SepticSmart Week

When homeowners flush and don’t think about their home’s septic system, it can lead to system back-ups and overflows, surfacing sewage in your yard which can be expensive to fix, polluted local waterways, and risks to public health and the environment. Nonetheless, Virginia like many states has struggled to try to get homeowners to properly maintain their septic systems, both conventional and alternative. Homeowners fail to see or simply ignore indications that their septic systems have failed, do not pump their tanks at appropriate intervals and do not comply with inspection and maintenance regulation for alternative systems. While the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) holds meetings and struggles for solutions, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has launched the first annual SepticSmart Week, September 16-20, 2013 to encourage homeowners to get “SepticSmart.”

The United States has made tremendous advances in the past 35 years to clean up our rivers and streams under the Clean Water Act by controlling pollution from industry and sewage treatment plants. In order to continue to make progress in cleaning up our rivers and streams EPA has turned their focus to control pollution from diffuse, or nonpoint, sources. According to EPA, nonpoint source pollution remains the Nation's largest source of water quality problems. EPA has stated nonpoint source pollution as the reason 40% of our surveyed rivers, lakes, and estuaries are not clean enough to meet basic uses such as fishing or swimming. To continue to improve the quality of the surface and groundwater in the United States, the EPA has wants to expand its programs to include control and oversight of non-point sources of contamination and has used methods such as the Chesapeake Bay Totals Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) limits for sediment and the nutrients phosphorus and nitrogen.

Nonpoint source pollution occurs when rainfall, snowmelt, or irrigation runs over land or through the ground, picks up pollutants, nutrients, sediment and carries them to streams and on into rivers, lakes, and coastal waters or percolates into the ground and groundwater. Agriculture, forestry, grazing, septic systems, vehicles including cars, trucks, trains, boats, urban runoff, construction, physical changes to stream channels and land surface, and habitat degradation are potential sources of nonpoint source pollution. Careless or uninformed household management also contributes to nonpoint source pollution. Unfortunately, we did not do enough to control pollution from diffuse, or nonpoint, sources- from our homes and living.

Non-point source contamination has always been under the oversight of the states, and the nature of the sources of this contamination make it very challenging for even state and local regulatory agencies to make any progress. EPA has used the Chesapeake Bay TMDL to force the states to develop plans to manage and reduce nonpoint source pollution. In the past public and private groups have developed and used pollution prevention and pollution reduction initiatives. One example is the Soil and Water Conservation Districts that help educate citizens about their watershed and assist farmers in implementing best management practices and other nonpoint pollution controls using cost share dollars from the state and developing nutrient management plants. Nonetheless, more than environmental education activities seems necessary to get citizens to implement the best practices and low impact development strategies and control their own sources of nonpoint pollution starting with the most basic maintenance and care of their septic systems.

Simply pumping out your septic tank would be a good start at reducing nonpoint pollution, but homeowners just don’t do it. EPA and the Virginia Department of the Environment (through the VDH) have struggled with the challenges of better management of septic systems. There are more than 26 million septic systems in the United States, representing almost a quarter of all U.S. households. It is assumed that in Virginia a fairly rural state that at least a quarter of households use a septic system to treat their wastewater. Proper septic system care and maintenance is vital to protecting public health and preserving valuable water resources and the environment, but has been difficult to achieve.

In Virginia alternative septic systems, called AOSS, are regulated, but compliance with the regulations has been poor. The VDH has been holding stakeholder meetings to develop recommendations to increase homeowner and private sector participation in their program which requires an annual inspection of a system (by a licensed operator), regular maintenance and regular pumping of the tank.

Taking the steps recommended by the EPA for SepticSmart Week would be a great start at reducing nonpoint pollution of our waters. Homeowners can do their part by following these SepticSmart tips:

1. Protect It and Inspect It: In general, homeowners should have their traditional septic system inspected every three years and their alternative system inspected annually by a licensed contractor and have their tank pumped when necessary, generally every three to five years. 
2. Think at the Sink: Avoid pouring fats, grease, and solids down the drain, which can clog a system’s pipes and drainfield.
3. Don’t Overload the Commode: Ask guests to only to put things in the drain or toilet that belong there. For example, coffee grounds, dental floss, disposable diapers and wipes, feminine hygiene products, cigarette butts, and cat litter can all clog and potentially damage septic systems. Flushable wipes are not flushable and do not break down in a septic tank.
4. Don’t Strain Your Drain: Be water efficient and spread out water use. Fix plumbing leaks, install faucet aerators and water-efficient products, and spread out laundry and dishwasher loads throughout the day and week. Too much water at once can overload a system if it hasn’t been pumped recently. 
5. Shield Your Field: Remind guests not to park or drive on a system’s drainfield, where the vehicle’s weight could damage buried pipes or disrupt underground flow.

