1. Knowland Park - City Council Budget Hearing TONIGHT 5.30 pm
2. Fiona Ma votes against shark fin legislation
3. U.S. seafood fraud - FDA inspects only 2 percent of imports for health concerns, and less than 0.001 percent of imports for fraud
4. Your comments needed on GGNRA dog management - deadline May 31
5. Open House at Larner Seeds in Bolinas June 4
6. Free Summer Salmon Institute for Teachers July 18-22
7. Significant portion of global warming due to large dams
8. Climate change warning from 100 years ago/War and King Cotton
9. LTEs on obesity crisis
10. Feedback: crows and ravens, mostly
11. Will this help improve Market Street?
12. The Economist welcomes us to the Anthropocene. Really?
13. Sigmund Freud wonders about all this
1. Dear Knowland Park Supporters,
Urgent Budget Meeting this Week
As you know, Oakland’s budget is a disaster this year and all kinds of valuable services and programs are facing cuts, including the proposed closure of our Grass Valley fire station and many branch libraries throughout the city. We are concerned that public dollars are still going to support the Zoo and its proposed expansion plans, despite cuts to funding for similar programs like Chabot Science Center and the Oakland Museum. It has been extremely difficult to track all the sources of public funding, but we have identified numerous pots of public funds from which the Zoo continues to draw, including bond funding that will require the City to make interest payments far into the future. (Think Raiders deal, which is part of why we are in this fix today).
Further, the proposed “mitigation measures” the City requires of the Zoo in its environmental review document are extremely costly to undertake and there is no identified source of funding for these. Please come to this meeting and ask the City Council for a full accounting of all public funding for the Zoo and the expansion project and how it will be spent. This expansion was originally conceived during a time of economic boom. During these times of austerity, we need to be re-thinking how we do things. This is the time to say no to a grand, expensive expansion for which the public will be on the hook down the line if construction costs more than allowed for, attendance does not meet projections, or operational costs are greater than anticipated. As the owner of Knowland Park, the Zoo and all its animals and facilities, the City has an obligation to be transparent with the public about what the costs will be. Please come and speak out!
What: City Council Budget Hearing
When: Thursday, May 26, 2011, 5:30 p.m.
Where: City Hall, 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza, City Council Chambers
Knowland Park Coalition Forms
Friends of Knowland Park has joined with the California Native Plant Society, the California Grasslands Association, and the California Wildlife Foundation/California Oaks to form the Knowland Park Coalition. The purpose of the Coalition is to protect the native habitat and wildlife in Knowland Park. We will be working together to advance this goal through lobbying, advocacy, legal analysis/planning and grassroots organizing. The CNPS and CGA have been very helpful in calling for a survey of the grasslands that was done as part of the environmental review. That report showed the extent of native grassland communities currently thriving in the expansion area that according to CNPS/CGA are virtually the last remaining remnants of what the entire western part of the East Bay hills once looked like and are incredibly valuable resources in terms of genetic variability and understanding how these types of ecosystems function and sustain themselves.
What You Can Do
--write a letter to the editor of the Tribune, Chronicle or Montclarion. Ask why funding for the Zoo is not being discussed in the important budget talks going on right now and if, at a time of such fiscal constraints that we are closing libraries and fire stations, it is prudent to approve a massive Zoo expansion that will create ongoing operational liabilities for the City.
--Send a contribution to help defray our many expenses with mounting this effort. Please make checks to Shute, Mihaly, and Weinberger and send to Lee Ann Smith, Treasurer, Friends of Knowland Park, 111 Shadow Mountain, Oakland, CA 94605.
--Attend a meeting: The budget meetings now going on are a great opportunity to show that people care about the Park and do not want to continue to subsidize the Zoo’s unrealistic and costly expansion plans. Even if, as the Zoo claims, the expansion will be funded by donations, the ongoing maintenance and operations will fall to the citizens of Oakland.
More information: http://www.knowlandpark.com/
###########################################################
2. To: Assemblymember Fiona Ma:
I was distressed to find your name on the list of those voting No on AB 376:
VOTING "NO" - Tim Donnelly, Mike Eng (El Monte), Felipe Fuentes, Curt Hagman, Diane Harkey, Fiona Ma (San Francisco), Allan Mansoor, Jim Nielsen.
Can there be any excuse for your vote? Several Chinese people, including the bill's author, Paul Fong, have exposed the falsity of the so-called Chinese "tradition" regarding shark fin soup.
Bear in mind that Americans have traditions, too, and the practice of cutting fins off sharks and throwing them back in the water to die is barbarous and deeply offensive to us. It is an inhumane, cruel practice and cannot be justified on cultural grounds. It does not speak well for the otherwise admirable Chinese culture and history. In that culture surely there must be some concern about inflicting gratuitous and unnecessary pain on animals.
