Activist To Swim NYC's Gowanus Canal

Via Brooklyn Paper:

He’s going up s---’s creek! A clean-water activist plans to take the ultimate plunge on Earth Day, swimming 1.8 miles through Brooklyn’s nautical purgatory — the Gowanus Canal. Serial activist Christopher Swain will don a drysuit and traverse the canal from its “source” near Butler Street between Bond and Nevins streets to New York Harbor to call attention to the slow-moving federal cleanup of the canal and its surrounding neighborhood. Swain announced today that he will hop into the Canal on April 22 covered from head to toe in protective gear to keep his skin, mouth, eyes, and ears free of the murky waters that famously hides victims of the mob, is covered with oil, laced with heavy metals, flooded with millions of gallons of raw sewage every year, and even has gonorrhea.

The legendarily foul Gowanus Canal is one of the EPA'a 87 Superfund clean-up sites in New York state. And yes, gonorrhea has actually been found in its waters. That isn't stopping luxury condo developments along its banks, of course.

California Imposes "Unprecedented" Mandatory Statewide Water Restrictions

Speaking from a water-parched perch in the Sierra Nevadas that would normally be covered with five feet or more of snow, today California Gov. Jerry Brown announced unprecedented mandatory water use restrictions. ABC News reports:

For the first time in the state's history, the governor has directed the State Water Resources Control Board to implement mandatory water reductions across California, in an effort to reduce water usage by 25 percent. The measures include replacing 50 million square feet of lawns throughout the state with drought-tolerant landscaping, banning the watering of grass on public street medians, requiring agricultural water users to report their water use to state regulators, and requiring large landscapes such as campuses, golf courses and cemeteries to make significant cuts in water use.

The last four years have been the driest in California’s recorded history. As of March 24, more than 98 percent of California is suffering from abnormally dry conditions, with 41.1 percent in an exceptional drought, according the U.S. Drought Monitor, which estimates that more than 37 million Californians have been affected by the drought. The state’s snowpack, which is largely responsible for feeding the state’s reservoirs, has been reduced to 8 percent of its historical average, and in some areas in the Central Valley the land is sinking a foot a year because of over-pumping of groundwater for agriculture.

The snowpack in neighboring Nevada's Lake Tahoe water basin is reported to be at 3% of its normal size. For now, neither state is restricting water usage by private homes, but experts have warned that that is surely coming. Yesterday the water provider to the Reno area asked customers to cut their use by 10%.

ASAP Science: What If The Bees Die?

BRAZIL: Sao Paulo Water Crisis Worsens

The world's third-most populous city may soon only have water for two days a week.

The worst drought to hit São Paulo, Brazil’s biggest city, in decades may leave many residents with water service only two days a week. São Paulo’s water utility company, Sabesp, says a five-days-off, two-days-on system would be a last-ditch effort to prevent the collapse of the Cantareira water system. The reservoir is the largest of six that provide water to about six million of the 20 million people living in the metropolitan area of São Paulo. The utility says Cantareira is now down to 5.1 percent of its capacity of 264 billion gallons. A utility official, Paulo Massato Yoshimoto, said Wednesday that “rationing could happen if rainfall does not increase in the reservoir area soon.” Details of how a rationing plan might be put in place were not released.

More analysis:

The worst drought in nearly a century continues to plague Sao Paulo state and neighboring Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais states in southeastern Brazil; the nearly 30 million people living in the extended municipal complex of Sao Paulo have been dealing with extremely low reservoir levels for more than a year. In fact, the water reserves have fallen so low that they are now below the dead level, the point at which the water must be pumped up to reach the pipes connecting the reservoir to the greater distribution system. We are already seeing reports and anecdotal evidence of limited water availability in Sao Paulo, from limited flow to lack of availability in whole neighborhoods. The consumer will feel the greatest impact of the water shortages, but it will not be just households that will have to adjust. Large commercial consumers of water such as the petrochemical, steel, ethanol and textile manufacturing industries in Sao Paulo state account for approximately 70 percent of Brazil's total industrial water use.

According to Reuters, the Amazon lost another 2300 square miles of rainforest just last year.

Sao Paulo Is Almost Out Of Water

The world's third-most populous city may be out of water in just a couple of weeks.

São Paulo, a Brazilian megacity of 20 million people, is suffering its worst drought in at least 80 years, with key reservoirs that supply the city dried up after an unusually dry year. One of the causes of the crisis may be more than 2,000 kilometers away, in the growing deforested areas in the Amazon region. “Humidity that comes from the Amazon in the form of vapor clouds - what we call ‘flying rivers’ - has dropped dramatically, contributing to this devastating situation we are living today,” said Antonio Nobre, a leading climate scientist at INPE, Brazil’s National Space Research Institute. The severity of the situation in recent weeks has led government leaders to finally admit Brazil’s financial powerhouse is on the brink of a catastrophe. São Paulo residents should brace for a “collapse like we’ve never seen before” if the drought continues, warned Vicente Andreu, president of Brazil’s Water Regulatory Agency. Dilma Pena, chief executive officer of Sabesp, the state-owned water utility that serves the city, warned last week that São Paulo only has about two weeks of drinking water supplies left.

