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What happens when wildfire meets permafrost in Alaska?

a song of ice and wildfire

What happens when wildfire meets permafrost in Alaska?

By on 8 Jul 2015commentsShare

You don’t need a PhD in geochemistry to know that fire and ice don’t play nice together. You do, however, need a degree or two to figure out what the hell that means for Alaska — the icy wonderland currently being engulfed by wildfires. It would be especially nice to know what all that fire is doing to the state’s permafrost — you know, the carbon-stuffed soil that’s supposed to stay frozen all year long (which it may or may not) and probably will contribute somehow to climate change once it starts melting.

Here’s more from Wired:

The problem isn’t just scorched landscape—though that’s bad enough, to the tune of 3 million acres and 600 fires in Alaska and over 4,000 wildfires in Canada. This year has been exceptionally hot and dry—just ask a Californian—but even so this year’s blazes haven’t yet surpassed the toll of the even fierier 2004. As Sam Harrel, spokesperson for the Alaska Fire Service, puts it in understated terms, “We are on a track for a lot of acres this year.” But the real problem is that the fires could accelerate the melting of permafrost, a layer of ground that’s never supposed to get above freezing. And permafrost is one of Earth’s great storehouses of carbon. Release it, and you speed up climate change.

What ties all that together is “duff,” the thick layer of moss, twigs, needles, and other living or once-living material that blankets the forest floor. Duff can be up to a foot thick, and it provides the insulation that keeps permafrost cold through even the sunny days of summer. But when fire comes along, duff becomes fuel. Burning duff releases carbon too, of course, but losing it is like ripping the insulation out of a refrigerator.

Jon O’Donnell, an ecologist from the National Park Service’s Arctic Network told Wired that certain trees tend to grow in the aftermath of wildfires, and those could help mitigate any carbon released from permafrost. But ultimately, O’Donnell said, scientists just don’t really know how this fire and ice situation is going to play out:

“I don’t think people have fully addressed how all these different components — permafrost and fire and soil and carbon — are connected in one comprehensive way,” he says. “It’s not that people don’t know they exist. It’s a matter of doing the work to quantify it.”

On the bright side, we might soon be able to finally answer the existential question that Robert Frost mused over in his famous poem “Fire and Ice:”

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.

Source:
Alaska’s on Fire and It May Make Climate Change Even Worse

, Wired.

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What happens when wildfire meets permafrost in Alaska?

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Ty Segall’s new EP, "Mr. Face," Is a Tasty Treat

Mother Jones

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Ty Segall
Mr. Face
Famous Class

Ty Segall just can’t stop making music—solo, in his band, or in collaboration with others; on singles, EPs and albums. He unleashes a flood of psychedelic garage rock with manic fervor, suggesting a condemned man desperate to be heard before his time runs out. If his prolific output sometimes cries out for an editor (especially when it comes to the songwriting) Segall’s unfeigned, life-affirming enthusiasm is never less than irresistible. The physical version of the four-song Mr. Face EP is a pair of translucent red-and-blue seven-inch vinyl records billed as “the world’s first playable pair of 3D glasses,” but it’s a tasty treat whether or not you dig novelty packaging. The jumpy title track is an acoustic rave-up that hints at a strong Violent Femmes influence. Elsewhere Segall is his usual exuberant self, plugged in and happy to blast. And coming next week: the Ty Segall Band’s Live in San Francisco on the Castle Face label, a full-length set of feedback, heavy riffs, big beats and yowling vocals, guaranteed to cure the blahs with caffeinated pizzazz.

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Ty Segall’s new EP, "Mr. Face," Is a Tasty Treat

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Book Review: The Man Who Couldn’t Stop

Mother Jones

The Man Who Couldn’t Stop

By David Adam

FSG

After years of battling the irrational terror of catching a disease every time he touched a door handle, drank from a water bottle, or scraped his knee playing soccer, Nature editor David Adam earned the right to be annoyed when people called themselves “a little bit OCD.” The greatest strength of his book—part memoir, part scientific treatise on obsessive-compulsive disorder—is that it meets those dilettantes on their level: “Imagine you can never turn it off.” Adam’s personal insights, and case studies from the famous (Winston Churchill, Nikola Tesla) to the obscure (an Ethiopian schoolgirl who ate a wall of mud bricks), make that feat of imagination both possible and painful.

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Book Review: The Man Who Couldn’t Stop

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The Mysterious Case of the Missing Emails (Non-IRS Version)

Mother Jones

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In the famous case of Lois Lerner’s missing IRS emails, it really does appear that the whole affair was the result of nothing more than a genuine hard drive crash combined with outdated IT procedures for saving backup tapes. Needless to say, this hasn’t stopped Republicans from yelling endlessly about conspiracy theories and the deliberate erasure of damning messages.