An even deeper concern is that many shark species are in decline, and some of them are being threatened with extinction. They play a very important role in ocean ecosystems. Additionally, human society is dependent on these systems, and the systems need healthy shark populations to function well.
I ask you to reconsider your vote.
Jake Sigg
338 Ortega St
San Francisco 94122
###########################################################
3.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=seafood-fraud-hurts-ocean-conservat
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. seafood fraud -- where farmed, imported or endangered fish is sold as wild, local and sustainably-managed -- is hurting efforts to preserve ocean diversity, conservation advocates said on Wednesday.
The widespread practice is also hitting consumers who are occasionally sold cheaper or even dangerous products at premium prices, according to the marine conservation group Oceana.
While 84 percent of U.S. seafood is imported, the Food and Drug Administration inspects only 2 percent of imports for health concerns, and less than 0.001 percent of imports for fraud, said Michael Hirshfield, the group's chief scientist.
Seafood fraud can include substituting a common species for a rare one, an endangered species for one that is sustainably managed, a cultivated species for one that is caught in the wild, Hirshfield said at a briefing.
###########################################################
4. GGNRA Dog Management Plan - How to comment by May 30:
Online:
http://parkplanning.nps.gov/dogplan
By mail to: Frank Dean,
General Superintendent,
Golden Gate National Recreation Area,
Fort Mason, Bldg. 201,
San Francisco, CA 94123
###########################################################
5. Hi, Jake - Would you be so kind as to announce our annual Open House at Larner Seeds in Bolinas on Saturday, June 4, from 12:00 to 4:00. Tours of the 30-year-old Larner Seeds Demonstration Garden will be held at 1:00 and 3:00. Native edibles, such as our world famous chia and red maid seed cookies, agua de chia, and other goodies, will be served. The garden is blooming with our seed grow-outs, new species trials, a garden designed around the needs of Ca. valley quail, and our NO TOLERANCE policy for weeds, (particularly Oxalis pes-caprae). Seeds, books, tools, and unique items such as meadowfoam seed oil will be available in the Garden Shop. Many items will be on sale in the nursery, including such rarities as showy Indian clover and presidio clarkia. We are located at 230 Grove Road in Bolinas, and directions are available at our website. Signs will point the way. All are welcome. 415-868-9407, www.larnerseeds.com.
###########################################################
6. SPAWN’s FREE Summer Salmon Institute for Teachers Highlights the Connection of Local Watersheds to Ocean Health
A continuing professional development program in environmental education for teachers
The Salmon Protection and Watershed Network (SPAWN) is offering a unique professional development training in partnership with NOAA’s Bay-Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) program to teachers throughout the San Francisco Bay area for a second year. Focused on salmon as the connection between oceans and inland watersheds, theSummer Salmon Institute combines expert instructors with standards-based curriculum to provide teachers the skills and tools to connect students to their watersheds year-round.
The Summer Salmon Institute consists of a FREE, five-day workshop from July 18-22, 2011. Teachers can also choose to earn up to 3.5 Continuing Education Units (CEU) from an accredited university (Dominican University of California) and stipends are available for educators working in Title One schools.
http://spawnusa.org/pages/page-284
“I am an anadromous fish, I only have the wish, To swim with the whales, Come back with my scales, And still have a tail to swish!”
- By Brandon, Quail Hollow Elementary
###########################################################
7. New Research says Significant Portion of Global Warming Due to Large Dams
Large dams may be responsible for 4% of all human contributions toward global warming, according to a recent study by the Brazilian space research agency. The study estimates large dams release 104 million metric tonnes of methane each year. That makes large dams the largest single source of human-caused methane emissions. Methane is also a significantly more powerful global warming gas than CO2.
http://www.irn.org/programs/greenhouse/index.php?id=070509methane.html
###########################################################
8.
Global Blanket
"Svante Arrhenius has advanced an ingenious theory to account for the glacial periods which have marked several stages of geological history. According to the experiments of Langley, the carbon dioxide and the water vapor, which the atmosphere contains, are more opaque to the heat rays of great wave lengths which are emitted by the earth, than to the waves of various lengths which emanate from the sun. Arrhenius infers that any increase in the proportion of carbon dioxide and water vapor in the atmosphere will increase the protection of the earth against cooling and will consequently raise the temperature of its surface. The theory assumes that the earth's atmosphere was poor in carbon dioxide and water vapor during the earth's cool glacial periods, and rich in these gases during hot periods."
