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Earth's Biosphere

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                         links

Natural Farming Dept.

Pipelines & Fracking Dept.

Dakota Access Pipeline

Mountaintop Removal Mining

Water Dept.

Eco-News Dept.


"To paraphrase the Christian Bible (Matthew 16): For what is a man profited if he shall make beaucoup bucks
while transforming the planet into a cesspool."  — G.E. Nordell

"Global warming is no longer a philosophical threat, no longer a future threat, no longer a threat at all. It's our reality.”
eco-journalist Bill McKibben, in 2018

The word 'scientist' was coined in 1834, and the word 'ecology' in 1866.

                              

       "We are the only species able to change the natural world, so we must be stewards of the world."
       — primatologist Jane Goodall

       "If you've seen one redwood tree, you've seen them all."
       — Ronald Reagan [1911-2004]

       "Treat the earth kindly, my friends, and it will give you comfort, security, and all [that] a man may need. If you plant a flake of gold in the earth, will anything come of it? But plant a seed and it will repay you many times over."
       — Louis L'Amour [in "The Comstock"]

       "Science has proven the existence of global warming. So our position is like the moment in the old tales when you smell the dragon. The only question is which way to run – run or die!
       Mankind must reverse global warming or die."
       — G.E. Nordell


Union of Concerned Scientists re global warming
American Forests [est. 1875]
       Save The Redwoods League [est. 1918]       
SafeClimate        Grist: A Beacon In The Smog weblog [est. 1999]
Eco Timber flooring [est. 1992]
       Lester Brown's Earth Policy Institute [est. 2001] based in Washington, DC

Center for EcoLiteracy [est.1995]        Arbor Day - Plant a tree!        Earthweek: A Diary of The Planet - ecological news site 
    [est. 1988]

envirofinder search engine
U.S. Forest Circus {satirical website}
Clean Beaches Coalition [est. 1998]
Basel Action Network - against 'Toxic Trade'
W.W.F. Intl. Conference on Climate Change [Nov-Dec 2005] in Montreal, PQ Canada
'The Bush Record on the Environment' at N.R.D.C.
"An Evangelical Declaration On The Care of Creation"
EarthJustice: because the earth needs a good lawyer [est. 1971]
The Grantham Prize: Honoring Exceptional Environmental Journalism
EarthShare, based in Bethesda, MD
Friends of The Earth USA [est. 1969] offices in DC & CA
Friends of The Earth Intl. [est. 1971] is based in The Netherlands
Center for Biological Diversity [est. 1989] is based in Tucson, Arizona
Blacksmith Institute anti-pollution solutions [est. 1999] based in New York City
African American Environmentalist Association [est. 1985] of Washington, DC
Environmental Defense Fund [est. 1967] based in New York City & Washington, DC
State of California Climate Change Portal
CELDF: Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund [est. 1995] based in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania
SkyTruth {based in West Virginia}

Sierra Club - Rio Grande Chapter [] based in Santa Fe, New Mexico
Southwest Research and Information Center environmental protection group [est. 1971] is based in Albuquerque, NM

Environment News Service [est. 1990]

Action Network Environmental Defense

League of Conservation Voters [est. 1969] headquartered in Washington, DC

Climate Central [est. 2008] website

The U.S. Census Bureau no longer provides a real-time population clock (2010).
display of today's U.S. population estimate
display of today's world population estimate

Selected Books on the Subject of the Earth's Biosphere

Selected Movies on the Subject of the Earth's Biosphere

WMail Essay #28 [October 2002] "Waste Not, Want Not"
WMail Essay #60 [June 2006] "Climate & Politics"
WMail Essay #66 [December 2006] "Cooling The Planet"
Working Minds Essay #104 [May 2013] "No Water For You"
Working Minds Essay #108 [July 2015] "Civilization Is Imploding"


fresh local produce
Natural Farming Dept.
“Food is an important part of a balanced diet.” ~~ Fran Lebowitz

