, which will probably appear in next newsletter. JS)
Siobhan Ruck:
Odd to have the conversation about cats being the only animal domesticated during recorded history in the same newsletter as the the item asking what parrots get out of imitating humans. As I sit here typing this with my (domestic born!!) macaw on my shoulder, I'm guessing that parrots have been domesticated recently enough to fall within the range of "recorded history".
Linda Shaffer:
About dying village pubs in the UK: here is one reason why. Like many other industries world wide, the UK brewing industry has changed from one with many local producers to one dominated by large companies. For years these large breweries have been buying up pubs, and replacing locally brewed beer with their own products. Former independent pub owners become employees of the brewing company. This makes running pubs less appealing to many. (The situation is analogous to the gas station industry: some stations are owned by refiners, while others are independently owned. The financial aspects of remaining an independent in both markets are tricky.)
The good news, however, is that in order to survive, pubs have become much better at serving food. Nowadays, the nicest place to go for a really good meal is often a nearby pub. They serve restaurant quality food, virtually all now offer at least one vegetarian dish on the menu, and the fare changes daily, with specials being offered in season. For some of the best pubs, it is necessary to book in advance. So pubs in London and tourist areas are thriving. The problems are mainly in small isolated villages.
Ted Kipping:
BTW, I very much enjoyed Dr Peters (I think he means Dr Jerry Powell's) presentation on micro moths. Dr Ed Ross showed up as well. I did not know that butterflies comprise only about 6-7% of Lepidoptera and that micro moths make up at least 40% of the known moths--think clothes moths and Yucca Moths et al. Also that the most primitive moths are diurnal and still have workable mandibles. Most of these, not surprisingly, live in that Lost World New Caledonia. So thanks for keeping us all informed.
While working double shifts at the 1964 Flushing, New York Word's Fair, I had the marvelous experience of gazing up into the stupendous column of light created by the Electric companies' Tower Of Light exhibit which attracted tens of thousands of fluttering moths which appeared from the ground to be a galaxy of twinkling stars. The momentary reflections from the cupping wings of hundreds of hungry bats flashing in and out of this columnar "baitball" of moths looked in turn like a narrow meteor shower. I was spellbound each night on my breaks and wondered who else was so privileged to witness such a sight.
(JS: Or how many moths were so privileged to be eaten by the bats. (How long did the Fair run?) How many moths could there have been in NYC, anyway?)
Alex Lantsberg:
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
hey jake
RE: #4 pete peterson...this guy is one of the fiscal scolds who's telling us to cut social security otherwise our economy will collapse. where was he when ole boy bush was looting the treasury and giving rich schmucks like him big old tax breaks and starting unjustified (and expensive) wars. he should be ignored instead of being given a platform in enviro circles.
about the fiscal scolds and their wish to make old folks to eat cat food.
Well, Alex, your term 'fiscal scolds' sounds like an all-encompassing broom that sweeps up lots of folks, including those who advocate fiscal responsibility. Sound fiscal policy benefits everyone, but we have seen damn little of it in the last 30 years. It used to be a virtue of the GOP, but they abandoned it, starting with Reagan--and let's not even mention the Dubya disaster. I'm a liberal on many issues, but a fiscal conservative; pretty much always have been. There haven't been many fiscal conservatives around for a long time. Peterson appears to be one.
We are in deep doo-doo, and I fear there is no way to get out. I am deeply worried. I don't see any way we can avoid hyper-inflation in the next few years. At a certain point interest rates will be forced to rise, which will choke off any budding economic recovery. Remember, China owns us, and that is going to cost us dear. In my most depressed moments I think we have lost our independence. All this needn't have happened, but it's too late now.
(Alex's response):
ah, granted it was a different time, but our debt to GDP ratio was over 120% after WWII and the depression. while it will be tough we can handle it.
I wish I were as sanguine as you. One thing that's different is we are now owned by other countries, mostly China.
the problem with peterson and his ilk is that they didn't seem to have much problem with the looting of the treasury over the past 8 years, nor frankly during the reagan/bush years either. they only seem to appear and admonish spending when its time to clean up after the republicans and pay for our social obligations.
There's that broad brush again. I'm with you, Alex, in your basic attitude, and regarding the severe damage the GOP and supporters have inflicted on this country. However, there have been fiscal conservatives who have decried this but who were not in positions of influence. I'm guessing that Peterson was one of them; if he was not, then you are right. He was not in RR's or Dubya's administrations.
I'm depressed and anxious about the bailouts and the deficits we're running up. (I have an economist friend who is less frightened than I, and who is trying to straighten me out. I hope she's right.) Poor Obama; he's being forced to spend, but he must know that the economy is not going to rebound like he professes to believe. Besides the weak recovery that most experts expect, I expect hyper-inflation, which will force interest rates up, which will choke off a recovery. Tell me I'm wrong.
the fact is that our country has enoromous wealth and a some healthy taxation of the plutocrats would solve a whole hell of a lot of fiscal problems. that's not something we'll be hearing from that crew.
That crew! There you go again. Alex, not everyone advocating fiscal responsibility and sound financial practices are right-wingers who don't care for anyone else. Ever heard of George Washington, Ben Franklin, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and, and....? Even Bill Clinton, who I don't have much love for, but I'll give him credit for reducing deficits.
i'll agree that i paint the opponents of social investment with a broad brush. at a certain point in political fights we have to pick sides and i'm just trying to be realistic about which side they're on.
if pete peterson was against the looting of treasury through needless wars and regressive tax cuts then he certainly expressed his opposition quietly and with extreme discretion. as far as i can tell his main bugaboo has been killing social security.
i'm not as worried about the whole china thing. their interests are bound up with ours - macro-economically that is - at least as long as they hold so much of our debt. remember the whole japan's buying us out thing? same thing.
i'm not sure what i can say to salve your worries about debt but national finances are not the same as household or even corporate finances. from what i've read the total amount of debt (national+HH+corporate) has stayed the same. the problem is that its been gov't that's been doing most of the borrowing. overall, the debt is manageable - especially since so much of what we've borrowed most recently has been at rock bottom interest rates.
our problem right now is that there isn't enough spending in the economy and there is an overall global saving glut. we need to spend vast sums of money to restore and rebuild the systems that we depend on and that make our economy funhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifction.
(see above item: Financial crash course)
**************************
13.
SUMMER SOLSTICE CELEBRATION
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2009, 5PM - Sunset
Location: Garden for the Environment, , San Francisco
Cost: $5 - $15
Everyone is invited to the Garden to enjoy the bounty of summer, the beauty of the garden and the community that makes the garden possible! This celebration is a potluck BBQ so please bring a drink, dessert, salad or a dish to share plus your own plate and utensils. We’ll also be firing up GFE’s cob oven for garden fresh, homegrown pizza! Live Old-Time music! Join us for our biggest event of the year!
For more info, please call (415) 731-5627, or email info@gardenfortheenvironment.org.
****************************
14.
Cracking down on illegal immigration
The Missouri way
A powerful precedent is set
VALLEY PARK, a small suburb of St Louis perched on the banks of the Meramec river, seems an odd place for a fight over illegal immigration. Although there are surely some illegals about, as there are in most parts of America, there is no visible community of outsiders or labour-intensive industries to lure them. But since 2006, when Valley Park passed legislation that outlawed the hiring of illegal aliens or renting to them, the battle has raged. On June 5th the federal court of appeals upheld the town’s ban on hiring illegal immigrants. This has opened the door to the enactment of similar laws across the country.
