Daily Quick Read - July 16, 2019

Greatest of All Time – GOATs Get it Done

Not only are goats more efficient, they are also incredibly cost effective at clearing flammable vegetation in fire prone communities.   

In California, where wildfires have long been a threat, goats have worked for decades to protect coastal communities from creeping conflagrations. But worsening, deadly fire seasons across western US have inspired more communities to try managing their lands not with machines and chemicals, but with hungry animals.

In its 2019 wildfire safety report, released in July, officials estimated a human crew costs roughly $28,000 to clear an acre, while a goat crew costs an average of $500.  

Don’t Feed the Deer Plastic 

Plastic from dead deer's stomach

Nara Park in Japan is a Unesco World Heritage Site famous for its beauty and also for the 1,000 Sika deer that roam freely over the 1200 acre park.  Tourists feed the deer, the deer die from starvation as their stomachs are plugged up by plastic trash.  Deer have a complex digestive system and at least three have died this year as a result of consuming plastic food wrappers and other plastic waste.

The deer eat plastic after watching tourists take food out from bags and wrappers, said Rie Maruko, a veterinarian with the Nara Deer Preservation Foundation, as Japan Today reported. He added that the deer learn that bags contain food and they are tempted by the scents coming off discarded food packaging.

...some visitors will feed the deer other treats, prompting local authorities to ask people to stop offering unauthorized snacks...

A New Type of Sea Food

The world’s first floating dairy farm moved into production last month in Rotterdam.  This floating farm is a prototype for a concept of small, close to consumer operations that don’t consume the Netherland’s precious space while enhancing the concept of farm to table.  The milk is rich and creamy and the cows seem happy with their new floating home. 

Late last month, handlers anxiously introduced 35 Meuse Rhine Issel cows, a breed native to the Netherlands, to the two-story floating platform. Worries that the cows would get seasick or be reluctant to cross the bridge onto the platform proved unfounded, and the animals have adjusted to the change of scenery and are producing milk on their new floating home.

150,000,000 Dead Trees

Between 2012 and 2015, California suffered through a severe drought.  The results of that drought are still being felt throughout the state.  150 million dead trees are the visible monuments to the impact of those dry years.  Climate crisis models tell us to expect more extended droughts. 

A new study in the journal Nature Geosciences reports that by the drought’s peak, a combination of factors—including lack of rain, extreme heat and overcrowding stressed out the forest—lead to mass die-offs. In total, almost 150 million trees have died in California since the drought began.

Even though the drought is officially over, the researchers say to expect more tree die-offs in the future as the planet warms. “We expect climate change to further amplify evapotranspiration and ground moisture overdraft (when more water is taken out of the soil than is replaced by precipitation) during drought,” co-author Michael Goulden of the University of California, Irvine, says in the press release. “This effect could result in a 15 percent to 20 percent increase in tree death for each additional degree of warming.”

Sharks Disappearing 

Sunday was not just Bastille Day in France, it was also Shark Awareness Day for the rest of the world. Sharks are under attack around the world and here is a warning about a shark devoid Mediterranean.

“Sharks are at risk of disappearing from the Mediterranean,” said Giuseppe Di Carlo, director of the WWF’s Mediterranean Marine Initiative.

“Their rapid decline is the most serious signal of the status of our sea and of irresponsible fishing practices.

“All Mediterranean countries are responsible for this. Sharks have been part of our sea and culture for thousands of years, we need to act quickly to ensure they remain in the future,” Di Carlo added.