Elizabeth Park, Hartford/West Hartford

great blue heron

I wrote a short editorial about climate change that was published on May 27th.  It led to a weeklong  email exchange with my "fans."  Lol.   I really appreciated that not once did the subject of politics or Al Gore enter the conversation.   Those that I exchanged emails with were highly educated in physics, chemistry and meteorology.  Although they were skilled in their fields, no one was a climate scientist.  Another "fan" sent me Jehovah Witness pamphlets and a note. Yep, quite the week.

male mallard duck

Ninety-seven percent (actually 97.1%) of climate scientists believe burning fossil fuels is causing climate change. They believe we need to cut our carbon emissions to stop the climate from warning.  The sooner we take action, the better.
IF THEY'RE WRONG:  We will have reduced carbon in the air and invested in wind and solar technologies.

roses

Those that believe the climate is changing from natural causes, think the warming won't continue.  They think the oceans will cool and CO2 will drop all by itself. 
IF THEY'RE WRONG:   
We will have lost valuable time to reverse spiraling CO2.

sparrow

On the outskirts of the city, we stopped at Elizabeth Park to see roses.  For the most part, the yellow ones were the only ones in bloom.  In less than ten minutes time, we spotted the great blue heron at the pond, perched like a statue.  It waited there for a long, long time.  I was thrilled to be so close. As I watched the heron, the mallards coasted by.  I could see fish in the water and thought for certain the heron would try and nab one, but it remained silent and still.

great blue heron

Upper Bolton Lake, Vernon

A nest!

Yesterday, I had a Twitter exchange that is a classic example of how the denier camp (those that deny that humans are responsible for climate change) works.  First, notice that my wording is altered ever so slightly.   Secondly, he calls me an alarmist after he's changed my wording.  Finally, he rips apart the scientists by calling their work bull.  This is so typical of what I have seen.  Another thing I've noticed is that no matter how many research papers you may produce, they will pick them all apart, but they don't produce a single shred of their own evidence. 

My Tweet:
Up the CO2. Down goes zinc & iron. Less healthy food MAY be on its way. #climate #climatechange http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/08/global-warming-food-nutrients-idUSKBN0DO1LL20140508 … …

Him
Claim: As CO2 levels rise, some crop nutrients will fall

The soft colors, arched neck and glassy lake looked like a painting to me. 

Me:    Don't change my wording
Me:    I wrote MAY fall not WILL.
Him:   This is just alarmist
Me:    No, it's the results of a research study on what happens to crops when CO2 levels are raised.
Him:   Cereals have never been a major source od dietary iron. That’s why you’re supposed to eat your spinach.
Me:    I love spinach and salmon too and I don't care much for cereal.
Him:   There is an alleged slight drop in some minerals! #OMG
Him:   It is BULL SHIT
Me:   You have a foul mouth.

Knock, knock Mr. Beaver.

Some friends of mine are so kind, they invited me to go kayaking with them.  The day they picked started out pretty rainy, so I wore my fleece pants and Walt's hat.  It turns out the hat was waterproof.  Yes!  Anyhow, despite the gloomy day, I had the best time exploring Upper Bolton Lake.  We discovered several nests and a beaver lodge.  I maneuvered right up to that lodge entrance and peeked inside.  I wish I had a flashlight. 
  

Bird houses were attached to a number of trees.

It was a lot of fun paddling hard to bust through a beaver dam.  I got stuck and had to back up and try again several times.  In the distance there was a rare Atlantic white cedar forest.  When I got out of the kayak, I was pretty soaked, but it sure was fun. (Photos courtesy of Steve T) 

Laurel Marsh Trail, Manchester

Dewdrops clung to spider webs, glistening in the morning sun.

Canada goose

Today was such a great day of accomplishment.  I put the finishing touches on two separate pieces of writing, read them aloud, shoved my fist in the air and shouted, "YES! AWESOME!" twice in one day. 

