1. Important meeting on Sharp Park TONIGHT in Pacifica. Please attend if possible
2. Doyle Drive informational meeting July 23. Public seems under-informed on the project
3. Nominations for John Muir Conservation Awards
4. Fish & Game Commission hearing Aug 5-6 on banning lead shot
5. Wildcat Creek Regional Trail - cleanup in Richmond this Saturday
6. Chronicle story on Greg Gaar and the HANC Recycle Center nursery
7. Senate action needed to match House action on climate change
8. Renewable energy--a sober view
9. Be The Change: July 30, 6-8 pm in Mountain View
10. The Great Transpacific Migrations Thurs 23 July at Randall Museum
11. Dinner Benefit for Marin Agricultural Land Trust, July 25
12. Feedback: The 1965 New York blackout media myth/"How's your father?" and other Britishisms
13. Bioneers Conference October 16-18 - always ahead of the curve
14. Late Show Gardens in Sonoma Sept 18-20
15. Bat disease bad news for humans, too
16. On honeybees and jury duty
17. Notes & Queries: Whatever happened to the Age of Aquarius?/hair on the chin but not on the head
The time has come in America for a fresh appraisal of the function of the engineer in our society. This man who is the designer and builder of our habitat—this man who above all others sets the stage for our daily lives—should anticipate the impact of each project he plans upon the total evolution of America. Without such awareness the disorderly pattern of the present man-made environment will be compounded as the pressures of population density increase.
Edward Higbee
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1. Pacifica's maneuvering on Sharp Park. If possible, please attend meeting TONIGHT
We need you to attend a public hearing on Monday, July 20 at 7pm at 2212 Beach Boulevard, 2nd Floor in Pacifica to stop Pacifica's Planning Commission from implementing a land grab at Sharp Park!
The Planning Commission is attempting to "landmark" Sharp Park, Northern California's best coastal restoration opportunity, to prevent environmental remediation and restoration from occurring on the site. They are claiming that the golf course that is currently located at Sharp Park is historic: even though every golf historian who has published on the subject has found that the original golf course was washed out to sea decades ago by coastal storms.
The existing golf course, redesigned in 1972, actually hides from public view the true historic elements of the site: Native American artifacts and areas used as a temporary internment site during World War II.
Restoration and transfer to the National Park Service is the best opportunity we have to highlight these historic elements of the property. The National Park Service is our nation's greatest steward of historic properties, and that's why Pacifica's misguided "landmark" land grab would backfire.
Again, please attend the Pacifica Planning Commission hearing on Monday, July 20 at 7pm 2212 Beach Boulevard, 2nd Floor in Pacifica. This is the 5th and last item on the agenda, but we don't know for sure when it will be heard. Tell the commission that:
* Sharp Park Golf Course is not historic. Alister MacKenzie, who designed the first golf course at Sharp Park, revolutionized golf design by insisting that courses “imitate the beauty of nature,” rather than be in conflict with it. But MacKenzie ignored his own maxim when he designed Sharp Park. He dredged the land for a staggering 14 months to create enough dry land to begin construction, but the dredging didn’t work. Opening day was delayed twice because of wet playing conditions; two coastal storm surges inundated the course with sea water, and the course suffers flooding during normal winter rains every year. Because of this the course was redesigned in 1972 by Robert Muir Graves, and every golf historian who has published on the matter has concluded that nothing of MacKenzie’s handiwork remains at Sharp Park.
* No MacKenzie course has ever been granted historic status. There are 26 golf courses on the national register of historic places. Not a one is a MacKenzie design. MacKenzie did build some great courses, but Sharp Park wasn’t one of them. By presenting Sharp Park as exemplary MacKenzie work, we cheapen his legacy and make it more difficult to give MacKenzie the recognition he deserves for his better work.
* MacKenzie courses have been redeveloped because they don’t meet the modern demands of today’s game. A municipal MacKenzie course was redesigned by a modern golf architect in 2001 because the course wasn’t competitive during the modern golf era. Sharp Park likewise has been given an “F” grade on nearly every measure by the National Golf Foundation, and the course operates at 44% capacity. Historic landmark designation will make golf improvements more difficult if they are ever even permitted by a small clientele who would prefer the golf course to remain in its current, poor condition.
