Canada's waters have become to warm for fish farming.

The picture to the left is that of fish farming. I am assuming those are an ocean or saltwater fish cage. This has been happening in China as well. China has large scale aquaculture.

The water at the surface became too warm for the fish. Remember fish don't have temperature regulation like mammals do. When they went as deep as they could they congregated and used up all the oxygen in the water available to them. They died off.

The water has been getting warmer and warmer in the upper ocean for well over two decades. The warmer waters have forced the fish globally to find cooler habitat in waters closer to the north and south poles. This goes to prove that no ocean location is exempt from the warming.

September 27, 2019

The mayors in the Coast of Bays region (click here) are responding to the recent salmon die-off on the south coast.

The mayors issued a joint news release indicating that while the incident is disappointing, it’s not “the end of the world” for the salmon industry on the South Coast.

Northern Harvest indicates the salmon died due to prolonged exposure to warmer than normal water.

Mayor of Harbour Breton, Georgina Ollerhead, says since the issue arose, senior management with Northern Harvest have been in “continuous” consultation with the community. She says the die-off is not related to a fish health issue, and was confirmed by both government and veterinary officials.

Mayor for Hermitage-Sandyville and Chair of the Coast of Bays Joint Mayors Committee, Steve Crewe, says the company is committed to the region and realizes that warmer water temperatures like those experienced in the past several weeks are becoming the norm.

He says they have every confidence that the company is prepared to take immediate steps to “prevent another environmental event like this.”

Jason Card of Northern Harvest Sea Farms says water temperatures reached 17 to 21 (62F to 70F ) degrees for 11 to 13 days.

That might not normally be an issue, but it causes problems for the fish, that have to dive to deeper, cooler waters....

This is what New York State has to say about their rare forest.

There are two shrubby oaks (click here) characteristic of pitch pine-scrub oak barrens: Scrub Oak or Bear Oak (Quercus ilicifolia) and Dwarf Chinquapin Oak (Quercus prinoides). Scrub Oak leaves have bristle-tipped teeth or lobes. Dwarf Chinquapin Oak leaves have rounded to acutely pointed teeth or lobes with an apical papilla (projection) and are not bristle-tipped.

This is a globally rare natural community with only six documented occurrences statewide. Very few documented occurrences have good viability and very few are protected on public land or private conservation land. This community has a very restricted statewide distribution (correlated to pine barrens and sandy soils). Most examples are moderate in size and a few are good quality. Most pitch pine-scrub oak barrens are located within a suburban landscape and are threatened by development, invasive species, and fire suppression....

...The number and acreage of pitch pine-scrub oak barrens in New York have probably had very large declines from historical numbers due to fire suppression, fragmentation, disturbance by off-road vehicles, trash dumping, and development....

...Develop and implement prescribed burn plans at appropriate sites. Reduce or minimize fragmenting features, such as residential and commercial development, roads, abandoned clearings, unnecessary trails, etc. Restrict mountain bikes and ATVs to designated trails and least sensitive areas, and prevent dumping of trash. Remove or control invasive species where appropriate....

The fish in the Amazon River could become endangered or extinct.

September 13, 2019
By Stefan Lovgren

The arapaima fish, (click here) native to the Amazon River basin, can weigh as much as 400 pounds faces extinction.

Manaus, Brazil - This year’s unusually severe fires (click here) in the Amazon have not only attracted widespread international attention, but also illuminated the effects of mounting deforestation in the region, from evaporating rains to rising carbon dioxide emissions. Yet one effect of forest loss in the Amazon has largely been ignored: how it influences the river system and the fish living in it.

There are few places in the world where aquatic and arboreal life are brought together as closely as they are in the Amazon. While the rainforest is home to the world’s largest river (by volume of water) and 1,700 tributaries, about one-sixth of the basin is also made up of largely forest-covered wetlands that flood for long periods each year and support the commercially most important fish in the region.