Scientific American, June 1911
War and King Cotton
"We recently published an article on cotton and the war setting forth the conviction that if the struggle should be a prolonged one, it would put an end to the pre-eminence of the cotton States in the supply of this important staple. For this assertion one or two of our subscribers in the cotton States are denouncing us as enemies to the South. It will ultimately appear, when the events now transpiring have reached their practical solution, that those who have 'precipitated the South into revolution' will have done more to uproot their institutions than all the noisy abolitionists to be found in the country. We firmly believe that the permanent interests of the cotton States are secure only in the Union."
Scientific American, June 1861
###########################################################
9. LTEs, Scientific American, June 2011
Subsidies and Hormones
In "How to Fix the Obesity Crisis," David Freedman proposed behavior modification as a solution, but it cannot be applied to 200 million overweight people. Freedman also seems to support subsidies for fruits and vegetables and other government-sponsored programs. But where is the money going to come from?
For decades now the U.S. government has subsidized corn production. Corn is used as inexpensive feed to fatten cows in feedlots and to make a cheap sweetener called high-fructose corn syrup. Fat cows and high-fructose corn syrup are key ingredients in most fast food, including hamburgers and sugary soft drinks--the foods that Freedman correctly acknowledges contribute greatly to the obesity epidemic. By subsidizing corn, the U.S. is making fast food cheaper than healthy food. What if we transferred the subsidies from corn to healthy, sustainable crops?
New schools would have to choose healthier food because it would be cheaper than junk food, and it would be a simpler decision for the poor to choose the healthier food. Although the full solution to obesity would undoubtedly involve a change to our entire culture, an easy first step would be to stop subsidizing the food that is helping to make us so overweight.
Gunnar Newquist
Cell and Molecular Biology graduate program
University of Nevada, Reno
It was disappointing that your cover article on obesity did not include any mention of recombinant bovine growth hormone, or rBGH, which is banned in virtually every developed country on earth but not in the U.S. The corporate lobbies that control our legislature have done an excellent job of sweeping all controversy about these artificial hormones under the rug--especially because rates of obesity in countries that ban rBGH are much lower than the rates here in the U.S.
Charles Carignan
Windham, N.H.
###########################################################
10. Feedback
(NOTE: Many readers are good observers and they know the difference between ravens and crows. But I also find widespread confusion on the subject, some thinking that crows are big and ravens small. Both are big, ravens a tad larger--and they should not be confused with Brewer's blackbird. I post these responses without knowing whether the reader knows the difference. I'm certain that the first two responders below do know. JS)
Mark Westlund:
Nice piece on the raven. In berkeley, where I live, I've regularly seen crows mobbing ravens, some ragged specimens missing flight feathers and copious amounts of tail.
Adrian Cotter:
The reason why I'm mystified is because (I've mentioned this before) neither of them used to be in the city. Although I'm not very knowledgeable about birds, as a gardener in GGP some things became obvious to me. I first noticed ravens in the 1970s, and over the next 3-4 decades they increased their numbers and became very common--and they were not seasonal. Since my retirement several years ago I spend almost all my time in my neighborhood, the Inner Sunset. It was not many years ago (a decade?) that I came to notice crows also. For several years there was a mix, crows slowly increasing their numbers. I was not aware of competition--which doesn't mean it wasn't happening. Now I never see ravens at all in this neighborhood.
Your observation of larger numbers and crows ganging up on ravens begs the question: How did they become more numerous in the first place? There was an extended period when ravens greatly outnumbered crows. The two species are widespread and very well known. Surely there must be studies, or at least compilations of observations over long periods of time and over vast areas and in diverse situations. What factors favor ravens and what favor crows?
John Micklewright:
Anna-Marie Bratton:
Kathryn Mazaika:
On May 24, 2011, at 10:02 PM, Peter Rauch wrote:
I don't have time for contacting Heinrich--this effing newsletter takes too much of my time for pursuing interesting by-ways. There may be other readers who will pick up on your suggestion, however.
On May 25, 2011, at 10:02 AM, Janet Gawthrop wrote:
I don't know about SF ravens, but this year in Oakland I have seen crows ganging up on a lone raven several times.
Oh, San Francisco crows would never do that--it's not politically correct, you know.
Nonetheless, there are still ravens in Oakland. A raven pair is nesting on an arm of one of the metal crosses located on the front wall of the church at the corner of Monte Vista and Oakland Ave. If you stand across the street from the church on Monte Vista Ave., you can't miss the big pile of sticks. I often see one or another of the ravens arriving or departing while I wait for the bus at that corner.
Maybe I'm overly optimistic, but I like to think there's enough food and space for both species of corvids in Oakland.
