“The era of gradualism in environmental activism is over.”New York Times

Posted on September 28, 2019 by Al Bergstein

For many years now we’ve watched as right wing conservative donors like the Koch brothers have funded anti-environmentalist organizations that worked to undermine the message of scientists that were warning us about the impending climate change of the planet. Now a new generation of concerned wealthy people are helping to fund a new wave of climate change activists. They are abandoning the traditional environmental organizations that have been trying to find a moderate slow-go approach to an extreme problem. That is now changing right in front of our eyes, as we have seen in the last two weeks with millions of people from around the planet protesting to do something more radical about climate change. It couldn’t happen a moment to soon. Expect more in the future. Anyone here on the Peninsula want to discuss supporting these kind of activities here?

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/27/climate/climate-change-protests-funding.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

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New UN Climate Report – Oceans rising faster

Posted on September 25, 2019 by Al Bergstein

For those of us who live on costs around the world the news could hardly be worse. The future of virtually every coastal city and more than 2 billion people around the world are going to be significantly impacted this century and perhaps as soon as mid century if the worst case scenario continues to play out as they seem to be every time a new report comes out.The planet is looking for leadership from China and the US and we have no one except a 16-year-old coming to our rescue at this moment. It’s up to us folks. There’s no one else going to lead us out of this mess. As far as Port Townsend and the Olympic Peninsula goes, we better be planning for alternative water sources, and significant changes to downtown planning in the near future. The likelihood of Water Street truly becoming a water street appears to be quite high.

The fate of our fisheries right here, as well as work being done on habitat restoration all around the Sound could be put at risk.

www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/09/25/new-un-climate-report-massive-change-already-here-worlds-oceans-frozen-regions/

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Extreme Weather Displaced a Record 7 Million in First Half of 2019 – NY Times

Posted on September 22, 2019 by Al Bergstein

An interesting article by the New York Times documenting how many people have been displaced by climate change related weather in the first half of this year alone. The only question left to ask is, who’s next?

www.nytimes.com/2019/09/12/climate/extreme-weather-displacement.html

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EVENT: State attorney general Ferguson, DNR commissioner Franz to speak Aug. 25 at Democrats’ annual Fish Feast

Posted on August 13, 2019 by garbl

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, undefeated in 22 lawsuits so far against the Trump administration, will be one of two keynote speakers Sunday, Aug. 25, at the 25th annual Fish Feast in Port Townsend of the Jefferson County Democrats. Its theme this year: “There’s a Lot on the Line.”

Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz, who spearheaded the development of a 10-year statewide plan to fight and prevent wildfires, will be the other keynote speaker.

Tickets for the event at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds are available for $60 at jeffcodemocrats.com and by mail at Jefferson County Democrats, P. O. Box 85, Port Townsend, WA 98368. Tickets will also be available at the door (cash, check or card).

Doors open at 4 p.m. for the bar and socializing in the Erickson Building. Dinner starts at 5:30 p.m., and speakers begin at 6 p.m. The party donates one dollar of each ticket to the Jefferson County Fair Board.

“The Fish Feast is our major fundraiser of the year,” said party Chair Marty Gilmore. “Each ticket purchase supports the vital work we do year-round to elect Democrats! It’s also an opportunity to hear the latest on current issues from our guest speakers – and fun time to see friends.”

Recent successes by Ferguson’s office include the largest-ever trial award in a state consumer protection case, debt relief from predatory lending for hundreds of students, and defense of the constitution by defeating the Trump administration’s attempt to add a discriminatory citizenship question to the 2020 Census.

Franz’s office has led state efforts to make Washington’s lands resilient in the face of climate change, investing in carbon sequestration and clean energy with wind, solar and geothermal infrastructure. Her office has also allocated millions of dollars to struggling rural communities to spark economic opportunities.

Fish Feast attendees will also hear from U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer, state Sen. Kevin Van de Wege, state Reps. Mike Chapman and Steve Tharinger, state party chair Tina Podlodowski, and local Democratic elected officials.

