Tree Hugger Thread

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rstrong
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Re: Tree Hugger Thread

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Whelp, the emerald ash borer - a beetle from China - has been detected here in Winnipeg. We're expected to lose almost all of the city's 350,000 ash trees. Many were planted after Dutch Elm disease swept through.

The only comforting news from the entomologists is that based on experience in other cities, "it'll be over quickly."

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Vrede too
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Re: Tree Hugger Thread

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That's a kick in the ash. :( I wonder if the Chinese ever suffer from bugs that came from Canada.

STAND UP FOR THE PUBLIC’S VOICE AND SOUND DECISION-MAKING ON PUBLIC LANDS!

For nearly 50 years, the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, has been an empowering legal tool that allows communities to defend themselves and their environments from dangerous, rushed or poorly planned federal and industry projects. The law ensures that your community has a say when special interests want to build a toxic waste incinerator in your neighborhood or a dangerous pipeline next to your child’s school.

Now, the United States Forest Service, under pressure from the timber and mining industries, is considering putting our nation’s oldest and most important environmental law on the chopping block. This decision could result in massive logging, drilling and other extractive projects being rammed through without proper oversight, accountability or input from people like you.

But under the very law that special interests would like to gut, the Forest Service must solicit public input on their plan to undercut their NEPA process. Tell them that this won’t be the last time you have a say in how your public lands are managed.

An oil spill off China's coast is the world's biggest since Deepwater Horizon — and it more than tripled in size over the weekend
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billy.pilgrim
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Re: Tree Hugger Thread

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Not sure where to put this.

In an interview with friend Piers, trump explained his understanding of global warming

“There is a warming and there is a cooling … I believe in crystal-clear beautiful water. I believe in just having good cleanliness and all.”



Seems there is good warming and good cooling on both sides.
Trump: “We had the safest border in the history of our country - or at least recorded history. I guess maybe a thousand years ago it was even better.”

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Re: Tree Hugger Thread

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billy.pilgrim wrote:
Mon Jan 29, 2018 8:11 am
Not sure where to put this.

In an interview with friend Piers, trump explained his understanding of global warming

“There is a warming and there is a cooling … I believe in crystal-clear beautiful water. I believe in just having good cleanliness and all.”

Seems there is good warming and good cooling on both sides.
:lol: More:

Thank you for taking the time to contact me about offshore energy exploration. I appreciate hearing from you.

On April 28, 2017, President Trump issued an executive order to explore offshore energy prospects. The order directs the Secretary of Interior to review the federal offshore oil and gas leasing schedule and the 2017-2022 Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Five Year Program.

On January 4, 2018, Secretary Zinke announced a timeline and process for finalizing a proposed schedule for Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) oil and gas lease sales. His announcement outlines the parameters under which the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is authorized to conduct the review. The plan proposes to make 90 percent of the total OCS acreage and more than 98 percent of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and gas resources in federal offshore areas available to be considered for future exploration and development. The plan also proposes the largest number of lease sales in U.S. history.

By reducing arbitrary restrictions on resource and energy exploration, Secretary Zinke’s plan ensures that all available OCS acreage, new and old, is subject to public input and scrutiny. The sweeping review will provide the Administration with a comprehensive catalogue of community interests and trepidations. The areas considered in the proposal are neither binding nor a final indication that they will be in the approved program or offered in a lease sale. The 2017-2022 Five Year Program will remain in effect until the new OCS program is approved.

While I understand your concerns about offshore energy exploration, I believe that we can successfully explore energy opportunities off the Atlantic Coast without creating adverse effects to our environment or landscape. Under the Obama Administration, the Secretary of Interior unilaterally reversed plans to offer lease sales, which potentially cost important American jobs and hindered the nation’s ability to become energy independent. This review will provide our state’s coastal communities with unprecedented involvement in developing a plan that adequately balances their economic interests with environmental protections.

I intend to participate in the robust comment period to explain the key conditions that must be fulfilled for my support. There should be no permanent structures along the site horizon in order to protect tourism and the natural beauty of the coastline. Coastal communities must also be given the opportunity to benefit from any resulting revenues – particularly when it comes to beach renourishment, dredging, and conservation funds. I look forward to hearing constituents and communities’ comments on the mid-Atlantic proposed leases and get a better education on exactly what it could mean for our state in terms of long-term fiscal security.

Again, thank you for taking the time to contact me. Please do not hesitate to contact me again about other important issues.

Sincerely,
Thom Tillis (R-NC)
U.S. Senator
:cussing:
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Re: Tree Hugger Thread

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Vrede too wrote:
Tue Nov 14, 2017 11:00 am
The petition to the Senate reads:

"Kathleen Hartnett White is a dangerous right-wing climate change denier who holds extreme, anti-science views. Block and resist her nomination to lead the Council on Environmental Quality."
White House Plans To Withdraw 'Conspiracy Theorist And Anti-Science Extremist’ Pick

:clap: :---P
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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Re: Tree Hugger Thread

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Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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Re: Tree Hugger Thread

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Is This the Year the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow Goes Extinct?
With just a few dozen left in the wild, things don’t look good for these critically endangered birds. But a captive-breeding program could help save them.


This year the United States could experience its first bird extinction in more than three decades.

