The River Raisin Watershed Council recently reported the results of the EcoCard Scoring by The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science as a success story. From my personal experience as a Biology Professor teaching Freshwater Ecology for the last 15 years, I do not find a score of 54% acceptable, and neither is the label "Moderate" or a C grade justified with a low percentage like 54%. In fact, in most college grading schedules, anything below 60% is a failing grade of E or F. As in education, weakening a meaningful scale just because a peer group scores evenly low is not an accurate quality measure.
Following what goes on with oil and gas exploitation in and around Adrian, Michigan since 2013 - and how these events in our little city connect to the global environmental situation... - with the occasional sidetrack to other related environmental issues in Lenawee county, Michigan and how those relate to global issues.
Saturday, October 26, 2024
EcoHealth Score Card for River Raisin: No Reason to Celebrate!
Figure 1: Details of the 2024 scoring for the River Raisin. Source: The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, https://ecoreportcard.org/report-cards/river-raisin/
The dire situation of the River Raisin and many assessed watersheds and waterbodies becomes even more alarming when we disentangle the arbitrarily lumped categories of the scoring and exclude metrics that do not directly correspond to the environmental health of the water body, such as local ownership, affordable housing, beach access, walkability, household income, river economy, and even air quality. As much as these categories are essential in the quality of living, diversity, equity and inclusion, and environmental justice, they distract from even lower scores of metrics directly reflecting water quality, such as 17% for bacteria, 12% for nitrogen, and protected lands, and low scores around 20% for turbidity leading to widespread smothering and embeddedment, low tree and forest cover and high heat vulnerability and risks when consuming fish from the river.
Sure, we need some good news in all the doomsday scenarios of climate change, societal disconnect, manipulation of information, genocide, and rising totalitarianism. However, celebrating severe impairment and shortcomings as success keeps us from realizing that we are in a severe environmental crisis and need to address the root causes of the issues, which require systemic changes rather than small voluntary efforts of individuals. We need to curb the influx of fertilizer from corn and soy monocultures and runoff from industrial cattle and hog farms by converting industrial farming to regenerative and agroecological practices rather than trying to reduce the issues with voluntary buffer strips and precision agriculture. We must transform our energy-intensive economy and lifestyles depending on fossil fuels to energy-conserving, humble lifestyles, and efficient economies based on clean, renewable energy instead of trying to reduce our footprints using personally owned electric vehicles and solar panels while maintaining or increasing our high-energy demanding lifestyles.
Sunday, July 21, 2024
Friday, July 19, 2024
Hottest May on record spurs call for climate action | Copernicus
5th June 2024
The C3S data are in line with the latest Global Annual to Decadal Climate Update from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which issues a stark warning that we are getting ever closer to the thresholds set in the Paris Agreement on climate change. According to the report, the global mean near-surface temperature for each year between 2024 and 2028 is predicted to be between 1.1°C and 1.9°C higher than the 1850-1900 baseline.
Friday, December 8, 2023
Monday, August 14, 2023
‘Game-changer’: judge rules in favor of young activists in US climate trial
Against all odds, a Montana state judge sided today with 16 young activists in the country’s first ever constitutional climate case. This trial comes after state lawmakers passed legislation that allowed fossil fuel projects to be permitted without considering greenhouse gas emissions — a violation of their state constitutional right to a “clean and healthful environment.”
Full article:
Thursday, July 6, 2023
Sunday, January 1, 2023
Edward Snowden Quote on the Right To Privacy
“Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Search This Blog
Global Warming
Popular Posts
-
The hugest flare that I ever saw is up on Stratton's Landscaping. BTEXs are definitely smellable from the lower soccer stadium at Heri...
-
I was gone a few days - and was proven wrong about only pipeline digging activities off Carson Highway. Savoy cuts drilling costs by operati...
-
Horizontal drilling continues off of Carson Highway and Williamsburg Drive right behind a residential area. The amount of pre-drilling site...
