Re-blogging this post: http://wordwomanpartialellipsisofthesun.blogspot.com/2016/05/may-18-1980-where-were-you-when-mt-st.html from blogger friend Steph on the anniversary of the eruption of Mount Saint Helens in the western United States. Great explanations and photos to remind us of the incredible power of geology. Check it out!
Category: environment
SoCS: commencement
An open prompt! Thanks, Linda! I don’t know that I could have dealt with anything too exotic…
I am writing this on Friday afternoon and scheduling it because tomorrow is spoken for.
We will be spending the day in Syracuse, attending the festivities for our daughter T’s commencement from SUNY-ESF, which is short for State University of New York – Environmental Science and Forestry. She will be receiving an MPS degree in Conservation Biology. (MPS stands for Master’s of Professional Studies.) Her program was multidisciplinary and geared toward doing conservation/restoration work in the field, rather than doing lab research.
She also concentrated her work with plants. She loves to root out invasive species and help and/or re-establish native ones. She can wax poetic about it! She has had the opportunity to do three internships and we are hoping that an appropriate permanent position will appear.
Tomorrow, there will be a reception with her department in the morning. Commencement is in the afternoon, followed by a reception, followed by dinner back in her neighborhood.
We are so happy for her and as proud as can be!
*****
Linda gifted us with an open prompt this week: start the post with a two-letter word. We could also end with a two-letter word for extra fun. Come join us! Find out how here: https://lindaghill.com/2016/05/13/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-may-1416/
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Feeling the Bern in Binghamton
I wrote about experiencing a few bubbles of near-normalcy after Grandma’s death almost three weeks ago.
This morning was another bubble, but “normal” is not the proper adjective to describe it.
Today, I attended a Bernie Sanders rally at Binghamton’s Veterans Memorial Arena. After arriving before 7 AM in a cold drizzle and snaking through a line with thousands of people – a few of whom I knew from my social justice and environmental work – I went through a metal detector and found a seat in the stands where I could see a profile view of whoever was at the podium. There was a HUGE American flag taking up most of the curtain at the end of the hall. While we were filling the seats in the stands, hundreds of people were gathering on the floor in front of the podium. I could have joined them but I didn’t think I would have the stamina to stand for a couple more hours on the very cold floor. The home ice of the Binghamton Senators is under those 4x8s.
The crowd was predominantly millennials with a good representation of us older adults and a smattering of children. I happened to be sitting with some students from my town’s high school, who said that attendance at school is low because everybody is at the rally!
There were lots of creative signs and apparel. A woman wearing an entire outfit made with cloth printed with Bernie’s face. A “Feel the Bern” sign with Bernie as an adorable-yet-terrifying, fire-breathing dragon. A large cloth sign with a very good, larger-than-life portrait of Bernie painted on it. Lots of Bernie 2016. A future to believe in. Feel the Bern.
Because of the security, it took a long time to assemble the crowd, but the Arena was filled to capacity. I heard later that more people wanted to attend but were turned away. The press area across the hall from me had over a dozen cameras on tripods and a couple dozen more journalists with laptops. About 5,000 of us were waiting for Bernie to arrive.
As I have posted about before, I am a supporter of Bernie Sanders because he comes closest of any candidate to my own views. On April 19, New York State will have its primary, but I won’t be able to vote for him. Like Bernie, I am an independent, which makes me ineligible to vote in the New York primary. I do support the campaign financially, though.
There were several introductory speakers. First, there was a woman representing the CWA, followed by one from the IBEW, who highlighted Bernie’s experience and support for labor unions and against unfair trade practices.
Next was Conrad Taylor, 20-year-old Binghamton University sophomore and Binghamton City Council member. Remember his name. Maybe in 24 or 28 or 32 years, he will be running for president. Conrad spoke about Bernie being the first presidential candidate in sixteen years to come to our area because he cares about us. He also represented Bernie’s appeal to young people because Bernie is forward-thinking, as young people need to be. The reaction to his mention of climate change was the biggest thus far.
Next up was Jim Hightower, who reminded us that agitators are”what gets the dirt out!”