So let’s see. How do you think they’ll react to a case in which it appears that emails really were deliberately erased and hard drives really were destroyed? Before you take a guess, it’s only fair to let you know that this case involves a pair of Republicans: New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, who was the DA of New Mexico’s Third Judicial district before her election, and Amy Orlando, a close friend of Martinez’s who was her chief deputy DA and then briefly succeeded her as DA. Andy Kroll tells the rest of the story:

On Tuesday, Mark D’Antonio, the current DA in New Mexico’s Third Judicial district, released the findings of an internal investigation that concluded that large amounts of emails—potentially including those sought by the Democrats—had been “deleted and/or removed” during the period when the office was briefly run by Orlando, Martinez’s onetime deputy. Two of the four hard drives used by Orlando’s administration—hard drives that might have contained the requested emails—were missing. And investigators noted that all emails in the DA’s office were supposed to be backed up by a “special tape drive” in the office, but the back-up tapes were “blank and appear to have been erased.”

The report also noted that, under Orlando, the DA’s office misled a reporter who’d made his own request for similar records. The DA’s office told the reporter that the records he wanted didn’t exist because the office’s server “is routinely cleaned.” But after interviewing IT staffers, investigators concluded this statement “was inaccurate because IT personnel stated that servers were not routinely ‘cleaned’ and that the data should exist on a server.”

You may now submit your guesses about how conservatives will respond to all this. I’m predicting crickets at best, a smear campaign against D’Antonio at worst.

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The Mysterious Case of the Missing Emails (Non-IRS Version)

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Lana Del Rey Cares Way More About “Intergalactic Possibilities” Than Boring, Old Feminism

Mother Jones

Famous singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey has a weird quote about “feminism” (and space exploration, I think) in the latest Fader cover story. Digest it here:

For me, the issue of feminism is just not an interesting concept. I’m more interested in, you know, SpaceX and Tesla, what’s going to happen with our intergalactic possibilities. Whenever people bring up feminism, I’m like, god. I’m just not really that interested…My idea of a true feminist is a woman who feels free enough to do whatever she wants.

Okay.

The 27-year-old singer joins a chorus of female celebrities, including actress Shailene Woodley, who distance themselves from feminism, or from describing themselves as feminists. This is strange to hear (whether the famous person is female or male), simply because your average dictionary is very straightforward about the definition of the term “feminism.” It is as follows:

The belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities.

It’s really that simple: Words have meanings. Maybe too many of us have, over the years, conflated the word “feminist” with “extreme, radical, militant, War-On-Men-waging individual?” I dunno. Anyway, Ann Friedman explains this general topic better than I ever could, and you should read her piece here.

(H/t Matt Zeitlin)

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Lana Del Rey Cares Way More About “Intergalactic Possibilities” Than Boring, Old Feminism

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Rising sea levels will drown your Western art history course

Rising sea levels will drown your Western art history course

Chris Chabot

At least Macchu Picchu is probably safe from sea level rise.

You know how we sometimes like movies in which famous world landmarks are dramatically destroyed? Climate change is about to bring those scenes to a museum near you, albeit with fewer meteors and more meteoric sea level rise.

According to a new report published Wednesday in Environmental Research Letters, everything you love is going to disappear, assuming you are the kind of person who loves old art and history and stuff. The researchers looked at UNESCO World Heritage sites, which, like humans, tend to cluster near the coasts. They simulated flooding the world with an average of 6.6 meters of sea level rise over a couple of centuries. The result was a very soggy situation: About 140 of 720 sites surveyed would be underwater, or at least in the kiddie pool — and that’s without even accounting for storm surge. As one of the researchers encouragingly clarified, these are the low-ball estimates.

Among the soon-to-be-amphibious landmarks are Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London, the Leaning Tower of Pisa (soon with extra leaning!), some old important-sounding German cities, downtown Bruges, and Naples (unless the volcano gets it first). If your tastes incline to the New World instead, you can focus your anxiety of impending loss on the Statue of Liberty and historic Havana. In any case, Atlantis is about to gain a whole bunch of cultural capital:

Ben Marzeion and Anders Levermann

The purple dots are in trouble even if the thermostat stays where it’s at; everything else up to yellow will drown with just 3 degrees C extra. Click to embiggen.

Though the study takes a slightly longer view than we in the climapocalyse business are used to fretting about — 2000 years — it’s not so long when you’re considering, say, Pompeii — also on the to-be-(re)submerged list. And in any case, the researchers assure us that serious problems will “definitely” arise sooner. From The Guardian:

“It’s relatively safe to say that we will see the first impacts at these sites in the 21st century,” lead author Prof. Ben Marzeion, of the University of Innsbruck in Austria, told the Guardian. “Typically when people talk about climate change it’s about the economic or environmental consequences, how much it’s going to cost. We wanted to take a look at the cultural implications.”