Before the feast is served, guests can mingle with candidates, campaigns, and organizations in Campaign Alley outside the Oscar Erickson Building.

Rep. Kilmer has sponsored tickets for 20 Young Democrats (under 35 years old). Contact Libby Wennstrom (360-301-9728) or Chelsea Pronovost (425-256-0626) to pre-register as a guest.

“We’re also offering 20 discounted tickets at our cost,” said Fish Feast organizer Claire Roney. “$25 each – first come, first serve.” For more information—or to volunteer for the Fish Feast, contact Roney at (360) 531-1177.

The Fish Feat menu will include sockeye salmon from Key City Fish, BBQed by chef Larry Dennison; shellfish from Taylor Shellfish; greens and veggies from local farms; rolls from Pane d’Amore; and cake. Beverages will include wine from the Wine Seller and beer from Port Townsend Brewing Co.

For more information about the Jefferson County Democrats, visit its website at jeffcodemocrats.com or its Facebook page, @jeffcodemocrats.

Filed under: Environmental Law, Events, fisheries, Global Warming, Government, Jefferson County, Jefferson County, Olympic Peninsula | Tagged: , , , , , | Comments Off on EVENT: State attorney general Ferguson, DNR commissioner Franz to speak Aug. 25 at Democrats’ annual Fish Feast

Citizen Scientists Struggle to Save Sword Ferns – Earth 911

Posted on August 9, 2019 by Al Bergstein

More warning signs that we are heading for environmental trouble.

When scientists pursue research that requires massive amounts of field data, especially collected over a large geographic area — think of Audubon’s annual bird count and monarch butterfly migration monitoring — they often call on citizen scientists. But when a volunteer group of park stewards in Seattle discovered that native sword ferns were mysteriously dying, they turned the narrative around, driving the scientific process, developing experiments, and even finding funding for more rigorous tests. The evergreen western sword fern (Polystichum munitum) is one of the most abundant species in its native habitat. But that habitat is mostly limited to the Pacific coast from Southeastern Alaska to Southern California. Because the plants have little economic value, their biology has not been closely studied. “These plants are charismatic in a lot of ways,” says Tim Billo, a lecturer at the University of Washington. Sword ferns dominate the understory of Pacific Northwest forests, where they help prevent erosion. They comprise a major part of the winter diet for mountain beavers, a small, burrowing rodent endemic to the lowland forests of the Northwest. “An individual fern lives basically forever, just adding to their rhizome every year. The ones in Seward Park could be as old as the oldest trees there — between 300 and 500 years old. Imagine if all of the oldest trees started dying,” says Billo. That’s what happened to sword ferns in Seward Park in 2013. That fall, Catherine Alexander noticed that many of the sword ferns in the Seattle park didn’t look healthy, and alerted the volunteer group Friends of Seward Park. The next spring, many of the ferns failed to grow. Today, the dead-fern zone covers 20 acres. Gemma Alexander reports. (Earth911)

Citizen Scientists Struggle to Save Sword Ferns

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‘Regional climate modeling’ provides clearer picture of climate change impacts in PNW | KNKX

Posted on July 1, 2019 by Al Bergstein

This is what Cliff Mass is best at, regional weather modeling. Cliff has at times been highly skeptical of climate change issues that many of the rest of the scientific community had already excepted, but in the last few years he seems to of come entirely on board with the premise. This appears to be very good work that he’s done with this group of atmospheric researchers.

How does it apply to us here on the Olympic Peninsula? If our snow pack is reduced by 75% in the next hundred years, we may have to seriously look at alternative ways of getting water for our towns like Port Townsend. And the notion of having a papermill that uses 1,000,000 gallons or more a day will likely be a thing of the past.

