A conversation with Seattle
I couldn’t tell you how often I’ve passed by the Union Bay Natural Area without having the faintest clue it was there, bordered on one side by UW’s Husky Stadium, on another by Laurelhurst, and another by Lake Washington. Continue reading An Oasis of Birding Just off Busy Seattle Streets
Yesterday afternoon, the Everett Herald’s Jerry Cornfield reported that the delay in approving a Washington State budget was truly fishy: “Boeing’s opposition to fish study a sticking point in budget,” went the headline. With a government shutdown to come in fewer than five days, it might seem strange that negotiations are getting hung up on a mundane study of how often people eat fish. Continue reading Why That Fish You Ordered is Holding Up the State Budget
This isn’t Hanford’s only ongoing leak. At least six single-walled tanks are leaking radioactive waste as well. In mid-February, the DOE confirmed that T-111 was leaking 150 to 300 gallons of radioactive liquid waste each year. (The following week, five more leaking tanks were reported by DOE.) Continue reading A Different Kind of Leak Gives Lie to DOE’s Hanford “Clean-Up”
Essentially, the clouds help keep a lid on the solar energy that arrives. Explains Mass: “On partly cloudy days, we have periods with breaks in the clouds when you get direct solar radiation from the sun. But you ALSO get solar radiation that is reflected off nearby clouds…solar radiation that is not getting to someone else because the cloud is intercepting it.” Continue reading In Solar-Power Surprise, Clouds Can Raise Energy Output
Sea-Tac airport is surrounded by acres and acres of “buffer” habitat — when the Port added a third runway, they also planted 158,000 native plants as part of an environmental remediation effort. No one lives, or is allowed to hang out, there for safety reasons. So that’s where six honeybee hives will sit at three different sites. Continue reading Hum of Half-Million Bees to Fill Sea-Tac Scrublands
The harbor seal exhibit’s first day open to the public is June 1, 2013, when the Aquarium will be open, as usual, from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $19.95 for adults, $13.95 for kids 4 to 12. (3 and under? Free.) Anyone who’s been before will notice that the new tanks are deeper, 6 feet now, allowing the seals the chance to dive more. Continue reading Seattle Aquarium’s Harbor Seal Exhibit is a $6.5-Million Stunner
Did you know there was a Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization? Their careful work (“Q: Are there bigfoots in Europe? A: Not in modern times, but they existed there at least until the Middle Ages.”) is a large part of why Estately is declaring Washington state the best place for Bigfoot residency. Continue reading Why Washington State is the Place Bigfoot Calls Home