The final introductory speaker was Gasland director Josh Fox, who got the crowd even more fired up, reminding us all of the grassroots strength that powered the movement to ban fracking in New York. When he introduced Senator Sanders, the crowd jumped up and made so much noise that I’m not sure what song they were using to introduce him.
Bernie told us that he was there to tell us the truth.
While some people complain that Senator Sanders is a one-issue candidate, although they don’t seem to agree on whether the one issue is campaign finance reform or income inequality, they are just wrong.
Topics that Bernie addressed included: campaign finance, oligarchy, Citizens United, income inequality, living wage, the challenges facing the young generation, the broken criminal justice system, youth unemployment, education, community policing reform, removing marijuana as a federal Schedule 1 drug, special interests and PACs, TPP and other trade issues, foreign policy, expanding Social Security, pay equity for women, student loan debt, comprehensive immigration reform, taxing Wall Street speculation, changing the government’s relationship with the First Nations, rebuilding inner cities and infrastructure, and health care as a right.
Two issues received special attention from Bernie. The first was climate change, which involved a long discussion of the dangers of fracking and methane emissions. This led to a second theme, the strength of grassroots organizing. It was especially powerful for those of us in the audience who are fractivists. Bernie’s message was that that kind of grassroots action has led to other needed changes throughout US history and that it can lead to more needed changes.
Together, we can make it happen.
Feel the Bern!
Update: As a New York fractivist, I was honored that right after the Binghamton rally, the Sanders campaign released a new ad focused on Bernie’s opposition to fracking. I’m so happy that we were the springboard in bringing greater attention to Bernie’s stance on this important issue. https://morningconsult.com/alert/bernie-sanders-new-ad-targets-clinton-fracking/
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SoCS: watching eggs
On the news this week, there have been several features about eggs.
Specifically, a pair of bald eagle eggs in a nest in the National Arboretum in Washington, DC.
One of them has hatched and the eaglet has enjoyed its first meal. The second is expected to hatch over the weekend.
There is a camera for people to watch a live feed of the nest: http://www.eagles.org/dceaglecam/
The bald eagle is the national bird of the United States. It was almost killed by DDT, which bioaccumulated in the adult birds and caused its eggs to be so fragile that they could not withstand the weight of the parent when they were being incubated in the nest.
Since the banning of DDT, the population has slowly recovered. Locally, from our area in the Northeast US, we do sometimes spot bald eagles, which would have been incredibly rare twenty or thirty years ago.
Will the second egg hatch? Will both eaglets survive? We can keep a lookout via the camera and find out.
*****
Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “egg.” Join us! Find out how here: http://lindaghill.com/2016/03/18/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-march-1916/
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Warm February
This article on the warmest February on record does a good job of explaining how much of the warmth was attributable to El Niño and how much to climate change. Hint: It’s mostly climate change.
As the scientific evidence mounts, we need more articles like this one to explain to people the gravity of the situation and spur them to action.
Please read and share!
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updates on local environmental stories
I’ve been quiet on the fracking/methane front lately but wanted to give updates on several local issues.
Two Dimock, Pennsylvania families were awarded $4.2 million this week from Cabot for water contamination caused by methane drilling activities. This is a major victory against an industry that nearly always buys its way out of lawsuits and then seals the settlements so that they aren’t held publicly accountable for the pollution they cause. You can read more about the trial and verdict here and here.
The Constitution Pipeline that Williams is planning to build has been delayed another year, which is heartening to those of us fighting expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure in New York. New York hasn’t granted a water quality permit that the company needs to go forward with the project and our attorney general fought back against feeling trees along the proposed route without the permit in place. All trees would have to have been cut down by March 31st to proceed and the company admitted this week that this would not be possible. The reprieve is bittersweet for our Pennsylvania neighbors who have already lost trees to the project, which now won’t be built this year – and may never be built. You can read more about it here, although I will offer the additional information that the Hollleran farm had had their maple trees tapped when the cutting crews accompanied by armed federal marshals arrived and cut down 90% of their sugarbush.
