Blog

It is an unfamiliar term—the “coral triangle.”  We all know about the Amazon rainforest as the largest and most significant tropical forest in the world.  But what about coral reefs and their seascapes?  Is there an equivalent of the Amazon for coral reefs?

            Indeed there is.  The coral triangle is to coral reefs what the Amazon is to rainforests.  The coral triangle is a huge area—more than a billion acres, about half the size of the continental United States—located at the juncture of the South Pacific and Indian Oceans.  The area includes the waters of six nations—the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste.  The marine resources of the coral triangle provide food and jobs of 130 million people.

            The coral triangle contains the richest coral-reef ecosystems in the world.  Roughly three-quarters of the world’s known coral species live there (more than 500 species), along with 6 of the world’s 7 marine turtle species and one-third of the world’s coral-reef fish species.  Scientists believe that coral reefs evolved in the triangle and radiated to other areas across the world’s oceans, including Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (learn more about the Great Barrier Reef here).  The triangle supports other marine life, like blue and sperm whales, dolphins and dugongs, that graze on the abundant flora and fauna of the reefs.

            The nations comprising the coral triangle ratified a treaty in 2009 to sustainably manage the region and its resources.  The “Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries, and Food Security (CTI-CFF)” works through a permanent staff located in Manado, Indonesia and is partnering with leading conservation groups like Conservation International, The World Wildlife Fund, and The Nature Conservancy.  Primary concerns include unsustainable development and tourism, overfishing, destructive fishing (using explosives or cyanide-based chemicals), coral bleaching and climate change.  The region is of special interest to scientists and conservationists because it appears to be weathering the effects of climate change better than other areas.

            As part of their work, the CTI-CFF created Coral Triangle Day, celebrated annually on June 9.  The date was chosen to piggy-back on World Oceans Day, which occurs annually on June 8. The first celebration was held in 2012.  The organizers state that the goal “is to position the Coral Triangle as a globally-significant ecoregion—a modern day icon of the natural world so that millions of people learn more about its significance to their everyday lives and are empowered to take specific actions to help conserve and protect this natural treasure.”  Although the focus of the day is on the nations in and around the triangle, celebrations are welcomed around the world.

            So, if you are looking for an excuse for a beach party on June 9, now you’ve got the reason!  Let’s hear it for the Coral Triangle!

References:

Conservation International.  The Coral Triangle Initiative.  Available at:  https://www.conservation.org/projects/coral-triangle-initiative.  Accessed February 20, 2020.

Coral Guardian.  The Coral Triangle.  Available at:  https://www.coralguardian.org/en/coral-triangle/. Accessed February 20, 2020.

Coral Triangle Initiative.  History of CTI-CFF.  Available at:  http://www.coraltriangleinitiative.org/about.  Accessed February 20, 2020.

Coraltriangleday.org.  Welcome to Coral Triangl Accessed February 20, 2020e Day 2019.  Available at:  http://coraltriangleday.org/. Accessed February 20, 2020.

Eschner, Kat.  2017.  Three Things to Know About the Coral Triangle, the Ocean’s Biodiversity Hot Spot.  Smithsonian Magazine, June 8, 2017.  Available at:  https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/three-things-know-about-coral-triangle-180963561/. Accessed February 20, 2020.

Thomas Malthus published “An Essay on the Principle of Population” on June 7, 1798.  The essay and the name of Malthus have become synonymous with the idea that humans, because of the growth of their population, will eventually run out of resources, leading to conflict and famine.  In other words, human existence is fundamentally unsustainable.

            Thomas Robert Malthus was an English academic and cleric who lived from 1766 to 1834.  He was educated at Cambridge University and eventually became a professor of history and political economy.  He was deeply interested in the statistics of populations, from birth to death and everything in between—co-founding the Statistical Society of London in 1834.  His work was sufficiently regarded to earn him membership in the Royal Society and the Political Economy Club.  Despite his high ranking in society, it seems he was a pretty regular guy—he always just called himself “Bob.”

            While Malthus’ other works may have been important during his life, it is his essay about population that has maintained his prominence today.  In the essay, he relates that the human population grows exponentially—that is, very rapidly—while the ability of humans to raise food and other necessary resources grows arithmetically—that is, rather slowly.  Malthus reasoned that the size of the human population would eventually outgrow available resources and a state of misery and vice would take over, effectively but painfully keeping the human population in check.  In other words, human life as we know it is not sustainable.

