We are all in this together

Climate change. Water pollution. Over population. Toxic wastes. Carbon and mercury emissions into the atmosphere. Everyone but the fringe science deniers who have become the Republican mainstream agree that these and other threats are challenging our planet and mankind. Now add to that list species extinction.

A recent report in Nature concludes that species extinction is equally threatening to our world and is a significant driver of global change. Studies over the past two decades have shown the biologically diverse ecosystems are more productive in producing life sustaining for all, including humans. The study's lead author, David Hooper of Western Washington University, states

Some people have assumed that biodiversity effects are relatively minor compared to other environmental stressors. Our new results show that future loss of species has the potential to reduce plant production just as much as global warming and pollution.

The chart, from Millennium Ecosystem Management, shows the interconnected relationship between biodiversity, ecosystems, and human well-being and illustrates how what we do locally can have far reaching impacts.

In short, what may as a inconsequential loss of a species here and a species there can add up to something larger impacting the life of the entire planet. As Richard Pearson of the American Museum of Natural History recently wrote in The New York Times as he pondered nearly 20,000 species facing extinction in the wild, "This should keep us up at night."

It is a local, regional, and global interconnection and in the pursuit of our interests we often unintentionally or intentionally don't connect the dots. For example, much of the air pollution affecting a national treasure like Shenandoah National Park comes industries and utilities in the Ohio River Valley - why do you think they build those tall smokestacks? So the emissions will be picked up by prevailing winds that carry the toxins away from the source.  The dirty air becomes a problem for everybody downwind.

It is the same shortsighted insanity that Rep. Bob Goodlatte's H.R. 4153 would inflict on the Chesapeake Bay. Like many politicians he makes only those connections that have to do with his constant campaign for perpetual reelection. When it comes to restoring the bay he is worse than clueless, he denies scientic facts and the realities of achieving regional goals in our federal system - all for his own political gain.

Species around the globe, even those which you and I may never see, can have dramatic positive benefits for our lives. Don't think a tiny animal on an exotic choral reef could change your life? Think again?

Get involved in your everyday life. Recycle when possible. Nurture wildlife in your neighborhood. Tell your congressman to oppose legislation like H.R. 4153 that would be a tragedy for the Chesapeake Bay. Adopt a choral reef.

This clip from the Institute of Biological Research, Alexander Von Humboldt, Bogotá, Colombia explains the importance of biodiversity.

BIOdiversity from tresvampiros on Vimeo.

As Aldo Leopold and later, Paul Ehrlich, remind us - the first rule to intelligent tinkering is save all the parts. Kudos to Mother Jones.

Bobblehead Bob and the lunatic fringe

Bobblehead Bob Goodlatte (R-VA06) is at it again. Denying credible science, common sense, and any understanding of cooperative federalism "my congressman" (I may be a constituent but he certainly does not represent me or most of my friends) would throw oil in the waters of cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay.

Let's peek into Bobblehead Bob's Republican world.  It is a strange world in which he marches lockstep to whatever orders come down from the GOP "brain trust." It matters not what is practical, what works, what is for the good of the people. What matters is following the party line even when it is detrimental to folks in the Shenandoah Valley and Virginia. For Bob, it is all about politics and obstruction.

In an April 27 Washington Post column, Let's just say it: The Republicans are the problem, long time political analysts Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein conclude:

The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition. 

When one party moves this far from the mainstream, it makes it nearly impossible for the political system to deal constructively with the country’s challenges.

If Republicans are the problem, then their loyal lapdog, Bobblehead Bob, is like a pimple on a compound wart on the notion of American democracy, a clean environment, and human rights. A recent example -  "my representative" introduced H.R. 4153, which through the magic of deceptive Republican double-speak, he dubbed the "Chesapeake Bay Program Reauthorization and Improvement Act." The Chesapeake Bay Foundation called this the "worst piece of legislation affecting the Chesapeake Bay ever introduced in Congress."

Bobblehead Bob Goodlatte has moved so far from the mainstream, even in the conservative Shenandoah Valley, that he is becoming a national embarrassment. This reactionary bill denies solid science, political reality, and any vestige of common sense. Why did he introduce it? Who knows? But is it pretty clear that Bobblehead Bob is beyond thinking for himself - the tea party wingnuts and the Eric Cantoristas pretty much tell him what to do.

Let Bob (or your congressman) know you oppose H.R. 4153 and other Republican bills (H.R. 4337) that will condemn the Chesapeake (and all the rivers and streams flowing into it) to increased pollution and a slow but sure death.