Canadian geese flying off

Did you catch the CNN interview with Bill Nye and "Slow" Loris from the Heritage Foundation?  The guy from Heritage said sea ice was globally increasing.  Take a look at the graph of  Arctic sea ice on the National Snow and Ice Data Center website.  Clearly he is wrong.  How can he look himself in the mirror at the end of the day and think he's done a good job?

young grackle

The reality is....
 
1. Arctic sea ice is declining
2. The Heritage Foundation is linked to big oil (scroll down about halfway - They've received $$$ from the Koch Foundation and ExxonMobil)

3. Compared to other countries, Americans have a much lower concern about climate change

With such great efforts to misrepresent the facts, it is no wonder Americans are not as informed as other countries.


I took these photographs at the Laurel Marsh Trail in Manchester, Connecticut. 

mockingbird

Rose Farm, Bolton

Rose Farm, Bolton, CT

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are fantastic opportunities to take college courses at no cost.  It's wonderful that complex subjects such as climate change are available to all.  Although scientists concur, the general public still considers climate change to be a controversial issue.

I help out as one of the many teacher's assistants in a Climate Literacy class at the University of British Columbia.  The voluntary job entails monitoring the discussion board, answering student questions, providing links for further reading and reporting problems that need the instructor's attention.

Walt and Lola

Alternate viewpoints and healthy debate are encouraged on the discussion forum.  Disrupting the forum, derailing discussion, demeaning other students and discrediting teacher's assistants are not tolerated and are dealt with on a case by case basis.  In only two runs of this class, all of these problems have occurred.  This has brought about a flurry of discussion and suggestions on how to prevent future problems.  It has been an eye-opening experience realizing the lengths that some people will go to to disrupt a learning environment.  Unreal.

At this point, I've had enough of picture time

I am really looking forward to the American Association of School Libraries Conference in mid-November in Hartford.   

These photos were taken at Rose Farm in Bolton, at the height of fall foliage.  I'm really not big on appearing in my own blog/website, but the leaves were spectacular that day, so I thought I'd share.

The Birds and The Bees

Bee with its proboscis sticking out

After debating whether I wanted to commit to a summer course, then debating how much effort I wanted to put in, I'm mighty pleased with the grade I received today.

Some people wrote on the discussion forum that they thought the quiz questions were tricky and meant to deliberately trip up a student.  I disagreed because I thought they went beyond the material, challenging the student to think deeper about the subject matter.

Other problems on the discussion forum with some students (climate skeptics) showing general disrespect to all of those who disagree with one's position were corrected.  "A small number of students have resorted to outright abuse, rather than simply expressing alternative or unpopular views. This has now been remedied: students who are regularly abusive will be banned from the forum."

Male cardinals are striking.

Class Statistics:
24,303 registered to take the course
2,600 were active in the last few weeks of the course
750 earned certificates (a mere 3% of those who registered)

Alumni have since started groups on LinkedIn, Facebook and on Google.  I joined all three. 

Male cardinal

I've decided that my mid-range camera takes great macro shots, but the photographs aren't so crisp from far away despite resting the camera on the deck railing.        

Hubbard Park, Meriden

View from the castle at East Peak - Mirror Lake in Hubbard Park

Sometimes I get so immersed in writing that everything else fades into the background.  I snap at writing when my efforts aren't rewarded.

How could you do this to me?
Writing answers (see "asylum" under labels).  "It's not me, it's YOU."

What striking shelf fungus!

The sting fades when a new story comes prancing along.  It sweeps me away with fascination or it cries to get on paper.

Last night I read that a lot of people sign up for MOOCs, but only a small percentage finish them.  Stopping is easy because when you invest nothing, you have nothing to lose.  Despite the odds, I'm still plugging away at the Climate Literacy MOOC.  I'm almost halfway through it.  What I'm learning is that we the people of this planet ALL need to do our part to cut emissions of carbon and it is imperative that we move on this now.