KNKX weather expert Cliff Mass has been working with a group of atmospheric researchers at the University of Washington hoping to get a better idea of the
— Read on www.knkx.org/post/regional-climate-modeling-provides-clearer-picture-climate-change-impacts-pnw

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Voting in Olympia

Posted on March 21, 2019 by Al Bergstein

Current voting status from our Legislators. Culled from the great folks at Washingtonvotes.org. The Democrats are capitalizing on their majority and governor. They are passing a lot of bills to help the environment. While I am not wild about taxing carbon, (I’d rather see better support for purchasing electric vehicles and power recharging stations), as carbon taxes really don’t change behavior from what I’ve seen, simply make people pay more. Setting quotas on how many electric vehicles are imported for sale here simply penalizes the car dealers if they don’t sell. That’s just dumb. They are already paying taxes on gross sales, which is also a bad tax system. I’d much rather created incentives for people to buy! That will drive demand. It’s all about demand and alternative choices (i.e. mass transit).

I took a bus for many years from North Seattle to Redmond. I did it because there were frequent busses and it was convenient. I knew I could leave early and return early or late. I don’t see anything being done to create more incentive for people to take mass transit on the Olympic Peninsula. As an example, it would seem we need more busses serving PT to Sequim, where people may work, or go to medical appointments. There are only four busses,the first leaves at 8:30 AM. No working person will take that bus. They have to drive to near the airport to catch the earlier bus. Coming back the last bus leaves Sequim at 6:40, so if you have to stay late, you are stuck. The first bus leaves Sequim for PT at 6:52, so you can certainly catch that bus if you work in PT, but again, your last opportunity out is at 5:50. It appears we could easily do one more bus on each end of the day. One leaves early to Sequim from Haynes and one leaves later from Sequim and returns later from PT. That is what creating demand can accomplish. However you also need to advertise the service.

There are people though that will never take the bus, and for them, we need to drive demand for longer range electric vehicles. Maybe a service that would allow people to ‘rent’ an electric car at the Haynes P&R and drive it to Sequim, etc. and return it when done to Haynes. That seems to be a technology that is available. It certainly has worked in Seattle. ReachNow, ZipCar, Car2Go.

So here’s your local legislator’s votes

House Bill 1110, Reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with transportation fuels

Passed the House on March 12 by a vote of 53-43

This bill would direct the state Department of Ecology to impose low-carbon fuel limits on gasoline and other transportation related fuels with a “clean fuels” program. Under the bill, carbon emissions of transportation fuels would have to be reduced to 10 percent below 2017 levels by 2028 and 20 percent below 2017 levels by 2035. The mandatory program would begin Jan. 1, 2021. During floor debate, opponents argued that the bill would harm Washington residents by raising gas prices, which are already among the highest in the nation, and raising other costs, including food prices. A Republican amendment to allow a public vote at the next general election was defeated, and the bill passed along party lines by a 53-43 vote. Bi-partisan opposition to the bill included all Republicans and three Democrats. The bill was referred to the Senate Environment, Energy and Technology Committee for further consideration

Rep. Chapman Yes

Rep. Tharinger Yes

This bill would impose California’s automobile emission rules on vehicle owners in Washington. Under the bill, car makers would be assigned credits based on the kind of fuel efficient cars they bring into the state. Those credits would then be used to set quotas for how many zero-emission vehicles manufacturers must ship into the state and for dealers to offer for sale, regardless of whether consumers want them or not. The stated goal of the bill is to have about 2.5 percent of all cars brought into Washington be the equivalent of zero-emission vehicles. The bill is now before the House Environment and Energy Committee for further consideration.
Sen. Kevin Van De Wege (Sequim) (D) ‘Voted Yes’
If enacted into law, this bill would ban stores from giving single-use plastic carryout bags to their customers. The ban includes paper and recycled plastic bags unless they meet stringent recycled content requirements. Under the bill, retailers would also be required to collect an 8-cent per bag tax for each recycled content large paper or plastic carryout bag provided. These provisions would supersede local bag ordinances, except for ordinances establishing a 10-cent per bag charge in effect as of January 1, 2019. Passage of SB 5323 by the Senate is the furthest statewide bag-ban proposals have advanced in the legislative process, since the idea of regulating and taxing shopping bags were first proposed in 2013. The bill was sent to the House Environment and Energy Committee for further consideration.
Sen. Kevin Van De Wege (Sequim) (D) ‘Voted Yes’
Under this bill, Washington’s electric utilities would have to eliminate all coal-fired energy sources by 2025 and meet 100 percent of its retail electric load using non-emitting and renewable resources by January 1, 2045. ?In support of the bill, Democrats said the state has an entrepreneurial economy that can move toward a clean energy economy. Solar and wind are the future, and this bill provides a common sense framework for bold actions toward a carbon-free electricity, they said. Republican senators offered nearly two dozen amendments to the bill, pointing out that Washington utilities already rely heavily on clean hydroelectric power and that the bill’s provisions would really only result in additional costs and rate increases to be borne by consumers. Most of the amendments failed, and the bill passed along strictly partisan lines, with one Republican and one Democrat member excused. The bill was sent to the House Committee on Environment and Energy, which has scheduled a public hearing for March 5th.
Sen. Kevin Van De Wege (Sequim) (D) ‘Voted Yes’