            Malthus’ idea is generally cited as the argument for pessimism in the future by environmentalists who view humankind through dim eyes.  For example, the idea is basically the same as that advanced by Paul Ehrlich in his 1969 book, The Population Bomb, which predicted that global famine would prevail as early as the 1970s.   Malthusian ideas (now often referred to as Neo-Malthusian) remain popular.

            Malthus also believed that because misery was the tool that nature used to check the size of the human population, attempts to improve the conditions of the poor were misguided.  Helping the poor, he reasoned, reduced misery, leading to higher birth rates and population growth—which would eventually lead to more misery.  We know today that reality shows the exact opposite.  Improved quality of life, through better nutrition, health care, education and the like, does lead to a higher population growth rate for a time, but then the growth rate slows and then stabilizes.  Prosperity, not poverty, checks population growth.

References:

BBC History.  Thomas Malthus (1766-1834).  Available at:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/malthus_thomas.shtml.  Accessed June 8, 2017.

Encyclopedia Britannica.  Thomas Malthus.  Available at:  https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Malthus. Accessed June 8, 2017.

Library of Economics and Liberty.  An Essay on the Principle of Population.  Available at:  http://www.econlib.org/library/Malthus/malPopCover.html. Accessed June 8, 2017.

Library of Economics and Liberty.  Thomas Robert Malthus.  Available at http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/bios/Malthus.html. Accessed June 8, 2017.

In truth, Bryce National Park wasn’t created on this date—but that is just a technicality.  The protection of Bryce Canyon became law on June 8, 1923, when President Warren G. Harding proclaimed the area as Bryce Canyon National Monument.  A year later, Congress passed a law to change its status to a park, changing the name to Utah National Park.  Four years later, in 1928, when the land had been acquired and other administrative targets met, the area settled into its now familiar name of Bryce Canyon National Park. 

            Southern Utah in 1900 was pretty far away from anywhere.  But as roads, for cars and trains, started to penetrate the area, more folks wandered upon an interesting canyon with some spectacular scenery.  In 1915, the new supervisor of what is now Dixie National Forest, J. W. Humphrey, visited a spot we now call Sunset Point; his reaction mirrored that of visitors ever since:  “You can perhaps imagine my surprise at the indescribable beauty that greeted us, and it was sundown before I could be dragged from the canyon view.  You may be sure that I went back the next morning to see the canyon once more, and to plan in my mind how this attraction could be made accessible to the public.”

            Humphrey took up the challenge to popularize Bryce Canyon, with great success.  In the next few years, the Union Pacific Railroad began bringing visitors to the area, and a still-operating motel, Ruby’s Inn, provided lodging and tourist services.  The park has become a central feature of southern Utah’s five national parks, and serves as a midway point between Zion and Grand Canyon (AZ) National Parks (learn more about Grand Canyon National Park here).  From about 20,000 annual visitors when it opened, Bryce Canyon now welcomes more than 2.6 million visitors each year, all as awestruck as Humphrey a century before.

            Those visitors come primarily to view Bryce Canyon’s “hoodoos.”  Hoodoos are tall, thin, colorful towers of rock, eroded into delicate shapes.  Hoodoos occur elsewhere, but Bryce has more of them in a concentrated area than anywhere on earth.  All those hoodoos formed—and continue to form and dissolve—because of a unique sequence of geological and meteorological occurrences.  First, the entire region was once the bottom of a huge lake that accumulated sediment whose chemical composition varied through time; the sediment compressed into alternating layers of limestone, sandstone, dolostone, mudstone and siltstone.  Next, the crashing of tectonic plates raised the lake bottom to its current election of over 7,000 feet. 

            Then, and now, weather took over.  Bryce Canyon has about 200 days per year when the air temperature varies from below freezing to above freezing in the same day.  So, rain falls during the warm day, gets into cracks in the rocks, freezes over night, and cracks the rocks further apart.  In the morning, the ice thaws, seeps farther into the rock, and repeats the procedure. Then, and now, the wind eroded the rock layers, which have different levels of hardness, into pillars that look like the handiwork of a deranged lathe operator.  Nature’s sculpture garden is truly breathtaking.