The discussion forums are wonderful resources.  There are some on the boards that think that climate change is from natural causes.  After conversing with them and posting a bucket load of facts on that board, I've come to the conclusion that some people like to argue for argument's sake, not because they have a valid point that can be backed up with fact.

Standing on East Peak, wishing we were on West Peak 

Sunday we had every intention of hiking up to less crowded West Peak in Hubbard Park.  Surprise, surprise.  At the end of the steep trail we found ourselves at the Castle Craig Tower on East Peak (976').  I climbed the tower and took the vista shots.  We were looking for the blue trail off the white, but we didn't realize that we needed to hike a small piece of the red trail to get there.  

This is a GREAT map that I wish I had taken with us.  Next time.  

MOOC and Enchanted Rock

Add caption

I'm taking my first MOOC, or massive open online course.  The free 10-week course, Climate Literacy: Navigating Climate Change Conversations, is excellent.  Recently, I received an email with these words, "Based on the community survey results, there are participants from 139 different countries, ranging in age from 16 to 60, with all levels of experience with climate science and policy issues."  Unfortunately, reading and taking notes on video lectures is taking more time than I anticipated, but I'm learning so much about a topic that I considered myself quite knowledgeable about.  The discussion forums are loaded with information, links, and banter about all aspects of climate change science from all parts of the world.  The class makes me more determined than ever to get the facts out about this critical issue.

If you click on the photo, you can see two tiny people at the top.

I've updated the "climate change" portion of this website to include information about the scientific consensus of climate scientists (97.1% of ALL climate research papers that take a position on the cause of climate change point to anthropogenic causes).  I've also added links that connect the tobacco movement to the counter climate change movement (i.e the smoking is NOT bad for your health movement).

On a lark, while we were in Texas, we decided to hike at Enchanted Rock State Natural Area.  The park ranger said it takes most people 40 minutes to get to the top of the pink granite dome.  We took that as a challenge.  Walt thought we hiked up in 20 minutes, but without a watch, we don't know for certain.  We baked in the hot Texas sun, so it was a welcome relief to find a cave up there.


     

Finding The Facts

We got a bit of snow today

Recently, I was interviewed by Ana Del C. Dye.  I was struck by how similar our upbringings were with a loss early in life, a widowed parent, and three siblings.  As a kid, my situation at home was not the norm and I don't recall ever running into anyone in my shoes, until now.  Anyhow, there is one question in that interview that I think is very important, so I'm reprinting it here.  If you're looking for a quick read, I've highlighted the important information.       

How do you distinguish between fact and non-fact? 
That’s a great question.   The ability to discern the facts is an important skill for science writers, students and for the general public as well. On some topics, like climate change, there is a lot of misinformation out there and it’s easy to be misled.

First of all, I use good sources. I’ll get information from published research papers, national and university websites, adult nonfiction books published by reputable publishers and interviews with scientists. When sources disagree about a fact, I dig deeper. It’s also prudent to look at the reliability of each source. For example, newspaper reporters work under tight deadlines, so sometimes things slip through the cracks. I’ve omitted facts that I couldn’t verify one way or the other.

If a fact doesn’t seem logical, I’ll question it even if it’s from an expert. Recently, on Facebook I noticed an Einstein quote. It didn’t seem like something he would have said, so I did some research and found no evidence it was his quote. Once I found an error in a planning and zoning map that prompted me to get in the street with my tape measure. Sure enough, a distance was incorrect. In 2005, while doing research for an article on beavers I spotted an error in Grzimek’s Animal Life Encyclopedia. At ALA, I ran into someone from the company and they were very interested. The Gale Group has since revised and updated the encyclopedia.

Another thing to be watchful of is where the facts are coming from. How qualified is the writer or speaker on the topic? If I was ill, I wouldn’t seek out a geologist for medical attention.  It’s also helpful to note if the individual has a personal connection to the topic. Sure you can get information about tobacco from cigarette companies, but are you going to get the facts?