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds [est. 1998] in Mansfield, Missouri
Seeds of Change [est. 1989] 100% certified organic seeds, based in Southern California
BLACK STAR: very negative business reputation - delays, excuses, dead plants, nasty customer service workers  Farmer Seed & Nursery {div of Plantron, Inc.} in Minnesota :: negative business reputation
Organic Farming Works website [est. 2008] based in Minnesota
Organic Farming Works - Resources Page
NEON: The Northeast Organic Network [est. 2001] based at Cornell University
Center for Rural Affairs [est. 1973] based in Lyons, Nebraska
F.F.A.: Future Farmers of America [est. 1928] based in Indianapolis, Indiana
F.F.A. New Century Farmer Conference [July 2013] in Des Moines, Iowa
Intermountain Farmers Assn. [est. 1923] owns 24 stores in Utah, CO, NV, Idaho & NM
New Mexico Organic Farming Conference [Feb 2014 = #?] in Albuquerque, NM
Bee Culture: The Magazine of American Beekeeping [est. 1873]
National Honey Board [est. 2008] based in Firestone, Colorado
Friends of The Earth USA / Bee Bold Project

                                

Richard 'Bug Man' Fagerlund moved from Veguita to Las Cruces, NM circa 2014  he is on Facebook  Richard is on Facebook
'Ask The Bugman' website/blog
Richard Fagerlund Store at Amazon

article on how he quit drinking for good [Albuquerque Journal 13 March 2023]

                                

Mohamed Hijri "A simple solution to the coming phosphorus crisis" March 2012 TED Talk [in French w/English subtitles; 13:41]

American Tractors & Farm Equipment Page
at Spirit of America Bookstore

Working Minds / Movies About Health / Farming & Food Safety Dept.

Working Minds / Books About Health / Farming & Food Safety Dept.

                                          

Penton Media, Inc. [est. 1892] publishes a multitude of trade magazines, including these five (which are geared toward real farmers only).
Western Farm Press {AZ, CA}   •    Southwest Farm Press {KS, NM, OK, TX}   •    Delta Farm Press {AR, LA, MS, MO}
Southeast Farm Press {AL to WV}   •    Western Farmer-Stockman {CO, ID, MT, NV, OR, UT, WA, WY}


National Farmers Magazine [est. 1877] of the National Farmers Organization, based in Ames, Iowa
National Farmers
Magazine

print is available with membership, digital issues available online

publisher N.F.O. website
N.F.O. entry at Wikipedia

1944 cover of combined Farm Journal Magazine and Farmer's Wife magazine
Farm Journal
Magazine [est. 1877]

subscribe at Amazon
12 issues/year for $26.95

magazine website

Organic Farming Magazine [] subscription
U.K.-based
Organic Farming
Magazine

subscribe at Amazon
3 issues/year for $45.72

U.K. magazine website

Modern Farmer Magazine [est. 2013] subscription
Modern Farmer
Magazine

international farming news

subscribe at Amazon
4 issues/year for $29.97

Modern Farmer Media website

Successful Farming Magazine [] subscription
Successful Farming
Magazine

subscribe directly
13 issues/year for $15.95

magazine website

Farm and Ranch Living Magazine
Farm & Ranch Living
Magazine [est. 1978]

subscribe at Amazon
7 issues/year for $17.98

magazine website

                                          

Genetically-Modified Organisms {G.M.O. food products} are the opposite of natural farming practices
The The Monsanto Company, Inc [est. 1901] is the biggest purveyor of G.M.O. foods and other G.M.O. products, so Monsanto is the focus of the anti-G.M.O. movement.
The first requirement is for American food packaging to display G.M.O. ingredients, followed by federal laws to regulate testing and environmental protection.

BLACK STAR: supposedly formed as a rebuttal to the documentary film "Food, Inc." backers include cattlemen, pork farmers, corn growers, Dupont, and Monsanto  'Food Dialogues' propaganda campaign of U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance [est. 2011] {partly funded by Monsanto}

March Against Monsanto [May & October 2016] in over 400 cities in over 50 countries

                                          

logo for the National Farmers Union [est. 1902] - 'United To Grow Family Agriculture'
National Farmers Union [est. 1902] based in Washington, DC
official websiteWikipedia

