Category Archives: Explore

These posts appear in the “Explore” section of our website.

Drawdown

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edited by Paul Hawkin

As the subtitle suggests, this is “The most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse global warming.” The 100 scenarios analyze various strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and/or to sequester carbon. The upfront costs and ultimate cost savings to change behavior is also analyzed. Each strategy is based on global data. Sixty-one research scientists across the globe who have expertise in environmental issues collaborated on the solutions. The narrative on each of the scenarios is 2-3 pages with illustrative photos in each article. All are written in layman terms.

An example of a scenario is Farmland Restoration, ranked 23rd. A study from Stanford University suggests there are approximately one billion acres of land globally which are now abandoned. Ninety-nine percent of this desertion occurred in the last century. Restorative practice (ranked 11th) such as perma-gardening which integrates water saving, soil fertility and companion planting, is an example of active restoration. Such approaches require funding and are labor intensive if done on a large scale. The overall effectiveness of Farmland Restoration is huge. It would increase carbon sequestration by 14.08 gigatons at a cost of 72.2 billion with a savings of 1.34 trillion. It would produce an additional 9.5 billion tons of food.

Nuclear energy is ranked as 20th out of 100 strategies as to effectiveness. The other strategies are listed as “no regrets” while nuclear is the only strategy labelled ”regret”. There is a decrease in carbon impact but also a risk of tritium release, abandoned uranium mines, mine tailing pollution, spent nuclear waste disposal, illicit plutonium trafficking, and the need to guard nuclear waste for thousands of years.

While our current situation is traumatic to think about, the book is hopeful. Each environmental problem is exposed but combined with solutions.

Book Review: Drawdown

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Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming, edited by Paul Hawkin

As the subtitle claims, this is truly a comprehensive plan to reverse global warming. The book provides 100 scenarios to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and/or sequester carbon. The upfront costs and ultimate cost savings of changing behavior are also analyzed. Each strategy is based on global data. Sixty-one research scientists across the globe with expertise in environmental issues collaborated on the solutions. The narrative of each of the scenarios is only 2-3 pages with illustrative photos included with each article. All are accessibly written for the lay reader.

An example of a scenario is farmland restoration. A study from Stanford University suggests there are approximately one billion acres of land abandoned globally. Ninety-nine percent of this desertion occurred in the last century. Restorative practices such as perma-gardening, which integrates water saving, soil fertility, and companion planting, can result in active restoration of the land. Such approaches require funding and are labor intensive if done on a large scale, but the overall effectiveness of farmland restoration is huge. It would increase carbon sequestration by gigatons and produce additionally billion of tons of food.

Nuclear energy is ranked 20th in effectiveness out of the 100 strategies. However, it is alone in being categorized as having “regrets”; the other strategies are listed as “no regrets.” While producing nuclear energy leads to a decrease in carbon impact, it also introduces a risk of tritium release, abandoned uranium mines, mine-tailing pollution, the challenge of disposing spent nuclear waste, illicit plutonium trafficking, and the need to guard nuclear waste for thousands of years.

While our current situation is traumatic to think about, the book is hopeful. Each environmental problem is exposed but combined with solutions.

Rio Grande Compact

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Jan 21, 2022 Update – Without serious actions that reduce water depletions in the Middle Rio Grande,  New Mexico will violate the Rio Grande Compact.  The situation is urgent. Middle Rio Grande total water depletions must be reined in.

New Mexico estimates its 2021 deliveries of water, for use below Elephant Butte Dam, were about -30,000 acre-feet short of meeting its 2021 delivery obligations.  The 2021 annual debit brings the cumulative debit to -127,000 acre feet.  The compact limits New Mexico’s cumulative debit to -200,000 acre-feet at which point the the US supreme Court will decide Rio Grande water users’ future. Middle Rio Grande Water Advocates

Please ask your city council member, county commissioner, members of the ABCWUA Board what their plan is to change this situation within the next two years before there is a tragic loss of control of our water.

Where Water Was

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This past summer our granddaughter led us on a walk to a part of the Rio Grande quite close to where she lives in the South Valley. It was distressing. Where water once ran, we could walk out on an expanse of dry ground. The remaining thin streams of water were easy to leap across.

I share this because of the feeling that confronts me, that what it will take for the river to be restored is insurmountable. It will take, in other words, a miracle. Doing everything we can to preserve and nurture the river may not be enough, but with God, all things are possible. Scott Walker started Eco-Prayer some years ago. The idea is to pray daily for something in the earth we care about and to engage others to do the same.

So I encourage you, besides doing what you can to care for the earth, pray for something, some form of life you care about. If isn’t our Rio Grande watershed, then add your prayers to mine.                                                                                                    By Glen Kappy

Pesticides – Problems and Solutions

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Pesticide is an overarching term meaning a compound which kills fungus, bacteria, insects, or weeds. Insecticides target insects while herbicides target weeds. In this article, we address two pesticides, glyphosate and neonicotinoids, that have widespread deleterious effects on humans and ecosystems. Manufacturing of these pesticides continues unabated, with profits soaring while plant, animal, and insect life are plummeting. At the end of this article, you’ll find recipes for natural pesticides you can make yourself.