The lacy look of a snow-dipped blue spruce

Today my recording equipment arrived and it works beautifully.  Yes! 

On 11/25/12 I emailed the legislature because I was dismayed that they were not recognizing climate change as a problem.  Here are the first two paragraphs:

As representatives of this entire nation, it is imperative that you understand the issues so you can act upon them.  Climate change is a complex problem.   In essence, it’s a chemistry problem.  Society needs to address this controversial issue now, but progress is slow because the words of scientists, writers and speakers are challenged, misinterpreted and distorted. 

As a science writer, it is my job to translate science for the general public.  I’m writing to give you a deeper understanding of this important problem.  If you need further information, I invite you to contact these organizations and talk to other climate science writers or chemists.

    

National Association of Science Writers

The Society of Environmental Journalists

The American Chemical Society

I then went on to explain the science.  Granted I could have listed a zillion websites, research facilities or scientists, but I was aiming to give them places that would explain the science in a way that politicians could understand.   I was heartened to hear these words at the inauguration, "We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations."   I'd like to think that in some small way I made a difference, but I suspect they were inundated with emails and letters after the debate where the topic was not mentioned.  It's interesting to note that now, two months later, two of the ten links in my email no longer work.    One was a university in Minnesota.  The other was a government site in Idaho.  Thankfully, it doesn't diminish the main idea.

Lake Mead

Lake Mead 55-65 years ago

Lake Mead 7/2/12

It has been a challenging week filled with lovely things like a wake, a funeral, a YouTube email complaining about a 5 year old video, new recording equipment that didn't record telephone calls, and an inability to print the return label because the printer was out of ink.  Enough!  One by one, I will get all of this straightened out.  New equipment is on the way and it can't get here fast enough.

I was hopeful when I read that the EPA revised its standards to cut soot.  According to a recent study, soot, or black carbon, "is the second most important human emission."  Carbon dioxide is #1.

The way I look at climate change is that it is like a disease.  Problems like sea level rise, declining sea ice, warmer temperatures and fierce storms are the  symptoms.  If we focus on the disease--extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere--then the symptoms will subside.  Good luck with that!     


While I was converting my mother's slides to digital, I found this old shot of Lake Mead.  Since I was out there this past summer, I thought it would be interesting to compare the two photographs.  The mountains seem to rise when the water level drops.   In this interactive map, Nevada had record breaking heat in 12 counties, 36 broken heat records and 86 wildfires last year.  3,527 U.S. weather records were smashed in 2012!   

Chasing Ice

Last night I saw Chasing Ice, a documentary about glaciers.  It offers undeniable proof that glaciers are melting and that they are melting fast.  The amount that one glacier retreated in 10 years was equivalent to 100 years of retreat in the past.  Balog's photography, especially of ice at night, was stunning.

I chose to go on skeptic night because I knew I would have something to say.  I wanted to comment on several things:

1) The website Wattsupwiththat is known for cherry picking data off of research papers and taking that data out of context.  Watts is a meteorologist, a weather person, not someone who studies the Earth's past carbon dioxide levels (see #2). 
On a website that scientists contribute to, they report, "The “climate sceptics” website wattsupwiththat, noted for their false reports" (October 4)
2)  The skeptic was a physicist.  Would you go to a geologist to get your medical problem diagnosed?
3) I wanted to focus the sold out crowd on carbon dioxide levels and emphasize and add something.

I raised my hand, but the guy gave the microphone to others in the audience.  This morning it occurred to me that my location in the theater was not easy to reach.  I would have had to get at least 10 people to stand up to get over to that microphone.  I regret that I did not stand up, go out the right side (3 people), walk across the front of the stage and up the left side.  There was no other way to get there.  I left with a knot of frustration.

Walt took this shot of a cardinal on the back deck.  The camera still works, but the auto focus is spent so you have to manually turn the lens.  The bird is a reminder to me that I need to go plant the seeds of submissions.  In 2012, I had a lousy crop and one reason is that 2010-2011 were rough years, so I didn't have the time or mindset to put down the seeds.  I decided it wasn't all me, after reading   about "The past three years of struggle and shrinkage in the publishing industry" on an I.N.K.http://inkrethink.blogspot.com/ blog post. 