Climate Change or Weather

Last summer it was extremely hot and dry here in Prince William County, Virginia. It was the year my heat pump failed, others had wells go dry and the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin (ICPRB) engaged a study for various climate scenarios of water supply availability from Potomac Watershed to determine if the water supply would be adequate to serve the population. This year is a different story. The summer has been cooler and wetter. Drought here is a distant memory. The summer is ending with only a couple of weeks this summer above 90 degrees and no days in triple digits and my garden is green.

The climate of the earth is constantly changing and the oceans rising for 10,000 years. Scientific studies and computer models have indicated that over the past century the earth has warmed 1.3°C. This warming is not particularly alarming in itself given our planetary history, but the speed of this temperature increase and the fact that the warming is projected to continue at an accelerated pace due to carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere is worrisome. The planetary warming is forecast to cause sea levels to rise at an accelerated rate due to melting of sea ice in parts of the world, and changes in weather and patterns and precipitation. If carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in the atmosphere are the driving force in earth’s temperature the some portion of the weather extremes recently experienced are being caused by man.

According to the report “Explaining Extreme Events of 2012 from a Climate Perspective” released this week by the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, some of the extreme weather events of last year had mankind as one of the causes. Overall, 18 different research teams from around the world worked on the peer-reviewed report that examined the causes of 12 extreme weather events that occurred on five continents and in the Arctic during 2012. Hurricane Sandy slammed into the U.S. mid-Atlantic seaboard on October 29–30, 2012 causing widespread damage and devastating disruption to critical infrastructure. Hurricane Sandy broke 16 historical storm-tide levels along the East Coast though Sandy’s magnitude on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale was not particularly large; its westward strike heading was very unusual and it struck at high tide. Since 1851, nine other hurricanes (Category 1 and 2) have made landfall with similar proximity but all were heading north-northeastward. It was concluded that climate changes caused by man had no significant impact on that storm or the damage it caused . ($60.2 billion has been allocated by Congress to fund repair and mitigation measures.) However, the authors note that in the future rising sea levels could make smaller storms more likely to cause devastating damage.

Likewise, human-induced climate change was found to have had little impact on the lack of precipitation in the central United States in 2012 and continues in the current drought. However, in the section of the report titled, The Extreme March–May 2012 Warm Anomaly Over the Eastern United States by Thomas R. Knutson, Fanrong Zeng, and Andrew T. Wittenberg the authors found Approximately 35 %t of the extreme warmth experienced in the eastern U.S. between March and May 2012 can be attributed to human-induced climate change; and say high temperatures are now likely to occur four times as frequently due to human-induced climate change.

However the forecast is sensitive to the base period used and our assumptions of weather variability. The near-record Atlantic Ocean warmth off the east coast of the United States during March to May 2012 was annualized using a “multistep attribution” approach from Hegerl et al. (2009). This involves an assessment that attributes the observed change in seasonal mean temperature extremes to a change in climate and a separate assessment that attribute the change in climate and/or environmental conditions to external drivers and external factors. The observed trends in the figure below indicate that (according to the model-generated variability) the measured temperature extreme in 2012 were inconsistent with internal climate variability alone.

from Knutson et al

This was determined by using a control period of weather as a surrogate for the possible natural variability of temperatures. Since the heat wave of March-May 2012 occurred in a region with what the authors call “detectable long-term anthropogenic warming,” they concluded that anthropogenic forcing also likely contributed significantly to the observed temperatures in 2012. They state that a rough estimate of the anthropogenic contribution would be about 35% (based on the modeled value of ~1.3°C and the 2012 observed temperature anomaly of ~3.7°C). This 3.7°C event was 2.8 times stronger than the expected 1.3°C due to anthropogenic forcing in 2012. So, according to the authors weather variability played a substantial role.