“This flood pulse is the driving force governing all the ecological functions and interactions along the river basin, and it creates flooded forests that are crucial for the survival and reproduction of hundreds of fish species in the Amazon,” says Jansen Zuanon, a fish biologist at the National Institute of Amazonian Research (INPA) in Manaus....

...“If we don’t protect these areas, the rivers will not be the same and we will lose the fish,” says Leandro Castello, a tropical ecologist at Virginia Tech’s Global Change Center, who has studied the links between forest and fish in the Amazon....

The bark of a Bear Oak is dark gray, think, smooth and becomes fissured and scaley over time. The tree also invites lichens. In the picture below the furrowing has begun and the light green spots are lichens.






November May 9, 2017

If you frequent nature trails, (click here) you have likely passed by stones or trees with some kind of crusty material on the surface.  Is it a moss?  No, moss is a plant.  Is it a fungus?  Well, yes and no.  This crust is actually a partnership between at least two different organisms, making a composite organism called lichen (pronounced “LIKE-en”).

Lichens are made of multiple fungi – a diverse group of organisms including mushrooms, molds, yeasts, and others – living with algae and/or algae-like bacteria called cyanobacteria.  The fungi provide a pleasant, hydrated shelter to live in, while their partner provides food through photosynthesis.  Photosynthesis means using sunlight, water, and CO2 to create sugar (and the oxygen that we breathe, no big deal).  Cyanobacteria can also “fix” or make use of nutrients from the air, further helping the fungi to grow.  This mutual relationship between different species is what biologists call symbiosis.

Thanks to the many possible fungi-algae-bacteria combinations, lichens take on many different forms and colors.  In New York State alone, there are over 800 types of lichens!  Lichens can look like small flaky crusts (“crustose”), flat leaf-like growths (“foliose”), or even branched (“fruticose”) like miniature shrubs.   Many take on a greenish-grey hue, but other colors include brown, black, white, yellow, bright orange, red, and blue.  You might see these unique fungal partnerships on all kinds of surfaces along nature trails – adding a nice flair to wooden sign posts, historic stone walls, boulders, tree bark, the forest floor, and decaying logs....

Sometimes people with binoculars aren't bird watching so much as acorn scouting.

August 11, 2019
By Bill Marchel

...Observant hunters (click here) recognize red oak acorns were scarce last fall. Actually, they were basically nonexistent. Yet, last fall, bur oak acorns were extremely abundant.

It’s difficult to overemphasize the importance of acorns to wildlife. Deer will abandon nearly all other food sources when the nuts begin to drop. Black bears sometimes can’t wait for the bounty and climb the oaks to feast on green acorns. Squirrels often do the same thing. Acorns are also a favorite food of wild turkeys. Find a woodland pond with oaks limbs overhanging the water and when acorns are abundant, so too will be wood ducks, waiting for a meal to splash into the pool. Ruffed grouse eat acorns, too. I occasionally find whole acorns in the crops of harvested grouse, but ruffs also will gather along country roads and readily eat acorns bits produced when the nuts are crushed by passing vehicles.

There has been lots of confusion about the biology of acorns. Some hunters claim red oaks produce acorns only every other year. That is not true. To those hunters’ defense I’ve seen that false statement written in hunting magazines a number of times over the years. The truth is red oak acorns take two years to develop from flower to mature nut. For example, the profuse red oak acorns this year were set last spring, but didn’t mature until this year (a two-year cycle.) So, yes red oaks can produce acorns every year as long as the previous spring was favorable. The acorns of white oaks (bur oaks are in the white oak family) form in the spring, mature during the summer, and are shed in autumn of the same year (a one-year cycle).                      

The acrons are 3/8 to 5/8 inch long, egg-shaped or rounded, brown when fully mature the second year, faintly striped, clustered but predominantly found in pairs, they are capped with overlapping scales and have a stalk/stem.

The acorns grow out of the female flower. The cap is actually a result of the protective flower scales.