Valley Park’s ban on renting to illegals had earlier been struck down by a lower court, but the fight continued over hiring. A local apartment-owner who uses contractors for repair work objected to being required to verify the citizenship status of her workers. But the appeals court has now ruled that the city is not barred from imposing employment regulations that go beyond existing federal rules.
A similar case, this one from Hazelton, Pennsylvania, is still pending before another federal appeals court. Unlike Valley Park, Hazelton experienced an obvious jump in illegal aliens, who were drawn to the area by its meat-processing factories. The city cited increases in crime rates, more gang activity, higher spending on bilingual education at its public schools and on health care, and various other expenses, with no offsetting rise in tax revenues. It blamed the federal government’s lax enforcement of its own immigration laws for its fiscal burden. Hazelton has led the way in the local ordinance movement and has been in one court or another most of the time since 2006.
A number of towns have already copied Hazelton and Valley Park, and so too has the state of Arizona, which has established its own citizenship-verification requirements. Voters in Fremont, Nebraska, recently passed a Hazelton-type law by ballot initiative; it is currently under review in state courts. Kris Kobach of the University of Missouri-Kansas City law school has advised Valley Park, Hazelton and a number of other cities on how they can impose their own requirements on illegal aliens while still remaining within the federal law. It looks as though his job is now going to be a lot easier. http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
The Economist 13.06.09
*************************
15. From Tony Reveaux:
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
(Picture: The Milky Road, omitted)
Explanation: Inspired by the night skies of planet Earth in the International Year of Astronomy, photographer Larry Landolfi created this tantalizing fantasy view. The composited image suggests a luminous Milky Way is the heavenly extension of a country road. Of course, the name for our galaxy, the Milky Way (in Latin, Via Lactea), does refer to its appearance as a milky band or path in the sky. In fact, the word galaxy itself derives from the Greek for milk. Visible on moonless nights from dark sky areas, though not so bright or colorful as in this image, the glowing celestial band is due to the collective light of myriad stars along the plane of our galaxy, too faint to be distinguished individually. The diffuse starlight is cut by dark swaths of obscuring galactic dust clouds. Four hundred years ago, Galileo turned his telescope on the Milky Way and announced it to be "... a congeries of innumerable stars ..."
****************************
16. Obituary: Daniel Carroll (Danny La Rue), female impersonator, died on May 31st, aged 81
HE WAS tall, dark and handsome, with broad shoulders and a crushing handshake. His turned-up nose once annoyed him so much that for a while he slept with a peg on it. He could growl “Ol’ Man River” like Harry Belafonte, and once defended the honour of Barbara Windsor, a well-endowed Cockney comedienne, by socking a man on the jaw. On board ship, no storm ever bothered him; he was practical and calm, even when pianos toppled and chinaware smashed all round him.
She was tall and handsome also, but there the resemblance ended. Her hair was blonde, brunette, raven-black, silver minx, as the mood took her. However coiffed, she looked stunning. Fabulous loops of glitter-beading hung from her arms; sun-bursts of diamanté snaked round her hips; fluorescent feather-boas kissed her neck. One day she was Marlene Dietrich in a silver sheath, the next Joan Collins in a deep blue gown, the next Carmen Miranda, in nine-inch platform shoes and with three tons of fruit on her head. She was probably never more herself than when descending the grand staircase at London’s Palace Theatre, where she played for two unbroken years, with huge pink plumes bobbing on her head and 20 feet of ostrich feathers slithering behind her.
He was well-mannered and rather shy, schooled in respect by his Irish mother and reinforced in fatalism by his fervent Catholic faith. Hard work was his cardinal virtue; in 50 years of cabaret, theatre and music hall he never missed a show. She was a lady of leisure who, under her inimitable elegance, could be lewd, rude and blue. He called her a tart, which she was. In fact, a whole array of tarts: Nell Gywnne, Lady Hamilton, Cleopatra (to tiny Ronnie Corbett’s Caesar). She was Lady Cynthia Grope, political hostess (“Life’s better under the Tories, and I should know”), as well as “the girl with a little bit more”. Nudge, wink. What she could never be was ugly, clumsy, or just a man in drag.
His beginnings were clear enough: born in Cork, brought up in Soho, undistinguished schooldays, a wartime in the navy. Hers were more misty. She emerged in Juliet at school, with a costume of coloured crepe paper, and then in a navy production of “White Cargo”, a pouting beauty wearing nothing but a tan and a sheet she had pinched from the officers’ quarters. Once out in public, she caused a sensation. Bob Hope called her the most glamorous woman in the world. Ingrid Bergman said no one could walk down a staircase like her. From 1964 to 1973 her allure alone packed out his night club in Hanover Square with Hollywood stars and the crowned heads of Europe. Women deluged her with requests for advice on how to move, how to stand and what to do with their hands. Every woman longed to look like her (he said), but didn’t dare.
In certain ways, their characters coincided. Both knew they were stars, no question. Both adored clothes. As a child, he once laid newspaper down the street to keep his new shoes clean. In the navy, lined up on his ship with 1,199 other seamen in pure white, he affected navy and white because it looked nicer. He could happily have stayed as a window-dresser at J.V. Hutton’s General Outfitters (Exeter and London), but the limelight called him, as it did her.
Lace and jockstraps
Looking fabulous was all her money was for. A cool £10,000 was budgeted for her frocks at the Palace, and £30,000 when she played Widow Twankey in “Aladdin”. One mirrored train cost £7,000; one wrap involved £8,500-worth of fox-fur. He spent his earnings on houses, a stately home with 76 bedrooms, a Rolls Royce and fine porcelain. Fire, and a fraud into which he innocently stumbled in 1983, destroyed almost all he had saved for. He started again, doggedly doing the rounds of clubs, pier-ends and provincial theatres, the outposts of a disappearing world.
Over half an hour each night in the dressing room, he slowly became her. First, a shave (the face only, leaving a touch of stubble for shading; his legs he left alone). Then the pan make-up, powder on face and eyes, mascara and false lashes. Her foam-rubber bosoms were built into each dress; more pan-stick painted a cleavage. “I can hang my tits up when it’s hot!” she once boasted to another envious girl. Last came the wig, made especially for her.
He allowed no one else to see this process. He was still Dan, and she was “whoever”; they were always two. Under her lace and glitz, he wore a jockstrap. When she was ready, resplendent in her glitter and feathers, Dan said his prayers and let her sail out of the wings. At the end of the show, he locked the frocks and wigs away. To appear in them off-stage, with a pint grasped in his manly hand, would destroy the vision of woman he had created.
He never married. He said he regretted it, and talked of near-misses that never seemed too convincing. There was already more than enough femininity in his life. His manager, Jack Hanson, was all the close companionship he needed. He shuddered at camp, and at men who wanted to be women or wear women’s clothes. Not he; his act was just a wonderful, glamorous, beautiful, elegant joke.
He was the person, he always said. She was the illusion. In practice, it didn’t seem quite as simple as that.
The Economist 13 June 2009
****************************
17. LATE ADDITION:
Join the Tuolumne River Trust at SalmonAid 2009!
