Louisiana’s coastline is disappearing too quickly for mappers to keep up

Talk about erosion...

By Stephanie Garlock

Cross-posted from Atlantic Cities

"Twenty-five years ago, miles of marshy land and grasses separated the small fishing outpost of Buras, La., from the Gulf of Mexico. But years of erosion — along with the one-two punch of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita — have washed away much of that barrier. Today, the islands, inlets, and bays that once defined the coastline of Plaquemines Parish have begun to melt together.

Like all coasts, the land around the Mississippi River is constantly evolving. In past centuries, that process was slowed by the annual flooding of the river’s vast delta, which brought new sediment to replace what was lost.

But climate change, coupled with better engineering (which brought effective channeling and stronger levees), has turned this coastline into one of the most rapidly eroding areas of the U.S. In the area around Buras, gone are the formerly distinct waterways of English Bay, Bay Jacquin, and Scofield Bay, leaving a vast expanse of water between the mainland and the barrier islands."

The area south of the town of Buras, Louisiana, in 1990 (left) and today (right). NOAA has retired the names English Bay, Bay Jacquin, and Scofield Bay, acknowledging the vast water that now separates Buras from the barrier along Pelican Island. Click to embiggen.

Each year, this part of the coastline loses around 16 square miles of land, according to David Muth, the state director of the National Wildlife Federation’s Mississippi River Delta Restoration Project. And until quite recently, even the most advanced maps of the area did little to reflect the changing environmental reality.

But in the last few years, renewed mapping efforts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have begun to catalog these changes. These new maps show water where there was once marshy land, and bays where there were once small inlets.

And in the last few years, more than 30 of the region’s names — including English Bay, Bay Jacquin, and Scofield Bay — have been officially retired from the map. Meredith Westington, chief geographer at NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey, keeps a running list of these newly extinct places handy on her desk. Though communities have become attached to the names of their nearby landscape, she explains, that it just “doesn’t make sense to leave some island name in the chart where there’s no island there anymore.”

NOAA

Coastal erosion has dramatically changed the size and shape of Adams Bay and Bastian Bay, once far more distinct waterways. Click to embiggen.

These marshy regions of coastal Louisiana aren’t normally the types of areas that attract close attention from NOAA, which focuses on larger ports with more significant commercial navigation traffic. But following Katrina and Rita, reports of debris prompted an unusual amount of new surveying efforts, according to Mike Espey, who oversees these projects as the chief of the Applications Branch of the Remote Sensing Division of NOAA’s National Geodetic Survey.

In the old days, mapmakers used on-the-water travel or interviews about local terminology with Bayou fishermen to get the lay of the land. Now, Espey’s office uses a combination of aerial photographs and satellite images to catalog the new geography of this rapidly eroding region.

This, Espey explains, makes it possible to track changes to these tiny and navigationally insignificant areas. Since much of the surveyed land is marshy and ill-defined, these maps tend to mark where vegetation has stopped growing, more than anything else. The changes to these most recent charts are still nowhere near the finest scale of detail possible.

Still, the land loss we can see is stark. “You’re kind of seeing a culmination of decades of changes,” Westington says. “And it looks very dramatic.”

In many cases, the names lost forever from the maps represent places that have long since ceased to exist. “You’re cruising along and the water will be three, four feet deep, and the GPS will say you’re on land,” Muth says. “The official maps are really trying to catch up, but land loss is so fast in certain parts of the coast that no one can keep up. You can have a piece of land out there that retreats 20, 30, 40 feet a year.”

NOAA

Bob Taylors Pond, one of the names officially put on the historical list, has become a part of Zinzin Bay. Click to embiggen.

The latest surveys are still being processed, and already Westington’s office has decided to retire 10 additional names that appear on even NOAA’s most recent set of charts. And future changes to the landscape could alter these maps even more. Soon, far larger bodies of water — like the several-miles-across Barataria Bay and Terrebone Bay — may lose their natural barriers and combine. And land rebuilding efforts, outlined in the state’s 2012 Coastal Master Plan, could lead to new deposits of sediment, and eventually new land, in other parts of the river’s vast delta.

