Midwest Flooding/Rain Breaking Records

UPDATE: 7-1-14:

Storm-hit Chicago struggles with flooding, power outages

CHICAGO -- The city and region were recovering Tuesday after a major storm that included torrential rains and hurricane-like winds brought havoc to two of the nation's busiest airports and left thousands without power.

The storm system may have produced small tornadoes in areas south of Chicago, where there were widespread reports of downed trees and winds as high as 86 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service.

Parts of Interstate 190 near O'Hare International Airport were covered with as much as a foot of water Tuesday morning, plaguing commuters and travelers. With all but one lane of I-190 shut down, many travelers left their cars and tried to walk to the airport with their luggage

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Swimming was banned at the city's 27 beaches after two Chicago River locks were opened, sending waste water into Lake Michigan.

Elsewhere in the Midwest, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said rising flood weathers, which made 11 locks and dams impassable, forced the closure of the Mississippi River from Bellevue, Iowa, to Saverton, Mo.

In southeast Wisconsin, about 115,000 people were without power from the storms, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. About 35,000 were still without power Tuesday morning. A spokesman for We Energies told the newspaper it was the worst storm since 2005.

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The city was still battling flood water generated by heavy rain at the height of the storm. At one point, Midway Airport registered nearly an inch of rain in just 7 minutes, according to WGN's Weather Blog.

From just a few days ago:



Heavy rains hits Chicago; Widespread flooding reported

Enjoying the "new normal?"

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The Midwest Receives Two Months Of Rainfall In One Week

Downpours in the Midwest this week have damaged crops and could lead to a delay in grain shipments.

Some parts of the Midwest — including parts of Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Nebraska — received 5 to 10 inches of rain over the course of a week, an amount that’s the equivalent of two months of rainfall in the region. In Minnesota, the rain caused mudslides and forced evacuations, and in Minneapolis, four inches of rain fell on Thursday, breaking records for the most rain to ever fall in the city on one day in June. Rains also forced a bridge connecting Minnesota and Wisconsin to close indefinitely on Monday, due to high water levels. Minnesota’s governor declared a state of emergency in 35 Minnesota counties on Thursday, and the Twin Cities have set records for the wettest year so far since 1871 and one of the wettest Junes ever recorded.

snip

The rain has damaged corn and soybean crops, according to local reports, with water slow to drain from farmers’ fields. If farmers can get the water off their crops over the next few days, the crops could survive, and soybeans can be replanted this late in the season. The rains also elevated river levels, which could temporarily halt grain shipments in the region.

The Midwest’s recent patterns of floods, droughts and damaged crops are in line with predictions for the region in this year’s National Climate Assessment. Texas, too, experienced some major flooding this week, with the city of Glen Rose receiving 8.5 inches of rain on Sunday. The rain in Texas did provide some relief for the drought-stricken state — this year was the fourth-driest on record before the rains fell; after, it was the sixth-driest. Texas and neighboring Louisiana were also hit by flooding last month.

As rains soak the Midwest, California is parched, with 100 percent of the state in the most severe stages of drought.

End of excerpt

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Britain, Bolivia, Columbia, Bosnia, Alaska, Thailand, Sri Lanka, China, even Saudi Arabia among many other areas of the world- all experiencing incidences of increased precipitation and events that would be categorized as unusual or extreme. I don't really need to go on about the reasons for these events as I have done so numerous times on this blog. I will continue however, to show it happening because people need to see what our continued consumption is costing us and future generations. I wonder how long it will take before cities will be uninhabitable because of the constant extreme events plaguing the areas. When crops can no longer be sown in certain areas either due to extreme flooding or drought.

Midwest Flooding Crisis: Mississippi River Crests in Minneapolis, But Concerns Remain

We saw huge floods in 2011 with the Mississippi River cresting at record levels only to see it fall to record low levels the next year.

Residents of several Midwest states would be just fine not seeing any more rainfall for a couple of weeks, but they might have to wait a few more days to get the fair weather they've craved.

River levels have soared over the past few weeks in South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin, flooding towns, killing crops and even setting off a mudslide in Minneapolis. The Mississippi River has been pushed into major flood stage in the Twin Cities, as have 50-year-old levees, according to TwinCities.com.

St. Paul, Minnesota, has been placed under a state of emergency for the first time since 2011, according to a Chicago Tribune report. The declaration allows the state to move necessary resources into the area to aid in the recovery.

(PHOTOS: Satellites Show Massive Changes to Our Planet)

"More clusters of thunderstorms with locally heavy rainfall are in the forecast this weekend, possibly persisting through Monday in parts of the waterlogged Midwest," said weather.com senior meteorologist Jon Erdman.

Though meteorologists can't forecast exactly where those storms will pop up, if they form over the hardest-hit areas, another several inches of rainfall could quickly overwhelm smaller streams and creeks, and trigger additional rises on mainstem rivers.