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West’s rivers are hot enough to cook salmon to death. Will this court ruling keep them cool? – Bellingham Herald

Posted on October 24, 2018 by Al Bergstein

With global warming comes the heating of our rivers. That has devastating impacts on salmon, which need a river to remain under 56 degrees or young salmon will die. This might bring a change of heart to the issue of Snake River dam removal or breaching.

A federal judge in Seattle has directed the Environmental Protection Agency, in a ruling with implications for California and the Pacific Northwest, to find a way to keep river waters cool.

Read more here: https://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/state/washington/article220466120.html#storylink=cpy

 

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Acceleration of mountain glacier melt could impact Pacific NW water supplies – AGU 100 Earth and Space Science

Posted on September 4, 2018 by Al Bergstein

This study should be a wake up call for our local politicians. We need to be contemplating how we are going to get water for this city when the mountains are unable to sustain us. It’s not too soon to have a plan and begin looking for funding sources as they become available.

The model showed that summer melt from some lower elevation glaciers is already declining, and summer melt from some higher elevation glaciers is expected to begin declining by 2050, according to the study.

https://blogs.agu.org/geospace/2018/08/16/acceleration-of-mountain-glacier-melt-could-impact-pacific-northwest-water-supplies/

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Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change – The NY Times

Posted on August 6, 2018 by Al Bergstein

If you read only one article all year, this is it. We have known for decades and our inaction has spelled disaster.  We can no longer stop man made global warming, now the job is to figure out how to survive it.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/08/01/magazine/climate-change-losing-earth.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fmagazine&action=click&contentCollection=magazine&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront

 

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Europe and the effects of climate change.-NY Times

Posted on August 4, 2018 by Al Bergstein

It is always difficult when you were in the eye of the storm to understand the scope of how big the store might actually be. Here is a good overall round up of the effects of climate change on Europe this year.

No matter what happens to try to reverse this we are facing long-term affects that will have a massive change to where we live as well. The summer fire season in both Washington state and Canada as well as the areas of northern California is already well-documented. Will be interesting to see what effects happen to the farmers of Eastern Washington with the temperatures as hot as they have been. and on the Horizon is the hurricane season in the Atlantic.

nyti.ms/2O7HS4I

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2017: The Year In Climate – New York Times

Posted on December 8, 2017 by Al Bergstein

The Big Picture

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/06/climate/year-end-review.html?_r=2&utm_source=Sightline%20Institute&utm_medium=web-email&utm_campaign=Sightline%20News%20Selections

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How Coral Researchers Are Coping With the Death of Reefs – The Atlantic