Early in the morning of March 7, Bill McKibben and 56 others, including three friends of mine, were arrested for blockading an entrance to the Crestwood site near Watkins Glen, New York, and Seneca Lake. Crestwood is already storing some hydrocarbons in old salt mine caverns and wants permission to open more caverns, despite known intersecting faults and prior history of cavern roof collapse and leaks. You can read more about that here.
Many of us are still deluging Governor Cuomo with calls and emails to try to stop further build-out of fossil fuels and double down on our renewable energy and efficiency options instead. It’s still a long haul, but we are grateful for any moves in the sustainable direction.
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SoCS: this and that
This post is going to bounce around a lot because it is about this and that.
Someone I know is running for the US Congress! Kim Myers, with whom I served on committees in our school district, is going to run for a seat in the New York 22nd district. She is running for the Democratic nomination; our current Representative is retiring. He is a Republican and considered a moderate – which is what used to be considered very conservative. Kim has served on the school board in our town for 18 years. Recently she has been sitting on the Broome County legislature, where she is the only woman and the minority leader. I’m so hoping Kim will be elected. She is well-known in our part of the district also because she is from the Stack family, who founded Dick’s Sporting Goods. Their original location in Binghamton is still open. She has been involved in philanthropy for years, too.
Unfortunately, this brings to mind presidential election stuff… More primaries and caucuses this weekend. The Republican race has descended further into name-calling and ridicule. At least, the Democratic side talks about issues.
Last night, we got to see a livestream of T’s concert. Her choir, the Hendrick’s Chapel Choir, sang in a choral showcase with all the other Syracuse University choirs. Each group sang a couple of their own pieces and then joined together to sing two spirituals arranged by their guest conductor who had been vising for the week from Temple University. T is a graduate student, not at Syracuse, but at SUNY – Environmental Science and Forestry, which is directly adjacent to Syracuse. ESF students are eligible for courses and extracurricular activities at Syracuse U, so it has meant that T gets to sing in a great choir program, which she loves.
This has been tax prep week. I helped my parents with their taxes earlier in the week and yesterday I plowed through ours and T’s. I am very grateful for TurboTax! I’d hate to have to do them all long-hand, as I used to years ago.
It’s chilly here today, but a big warm-up is in store. By mid-week, it is supposed to get up to 60 F (15 C) which is tremendously warm for early March.
The maple sap has been running early, but there was a maple syrup related tragedy this week. The Holleran family owns a sugarbush in New Milford PA, not that far from here. There is a proposal for a new methane pipeline, the Constitution, that starts in PA, then continues into NY. New York has not yet approved it, but FERC gave permission for tree-felling to begin in PA. The Holleran’s did not want to have their trees cut down; the pipeline route is taking out 90% of their maple trees. The courts allowed the company to take the land by eminent domain, which many of us think is unconstitutional because the land is being taken for private profit rather than public use. At first, the work crews turned away because the trees were tapped and the family and other tree defenders were on the property, which is their land still, even with the court order. The company went to court and then they came back with tree crews accompanied by armed officers and cut down all the trees. The Holleran’s and others had painted American flags on the trees. It was so jarring to see these trees with flags painted on them stacked up. We are all just sick about it. If New York does not approve it, the pipeline will not go in and they will have killed all those trees and taken away part of the family’s farm income for no reason at all.
A happier part of this past week is that I sent in my paperwork and deposit for the Boiler House Poets reunion at Mass MoCA this fall. I am thrilled because one of my poet-friends here is going to come with me. We had a couple of spaces because some of our original group is unable to make the reunion. We are going to be in North Adams for the Fall Foliage Festival and for my birthday. It will be so great!
Well, I could go on writing about this and that for a lot longer, but I think I had better stop before your eyes glaze over. So, that’s that!
*****
This post is part of Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturdays. The prompt this week was “this and that” – a post about this and that, beginning and possibly ending with “this” or “that.” Come join the fun! Find out how here: http://lindaghill.com/2016/03/04/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-march-516/
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One-Liner Wednesday: people and physics
“Lobbying physics is useless; it just keeps on doing what it does.”
~ ~ Bill McKibben on dealing with climate change from this article: http://www.nationofchange.org/news/2016/02/16/why-we-need-to-keep-80-percent-of-fossil-fuels-in-the-ground/ about keeping the vast majority of fossil fuels undisturbed.
