WaterWired

G. Tracy Mehan III Review: 'A New Coast' A Rising Tide Sinks All Boats - Sea-Level Increase, and What to Do About It

G. Tracy Mehan III, a frequent contributor to WaterWired, is executive director for government affairs at the American Water Works Association and adjunct professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University. He writes great book reviews and today's is no exception: Jeffrey Peterson's A New Coast: Strategies for Responding to Devastating Storms and Rising Seas

The review will be publsihed in the July/August 2020 issue of the The Environmental Forum. Tracy sent me a PDF of his review. I have included a few paragraphs of his review just to wht your appetite.

Download A New Coast review

A few morsels...

Climate policy focused on federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions
is a hard sell in the United States. From the defeat of the Kyoto Protocol in the Senate 95-0 in 1997, to the failure of the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade
bill in a Democratic Congress in 2009, up to and including President Trump’s spiking of the Clean Power Plan and reducing vehicle fuel economy improvements and withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, that dog just won’t hunt.

Meanwhile the shale and natural gas revolutions have reduced emissions significantly. States, cities, and many corporations are pursuing their own GHG reduction goals in a civil society movement envisioned by Vanderbilt’s Michael Vandenbergh and Jonathan Gilligan in their thoughtful, hopeful book, Beyond Politics. The Private Governance Response to Climate Change — previously reviewed here. But as noted at the end of that review, “Yet, nowhere in the dozen or so pages of the book’s index will the reader find any references to either adaptation or resilience in the face of climate change.. . . Society, however, may be forced to consider other options given the stark political and economic realities of climate policy.”

Is there common ground left in America to address the impacts of a
variable climate; demographic shifts to coastal zones (doubling by 2060);massive, costly storms, hurricanes, flooding, erosion; and, if you comprehend the arcane art of modeling, rising sea levels that will render storms even more destructive, extend flood zones and move the coastline
further inland due to massive inundation?

Cutting to the chase...

Peterson notes, “Federal supplemental appropriations to recover from the 2017 storms came to $120 billion, and individual major storms have cost tens of billions of dollars.” Moreover, “the Congressional Budget Office estimates future annual property losses of $54 billion and federal government costs of $17 billion annually assuming just existing conditions.” Over and above the money, a proactive policy anticipating sea-level rise would “save lives, sustain coastal ecosystems and protect coastal economies.” Thousands of lives, trillions of dollars saved.

A national planning effort needs to convince Americans to believe in the models predicting sea level rise over many, many decades. But time will tell, and reality will, if Peterson is right, unmute all price signals and concentrate the minds of coastal residents.

 One might, however, argue that he is putting too large a wager on a federally led process, given the current distrust of Washington. Trust, in this polarized age, must be cultivated bottom up and top down. The Pew Research Center reports that “Three quarters of Americans say that their fellow citizens’ trust in the federal government has been shrinking, and 64 percent believe that about peoples’ trust in each other.” Only 46 percent view climate change as a toptier problem. 

So a collaborative approach tocoastal policy, with ample education and mutual learning, between public and private sectors, will be a necessary condition to overcoming the distrust and the challenges both of government failure or neglect, and that of asymmetrical information, one of the classic causes of market failure.

Worth your time - the review and the book.

Enjoy!

"It is curious--curious that  physical courage should be so common in the world, and more coral courage so rare." - Mark Twain

From Outrage to Trust at Tucson Water G. Tracy Mehan's Book Review: 'Tucson Water Turnaround'

I have known Michael J. McGuire for over a decade but I have been aware of his reputation for much longer than that. After all, he is one of the world's experts on drinking water. We served together on a National Research Council committee dealing with the California Bay-Delta issue. Later, he asked me to write the foreword to his book, The Chlorine Revolution: Water Disinfection and the Fight to Save Lives. He also runs the informative This Day in Water History site.

Since I have a connection to and fondness for Tucson I was glad to see his latest book (written with Marie S. Pearthree),Tucson Water Turnaround: Crisis to Success.I was going to review it but I was beaten to the punch by someone who writes incredible reviews.

