0. Program on ABC7TV TODAY between 4pm - 5pm on stopping frog dissections
1. An investigation into plastics and their effects. Pacifica June 3
2. Garden Plants from Coastal Habitats, June 2, San Carlos/Plant Demographics in San Mateo & Sta Clara Counties June 2, San Francisco
3. Two CNPS field trips on San Bruno Mtn - Sat, June 4, Sun June 5
4. South San Francisco now has a Weed Rangers Program - first event tomorrow, June 1
5. 17th Annual SF Butterly Count Monday June 6
6. Reduce the "stuff" in our lives - The Sharing Revolution June 18 in Mountain View
7. Open House for draft SF Recreation & Open Space Element June 8
8. Reminder: Vote for Alemany Farm every day until Aug 31
9. Climate cranks cherry-picking data - U.S. military makes war on them
10. Feedback
11. President Eisenhower: "Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance...."
0. From Kerry Kriger:
SAVE THE FROGS! is making nationwide news today, as three California schools have agreed to abandon their dissection programs for five years as part of our Race To Stop Dissections. Please tune in to San Francisco's ABC7 TV between 4pm and 5pm today to see an interview with me discussing frog dissections. It should be a 2-minute segment. The story also appeared on the websites of Forbes, The Washington Post, Time, and the Press Enterprise, and will run on abc.com tomorrow.
Congratulations to these schools for abandoning their dissections programs, and putting us one step further towards achieving our goal of getting frog dissections out of all US public schools by 2014:
Rancho Verde High School in Moreno, CA
Woodside School in Woodside, CA
Valley High School in North Hills, CA
Each school wins a free full-site license of the Digital Frog 2.5 virtual dissection software. Thanks to our Race To Stop Dissections partner the Animal Welfare Institute for all their help!
Find out how your school can win the free software here.
Learn more about frog dissections here.
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(I previously posted this item as a pdf, but many people failed to received it. JS)
1. An Evening of Environmental Entertainment and Education for Everyone
On Friday June 3rd, Pacifica's Environmental Family is hosting a screening of 'Bag It' the movie. Bag It has been garnering awards at film festivals across the nation. What started as a documentary about plastic bags evolved into a wholesale investigation into plastics and their effect on our waterways, oceans, and even our bodies. http://www.bagitmovie.com
After the movie will be a live musical performance by Ian Butler and The Humpbacks, playing original songs that use humor and satire to examine our impact on the environment.
Friday, June 3rd, 7pm
Mildred Owen Concert Hall
Sanchez Art Center 1220 Linda Mar Blvd., Pacifica
$10 donation (tax deductible) Kids under 12 FREE.
For more information: kahunakupuna@comcast.net or 650-438-6378
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2.
Date: Thu, June 2, 7pm
Topic: Garden Plants from Coastal Habitats
Speaker: Dr Glenn Keator
Venue: San Carlos Library, 610 Elm St, San Carlos
Cost: Free and open to the public
Description:
The coastal native plant community is home to a wide variety of native plants suitable for gardens in the greater Bay Area. This talk will cover the most popular perennials, shrubs, and groundcovers in cultivation for coastal gardens. Dr. Keator has written over a dozen books on California native plants and is a teacher at Merritt College, a lecturer, and a field guide.
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California Native Plant Society meeting - free and open to the public
Plant Demographics in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties
Speaker: Botanist Toni Corelli
Thursday 2 June, 7.30 pm
San Francisco County Fair Bldg
9th Avenue & Lincoln Way in Golden Gate Park
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3.
