More Calendars
News
Welcome to Reality, Mr. President-Elect
by Bill McKibben
Our eight-year interlude from reality draws to a close, and the job of cleaning up begins. The trouble is, we're not just cleaning up after a failed US presidency. We're cleaning up after a two-century binge.
Barack Obama won an historic victory this week, and with it the right to take office under the most difficult circumstances since Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression. Maybe more difficult, because while both FDR and Obama had financial meltdowns to deal with, Obama also faces the meltdown - the rapid disintegration of the planet's climate system that threatens to challenge the very foundations of our civilization.
Do you think that sounds melodramatic? Let me give it to you from the abstract of a scientific paper written earlier this year by one of the people who now work for Mr. Obama, NASA scientist James Hansen. "If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleo-climate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 [in the atmosphere] will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm [parts per million] to at most 350 ppm." In other words, if we keep increasing carbon any longer, the earth itself will make our efforts moot.
Read the full article at the Guardian, 350.org, and Yale 360.
More on the Green Revolution at : Mother Jones
The GGNRA Endangered Species Big Year has received the Environmental Education Award from the John Muir Association. This award is given for outstanding contributions to environmental education for the year.
Click here to learn more about the award ceremony!
On October 8th, Mayor Newsom chose Jared Blumenfeld to serve as Interim General Manager of the Recreation and Park Department. Blumenfeld, Director of the Department of the Environment since 2001, has twenty years of experience across a wide range of environmental areas, and will look to assist Rec & Park to advance recycling, energy efficiency, and other programs.
Want to meet the new Director AND discover local parks?
Mr. Blumenfeld has committed to visiting 220 city parks by bicycle. Having started on November 3rd, the ParksBike Tour will continue for the next two months, covering more than 364 miles, and will provide both RPD staff and park users an opportunity to meet Jared and discuss the parks they love.
From Peter Drekmeie, Bay Area Program Director for the Tuolumne River Trust, October 31, 2008:
 |
From the Tuolumne River Trust |
"A year ago we faced a Water System Improvement Program (WSIP) that would have diverted an additional 25 million gallons of water per day from the Tuolumne River. Fortunately, last night [Friday, October 31] the SFPUC approved the Phased WSIP, which will cap water sales at current levels until 2018. This was a huge victory the first time we've ever had a cap on sales. We've changed the way the SFPUC does business!
The Phased WSIP still includes a provision that would allow the diversion of an additional 2 million gallons per day from the Tuolumne to fill reservoirs following extended droughts. However, the Commissioners made it clear they wanted to see the Tuolumne protected, and included several strongly-worded amendments aimed at minimizing the need for additional diversions. The SFPUC will set aggressive water conservation and recycling goals, and provide regular updates on water use projections to identify potential threats to the Tuolumne before they become problematic."
Inital Flooding of the Giacomini Wetlands, Pt. Reyes
October 25, 2008 - The Giacomini family sold 560 acres of pasture to the National Park Service to create the new wetlands. The pasture, at the south end of Tomales Bay, was used to raise milk cattle.
 |
An egret hunts for food in Lagunitas Creek. Photo LA Times |
Jan Blum recalled, "On Sunday I had the great pleasure of watching a former 560 acre diked cow pasture released back to the sea at high tide, in the picturesque town of Pt. Reyes Station.
It was truly a transformational event - for two legged observers, for the land and for the wildlife. The wildlife instantaneously appeared to take up the food and habitat. There must have been 4 great white herons who posed for photos for hours. Harrier and redtails were plentiful, as were shore birds who had already staked a claim at Tomasini Creek. It will only get better.
This magnificent spectacle simply reminded me of what the miniscule (by comparison to 560 acres) expansion of Crissy "marsh" could mean and how much benefit it would bring to the Presidio."
See photos from the LA Times.
Join Nature in the City!
We need your help to restore San Francisco! Become a member today and get a new map! Nature in the City is a project of Earth Island Institute, a 501(c)3 California non profit public benefit corporation. |
Bird Podcasts with Allan Ridley
This month the San Francisco Botanical Garden Society has two bird-related podcasts with resident field ornithologist, Allan Ridley.
Bird Calls
Have you ever wondered what messages birds are conveying in their calls? Allan Ridley shares some great tips to understanding what we are hearing.
Birding in the Garden
Allan Ridley awakens you to the excitement of finding birds and observing their behavior in this virtual birding tour.
Wild in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
"The dramatic migration of wildlife into the city of Pittsburgh tells a tale of successful conservation and animal adaptation. Forty years ago, there hardly was a deer or turkey within city limits.
Today, they literally walk in groups up city streets. Other forms of wildlife have followed.
Bald eagles have been visiting Pittsburgh during the past few years. Last year, two adults and a juvenile wintered along the Allegheny.
Their presence is testimony to a successful conservation effort. In 1980, only three pairs of eagles nested in the state, but between 1983 and 1989, the Pennsylvania Game Commission released numerous young eagles. Today, the state has more than 100 breeding pairs."
Go to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review for the full story: Region's wild animals migrate to urban environments
UNESCO has released a detailed map of the world's aquifers, a move the organization hopes will enable more intelligent use of natural resources.
Go to NewScientist.com for the full story: Atlas of hidden water may avert future conflict