G. Tracy Mehan III, a frequent contributor to WaterWired, former assistant administrator for water at EPA in 2001-2003, executive director for government affairs at the American Water Works Association and adjunct professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, sent me the following PDF of a his review published in the May issue of Journal of the AWWA:

Download Tucson_Water_Review_GTM

The first few paragraphs to wht your appetite.

Before Flint, there was Tucson.

Michael J. McGuire and Marie S. Pearthree have written what the military would call an “after action report” on one of the great crises experienced by an American water utility in the pre-Flint era absent a natural disaster. In Tucson Water Turnaround: Crisis to Success, they provide a deeply researched, well-sourced insiders’ view of how, in 1992, Arizona’s Tucson Water (TW) became embroiled in nonstop controversy for nearly a decade. The story reveals technical omissions and missteps, obtuse management, political interference, and the failure to realize just how customer-facing a water utility truly is. As consultants and, with Pearthree as a TW employee, the authors were intimately involved in this tale.

As in Flint, Mich., the Tucson crisis stemmed from the failure of corrosion control when water from a new source—in this case the behemoth Central Arizona Project (CAP)—was brought to Tucson, a city accustomed to high-quality groundwater. CAP is a 336-mile system that brings Colorado River water to Arizona and now serves 80% of the state population. CAP was to be the solution to groundwater mining and subsidence as well as the key to future growth. Pressure was also building for Arizona to use its full allocation of CAP or Colorado River water pursuant to western water law (“use it or lose it”) rather than revert to California by default.

And the last paragraph:

The tragedy in Flint involved another failure to anticipate the consequences of switching source waters with consequences for human health—not just taste. As Mark Twain may or may not have said, “History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes.” Hopefully, the water utility sector will not experience another Flint or Tucson fiasco, thanks to the labors of Michael McGuire and Marie Pearthree.

Enjoy!

“It’s not true that you never learn from history. You do, but then you forget.” – Martin Wolf

Is It Safe? The Tale of American's Drinking Water Systems: G. Tracy Mehan III's Review of 'Troubled Water'

G. Tracy Mehan III, a frequent contributor to WaterWired, former assistant administrator for water at EPA in 2001-2003, executive director for government affairs at the American Water Works Association and adjunct professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, sent me the following email PDF of a review he wrote of Seth M. Siegel's Troubled Water: What's Wrong with What We Drink book.

It will appear in the March/April 2020 issue of The Environmental Forum and its publisher, the Environmental Law Institute.

Download GTMIII_Is_It_Safe_Review_Troubled_Water

The firsrt few paragraphs:

Martin Doyle, director of the Water Program at Duke’s Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, recently observed, “Being able to blithely  drink water from just about any faucet in the United States without concern is one of the greatest achievements of American Society.” The report from the 2019 Aspen- Nicholas Water Forum, titled “Ensuring Water Quality: Innovating on the Clean Water & Safe Drinking Water Acts for the 21st Century,” notes that “The [Safe Drinking Water Act] has achieved remarkable improvements in drinking water quality with more than 90% of community water systems achieving all water quality standards all of the time.” Noting that there are still numerous challenges, and that the law’s effectiveness has “plateaued,” the report recognizes that “this is an incredible accomplishment.”

Even as the crisis in Flint, Michigan, spotlighted the remaining legacy issues with the 6.1 to 10 million lead service lines still existent, the EPA states in its proposed revisions to its Lead and Copper Rule that “the United States has made tremendous progress in lowering children’s blood levels.” Specifically, “the median concentration of lead in the blood of children aged 1 to 5 years dropped from 15 micrograms per deciliter in 1976-1980 to 0.7 micrograms per deciliter in 2013-2014, a decrease of 95 percent.”

The last two paragraphs: 

As this reviewer has often argued, raising water rates to maintain the system is often viewed by an elected official as a tax increase, root canal in political terms. Whether it be an independent water authority (Denver), a separate corporation owned by the city (Louisville) or a private, investor-owned utility, anything that creates distance from the electoral cycle will improve utility management and finance. Washington, D.C.’s water and wastewater utility improved immensely since becoming a separate authority. Yet, as Siegel points out, “De-linking water utilities from mayoral politics, though, need not lead to unaccountability.” City or county elected officials can reserve the right to appoint the board members or commissioners, ideally for fixed terms. 