            Bryce Canyon is quite small as national parks go, just under 36,000 acres (only 11 of 61 national parks are smaller).  But Bryce lies within a larger geological landscape that stretches from the Grand Canyon on the south to Capitol Reef National Park on the north.  The area is known collectively as “The Grand Staircase” because the geologic history of the earth is displayed here as a series of steps—exposed layers that have been little disturbed by earthquakes, volcanoes and other geological events.  Several other national parks, national monuments (including the controversial Grand Staircase Escalante) and national forests protect this landscape, together comprising a huge area some 200 miles long and 100 miles wide.

References:

National Park Service.  Bryce Canyon National Park.  Available at:  https://www.nps.gov/brca/learn/historyculture/park_history.htm.  Accessed February 20, 2020.

Scrattish, Nicholas.  1985.  Historic Resource Study—Bryce Canyon National Park.  September, 1985.  National Park Service.  Available at:  https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/brca/hrs.htm.  Accessed February 20, 2020.

The United Nations now has many days devoted to the environment—days for water, biodiversity, forests, wildlife, fisheries, and more (many are described in this calendar).  But the granddaddy of them all was established on June 5 – World Environment Day.

            The United Nations began to take environmental matters seriously in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  Their concern culminated in the first major conference sponsored by the UN that addressed the condition of the environment.  The “Conference on the Human Environment” was held in Stockholm, Sweden, during June 5-16, 1972.  Now generally referred to as the “Stockholm Conference,” the gathering included representatives from 113 nations, featured 86 national reports, made 109 recommendations for global action, and unanimously passed the Declaration on the Human Environment.  Among the 26 principles in the declaration, the second sums up the essence of the need:  “The natural resources of the earth, including the air, water, land, flora and fauna and especially representative samples of natural ecosystems, must be safeguarded for the benefit of present and future generations through careful planning or management, as appropriate.”

            Later in 1972, the UN chose June 5, the starting date of the Stockholm Conference, as the permanent date for World Environment Day.  The day is designed for the world’s nations to “undertake … activities reaffirming their determination expressed at the Conference.”  Even more importantly, the results of the Stockholm Conference led to the establishment of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the major UN body focused on a sustainable global environment.

            The first World Environment Day was celebrated on June 5, 1972, as part of Expo ’74, a world’s fair held in Spokane, Washington.  World fairs were popular in the years after World War II, as people looked forward to the benefits of modern technology—electronics, chemicals, air travel, nuclear energy, and many others.  So, world fairs generally worshipped a rosy human-dominated civilization, with little concern for the natural environment.  Expo ’74 took a different approach, however, recognizing the emerging environmental movement.  This world fair emphasized caring for the environment—the theme was “Celebrating Tomorrow’s Fresh New Environment.”

            World Environment Day has been celebrated annually since then, with the 47^th iteration scheduled for June 5, 2020.  The core site is Colombia, in partnership with Germany.  The theme for 2020 focuses on biodiversity, making biodiversity-rich Colombia an ideal site for the topic.  Nearly 150 countries participate annually in World Environment Day; in 2019, more than 200 events occurred across the globe as part of the focused on air pollution.

            So, on this day, why not spend a little time thinking about the environment, both near and far—and most importantly, why not do something that reduces our environmental footprint—both near and far?

References: 

Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest.  Lesson Twenty-six:  Spokane’s Expo ’74; A World’s Fair for the Environment.  Available at:  http://www.washington.edu/uwired/outreach/cspn/Website/Classroom%20Materials/Pacific%20Northwest%20History/Lessons/Lesson%2026/26.html.  Accessed February 18, 2020.

Library of Congress.  Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment.  Available at:  http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20150314024203/http%3A//www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?documentid%3D97%26articleid%3D1503. Accessed February 18, 2020.

UNEP.  World Environment Day:  driving five decades of environmental action.  Available at:  https://www.worldenvironmentday.global/about/world-environment-day-driving-five-decades-environmental-action. Accessed February 18, 2020.

United Nations.  World Environment Day, June 5.  Available at:  https://www.un.org/en/events/environmentday/background.shtml. Accessed February 18, 2020.

Earth Day has become an annual event for remembering and enhancing the plight of our environment.  The man who started Earth Day, however, both for that accomplishment as well as many others, deserves separate recognition on this, his birthday.

            Gaylord Anton Nelson was born in the northern Wisconsin village of Clear Lake, on June 4, 1916 (died 2005).  From the beginning, he admired two things about Wisconsin.  First, he loved the beauty of the north woods, a forested landscape sequined with the reflective waters of innumerable lakes, ponds and streams.  Second, he believed in Wisconsin’s “progressive movement,” in which the government used its power and resources to tackle the most pressing issues of the day.