'This ... is the whole state'

Other severe weather events — past floods included — have done little to prepare Minnesotans for the disaster unfolding all over the state. According to a New York Times report, this event is happening later than most floods that affect Minnesota, which forced officials to quickly prepare emergency deluge-fighting procedures. Sandbags had to be collected by the thousands, while flood walls and barriers needed to be built to minimize the damage.

Still, this event was so vast that it was hard to protect everyone, everywhere.

“I’ve seen severe weather — tornadoes, flash floods and ice storms — but usually they impact one area of the state," Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton told the Times. "This one is the whole state.”

In St. Paul, the Mississippi River was expected to crest Thursday. The river is expected to remain at major flood stage through at least the middle of next week, depending on how much more rain the region receives.

End of excerpt

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ABC US News | ABC Sports News



"No one's ever seen it like this before."

But you will see it again... Such a shame too that the well made up anchor with her red slicker on couldn't even say those two words... Tragic and criminal how the US media has gagged the truth from its broadcasts as it breaks away to show us another natural gas ad... Even on my local station they show constant footage of record flooding, severe storms, drought, wildfires-----all with a smile on their face. How do they sleep at night?

South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa: Floods Turn Deadly, Millions in Damage Left Behind

Over six inches of rain in eight hours fell on the south side of the Twin Cities metro Thursday morning, sending Minnehaha Creek out of its banks. Nearby homeowners were scurrying to sandbag to protect their homes against the rising creek.

Minnesota officials toured water-logged areas of the state Friday, saying the severity and breadth of flooding make a federal disaster request a near certainty and a special legislative session a possibility.

Farm fields are under water, roads have been washed out, dams have failed and water has infiltrated homes from the far north to the far south of Minnesota. Four state parks have been fully or partially closed because of high water.

"The damage is really unprecedented and very widespread," Gov. Mark Dayton said before boarding a plane to southern Minnesota along with U.S. Sens. Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar. Dayton has already declared a state of emergency in nearly half of Minnesota's counties.

Damage assessments already total in the millions even before surveying can start in many places soaked by downpours over the past week. Some lakes and rivers swelled to record levels, with others not expected to crest for days, if not weeks.

Thursday was the record wettest June day in the Twin Cities, as 4.13 inches fell on Thursday. This topped the old record from June 29, 1877 (3.48 inches). Also, through June 19, it has been the record wettest year-to-date in the Twin Cities, with just over 25 inches of precipitation (rain, melted snow equivalent). This is about 13 inches wetter than average for the year, so far.

End of excerpt

Also see:

Severe Storms Flood Streets, Uproot Trees, Knock Out Power

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Also remember that many of the areas flooding have overloads of nitrogen fertilizers, chemicals and fracking fluids to add even more concern to the fact that your crops have been decimated. Which then of course leads to the threat of diseases and also food price increases. This is it people. The "new normal" is already here. Also in India which is experiencing a record heatwave with over 160 people dead the monsoons that were extreme last year are weak this year which puts a strain on energy as well as crops and health: Monsoon expected in North India by July 5; 80% deficient rainfall in Gujarat, Rajasthan.

Also see:

Serbia Experiencing Worst Floods In 150 years

Thousands Remain Homeless After Solomon Islands Floods

Bolivia And Britain: A Tale Of Two Floods and Some Climate Truth

Battle of Britain-Period of Consequences

Colorado Flooding: Breaking Records, Cutting Off Towns

Floods Ravage Sudan and The World As We Sit watching

Days Of Torrential Rain In China As Death Toll From Extreme India Monsoon Expected To Reach 5000

Alberta, Canada Sees Worst Flooding In Decades

UPDATE 6-6-13:Czech Floods...Floods in Central Europe... Floods in the Midwest... Monster Tornadoes...Heatwaves...Glacier Melting...Excessive Drought... Now, What Could Be The Reason? Really? People Are Still Asking That Question?



This is what we are now seeing the effects of. Look to California drought as well.

THIS is what we should be seeing on our local news!

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A Bloody War For Water In Mexico

A Bloody War For Water In Mexico

By Alasdair Baverstock

Filling a glass from his garden faucet, Juan Ramírez held the swirling water up to the intense Mexican sun. Satisfied with its purity, he touched his glass gently against my own. “Your health,” he toasted, before drinking it down in one gulp.

Mexico City’s reservoirs consistently rank amongst the most contaminated supplies to any world capital. Drinking from the tap here is simply not recommended. Ramírez’s water, however, comes directly from a volcanic spring in San Bartolo Ameyalco, an otherwise impoverished town on the hilly southwestern outskirts of Mexico City, in the borough called Alvaro Obregon.

“My grandfather drank from our town’s spring, and his grandfather before him,” Ramírez told me when I visited the town this weekend. “Now the government wants to pipe our town’s water directly into rich households and leave us with its contaminated filth. We are not going to let that happen.”