Venice is also on the list, because, duh. With high tides that turn San Marco into a swimming pool twice a day, the city is basically a poster child for the fragility of human accomplishments in the face of time and indifferent nature (shit just got real) as well as for how much rich people will pay to defy the forces of entropy.

While the residents of Kiribati probably wish someone would throw them a gala to save their low-lying island, or at least help them get off it, we’ll concede that artistic heritage is worth some protection. After all, if we’re not worried about staying in touch with past generations, why should we worry about leaving some nice things for the future generations? (Slip-’n-slide at the Doge’s Palace!)

But don’t panic! Luckily for everyone, I have some ideas about what we can do. So pour yourself a glass of Bordeaux to steady your nerves, maybe put on a nice aria — we’ll wait. OK, here goes:

Plan 1: Start spending a lot of money on expensive and questionably effective flood-control measures.

Plan 2: Just get it over with and convert all historical landmarks to water parks.

As far as the first goes, art lovers are on it. I don’t know of anyone working on the second, but changemakers, feel free to get in touch for my blueprints for the Leaning High Dive of Pisa. I guess it’s also worth mentioning the third plan, where we get serious about cutting carbon emissions and successfully restrict warming to a mere 2 degrees C, but even that doesn’t mean you won’t be wearing gaiters on your next stroll through the Accademia.

Amelia Urry is Grist’s intern. Follow her on Twitter.Find this article interesting? Donate now to support our work.Read more: Climate & Energy

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Rising sea levels will drown your Western art history course

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Watch: Patrick Stewart Satirizes Fake Obamacare Horror Stories With Stephen Colbert

Mother Jones

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English actor Patrick Stewart appeared on The Colbert Report Monday to lampoon the ongoing series of fake Obamacare horror stories. Stewart plays “actual Louisiana resident” Chuck Duprey, an “average American Joe” and “supposed non-actor.” When howling about his health insurance woes, he says that his problems are “ALL BECAUSE OF THE AFFORDABLE CARE…line?”

Watch:

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Video Archive

(The Colbert segment ends with “Chuck” dying while shouting, “repeal…and…replace!”)

On Monday night, Stewart tweeted this pic:

Stewart went on The Daily Show last year to talk about his famous lobster costume and how Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Toronto Mayor Rob Ford are basically comedians with “bad script writers.” Stewart has also worked with the Ring the Bell campaign (a movement that calls on men and boys to help end violence against women), and stars in several Amnesty International videos on violence against women, including this one in which he discusses growing up in a violent household:

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Watch: Patrick Stewart Satirizes Fake Obamacare Horror Stories With Stephen Colbert

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The New Bryan Cranston "Godzilla" Trailer is Awesome—and Explicitly Calls Out US Nuclear Testing

Mother Jones

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The upcoming Godzilla reboot (set for a May release) will offer its own modern take on the origin of the famous city-squashing monster. It’s directed by Gareth Edwards, and stars Bryan Cranston, Elizabeth Olsen, Ken Watanabe, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. The new trailer is out, and it’s pretty great:

At about the minute mark, you hear characters explaining how mankind created its own colossal nightmare. Their explanation seems to call out actual American nuclear testing, specifically Operation Castle. Here are some lines of dialogue narrating images in the trailer:

In 1954, we awakened something.

With those nuclear tests in the Pacific.

Not tests…

They were trying to kill it.

And thus Godzilla comes back as a radioactive beast to destroy and rampage.

The nuclear “tests” mentioned in the trailer (and presumably the film) likely refer to Operation Castle, a series of nuclear tests conducted by the United States in early 1954 at Bikini Atoll. The original Godzilla film (Gojira) premiered that same year, and was cleverly critical of that kind of testing. (The critically maligned 1998 Godzilla, directed by Roland Emmerich, blamed Godzilla’s wrath on nuclear tests in French Polynesia.)

Here’s a declassified video on Operation Castle:

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Jerry Brown keeps getting heckled by anti-fracking protesters

Jerry Brown keeps getting heckled by anti-fracking protesters

Steve Rhodes

California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) is finding the fracking issue to be increasingly irritating. Or more to the point, he’s finding anti-fracking activists to be increasingly irritating.

Brown is a long-time environmental champion with a strong record of advancing clean energy and climate action, but he doesn’t mind the fracking that’s going on in his state. In fact, he kinda likes it.

