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Can Biotech Companies Save The Rhinos?  
To help stem the tide of rhino poaching, some biotech companies such as Pembient are seeking to develop and manufacture synthetic horns that are biologically identical to the real thing. The thinking behind this is that the availability of bio-identical fake horns at a substantially lower price than wild horns would cause demand to shift towards the synthetic substitutes, which would reduce people's incentives to poach rhinos.

I have argued previously that--from the perspective of what would be most effective in curbing poaching--the synthetic horns should not be made to be perfect fakes, i.e., bio-identical. Instead, the synthetic horns should be engineered to be (i) difficult to distinguish from wild horns but (ii) undesirable or unappealing in some respect so that buyers would place little value on them. This proposal makes use of a phenomenon in economics known as adverse selection, which occurs when buyers in a market are unable to distinguish between high- and low-quality products, and their lack of information drives down demand--and, hence, prices--enough that high-quality products (which would be wild horns in the context of rhino horns) cease to be supplied by sellers.

For conservationists and others who are concerned about the fate of the rhinos, it is critical to understand why biotech companies would prefer making bio-identical synthetic horns--rather than undesirable fakes--because of the implications this has for conservation policies. Simply put, it would be more profitable to produce and sell perfect fakes rather than synthetic horns that would be considered undesirable. All else being equal, putting out undesirable fakes that buyers cannot distinguish from the real ones, by reducing demand for horns, would lead to lower prices in the horn market compared to the case with bio-identical synthetic horns. This, of course, would generate less revenue for the producers of synthetic horns.

Proponents of making perfect fakes could argue that bio-identical synthetics would be no less effective than undesirable fakes in bringing about adverse selection in the horn market and driving out sellers of wild horns. This is true if buyers view bio-identical synthetic horns to be significantly inferior to wild horns. However, as reported in The Guardian last year, Pembient's market research in Vietnam--one of the biggest markets for rhino horn trading--found that nearly half of the survey respondents who consume rhino horn for medicinal purposes would consider bio-identical synthetic horns to be suitable substitutes for wild horns. Moreover, a co-founder of Pembient suggested in the same article that perfect fakes could actually be better than wild horns due to their lack of contaminants. Therefore, bio-identical synthetic horns may not be undesirable or unappealing enough to drive out wild horn suppliers through adverse selection. In fact, if buyers consider perfect fakes to be more desirable than wild horns, the availability of synthetic horns could actually encourage more rhino poaching by driving up horn prices.

Advocates of making perfect fakes could also point out that--even if buyers do not consider bio-identical synthetics to be substantially inferior to wild horns--as long as there are enough bio-identical synthetic horns in the market, horn prices would be driven down to the point where wild horn sellers would be forced from the market. A rigorous theoretical analysis of this issue shows that it is not necessarily in the financial interest of synthetic horn producers to drive out all wild horn sellers; instead, they may prefer to prop up horn prices by keeping the production of synthetic horns at a relatively low level.

Rhino poaching numbers are climbing, and rising income levels in China and Southeast Asia--where demand for rhino horns is strongest--will almost certainly make matters worse in the near future if no significant changes occur. Economic principles tell us the availability of synthetic horns can decrease the supply of wild horns and reduce the amount of poaching. Since the development of undesirable fake horns or flooding the market with perfect fakes is incongruent with the profit motive, the real issue is just how big the effect of synthetic horns on poaching would be if the companies developing them are interested in profiting off of their products.

What policies can governments or conservation groups implement to ensure that the impact on poaching numbers is maximized when the biotech industry is ready to roll out bio-identical substitutes? To drive out wild horn suppliers using synthetic horns, the key would be to depress horn prices sufficiently. Here are a few suggestions for doing that. One is to subsidize the companies that produce synthetic horns--this would incentivize them to increase production and thereby drive down prices. Another option is to promote competition on the production side of synthetic horns. Financial incentives or policies that encourage more firms to enter the synthetic horn market would also put downward pressure on prices by raising the market supply. A third possibility is to make it easier or less costly for a non-profit organization to invest in or acquire the technology for producing synthetic horns since the non-profit entity could try to shut down the rhino horn market through adverse selection by making undesirable fakes.

The science and technology to produce high quality synthetic horns are within our grasp. Let us not, however, assume that the biotech companies with these capabilities, in pursuit of their own interests, would necessarily solve the rhino poaching problem. Let us keep in mind that steps may need to be taken to structure the market for rhino horns so as to fully realize the potential of synthetic horns to save the rhinos.

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The Paradox Of Renewable Energy  

Several months ago, I had the wonderful opportunity to explore Iceland and learn about its unique energy policy through an 8-day Adventure Program on Renewable Energy and Sustainability offered through the GREEN Program. Although it was only eight days long, we were able to attend lectures from professors at the Iceland School of Energy in Reykjavik University, tour geothermal and hydropower plants, and see amazing landscapes as well.

The Appeal: Why renewable energy?

Before going on this trip, I had considered renewable energy to be a part of this utopian vision for an environmentally friendly future, with solar panels and wind turbines everywhere and all the plants, animals, and humans living in harmony. It may sound silly; however, having always heard of renewable energies in the context of climate change, they were and are often portrayed as a magic solution. They often come with a narrative that boasts about their potential to solve our world's major problems, namely:

1. Saving the Environment: Renewables don't pollute (as much).

Electricity production takes up the largest percentage of greenhouse gas emissions in the world. If we can switch our electricity production from fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, and petroleum) to renewables (solar, wind, geothermal, hydropower, etc.), we will be able to drastically reduce our carbon footprint and hopefully prevent or considerably slow climate change.

2. Securing our Energy Supply: Renewables are (theoretically) replenishable.

The current issue that the world is often scared to face is that fossil fuels and other nonrenewable sources of energy are finite. Like we learn after every oil shock, the world is extremely dependent on an ever depleting resource. This makes the idea of a source of energy that can be "renewed" infinitely or used without depletion quite alluring.

The Leader: Iceland

Iceland, a small, isolated island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, is home to a population of about 330,000. Beyond their beautiful glaciers, volcanoes, and landscapes, what makes this tiny country stand out is its leadership with renewable energy.

In 2014, 99.9% of Iceland's electricity production came from renewable sources, a combination of geothermal and hydropower. Not to mention the 90% of geothermal energy which was used for space heating (heating up buildings/homes).

Despite being such a small country, Iceland stands out as a major leader in this sector, showing the world how to be resourceful with the geography and resources you have.

The Culture Shock

Needless to say, when I first learned about Iceland's leadership with renewables, I was ecstatic. When I landed, I half-expected a land of progressive, climate conscious, environmentalists thriving in an area rich with renewable energy sources. I was in for a quite a shock.

