DAILY QUICK READ - JUNE 3, 2016

31 Active Wildfires in Alaska

Alaskan wildfires caused (in part) by climate change are accelerating climate change.

The sharp spike in Alaska’s wildfires, where more than 5 million acres burned last year, are destroying a main buffer against climate change: the carbon-rich boreal forests, tundra and permafrost that have served as an enormous carbon sink.

Northern wildfires must now be recognised as a significant driver of climate change – and not just a side-effect, according to the report from the US Geological Survey.

“This is one of the surprises that we haven’t talked about much,” said Virginia Burkett, chief climate scientist at the USGS. “It has tremendous implications for the carbon that is locked up in Alaska soils and vegetation.”

Alaska's wildfire season is 40% longer than it was in the 1950's.  The number of fires and the area burned continues to increase.

Adaptation to survive.  

Everyone creature has a story that extends back before man figured out how to walk upright.

Ever took a moment to stare a goat in the eyes? If you have, you might have noticed something really weird: their pupils are horizontal rectangular. It’s one of those things that baffles the mind once it hits you because we’re so used to circular pupils or even vertical slit ones, on account of cats or snakes.

…pupil shape is directly linked to the ecological niche or role of the animal. The general pattern is predators have vertical slit pupils because this help judge distance better, so it’s easier to pounce on prey. Herbivores that are often the target of carnivores, however, have rectangular slit pupils as a line of defence.

Extinction Capital of the World – Hawaii!

Community action is driving change on Kauai.  Reclaiming both the environment and traditions.

As the Hawaii State Division of Forests and Wildlife states: “Today Hawaiʻi is often referred to as the ‘Endangered Species Capital of the World.’ More than one hundred plant taxa have already gone extinct, and over 200 are considered to have 50 or fewer individuals remaining in the wild. Officially, 366 of the Hawaiian plant taxa are listed as Endangered or Threatened by Federal and State governments, and an additional 48 species are Proposed as Endangered.” While only comprising less than one percent of the United States land mass, Hawaiʻi contains 44 percent of the nation’s Endangered and Threatened plant species.”

Attack of the Killer Corn

Are food crops displaying self-defense?  Killing us before we can destroy the planet.  Science fiction or a story in the National Enquirer.  Neither it turns out - crops protecting themselves from climate change.

A startling report by the United Nations Environment Programme(UNEP) says food crops like wheat and maize are generating toxins to protect themselves from extreme weather. Ingesting food made from toxic crops can lead to neurological diseases, but the greatest concern is cancer says Alex Ezeh, executive director of the African Population Health and Research Center. Cases of people dying from toxic crops have been reported in Kenya and the Philippines in 2013 and 2005, respectively.

Creator, Messenger, Hero, Trickster, Fool 

How could man and dog get along so well together, but not include the coyote in the family?  The DNA of wolves and dogs is indistinguishable one from the other.  However, the coyote's DNA is different.  Apparently, the coyote decide to live around man, but not with him.

Before the reintroduction of wolves into the park [Yellowstone], the coyote population in Lamar Valley reached its carrying capacity at about eighty animals. After the wolves returned, mortality rates for coyotes spiked until three years later the population for the valley re-stabilized at the 36 or so there are now. Wolves, Flores demonstrates, are much more effective in controlling coyote populations than we are.

Not that we haven’t —or don’t — put a great deal of effort into it. At present we kill 500,000 coyotes a year in North America. Or, to put another way, one will be killed in the time it takes you to read this column. Surprisingly, without such efforts, coyotes might not be doing as well as they are. They respond to the high mortality rate by increasing litter sizes and spreading out to new territories, including cities, which are proving to be great habitats for coyotes. A coyote living in Chicago has a life-expectancy similar to one living in YNP and much better than one living in the rural West. Coyotes have always lived in Los Angeles, and now they are in Manhattan too. In Portland, they have even been known to commute by lightrail.

More Flints.  Infrastructure Matters.

Not much of a surprise here.  Lead water pipes will corrode if water isn't treated properly. So will iron pipes.

At least 33 cities across 17 US states have used water testing “cheats” that potentially conceal dangerous levels of lead, a Guardian investigation launched in the wake of the toxic water crisis in Flint, Michigan, has found.

Of these cities, 21 used the same water testing methods that prompted criminal charges against three government employees in Flint over their role in one of the worst public health disasters in US history.

The Guardian’s investigation demonstrates that similar testing regimes were in place in cities including Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit and Milwaukee.