The World Warms and Tempers Flair

There are the obvious changes that global warming is bringing us: melting glaciers, rising seas, hotter and more extreme weather. But according to some recent research—and if you think about it some basic common sense—climate change is changing us as well.

            Drawing on everything from ancient tree rings to observing road rage, Berkley scientists have come to the conclusion that a warmer world will be a more violent world. On the face of it, it just seems to make sense. It’s pretty common knowledge that as the mercury rises, people’s tempers develop shorter and shorter fuses. OK, I know that professional hockey kind of throws a monkey wrench into this observation, but for the most part the hotter it is, the more likely it is that people’s tempers will flair. Riots don’t develop in the summertime, not when it’s snowing outside. And kids’ snowball battles are less likely to escalate into serious confrontations than their summertime ball games do.

            The world is changing and we are changing as well.

As the world warms, will we be able to keep our cool?

New Video From the Smithsonian Displays the Enormity of Mountaintop Removal

This I’ve seen the documentaries On Coal River and The Last Mountain, which give you a very good idea of the costs to people’s lives because of mountaintop coal mining, but this new video from the Smithsonian Institution is perhaps one of the best primers on mountaintop removal that reveals the enormity of this holocaust that has ripped up Appalachia.

The NRA's Hunt For Truth Campaign Gets Shot Down By Knowledge and Science

UPDATES BELOW

Although I have my thoughts and opinions about guns, I don’t share them here on this blog. This is an environmental blog, and getting off topic into the gun debate would just, well, get me off topic. But guns are one thing and ammunition is another, and that is just what I want to talk about today.
            The National Rifle Association has a campaign called Hunt For Truth—www.huntfortruth.org—with the goal of keeping lead bullets and other ammunition that contains lead on the market.
            Because of the problems that lead based ammunition causes wildlife there are efforts to replace lead in ammunition with less toxic substances. The legislature of California, which tends to lead the nation when it comes to consumer protection, workplace safety, and environmental issues, is considering the Assembly Bill 711. Citing the California condor specifically in the legislation, the bill would require the replacement of lead in game ammunition.
            Through their Hunt For Truth campaign the NRA is attacking A.B. 711. Like the tobacco companies before them who spread doubt and obfuscation about cancer and other health risks associated with smoking, and like the fossil fuel companies and their “think tanks” that continue to attack the science and scientists who study global warming, the National Rifle Association is trying to attack the science that indicates that lead ammo poisons carnivores, birds of prey, and scavengers.
            Going back more than 3000 years ago, lead has been recognized as a toxic substance. Around the time of Socrates the Greeks knew of lead’s poisonous qualities, and there are historians who believe that the fall of the Roman Empire was due, at least in part, to the ubiquitous use of lead by the Romans, particularly those among the upper classes. Due to this long history and its widespread use in industry—remember, we used to put lead in paint and gasoline—lead is one of the most well studied poisonous substances. We know more about lead and what it can do to people’s hearts, kidneys, bones, intestines, and nervous systems than just about any other toxin.

            And as well, lead and its effects on wildlife is also well-studied.[i][ii][iii][iv][v][vi][vii][viii] It’s been known for some time that carnivores and scavengers ingest lead when they eat carrion that has been shot and killed with ammunition made from lead. Over time, as these birds, cats, and bears eat more and more lead tainted carrion the toxin builds up in their bodies and affects their health and ability to reproduce. The near extinction of the California condor is believed to be due in part to this bird suffering from lead toxicity.

            With Hunt For Truth the NRA uses all the rhetorical devices that have been used for decades by tobacco and fossil fuel industries. The conclusions of scientific research they call “opinions” and frame their position, that lead based ammunition is benign, and that of the scientific conclusions that lead poisons wildlife as a “debate.”

            Now I can understand that there are folks in the NRA who feel that lead makes better bullets. I won’t argue that point. Maybe a bullet made of lead flies truer and can kill its intended victim far better than a bullet made of copper or steel. But don’t try to make an ad campaign that runs counter to thousands of years of knowledge and some of the best recent scientific research. Lead poisoning condors is not an opinion. It’s what the science concludes.

UPDATE 8/9/13: Apparently, knowledge and science proved to be even more powerful than the NRA. According to Media Matters, the Hunt For Truth website has been pulled by the National Rifle Association. If you go to the url www.huntfortruth.org you get a message that the site is down for scheduled maintenance.  I guess Media Matters is right. I don't know that other sites go down for a long time for "scheduled maintenance."

UPDATE: 8/19/13 Apparently there was some wishful thinking over at Media Matters, who claimed that the NRA had pulled this Hunt For Truth campaign. The Hunt For Truth website is back up and seems not to have changed at all. They still want lead in their bullets. 

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[i] Juan Manuel Blanco, et al. "Assessment Of Lead Exposure In Spanish Imperial Eagle ( Aquila Adalberti) From Spent Ammunition In Central Spain." Ecotoxicology 20.4 (2011): 670-681. Environment Complete. Web. 6 Aug. 2013.

[ii] Donald R. Smith, et al. "Health Risks from Lead-Based Ammunition in the Environment." Environmental Health Perspectives June 2013: A178+. Environment Complete. Web. 6 Aug. 2013.

[iii] Kerry R. Foresman, et al. "Lead Exposure In Large Carnivores In The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem." Journal Of Wildlife Management 76.3 (2012): 575-582. Environment Complete. Web. 6 Aug. 2013.

