FYI: Central Asia’s Aral Sea: Lessons for Today’s Climate Crisis'. Hybrid Meeting Monday, 11 Dec 2023 9:00–10:30 AM (EST) Zoom meeting: tinyurl.com/3nee9jtc
The items below are selected solely by Dr. Elaine J. Hanford (except for the 'aphorism' at the very bottom).
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Geoscience Bulletin Board – 4 December 2023 – compiled by Elaine J. Hanford
How to build mountains from dolomite – dissolution is the key
How not to build a tunnel – no safety exit and dig through a shear zone – NHAI to audit 29 tunnels in India
New Plate Tectonic model of the Earth
- https://www.zmescience.com/science/researchers-create-a-new-tectonic-model-of-the-earth-and-its-beautiful/
- Paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0012825222001532?fr=RR-2&ref=pdf_download&rr=82bcc21c4e082560
Geology of the North Oregon Coast
Geology more important than trees when considering natural flood management
- https://www.bgs.ac.uk/news/natural-flood-management-is-geology-more-important-than-trees/
- Eddleston Water Project: https://tweedforum.org/our-work/projects/the-eddleston-water-project/
- Report: https://tweedforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Eddleston-Water-2021-Report.pdf
Lithic sources of Native American stone artifacts
QGIS open-source platform for management, analysis & Visualization of spatial data – including drill holes
- https://www.geographyrealm.com/3d-drill-holes-qgis/
- QGIS version 3.34 download link: https://qgis.org/en/site/
Rare strong earthquakes caused multiple prehistoric rockslides in the Eastern Alps
- https://www.miragenews.com/eastern-alps-rockslides-triggered-by-past-1130056/
- Paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-21327-9
Lithospheric component of the magnetic field of Earth
- https://pa.as.uky.edu/geophysicist-helps-develop-high-res-map-earths-magnetic-field
- https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/see-earth-s-lithospheric-magnetic-field/vi-AA1kupSw#details
Landslide basics – video & images
Capitol Reef National Park – Navajo Sandstone & the 87-mile Waterpocket Fold monocline
New lava fountain theory
- https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/iceland-volcano-leads-geologists-to-new-lava-fountain-theory/ar-AA1kAAia
- Paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-42569-9
High-resolution lidar topographic data details potential new geological hazards at Yellowstone – Emigrant fault
41 workers still inside collapsed Silkyara-Garkot mountain tunnel in India – now will attempt vertical drilling
They looked for an Equatorial Water mass in the Atlantic and there it was
- https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/missing-blob-of-water-predicted-to-be-in-the-atlantic-finally-found
- Paper: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2023GL104866
“Icon of the Seas” – largest cruise ship delivered to Royal Caribbean – 10,000 passengers – bigger than ever – been trying to book passengers since October 2022 – claims revolutionary waste management
- https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/royal-caribbean-just-took-delivery-of-a-cruise-ship-so-big-it-can-hold-nearly-10-000-people-really/ar-AA1kDUgn
- https://thepointsguy.com/news/royal-caribbean-icon-of-the-seas-booking-available/
- https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/royal-caribbean-group-transforms-waste-management-in-the-cruise-industry-helping-protect-the-oceans-301874199.html
First Quantum Minerals suspends production at Panama copper mine – 1.5% of global copper production - supplies blockaded
Developing geothermal resources near Winnemucca, Nevada
Far-field seismically-induced liquefaction
Foreign-owned agricultural operations mining vast amounts of groundwater here in Western US
Yaguarasaurus regiomontanus - mosasar that ruled the seas 90 myo
- https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/formidable-predator-that-ruled-the-sea-90-million-years-ago-discovered/ar-AA1kJ5Kk
- Paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0895981123005060
Some volcanoes along the Cascade Volcanic Arc have not yet been well studies
- https://eos.org/research-spotlights/some-high-threat-volcanoes-are-severely-understudied
- Paper: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2023GC011025
Quality and reliable water science in New England
Visualizing the new era of gold mining
Would dinosaurs have gone extinct if the Chicxulub Meteor had not struck Earth?
- https://www.sciencealert.com/even-without-a-meteorite-the-stage-was-set-for-dinosaurs-to-go-extinct
- https://www.sci.news/paleontology/deccan-traps-volcanism-end-cretaceous-extinction-12487.html
- Paper: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adg8284
Is a new magnetic field reversal about to happen?
