EcoNews Report

Global warming increases the amount of moisture in the atmosphere, supercharging winter storms like the slate of atmospheric rivers that have smashed the West Coast. More moisture also means increased risk of flooding, as we have tragically experienced this year.  Lots of rain might sound good in recent drought years but it's more complicated than that. A warming planet also increases the risk of summer droughts, despite increased winter moisture. Climate scientist Michael Furniss joins Gang Green to talk through how climate impacts weather.

Required Reading:

Climate Change and California's Atmospheric Rivers

How climate change will make atmospheric rivers even worse

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I don't think it's just us: 2022 has been stressful, right? Between earthquakes and a bomb cyclone, you could use to take your mind off things. Never fear! Gang Green is here with some poetry to soothe your soul and reset the new year on a more positive note. 

The EcoNews welcomes poets Jerry Martien and Katy Gurin to read some of their poetry, discuss their creative process, and how the act of writing poetry helps spark greater joy and wonder in life. 

If you want more, check out:

• Katy Gurin
• Four poems by Katy Gurin in  Narrative Magazine
• Jerry Martien's Poetry Reading at the Arcata Playhouse - Nov. 13, 2021
• Interview with Jerry Martien - Cascadia Poetics Lab

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Humboldt's Queen of Quakes, Dr. Lori Dengler professor emeritus of geology at Cal Poly Humboldt, joins Gang Green to break down the recent 6.4 magnitude rumbler. It wasn't just you: that was a big one! It was the third most "shaky" recorded earthquake in California's history (as measured by peak ground acceleration), with 1.46 g-force of acceleration. 

Why was Rio Dell harder hit when the earthquake was centered closer to Ferndale? Why did this earthquake feel much more violent than other past earthquakes (which may have had higher magnitudes)? And what lessons can we learn from this earthquake to keep us safer in the future?

PS: Check out Thomas Dunklin's great virtual tour of the Mendocino Triple Junction.

Want more? 

• Earthquakes are not fun, make sure you are prepared for next one
• The complex relationship between small, large earthquakes
  
  

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Trespass cannabis grows, those rogue operations of pot production on public land, often employ chemicals banned for sale in the United States. Past research has demonstrated that these chemicals have poisoned rare and endangered species like the Pacific fisher, Humboldt marten, and northern spotted owl. But what are they doing to our aquatic environment? Dr. Mourad Gabriel of the Forest Service and Ivan Medel of the Integral Ecology Research Center join Gang Green to talk about their new report which found really nasty pesticides, like carbofuran, downstream from trespass grow sites.

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The recent lease auction for the Humboldt Wind Energy Areas shows that wind energy developers are excited about the potential for floating offshore wind off of Humboldt's coast. Where will these floating turbines be built? The Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation, and Conservation District is visioning how they can be built locally, with family-wage blue collar jobs building our renewable energy future. Larry Oetker, Executive Director of the Harbor District, joins Gang Green to discuss port redevelopment plans and what Humboldt Bay may look like in ten years time.

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Trying to be an ethical person in the modern world is hard. How should we weigh the site-specific impacts from wind energy development against the potential climate benefit? How far should we go to try to save an endangered species (and at what point is that resource allocation better served somewhere else)? Should we rely on our intuition or does that risk confirmation bias? Does climate change clarify our moral obligations or does it make finding the "right thing" even murkier? (Is there even a "right thing"!?)

Do you think about these things? Because Gang Green does. Colin Fiske of the Coalition for Responsible Transportation Priorities, Matt Simmons and Tom Wheeler of EPIC, Caroline Griffith of the Northcoast Environmental Center, and Alicia Hamann and Scott Greacen of Friends of the Eel River talk about how they make decisions as local environmental leaders. 

Send your own probing ethical questions to [email protected] and we may feature your question on a future episode!

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Do we have a fundamental human right to a healthy climate? If so, how do we know when our rights have been violated? 

Global climate agreements are structured to keep warming below 1.5C (or 2.7F, for our American friends). But this number reflects a political compromise—what global leaders believe is politically achievable—not a scientific understanding of climatic risks. Below this threshold, science predicts dire consequences. (Think Biblical: floods, fires, pestilence, and the like.) Yet, in informal and legal discussions of climate change, 1.5C is treated as some kind of legal litmus test. 

Professors Jen Marlow (CalPoly Humboldt), Lauren Sanckin (U. of Washington School of Law) and attorney Andrea Rodgers join Gang Green to talk about their most recent scholarship and break down the state of national and international litigation to recognize the right to a healthy climate.

For more info, see the soon-to-be published article in the Fall 2022 issue of Virginia Environmental Law Journal:

• The Injustice of 1.5˚C–2˚C: The Need for a Scientifically Based Standard of Fundamental Rights Protection in Constitutional Climate Change Cases            by Lauren Sancken, Andrea Rodgers, and Jennifer Marlow​

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The "Red Wave" turned out to be more like a ripple, with Democrats holding onto the Senate and Republicans taking only a slim majority in the House. What does this election mean for our environment? LoCo Editor Hank Sims joins Gang Green to breakdown local, state, and national election results.

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On this week’s edition of the EcoNews Report, host Alicia Hamann of Friends of the Eel River is joined by three fisheries experts to talk about how we count fish in the Eel River. 

Tune in to hear from Wyatt Smith from the Round Valley Indian Tribes, Dave Kajtaniak from the Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Charlie Schneider from California Trout as they discuss DIDSON cameras installed throughout the watershed and what data collected from these monitoring stations tells us about salmon and steelhead populations in the entire Eel River. This data can help influence conservation decisions as we work to meet recovery target population numbers for species listed under the Endangered Species Act. The data we discuss in this episode is specific to the mainstem Eel River, so it is not reflective of entire populations in the watershed, but rather a helpful indicator of just how many fish are out there.

LINKS:

• Redwood Empire Trout Unlimited
• Friends of the Eel

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On this week's EcoNews Report, host Tom Wheeler talks to friends from across California about "rewilding." What the heck is rewilding? It is a global movement to restore lands and ecosystems to a more complex and "wild" state, often with the reintroduction of keystone species—think large mammals like elk or ecosystem engineers like beavers—that may be absent. 

This episode is a crossover collaboration with John Davis of the Rewilding Institute (and host of the Rewildling Earth Podcast) and the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center. 

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