The Tuolumne River Trust is helping to sponsor the 2nd annual SalmonAid Festival in Oakland this weekend (June 20 and 21). SalmonAid is a festival of music, sustainable seafood and culture that is organized to help raise awareness about the salmon crisis that’s hit the entire West Coast, including the Tuolumne River. The festival will feature great bands (including Albino, Mitch Woods, and the Zydeco Flames), delicious sustainably caught seafood, incredible films about salmon from the Wild and Scenic Film Festival.
Can You Volunteer at the TRT Booth?
Tuolumne River Trust will have a booth at the SalmonAid Festival from 12-7pm on both Saturday and Sunday. We need your help! Can you put in a few hours to help us take advantage of this incredible opportunity to spread the word about Tuolumne River salmon? We have a lot of fun new activities at the TRT booth, including a “Salmon Survival” game! If you can help out, please RSVP to Jessie at jessie@tuolumne.org or call 415-882-7252.
Take Action
Whether you can join us at the festival or not, please click here to send an email to Obama that asks the administration to prioritize key actions for salmon recovery.
2. Fish & Game Commission considering lead shot issue again--and NRA is there
3. India Basin Draft Area Plan - June 25
4. Bus Rapid Transit on Van Ness - vacancy on Citizens Advisory Committee
5. 2009 Summer Service Kick-off: Youth Service Day June 25
6. Audubon presentation on Snowy Plovers
7. San Francisco Annual Butterfly Count June 24
8. New film shows failure of Trap, Neuter, and Release for feral cats
9. Donate a few hours this weekend to Restore Hetch Hetchy
10. LTE - from a mouse
11. Financial crash course - you may learn something
12. Feedback
13. Summer solstice celebration at Garden for the Environment, Saturday 20 June
14. Cracking down on illegal immigration, the Missouri way
15. Discover the cosmos--Astronomy Picture of the Day
16. Obituary: Danny La Rue, female impersonator
17. Late addition: SalmonAid Festival June 20-21
1. From Neighborhood Parks Council
Board of Supervisors to Make RPD Budget Decisions
The City's budget woes this year are severe and we all must work together to reach a reasonable balance. Like other departments, Rec and Park is facing a substantial overall reduction in General Fund support, with proposed cuts totaling more than a 20% decrease in funding. It's time to remind our civic leaders of how important parks are to our city as final negotiations on the budget occur. (Go to www.sfgov.org to view the 2009-2010 Budget.) Please take the time to get informed about cuts proposed to RPD's budget and let Supervisors Avalos, Mirkarimi, Chu, Campos, and Dufty of the Budget & Finance Committee your thoughts. Please send a quick email showing your support for the healthiest park system possible to your Supervisor and the Committee members today!
The Budget & Finance Committee will be holding 3 hearings that are of particular interest to park supporters. Hearing dates and information are as follows:
* First Hearing of the RPD Budget: Wednesday June 17th City Hall, room 250, at 11 AM. (limited public comment)
* BOS Hearing on the City's Budget: Monday, June 22th City Hall, room 250, at 5 PM (public comment)
* Second Hearing of the RPD Budget: Wednesday, June 24th City Hall, room 250, at 11 AM. (public comment on proposed fees only)
Among the other Departments likely to be the target of significant reductions is the City's 311 customer service system, NPC's partner on ParkScan and park maintenance reporting. Given the language services and simplified access to a human being who can help negotiate government bureaucracies that 311 provides, it would be a shame to see it eliminated. San Franciscans deserve to be able to access information and services as easily as possible.
Show your support for Candlestick Park NOW and on June 20-21
On June 15th, the Budget Conference Committee weighed in on the Governor's proposal to close state parks. On a divided vote, the committee voted to agree to eliminate General Fund support for state parks, but also to implement the State Park Access Pass.
The Budget Conference Committee voted to eliminate $70 million in General Fund support for the state park system for the 2009-2010 fiscal year. As an additional action, the committee also voted to adopt the State Park Access Pass and develop a dedicated funding source to keep California's state parks open. The State Park Access Pass would institute a $15 surcharge on vehicle license fees of non-commercial vehicles, in order to provide Californians with free day-use access to state parks, and generate much-needed revenues for the state park system..
This is great news, but only one step toward a final budget victory. Since the vote was divided, this proposal still has a high hurdle to overcome, in order to be enacted. Please TAKE ACTION and send a message to your legislator supporting the State Park Access Pass and urging the Legislature to Save Our State Parks!
What else you can do: You can join the SOS (Save our State Parks) Weekend on June 20th and 21st. Demonstrate your support for Candlestick Park and have some fun! Visit the park and show your support by taking a picture while you are there of you and your friends wearing a green ribbon, wearing green or holding a sign you made or downloaded below!
Where: Candlestick Park. If you can go camping, great. If not, then a day visit is perfect. If you can't make it to a State Park, then have an event in your front yard, backyard, or wherever you choose.
*************************
2. From Eric Mills:
SEE THE ENCLOSED ALERT (not enclosed here) FROM THE NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION REGARDING THE LEAD SHOT ISSUE IN CONDOR COUNTRY. Paranoia runs deep, apparently. In my book, anybody who thinks lead in the environment is not a problem is about two sandwiches short of a picnic. The evidence is in, and has been for years.
The NRA is hoping to pack next week's Fish & Game Commission meeting in Woodland with pro-lead supporters. Here's hoping that ethical hunters, the environmental community, animal advocates, and the general public will be there to counter them.
It's not only the condors which suffer from lead in the environment. There's a great deal of secondary poisoning of scavengers and others:
eagles, vultures, ravens, coyotes, foxes, badgers, skunks, etc. Not to mention humans. We imposed a ban for waterfowl hunting, why not for ALL wildlife, pray?
The Commission meets both Wednesday and Thursday of next week. The condor/lead shot issue is #5 on the Wednesday agenda (which begins at 10:00 a.m.). Then on Thursday (beginning at 8:30 a.m., #16 on the agenda is the receipt of public testimony re small game and upland gamebird shooting within the range of the California condor.
SEE FISH & GAME COMMISSION WEBSITE FOR DETAILS.
And if you can't attend, please contact the Commission with your opinions before the meeting. We still need a state-wide/nation-wide ban on the use of lead for ALL hunting and fishing.
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
The Commission can be contacted by phone at (916) 653-4899, by fax at (916) 653-5040, or email fgc@fgc.ca.gov.
****************************
3. AREA C WORKSHOP #6: INDIA BASIN DRAFT AREA PLAN
Location: Bayview Opera House - 4705 Third Street (at Newcomb)
Date: Thursday, June 25, 2009 Time: 6:00-7:30pm
Link: Visit for more information
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Community members are invited to an informational workshop on the Draft Sub-Area Plan, Design Guidelines, Zoning Proposal and Redevelopment Plan Amendments for Area C, which have been revised and refined based on input from the last Area C workshop. Policies for the Draft Plan are based upon community input gathered to date, and include an emphasis on creating a unique sense of place in Area C. This workshop will allow community members to read, view, and ask questions about the Draft Plan and the associated
planning documents. Agency and City Planning staff will be on hand to explain, answer any questions, or receive feedback on the materials. Following the workshop, community members will have sixty days to submit written comments on the materials distributed. Staff will also conduct office hours during this period to receive additional input.
