Green Lynx Spider

Going through some old photos, and here's a picture of a gorgeous spider.

Another last minute present from W

Gaaacckk... I really despise the Bush administration. Those guys just seem hell-bent on destroying as much as they can before they leave office. I sure hope this is one thing Obama will reverse with an executive order immediately when he takes office. Domestic drilling is fine in some places, but within sight of one of the most famous natural wonders in our country? Seriously?? Idiots.

SALT LAKE CITY — The view of Delicate Arch natural bridge _ an unspoiled landmark so iconic it's on Utah's license plates _ could one day include a drilling platform under a proposal that environmentalists call a Bush administration "fire sale" for the oil and gas industry.

Late on Election Day, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced a Dec. 19 auction of more than 50,000 acres of oil and gas parcels alongside or within view of Arches National Park and two other redrock national parks in Utah: Dinosaur and Canyonlands.

...

"This is the fire sale, the Bush administration's last great gift to the oil and gas industry," said Stephen Bloch, a staff attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.

"The tracts of land offered here, next to Arches National Park or above Desolation Canyon, these are the crown jewels of America's lands that the BLM is offering to the highest bidder," he said.

An examination of the parcels, superimposing low-resolution government graphics onto Google Earth maps, shows that in one case drilling parcels bordering Arches National Park are just 1.3 miles from Delicate Arch.

Oh yes, let's please let oil companies put oil rigs right behind the Arch. Let's turn this:

Into this:

Oekologie returns!

Welcome back to Oekologie! This edition includes a variety of posts that explore issues across the world. Since November has been a month of incredible excitement in US politics, it's fitting to start with some political news.

Politics, nature, and society
Do humans have a right to nature? The people of Ecuador think so. In October, the citizens of Ecuador voted to adopt a new constitution. Most news coverage of the referendum has focused on how it could allow leftist president, Rafael Correa, to solidify his power. To Ben Connor Barrie, the most interesting aspect of the new constitution is that it grants its citizens inalienable rights to nature. Photo to the left: Rio Tiputini in Amazonian Ecuador, photo by Ben Connor Barrie.



Conservation and social responsibility
Next up, how do our actions impact the environment? We have three posts about this issue.

First, does thinking about the environment and your impact on it make you a treehugger, an activist, or simply a responsible citizen? Nathan Creitz shares his thoughts.

And this month's host is a confirmed political junkie and would like to share an article in the New York Times that links food production, climate change, and national security issues. Our next president will have a lot on his plate!

Sustainable Design Update reports on a recent publication that shows Sustainable Farming Maintains Biodiversity. As global demand for food increases with our ever-growing population, it will become ever more important to employ agricultural methods that don’t negatively impact biodiversity.

On a related note, Yemen may need taller wheat. Luigi Guarino discusses why farmers in Yemen still plant varieties of wheat that yield lower grain yield. The answer is that people in Yemen build mud brick homes, and while the new varieties produce a higher grain yield, the wheat is too short to make the mud bricks they used to build their homes.

Now, what about sustainable fisheries? GrrlScientist reviews one of my very favorite books, Bottomfeeder. Are there really plenty of fish in the sea? Unfortunately, the answer is no. If you love seafood, but are concerned about how to eat in an environmentally responsible way, read this book!! GrrlScientist reports she's already started changing her eating habits as a result of this book, and so have I. I'm now a fan of smoked kippers, a food I never though about trying until the author Taras Grescoe sung its praises .

Invasive Species
When I think of invasive species, I usually think of plants. But animals can also be invasive.

For example, what do you do when there are too many cats and too few people? Ros Peacock discusses feral cat issues in Australia. Trap, neuter, and release is a model many in the United States embrace, but does it work in Australia?

GrrlScientist shares a post about exotic invasive parrot species: there's more than meets the eye! In fact, molecular genetic analyses of an exotic invasive parrot species reveals (1) a cryptic species and (2) support for the notion that the pet trade was involved in establishing this invasive species in the USA. Image to the right from Arthur Grosset.





Rare and Endangered Species
Even in times of declining biodiversity across the planet, we are still pleasantly surprised by news of scientists finding new species, or rediscovering species thought to be extinct.

GrrlScientist tells us about a Tiny Gecko Species Discovered in Vanuatu Rainforest.
According to scientists at France's National Museum of Natural History, a new species of gecko has been discovered -- after it hatched from an egg removed from a nest on a South Pacific island and carried 12,000 miles to Paris in a box lined with Kleenex. The island, Espiritu Santo, is one of the larger South Pacific islands of the Vanuatu Archipelago, east of Australia.

Some wonderful new as an Endangered Cockatoo Species is Rediscovered in Indonesia. The world's rarest cockatoo, known as the Masakambing (Abbott's) yellow-crested cockatoo, Cacatua sulphurea abbotti, is a subspecies of Yellow (Sulfur)-crested cockatoo, which are endemic to several small islands of Indonesia. Worldwide, five cockatoo species are critically endangered -- four of which are yellow-crested cockatoos that are found only in Indonesia. Last seen more than twenty years ago when the total population numbered between roughly five and ten individuals, these birds have remained enigmatic due to their rarity and to the immediate threat of extinction.