            Nelson received his law degree from the University of Wisconsin.  After returning from his tour of duty in the Navy during World War II, he worked to build a coalition of Wisconsin’s leaders from both political parties in support of progressive ideals.  He became a state senator and then served as Wisconsin’s governor for two terms during the late1950s-early 1960s.  As governor, he championed an improved environment, fighting against pollution and habitat destruction.  He re-organized the state’s many environmental and natural resource agencies into a single department that remains one of the finest in the country.  He convinced the state to dedicate $50 million to acquire parks (using a one-cent tax on cigarettes), in remote as well as populated areas.  For his efforts, he became known as the nation’s “conservation governor.”

            Wisconsin elected him one of their two senators in 1962, a position he held for 18 years.  He took his conservation-governor moniker to Washington and became the de facto conservation senator.  He fought for both environmental improvements and for social welfare, acknowledging that the two are really one aspiration, not two.  He said, “Environment is all of America and its problems.  It is rats in the ghetto.  It’s a hungry child in a land of affluence.  It is housing not worthy of the name, neighborhoods not fit to inhabit.”

            Nelson’s positive influence, reaching across political divides to unite a congress in support of a healthier environment, is reflected in a range of laws he sponsored or nurtured.  He led efforts that passed, nearly unanimously, the Wilderness Act, the National Trails Act, the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, the National Environmental Education Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act.  He also was the force behind strip-mining reform, the banning of phosphates in detergents, and vehicle fuel-efficiency standards. 

            But Nelson will always be remembered most for his idea to grow conservation from the grass roots.  He wanted the leadership in Washington to understand that the people of the United States wanted a sustainable environment.  So, working with college students, he and a small staff organized the first Earth Day in April, 1970.  He only planned for one Earth Day, but, as we know, the idea caught hold and continues to grow as a global phenomenon (learn more about Earth Day here) .

            For Earth Day and all his other actions on behalf of our environment, Gaylord Nelson is considered one of the most influential persons of the 20^th Century.  President Clinton bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Nelson in 1995, noting that “His work has inspired all Americans to take responsibility for the planet’s well-being and for our children’s future.”

            Let’s heed his example.

References: 

Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies.  The Nelson Legacy.  Available at:  https://nelson.wisc.edu/about/nelson-legacy.php. Accessed February 15, 2020

Nelsonearthday.net.  Meet Gaylord Nelson, founder of Earth Day.  Available at:  http://www.nelsonearthday.net/nelson/. Accessed February 15, 2020

The Wilderness Society.  Gaylord Nelson.  Available at:  https://www.wilderness.org/articles/article/gaylord-nelson.  Accessed February 15, 2020.

The Wilderness Society.  Earth Day Founder Gaylord Nelson to Receive Medal of Freedom.  Available at: http://www.nelsonearthday.net/docs/nelson_231-4_medal_of_freedom_press_release.pdfAccessed February 15, 2020.

On the afternoon of June 6, 1912, a massive volcanic eruption occurred on the Alaskan Peninsula, across from Kodiak Island.  The Novarupta eruption was the largest in volume in the 20^th Century, and surpassed in history only by the eruption of Mount Tambora about 100 years earlier.  The volume of materials expelled was 30 times greater than that of the Mount Saint Helens eruption in 1980.

            This area of Alaska was sparsely populated in the early years of the 20^th Century, so no one was close enough to actually see the eruption itself.  It was first observed by the crew of a mail boat, the Dora, who heard an explosion and then observed a smoke plume rising in the sky behind Mount Katmai, about 55 miles away.  Residents of Juneau, 750 miles away, heard the explosion—about one hour after it occurred.  Everyone assumed that Mount Katmai, a known site of volcanic activity, had erupted. 

            The ash plume rose rapidly to a height of 20 miles, spreading eastward on prevailing winds.  Within 2 hours, the ash cloud had enveloped the Dora.   Subsequent explosions and venting continued for three days.  Settlements on Kodiak Island, 100 miles away, were blanketed in a foot of ash.  Local residents huddled indoors to escape the choking atmosphere.  Wildlife died by the millions, as did fish swimming in sediment-filled rivers and lakes.  In subsequent days, the ash cloud spread across North America and the world, purportedly reaching Algeria by June 17.  Ice cores from Greenland contain ash from Novarupta.

