2000 until 2009

I have been coming to Langkawi since the end of 2001 and I have been based full time in Langkawi since 2004. My job spec’ – Conservation and wildlife rehabilitation on Pulau Singa Besar under the funding of USM’s Usains research grant by MOSTE and this task is still in play today, with the exception that the primary burden has been taken over by the state government’s GLC (Government linked company)-which is the PKNK.

I have spent countless hours, days and nights in Pulau Singa Besar and I
have done numerous exploring expeditions within Langkawi’s islands. 22 days
in Pulau Singa Besar, 18 days in Dayang Bunting Island, 4 days in Pulau Besar
Basah, 12 days in Pulau Tuba, 3 days in Matchicang area and 4 days around
Gunung Raya.

In this short period of time, there has been a tremendous transformation
In Langkawi’s natural environmental status.

Once upon a time there were Porcupines (Hystrix brachyuran) /Landak Raya
roaming the areas of Bukit Malut, Gunung Matchingcang, Kedawang, Padang
Lalang, Gunung Raya and other parts of Langkawi. Now it is safe to say
that, if any survive at all, there are less than 10 to be found in the whole of Langkawi’s natural forest. There have been ZERO reported sightings between 2003 and 2009.
On several occasions from 2002 until the end of 2003, I saw with my own
eyes Napuh (Tragulus napu) roaming the lime stone areas of Dayang bunting.
Now there is only limestone.

From 2002 until 2004, dolphins frequently roamed the coastal area of Pulau Singa
Besar, Dayang bunting and Teluk baru in schools of 30 to 60…now there
Are only 3 to 5 in a group.

In 2000 until 2004, Pulau Singa Besar bay area was lighted up with a glowing,
light blue, swirling motion every night for a minimum of 1 hour, and the
size? From the mouth of the bay area until the end of the mangrove area, an area
estimated to be the equivalent of 6 or 8 soccer fields. More than 100 people mostly amateur astronomers from USM Penang were among the lucky few to witness such a spectacular sight.

It was actually millions of fish the locals call “ikan kekek”. it seems that its a form of communication among the fish. It starts with a 1-3 feet in diameter illumination and within 15 minutes the whole area is lit up. It was like throwing a match into a floor of wet petrol…after more or less one hour it slowly shrinks and then fades away..

The perpetrator!

Scientific Name: Leiognathidae
Common Name: Slipmouths, Ponyfishes and Slimys
Local Name: ikan KeKeK

It is a Small, sedentary fish, shoals in shallow coastal water, feeds
on invertebrates has an elongated oval compressed body with naked, bony ridges to dorsum of head.

Between 2000 and 2003, walking on the dead corals of Pulau Singa
Besar’s shore line during low tide was a nightmare, it took me 30
Minutes to reach the shore when the distance travelled was less than 100
meters…there were hundreds of sea cucumbers (Gamat). Now it is close to
impossible to find one.

From 2000 until 2002, on several occasions on the way back from Pulau Singa besar
in the evening, several fishermen’s boats would be coming to shore with
the day’s catch. Catches were fish, crabs, prawns and sting rays. Fish were
mostly groupers no smaller than 1kg in size, sting rays no lesser than 5 kg
and prawns were A or B sized prawns. One scene I will not forget is a wooden
boat with a wing flapping as if the occupant was trying to take flight; I waited until the boat came to shore. It was a 120kg sting ray. Now fishermen come to shore with
an average fish size that is less the 800grams. Fish now are mostly 200grams to
300grams.

This is just a tiny view of the real picture…If We as MNS members do not
step up and play a role in completing some serious MNS goals, then less than 5
years from now , I guarantee my tale of “there were Once upon a time”, will double in length. This is now in all our hands…believe it or not. Most us here in Langkawi are directly and indirectly dependent on the natural beauty of Langkawi Island , so YOU all do the maths…

I really hope that more of MNS members can volunteer just a little bit of
your precious time to look beyond your homes and consider what “Once was
there”. Project that image into the future and visualise what is coming…

Please step up because you want to save what is left of our decreasing nature….

Food for thought…

1st November 2009

Terry

Tonight is a night when I’m tired, alone at home, and tempted to feel thoroughly drained from the experience of working all day at a job which very well could have done itself without me being there, so I apologize if I tangentalize (hehe) a bit.

Sometimes, my job makes me wonder what emptiness we’re truly meant to suffer for the cause of progression.  My writing about it makes no difference in the external conflict, and yet I am still compelled to write, even when doing so is laborious, at best.  I don’t know if it is to my credit to admit this, but I am a much better written companion than a spoken one quite a bit of the time.  Being as such gives me that extra moment to ask questions about my communication, such as “why have I always heard the phrase, ‘I’m better on paper,’ when it sounds subjectively superior (I love alliteration) to exclaim that I am better in letter(s)?”

As a more intimate example of how my mind works, such a thought as above described leads me to daydream about a world full of people who have no choice but to write their thoughts if they want to communicate with each other.  Even though technology inevitably complicates meaning while simplifying communication, I can only imagine the most extremely futuristic technologies that would interfere with the few basic, yet profound effects that this boundary would have on human life.

The most noticeable effect of this situation, as I see it, would be the extension of patience as an unavoidable cost of living.  Written communication has more than twice the number of identifiable steps (steps which may be used as stop-gaps to ward against zealous and hasty decisions) possessed by vocal communication.  A vocal conversation may be diagrammed as such: I think, I speak, he/she receives, he/she responds.  A written conversation is very different: I think, I write, I think about what I’ve written, I edit, I send, he/she receives, he/she writes, he/she thinks about what he/she has written, he/she responds.  Of course, you could probably find your own diagrams, but that’s not really the point.  No matter how you slice it, to communicate via writing will always take significantly more time than speaking.

A corollary of this previous effect is the reasonable decrease of hostility.  That’s not to say that the person who writes most quickly won’t fill the roll of the envied or attempt to assert authority over the people who are slower or can’t type at all.  However, there would be a matter of physical difficulty with regards to attempting to write, dodge bullets, and fire a gun at the same time.  Also consider that there will be a log of some sort accompanying every action.  Of course, paper is easy to burn, but that’s simply another thing to think about getting rid of when committing a crime.  The sheer amount of details involved with deceit proves to be the basis for the commonly accepted philosophy that the lies, at some point, must catch up with the liar.

Which brings me to another interesting facet: accountability is not only a responsibility.  It’s a gift the likes of which I can’t describe in material terms.  As it is, when the liar lives a lie, he/she will realize at a certain point, whether or not his/her lies come to light, that he/she destroys the past in the process of making his future interesting.  At that point, his/her past becomes a private obsession, as his/her lifestyle has become amnestic.  If all communication were written, there would likely be fewer lost lives, and perhaps even fewer lies (somewhat debatable).

As a brief aside, don’t misunderstand me here – I’m not merely talking about someone who lies because it is easy.  There is a dangerously incorrect ideology that promotes the opinion that all people lie for no reason other than it is the easiest path.  The intention is good, but the execution is terribly flawed; to assume this ideology is correct is not a deterrent for those who are wholly manipulative.  It is, rather, the exact “challenge” that manipulators look for on a daily basis: the chance to subvert decent intention in order to “prove” it indecent.  For these people, it happens as a matter of retributive pride –  i.e. I used to have conversations with my third grade teacher in which, by the end of it, she had absolutely no idea what the original argument or admonishment might have been.  She was simply doing her job, but I was uninterested in her scattered personality and predetermined authority.  At that point in time (and for quite some time after), I absolutely believed that authority had to be earned, not given, and she was not earning it if she could not keep up with me.

To return to the main discussion, the crux of this issue runs red in the history of human argumentation.  It is the deepest seed of our bipolar government – conservation or liberation?  Some people want to keep, so as to be substantial, but some people also want to give, so as to seem magnanimous.  Where these two causes cross is where they are both in complete agreement: all people want to take.  Logically, taking is the easiest path to progress, but it leaves you with nothing to take in the end.  I’m no deontologist, but that seems like a perfect application of Kant’s Universal Maxim, right there.

