Friday, February 22, 2019

Loose Feathers #686

Northern Pintail / Photo by Brandon Jones/USFWS
Birds and birding news
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Conservation and biodiversity
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Friday, February 15, 2019

Loose Feathers #685

Horned Lark / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS
Birds and birding news
Science and nature blogging
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Climate change and environmental politics
  • This week the Senate passed a significant public lands bill that permanently renewed the Land and Water Conservation Fund and extended the Neotropical Migratory Bird Act in addition to expanding some national parks and increasing protections for other sites. See another summary here.
  • While that was a bit of good news, the destruction of two nature preserves in the Lower Rio Grande Valley still looms. The National Butterfly Center is seeking a restraining order to prevent wall construction that would block access to most of their property. A historic church is also fighting the wall, which would seal off the church from most of its parishioners.
  • The Green New Deal has many critics but relatively few counter-proposals that would result in the decarbonization recommended by the IPCC. 
  • It is also worth noting that "pragmatic" approaches to climate policy have largely failed in the U.S.
  • Adopting some of the policies being implemented in several states and European countries could take the U.S. most of the way to its stated goals in the Paris agreement (which are still short of what is necessary).
  • A new website tries to predict how U.S. cities will feel in 2080, using analogies to the current climate in other cities. See the website here.
  • Phil Murphy has promised to shift New Jersey to obtaining 50% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030 and 100% by 2050, but a dozen proposed fossil fuel projects stand in the way of those goals.

Friday, February 08, 2019

Loose Feathers #684

Common Merganser / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS
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Friday, February 01, 2019

Loose Feathers #683

American Coot / Photo: Tom Koerner/USFWS
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Conservation and biodiversity
Climate change and environmental politics