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16 April 2012
Is it hot out there or is it just me?
I promised myself that I would note when our seasonal birds and other critters show up in NE Ohio for this 2012 Spring. Before that thought had time to leave my head, the warmer-than-usual winter petered out the first week in March. Wow. I kept waiting for our big March/April snowstorm that we usually get after a warm-up, but it didn't happen. (By the time it did storm the air and ground were so warm hardly any stuck to the ground and most of it fell as rain.) Usually about mid-March the Robins show up, then later the Red-Wing black birds follow, and in the middle of this the spring Peeps start their nightly chorus while my hyacinths, tulips, and other early plants start sprouting.
First, the hyacinths, tulips, irises, and rhubarb have been sprouting since mid-December. Yes, that's right, in NE Ohio these plants were growing. However, it wasn't a huge growth spurt since we did have below freezing nights. We didn't have the usual layer of snow to insulate/protect the plants from the freeze/thaw cycles either which worried me a bit. In fact, we've only reached 40% or our usual snowfall for 2011-2012 season. Yes, I know, a weak la Nina formed in the fall (2011) and that has contributed to our warmer-than-usual winter but still, I haven't seen a winter like this in 15 years with tons of snow before and after that year. Maybe the accelerated climate change has kicked in like the climatologist suggest? As NPR reports, March 2012s claim to fame is 7,700 daily temperature records broken across the US, while the 2011/2012 winter is the 4th warmest on record. Not to mention the earlier than usual forest fires Thom Hartmann mentioned the other day on his radio show and plenty of other climate change indicators that weren't supposed to show up until 2025 or later.
Back to the birds and other critters. This year I heard my first Red-Wing black bird on March 2, 2012. I thought I was imagining it, but soon found out they were back. By the 10th the Robbins were bobbing around snagging worms and such--note that the RW black birds came back first. The night before the RW black birds showed up, the peeps started their nightly chorus (almost deafening in my neck of the woods). Most unusual, the Blue birds showed up the 3rd week of March when they usually aren't around until May when the Hummingbirds appear. Speaking of which, I thought I saw a Hummingbird yesterday April 15th. I'll have to keep an eye out to make sure, though. Usually they fly right up to my face to let me know they're back and I should put out the feeders. Don't worry, I only use organic sugar with no red dyes. BTW, the Clematis is already 18" high and the chives are flowering, but how relevant is that since I can't remember the 2 springs before with these plants (thanks to AUs accelerated classes for 2 years straight :)?
All these early birds make me wonder if there is some seasonal plant/insect that doesn't show up early if it is warm, but goes by the length of days, will leave some hungry. On the up side, the maple syrup producers did well as my cousin told me. I thought that the warmer weather would slow the sap flow, but silly me, they just started a little earlier this year. To top it off, the freezing nights with warmer days really got the sap flowing. I'll have to drive over some afternoon and pick up a 2nd or 3rd tap. Love that darker stuff--the later it's tapped the better for me--great that I have relatives who make maple syrup, too.
Off to batten down the hatches with our crazy, wild wind blowing everything around.
First, the hyacinths, tulips, irises, and rhubarb have been sprouting since mid-December. Yes, that's right, in NE Ohio these plants were growing. However, it wasn't a huge growth spurt since we did have below freezing nights. We didn't have the usual layer of snow to insulate/protect the plants from the freeze/thaw cycles either which worried me a bit. In fact, we've only reached 40% or our usual snowfall for 2011-2012 season. Yes, I know, a weak la Nina formed in the fall (2011) and that has contributed to our warmer-than-usual winter but still, I haven't seen a winter like this in 15 years with tons of snow before and after that year. Maybe the accelerated climate change has kicked in like the climatologist suggest? As NPR reports, March 2012s claim to fame is 7,700 daily temperature records broken across the US, while the 2011/2012 winter is the 4th warmest on record. Not to mention the earlier than usual forest fires Thom Hartmann mentioned the other day on his radio show and plenty of other climate change indicators that weren't supposed to show up until 2025 or later.