* The golf course prevents the public from accessing the historic features on the site. The Sharp Park clubhouse, Native American artifacts, and a WWII temporary internment camp are found at Sharp Park, and the golf course prevents the public from accessing these historic amenities and prevents any possible interpretation of them. Landmarking the golf course will cause these historic features to be second fiddle to a golf course that existed ephemerally, to the benefit of a few, to the detriment future generations.
* Landmarking Sharp Park would subject Pacifica to a takings lawsuit that could bankrupt Pacifica. Pacifica has never landmarked an entire landscape before, and specifically excluded the golf course from the historic designation it granted to the golf course club house in 1985. If Pacifica landmarks San Francisco’s property into a single use after rejecting such designation when the clubhouse was landmarked, it would be subject to a similar lawsuit that could cost Pacifica millions of dollars of taxpayer money. Half Moon Bay is now insolvent after a landowner filed a takings claim against that City because of a poorly thought-out regulation of the land-owners property.
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2. Doyle Drive informational meeting
(It may be worthwhile to attend this meeting. The project is bound to be controversial [starting with the immediate removal of 600-700 trees], but has been in process for a very long time; however, it appears that the nature of the project is not fully known by the public. There is the danger that the lengthy project may become even lengthier and more expensive if there is a public outcry. JS)
July 23, 2009, 6:00-8:00 PM
Fort Mason Center - Landmark Building A Conference Center
Golden Gate Room San Francisco
Open House: 6:00-6:30 PM
Presentation: 6:30-7:00 PM
Resume Open House: 7:00-8:00 PM
www.doyledrive.org (415) 263-5953 doyledrive@doyledrive.org
Construction is anticipated to begin in fall 2009 at the western end of the project corridor. By the end of 2009, construction activity will be occurring adjacent to the entire existing roadway, including construction of a temporary detour on the eastern end of the project. Traffic is expected to be transferred onto the completed detour in early 2011 and onto the final roadway in early 2013.
Native Plant and Seed Collection: Native plants and seeds will be collected in summer 2009, prior to construction and grown in the Presidio Nursery to be used for post-construction landscaping and wetlands mitigation.
Initial Tree Removal: The area surrounding the construction site must be carefully cleared and graded to accommodate construction activities. Although there will be a visual impact during construction, an extensive landscaping effort is a critical part of the project design. Tree removal will begin as early as August 2009.
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3. The John Muir Association, a nonprofit organization supporting the National Park Service’s John Muir National Historic Site, is requesting nominations for the John Muir Conservation Award. Awards are given in four different categories (shown below) and is open to individuals, nonprofit organizations, public agencies and businesses. The categories are:
1. Conservationist of the Year: For an individual(s) who has excelled in environmental protection or made significant contributions to the advancement of conservation.
2. Environmental Education Conservation Award: For outstanding contribution by an individual(s) (professional or volunteer), business, organization or public agency to environmental education, whether in a classroom or otherwise.
3. Nonprofit or Public Agency Conservation Award: For outstanding achievement by a nonprofit organization that promotes environmental protection or demonstrated significant achievement or leadership in the advancement of conservation.
4. Business Conservation Award: For outstanding achievement by a business (other than a nonprofit organization) that promotes environmental protection or demonstrated significant achievement or leadership in the advancement of conservation.
More information and a nomination form are available at www.johnmuirassociation.org. Deadline for submission is September 26, 2009. The winners will receive their awards at the Conservation Award dinner to be held on Saturday, November 7, 2009 at the Campbell Theatre, 636 Ward Street, Martinez, California.
Please consider making a nomination, posting the announcement on your website and/or forwarding to others.
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4. From Eric Mills:
The lead issue, specifically a ban on the use of lead ammunition in Condor country for all types of hunting, is to be considered for adoption at the Fish & Game Commission's August 5th & 6th hearing in Woodland.
Judd Hanna is a former member of the Fish & Game Commission. Sadly, he was politically railroaded by a gang of ethically-challenged Republican legislators (led by Senator Dennis Hollingsworth), and forced to resign from the Commission shortly after being appointed by the governor. Hanna's crime? Publicly voicing his opposition to the use of lead ammunition. (Ironically, Mr. Hanna is himself a Republican and a hunter.)
Hopefully, your organization will submit a similar letter in support of a total ban on the use of lead ammo for ALL hunting. (And fishing, too.) We did it for waterfowl. Land animals deserve no less.