The very forest being discussed here will stem storm surges.

22 September 2019

A new UN report (click here) is set to issue a stark warning on the impact of climate change on oceans and frozen areas, amid a push to ratchet up efforts to tackle the crisis.

The latest in a series of special reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is being published in the same week as countries meet at the UN for a summit aimed at upping ambitions on tackling global warming.

The study, which examines the oceans, coasts and the cryosphere or frozen areas of the world, is set to warn of huge increases in flooding damage, melting ice caps and glaciers and more ocean heatwaves that bleach and kill coral.

A draft of the report leaked to AFP suggested that if global temperatures rise to 2C above pre-industrial levels, 280 million people could be displaced by rising seas....

...The Nature Conservancy's global reef systems lead and IPCC report contributor Dr Elizabeth McLeod said the study "reinforces the urgency of the climate crisis"....

Plants and trees will vary, but the greatest asset to prevent coastal flooding are wetlands. Healthy wetlands will stem storm surges and prevent coastal flooding. The damage to the wetlands off Louisiana is exactly why the Ninth District was hit with a wall of water as never before. For decades authorities were warned about destroying the wetlands and the people were waiting for the "Big One." No state or federal authority would believe the marine botanists when they stated the wetlands were too disrupted and then came Katrina.

The country needs to listen to it's professionals. They are well educated and have been predicting disaster after disaster correctly for decades. If the USA is to end this climate crisis, it has to stop the reactionary government and instead a government that knows the best way forward.

...Wetlands (click here) serve as a vital link between land and water. Even in urban cities, wetlands play a larger role than many of us realize. They reduce flooding, replenish our drinking water, filter out waste and pollutants, provide urban green spaces, and are a source of livelihoods.

Wetlands also provide benefits to industry. For example, they form nurseries for fish and other marine life and are critical to commercial and recreational fishing industries. More than one-third of the United States' threatened and endangered species live only in wetlands, and nearly half directly use wetlands at some point in their lives. Therefore, when a wetland is compromised, it can wreak havoc on entire ecosystems, to the point of collapse.

Causes of Wetland Loss

Like many other environmental issues that we face in our world today, much of the root causes of global wetland depletion are anthropogenic, resulting from the influence of human beings on nature. For example, one of the leading causes of wetland impairment is urbanization, which has resulted in direct loss of wetland acreage as well as degradation of wetlands. Other major sources of wetland loss and degradation include hydrologic alterations, industry (including industrial development), marinas/boats, agriculture, silviculture/timber harvest, mining, and atmospheric deposition....

One branch contains both male and female flowers.

From the US Forest Service

Bear oak is monoecious, with both male and female flowers on the same plant. Male flowers are catkins and female flowers are borne in clusters or singly. Female flowers are produced on current-year's growth.

Flaring causes the highest emission of CO2 and Methane leaks. The petroleum industry has no plans for mitigation.

By Katie Brown

The image to the left is an actual Texas processing plant. No wonder the land is uninhabitable.

...Now, Adam Brandt, (click here) assistant professor of energy resources engineering in the School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences at Stanford, and his colleagues have performed a first global analysis comparing emissions associated with oil production techniques – a step toward developing policies that could reduce those emissions. They published their work Aug. 30 in Science.

The group found that the burning of unwanted gas associated with oil production – called flaring – remains the most carbon-intensive part of producing oil. Brandt spoke with Stanford Report about the group’s findings and strategies for reducing flaring.

Oil and gas are generally produced together. If there are nearby gas pipelines, then power plants, factories, businesses and homes can consume the gas. However, if you’re very far offshore or can’t get the gas to market, there’s often no economically feasible outlet for the gas. In this case, companies want to get rid of the gas, so they often burn – or flare – it.

Thankfully, there is some value to the gas, so there can be some savings associated with stopping flaring. I think setting the expectation that the gas will be managed properly is the role of the regulatory environment. There are some efforts underway to try to tackle this – the World Bank has a big effort called the Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership, where companies have banded together to try to set flaring targets, so hopefully this will start to decline....