Can't attend but would still like to provide feedback? Please email Lila Hussain at or call 415-749-2431, and we will send you materials.
From Margo Bors:
("Area C" whose future is being discussed, contains Hunters Pt. Hillside, a serpentine area with the native locally rare Calochortus luteus lily. Come and support keeping the hillside open space. MB)
*************************
4. Join the Van Ness Avenue Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Citizens Advisory Committee!
The San Francisco County Transportation Authority is http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifcurhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifrently preparing an environmental impact analysis of BRT on Van Ness Avenue. The Van Ness BRT Citizens Advisory Committee (VN CAC) has been meeting quarterly since September, 2007, to advise Auhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifthority staff throughout the environmental study process.
One vacancy only – apply now!
For an application, go to or call 415.522.4800 or email rachel.hiatt@sfcta.org
Applications are due July 15, 2009.
BRT on Van Ness Avenue would close a key gap in San Francisco’s rapid transit network through bus-only lanes, transit signal priority, high quality bus stops, and pedestrian improvements, all designed to reduce transit travel times and increase comfort and convenience for transit riders.
For more information, visit ,
Email rachel.hiatt@sfcta.org, or call 415.522.4800
**************************
5. Title: 2009 Summer Service Kick-Off: Youth Service Day at Golden Gate National Parks
Description:
Official Kick-Off of the U.S. Department of the Interior's Outdoor Youth Mentoring Program
The global challenges of our time demand local action now: reinvigorated community involvement, renewed civic spirit, and YOU! Join us to officially kick-off the U.S. Department of the Interior's Summer Service Initiative and Outdoor Youth Mentoring Program by volunteering in the Golden Gate National Parks-the cherished parklands at our doorstep. Help with vital restoration work and enjoy a great summer day outside.
We will host several projects at park sites in Marin and San Francisco, with activities including habitat restoration, native-plant cultivation, beach cleanups, painting, trail work, and more. Choose your favorite activity and site, and come with good energy, your waiver form, and the proper clothing. We'll takehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif care of the rest (tools, supplies, and project leadership). Bring the whole family and friends - the event is for EVERYONE. It's fun, it's healthy, and it makes a difference!
Individuals and groups are welcome. RSVP is requested and appreciated.
Project Sites: Ocean Beach, Lands End, Presidio, Crissy Field, Fort Mason, Fort Baker, Marin Headlands, Muir Woods
Date: Thursday, June 25, 2009http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Time: varies by project
9AM - 4PM (morning and afternoon projects)
Contact information: (415) 561-3077 or volunteer@parksconservancy.org.
View details for this event at:
*************************
6.
2009 Golden Gate Audubon Speaker Series Schedule:
Thursday, June 18th, 7.30 pm at our NEW location--First Unitarian Universalist Church and Center located at 1187 Franklin street (at Geary)
Programs are free
Western Snowy Plovers in the San Francisco Bay
Caitlin Robinson, Waterbird Program Supervisor
San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory
The threatened Western Snowy Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus nivosus) is a small shorebird that nests in open areas such as coastal sandy beaches and alkaline areas of western North America. The Pacific Coast population of snowy plovers has declined from habitat degradation and increased populations of both native and non-native predators. In the San Francisco Bay, plovers nest on dry salt evaporation ponds in the South Bay. For the past six years, the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory has joined biologists from the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge in monitoring this threatened species in the South Bay.
Want to learn more about the threatened Western Snowy Plover? Then join Caitlin Robinson, the Waterbird Program Supervisor at the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory as she discusses Snowy Plover ecology and challenges plovers face in the South Bay, including the ever-growing California Gull population and the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project. She will also describe research into ways to enhance Snowy Plover breeding habitat and the preliminary results of our plover nest cameras which were designed to determine nest predators.
**************************
7. San Francisco Annual Butterfly Count (rescheduled) from June 3)
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 9:am The Randall Museum.
Pack a lunch and be prepared to be out all day till 5:pm. Novices will be with experts. We need everyone that can attend! A $3.00 donation is requested that goes towards butterfly conservation. Would love to get a head count as to who plans to attend: Liam O'Brien liammail56@yahoo.com
We'll have the new Nature-in-the-City "The Butterflies of San Francisco" field guide for all attendees.
****************************
8. New Film Shows Failure of Popular Stray Cat Management Program
The American Bird Conservancy has produced a new, short film Trap,http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif Neuter, and Release: Bad for Cats, Disaster for Birds. The film reveals how a feral cat management program called trap, neuter, and release is failing to substantially reduce cat numbers despite advocates' claims, and is contributing to the deaths of millions of birds each year, including endangered species.
This phenomenon occurs in San Francisco as well. Local groups that are well intentioned have continued a well organized, feral cat feeding program around the city, and the cat population is actually increasing! As Nature in the City Steering Committee member and local naturalist, Josiah Clark wrote, "These cats are likely the ones we see hunting in wetland areas just to the south and east of the piers. Impacts on breeding wetland birds and their chicks are a primary concern."
*********************************
9. Festivals, Farmers Markets, Parades, Oh My!
This past weekend Restore Hetch Hetchy was out in full force with nearly a dozen volunteers. Our team educated the public about the history of this fight and why San Francisco should make it official policy to move the reservoir to bring the Hetch Hetchy Valley back to life. We signed up many supporters, received several donations, and raised the visibility of this issue with thousands of festival goers.
In the next few weeks we will have a presence at the Noe Valley Farmer's Market, Dolores Park, and at the San Francisco Pride Festival and Parade. Our volunteers will be speaking face to face with the public in order to educate them about this important issue.
Can you volunteer a few hours of your time to help Restore Hetch Hetchy? Here is a schedule of the times we need your help:
max@hetchhetchy.org
Dolores Park (Dolores & 18th St.)
Saturday, June 20th
10:00 am - 12:30 pm
max@hetchhetchy.org
Noe Valley Farmer's Market (24th between Sanchez & Vicksburg)
Sunday, June 21st
11:00 am - 1:30 pm
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm
The SF Pride Parade on 6/28 is a great opportunity to get involved and it's very different from working at a booth. We are putting together an army of marchers for the 1.3 mile parade. It's fun, it's good exercise, and it's the single largest public event in Northern California. Email us for details:max@hetchhetchy.org.
*****************************
10. LTE, Edgewood Explorer (newsletter of Friends of Edgewood Natural Preserve), June 2009
Dear Editor,
I am writing to let you know how much we meadow mice have been enjoying your column in the Explorer. My family and I, and all our numerous friends and relatives, have been hoping you would write about us, but, alas, you have not. "Perhaps," we thought, "we are so small and shy, she doesn't know we exist!" "Perhaps," we thought some more, "we should write her and tell her." And then, because at 3 years I am the oldest by far, they chose me to do the writing.
Before I go any further, I must ask you to forgive this narrow stationery, but, as I am sure you will appreciate, traversing a wide piece of paper is very difficult and most tiring, not to mention messy, for a very small creature writing with the tip of his ink-dipped tail.