Oregon Farmers Union [est. 1906]
Utah Farmers Union [] based in Lehi, Utah

Kansas Farmers Union [] branch of the National Farmers Union [est. 1902]            Nebraska Farmers Union [] branch of the National Farmers Union [est. 1902]            American Farmers & Ranchers Insurance of Oklahoma [est. 1906] branch of the National Farmers Union [est. 1902]            South Dakota Farmers Union [est. 1914] branch of the National Farmers Union [est. 1902]            Texas Farmers Union [est. 1914] branch  of the National Farmers Union [est. 1902]

Rocky Mountain Farmers Union serving New Mexico & Colorado & Wyoming [est. 1907] branch of the National Farmers Union [est. 1902]            Montana Farmers Union [est. 1916]  branch of the National Farmers Union [est. 1902]            North Dakota Farmers Union [est. 1927] branch of the National Farmers  Union [est. 1902]

                                          

American Farm Bureau Federation [est. 1919] based in Washington, DC
official websiteWikipedia
Idaho Farm Bureau Federation [] based in Pocatello, Idaho
Kansas Farm Bureau Federation [est. 1919] based in Manhattan, Kansas
North Dakota Farm Bureau [est. 1941] based in Fargo, North Dakota
Oregon Farm Bureau [est. 1919] based in Salem, Oregon
South Dakota Farm Bureau Federation [est. 1917] based in Huron, South Dakots
Texas Farm Bureau Federation [est. 1933] based in Waco, Texas
Utah Farm Bureau Federation [est. 1916] based in Sandy, Utah
Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation [est. 1920] based in Laramie, Wyoming


Oil Pipelines & Hydraulic Fracturing Dept.

Working Minds / Worry About / Hydraulic Fracturing Page
was split off in Spring 2014

Working Minds / Worry About / Pipeline Disasters Page
was split off in Spring 2015


Dakota Access Pipeline Dept.

D.A.P.L. Standing Rock September 2016 sunrise at protester camp         D.A.P.L. Standing Rock September 2016 protesters chasing security trucks away         D.A.P.L. Standing Rock November 2016 protesters confront security Humvees         D.A.P.L. Standing Rock December 2016 winter at protesters camp
D.A.P.L. Standing Rock February 2017 protesters camp set on fire         D.A.P.L. Standing Rock February 2017 protesters facing riot police

  • 2017 June 14: U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington ordered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reconsider its environmental review of the Dakota Access Pipeline, saying that the Army Corps did not adequately consider the effects of a possible oil spill on the fishing and hunting rights of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe; this opened up the possibility that the pipeline could be shut down at a later date.


    Mountaintop Removal Mining Dept.
    U.S. Dept. of The Interior / Office of Surface Mining Reclamation & Enforcement
    Sierra Club 'Dirty Coal' pages
    West Virginia Highlands Conservancy [est. 1967]
    Natural Resources Defense Council [est. 1970] Mountaintop Removal Mining Dept.
    Appalachian Mountain Advocates [est. 2002] based in Lewisburg, WV
    Coal River Mountain Watch [est. 2002] based in Naoma, WV
    'i Love Mountains' coalition website [est. 2006] based in Boone, NC
    Alliance for Appalachia [est. 2008]
    Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards [est. 2009] based in Big Stone Gap, Virginia


    Water Dept.
    nifty tools to measure garden hose output
    Freeflo: A Global Water Network [est. 2008]
    Waterwise home & office water distillation systems
    Affordable Water Co. [est. 1956] in Dayton, Ohio
    Water Quality Assn. based in Illinois
    water.org
    Oceana Foundation: Protecting The World's Oceans [est. 2001]
    Save Our Groundwater [est. 2001] based in New Hampshire
    Sweetwater Alliance [est. 2002] based in Duluth, Minnesota
    Amigos Bravos - Friends of the Wild Rivers - Because Water Matters [est. 1988] based in Taos, NM

    Clean Water Network [est. 1992] is based in Washington, DC
    Florida Clean Water Network [est. 1994] in Navarre, Florida

    Selected Books on The Water Crisis

    suggested by a young 4-H member  filtered water bottles info at The Water Page U.K. website