No matter what, the map will certainly change again. “Because deltas are so dynamic, they’re either building or they’re eroding,” Muth says. “The idea that you can pick a point in time and say, ‘This is how we want the coast to look,’ is, first of all, the wrong way to think about it. And second of all, it creates an impossible situation.”

This story was produced by Atlantic Cities as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

Stephanie Garlock is a fellow at The Atlantic Cities.

Too Much Animal Protein Is as Bad as Smoking

Sustainability extends to us all.  Health and fitness are two major channels within Renewable Now.  Here's an article that is covered this week on our update.  For more RN stories, and  a link to last week's radio show, go here:  http://renewablenow.biz/main.html

In the meantime, as suggested here, go easy on the meat:



New Study Says Too Much Animal Protein Is as Bad as Smoking.

Before you take another bite of that cheeseburger, you may want to check out the latest research that discovered a high-protein diet, especially one rich in animal products, may be as harmful as smoking cigarettes.

The study tracked 6,381 adults for nearly two decades and discovered that high-protein diets that foster quick weight loss, like the Atkins and Paleo diets, were no safer than smoking cigarettes and increased the risk of dying from any cause by 74 percent. If that doesn't make you want to turn to tofu, the study also discovered the risk of dying from cancer eating a high animal protein diet is more than four times, compared to eating a low-protein diet. And don't think this research only applies to body builders throwing back whey protein shakes and raw eggs. The study also discovered that people who ate moderate amounts of protein during middle age were still three times more likely to die of cancer than low-protein eaters.

Valter Longo, a professor of gerontology and biological sciences at the University of Southern California and the study's author said, "There's a misconception that because we all eat, understanding nutrition is simple. But the question is not whether a certain diet allows you to do well for three days, but can it help you survive to be 100?".

The results were a little fuzzy in adults over the age of 65, who did not sustain as much harm from high-protein diets, probably due to the loss of muscle mass as we age and a high protein diet’s ability to maintain that muscle. Thomas Ayoob, an associate clinical professor of pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, said about the research findings, “As such it generates a hypothesis, but we shouldn’t conclude too much without additional clinical research to confirm the results, especially since things seem to flip-flop after age 65.”
Reducing meat and saturated fat in your diet and adding in more plant-based foods will no doubt benefit your health, but the animals and the earth will reap the same rewards. - See more at: http://renewablenow.biz/eating-green.html#sthash.kfpptF3g.dpuf

Simple sticks contain potential answer to cleaner drinking water

We've done many shows on efforts around the world to deliver clean water to a growing population.  This story, from Yahoo News, shows the possible solutions do not always need to be complicated or tech driven.

Kudos to MIT Professor Karnik for his great work:

By Mike Krumboltz, Yahoo NewsMarch 6, 2014 12:09 PMYahoo News

"A lack of clean drinking water is a major problem in many parts of the world. A scientist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology thinks he may have come up with a low-cost solution: sticks.

Yes, sticks. Rohit Karnik recently co-authored a study published in the journal PLOS ONE that details how xylem can be used to filter bacteria from water, NPR reports. Xylem, for those whose grasp of botany is tenuous, is a kind of "vascular tissue" in trees and plants "primarily involved in transporting water and nutrients."

Karnik told NPR xylem has "membranes with pores and other mechanisms by which bubbles are prevented from easily spreading and flowing in the xylem tissue." Those pores, Karnik found, could also be used in the filtering of bacteria in water.

From NPR:

To prove it worked, he created a simple setup in his lab. He peeled the bark off a pine branch and took the sapwood underneath containing the xylem into a tube. He then sent a stream of water containing tiny particles through the tube and showed that the wood filter removed them.

You can watch a video of the experiment here.

Karnik found that the membranes filtered out as much as 99.9 percent of the harmful bacteria.  Not bad, but while 99.9 percent is certainly better than nothing, it still falls well short of catching everything. And what it doesn't catch could still prove dangerous.

NPR spoke with Stanford University environmental expert Robert Jackson who said that when it comes to filtering bacteria, "you don't want to rely on something that's 99 percent effective."