Back to the birds and other critters. This year I heard my first Red-Wing black bird on March 2, 2012. I thought I was imagining it, but soon found out they were back. By the 10th the Robbins were bobbing around snagging worms and such--note that the RW black birds came back first. The night before the RW black birds showed up, the peeps started their nightly chorus (almost deafening in my neck of the woods). Most unusual, the Blue birds showed up the 3rd week of March when they usually aren't around until May when the Hummingbirds appear. Speaking of which, I thought I saw a Hummingbird yesterday April 15th. I'll have to keep an eye out to make sure, though. Usually they fly right up to my face to let me know they're back and I should put out the feeders. Don't worry, I only use organic sugar with no red dyes. BTW, the Clematis is already 18" high and the chives are flowering, but how relevant is that since I can't remember the 2 springs before with these plants (thanks to AUs accelerated classes for 2 years straight :)?
All these early birds make me wonder if there is some seasonal plant/insect that doesn't show up early if it is warm, but goes by the length of days, will leave some hungry. On the up side, the maple syrup producers did well as my cousin told me. I thought that the warmer weather would slow the sap flow, but silly me, they just started a little earlier this year. To top it off, the freezing nights with warmer days really got the sap flowing. I'll have to drive over some afternoon and pick up a 2nd or 3rd tap. Love that darker stuff--the later it's tapped the better for me--great that I have relatives who make maple syrup, too.
Off to batten down the hatches with our crazy, wild wind blowing everything around.
30 January 2012
Flowback
Flowback is the wastewater produced by each and every fracking well all over the US (and other countries as well). Fracking for natural gas is popping up all over the country, but the Marcellus shale drilling is of a particular concern for me because it's nearby, affects my drinking water, structural safety of my home and surrounding infrastructure, and what I've read about the most.
These frack well sites can use an estimated 2-9 million gallons of fluid (mostly water) per well head is needed for one horizontal drill and 10-20 wellheads are found on each, taking about 5 acres of land per drill pad. Frack fluid is injected into a well and roughly 1/2 of the flowback returns to the surface with the extracted natural gas/oil.
The Marcellus Shale is known to contain natural gas and oil, but also "toxic metals, salts, and radionuclides" (Kargbo, Wilhelm, & Campbell, 2010) which are remnants from the Devonian age trapped in this geological formation. Kargbo, Wilhelm, & Campbell (2010) go on to say that "...Devonian-age shales contain naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM), such as uranium (U)and thorium (Th) and their daughter products, 226Ra and 228Ra".
In the Marcellus Shale area, there are not many injection wells available to dispose of the frack fluid (because of sub-surface instability from what, I'm not sure but can assume it has something to do with intensive natural gas/oil/coal extraction), so we rely heavily on wastewater treatment facilities which poses a bigger challenge to this area on how to keep these hazardous materials out of drinking water. Needless to say, the industry is racing head-long into the unknown--aka ignoring and/or investing in sound science and research to prevent long-term pollution and expensive clean-up/remediation costs of fresh water drinking sources (costs which will be placed squarely on the shoulders of the tax payers through future Superfund sites requiring clean-up).
Since there is no way with modern technology to bring only the natural gas/oil to the surface, the NORM, toxic metals and salts are brought to the surface in the flowback, too, along with the industry's secret cancer-causing additives to make the natural gas/oil flow out of the shale easier. The flowback is transported to wastewater treatment facilities then expelled into surface streams, rivers, and watersheds where toxins can migrate into wells and aquifers. This introduces technologically enhanced NORM (TENORM) into the surface environment. In other words, the industry is taking NORM and other harmful stuff that was sequestered underground (several hundred million years ago) during/after the Devonian age and bringing it back to the surface environment to contaminate fresh water systems that the general population and wildlife need to survive.