Instead, what I saw was a culture of energy consumption. Everyone was driving oil-based vehicles. Swimming pools and outdoor hot tubs - with fresh water from the glaciers, heated using geothermal heat transfer  - were a common tourist attraction that you could find almost everywhere. Highways were lit up with light posts every few feet, which even the taxi driver admitted was fairly excessive. Many of the roads in the city had pipes running geothermal-heated water underneath the pavement in order to melt the snow. While touring a geothermal plant, we learned that aluminum smelting factories, a very electricity-heavy industry, were flocking towards Iceland for its cheap energy costs. We visited one of several greenhouses that grow massive amounts of tomatoes, using electricity to power lights for the plants throughout the entire year, for twenty-four hours, every single day. Even in the university, rather than turning down the heat using a thermostat, the professors would simply open the window if it was getting too hot.

In this state of disbelief, I soon learned that while Iceland was a leader in the field of renewable energy, it was also a leader in energy consumption. With an energy use of 16,679 kg of oil equivalent per capita (as of 2013), Iceland has the highest amount of energy use per capita in the world - and by a long shot. According to the World Bank, Iceland's runner up, Luxembourg, lags behind at less than half the amount, with a mere 7,327 kg.

The Paradox: More Renewables = More Consumption? 

After learning about Iceland's energy use, my immediate response was - why is their energy consumption so high?

There are many ways to answer this question (check out this video), but from what I contemplated and learned, the core of the answer lies in the very reasons we love renewables to begin with:

1. Saving the Environment: Renewables don't pollute (as much).

Translation: It's "guilt-free." To paraphrase my city tour guide, since all the electricity comes from renewables, you can use as much as you'd like! Go ahead, turn on the TV, take a trip to Spain, and come back a week later - no worries, no guilt - you're not harming the environment.

2. Securing our Energy Supply: Renewables are (theoretically) replenishable.

Translation: It's "infinite." There's no need to worry about using too much heat or water, we aren't going to be losing our energy sources anytime soon.

Lesson #1: Renewable energy is not synonymous with sustainability.

The first thing that learning about this paradox helped me do was check my assumptions. I realized that, up until that point, I had always seen renewable energy as the "magic solution" which would become the sustainable future (remember the happy plants, animals, and humans living in harmony?). However, what I realize is that while any sustainable solution to our problems would almost definitely include renewable energy as a major part of it, producing renewable energy doesn't necessarily mean that you have created a sustainable solution.

The way I see it, sustainability is a culture, a way of life, while renewable energy is a type of resource.

You can replace all of our fossil fuel-driven electricity plants with solar panels, wind turbines, biofuels, geothermal bore holes, and hydropower dams, and we can rejoice in the idea that we have plenty of clean energy that we can theoretically keep harnessing forever. However, what this ignores is the blatant environmental damage and unforeseen consequences that inevitably come with creating millions of solar panels, taking up miles of space to put up turbines, blocking the flow of rivers, and more. A switch to renewables alone is unable to create sustainability, or a way of life that would be able to support the planet and all of its beauty, inhabitants, and resources.

Lesson #2: We need to adjust our way of thinking.

It is not enough to simply replace the role of nonrenewable energy with renewable energy. While it is a better alternative, renewables are not the complete solution - adjusting our culture of consumption can be. Yes, you can excuse this whole paradox of consumption by simply waving your hand and saying "it's inevitable, it's economics - supply and demand." Sure, we are more likely to consume when we have more, and driven to conserve more when our resources are scarce.

However, it is the future and well-being of our planet that is at stake! If we want a better future, we must adjust our thinking and work to change our consumption. Simply because we can produce so much energy does not mean we should. And simply because we have more energy does not mean we need to use more of it.

We need to take a step back and understand that there is more to our problem than simply clean energy production. We can perfect the entire energy production process, and yet, that overlooks the entire waste process and the multitude of other side effects that come with our consumption. For example, the aluminum smelting industry, a major consumer of electricity in Iceland, has started showing signs of fluoride pollution in surrounding areas. In the United States, high water consumption combined with droughts are placing more stress upon our water supply and treatment systems. The more we consume, the more we waste, the more mess we make, and inevitably, the more problems we face. Therefore, we have all the more reason to focus on reducing our individual consumption whether or not our resources are seemingly abundant in the short-term.

Conclusion?

While it is important to be creative and innovative in the way we approach the environmental problems of our time, one should be weary of solutions that are too narrowly-focused. Renewable energy is a promising answer to a specific question, but only a part of a much-needed multifaceted solution.

Many of our environmental issues are deeply rooted in a culture of consumption that often arises when we are presented with periods of abundance. At the end of the day, even with the best technological solutions, we are the ones who can make a huge difference by curbing our consumption on all levels. Either we can choose to adapt and shift this culture - or Nature will choose for us.

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New strategy to fight mosquitoes in a more efficient and sustainable way  
Mosquitoes continue to build resistance to existing pesticides. Research has now shown that the chemical substances emitted by one of the mosquito's natural enemies -- the backswimmer -- makes the biological pesticide Bti more deadly. These so-called predator cues also impair the mosquito's immune system. Scientists argue that a cocktail of biological pesticides and synthetic predator cues may become the future strategy for mosquito control.  
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In Colombia, The Forest Of Peace Honors 8 Million Lives Lost In Civil War  


With the participation of President Juan Manuel Santos, the first trees of Colombia's Forest for Peace were planted August 19 in the Amazon department of Vaupés.

This nationwide effort, which is now seeking support from the international community, is a living monument to honor victims of a 60-year-old civil strife that's coming to an end after nearly four years of negotiations between the government and the FARC -- one of the world's oldest and strongest insurgencies.

President Santos was joined by his Minister of Environment, Housing and Territorial Development, Luis Gilberto Murillo Urrutia; Ximena Patino, founder and President of href="http://www.savingtheamazon.com/en/" Saving the Amazon ; and representatives of the Indigenous associations Vaupes, who will be responsible for planting and maintaining the forest.

In the words of President Santos, the goal is to plant "many forests across the country so that the number of trees matches the number of victims in this conflict".

That's over is eight million people.

Once the peace treaty is signed between the government and FARC, the nation will vote in a referendum whether to approve it or not.

En Mitú lanzamos #BosquesDePaz. Vamos a sembrar un árbol por cada víctima del conflicto. Honrar y no olvidar. pic.twitter.com/LBRLBCct1J

— Juan Manuel Santos (@JuanManSantos) August 19, 2016

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Remembering John Muir on the centennial of the National Park Service  


This year, Americans celebrate the centennial of the National Park Service. On August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the National Park Service Organic Act. The bill culminated decades of effort by a remarkable generation of dedicated men and women who fought to protect the nation's natural wonders for the democratic enjoyment of the people.