Now, to begin. After taking a survey of all the meadow mice in Edgewood, it has become clear there are some items of great concern they would like me to address in this letter. The first is our name. Although many of your kind insist on referring to us as the California vole, you should know that we much prefer our equally valid and definitely more poetic name of California meadow mouse, which, if nothing else, keeps us from being confused with the dreaded mole. Let me be very clear: vole though we may be, we are not now, nor have we ever been, a mole! The mole is a carnivorous creature, who eats worms, grubs, and insects, just the thought of which makes me shudder. Besides that, the mole, being a member of the Order Soricomorpha, isn't even a rodent!
And speaking of our Order, Rodentia, we take great exception to the rude manner in which that brush rabbit spoke about rodents in your December column. We would like Ms Brush Rabbit to know that not all rodents are the same; that some rodents, like us, are not omnivorous garbage eaters, but are primarily herbivores, just like her. We would also like her to know that we meadow mice build tunnels through the grass, just like her (although unlike her, we also build extensive underground tunnels and burrows). As for our yellow front teeth, about which she had nothing good to say, they are not only vital to our survival, they are the very source of our Order's name, for the word Rodentia is derived from the Latin verb, rodere, which means "to gnaw." And immodest though it may be for me to say so, I am willing to wager there is no one anywhere, even among the brush rabbits, who would deny that when it comes to gnawing, rodents rule!
And finally, although referring to ourselves as meadow mouse keeps us from being identified with the mole, it does tend to cause us to be identified with the house mouse, which is equally off the mark. Well, not quite equally, as the house mouse is without question a rodent. I guess you could say we are cousins. Here's how it looks on paper:
MEADOW MOUSE HOUSE MOUSE
Order: Rodentia Order: Rodentia
Suborder: Myomorpha Suborder: Myomorpha
Family: Cricetidae Family: Muridae
Subfamily: Arvicolinae Subfamily: Murinae
Genus: Microtus Genus: Mus
Species: Microtus californicus Species: Mus musculus
Aesop clearly understood this difference between Microtus and Mus (although he got the part about us eating bacon wrong), and since I, not to mention my tail, am exhausted from all this writing, I'll just include a copy of Aesop's fable for now, and then write you another letter soon, as there's so much more to tell you about us.
Sincerely yours,
m.m.
*************************
11. Financial crash course
The financial crisis is viewed as that, and the experts are all financial/economic folks. But I view it as an environmental crisis, and that this crisis is evincing itself in the financial area. To view it as the latter is to not understand its nature. The below URL forwarded by Lewis Buchner carries a similar view. (Although I only sampled it. Most of what I heard sounded like something I had written.)
Here is a precis of the theses in the below URL:
It's very important to distinguish between facts, opinions, and beliefs. So let me be right upfront about this. I hold three beliefs, which I'm going to share with you and then spend the rest of our time showing you how I got to these beliefs.
The first is that the next twenty years are going to be completely unlike the last twenty years. Second, I believe that its possible that the pace and/or scope of change could overwhelm the ability of our key social and support institutions to adapt. Third, I believe we do not lack any technology or understanding neceshttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifsary to build ourselves a better future. http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
______
Massive change is upon us. To understand the nature of this change, we need to understand the three “E”s – the Economy, Energy, and the Environment - which is where we’ll spend the rest of our time in the Crash Course.
Lewis Buchner:
Jake, Check out this set of online videos. Kind of daunting but well-researched and eye-opening.
Thanks for the reference, Lewis. I am deeply concerned about what I think this guy is talking about. I was concerned about it over a year ago, and my fears have been growing ever since. Much as I love Obama, I think he may make the problem worse.
Jake, I think you can take the course without registering by viewing the lessons in lower res on Youtube instead of on his site.
Nonetheless it takes almost 4 hours.
I have to say I was captivated. The guy is good - and explains complex topics (like where does money come from - how can the Fed print money) very clearly.
The ideas in a nutshell are: all of the crucial issues can be graphed an an exponential line - the "hockey stick". Population, oil use, cost of oil extraction, energy use, personal and national debt, money supply, diminishing natural resources. In all cases we are on the almost vertical line of the curve now.
Inflation is much higher than reported - the numbers are cooked - he explains that clearly.
With true inflation counted in, GDP has NOT risen (no surprise) and we see what we are all working harder for a lower standard of living.
(Maybe a good thing - we are exceeding the carrying capacity of our ecosystem anyway).
Hyper inflation is likely.
The next 20 years are NOT going to be like the last 20 years.
We should be investing in things that have value (land, shelter, water, gold) rather than in things backed by paper money.
It's a very clear and very calm "crash course" in the intersection of economy, energy, and environment.
Keep up the good work.
OK, Lewis, you persuaded me to sample it. I listened to the first three. They confirmed what I already know; I'm already a believer.
As to investing in real things, besides buying a house in 1967 (best move I ever made), I bought gold in 1987. By that time it was apparent to me that governments cannot be trusted, and that if it comes to a choice between deflation and inflation, they will inflate--and that's what they're doing now, although it may take months, or even a couple of years to experience serious inflation. My brother-in-law, an investor, always laughed at my gold, especially since its price went south right after I got it--and stayed down there for 20 years. I told him it wasn't an investment, it was insurance. He's not laughing any more.
So, even though I'm already a believer, thanks for the website, which I plan to post for the benefit of others who are not yet convinced of the dire straits we are in, and who may possibly take steps to protect themselves.
BTW, that exponential growth curve portrayed by Chris Martenson portrays a parallel phenomenon occurring in Einstein's Relativity--you know, E=mc2. Take that equation far enough, and it means that accelerating even a minuscule amount of matter to near the speed of light requires just about all the energy and matter in the universe--which by definition means that you can never accelerate even a grain of sand or even an atom to the speed of light. The curve looks like the same hockey stick of the mathematician's graph showing this exponential growth. The line climbs only very gradually at first, becoming incrementally steeper for awhile, then steeper and steeper until it is running almost parallel to the vertical axis. To accelerate from, say 99.99% of the speed of light to, say, 99.997% the speed of light requires as much energy as it took to accelerate it from 0% to 99.9%. (I grabbed those figures out of the air, and they may not be strictly accurate, but they illustrate the point, and are probably not far off the mark.)
Mr Martenson overlooked a more mundane example well known to laypeople: breeding rabbits. How long it will take a pair of rabbits to double their numbers, double them again...and so on. The graph of increase soon resembles the above Relativity curve. The human race is doing the same thing, but we're inside looking out, instead of outside looking in, so we can't see what we're doing. (A few thoughtful people can see it, but most can't.)
For another view of this subject, see Feedback - from Alex Lantsberg, below.
*************************
12. Feedback
Tom Radulovich:
To Arlene Gemmel's point that BCDC is now pointless, because sea level rise will reverse the 150-year trend of the bay getting smaller: yes she is right, but her argument misses an important point – while the bay may get bigger over the next century, wetlands will probably disappear. The reason for this is that, as sea levels start to rise, property owners will protect their property with levees and seawalls. areas that are now tidal wetlands will become open water, but the wetlands won't be able to move inland onto what is now dry land because of the levees and seawalls. The bay is likely to become a diked bathtub with few or no wetlands. Finding current uplands that can become new wetlands may become BCDC's new mission; or we may decide that, in order to ensure that we will continue to have tidal wetlands in the future, we need to add fill to portions of the bay to bring them into, or keep them in, the tidal zone, constructing new tidal marshes on what is currently or what will soon be open water.