    Brita Bottle Water Filtration System  Brita™ Bottle Water Filtration System
    single 24-ounce bottle with filter (blue or violet) for $8.50
    twin-pack 24-ounce bottles (two color choices) for $14.99
    3-pack 20-ounce bottles & 6 filters (2 blue, 1 green) for $22.42
    two replacement filters for $6.88
    Rubbermaid Filtration Personal Water Bottles  Rubbermaid™ Filtration Personal Water Bottle
    single 20-ounce bottle with filter (black, green or purple) for $9.99
    single 20-ounce bottle with filter (blue) for $9.99
    two replacement filters for $9.99
    Bobble Bottles Reusable Water Bottle  Bobble Bottles™ Reusable Water Bottle
    single 18.5-ounce bottle with filter (six color choices) for $9.47 to $14.90
    replacement filter (10 color choices) for $6.53 to $11.84
                                  
    Disaster News: Weather, Transportation, Nature

    official fire information     Arizona Wildfire Watch
    California's Statewide 'CalFire' Current Fire Information
    Colorado Wildfire Center
    Idaho Fire Information
    Montana Fire Information
    Nevada Fire Information
    New Mexico Fire Information
    Oregon Fire Information
    Utah Wildfire Information
    Washington State Wildfire Information
    Inciweb USA Wildfire Information
    British Columbia, Canada Fire Information

    see also the Working Minds / Worry About / Oil & Gas Pipeline Disasters Page


    March 2024 Bridge Collapse in Baltimore

    news photo of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge at dawn on March 26       daylight aerial photo of collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge and MV Dali container ship on March 26

           March 26th, 2024 about 1:30am EDT: The Francis Scott Key Bridge across the Patapsco River in Baltimore collapsed after one of its pillars was struck by the MV Dali container ship. The 1.6-mile-long truss bridge (opened in 1977) is a major artery - four-lane Interstate 695 - and officials called its collapse “a dire emergency”. Six construction workers, who were filling potholes on the bridge at the time, are presumed dead; rescuers were looking for at least seven people in the water; two people were rescued and two bodies were recovered. The ship is owned by Singapore-based Grace Ocean Private, Ltd. and the 22-person crew were all from India. The ship was on route to Colombo, Sri Lanka at the time of the accident.
    event entry at Wikipediaannotated video of the crash and collapse [01:23-01:29]

    February 2023 Norfolk Southern Derailment Disaster in Ohio, USA

    aerial news photo of February 2023 Norfolk Southern train derailment disaster - still burning       aerial drone photo of February 2023 Norfolk Southern train derailment disaster - looking northward on Feb 6th

           Friday February 3rd, 2023: A large fire broke out in the village of East Palestine, Ohio following a train derailment on Friday night, prompting the immediate area to be evacuated as firefighters worked to battle the blaze. At least 40 train cars derailed near the border with Pennsylvania and smoke and flames were seen shooting into the night sky; firefighters attempted to battle the inferno, as train crews looked to determine which train cars were still on fire. Firefighters were unable to respond fully because of the dangerous chemicals, and authorities warned of the danger of a 'major explosion' or toxic gas release. The evacuation order remained in place as of Saturday morning. Twenty cars in the 149-car Norfolk Southern train were carrying hazardous materials, 11 of which derailed along with 27 cars carrying nonhazardous goods; the incident caused no direct injuries.

           BACKSTORY: In October 2022, Norfolk Southern directed a train to keep moving with an overheated wheel that caused it to derail miles later. ProPublica reported in February that the railroad's policy allows a monitoring team to instruct crews to ignore alerts from train track sensors designed to flag potential mechanical problems. The policy applies specifically to the company’s Wayside Detector Help Desk, which monitors data from the track-side 'hotbox' sensors. Workers on the desk can tell crews to disregard an alert when "information is available confirming it is safe to proceed" and to continue no faster than 30 miles per hour to the next track-side sensor, which is often miles away. The company’s rulebook did not specify what such information might be.
           In recent years, U.S. railroads have added trackside 'hotbox' sensors that use infrared scans to measure the temperature of wheel bearings on passing trains to determine whether overheating could pose a derailment risk; there are more than 6,000 'hotbox' sensors across the country, according to the Federal Railroad Administration.