Ramírez is leader of a group in San Bartolo Ameyalco intent on keeping their water supply local. Last Wednesday, Ramírez along with approximately two thousand other residents of Ameyalco attacked a police force of fifteen hundred riot officers who were guarding the final construction stage of a pipeline that will connect the town’s volcanic spring to Santa Fe, one of the most affluent districts of the Mexican capital.

In videos posted online, San Bartolo residents are seen violently pummeling an officer in riot gear who had fallen to the ground.

The residents beat back both police and pipeline engineers, leaving at least 100 police officers injured, 20 seriously. Residents said dozens were injured on their side, and authorities arrested five people. Mexico City’s government warned that more arrests would come.

While the battle of the morning of May 21 was won by the residents of San Bartolo Ameyalco, what the locals now popularly call the ‘Water War’ is sure to be long and tense.

“The people are united,” said María Chávez, one of the leaders of the town’s resistance, which has based itself in the public library. The municipal building is papered with messages of support from other towns in the region. A banner proclaimed: “Our water is not for sale.”

“When the local government’s plans to extend our pipelines further afield were drawn up last year, the authorities refused to negotiate with us. Leonel Luna [the borough delegate] told us the water would be going to help other communities in the region,” she told VICE News. “It’s only now that we have put up a fight that they want to talk things over.”

Mexico City’s government sees the international business-aimed satellite city of Santa Fe, a high-end urbanization zone rapidly built upon a dumping ground with no prior water infrastructure, as a pillar of the local and even national economy. Although the details of the plan remain murky, San Bartolo Ameyalco residents are rightly suspicious of any scheme to divert their pure water to the international corporate offices nearby.

Ameyalco, meaning “place where the water spouts” in Nahuatl, was engulfed by Mexico City’s urban sprawl in the 1950s. Its spring produces 60 liters of pure water every second, an amount which runs thin for the 35,000 people who depend on it.

The narrow streets still channel the smells of pine sap and cooking tortillas on the cold mountain air. Neighbors chat in the marketplace about past victories and future strategies and children kick soccer balls against the main square’s murals of the village’s prized spring.

“When I was a child the water was endless,” said Alejandra Espinosa, another town resident. Espinosa has lived her entire 54 years in San Bartolo. “Now, due to the larger population, parts of the town can go a week at a time without running water.”

Mexico City has serious problems with water shortages. One in three homes has no access to running water, forcing them to depend heavily upon water trucks called pipas, which refill homes’ water tanks at exorbitant prices. Seventy-four per cent of the capital’s water is pumped from underground, causing the city itself to sink.

Leonel Luna, delegate of the Alvaro Obregon borough, has stated the spring is to be redirected to serve other towns in the area. Luna claims opposition to the project has been funded by the same businessmen who sell water from pipas, and who don’t want to lose their customer base if more running water is made available to other towns.

Since the government’s announcement in April 2013 that the spring would be connected to a wider network covering the borough, residents of San Bartolo set up camp beside their main supply tank to defend their precious resource. The project to tap the San Bartolo spring for wider use has been in the works for almost two decades, though, authorities note.

On May 21, the town’s church bells sounded out across the hillside to announce the authorities’ arrival. The residents responded to the signal by hurling rocks in the narrow streets, launching fireworks at the police line from windows and destroying plumbing equipment.

“This water belongs to us,” says Manuel Rueda, another activist I met at the public library the movement is using as a base of operations. “We can’t end up paying for the city’s poor planning.”

End of excerpt

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Be prepared. Mexico is just the beginning. The Southwest US and the Midwest will one day be dry as well and then a war over Great Lakes water will ensue. While I don't condone violence it is inevitable when the only source of life of a community is taken by those who have squandered theirs.

This is from CNN Mexico

This was very intense.

101 heridos, 20 graves, en un enfrentamiento con la policía del DF

Page gives you the ability to translate



All this to guard a pipeline to divert this water to the more affluent business area of Sante Fe. Shades Of Bolivia in 2000.





People are willing to fight and die for water. In the world we are making, it will be necessary.



I actually cried watching this because I know this is where the world is heading. Government control/privatization of the world's water is a primary goal now.

I will be following up on what happens in San Bartolo Ameyalco, as the poor there fight to protect their water.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Water Being Shut Off To Thousands In Detroit

UPDATE 7-8-14: Detroit Water Shutoffs: A Human Rights Crisis Turning to Tragedy

Why spend so much time commenting on Detroit? Because the city of more than 700,000 people is bankrupt, turning the water off on over one hundred thousand water customers, and now axing the contracts of nonprofit human service groups that have been providing safety net services for Detroit’s legions of poor people residing in devastated neighborhoods. Is there any hope?