Better yet, please try to have a representative or two at the August 5-6 Commission meeting in Woodland, CA to testify on this important issue.
(Check California Fish & Game Commission website for details.)
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5.
Wildcat Creek Regional Trail - Richmond
Saturday, July 25th 9-Noon
Come learn about the Wildcat Creek watershed, and take action by cleaning our community’s waterways.
All creek clean-up supplies will be provided. Please bring water, sunscreen, and wear layered clothing and closed-toe shoes that can get wet and dirty.
All ages welcome! For more information including directions to the site please contact Jennifer Robinson Maddox at Golden Gate Audubon: (510) 919-5873 or jrobinson@goldengateaudubon.org. RSVP required by Thursday, July 23rd.
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6. Story on HANC Recycle Center nursery and Greg Gaar:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/07/15/DDO218HBK8.DTL
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7. Hi Jake, I think your readers might be interested in this action alert about protecting our nation's wildlife and wild places from the impacts of climate change.
Ask the Senate to Save Our Natural World from Climate Change
Climate change is already impacting our communities, our health and safety and our natural resources. Global warming is threatening wildlife, fish and plants who are already on the brink of extinction. Melting sea ice, warming ocean and river waters, shifting life cycles and migration are impacting endangered species, including polar bears, lynx, salmon, coral, and migratory birds.
Congress is working on climate change legislation that sets a first-ever cap on global warming pollution and helps reduce the impact of climate change on our communities, our health and our natural resources. Endangered species -and species put at risk of extinction due to climate change - would benefit from these efforts.
Now that the U.S. House of Representatives has passed a climate bill, the Senate must act. Industry lobbyists will continue to try to weaken the bill, including removing key programs and funding that would protect natural resources from the impacts of climate change.
Please send a letter to your Senator asking them to ensure that provisions to safeguard natural resource are included in the climate change bill.
http://www.change.org/esc/actions/view/ask_the_senate_to_save_our_natural_world_from_climate_change
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8. Renewables: The Final Frontier, by Randy Udall
...The world's foremost energy historian, Vaclav Smil, began a recent essay with this blunt statement: "Our transition away from fossil fuels will take decades--if it happens at all."
The author of dozens of books, Smil is a brainy polymath. A distinguished professor at University of Manitoba, he finds most American energy discussions naive, simplistic, cliched, innumerate, and, ultimately, maddening. He does not believe that our cars will soon be powered by fuel cells or pyrolyzed turkey guts, that clean coal can solve the climate problem, or that venture capital will discover an energy analogue to the cellular phone.
Al Gore's proposal to re-power America with renewable energy in a decade is "delusional," Smil writes. "Gore has succumbed to Moore's curse, the belief that performance improvement in energy systems can model that of computer processing power."
Energy systems are not virtual, they are heavy metal--copper and steel and megatons of concrete. Their operating systems don't change; 60 hertz never goes obsolete. Upgrading power plants is generally unnecessary, except where pollution controls are concerned, and replacing them is expensive, which is why there are hundreds of 40-year-old coal plants. In short, you can throw your laptop out every few years and order a new one, but Hoover Dam will still be plugging the Colorado River centuries from now. Given climate realities, we desperately need a rapid energy transformation, but wishing can't make it so.
...Like it or not, Smil believes we are captive to past investments, to be multi-trillion-dollar energy networks we have already created, and, above all, to the scale of our energy appetites. Only the last of those factors seems amenable to rapid change, and thus his advice to President Obama: "Explain to the nation that Americans, who consume twice as much energy per capita as rich Europeans (and have nothing to show for it), should try to live within some sensible limits, which means using less fuel not more."
...(a biologist) calculates that a typical North American consumes energy at a rate sufficient to sustain a 66,000-pound primate. That's a very big ape, and Smil is not the only one asking whether it's realistic to meet his gargantuan appetite with wind and solar, dilute flows of power that today provide less than 1 percent of U.S. energy. Unlike oil shale, wind, solar and geothermal have high energy returns and a bright future. Nonetheless, it will take many doublings before they will meet a significant percentage of our needs.
Smil can envision running a lightly populated state such as Montana or Wyoming on renewables once its fossil fuels run out. Urban areas present a more difficult problem. By abusing a calculator and common sense, one can sketch out a renewable blueprint for a city like Phoenix, but after awhile the numbers begin to seem like so much Hohokam. Phoenix long ago exceeded its carrying capacity and is likely to remain dependent on imported oil, gas and nuclear power, for as long as such things last.