            A team of National Geographic Society explorers, led by Robert Griggs, thoroughly investigated the site in 1916. The eruption had spewed 30 million cubic meters of material out of the earth, covering the adjacent valley in rock and ash, in some places up to 700 feet deep.  The former v-shaped valley surrounding the eruption site had become a flat, barren plain.  Because of innumerable steam plumes escaping from vents across the area, Griggs called the site the “Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes.”  Discovering a new lava dome located near Mount Katmai, Griggs named it Novarupta—further expeditions in the 1950s later confirmed that Novarupta, not Mount Katmai, was the source of the eruption.

            Griggs and others  considered the area of great scientific value.  They began a lobbying effort that soon convinced President Woodrow Wilson to create the Katmai National Monument on September 24, 1918.  For decades after that, Katmai got little attention—by tourists or by the government—because of its remoteness.  It took until the 1950s before Katmai had its first permanent ranger and first facility, at the now famous Brooks Camp.

            Grizzly bears, not volcanoes, have become the starring attraction at Katmai.  The area holds one of the densest grizzly populations in the country, well fed by the abundant salmon in the region’s rivers.  Because of this, the protected area has been expanded and, on May 18, 1980, became Katmai National Park and Preserve, now covering slightly more than 4 million acres (by coincidence, this was the same day that Mount Saint Helens erupted; learn more about that eruption here).  From fewer than 20 visitors per year in the 1920s, more than 30,000 now visit annually.  And live “bear cams” are available so millions can watch bears fishing at Brooks Falls. 

References:

Alaska Volcano Observatory.  Novarupta reported activity.  Available at https://www.avo.alaska.edu/volcanoes/activity.php?volcname=Novarupta&eruptionid=456.  Accessed June 6, 2017.

Geology.com.  Novarupta, the most powerful volcanic eruption of the 20^th Century.  Available at http://geology.com/novarupta/. Accessed June 6, 2017.

Hildreth, W., and Fierstein, J., 2012, The Novarupta-Katmai eruption of 1912—largest eruption of the twentieth century; centennial perspectives: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1791, 259 p. Available at https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1791/. Accessed June 6, 2017.

National Park Service.  Katmai National Park and Preserve History.  Available at https://www.nps.gov/katm/learn/historyculture/history.htm. Accessed June 6, 2017.

Explorers generally look to the far horizon for their adventures, but with the right perspective, nature provides adventures just as thrilling right in one’s own backyard.  Look there, and you might find yourself with the reputation as “the greatest living naturalist in America.”  Such was the case for Edwin Way Teale, born on June 2, 1899.

            Teale was born in Joliet, Illinois, just south of Chicago.  His original middle name was Alfred, but he changed it to Way when he was 12, purportedly because he thought Alfred was not sufficiently grand for someone who would become a famous naturalist (Way was also his mother’s maiden name).  He spent summers at his grandparents’ farm, Lone Oak, in the sand-dune region of northern Indiana, on the shores of Lake Michigan.  Of his summers, Teale said that the farm was “a starting point and a symbol.  It was a symbol of all the veiled and fascinating secrets of the out-of-doors.  It was the starting point of my absorption into the world of Nature.”

            He studied English at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, where he met his future wife and lifelong collaborator, Nellie Donovan.   The couple moved to New York, where Teale took a Master’s degree at Columbia and then a job as a writer for the magazine Popular Science.  He toiled at the magazine for a decade before resigning on his “own personal independence day.”

            And so began a career in which Teale embedded himself in nature and wrote about it with scientific clarity and compelling emotion.  He also became an expert nature photographer, pioneering up-close images of insects.  Unlike other nature writers and photographers, who concentrated on nature’s grandeur, Teale instead found beauty and wonder in the intrigue of his immediate surroundings.  He wrote 32 books, mostly about nature, from his boyhood memoir, Dune Boy, to a four-book series on nature, season by season.  One of the season books, Wandering Through Winter, earned Teale the Pulitzer Prize for Non-fiction in 1966.  He and Nellie chased nature across the country in their Buick sedan, travelling more than 75,000 miles in pursuit of the extraordinary in the ordinary.

