A conversation with Seattle
Though the EU just voted to restrict the use of neonicotinoid pesticides for two years until their safety could be proved, Jim Jones, acting assistant administrator for chemical safety and pollution prevention, was quoted in the New York Times saying: “At E.P.A. we let science drive the outcome of decision making,” then noting the cost of a ban. Continue reading While EU Acts, EPA Blows Smoke in Bee Death Report
It comes back to a conflict at the heart of the Duwamish clean-up — could the river ever be made safe enough for residents to eat the fish and shellfish that lived in it, or was it enough to approximate the urban contamination we live with in Elliott Bay, Lake Union, and Lake Washington? Continue reading How Clean is Our Water? How Clean Should It Be?
BNSF Railway Spokesperson Gus Melonas has blamed the mudslide epidemic on “extremely rainy conditions” — but, Mass says, not so fast with that “extremely”: “If we go back 6 months, the region around Everett stands out more, reaching 130-150 percent of normal [precipitation]. Yes, a bit wet, but I suspect we could find other periods to equal it.” Continue reading Trying to Reason With Mudslide Season
On NASA’s Global Climate Change page, you can view an astonishing fracturing of sea ice on the Beaufort, covering hundreds of miles. It began in late January and continued through March, 2013. It’s not unusual for Arctic ice to fracture — it’s subject to ocean currents and storms that continually grind plates of sea ice together — but it is startling to see so much of it go at once. Continue reading Big Break-Up of Arctic Ice on the Beaufort Sea (Video)
The nation’s bee population has had one of its worst winters ever, reports the New York Times. The newspaper quotes Bret Adee, a co-owner of Adee Honey Farms of South Dakota, saying: “We lost 42 percent over the winter. But by the time we came around to pollinate almonds, it was a 55 percent loss.” Continue reading Largest Beekeeper in U.S. Says More Than Half Died Over Winter
Cliff Mass references a UW study, led by psychology professor Susan Joslyn, that found that people struggle with what the probability expressed in a “75 percent chance of rain” applies to. It’s a statement that makes much more sense if you realize that weather prediction happens on a computer these days — it’s not a guesstimate. Continue reading Getting a Bead on Our Improbable Weather
We also don’t know, for instance, how many of the MCs were belated responses to an in-person approach, shot down but then regretted once an overactive fight-or-flight response subsided. Google, our age’s final arbiter, pulls no punches either way. Auto-complete for “Why are Seattle men so…?” yields “unfriendly,” “bad,” and “loud.” Continue reading Maybe Seattle’s Dating Scene is as Bad as Women Think It is