Posted on November 27, 2017 by Al Bergstein

While not specifically Olympic Peninsula News, many of us venture to places during our lives expecting to see coral. Whether you have gone to Hawaii, Belize, Mexico or any other beautiful tropical setting, the ability to snorkel the local reefs has been an experience that often creates environmental protection support. But there are warning signs everywhere. Anyone that has gone to a reef lately has seen the bleached coral and the lack of diversity of species. Even the scientists are getting depressed. Why post this? Because it is going to take all of us to eventually *demand* we take the radical steps needed to save the planet before it’s too late. By saving it, I mean that we are going to, at some point in the lives of people alive today, need to demand and take steps that will be extremely painful and life altering for every single person on this planet. That day is not far off. We have just lost Puerto Rico, drowned much of Houston, have seen three Category 4 storms land in the U.S. in one year, burned up much of the part of California that produces hundreds of millions of dollars of wine products, burned up huge amounts of Canadian western forests, and more. Our President that refuses to believe the trouble we are in seems simply incompetent rather than in the know. In fact, a concerted effort to destroy any scientific knowledge of the issue  is underway by his administration. This rivals the Nazi rewriting of German science in the 30s.  We are experiencing a similar situation to the German people then.  Some of us will flee. But the question all of us should be asking is, “what more can I do than I’m doing now?”

“The drumbeat of devastating news can take its toll on the mental health of people who have devoted their lives to coral.”

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/11/coral-scientists-coping-reefs-mental-health/546440/

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Record surge in atmospheric CO2 seen in 2016 – BBC

Posted on October 31, 2017 by Al Bergstein

The question that comes from all of this is “at what point do we make the planet uninhabitable for humans? “ And as many scientists have thought, the unintended consequences of not doing enough for CO2 is that we are finding that methane is suddenly exploding in the atmosphere.  One likely source could be the exposure of tundra as the permafrost melts.

Concentrations of CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere surged to a record high in 2016, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Last year’s increase was 50% higher than the average of the past 10 years.

Researchers say a combination of human activities and the El Niño weather phenomenon drove CO2 to a level not seen in 800,000 years.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-41778089

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Elon Musk: ‘The Dumbest experiment In History’

Posted on October 24, 2017 by Al Bergstein

“We are running the most dangerous experiment in history right now. Which is to see how much carbon dioxide the atmosphere can handle before there is an environmental catastrophe.” – Elon Musk

The most important thing you can listen to today.

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Good news:Americans bought more Electric Cars last month than ever before -Auto Blog

Posted on October 10, 2016 by Al Bergstein

With electric car sales continuing their upward trend, and wind and solar energy costs now cheaper than coal electrical generation, we are on our way to a renewable future, even without the help of the US Congress.

US plug-in vehicle sales reached a quarterly record for the three-month period that ended September 30, as demand improved for plug-in models such as the Tesla Model S battery-electric vehicle and the Chevrolet Volt extended-range plug-in, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). September also marked a record month for plug-in vehicle sales. Now imagine if gas prices were high or if all the electric vehicles available for sale in California were on dealer lots in most US states?

Auto Blog Story

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Bad news for crabs and birds: Puget Sound hotter than ever – KUOW

Posted on September 29, 2016 by Al Bergstein

The notion of the Hood Canal changing as much as 7 Degrees Celsius in one year is just mind boggling. The story of the frog in the pan of boiling water comes to mind.So when do we reach the tipping point and find the Sound is dead? And what will help you come out to help? A good place to start is at our elections in a few weeks. Voting for the people listed on the front page of this blog, under the tab 2016 Elections, will help ensure that we have leadership that believes in global warming and is willing to work to fix this problem at all levels of city, county, state and national levels. We are running out of time.

There has been a significant change in the waters in Puget Sound, according to a new NOAA Fisheries report. In 2015, the temperatures rose more than any other year in recorded history. Stephanie Moore: “New maximum records were set just about everywhere in Puget Sound in terms of water temperatures.” Biological oceanographer Stephanie Moore headed up the 2015 report by NOAA Fisheries. She says across Puget Sound, shallow and deep water temperatures rose at a record pace above the 10 year mean. Most locations rose by 2 degrees Celsius. In southern Hood Canal it was even higher, 7 degrees. Paige Browning reports. (KUOW)

http://kuow.org/post/bad-news-crabs-and-birds-puget-sound-hotter-ever

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Seas are now rising faster than they have in 2,800 years, scientists say – Washington Post

Posted on February 23, 2016 by Al Bergstein

We no longer can change it, we have to figure out how to ride it.