Uh, Janet, you must take a course in ecology sometime. You learn about competition, food supply, and all sorts of interesting and somewhat unpleasant things. Malthus had something to say about population expanding in response to available food; it applies to all species, including clever Homo sap.
OK, this is all anecdotal, but if you can't believe the guy standing next to you at the bus stop then what's this world coming to?
Do you want me to answer that?
As to what it's coming to--it's coming to an End. In fact, that already happened on May 21. Sorry you missed it.
Bob Nelson:
###########################################################
From Jeff Cowherd:
Will this help improve Market Street?
http://e2ma.net/go/7075249641/208568630/223130357/22494/goto:http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BMS_survey1
at least i get to express my ideas. will anyone ever read it?
###########################################################
11.
The Economist - Editor's Highlights | May 26th 2011
JS: The Economist is my favorite news and comment journal, but its human-centered view and lack of awareness of environmental issues dismays me. My first reaction on seeing this cover: Gee, The Economist is finally recognizing that human society exists in a context--which goes by the generalized, amorphous term environment.
Typical of the journal, instead of wringing its hands, and issuing pronouncements of doom--as do I and most serious-minded environmentalists (I hate the term)--its approach to all problems, big and little, is to say: "OK, this is the situation, what do we do about it?" Although not entirely satisfying to a grump like me, the larger part of me likes the constructive approach rather than the despairing one. Maybe we doomsters are right, but maybe there's another way of viewing our predicament.
So I am heartened by that "Humans, we argue, have changed the way that the planet works: now they have to change the way they think about it too". However, I have not read the article yet, and the grump in me is going to scrutinize it with a gimlet eye, especially since the journal itself has shown no evidence of fresh thinking, or that fresh thinking was even necessary regarding human ways of operating on a planet of finite resources.
We shall see.
###########################################################
12.
"I have endeavored to guard myself against the enthusiastic partiality which believes our civilization to be the most precious thing that we possess or could acquire, and thinks it must inevitably lead us to undreamt-of heights of perfection. I can at any rate listen without taking umbrage to those critics who aver that when one surveys the aims of civilization and the means it employs, one is bound to conclude that the whole thing is not worth the effort and that in the end it can only produce a state of things which no individual will be able to bear."
-Sigmund Freud, Civilization And Its Discontents
Asked what he thought of Western Civilization, Mahatma Gandhi said he thought it would be a good idea.
2. Fiona Ma votes against shark fin legislation
3. U.S. seafood fraud - FDA inspects only 2 percent of imports for health concerns, and less than 0.001 percent of imports for fraud
4. Your comments needed on GGNRA dog management - deadline May 31
5. Open House at Larner Seeds in Bolinas June 4
6. Free Summer Salmon Institute for Teachers July 18-22
7. Significant portion of global warming due to large dams
8. Climate change warning from 100 years ago/War and King Cotton
9. LTEs on obesity crisis
10. Feedback: crows and ravens, mostly
11. Will this help improve Market Street?
12. The Economist welcomes us to the Anthropocene. Really?
13. Sigmund Freud wonders about all this
1. Dear Knowland Park Supporters,
Urgent Budget Meeting this Week
As you know, Oakland’s budget is a disaster this year and all kinds of valuable services and programs are facing cuts, including the proposed closure of our Grass Valley fire station and many branch libraries throughout the city. We are concerned that public dollars are still going to support the Zoo and its proposed expansion plans, despite cuts to funding for similar programs like Chabot Science Center and the Oakland Museum. It has been extremely difficult to track all the sources of public funding, but we have identified numerous pots of public funds from which the Zoo continues to draw, including bond funding that will require the City to make interest payments far into the future. (Think Raiders deal, which is part of why we are in this fix today).
Further, the proposed “mitigation measures” the City requires of the Zoo in its environmental review document are extremely costly to undertake and there is no identified source of funding for these. Please come to this meeting and ask the City Council for a full accounting of all public funding for the Zoo and the expansion project and how it will be spent. This expansion was originally conceived during a time of economic boom. During these times of austerity, we need to be re-thinking how we do things. This is the time to say no to a grand, expensive expansion for which the public will be on the hook down the line if construction costs more than allowed for, attendance does not meet projections, or operational costs are greater than anticipated. As the owner of Knowland Park, the Zoo and all its animals and facilities, the City has an obligation to be transparent with the public about what the costs will be. Please come and speak out!
What: City Council Budget Hearing
When: Thursday, May 26, 2011, 5:30 p.m.