The greatest of these passionate parks advocates was John Muir, "Father of the National Parks." Muir was a naturalist and activist who wrote over 300 articles and a dozen books. In these works, he sang the praises of parks and other special natural places and called for their protection from commercial exploitation. His words still speak to us as the National Parks system enters its second century and remind us of his spirit and his principles.

Earlier this summer, my son and I backpacked for five days in Yosemite National Park. No place is more closely linked to Muir than Yosemite Valley. Overwhelmed by its beauty on his first visit in 1868, he lived in the valley for 11 years, beginning in 1869. In these years, he gained national recognition as a naturalist and nature writer. In 1880, he married, became a fruit-grower in Martinez, raised a family--and stopped writing.


"John Muir Cane" by Francis M. Fritz. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

At this point in his life, Muir had done little to earn the title "Father of the National Parks." In 1864, four years before he ever saw it, Yosemite Valley was given by Congress to California as a park. Yellowstone, the world's first national park, was established in far-off Wyoming in 1872, when Muir was still relatively unknown.

Muir's career took a dramatic turn in 1889, when Robert Underwood Johnson arrived in California. Johnson was the crusading editor of Century magazine and he was looking for West Coast authors. In particular, he wanted to get Muir writing again. The two men went camping in the Sierra. Disturbed by overgrazed mountain meadows and abused forests, they planned a campaign for an enlarged federal park in Yosemite. Muir wrote the articles describing the proposed park that Johnson published in Century, while Johnson pulled strings in Washington. Simultaneously, other advocates were promoting a park to protect the Sierra's ancient sequoia trees. In 1890, the two campaigns achieved the first major expansions of the parks with the creation of Sequoia National Park and Yosemite National Park.


"John Muir, Washington Column" by Francois Matthes. Public domain via Yosemite Online.

Johnson urged Muir to form an association to protect the new parks from destructive commercial interests. Muir co-founded the Sierra Club in 1892, which remains one of the nation's oldest and most influential environmental organizations. Johnson further encouraged Muir to write books to swell public appreciation for the parks. Muir set to work writing The Mountains of California (1894), Our National Parks (1901), and The Yosemite (1912). They did not simply extol the nation's parks. More importantly, these books called for better parks management and for protection for the nation's other natural wonders.

Muir's work ignited demand for further extension of the national park system. His 1901 Our National Parks only had three parks to cover. By 1916, when the National Park Service was established, there were 14. Sadly, Muir had died two years earlier, but he had already secured his title as "Father of the National Parks." His friend and mentor Johnson remarked, "Muir's writings and enthusiasm were the chief forces that inspired the movement. All other torches were lighted from his."

Now, one hundred years later, the commercialism that Muir fought so hard against is pushing harder than ever into the National Parks. Underfunded by Congress, the National Park Service courts corporate sponsors. A private concessionaire quietly trademarked iconic national park names and is demanding millions of dollars for the use of "Yosemite National Park," "Ahwahnee Hotel," and other names it had no role in creating. Anti-government ideologues and robber barons push to privatize the National Parks or devolve them to the states.

Nowadays, you sometimes hear that Muir is no longer relevant in the twenty-first century. Yet, as long as we continue to respect and protect the national parks he loved, his legacy will live on. Let us also endeavor to light our torches from Muir's and keep the light bright for future generations to enjoy.

Reposted from OUP Blog.
Yosemite image credit: "YOSEMITE" by TVZ Design. CC BY 2.0 via Flickr.

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If Food Was The Largest Climate Impact Of The 2016 Rio Olympics  
Staying strong: It takes a lot of food to fuel Olympic athletes. Photo: U.S. Army/Flickr Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

If you see comments in the news and on social media about the environmental impact of the 2016 Rio Olympics, chances are it will be about transportation or the levels of pollution. All of the athletes, spectators and officials arriving in Rio via fossil fuel burning airplanes, spewing tons of carbon into the atmosphere. It's positively sinful.

While the opening ceremony sent a clear message about protecting the environment, there has been sharp criticism over the levels of pollution across the city and in Guanabara Bay.

With 480,000 tourists predicted to travel to Rio and more than 11,000 athletes participating, what about the food all of these people will eat? One could argue that these people would be eating anyway, however it is more challenging to eat in a sustainable way when travelling in a foreign country as you can only eat what's available.

The Rio organizing committee aims to provide food from traceable, sustainable and safe sources, favoring smallholder farmers and providing them with logistical support to transport their produce. In fact, the Rio Sustainable Food Vision Initiative was created in 2013 by a group of 20 institutions to maintain the sustainability of food for the country and the Olympics.

An estimated 14 million meals will be served throughout the games, producing 180,000 tonnes of CO2eq in Rio. While Rio is doing some token things for sustainable food, it's missed the opportunity to bring sufficient attention to this global issue that affects us all. Is this not something that should attract international attention and headlines around the world?

In some ways they are, it's just not widely talked about. In the Carbon Footprint Management Report Rio2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games, there is a brief section on reducing emissions from catering.

Transport represents 17% and energy 37% of greenhouse gas emissions globally. Our global food production system--which includes crop farming, raising livestock and deforesting lands to grow livestock feed and other crops, is responsible for about 25% of the greenhouse gases produced by human activity warming our planet. As human populations and incomes continue to grow, so does demand for meat, milk and eggs.

Across the world, scientists estimate that if agriculture were to conduct business as usual while other sectors reduced their emissions, agriculture's share of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions could double to 50% by 2050.

The biggest challenge however is that greenhouse gas emissions from our food production systems are probably the most difficult to estimate compared to other sectors.

You will often read that emissions from agriculture and forestry range from 21% to 31%. Deforestation, livestock and agricultural production are usually estimated to be 21% of global emissions. Add the share of emissions from transportation of products in the global food supply chain, packaging, and food waste, for example, and the global food system accounts for roughly 31% of global emissions.

There's incredible uncertainty on these estimates, especially for the most impacting food productions like rice and ruminant livestock, which both release methane and nitrous oxide, and have a far greater climate impact than carbon dioxide.

In its latest report, the IPCC has indeed been using emission values stemming from a single scientific publication for rice paddies and for livestock, the latter only considering ruminant species from temperate regions. Research shows that uncertainty on global rice emissions is of an order of magnitude of emissions themselves, and that in developing countries, especially Africa, emissions from livestock could have been overestimated by a factor of ten.

Somehow, someone has been cheating the figures about food, which the general public and media care much less about than their cars' emissions. Let's see why.

As reported a few years ago, fewer than half of young UK adults know butter comes from a dairy cow and a third do not know that eggs come from hens. Our education system is less to blame than our increasingly urbanized world where we have lost the connection with the agricultural landscapes that provide our food. We have too often let our kids believe that this all comes from the supermarket next door through some sort of industrial process, which is devoid of an animal or plant - let alone a farmer with a family.