Inell Byrd, a 41-year-old home health aide still living in Detroit’s North End, told New York Times writer James Eligon, “I know the city is coming back.” That was the concluding sentence of Eligon’s moving portrait of residents of the North End, east of the Woodward Corridor of Detroit, and how they are holding on as they watch their city fall apart beneath them. Even in Ms. Byrd’s case, the story is heart-wrenching. Working two jobs to take care of her retired husband, who cannot work due to having suffered two strokes, Ms. Byrd owes $4,500 in back taxes. She has contemplated selling her home, but she pulled the house off the market after getting mostly lowball offers from white buyers.

Eligon also writes about Banika Jones, a 34-year-old woman living in the North End. After overcoming suspicions of the white social activists coming into her neighborhood, she now volunteers with one of the white-led groups, the Michigan Urban Farming Initiative. Almost in passing, Eligon notes that Jones lives in a home with no electricity and no running water because, he says, she cannot afford to pay for utilities.

Despite the concerns that the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department was shutting off the water on poor people in violation of international human rights covenants, WDIV (Channel 4 in Detroit) reported over the weekend that the Water Department is going door-by-door, block-by-block shutting off this basic service on residents who are delinquent in their water payments—some 1,500 to 2,000 customers a week, according to WDIV. The city says that residents owe over $100 million in unpaid bills. Half of the city’s water customers owe more than $150, and the average unpaid water bill is $560.

Across the border, the view of the Hamilton Spectator is that Detroit is becoming like a “pioneer town,” with no water services for increasing numbers of hard-pressed residents. Although Nonprofit Quarterly was all over this story early on, commenting on the efforts of Detroit-area advocacy groups such as the People’s Water Coalition as well as Congressman John Conyers to bring this issue to the attention of Congress, the White House, and even the United Nations, the uptake by mainstream network and cable national TV news organizations has been slow. Finally, NBC Nightly News picked up the story just recently.

Something isn’t connecting on this story. Comments abound in various places that Detroiters who are behind on their water bills are getting what they deserve, that it’s time for Detroit to start getting people to pay their water bills, electricity bills, and property taxes. Somehow, the notion that water service is not a discretionary luxury purchase isn’t getting through.

End of excerpt.

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The actions or lack thereof of the government and the continued inhumanity shown by the water company here tells me this is all being done by design in order to privatize the water system here and drive out the poor and black residents. They want Detroit to fail. Any person with any semblance of humanity knows that something could be worked out in order to keep the water on. Water is a basic human right not a "product." Shame on the Obama administration for turning away from this crisis in our own country.

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UPDATE 6-24-14 from Democracy Now:



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Groups Appeal to UN for 'Humanity' as Detroit Shuts Off Water to Thousands

As thousands of people in Detroit go without water, and the city moves to cut off services to tens of thousands more, concerned organizations have taken the unusual step of appealing to the United Nations to intervene and protect the "human right to water."

“After decades of policies that put businesses and profits ahead of the public good, the city now has a major crisis on its hands, said Maude Barlow, founder of Blue Planet Project and board chair of Food & Water Watch, in a statement. “By denying water service to thousands, Detroit is violating the human right to water."

The Submission to the Special Rapporteur was released Wednesday by the Detroit People’s Water Board, the Blue Planet Project, the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization and Food & Water Watch.

It calls for the "state of Michigan and U.S. government to respect the human right to water and sanitation" and for shut-offs to be halted, services restored, and water to be made accessible and affordable.

The report comes on the heels of the Detroit's city council's Tuesday approval of an 8.7 percent increase in water rates, part of a long-standing trend that, according to Food & Water Watch, has seen prices increase 119 percent over the past decade.

This rate hike follows an announcement in March by the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department that it would start turning off water for accounts that are past due. According to a late May Director's Report from the DWSD, there were "44,273 shut-off notices sent to customers in April 2014" alone, resulting in "3,025 shut-offs for nonpayment, and additional collections of $400,000."

Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr, who was appointed to power by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder in March 2013, has aggressively pursued privatization and austerity measures across the city. "Nothing is off the chopping block, including water utilities, which are being considered for regionalization, sale, lease, and/or public private partnership and are currently subject to mediation by a federal district judge," reads the report.

End of excerpt

Also see:

Apartheid In Detroit: Water For Corporations/Not People

Bill and Hillary Clinton were up to their ears in more than $10 million worth of legal debt at the end of Clinton’s tenure as president. Donald Trump was bailed out of four bankruptcies. But Detroit residents are having a basic human right – the access to water – cancelled for being late on bills of $150.

In the spring, Detroit’s Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr ordered water shutoffs for 150,000 Detroit residents late on their bills. Orr is an unelected bureaucrat accountable only to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, who appointed Orr and several other “emergency managers” in largely poor, black communities like Detroit, Benton Harbor, Flint, and Highland Park, to make all financial decisions on behalf of local elected governments.

Orr’s plan will shut off water for 1,500 to 3,000 Detroit residents each week. Neither Orr nor Homrich, the contracting company Orr hired to shut off residents’ water, answered calls for interview requests.

