Bird population decline

|

I have my doubts about studies that show that the bird population has declined by 30% since the 1970s.

Canada Goose

For one, DDT use was widespread in the early seventies and that was widely known to cause egg shells of eagles and many other birds to be thin and crack easily.

Two, I have to wonder if the Christmas Bird counts which the study is based on have methodology errors – like fewer people participating today compared to 1970.

Third, blaming neo-nicotines for the decline in birds and butterflies is popular today but how strong is the evidence when these chemicals have short lives and are largely biodegradable and buried underground as seed coatings to protect seeds prior to germination from pests?

It’s good to question and wonder. But we need more science and more answers before we shout ban everything.

Campgrounds In Monongehella, George Washington and Jefferson National Forests

|

This interactive map shows all of the developed campgrounds in the Monongahela National Forest along with the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests in West Virgina and Virgina in the Allegheny Mountains.

Data Source - Forest Service Recreational Opporunities Database. http://data.fs.usda.gov/geodata/edw/datasets.php?xmlKeyword=Recreation+Opportunities

Trump EPA threatens Calif. highway funding — Tuesday, September 24, 2019 — www.eenews.net

|

AIR POLLUTION: Trump EPA threatens Calif. highway funding — Tuesday, September 24, 2019 — www.eenews.net

The Trump EPA is threatening to sanction California because of its lack of compliance with federal clean air standards, the latest salvo in its multipronged attack on the Golden State over climate change.

In a letter released yesterday to the California Air Resources Board, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler threatened to revoke federal highway funds in retaliation for the state's halting compliance with the Clean Air Act.

The EPA chief wrote that the state had the "worst air quality in the United States" and had "failed to carry out its most basic tasks" under the bedrock environmental law.

The Clean Air Act requires states to submit state implementation plans — commonly known as SIPs — outlining their efforts to comply with federal ambient air quality standards for ozone, particulate matter and four other criteria pollutants.

Elon Musk knew SolarCity was going broke before merger with Tesla, lawsuit alleges – Los Angeles Times

|

Elon Musk knew SolarCity was going broke before merger with Tesla, lawsuit alleges – Los Angeles Times

When Tesla bought SolarCity in November 2016, Elon Musk billed the deal as a match made in green energy heaven: Combine a hot electric car company with the nation’s then-largest provider of solar rooftop panels to create a one-stop shop for clean energy customers.

What Musk did not discuss at the time was that SolarCity was in deep financial trouble.

Just weeks after the merger, SolarCity auditor Ernst & Young concluded the company lacked “sufficient cash to meet its obligations” as a stand-alone company, according to court filings unsealed Monday that include previously redacted material.