Bat cull will not stop the spread of white-nose syndrome

That’s the message of this article from the United Kingdom.

Despite emails and cold winter, 83% of Brits view climate change as a current or imminent threat

68% agree humanity is causing climate change, while skeptics “represent a fringe position”

January 31, 2011

The public’s belief in global warming as a man-made danger has weathered the storm of climate controversies and cold weather intact, according to aGuardian/ICM opinion poll published today.

Asked if climate change was a current or imminent threat, 83% of Britons agreed, with just 14% saying global warming poses no threat. Compared with August 2009, when the same question was asked, opinion remained steady despite a series of events in the intervening 18 months that might have made people less certain about the perils of climate change

So the emails — which originated in Britain — had no noticeable impact, nor did a couple of “trivial mistakes” in the IPCC.  This suggests the British public understands that, after multiple vindications, the notion that a few cherry-picked quotes from e-mails undermined the overwhelming scientific understanding of climate science was just B.S.*

As renewables grow, coal fights to keep its market share

I looked long and hard for the word “loongwall” in this wire service report about coal, but to no avail. Longwall mining is the preferred method of gouging coal from the Earth in southwestern Pennsylvania. I even had the (dis)pleasure of seeing some of the damage to Nature about a decade ago when i accompanied a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service scientist to the region. Anyway, read about coal’s bid to hold its market share.

Palin touts outdoors, conservation to Reno crowd

Sure, sure, sure she did. All for some photo ops and fawning coverage by an obligatory local media. That’s half the problem with the ex-gubbernator’s media exposure these days. Reporters scribble every last “official” word coming forth from her beak and never put her “conservation” record — such as it is — in the kind of perspective that would help the average Joe and Jane out-of-doors person realize what she is really ALL ABOUT. Read about the Reno series of photo ops.

Help now! Stop the Pebble Mine in Alaska

Outdoorsmen at Washington Sportsmen’s Show urged to take action to stop Pebble Mine in Alaska

Hunters and anglers can sign a petition asking EPA to stop the massive mine

Puyallup, Wash. – The Sportsman’s Alliance for Alaska is urging Washington outdoorsmen and consumers to sign a petition asking the Environmental Protection Agency to protect Alaska’s Bristol Bay from the dangers of the proposed Pebble Mine.

The Sportsman’s Alliance for Alaska will be hosting booth #552 at the Washington Sportsmen’s Show, January 26 – 30 at the Western Washington Fairgrounds in Puyallup. The Alliance will be sharing information, handing out anti Pebble Mine decals and asking people to sign a petition to the EPA. Information on the show, the biggest sportsmen’s show in Washington state, can be found at: http://www.otshows.com/shows/wss/attendees/show_information.htm Bristol Bay, home of the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery, is threatened by the proposed large-scale Pebble Mine to extract gold and copper. Bristol Bay is known for its sport fishing, tourism, and commercial fishing, and has a long history of sustaining the Native Alaskan way of life. It also generates $450 million a year in revenues for the fishing industry in Alaska.

“Everyone from catch and release anglers to big game trophy hunters and companies that make fly rods and firearms have all united to save Bristol Bay. And the best way to do that is to ask the EPA to protect Bristol Bay,” said Scott Hed, Director of Sportsman’s Alliance for Alaska, which partners with Trout Unlimited on the Save Bristol Bay campaign. “This unique region is just far too special to allow a huge open-pit mine that leaches toxic waste.”

“Many Washington sportsmen have a deep appreciation for untamed Alaska,” said Tim Bristol, Director of Trout Unlimited’s Alaska Office. “We truly believe that once people understand the dangers of the proposed Pebble Mine they’ll sign this petition to help save the wild treasure that is Bristol Bay.”

Bristol Bay is:

• A 40,000-square mile wetland (that’s about the size of Kentucky) with nine major rivers

• Home of the world’s largest sockeye salmon run

• Host to one of North America’s largest king salmon populations

• The center of a $450 million a year fishing industry

• One of the last untouched areas on the planet

Pebble Mine would:

• Create an open-pit mine up to two miles wide and 1,700 feet deep

• Dig an underground mine of a similar scale

• Dump up to 10 billion tons of perpetually toxic mine waste in the heart of the Bristol Bay watershed

• Be operated by and profit two foreign companies with a poor environmental record

• Potentially destroy salmon runs, other fishes, habitat, wildlife and the overall beauty of this productive and wild area

For more information, contact:

Lesley Rogers at 206-334-1483 or lesleyr@strategies360.com About Trout Unlimited:

Trout Unlimited is a non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of freshwater streams,rivers, and associated upland habitats for trout, salmon, other aquatic species, and people. With more than 150,000 volunteers organized into about 400 chapters from Maine to Montana to Alaska, the organization is firmly behind the effort to stop the proposed Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay. http://www.tu.org/ About the Sportsman’s Alliance for Alaska:

The Sportsman’s Alliance for Alaska is a program sponsored by the Alaska Conservation Foundation and unites hunters and anglers working together to preserve fish and game habitats and hunting and fishing opportunities on our public lands in Alaska.http://www.sportsmansalliance4ak.org/index.html

Lesley Rogers

Vice President of Communications

What David Brower once said

“To me, a wilderness is where the flow of wildness is essentially uninterrupted by
technology; without wilderness the world is a cage.”
David Brower, Environmentalist and
first executive director of the Sierra Club

Researcher’s status questioned in jaguar case

The tale of Macho B is still unfolding, as this newspaper article from Tucson makes clear.

Face the realities of ‘wild horses,’ as some already do

That’s the message of this newspaper editorial from Santa Fe, N.M. It even notes, in fine fashion, the thinking of Audubon magazine columnist Ted Williams. Read the editorial. Then take action. There is nothing native or wild about “wild” horses.

Vermont’s bottle bill, once first in nation, now faces repeal legislation

Don’t do it, Vermont! Being the Green Mountain State means having green roadsides, too. Don’t do it. Read about the bottle bill and bids to repeal or change it in this article.

Quotes of the week

“A more sustainable transportation plan for Virginia starts with revitalization of our cities, towns and older suburbs, it focuses on transit, freight rail and passenger rail, and it focuses on improved and better connected local road infrastructure that also supports walking and bicycling,” said Roger Diedrich, transportation chair for the Sierra Club.

From Vermont comes this: “Why do people come to Craftsbury? Not for water slides and shopping malls, but because of the way Craftsbury looks and feels to them. The landscape is our economic heartbeat.”