Detroit citizens have been protesting the decision on the basis that water is a human right that cannot be denied to families who need it for cooking, bathing and flushing toilets. Many residents facing water shutoffs are currently on monthly payment plans with the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD), paying upwards of $160 per month as water rates continue to rise, and were given no prior notice that their water was about to be cut off. Last week, the Detroit City Council held a public hearing to discuss a proposed 4 percent hike in water rates.

“The families I’ve talked to in my neighborhood and others around the city are confused about why they’re being hit (in this way),” community activist Russ Bellant told the Michigan Citizen. “Some knew they were behind, but thought they’d have time to pay it. These are people who mow the lawn on the vacant lots next door (to them).”

As the Michigan Citizen reported, residents with delinquent water bills are losing their water while prominent Detroit corporations with much larger delinquent water bills are being left alone. The Palmer Park Golf Club owes $200,000. Joe Louis Arena, home of the Detroit Red Wings, owes DWSD $80,000. Ford Field owes $55,000. Kevyn Orr is arguing that the shutoffs are necessary to pay for the DWSD infrastructure – yet when Detroit raised $1 billion in bonds to pay for new infrastructure, $537 million of it went to banks like JPMorgan Chase, UBS and Morgan Stanley to pay off interest instead.

Community activists are placing blame on the structural, institutionalized poverty in Detroit that forces the people to foot the bill for corporate mismanagement. Detroit’s bankruptcy and urban blight is a direct result of the housing bubble that burst, putting over 60,000 homes in foreclosure and rendering thousands of families homeless.

Dan Gilbert, the billionaire owner of Quicken Loans who is financing much of the gentrified development of downtown Detroit, has been particularly blamed for his company’s role in exacerbating the foreclosure crisis through its intimidation of homeowners, pressuring them into risky subprime lending schemes.

“Instead of going after the corporate institutions who owe millions, they’d rather turn off the water for poor people,” said Demeeko Williams, an organizer with Detroiters Resisting Emergency Management.

End of excerpt

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Outrageous. Yet, nothing in the corporate media, but why would there be? This country is run by corporations. We bail out GM, we bail out insurance companies, we bail out banks, we bail out Wall Street. However, for those too poor to afford increased water bills? Oh no, YOU are on your own. I doubt appealing for "humanity" to the UN when it is obvious they cannot even show that in climate negotiations will bear any fruit. I would hope I am wrong at least about that. Where is our govt? The state? Where is Obama now? He was recently involved in interceding to send striking workers back to their jobs, but now can't even say one word in defense of the people here to bring their water back? Do you get the feeling that there is really no difference between parties in DC?

Regardless of what anyone says about money water is a public trust that all humans need for life and health. Attempts to cut off this source of life and health by any entity deeming to own it is a breach of that public trust and the commons. I really don't have much faith that the UN will do anything. I do however hope the people of Detroit raise hell because this constant abuse of the poor and middle class in America to pay for political and corporate mismanagement and corruption needs to end now.

Tell Detroit To Turn The Taps Back On

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Chile Scraps Huge Patagonia Dam Project

Chile Scraps Huge Patagonia Dam Project After Years of Controversy



By Brian Clark Howard

Chile's government canceled a controversial plan for five dams on two of Patagonia's wildest rivers Tuesday, after an eight-year battle between environmentalists and developers.

Chile's Committee of Ministers overturned the environmental permits for the HidroAysén project, which would have put dams on the Baker and Pascua Rivers, flooding 5,900 hectares of land in order to generate hydroelectric power.

The committee had previously approved the permits in 2011, but has faced strong public opposition to the plan inside Chile and from the international environmental community. (See related blog post: "A Battle Over the Quest to Tap Patagonia's Rivers for Energy.")

"Patagonia's rugged and varied wilderness is truly an environmental treasure," Amanda Maxwell, Latin America project director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement.

"These giant dams would have put at risk the wilderness, traditional culture, and local tourism economy of this remarkable region."

Patricio Rodrigo, executive secretary of the Patagonia Defense Council, a coalition of nearly 70 Chilean and international organizations, said in a statement: "The government's definitive rejection of the HidroAysén project is not only the greatest triumph of the environmental movement in Chile, but marks a turning point, where an empowered public demands to be heard and to participate in the decisions that affect their environment and lives."

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Incredible news and a great victory for the environment and Chile. The region of Patagonia is one of the most beautiful on Earth. Though some will argue that hydroelectric dams are renewable energy that is actually not the case.

Ten Things You Should Know About Dams



It is so gratifying to see people coming together for a good cause and actually winning. That seems to be a rarity these days.



