It's almost time for deer babies (fawns) to be born. Once again I'm seeing adult female deer just resting and hanging out in the yard.
Where will the newborn deer hide this year?
Category: Uncategorized
Seven States and Europe Had Record Warm January
Seven northeastern states in the US had a record warm month in January 2023. Europe had its warmest January. In fact, it looks like all of Earth had a warm January - it was Earth's seventh warmest January since record-keeping began in 1880.
Just keep in mind - whenever records are set, it moves the baseline for all further records higher. Temperatures are inching up! Climate change!
Excerpts from Dr. Jeff Masters (meteorologist, co-founder of Weather Underground) article in Yale Climate Connections: January 2023: Earth’s seventh-warmest January on record
January 2023 was Earth’s seventh-warmest January since global record-keeping began in 1880. It was 0.87 degree Celsius (1.57°F) above the 20th-century average, NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, NCEI, reported Feb. 14. ...continue reading "Seven States and Europe Had Record Warm January"
Incredibly Warm Winter So Far
A weirdly warm winter in the New York metro area.
January was record-setting warm, and February so far is more of the same.
Welcoming The New Year
Best wishes for a fabulous 2023!
Winter Solstice
Winter solstice today. Shortest daylight period, longest night.
From here on daylight will start increasing!
Study Says Permanent Daylight Savings Would Reduce Car-Deer Crashes
Finally, a study with results that are totally obvious to people living in areas with lots of deer. Researchers say that adopting permanent year-round daylight savings time would extend the hours of daylight, and in doing so would reduce the number of deer-vehicle collisions. Of course.
The Univ. of Washington researchers found that deer-vehicle collisions are 14 times more likely shortly after dark than before. Collisions with deer increase by 16% in the week after clocks change in the fall.
They estimate that permanent daylight savings time would probably prevent an estimated 36,550 deer deaths, 33 human deaths, 2054 human injuries, and about $1.2 billion in costs each year. This is because the skies would be brighter later into the evening.
On the other hand, they predict permanent standard time would result in an increase in deer-vehicle collisions, and more deaths, more injuries, and cost more money.
From Science Daily: Permanent daylight saving time would reduce deer-vehicle collisions, study shows
In much of the United States, there is a twice-yearly shift in timekeeping between standard time and daylight saving time, or DST, which delays both sunrise and sunset to make mornings darker and evenings brighter. Recently, scientists, policy experts, lawmakers and citizens have debated abandoning the twice-a-year switch and adopting either year-round standard time or DST. ...continue reading "Study Says Permanent Daylight Savings Would Reduce Car-Deer Crashes"
Factories Underreport Their Greenhouse Gas Emissions
It turns out that many companies are really, really underreporting the amount of planet warming gases (greenhouse gas emissions) that they release into the air. These pollutants (carbon dioxide and other gases) are causing the world to have increasingly higher temperatures. Uh-oh...
This underreporting has been exposed by Climate Trace - a project to measure at the source (of the pollution) the true levels of carbon dioxide and other global heating gases. Climate Trace released a report this week showing that oil and gas facilities around the world are emitting greenhouse gas emissions about three times higher than their producers claim. (Are you surprised that the big companies are lying?? Hah!)
In fact, half of the 50 largest sources of greenhouse gases (e.g., carbon dioxide, methane) in the world were oil and gas fields and production facilities.
Climate Trace (a non-profit group of academic scientists, environmental groups, technology companies) used evidence from satellites, remote sensors and other sources, and artificial intelligence to track who is polluting and how much throughout the world.
It's a big deal that finally there is monitoring of big polluters rather than we (including governments) taking them at their word. Will this finally result in serious action taken to reduce the amount of air pollutants being released by big companies? Hopefully.
Two good articles. 1) From NY Times: Who’s Driving Climate Change? New Data Catalogs 72,000 Polluters and Counting
A nonprofit backed by Al Gore and other big environmental donors says it can track emissions down to individual power plants, oil fields and cargo ships.
Upstream from Shanghai along the Yangtze River, a sprawling factory complex in eastern China is churning out tens of millions of tons of steel a year — and immense quantities of planet-warming gases.