The authors have simply assumed the 1.3°C portion of the anomaly is due to anthropogenic forcing as predicted by previous modeling of the climate. The estimate of the contribution of anthropogenic forcing to the observed weather variability are sensitive to two assumptions, the accuracy of 1.3°C increase in global temperatures numbers produced by models and the baseline period assumed by the authors. Here they used the period 1881–1920 as the baseline; if they used 1861–2012 as the baseline period, the risk of the event increases by about a factor of 5 rather than 12, and the portion of the temperature anomaly attributed to anthropogenic forcing would be 22%. If the average temperature increase were due to man were assumed to be lower, then the contribution of anthropogenic forcing would be less and vice versa.

The accuracy of climate models to regional variability is unclear. On a whole earth basis the climate models show at this point there is nothing that we can do to stop global warming and climate change. What is going to happen will happen.

Increasing the Efficiency of Solar Cells

from NREL

Another step has been taken towards making solar power a viable source of electricity in our future. North Carolina State University researchers have created a new technique for improving the overall efficiency of solar panels and solar accumulators. As documented in an article published September 5, 2013 in Applied Physics Letters, entitled, “Effect of GaAs interfacial layer on the performance of high bandgap tunnel junctions for multijunction solar cells,”, Joshua Samberg, Zachary Carlin, Geoff Bradshaw and Jeff Harmon and J.P. Allen all graduate students at North Carolina State University and Dr. Peter Colter, a research assistant professor of electrical engineering, and Dr. John Hauser, an emeritus professor of electrical engineering, have discovered that by inserting a very thin film of gallium arsenide into the connecting junction of stacked solar cells they can eliminate voltage loss without blocking any of the solar energy opening up the potential for vastly more efficient solar cells.

Back in 2002 it was discovered that it might be possible to create a photovoltaic cell sensitive to the full solar spectrum by stacking multiple negatively and positively doped layers to form several current-producing junctions. Multijunction devices or stacked solar cells use a high-bandgap top cell to absorb high-energy photons while allowing the lower-energy photons to pass through. A material with a slightly lower bandgap is then placed below the high-bandgap junction to absorb photons with slightly less energy (longer wavelengths).

The maximum theoretical efficiency that a single-bandgap solar cell can achieve with non-concentrated sunlight is about 33.5%, primarily because of the broad distribution of solar emitted photons. This limiting efficiency, known as the Shockley-Queisser limit, in part arises from the fact that the open-circuit voltage of a solar cell is limited by the bandgap of the absorbing material. Photons that have energies greater than the bandgap are absorbed and the excess energy is lost as heat or not converted if the photon is not perfectly matched to the bandgap energy of the absorbing semiconductor.

Multijunction or stacked devices use a high-bandgap top cell to absorb high-energy photons while allowing the lower-energy photons to pass through. A material with a slightly lower bandgap is then placed below the high-bandgap junction to absorb photons with slightly less energy (longer wavelengths). Typical multijunction cells use two or three absorbing layers, but the pattern of decreasing bandgaps could, in principle, be repeated to create many junctions. The theoretical maximum efficiency increases with the number of junctions, but the junctions loose energy limiting the practical application to three or so layers before the loss of energy becomes too large.

Three-junction devices using elements from the III and V columns of the Periodic table, such as gallium and germanium based semiconductors have reached efficiencies of greater than 44% using concentrated sunlight at 947 suns. This record was verified by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, NREL. Now, the researchers at North Carolina State University we have created a connecting junction that loses almost no voltage, even when the stacked solar cell is exposed to 70,000 suns of solar energy.

The research at North Carolina State University was underwritten by the U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy SunShot Initiative which invests in multijunction (stacked) solar cell research and solar concentrating lens methods to be used with multijunction solar cells to achieve greater efficiency of solar cells and someday reduce the cost of solar generated power. The goal of the programs is to make solar power cost effective by 2020. The efficiency of the junction, not losing voltage when exposed to the power 70,000 suns of solar energy should be more than sufficient for practical purposes, since concentrating lens research currently underway indicates that they are unlikely to be able to create more than 4,000 or 5,000 suns worth of energy. This discovery at North Carolina State University means that solar cell manufacturers can now create multijunction stacked cells that can handle these high-intensity solar energies without losing voltage at the connecting junctions, thus increasing the layers and potentially improving conversion efficiency. However, the usefulness of this discovery will depend on cost.