By the EPAs own admission, "many [wastewater treatment facilities] are not properly equipped to treat this type of wastewater", but the EPA plans to have a "proposed rule" in place by 2014 to ensure drinking water safety. The EPA is also "evaluating industrial practices" of the design, operation, maintenance, and closure of holding pits and ponds that hold the flowback before it is transported to a wastewater facility and/or reused for fracking.
Until I researched flowback, I wasn't aware that any company reused frack fluid although reuse is dependant on "levels of pollutants" and the proximity to a well that could reuse this fluid. I would hope the industry would consider to use it on the other 9 to 19 wellheads on the same 5-acre pad as many times as they can so we can save a little water for minor uses like drinking and/or bathing :)
These frack well sites can use an estimated 2-9 million gallons of fluid (mostly water) per well head is needed for one horizontal drill and 10-20 wellheads are found on each, taking about 5 acres of land per drill pad. Frack fluid is injected into a well and roughly 1/2 of the flowback returns to the surface with the extracted natural gas/oil.
The Marcellus Shale is known to contain natural gas and oil, but also "toxic metals, salts, and radionuclides" (Kargbo, Wilhelm, & Campbell, 2010) which are remnants from the Devonian age trapped in this geological formation. Kargbo, Wilhelm, & Campbell (2010) go on to say that "...Devonian-age shales contain naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM), such as uranium (U)and thorium (Th) and their daughter products, 226Ra and 228Ra".
In the Marcellus Shale area, there are not many injection wells available to dispose of the frack fluid (because of sub-surface instability from what, I'm not sure but can assume it has something to do with intensive natural gas/oil/coal extraction), so we rely heavily on wastewater treatment facilities which poses a bigger challenge to this area on how to keep these hazardous materials out of drinking water. Needless to say, the industry is racing head-long into the unknown--aka ignoring and/or investing in sound science and research to prevent long-term pollution and expensive clean-up/remediation costs of fresh water drinking sources (costs which will be placed squarely on the shoulders of the tax payers through future Superfund sites requiring clean-up).
Since there is no way with modern technology to bring only the natural gas/oil to the surface, the NORM, toxic metals and salts are brought to the surface in the flowback, too, along with the industry's secret cancer-causing additives to make the natural gas/oil flow out of the shale easier. The flowback is transported to wastewater treatment facilities then expelled into surface streams, rivers, and watersheds where toxins can migrate into wells and aquifers. This introduces technologically enhanced NORM (TENORM) into the surface environment. In other words, the industry is taking NORM and other harmful stuff that was sequestered underground (several hundred million years ago) during/after the Devonian age and bringing it back to the surface environment to contaminate fresh water systems that the general population and wildlife need to survive.
By the EPAs own admission, "many [wastewater treatment facilities] are not properly equipped to treat this type of wastewater", but the EPA plans to have a "proposed rule" in place by 2014 to ensure drinking water safety. The EPA is also "evaluating industrial practices" of the design, operation, maintenance, and closure of holding pits and ponds that hold the flowback before it is transported to a wastewater facility and/or reused for fracking.