...Unless saving energy quickly becomes the nation's focus, we already have the answer: "Beam me up, Scotty, there's no intelligent life down here."
Excerpted from High Country News 22 June 2009
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Oxymorons: road safety, fiscal prudence, sustainable development
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9. BE THE CHANGE Environmental Leadership Program
Organizer: Rebecca Araiz Iverson, director of Acterra’s Be the Change program
Agenda: Meet others who want to create innovative solutions to environmental challenges in the community, workplace, and organizations; learn about benefits, goals and curriculum of this 10-month training program; and talk with Be the Change alums, advisors, and program staff.
Date & Time: July 30 from 6-8 p.m.
Location: Mountain View Council Chambers, 500 Castro Street, Mountain View, CA 94041
Cost: No charge, and light refreshments will be served.
RSVP: Please email Rebecca Iverson at rebeccaai@acterra.org to make a reservation, or, register online at: http://www.acterra.org/programs/bethechange/index.html
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10.
San Francisco Natural History Series
The Great Transpacific Migrations
Guest speaker Peter Pyle
7:30pm, Thursday July 23rd, 2009
The Great Transpacific Migrations From Albatross to Turtles, from Sharks to Shorebirds Wildlife biologist Peter Pyle will share recent satellite tag technology discoveries of some of the amazing ways animals migrate across the Pacific.
Peter is a research scientist who currently works for the Institute for Bird Populations studying changes in North American bird populations. He spent 24 years as a Farallon Island Biologist for the Point Reyes Bird Observatory studying bird, bat, and butterfly migrations, as well as great white sharks.
FREE; donations encouraged.
Randall Museum, 199 Museum Way
Info: 415.554.9600 or www.randallmuseum.org
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11.
July 25 Dinner Benefit for the Marin Agricultural Land Trust and
Conversation with Pt. Reyes Photographer Marty Knapp
5:00 - 6:00 PM – UPB Conversation with Phyllis Faber and Elisabeth Ptak of MALT and Marty Knapp
HOW ART HELPS TO PRESERVE & PROTECT THE LANDSCAPE FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS
University Press Books, 2430 Bancroft Way, Berkeley.
Conversation and Photo Exhibition/Sale is open to the public, no charge.
6:00 - 8:00 PM - Sale of Marty Knapp photographs and Dinner at Musical Offering Café, also at 2430 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, to benefit MALT.
Dinner is by reservation, $65. 510-849-0211.
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12. Feedback
James Grant:
Hi Jake, regarding item #19 (No sex, please, we're busy), I read this population control plan recently.
India wants births remote-controlled
INDIA intends to harness the passion-killing properties of late-night television to help control a potentially catastrophic population explosion.
Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has called for the country to redouble its efforts to bring electricity to all its huge rural population.
The introduction of the electric light and television sets to those vast areas that still did not have them would discourage procreation, he argued. "If there is electricity in every village then people will watch TV until late night and then fall asleep. They won't get a chance to produce children," Mr Azad said. "When there is no electricity there is nothing else to do but produce babies." He added: "Don't think that I am saying this in a lighter vein. I am serious. TV will have a great impact. It's a great medium to tackle the problem ... 80 per cent of population growth can be reduced through TV." http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25777330-2703,00.html
Yes indeed. Remember the New York City blackout in the....uh, I think it may have been the 1960s or '70s...so possibly you don't remember (I have a hard time remembering that many of my acquaintances and newsletter recipients were not even a gleam in their father's eye when I experienced certain events). Well, the New York City blackouts lasted a few hours, and nine months later there was a bumper crop of babies. (I'm sure those babies have a nickname, like the after-the-war babies are called Boomers, but I can't remember what they called them. It's probably on Wikipedia.)
It's a lesson for us all. We have all this education, consultants, experts, intellectuals, college professors, and think tanks making projections into the future that guides so many of our future plans, then get tripped up by a simple human fact that no one even considered. Reality always confounds the projections.
The NY blackout was 1965. According to snopes, the birth rate nine months after the blackout did not show a statistically significant difference from the rate of birth during the same period in any of the five previous years. I suspect that population growth trends are much more complex than whether one has electric lights or television.
http://www.snopes.com/pregnant/blackout.asp
Ah, thank you for straightening out this little myth perpetrated by the media, which was before PCs and snopes.com. Seems the world isn't interesting enough as is, so they have to invent things to titillate their readers and audiences. It was widely talked about at the time, which the media loved.