In the past, stacked solar cells have primarily been used in space, where there is a premium placed on lightweight power generation, which allows for the use of this relatively high-cost solar technology. For terrestrial electrical generation, the high costs of these semiconductors compared to silicon semiconductor can be offset by using concentrating lenses to increase the power they are exposed to from one sun (no lens) to 4,000-5,000 suns or more. Increasing the amount of light incident on the solar cell, leads to more power production for the multijunction devices. Using concentrating lenses requires also using sun-tracking equipment to optimize the utilization time of the expensive cells, which must be factored into the cost of the system. Due to the land/area requirements of tracking systems and concentrating systems, the cost of the multijunction cells themselves, using multijunction solar devices will remain limited to large commercial or utility applications and are unlikely to be cost effective for a consumer application in my lifetime.

Nonetheless, the North Carolina State University finding is important because the two lines of research being supported by the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation as part to their SunShot Initiative program is to utilize lenses to concentrate solar energy, to 4,000-5,000 suns and have efficient multijunction stacked cells that can efficiently utilize the concentrated solar power. Existing multijunction solar cells begin loosing voltage if the solar energy is concentrated above 700-1,000 suns, and the more intense the solar energy, the more voltage those junctions lose – thereby reducing the conversion efficiency. Utilizing the North Carolina State University discover of inserting a very thin film of gallium arsenide into the connecting junction of stacked solar cells they can eliminate voltage loss without blocking any of the solar energy and potentially achieve efficiencies beyond the current 43.3% for a multijunction architecture with the gallium arsenide in the connecting junction.

from DOE

The research was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation and is your tax dollars at work.

Tim Hugo Holds a North South Corridor Press Conference

On Wednesday, September 4th 2013 Delegate Tim Hugo (Virginia House of Delegates R-40th) along with Delegate Michael Webert (R-18th), Delegate Randy Minchew (R-10th), Delegate Bob Marshall ( R-13th) and Prince William County School Board Members Alyson Satterwhite and Gil Trenum held a news conference in front of Sudley Methodist Church on Sudley Road within the Manassas Battlefield. The news conference attended by about 75 community members and media was to announce that Tim Hugo along with Bob Marshall, Randy Minchew, Michael Webert and the other elected officials listed below have sent a letter to Governor McDonnell regarding the North/South Corridor Project also known as the Bi-County Parkway and asking for a meeting with the Governor. Delegate Hugo will personally deliver a copy of the letter today in Richmond.

The news conference was held ahead of today’s Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CBT) scheduled meeting. At the VDOT meeting they will discuss and potentially sign the National Historic Preservation Act, Section 106 Programmatic Agreement for the Bi-County Parkway which would provide $7 million to acquire the private land and design the Battlefield Park Bypass. In addition, once the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is finalized in the near future the Federal Highway Administration will sign the Record of Decision and VDOT will be free to begin the design phase of the Prince William County portion of the project with the $12 million already allocated to the project.

Though in public meetings it was emphasized that the roadway is 25 years away, as Delegates Hugo and Marshall pointed out the VDOT and CBT have made several misleading and conflicting claims and statements about this roadway. Meanwhile as Delegate Hugo pointed out opposition to the roadway grows, from a small group of activist residents lead by Mary Ann Ghadban, Philomena Hefter, and Page Snyder opposition to the Bi-County Parkway has grown. According to Delegate Hugo 700 attended the last Town hall meeting and group of supporters attended the news conference. A coalition has seemingly grown from a “diverse group who could not agree on the time of day but can agree that this is not the right project.”

In the news conference Delegate Hugo besieged the CBT, VDOT and the Governor to “Stop. Think. Slow down. Listen. This (Bi-County Parkway) is not the right project.” Delegate Randy Minchew followed Delegate Hugo and though Delegate Minchew (whose district covers sections of Loudoun, Clark and Fredrick counties) supported the Transportation Budget he wanted the take the time to make sure that the money is well spent. He, too, felt the process needed to slow down to get more input from the citizens of the Commonwealth.