            Although Teale was not a scientist, his writings brought him into “the vanguard of the new aristocracy of naturalists, according to famed ornithologist Roger Tory Peterson (learn more about Peterson here).  He was friends with Rachel Carson, and some suggest it was Teale’s urging that convinced Carson to write her second book, The Sea Around Us (after the commercial failure of her first book) (learn more about Carson here).  He won numerous prizes and awards from conservation, scientific and literary organizations. 

            But Edwin Way Teale was a nature writer, and the best way to get to know him is through his own words. 

“To the lost man, to the pioneer penetrating a new country, to the naturalist who wishes to see the wild land at its wildest, the advice is always the same—follow a river.  The river is the original forest highway.  It is nature’s own Wilderness Road.”

“For observing nature, the best pace is a snail’s pace.”

“Looking at life through the eyes of a Daddy long legs:  Imagine walking on legs so long you could cover a mile in fifty strides!  Imagine looking to either side through eyes set not in your head but in a … hump in the back!  Imagine your knees, when you walked, working a dozen feet or more above your head.”     

“A man who never sees a bluebird only half lives.”

“If I were to choose the sights, the sounds, the fragrances I most would want to see and hear and smell—among all the delights of the open world—on a final day on earth, I think I would choose these:  the clear, ethereal song of a white-throated sparrow singing at dawn; the smell of pine trees in the heat of the noon; the lonely calling of Canada geese; the sight of a dragon-fly glinting in the sunshine; the voice of a hermit thrush far in a darkening woods at evening; and—most spiritual and moving of sights—the white cathedral of a cumulus cloud floating serenely in the blue of the sky.”

References:

Archive.today.  Edwin Way Teale Papers 1981.0009.  Available at:  https://archive.ph/20140828224410/http://137.99.31.136:8080/xtf/view?docId=finding_aids/MSS19810009.xml&doc.view=print;chunk.id=.

Holland, Robert.  1984.  Edwin Way Teale.  Letter to Editor, The New York Times, August 12, 1984.  Available at:  https://www.nytimes.com/1984/08/12/books/l-edwin-way-teale-138720.html.

Indiana Historical Bureau.  Edwin Way Teale.  Available at:  https://www.in.gov/history/markers/EdwinWTeale.htm.

On June 1, 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump declared that the United States would withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement.  His announcement began a multi-year process that will lead to the U.S. withdrawal taking effect on November 4, 2020, one day after the next presidential election.

            The Paris Climate Agreement was reached on December 12, 2015, when the 197 parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, voted in Paris to move together toward controlling global climate change.  The Paris Agreement seeks to reduce carbon emissions so that the average global temperature remains lower than 2 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial-era average temperature.  The agreement commits all parties to this goal, but leaves the contributions made and techniques used to each individual country. The agreement came into force on November 4, 2016, when at least 55 countries responsible for 55% of global carbon emissions had ratified it.  Today, a total of 187 of the 197 original parties have ratified the agreement (learn more about the agreement here).

            In his June 1, 2017 statement, President Trump said, “As President, I have one obligation, and that obligation is to the American people.  The Paris Accord would undermine our economy, hamstring our workers, weaken our sovereignty, impose unacceptable legal risks, and put us at a permanent disadvantage to the other countries of the world.  It is time to exit the Paris Accord and time to pursue a new deal that protects the environment, our companies, our citizens, and our country.”  At that time, the president said all federal actions to meet the terms of the agreement would cease.

            The actual withdrawal from the agreement, however, had to wait.  According to the agreement, parties could not state their intention to withdraw until three years after the agreement entered into force.  That occurred on November 4, 2019, and on that day, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the U.S. was withdrawing: “Today the United States began the process to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. Per the terms of the Agreement, the United States submitted formal notification of its withdrawal to the United Nations. The withdrawal will take effect one year from delivery of the notification.”

            The withdrawal represented a major step-back from U.S. federal leadership in the effort to confront climate change.  It did not, however, mean that the United States as a whole backed away from this challenge.  On the same day as the president’s announcement—June 1, 2017—several states announced that they would continue to follow the Paris Agreement’s principles.  Together they formed the organization “United States Climate Alliance.”  The alliance now includes 24 states and Puerto Rico as members, all committed to the Paris Agreement.  Nearly 150 U.S. cities, including Chicago, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, have also committed to moving to 100% renewable energy, as have dozens of major corporations and energy companies.