A group of scientists says it has now reconstructed the history of the planet’s sea levels arcing back over some 3,000 years — leading it to conclude that the rate of increase experienced in the 20th century was “extremely likely” to have been faster than during nearly the entire period.

“We can say with 95 percent probability that the 20th-century rise was faster than any of the previous 27 centuries,” said Bob Kopp, a climate scientist at Rutgers University who led the research with nine colleagues from several U.S. and global universities. Kopp said it’s not that seas rose faster before that – they probably didn’t – but merely that the ability to say as much with the same level of confidence declines.

 

Seas Are Now Rising Faster….

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Port Townsend yearly temp 1.4 degrees warmer than average

Posted on February 19, 2016 by Al Bergstein

The New York Times has published an amazing tool, that shows the last year’s temperature for many cities around the world. Port Townsend was 1.4 degrees warmer than average last year. 

Our average temperature was 53.3 degrees F. Our politicians on the right, continue to fiddle while the world burns. Help vote them out this year. Give money to political campaigns, like Emily’s List that are fighting to put in politicians that believe in Global Warming and want to pass legislation to do something about it. What could be passed that could help? Here’s a few ideas:

  • Force a conversion of all coal fired power plants to natural gas as quickly as possible (which is a bridging strategy to the future). Rate payers will have to be the ones to pay for this, with some government assistance for bridging loans.
  • Support mass installation of solar panels everywhere viable in the US. Think south of a line drawn from the Ohio River west, just as a start. This would create millions of new jobs, especially in lower income communities. There should be no roof left without some solar panels south of that line.
  • Shut down off shore oil drilling and move the workers to creating a national network of off shore wind farms. Do it as a national emergency, to overcome the legal objections  of Not in My Backyard  by  people wanting to protect their coastal views. Fund this with future bonds, or from the Defense budget.
  • Support R&D for electric automobiles. Take the money from the Defense budget. A few less Cruise missiles for example could fund it.
  • Support significant tax breaks for buying electric cars and bicycles.
  • Support buildout of a electric vehicle charging station infrastructure across the country. This can also come from the Defense budget.
  • Triple support for mass transit to get people out of cars.
  • Support building high speed rail service between major cities, to get people out of jet fueled airplanes for short hauls. Another Defense budget move. Remember Interstate Highways were built as a national defense infrastructure to move troops in times of war.

Bottom line, these things will make us safer, get us further from dependence on fascist and religious fundamentalist regimes in places like the Middle East, stop us from needing to run coal and oil trains through our cities, giving us greater freedom and not less. What stands in the way? The Republicans in the State and Federal government. It’s time to vote them out. The status quo is the Titanic and the iceberg is global warming.

Scientists declared that 2015 was Earth’s hottest year on record. In a database of 3,116 cities provided by AccuWeather, about 90 percent of them were warmer than normal.

http://nyti.ms/1Q4YDeh

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Climate change: 2015 ‘shattered’ global temperature record by wide margin – BBC

Posted on January 21, 2016 by Al Bergstein

The data is in and it’s not good. The question continues to be not how we are going to reverse it, but how we are going to cope with it. I don’t think I’d want to be invested in any shoreline housing or businesses near oceans, for example, but more seriously, it’s unclear how we are going to feed the planet when most of the best agricultural locations are gone. Sure they’ll move north, but the soils in Canada, for example, don’t seem as fertile as those of the Great Plains. We need a lot of smart thinkers, because our politicians are failing to do the right thing. Even with the Paris accords reached recently, the change is going to outpace our ability to slow it down.

Data produced by the US space agency (Nasa) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) show that 2015 “shattered” the previous record set in 2014 by 0.13C.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35354579

 

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