California Native Plant Society field trip
San Bruno Mountain
Leader: Doug Allshouse
Saturday 4 June 10 am to 1 pm
Usually seen through car windows on a ride to the summit, Radio Road is well worth closer attention as it is subtly loaded with a surprising bounty of life on rock walls and in seeps. The earliest roads in the Guadalupe Hills provided access to truck and dairy farms in the 1800s. When radio towers were placed on the summit, Radio Road was built to connect the site to the road system (originally it joined Mission Street). The resulting road cuts exposed sandstone surfaces that are now home to seasonal displays of coast rock cress (Arabis blepharophylla), rein orchids (Piperia elegans), and sand mat (Cardionema ramosissimum). One very important plant is stonecrop (Sedum spathulifolium), the larval host plant of the endangered San Bruno elfin butterfly. We'll look for elfin larvae along the way and see some still-native communities at the summit festooned with fescues (Festuca spp.), reed grass (Calamagrostis nutkaensis) and stonecrop. Our return will take us down the short leg of the Summit Trail to the parking lot. Self-register (and pay $5) at the entry kiosk, immediately turn right at the stop sign and follow the road under the parkway to the lot on the other side. Due to the marine influence this venue offers box-of-chocolates weather, so bring layers. Doug Allshouse: dougsr228@comcast.net or 415-584-5114.
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California Native Plant Society field trip
San Bruno Mountain
Leader: Ken Himes
Sunday, June 5, 10 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Join Ken Himes to explore the summit portion of San Bruno Mountain. We will hike the east Summit Trail (1/2 mile long and mostly level) and a portion of the Ridge Trail, and extend the hike (and time) to the southeast if there is interest. Plants of the coastal scrub community will be featured. Many of these plants have been used horticulturally throughout California. We will also consider the potential of lesser known plants that occur in this community. Wear layers as windy and cool conditions could occur. Bring lunch and water. For more information, call Ken at (650) 591-8560.
Directions: From U.S. Highway 101 northbound, take the Old Bayshore/Brisbane exit and proceed north on Old Bayshore, past the town of Brisbane, until reaching the crest of a hill. Turn left onto Guadalupe Canyon Parkway and proceed uphill (west) about a mile and a half to the park entrance. There is a $5 day use/parking fee. The hike begins near the entrance station parking lot.
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San Bruno Mountain Watch
4. Join the South San Francisco Weed Rangers Program
Remove invasive weeds and improve the habitat!
1st and 3rd Wednesdays each month, 9 am to Noon
Next 2 sessions: June 1 and June 15
Meet behind the Montessori School on Hillside Drive at the ballfield parking lot near the restrooms. We will work along the Hillside trail
•Bring Gloves if you have them
•Wear long pants and sturdy shoes, dress in layers
•Bring water
Contact: San Bruno Mountain Watch,
(415) 467-6631, volunteer@mountainwatch.org, or
Stewardship leaders Chuck and Loretta, (650) 952-6174
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5. 17th Annual San Francisco Butterfly Count -- Monday, June 6th -- 9am -5pm.
An intense, one-day inventory of all the butterfly species / individuals flying in our county. We will begin at the Randall Museum (199 Museum Way) before heading out with assigned groups. (The Presidio Group, lead by Matt Zlatunich, will meet there.) Each group will have a copy of Nature in the City's Butterflies of San Francisco Field Guide to make it easier on the novice. BRING YOUR LUNCH. It's really a magnificent day, folks, to help with important field work. A $3.00 participation fee is collected by all that goes to butterfly conservation. We broke all our records last year: 24 species , 775 individuals and 34 observers! We also had "National High' on two species: Anise Swallowtail - 53 seen (Papilio zelicaon) and West Coast Painted Lady - 23 seen (Vanessa annabella). Over 300 counts throughout the nation, our count is starting to get noticed. Come help us keep up the momentum!
Any questions? Liam O'Brien -- liammail56@yahoo.com . The count is sponsored by The North American Butterfly Association.
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6. The Sharing Revolution
To help everyone reduce the "stuff" in our lives, Acterra has organized this conference to ignite The Sharing Revolution here in Silicon Valley. We’ve pulled together the top ideas, new online tools, leading thinkers — and invite YOU to join in!
Listed as a top trend by TIME magazine, the “sharing economy” is expanding rapidly as people create car shares, neighborhood tool lending libraries, fruit/vegetable exchanges, babysitting co-ops, vacation house swaps, “time banks” and other innovative approaches to reduce our impact on Earth, build community — and save money, too.
Bring a couple of friends and neighbors from other community groups. You’ll finish the day inspired and with a plan to get started.
Sign up now for the early bird discount!