Regulation is hard work. There are no shortcuts. Data, science, technology, and economics are all part of the mix and need to be brought to bear on the challenges of determining actual risks to human health and what to do about them so that benefits exceed the costs. Otherwise, regulators will practice precaution without principle.

Enjoy!

"Water water everywhere and nearly all of it fit to drink." - G. Tracy Mehan III, from the article

Oliver Houck & G. Tracy Mehan, III: 'Reading the Environment — 1969-2019: Books Have Warned, Inspired Professionals'

G. Tracy Mehan III, a frequent contributor to WaterWired, executive director for government affairs at the American Water Works Association and adjunct professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason Universitysent me the following email and a PDF of an article he co-wrote.

My colleague, Tulane Law professor Oliver Houckand I wrote the attached overview of environmental literature over the past half decade for the 50th anniversary issue of The Environmental Forum and its publisher, the Environmental Law Institute.

It was a difficult task but we hope we convey the breadth and depth of the canon. We hope you find it to your liking.

Suffice it to say that he's being modest. It's great!

Download MEHAN-HOUCK_FORUM_2019_Nov-Dec_2019

The first few paragraphs should whet your appetite.

The anniversary date of 1969 was a year particularly well known for air quality emergencies from New York to Los Angeles, Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River catching on fire,and oil on the beaches of Santa Barbara, each of which produced law and policy reforms of their own — as well as the beginnings of a vast literature, from newspaper and magazine articles to a legion of books. And the pace of publishing on pollution and resource topics hasn’t slowed down at all.

Any attempt to capture environmental writing over the past 50 years requires a considerable lack of humility, given the outpouring of so many titles in this field. A recent Google search of “environmental books 1969-2019” yielded 154,000 results, no doubt an underestimate if you inquire into sub-specialties like environmental engineering, science, and economics. In the aggregate,the fact of this production provides reason alone for hope. So long as so many people continue to think, write and read about how to reconcile human conduct with the rest of the planet, we are the better for it.

We should begin by paying tribute to those who came before, the conservationand nature writers, the pioneering scientists, explorers, wanderers, poets, and painters who were the antennae of an evolving conservation movement occurring over centuries. Bill McKibben, writer and activist, has done a great service by assembling and editing a marvelous collection, American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau, including over one hundred American writers. Published in 2008 by the indispensable Libraryof America, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the nation’s literary heritage, it features both classic and popular commentary on the environment. Certainly, Aldo Leopold’s “land ethic” (from A Sand County Almanac)  and the likes of George Perkins Marsh (Man and Nature) are featured, but also Buckminster Fuller, the poetGary Snyder, Joni Mitchell, Marvin Gay, John McPhee, Wendell Berry, Amory Lovins, the environmental historian William Cronon, and even P. T. Barnum’s diatribe against billboards. The collection is solid and representative for anyone wanting an overview of the canon.

For McKibben, “environmental writing,” in contradistinction to nature writing, “takes as its subject the collision between people and the rest of the world, and asks searching questions about that collision: Is it necessary? What are its effects? Might there be a better way?” While it often celebrates nature, it also recognizes, implicitly and explicitly, that “nature is no longer innocent or invulnerable.” McKibben goes on to conclude that “environmental writing is America’s most distinctive contribution to the world’s literature.” We agree.

And the last two paragraphs...

What we have here, together, is a sober assessment of the climate change challenge and reasoned hope for what could be. Which is what literature should do. 

So many books . . . and so little time. That is the bottom line for our limited review of the vast, overwhelming, but enriching cascade of environmental literature since 1969 and the founding of ELI and enactment of NEPA. The canon is rich, inter-disciplinary and, at times, both dispiriting and inspirational.At its most poetic, it contributes to the re-enchantment of the natural world.

Excellent!

Enjoy!

"Environmental writing is America’s most distinctive contribution to the world’s literature." - Bill McKibben

Elaine J. Hanford's Bulletin Boards: 1) Geoscience; 2) Environmental Science; 3) Coastal Zone Management - 30 September 2019

Hey! The 2020 Water Year starts tomorrow! In the USA the water year begins 1 October 2019 and ends 30 September 2020.