I have always wondered, however, why we need five specialized regional agencies – The Bay Conservation and Development Commission, Regional Water Quality Control Board, Bay Area Air Quality Management District, Association of Bay Area Governments, and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. It has always seemed to me that Bay protection, water quality, air quality, transportation, and housing and land use are interdependent, and that we might do better with an elected, general-purpose regional/bioregional Bay Area government, responsible for reconciling all these imperatives.
Dominik Mosur (regarding sensitivity toward bird-nesting season):
Jake, Thank you!! You're putting out invaluable info that is hard to find in "mainstream" news sources. I really apreciate your work.
Mary Keitelmen:
Dear Jake, I would like to add, re the hummingbirds
We were hiking in southeast Arizona several years ago and I noticed a Calliope hummingbird acting strangely. We watched her for a few minutes and saw what she was doing: feeding a young fledgling on the ground! We watched for a while, calculating how long it would be before the young bird would be able to fly on its own (a day or so we thought) and although it was a somewhat popular trail, they were off to the side. We figured the odds were fairly good that the young bird would survive to adulthood, since it was clear it had its mother's full attention!
I like to think we were right about this!
Steve Lawrence:
14. San Francisco consumes 96 gallons of water per day per person but the average person drinks less than a gallon of H2Oper day. In other words, only1% of the water stored in Hetch Hetchy Valley is consumed by humans.
Ninety-six must be derived by dividing total city water consumption by population; something like: 80.1 mgd (million gallons per day) divided by a population of say 825,000.
But 96 gallons includes water used by industry and commercial buildings, schools, government, and more.
Sixty-two percent of water used in San Francisco is residential use. Residents use 56.9 gallons per day, which is low compared to other places, mainly because we have few lawns and less than average landscaping, which can use 2/3 of the water a suburban dweller uses.
The average San Franciscan's water usage has declined in recent years, as has the city's total usage. But it must decline further. By 2018 the average San Franciscan must use 54.2 gallons per day, 4.4% less than today. We have made formal commitments that require this. In drought we will need to ration and use less still, perhaps 47 gallons per day.
Water is used not only as drink but also to flush toilets, wash clothes and dishes, in cooking, for bathing, and for growing green things in home and garden. Public health and sanitation depend on water, as does fire control.
Thanks, Steve, for the information.
It's not clear to me whether you think any of those statements contradicts those statement in italics ("The average San Franciscan drinks less than one gallon of water per day"), which refers to drinking water. I think the force of the statement is that Hetchy water is touted as being such high quality, coming direct from the Sierra. That's nice for drinking, but most of the other uses cited do not call for the drowning of a mountain valley. Which, just writing this, stirs my soul to dig up some Muir quotes:
Hetch Hetchy is a grand landscape garden, one of nature's rarest and most precious mountain temples. As in Yosemite, the sublime rocks of its walls seem to glow with life . . . while birds, bees, and butterflies help the river and waterfalls to stir all the air into music. . . . These temple destroyers, devotees of ravaging commercialism, seem to have a perfect contempt for Nature, and, instead of lifting their eyes to the God of the mountains, lift them to the Almighty Dollar. . . . Dam Hetch Hetchy! As well dam for water-tanks the people's cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the heart of man. John Muir , 1912
“As age comes on, one source of enjoyment after another is closed, but Nature’s sources never fail. Like a generous host, she offers her brimming cup in endless variety, served in a grand hall, the sky its ceiling, the mountains its walls, decorated with glorious paintings and enlivened with the bands of music ever playing.”
"Everybody needs beauty
as well as bread,
places to play and pray in,
where Nature may heal
and cheer and give strength
to body and soul alike."
- John Muir
I think it is important to recognize that drinking is but one of many important uses of water. It is true that for putting out fires one does not need pure Hetchy water. (Yet, oddly, the Fire Dept refuses to allow recycled water in their special system. I don't know why. I'm not prepared to criticize; they may have good reasons.) For cooking, for laundry, for dishes...Hetchy purity sure is nice, if not essential to life. For making computer chips I understand purity is very important.
Other people in other places buy bottled water (transported by CO2 spewing trucks), buy water softeners, ruin clothes and machines more quickly, and worry about what seeps into their water table, such as the MTBE (?) additive to gasoline twenty years ago. We in blessed SF concern ourselves with none of this.
It is true that we drowned a beautiful valley. Some say, hopefully, that in fifty years it might become beautiful again.
Then, where do we get our water? We might capture it at lower elevation, losing the ability to produce power, and having to use much more power to pump what gravity now makes flow. We might ruin some other watershed, I suppose. We might discourage growth in SF, or even shrink the population. Are people here hard on the environment? No, living in SF they are light on it. People living in Tracy and such places are much harder on the environment; they use more water, A/C, gasoline, etc. They have lawns and pools. Where will people live if SF is unavailable?
We have a water system. At today's cost the cost of rebuilding it would be prohibitive, and doing so would stress the environment, albeit other parts of it, not Yosemite. We might regain a valley, but what would be lost?
The reservoir behind O'Shaugnessey Dam is a key component of the water system we have. It is a whole bunch of our water storage. It is desirable storage in that we can release the water gradually, generating both power and force to bring the water to the Bay Area by gravity. If we had to store below, well, we might increase the level of Don Pedro. (We don't own it and can't do this, but ideally.) That would wipe out much land below. We're not having an easy time restoring Calaveras Dam to its historic, former size; how much harder would it be to enlarge it; there are too many environmental effects on fish and habitat. Where else? Snow storage is going to decline. Water is going to flood down in February and March in future, warmed years. Got to capture it when it comes. That's always been the way, and will only be harder to do.
Desal? Got nukes? Needs lots and lots of power.
It is wonderful to dream of restoring a once beautiful valley, but we've got a city and region that depends on what was done. I don't see starting over. If we do, it will come dearly, both in dollars and effects on humans and the environment.
So you are right we drink little. But humans in the developed world need water. One hundred years ago our lifespans were 50; now they are more, very largely due to public health, which requires water.
We've never experienced a horrible earthquake, or even a 1918 type flu epidemic, much less cholera or something worse. It is then that toilets and washing machines are more than conveniences; they are life savers. Let's hope we've no need to learn from experience; but let's not forget.
(I had no time to prepare a response, which will probably appear in next newsletter. JS)
Siobhan Ruck:
Odd to have the conversation about cats being the only animal domesticated during recorded history in the same newsletter as the the item asking what parrots get out of imitating humans. As I sit here typing this with my (domestic born!!) macaw on my shoulder, I'm guessing that parrots have been domesticated recently enough to fall within the range of "recorded history".
Linda Shaffer:
About dying village pubs in the UK: here is one reason why. Like many other industries world wide, the UK brewing industry has changed from one with many local producers to one dominated by large companies. For years these large breweries have been buying up pubs, and replacing locally brewed beer with their own products. Former independent pub owners become employees of the brewing company. This makes running pubs less appealing to many. (The situation is analogous to the gas station industry: some stations are owned by refiners, while others are independently owned. The financial aspects of remaining an independent in both markets are tricky.)
The good news, however, is that in order to survive, pubs have become much better at serving food. Nowadays, the nicest place to go for a really good meal is often a nearby pub. They serve restaurant quality food, virtually all now offer at least one vegetarian dish on the menu, and the fare changes daily, with specials being offered in season. For some of the best pubs, it is necessary to book in advance. So pubs in London and tourist areas are thriving. The problems are mainly in small isolated villages.