- https://www.sciencealert.com/is-earths-magnetic-field-on-the-verge-of-flipping-over-an-expert-explains
- https://theconversation.com/earths-magnetic-field-protects-life-on-earth-from-radiation-but-it-can-move-and-the-magnetic-poles-can-even-flip-216231
Scale-specific sinuosity metric for quantifying stream meanders
- https://www.usgs.gov/publications/what-scales-does-a-river-meander-scale-specific-sinuosity-s3-metric-quantifying-stream
- Paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169555X2300154X
How much hype and error and omission can be put into one news article?
Earth rotation – continuing to move toward 25-hour day, speed varies
Great white sharks hang out in the Twilight & Midnight Zones
Role of smectite in global carbon cycle – smectite could increase organic carbon preservation by less than one-tenth of one percent – but Ice Ages developed quickly and repeatedly rather than over 100s of millions of years
Longest (13.7 miles) highway tunnel being bored through the Tianshan Mountains in China
ASCE updates requirements for seismic evaluation & retrofit of existing buildings – ASCE 41-23
Former rock hound has spent a career overseeing the Hope Diamond
New method for fingerprinting methane
Impacts of recent drought on the aquifers in Wisconsin
Yukon Prospectors Association names Ryan Burke as Prospector of the Year
Mineral resources in Ohio valued at $1.7B
1883 cataclysmic eruption of Anak Krakatau
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Environmental Science Bulletin Board – 4 December 2023 – compiled by Elaine J. Hanford
8 most additive drugs – causes, risks, and effects: nicotine, alcohol, opioids, stimulants, hallucinogens, inhalants, benzodiazepines, and marijuana
Why Australia has so many poisonous animals: spiders, snakes, jellyfish, cephalopods, ants, bees & platypuses
$600K settlement on runoff pollution from Concord metal-recycling sites along Merrimack River in New Hampshire – part of $2M settlement of 3 lawsuits for sites in Massachusetts, New Hampshire & Puerto Rico
- https://www.concordmonitor.com/newcm/2023/11/schnitzer-steel-recycling-concord-nh-53100430.php
- https://www.boston25news.com/news/local/conservation-law-foundation-schnitzer-steel-settle-pollution-lawsuit-2-million/S72YR4A6CBDZBEWXIT4XW6O3TQ/
Beware when foods are labeled “natural”
- https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/nutrition/the-wildly-misleading-nature-of-natural-labels-on-food/ar-AA1bj4ge
- Report: https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/106479/eb-35.pdf
Capitol Reef National Park
Human stampeded at concert in southern India results in at least 4 deaths & dozens injured – to quote Agent K: “people are dumb, panicky dangerous animals” trying to get in out of the rain
Lawsuit claims Pfizer defrauded Texas medicaid program – doctored testing tata on Quillivant for ADHD
- https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/texas-sues-pfizer-over-drugs-given-to-children/ar-AA1kwVyx
- https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/texas-lawsuit-pfizer-quillivant-xr-adhd/
Climate negotiators promote the myth of “man-made global warming”
Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act (MoCRA) expands FDA power but fails to require manufacturers to prove their products are safe – still allows toxic chemicals in Personal Care Products – US has banned only 11 substances from cosmetics while EU has outlawed more than 2,400
- https://insideclimatenews.org/news/27112023/dereliction-of-beauty-part-two/
- MoCRA: https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmetics-laws-regulations/modernization-cosmetics-regulation-act-2022-mocra
- HR2617- Act: https://www.congress.gov/117/bills/hr2617/BILLS-117hr2617enr.pdf
- https://insightplus.bakermckenzie.com/bm/consumer-goods-retail_1/united-states-a-legal-makeover-guide-for-complying-with-new-cosmetic-regulations-under-mocra-part-i
Biden $400B green energy “scheme” is 10X worse for the economy than Obama era – remember Solyndra & other companies that went bankrupt after receiving government subsidies
- https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/biden-s-400b-green-energy-scheme-is-10-times-worse-than-obama-s-economist-cautions/ar-AA1kBMpI
- https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/reality-fraying-biden-climate-agenda-report/ar-AA1kCGEj
UN COP28 will produce lots and lots of hot air – nothing good since the Kyoto Protocol of 1995 - more than 70,000 attendees but not Biden - will fly private jets to Dubai – largest carbon footprint of all COP meetings
