I didn't know Canute was the King of North Carolina

Scientific American: NC Considers Making Sea Level Rise Illegal

These are hard days, people are crazyish, and you just have to soldier on, right? But then it turns out that North Carolina legislators are now tossing around bills that not only protect themselves from concepts that make them uncomfortable, they’re DETERMINING HOW WE MEASURE REALITY.

In a story first discussed by the NC Coastal Federation and given more play May 29 by the News & Observer of Raleigh and its sister paper the Charlotte Observer, a group of legislators from 20 coastal NC counties whose economies will be most affected by rising seas have legislated the words “Nuh-unh!” into the NC Constitution.

Okay, cheap shot alert. Actually all they did was say science is crazy. There is virtually universal agreement among scientists that the sea will probably rise a good meter or more before the end of the century, wreaking havoc in low-lying coastal counties. So the members of the developers’ lobbying group NC-20 say the sea will rise only 8 inches, because … because … well, SHUT UP, that’s because why.

That is, the meter or so of sea level rise predicted for the NC Coastal Resources Commission by a state-appointed board of scientists is extremely inconvenient for counties along the coast. So the NC-20 types have decided that we can escape sea level rise – in North Carolina, anyhow – by making it against the law. Or making MEASURING it against the law, anyhow.

Over at io9's post about this article, I left the following comment.

I'd be tempted to tell them the story of King Canute (Knut), who ordered the tide not to go in, but I doubt it would have the desired effect. Instead, they might take after Xerxes, who ordered the sea be given 300 lashes, fettered, and branded after a boat bridge across the Hellespont was destroyed by a storm.

The difference is that Canute knew full well that the sea wouldn't comply. I don't think these people care whether it does or not.

Sustainability education news from campuses on the campaign trail 2

I concluded the first installment by wishing that "with any luck, this will become a continuing series." The universities whose press releases I included in Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Dragon docks with ISS edition) came through, so here's the next edition, featuring sustainability education news from universities in the states of Arkansas, Kentucky, Texas, and Wisconsin.

Remember Ted Cruz?

If you don't, maybe this will refresh your memory.

Paul Krugman made a point about how crazy he thought the Right had become in First, they came for the golf courses. There, he linked to the Think Progress article TX Sen Candidate Ted Cruz Spouts Paranoid Fantasy About United Nations/George Soros Conspiracy To Eliminate Golf. Yes, really.

As soon as I read the combination of George Soros, the United Nations, and eliminating golf courses, I knew I was dealing with someone who had bought into the paranoia about Agenda 21. I was right. The Think Progress article quoted a page from Ted Cruz's own website railing against Agenda 21, one with a title so precious that I have to reproduce it here: Stop Agenda 21: The Constitution should be our only "Agenda." I have to hand it to Cruz; that's the perfect framing for someone who wants to run with an anti-Agenda 21 plank.

As for what Cruz wrote about Agenda 21 eliminating golf, here's the section that Think Progress quoted (bolding theirs).

In 1992, the United Nations adopted Agenda 21 to "achieve a more efficient and equitable world economy," outlining a process to eliminate environmental decay and social injustice through micromanaging industries, communities, and culture. They will meet again next year to discuss its "progress" in over 100 nations.

The originator of this grand scheme is George Soros, who candidly supports socialism and believes that global development must progress through eliminating national sovereignty and private property. He has given millions to this project. But he is not the only one promoting this plan; in fact, the International Council of Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) now consists of over 600 cities in the United States.

Agenda 21 attempts to abolish "unsustainable" environments, including golf courses, grazing pastures, and paved roads. It hopes to leave mother earth's surface unscratched by mankind. . . . Agenda 21 subverts liberty, our property rights, and our sovereignty.

In other words, Cruz is one of the maniacs promising people can keep their cars, McMansions, and commutes this year.

With the Texas Republican Primary yesterday, Cruz is back in the news.

Detroit's problems as tragedy and farce

First a serious report from WXYZ-TV in Detroit.





Now, the snarky sendup from Next Media Animation.





Originally posted as a comment on Daily Kos. I'd have more to write, but I was up all night reading "The Hunger Games" and have to go to work. Expect more tonight.

