Foreign Invaders Killing ‘Ohi’a Trees
As if Hawaii’s
extinction crisis didn’t need more fuel on the fire, imported plant diseases are threatening a tree critical to many bird species.
The tree, with its iron-hard wood, is almost
impossible to imagine without its signature spray of vibrant orange-red or
yellow flowers with long, slender stamens.
'Ohi'a is so critical to the survival of
Hawai'i's native birds that it is hard to imagine a vibrant avifauna without
it. But the tree is increasingly threatened by plant diseases. 'Ohi'a rust,
imported to Hawai'i in decorative flower and foliage shipments from California,
is established in Hawai'i and has the potential to devastate the state's one
million acres of 'ohi'a. Meanwhile, an aggressive fungus, Ceratocystis
fimbriata, also known as rapid 'ohi'a death, has been identified as the cause
of death of hundreds of thousands of 'ohi'a trees on over 34,000 acres on
Hawai‘i Island.
Hawai'i's native birds face an uncertain
future if disease overcomes the legendary 'ohi'a. So, it is essential that
state and federal agencies increase the resources available to understand and deal
with these disease threats, while at the same time ramping up currently
inadequate biosecurity measures to prevent new diseases from getting to Hawai'i
in the first place.
Exxon Invokes Their Right To Lie
Exxon Mobil claims the right to lie about what they knew and what they covered up regarding the impact of fossil fuel driven CO2 increase on climate change. It’s a novel defense.
Does Exxon Mobil have a constitutional right
to sow doubt about climate science? That’s the subject of a high-stakes legal
battle playing out between dozens of state attorneys general, members of
Congress, corporate executives, and activists.
Last fall, investigations by Inside Climate
News and the Los Angeles Times revealed that the oil giant has decades of
internal documents showing that its own scientists and executives knew fossil
fuels contributed to climate change. Publicly, the company argued that the
threats posed by global warming were far from certain, presumably as part of an
effort to fight off regulations.
The revelations have sparked a barrage of
legal actions. The attorney generals of Massachusetts, California, and New York
launched investigations of Exxon, while Democratic AGs from other states have
expressed their support. Some have drawn parallels to the tobacco industry’s
deception on the dangers of smoking. Exxon has countered that the
investigations are unconstitutional and has filed motions asking courts to
block the subpoenas. “This…is about freedom of political speech,” the company
recently argued in the Massachusetts case.
Have We Gone To Far?
Has global
warming reached the point where we can’t stop it or do we have a chance to
reverse or mitigate the effects? We are at the last minute of the last hour.
But are the good records enough to help us
deal with the bad? Global average temperatures are hitting record highs every
recent month and year and atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases are
rising steadily, to levels unheard of in human history. Arctic sea ice is
vanishing at unprecedented levels, mass bleaching is killing the Great Barrier Reef
and record-setting droughts, floods, heat waves and extreme weather are
happening around the world.
As Prof. Stefan Rahmstorf of Germany’s
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research told the Guardian: “These are
very worrying signs and I think it shows we are on a crash course with the
Paris targets unless we change course very, very fast. I hope people realize
that global warming is not something down the road, but it is here now and is
affecting us now.”
Despite overwhelming evidence for
human-caused climate change, the fossil fuel industry continues to employ shady
people and organizations to fool fearful and apparently blind followers into
believing the problem doesn’t exist or isn’t serious enough to worry about.
Their messaging follows a pattern: Spread a simplistic lie until it becomes so
discredited that few people accept it and then move on to another simplistic
lie.
A bit light on reading today. Blame an early start to the 4th of July weekend.
Before Hamilton, there was 1776.
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