Until I researched flowback, I wasn't aware that any company reused frack fluid although reuse is dependant on "levels of pollutants" and the proximity to a well that could reuse this fluid. I would hope the industry would consider to use it on the other 9 to 19 wellheads on the same 5-acre pad as many times as they can so we can save a little water for minor uses like drinking and/or bathing :)
23 January 2012
The Green Dragon
Today is the Chinese New Year, so in my unusual way I'd like to celebrate with a post to raise awareness about the terrifying Environmental Movement that is taking the world by storm. It is called the "Green Dragon" and is a danger to the world! Take heed of my words! Green dragons are the bane of human existence who spread death and destruction across the globe in their quest of all that is green. They plunder the poor in their march towards clean air, fresh water, and their pursuit towards equitable and fair lives for all people of the Earth. Beware! The information shared is not for the faint of heart who fear all things green--much like Cloe my kitty--see Ms. Kitty catches a bird!!!:)
Resisting the Green Dragon is a 12-disc DVD collection for the low price of $49.99 designed to educate me about the Environmental Movement. I'm told the Environmental Movement is "[w]ithout a doubt one of the greatest threats to society and the church today". Whoa! I'm confused I thought it was President Obama and the Democrats--thank goodness they offer a 12 minute preview that explains this new threat. Just enter your password RESIST to view it here. The preview was enough to scare the you-know-what out of me (could it be Satan?). This short video explains that the Environmental Movement, headed by their god the Green Dragon, has become a "new religion" with its "twisted view" of nature that places--God forbid--humans on equal ground with nature. The Green Dragon suggests that in order to have healthy people nature must be healthy, too. Where will the madness end? Our faith tells us we have a God-given right to dominate the earth and burn fossil fuels! We should continue spending $600 billion a year buying overseas oil and leave our country in the hands of Big Oil in order to celebrate the glory of God. It's His plan for us, don't you see? We don't need CO2 levels below 350 ppm--after all 10% of what we exhale is CO2 and the trees need it! How dare they tell us that breathing kills nature. What nonsense. We don't need those pesky mountain tops blocking our view of the ocean and land. We should have an uncluttered view of God's plan for us--level those mountains, take the coal and build a sterile parking lot at the flattened top of those mountains as a monument of our superiority and dominance over nature. We need a clear and unadulterated view of our deep sea drilling platforms and fracking wells that we have erected to show Him our awe and respect for all that He has provided. We don't need clean air, oceans, or anything green because the earth is not fragile but a globe full of goodies just waiting for us to exploit, plunder, and pollute. Best of all it will bounce back and continue to provide us with more! It was created for us to care for in anyway we see fit. We must resist logic, facts and reality in order to conform to the teachings of the Holy Trinity: King Coal, Oil, and Natural Gas. God is not nature and we should not entertain thoughts of religious communion with it for any reason. We must remain separate from this world and not allow any thoughts about how our dominance has destroyed nature or its natural balance. This sort of critical thinking leads to our rights being taken away by the guv-ment, economic destruction, and forces us think about starving children in "third world" countries. Worse of all, if we listen to the Green Dragon we'll come together as one to protect our biosphere and work together to solve the biggest crisis that we face today. God wouldn't want any of us to worry about these minuscule problems, but about how we can plod through life with our blinders on ignoring the world and people around us.
Now, let us pray and bow our heads to thank Big Oil, the Almighty Dollar, and the Prince of Wars for Oil for He shall provide us with all our needs.
Amen.
Resisting the Green Dragon is a 12-disc DVD collection for the low price of $49.99 designed to educate me about the Environmental Movement. I'm told the Environmental Movement is "[w]ithout a doubt one of the greatest threats to society and the church today". Whoa! I'm confused I thought it was President Obama and the Democrats--thank goodness they offer a 12 minute preview that explains this new threat. Just enter your password RESIST to view it here. The preview was enough to scare the you-know-what out of me (could it be Satan?). This short video explains that the Environmental Movement, headed by their god the Green Dragon, has become a "new religion" with its "twisted view" of nature that places--God forbid--humans on equal ground with nature. The Green Dragon suggests that in order to have healthy people nature must be healthy, too. Where will the madness end? Our faith tells us we have a God-given right to dominate the earth and burn fossil fuels! We should continue spending $600 billion a year buying overseas oil and leave our country in the hands of Big Oil in order to celebrate the glory of God. It's His plan for us, don't you see? We don't need CO2 levels below 350 ppm--after all 10% of what we exhale is CO2 and the trees need it! How dare they tell us that breathing kills nature. What nonsense. We don't need those pesky mountain tops blocking our view of the ocean and land. We should have an uncluttered view of God's plan for us--level those mountains, take the coal and build a sterile parking lot at the flattened top of those mountains as a monument of our superiority and dominance over nature. We need a clear and unadulterated view of our deep sea drilling platforms and fracking wells that we have erected to show Him our awe and respect for all that He has provided. We don't need clean air, oceans, or anything green because the earth is not fragile but a globe full of goodies just waiting for us to exploit, plunder, and pollute. Best of all it will bounce back and continue to provide us with more! It was created for us to care for in anyway we see fit. We must resist logic, facts and reality in order to conform to the teachings of the Holy Trinity: King Coal, Oil, and Natural Gas. God is not nature and we should not entertain thoughts of religious communion with it for any reason. We must remain separate from this world and not allow any thoughts about how our dominance has destroyed nature or its natural balance. This sort of critical thinking leads to our rights being taken away by the guv-ment, economic destruction, and forces us think about starving children in "third world" countries. Worse of all, if we listen to the Green Dragon we'll come together as one to protect our biosphere and work together to solve the biggest crisis that we face today. God wouldn't want any of us to worry about these minuscule problems, but about how we can plod through life with our blinders on ignoring the world and people around us.