The region's main reservoir is only at 5.3% of its capacity. According to the above-linked Reuters report. the Amazon lost another 2300 square miles of rainforest just last year.

NEW YORK CITY: 300,000 March Ahead Of United Nations Climate Change Summit

Via USA Today:

More than 300,000 people marched through the streets of New York City on Sunday in what organizers called the largest climate-change demonstration in history. With banners, flags, floats and drums, protesters at the "People's Climate March" overwhelmed midtown Manhattan in flocks of vivid color, demanding action ahead of the United Nations Climate Summit this week. "I'm totally passionate about our planet and what's happening with our life here," said Heather Snow, 57, a massage therapist from Wilmington, N.C. "The whole Congress, everyone has gone insane, and it's time to end the insanity. I don't know how, I don't know when, but it's got to happen soon. We're running out of time." The massive march kicked off at 11:30 a.m. on the ritzy Upper West Side along Central Park before winding its way through the city on a two-mile route. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, former U.S. vice president Al Gore, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, and actors Mark Ruffalo and Leonardo DiCaprio joined thousands of protesters at the march.

Breitbart Headline Of The Day

This is how Breitbart is reporting on today's anti-climate change marches.

Federal Judge Rules BP Was "Grossly Negligent" In 2010 Gulf Oil Spill

Bloomberg News reports:

BP acted with gross negligence in setting off the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history, a federal judge ruled, handing down a long-awaited decision that may force the energy company to pay billions of dollars more for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier held a trial without a jury over who was at fault for the environmental catastrophe, which killed 11 people and spewed oil for almost three months into waters that touch the shores of five states. The case also included Transocean Ltd. and Halliburton Co., though the judge didn’t find them as responsible for the spill as BP. “BP’s conduct was reckless,” Barbier wrote in a decision today in New Orleans federal court. “Transocean’s conduct was negligent. Halliburton’s conduct was negligent.” Barbier apportioned fault at 67 percent for BP, 30 percent for Transocean and 3 percent for Halliburton.

BP faces fines of up to $18B. The judge did not rule on how much oil was spilled, which may affect the liability.

Google Honors Environmentalist Rachel Carson, Teabagistan Flips Out

Google marked the birthday of late environmentalist Rachel Carson today and the teabaggers are pulling their hair out in rage. Via Twitchy:

Of all the people in the world to commemorate today, people who have done truly great things, this is who Google chose? Today would have been marine biologist and “Silent Spring” author Rachel Carson’s 107th birthday. Unfortunately, thanks to Carson’s radical environmentalism, millions of children were robbed of the chance to celebrate a fraction of that many birthdays.

According to the supportive tweets posted at Twitchy, Carson is up there with Hitler, Mao, and Stalin as one of the worst mass murderers in history. And, therefore, "leftists worship her." The truth about Rachel Carson and DDT is far different than the baggers claim, of course.

Put On Your Shocked Face

NYC's Plastic Bag Bill Is Back

Five years ago the NYC Council rejected Mayor Bloomberg's bill that would tax consumers six cents every time a store gave them a plastic bag. Tomorrow a new version of the bill will be introduced, this time by Council members themselves.

The bill has seven co-sponsors but has yet to earn the support of Christine Quinn, who as Council speaker determines which bills come to the floor for a vote. "The bill will be introduced on Thursday, then referred to the appropriate committee, where it will undergo full legislative review," said Quinn spokesman Jamie McShane, in an email. Bloomberg's proposal never went anywhere, but this new legislation differs from Bloomberg's in a couple of significant ways that might render it more appealing to business owners: Unlike the mayor's 6-cent proposal, which allocated a penny to the retailer and a nickel to city coffers, this proposal allows business owners to keep the entire 10-cent fee. It also applies to both plastic and paper bags, thereby addressing one complaint that arose back in 2008.

Shockingly, plastic bag manufacturers are opposed to the bill.

The American Progressive Bag Alliance, which represents manufacturers like Hilex Poly and Unistar Plastics, sent over a statement that said, in part: "The proponents of this bill are misinformed and largely rely on science that has been hijacked by environmental activists. A grocery bag tax pushes shoppers toward less sustainable options, like reusable bags, which cannot be recycled, are made from foreign oil and imported at a rate of 500 million annually."

Restaurants and food delivery companies would be exempt from the bill, but food trucks and carts would not.

Sweden Runs Out Of Garbage

An interesting report notes that Sweden's national recycling program is so successful, they've actually run out of garbage.

Sweden’s waste management and recycling programs are second to none as only four percent of the nation’s waste ends up in landfills. By contrast, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, over half of the waste produced by U.S. households ends up in landfills. Because the Swedish manage waste so effectively and then use what remains to partly power their country, they are now living an environmentalist’s dream; a shortage of garbage. In order to continue fueling the waste-to-energy factories that provide electricity to a quarter of a million homes and 20 percent of the entire country’s district heating, Sweden is now importing trash from the landfills of other European countries. In fact, those countries are paying Sweden to do so.