Still, Karnik's conclusion, if accurate, is a sign he and his team are on the right track. He writes that "further research and development of xylem filters could potentially lead to their widespread use and greatly reduce the incidence of waterborne infectious disease in the world."

Approximately 3.4 million people die each year from a water-related disease, according to Water.org, and 780 million don't have access to clean drinking water".

Follow Mike Krumboltz on Twitter (@mikekrumboltz).

Potential new source of renewable energy found in humidity

We are constantly searching for new technology and possible solutions to powering our future needs without polluting our atmosphere.  Thanks to Environmental News Network, we found this interesting story.  It is incredible to us the imagination shown in searching the globe for new sources of clean energy.

From: Kristin Kusek, Harvard University 
Published February 27, 2014 12:15 PM



"A new type of electrical generator uses bacterial spores to harness the untapped power of evaporating water, according to research conducted at the Wyss Institute of Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. Its developers foresee electrical generators driven by changes in humidity from sun-warmed ponds and harbors.

The prototype generators work by harnessing the movement of a sheet of rubber coated on one side with spores. The sheet bends when it dries out, much as a pinecone opens as it dries or a freshly fallen leaf curls, and then straightens when humidity rises. Such bending back and forth means that spore-coated sheets or tiny planks can act as actuators that drive movement, and that movement can be harvested to generate electricity.

"If this technology is developed fully, it has a very promising endgame," said Ozgur Sahin, Ph.D., who led the study, first at Harvard's Rowland Institute, later at the Wyss Institute, and most recently at Columbia University, where he's now an associate professor of biological sciences and physics. Sahin collaborated with Wyss Institute faculty L. Mahadevan, Ph.D., and Loyola University faculty Adam Driks, Ph.D. The researchers reported their work in late January in Nature Nanotechnology.

Water evaporation is the largest power source in nature, Sahin said. "Sunlight hits the ocean, heats it up, and energy has to leave the ocean through evaporation," he explained. "If you think about all the ice on top of Mt. Everest — who took this huge amount of material up there? There's energy in evaporation, but it's so subtle we don't see it."

But until now no one has tapped that energy to generate electricity.

As Sahin pursued the idea of a new humidity-driven generator, he realized that Mahadevan had been investigating similar problems from a physical perspective. Specifically, he had characterized how moisture deforms materials, including biological materials such as pinecones, leaves and flowers, as well as man-made materials such as a sheet of tissue paper lying in a dish of water.

Sahin collaborated with Mahadevan and Driks on one of those studies. A soil bacterium calledBacillus subtilis, wrinkles as it dries out like a grape becoming a raisin, forming a tough, dormant spore. The results, which they reported in 2012 in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, explained why.

Unlike raisins, which cannot re-form into grapes, spores can take on water and almost immediately restore themselves to their original shape. Sahin realized that since they shrink reversibly, they had to be storing energy. In fact, spores would be particularly good at storing energy because they are rigid, yet still expand and contract a great deal, the researchers predicted."

Read more at Harvard's Wyss Institute.

The price of gold: winners and losers in Latin America's mining industry

This was sent by Greg Gerritt, one of our regular contributors.  It is the side of story not often looked at.  Admittedly, we have no closely looked at this issue.

However, we are glad to raise it now and take a closer look.   We'll give you the link and part of the story.  Get in touch if you have other stories or information on this site or others.

By: Meghan Walsh
March 05, 2014



"...Here in the Andean mountains, amid the high grassy plains, there are two distinctions of people: those who have found economic prosperity from the presence of gold, and those who have felt the social and ecological fabrics that once held this community together worn away by the invasion of corporate interests. 


Protestors march at Lake Perol in June against Conga mining project. Photo by: Meghan Walsh.

 

Conga, which the message on the mountain decries, is a $5 billion gold and copper mine slated to begin 20 years of excavation in 2016. Conga will rev up just as another massive mining operation that reshaped the region is winding down. The same companies behind Conga—Colorado-based Newmont is the majority stakeholder, followed by Peru's Buenaventura—also manage Minera Yanacocha, a repository that has yielded more than $7 billion worth of ore over the past two decades. 