           Monday February 6th, 2023: Crews performed a controlled release of chemicals from derailed tank cars, but evacuated residents are still being urged to stay away and to wait for the fire to die down. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) said the controlled release of vinyl chloride, a flammable gas used to produce vehicle interiors and PVC piping, was necessary to prevent a possible explosion that could have resulted in the "deadly disbursement of shrapnel and toxic fumes". The controlled burn-off of the chemicals also resulted in the potential exposure to toxic fumes for people living nearby. The Ohio National Guard was deployed to the area to go door to door to urge people to leave, and Gov. DeWine said that he believed that all stragglers had left.

           Tuesday February 7th, 2023: Residents of East Palestine, Ohio were still unable to return to their homes after the train derailment. Five of the derailed train cars were carrying vinyl chloride – a chemical that is unstable and threatens an explosion that would have hurled toxic fumes into the air and shoot deadly shrapnel as far as a mile away. Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw promised that the company would stay in East Palestine 'for as long as it takes' to ensure the safety of residents; the railroad has faced growing anger over its response to the train derailment earlier this month. Though authorities have said that it is safe to return home, residents have been frustrated by confusing communication over health risks, and Shaw acknowledged there were "still a lot of questions without answers".

           Tuesday February 14th, 2023: E.P.A. administrator Michael Regan announced from East Palestine that the agency was tightening its oversight of the cleanup, issuing an order for Norfolk Southern to carry out the work on terms approved by the federal government; the CDC’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry sent a team to East Palestine in response to an Ohio state request to support the E.P.A.

           Wednesday February 15th, 2023: The office of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost sent a notice of intent to sue addressed to Alan Shaw, the president & CEO of Norfolk Southern. Yost said in the letter that the rail company released pollution that "continues to contaminate the area around East Palestine, created a nuisance, damaged natural resources, and caused environmental harm. Local residents and Ohio's waters have been damaged as a result." The railroad also faces multiple class-action suits from residents.
           The City of Cincinnati, some 300 miles downriver, stopped using Ohio River water 'out of an abundance of caution' following the East Palestine train disaster.

           Tuesday February 21st, 2023: The Ohio Health Department said that it is opening a clinic in East Palestine to address health concerns following the derailment of a Norfolk Southern train laden with toxic chemicals.

           Wednesday February 22nd, 2023: The heads of the Federal Railroad Administration and of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration inspected the rail cars in East Palestine; N.T.S.B. investigators probing the derailment have cited issues with a rail car axle; surveillance video shows a wheel bearing was in the 'final stage of overheat failure' moments before the derailment. The head of the Environmental Protection Agency also threatened the Norfolk Southern Corporation with a legally binding $70,000 fine for each day that the railroad fails to clean up the toxic waste from its derailment disaster in Ohio.
           Donald Trump visited East Palestine, Ohio and denied slashing rail safety rules; the facts, however, show that in 2017 Trump rescinded an Obama-era rule aimed at making trains carrying hazardous materials safer.

           Thursday February 23rd, 2023: The N.T.S.B.’s preliminary report indicated that the train was traveling at 47 mph - just below the speed limit of 50 mph - when it went off the tracks. After the train came to a stop, the train crew reported fire and smoke to the dispatcher; the train crew was instructed to apply handbrakes to the two rail cars at the head of the train, then uncouple the head-end locomotives and move them about one mile away from the rail cars. The N.T.S.B. report also indicated that the train had passed three 'hotbox' detectors: about 30 miles from East Palestine, the wheel bearing from Car 23 - the railcar that first left the tracks - recorded a temperature of 38 degrees, then 10 miles later registered 103 degrees, still not raising alarm; at the third sensor, 20 miles later and just outside of East Palestine, the temperature had raised to 253 degrees above the air temperature, setting off a critical alarm.
           Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg made his first visit to the crash scene. Federal regulators have taken control of cleanup oversight and told the rail company that it must cover the costs. Federal safety regulators released an initial report saying that the incident was completely preventable: one of the train's cars carrying plastic pellets was heated by a hot axle that sparked the initial fire; as the temperature of the bearing got hotter, the train passed by two wayside 'hotbox' detectors that did not trigger an audible alarm message because the heat threshold was not met at that point. A third detector eventually picked up the high temperature, but it was already too late by then. The crew operating the derailed freight train received a 'critical audible alarm message' about an overheated axle and a locomotive engineer tried to stop the train just before the cars crashed but there wasn't enough time; so far, the investigation has found no evidence that the crew did anything wrong prior to the incident.