The proliferation of mega-dams has been a blight on agriculture, culture and the rivers themselves. Construction companies in collusion with governments reap the rewards while the poor also suffer loss of homeland, farmland and are many times not the recipients of the energy being generated as it is outsourced to richer communities. There are other ways to generate renewable energy for a country the size of Chile that do not require destroying its beauty. Sources mentioned in the article are all viable however, reading that Chile may now seek to import natural gas is not a good thing. Why stand up so firmly to stop this dam and then revert to importing an energy source that also pollutes water and destroys land as well as contributing to climate change? I truly hope the government reconsiders this option and sticks to truly renewable sources, particularly as we see Patagonian glaciers receding rapidly. Also, be vigilant. The powerful interests do not give up easily.



This is just one glacier. The report linked above sites 90% have retreated rapidly between 2000-2011.



Also to end, this is not only about climate change and searching for a source to satisfy our lust for energy for ourselves. This is about a spiritual connection to the Earth that transcends the petty squabbles of humans. We must learn to never lose that connection we have to Earth. If we do videos like this will no longer be possible and we will have lost the greatest gift we have ever known.

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Deadly Starfish Disease Explodes On Oregon Coast/With Addition

Northern rainbow star afflicted with sea star wasting disease. This species had virtually disappeared from central California kelp forests as of February 2014. Photo: Steve Lonhart / NOAA MBNMS

Deadly starfish disease explodes on Oregon coast

BY JEFF BARNARD

ASSOCIATED PRESS

A mysterious disease that causes sea stars to disintegrate is exploding on the Oregon Coast.

Oregon State University marine ecologist Kristen Milligan said Wednesday that Oregon was largely spared last year as the disease known as sea star wasting syndrome spread in California, Washington, British Columbia and Alaska.

But monitoring of tide pools along much of the coast shows the number of sea stars affected has jumped from just 1 percent in April to as high as 50 percent. The greatest concentration is at Fogarty Creek north of Depoe Bay. One was found as far north as Seaside.

"This is an unprecedented event," Bruce Menge, a professor of marine biology at OSU, said in a statement. "It's very serious. Some of the sea stars most heavily affected are keystone predators that influence the whole diversity of life in the intertidal zone."

End of excerpt.

Also see:

Sanctuaries Without Stars

By Liz Liang

If you've ever been diving, kayaking or exploring tide pools along the U.S. West Coast, you've probably seen colorful sea stars clinging to the sides of rocks and pilings. That sight has become less and less common in national marine sanctuaries along the Pacific Coast in recent months, as a mysterious illness has laid waste to entire populations of sea stars from Mexico to Alaska.

Beginning as early as June 2013, sea stars along the entire Pacific coast began dying from what has become known as “sea star wasting syndrome,” or “S3.” The ailment, which affects over a dozen species of sea stars in a variety of ocean landscapes, is a gruesome way to go. Symptoms include a deflated appearance, white lesions and twisted arms, followed by softening tissue, loss of arms, and death. The disease progresses rapidly, often killing its victims within a matter of days.

Dr. Steve Lonhart, senior scientist for the Sanctuary Integrated Monitoring Network (SIMoN) at Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, said he had seen something similar happen to sea stars in Southern California in the early ’90s, but nothing on this scale.

“I was surprised to see not only how many individual sea stars were dying, but also how many different species,” Lonhart said. “Later, when I learned the entire western U.S. was actually affected — that was very shocking.”

End of excerpt

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In reading about this tragedy I was struck by the amount of such "mysterious" events happening to marine life and humans simultaneously. I recently reported on the spike in birth defects in three counties in Washington State with which health officials are also "baffled" as to the cause. However, there are also die off events beyond the natural also occurring on the East Coast. A large die off recently occurred in Belmar, NJ as well as here and here. The cause is being attributed to "possible" oxygen depletion. It is normal to have die offs in nature due to oxygen depletion and other causes. However, again, the frequency and severity of these events are increasing and to me it is simply disingenuous to state that we do not know at all what could be the cause or enabler of these events.

Matter of fact, the intensity of these events has been increasing over the last three plus years worldwide as we see ocean temperatures rising due to climate destruction (with reports that mercury emissions climb with Arctic sea ice loss, nitrogen fertilizer/pesticide use/oil pollution increasing which also includes the BP ecocide that dumped 1.8 MILLION gallons of toxic Corexit into the Gulf which had access to the Current loop, transgenic contamination from GM crops, Fukushima and also methane emissions increasing from fracking. This link (which is a listing of events just from the month of May which I'm posting here for informational purposes only) recounts events just from the past month this year. I find it mindboggling that scientists and others are so "baffled" as to why our oceans are dying! Is it really that hard to connect the dots or is there more to this?

This also isn't only happening to marine life. Bees, frogs, monarch butterflies, moose and other species all decreasing rapidly in numbers. There may well be natural causes to this but at this time there is no doubt to me that human induced amplifiers including anthropogenic climate change have pushed our entire earth processes to the breaking point. We are killing the very life support systems we and other species cannot live without. We are killing our water and in turn it is now going up the food chain. Do we truly think we are exempt from its effects?