The petroleum industry is about the most primitive form of energy on Earth. The industry never does research, they just punch a hole in the ground and reap whatever comes up from being sealed within the Earth.

They will never conduct research to end methane leaks. So, when young legislators are writing their bills in Congress realize the industry is crude. The industry has an attitude. The petroleum industry believes the world can't exist without them so they are ENTITLED to carry out drilling and extraction with any means possible. 

The petroleum industry doesn't care about the world they service, they only care about their profits. They have been immune from regulation for the most part until President Obama came along and they receive subsidies. The subsidies need to end. 

Bear Oak Leaves

Leaves are 2 to 4 inches long, 1-1/2 inches wide.

Obovate shaped (click here)
with very distinct margins (leaf edges) of three to five shallow lobes. The lobes at the tip have one to three bristle tipped teeth. It has a main vein with branching veins to each lobe.

The stem is short, thick and firm at the base of the leaf where it attaches to the branch. 

Dull green color above and abundant light gray hairs beneath. Autumn/Fall colors are red or yellow, sometimes speckled of the two colors. The leaves often remain attached during winter.

Greenland and Antarctica as well as glaciers significantly add to sea level rise because they are land based ice fields.

September 23, 2019
By Matt McGrath'

Melting in Greenland and Antarctica is contributing significantly to sea level rise

It will be the clearest declaration yet on how an overheating world is hammering our oceans and frozen regions. (click here)

Scientists have been meeting in Monaco to finalise a report on the seas and the cryosphere.

Published tomorrow, September it will outline how the oceans have been our best friend in coping with rising temperatures.

But it will warn that warming is turning the seas into a huge potential threat to humanity.

Researchers from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) were encouraged by Prince Albert II and the Monaco government in 2015 to produce a special report on the oceans and cryosphere - the earth's surface where water is frozen solid.

For the past three years, the scientists have been reviewing hundreds of published papers on how climate change affects the seas, the poles and glaciers.

Their report will track the flow of water from the frozen tops of mountains to the bottom of the seas, and how this is changing in a warmer world.

findings with government representatives that will be published on Wednesday.

It will likely detail the growing threat from rising sea levels that could imperil hundreds of millions of people before the end of this century.

It will also warn of the threat posed by the growing acidification of the seas, the threats to coral and fisheries and the possibility that warming might melt permafrost, releasing huge amounts of the CO2 gas that's the key to rising temperatures.

"At current emissions rates, we are effectively dumping one million tonnes of CO2 into the oceans every hour," said Melissa Wang, a scientist with Greenpeace.

"Unless we accelerate efforts to curb carbon emissions and take greater steps to protect our oceans, there will be devastating human, environmental and economic consequences."

An indicator species for the coastal forests of New York State; "Bear Oak."

Species name: 
Quercus ilicifolia Wangenh

People often think of oak trees as huge, big and strong trees. The Bear Oak has a range of size, but, most often is found as a small bush although they can grow into small trees. It has a life span of 20 to 30 years.

They can grow to 20 feet tall, but, their diameter, not circumference, is usually 5 inches.

They like dry, sandy barrens and rocky ridges in mountains. They can be found as a thicket also, They make great habitat for birds and in the case of a thicket small mammals.


The map to the right shows the extent of it's habitat.

Bear oak (click here) is primarily restricted to the northeastern United States. The northernmost bear oak population occurs in the Granite Barren ecosystem of southern Ontario, and the southernmost occurrence of bear oak is in North Carolina.. In both Ontario and North Carolina, bear oak is rare. In Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Hampshire, and Vermont bear oak is present in disjunct populations.

It's Sunday Night 

I chose this song because it illustrates the place of trees in the cultural USA. There are songs written about trees, or lyrics written that include trees. They are important to our culture.

The picture is because of the bough that hangs over the footbridge.