Wal-Mart Socked With Huge Eco-Fine

Wal-Mart has agreed to pay an $82M fine for improper disposal of hazardous wastes such as fertilizer and bleach. The cases were filed by the DOJ in California and Missouri.

As part of the California plea agreement, Wal-Mart is set to pay a $40 million criminal fine and to pay $20 million to fund community service projects including helping U.S. retailers learn how to properly handle hazardous waste. As part of the Missouri plea agreement, Wal-Mart is set to pay an $11 million criminal fine and to pay $3 million to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. Wal-Mart also plans to pay a $7.628 million civil penalty to the federal government. In 2006, Wal-Mart put an environmental compliance program into place that it says has helped to rectify such issues.

35K Rally In DC Against Climate Change

Teabaggers have poured into the YouTube comments.

Bloomberg Calls For Styrofoam Ban

During his final State Of The City address, today NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg will call for a ban on the usage of styrofoam containers by restaurants, food carts, vending machines, or any business that holds a city license to sell beverages or meals. Via Consumerist:

“One product that is virtually impossible to recycle and never bio-degrades is styrofoam,” Bloomberg is planning on saying. “Something that we know is environmentally destructive and that may be hazardous to our health, that is costing taxpayers money and that we can easily do without, and is something that should go the way of lead paint.” That plastic foam makes up about 20,000 tons of the city’s waste each year, said the mayor’s office. A ban would need to be approved by the City Council and if it goes through, will join similar actions taken in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle. Things are getting very West Coast around here, eh?

As someone who has his lunch delivered almost every day, I can tell you that the amount of styrofoam containers I receive is crazy.  You can bet that Bloomberg will get a huge push back on this from the restaurant industry, just as he did with his ban on "large sugary drinks," which is now facing a lawsuit from the NAACP and a coalition of Hispanic groups, who contend that the ban will hurt minority businesses.

NOTE: Dow Chemical has issued a press release clarifying that Styrofoam is their trademarked product now used exclusively for insulation. What Bloomberg is referring to is properly known as "extruded polystyrene."

Drought Shrinks Mississippi River Traffic

The level of the Mississippi River has gotten so low that cargo ships and barges have had to severely restrict the weight of what they can safely carry.

If the country’s largest river system continues to rapidly shrink, all river traffic could get shut down and cost the US $300 million a day. The Mississippi, which has become thin and narrow, is used for cargo vessels to transport goods. In the US, 60 percent of grain, 22 percent of oil and natural gas and 20 percent of coal travels down the river. But its reduced size and now-shallow waters are forcing barges to either stop running or reduce the weight of the goods they carry – leading to longer waits for those products in grocery stores. Some areas of the river have dropped 20 feet below normal – and the drop is expected to continue. “A lot of those barges have had to lighten their loads, and even doing that, they are still running aground. There is a real fear that there could be a possibility of closing the Mississippi River,” said CNN correspondent Martin Savidge. “If that happens, well, all that product that used to be carried cheaply by barge is now going to be carried more expensively by truck or train. And guess who is going to pay for all that.”

Another result of the continuing low levels is that saltwater is now intruding far up from the Gulf, damaging ecosystems unused to brackish water. And millions of fish are dying because the shallow water now gets too hot.

The Ecology Of Disease

The New York Times has published an interesting look at how humankind's treatment of the environment has unleashed dozens of new diseases in the last century.

Diseases have always come out of the woods and wildlife and found their way into human populations — the plague and malaria are two examples. But emerging diseases have quadrupled in the last half-century, experts say, largely because of increasing human encroachment into habitat, especially in disease “hot spots” around the globe, mostly in tropical regions. And with modern air travel and a robust market in wildlife trafficking, the potential for a serious outbreak in large population centers is enormous. The key to forecasting and preventing the next pandemic, experts say, is understanding what they call the “protective effects” of nature intact. In the Amazon, for example, one study showed an increase in deforestation by some 4 percent increased the incidence of malaria by nearly 50 percent, because mosquitoes, which transmit the disease, thrive in the right mix of sunlight and water in recently deforested areas. Developing the forest in the wrong way can be like opening Pandora’s box. These are the kinds of connections the new teams are unraveling.

The linked articles cites Ebola, West Nile, SARS, and Lyme disease as examples.

Billboard Of The Day

Londoners woke up today to find that vandals had splashed oil and left their website address on six Olympic billboards posted by BP. Numerous other billboards in the transit system have been similarly defaced with smears of oil. Lots more photos at the first link.

Environmentalists Want America To Fail

This bit of crackpottery is from some astroturf group out of Florida. I haven't been able to figure out who's really behind it yet, but I'm betting on Big Sugar or somebody similar.

World Net Day: Earth Day Is A Secret Celebration Of Lenin's Birthday

Seriously.