Hear from Inspiring Experts
Neal Gorenflo, Co-Founder, Shareable
Janelle Orsi, Author, The Sharing Solution: How to Save Money, Simplify Your Life & Build Community
Cecile Andrews, Author, Slow Is Beautiful
Ed Everett, Community Strategist, GoGoVerde
Plus over 15 organizations with cool ideas to make sharing easier.
Share Innovative Ideas & Form Sharing Groups
Put your learning into practice, right on the spot!
Got a great idea? Share it at “The Sharing Revolution” Facebook page and in-person at the conference.
Saturday, June 18, 2011, 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Mountain View Senior Center, 266 Escuela Avenue, Mountain View, CA 94040 [MAP]
Registration Fee (includes sustainable lunch):
$20 early bird through May 31
$25 June 1-17
$30 at the door
Optional $15 for a signed, pre-owned copy of The Sharing Solution
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7. Join us for a Public Open House to view the Revised Draft of the Recreation and Open Space Element!
PUBLIC OPEN HOUSE
June 8, 2011, 5:00-7:00 pm
Planning Department
1650 Mission St., Room 431 (ADA accessible)
In May 2009, we released the first Draft of the Recreation and Open Space Element. We have since received numerous public and agency comments and have incorporated the appropriate changes in this Revised Draft. Please join us in celebrating the release of this important document!
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Planning Commission Hearings on the Revised Draft are proposed for June 23rd and August 4th. Please make sure you’re on our email list, and we will confirm these meetings as the date gets closer.
Contact: Susan.Exline@sfgov.org, phone: 415.558.6332
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8. As previously announced, Alemany Farm in San Francisco is one of 15 community gardens vying for $4000 grants from DeLoach Vineyards. The top 5 vote getters as of Aug. 31 get the grants. As of 2;15 PM May 30, here are the vote counts for the top 6 gardens, in order:
1. Long Beach Organic, Long Beach CA: 6413
2. Center for Growing People, Dallas TX: 4816
3. Three Brothers Garden, Chicago IL: 4538
4. Magnuson Community Garden, Seattle WA: 2445
5. Alemany Farm, San Francisco CA: 2443
6. Ocean View Farms, Los Angeles CA: 2399
Votes are cast online; to vote, go to http://www.deloachcommunitygardens.com/ and click on the white arrow in the first box in the upper left corner. YOU CAN VOTE EVERY DAY!!!
Alemany Farm is hanging in there in 4th or 5th place, but everyone needs to remember to vote. Tell your friends!
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Comment is free - Guardian Weekly 27.05.11
9. US military goes to war with climate sceptics by Jules Boykoff
Political action on climate change may be mired in Congress, but one arm of government at least is acting: the Pentagon. The Pentagon, with its responsibility for national security, is proving a strong advocate of the need to plan for climate change.
Federal legislation to combat climate change is quashed for the foreseeable future, scuttled by congressional climate cranks who allege the climate-science jury is still out. What's become clear is that, for some, the jury will always be out. We can't stack scientific facts high enough to hop over the fortified ideological walls they've erected around themselves. Fortunately, though, a four-star trump card waits in the wings: the US national security apparatus.
In 2006, I participated on a panel at the United Nations climate change conference in Nairobi called "Communicating Climate Change". With Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change chair Rajendra Pachauri and respected Arctic scientist Pål Prestud on board, we aimed to figure out ways to convey climate change and its effects with greater precision and weight.
An hour before the panel commenced, we learned the communications director for climate curmudgeons, Senator James Inhofe (Republican, Oklahoma) had elbowed his way onto the rostrum. Bleating bias – the panel skewed toward the widely held scientific consensus that climate change is real and humans are causing it – the infiltrator proceeded to hijack the panel. Rather than engaging the topic at hand, he questioned the scientific existence of climate change, levelled ad hominem attacks against various panellists, while brandishing "A Skeptic's Guide to Debunking Global Warming Alarmism" (a document produced by his office).
During the discussion period, the largely international audience responded in good faith, attempting to convince Inhofe's righthand man that the most up-to-date science undercut his worldview, that scientists weren't a grant-hungry cabal fiending for the next funding fix. Unfazed, he didn't budge – not a single part per million.