Don French:
"How's your father?"
I hever heard this phrase but Google knew of it and directed me to http://www.effingpot.com/slang.shtml where I learned a number of other Britishisms. I say, it really is the mutt's nuts, isn't it?
(But I am still not exactly sure what doing it "lady-style" means.)
I received two queries on this question.
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13.
The Bioneers Conference
October 16-18
Marin Center, San Rafael
"The issues they were raising a decade ago, from local food to rooftop power, have moved into the mainstream. Bioneers has been consistently ahead of the curve. It began as a gathering place for a fairly small number of like-minded people but is now a hatchery for the next wave of important ideas that five years hence people will be talking about in Rotary Clubs." Bill McKibben, quoted in The New York Times, 10/26/06
Register online: www.bioneers.org/conference
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14.
The Late Show Gardens – September 18-20, 2009 – Sonoma, CA
The intimate layout of The Late Show Gardens will allow visitors to personally experience a different approach to the crucial issues of climate change, drought and sustainability through garden designs, lectures, and specially selected vendors.
AFFORDABLE Tickets Daily passes from $10-$20. Discounted 3-day passes. Check web site for discounts. Early Bird Discount expires 8/1/09.
For more information and tickets http://www.thelateshowgardens.org
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15. A Bat Disease That's Bad News for Humans, Too
People could soon feel the devastating effects of white nose syndrome (WNS) among bats. The most immediate change may be the number of mosquito bites people get this summer. According to Greg Turner of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, a bat may consume as much as its own weight in insects each night, including mosquitoes. Bat guru Merlin D. Tuttle, who founded Bat Conservation International, notes that bats are the primary predators of pests that "cost American farmers and foresters billions of dollars annually." If WNS spreads to the American South and West, it could also lead to huge losses of crops pollinated by bats. As Turner points out, bats are major pollinators of plantains* and avocados and are the sole pollinators of the agave plant; margarita cocktail lovers owe the tequila in their drink to the activities of bats.
Scientific American, August 2009
(* By "plantains" is assume we're talking about bananas. JS)
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16.
On honeybees and jury duty
LTE, Science News 18 July 2009
Reading "Swarm Savvy", I was struck by how closely the honeybee decision-making process resembled the internal dynamics of a jury I once was on. The "obvious" jury decision, in my not-very-humble opinion, was guilty to a lesser charge of non-aggravated battery, but I was surprised by how many moms and nurses wanted to acquit the defendant immediately--and how offended they were by my obstinate refusal to back down. The final result, when it came, was indeed guilty to the lesser charge, but by then I had been worn down and was doubting my own decision. It was not an easy afternoon, and the end came only when everyone had allowed (like the honeybees in the article) "their enthusiasm to decay." The end came abruptly, in fact, and correctly in my opinion.
I wonder if the jury system has not been deliberately designed to facilitate this behavior. But if so, by whom? Are 12 jurors an optimum number because 12 is so easily divided by four or three or two? I wonder if the law distinguishes gradations in offenses, not because criminals are sometimes "less guilty" or "more guilty," but because juries cannot reach a decision if their only options are guilty or not guilty. Has common law reached preeminence precisely because it is an optimum, highly evolved decision-making process?
David C. Oshel, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
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17. Notes & Queries, Guardian Weekly
Don't let your freak flag fly if it's standing at half-mast
Whatever happened to the Age of Aquarius?
Hair today, gone tomorrow.
Nick Draper, Christchurch, New Zealand
I've no idea what happened to the Age of Aquarius, probably the same as for the Age of Enlightenment. However, we seem to have rediscovered the Dark Ages (have you read the Guardian Weekly this last year?). So it's not all bad? Is it?
David Blest, Dilston, Tasmania, Australia
Why does hair grow on a man's chin after it stops growing on his skull?
Gravity.
Ian MacDougall, Tokyo, Japan
He uses his jaw more than his head.
John Ralston, Palo Alto, California, US
I don't know why hair continues to grow on the chin when it has stopped growing on the skull. I have another question--why does armpit hair and public hair reach a certain length and then stop?
Michael O'Leary, Passara, Sri Lanka
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