[iv] A. Bignert, et al. "Ingestion Of Lead From Ammunition And Lead Concentrations In White-Tailed Sea Eagles (Haliaeetus Albicilla) In Sweden." Science Of The Total Environment 407.21 (2009): 5555-5563. Environment Complete. Web. 6 Aug. 2013.

[v] Colin Gillin, et al. "Acute Lead Toxicosis Via Ingestion Of Spent Ammunition In A Free-Ranging Cougar (Puma Concolor)." Journal Of Wildlife Diseases 48.1 (2012): 216-219. Environment Complete. Web. 6 Aug. 2013.

[vi] Cade, Tom J. "Exposure Of California Condors To Lead From Spent Ammunition." Journal Of Wildlife Management 71.7 (2007): 2125-2133. Environment Complete. Web. 6 Aug. 2013.

[vii] Fernando Hiraldo, et al. "Widening The Problem Of Lead Poisoning To A South-American Top Scavenger: Lead Concentrations In Feathers Of Wild Andean Condors." Biological Conservation 144.5 (2011): 1464-1471. Environment Complete. Web. 6 Aug. 2013.

[viii] José Antonio Donázar, et al. "Long-Term Effects Of Lead Poisoning On Bone Mineralization In Vultures Exposed To Ammunition Sources." Environmental Pollution 157.2 (2009): 569-574. Environment Complete. Web. 6 Aug. 2013.

Big Crazy: ALF Steals Some Pheasants and the FBI Calls It Terrorism

This just happened a bit north of where I live, up in Riverside. In the last couple of weeks a couple who raises pheasants for commercial sale to hunters had their farm broken into by members of the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) who the stole or released more than a dozen of the prized birds. The theft of the birds and vandalism of the property is being investigated by the FBI as an act of terrorism.

            That’s right, terrorism. As far as the FBI is concerned, this break-in performed with some wire cutters is on par with pressure cooker bombs killing people in Boston and airliners being flown into skyscrapers.

            I certainly have no patience for ALF. Though I can respect their beliefs about animals, and sometimes agree with their valuation of the lives of animals, I think that by taking part in blatantly illegal and destructive activities like stealing these pheasants they really don’t help anybody and don’t really help any animals. The people who committed this crime should be prosecuted.

            But is this terrorism? To think so is Big Crazy. As a spokesman for ALF, Dr. Jerry Vlasak, said, “Terrorism is thrown around a lot these days. It’s disrespectful to the victims of Boston or New York. Terrorism is flying planes into buildings, not setting animals free.”

We Got Willie Nelson On Our Side: NRDC Launches Music Saves Mountains

While we are plugged into Pandora or listening to our CDs and downloads it is easy to forget the power of music. For millennia work songs alleviated the drudgery of hammering, milling, and tilling the soil. Union songs increased solidarity and aided the battle for workers' rights. And those of you who are baby boomers remember the power of the protest songs that inspired and helped to bring an end to the Vietnam War.

            Now, tapping into the power of music, Emmylou Harris, Dave Mathews, Sheryl Crow, and several other prominent performers are lending their talents to end mountaintop removal. The Natural Resources Defense Council is sponsoring the effort and calling the campaign “Music Saves Mountains.” I don’t see any information on tours or recordings, but Willie Nelson has lent his rendition of “America the Beautiful” to the video below as part of the campaign.

For those of you who lived through the sixties, you remember the protest songs, but there were also the hits such as Barry Sadler’s “Ballad of the Green Berets” that glorified the war. This time around is no different. Below is “Coal Keeps the Lights On.”

This performer doesn’t mention mountaintop removal, but the paean to coal in his song is unwavering. Nowhere in the lyrics is there any mention of slurry impoundments, acid mine runoff, or the lives shortened from cancers and black lung disease.

            Maybe this all just amounts to a battle of the bands. But I’m pleased that we’ve got Willie and Emmylou on our side.

West Virginia Democrats Hold Hands With King Coal and Go to Washington

The West Virginia Democrats go to Washington

As Ken Ward points out, it is a sad commentary on the politics of West Virginia when one political party, the GOP, repeats the mantra of “Obama’s war on coal,” while the Democrats, holding the hands of King Coal, go to Washington to give Gina McCarthy, the new EPA head, an earful about regulations on the coal industry and coal mining.

            In the meantime, neither party is speaking about the real reasons for coal’s decline in Appalachia: cheaper natural gas, competition from other coal producing areas, and the dwindling seams of cheap and easy coal in the Mountain State.

Hey, Kids, Can You Keep a Secret? Pennsylvania Fracking Settlement Includes Couple's Children

In reaching a monetary settlement with fossil fuel companies over damages cased by the companies’ fracking, a Pennsylvania couple has been placed under a gag order to not talk about the terms and conditions of the settlement. And their children have, too.

            Chris and Stephanie Hallowichs claimed that the fracking performed by Range Resources, Williams Gas/Laurel Mountain Midstream and MarkWest Energy adjacent to their 10-acre farm in western Pennsylvania contaminated their water supply and harmed the health of their entire family. They experienced burning eyes, sore throats, headaches, and earaches. They settled with the fossil fuel companies for an undisclosed amount.

            Gag orders in court settlements aren’t unusual. But this is the first time that children have been included in a gag order. As the article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette points out, legal viewpoints differ on whether children can be included in such a gag order. My suspicion is that the children were included to throw a wild card into the settlement. The lawyers for the gas companies know that adults have a hard time keeping their mouths shut, and it is almost impossible for children and teenagers to keep a secret. If one of the kids talks, it voids the settlement.

            It could be a win-win for the fracking companies.