            So, despite leadership from the top, the United States continues to confront the terrible specter of climate change and the massive economic and societal problems it will cause (and is causing).  All levels—state, local and individual citizens—remain convinced that fighting climate change is not a bad thing for our economy and citizens. Remember what Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

References:

Jaeger, Joel, Tom Cyrs and Kevin Kennedy.  2019.  As Trump Steps Away from Paris Climate Agreement, U.S. States, Cities and Businesses Step Up.  World Resources Institute, October 23, 2019.  https://www.wri.org/blog/2019/10/trump-steps-away-paris-climate-agreement-us-states-cities-and-businesses-step-up. Accessed February 13, 2020.

Kann, Drew.  2019.  US begins formal withdrawal from Paris climate accord.  CNN, November 4, 2019.  Available at:  https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/04/politics/trump-formal-withdrawal-paris-climate-agreement/index.html. Accessed February 13, 2020.

United Nations Climate Change.  What is the Paris Agreement.  Available at:  https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/what-is-the-paris-agreement.  Accessed February 13, 2020.

United States Climate Alliance.  About.  Available at:  http://www.usclimatealliance.org/about-us. Accessed February 13, 2020.

White House.  2017.  Statement by President Trump on the Paris Climate Accord.  June 1, 2017.  Available at:  https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-president-trump-paris-climate-accord/. Accessed February 13, 2020.

Groundhogs have a day, so why not wombats?  At least that’s what some unknown wombat lover decided when creating Wombat Day on October 22, 2005.  A man named Chris Mabe created a Facebook page for Wombat Day several years later, so perhaps we should give him credit for the whole wacky thing.. 

            It is a comical day to celebrate wombats, and eat lots of chocolate and wine gums.  Wine gums, apparently, are akin to gummy bears and Swedish fish—substitution is allowed.  October 22 was chosen because it is around the date when spring planting occurs in Australia.  For whatever reason, wombats now have their own day, so let’s celebrate them with a little natural history.

            Wombats live in southeastern Australia and on the Australian island of Tasmania.  There are three species:  the common or bare-nosed wombat (Vombatus ursinus), and the southern and northern hairy-nosed wombats (you can tell them apart by whether or not their noses are—hairy!).  They are marsupials, like all of Australia’s endemic mammals, and closely related to koalas.  But they are distinctive because the pouches in which they shelter their young face backward.  Right, towards the southern end of a north-going wombat.  It’s not stupid, though, it’s smart.  Wombats are great diggers, creating burrows in which they spend most of their lives.  If the pouch faced forward, it would fill with dirt as the female digs with its powerful front legs and claws.

            Digging is what wombats do.  They dig large and complex burrows, up to 9 feet deep and 20 feet long, with branching chambers.  They are generally solitary, but in some cases they make communal burrows for a group, called a “mob.”  The burrows are so massive that other animals often take up residence.  With the massive fires occurring in Australia during 2019, wombats became Internet sensations because they were said to herd other animals to safety in their burrows (not true, say scientists—no herding, just other creatures taking advantage of the wombats). 

            Wombats do most things slowly.  They are short and stocky, waddling when they are moving on land and wombat-paddling when they are swimming (all website, however, warn that wombats can move very quickly when motivated—25 miles per hour for short distances).  They are herbivores, and a long and complex digestive tract allow them to eat and digest the coarsest of plant materials  But they digest slowly—it takes 4-6 days for a meal to exit a wombat.  And when it does, it leaves in a series of very distinctive, almost cube shapes pellets numbering up to one hundred per day (enough said here, but this is quite a popular topic on the Internet).

            The young grow up slowly, too.  After a short gestation period of about 30 days, a female wombat gives birth to a single “joey,” about the size of a jelly-bean.  The young wombat stays in the backward-facing pouch for 6 to 10 months before even peeking out at the world.  But then it still hangs around, living in the pouch for another 8 to 10 month.  Not long after that, the young wombat is sexually mature and starts the whole—slow—cycle again.

            Wombats may be slow, but they get big.  They spend most of their time feeding, and their sluggish metabolism lets them pack on the pounds.  They can reach almost four feet long and weigh up to 80 pounds, making wombats one of the world’s largest rodents.  They have few natural predators, but when they are threatened, they dive into their burrows head-first, leaving their posterior, which has thick, tough skin, as a barricade to entry. 