Where: City Hall, 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza, City Council Chambers
Knowland Park Coalition Forms
Friends of Knowland Park has joined with the California Native Plant Society, the California Grasslands Association, and the California Wildlife Foundation/California Oaks to form the Knowland Park Coalition. The purpose of the Coalition is to protect the native habitat and wildlife in Knowland Park. We will be working together to advance this goal through lobbying, advocacy, legal analysis/planning and grassroots organizing. The CNPS and CGA have been very helpful in calling for a survey of the grasslands that was done as part of the environmental review. That report showed the extent of native grassland communities currently thriving in the expansion area that according to CNPS/CGA are virtually the last remaining remnants of what the entire western part of the East Bay hills once looked like and are incredibly valuable resources in terms of genetic variability and understanding how these types of ecosystems function and sustain themselves.
What You Can Do
--write a letter to the editor of the Tribune, Chronicle or Montclarion. Ask why funding for the Zoo is not being discussed in the important budget talks going on right now and if, at a time of such fiscal constraints that we are closing libraries and fire stations, it is prudent to approve a massive Zoo expansion that will create ongoing operational liabilities for the City.
--Send a contribution to help defray our many expenses with mounting this effort. Please make checks to Shute, Mihaly, and Weinberger and send to Lee Ann Smith, Treasurer, Friends of Knowland Park, 111 Shadow Mountain, Oakland, CA 94605.
--Attend a meeting: The budget meetings now going on are a great opportunity to show that people care about the Park and do not want to continue to subsidize the Zoo’s unrealistic and costly expansion plans. Even if, as the Zoo claims, the expansion will be funded by donations, the ongoing maintenance and operations will fall to the citizens of Oakland.
More information: http://www.knowlandpark.com/
###########################################################
2. To: Assemblymember Fiona Ma:
I was distressed to find your name on the list of those voting No on AB 376:
VOTING "NO" - Tim Donnelly, Mike Eng (El Monte), Felipe Fuentes, Curt Hagman, Diane Harkey, Fiona Ma (San Francisco), Allan Mansoor, Jim Nielsen.
Can there be any excuse for your vote? Several Chinese people, including the bill's author, Paul Fong, have exposed the falsity of the so-called Chinese "tradition" regarding shark fin soup.
Bear in mind that Americans have traditions, too, and the practice of cutting fins off sharks and throwing them back in the water to die is barbarous and deeply offensive to us. It is an inhumane, cruel practice and cannot be justified on cultural grounds. It does not speak well for the otherwise admirable Chinese culture and history. In that culture surely there must be some concern about inflicting gratuitous and unnecessary pain on animals.
An even deeper concern is that many shark species are in decline, and some of them are being threatened with extinction. They play a very important role in ocean ecosystems. Additionally, human society is dependent on these systems, and the systems need healthy shark populations to function well.
I ask you to reconsider your vote.
Jake Sigg
338 Ortega St
San Francisco 94122
###########################################################
3.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=seafood-fraud-hurts-ocean-conservat
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. seafood fraud -- where farmed, imported or endangered fish is sold as wild, local and sustainably-managed -- is hurting efforts to preserve ocean diversity, conservation advocates said on Wednesday.
The widespread practice is also hitting consumers who are occasionally sold cheaper or even dangerous products at premium prices, according to the marine conservation group Oceana.
While 84 percent of U.S. seafood is imported, the Food and Drug Administration inspects only 2 percent of imports for health concerns, and less than 0.001 percent of imports for fraud, said Michael Hirshfield, the group's chief scientist.
Seafood fraud can include substituting a common species for a rare one, an endangered species for one that is sustainably managed, a cultivated species for one that is caught in the wild, Hirshfield said at a briefing.
###########################################################
4. GGNRA Dog Management Plan - How to comment by May 30:
Online:
http://parkplanning.nps.gov/dogplan
By mail to: Frank Dean,
General Superintendent,
Golden Gate National Recreation Area,
Fort Mason, Bldg. 201,
San Francisco, CA 94123
###########################################################
5. Hi, Jake - Would you be so kind as to announce our annual Open House at Larner Seeds in Bolinas on Saturday, June 4, from 12:00 to 4:00. Tours of the 30-year-old Larner Seeds Demonstration Garden will be held at 1:00 and 3:00. Native edibles, such as our world famous chia and red maid seed cookies, agua de chia, and other goodies, will be served. The garden is blooming with our seed grow-outs, new species trials, a garden designed around the needs of Ca. valley quail, and our NO TOLERANCE policy for weeds, (particularly Oxalis pes-caprae). Seeds, books, tools, and unique items such as meadowfoam seed oil will be available in the Garden Shop. Many items will be on sale in the nursery, including such rarities as showy Indian clover and presidio clarkia. We are located at 230 Grove Road in Bolinas, and directions are available at our website. Signs will point the way. All are welcome. 415-868-9407, www.larnerseeds.com.