It seems like very few people focus on the common enemy, though.  Maybe it’s because there’s no palpable enemy to fight…it’s in the cracks of every establishment.  Anarchy also violates the Universal Maxim, so it’s no answer, either.  Perhaps, in the end, this “taking” fundamental of progress will always transcend even my most fanciful solutions.  In that event, I suppose the only fashion in which I can oppose harmful progress and promote healthy growth is to never give up.  I fear it is an asymptotic answer, at best, but it has the singular advantage of neither purely conserving nor liberating, but rather preserving.

I can wait for the day when the definition of progress centers around how a balance of the first two produces the third.

… FRIENDS OF

JOHNSON STREET BRIDGE …

GREGORY HARTNELL AND DAWN KEOUGH,

CONCERNED CITIZENS’ COALITION HOSTS RECEIVED:

CONCERNED CITIZENS’ CANDIDATE DAVID BURKE,

 HELENA CHONTOS, DAUGHTER OF NIKOS CHONTOS +

MARIA HARTNELL CABRERA

‘FACE TO FACE’ TV SHOW HOST JACK ETKIN,

GREEN PARTY CANDIDATE STUART HERTZOG,  

RICHARD OLAFSON + CAROLE SOKOLOFF:

HUSBAND + WIFE WRITER-PUBLISHERS

ROCKLAND NEIGHBOURHOOD ASSOCIATION REPRESENTATIVES

AND FAMILY FRIENDS… 

A fascinating cross section of three generations of Victorians visited at the Rockland Avenue home of Dawn Keough and Gregory Hartnell this afternoon for a ‘Blue Bridge” Boxing Day Coffee Fiesta + Petition-signing.

Dawn Elizabeth Keough is the hard-working unionized care aide wife of Concerned Citizens’ Coalition President Gregory Hartnell.

David Burke (‘David Jure’) is one of four former Concerned Citizens’ Coalition Councillor Candidates, and is the author of ‘Visions and Revisions.’

Helena Chontos is the beautiful and talented neice of Gregory Hartnell. She is a student, resident in Yaletown, Vancouver, daughter of Nikos Chontos  and Gregory Hartnell’s sister Maria Hartnell Cabrera.  She was accompanied by another beautiful young female friend whose name shall remain anonymous.

Jack Etkin is an avid cyclist and arrived on his bicycle with his safety helmut.  The former Green Party Candidate is the publisher of The Bridge, and hosts ‘Face to Face’ with Jack Etkin, a community public interest interview programme on Shaw TV Victoria.

Stuart Hertzog is a former Green Party Candidate who recently unsuccessfully challenged the national Green Party leader Elizabeth May from being parachuted in to stand for the federal seat in Saanich and the Islands against incumbent Conservative Minister of Natural Resources Gary Lunn. 

Richard Olafson and Carole Sokoloff are a husband and wife team of poet-publishers who produce Ekstasis Editions and the Pacific Rim Review of Books.

The senior couple at the alcohol-free coffee and cake  Johnson Street Bridge ‘Alternative Approval Process’ petition-signing party were resident property owners at the southeast corner of Moss and Rockland, active in the Rockland Neighbourhood Association, a pleasant, well-informed and engaged husband and wife team of community activists whose names escaped me…

‘Goyo de la Rosa’, Editor

LA ROSA REVUE 

CCC

Cap and Trade is the idea that the market, with certain regulations, can figure out the best way to lower emissions of greenhouse gases through the economic forces already at play.

This has appeal to many businesses for many reasons. To begin with, it lets companies who are already environmentally friendly, make extra money through the selling of their extra CO2 credits that they don’t need. And it lets businesses who need time to lower their emissions buy extra credits as they update and modernize their systems.

At least that’s how it should work in theory.

Both sides make excellent arguments, and need to be considered, addressed, and in some instances, instituted.

The One Hand

Warren Buffet, in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawkbox” makes the first argument against a cap and trade system.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoCsFsU_irY

He states “[a]nything you put into [the budget] that effectively taxes carbon emissions, somebody’s going to bear the brunt of it. In the case of a regulated utility, the customers are going to bear the brunt of it.” (Warren Buffet, onSquakbox).

This is a concern, because these types of fees, taxes, or requirements shouldn’t be passed onto the consumer. It isn’t the consumers responsibility to pay a companies fines because it is a polluter. It should come solely fromthe companies profit margins with no additional cost to the consumer. If the taxes could be stipulated in such a way as to stop them at a certain level, then Warren Buffets concern, and the concern of many others would be addressed.

More concerns are brought up in the video “The Story of Cap & Trade.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pA6FSy6EKrM

A few points that can be pulled out need to be addressed. She’s right, if permits are given out free, then what’s the point of the system? Also, if there are loopholes, then they need to be closed.

There needs to be strong government oversight, by a non-partisan, non-elected official. This should remove some of the power of lobbyists and special interest groups, making the oversight committee a bit more impervious to outside influence.

The loopholes need to be closed, personally it’s reprehensible that we include loopholes in a law. A law should either be followed or not followed, applicable to all, or else why pass it? Destroying the natural ecology should never be considered “clean.”

On the Other Hand

The Cap and Trade system is based on the stock exchange. The market rewards a few things quite well: innovation, low costs, quality. Look at the innovative products of the last century: Google, the cellphone, television, software, the PC, automobiles, a trend is developing.

When products are innovative and solves a problem, the company that made it, makes money. Money that can be reinvested into more innovative products creating more solutions, and on and on.

Secondly and thirdly, the market forces prices of items to go down. A gallon of gas did only cost $0.33 a gallon in the 50s, but that would be equivalent to $6.00 now. It also through production, causes the price of  items to lower, the more that is made then the less it needs to be sold for. When a product is of high quality, it becomes worth more on the market as well; Think Bang &Olofson, Mercedes, BMW, Porsche, Ferrari.

In a cap and trade system, these forces would come to bear on pollution. Companies that were innovative, low cost, or high quality, would make money. Either through innovation of clean technologies, making clean technologies affordable, or making them of such high quality to be worth a higher price.

Secondly, the US has experimented with Cap & Trade systems before, and it’s worked for both SO2 and NOx emissions.

http://www.epa.gov/captrade/ (the two maps show the ppm of these gases actually lowering over time).

Lastly, it doesn’t impose immediately harsh requirements. If we’ve learned anything from the current recession, its that manufacturers aren’t quick to change. With a step down approach, companies will be able to meet the demands on an easier timetable, and it should help to keep costs down.

And lastly, Energy trading and subprime mortgages aren’t bad ideas in and of themselves. Because they were so new, our laws hadn’t changed quickly enough to stop the corruption and crime that could have taken place in those systems. But because everyday people are active in this debate on Cap and Trade, I don’t feel that cap and trade will result in a bubble the same way that energy trading and subprime mortgages did.

Conservance’ Stance

I think that with smart government oversight, enforcement of requirements, and no loopholes; Cap and Trade will work. It will also allow the creation of new industries and let certain current companies/fields become more profitable. Land management companies, summer camps, the US Forestry and Parks and Recreation departments, logging companies,  ”green” industries, and industries that have already become environmentally responsible can suddenly make money selling carbon offset credits.

Certain government agencies and non-profits would have no issue funding more and more preservation or conservation based programs. Local farmers who practice responsible land-management would be able to make money as well. This could catapult our economy INTO a clean, energy independent economy.

If a cash incentive could be placed into the system to reward companies proven ecological efforts then it’s even better. Suppose there were a million dollar bonus, or even a sizable tax break, given to a company if they directly helped an organism get off the endangered species list. Extinction would stop immediately.

The caveat though, is this:

It must be executed properly

Under a properly run cap and trade system, it would be more lucrative to preserve wild spaces, integrate our building projects to be as environmentally friendly as possible, “greenovate” our homes and use environmentally friendly alternatives.

Someone left a lone set of footprints in the snow on the Blue Ridge Parkway that stretch as far as the eye can see. If I were in better health I would love to make that walk…pure peace!