           Saturday February 25th, 2023: Locals in Harris County, Texas became alarmed over Norfolk Southern's plan to inject hundreds of thousands of gallons of toxic wastewater from the Ohio derailment disaster underground.

    September 2022 Hurricane Ian

    satellite photo of Hurricane Ian approaching Cuba on September 26       news photo of flooded Gulfshore Blvd. in Naples, Florida on September 28
    news photo of Florida coastal houses destroyed in September 2022       news photo of flooded First Street in Florida in September 2022
    news photo of destruction in Fort Myers Beach, Florida in September 2022       news photo of smashed boats onshore in South Carolina on September 30

    April/May 2022 Wildfires in New Mexico, USA

    news photo of April 2022 McBride Fire north of Ruidoso, New Mexico       news photo of April 2022 Big Hole Fire in Valencia County, New Mexico        news photo of April 2022 Three Rivers Fire near Ruidoso, New Mexico

           April 12th, 2022: The Village of Ruidoso says those who live in Eagle Creek and Homestead Acres should evacuate as the McBride fire begins to spread; fire officials say that the fire has spread to 1,000 acres as of Tuesday afternoon and is 0% contained. Multiple structures have burned including homes in Ruidoso; Ruidoso Schools evacuated all students from Sierra Vista School, White Mountain School, Ruidoso Middle School, and Ruidoso High School to the Ruidoso Convention Center. P.N.M. has cut power to areas of Ruidoso because the fire is burning near a transmission line that powers 18,000 customers. High winds and drought conditions are fueling the blazes. UPDATE April 14th: The McBride fire near Ruidoso burned at least 207 homes.
           April 13th, 2022: One wildfire near Las Vegas, NM has burned over 6,200 acres and is only 10% contained; the McBride wildfire near Ruidoso is over 4,000 acres and 0% contained; the Big Hole wildfire in Valencia County is 900 acres and 0% contained, and has burned 19 structures; the Nogal Canyon wildfire has burned 400 acres and is 0% contained. Over 100 structures have been destroyed so far.
    newscopter photo of April 2022 Simona Fire in the Jarales, New Mexico bosque

           April 20th, 2022: Simona Fire in Jarales burned 165 acres, no structures were threatened.
           April 21st, 2022: The Cooks Peak Fire in Mora County is burning everything in its path and is estimated at over 20,000 acres.
           May 1st, 2022: A new wildfire started in Bear Trap Canyon in the San Mateo Mountains of the Magdalena Ranger District; named the Bear Trap Fire, already 100 acres.

    official New Mexico wildfires info page: Resources & Support for New Mexicans Impacted by the Fires

           Sunday May 1st, 2022: Thousands of residents were told to be prepared to evacuate the historic Old West town of Las Vegas, New Mexico (east of Santa Fe), as powerful winds and drought-parched forests fueled an explosive wildfire that has already burned 104,000 acres and remained just 30 percent contained. Fire crews used bulldozers in a rush to carve firebreaks to protect the city of 14,000, as well as ranches, rural homes, and the castle-like campus of the United World College in the nearby village of Montezuma.
           The Calf Canyon fire, which has merged with the Hermit's Peak fire, is the biggest of about a dozen wildfires active in the Southwest before the normal start of peak fire season in June, as experts warn climate change makes wildfires worse.