And now, a bridge to birds!
Greg Laden tells us about a newly discovered species of dinosaur that demonstrates the evolution of a bird-like respiratory system in an animal that is definitely not bird-like in most other ways. Check out Aerosteon riocoloradensis: A Very Cool Dinosaur from Argentina.


And now... Birds!
This month we're innundated with bird posts! Must be related to the start of fall migration...

A DC Birding Blog discusses two studies that show greater bird diversity reduces the chances of human infection with the West Nile Virus. The studies highlight something many people don't realize: protection from disease is yet another reason to protect wildlife diversity.

Grrlscientist was on a roll with submissions this past month. She's provided lots of interesting posts about birds and bird behavior. In a post titled Race to save the world's rarest bird, she reviews the new book by Alvin Powell about the desperate struggle to save the world's rarest bird, the Po'ouli of Hawaii. This book reveals the strengths and weaknesses of the US Endangered Species Act.

Mystery bird! Try to guess what it is before reading the caption. From near-extinction less than a century ago, this species has rebounded in its North American range to be the most abundant breeding duck in the eastern US -- and it is increasing in the west, too.

Finally, we learn about the rare (and beautiful) Endangered Rimatara Lories. They're busy Making Babies! Photo to the right is of this gorgeous species from Gerald McCormack.

Thanks for visiting! We really need hosts for future editions of Oekologie! If you're interested in hosting, please leave a comment and we'll contact you!

Hooray!

This is why I voted for the Democratic candidate this year:

Transition advisers to President-elect Barack Obama have compiled a list of about 200 Bush administration actions and executive orders that could be swiftly undone to reverse White House policies on climate change, stem cell research, reproductive rights and other issues, according to congressional Democrats, campaign aides and experts working with the transition team.

A team of four dozen advisers, working for months in virtual solitude, set out to identify regulatory and policy changes Obama could implement soon after his inauguration. The team is now consulting with liberal advocacy groups, Capitol Hill staffers and potential agency chiefs to prioritize those they regard as the most onerous or ideologically offensive, said a top transition official who was not permitted to speak on the record about the inner workings of the transition.

"The kind of regulations they are looking at" are those imposed by Bush for "overtly political" reasons, in pursuit of what Democrats say was a partisan Republican agenda, said Dan Mendelson, a former associate administrator for health in the Clinton administration's Office of Management and Budget. The list of executive orders targeted by Obama's team could well get longer in the coming days, as Bush's appointees rush to enact a number of last-minute policies in an effort to extend his legacy.

What an odd feeling

Looks like President Bush is eager to ram through several changes to weaken environmental policy before he leaves office in January. But for a change, I'm not furious. I'm also not frantically looking up ways to protest the proposed changes. Now that we have a competent new president ready to come in and take over in a short few months, I am confident that the Obama administration will return our federal agencies over to people who respect science. I suspect that new administrators at the EPA, FDA, Department of the Interior, and every other agency in our government, will spend quite a lot of time undoing the damage the Bush administration has wrought over the last 8 years. But I am confident that in time, the new administration will indeed undo much of the damage.

What Tuesday night meant to me

Tuesday night was phenomenal, a history-changing moment for not only our country, but the world. For several years, I've been horrified as I watched my president and his staff do things in my name that made me ashamed to be an American: torture, domestic spying, the Katrina response, incompetent leadership in Iraq, signing statements, extraordinary rendition, ignoring sound science, to name only a few. In 2004, when Bush was re-elected for a second term, I lost hope in the intelligence and insight of my fellow citizens. But last night, all that was erased. Even though President-elect Obama (wow!) will certainly not be perfect, is certainly no messiah, and will not be able to fix many of our enormous problems in his first term, still... I now have faith in my country, and its people, again. A majority of us recognized that we needed a new direction, a new party in power, a new start. We said loudly and clearly: we love our country just as much as you, and we're taking it back! I'm proud that I live in a country with a democratic system that allows such sweeping changes to happen.

And I would be remiss if I didn't thank one person who set the stage for this historic night: George W. Bush. If Bush had not been so incompetent, displayed such contempt for our Constitution, and so completely disgusted so many people just like me, we might not be here today. By 2006 I was so horrified by what the Republican party had become that I vowed to work hard during the 2006 and 2008 elections to elect Democrats. I had never been active in politics before. I'd never volunteered, made a monetary contribution, or worked to get out the vote. Before Obama inspired me to volunteer for his campaign, Bush inspired me to work hard against his party. This year I got involved. I knocked on doors. I called total strangers. I donated a bit of money. I passed out fliers. So George Bush, thanks for pissing off so many citizens that we got out and participated in our political system this year!

This election has not only changed our country, it has changed me. It has made me believe that I can make a difference. I don't know what will happen in the next few years, but I do know one thing. I will continue to stay involved, continue to work to make our country a better place for all of us, and I will continue to feel a real sense of pride in the country that I love.