I can't wrap my head around the absolute apathy to the suffering of other species by so many. To even watch this disease wasting away a starfish to the point it is suffering so much it rips itself apart to just end it...What will our response be when it reaches us? Yesterday was World Oceans Day. I think every day should be World Oceans Day, Earth Day, Environment Day and an all around Give A Damn Day. We are failing our own species by failing all others.

Also see:

Ocean Acidity Is Dissolving Shells Of Tiny Snails Off U.S. West Coast

The Oceans Warmed Up Sharply in 2013

TEPCO Withheld Fukushima Radioactive Water Measurements For 6 Months

The Ocean Is Broken

Arctic Ocean Leaking Methane At Alarming Rate

Thousands Of Starfish Melting On the Ocean Floor Off Pacific West Coast

Oceans In Critical State From Cumulative Impacts

Addition:

Methane Cycle In Atmosphere

I also think it is necessary to add this link. We really do not know for certain how these current abrupt climate shifts are affecting other cycles in our atmosphere. Reading about the methane cycle in our atmosphere it makes me wonder if due to changes in the hydrologic cycle brought on by climate destruction if other cycles such as the methane cycle are also being detrimentally affected thus amplifying these events. If you read the link above you will see that methane oxidizes first to formaldehyde, then carbon monoxide and finally carbon dioxide. An overabundance of methane in our atmosphere affected by a changing hydrologic cycle and an exponential increase in CO2 with time lag effects does what exactly? Formaldehyde then oxidizes in our atmosphere through dissolution in rainwater. However, we are seeing in many places radical changes in the hydrologic cycle due to AGW and less rainfall in certain parts of the world while others are receiving more rain. How this imbalance then affects the dissolution of formaldehyde in our atmosphere and where it ultimately falls may be an indicator.

As I have posted here several times previously, methane emissions in the Arctic have also been off the charts with it escaping though cracks in the melting ice and permafrost. This combined with expanded use of fracking and releases of methane from thousands of oil wells under our oceans that are affected by under sea quakes, cracked casings, etc. can all be culminating into one perfect storm. We are continually releasing chemicals, pollutants, etc. into our atmosphere and our waterways without any regard for the biocumulative effects of these compounds down the line. We are I do believe now seeing those effects and we need to start understanding that our footprint upon this earth has gone beyond what can be sustainably managed. The question is, is it beyond the time when understanding will save us?

Also see:

Abandoned Oil Wells Spouting Significant Levels of Methane, Study Finds

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New Coal Plant Rules Do Not Go Far Enough To Address Climate Destruction

Obama's EPA Plan vs. Climate Catastrophe: Fighting a Wildfire with a Garden Hose

Obama's Power Plant Rules Too Little Too Late: Too Ineffective

A Top Obama Aide Says History Won't Applaud President's Climate Policy

Friends Of The Earth Statement

An inconvenient truth: US proposed emission cuts too little too late

'The Cause Is Us': World on Verge of Sixth Extinction/Species loss soaring at 'pace not seen in tens of millions of years'

America Will Fail On Climate Change-Ezra Klein

"The world is failing to do nearly enough on climate change nearly fast enough. That isn't to take away from the incredible work of the activists trying to push politicians further and faster, or to deny the possibility that a once-in-a-generation storm will upend the politics or a tremendous technological breakthrough will render the problem moot. Pessimism shouldn't be considered fatalism. And impossible fights have been won before. Perhaps more to the point, climate change isn't binary. There's not a single state of success and a single state of failure. Warming the world by 2.5 degrees Celsius is a whole lot better than warming it by three degrees Celsius. Warming the world by three degrees Celsius is vastly less catastrophic than warming it by four degrees Celsius. There are manageable failures and there are unmanageable failures. We're currently on track for an unmanageable failure. I think it's possible that we can slowly, painfully pull ourselves towards a manageable failure, but I'm not willing to call that optimism. On climate change, the truth has gone from inconvenient to awful. Right now we're failing our future. And we will be judged harshly for it."

Also see:

Below 2°C or 1.5°C depends on rapid action from both Annex I and non-Annex I countries

Key word here, rapid. Again, expecting a scientifc/moral response from a political lackey is an exercise in futility. Those stating to be part of the "climate movement" who continue to support this mediocrity when we need bold vision are only pushing us faster into the climate abyss.

EPA Rules Ignore Methane

Yes, CO2 is the greatest radiative forcing now, but the effect of methane cannot be ignored. The preoccupation with CO2 ALONE by governments and certain groups suggests an alternate agenda. If you wish to address climate destruction you must address CO2 emissions as well as methane, nitrous oxide, black carbon, etc.