Now, let us pray and bow our heads to thank Big Oil, the Almighty Dollar, and the Prince of Wars for Oil for He shall provide us with all our needs.
Amen.
31 December 2011
16 December 2011
What Is Christmas?
This Sojourner's blog puts Christmas and the state of the world into perspective. I've posted most of the article, but the whole article can be read here. It's titled The Real War on Christmas...By FOX News, posted 12/15/2011 by Jim Wallis.
What is Christmas? It is the celebration of the Incarnation, God’s becoming flesh — human — and entering into history in the form of a vulnerable baby born to a poor, teenage mother in a dirty animal stall. Simply amazing. That Mary was homeless at the time,a member of a people oppressed by the imperial power of an occupied country whose local political leader, Herod, was so threatened by the baby’s birth that he killed countless children in a vain attempt to destroy the Christ child, all adds compelling historical and political context to the Advent season.
The theological claim that sets Christianity apart from any other faith tradition is the Incarnation. God has come into the world to save us. God became like us to bring us back to God and show us what it means to be truly human.
That is the meaning of the Incarnation. That is the reason for the season.
In Jesus Christ, God hits the streets.
That is the meaning of the Incarnation. That is the reason for the season.
In Jesus Christ, God hits the streets.
It is theologically and spiritually significant that the Incarnation came to our poorest streets. That Jesus was born poor, later announces his mission at Nazareth as “bringing good news to the poor,” and finally tells us that how we treat “the least of these” is his measure of how we treat him and how he will judge us as the Son of God, radically defines the social context and meaning of the Incarnation of God in Christ. And it clearly reveals the real meaning of Christmas.
The other explicit message of the Incarnation is that Jesus the Christ’s arrival will mean “peace on earth, good will toward men.” He is “the mighty God, the everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace.” Jesus later calls on his disciples to turn the other cheek, practice humility, walk the extra mile, put away their swords, love their neighbors — and even their enemies — and says that in his kingdom, it is the peacemakers who will be called the children of God. Christ will end our warring ways, bringing reconciliation to God and to one another.
None of that has anything to do with the Fox News Christmas. In fact, quite the opposite.
The other explicit message of the Incarnation is that Jesus the Christ’s arrival will mean “peace on earth, good will toward men.” He is “the mighty God, the everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace.” Jesus later calls on his disciples to turn the other cheek, practice humility, walk the extra mile, put away their swords, love their neighbors — and even their enemies — and says that in his kingdom, it is the peacemakers who will be called the children of God. Christ will end our warring ways, bringing reconciliation to God and to one another.
None of that has anything to do with the Fox News Christmas. In fact, quite the opposite.
Making sure that shopping malls and stores greet their customers with “Merry Christmas” is entirely irrelevant to the meaning of the Incarnation. In reality it is the consumer frenzy of Christmas shopping that is the real affront and threat to the season.