Sustainability news from campuses on the campaign trail for the week of the annular eclipse

Just as I noted in Sustainability news from campuses on the campaign trail for Mother's Day Weekend 2012, I'm still running a week behind on this installment of the series. So, without any further ado, here are the sustainbility stories from public universities in Arkansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, Oregon, Texas, and Wisconsin that I included in Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Annular Eclipse edition) on Daily Kos except for the ones I already posted in Sustainability education news from campuses on the campaign trail, plus bonus stories from Kentucky, Indiana, and Nebraska that I saved for this edition.

Dragon and ISS dock plus other space and astronomy news of the week

In Space and astronomy stories for the week of the annular eclipse, the story below the jump was about the scrubbed launch of SpaceX's Falcon/Dragon to the International Space Station. This week, that story gets top billing both here and in Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Dragon docks with ISS edition) at Daily Kos. Pride of place goes to the Los Angeles Times' article on the event.

NASA astronauts open SpaceX capsule hatch and begin unloading cargo
By W.J. Hennigan
May 26, 2012, 3:36 a.m.

Less than 24 hours after a historic docking, astronauts aboard the International Space Station clambered into SpaceX's unmanned Dragon spacecraft and began unloading supplies that were packed inside.

Wearing oxygen masks as a precaution, the astronauts opened the hatch, slid the door open, and took delivery of the 1,014 pounds of food, water and clothing aboard Dragon.

"Like the smell of a brand new car," said NASA astronaut Don Pettit, after going inside.

Live coverage of the hatch opening, which included some of the first video footage from inside the cone-shaped Dragon, started Saturday shortly before 3 a.m PDT on the Hawthorne company's website and NASA TV.

Speaking of NASA TV...

Enter The Dragon on This Week @NASA

The crew of the International Space Station opened the hatch of the recently berthed SpaceX Dragon capsule, the first commercial craft to fly to the ISS. Also, Venus Transit, Fallen Heroes, Carbon-Sensing Sherpa, and more.

That's not the only video I posted. Here is SpaceX Dragon COTS 3 Rendezvous Grapple Berthing Timelapse. Note: there is no sound with this video.




I wasn't the only diarist at Daily Kos to comment on the occasion yesterday. DarkSyde used the story to headline This week in science: Catch a Dragon by the tail and kindler placed it in a sustainability context by comparing and contrasting Forward vs. Backward: SpaceX vs. Heartland. That latter diary earned a distinction of getting a lot of recs and tips, but no comments. That's the equivalent of a silent standing ovation, a great sign of respect.

Click on "Read more" for the rest of the week's space and astronomy news.

Memorial Day Weather: Beryl, Bud, fires, and heat

In last night's Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Dragon docks with ISS edition) on Daily Kos, I included the following story with my opinion about the prediction.

Houston Chronicle: NOAA issues forecast, calls for ‘near-normal’ Atlantic hurricane season
By Eric Berger
May 24, 2012

This morning NOAA issued its hurricane outlook for the 2012 season, suggesting a near-normal hurricane season is most likely.

Federal hurricane scientists predict:

• 9-15 Named Storms,
• 4-8 Hurricanes
• 1-3 Major Hurricanes

The median number of named storms — that’s tropical storms and hurricanes — that have formed during Atlantic hurricane seasons since 1980 is 12, with 6.5 hurricanes and 2 major hurricanes.

The reasons for the near-normal prediction are pretty straightforward: sea surface temperatures in the tropical Atlantic, in contrast to most recent years, are relatively cool in some regions where tropical storms develop, and there’s the potential for the development of El Niño later in the season.

I'd bet on the high side of those predictions, especially for named storms, as we are already on the second storm on both coasts, Bud in the Pacific and Beryl in the Atlantic.

The very next day, Berger noted the unusual early activity in Subtropical Storm Beryl forms: Very rare to have two pre-June storms, which he concluded with:

What is more notable about Beryl is that it’s this season’s second named storm to develop prior to June 1. Alberto formed on May 19 in a similar region.

It joins rare company. There have only been two Atlantic seasons on record in which two tropical storms developed before June 1st. They came in 1887 and 1908.

