In New York State the Maple - Basswood forests have no animal indicator species. That doesn't mean protections for wildlife are not important. There are understory and herbaceous indicator species for this forest and I will begin to discuss them next week.
France
People are saying this is the very first time France has experienced deaths from a heat wave, that is not the case.
The climate crisis struck in 2003 and took the lives of 14,802 people.
France rarely had heat-wave before 2003. There was little air conditioning in many cottages that had thick walls to cool the living space in the summer and maintain the heat inside in the winter. Those thick walls heated up from the outside to the inside in the summer of 2003. People died of heat related deaths in their own homes.
The climate crisis is upon us and if we don't address this now, the years ahead will be devastating in the effects of weather and people will die. They may even die of water shortages.
The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a matter of survival and already people around the world are losing the fight.
This assault on life has to end and it has to end now. This is not politics, but, the leaders of democratic countries MUST address greenhouse gas emissions and plan for changes in energy and transportation. The future does not belong to the older generations. The future belongs to the young adults and their children. It is time to make way for them and secure a planet free of deadly weather. Enough. The young people and their children MUST have a safe and happy future.
Sunday, September 08, 2019
It is not just hot, it is weather that kills. This is the climate crisis and the Amazon Rainforest is a carbon sink!
By Ron Brackett
More than 1,500 people died in France (click here) during summer heat waves that set record high temperatures in many parts of Europe, the country's health minister said Sunday.
Agnes Buzyn, speaking on France Inter radio Sunday, said the figure was more than 1,000 deaths above the annual average for the time of the year, according to the Associated Press.
She said there were 18 days of recorded heat waves in France this year during June and July.
France set a new national high temperature during a heat wave June 25-30 when temperatures soared to 114.6 degrees Fahrenheit at Gallargues-le-Montueux in Gard, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
On July 25, Paris' maximum temperature soared to 108.7 degrees Fahrenheit. The July 2019 average temperature for France was 73.4 F or 4 degrees above average, NOAA said.
Buzyn said a public relations campaign about the dangers of heat saved many lives in France this summer. She also noted that the 1,500 deaths this year were far fewer than in a heat wave in 2003 that claimed 15,000 lives.
"We have succeeded — thanks to prevention, thanks to workable messages the French population heeded — to reduce fatalities by a factor of 10," she said.
In addition to France, the heat wave this past June shattered record high temperatures in seven other European nations, including Germany....
The Bird of New York State is the Eastern Bluebird. Protect it.
January 24, 2019
By M L Nestel
Death litters the base of the sky-mirroring Time Warner Center. (click here) Dozens of badly damaged songbirds bash into its panes and disappear when they meet Charlie Alamo's broom and dustbin.
"I've seen a lot of dead birds here," he told Newsweek last year.
Collecting chirpless birds has become part of the 43-year-old maintenance worker's routine at the Columbus Circle high-rise.
"Some of the birds just have the head left," he said while pointing toward the peregrine falcons nested above. Alamo's seen them routinely mutilate songbirds as snacks while also controlling the block's pigeon and squirrel populations.
Summer mornings must prove deceptive for the warblers and woodcocks here, because that's when Alamo says he collects most of the downed prey.
"I love birds," he said. "It's heartbreaking to see that."...
...At a stoplight on Tenth Avenue during a sunny afternoon drive, New York State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick winced at the laser glare off the looming Hudson Yards construction site.
That blinding moment compelled Glick to stop the proliferation bird-killing glass buildings. "We're seeing too many glass towers that seem to be the main focus of architects," she said.
Glick, who represents some bird-collision hot spots in both Lower Manhattan and Greenwich Village, last year introduced a bill that called for every building construction project in New York City to establish "bird collision deterrent safety measures" and use "bird-safe building materials and design features."
Its measures call for premium materials such as ultraviolet treated or fritted glass (the near-invisible porcelain ball patterns that birds can detect) when applied from the ground level to 50 feet high, where most collisions occur. Screens or netting are other makeshift ways to cut down on "one of the largest threats to bird populations in New York City."
"The reality is birds are dying," Glick said. "Bats are dying. Bees are dying. People are becoming aware of these things -- especially young people and the future is going to be in humans making things that are less damaging to the natural world."...
The vibrant colors and soft, (click here) musical warbles of the Eastern Bluebird are a welcome sight on a cold, snowy day. Bluebirds have long been considered harbingers of spring, and their willingness to nest in open, human-modified habitats makes them popular among birders and non-birders alike.
The female has the duller colors. It protects her and her nest.
By M L Nestel
Death litters the base of the sky-mirroring Time Warner Center. (click here) Dozens of badly damaged songbirds bash into its panes and disappear when they meet Charlie Alamo's broom and dustbin.