If one scans the songs that illustrate our country, be it, the national anthem, songs like "God bless America,' and the list goes on; they all have references to the natural world. 

"America the Beautiful" in it's opening paragraph paints a picture of the natural world that is this country. Every American should embrace the beauty of this country and protect it.

The Soldier and the Oak by Elliott Park - lyrics

"The Soldier and the Oak" by Elliot Park (click here for artist official webpage - thank you)

This is a story that began long, long ago
I was a young oak tree in dark Missouri soil
And like all other saplings I had dreams of growing
Strong and tall

But one day a rebel with a bullet in his chest
Hung his rifle on my limbs and laid to rest
And there beside me as the blood soaked to my roots
The soldier sang
A song of grace

The heavy rifle bowed me over to the ground
Two years I stayed this way until the rifle fell
And in this manner for a hundred years I grew
All my dreams
Not meant to be

And then one day two men came with a cross cut saw
They spoke of how my arch would hold a weight so strong
And I feared not the blade for such a worthy cause
And so I fell
I gladly fell

Three winter days aboard a northbound train
Three more beneath the hewer's careful blade
And while he worked he praised my rich red grain
Perhaps it was the soldier's blood that day

Now I'm the wooden arch that holds a mighty bell
Three stocks before me cracked but I shall never fail
Up in a tall cathedral high above my dreams
Of long ago

And on Sunday mornings when I hear that sweet refrain
I see the soldier's face like it was yesterday
Calling angels down from heaven with that hymn he softly sang
Of God's good grace

It is a scheme. Over and over those affiliated with Trump prove this is a scheme manufactured by Trump.

I doubt the US House would subpoena Guiliani. They have testimony from another of Trump's personal attorneys. Guilliani is a person that is not an American first and Donald J. Trump's personal attorney second. He doesn't seem to be able to discern the difference. When Congress calls for testimony it is under oath and every American should be anxious to correct any record.

THIS IS THE GOVERNMENT THAT PROTECTS US ALL, WHAT IS WRONG WITH HIM?

Who is Guiliani working for? Ukraine? Trump? It is completely unclear. Supposedly Trump's AG and Guiliani is going to Ukraine to MINE INFORMATION and bring about a conclusion they desire. That means they will be submitting THEIR information to the Ukraine government.

 Foreign Agents Registration Act (“FARA”) (click here)

"Political activities" are activities intended to "in any way influence" either "any agency or official of the Government of the United States," with reference to the domestic or foreign policies of the United States or ...the political or public interests, policies or relations of a government of a foreign country of a foreign political party." This is a braod term that covers lobbying, public-relations activities, and even tourism promotion.

It is not unusual for Americans that travel abroad to check in with the US State department with good news. The NGO's report the number of people they fed or administered medical attention to people at the UN and the US Government. They operate on funding as a non-profit organization, so the reporting is necessary to continue to prove the aid is needed and it is indeed administered as expected.

As far as Guiliani goes, he is a private intermediary to Trump. Now, if Ukraine has information that leads to legal problems in Ukraine for Trump, there is a good reason for Guiliani to be there. However, it appears as though Guiliani is acting on his own and not at the invitation of Ukraine government and for political campaign purposes. That is a serious problem for Guiliani because he is not an FBI or CIA agent legally operating in Ukraine.

Guiliani is not a whistleblower and probably is jealous of a person who's name we do not know but is receiving a great deal of media coverage. Guiliani is pretending there is a DEEP STATE in Ukraine as well, otherwise he would take Ukraine's reporting as fact and not fiction or incomplete. Amazing. The imagination of people that love Trump more than the USA should be a crime. Unfortunately, lying is not a crime unless it effects police work or court proceedings.'

I have a question. A tourist is only allowed to carry $10,000 cash while traveling abroad, how much cash was Guiliani carrying or planning to carry?

September  27, 2019
By Michael Warren and Deven Cole

Rudy Giuliani (click here) told CNN on Friday that he would not testify for the House of Representatives' impeachment inquiry without consulting his client, President Donald Trump.