It is now common for people to consider the climate impact of the mode of transportation they use, to the point that some pay to offset their CO2 emissions when purchasing an airplane ticket or booking a cab.

However, compensating for the climate impact of what we eat is much, much further away. Being able to realize this would assume an understanding that producing what we eat has required not only a transformation and transport process, but that food production has impacted the climate more, because it involves plants, soils and animals that all emit greenhouse gases.

Fortunately, many countries have started taking emissions from our food system seriously. Of the countries that included mitigation in their Intended Nationally-Determined Contributions at COP21 in Paris, 103 included targets related to agriculture, shown in a study conducted by the CGIAR Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security.

As shown on the map below, mitigation is not a privilege of industrialized countries.



Clearly, massive investment would be needed in agricultural research to improve our understanding and provide a better estimate of agricultural emissions. At the UN Climate Summit in 2014, CGIAR announced it would need to dedicate 600 mUS$ per year to work on climate-smart agriculture, combining mitigation of agricultural emissions with helping 500 million farmers adapt to more stressful growing conditions.


What would it be compared to the 14.7bUS$ Volkswagen announced it would pay to settle emissions-cheating claims with US consumers and regulators?

Isn't it simply that taxpayers and car buyers are eager to pay for less polluting cars than for less polluting food? Therefore, isn't there time to change the way we consider what we eat and the impact it has on the environment, especially on climate?

Wouldn't the 2016 Rio Olympics be an opportunity for that?

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An Uncertain Future for Our National Parks? Not On Our Watch  


Today, the nation will celebrate one of our country's crowning achievements, the centennial of the National Park Service, and a model of conservation and preservation now used all over the world.

For myself and some of my colleagues, that celebration will take place at the Roosevelt Arch at the North Gate of Yellowstone National Park, our nation's first national park. Inscribed across the arch that greets visitors to Yellowstone is a quote from the law that created the park, stating the purpose of protecting this remarkable landscape was "For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People."

Those words are the guiding principle of our National Park Service's mission, to protect the natural, historical and cultural sites that together help tell the American story. But even as record-breaking crowds visit American icons like Yosemite, the Great Smokies, and Gettysburg, our parks and the agency entrusted with their care have never been more challenged.

Many of these challenges may not occur to the average visitor who see these places as pinnacles of natural grandeur and windows into our past.

When visitors walk the wooded trails of Shenandoah or the stone steps of the Lincoln Memorial, they may not notice that there are far fewer rangers than in years past, meaning fewer rangers to protect wildlife, maintain our trails, and teach us about our history.

When visitors climb the peaks of Rocky Mountain or walk the Freedom Trail in Boston, they may not realize that shuttered building or closed trail is actually just one part of our park system's $12 billion repair backlog, a backlog that the Congress normally gives just half of the money the Park Service needs to keep that number growing every year.

When visitors step into our nation's beginnings at Jamestown or take in the majestic mountains of the Grand Tetons, they don't realize that destructive development may soon occur just outside those parks' borders that, if allowed to move forward, would forever mar these treasured places.

And when visitors are quick to snap a picture of a distant Grizzly bear in Glacier or dive into the sparkling blue waters of Biscayne, they may not think of the repeated attempts by many in Congress to weaken or remove the protections our parks' wildlife, water, and other resources depend on.

These are just some of the challenges our national parks face as they head into their second century, but it is also not the first time parks have faced these challenges. The difference is that when we have faced these challenges in the past, those across the political spectrum came together to overcome them.

When visitor centers and other park facilities were at the verge of collapse in the 1950s, we came together to pursue Mission 66, a 10-year infrastructure effort to modernize the visitor experience. When we saw the threats our country's air, water, and wildlife face both in and outside our parks, we passed protections such as the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act. And for more than a century, presidents of both parties have used tools such as the Antiquities Act to protect important pieces of our shared heritage like the Grand Canyon and the Statue of Liberty.

Faced with the challenges before us today, the decisions we make now will have profound effects on our parks for decades to come. Now cannot be the time we decide to turn our backs on our parks. Not on our watch.

We need a renewed commitment as a country to our parks, a commitment that goes beyond a supportive tweet and a selfie. It must be a Congress that will preserve those protections our parks rely on and gets our Park Service the resources and funding it needs to tackle parks' challenges.

It must be a president who understands the vital role of parks in our society, and is committed to working with members of all parties to support our parks and ensure more pieces of the American story are added to our Park System.

And it must be members of the public who will not only continue visiting national parks, but the day after they visit commit to helping that park by volunteering, writing a letter to the editor, or calling their member of Congress demanding we do more for our parks.

Our parks face many challenges, but overcoming challenges is part of the American story, a story told through our national parks. In this, their centennial year, let's recommend to ensuring a brighter future for America's favorite places. They deserve no less.

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Rewinding memories may help us recall where the good stuff is  
When a place contains a lot of chocolate, rats replay their memories of how they got there both forwards and in reverse  
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Barack You Held My Grandson In Your Arms  
"Barack you held my grandson in your arms and felt the comfort and warmth of the baby. Let us feel the same from your kind act and words. Remember you promised to help us all." ~~M. Jay Cook Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe



Standing Rock Indian Reservation, Cannonball South Dakota--August clouds are stacked in three-dimensional layers over the Great Plains. Gentle slopes west of the Missouri River are interrupted by low ridges, buttes and a stray boulder here and there --all gifts left by the glaciers eons ago. A few miles south of Bismarck on the road to Cannonball, local authorities have erected another kind of stone, one not indigenous to this sacred area. Concrete barricades, capable of stopping an ISIS attack, block direct access to reservation land and more importantly, the peaceful gathering of up to 2000 (at one time) Native Americans and supporters trying to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline at the Sacred Stones Camp.

It seems that if you are a writer you can talk your way through. A polite warning was issued to be careful of "Indians all over the roads."



Within a few miles there were indeed people and flags; hundreds and hundred of flags representing Indian Nations from all over the continent. Pockets of people gathered along a fence with more flags, and prayers bundles were tied to the wire.

A man waved me over with great purpose in his demeanor. His name is M. Jay Cook of the Cheyenne River Sioux. A child was near, her name is Precious, and she is his granddaughter. Her mother died when she was 8 months old and Jay has been raising her ever since. He told me she "is the motivation of his life." Precious had been breast-feeding when her mother passed, and literally clung to her Grandfather for life itself.


Jay Cook and his Daughter Precious with a message for the Obama's

M. Jay Cook was eager to show me signs he had made. On two poster boards, there were photos of Michelle and Barack Obama, each holding his grandson, Wakiyan Topa, for a photo-op. In June of 2014 the President and his wife visited Standing Rock with promises of support and aid. 40 percent of the residents live in poverty and two-thirds are unemployed.

