DAILY QUICK READ - AUGUST 3, 2016

People Are Stupid – Man Dies, Homes Destroyed

Five years of drought, but people have to have a campfire, which they apparently walk away from without insuring that is was completely out.  43,400 acres later the fire remains only 18% contained.  One man dead…which could result in felony charges if the campers whose fire started this are identified.

The Soberanes Fire was started by an illegal, unattended campfire announced fire and law enforcement officials at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.

The fire, which was reported the morning of July 22 by hikers in Garrapata State Park, has burned 43,400 acres, while destroying 57 homes and 11 outbuildings. One man, a bulldozer operator, has been killed in the fight.

Officials have determined the campfire was about 2 1/4 miles east of Highway 1, in a part of Garrapata State Park that is closed to the public. Camping and campfires are also not allowed in the park.

Cal Fire Unit Chief Brennan Blue said that more than 150 hours have been spent examining the scene. Monterey County District Attorney Dean Flippo said his department has done some preliminary work with investigators and Sheriff Steve Bernal said his office is supporting the investigation.

Flippo suggested whomever set the fire could face "criminal liability" for the damage the fire has caused and the death of the bulldozer operator.

The fire is just 18 percent contained. Almost 5,500 fire personnel are assigned to the fire.

The Endless Chase

There are whole departments at my company that operate this way.

The World Should Be Nervous

Not just Trump, the Republican Party platform is a blueprint for increased global warming  and all of the consequences and disasters that will follow.

Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump offer Americans starkly different views on global warming: Clinton sees it as an urgent concern, while Trump dismisses it as a minor problem at most.

"There's never been a bigger contrast between the two candidates and the two platforms," said Tiernan Sittenfeld, senior vice president of the League of Conservation Voters.

The GOP nominee said nothing about climate change in his July 21 acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. But he told a rally in South Carolina in December that global warming was "a hoax, a lot of it," a modest change from a tweet in 2013 that called global warming "bulls---."

He's debunked climate science even though climate is likely the most thoroughly researched area on record, said Jeremy Symons, senior adviser with the Environmental Defense Action Fund.

The Democratic nominee said in her acceptance speech Thursday, "I believe climate change is real." Clinton said she was proud the U.S. had signed the Paris climate accord, which commits the world's nations to slow the rise of greenhouse gases blamed for warming the climate.

An Organization Deserving of Praise

Check out their Facebook page and the fine work that can be achieved by dedicated, passionate people.

We at Wildlife,Inc. would like to thank, OneGreenPlanet.org, for giving us the number one title in their "12 most excellent wildlife rehab centers in the U.S." , their list is based on "innovation, large local following, involvement in their communities and, most importantly, their devotion to animals" . We really appreciate the recognition.

DAILY QUICK READ - JULY 11, 2016

Predators Key to Ecology

Without Sea Otters the marine entire ecosystem tends to collapse.

The question that intrigued Estes when he began his marine studies in the Aleutians in the 1970s was straightforward: given its voracious appetite for urchins, crabs and the like, what was the ecological consequence of that calamitous drop in sea otters numbers last century? To find an answer, he began surveying sea floors around islands where sea otters had survived and others where they had disappeared and had yet to be reintroduced.

What Estes found was striking: around islands that now lacked sea otters, sea urchins – their main prey – had increased in size and in numbers with devastating consequences. The forests of kelp that once grew there in profusion had disappeared. Instead huge urchins littered the barren sea floor, having consumed every kelp plant in sight.

By contrast, near islands where sea otters survived or had been reintroduced, kelp flourished. The discovery was important given the nourishment kelp’s underwater forests provide for fish and other sea animals. “Kelp forests, with their high biomass and extreme productivity are key controlling elements of coast ecosystems,” says Estes.

Closer to Extinction

Greed drives another highly intelligent creature to the edge of extinction.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) published an assessment this week that found hunting, habitat destruction and degradation, and habitat fragmentation to be the biggest drivers of Bornean orangutan population loss, Mongabay reported.

The authors wrote that "the combined impacts of habitat loss, habitat degradation and illegal hunting equate to an 86% population reduction between 1973 and 2025," according to Mongabay.

Only 59.6 percent of Borneo's forests were suitable for orangutans in 2010. Most of the land, Mongabay reported, is protected by Indonesian, Malaysian and Brunei governments. But illegal logging and uncontrolled burning continues to threaten the population.

"This is full acknowledgement of what has been clear for a long time: orangutan conservation is failing," Andrew Marshall, one of the authors of the assessment, told Mongabay.

Even with the remaining forest, it might not be enough to sustain the current Bornean orangutan population, Mongabay said:

Speaking of Greed

The most likely candidate to be Great Britain’s next prime minister is very cozy with the American right wing.  That is not a good sign for the majority of British citizens.  And, certainly a disaster from the perspective of environmental action of issues like climate change.

A controversial rightwing American lobbying group that denies climate change science and promotes gun ownership paid for the Tory prime ministerial hopeful Andrea Leadsom to fly to the United States to attend its conferences.

The American Legislative Exchange Council – Alec – is a neoconservative organisation with close links to members of the Tea Party movement. Championed by supporters of the free market, it has been attacked by critics for exerting a “powerful and undemocratic” influence on US politics.

It is part funded by the billionaire Koch brothers, David and Charles, whose empire spans mining, chemicals and finance. Leadsom’s links to the council will be scrutinised closely by those trying to gauge her political leanings.

In the US the council produces hundreds of putative bills that it seeks to have made into law by US legislators who attend its conferences, where they are treated to generous corporate hospitality at lavish cigar parties.