© 2009 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used…(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

The Dynamic Great Lakes is a book about the Great Lakes system.  These lakes are connected to each other and to the Atlantic Ocean through the St. Lawrence River.

This is the greatest freshwater system on this planet.  The Dynamic Great Lakes is about changes in these lakes therefore they are dynamic.

Distributed energy generation is one solution or alternative to big energy’s position that massive quantities of fossil fuels—in addition to nuclear energy—will continue to be a significant contributor to the energy mix of the future even as the Earth’s climate continues to change, ecosystems are altered by pollution (e.g., mercury pollution emitted from coal-fired power plants that is subsequently absorbed within aquatic environments and the food chain), and nonrenewable energy supplies continue to dwindle and become more expensive.

However, modernizing and rethinking how electricity is delivered, in addition to improving energy storage capabilities and promoting energy conservation via green construction or retrofitting for energy conservation will encourage sustainable development via energy conservation. Distributed energy generation, or small producers of energy via renewable resources and even nonrenewable sources, in the aggregate, will benefit people and the environment, because decentralizing energy generation will reduce “the amount of energy lost in transmitting electricity.” More from the Financial Times:

Mr Rifkin, who is also advising the governments of Spain and Greece and acts as an informal consultant for Germany’s Angela Merkel, bases his vision on what he calls the “third industrial revolution” – of a carbon- and nuclear-free future – on a programme of “distributive energy”.

Distributive energy boils down to individual buildings and local cooperatives becoming energy positive, harnessing wind, sun and thermal energy to run themselves and sell surplus power to others via a “smart grid” system.

More on distributed energy from the Department of Energy:

Distributed energy consists of a range of smaller-scale and modular devices designed to provide electricity, and sometimes also thermal energy, in locations close to consumers. They include fossil and renewable energy technologies (e.g., photovoltaic arrays, wind turbines, microturbines, reciprocating engines, fuel cells, combustion turbines, and steam turbines); energy storage devices (e.g., batteries and flywheels); and combined heat and power systems. Distributed energy offers solutions to many of the nation’s most pressing energy and electric power problems, including blackouts and brownouts, energy security concerns, power quality issues, tighter emissions standards, transmission bottlenecks, and the desire for greater control over energy costs.

About the image: According to telex4, the author of the image above, which is posted on Flickr, “BedZED is the UK’s largest eco-village. The aim was to help residents and office workers reduce their ecological and carbon footprints to a sustainable, ‘one planet’ level. The plans cover reducing energy use, providing renewable energy, minimising the embodied energy of the buildings, reducing fossil fuel miles and also tackling food, waste, water usage and flooding.”

—
Photo source for attribution. The author or licensor of this image does not endorse my work or me and their image is protected under an attribution license.

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

I’m sitting in front of this computer, on a grey, cold day with a near freezing rain falling down, but still with snow on the ground (so technically it is still a “white” Christmas….or at least a white day after Christmas)….and like so many at this time of year I’ve begun to reflect on the months past and what is yet to come….I came across a page of quotes online entitled Some Quotes and Sayings, http://www.backpackingfun.com/quotes.html, from the International Backpacking Association (IBA) website. Now I’ve posted some of these before….and I’ve edited the quotes provided on the IBA webpage by rearranging them into an order than seemed to follow more of a sequence to me….well at least in my somewhat bent, inquisitive (yet more puzzling than puzzled) and obviously eclectic mind….seen by some as more certifiable than as a certified genius LOL LOL….any way, these quotes “spoke” to me and I thought I’d post them here:

“Perhaps our grandsons, having never seen a wild river, will never miss the chance to set a canoe in singing waters…glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in.” 
-Aldo Leopold

“Conservation is the foresighted utilization, preservation and/or renewal of forests, waters, lands and minerals, for the greatest good of the greatest number for the longest time.” 
-Gifford Pinchot 

“In God’s wilderness lies the hope of the world – the great fresh, unblighted, unredeemed wilderness. The galling harness of civilization drops off, and the wounds heal ere we are aware.” 
-John Muir 

“It was kind of solemn, drifting down the big, still river, laying on our backs, looking up at stars, and we didn’t even feel like talking aloud.”
-Mark Train, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 

“The earth does not belong to man….man belongs to the earth.”
-Chief Seattle

“Once in a while you find a place on earth that becomes your very own. A place undefined. Waiting for you to bring your color, your self. A place untouched, unspoiled, undeveloped. Raw, honest, and haunting. No one, nothing is telling you how to feel or who to be. Let the mountains have you for a day…”
-Sundance 

“Then here’s a hail to each flaming dawn
And here’s a cheer to the night that’s gone
And may I go a roaming on until the day I die”
-On a grave marker in the Adirondacks 

“I’d rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth.”
-Steve McQueen

“…In the wilderness, I find something more dear and connate than in the streets or villages…in the woods we return to reason and faith.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

“How great are the advantages of solitude! How sublime is the silence of nature’s ever-active energies! There is something in the very name of wilderness which charms the ear, and soothes the spirit of man. There is religion in it.” 
“When ever the light of civilization faces upon you with a blighting power…go to the wilderness…Dull business routine, the fierce passions of the marketplace, the perils of envious cities became but a memory…The wilderness will take hold of you. It will give you good red blood; it will turn you from a weakling into a man…You will soon behold all with a peaceful soul.” 
-Estwick Evans

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry that I couldn’t travel both
And be one traveler I stood
And looked as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.
Then took the other one just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear
Though as far as the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step and trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence;
Two roads diverged in a woods, and I
I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference.”
-Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken 

Last week world leaders let us down at the Copenhagen climate summit. We expected a fair, ambitious and legally binding treaty that would protect the climate. But leaders left without agreeing to the cuts in greenhouse gas emissions that science demands. They delivered words but no real action.

It’s our future. We can change it.

 It’s up to each and every one of us to let leaders know that in the coming months we will make sure they finish what they started. Pressure from millions of people like you brought world leaders to the negotiating table, now we need your help again to make them finish the job.

It was the richest industrialised nations – the US, EU and Australia – that held the rest of the world back. Responsible for the largest share of historical emissions, they also have the greatest capacity to cut emissions and lead the world in a clean energy revolution. By acting out of self interest, they are putting millions of lives at risk.

We need to focus our efforts on these countries to change our future. Please take a few minutes today to write to these leaders and let them know the world is counting on them to finish the job. Words are not enough – action is what is needed. Leaders must step up and show real leadership by committing to a sound climate treaty.

Thanks for taking action
Greenpeace International

 .

With Love & Bright Blessings

“Help Save Our Mother Earth”

 http://twitter.com/ICareDoYou

http://helpsaveourmotherearth.com

http://myspace.com/helpsave0urmotherearth

http://blogs.myspace.com/helpsave0urmotherearth

 Spread The Word

As we near the end of 2009, I would like to thank you all for helping us in our online campaigns and take this opportunity to look back at some of the highlights.

 Click here to view our Christmas e-card to you 

Happy holidays and all the best for 2010 from all of us in the Rights and Justice team at Friends of the Earth.

Anna  Friends of the Earth

.

With Love & Bright Blessings

“Help Save Our Mother Earth”

http://twitter.com/ICareDoYou

http://helpsaveourmotherearth.com

http://myspace.com/helpsave0urmotherearth

http://blogs.myspace.com/helpsave0urmotherearth

Spread The Word

Scientists believe that Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) could be cured within five years with adequate resources for research. Care2 members Bill and Victoria Strong, whose 22-month-old daughter has SMA, have been working to raise awareness to pass the SMA Treatment Acceleration Act, which would provide the funds needed to cure SMA, through their Care2 petition – and over 82,000 people have already signed! For today’s secondary action, please sign the Petition to End SMA

Take Action >>

 .

With Love & Bright Blessings

“Help Save Our Mother Earth”

 http://twitter.com/ICareDoYou

http://helpsaveourmotherearth.com

http://myspace.com/helpsave0urmotherearth

http://blogs.myspace.com/helpsave0urmotherearth

Spread The Word

Scientists believe that Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) could be cured within five years with adequate resources for research. Care2 members Bill and Victoria Strong, whose 22-month-old daughter has SMA, have been working to raise awareness to pass the SMA Treatment Acceleration Act, which would provide the funds needed to cure SMA, through their Care2 petition – and over 82,000 people have already signed! For today’s secondary action, please sign the Petition to End SMA

Take Action >>

 .