Trump's personal lawyer said his work for the President should be protected by attorney-client privilege.

"Ultimately, if I were to say yes and he were to say no, I can't testify," Giuliani said, adding that he has not talked to Trump about the possibility he would testify....

The shooter was refused a gun from a retail seller, but, obtained it from a private purchase that does not require a background check.

September 29, 2019
By Curt Devine

Daniel Munoz (click here) suffered injuries from shrapnel during the shooting in Odessa, Texas

A mother in distress called police. (click here)

Her son had refused to take his mental-health medication. He was delusional about a government conspiracy against him and had threatened to end his own in life in a shootout with police.

When Amarillo, Texas, police officers arrived at her home the night of February 7, 2011, they found what they interpreted as preparations for an attack -- a machete hidden in her son's bed and an underground shelter he had dug in the backyard. In a recording the mother shared with police, her son declared, "911 will bow down before me."...

...The 2011 incident reports, obtained by CNN through a records request, raise additional questions about whether more could have been done to prevent Ator's shooting spree in the cities of Midland and Odessa, and about how Ator, who once failed a background check for an attempted firearm purchase, acquired the AR-15-style rifle he used in the attack....

Lawlessness in any form can fall to the full force of the Capitol Police.

November 13, 2017
By Tessa Berenson and Lily Rothman

So what happens if a witness refuses to cooperate?

Congress can hold people in contempt (click here) if they obstruct committee proceedings by refusing to testify or provide documents, or for bribing or libeling a member. In 1821, the Supreme Court ruled that Congress needs the power to hold someone in contempt or else it would be “exposed to every indignity and interruption that rudeness, caprice, or even conspiracy, may meditate against it.”

The full House or Senate can approve a contempt citation by a majority vote, and then must hand the matter to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, “whose duty it shall be to bring the matter before the grand jury for its action,” according to the law....

There are no jail cells in the US Capitol, but, there are some nearby that the Capitol Police can utilize when lawless people need to think it over. I think there are remedies such as fines that can be leveraged to those that do not appreciate their democracy.

The Trump Administration is nothing, but, lawless. It is time Congress get real about these criminals.

How many members of the Trump Administration are blackmailed into silence?

September 28, 2019

By Martin Vassolo and Nicholas Nehamas

A military official formerly in charge of all White House communications (click here) for the U.S. Army at Mar-a-Lago was sentenced to three years of probation on Friday after he made false statements to a federal agent during a child pornography investigation.

Richard Ciccarella — a non-commissioned officer who told federal agents he was in charge of communications at President Donald Trump’s Palm Beach resort — became a target of an investigation after he uploaded photos of a young girl to a seedy Russian website between 2017 and 2018, according to court documents.

Ciccarella used the username RICH25N to upload suspicious photographs and folders to the website iMGSRC.RU between November 2017 and February 2018, according to court documents.

He posted one photo of the underage girl wearing only underwear and standing next to a Christmas tree. He titled it “dirty comments welcomed.” He uploaded a similar photo of the girl playing a board game.

Comments on the pictures included “can she be my present?” and “strip candy land!!! Why didn’t I think of that!”

Ciccarella accessed the website with an email address linked to his work phone, court records state.....

September 27, 2019

Moscow — Russia has voiced hope that the U.S. administration (click here) wouldn't publish private conversations between the two nations' presidents, like it did with Ukraine.

The rough transcript of Trump's call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy released by the White House Wednesday shows that Trump urged Ukraine to "look into" his Democratic political rival Joe Biden. The July 25 call is now the focus of a U.S. impeachment probe.

Asked Friday if Moscow is worried that the White House could similarly publish transcripts of Trump's calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that "we would like to hope that it wouldn't come to that in our relations, which are already troubled by a lot of problems."

He noted that the publication of the Trump-Zelenskiy call was "quite unusual....