- https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/get-ready-for-another-pointless-un-climate-conference/ar-AA1kFxxd
- https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/cop28-climate-talks-what-to-expect-and-what-it-means-for-our-energy-future/ar-AA1jEvpZ
- https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/joe-biden-s-2024-hopes-in-peril-after-abruptly-pulling-out-of-cop28-risking-democratic-war/ar-AA1kBsm8
- https://climaterealism.com/2023/11/media-ignores-the-fact-that-cop28-could-have-largest-carbon-footprint-in-the-events-history/
- COP28 carbon footprint calculator: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/climate-change/cop28/cop28-carbon-footprint-calculator
COP28 by the numbers – nothing but political – CO2 is part of the natural carbon dioxide cycle – CO2 content of the atmosphere increases in response to increased temperature (effect-cause)
Over-use of hospital cleaners (bleach & chlorine chemicals) has helped Clostridioides difficile to evolve resistance so cleaners are now completely ineffective – man-made crisis: AMR increasing worldwide
CBP shifting resources to respond to “ongoing migration surge” by illegal aliens at US Southern Border
$600M in debt financing for “renewable energy projects” – means the financial collapse will be even bigger
New rule proposed by CMS (Centers for Medicate & Medicaid Services) would devastate senior health care – “policy needs to be informed by reality and what is possible”
Bad and badder government policies since 2020 have brought us to then end of the “everything bubble”
Illegal aliens facing consequences of scaling US southern border Wall in California – new barriers between San Diego & Tijuana to prevent “stampede”
- https://news.yahoo.com/border-wall-related-falls-increasing-190204486.html
- https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/new-border-barriers-going-up-between-san-diego-and-tijuana-to-prevent-mass-crossings/ar-AA1kEUl7
Illegal aliens keep on surging across Southern Border – camps in the desert
Covid-19 was created in the Wuhan Lab – Why?
More details on possible murder of Wuhan scientist by the Chinese government
Politically shifting the priorities of the US Bureau of Land Management – awakening or becoming more woke?
This is just one of the significant problems with “carbon credit projects”
4 groups filed lawsuit to prevent NPS replanting Sequoia groves in Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks
“do not confuse weather with climate” – “while the global temperature may go up a teensy, weensy degree or two our profits are literally soaring”
How much does a Christmas tree cost this year? $75 to $500 – cost inflated by about 10% over last year
New model for estimating damages from river floods
- https://hub.jhu.edu/2023/11/27/better-flood-damage-forecasting/
- Paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2212420923005575
Google Maps strikes again
Several hot cocoa mixes found to contain heavy metals at levels that exceed CA MADL for lead and cadmium
The southern border crisis is real – government policy should protect our country & our citizens
ADHD drugs linked to increased potential for heart disease later in life
- https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/adhd-drug-use-increases-heart-disease-risk-study/ar-AA1kncnY
- Paper: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2811812
US BLM discontinues use of “cyanide bombs” against predators – have killed thousands of pets and non-predator wildlife including endangered species across 390,62 square miles of public lands
- https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/bureau-of-land-management-discontinues-use-of-controversial-cyanide-bombs-against-predators/ar-AA1kJDu6
- https://kymkemp.com/2023/11/24/huffman-celebrates-bureau-of-land-managements-decision-to-cease-use-of-cyanide-bombs-on-public-lands/
- M-44 device: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-A101-PURL-gpo23563/pdf/GOVPUB-A101-PURL-gpo23563.pdf
- BLM: https://www.blm.gov/programs/fish-and-wildlife
Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program for those seriously injured by the mRNA vaxx
What is still missing? Studies to assess risks of multiple concurrent exposures to toxic chemicals
Program in California to pay farmers to percolate water into the ground – will ReNeM really help the aquifers?