"My administration is determined to partner with tribes," Obama said in 2014. "It takes place every day on just about every issue that touches your lives."

In the space of two years, Standing Rock has gone from the promise of Presidential empathy to faded pictures of an Indian child used as a Presidential prop pasted to cardboard that threatened to rip in the stiff headwinds.

Make sure you write, "Lala (grandfather) Barack promised to help us, M. Jay said. "Kiksuye Wokiksuye (Remember we remember). "

"Barack you held my grandson in your arms and felt the comfort and warmth of the baby. Let us feel the same from your kind act and words. Remember you promised to help us all."

Barack, hear this man's words.

(DAPL) was literally foisted on tribal authorities shortly after activists led by Winona LaDuke, Honor the Earth and others forced Enbridge to seemingly abandon plans for the Sandpiper Pipeline. Everyone's guard was down. Coincidence? Sandpiper would have run Bakken crude in and around treaty lands and wild rice beds in Minnesota, but the Canadian company wants to wring every spare drop of oil out of what is left of the Bakken boom. With the current price of crude seeking bottom on world markets, production is low, wells are shut down, and there are significantly fewer "bomb trains" plying the tracks of the heartland. The Dakota Access Pipeline would effectively replace the Keystone XL, which was shut down by the Obama administration. Was there a quid pro quo? Who knows, but there seems to be quite a few quids and pros littering the American political landscape these days.

"Mni Wiconi" is Dakota/Lakota for "water is life." Water is the ultimate gift for the Creator for Native People. The proposed DAPL would move 570,000 barrels of crude across four states and crisscross the Missouri River on its way to southern Illinois. Safe? In 2012-2013 there were 300 spills in North Dakota and none were reported to the public.

The DAPL would cross treaty lands and ancestral burial grounds. Within site of the reservation boundary, the proposed route crosses the Missouri River and threatens water supplies for the reservation and local farming and ranching operations.

In an impassioned op-ed for the New York Times, tribal Chairman David Archambault addresses treaties and many broken promises; calling out the Army Corps of Engineers for lack of coordination and communication. Given the recent failures of the Corps in Louisiana and epic mismanagement and subterfuge during the great flood of Katrina, it is about time the Corps is removed from its responsibilities.

Our tribe has opposed the Dakota Access pipeline since we first learned about it in 2014. Although federal law requires the Corps of Engineers to consult with the tribe about its sovereign interests, permits for the project were approved and construction began without meaningful consultation. The Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Interior and the National Advisory Council on Historic Preservation supported more protection of the tribe's cultural heritage, but the Corps of Engineers and Energy Transfer Partners turned a blind eye to our rights. The first draft of the company's assessment of the planned route through our treaty and ancestral lands did not even mention our tribe.

On that note, no decision was made yesterday in federal court regarding the fate of the DAPL. Judge James E. Boarsberg will make a decision by September 9, while considering the lack of consultation between Tribes and the Army Corps of Engineers. An appeal is already set for September 14 if the Tribes or Corps of Engineers is unhappy with the decision.

M. Jay Cook sent me a text this morning. He is still holding his signs and thinks he might have to drive up to Bismarck to get some laminate for the vulnerable poster board. His message was for Barack and Michelle Obama.


Wakiyan Today

"Hihanni wasteyelo--good morning. Watch the sun come over the horizon and be thankful for a new day lala-grandpa and unci-grandma."

Let's hope that the Obama's get the message and guarantee that their poster child, Wakiyan Topa, who offered them the warmth of his body and the purity of his soul, gets to live a long life blessed with the spirit of clean water and air.

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The Night I Discovered Aquafaba  

On the way back from my volunteer trip to The Orkeewska School in Africa, someone had abandoned a copy of the New York Times and left it on my seat on the airplane. If you've been a reader of my blog, you already know that I prefer a plant-based diet and am always on the search for gourmet vegetarian food when I travel. My life is all about looking for the next green treasure. I simply look for the signs to lead me to where I need to go. In this case, it turned out to be in the Wednesday dining section restaurant reviews.

That particular issue featured Nix, a vegetarian restaurant that had opened in the West Village this past February with an unusual name derived from an 1893 Supreme Court decision declaring tomatoes to be a vegetable and not a fruit. It also just happened to be within walking distance of where I often stay when in town. The review had my mouth watering and ready to try these innovative vegetable dishes the reviewer had described the next time I was in New York.

A few weeks later when I was back in the city, I called up some good friends and suggested we all go and give Nix a try. They agreed. As often happens with hot New York restaurants the only reservation I could get for the night I wanted was at 9:45 PM. I took it with a request to move it up if anything were to open earlier. Miraculously I got a call later that they could move it up to 8:15 PM. When we arrived and checked in we were fortunate to run into one of the owners, James Truman, the former editorial director of Condé Nast.

It's very rare that one can find a vegetarian restaurant that is not only innovative and creative in its approach to the food served but also offered in a stylish setting. But as soon as we were escorted to a cozy corner table I was transfixed by the decor. The walls had been painted a careful clean white with simple but elegantly carved stone booths, covered with comfortable neutral cushions. This allowed the focus to be on the beautiful Joshua tree wooden lamps, which were strategically placed at regular intervals on a narrow ledge that runs behind the wall booths. That gave the whole restaurant the feeling of a being in the middle of an organic art installation from the 70s, chicly curated from a 21st-century culture master. I already felt I had been transported and had yet to taste John Frazier's food.

John Frazier is not only a partner in the restaurant and the genius behind Dovetail and Narcisse, but he is also a Michelin-starred chef with a personal passion for cooking with vegetables. He is doing at Nix what I long for more chefs to do - taking vegetables seriously and making even the carnivores in the room feel sated and happy.

With a delicious glass of biodynamic chilled white wine in hand, we started our feast with a yummy warm tandoor bread with two dips: house hummus and spiced eggplant with pine nuts followed by the ribbons of jicama with Fresno chili and blood oranges and baby carrots en papillote, cracked bulgar, almonds, spices. The carrots were my favorite - so far.

Even though we each ordered our own entree, it was hard not to want to share so we enjoyed the whole meal family style. Cauliflower tempura with steamed buns and house pickles, artichoke and broccoli rabe sauté with preserved tomatoes as well as the brown rice stir-fry, ramps, chanterelles and farm eggs.

For someone who doesn't eat sugar, the dénouement was the dessert. We ordered the cantaloupe sorbet with mezcal and lime and the tandoor roasted pineapple with tamarind glaze. They were a delicious duo, but it was the roasted macadamia nuts and toasted coconut flakes with whipped aquafaba, seared with vinegar that will keep me coming back to Nix every time I am in New York. I had never experienced aquafaba before, but one mouthful and I was hooked!