Do you know of a colleague and/or student who would be interested in receiving  these Bulletin Board listings? Please forward this to them. A quick email to Geosciences-BBoard@att.net with the word “subscribe” in the subject line and the email address will  be added to the weekly distribution. 

Here are Elaine's BBs as Word/PDF documents:     

As PDF: Download Bulletin_Boards_30September2019

As Word: Download Bulletin_Boards_30September2019

Note: If a link does not work, try pasting it into your browser.

Geoscience Bulletin Board – 30 September 2019 – compiled by Elaine J. Hanford

Lithosphereis an open-access, peer reviewed journal

• https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/lithosphere

Theory relating erosion and mountain height does not always add up

• https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190923093143.htm

Five active faults found near Taiwan mothballed nuclear power plant – unit 4 should not be started

• https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3782526

Dust in the paleosols on Canary Islands suggests Sahara Desert is at least 4.6 myo

• https://www.newsweek.com/sahara-desert-ancient-dust-vast-landscape-1460766

Microplastics in the Great Lakes becoming part of benthic sedimentary layers

• https://www.newsweek.com/sahara-desert-ancient-dust-vast-landscape-1460766

Liquid outer core of Earth may be leaking tungsten isotopes into lower mantle

• https://eos.org/articles/leaky-at-the-core
• AGU Letter: https://www.geochemicalperspectivesletters.org/article1917

2017 Chiapas EQ caused substantial creek along distant segment of San Andreas Fault

• https://eos.org/research-spotlights/distant-quake-triggered-slow-slip-on-southern-san-andreas

Modeling resolves apparent lack of consistency in the Polar stratosphere – upper tropospheric tropical warming & Arctic amplification concur to weaken the jet stream

• https://eos.org/editor-highlights/polar-stratosphere-resolves-north-atlantic-jet-tug-of-war

Using idealized atmospheric models to understand large-scale circulation – climate model hierarchy

• https://eos.org/editors-vox/atmospheric-model-hierarchies-connecting-theory-and-models

2014 strato-volcanic eruption in Indonesia was initiated by volatile-triggered overpressure

• https://eos.org/articles/explosive-volcanic-eruption-powered-by-water-saturated-magma
• Paper: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2018GC008161

Hurricane Nicole helps improve understanding of how storms impact deep ocean

• https://www.mbl.edu/blog/hurricane-nicole-sheds-light-on-how-storms-impact-deep-ocean/

Study shows water quality in Little Arkansas River & Equus Beds aquifer relatively constant

• https://www.usgs.gov/news/equus-beds-aquifer-water-quality-nearly-unchanged-between-2001-and-2016
• https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/sir20195026
• USGS SI Report: https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2019/5026/sir20195026.pdf

ElectroMagnetic music transforms geophysical data into melodies the mountains actually make

• https://www.usgs.gov/news/tune-melodies-mountains-actually-make
• https://eos.org/geofizz/rock-on-with-a-group-that-makes-music-from-geophysical-data

Triassic Rauisuchians(crocodile cousins) preyed on plant-eating dinosaurs

• http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology/rauisuchians-plant-eating-dinosaurs-07621.html

Mollisonia plenovenatrixfound in Burgess Shale – tiny predator gave rise to scorpions & spiders

• http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Half_a_billion_year_old_tiny_predator_unveils_the_rise_of_scorpions_and_spiders_999.html

Palorchestid marsupials – extinct group of Australia megafauna had unique bodies & lifestyles

• http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Ancient_Australia_was_home_to_strange_marsupial_giants_some_weighing_over_1000_kg_999.html
• Paper: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0221824

New theory on long-term climate cooling over the last 15 million years – deepening of the CCD

• http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Is_theory_on_Earths_climate_in_the_last_15_million_years_wrong_999.html

Mesosaurs were monsters of the ocean – how did these marine lizards swim?