With Love & Bright Blessings

“Help Save Our Mother Earth”

 http://twitter.com/ICareDoYou

http://helpsaveourmotherearth.com

http://myspace.com/helpsave0urmotherearth

http://blogs.myspace.com/helpsave0urmotherearth

Spread The Word

The hush of a whispering breeze drifts across the mountains on a peaceful day in the Shenandoah National Park.

© 2009 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used…(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

A new book that I’m proud to have had a hand in writing is just about to come out with Oxford University Press called Conservation Biology for All. Edited by the venerable Conservation Scholars, Professors Navjot Sodhi (National University of Singapore) and Paul Ehrlich (Stanford University), it’s a powerhouse of some of the world’s leaders in conservation science and application.

The book strives to “…provide cutting-edge but basic conservation science to a global readership”. In short, it’s written to bring the forefront of conservation science to the general public, with OUP promising to make it freely available online within about a year from its release in early 2010 (or so the rumour goes). The main idea here is that those in most need of such a book – the conservationists in developing nations – can access the wealth of information therein without having to sacrifice the village cow to buy it.

I won’t go into any great detail about the book’s contents (mainly because I have yet to receive my own copy and read most of the chapters!), but I have perused early versions of Kevin Gaston’s excellent chapter on biodiversity, and Tom Brook’s overview of conservation planning and prioritisation. Our chapter (Chapter 16 by Barry Brook and me), is an overview of statistical and modelling philosophy and application with emphasis on conservation mathematics. It’s by no means a complete treatment, but it’s something we want to develop further down the track. I do hope many people find it useful.

I’ve reproduced the chapter title line-up below, with links to each of the authors websites.

1. Conservation Biology: Past and Present (C. Meine)
2. Biodiversity (K. Gaston)
3. Ecosystem Functions and Services (C. Sekercioglu)
4. Habitat Destruction: Death of a Thousand Cuts (W. Laurance)
5. Habitat Fragmentation and Landscape Change (A. Bennett & D. Saunders)
6. Overharvesting (C. Peres)
7. Invasive Species (D. Simberloff)
8. Climate Change (T. Lovejoy)
9. Fire and Biodiversity (D. Bowman & B. Murphy)
10. Extinctions and the Practice of Preventing Them (S. Pimm & C. Jenkins)
11. Conservation Planning and Priorities (T. Brooks)
12. Endangered Species Management: The US Experience (D. Wilcove)
13. Conservation in Human-Modified Landscapes (L.P. Koh & T. Gardner)
14. The Roles of People in Conservation (A. Claus, K. Chan & T. Satterfield)
15. From Conservation Theory to Practice: Crossing the Divide (M. Rao & J. Ginsberg)
16. The Conservation Biologist’s Toolbox – Principles for the Design and Analysis of Conservation Studies (C. Bradshaw & B. Brook)

As you can see, it’s a pretty impressive collection of conservation stars and hard-hitting topics. Can’t wait to get my own copy! I will probably blog individual chapters down the track, so stay tuned.

CJA Bradshaw

From the Guardian “The biggest threat to conservation areas is not new development – it’s PVC windows”

Video of the Spectral tarsier (Tarsius tarsier) on ARKive: Spectral tarsier feeding (video video-08)

Sharon Gursky published recently on the dispersal patterns of T. spectrum, a species of tarsiers found in the islands of Sulawesi, Sangihe, Peleng, and Salayer. She noted that

Females (77%) were more likely to form a territory adjacent to the parental territory than were males (20%). Individuals exhibited relatively high amounts of site fidelity (86%) that were related to physical characteristics of the sleeping site. Adults that dispersed a second time (n = 4) initially resided in trees that were shorter and had a smaller diameter-at-breast height than the trees of individuals that exhibited site fidelity.

This is the kind of research that the Philippine tarsiers (T. syrichta) sorely need for its conservation. The more we know of the social behavior of the species, the better chances we have for making informed conservation decisions. As of the moment, we have some researchers affiliated with the Philippine Tarsier Foundation, Inc. and the University of San Carlos but the research output has been sporadic. If indeed researches were done, almost all of these were in the island of Bohol (with some from Leyte courtesy of Marian Dagosto).

We are hoping that the Tarsius Project will contribute more to the sparse knowledge conservation agents have on T. syrichta. This year’s fieldwork revealed a lot of information, especially on the bioacoustics of the species. So, we’re hoping for more researches in the years to come.

A winter morning on the James River in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

© 2009 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used…(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

Animal Rights and Environmental Organizations: In Honor of Wolf 527

by The Car Family

One sure fire way to get students interested and involved is through using lessons and issues related to the environment and animal rights. I started a 527 Wildlife Club. It was named for the dominate female Yellowstone female wolf that was killed by Ryan Counts of Pray, Montana. The wolf was wearing a radio collar and shortly thereafter most of her group was also killed. This an major kills in Idaho were the result of the gray wolf being removed from the endangered list by the Secretary of the Interior. After reading the story of 527’s life the students were eager to take action. They wrote letters, send petitions, sponsored a wolf at the Wolf Mountain Sanctuary, and sent money to Defenders of Wildlife. They were empowering themselves. They were motivated to learn and to use the system appropriately.

When they came to class the regular lessons were waiting and they gulped down the material eagerly after checking what was happening on the current events board and what emails have arrived. This motivation not only rolled into the classroom, but they started to get their parents involved. Clearly, this issue was controversial as many feel that the wolves threaten their livestock and some claim wolves are causing the elk population to fall. Thus it is important to show both sides of the issue. That being said, there are less controversial issues students can adopt, but this issue and the way that 527 was killed stirred a fire under them as few other issues have ever done. Using the teachable moment ideas here, ( http://www.reacheverychild.com/feature/teachable-moments.html) I was able to integrate the curriculum, and keep the fires burning while still following the required course of study.

Should you want to see more about what happened here are some articles that may be of interest. Also listed are a variety of environmental links to all types of educational related sites. Very worthwhile and true to the goal of education, which is to provide lifelong learners and good citizens. We even used them to bring in guest speakers to help bring new information to the students.

Photo ffrom Tom Murphy

http://tmurphywild.com/

The story of 527 and her killing:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kittenclaw/4100924679/

and

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/oct/25/nation/na-wolf-hunt25

Here is the site where we adopted a wolf from. There are other wolf adoption sites that may be closer.

The students loved the fact that these wolves were the models for the ones in Twilight-New Moon

http://www.wolfmountain.com/

Here is a good overall site with many organizations of all types offering educational materials

http://www.reacheverychild.com/feature/environment.html

General environmental organizations

http://www.reacheverychild.com/science/environment/index.html

Educational Sites

http://www.reacheverychild.com/science/environment/programs.html

Wolf cam

http://www.wolf.org/wolves/experience/webcam.asp

Animal Rights Organizations

Huge link site by issue, animal

http://www.webdirectory.com/Wildlife/

Wildlife organizations in alphabetical order

http://animal.discovery.com/guides/atoz/organizations.html

Worldlife Organization

http://www.worldwildlife.org/

Animal Welfare Sites

http://www.dmoz.org/Society/Organizations/Animal_Welfare/Rescues_and_Shelters/Wildlife/

Bird Sites

http://www.webdirectory.com/wildlife/Birds/

Wolf Sanctuaries

http://www.wolfpark.org/Links_org.html

and

http://www.timberwolfinformation.org/info/listing.htm

Wolf and Wildlife link site

http://www.wolf.org/wolves/learn/basic/resources/links_wolforgs.asp

Wolves and Bears

http://www.cosmosmith.com/wolf_links.html

Endangered Animals Worldwide

http://www.kidsplanet.org/factsheets/map.html

Environment Sites

Environmental Organizations

http://www.reacheverychild.com/science/environment/overviews.html

Rainforest and conservation sites

http://www.reacheverychild.com/feature/global-resources.html#4

Weather related sites

http://www.reacheverychild.com/science/environment/weather.html

General organizations

http://www.reacheverychild.com/science/environment/organizations.html

Oceanography

http://www.reacheverychild.com/science/environment/oceanography.html

Rainforest and trees

http://www.reacheverychild.com/science/environment/forests.html

Water resources

http://www.reacheverychild.com/science/environment/water.html

Energy links

http://www.reacheverychild.com/science/environment/energy.html

Recyling

http://www.reacheverychild.com/science/environment/recycling.html

Youth Programs

http://www.reacheverychild.com/science/environment/youth.html

Forests

http://www.reacheverychild.com/science/environment/forests2.html

Earth Day

http://www.reacheverychild.com/science/environment/earthday.html

Soil and Parks

http://www.reacheverychild.com/science/environment/soil.html

Arbor Day

http://www.reacheverychild.com/feature/trees.html

Native Plant Oragnizations

http://www.tardigrade.org/natives/orgs.html

The Swartberge Pass.