###########################################################
6. SPAWN’s FREE Summer Salmon Institute for Teachers Highlights the Connection of Local Watersheds to Ocean Health
A continuing professional development program in environmental education for teachers
The Salmon Protection and Watershed Network (SPAWN) is offering a unique professional development training in partnership with NOAA’s Bay-Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) program to teachers throughout the San Francisco Bay area for a second year. Focused on salmon as the connection between oceans and inland watersheds, theSummer Salmon Institute combines expert instructors with standards-based curriculum to provide teachers the skills and tools to connect students to their watersheds year-round.
The Summer Salmon Institute consists of a FREE, five-day workshop from July 18-22, 2011. Teachers can also choose to earn up to 3.5 Continuing Education Units (CEU) from an accredited university (Dominican University of California) and stipends are available for educators working in Title One schools.
http://spawnusa.org/pages/page-284
“I am an anadromous fish, I only have the wish, To swim with the whales, Come back with my scales, And still have a tail to swish!”
- By Brandon, Quail Hollow Elementary
###########################################################
7. New Research says Significant Portion of Global Warming Due to Large Dams
Large dams may be responsible for 4% of all human contributions toward global warming, according to a recent study by the Brazilian space research agency. The study estimates large dams release 104 million metric tonnes of methane each year. That makes large dams the largest single source of human-caused methane emissions. Methane is also a significantly more powerful global warming gas than CO2.
http://www.irn.org/programs/greenhouse/index.php?id=070509methane.html
###########################################################
8.
Global Blanket
"Svante Arrhenius has advanced an ingenious theory to account for the glacial periods which have marked several stages of geological history. According to the experiments of Langley, the carbon dioxide and the water vapor, which the atmosphere contains, are more opaque to the heat rays of great wave lengths which are emitted by the earth, than to the waves of various lengths which emanate from the sun. Arrhenius infers that any increase in the proportion of carbon dioxide and water vapor in the atmosphere will increase the protection of the earth against cooling and will consequently raise the temperature of its surface. The theory assumes that the earth's atmosphere was poor in carbon dioxide and water vapor during the earth's cool glacial periods, and rich in these gases during hot periods."
Scientific American, June 1911
War and King Cotton
"We recently published an article on cotton and the war setting forth the conviction that if the struggle should be a prolonged one, it would put an end to the pre-eminence of the cotton States in the supply of this important staple. For this assertion one or two of our subscribers in the cotton States are denouncing us as enemies to the South. It will ultimately appear, when the events now transpiring have reached their practical solution, that those who have 'precipitated the South into revolution' will have done more to uproot their institutions than all the noisy abolitionists to be found in the country. We firmly believe that the permanent interests of the cotton States are secure only in the Union."
Scientific American, June 1861
###########################################################
9. LTEs, Scientific American, June 2011
Subsidies and Hormones
In "How to Fix the Obesity Crisis," David Freedman proposed behavior modification as a solution, but it cannot be applied to 200 million overweight people. Freedman also seems to support subsidies for fruits and vegetables and other government-sponsored programs. But where is the money going to come from?
For decades now the U.S. government has subsidized corn production. Corn is used as inexpensive feed to fatten cows in feedlots and to make a cheap sweetener called high-fructose corn syrup. Fat cows and high-fructose corn syrup are key ingredients in most fast food, including hamburgers and sugary soft drinks--the foods that Freedman correctly acknowledges contribute greatly to the obesity epidemic. By subsidizing corn, the U.S. is making fast food cheaper than healthy food. What if we transferred the subsidies from corn to healthy, sustainable crops?
New schools would have to choose healthier food because it would be cheaper than junk food, and it would be a simpler decision for the poor to choose the healthier food. Although the full solution to obesity would undoubtedly involve a change to our entire culture, an easy first step would be to stop subsidizing the food that is helping to make us so overweight.
Gunnar Newquist
Cell and Molecular Biology graduate program
University of Nevada, Reno
It was disappointing that your cover article on obesity did not include any mention of recombinant bovine growth hormone, or rBGH, which is banned in virtually every developed country on earth but not in the U.S. The corporate lobbies that control our legislature have done an excellent job of sweeping all controversy about these artificial hormones under the rug--especially because rates of obesity in countries that ban rBGH are much lower than the rates here in the U.S.
Charles Carignan
Windham, N.H.
