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.
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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.
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The Commission can be contacted by phone at (916) 653-4899, by fax at (916) 653-5040, or email fgc@fgc.ca.gov.

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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
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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)

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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
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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:

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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.
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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.

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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."
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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.

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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.

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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
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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.

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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)

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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.

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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

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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 ..."
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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

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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.