The Mighty Swartberg Pass

Carriages on the Pass circa 1880

This is the king of passes in the Cape. The Swartberge pass also known as the Zwartberg Pass and The Great Zwarte Pass is situated between Prince Albert and Oudtshoorn. This was the masterpiece of that remarkable and brilliant engineer and road builder, Thomas Charles Bain (1830 – 1893). This is also the last of the seventeen passes he built in the Cape Province.

The Eerstewater today

On entering the gorge from the Prince Alfred side, one is overwhelmed by a feeling of insignificance as one travels between towering, rugged, sheer cliffs. An ice-cold mountain stream greets the traveller at Eerste Water (First Water) – Bain’s camp was situated there. In later years it became known as Die Danssbaan (dance floor), as many young people came from afar to waltz under the stars. As the road snakes higher and higher, around hairpin bends, one becomes aware of the crisp, clear air filled with the scent of Proteas.

Modern Images at the start of the pass

From the summit at “Die Top” the view is breath taking.

A spectacular zig-zag in the Pass- an irressistible subject for photographers for over 100 year- This photo dates from 1910

Work was started by a John Tassie in 1881 but after 13 months of heavy work using 100 Mozambicans from Delagoa Bay he had advanced only 6 kilometres. Tassie was declared insolvent and work ceased until Thomas Bain took over in November 1883, using 200 to 240 convicts, using picks, shovels, sledgehammers, and gunpowder. Boulders were spilt using fire to heat the rocks and then doused in cold water. The smaller rocks were carefully dressed by the convicts and used to build impressive retaining walls that support the road against precipitous slopes. A century later travellers still marvel at this feat.

The Swartberge Pass is the last of the great passes built in the nineteenth centaury and is of great historical interest. Originally the routes through Meiringspoort and Seweweekspoort were the only link between the port of Mossel Bay and the towns and villages of the Great Karoo. The road through Meiringspoort was constructed by Adam de Smidt and was officially opened on the 4^th March 1858. These routes were frequently closed due to flood damage and rock falls. Heavy flooding during 1875 closed both roads for weeks.

Looking down from close to Die Top

Bad weather made construction difficult. A group of convicts died when the roof of their hut collapsed during a snow storm. During May 1885 heavy rain caused mudslides, which almost destroyed the convict camp and severely damaged the nearly complete road. The same rains washed away the road through Meiringspoort.

Two dates can be seen chiselled into the rocks in the Pass: 1884 was chiselled into a large boulder near Fonteintjie on the Prince Albert side near Die Top of the pass. In the high retaining wall near Boegoekloof on the Oudtshoorn side of the mountain you can see the date 1886. More than thirty curves and drifts in the Swartberge Pass have been named and each has its own interesting history.

The Oudtshoorn Courant of the 16^th September 1886 published this telegram: The Zwartberg Pass is now open to Wagons on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays – the Government taking no responsibility. On the 5^th May 1888 a notice was given of a toll to be imposed at the summit of the pass. A toll fee of four pence per wheel and one penny per animal. The toll official was responsible for collecting the toll and maintaining the road.

Dry stone walling from the original construction

In 1879 Bain estimated that the pass would cost 20 000 pounds on the 14^th July 1887 Bain reported that the total construction cost was 14 000 pounds.

A cape Cart at the clear stream at Eerstwater. 1890. Today there is a low water bridge across the stream.

Over six hundred plants have been identified in the Swartberge Nature Reserve. A large, colourful variety of Proteas, tolbosse, pincushions, Ericas and shrubs can be seen. Klipspringer, Vaalribbuck, duikers, baboons and dassies and more than 130 bird species have been recorded.

There are signboards placed along the road through the pass the following signs can be seen from north to south.

• EERSTEWATER (First Water)   Draught animals could be outspanned and watered there before starting the ascent of the pass.

• TWEEDEWATER (Second Water) Older people in the village remember waiting for the water level to drop before they could cross this drift. A low-water bridge was eventually built.

• MALVADRAAI (Geranium Bend) Geraniums grow luxuriously here. They can’t be missed.

• BLIKSTASIE (TRONK) (The Jail) look up and you will see the remains of a stone and clay jail where convicts were confined at night, during the building of the pass.

• DROEWATERVAL (Dry Waterfall) During the rainy season water cascades down this rock face but it is dry for most of the summer.

• 

  Droewaterval no water running at this time

  TEEBERG (tea Mountain) Here you find the well known honey tea bush, much sought after by earlier inhabitants, From this point the summit of the pass is visible and if you look down into the chasm you should recognise Malvadraai far below. The view across the Karro plains to the Nuweveld Mountains 120 kms away is spectacular

• GAMKASKLOOF 38 KM (The Hell) the sign indicates the Otto du Plessis Road (opened in 1962) which leads to Gamkaskloof also called The Hell.

• FONTEINTJIE 1884 (Little Fountain) this fountain forms a beautiful little waterfall and the thirsty traveller will always find crystal clear water here.

• OU TOLLHUIS (The old Tollhouse) On this site the old Tollhouse was erected. The foundations of the original House can still be seen. In 1827 the experimental pine plantation was started.

• DIE TOP (The Top) The summit of the pass is 1 585m above sea level Views all around are magnificent.

• DIE GROOT KLIP (The Big Stone) a wonderful view site.

• BOEGOEKLOOF 1886 (Bachu Kloof) In former times this was the area’s medicine chest. Several types of Bachu grow here. Bachu is a well-known medicinal plant.

• SKELMDRAAI (The Tricky Bend) To the traveller from the north the road seems to come to an end- but it makes a sharp left turn. Drivers ascending the pass were faced with a very steep left turn.

• FONTEINTJIE (Fountain) on the s0uthern slope a perennial stream flows from the high peaks to revive tired travellers from Prince Albert who would leave a watermelon in the stream to enjoy on their homeward journey.

• HOTELLETJIE (The Small Hotel) After completion of the Swartberge Pass a postal service was instituted between Prince Albert Road and Oudtshoorn. The hotel was built of offer overnight accommodation. Some maps still refer to the ruins of this inn as Victoria Hotel.

• PLANTASIE (The Plantation) another experimental pine plantation dating back from 1927.

• WITDRAAIE (The white Curves) The name derived from two hairpin bends cut into limestone deposits.

• STALLETJIE (The Stables) the horses and mules used to draw the mail coaches were fed and watered here. Fresh horses would be harnessed for the journey north or south.

• NEVILLE SE DRAAI (Neville’s Bend) a sharp bend on the plateau on the top of the mountain was named after John Fitz Neville. Clerk of works during the construction of the pass. It is too dangerous to erect a sign here but the name commemorates Neville, who was killed here on the 8^th March 1888. Some people believe he was killed in a dynamite explosion, others that he was thrown from his horse.