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Anyone who follows the entries on this blog or who has followed the events occurring globally knows well that humans are changing the face of this planet as we have never seen it before during the time of our existence. We have seen countless reports from scientists stating that our rapacious consumption of fossil fuels combined with other factors has now led us to a point in civilization where the habitability of our planet is at stake. We have been warned that to continue on this road of burning fossil fuels will see a bleak future for humanity. We now see the culmination of our effect on this planet more frequently and more severely and this then dictates to us a harsh reality that should appeal to our moral compasses. However, our unwillingness on the whole to deal with our addiction adequately in the face of that reality has now also led us to making excuses for it. The current rule proposed by the US EPA is no exception.

Since I am not one who speaks based on political or economic allegiance I can at least speak truth. In plain language, this rule simply is not enough at a time when we need to see truly bold initiatives to tackle the abrupt climate change that is now upon us! Instead of boldness we see capitulation and placation. We see using excuses and our desire to maintain our status quo as a means to relegating our children and grandchildren to the brunt of the effects of our folly. We see greed, fear, selfishness, hubris and all the baser instincts of our nature taking over when we should be overcoming them to put the higher ideals first. I cannot tell you how angry this all makes me, because many people are falling for this deception. This rule was trotted out stating that there would be a 30% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030... 17% by 2020 which is embarrassing and the other 13% in the next ten years. Seriously? We sit on the precipice of the tipping point of no return and this is the best we can do?

We are already seeing feedbacks in our climate system that have locked us into a 4 degree C or higher rise in global temperature by the end of this century. Using 2005 as a baseline year for this rule is practically useless at the juncture we now see CO2 emissions rising along with methane and other greenhouse gases including nitrous oxide (note as well that the industrial agriculture sector was totally spared by this rule.) Once again, we leave the solutions to politicians beholding to their own interests and the fossil fuel cartel that owns us and see nothing come from it.

However, don't get me wrong, any rule that helps to clean our air or water is a given that it is needed. However, this was touted originally as a climate plan. This is no climate plan. This isn't even close to a climate plan. You cannot have a climate plan that is adequate from any administration that supports an "All Of The Above" energy strategy! Those still wearing their partisan rose colored blinders need to wake up.

We need to see an 80% reduction in emissions by 2030 based on 1990 in order to delay the most catastrophic effects of climate destruction. It is a betrayal to all of us to have those in government and those supporting them for their own reasons not tell the truth and to continue to support a "low carbon" policy. This is not the time for using the usual excuses about Republican bullies. There are more of us on this planet who care about it than those who sit in some body playing games with their money. STAND UP TO THEM once and for all! There is also a year for commenting on this rule timed so strategically between elections this year and the US presidential "election" (election is a word I use very loosely in regards to this corporate bought dysfunctional system) coming in 2016. Do we really need to be subjected now to more of the same political back and forth on this with nothing coming from it as that year produces another year's worth of emissions and more amplification of this crisis?

However, that will not happen because you see the current administration and those who run it are also minions of the fossil fuel industry. Obama supports fracking and the administration is now pushing for much more of it in the wake of this "rule" and also to export it to Europe and other markets as well as CCS ("Clean Coal" as well as nuclear which is absolutely not feasible in a world of drought nor a world where we don't wish to slowly die from radiation poisoning.) The EPA administrator has also hinted repeatedly that she will allow states latitude in how they reach the targets which is essentially a gift. Also, three days before this rule was proposed Obama rewarded Exxon with offshore leases to drill in the Gulf of Mexico. Remember the Gulf of Mexico? The body of water totally toxified by BP's ecocide. (BTW, BP has also been given the OK from the EPA to drill again.) So again, please explain to me how these people can sit in front of us and tell us that addressing climate change is a moral obligation while doing this behind our backs? I will tell you how- because they like their counterparts are all using this as a way to gain political advantage. It has nothing to do with really caring about this planet or our present/future.

The Arctic is now 9-36 F degrees above normal as ocean temperatures particularly in the Pacific see record temperatures. There has been NO plan put forth to truly prepare us and our infrastructure for what is to come. "Leave it in the ground" is the phrase being used by scientists in regards to what we now must do in order to not see the planet we love, the only planet we call home to be made uninhabitable. It is also why geologists name this current epoch the Anthropocene. Yet, all we get is placation and betrayal with a willingness to support it.

Biodiversity loss, water scarcity, land scarcity, monoculture, abrupt climate shifts all in a world with a growing population cannot survive a 17% by 2020 rule. It cannot survive the continued stalling and political rhetoric of governing bodies like the UN that continue to talk without walking. Your "investments" and your posturing and your egotistical "legacies" will not shield us from the abrupt changes we have now precipitated. They will not now stave off the mega droughts and stronger storms. Only a mass moral awakening more than likely now due to greater catastrophe that ends our insane addiction will shake our souls enough to save us. I will not look back upon these days and state that it was an All Of The Above energy policy by those bent on destroying this planet for their own false delusional choices that saved us.

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