Could be some of the last funding for climate change research

DEM receives $500,000 federal grant to study how to save salt marshes from sea level rise

EDITOR’S NOTE: Under the Trump budget, ALL federal funding for this program will be eliminated. It’s great that DEM is getting this grant but until the check clears the bank, I wouldn’t be too sure about the funding to actually go through and not be rescinded. – Will Collette

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) announced today that it has been awarded a $500,000 a federal research grant to lead a nation-wide study examining strategies to enhance salt marsh resilience against the effects of climate change.

This two-year study being led by the Narragansett Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR), which is managed by DEM, will evaluate thin layer sediment placement as an adaptation strategy to improve marsh resilience against rising sea levels.

As part of the national effort, this study will involve eight other National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) sites across the country. The NERR system is a state-federal partnership program established between NOAA and the coastal states to preserve and protect coastal lands for long-term research and education.

While salt marshes are one of the most productive ecosystems on earth and provide important economic and environmental benefits, they are being threatened by rising sea levels.

Because they exist along a very narrow elevation zone, when flooded with water for too long, or too often, they will eventually drown.

In many places, increasing rates of sea-level rise are outpacing the marshes' natural ability to adapt, negatively affecting their resiliency and the wildlife that depend on them.

A mosquito's secret weapon: a light touch and strong wings

High-speed cameras catch stealthy aerodynamic maneuvers of blood-laden mosquitoes

University of California - Berkeley

Photomontage of a blood-fed mosquito taking off. Credit: Florian Muijres image

Scientists have found the key to mosquitoes' stealth takeoffs: They barely push off when making a fast getaway, but instead rely on strong and rapid wing beats to quickly get aloft without anyone noticing.

The technique is in stark contrast to other insects, like flies, that push off first and then start beating their wings frantically, often tumbling uncontrollably in the process. 

That strong pushoff gives away their location, however, allowing us to swat them more easily than we can swat a mosquito.

"Mosquitoes take off mostly with their wings and push off with their legs very, very lightly, or maybe not at all," said Sofia Chang, a University of California, Berkeley graduate student who wrangled and fed malarial mosquitoes in order to study their takeoffs. 

"If they were to push off a lot more with their legs, they wouldn't have to produce as much lift with their wings. But if they lift just with their wings, you won't feel them coming off your skin."

Mosquitoes are able to make these stealthy takeoffs with an empty belly or one filled with a blood meal, which nearly doubles their weight, she said.

URI alumnus reaches out from hurricane-devastated Puerto Rico

Wants community to be aware of ongoing problems, ways to help

Carol McCarthy, photos courtesy of Arland Miller

Hurricane Maria left Puerto Rico with massive
flooding, destroyed roads, buildings and landscapes. 

When Hurricane Maria delivered a direct, deadly and devastating hit on Puerto Rico on Sept. 20, the island home to 3.4 million American citizens was thrown back in time, with no electricity, running water, communications or transportation.

University of Rhode Island alumnus Francisco San Miguel and his family survived the Category 4 storm, which drenched parts of Puerto Rico with 30 inches of rain and shredded the landscape with 155-mile-an-hour winds.

More than a month later, with a third of the population lacking running water, close to three million people without electricity and thousands of others without shelter, San Miguel reached out to URI to raise awareness.

By sharing his account of the disaster, which claimed 51 lives, San Miguel hopes his old URI friends — who knew him as rock-and-roll drummer “Paco” when he was a graduate student at the College of Business Administration from 1988-1990 — will be moved to aid the recovery of his native island. Excerpts from accounts San Miguel previously published and more recent impressions offered in emails, are excerpted here.

“The desperation and misery among our United States citizens in Puerto Rico is tragic. People on every square inch of this island have either lost their homes entirely or have had them damaged. There are so many stories … so many tears, so much hurt. It has tattooed my soul.”

Corporate crime run amok, with nothing to stop them

Unfettered Corporate Power

By Phil Mattera for the Dirt Diggers Digest

Once upon a time, there was a debate on how best to check the power of giant corporations. 

Starting in the Progressive Era and resuming in the 1970s with the arrival of agencies such as the EPA and OSHA, some emphasized the role of government through regulation. 

Others focused on the role of the courts, especially through the kind of class action lawsuits pioneered by lawyers such as Harold Kohn in the 1960s.

When regulators were seen as too aggressive, business apologists pushed back by arguing that corporate misconduct should be addressed through litigation. 

When class actions grew more effective, those apologists started lobbying for tort reform and arguing that regulatory agencies (especially those dominated by industry) were the better forum.

This year, amid a supposed populist upsurge, that debate is dying out. The Republican-controlled Congress and the White House are undermining both regulation and litigation. 

Virtually all legislative “accomplishments” since Inauguration Day have consisted of Congressional Review Act maneuvers to roll back business regulations. 

Now, with the Senate’s move to kill the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s restriction on forced arbitration, Congress has used the same device to reduce the ability of consumers to seek redress through the courts — what Sen. Elizabeth Warren aptly described as “a giant wet kiss to Wall Street.”

The conspiracy unfolds

What we fear is what we love and what we hate

MIT students fortify concrete by adding recycled plastic

Adding bits of irradiated plastic water bottles could cut cement industry’s carbon emissions.

Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office

“Our technology takes plastic out of the landfill, locks it up in 

concrete, and also uses less cement to make the concrete, 

which makes fewer carbon dioxide emissions,” says 

assistant professor Michael Short. Image: MIT News

Discarded plastic bottles could one day be used to build stronger, more flexible concrete structures, from sidewalks and street barriers, to buildings and bridges, according to a new study.

MIT undergraduate students have found that, by exposing plastic flakes to small, harmless doses of gamma radiation, then pulverizing the flakes into a fine powder, they can mix the plastic with cement paste to produce concrete that is up to 20 percent stronger than conventional concrete.

Concrete is, after water, the second most widely used material on the planet. 

The manufacturing of concrete generates about 4.5 percent of the world’s human-induced carbon dioxide emissions. Replacing even a small portion of concrete with irradiated plastic could thus help reduce the cement industry’s global carbon footprint.

Reusing plastics as concrete additives could also redirect old water and soda bottles, the bulk of which would otherwise end up in a landfill.  

Dirty water

Climate change could decrease sun's ability to disinfect lakes, coastal waters

National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)

One of the largely unanticipated impacts of a changing climate may be a decline in sunlight's ability to disinfect lakes, rivers, and coastal waters, possibly leading to an increase in waterborne pathogens and the diseases they can cause in humans and wildlife.

A new study published in the journal Scientific Reports outlines how a rise in the amount of organic matter washed into bodies of water can stunt the ability of pathogen-killing ultraviolet rays from the Sun to penetrate the water's surface.

War on workers about to get even worse

Unions and low-wage workers face bad decisions by the Supreme Court

By Diane Ravitch

The addition of Neil Gorsuch has given conservatives the decisive edge on the Supreme Court that they have sought for many years.

The Janus case is likely to slash the resources of unions. Another case will be a setback for minimum wage workers, those who labor for $7.25 an hour.

These cases together will widen economic inequality and shift greater power to corporations.

Janus is about union dues.

VIDEO: Time for him to go

With million+ signatures, petition to impeach Trump surges

By Jessica Corbett, staff writer for Common Dreams

To watch this video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXl8vRmLeJk

A petition to impeach Donald Trump, part of a multimillion-dollar campaign bankrolled by billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer, has garnered more than a million signatures since it launched less than two weeks ago.

Growing support for the petition comes as Trump's approval rating hits an all-time low of 33 percent in Gallup's three-day polling average—even lower than his 38 percent approval rating from an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll published Sunday.

Both polls preceded the developments on Monday in the federal investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government to influence last year's election.

New rules for bullying

No double standard here

Another new tool to predict impact of climate change on coastlines

Scientists develop tool which can predict coastal erosion and recovery in extreme storms

University of Plymouth

The damage caused to beaches by extreme storms on exposed energetic coastlines and the rate at which they recover can now be accurately predicted thanks to new research led by the University of Plymouth.

Working with the University of New South Wales, scientists have developed a computer model which uses past wave observations and beach assessments to forecast the erosion and/or accretion of beach sediments over the coming year.

They believe it could be a sea change for coastal managers, giving them the opportunity to make decisions that could protect communities from severe wave damage.

In a study, published in Coastal Engineering, the academics say deriving sufficient knowledge and understanding to forecast erosion and accretion with a level of confidence is arguably the 'holy grail' for coastal scientists and engineers.

Cool roofs have water saving benefits too

In reducing air temperatures, cool roofs can also reduce outdoor water use

DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

The energy and climate benefits of cool roofs have been well established: By reflecting rather than absorbing the sun's energy, light-colored roofs keep buildings, cities, and even the entire planet cooler. 

Now a new study by the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has found that cool roofs can also save water by reducing how much is needed for urban irrigation.

Based on regional climate simulations of 18 California counties, Berkeley Lab researchers Pouya Vahmani and Andrew Jones found that widespread cool roof adoption could reduce outdoor water consumption by as much as 9 percent. In Los Angeles County, total water savings could reach 83 million gallons per day, assuming all buildings had reflective roofs installed. 

Trump’s Voter Fraud Commission Wants Your Data — But Experts Say They Can’t Keep It Safe

Newly revealed records show sloppy practices  could put millions at risk.

By Jessica Huseman and Derek Willis for Propublica

The voter-fraud-checking program championed by the head of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity suffers from data security flaws that could imperil the safety of millions of peoples’ records, according to experts.

Indivisible Chicago, a progressive advocacy group in Illinois, filed a public-records request with Illinois and Florida for information on the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program. 

Crosscheck was created and run by the Kansas secretary of state’s office and is often cited by Kris Kobach, Kansas’ secretary of state, as a way to identify voters casting ballots in more than one state. Indivisible Chicago then posted emails and other documents it received, including messages exchanged between elections officials in Illinois and Florida and Crosscheck.

The emails and records revealed numerous security weaknesses. Crosscheck’s files are hosted on an insecure server, according to its own information. Usernames and passwords were regularly shared by email, making them vulnerable to snooping. And passwords were overly simplistic and only irregularly changed.