Yanacocha has been a source of social and environmental turmoil throughout its tenure. Many of the locals, afraid that history is about to repeat itself, have spent the past several years dedicated to driving investors away. Demonstrators halted Yanacocha's attempts to sprawl out in the past, and their virulent protests against Conga prompted the Peruvian president to temporarily suspend construction, so it seemed as if the opposition might prevail. But as time passes it's becoming more apparent the project will continue as scheduled. So the question now is will Conga be another Yanacocha? Or will it help Cajamarcans finally rise out of poverty? 

Mining does have the potential to bolster economic development in impoverished areas. But as Leonith Hinojosa, a research fellow at University of Manchester's School of Environment and Development, wrote in an online debate hosted by Columbia University on whether mining is the key to Latin American prosperity: "Everything depends on the rules of the game.'' 

Looking back 

When Yanacocha first opened in the early 1990s, residents—the entire region has a population of about 1.3 million—thought it represented a chance for a better life. As with any project of this sort, there would be an environmental toll, along with the forced displacement of rural dwellers. But there would also be jobs and royalties and new commerce. The people, for the most part, were welcoming. But disillusionment quickly set in. 


Alpine Lake Perol: the lake will be drained and used as a waste dump if the project goes ahead. Photo by: Meghan Walsh. 

"Cajamarca had an opportunity, and we missed it," said Carlos Garcia, a native who has worked as a mine engineer for almost a decade. His name has been changed since he was not authorized to speak with me. "When Yanacocha came, everyone did things wrong. Yanacocha didn't have the best environmental standards. The [Cajamarca] government wasn't ready so they didn't take advantage of the opportunities." 

First, the seduction of employment proved a mirage. Yanacocha created more than 10,000 direct jobs (some fulltime and others on a contract basis), but most were given to educated outsiders. While poverty in Cajamarca did improve for a handful of years, it wasn't more than comparable areas without lucrative natural resources. The district continues to be one of the country's poorest..."
Read more at http://news.mongabay.com/2014/0405-walsh-price-of-gold.html#ElQXwxmmGah7AHHT.99

Ocean State Pushes Climate-Change Awareness

It was good to see this story on RI's push for climate-change awareness (though, it seems odd that we still need more awareness, but, if that is what it takes...) and to see our newest co-host, Paul Carroll, Economic Director, Newport, pictured at the State House helping to lead the charge.

Paul did a great show with us on resilience....we hope you heard it.

This is a good, cooperative effort.   One we will need to see replicated in many other places:

By TIM FAULKNER/ecoRI News staff

Rhode Island continues its campaign of climate-change awareness with a new website and new legislation.

Created by the University of Rhode Island’s Coastal Institute, the new website, called “Waves of Change,” aims to make climate change more approachable for the public. The articles are concise and free of jargon. Videos, cartoons, and even humorous music make the often-unsettling topic easier to appreciate, according to those behind the project.

A team of researchers, scientists and media experts, called the Climate Change Collaborative, runs the project. The site serves as a resource for the uninitiated, from the cynical uncle to curious students. It also encourages readers to discuss their ideas and opinions with climate experts.

Skeptics, however, won’t find information on Waves of Change to support their views.

“The site doesn’t talk to deniers. I frankly don’t think they need to be given more voice,” said Judith Swift, director of the Coastal Institute and one of the founders of the project.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said the website helps rebut the pervasive corporate-funded, climate-denial campaign. “It is an information battle," he said. "The battle between the scientists who know what they are talking about, but aren’t often very good at explaining it to an ordinary person, and on the other side, very well-trained, very cynical propagandists. We have to win this information battle."

Legislation expectedA second climate-change website (resilientri.com) is expected to go live once the Climate Resiliency Act is introduced by Rep. Art Handy, D-Cranston. The bill, expected to be submitted the week of March 2, is being sponsored for a third year by Handy, but this year it includes support from Brown University, which paid two consultants to help write the bill. University officials made the offer as a response, in part, due to pressure from students to divest the school’s endowment from the coal industry.