This week I signed up for Twitter, mainly because I wanted to scoff my name before some other Linda Zajac got their hands on it.  You can catch me at @LindaZajac.   I also added a Twitter link on the right hand side of this website.

Lately, I'm enjoying plenty of family time and writing time too.   

After getting this detailed email about Chasing Ice, I decided to go on Saturday 1/5 instead of Friday night, weather permitting.

Real Art Ways, 56 Arbor Street in Hartford, CT.

Showtimes:

Fri. 1/4: 5pm, 7pm       Sat. 1/5: 2pm, 5pm, 7pm*       Sun. 1/6: 2pm, 5pm, 7pm      Mon. 1/7: 5pm, 7pm**

Tues. 1/8: 4pm            Wed. 1/9: 5pm, 7pm            Thurs. 1/10: 5pm, 7pm 

*Post-film presentation and Q&A with Laurence Gould after the 7pm screening. 

Laurence Gould is a professor of physics at the University of Hartford. Gould was a keynote speaker at the Heartland Institute's 2009 International Conference on Climate Change 

**Post-film discussion with Brian Glenn and the Appalachian Mountain Club after the 7pm screening. 

Brian J. Glenn is a Research Fellow at the Dukakis Center for Public Policy at Northeastern University who studies how perceptions of political issues lead Americans to support certain policies and not others. The discussion will focus on how Chasing Ice presents the issue of global warming. What are the elements of a powerful argument? Is this movie convincing, and if so, why? 

  
My free public skating trip to Hartford turned out to be a costly one.  Not only did I hurt my back really bad when I fell only once, I also crippled my camera, which was in my pocket.  Brilliant.

Thankfully, the pulled muscle is back to normal, but the camera is not.  Thus I am now posting photos from the past.   This is a mountain lion we saw at San Diego Zoo this past summer.  It was a good thing it was in a cage because it was eying and growling at a young child.   

Chasing Ice - a "hauntingly beautiful" documentary

Chasing Ice

Opening Friday, January 4, 2013 at Real Art Ways, 56 Arbor Street, Hartford, CT

Acclaimed National Geographic photographer James Balog was once a skeptic about climate change. But through his Extreme Ice Survey, he discovers undeniable evidence of our changing planet. In Chasing Ice, Balog deploys revolutionary time-lapse cameras to capture a multi-year record of the world's changing glaciers. His hauntingly beautiful videos compress years into seconds and capture ancient mountains of ice in motion as they disappear at a breathtaking rate. Traveling with a team of young adventurers across the brutal Arctic, Balog risks his career and his well-being in pursuit of the biggest story facing humanity. As the debate polarizes America, and the intensity of natural disasters ramps up globally, Chasing Ice depicts a heroic photojournalist on a mission to deliver fragile hope to our carbon-powered planet.
"As much as one may intellectually believe in climate change, to see it actually happening has the power to stun a viewer into wordlessness." - Ty Burr, Boston Globe
"The "green" teams looking into such energy sources as solar, wind and nuclear are often ridiculed. Watch "Chasing Ice" and see if you laugh." - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
(USA, 76 mins, In English)
Fri. 1/4:
Sat. 1/5:
Sun. 1/6:
Mon. 1/7:
Tues. 1/8:
Wed. 1/9:
Thurs. 1/10:

Climate Change in a Nutshell

I wrote an editorial about climate change for the Hartford Courant and was surprised to find it in Sunday's paper.  I whipped it up out of frustration that neither candidate was bringing up this important topic.  At the time, I didn't even consider it a clip. Here it is:

Climate Change in a Nutshell

When we crack the shell and get to the meat of the matter, climate change is not about politics and it's not about religion.