Ted Kipping:
BTW, I very much enjoyed Dr Peters (I think he means Dr Jerry Powell's) presentation on micro moths. Dr Ed Ross showed up as well. I did not know that butterflies comprise only about 6-7% of Lepidoptera and that micro moths make up at least 40% of the known moths--think clothes moths and Yucca Moths et al. Also that the most primitive moths are diurnal and still have workable mandibles. Most of these, not surprisingly, live in that Lost World New Caledonia. So thanks for keeping us all informed.
While working double shifts at the 1964 Flushing, New York Word's Fair, I had the marvelous experience of gazing up into the stupendous column of light created by the Electric companies' Tower Of Light exhibit which attracted tens of thousands of fluttering moths which appeared from the ground to be a galaxy of twinkling stars. The momentary reflections from the cupping wings of hundreds of hungry bats flashing in and out of this columnar "baitball" of moths looked in turn like a narrow meteor shower. I was spellbound each night on my breaks and wondered who else was so privileged to witness such a sight.
(JS: Or how many moths were so privileged to be eaten by the bats. (How long did the Fair run?) How many moths could there have been in NYC, anyway?)
Alex Lantsberg:
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
hey jake
RE: #4 pete peterson...this guy is one of the fiscal scolds who's telling us to cut social security otherwise our economy will collapse. where was he when ole boy bush was looting the treasury and giving rich schmucks like him big old tax breaks and starting unjustified (and expensive) wars. he should be ignored instead of being given a platform in enviro circles.
about the fiscal scolds and their wish to make old folks to eat cat food.
Well, Alex, your term 'fiscal scolds' sounds like an all-encompassing broom that sweeps up lots of folks, including those who advocate fiscal responsibility. Sound fiscal policy benefits everyone, but we have seen damn little of it in the last 30 years. It used to be a virtue of the GOP, but they abandoned it, starting with Reagan--and let's not even mention the Dubya disaster. I'm a liberal on many issues, but a fiscal conservative; pretty much always have been. There haven't been many fiscal conservatives around for a long time. Peterson appears to be one.
We are in deep doo-doo, and I fear there is no way to get out. I am deeply worried. I don't see any way we can avoid hyper-inflation in the next few years. At a certain point interest rates will be forced to rise, which will choke off any budding economic recovery. Remember, China owns us, and that is going to cost us dear. In my most depressed moments I think we have lost our independence. All this needn't have happened, but it's too late now.
(Alex's response):
ah, granted it was a different time, but our debt to GDP ratio was over 120% after WWII and the depression. while it will be tough we can handle it.
I wish I were as sanguine as you. One thing that's different is we are now owned by other countries, mostly China.
the problem with peterson and his ilk is that they didn't seem to have much problem with the looting of the treasury over the past 8 years, nor frankly during the reagan/bush years either. they only seem to appear and admonish spending when its time to clean up after the republicans and pay for our social obligations.
There's that broad brush again. I'm with you, Alex, in your basic attitude, and regarding the severe damage the GOP and supporters have inflicted on this country. However, there have been fiscal conservatives who have decried this but who were not in positions of influence. I'm guessing that Peterson was one of them; if he was not, then you are right. He was not in RR's or Dubya's administrations.
I'm depressed and anxious about the bailouts and the deficits we're running up. (I have an economist friend who is less frightened than I, and who is trying to straighten me out. I hope she's right.) Poor Obama; he's being forced to spend, but he must know that the economy is not going to rebound like he professes to believe. Besides the weak recovery that most experts expect, I expect hyper-inflation, which will force interest rates up, which will choke off a recovery. Tell me I'm wrong.
the fact is that our country has enoromous wealth and a some healthy taxation of the plutocrats would solve a whole hell of a lot of fiscal problems. that's not something we'll be hearing from that crew.
That crew! There you go again. Alex, not everyone advocating fiscal responsibility and sound financial practices are right-wingers who don't care for anyone else. Ever heard of George Washington, Ben Franklin, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and, and....? Even Bill Clinton, who I don't have much love for, but I'll give him credit for reducing deficits.
i'll agree that i paint the opponents of social investment with a broad brush. at a certain point in political fights we have to pick sides and i'm just trying to be realistic about which side they're on.
if pete peterson was against the looting of treasury through needless wars and regressive tax cuts then he certainly expressed his opposition quietly and with extreme discretion. as far as i can tell his main bugaboo has been killing social security.
i'm not as worried about the whole china thing. their interests are bound up with ours - macro-economically that is - at least as long as they hold so much of our debt. remember the whole japan's buying us out thing? same thing.
i'm not sure what i can say to salve your worries about debt but national finances are not the same as household or even corporate finances. from what i've read the total amount of debt (national+HH+corporate) has stayed the same. the problem is that its been gov't that's been doing most of the borrowing. overall, the debt is manageable - especially since so much of what we've borrowed most recently has been at rock bottom interest rates.
our problem right now is that there isn't enough spending in the economy and there is an overall global saving glut. we need to spend vast sums of money to restore and rebuild the systems that we depend on and that make our economy funhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifction.
(see above item: Financial crash course)
**************************
13.
SUMMER SOLSTICE CELEBRATION
Date: Saturday, June 20th, 2009, 5PM - Sunset
Location: Garden for the Environment, , San Francisco
Cost: $5 - $15
Everyone is invited to the Garden to enjoy the bounty of summer, the beauty of the garden and the community that makes the garden possible! This celebration is a potluck BBQ so please bring a drink, dessert, salad or a dish to share plus your own plate and utensils. We’ll also be firing up GFE’s cob oven for garden fresh, homegrown pizza! Live Old-Time music! Join us for our biggest event of the year!
For more info, please call (415) 731-5627, or email info@gardenfortheenvironment.org.
****************************
14.
Cracking down on illegal immigration
The Missouri way
A powerful precedent is set
VALLEY PARK, a small suburb of St Louis perched on the banks of the Meramec river, seems an odd place for a fight over illegal immigration. Although there are surely some illegals about, as there are in most parts of America, there is no visible community of outsiders or labour-intensive industries to lure them. But since 2006, when Valley Park passed legislation that outlawed the hiring of illegal aliens or renting to them, the battle has raged. On June 5th the federal court of appeals upheld the town’s ban on hiring illegal immigrants. This has opened the door to the enactment of similar laws across the country.
Valley Park’s ban on renting to illegals had earlier been struck down by a lower court, but the fight continued over hiring. A local apartment-owner who uses contractors for repair work objected to being required to verify the citizenship status of her workers. But the appeals court has now ruled that the city is not barred from imposing employment regulations that go beyond existing federal rules.
A similar case, this one from Hazelton, Pennsylvania, is still pending before another federal appeals court. Unlike Valley Park, Hazelton experienced an obvious jump in illegal aliens, who were drawn to the area by its meat-processing factories. The city cited increases in crime rates, more gang activity, higher spending on bilingual education at its public schools and on health care, and various other expenses, with no offsetting rise in tax revenues. It blamed the federal government’s lax enforcement of its own immigration laws for its fiscal burden. Hazelton has led the way in the local ordinance movement and has been in one court or another most of the time since 2006.
