The Three Lost Tributaries...

Today I stumbled upon three forgotten tributaries to Spring Creek located between Holford Road and North Garland Avenue......it was completed by accident as I was looking for Michael's, The Arts and Crafts Store locations on their mapper. I wondered why the gravel company had been allowed in the past to destroy these drainages which technically were Waters of the United States and protected by Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. This area is full of springs and seepage areas, hence the name for Spring Creek and surrounding communities such as Big Springs and Shiloh Springs. Further investigations may reveal more but I'm just amazed these creeks were not mapped on most maps nor detectable on Google Earth. I'm not sure how many years ago Chambers Construction Company was allowed to destroy these natural features...but I will investigate further....

Exxon Valdez Oil Spill? no problemo

Well, the Supreme Court decided that ExxonMobil won't have to pay $2,000,000,000 in punitive damages for the IMFAMOUS 1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. Guess they figure out of sight out of mind....just remember that when you fill up with Exxon or Mobil.

What next?

Update May 2008...This year's tornado season is bad, statistically speaking. Earthquakes have been active offshore (they couldn't explain the thousands of oceanic quakes off the northwest coast recently), and now we learn China had a 7.9 quake which tops the 7.5 they had in 1975.

As California burns, the Southeast dries up, and more severe global weather patterns are reported , you must be asking yourself by now, are these just weather anomalies or is it part of global warming. If you're still not convinced research it, "think" for yourself, and take some kind of action to make a difference. There are many ways to take action through environmental organizations, elected officials, state and federal environmental agencies, blogging, and networking. When Katrina hit, federal and other "scientists" blew it off as unrelated to global warming as talking heads like Rush Limpdog and others try to convince us there is no problem. You decide.

Planet in Peril

Helping CNN advertise the premier of "Planet In Peril" Oct. 23rd and 24th.

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/planet.in.peril/

Blog Action Day for the Environment !

press release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 15, 2007

BLOGGERS TO UNITE ON BLOG ACTION DAY

All Blogs Invited to Take Part in Joining Voices to Help Environment

An international initiative of bloggers known as "Blog Action Day" launched today, with the aim of uniting thousands of blogging voices, talking about one issue for one day. This year on Blog Action Day, which is slated for Oct. 15, 2007, bloggers will be discussing the environment.

Major blogs have signed up to participate, including Lifehacker, Dumb Little Man, Lifehack.org, Get Rich Slowly, Web Worker Daily, GigaOm, The Simple Dollar, Zen Habits, Freelance Switch, LifeClever, Unclutterer, Pronet Advertising, Wise Bread and many more.





"For just one day, we'd like to unite as many of the millions of bloggers around the world and speak about one issue - the environment," said Collis Ta'eed, an Australian blogger from FreelanceSwitch.com, and a cofounder of Blog Action Day. "We want to display the potential and the power of the blogging community, which is a disparate community but one with an amazing size, breadth and diversity. By bringing everyone together for one day, we can see just how much can be achieved, and how much we can be heard."


Blog Action Day is a non-profit initiative, and will be an annual event. As an alternative to blogging about the environment on Blog Action Day, bloggers can opt to participate by donating their blog's proceeds from Oct. 15 to one of several environmental organizations chosen for this purpose: Greenpeace International, The Nature Conservancy, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), the Conservation Fund, and the Sierra Club.

Bloggers who would like to participate in Blog Action Day should visit BlogActionDay.org or email Collis Ta'eed at collis@eden.cc, so they can be listed on the Blog Action Day site. To participate, a blog just needs to write about the issue of the environment on Oct. 15, 2007, or donate its proceeds for the day to one of the chosen environmental organizations.

Strange microbes...

Amoeba (and algae)!!! as emerging pathogens....With global warming many of our lakes and reservoirs are warmer and more shallow, creating conditions favorable for amoebic contacts with swimmers and other recreationists. Who knows what's happening to our oceans besides fish population crashes, whale slaughter, etc? Tabloids have called more attention to these organisms what have existed for a long long time.

Acanthamoeba is a genus of amoeba,one of the most common protozoans in soil, freshwater, and other microhabitats. The cells are small, usually 15 to 35 μm in length and oval to triangular in shape when moving Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acanthamoeba http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasites/acanthamoeba/

Six people have died this year after an amoeba called Naegleria fowleri infected them while swimming in Florida, Texas and Arizona. ...and soon infecting their brains! Try to find swimming places cooler than 80 degrees F. and wear nose plugs.

Pfiesteria piscicida, originally called the "cell from hell", is an extremely toxic dinoflagellate that "attacks" fish and humans who happen to swim near them along coastal beaches. People living and working along the U.S. coast began to suffer from open sores which would not heal, had headaches and memory loss. http://www.cdc.gov/hab/pfiesteria/default.htm

not to mention our plant friends necrotizing fasciiatus....nasty stuff in group A streptococcus (GAS), the "flesh-eating" bacteria and giardia lamblia, a flagellated protozoan that infects hikers, cats, and dogs, and untreated water supplies.

Death Spiral?

...We're on a strong spiral of decline; some would say a death spiral. I wouldn't go that far but we're certainly on a fast track. We know there is natural variability but the magnitude of change is too great to be caused by natural variability alone... excerpt from BBC News this first day of fall. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7006640.stm

John Q. Public will just go about the day wired or unwired to mass consumerism, sports, hollywood gossip, blah blah blah with no clue or maybe a mild curiosity about the earth. Don't look for news like this in US news media....it's neither popular nor politically correct.