That’s the warning from the scientists and conservationists working to protect the critically endangered Florida grasshopper sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum floridanus). Once common in the grasslands of central Florida, this geographically isolated subspecies has experienced a catastrophic population decline since the 1970s, mostly due to habitat loss and degradation. Although the tiny birds have been protected by the Endangered Species Act since 1986, their numbers have continued to fall — to the point where recovery now seems next to impossible. A survey last year found that just 22 females and 53 males remained in the wild — and that was before 2017’s hurricane season and record-setting winter cold snaps....
:(
Trump Administration Cuts Grazing Fees, Mulls Price Hikes for National Parks

The Trump administration has lowered livestock grazing fees by 25 percent, using a 40-year-old formula that has been a boon for livestock operators whose animals graze on federal public lands. The new fee, effective in March, will be $1.41 a month for each cow and calf, horse or five sheep or goats.

Costs to administer the grazing fee program exceed the money collected, resulting in taxpayer subsidies of about $100 million per year. The grazing fee reduction comes as the Trump administration considers an increase in entrance fees for 17 of the most popular national parks to cover maintenance backlogs. Under the proposal, entrance fees could nearly triple for Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Zion and other national parks. Vehicle fees could increase to $70 from the current weekly pass of $30.

“It’s shameful that the Trump administration wants to drastically increase national park fees while gouging taxpayers to subsidize livestock grazing,” said Randi Spivak, public lands program director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “These enormous subsidies for a small group of livestock operators have cost taxpayers more than $1 billion over the past decade. This program is long overdue for an overhaul.” ...
Welfare ranching :ateeth:
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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Re: Tree Hugger Thread

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Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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Re: Tree Hugger Thread

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Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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billy.pilgrim
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Re: Tree Hugger Thread

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Thanks to all you liberals and conservationists. While driving through Gulf Breeze on US 98 this morning, I spotted a bald eagle. They are becoming a lot more common around here.

I remember when even the pelicans were gone between Louisiana and Cedar Key, now they're everywhere. Occasionally one will glide without any detectable movement just above the sides of a bridge and just outside your window. You can match their speed and they'll stay with you for a mile or so.
Trump: “We had the safest border in the history of our country - or at least recorded history. I guess maybe a thousand years ago it was even better.”

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Re: Tree Hugger Thread

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billy.pilgrim wrote:
Tue Feb 20, 2018 1:13 pm
Thanks to all you liberals and conservationists. While driving through Gulf Breeze on US 98 this morning, I spotted a bald eagle. They are becoming a lot more common around here.

I remember when even the pelicans were gone between Louisiana and Cedar Key, now they're everywhere. Occasionally one will glide without any detectable movement just above the sides of a bridge and just outside your window. You can match their speed and they'll stay with you for a mile or so.
May not last.

Tell Congress: Stop Trump’s Dirty, Dangerous Offshore Drilling Plan
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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Re: Tree Hugger Thread

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Vrede too wrote:
Tue Feb 20, 2018 3:08 pm
billy.pilgrim wrote:
Tue Feb 20, 2018 1:13 pm
Thanks to all you liberals and conservationists. While driving through Gulf Breeze on US 98 this morning, I spotted a bald eagle. They are becoming a lot more common around here.

I remember when even the pelicans were gone between Louisiana and Cedar Key, now they're everywhere. Occasionally one will glide without any detectable movement just above the sides of a bridge and just outside your window. You can match their speed and they'll stay with you for a mile or so.
May not last.

Tell Congress: Stop Trump’s Dirty, Dangerous Offshore Drilling Plan
I know all too well. Profit above all else.
Trump: “We had the safest border in the history of our country - or at least recorded history. I guess maybe a thousand years ago it was even better.”

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Re: Tree Hugger Thread

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Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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Re: Tree Hugger Thread

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Congress Just Got a Whole Lot of F’s on Their Environmental Report Card
“We’ve seen the parties have gotten further and further apart.”
(article)


2017 NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL
SCORECARD
FIRST SESSION OF THE 115TH CONGRESS


SENATE

Burr, R-NC

2017 - 0%
114th Congress (2015-16) - 12%
Lifetime - 8%

Tillis, R-NC
2017 - 0%
114th Congress (2015-16) - 10%
Lifetime - 7%

HOUSE

Meadows, R-NC11

2017 - 0%
114th Congress (2015-16) - 1%
Lifetime - 2%

:( :roll: :cussing: :gthumb:
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
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Re: Tree Hugger Thread

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Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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rstrong
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Re: Tree Hugger Thread

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Image

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Re: Tree Hugger Thread

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Ah, the good old days, back when Canada was a friend rather than an evil entity to be tariffed into submission.
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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rstrong
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Re: Tree Hugger Thread

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I think that's a dig at Trump's coal rhetoric and policies.

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O Really
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Re: Tree Hugger Thread

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rstrong wrote:
Thu Mar 08, 2018 10:12 am
I think that's a dig at Trump's coal rhetoric and policies.
Yeppers - and one of the clearest and to-the-point "explanations" of Trump's views you're going to find.

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Re: Tree Hugger Thread

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rstrong wrote:
Thu Mar 08, 2018 10:12 am
I think that's a dig at Trump's coal rhetoric and policies.
I know, I was just expanding on his stupidity.


Anti-secrecy lawsuits soaring against Pruitt's EPA
Freedom of Information Act litigation is pouring in as the agency refuses to divulge details about the administrator's activities and travels.
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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