• https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190923140812.htm

Historic EQs suggest Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt may be active

• https://phys.org/news/2019-09-historic-earthquakes-trans-mexican-volcanic-belt.html

Kimberlites are only volcanic deposits we know of that come from the deep mantle

• https://phys.org/news/2019-09-kimberlites-volcanic-deposits-earth-deep.html

Numerous meltwater lakes are mapped on the East Antarctic Ice Sheet

• https://phys.org/news/2019-09-thousands-meltwater-lakes-east-antarctic.html

 T. rex use a stiff skull to bite hard enough to shatter the bones of its prey

• https://www.technology.org/2019/09/26/t-rex-used-a-stiff-skull-to-eat-its-prey/

Machu Picchu was built at a remote location where rocks were fractured by faults

• https://news.artnet.com/art-world/machu-picchu-fault-lines-1662205

Rapid intensification of hurricanes is difficult to predict – new operational algorithm:  NGR

• https://www.brightsurf.com/news/article/092619493141/predicting-a-hurricanes-intensity-can-prove-difficult.html
• Paper: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2019GL083273

Major EQ tremor is imminent near Istanbul, Turkey – recent seismic activity

• https://ahvalnews.com/earthquake/major-earthquake-swiftly-approaching-istanbul-top-earthquake-scientist-says

Wildfire smoke transforms through rapid chemical and physical changes of organic matter

• https://sese.asu.edu/about/news/article/4956

Beaufort Gyre Exploration Project – 2019 Dispatches

• https://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=165036

How will first responders cope with oil trapped under ocean ice – REMUS-600 & LRAUV

• https://www.whoi.edu/news-insights/content/rapid-response-at-sea/

Catastrophic landslides during 2018 Palu EQ result of rice crop irrigation saturating soil

• https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02890-0

Major EQ tremor is imminent near Istanbul, Turkey – recent seismic activity

• https://ahvalnews.com/earthquake/major-earthquake-swiftly-approaching-istanbul-top-earthquake-scientist-says
• https://www.novinite.com/articles/200455/188+Secondary+Earthquakes+Registered+near+Istanbul
• http://bianet.org/english/other/213637-istanbul-technical-university-situation-critical-after-earthquake-on-locked-fault

Environmental Science Bulletin Board – 30 September 2019 – compiled by Elaine J. Hanford

Rabies – disease, transmission & prevention

• https://asm.org/Articles/2019/September/Rabies-Disease,-Transmission-and-Prevention-Just-W

Vaping-related deaths and illnesses continue

• https://www.yahoo.com/news/mysterious-spate-vape-related-deaths-164527622.html

It is official Autumn – when & where to see the best fall colors

• https://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/heres-when-fall-leaves-will-peak-your-region.html

Retrofit of Providence Saint Vincent Hospital in Portland, Oregon, for seismic safety

• https://www.kptv.com/news/providence-st-vincent-finishes-retrofitting-patient-tower-to-withstand-major/article_3834d956-db3d-11e9-b56f-1fed1239f3fa.html

Comprehensive seismic review of UC San Francisco buildings

• https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2019/09/415456/ucsf-conducts-comprehensive-seismic-review-all-buildings

Labradoodle “inventor” admits he made a Frankenstein & regrets his actions creating lots of health & behavioral problems in the animals – very, very few ethical breeders

• https://www.yahoo.com/news/man-who-invented-the-labradoodle-says-he-created-a-frankenstein-165223925.html

Slide show:  40 of the most extreme animals on Earth

• https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/pets-animals/the-40-most-extreme-animals-on-the-planet/ss-AAGKj73

Senate Committee maintains ban on slaughter plant inspections for horses in the US

• https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/496842810/u-s-senate-committee-maintains-ban-on-horse-slaughter-in-the-u-s

Fungal disease in porcupines in New England - added to list of species hit by outbreaks of fungus – fungus in porcupines is zoonotic so could be passed to humans

• https://granitegeek.concordmonitor.com/2019/09/23/fungal-disease-found-in-porcupines-adding-to-list-of-species-hit-by-fungus-outbreaks/

Warning – the world is not ready for the next large-scale disease outbreak

• https://www.medicaldaily.com/world-not-ready-next-global-health-crisis-millions-may-die-442875
• GPMB Report: https://apps.who.int/gpmb/assets/annual_report/GPMB_annualreport_2019.pdf

Vorovoro Island in Fiji wants to sustain traditional Fijian way of life while adding modern technology

• https://www.autodesk.com/redshift/sustainable-development-in-fiji/

Toxic PFAS chemicals found in drinking water systems serving about 7.5 million California residents