- https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29112023/in-california-farmers-test-a-method-to-sink-more-water-into-underground-stores/
- Paper: https://www.law.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/ReNeM-Publication_Wheeler-Water-Institute_Oct2023.pdf
Despite force majeure clause, Pfizer filed lawsuit against Poland for cost of 60M vaxx doses
- https://www.politico.eu/article/pfizer-is-suing-poland-over-covid-vaccines-this-is-how-we-got-here/
- https://www.pap.pl/en/news/poland-hopes-some-agreement-pfizer-over-undelivered-vaccines
New cancer drugs from China approved by FDA but will cost up to 31X more in US than in China
Needing to preserve the history of WPA posters of National Parks
Wolverines to be protected as threatened species under the Endangered Species Act – only 300 in Lower 48 – we lived in the range of a wolverine in New Hampshire & they are incredible animals
- https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2023/11/wolverines-gain-protection-under-endangered-species-act
- https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/only-300-of-these-critters-still-live-in-the-us-and-their-habitat-is-in-jeopardy/ar-AA1kKvBb
Evolution of biodiversity kept pace with plate tectonics and landscape dynamics
- https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1009084
- Paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06777-z
India preparing to use cloud seeding technology to “clean” poisonous smog from air in New Delhi – “an expensive distraction from tackling root causes”
Marking the Sand Creek Massacre – 230 Cheyenne & Arapaho slaughtered by 675 US soldiers
Africa savannah elephant in Kenya gave birth to twins in Samburu National Reserve – a rare event
2024 sheep study to focus on health and management of 5M sheep & lambs across the US
How much hype and error and omission can be put into one news article?
World’s most expensive structures now abandoned & just rotting away – expensive mistakes
- https://za.investing.com/magazine/worlds-most-expensive-abandoned-structures/
- https://za.investing.com/magazine/expensive-mistakes-that-cost-businesses-a-fortune/
New York State Appeals Court upholds Health Dept Rule 2.13 allowing involuntary detention of individuals for public safety reasons despite concerns about due process violations – concern for government overreach
ONE Campaign analysis shows $343B in climate finance commitments were never reported as disbursed & had little connection to climate – “alarming lack of transparency”
Another ludicrous scheme under the guise of “carbon offsets” – seeking your tax dollars in subsidies
Cantaloupes from Mexico contaminated with salmonella cause outbreaks in US and Canada – 3 deaths
- https://www.foodpoisonjournal.com/food-poisoning-information/162-with-salmonella-62-hospitalized-3-deaths-in-u-s-and-canada-linked-to-mexican-cantaloupe/
- CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/sundsvall-11-23/index.html
- Canada: https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2023/11/canadian-patients-in-cantaloupe-salmonella-outbreak-more-than-double-one-dead/#monella%20outbreak%20from,to%20both%20countries%20from%20Mexico.
Perspective: “Right to science” was proclaimed in UDHR 75 years ago – what does it mean? – “too many governments, policymakers and big-industry leaders are willfully shutting their eyes to science”
EPA proposing rule to require water systems to replace millions of lead service lines within 10 years – estimated cost of $27B+ of taxpayer dollars – open for public comment
- https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/30/health/lead-water-pipes-removed-10-years-epa-proposed-rule/index.html
- EPA: https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/proposed-lead-and-copper-rule-improvements#
- Proposed Rule: https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023-11/proposed-lcri_pre-pub-version-11_29_23.pdf
- EPA Fact Sheet: https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023-11/lcri-fact-sheet-for-the-public_final.pdf
PacifiCorp wants Regulators in 5 States (California, Idaho, Oregon, Washington & Wyoing) to protect it from future wildfire lawsuits over its negligence
- https://www.newsdata.com/clearing_up/courts_and_commissions/pacificorp-requests-would-limit-liability-to-actual-damages/article_9a616f54-856b-11ee-873a-3bf1b0c3bdce.html
- https://www.oregonlive.com/business/2023/11/pacificorp-wants-state-to-protect-it-from-future-wildfire-lawsuits-past-victims-are-disgusted.html
Not a good change in perspectives: Reagan said “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help.” Has been misquoted by Biden administration as: “We’re from the government. We’re here to help!” – now advocating intrusive government
Burning Man organizers complete “cleanup” and just barely pass environmental inspection
“White lung” pneumonia in China, Europe & the US – déjà vu: beginnings of covid all over again
- https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/china-cover-up-fears-over-mystery-illness-as-cases-of-sickness-spread/ar-AA1kKcYm
- https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/america-struck-by-mystery-white-lung-pneumonia-as-china-and-europe-battle-similar-surges/ar-AA1kNixg