A number of towns have already copied Hazelton and Valley Park, and so too has the state of Arizona, which has established its own citizenship-verification requirements. Voters in Fremont, Nebraska, recently passed a Hazelton-type law by ballot initiative; it is currently under review in state courts. Kris Kobach of the University of Missouri-Kansas City law school has advised Valley Park, Hazelton and a number of other cities on how they can impose their own requirements on illegal aliens while still remaining within the federal law. It looks as though his job is now going to be a lot easier. http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
The Economist 13.06.09
*************************
15. From Tony Reveaux:
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
(Picture: The Milky Road, omitted)
Explanation: Inspired by the night skies of planet Earth in the International Year of Astronomy, photographer Larry Landolfi created this tantalizing fantasy view. The composited image suggests a luminous Milky Way is the heavenly extension of a country road. Of course, the name for our galaxy, the Milky Way (in Latin, Via Lactea), does refer to its appearance as a milky band or path in the sky. In fact, the word galaxy itself derives from the Greek for milk. Visible on moonless nights from dark sky areas, though not so bright or colorful as in this image, the glowing celestial band is due to the collective light of myriad stars along the plane of our galaxy, too faint to be distinguished individually. The diffuse starlight is cut by dark swaths of obscuring galactic dust clouds. Four hundred years ago, Galileo turned his telescope on the Milky Way and announced it to be "... a congeries of innumerable stars ..."
****************************
16. Obituary: Daniel Carroll (Danny La Rue), female impersonator, died on May 31st, aged 81
HE WAS tall, dark and handsome, with broad shoulders and a crushing handshake. His turned-up nose once annoyed him so much that for a while he slept with a peg on it. He could growl “Ol’ Man River” like Harry Belafonte, and once defended the honour of Barbara Windsor, a well-endowed Cockney comedienne, by socking a man on the jaw. On board ship, no storm ever bothered him; he was practical and calm, even when pianos toppled and chinaware smashed all round him.
She was tall and handsome also, but there the resemblance ended. Her hair was blonde, brunette, raven-black, silver minx, as the mood took her. However coiffed, she looked stunning. Fabulous loops of glitter-beading hung from her arms; sun-bursts of diamanté snaked round her hips; fluorescent feather-boas kissed her neck. One day she was Marlene Dietrich in a silver sheath, the next Joan Collins in a deep blue gown, the next Carmen Miranda, in nine-inch platform shoes and with three tons of fruit on her head. She was probably never more herself than when descending the grand staircase at London’s Palace Theatre, where she played for two unbroken years, with huge pink plumes bobbing on her head and 20 feet of ostrich feathers slithering behind her.
He was well-mannered and rather shy, schooled in respect by his Irish mother and reinforced in fatalism by his fervent Catholic faith. Hard work was his cardinal virtue; in 50 years of cabaret, theatre and music hall he never missed a show. She was a lady of leisure who, under her inimitable elegance, could be lewd, rude and blue. He called her a tart, which she was. In fact, a whole array of tarts: Nell Gywnne, Lady Hamilton, Cleopatra (to tiny Ronnie Corbett’s Caesar). She was Lady Cynthia Grope, political hostess (“Life’s better under the Tories, and I should know”), as well as “the girl with a little bit more”. Nudge, wink. What she could never be was ugly, clumsy, or just a man in drag.
His beginnings were clear enough: born in Cork, brought up in Soho, undistinguished schooldays, a wartime in the navy. Hers were more misty. She emerged in Juliet at school, with a costume of coloured crepe paper, and then in a navy production of “White Cargo”, a pouting beauty wearing nothing but a tan and a sheet she had pinched from the officers’ quarters. Once out in public, she caused a sensation. Bob Hope called her the most glamorous woman in the world. Ingrid Bergman said no one could walk down a staircase like her. From 1964 to 1973 her allure alone packed out his night club in Hanover Square with Hollywood stars and the crowned heads of Europe. Women deluged her with requests for advice on how to move, how to stand and what to do with their hands. Every woman longed to look like her (he said), but didn’t dare.
In certain ways, their characters coincided. Both knew they were stars, no question. Both adored clothes. As a child, he once laid newspaper down the street to keep his new shoes clean. In the navy, lined up on his ship with 1,199 other seamen in pure white, he affected navy and white because it looked nicer. He could happily have stayed as a window-dresser at J.V. Hutton’s General Outfitters (Exeter and London), but the limelight called him, as it did her.
Lace and jockstraps
Looking fabulous was all her money was for. A cool £10,000 was budgeted for her frocks at the Palace, and £30,000 when she played Widow Twankey in “Aladdin”. One mirrored train cost £7,000; one wrap involved £8,500-worth of fox-fur. He spent his earnings on houses, a stately home with 76 bedrooms, a Rolls Royce and fine porcelain. Fire, and a fraud into which he innocently stumbled in 1983, destroyed almost all he had saved for. He started again, doggedly doing the rounds of clubs, pier-ends and provincial theatres, the outposts of a disappearing world.
Over half an hour each night in the dressing room, he slowly became her. First, a shave (the face only, leaving a touch of stubble for shading; his legs he left alone). Then the pan make-up, powder on face and eyes, mascara and false lashes. Her foam-rubber bosoms were built into each dress; more pan-stick painted a cleavage. “I can hang my tits up when it’s hot!” she once boasted to another envious girl. Last came the wig, made especially for her.
He allowed no one else to see this process. He was still Dan, and she was “whoever”; they were always two. Under her lace and glitz, he wore a jockstrap. When she was ready, resplendent in her glitter and feathers, Dan said his prayers and let her sail out of the wings. At the end of the show, he locked the frocks and wigs away. To appear in them off-stage, with a pint grasped in his manly hand, would destroy the vision of woman he had created.
He never married. He said he regretted it, and talked of near-misses that never seemed too convincing. There was already more than enough femininity in his life. His manager, Jack Hanson, was all the close companionship he needed. He shuddered at camp, and at men who wanted to be women or wear women’s clothes. Not he; his act was just a wonderful, glamorous, beautiful, elegant joke.
He was the person, he always said. She was the illusion. In practice, it didn’t seem quite as simple as that.
The Economist 13 June 2009
****************************
17. LATE ADDITION:
Join the Tuolumne River Trust at SalmonAid 2009!
The Tuolumne River Trust is helping to sponsor the 2nd annual SalmonAid Festival in Oakland this weekend (June 20 and 21). SalmonAid is a festival of music, sustainable seafood and culture that is organized to help raise awareness about the salmon crisis that’s hit the entire West Coast, including the Tuolumne River. The festival will feature great bands (including Albino, Mitch Woods, and the Zydeco Flames), delicious sustainably caught seafood, incredible films about salmon from the Wild and Scenic Film Festival.
Can You Volunteer at the TRT Booth?
Tuolumne River Trust will have a booth at the SalmonAid Festival from 12-7pm on both Saturday and Sunday. We need your help! Can you put in a few hours to help us take advantage of this incredible opportunity to spread the word about Tuolumne River salmon? We have a lot of fun new activities at the TRT booth, including a “Salmon Survival” game! If you can help out, please RSVP to Jessie at jessie@tuolumne.org or call 415-882-7252.
Take Action
Whether you can join us at the festival or not, please click here to send an email to Obama that asks the administration to prioritize key actions for salmon recovery.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)