The big issue is not the cost of gasoline.  It's the level of carbon dioxide in our air.  Although carbon dioxide rose and fell in human history, it has never been as high as it is now.  Carbon dioxide is higher than at any time in the past 800,000 years.  We are way off the charts.

Extra carbon dioxide in the air is linked to higher temperatures, which affect the availability of water in many places all over the world.  Extra carbon dioxide in the air is absorbed by oceans, which causes them to be more acidic.

Increased acidity and warming ocean temperatures harm corals.  Fish from coral reefs are a source of food for more than one billion people worldwide.  Climate change is a tough nut to crack, but burying it will only make the problem grow.


* Published in the Hartford Courant (11/11/12)  and the Journal Inquirer (12/1/12 - a later version)

As of this writing, the amount of carbon dioxide in the air is 391.03 parts per million and rising.

You can find current carbon dioxide levels here:

Wednesday, I boarded the Department of Environmental and Energy Protection's climate monitoring boat with other members of the CT Climate Change Education Group.  What a great day we had out at sea and I thank them for allowing us to view their important work monitoring the health of Long Island Sound.  I learned quite a bit and I'm contemplating how to spin a story out of it. 

This bird was so still drying its wings that initially I thought it was fake.  On the way back to the harbor we passed a capsized sailboat.    At low tide, there's a tombolo that connects the beach to Charles Island and that's probably what caused it to run aground.    

Bryce National Park - Queens Garden/Navajo Loop

Yesterday, I found another opportunity in my inbox.  You have absolutely no idea what a pleasant change of pace it is to have these things come to me.  I will dish on those when and if they come to fruition.

On 7/15/12, I posted about the not so definite link between extreme weather and climate change.  Since then, James Hansen has published a paper where he concludes that a couple of extreme heat waves (one in 2011) are linked to global warming.  I also thought recent news that at one time Antarctica was covered with palm trees, baobab and macadamia was fascinating.

The colors in Bryce National Park were stunning, terra cotta hoodoos and deep pines against a cerulean sky.  When the morning and evening light hit those formations, they glowed a brilliant orange.  We hiked the Queens Garden/Navajo Loop.  It was one of the best hikes I've ever done.  Midway through that hike we came to a section adorned with tiny cairns.  They were everywhere.  They were piled on the ground, on logs, on tree branches.  It was the cutest thing and surely something that rangers do to occupy little ones.  What an adorable idea!  Next time, I'll post about the wildlife I saw.

Last Wednesday, I joined a vanful of folks from the CT Climate Education Communication Committee for an informative and interesting day at Harkness Memorial State Park in Waterford CT.  The group consisted of science experts in ecology, geology and coastal science and they came from local colleges and the Department of Environmental and Energy Protection.

We passed coyote scat while hiking out to the beach.  I think the coyote must have polished off a yeti!

The park ranger discussed her efforts to protect the threatened nesting piping plovers.  Some neighbors think the beach will be open if they get rid of the plovers.  One woman even threw the eggs onto the grass in hopes of being able to use this portion of the beach. 

In 1888, the shoreline of this park was about 100 feet farther out than it is today.  We learned that seawalls interrupt the natural flow of sand and current, but attempts to regulate them have been met by strong opposition from wealthy landowners.  For convenience people have relocated streams that flow out into the ocean.  Hurricanes have moved these outlets back where nature intended them to be.  The dirt in the foreground of the beach photo was peat covering topsoil.  As the dunes pushed back due to erosion, Hurricane Irene exposed where the plow layer used to be.

We also toured the mansion and carriage house and helped the ranger get a barn swallow out of one of the buildings.

Next week I'm going to a meeting about Connecticut Green Ribbon Schools, the U.S. Department of Education's new designation for schools that meet certain environmental criteria.  Also, if you are interested in signing up your child for an Excursions in Learning class at Manchester Community College, it's best to do it soon.  Currently, I am juggling a number of different things, but my focus is trying to get something ready for that Nonfiction Academy that I signed myself up for.