• https://www.ewg.org/research/toxic-forever-chemicals-detected-drinking-water-supplies-across-california

Framework of cooperation established in anticipation of building multi-billion-dollar facility in New Mexico for temporary (40 years) storage of spent nuclear fuel

• https://www.apnews.com/016c6bd22f4041d6b97d01f723cfc28b

Documenting traditional Native American knowledge of climate reflects on sequestration of old mining pollution sequestered in Canadian lakes

• https://eos.org/articles/indigenous-knowledge-puts-industrial-pollution-in-perspective
• Paper: https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/polar-polaire/documents/pdf/aqhaliat/Aqhaliat-2018-12-Galloway-et-al.pdf

Surging Waters report reflects science empowering people to mitigate flood water impacts

• https://eos.org/agu-news/agu-releases-report-to-address-flooding-in-communities
• Report: https://scienceisessential.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2019/09/Surging_Waters_credits_pages_web.pdf

Australian TGA taking action over concerns of breast cancer caused by implants

• https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6409182/breast-implants-recalled-over-cancer-fears/

Australia ACT becomes first jurisdiction recognizing pets as “sentient beings”

• https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6409134/act-passes-australia-first-animal-sentience-laws/

Tasmanian Tiger (now extinct) and wolves share DNA

• https://phys.org/news/2019-09-evolution-tasmanian-tiger-wolf.html

Walrus responds to intrusion of people, attacks & sinks Russian Navy expedition boat

• https://www.huffpost.com/entry/walrus-attack-sink-russia-navy-boat_n_5d8a9c7be4b0c6d0cef34186
• https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/09/walruses-attack-russian-navy-sinking-inflatable-boat/

Perspective:  Thinking through EPA commitment to eliminate use of mammals in toxicity testing

• https://www.ehn.org/epa-lab-animals-chemical-testing-2640450647.html

Save the Redwoods League to purchase 530-acre Alder Creek forest – home to hundreds of Giant Sequoia

• https://www.treehugger.com/conservation/conservationists-buy-largest-private-sequoia-forest-world.html
• https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/save-the-redwoods-league-to-protect-crown-jewel-of-the-remaining-giant-sequoia-forests-300919280.html

Earthworms lose weight in soil containing micro-plastic

• https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-09/aru-msg091019.php

2M+ animals perish in wildfires across Bolivian forests & grasslands

• http://www.terradaily.com/reports/More_than_2_million_animals_perish_in_Bolivia_wildfires_999.html

Large numbers of bats are severely emaciated or starving to death during prolonged drought in Australia

• http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Bats_starving_to_death_in_Australia_drought_999.html

Human activity & impacts have caused disruptions in the ocean that allow jellyfish to thrive

• http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Jellyfish_thrive_in_the_man-made_disruption_of_the_oceans_999.html

Veterinary drugs pushing dung beetles to brink of extinction in Mexico

• http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Veterinary_drugs_pushing_dung_beetles_to_the_brink_of_extinction_999.html

Call for a countermeasure to the pesticide initiative to also protect water

• https://ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2019/09/blog-wehrli-pesticide-initiatives.html

Parkinson’s disease affects men & women differently – why?

• https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-09/ip-haw092519.php

New fungus-derived antibiotic may be effective against lethal fungal & bacterial infections in immune-compromised people

• https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-09/tuos-nfa092519.php

Natural selection alters genes in similar manner to artificial selection – Darwin was right

• https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-09/nu-cei092619.php

Darker colored giraffes are more solitary & less social

• https://www.uq.edu.au/news/article/2019/09/dark-giraffe-new-dark-horse

Other animals (besides humans) also suffer from weakened immune systems as they age

• https://www.ed.ac.uk/news/2019/wild-animals-immune-systems-decline-with-age

Expected useful life of wind projects has increased by about 5 years

• https://www.technology.org/2019/09/26/new-study-finds-that-the-expected-useful-life-of-wind-projects-has-increased-to-30-years/

“Delicate” cycle on your wash uses more water & releases more micro-plastics to the environment

• https://www.ecowatch.com/delicate-wash-cycle-releases-800000-more-microplastics-than-regular-wash-study-finds-2640633515.html