If you have not heard of this delight, it's become a new wonder ingredient in vegan cooking for creating meringues and creams without any eggs. The liquid from legumes such as chickpeas can be reduced, thickened and whipped into a froth. The result at Nix was more delicious and more decadent than any meringue or whipped cream I have ever had!

For me personal environmental health is more than simply ridding my body of toxins, it's about nourishing my soul. It's about attention and artistry in my surroundings, savoring creatively prepared healthy foods and experiencing that with the people that are important to me. What James Truman and John Frazier have done with Nix is a miracle in Manhattan. With great friends and great food, the stars aligned for a most memorable evening.

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Spend Less, Do More: Corps Can Help Secure the Future of the National Park Service  

Corpsmembers with New Jersey Youth Corps of Phillipsburg restore a historic structure at Gateway National Recreation Area. The NPS site sustained extensive damage during Hurricane Sandy.


Mary Ellen Sprenkel
CEO, The Corps Network

Today the National Park Service celebrates its 100th birthday. The National Park Service embodies the best of what it means to be American. Since its founding, it has promoted the natural and cultural beauty of this country by protecting our national treasures and making them accessible to all citizens.

But after decades of use, our national parks are at a crossroads. Billions of dollars in backlogged maintenance projects threaten the accessibility of our parks. Additionally, despite changing national demographics, the average park visitor has become older and whiter. The most recent numbers show that just 22 percent of park goers are people of color.

To keep our parks relevant, the National Park Service is working to solve these two issues. Without comprehensive maintenance, we risk losing access to our parks. Without introducing new visitors to the park system, we risk not having dedicated advocates to conserve the parks for future generations.

There is a way we can solve both these issues at once: engage more Conservation Corps members in service at national parks. Corps train youth and returning veterans in conservation-related job skills and engage them in service projects on public lands. Trained Corpsmembers can help land and water managers with projects ranging from removing invasive plants to building trails and fighting wildfires.



Corpsmembers with LA Conservation Corps remove an invasive shrub, Spanish broom, from a roadside in the San Gabriel Mountains.


Part of why Corps are a solution for the National Park Service is that more than 50 percent of Corpsmembers are people of color, and many come from cities. They represent demographics less likely to visit national parks. Corps can also help agencies like the National Park Service reduce project labor costs by 50 - 80 percent, allowing for more work without increased spending.

The nearly $12 billion maintenance backlog represents how overburdened parks are on meeting basic upkeep needs. Each year we fail to address aging infrastructure, the backlog grows, and parks fall further into disrepair. Not to mention, this backlog doesn't include projects needed to bring our parks into the 21st century. We need to expand campsites and add modern conveniences, like Wi-Fi and charging stations, to make parks more appealing for a new generation of outdoor enthusiasts.

Some 15,000 Corpsmembers already serve at national parks every year. In addition to the National Park Service, agencies like the U.S. Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management have embraced Corps as valuable partners. By passing the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps Act, we can engage more young people in service on public lands. This bipartisan-supported legislation, which has been introduced in both the House and Senate, would facilitate partnerships between Corps and federal resource management agencies. It would also encourage agencies to collaborate and use only existing funding streams to utilize Corps. In other words, more work would get done on public lands without added cost to taxpayers.



Corpsmembers with Limitless Vistas test water samples at Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve in New Orleans, LA.


The 21st Century Conservation Service Corps (21CSC) initiative has been working for years to promote public-private partnerships that support Corps engagement in projects on public lands. During her tenure as Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell has helped raise millions of dollars from private donors and companies like REI, Coca Cola, American Eagle Outfitters and KEEN to help fund Corps working in parks and forests.

Engagement of youth at our national parks and forests pays dividends beyond better trails and cleaner rivers. It turns young people into conservationists while teaching them valuable and marketable job skills.

Young people can translate their Corps experience into careers in expanding fields like historic preservation, environmental remediation and green infrastructure. By having a tangible impact on parks, Corpsmembers become life-long advocates for public lands and the environment. They also share this appreciation with family and friends, introducing entire communities to the importance of conservation. Making parks and conservation relevant to more and different people is vital to preserving historic structures and healthy green spaces for generations to come.

When we look at our national parks, we need to ask one fundamental question: Who will take care of these places 100 years from now? Unless we address the maintenance backlog and diversify the population visiting and protecting parks, the future is less than certain.

This is not something we can leave to chance. Let's seize the momentum of the National Park Service's centennial to prepare our parks for the next century. These are the places that bind us as Americans. They speak to our shared ideals and values. They bring out the best in us. With Corps, we can bring out the best in our parks.

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In Italy's Earthquake Zone, Love of Place Trumps Safety  
An Italian engineer explains why, facing perpetual earthquake risk, many people in Italy's ancient vulnerable towns stay put.  
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Sandro Galea: The Case for Public Health, in 18 Charts  
The US has substantially worse health outcomes than all its peer nations. In a list of non-communicable disease mortality in 17 high-resource countrie...

Read more: Health, Public Health, Environment, Disease, Pollution, Cities, Smart Cities, Massachusetts, United States, Healthy Living News

 
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Keeping The Animal Welfare Act On The Job Of Animal Protection  

During these times of political conflict and division, one issue that draws bipartisan and nearly universal support is animal welfare. For decades, the efforts of animal welfare advocates to fight animal cruelty and suffering have been supported through the help of an enduring ally, but that ally isn't a person, agency, or organization — it's a law: The Animal Welfare Act (AWA), which turns 50 this month.

Though the AWA was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson back in 1966, it continues to evolve to protect more types of vulnerable animals and confront modern challenges to their lives and well-being. While considerable results have been achieved in the last half-century to continue that momentum, further progress is still needed to provide animals with the protections they deserve.

One of the most heinous forms of cruelty addressed by the AWA is animal fighting. In 2014, Congress amended the AWA to increase penalties for animal fighting, including making attendance at an animal fight a federal offense, and imposing additional penalties for bringing a child to an animal fight.

Elevating the seriousness of this cruel blood sport helped pave the way for the U.S. Sentencing Commission to strengthen federal sentencing guidelines for animal fighting earlier this year, including giving judges the tools they need to ensure criminal sentences for animal abusers reflect the depravity of their crimes.

While these and other AWA measures are helping eradicate illegal activities like animal fighting, the AWA still does not cover the vast majority of animals used in research, nor the billions of farm animals raised for food across the country. 

The loophole excluding farm animals used for agricultural research — including taxpayer-funded research conducted by the USDA — was highlighted when a 2015 New York Times investigation revealed abhorrent abuse and lax oversight at the USDA's Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC), a federally funded facility conducting experiments to benefit private industrialized agriculture.

To stop these cruel practices, a bipartisan team of lawmakers introduced the Animal Welfare in Agricultural Research Endeavors (AWARE) Act, which seeks to extend AWA protections and welfare standards to farm animals used in agricultural research at federal facilities such as USMARC.

