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Jamie Hopkins – PublicIntegrity.org: “I wrote a story this week about air pollution’s impact on health and the immune system that included a quick data analysis. Academics who studied the impact of the 1918 flu looked at 180 cities and found that higher-pollution places — as measured by coal use — saw more deaths. I …
Electric Lit Interview – The esteemed science fiction author on how we may never go “back to normal”—and why that might be a good thing – “…Halimah Marcus: This pandemic isn’t science fiction, but it does feel like a dystopia. How can we understand the coronavirus as a cautionary tale? How can we combat our own …
The Bee Is Declared The Most Important Living Being On The Planet – “Earthwatch Institute concluded in last debate of Royal Geographical Society of London that bees are the most important living being on the planet, however, scientists have also made an announcement: Bees have already entered into extinction risk. Bees around the world have …
The New York Times – “In cities across the United States, traffic on roads and highways has fallen dramatically over the past week as the coronavirus outbreak forces people to stay at home and everyday life grinds to a halt. Pollution has dropped too. A satellite that detects emissions in the atmosphere linked to cars …
Via Casey Trees – The Cherry Blossom Map – the specific species of tree is designated in the legend and users may search and locate trees throughout Washington – not just at the Tidal Basin. This map will take you to individual streets that have trees in bloom – maybe just a few or dozens …
National Phenology Network – “Status of Spring – How do you know when spring has begun? Is it the appearance of the first tiny leaves on the trees, or the first crocus plants peeping through the snow? The First Leaf and First Bloom Indices are synthetic measures of these early season events in plants, based …
Crocuses, daffodils, magnolias, forsythia Chinese plum/Japanese apricot, Virginia bluebells, snow drops (no snow), more hellebores than I can ever recall in decades herald the end of the non winter in DC and the arrival of a new kind of spring (#climatecrisis, #globalheating) – the Washington Post – “Winter was barely perceptible in Washington this year, …
Mysterious Light Sources Alex Altair: “I got my first telescope in 2017, in time for the Great American Eclipse. I started paying attention to the concept of light pollution, including finding detailed maps of what places had high or low amounts of light pollution. After looking up nearby areas that were potentially good for stargazing, …
EPA Guidance Documents – “On October 9, 2019, President Trump signed Executive Order 13891, “Promoting the Rule of Law Through Improved Agency Guidance Documents.” Among other things, the Executive Order directs federal agencies to make active guidance documents available via an online guidance document portal. On October 31, 2019, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued implementing …
Freedom House – A Leaderless Struggle for Democracy – “Democracy and pluralism are under assault. Dictators are toiling to stamp out the last vestiges of domestic dissent and spread their harmful influence to new corners of the world. At the same time, many freely elected leaders are dramatically narrowing their concerns to a blinkered interpretation …
Overview: How a changing relationship with cars may shape the future of transportation – “Automobiles make up 70% of the emissions from all forms of transportation. There are an estimated 1 billion cars on the planet, with around 80 million new cars sold each year. Despite continually strong sales, experts suggest we have reached ‘Peak Car’ …
Slash and Burn – Sierra Club -“Over the years, I have often seen the evidence of this mass deforestation: in geometric clearcuts along the ranges of Catron County, New Mexico; in old-growth piñon forest reduced to pulp on the remote Tavaputs Plateau in Utah; in vast fields of stumps on rugged mountainsides in the basin …