Map of The Swartberg pass

Sources and Biblography

Helen Marincowitz        The Swartberg Pass

Graham Ross                   The Romance of  Cape Passes

T.V.Bulpin                        Discovering South Africa

Some images Courtesy of Fransie Pienaar Museum, Prince Albert

Four of the world’s remaining eight Northern white rhinos (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) are settling in to their new home in the Ol Pejeta reserve in Kenya. They were shipped to the reserve from Dvůr Králové zoo in the Czech Republic, where they’ve been for the past 30 years. The two remaining Czech Northern white rhinos and two Northern white rhinos at the Wild Animal Park, in San Diego, aren’t reproductively viable, so the four now in Kenya are the last hope of continuing the genetic line.

The Northern white rhino has a sad history. From the 1970s to the 1980s, their population was reduced to 15 due to poaching. Earlier in this decade, that population had doubled and seemed to be on the slow road to recovery. Since 2003, though, the last remaining Northern whites were killed and the species has been extinct in the wild until this week’s transfer. At this point, the goal is merely to pass on as much of the subspecies’ lineage as possible. Rob Brett, director of Flora and Fauna International, acknowledges that inter-breeding with Southern white rhinos in Kenya is “inevitable”.

Whether or not they will even be able to breed is still up for debate. San Diego Wild Animal Park mammal curator Randy Rieches contends that there is no chance of breeding in the herd, due to reproductive pathologies that set in after a period of reproductive dormancy. On the other hand, Dana Holeckova, director of the Dvůr Králové zoo, said at the time of the transfer, “I feel so happy. It’s my birthday today and this is like a gift to Africa. There is a 90 percent chance they will reproduce and I hope that we will start a new group of Northern White rhinos in Africa.” Clearly, the jury is still out on the rhinos’ fate, and only time will tell.

The money for the transfer was supplied by Alastair Lucas, vice chairman of Goldman Sachs in Australia, explicitly for the purpose of relocating these rhinos.

After much thought and consideration, here is a brief list of building materials that I think are environmentally friendly and sustainable. A few might surprise you.

Glass – It’s easily reusable and recyclable. And with advances in technology, it’s become a well insulated material. As an added bonus, on sunny winter days, glass lets in sunlight helping to heat your home.

Wood- Trees grow, and are a an important part of the ecosystem. When we responsibly use trees, we can improve the health of the ecosystem. Beyond that, wood can also be reused in building projects, or recycled into other materials (like insulation, paper, or cardboard). And as long as new trees are planted for each tree cut down, then this is effectively a net loss of zero, when it comes to deforestation.

Cement- Yes, I know concrete is the third largest polluter in the world, but once you pour cement it’s there forever. It will last for thousands of years with almost no care (look at Rome! Many of their buildings were built out of concrete and some are still used a few thousand years later). Also, concrete has good thermal retention, meaning it can retain heat very well, helping to save energy costs. And if you do need to break up concrete, it can be used as aggregate material in other construction jobs.

Bricks- they’re made from clay, are reuseable, and look great. And they’re fairly fireproof, nice little bonus there as well.

Steel- Similar to concrete, once you make a steel beam, it’s good for a few hundred years, or longer. With steel, it’s greatest strength is it’s strength. One steel beam could replace quite a few wooden beams, and a home wouldn’t lose structural stability. Steel beams from demolition sites can be cleaned up, and used again no worries. Also, steel is fairly easy to recycle, and if worst comes to worst, over time it will rust away to nothing.

Dirt- rammed earth is becoming popular again, albeit very slowly. Everyone has dirt around them, and it can be used to build walls, floors, foundations, etc. Plus when it’s treated with a resin, it becomes as impervious to the elements as any other exterior building material. If you have a “dirt” floor, it will never, ever look dirty. Because it can’t, it’s dirt!

Shingles- Anything that will last 25 years in the harsh elements is a good environmental investment. A bit of pollution once and then done, outweighs small amounts of pollution over and over and over again. Also, depending on color choice shingles could help to keep a home warmer in winter, by absorbing heat and letting it radiate through the house, or they could reflect heat and keep a home cooler in the summer.

Tin Roof- Rusted! I don’t think so, but with a little care, a tin roof will stay on a home for generations. Same idea as shingles, little bit of pollution and then done and done!

Many of the products here, aren’t “green.” In fact they’re as far from what is considered green as possible. But this is where Conservance differs from the Green movement. If I can get a lifetime of use out of a product, then it’s a smart investment. If it can be easily reused, recycled, or broken down into other projects, then it’s a GREAT investment.

The idea being this: Anytime something is manufactured or made, pollution of some form occurs. For some of these products the initial pollution is higher than a “green” product. But for many green products, if I have to replace them every five years then their pollution levels are actually greater and more damaging over the long term.

To put it simply: Let’s say to build a concrete wall, 10 tons of CO2 were produced. That’s the only time that wall will be associated with pollution until the day it gets torn down, which could be hundreds of years in the future.

Now I decide to build another wall out of a green building material. It only ended up producing 5 tons of CO2. Initially more environmentally friendly. But if I have to replace it every five years, then I’m producing 5 tons of CO2 every five years. Even if I only have to replace it three times over the course of thirty years, it would have a price tag of 15 tons of CO2 associated with it.

And if that concrete wall doesn’t get torn down for 50 years, then over that time frame my “green” alternative has produced 50 tons of CO2. Not very green at all.

A story is playing out once again that will end with the removal of a woman of intelligence, vigor, dedication and vision from the Carrizo. It is not the work of BLM this time, but apparently being too good at one’s job is dangerous for women in cattle/oil’n'gas/and solar energy country. “Headstrong” is a bad quality in women working for the environment, and a lot of people like to see these women put in their place. (KT)

So long, Sarah
Supervisor Jim Patterson intends to ax Planning Commission Chairwoman Sarah Christie.
BY COLIN RIGLEY

AXED
Sarah Christie is expected to resign from the SLO County Planning Commission at the request of Supervisor Jim Patterson, who appointed her five years ago.

Sarah Christie is the type of public official who can rip you to shreds and hold a quizzical look that says, “How did you not see this coming?”

She’s a brutally incisive decision maker who can steer a meeting, sway a vote, and shift opposing political views, using keen reasoning and unparalleled knowledge of local laws.

Maybe it’s because of those very qualities that Christie has become one of the most divisive members of SLO County government. And maybe they account for why, after five years, she’s being forced out of office.

Christie is expected to resign from the SLO County Planning Commission during the Dec. 17 meeting. She’s been perceived by some critics as an extreme, left-biased roadblock and by supporters as one of the best planning commissioners in memory. When she steps down—barring a change of heart by Supervisor Jim Patterson, who appointed her—she may allude to spending time with her family or other such political clichés. Whatever her official explanation may be, Christie is not stepping down by choice.

Throughout her tenure, Christie has been at the forefront in the pitched battles between SLO County’s environmentalists on the left and developers on the right. Despite vigorous campaigns by pro-growth agitators to unseat her, her position has been secure. But somewhere along the line very recently, Patterson turned against her.

About 15 people met with Patterson on Dec. 7 to change his mind: As far as anyone can tell, they failed.

Many political figures self-destruct amid scandals and corruption charges; Christie may meet her demise for no reason other than she’s an expert. “I just think it’s really sad for Sarah personally … just because she’s so smart,” one supporter said. “Just because we have an intelligent woman. And that’s a bad thing?”

Christie is an undeniable pain in the ass to any developer who relies on smooth public relations consultants and slick PowerPoints. Pat Veesart, a former District 3 planning commissioner, thinks “it’s always been an unlevel playing field” in the world of county development. Christie, he believes, provided a counterbalance for the public, who is usually shortchanged compared to developers with deep coffers and ready access to decision makers.

Ultimately, Christie is just one vote on the commission, a government body that can be easily overridden by the Board of Supervisors. And the Planning Commission rarely gains much public attention, aside from a small circle of activists and wonks. But Christie’s departure would signify much more than just the loss of a mid-level decision maker who is virtually a volunteer (planning commissioners make $150 per meeting); it would be a sign the county’s political infrastructure is vulnerable to pressure from private interests.

“I think the message is going to be loud and clear among those circles,” Veesart said.