Five years later feels like a time-warp, with the political promise of 2006 suspended in a molasses haze. 2011 brought a fresh congressional crop content to ignore what the rest of the world accepts: the IPCC's scientific consensus on climate change. When Henry Waxman (Democrat, California) tried to amend to the Energy Tax Prevention Act of 2011, to put the House of Representatives on record recognising that climate change is occurring, is caused in large part by humans and presents serious public health risks, it was summarily shot down. Only one Republican broke ranks and voted in favour (David Reichert of Washington state).
Enter what some might view as a counterintuitive counterweight: US military brass. A recent report, "A National Strategic Narrative" (pdf), written by two special assistants to chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Mike Mullen, argued, "We must recognise that security means more than defence." Part of this entails pressing past "a strategy of containment to a strategy of sustainment (sustainability)". They went on to assert climate change is "already shaping a 'new normal' in our strategic environment".
For years, in fact, high-level national security officials both inside the Pentagon and in thinktank land have been acknowledging climate change is for real and that we need to take action to preserve and enhance US national security interests. The Pentagon itself stated unequivocally in its February 2010 in its Quadrennial Defence Review Report (pdf), "Climate change and energy are two key issues that will play a significant role in shaping the future security environment." It noted the department of defence is actively "developing policies and plans to manage the effects of climate change on its operating environment, missions and facilities".
CNA Corporation, a nonprofit that conducts research for the Navy and Marines, echoed the Pentagon's urgency, writing, "Climate change, from the Military Advisory Board's perspective, presents significant risks to America's national security." The Army Environmental Policy Institute, the National Intelligence Council and the Centre for a New American Security have issued similar reports on the dangers of runaway climate change and what it could mean for geopolitics.
This isn't a tree-hugging festival. It's the US military and its partners making clear-eyed calculations based on the best available climate science.
So, why this quiet camaraderie between scientists and military higher-ups? The answer, most certainly, is uncertainty.
Uncertainty is an inherent element of honest science. But in the political sphere, uncertainty has been harnessed as an alibi for denial and inaction. The military, however, operates under conditions of uncertainty all the time. Like scientists, they wade through the unknown to assess varying degrees of risk. As CNA Corporation put it, military leaders "don't see the range of possibilities as justification for inaction. Risk is at the heart of their job."
Climate cranks – many of them the same people perpetually hectoring us about the perils of national security – are choosing to ignore the seriousness of climate change even when the national-security experts they champion are telling us to do just that. Talk about cherry-picking data.
While Congress members like Fred Upton (Republican, Michigan) yowl about the EPA's efforts to regulate carbon emissions as "an unconstitutional power grab" and attach the term "job-killing" to every piece of environmental legislation with a political pulse, national security officials have been offering dire warnings about the perils of climate disruption and its offshoots like food shortage, water depletion and massive migration.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has been holding shambolic hearings on climate change, should invite climate-minded national security gurus to testify. Perhaps they can lob some reality into the ideological fortress of denial before whipsaw climate volatility becomes our everyday reality.
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You may have already seen some of the items in the balance of this newsletter, which were retrieved from a posting on my blog site that was buried somewhere in the blogspot, and missed getting into a newsletter; I discarded the timely items whose time had passed.
10. Feedback
Bob Case:
Jake when I looked at the photos of the Osprey being harassed by a "Western Gull" (see picture) I couldn't help but notice the two longer feathers in the tail which were clearly discernable from the feet when I zoomed in with a photo editing program. It is possible that the pirate may have been a parasitic jaeger. Jaegers are known to steal fish and other prey from seabirds and osprey hence the name parasitic jaeger. Parasitic jaegers are known from the California coast and are commonly sighted in Monterey Bay. The pomarine jaeger is another possibility, the photo is not clear enough to tell if the two elongate tail feathers are straight (parasitic) or twisted (pomarine).
(For those for whom receiving pictures is problematic and who didn't see this, I hope to include the picture on my blogspot, as soon as I learn how to do it. I did learn, and while my teacher was here everything worked fine. As soon as she left, the pictures failed to paste--that's just my machine karma kicking. I'm very used to it. But I'll learn some day.)