...continue reading "Factories Underreport Their Greenhouse Gas Emissions"
Bird Species In Decline Have Reached A Tipping Point
One distressing fact about the world around us is that bird numbers are plummeting. The U.S. State of the Birds 2022 report has come out discussing the top 70 bird species that are at the "tipping point" - at risk of becoming endangered. Look at the list to see if any of the bird species are found near where you live.
According to the Cornell Univ. researchers, the 70 "tipping point" species listed have already declined by at least 50% (or more) and could lose another half of their population in the coming years.
There are numerous reasons why bird numbers are dropping so rapidly (e.g., loss of habitat, pesticides, pollution), but there are also some positive steps you can personally take to help bird species around you survive. Additionally, this will help the environment and your own health (e.g., less pesticide exposure is good for health). Three simple steps to take:
#1 - Stop using lawn and garden pesticides. They poison birds landing on lawns, poison the insects they eat, poison critically important insect species such as bees, and also screw up lawn and garden microbial communities.
#2 - Instead, look for natural and non-toxic ways to control unwanted plants and insects. Practice IPM (Integrated Pest Management) or organic lawn and garden care. View "weeds" as wildflowers and welcome diversity.
#3 - Plant flowers and plant species that are beneficial to pollinators and birds. Plant native species.
Cornell Lab recommendations of 7 simple actions to take.
From State of the Birds 2022: Bird Declines Are Reaching a Tipping Point
In 2019, a study of 529 bird species with adequate long-term data for analysis (Science, Rosenberg et al.) found that 303 species in North America were declining—more than half of the bird species studied. ...continue reading "Bird Species In Decline Have Reached A Tipping Point"
Two Studies Find Vitamin D Doesn’t Prevent COVID
More studies are finding that supplementing with vitamin D is not living up to its original promise - that is, as a supplement that can prevent or treat all sorts of health conditions. Two recent large studies found that daily vitamin D supplementation in persons with or without a vitamin D deficiency didn't reduce the risk of getting COVID-19.
Both studies found that no matter the vitamin D dose - low (800 IU/day), high (3200 IU/day), or even taken as a cod liver oil supplement - didn't prevent COVID infection, serious COVID, or any other respiratory infection. Very disappointing findings!
The researchers stress that both study results underscore that the COVID vaccines are the best way to protect a person from COVID-19 or a serious COVID illness. They advise that only persons with a vitamin D deficiency need vitamin D supplements. [Note: The best form of vitamin D is D3, which was given to the study participants.]
However, it must be pointed out that some other studies have found that vitamin D does lower how many respiratory infections a person gets each year (while other studies find no effect). So we'll see... more studies are ongoing.
From Medscape: Vitamin D Supplementation Shows No COVID-19 Prevention
Two large studies out of the UK and Norway show vitamin D supplementation has no benefit — as low dose, high dose, or in the form of cod liver oil supplementation — in preventing COVID-19 or acute respiratory tract infections, regardless of whether individuals are deficient or not. ...continue reading "Two Studies Find Vitamin D Doesn’t Prevent COVID"
Federally Funded Research Won’t Be Behind Paywalls In the Future
Finally, it looks like soon everyone will be able to read the published scientific research articles that were funded by US taxpayer dollars. Instead of being behind a journal's "paywall" - which means you have to pay money to read the article (e.g. $40. !!), we will be able to read it for free.
According to the directive issued by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), this must occur no later than December 31, 2025.
It is incredibly frustrating to read the abstract (very short summary) of a research article, but not be able to read the actual article. Especially when you know that we (you and I) paid for the research to take place. The only beneficiaries of that system are the journal publishers, who make oodles of money off of research articles that they got for free. Blech...
There has been a move towards open access (everyone has free access) of published research anyway, and this will just hasten it. One noteworthy open access publisher is PLOS (plos.org) and another open access journal is Environmental Health Perspectives (receives support from the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences).
This is great! And should have happened years ago.
From The Scientist: No More Paywalls on Federally Funded Research: White House
In 2013, a memo from then-head of the Office of Science and Technology Policy John Holdren directed federal agencies to come up with a plan to make all the research they fund freely available to the public within 12 months of publication. Today (August 25), the current acting head of the same office, Alondra Nelson, released a memo that goes a step further, mandating that agencies ensure their research is available in publicly accessible repositories immediately on publication, by December 31, 2025 at the latest. ...continue reading "Federally Funded Research Won’t Be Behind Paywalls In the Future"