            Through history, Australians were not fond of wombats.  Wombat burrows pock-marked fields and pastures, a nuisance to human settlers.  In 1906, Australia placed a bounty of wombats, and tens of thousands were shot for the reward.  The bounty is gone, but wombats are still considered vermin and, hence, taragets for unlimited hunting.  Wombats also cause considerable damage to vehicles through night-time collisions as they move—slowly—along and across highways.

            Which brings us back to the beginning.  Why have a special day for an animal that most people want to be rid of?  Any excuse for a party, I guess.  And this animal is almost as cute as its cousin, the koala.  Hurray for wombats!

References:

AFP Fact Check.  2020.  Australian bushfires:  animals that take refuge in wombat burrows usually uninvited, experts say.  Available at:  https://factcheck.afp.com/australian-bushfires-animals-take-refuge-wombat-burrows-usually-uninvited-experts-say.  Accessed February 11, 2020.

Australian Academy of Science.  All about wombat scat.  Available at:  https://www.science.org.au/curious/earth-environment/all-about-wombat-scat.  Accessed February 11, 2020.

Australian Museum.  Common Wombat.  Available at:  https://australianmuseum.net.au/learn/animals/mammals/common-wombat/. Accessed February 11, 2020.

National Geographic.  Common Wombat.  Available at:  https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/c/common-wombat/. Accessed February 11, 2020.

Wombania.com.  Wombat Day October 22.  Available at:  https://www.wombania.com/wombat-day.htm. Accessed February 11, 2020.

Danish immigrant Martin Hansen stopped for a rest before heading home after a day of work.  Hansen was high in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, on the flanks of Mount Timpanogos, named for the Native Americans who lived there over thousands of years.  He was a logger, and the high demand for timber in the American Fork Canyon in 1887 meant he had to climb higher up the mountain every day to access suitable trees.  He leaned his ax against a tree and walked home.

            When he returned the next day, he noticed mountain lion tracks in the overnight snowfall. He followed the tracks up the mountain until they disappeared into an opening in the rocks.  Hansen had discovered a cave in a strange place—high on a mountainside.  As we now know, the cave had been formed first by shifts in the earth’s crust along fault lines; only then did underground water flowing through the fissures begin the erosion and deposition processes that created the extensive cave.

            Hansen and his family began giving tours of the cave, first leading explorers up the cliffs on a series of nearly vertical log ladders and then showing off the beauty inside the cave.  Now named for Hansen, his cave was the first of three discovered along the cliff.  Timpanogos Cave was found in 1913, then lost, and rediscovered in 1921.  The third, Middle Cave, was also discovered in 1921, by Hansen’s grandson and nephew.

            The caves were being badly plundered for their unusual formations and accessible veins of black onyx.  Consequently, President Warren Harding proclaimed the cave system a national monument on October 14, 1922, noting that it was of “unusual scientific interest and importance, and it appears that the public interest will be promoted by reserving this cave…”

            The park is small—only about 250 acres—and hard to access.  Although the log ladders are gone, visitors must still ascend a steep 1.5-mile trail before reaching the caves.  Access to the caves is only through guided tours by park rangers—with a warning that the experience is strenuous, dirty and only for those in good physical condition.  Still, well over 100,000 people make the journey every year.

            Most, I’m sure, are glad they made the effort.  The caves are noted for their abundance of helictites, small branching and curved formations that resemble coral.  Helictites begin as thin stalactites, but instead of water dripping down the formation, it evaporates in place, slowly building thin tubes that spread randomly in all directions.

            A central feature of the cave complex is the “Great Heart of Timpanogos,” a large stalactite that resembles a human heart.  Local myth holds that a Native American brave named Red Eagle fell in love with princess Utahna when they met in the cave.  Later, Utahna sacrificed herself to end a drought, and Red Eagle carried her body back to the cave where their hearts fused into the rock formation.

            Visitors also experience the beauty of the Wasatch Mountains on the way to and from the cave.  The park lies within the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, a 2.1-million-acre forest that runs north-south along Utah’s main population corridor.  Mount Timpanogos is the second highest peak in the Wasatch Mountains, at a height of 11, 752 feet.

References:

National Park Foundation.  The Great Love Story of Timpanogos Cave National Monument.  Available at:  https://www.nationalparks.org/connect/blog/great-love-story-timpanogos-cave-national-monument.  Accessed February 6, 2020.

National Park Service.  Timpanogos Cave—Cave Discoverers.  Available at:  https://www.nps.gov/tica/learn/historyculture/cave-discoverers.htm.  Accessed February 6, 2020.