Buying into solar panels? Don’t forget they require lots of maintenance – at least 2X a year or more: roughly $150 to have your home panels professionally cleaned plus $150 annually for inspections
Those who followed covid mandates are not more likely to have mental health issues
After the APEC Summit, the streets of San Francisco revert back to usual or perhaps even worse – security fencing is gone, homeless tents & garbage litter sidewalks, drug deals are common & few police officers
FDA warns CAR-T cell immunotherapies to treat cancer may cause T-cell malignancies
Update: SunZia transmission line project given go-ahead by BLM – will cross sacred Tribal lands
Connecticut governor wisely withdraws proposal to mandate EVs – “Common sense has prevailed”
Biden administration pledges $17.5M to Climate Impact & Response Fund in COP28 agreement – will need approval by US Congress
Texas filed lawsuit against Pfizer over false claims of 95% efficacy of vaxx – “relative risk reduction” based on 2 months clinical trial data & pandemic got worse after people started to get vaxxed
New campaign to “drink Tahoe tap water” to help discourage buying bottled water
UK trying to cope with thousands of illegal aliens absconding and engaging in criminal activity – border protection hindered by interpretation of international treaties
Pfizer stopping Phase 3 trial for weight loss drug due to high rates of adverse side effects – stock value drops
China set to impose export controls on graphite products – will “choke off” supply for the US – key component of “clean energy”
- https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/china-set-to-choke-off-supply-of-key-mineral-for-america/ar-AA1kPK4K
- https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/The-Growing-Importance-Of-Graphite-In-The-Clean-Energy-Economy.html
The dark side of ‘climate alarmism’ is that it is fundamentally totalitarian
Massive burden of millions of illegal aliens on America and its citizens – Biden policies making it even worse
Woke ideology is once again pushing segregation – no evidence submitted to show affinity courses improve student outcomes
Sacajawea and the 1804 Lewis & Clark Expedition
In Memoriam: Virologist Dr Karl M Johnson (1929-2023)
Leaked Biden administration document shows commitment to build “clean energy” to replace hydropower generated by four dams on Snake River
Los Angeles nearing completion of 3 long-planned facilities to remediate groundwater in San Fernando Basin that have been contaminated with TCE, PERC, and 1,4-dioxane
Inflation under bidenomics has caused prices (including essential foods) to increase by 19.27% since 2020 – average household needs additional $11,434 per year to cover cost of basics – inflation exceeds raises
- https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/look-at-the-cost-of-goods-and-services-after-bidenomics/ar-AA1kOpht
- https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/bidenflation-u-s-households-are-spending-an-extra-11-400-annually-to-afford-basics/ar-AA1kOPYb
Caberfae Peaks Ski Resort in Michigan urging consumers to file complaints against Consumers Energy due to frequent power outages that are preventing them from making snow
Las Vegas resort industry wants judge to throw out PUC order for NV Energy statewide rates for Natural Disaster Protection Plan
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Coastal Zone Management Bulletin Board – 4 December 2023 – compiled by Elaine J. Hanford
Dire predictions for shallow-water coastal ecosystems by 2100
- https://phys.org/news/2023-11-fate-shallow-coastal-ecosystems-year.html
- Paper: https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371/journal.pclm.0000298
Pakefield Holiday Park in Suffolk, England, evacuated after coastal road washed away
Farmed imports glut markets as coastal Georgia shrimpers fear loss of industry
$1B Ala Wai watershed flood wall project in Hawaii – walls 6 to 9 feet high
Major rescue operation underway for 13 people after gale-force winds sank Comoros-flagged cargo ship RAPTOR off Greek islands in the Aegean Sea
Expansion of Houston port facilities to be subsidized by $16M in federal funds
2023 Dead Zone in Chesapeake Bay was smallest on record since 1985
Plan for longest submarine power cable will stretch 2,362 miles from Morocco to the UK
117-year-old shipwreck of SS Dix found in Puget Sound
BOEM waived financial assurance for decommissioning fees for Vineyard Wind offshore project – fee is meant to safeguard taxpayers
Lake to Lagoon regional conservation partnership in Volusia County, Florida - $25M funding from USDA
With green hydrogen pilot platform goals met Sealhyfe will return to port of origin at Quai des Frégates
Environmental concerns persist & federal lawsuits being filed opposing utility-scale offshore wind projects
Cargo ship sunk in waters off SW coast of South Korea – no crewmen found
Sea salt aerosols play key role in coastal cloud formation & rain in Hawaii
- https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1009277
- Paper: https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/23/13735/2023/
Past dredging in the Lower Mississippi River facilitated saltwater intrusion
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