I forwarded Bob Case's comments to author Jess Morton. Here is his response:
Yours is an interesting idea about the osprey encounter. While it is possible jaegers would go after an osprey, I think they stick to smaller birds to harass. They are quite a bit smaller than this western gull and would show definite white patches on the wings as the base of the primaries. The two feathers you see are normal tail feathers turned at an angle such that they appear to protrude. There are several photos in the sequence. This happens to be the only one where the tail looks irregular for a gull. It also happens to be the most dramatic. I have not edited the others, but can send you one if your are interested.
Fred McPherson:
Hi Jake: I have read and enjoyed your e-mail/blog ever since you put me on it. Now as you go to the blog format, what is it that I need to do? Will I just automatically get the blog now? If I want to respond to something in your blog, how do I do that? I like the e-mail format because it seems like it is from you to me about things you are doing. I am used to it, so this will be a transition into the blogosphere for me. Maybe I need a blog. It seems like a blog is just like sending out a group e-mail to people who you have chosen to receive it. It seems like it is not like a public digital newspaper, or web site where every one is invited to come and look and interact. Is that sort of what a blog is and how it is different that a group e-mail?
Since blogland is terra incognita to me, I can't answer your questions, except possibly tentatively.
As I stated, I will continue to send out emails for a week or two, until I feel comfortable, and I make sure that all my readers have taken note that I have the blog site. I intended to keep sending the emails to those requesting. However, I found out in my last session with my "teacher" that the blog site will automatically send the newsletter to those who put their email address in the box provided. For the time being, do nothing. I will later make sure everyone is on board with the new site.
Actually, it is a public site, and anyone can go to it. Additionally, as I said, you can get it sent to you via email, so you don't have to wonder when the next issue is. Yes, you can respond and comment on anything. However, none of it will show to others unless I authorize it. That's a necessary protection to keep malicious people from printing god-knows-what.
I have been nagged for at least 5-6 years to open a blog, but I resisted for various reasons. My mailing list got so huge (ca 3000), and my Apple Mail program is not set up for group mailing, so it caused me a lot of extra work. I am hoping the blog will save me a little time once I get it fully set up.
Lawraine Smith (re Notes & Queries item If the people of Nigeria are Nigerians, what do we call those of Niger?):
people from Nigeria are Nigerians
people from Niger are Nigeriens
the prononciations "yans', "yens" come into play...I think you have to use the international pronunciation alphabet code to make it work.
but I think there is also a question of using ethinic titles. Hausa in the north, Ubu in the south...the country lines mix a bit...
good question.
More feedback for the Rapturous
(Name Withheld):
Then again, the prediction is that the rapture would happen at 6 pm in each local time zone, so maybe there's still time for all of us in the eight westernmost time zones to suffer mightily and go to hell. One can only hope!
Oh goody. I'm so glad Jesus--or whoever arranges these things--made it so convenient for us by arranging to end the world sequentially by each time zone. Jeez, I'm going to be in the Muni Metro tunnel around that time. You don't suppose I'll miss it, do you? Can I leave a message on his iPod?
The Rapture: People are sucked upward from their clothes and ascend to heaven.
Roy Blount, Jr: Why Jesus wants to see naked people is beyond me.
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11. "Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are [a] few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid." - President Dwight D. Eisenhower,11/8/54
(Stupid, yes; negligible, unfortunately not. This is the same man who at the end of his 2nd term vainly warned us of the military-industrial complex, which subsequently triumphed--just in case you haven't noticed.
And--reflecting on third-rail decisions by presidential candidates--what about anyone who faults President Obama for promising to drill in Alaska, or offshore, or wherever? Can't you just see the television soundbites in the 2012 election: Picture someone at the pump, with the register showing gasoline at $4.75 (or more) with the sound-over a husky voice saying: "For this you can thank President Obama, who refused to drill...blah,blah, blah..."
Then imagine President Palin, whose "Drill, baby, drill" provided the winning margin in the November 2012 election. Like it or not, that is democracy, and that is exactly how it works. JS)
Half of the American people never read a newspaper. Half never voted for president. One hopes it is the same half. Gore Vidal
Uh, Mr Vidal, I don't know how to break this to you..... |