###########################################################
10. Feedback
(NOTE: Many readers are good observers and they know the difference between ravens and crows. But I also find widespread confusion on the subject, some thinking that crows are big and ravens small. Both are big, ravens a tad larger--and they should not be confused with Brewer's blackbird. I post these responses without knowing whether the reader knows the difference. I'm certain that the first two responders below do know. JS)
Mark Westlund:
Nice piece on the raven. In berkeley, where I live, I've regularly seen crows mobbing ravens, some ragged specimens missing flight feathers and copious amounts of tail.
Adrian Cotter:
I'll respond cause corvids are my favorite topic.
From my own observations over the past few weeks (while watching ravens nests: carona heights, dolores park, and the civic center) is that crows are definitely very aggressive towards ravens - in much the same manner as ravens and crows are aggressive towards hawks of all types. In the last few weeks, I've seen at least half a dozen occasions of crows diving at ravens.
The other thing is that the ravens always seem outnumbered. It's usually 3 on 1-2 or 2 on 1. I *think* this is because younger crows hang out to help take care of later generations.
But two caveats: First while, I've never seen the aggression the other way around, the ravens perhaps are being aggressive in a different way (invading crow territories. the crows being protective for a reason).
Secondly, I've not been watching long enough to tell whether this is making a difference (whether the crows are increasing in the areas I've been watching or not). I know at least two of the raven pairs are returnees. But last year I was not paying as close attention.
Lastly, I wonder if we can quantify your observation in any way. I haven't found any recent population numbers from the christmas count.
I tend to see ravens where I expect to see them, so I've not noticed any change really, and the change I do see is seasonal. In a couple months I know that ravens will be scarce in my neighborhood and downtown, and the same with crows.
Thanks for the response, Adrian. Your observations may be helpful in piecing together what is going on.The reason why I'm mystified is because (I've mentioned this before) neither of them used to be in the city. Although I'm not very knowledgeable about birds, as a gardener in GGP some things became obvious to me. I first noticed ravens in the 1970s, and over the next 3-4 decades they increased their numbers and became very common--and they were not seasonal. Since my retirement several years ago I spend almost all my time in my neighborhood, the Inner Sunset. It was not many years ago (a decade?) that I came to notice crows also. For several years there was a mix, crows slowly increasing their numbers. I was not aware of competition--which doesn't mean it wasn't happening. Now I never see ravens at all in this neighborhood.
Your observation of larger numbers and crows ganging up on ravens begs the question: How did they become more numerous in the first place? There was an extended period when ravens greatly outnumbered crows. The two species are widespread and very well known. Surely there must be studies, or at least compilations of observations over long periods of time and over vast areas and in diverse situations. What factors favor ravens and what favor crows?
One thing -- they weren't in the city because they were hunted out. The city employed a hunter through the 30 and 40s apparently. So they are returning from exile as it were. Last population numbers I saw were from early 2000s. Some 600 or so.
I'm not sure there are many studies though, but I've been wanting to ask around at Cal Academy if there are any Corvid experts.
Ravens seem pretty much a constant on Ocean Beach, and I see them with fair regularity around Fort Mason (though there's of crows there as well), and Candlestick Point.
It could be that crows just breed faster, or their chicks have a higher survival rate. Ravens seem to nest more often in buildings. I've had difficulty actually finding crows nests which I think are more often in trees.
John Micklewright:
Jake, I think your readers might want to visit the woods just before Baker Beach. Many ravens.
Anna-Marie Bratton:
Although I see more crows than I used to, I still see many ravens - at least West of Twin Peaks and in the northwest corner of the City. Ravens have been in the City for at least 15+ years and definitely breed within City limits, Crows have been around less than 5 years and I've not seen evidence of nesting yet (although that does not mean they don't).
Kathryn Mazaika:
Hi Jake: I just read your note about crows and ravens w/interest.
Have you by any chance been in contact w/ Joe Morlan? I'm sure he'd have something to say in this regard. You can reach him and his website at: http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~jmorlan/
I'm going to stay tuned, as I'm interested to read the next posts.
Kathryn: I clicked on Morlan's site but couldn't find any way to get this kind of information. I have little time for research. If you want to pursue this and can come up with information, I'll post it.On May 24, 2011, at 10:02 PM, Peter Rauch wrote:
Jake, Dunno if you are familiar with Bernd Heinrich (as an author, and biologist). His many books are excellent reads, greatly enriched by his own illustrative artistry, including ones that discuss his times with ravens.
About a recent film on him http://jancannonfilms.com/berndheinrichfilm.htm, a review states:
"The style of the film mirrors the way in which Heinrich conducts his scientific experiments. He describes his approach to research as “seeing little opportunities that seem interesting and going from there ...",
and when I read your Item 2 "Ravens vs crows", I immediately saw one of those "little opportunities that seem interesting..."