Another shortcoming of the AWA is its notoriously weak standards of care for dogs in commercial breeding facilities, including puppy mills. Under current AWA regulations enforced by the USDA, dogs in commercial breeding facilities can legally spend their entire lives in small wire-floored cages, stacked on top of one another. Female dogs can be bred at every heat cycle with no opportunities for their bodies to recover.

These conditions are inhumane and unacceptable, which is why a coalition of animal welfare groups filed a petition to urge the USDA to adopt stronger care standards that prioritize the health and well-being of dogs in commercial breeding facilities. We implore the USDA to swiftly grant this petition.

Recent natural disasters have also revealed the need for another key update to the law, dealing with animal considerations in disaster planning. The Animal Emergency Planning Act would amend the AWA to require regulated facilities — including commercial animal breeders, zoos, and research institutions — to create emergency response plans that protect animals in their care during disasters, such as the current flooding in Louisiana.

So much has changed for animals over the last 50 years, but the foundation of animal welfare embodied in the framework of the AWA will enable us to secure a more humane future. Our hope is that the pace of our progress will be accelerated by the actions and voices of principled lawmakers and passionate Americans who no longer tolerate animal abuse and cruelty in any corner of society.

Matthew Bershadker is President and CEO of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), which celebrates its 150th Birthday this year.

Former Senator Bob Dole was a Congressman in the House of Representatives when he supported the original Animal Welfare Act in 1966, and authored ground-breaking amendments to it while in the U.S. Senate.

Previously published in The Hill

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Horse Soring Reflects Badly on Tennessee  

Courtesy of the Humane Society of the United States

As anyone who has visited Tennessee will tell you, it is a beautiful state with many tourist attractions including the Smoky Mountains, Graceland, Beale Street, Dollywood and the Grand Ole Opry. Unfortunately, the actions of those who abuse Tennessee Walking Horses are also giving the state a black eye.

The decades-long practice of horse soring has been condemned by the horse industry, veterinary community, law enforcement and animal protection organizations. This cruel practice inflicts pain on the horse's feet and legs to produce an exaggerated gait known as the "Big Lick." Tennessee walking horses are bred for their smooth, natural gait and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) supports the many owners and trainers who use humane training methods to showcase this natural gait.

I serve on the board of HSUS and also own five horses. I can't bear the thought of a horse fitted with tall, heavy shoes, its legs covered with caustic chemicals and chains, and hard objects jammed into its tender soles all for the sake of the "Big Lick" and a ribbon in a competition. These practices are meant to cause pain and are unbearably cruel.

The people of Tennessee should stand up for their horses by supporting new regulations put forth by the USDA to close loopholes in the current system of enforcement - it's the right thing to do The proposed changes to upgrade the Horse Protection Act regulations include:

• The elimination of the use on show grounds of stacks, pads, chains, and hoof bands on Tennessee Walking Horses and related breeds, and
• The elimination of the current industry policy of self-policing to be replaced by the implementation of a new system of independent third party inspectors, who are trained, licensed and overseen by the USDA.

I urge the people of Tennessee to raise their voices in support of these new regulations by submitting favorable comments to the USDA immediately. Visit the government website at this link: http://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=APHIS-2011-0009 and show your support for the Tennessee Walking Horse. Then post a message on your Facebook page urging your friends to join you.

Tennessee does not want to be known as a state that abuses horses. Here is an opportunity for them to help achieve change and send a message to those who show Tennessee Walking Horses that the days of the "Big Lick" are over.

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Floating lab drills 1.5km below sea floor to study megaquakes  
A research vessel is drilling deep under the seabed to find the recipe for disaster - clues to what triggered the Boxing Day tsunami quake  
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The Israeli public says NO to fracking  
In September 2014 an Israeli government planning committee delivered a remarkable decision: it rejected a pilot project for non-conventional oil exploration in the country's Adulam region located between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, a pastoral rural area rich in biblical archeology with a strong eco-tourism sector.

The company that had submitted the request, Israel Energy Initiatives (IEI), had planned to use an untested technology called "In Situ Thermal Recovery" to produce oil by heating shale rock to temperatures as high as 950 degrees Fahrenheit. This releases organic matter known as kerogen, a compound that eventually transforms organic matter into oil and gas.

The committee's decision was a major victory for Israel's environmentalists, and a fatal blow for the IEI. IEI had argued that the since the project would operate underground, it would leave a minimal ecological footprint, and water resources would not be endangered because of an impermeable rock layer protecting them. However, the committee remained unconvinced, and its final decision determined that the technology posed a critical environmental risk.

The real winners here were the local activists whose health, environment and communities had come under direct threat by the proposed IEI project. Their media-savvy campaign presence has compared the conflict to the biblical confrontation between David and Goliath; the project location was in the same area where the diminutive David emerged victorious over the giant Goliath.

The local community's victory was an empowering experience for other communities, as well, demonstrating that corporations intent on extracting natural resources in disregard of the impacts on the environment and health of local communities can be stopped by a well organized group of dedicated citizens.

But while the celebrations for the Adulam victory were at their height, another government planning committee, this time in the northern part of Israel, approved the request of IEI's sister corporation, Afek Oil & Gas, for exploratory drilling in the Golan Heights.

While Afek is officially promoting the project as conventional drilling, Afek officials have admitted that the project does entail non-conventional drilling. Moreover, community activists are convinced that the company intends to use fracking during the explorations, and that fracking has probably already taken place.

The presence of chemicals stored at the drilling sites (fracking requires extensive use of chemicals in order to clean, widen, and keep open cracks in the rock, releasing the hydrocarbons) coupled with the refusal of government officials and Afek to release information on these chemicals and the company's declared need to extend the drilling in order to reach what it claims is a rich layer of hydrocarbons, substantiate these claims by activists.

This has raised an alarm among local communities determined to ward off what they are convinced will be an ecological and health disaster. They are particularly concerned over contamination of the area's water resources: the Golan Heights is marked by extreme water sensitivity with high quality aquifers as well as biodiversity-rich streams that feed into the Sea of Galilee, Israel's main surface drinking water source and only fresh water lake. Another source of worry beyond the impact of Afek's project on water quality is the massive quantities of water needed for fracking.

Moreover, local communities do not want oil pipelines running through or near their communities, nor do they wish for oil and gas trucks traversing their narrow, winding, country roads, already congested by much-wanted tourists.

Then there is the threat of earthquakes: the oil drilling license area is located on the rim of the great Syria-African Rift and is crossed by geologic faults and cracks. These faults and cracks provide potential pathways for pollutants. Coupled with normally occurring tectonic activity, this increases the potential for great intensification of earthquakes due to drilling and fracking activities, as experienced in Alberta, Canada, and in Oklahoma and Texas in the United States.