           May 3rd, 2022: Two wildfires that combined in New Mexico have prompted the evacuation of thousands of people -- and more than 15,000 homes could be threatened over the next three days if the fires continue to grow, an official said yesterday. Five fires are actively burning throughout six counties in New Mexico, but the largest blaze is the combined Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon fires, which merged more than a week ago. That fire has burned about 146,000 acres and is just 20% contained. Some 172 homes have been destroyed in Mora County and San Miguel County, and more than 6,000 homes have been evacuated.
           The Calf Canyon Fire near Las Vegas, the largest burning in the U.S., already has charred more than 200 square miles.
           Evacuations website - Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon Fires {may require different browser} link here

    news photo of wildfires in Mora County, New Mexico in April 2022       news photo of wildfires in Mora County, New Mexico in May 2022

           Wednesday May 4th, 2022: President Joe Biden approved a disaster declaration for parts of New Mexico devastated by wildfires that have been spreading since early April. U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (Dem-NM) announced the move during an evening U.S. Forest Service briefing on efforts to contain the biggest fire, which is burning near the historic Old West town of Las Vegas, New Mexico. That fire, created by the merging of the Calf Canyon and Hermits Peak fires, has burned 160,000 acres and is 20 percent contained. The presidential emergency declaration "will help us do [needed] rebuilding and it will help us with the expenses and the hardship that people are facing right now," the congresswoman said.

           May 13th, 2022: The combined Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire in northern New Mexico has burned 260,000 acres.

    New Reports on Climate Change

    bar chart of atmospheric methane levels increase/decrease, 1984-2020

           February 28th, 2022: Climate breakdown is accelerating rapidly, many of the impacts will be more severe than predicted, and there is only a narrow chance left of avoiding its worst ravages. Even at current levels, human actions in heating the climate are causing dangerous and widespread disruption, threatening devastation to swathes of the natural world and rendering many areas unliveable, according to the landmark report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In what some scientists termed 'the bleakest warning yet', the summary report from the global authority on climate science says droughts, floods, heatwaves, and other extreme weather are accelerating and wreaking increasing damage.
           The report says:
  • The effect is occuring everywhere, with no inhabited region escaping dire impacts from rising temperatures and increasingly extreme weather.
  • About half of the global population – between 3.3 billion and 3.6 billion people – live in areas 'highly vulnerable' to climate change.
  • Millions of people face food and water shortages owing to climate change, even at current levels of heating.
  • Mass die-offs of species, from trees to corals, are already under way.
  • 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels constitutes a 'critical level beyond which the impacts of the climate crisis accelerate strongly and some become irreversible'.
  • Coastal areas around the globe, and small, low-lying islands, face inundation at temperature rises of more than 1.5°C.
  • Key ecosystems are losing their ability to absorb carbon dioxide, turning them from carbon sinks to carbon sources.
  • Some countries have agreed to conserve 30% of the Earth's land, but conserving half may be necessary to restore the ability of natural ecosystems to cope with the damage wreaked on them.
           The IPCC report is titled "Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability"

           February 3rd, 2022: A new satellites-based study has discovered a number of 'super emitters' around the world, which are enormous methane leaks from fossil fuel operations in places like Russia, Iran, and the United States. Methane is a greenhouse gas that is more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere; cracking down on methane leaks would be a quick, low-cost way to slow global warming.

           January 2022: The global level of the potent greenhouse gas methane has reached a record high, growing at twice the rate of the long-term average in what scientists are calling a 'fire alarm moment' for curbing climate change.
           The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce says that methane concen-trations reached a record 1,900 parts per billion in September, the highest in almost four decades of regular monitoring. The gas is 80 times more potent in contributing to global heating than carbon dioxide.
           While most of the rise has occurred from the gas being released through changes in wetlands and by agriculture in the tropics, leaks from oil and gas operations are also major contributors.
           More than 100 countries pledged to cut their methane emissions at last year’s COP26 climate summit.