*****
Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesday! Find out how here: http://lindaghill.com/2016/02/17/one-liner-wednesday-snowed-in/
And enjoy our new One-Liner Wednesday badge! Congrats, Wes, on your awesome design!
#1linerWeds badge by nearlywes.com
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The dangers of methane emissions
I contributed the prompt “climate” for Linda’s Just Jot It January today. I actually haven’t been using the prompts other than as usual for Stream of Consciousness Saturdays, but figured I should use the one I suggested. 😉
I have written often about climate change, growing out of my commenting on the fracking battle. I have done some posts on these topics here on Top of JC’s Mind, although most of my writing has been in comment sections on articles on environmental topics.
As you may know, while we hear the most about atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, atmospheric methane has also been rising to record levels. This is especially worrisome because, over a twenty year timeframe, methane is about 86 times as potent in heat trapping potential as carbon dioxide. Given that humanity is facing a critical window to lower greenhouse gas levels to keep global warming under 2 degrees Celsius, with a goal of 1.5 degrees, methane emissions are very dangerous as they could push the earth into some tipping points, such as permafrost melting and the release of methane hydrates from cold water seas, that would accelerate rather than slow global warming.
Enter the terrible problem of the Porter Ranch methane storage well leak. Not only is this leak causing evacuations, illness, a no-fly zone, and explosion risk, but also a 21% increase in the state of California’s methane emissions. This one leak amounts to 2.3% of the total carbon footprint of the state.
I want to share a Living on Earth interview with Dr. Anthony Ingraffea which aired recently. Tony Ingraffea was one of the heroes of the battle against fracking here in New York State and helped to raise the alarm, nationally and internationally, on the dangers of methane emissions from shale oil/gas development, processing, transport, and use. He has recently retired from Cornell University. I was fortunate to have heard him speak on a number of occasions during the fracking fight in New York. Ithaca is only about an hour’s drive from here.
I hope that the enormity of the Porter Ranch leak and the damage it is causing will mobilize people, especially policymakers, in the United States to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy.
*****
Join us for Linda’s Just Jot It January! Visit here: http://lindaghill.com/2016/01/19/just-jot-it-january-19th-climate/
To find the rules for Just Jot It January, click here and join in today.
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The State of the Union
This evening will be President Obama’s last State of the Union address.
The media has been full of summations, speculation, and punditry about the last seven years and the one remaining in the Obama presidency.
There have been major economic improvements. The unemployment rate is about half what it was. The US auto industry is doing well after almost going under in the financial crisis. The budget deficit is much lower than it was under the Bush administration.
Many more people have access to affordable health care insurance. The country is generating less pollution and more renewable energy.
There have been gains for diplomacy, such as the Iran nuclear deal and the recent international climate agreement in Paris.
These and other achievements will be remembered and studied by future students of history.
The tragedy is that so much more could have been accomplished if Congressional Republicans had decided to cooperate in governing rather than obstruct it.
There could have been needed tax reform, immigration reform, and criminal justice/sentencing reform.
There could have been mandated background checks for all gun purchases to help keep guns out of the hands of criminals, traffickers, and people intent on harming themselves or others, a measure that has overwhelming public support.
If the Congress would vote on the president’s nominations, there would have been a surgeon general in place during the ebola scare, a full complement of judges in the federal courts to deal with the backlog of cases, an ambassador to Russia during the Ukraine crisis, and a current ambassador to Mexico to work on the extradition of El Chapo to stand trial in the US.
The military prison at Guantanamo would have been closed.
There would have been greater progress on updating our crumbling infrastructure.
So much lost opportunity.
I hope that, as the United States progresses through this election year, we pledge to vote for elected officials who are dedicated to serve the common good, to “promote the general welfare”as it is termed in our Constitution.
*****
This post is part of Linda’s Just Jot It January. Join us! Start out by visiting here: http://lindaghill.com/2016/01/12/just-jot-it-january-12th-skulls/
To find the rules for Just Jot It January, click here and join in today.
Joanne Corey 