Last year, Americans spent $450 billion on Christmas. Clean water for the whole world, including every poor person on the planet, would cost about $20 billion. Let’s just call that what it is: A material blasphemy of the Christmas season.
Imagine Jesus walking into the mall, seeing the Merry Christmas signs, and expressing his humble thanks for how the pre- and post-Christmas sales are honoring to him. How about credit cards for Christ?
While we’re at it, here’s another point of clarification: The arrival of the Christ child has nothing to do with trees or what we call them.
Evergreens and wreaths, holly and ivy, and even mistletoe turn out to be customs borrowed from ancient Roman and Germanic winter solstice celebrations, assimilated and co-opted by the church after Constantine made peace between his empire and the Christians.
Last year, Americans spent $450 billion on Christmas. Clean water for the whole world, including every poor person on the planet, would cost about $20 billion. Let’s just call that what it is: A material blasphemy of the Christmas season.
Imagine Jesus walking into the mall, seeing the Merry Christmas signs, and expressing his humble thanks for how the pre- and post-Christmas sales are honoring to him. How about credit cards for Christ?
While we’re at it, here’s another point of clarification: The arrival of the Christ child has nothing to do with trees or what we call them.
Evergreens and wreaths, holly and ivy, and even mistletoe turn out to be customs borrowed from ancient Roman and Germanic winter solstice celebrations, assimilated and co-opted by the church after Constantine made peace between his empire and the Christians.
I have no problem with the public viewing of symbols from all of the world’s religions at appropriate times in their religious calendars (which can actually be educational for all of our children) and believe that doing so is consistent with our democratic and cultural pluralism.
But I don’t believe that respectfully and publicly honoring those many religious symbols has changed many lives, for better or for worse. Much more important than symbols and symbolism is how we live the faith that we espouse. And here is where Fox News’s war on Christmas is most patently unjust.
The real Christmas announces the birth of Jesus to a world of poverty, pain, and sin, and offers the hope of salvation and justice.
But I don’t believe that respectfully and publicly honoring those many religious symbols has changed many lives, for better or for worse. Much more important than symbols and symbolism is how we live the faith that we espouse. And here is where Fox News’s war on Christmas is most patently unjust.
The real Christmas announces the birth of Jesus to a world of poverty, pain, and sin, and offers the hope of salvation and justice.
The real Christmas offers the joyful promise of peace and the hope of reconciliation with God and between humankind.
The Fox News Christmas proffers the constant drumbeat of war, the reliance on military solutions to every conflict, the demonizing of our enemies, and the gospel of American dominance.
The real Christmas lifts up the Virgin Mary’s song of praise for her baby boy: “He has brought the mighty down from their thrones, and lifted the lowly, he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich empty away.”
The Fox News Christmas would label Mary’s Magnificat as “class warfare.”
So if there is a war on Christmas it's the one being waged by Fox News.
Jim Wallis~12/15/2011
08 December 2011
Fracking
In 2008 a small town in WY requested that the EPA investigate "water quality concerns in private drinking water wells" that are associated with hydraulic fracturing.
The EPA found "synthetic chemicals, like glycols and alcohols consistent with gas production and hydraulic fracturing fluids, benzene concentrations well above Safe Drinking Water Act standards and high methane levels. There is a preliminary report on the EPA website of their findings" The article can be found here: .
There is a preliminary report on the EPA website here (this is 15mb pdf download): http://www.epa.gov/region8/superfund/wy/pavillion/EPA_ReportOnPavillion_Dec-8-2011.pdf
EPA also has the site description here: http://www.epa.gov/region8/superfund/wy/pavillion/index.html
and a news release here: http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/ef35bd26a80d6ce3852579600065c94e?OpenDocument
They are very careful to say that production conditions are different in this town than in other parts of the country. Also, that the chemicals are "generally" below established health and safety standards.
EPA has begun a national study on the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water resources. I wonder what their conclusion will be?
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