Friday, February 21, 2020

Loose Feathers #737

Blue Jay / Photo by J. Meyers/USFWS
Birds and birding news
Science and nature blogging
Biodiversity and conservation
Climate change and environmental politics
  • Winters have been warming faster than summers (much like colder places are warming faster than hotter places) and warmer winters have a host of cascading effects, from reducing the snowpack in the West to increasing the number of disease-carrying and invasive insects in the East.
  • The Trump administration's weakening of federal protections for waterways will have the worst effects in states without strong local protections. The rule also has the potential to undo progress in the Chesapeake region, where some states have made more of an effort than others to clean up the watershed.
  • The Trump administration is pushing ahead with weakening standards for mercury emissions despite opposition from the electric industry. Coal companies want the rollback, however.
  • A new study suggests that methane emissions from fossil fuel operations are much higher than previous estimates.
  • Because of the prevailing winds, coal-fired power plants in the Midwest contribute to air pollution on the East Coast, and the EPA seems disinclined to take action.
  • Indigenous activists have been fighting the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline across their territory in British Columbia. 
  • Climate change has been rising as a priority for voters, but there is still a large divide between Republican and Democratic voters on the issue.
  • Here is a primer on why single-use plastics are a problem and how to reduce their usage. 
  • A federal study is assessing pollution from the Diamond Alkali Superfund site to inform cleanup of the site and the Passaic River.