I’m all here for reducing synthetic fertilizer but animal and human waste cannot legitimately supply all of the U.S. nitrogen needs. Manure/biosolids definitely can be better used and ideally even without application of these materials, nitrogen can be reduced in MANY cropping areas without ⬇️ yield
If there is a state with greater scenic beauty than Oregon, I haven’t seen it. Mountains, high desert, Pacific, Hood, Columbia, Portland — it’s just spectacular. I don’t want to spoil anything for residents, but it’s a truly underrated state. I’m lucky to have married into it.
The ECMWF folks have written a very lengthy blog post about how to interpret their ENSO (El Nino) forecast graphics and the associated uncertainties that go along with them. A good read.
The practice of integrating pasture with trees has limited evidence of success for climate mitigation in the eastern United States.
Agreed, separate targets should be made. Hard to abate sectors (particularly food/agriculture) need to have ambitious targets since there is an enormous amount of work to reduce emissions from enteric animals, manure, but also the oil/gas sector.
The Farm Bureau estimates that a year-round increase from E10 to E15 (15% ethanol blend in gasoline) would increase US corn demand by 2.4 billion bushels a year.
Latest yields per USDA are 188.8 bushels/acre, so growing it requires another 12.7 million acres. That’s about half the size of Indiana.
Okay, so:
1) fertilizers are in shortage;
2) E15 comes from corn fed with fertilizers;
3) land used to grow corn for ethanol produces 3.2% of the energy generated by covering the same amount of land with solar panels.
With all respect, what are we doing here?
@opb.org
As the former Oregon Department of Agriculture employee that led the Agriculture section for TIGHGER 1.0, it is false that ODA/agriculture was unaware of the proposed measure of “shifting diets” esp. reducing enteric animal product consumption. It does NOT call for a reduction in Oregon raised meat.
Screenshot of current Upper Colorado Basin snow water equivalent as of Mar 23. It is at a record low level for the date, by a wide margin, and the trajectory of the curve is strongly downward at extreme odds with every single other historical year in March. Via USDA NRCS.
Amid the historic and ongoing record heatwave (which will continue for at least another week in this region), Colorado River Basin snowpack has unfortunately taken an unprecedented March nosedive. Given the pre-existing water crisis, this is a highly alarming trajectory.
New paper: Is silvopasture a major potential climate change mitigation solution in the US?
It’s already used in Latin America, where there’s evidence it can boost carbon storage & livestock productivity simultaneously.
But we found the current evidence base in the US is too thin & inconsistent.
Please read this.
"Rarely do we live through an opportunity to build out an entirely new field so consequential for health and well-being. Let us be the generation that discovers how to make sure we all breathe safe air."
ssir.org/articles/ent...
A new report by Carbon Direct (out today) makes the case for how combining superpollutant mitigation and durable CDR could work in practice:
With 1.5 being breached in 2026 for 4 of 5 datasets…the other dataset would suggest it was breached in 2024.
No reason there shouldn’t be full bipartisan support if they voted along with what Congress’ constituents want
'After 30 years, is the West's drought still a drought?' - Arizona Republic's long piece on aridification and its consequences for Arizona, featuring the LTRR's Dr. Margaret Evans and her research on rising temperatures and changing forest dynamics www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...
If America still had the rule of law, this would be the easiest prosecution ever, but we all know absolutely nothing will happen.
-Zero Congressional consultation or approval.
-Zero preparation of public for need/consequences of war.
-Zero evidence of thought about "OK, what might the other side do?" Next month. Next year.
-Zero mention of anti-nuke agreement Trump voided, or Trump claim last year that nukes "obliterated."
We don’t have enough water for cows. For humans to live at such high populations in the US west, we must stop growing so much alfalfa and with that less cows.
Not enough data to understand the scope of this question yet. The Netherlands will likely be the best suited to answer this question in the near-term.
Reject it CA
Society must start making rational decisions not based solely on economics. Continued development on a region with severe declines in water (Colorado River and local snowpack) is putting those currently living there more at risk of water shortages.
Expanding in SLC locks in big embodied + operating emissions (stadium + induced development) in a warming, drying West, and bets on long-run growth amid increasing Western water instability. This is at a time where SLC is already trying to scavenge for water for hosting the Winter Olympics in 2034.
Exposure of drying lake sediment increases exposure to toxic dust inhalation, rich in heavy metals and other hazardous elements. Between an MLB season and year-round events, it would create traffic surges in a valley prone to inversion-trapped PM2.5 (tiny particles that pose serious health risks).
#MLB to #SLC would amplify a regional environmental crisis. Why are we talking about expansion in a place devoid of enough water for current residents and the Great Salt Lake? This increase in water demand will drawdown the Great Salt Lake water level more, exposing toxic sediment.
Top Democratic officials who worked on the party's still-secret autopsy of the 2024 election concluded that Kamala Harris lost significant support because of the Biden administration's approach to the war in Gaza, Axios has learned.
Pritzker’s invoice to White House:
(via @nbcnews.com) @govpritzker.illinois.gov
The Dow was at 43,488 when Trump took office. It just hit 50,000.
So if you had invested $43,488 in the US, you would now have $50,000. But if you had invested the same amount in the rest of the world, you would now be worth $60,000.
Lemme do a expla-youtube-nation
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYL5...
Project Pabst maybe? Dom is in western CA beginning of July.