"I've seen a lot of dead birds here," he told Newsweek last year.
Collecting chirpless birds has become part of the 43-year-old maintenance worker's routine at the Columbus Circle high-rise.
"Some of the birds just have the head left," he said while pointing toward the peregrine falcons nested above. Alamo's seen them routinely mutilate songbirds as snacks while also controlling the block's pigeon and squirrel populations.
Summer mornings must prove deceptive for the warblers and woodcocks here, because that's when Alamo says he collects most of the downed prey.
"I love birds," he said. "It's heartbreaking to see that."...
...At a stoplight on Tenth Avenue during a sunny afternoon drive, New York State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick winced at the laser glare off the looming Hudson Yards construction site.
That blinding moment compelled Glick to stop the proliferation bird-killing glass buildings. "We're seeing too many glass towers that seem to be the main focus of architects," she said.
Glick, who represents some bird-collision hot spots in both Lower Manhattan and Greenwich Village, last year introduced a bill that called for every building construction project in New York City to establish "bird collision deterrent safety measures" and use "bird-safe building materials and design features."
Its measures call for premium materials such as ultraviolet treated or fritted glass (the near-invisible porcelain ball patterns that birds can detect) when applied from the ground level to 50 feet high, where most collisions occur. Screens or netting are other makeshift ways to cut down on "one of the largest threats to bird populations in New York City."
"The reality is birds are dying," Glick said. "Bats are dying. Bees are dying. People are becoming aware of these things -- especially young people and the future is going to be in humans making things that are less damaging to the natural world."...
The vibrant colors and soft, (click here) musical warbles of the Eastern Bluebird are a welcome sight on a cold, snowy day. Bluebirds have long been considered harbingers of spring, and their willingness to nest in open, human-modified habitats makes them popular among birders and non-birders alike.
The female has the duller colors. It protects her and her nest.
This picture (click here) is of a tree in Central Park, New York City. It is the second most common tree in Central Park.
It is all about money. Boycotts of Brazilian products must go forward.
It is not the world's problem that Brazil undereducates it's' people so all they believe they are qualified to do is slash and burn farming. Yet, the world has inherited this hideously ridiculous paradigm that is destroying the vitally important rainforest.
Money is all they understand and is all they WANT to understand. On one hand the man in the video states that he is not educated enough to do anything but slash and burn farming and in the next breath states he has wisdom that the rainforest burns every year for it's own health. It can't be both. He is either stupid or understands the value of the rainforest. I don't think he cares about the value of the rainforest. Here again greed is at work over any form of humanity.
September 6, 2019
By Megan Cerullo
"Due to the severe fires in the Brazilian part of the Amazon rainforest, and the connections to cattle production, we have decided to place a temporary ban on leather from Brazil," the company said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch.
The world's second-largest clothing retailer reiterated that the ban is temporary, and will remain in effect until "there are credible assurance systems in place to verify that the leather does not contribute to environmental harm in the Amazon."
"The vast majority" of the fashion group's leather is sourced from Europe, the company noted.
H&M joins VF Corp., which owns Timberland, Vans, North Face and other shoe and apparel brands, in halting leather purchases from Brazil until suppliers show it's not connected to widespread deforestation. VF, based in Greensboro, North Carolina, made its announcement last week....
The acorn is considered to be egg-shaped, but, I think that is debatable. It is 5/8 inch to 1-1/8 inch long. It has a cap that is reddish-brown. The cap has tightly over lapping scales.
This paper discusses acorn development which is rather interesting when realizing if one is going to cut down trees, there needs to be acorns to grow new trees. This is everything you wanted to know about acorn development but were afraid to ask.
Northern red oak begins flowering at approximately age 25 (click here) but doesn’t reach maximum flower production until age 50 - 200 years. Flowers are incomplete and imperfect. Incomplete flowers lack one or more of the four basic floral parts such as petals, sepals, carpels and stamens (Raven et al. 1992). An imperfect flower contains only stamens or carpels but not both. Each oak flower contains either male or female structures. Northern red oak is monoecious (Sander 1990, Raven et al. 1992) which means that both the staminate (male) and pistillate (female) flowers occur upon the same tree. Cecich (1992) reported research by Irgens-Moller (1955) that the genus Quercus is capable of self fertilizing, but that Jovanovic et al. (1971) could not reproduce the same results....
The Washington State DNR wants citizens to realize the dangers of a Cascadian earthquake. It is serious.
August 27, 2019
The Washington state Department of Natural Resources (click here) on Tuesday, Aug. 27, released simulated models of what a large tsunami caused by a Cascadia earthquake would look like and how waves could impact local communities, including Bellingham.