What’s odd is not that Christie might be forced out; what’s odd is the timing. She’s served for five years as Patterson’s appointee and has come under fire before. Calls for her blood peaked months ago but have faded.

Why now?

By most accounts, her position on the county’s future energy policy was the final straw; a position that poses a financial threat to large solar projects—projects involving people with ties to certain county officials.

“I think it’s the solar stuff, I do,” said Robin Bell, of the Carrisa Alliance for Responsible Energy.

Two large solar electric projects have been proposed for construction in the Carrizo Plains, which is in Patterson’s district. There were originally three projects, but after several sales and company buyouts, SunPower and First Solar stand as the only applicants. Both companies have a lot riding on those projects, which came about after PG&E brokered a deal to add 800 megawatts of power to its grid. State law requires utility companies to increase supplies of renewable energy.

The latest Wedbush research report for stock investors, published Dec. 4, gave both solar companies neutral ratings. The report warns that expected lawsuits and delays in the approval process could significantly extend company timelines to construction. According to the Wedbush analysis, SunPower’s share price anticipated for the next 12 months is scaled back from $29 to $21.

And the escalating global market, particularly because of Chinese solar manufacturers, means First Solar and SunPower must build a lot of solar panels to stay competitive, explained Wedbush solar analyst Christine Hersey.

“Investors just need to realize it’s a hell of a lot more complicated than maybe they were previously thinking,” Hersey said, adding that the Carrizo projects are the largest U.S. projects ever proposed by either company.

Although the projects are the vanguard of a state and national push for green energy, they have come under intense scrutiny because of potential impacts to wildlife. Neither project has yet moved to the county’s approval process—both are still drafting environmental review documents.

In June 2009, a deliberative process began to unfold that potentially could undercut such large projects as the ones proposed in the Carrizo, and it originated in the Planning Commission.

Simultaneously, some critics were calling for Christie’s resignation as she and the other commissioners were redrafting the county’s General Plan. Over multiple meetings, the commissioners have been updating policies for the Conservation and Open Space Element of the plan. Some of the policy reforms focus on energy: namely what kind, where should power plants be built, and should there be large power plants or should we instead favor solar panels on rooftops? Should energy companies be required to avoid environmental impacts or merely offset them?

Such were the questions the commissioners pondered during the course of the early meetings. It was a rough start, but as the commissioners gained momentum in their review, Christie became the focal point in the most contested debates about the new energy policies. Indeed, Christie provided the groundwork for the current version of policies with a draft she wrote based on public comments—if only because no one else brought language to the table. Though the commissioners continued to work from Christie’s draft, she personally caught so much flak she felt obligated to explain what she had provided. “They’re not necessarily my edits,” Christie said on July 6. “They’re a reflection of the public’s input.”

But what the public wanted and what some commissioners were willing to concede were mostly disparate. Some policy language gave preference to distributed power sources—solar panels on rooftops—instead of large local industrial solar plants. Other bits of wording went a bit beyond historical county guidelines by saying that in SLO County, new projects should avoid environmental impacts. Historically, commissioners and some county planners argued, projects are only expected to mitigate impacts. But asking developers to avoid impacts may preclude some projects from passing county standards.

“My guess is four of us are a little more on the side of accepting that there may be some trade-offs,” Commissioner Anne Wyatt said. In other words, the policies Christie proposed went too far.

Commissioner Carlyn Christianson also warned the policies might restrict projects from moving through the county’s approval process. But Christie countered, laughing as though she was going crazy, “So nothing in this document is going to prohibit anything from happening. All this document is going to do is to lay out a general path. These are general guidelines.”

She continued, “And I’m getting a little bit of a sense that we’re trying to craft this document to meet the needs of some specific applicants, which I think is completely inappropriate.”

By July 23, representatives from the solar companies were attending the meetings in person and submitting letters on the record urging the county to pull back on the restrictions.

As the commissioners wrapped up the energy element, they tentatively approved the language, but left it on uncertain ground. Surprisingly, Christianson and Wyatt, who are both part of the Democratic 3-2 majority, actually apologized as they closed the books on the energy element.

“I do not feel that some of the decisions made by the commission are things I do agree with, but I do think the Board of Supervisors will have a chance to review some of those decisions made by the commission,” Christianson said.

On Dec. 17, Christie and the rest of the commission are scheduled to finalize the new General Plan elements. Some commissioners hinted they want to revise the earlier language and gut the suggestions Christie included.

It is an undeniably tense issue for the commission, so significant that solar representatives have been drawn into the debate before their projects go up for public review.

“There’s been quite a bit of discussion about Sarah’s role as chairman of the Planning Commission and her extensive involvement in revising the open space element of the county’s General Plan,” said Chris Crotty of Crotty Consulting in San Diego.

NOT WORTH IT ANYMORE
Supervisor Jim Patterson long withstood pressure to remove Planning Commissioner Sarah Christie, but something or someone recently changed his mind.
PHOTO BY STEVE E. MILLER
Crotty’s name might sound familiar for two reasons. First, he has a long history as a political consultant in SLO County, having guided the election campaigns of Supervisors Patterson, Adam Hill, and Bruce Gibson. And second, SunPower recently hired Crotty as a consultant.

“Let me put it this way,” Crotty said. “The document that the planning commission utilized to make those changes was a document that was authored by Sarah Christie.”

It’s not only that Crotty is being paid to represent a company trying to build in SLO County and is buddies with the people who will make the decision, or that Christie may have upset the balance on a project in Patterson’s district. If you ask Bell or Veesart why they think Christie’s job is on the line, it’s because she irked the wrong people.

When it comes to the large-scale solar projects, Bell said, “It was apparent that Sarah was going in one direction and Jim was going in the other.”

But after tidal waves of pressure for Patterson to remove Christie, which she had always survived, would the solar companies somehow be able to drown her out? “You can bet that it’s a factor in this,” Veesart said. “You can bank it.”

Crotty responded that no one from SunPower asked that she be removed.

Damage control

Neither Christie nor Patterson would confirm she’s slated to retire from her position, though Patterson told New Times on Dec. 14 he would have a statement later during the week. Perhaps a wave of support for Christie would sway Patterson’s decision, though many say they worry it’s unlikely things will change.

According to several of Christie’s supporters, who asked not to have their names disclosed because a decision has not been made official or public, Christie will be replaced during the first meeting next year. One of her supporters, referring to criticism levied against Christie throughout her five years in the position, said, “I think that it’s just been this drum beat. I figure that it’s gotten harder and harder for the supervisor to ignore.”

Her worried supporters have lobbied Patterson. But Patterson insisted a recent meeting with several of them had nothing to do with Christie and anything about her being kicked out was merely gossip.

One person who attended that meeting told New Times “it was just weird.” The group urged Patterson to change his mind while he sat, listened, jotted a few notes, but didn’t indicate what he would do.

“What prompted him to even think about hanging her?” the attendee wondered.

For now, the message is being tightly controlled. One potential replacement could be Patterson’s appointee to the Water Resources Advisory Committee, Dan O’Grady, who was nervous to comment on the matter and a bit cryptic about whether he had been pegged for the job.

“I need to just refer you to Jim about any questions about his appointments,” O’Grady said dryly. “I don’t think that would be appropriate for me to [comment].”

O’Grady didn’t return a follow-up call.

Andy Caldwell, who’s a Santa Maria talk show host and executive director of the Coalition of Labor, Agriculture and Business, has become one of Christie’s biggest, or certainly one of the loudest, critics. On July 14, Caldwell publicly called for Christie to be removed from the commission. He asked the Board of Supervisors directly and repeated his opinion in a commentary he contributed to New Times (“Remove Sarah Christie from the planning commission,” July 23).

Asked about Christie, Caldwell was thrilled she might be on the way out.

“But I think what’s occurring right now is what I would refer to as an echo,” Caldwell said, meaning the blasts from himself and others were reverberating from the opposing political spectrum. “And that is the truth about Sarah Christie is a lot of the lefties don’t even like her because she doesn’t listen to them.”