You might want to contact him and ask if he has any thoughts about your observations.
If you haven't read Heinrich's "The Snoring Bird" and "Mind of the Raven", for example, treat yourself.
See this: http://www.jancannonfilms.com/berndheinrichvideoclips.htm
I haven't seen the video DVD (yet), so I don't know if it would make an interesting viewing for a cnps chapter activists group.
Thanks, as always, for the feedback. I don't have time for contacting Heinrich--this effing newsletter takes too much of my time for pursuing interesting by-ways. There may be other readers who will pick up on your suggestion, however.
On May 25, 2011, at 10:02 AM, Janet Gawthrop wrote:
I don't know about SF ravens, but this year in Oakland I have seen crows ganging up on a lone raven several times.
Oh, San Francisco crows would never do that--it's not politically correct, you know.
I don't know if it's different crow groups with the same behavior, or just the same 1/2 dozen crows flying all over north Oakland.
Nonetheless, there are still ravens in Oakland. A raven pair is nesting on an arm of one of the metal crosses located on the front wall of the church at the corner of Monte Vista and Oakland Ave. If you stand across the street from the church on Monte Vista Ave., you can't miss the big pile of sticks. I often see one or another of the ravens arriving or departing while I wait for the bus at that corner.
Maybe I'm overly optimistic, but I like to think there's enough food and space for both species of corvids in Oakland.
Uh, Janet, you must take a course in ecology sometime. You learn about competition, food supply, and all sorts of interesting and somewhat unpleasant things. Malthus had something to say about population expanding in response to available food; it applies to all species, including clever Homo sap.
I'm rooting for the success of both, but I'm partial to the ravens. Since the ravens have moved in, I'm pretty sure I've noticed a sharp decline in the number of pigeons nesting underneath 2 overpasses where 580 goes nearest my apartment. Also, pigeons no longer hang out on the PG&E wires above Oakland Ave., and a couple of folks who park their cars on that block credit the ravens, at least in part.
OK, this is all anecdotal, but if you can't believe the guy standing next to you at the bus stop then what's this world coming to?
Do you want me to answer that?
As to what it's coming to--it's coming to an End. In fact, that already happened on May 21. Sorry you missed it.
Bob Nelson:
Dear Jake: Here's the graphic image (originally on a T-Shirt) that goes with the slogan you just ran in the latest edition of your EXCELLENT Nature News:
###########################################################
From Jeff Cowherd:
Will this help improve Market Street?
http://e2ma.net/go/7075249641/208568630/223130357/22494/goto:http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BMS_survey1
at least i get to express my ideas. will anyone ever read it?
###########################################################
11.
The Economist - Editor's Highlights | May 26th 2011
Welcome to the Anthropocene
After several covers connected to the news, we step back this week. In Asia we look at Australia: we argue that with a little more self confidence it should become the next Golden State, Asia's California. In the rest of the world we step back even farther and welcome the Anthropocene. This is the scientific idea that man has so changed the earth that he has created a new geological age. Humans, we argue, have changed the way that the planet works: now they have to change the way they think about it too.
JS: The Economist is my favorite news and comment journal, but its human-centered view and lack of awareness of environmental issues dismays me. My first reaction on seeing this cover: Gee, The Economist is finally recognizing that human society exists in a context--which goes by the generalized, amorphous term environment.
Typical of the journal, instead of wringing its hands, and issuing pronouncements of doom--as do I and most serious-minded environmentalists (I hate the term)--its approach to all problems, big and little, is to say: "OK, this is the situation, what do we do about it?" Although not entirely satisfying to a grump like me, the larger part of me likes the constructive approach rather than the despairing one. Maybe we doomsters are right, but maybe there's another way of viewing our predicament.
So I am heartened by that "Humans, we argue, have changed the way that the planet works: now they have to change the way they think about it too". However, I have not read the article yet, and the grump in me is going to scrutinize it with a gimlet eye, especially since the journal itself has shown no evidence of fresh thinking, or that fresh thinking was even necessary regarding human ways of operating on a planet of finite resources.
We shall see.
###########################################################
12.
"I have endeavored to guard myself against the enthusiastic partiality which believes our civilization to be the most precious thing that we possess or could acquire, and thinks it must inevitably lead us to undreamt-of heights of perfection. I can at any rate listen without taking umbrage to those critics who aver that when one surveys the aims of civilization and the means it employs, one is bound to conclude that the whole thing is not worth the effort and that in the end it can only produce a state of things which no individual will be able to bear."
-Sigmund Freud, Civilization And Its Discontents
Asked what he thought of Western Civilization, Mahatma Gandhi said he thought it would be a good idea.
No comments:
Post a Comment