Monsanto brought the herbicide glyphosate (found in Round Up and 750 other products) to market in 1974. In 2015, the World Health Organization commissioned a study of glyphosate. Scientists from eleven countries reviewed a growing body of literature and came to the conclusion that the herbicide was a probable carcinogen with a strong link to non-Hodgkin lymphoma. They also found evidence that it causes DNA and chromosome damage in humans. Now many countries in Europe have banned glyphosate use.

Glyphosate also may be implicated in the global drop in bee populations. Ninety percent of our food crops are pollinated by bees. Bee numbers have decreased in the U.S. by 60% and in Europe by 30%. One of the suspected causes is that glyphosate is toxic to enzymes found in the stomachs of bees. When the microbiome of the bee’s stomach is weakened, the bee becomes more susceptible to disease and premature death.

Pesticides with neonicotinoids were first marketed by Bayer in the 1990s; today, neonicotinoids are the most widely used class of insecticides world-wide. They are also having a devastating effect on bees and other beneficial insects. When sprayed on plants, neonicotinoids are absorbed by the plant and then contaminate the pollen and nectar. Harmful levels can remain in the environment for months. Neonicotinoids cause queen bees to be infertile and also causes difficulties in flight and brain function. The European Union banned the use of three neonicotinoids and are monitoring beehive numbers and health. In the U.S., Fish and Wildlife banned their use in Wildlife Refuges, but this ban was rolled back by the previous administration. During the 2021 New Mexico legislative session, Senator Mimi Stewart introduced a bill which would have provided some protections from exposure to neonicotinoids, but the bill did not pass.

Tomato hornworm (Manduca sexta). Photo by Scot Nelson. Flikr Commons

Most insects have a beneficial role in nature, especially pollination, and most plants are beautiful or edible. We want both insects and plants; their survivals are intertwined with our needs. An example of the insect/plant relationship in our watershed is the tomato worm, the hawk moth, and the Sacred Datura plant. In one night, the big, green, juicy caterpillar can denude four or five branches of a tomato plant. This larvae stage metamorphosizes into pupae and then the hawk moth. With a nearly four-inch wingspan, this giant moth is the only pollinator for the Sacred Datura, also called Jimson or Loco Weed. The latter is used globally for medicines and purposefully cultivated in Germany, France, and parts of South America to treat various illnesses such as asthma, hallucinations, toothaches, and even dandruff. If you discover a tomato worm and there are white spikes coming out of its body, a parasitic wasp will have already laid its eggs, and soon the worm will be eaten by the wasp larvae. No need to do anything! In fact, the soon-to-hatch wasps will clear out the rest of your tomato worms. However, if the tomato worm doesn’t have white spikes, you might want to kill the caterpillar; after it finishes your tomatoes, it will move on to your eggplants and peppers.

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Bats

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Photo: Clement Falize/Unsplash

Bats probably originated in North America and have lived in the mid Rio Grande watershed for millennia. Half the species of bats found in the United States make New Mexico their home either for the summer or year-round.   

Since bats are nocturnal, we humans don’t often see these mammal neighbors. They are busy sleeping the day away in caves, under the eaves of our homes, in rock crevices, and even in tree cavities. At night, thousands emerge, searching for flower nectar (especially agave) and insects. A bat can eat 3-5,000 insects each night, making them very helpful to our ecosystem.

Photo: Hans Veth/Unsplash

Evening or vesper bats are a large family of bats; the ones found here are commonly called little brown bats or simple nosed bats. As they make their way through the night sky, they use echolocation, emitting signals from their mouths to judge distance to insects or objects. Other species of bats emit the sounds through their long noses.

The movies portray bats as vicious and scary, causing people to develop chiroptophobia (fear of bats). Since bats are peculiar looking, many with big ears, teeth, and long noses, it is hard to convince the public that they are a very peaceful species of animals. Indeed, a mother bat has maternal instincts and will nurse her young for two months. While an occasional bat in New Mexico has been found to have rabies, it is rather rare considering millions of bats are estimated to live here. The population of bats however is being threatened by a fungal disease called white-nose syndrome which recently showed up in caves in southern New Mexico.

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The Bees Tell Us

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Photo: Kym MacKinnon/Unsplash

Bees have a special place in my heart. I have apprenticed myself to their wonder and magic for over 10 years. It’s time to hear a word from the bees who I have been sitting shiva with for many years as they have been dying in great numbers.

Around the world, bee species are in decline at the rate of 40%. This should sound the alarm for us as humans, since bees contribute to 1 in 3 bites of our favorite foods and pollinate 85% of all flowers, fruits, nuts and seeds in our eco systems. They have been called keystone species because their survival is linked to the survival of all species— including humans. 

Some have called me a bee whisperer. But, I am quite sure that it is the bees that whisper their secrets to me. So what do the bees tell me these days??

The bees tell me that they have already suffered their COVID 19 pandemic. In 2006 the honeybees mysteriously began to die. It was dubbed “colony collapse,” due to the agricultural importing of the Varroa mite. This menace clings onto the bee’s fat body, deforming and sucking out its life juices. Mites eventually destroy the hive’s immune system over time. But the bees have learned how to adapt and evolve new ways of bee-ing in a world with Varroa mites. They teach us that we need to strengthen Mother Earth’s immune system, and preserve boundaries between human and nature, if we are to survive the viruses yet to come. We must quell our need to exploit every living system. Leave the wild alone and enhance healthy zones of nature in our cities and towns and they tell me more…..

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