So it’s been awhile.

Hurricane season officially begins on June 1st, but I'd say Nature has decided that it's been hurricane season for a couple of weeks, regardless of the official pronouncement.

For those of you who want visuals, click on "Read more."

Sustainability education news from campuses on the campaign trail

Sometimes when I'm preparing a linkspam, a distinct theme emerges connecting many of the week's articles. That's what inspired me to compose U.S.-China EcoPartnerships: The CoDominion plans for sustainability, one of my most read entries, as well as Universities studying and promoting civility in politics, among others. This week's articles from Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Annular Eclipse edition) on Daily Kos just happened to have such a theme--sustainability education projects that get noticed by federal, state, and local government and end up recognized as worthy of financial support or, better yet, actually influence policy. Here are those articles, taken from universities in Kentucky, Nebraska, Oregon, and Wisconsin.*

ThomasNet: College Kids Strut their Green Stuff, Are Awarded $1M in EPA Grants
Author: Michael Lewis
May 16th, 2012

It may not be true that every generation is smarter than the one that came before.

But I think it is. Why? One big reason is that every succeeding generation has access to more knowledge, more technology and more resources than the one before it.

Especially in this age, when the world changes so fast every minute. So one thing I’m always fascinated by is what future environmental leaders are doing while they’re still learning in our schools and universities. There are many bright kids working on making the world more environmentally friendly and trying to come up with innovative solutions to problems many of us don’t even think about.

A good example of this was the recent Environmental Protection Agency’s 8th Annual National Sustainable Design Expo on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

The universities mentioned are Embree-Riddle University (Florida and Arizona), Appalachian State University (North Carolina), Oregon State University, Vanderbilt University (Tennessee), and University of Oklahoma. I found the article through OSU, so they get the credit.

More over the jump.

Student sustainability video festival, part 4: biodiversity

I promised to resume posting this series a couple of weeks ago, so here I continue with the series, here are three videos shown as parts of two student presentations about biodiversity. First, two videos from a presentation about Burmese Pythons, a spectacular example of an invasive species.

Based on findings in a recently published study, pythons in the Everglades are almost certainly responsible for wiping out multiple species in under a decade, and pose a major threat to the ecosystem. Most of them are released pets.

From an episode of "Swamp Wars" this is something we here in South Florida contend with on a daily basis. The Pythons in the Everglades is nothng short of an epidemic. They will and have literally ate anything and everything. Dogs, cats, endangered species.... children and yes, even aligators.

Those were sensationalistic videos, which were exactly what the students wanted.

Next, a video about beaching pilot whales, which served as the attention grabber for a talk about the environmental hazards faced by whales.

Rescuers are desperately trying to save more than 30 whales stranded on a New Zealand beach since Monday. Report by Sam Datta-Paulin.

That was a more serious video about a less sensational issue, but it still got the point across.

Still to come, climate change and the ozone layer.

Sustainability and austerity news from Reuters yesterday

While I figure out something more original to post, here are the sustainability and austerity stories I included in Tonight's top news from Reuters, which I intended to be a replacement edition of Overnight News Digest, but ended up posting as a comment to someone else's edition. As usual, I was able to find lots of stories about the interplay between sustainability and austerity, which I see as the main theme of our times.

General Sustainability

Los Angeles to become largest U.S. city to ban plastic bags
By Mary Slossen
Wed May 23, 2012 6:56pm EDT

(Reuters) - The Los Angeles City Council voted on Wednesday to ban the use of plastic bags in grocery stores, setting the stage to become the largest American city to date to implement such a measure.

The 13-1 vote kicks off a process that will include a four-month environmental review, a second vote to formally adopt an ordinance, and a six-month grace period for the roughly 7,500 grocers within the limits of the second-largest U.S. city.

Smaller grocers will have 12 months to phase out the bags.

This is another story like L.A. Subway on Daily Kos, an encouraging piece of news about my old home town becoming more sustainable. It's also one that I've already used in my environmental science class where one of the projects my students worked on was a life cycle analysis of grocery bags. Ah, serendipity.