And all this leads to climate change. Environmentalists vehemently oppose these projects since they increase Israel's dependence on fossil fuels and deflect from government policy on decreasing Israel's greenhouse gas emissions.

IEI and Afek Oil & Gas are subsidiaries of Genie Oil & Gas Ltd. (GOGAS), a New Jersey corporation with headquarters in Newark that operates in Israel through these two subsidiaries.

Genie Oil & Gas is a subsidiary of Genie Energy Ltd., which was spun off in 2001 by IDT, the telecommunications company founded by Howard Jonas in 1990. Genie Energy Ltd. is a holding company for energy related businesses including Genie Oil & Gas, which is developing oil and shales reserves in Colorado, Israel and Mongolia.

In Israel, IEI and Afek have built their PR campaigns on making the country energy-independent, hyping what they define as Israel's huge reserves of oil shale and gleefully declaring that extracting oil and gas from these reserves could transform the country into a world energy power. But as pointed by Afek's CEO himself, while approximately 530 wells have been drilled since the country's establishment in 1948, commercial production of fossil fuels remains elusive.

Although the company reports finding evidence of hydrocarbons and/or gas in all the sites drilled so far (some in the form of liquid oil), the presence of water and the low permeability in the hydrocarbon and gas carrying strata made it difficult to extract viable amounts of liquid oil and gas under current permit restrictions. Reviewing its data, Afek has already announced that it does not plan to resume actual drilling before the Q4 2016, Q1 2017.

The burning question is: do people have the right to say no to these corporations that come into their communities creating these environmental and health risks? In Israel, communities are proving that they do have the right to decide. As documented in Josh Fox's epic documentary, Gaslands, fracking is tearing apart communities across the United States, contaminating well water, polluting the air, and making people sick.

The oil and gas companies retort that there is no evidence to support the claims of the anti-fracking forces. But the Israeli public isn't buying their excuses and is fighting tooth and nail to prevent these companies from operating in their communities. Communities together with environmental organizations are fending off attempts by US companies to copy and paste the US paradigm of non-conventional fossil fuel drilling in Israel.

So investors beware: this current venture for oil and gas exploration in the Golan Heights will in all likelihood go the way of its sister corporation, IEI, in losing its battle for unconventional drilling in Israel.

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As the National Park Service Turns 100, We Celebrate Its Contributions to Wildlife  
One hundred years ago, leaders within the U.S government decided that the patchwork system of national parks created over the preceding 44 years needed a unifying structure. Over the years, Presidents and the Congress had set aside 14 national parks, including Yellowstone, Yosemite, and other familiar natural wonders, along with 21 national monuments.

But they were not uniformly managed in a way that would best preserve them for future generations. Different parks were managed by different agencies, including the Department of the Interior, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Army, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the General Land Office. Each agency had different priorities regarding the best way to utilize park resources.


Glacier National Park. Photo credit: Cristián Samper/WCS.


Thankfully, today we are celebrating the centennial of the signing of the Organic Act in 1916 that created National Park Service (NPS), the agency that has so ably served as steward of America's most treasured landscapes, seascapes, historical sites, and other special places.

Upon the NPS's insignia is the image of a bison, which is altogether fitting. The national parks conserve habitat for many of America's most iconic and important species, including the American bison - just adopted as the U.S. national mammal. National parks played a large role in the return of bison to the American prairie, which is acknowledged as the first conservation success story. They now live in nine different national park units.

The national parks were originally set aside for the enjoyment of people, but wildlife conservation has become an important mission for the NPS. Park biologists work to maintain the ecological health of a multitude of habitats within the parks, and that includes conserving many endangered species.


American bison in Yellowstone National Park. Photo credit: Julie Larsen Maher/WCS.



For example, through the work of the NPS in Channel Islands National Park, off the coast of California, the critically endangered island fox has nearly recovered thanks to a program of captive breeding and threat mitigation. Out of the more than 400 units of the NPS, about half are home to at least one endangered species.

However, the conservation legacy of the National Park Service goes far beyond America's borders. Nearly every country on Earth has its own system of national parks, and many have benefited from the NPS's direct assistance. NPS's Office of International Affairs was established in 1961 and today continues to provide expertise in park and protected area management across the globe.

When the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) World Conservation Congress convenes in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi next month, some of the conservation methods discussed will have been pioneered by the National Park Service.


Moose in Denali National Park. Photo credit: Chip Weiskotten/WCS.


The National Park Service has contributed much to conservation, but most importantly it has made it easier for millions of Americans and visitors from abroad to see and experience the world around them.

At a time when it is needed the most, when kids are beginning to spend less and less time outdoors, nature has never been more accessible. So on this very special centennial, I salute the National Park Service for everything it has done for our citizens, for our natural environment, and for our future.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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Citizen scientists give NPS 100,000+ biodiversity records for 100th birthday  

Today, the U.S. National Park Service turns 100 years old. The National Park Service has been celebrating all year by organizing over 100 BioBlitzes to document the species living in our national parks, recreation areas, monuments, and historic sites. In addition to the BioBlitzes, NPS has been working with iNaturalist to keep track of biodiversity records for the entire year in a servicewide project. Four days ago, the project passed the 100,000 records mark just in time for the centennial anniversary.

At least five thousand citizen scientists have contributed observations this year from NPS lands to iNaturalist. The records were uploaded by 5,092 user accounts, some of which represent many individuals, such as students who contributed to a class account during a BioBlitz (note: children under 13 cannot create their own account).

Collectively, they have recorded more than 10,600 species including common and easily photographed species such as the Western Fence Lizard and American Robin as well as more than 600 threatened species (note: the locations of threatened species are automatically obscured).

“Citizen scientists are contributing so much more information about biodiversity than the NPS could possibly hope to collect on its own, especially when it comes to under-studied creatures, like insects. There is tremendous power in a citizen armed with a smartphone and a curiosity about nature working together with an online community of naturalists to explore our national parks,” said Simon Kingston, a Data Ranger with the National Park Service.

Anyone visiting national park lands with a digital camera can turn their photos of plants, animals, and fungi into useful data. Even if you don't know exactly which species you saw, members of the iNaturalist community work together to crowdsource identifications. The National Park Service will use the verified records from iNaturalist to update NPSpecies, its internal database that tracks all of the species recorded in each park.

National Geographic Society has partnered with the National Park Service for the last 10 years to do BioBlitzes in different national parks. You can read more about the history of NPS/NatGeo BioBlitzes here and the BioBlitz origin story here.

Explore more:
Explore all of the records on iNaturalist (not just the National Parks)
Join the NPS Servicewide project once you've created an account with iNaturalist.
Download the iNaturalist app for Android or iOS.
Getting started with iNaturalist

Carrie Seltzer is a Program Manager for BioBlitz at the National Geographic Society.

 
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