Why shooting very hazardous waste to the Sun in a rocket is not a good idea

• https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/this-is-why-we-dont-shoot-earth-s-garbage-into-the-sun-48d8352ea90

New approach to post-disaster research – insights from 2009 M8 EQ in the South Pacific

http://theconversation.com/lessons-for-a-destabilising-planet-insights-from-the-2009-south-pacific-earthquake-tsunami-disaster-124275

Coastal Zone Management Bulletin Board – 30 September 2019 – compiled by Elaine J. Hanford

Monterey Bay Aquarium since 2002 has raised orphaned sea otter pups to return to the wild

• https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/sea-otters-monterey-bay-aquarium-raising-orphanedpups/ar-AAHImJB

• https://www.oryxthejournal.org/blog/from-an-otter-mother-the-feel-good-science-behindcalifornias-sea-otter-recovery/

Quick Response Report: Relocation, Repopulation & long-term risks

• https://hazards.colorado.edu/quick-response-report/relocation-repopulation-and-rising-seas

USEPA funds awarded to local groups for coastal conservation & restoration in Rhode Island

• https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-funding-local-groups-will-help-coastal-conservationand-restoration-rhode-island

If conditions change in the Gulf of Maine lobstermen will have to adapt

• https://bangordailynews.com/2019/09/23/news/state/as-maines-coastal-waters-warmslobstermen-look-to-new-fisheries-for-stable-future/

After Hurricane Dorian leaves the coastal counties of North Carolina – mosquitoes swarm

• https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/mosquitoes-swarm-nc-coastal-county-after-hurricanedorian/

Tracking & measuring the distribution of sulfur in plants on the island of Trinidad

• https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190923164530.htm

Using amateur video & real-life scan to assess tsunamis

• https://www.wired.com/story/amateur-video-helping-understand-deadly-tsunamis/

Dutch are reinforcing the 87-year-old Afsluitdijk as one of key defenses again the ocean

• https://www.apnews.com/4758c0d3504d44079a0e5a58c11cf1a6

California may extend life of several coastal power plants that use seawater for cooling – process kills fish and other marine life

• https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/these-fish-killing-gas-plants-were-set-to-closecalifornia-may-throw-them-a-lifeline/ar-AAHPBjU

Massive storm surge barriers could end revival of the Hudson River

• https://e360.yale.edu/features/could-massive-storm-surge-barriers-end-the-hudson-riversrevival

New IPCC global warming alarmist report: Special Report on the Ocean & Cryosphere in Changing Climate

• https://eos.org/articles/grim-report-on-climate-change-impacts-on-oceans-and-cryosphere

• https://phys.org/news/2019-09-ipcc-catastrophic-picture-ice-sea.html

• Download Report: https://www.ipcc.ch/srocc/download-report/

• Full report: https://report.ipcc.ch/srocc/pdf/SROCC_FinalDraft_FullReport.pdf

Water district setting aside water to protect Caloosahatchee River & Estuary in Florida

•https://www.newspress.com/story/tech/science/environment/2019/09/20/caloosahatcheeriver-estuary-minimum-flow-level-water-management-district-lake-okeechobeereleases/2386104001/

Land donated to Great Peninsula Conservancy to protect Burke Bay Estuary in Brownsville,Washington

• https://www.kitsapdailynews.com/news/local-land-trust-looks-to-protect-burke-bay-estuary-inbrownsville/

Stowaways on trial for hiding on international merchant ship & threatening to kill crew

• https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-49843804

Tourism & permanent residents have different ecological consequences for coastal fauna

• https://phys.org/news/2019-09-tourism-permanent-consequences-coastal-fauna.html

Endangered species protection sought for Oregon Coast Spring Chinook salmon

• https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/endangered-species-protections-soughtoregon-coast-spring-chinook-2019-09-24/

New Jersey shorebird may go extinct due to flooding, habitat destruction & predators – blame rats?

• https://www.inquirer.com/science/climate/rising-tides-flooded-nests-new-jersey-shoresaltmarsh-sparrow-threat-extinction-climate-change-endangered-20190921.html

 

"History doesn't repeat itself but it often rhymes." - Unknown