The San Jose Mercury News reported a month ago on Brown’s “most extensive remarks yet defending his administration’s fracking policy”:

Brown said he saw no contradiction in calling climate change “the world’s greatest existential challenge” Monday while refusing to impose a moratorium on fracking …

“In terms of the larger fracking question — natural gas — because of that, and the lowered price, the carbon footprint of America has been reduced because of the substitution of natural gas for coal,” Brown said. “So this is a complicated equation.” …

Asked whether fracking should be banned, as Monday’s protesters were demanding, Brown said: “What would be the reason for that?”

Environmental activists who are calling for a moratorium list plenty of reasons: water pollution, air pollution, methane leakage from fracking operations, and the folly of continuing to rely on fossil fuels instead of focusing on a switch to clean energy.

And the enviros have a lot of company. A number of Hollywood celebs are calling for a ban. Famous foodies too. Last month, 20 leading climate scientists sent Brown a letter arguing that his support for fracking runs counter to his efforts to fight climate change. More recently, 27 former advisers to Brown wrote a letter asking him to impose a moratorium on fracking until more study is conducted into its environmental impacts.

janinsanfran

To make sure he doesn’t forget all this anti-fracking fervor, activists now trail the governor around the state reminding him. The Sacramento Bee reports:

Environmentalists frustrated with Brown’s permissiveness of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, have followed the Democratic governor to events throughout the state since September, heckling him for his approval of legislation establishing a permitting system for the controversial form of oil extraction.

The protests have become an awkward sideshow for the third-term governor, highlighting the deepening division between Brown and environmentalists — a reliably Democratic constituency — as he prepares for a re-election bid next year.

Could fracking be a decisive issue in the 2014 governor’s race? Fifty-eight percent of California voters support a moratorium on fracking until more environmental studies are done, according to a June poll. But those voters probably won’t have a viable anti-fracking candidate to support instead.

And Brown’s fracking stance could make him more appealing to moderate Democrats and independents, argues Jack Pitney, a government professor at Claremont McKenna College. “There are probably people out there who are thinking, ‘Well, if the environmentalist wackos are mad at him, he must be doing something right,’” Pitney told The Sacramento Bee.

But the environmentalists, wacko and otherwise, aren’t going to be dissuaded. “It’s a growing grass-roots movement across the state,” Rose Braz of the Center for Biological Diversity told the Bee. “It’s not going to go away. It really is not until the governor acts to halt fracking.”


Source
Jerry Brown followed to events, heckled by California environmentalists over fracking, The Sacramento Bee
Fracking and reducing climate change: Can Jerry Brown have it both ways?, San Jose Mercury News

Lisa Hymas is senior editor at Grist. You can follow her on Twitter and Google+.

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Maryland chickens out on farm pollution rule

Maryland chickens out on farm pollution rule

Shutterstock Poultry produces lots of poop.

The Chesapeake Bay is shit out of luck.

The state of Maryland planned to tighten the rules on how much chicken manure farmers could spread over their fields — part of an effort to slow the flow of nutrients into the East Coast’s largest estuary. That would have helped reduce the size of the bay’s dead zone, but it would have left the state’s powerful chicken farmers in a smelly bind: What would they do with their copious streams of waste?

On Monday, just two days before a legislative hearing, Gov. Martin O’Malley’s administration caved to poultry farm opposition and yanked the proposal — for now. From The Daily Times:

“We heard feedback from the agricultural community as well as environmental groups,” said Julie Oberg, spokeswoman for the Maryland Department of Agriculture. “As a result of those concerns raised, we decided to withdraw the request.”

Worcester County farmer and Commissioner Virgil Shockley said he thinks the emergency proposal was withdrawn because of the response from the farming community.

“I think there was an underestimation of the alarm that this would send through the Eastern Shore elected officials and the poultry industry,” he said. “The big question that no one is willing to stand up and answer is ‘What happens when poultry is no longer part of the Eastern Shore and Maryland?’”

Environmentalists are disappointed by the delay but they are being patient — they say they want to make sure the state gets the rules right. And as the Baltimore Sun reports, Maryland’s ag officials have pledged to reintroduce the proposed regulations:

Agriculture Secretary Earl “Buddy” Hance said in a statement that the O’Malley administration wants to give farmers more time to adjust to the changes and intends to resubmit them next month after meeting with “key stakeholders.” The rules, which would have taken effect this fall, would be put off until next year at the earliest.

The stakes are high — the Sun reports that nearly half the farms in the state are “saturated” with phosphorus, a chemical from chicken manure that feeds algae in the bay, killing off all life in a huge swath of the estuary. In fields in the Lower Eastern Shore, which is east of the bay, that figure rises to more than 80 percent. Left unchecked, all that chicken shit could mean shutters for Maryland’s other famous food export: blue crabs, which are already in steep decline. Hope all those buffalo wings are worth it.

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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