“We know tsunamis will hit our state. It’s a question of when, not if, which means we need to prepare now. Our hope is that these stark videos drive home the need for communities to take action to become more secure and resilient,” Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz said in a release announcing the videos.
According to the release, DNR scientists developed the simulation videos to show what tsunamis triggered by a 9.0 earthquake on the Cascadia Subduction Zone might look like — showing the estimated height and speed of waves when they reach communities minutes after the quake....
It is dark grey to blackish with rough, deep furrows that have scaly ridges
This particular tree is aged and is at Harvard University. (click here)
The habitat is moist, loamy, sandy, rocky and clay soils. They are often found in pure stands of this species.
The Northern Red Oak also has a red under bark. It is best seen in the twigs which who the red color. This is a spring twig with three buds, two at the top and one at the first node from the top.
The Midwest is still a disaster.
September 6, 2019
By Jessie Higgins
The huge pile started to rot after being soaked during historic spring flooding that hit northern Missouri, western Iowa and Nebraska, said Patrick Burke, a spokesman for Gavilon, a Nebraska-based company that owns a grain elevator on the property near Rock Port.
"With all that pressure on the decaying beans, it started to heat up," Burke said. "Then, we had a week straight of 100- to 110-degree days. So, essentially, it just combusted."
It is common for grain elevators to store soybeans -- and other grains -- in large outdoor piles, Burke said.
This pile caught fire in mid-July, and crews have been unable to extinguish the blaze for a number of reasons, Burke said.
When the fire started, much of the surrounding area still was underwater, and the roads were impassable, making it impossible for fire crews to reach the site, Burke said.
"Our only access to the facility for a while was by air boat," he said....
It has a main vein in the center of the leaf where a stem extends to the twig. There are branching veins off the main vein into each lobe. Usually dull green above and dull light green beneath with hairs along the midvein. It turns brown or dark red in the autumn/fall. Leaves are clustered at the end of the twig.
Shorebirds, waterfowl, clams, shrimp, and fish are some
of the many animals that live in the Yaquina estuary.
The Yaquina Estuary and Its Inhabitants (click here)
August 21, 2019
By Erin Ross
The Yaquina Estuary is one of the only places on the Oregon coast where native oysters can thrive.
Most of the West Coast’s estuary habitat has vanished, (click here) according to a new study, the most thorough of its kind. The mapping project found that, today, less than 15% of historic estuaries remain along the Washington, Oregon and California coastlines.
Estuaries form where fresh water from rivers and streams meets the salt water of the ocean. They take the form of salt marshes, tidal forests, beaches and steep river mouths. They are among the most productive and diverse ecosystems on Earth. Estuaries are also among the most endangered habitats on the planet. The study found that, at one point, salt marshes covered roughly 2,800 square miles of the West Coast. That’s an area larger than the state of Delaware. But today, that number has been reduced by more than 85%. Other research indicates rising seas caused by climate change could soon drown much of the little estuary habitat that remains.
Laura Brophy, an estuary ecologist at the Institute for Applied Ecology in Corvallis, Oregon, is one of the study’s authors. She said humans are responsible for the disappearing ecosystem.
“When Europeans arrived in this area they began doing the alterations that have caused the loss of the wetlands,” Brophy said....
The Yaquina Estuary and Its Inhabitants (click here)
August 21, 2019By Erin Ross
The Yaquina Estuary is one of the only places on the Oregon coast where native oysters can thrive.
Most of the West Coast’s estuary habitat has vanished, (click here) according to a new study, the most thorough of its kind. The mapping project found that, today, less than 15% of historic estuaries remain along the Washington, Oregon and California coastlines.
Estuaries form where fresh water from rivers and streams meets the salt water of the ocean. They take the form of salt marshes, tidal forests, beaches and steep river mouths. They are among the most productive and diverse ecosystems on Earth. Estuaries are also among the most endangered habitats on the planet. The study found that, at one point, salt marshes covered roughly 2,800 square miles of the West Coast. That’s an area larger than the state of Delaware. But today, that number has been reduced by more than 85%. Other research indicates rising seas caused by climate change could soon drown much of the little estuary habitat that remains.
Laura Brophy, an estuary ecologist at the Institute for Applied Ecology in Corvallis, Oregon, is one of the study’s authors. She said humans are responsible for the disappearing ecosystem.
“When Europeans arrived in this area they began doing the alterations that have caused the loss of the wetlands,” Brophy said....
Quercus rubra L.
Sometimes if is called the Gray Oak. It is a large tree between 60 to 90 feet tall. The Northern Red Oak has a rounded crown and stout spreading branches.