He went on: “I think ultimately this is going to come back to Patterson and [Supervisor Bruce] Gibson where it rightly belongs because they’re not reining her in. … Sarah Christie’s days are numbered.”

Christie has never pretended she’s trying to win friends. Her reputation and tone on the commission is usually hard-edged and sometimes stubborn. After the 2008 election—which switched the Board of Supervisors from a Republican to a Democratic majority, which was reflected by the commission—Christie appeared to mellow a bit. No longer on the defensive as far as voting, her attitude tempered from boiling to a quiet simmer. By reputation, Christie has been a strong voice on the commission for smart growth and environmental stewardship—a voice that has likely won her as many fans as it’s created enemies.

“Sarah has shown more people skills than she had previously,” said Jerry Bunin of the Homebuilders Association of the Central Coast. “But I wouldn’t call her a fair and balanced commissioner. She’s not objective unless the housing is overwhelmingly affordable and therefore difficult to make financial sense to build.”

Patterson was first elected in 2004—he was re-elected in 2008—beating out contender Mike Ryan. Christie was integral in the first campaign and was appointed to be his planning commissioner. She held the office through his re-election last year. She’s also the legislative director for the California Coastal Commission, and has a long résumé of community and environmental activism, starting as a journalist and local government employee.

In 2009, as part of a regular rotation, Christie landed the commission chairmanship, which seemed to throw a fresh coat of paint on the target on her back. Earlier this year, the bloodlust from Christie’s detractors spiked after the release of a 2008 grand jury report. Though Christie wasn’t named, the grand jury reported that she may have overstepped her bounds when she contacted the state Department of Fish and Game about a sand and gravel mining operation proposed in Paso Robles. But the grand jury recommended no punishment, nor in fact any actual wrongdoing, stating instead that planning commissioners should have more training.

If indeed Christie is forced out, it would be a huge loss, several supporters told New Times.

SLO Councilwoman Jan Marx said Christie is “very thorough, very bright, and she knows a lot. Sometimes that’s threatening to people.”

“She is magnificent,” Veesart said. “There’s no other way to describe her. … She’s leagues above everybody else in county politics.”

If Christie is forced out, her absence will resonate far beyond the Planning Commission. As one supporter said, “I think this is getting very political and I am sorely disappointed in Jim Patterson.”

Staff Writer Colin Rigley can be reached at crigley@newtimesslo.com.

Christie says she was betrayed
By Bob Cuddy | bcuddy@thetribunenews.com

Former Planning Commissioner Sarah Christie says the man who appointed her, Supervisor Jim Patterson, betrayed her in “a muscular act of political disloyalty” and has created a rift in the North County environmental movement.

Christie resigned Thursday under pressure from Patterson, who asked her to leave.

Christie said Patterson knuckled under to people “who came running into his office with their hair on fire and said Sarah Christie is trying to hijack the General Plan.”

Patterson denied the existence of either a betrayal or a rift among environmentalists.

Some Christie supporters said at a minimum Patterson may lose support among his base should he run for re-election in 2012.

Sue Harvey of the environmental group North County Watch said the chief problem with Christie’s departure is the loss of her knowledge and skills. But, she added, “If you are asking does this fragment and erode Patterson’s political base, yes I believe it does.”

Morro Bay Vice Mayor Betty Winholtz was part of a group that tried to talk Patterson out of replacing Christie a week before he did so. She told The Tribune on Tuesday that the group warned him it would be political suicide to abandon Christie.

However, Patterson told them and later the general public that he asked Christie to resign because a growing number of people were telling him that they were not being treated even-handedly when they went before the commission.

He said, for those people, “It was like going to court and thinking the judge is biased and you don’t have a chance.”

“I try to … build consensus,” Patterson told The Tribune. “I don’t think she was good at building consensus.”

Asked if that were perception or reality, Patterson said, “It’s actuality as well.” He said he observed her at commission hearings and “she was not handling herself well,” coming off as confrontational and “too forceful.”

Political fallout

Christie and Patterson spoke with The Tribune in separate interviews.

The discussions delineated a fissure that has been widening since at least last summer between the two old friends and political collaborators. The pair worked to dislodge conservative Supervisor Mike Ryan in 2004 and fend off a strong attack from Ryan acolyte Debbie Arnold in 2008.

Christie, a strong-minded, highly knowledgeable environmentalist and a member of the California Coastal Commission staff, drew criticism from the start, particularly from North County ranchers, gravel miners and property rights advocates.

She acknowledges being a lightning rod for criticism but adds, “Lightning rods are important; they keep your house from burning down.”

Until this past summer, Patterson defended her, even during the 2008 campaign when she was being loudly reviled by Patterson’s opponents. He said in light of that and other acts of loyalty, he finds Christie’s accusation of betrayal “odd.”

“I don’t get the betrayal thing,” Patterson said.

During the 2008 election, Christie said Patterson’s campaign polled to see how much of a drag she was on his re-election chances. “It was on the table,” she said.

Patterson was re-elected in June 2008, but it was not until this past August that he told her to prepare her exit strategy, she said.

Christie said he told her there are people in the community who would not speak to him because she was his planning commissioner.

“He thinks with me gone the noise will stop and he can go back to being the beloved, benevolent politician he sees himself as,” Christie said.

Christie believes the change in Patterson’s thinking occurred after she submitted comments ahead of time for the commission’s discussion about energy last summer. None of the other commissioners did that this time around, although Christie said they had in previous meetings on other subjects.

She said people unhappy about the way that meeting went showed up at the next hearing and “excoriated the Planning Commission.”

Patterson said it is “absolutely untrue” that he is being pressured by energy companies.

He said he had been “thinking about this for a long time,” and his feeling that it was time for a change grew when he began hearing complaints about Christie’s confrontational style from people who were “not the usual critics.”

“I’m talking about the general public,” he said, citing people in business, health care, agriculture and housing, for example.

None of Christie’s fellow planning commissioners who spoke at the commission meeting after she resigned echoed Patterson’s criticism.

Bruce White, who represents the conservative North County on the commission, called her “thoughtful, considerate and respectful.”

South County farmer Gene Mehlschau, who sometimes disagrees with Christie on policy, added that “the issues are more widely discussed because we are different; that’s the beauty of it.”

In one sense, the matter is academic. Patterson has appointed Dan O’Grady of Atascadero, who has similar values but a different style, saying, “She (Christie) is not the only one who can do this work.”

But if the coalition that worked to put Patterson in office falls apart, it could put a conservative back on the board from the 5th District. That in turn could tip the board’s 3-2 environmental balance back into a 3-2 pro-growth dynamic.

Around half of the world’s population of Grey Seals are found in the UK’s coastal waters. This highlights the importance of the colony at Donna Nook in Lincolnshire. Unlike most of the UK’s other animals, the Seals give birth in early winter and by the time the big males join the colony some weeks later, any photographer wanting to capture this peak of activity must be prepared to endure the throes of winter on this remote beach. If you ask many a photographer, this really can be one of the most rewarding times of year to work if you and your camera can endure the blizzards of sand and snow whipped up by winds billowing off the North Sea!

The threatening skies and changeable weather at this time of year can create an almost unrivaled mood in a photograph. At coastal sites like this, a slightly longer shutter speed can also capture the effects of the wind. Capturing the movement of the sand, rain and snow really portrays the harsh environment these animals chose to bring up their pups in.

Perhaps it’s the protection of this site from above (no, I’m not referring to a divine influence – the RAF use the beach to practice bombing runs which don’t seem to bother the Seals one bit) but Grey Seal numbers have been steadily rising here in recent years…not unlike the number of visiting photographers.

It’s not hard to see why Donna Nook has become so popular. The experience for visitors is almost unrivaled in a country that so often falls short in providing its public with close encounters with iconic wildlife. The wide-eyed snow-white pups can be seen by visitors of all ages at their nursery in the dunes at the top of the beach just metres from the entrance to the nature reserve. The sheer number of Seals here in the winter means that a trek across the saltmarsh will reward the more intrepid visitor with the chance to see the huge males chasing females and threatening and fighting with each other…just remember to wrap-up warm!