-
After finding out how far the gas and volatile pollution of flares reach, I asked the City of Adrian (in person of its new mayor Jim Berryma...
-
I finally localized a little bit more information about our local oil developer Savoy. The interesting WikiMarcellus Site lists the followi...
-
The River Raisin Watershed Council recently reported the results of the EcoCard Scoring by The University of Maryland Center for Environment...
-
If that's our future - it ain't that sustainable baby.... Theory: Practice: Fig leaf sponsored by "Big Oil & Gas...
-
Below are questions and comments that arose from the meeting at the County Health Department. Questions were answered by Kristie Shimko and ...
-
On April 27, Victoria Powell told me that the EPA will conduct a site visit on Witt Farm. Unfortunately, I did not hear anything else about ...
-
Earth’s atmosphere: if humanity emits more greenhouse gases than is compatible with the temperature limit, it will have to take countermeasu...
Blog Archive
Labels
access to public land
(1)
accidents
(2)
Adrian Dominican Sisters
(1)
agricultural zone
(1)
air pollution
(9)
air testing
(1)
Beaver Creek
(6)
benefit–cost ratio
(2)
brine trucks
(4)
BTEX
(2)
CAFOs
(1)
campaign
(2)
Carson Highway
(6)
central processing facility
(6)
Christmas tree
(4)
citizen group
(5)
City of Adrian
(5)
Colorado
(1)
commissioners
(1)
Consumer Electric
(1)
corporate info
(1)
crude oil
(1)
david letterman
(1)
deforestation
(1)
Department of Transportation
(1)
derrick
(1)
destruction
(1)
diesel generator
(1)
direct action
(2)
diversity
(1)
drilling rig
(3)
ECCSCM
(1)
Enbridge
(3)
environmental concerns
(2)
EPA
(1)
erratum
(1)
explosion
(1)
flare
(10)
floodplain
(2)
flyer
(1)
fossil fuels
(1)
fracking
(5)
Frye Farm
(1)
global climate change
(2)
Great Lakes
(1)
health threats
(3)
Heritage Park
(16)
hidden flare
(3)
Hillsdale county
(1)
horizontal drilling
(10)
Howell Highway
(3)
hydrochloric acid
(1)
hydrogen sulfide
(1)
injection well
(2)
issues
(1)
Jackson county
(1)
Keystone XL
(1)
Kiwanis Trail
(1)
Lake Adrian
(3)
legislation
(1)
Lenawee county
(1)
Lenawee county drain commission
(1)
Lenawee County Health Department
(1)
Livingston County
(1)
maps
(7)
Marcellus Shale
(1)
Michigan
(3)
Michigan DEQ
(8)
moderation
(1)
municipalities
(2)
nature
(1)
netiquette
(1)
new well
(1)
newspaper
(1)
nopaxton
(1)
Ohio
(3)
oil and gas permits
(6)
oil and gas production
(7)
oil production
(6)
oil pump
(5)
oil separator
(3)
oil tank
(2)
open letter
(1)
open pit
(2)
pipeline
(21)
pipeline spills
(4)
policy
(1)
press
(1)
PRU
(1)
Purse Funeral Home
(4)
rally
(1)
rare species
(1)
reference materials
(4)
refinery
(2)
regulations
(1)
renewable energy
(1)
residential area
(1)
Saline
(1)
Savoy
(6)
Sierra Club
(2)
Stockbridge
(1)
Strait of Mackinac
(1)
Stratton's Landscaping
(5)
tar sands
(3)
Toledo
(2)
Toledo Blade
(1)
train
(1)
transportation
(2)
Valley Road
(1)
Washtenaw county
(1)
wasted energy
(1)
water pollution
(5)
water tanks
(1)
water testing
(3)
well locations
(3)
West Bay Explorations
(1)
wetland
(2)
WikiMarcellus
(1)
Witt Farm
(7)