It has a diameter of one to two and a half feet.
It is a great shade tree and handsome street tree. It grows quickly for an oak, endures cold, holds up under city conditions and transplants very well.
It is often a sought after lumber tree. The thickness of the trunk and branches are used for railroad cross ties, marine moorings and fence posts, besides the usual flooring and furniture. The Northern Red Oak is an indcator species in the Maple-Basswood forest.
It's Sunday NightSeptember 8, 2019
by J. D. Morris
Firefighters (click here) continued to battle blazes across Northern California forests Sunday, with the largest mostly uncontrolled and growing.
The Walker Fire had expanded to 38,049 acres and was 5% contained Sunday morning, according to the U.S. Forest Service. It is burning in the Plumas National Forest, about 11 miles east of Taylorsville (Plumas County), and is California’s largest wildfire of the year so far.
The cause is under investigation.
38,000 Acres The Red Bank Fire in Tehama County has charred 8,838 acres west of Red Bluff.
I'm comin' home, I've done my time
Now I've got to know what is and isn't mine
If you received my letter telling you I'd soon be free
Then you'll know just what to do
If you still want me, if you still want me
Whoa, tie a yellow ribbon 'round the ole oak tree
It's been three long years, do you still want me?
If I don't see a ribbon round the ole oak tree
I'll stay on the bus, forget about us, put the blame on me
If I don't see a yellow ribbon 'round the ole oak tree
Bus driver, please look for me
'Cause I couldn't bear to see what I might see
I'm really still in prison and my love, she holds the key
A simple yellow ribbon's what I need to set me free
And I wrote and told her please
Whoa, tie a yellow ribbon 'round the ole oak tree
It's been…
Whoa, tie a yellow ribbon 'round the ole oak tree
It's been three long years, do you still want me? (still want me)If I don't see a ribbon 'round the ole oak tree
I'll stay on the bus, forget about us, put the blame on me
If I don't see a yellow ribbon 'round the ole oak tree
Now the whole damn bus is cheerin' and I can't believe I see
A hundred yellow ribbons 'round the ole oak tree
I'm comin' home, umm-hmm
(Tie a ribbon 'round the ole oak tree)
(Tie a ribbon 'round the ole oak tree)
(Tie a ribbon 'round the ole oak tree)
(Tie a ribbon 'round the ole oak tree)
(Tie a ribbon 'round the ole oak tree)
(Tie a ribbon 'round the ole oak tree)
(Tie a ribbon 'round the ole oak tree)
(Tie a ribbon 'round the ole oak tree)
The Republicans are do nothing crackpots.
Senator Blunt is comfortable in his Washington office easy chair. He believes Trump is on the right path with the USA border, Afghanistan, sound science and dead Americans.
Evidently, Senator Blunt believes in armed camps of Americans both in Afghanistan and the USA. He states in the USA it is mental health that is the problem, but, in Afghanistan it is war. In both cases, it is the bullet that is the winner. How many years have Republicans cried mental health issues while there are continually shrinking number of mental health beds and innocent mentally healthy Americans continue to die? Dylann Roof received the death sentence not a life in a mental health facility. James Holmes is serving a life sentence without parole and not in a mental health facility. So, for the murderers that have lived through police assault to stop their rampages and/or investigation to find the murderer; they have been tried and never found to be mentally ill. USA MASS MURDERERS ARE NOT IN FACILITIES FOR THE CRIMINALLY INSANE.
Bullets have no conscience and neither do Republicans.
He thinks the border wall is an excellent deterrent to preventing illegal border crossing. He states this while he says there are ONLY 15 people out of 100 have legitimate reasons to cross the border into the USA. He highlights that those seeking asylum will wait in Mexico for their chance in court rather than disappearing into the USA. I can't imagine a judge providing a chance at citizenship if an ankle monitor were removed.
He believes the sharpy "thing" just needs to be left alone. He does not support sound science and believes a president has the knowledge to challenge science and place Americans in danger.
Senator Blunt also has no comments about health care.
Bullets have no conscience and neither do Republicans.
He thinks the border wall is an excellent deterrent to preventing illegal border crossing. He states this while he says there are ONLY 15 people out of 100 have legitimate reasons to cross the border into the USA. He highlights that those seeking asylum will wait in Mexico for their chance in court rather than disappearing into the USA. I can't imagine a judge providing a chance at citizenship if an ankle monitor were removed. He believes the sharpy "thing" just needs to be left alone. He does not support sound science and believes a president has the knowledge to challenge science and place Americans in danger.
Senator Blunt also has no comments about health care.
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