  • Undersea Volcano Eruption South of Tonga in the South Pacific

    news photo of volcano south of Tonga in the South Pacific - normal activity 6 January 2022       news photo of volcano south of Tonga in the South Pacific - early activity 14 January 2022
    news photo of volcano south of Tonga in the South Pacific - after tsunami event on 15 January 2022       aerial news photo of Tonga's capital city Nuku'alofa on 20 January 2022 - rooftops and lawns and streets are covered with thick volcanic ash

           Saturday January 15th, 2022: The Polynesian archipelago nation of Tonga was struck by a tsunami after an undersea volcano erupted 40 miles south of the main island of Tongatapu. No injuries or fatalities have yet been reported, but videos show large waves striking the shore and swirling around houses as people flee to higher ground. King Tupou VI has been evacuated from his palace by the sea. The extent of the damage is still unclear due to spotty communications. Tonga has a population of just over 100,000 people, of whom 70 percent live on the main island.
           Update January 16th: The extent of tsunami damage in Tonga remains unclear as ash obstructs the view from the sky and the submarine cable that connects Tonga to the outside world remains out of commission. The volcano, called Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai, shot smoke and ash more than 12 miles into the sky and produced a shockwave felt as far away as New Zealand.
           The massive volcanic eruption in the South Pacific sent tsunami waves around the world on Saturday, and communi-cation is still cut off from the closest Tonga islands; the event sent ash roughly three times higher than airlines fly and was heard 5,000 miles away in Alaska; experts say that an eruption like this comes about once every thousand years, and there could be more on the way. The eruption and tsunami swept two swimmers to their deaths 6,000 miles away.
           Update January 18th: The eruption and tsunami shot a plume of ash that made Tonga completely disappear; the ash cloud, which produced over 400,000 lightning strikes in its area after the eruption, is still almost completely obscuring the island from satellite imagery. The shock of the explosion cut the undersea cables that carry nearly all of the island nation's communications to the rest of the world, and news from its 100,000 residents has been sparse to say the least.
           The eruption and resulting tsunami alone would be a massive, front-page humanitarian disaster almost anywhere else in the globe, but the near-complete communications blackout means that we barely know how bad things are in Tonga. Per CNN, officials in New Zealand say that there's "significant damage" off the main island of Tongatapu, but all we've heard from the island is that the situation is "not stable". Tongans abroad, meanwhile, have heard almost nothing from their family members, creating a particularly excruciating situation for anyone with loved ones on the island. Hopefully, if the ash begins to clear some, we'll have more information over the week as the first relief flights or shipments get in, but it's incredibly hard to predict what will be found.
           Update Wednesday February 23rd: Tonga is back online after five weeks; because Tonga is so remote, it took a repair ship 10 days just to reach its waters . . . before getting to work fixing nearly 56 miles of fiber-optic cable. Tonga, like many island nations, is particularly vulnerable to outages because it has only one undersea cable providing the entire island with internet.

    September 2021 Amtrak Train Derailment in Montana

    news photo of Amtrak passenger cars derailed in remote Montana in September 2021

           September 25th, 2021: The westbound Empire Builder Amtrak passenger train that runs between Seattle and Chicago derailed about 4pm on Saturday afternoon near Joplin, a town of about 200 in north-central Montana; the accident scene is about 150 miles (241 kilometers) northeast of Helena and about 30 miles (48 kilometers) from the border with Canada. At least three people were killed when the train derailed, toppling several cars onto their sides; seven seriously-injured passengers were taken to local hospitals, the other passengers - several treated for minor injuries - were taken to the Liberty County Senior Center. The train had two locomotives and 10 cars, eight of which derailed; there were about 141 passengers and 16 crew members onboard.

    May 2021 Mexico City Commuter Train Derailment

    news photo of two passenger cars dangling from collapsed concrete bridge in Mexico City, 4 May 2021

           May 4th, 2021: A Mexico City Metro rail overpass collapsed onto a road just as a train was passing overhead. "A support beam gave way" on the Metro 12 Line overpass, Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said, adding that a car is trapped underneath the rubble on the road below and there are still people trapped on the train, which split in two and was suspended precariously, hindering rescue efforts. At least 23 people were killed and at least 65 others hurt. "We don't know if [those inside] are alive," Sheinbaum said. The 12 Line, built when Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard was Mexico City's mayor, has been dogged by allegations of irregularities during its construction. This is the third serious accident on the five-decade-old Mexico City Metro, one of the largest and busiest commuter rail systems in the world; the other two, in 2015 and 2019, involved two trains colliding. Video on local channel Milenio TV showed the structure plummeting onto a stream of cars near the Olivos station in the southeast part of the city at around 10:30 p.m. local time, sending up clouds of dust.

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