The bill would create a climate-change science advisory council and designate the state Department of Environmental Management (DEM) to oversee carbon reduction efforts. The state Division of Planning would oversee adaptation efforts.

To address adaptation, the act updates building codes, designates natural areas as impact buffer zones, and increases safety for the homeless and elderly. It targets carbon emissions reductions below 1990 levels — 25 percent less by 2025, 50 percent by 2035 and 80 percent by 2050.

The advisory council would make recommends for achieving carbon reductions. Market-based incentives, enhanced financing and updating the power grid are some of the expected options.

Tricia Jedele, director of the Conservation Law Foundation Rhode Island, said rebuilding in areas damaged by the 2010 flood show the need to address climate adaptation. The flooding will happen again, she said. In West Warwick, several business remain condemned because of a lack of assistance for property owners. She questioned the rebuilding of washed-out bridges and repaving of the heavily damaged parking lot at the Warwick Mall.

“Why weren’t we putting the parking garage in and giving the watershed a chance to become more resilient to adapt to these types of events?” Jedele said.

Louis Gritzo, of Johnston-based business insurer FM Global, said decisions to prepare for climate impacts comes down to convincing the public and decision-makers of the needs and benefits of adaptation.

Newport’s director of civic investment, Paul Carroll, compared climate adaptation to the state’s history of building resilient boats. It was a process that helped build a profitable maritime industry and grow the economic base, he said. “This is nothing new. It’s something that we have done for 375 years. And all it is evolving circumstances and a change," he said.

These latest climate-change initiatives come a week after Gov. Lincoln Chafee announcedthe creation of the Executive Climate Change Council. The new committee, represented by nine state agencies, will make recommendations annually for new legislation and policies to address climate-change adaptation and mitigation. It also will consider recommendations from the Climate Change Commission created by the General Assembly in 2010. Its 29 members include state legislators, environmental groups and state agencies.

APPLE Puts Climate Change Above Investment Returns !

Wow, what a story;  what a game change for the business world.  For those pure environmentalist, who do not believe the corporate world can be part of the solution, not just part of the proverbial problem, we offer this as evidence of the incredible power of company leadership to positive change.

Kudos, of course, to Apple for reshuffling their priorities.  We believe, though, this is part of a growing trend and responds to the investment community who has started to place a heavy emphasis on backing companies that have a great corporate social responsibility story to tell.  Apple is ahead of the curve, no doubt, but the business curve is definitely leaning green.

Good story giving us, at the business side of green, good feelings.

Please see this story and much more at our main site:   http://renewablenow.biz/main.html

Tim Cook to Apple Investors: Drop Dead



Apple CEO Tim Cook tells Investors Who Care More About Return on Investment than Climate Change: Your Money is No Longer Welcome

As Board Member Al Gore Cheers the Tech Giant's Dedication to Environmental Activism, Investors Left to Wonder Just How Much Shareholder Value is Being Destroyed in Efforts to Combat "Climate Change"

Free-Market Activist Presents Shareholder Resolution to Computer Giant Apple Calling for Transparency on Environmental Issues; Company Balks

Cupertino, CA / Washington DC - At the annual meeting of Apple shareholders in Cupertino, California, Apple CEO Tim Cook informed investors that are primarily concerned with making reasonable economic returns that their money is no longer welcome.

The message came in response to the National Center for Public Policy Research's shareholder resolution asking the tech giant to be transparent about its environmental activism and a question from the National Center about the company's environmental initiatives.

"Mr. Cook made it very clear to me that if I, or any other investor, was more concerned with return on investment than reducing carbon dioxide emissions, my investment is no longer welcome at Apple," said Justin Danhof, Esq., director of the National Center's Free Enterprise Project.

Danhof also asked Apple CEO Tim Cook about the company's green energy pursuits. Danhof asked whether the company's environmental investments increased or decreased the company's bottom line. After initially suggesting that the investments make economic sense, Cook said the company would pursue environmental goals even if there was no economic point at all to the venture. Danhof further asked if the company's projects would continue to make sense if the federal government stopped heavily subsidizing alternative energy. Cook completely ignored the inquiry and became visibly agitated.

