Piping plover population in Mass. sees another good year

Ally Jarmanning | WBUR

"It's looking like another good year for piping plovers in Massachusetts. Almost a thousand pairs nested on the state's coastline, according to preliminary numbers from the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. That's slightly higher than what the state saw last year, continuing an upward trend over the last decade. Plovers are a threatened species, protected by federal and state law. They nest directly on the sand of beaches across Massachusetts. Each pair raises, on average, 1.25 chicks.How the population does year-to-year depends on many factors, some outside of human control, like weather and storms. But Lyra Brennan, director of the Coastal Waterbird Program (CWP) at Mass Audubon — one of the organizations charged with protecting the birds — said there's lots that people do have control over. 'In terms of other things like human disturbance, dog disturbance, disturbance from kites, which they mistake as predators ... there's actually a lot of things that we can do to ensure better success and to support these birds while they're here during the breeding season,' she said. [...] Wildlife groups in Maine also saw record numbers of plovers this summer." Read More

Dogwood Mysteries

Charley Eiseman | Bug Tracks

"As I go through my Leafminers of North America e-book and update each chapter for the (now nearly complete) second edition, I’ve been putting together a spreadsheet of mystery leaf mines that need further investigation. There are now over 700 rows in that spreadsheet, and new mysteries continue to be added faster than old ones are solved. [...] explore a site in western Vermont with the hope of investigating one of these mysteries—a nepticulid moth that so far is known only from a few empty mines scattered across eastern North America. [...] And I have never seen another of these mines since, including today. [...] Nor has anyone else, as far as I know. Just to be sure of this, this evening I reviewed the ~100 iNaturalist observations of Phytomyza agromyzina that I hadn’t already looked at. As a result of this exercise [...] there are now 550 verified observations of P. agromyzina on iNaturalist, and I have one more mystery leaf mine on dogwood to wonder about, thanks to this leaf that Jeff Clark photographed in Virginia last October..." Read More

Methane Hunters: What Explains the Surge in the Potent Greenhouse Gas?

Leslie Hook & Chris Campbell | Inside Climate News

"Every year, 6,000 flasks arrive at a laboratory in Boulder, Colorado. Inside each is a sample of air, taken from one of a chain of 50 monitoring stations that spans the globe. Together, these samples could help answer one of the most important questions facing the planet: why is there so much methane in the atmosphere? Blue and black canisters filled with air from Algeria, Alaska, China and Samoa are lined up ready for testing. 'We collect these flask samples, then they come back here,' said Ed Dlugokencky, a chemist at the Global Monitoring Laboratory, run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The laboratory measures the levels of different gases inside the samples, from carbon dioxide to nitrous oxide and sulfur hexafluoride, compiling a meticulous record that forms the basis for major climate models. About 15 years ago, its researchers observed an uptick in atmospheric methane, a potent greenhouse gas with a warming impact 80 times greater than CO2. Many researchers initially assumed the increase was linked to fossil fuel production. Methane is the primary ingredient in natural gas but is also produced by other human activities such as landfills, rice paddies and raising cattle. [...] Unravelling the mystery will reveal whether or not the world might face the worst-case scenario of a 'methane bomb'—a feedback loop where a warmer planet emits more of the gas naturally, driving temperatures up further. It’s a terrifying prospect, one that scientists studying this topic tend to tiptoe around, particularly in interviews." Read More

Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan — Survey Deadline October 1st

MA Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs

The National Park Service requires the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to complete a Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan every five years to remain eligible for funding from the Land and Water Conservation Fund grant program. Since the program was established in 1965, more than $100,000,000 has been awarded statewide to projects in every county in the state for the acquisition of conservation and park land, development of new parks, or renovation of existing parks. The Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs requests your time to fill out this survey. It should take between 5–10 minutes to complete. Responses help shape how federal Land & Water Conservation Fund grant dollars will be invested in outdoor recreation improvements over the next five years.

• Municipal Official Survey

• Land Trust Survey

• Recreational User Survey      

Photo taken from WPRI

Study: Social cost of carbon should be 3 times higher

Kathryn Krawczyk | Energy News Network

"The Biden administration’s $51 social cost of carbon — an estimate of the human and environmental damage from adding a metric ton of carbon to the atmosphere — should be more than three times higher, an analysis finds. (Grist) [...] A research team has discovered a way to make biodegradable battery components out of crab and lobster shells and zinc. (Daily Beast, The Guardian) [...] The Biden administration is expected to announce a $1 billion economic development grant package today, with much of it targeted toward clean energy projects.(Associated Press) [...] Massachusetts advocates say it’s time to start thinking about how to protect lower-income residents from rising gas costs as those in wealthier towns begin to abandon the fossil fuel system. (Energy News Network)" Read More

'It's a deal with the devil': outrage in Appalachia over Manchin's 'vile' pipeline plan

Nina Lakhani | The Guardian

"Taking on the fossil fuel industry in West Virginia was always going to be a David v Goliath type battle, but after years of protests, lobbying and lawsuits, 68-year-old Becky Crabtree thought the community-led resistance had beaten the Mountain Valley pipeline (MVP) in a fair fight. So when news broke earlier in August that the state’s fossil-fuel friendly senator Joe Manchin had resurrected the beleaguered pipeline, Crabtree, a high school science teacher who teaches students about the climate crisis, felt 'numb'. Manchin, a conservative Democrat who receives more campaign financing from the fossil fuel industry – including pipeline companies – than any other lawmaker in Congress, had agreed to back his party’s historic climate legislation before the crucial midterm elections. But only after he negotiated a side-deal to fast-track the MVP. [...] The deal is a sweet one for the pipeline’s supporters. Democratic leaders agreed to advance separate legislation in September that would 'require the relevant agencies to take all necessary actions to permit the construction and operation of the MVP and give the DC circuit jurisdiction over any further litigation'. This could help the pipeline company circumvent judges who have suspended construction and overturned permits over environmental concerns, and have future legal cases heard in an appeals court in Washington, which is considered more favourable to developers. It’s part of a broader set of concessions concessions negotiated by Manchin to diminish environmental protections and expedite permits and construction of pipelines and other energy infrastructure, limiting legal challenges by concerned communities and environmental groups." Read More