Danhof went on to ask if Cook was willing to amend Apple's corporate documents to indicate that the company would not pursue environmental initiatives that have some sort of reasonable return on investment - similar to the concession the National Center recently received from General Electric. This question was greeted by boos and hisses from the Al gore contingency in the room.

"Here's the bottom line: Apple is as obsessed with the theory of so-called climate change as its board member Al Gore is," said Danhof. "The company's CEO fervently wants investors who care more about return on investments than reducing CO2 emissions to no longer invest in Apple. Maybe they should take him up on that advice."

"Although the National Center's proposal did not receive the required votes to pass, millions of Apple shareholders now know that the company is involved with organizations that don't appear to have the best interest of Apple's investors in mind," said Danhof. "Too often investors look at short-term returns and are unaware of corporate policy decisions that may affect long-term financial prospects. After today's meeting, investors can be certain that Apple is wasting untold amounts of shareholder money to combat so-called climate change. The only remaining question is: how much?"

The National Center's shareholder resolution noted that "[s]ome trade associations and business organizations have expanded beyond the promotion of traditional business goals and are lobbying business executives to pursue objectives with primarily social benefits. This may affect Company profitability and shareholder value. The Company's involvement and acquiescence in these endeavors lacks transparency, and publicly-available information about the Company's trade association memberships and related activities is minimal. An annual report to shareholders will help protect shareholder value."

Apple's full 2014 proxy statement is available here. The National Center's proposal, "Report on Company Membership and Involvement with Certain Trade Associations and Business Organizations," appears on page 60.

The National Center filed the resolution, in part, because of Apple's membership in the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), one of the country's largest trade associations. In its 2013 "Retail Sustainability Report," RILA states: "Companies will often develop individual or industry voluntary programs to reduce the need for government regulations. If a retail company minimizes its waste generation, energy and fuel usage, land-use footprint, and other environmental impacts, and strives to improve the labor conditions of the workers across its product supply chains, it will have a competitive advantage when regulations are developed."

"This shows that rather than fighting increased government regulation, RILA is cooperating with Washington, D.C.'s stranglehold on American business in a misguided effort to stop so-called climate change," said Danhof. "That is not an appropriate role for a trade association."

For even more information on RILA, read "The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA): A Cartel that Threatens Innovation and Competitiveness," by National Center Senior Fellow Dr. Bonner Cohen.

"Rather than opting for transparency, Apple opposed the National Center's resolution," noted Danhof. "Apple's actions, from hiring of President Obama's former head of the Environmental Protection Agency Lisa Jackson, to its investments in supposedly 100 percent renewable data centers, to Cook's antics at today's meeting, appear to be geared more towards combating so-called climate change rather than developing new and innovative phones and computers."

After Danhof presented the proposal, a representative of CalPERS rose to object and stated that climate change should be one of corporate America's primary concerns, and after she called carbon dioxide emissions a "mortal danger," Apple board member and former vice president Al Gore turned around and loudly clapped and cheered.

"If Apple wants to follow Al Gore and his chimera of climate change, it does so at its own peril," said Danhof. "Sustainability and the free market can work in concert, but not if Al Gore is directing corporate behavior."

"Tim Cook, like every other American, is entitled to his own political views and to be an activist of any legal sort he likes on his own time," said Amy Ridenour, chairman of the National Center for Public Policy Research. "And if Tim Cook, private citizen, does not care that over 95 percent of all climate models have over-forecast the extent of predicted global warming, and wishes to use those faulty models to lobby for government policies that raise prices, kill jobs and retard economic growth and extended lifespans in the Third World, he has a right to lobby as he likes. But as the CEO of a publicly-held corporation, Tim Cook has a responsibility to, consistent with the law, to make money for his investors. If he'd rather be CEO of the Sierra Club or Greenpeace, he should apply."
"As in the past, Cook took but a handful of questions from the many shareholders present who were eager to ask a question at the one meeting a year in which shareholder questions are taken," added Ridenour, "leaving many disappointed. Environmentalism may be a byword at Apple, but transparency surely is not." - See more at: http://renewablenow.biz/corporate-green.html#APPLE