Delegate Bob Marshall pointed out the false and misleading statements that have been made by VDOT and CBT about the Bi-County Parkway.  In addition, Delegate Marshall felt false claims have been made about the desirability and usefulness of the road to Dulles.

The Delegates felt that Governor McDonnell and Secretary of Transportation Sean Connaughton were rushing the Bi-County Project through to assure their legacy before they left office. According to the Delegates this would be the wrong legacy to leave. The constituents need to have a voice. The concerns raised need time to be addressed in a fiscally responsible manner. Though according to Delegate Marshall Secretary Connaughton said "most will go along with the road after they use this issue for campaigning,” the fight against the road can continue even if the National Historic Preservation Act, Section 106 Programmatic Agreement is signed today. Delegate Hugo does not think this is a partican issue (though the list below is all Republican); he called the opposition to the Bi-County Parkway a citizen issue. “If the Programmatic Agreement is signed we will continue the fight in January when the House of Delegates is in session.” The legislature can fight with budget amendments, legislation and by changing the composition of the Commonwealth Transportation Board.

In case you are new to the issue the North South Corridor or Bi-County Parkway will be a limited access highway approximately 45 miles in length running through what is now the Rural Crescent, predominantly agricultural and rural lands, and is essentially a more direct route for cargo and truck traffic connecting I-95 to Dulles Airport and Route 7. The only access points in Prince William County will be I-66, Route 29, and existing Route 234 west of the Battlefield. The new road will also be called 234 and be 2.5 miles west of Sudley Road and expanded to carry 4 lanes of traffic.

In addition to the $19 million mentioned above, funds have been allocated for “traffic calming” on route 29 through the park ahead of the development of any other roadway. VDOT has not explained what kinds of traffic calming measures would be used. In addition, though Sudley Methodist Church will maintain an access route and be eligible for signage, though their road will be closed to the public. Prince William County community objections to this planned parkway have focused on several issues that are still of concern to the community:

1. The Bi-County Parkway will drive all the east-west traffic from route 29 which will be effectively closed to through traffic by "traffic calming measures" to I-66 increasing traffic on that road.
2. The Bi-County Parkway is intended to be a 4 lane and 6 lane highway that will provide direct access to Dulles Airport, but have limited access to the Prince William community, yet will utilize a section of the Rural Crescent for the road essentially destroying the intent of the Rural Crescent.
3. The planned road will require that Virginia invoke eminent domain to take land from more than a dozen homeowners. The Programmatic Agreement allocates $3 million to acquire the desired land.
4. Route 234 through the Battlefield, providing road access to several businesses and Sudley Methodist Church (that predates the Civil War) will be eliminated. According to Reverend Mitchell, closing the road to through traffic will remove the Church from everyday lives of its members and potential members in the community, and effectively land lock and isolate the Church within the park to a slow death. This has happened to other churches.
5. Closing route 234 through the park and route 29 through the park to through traffic essentially isolates northwestern Prince William County from the rest of the county and Manassas. There is no route from Heathcote Health Center to Prince William Hospital without going on I-66. The only route from Dominion Valley, Regency and all the development on route 15 to Manassas or anywhere will be I-66 which will be the only way to cross from western Prince William County to Eastern Prince William County.
6. The Bi-County Parkway does nothing to improve east-west traffic, instead it provides connectivity to the airport that Prince William residents do not want, divides the county and eliminates connections within Prince William county and only benefits the Loudoun County developments.
7. Delegate Hugo stated “If this road through groundwater in the Rural Crescent is severely threatened.” The route through Prince William County’s Rural Crescent potentially damages our watershed and water resources. The Rural Crescent provides a significant portion of our green infrastructure to our community. Maintaining intact, connected natural landscapes is essential for basic ecosystem and watershed preservation to ensure that there will always be clean air and water in Northern Virginia. The Northern Virginia Regional Commission (NVRC) has called the corridor one of three priority conservation area for the region.

Other signatories to the letter to the Governor are:
State Senator Dick Black (R-13th)
State Senator Richard Stuart (R-28th)
State Senator Jill Holtzman Vogel (R-27th)
Delegate Rich Anderson (R-51st)
Delegate Tim Hugo (R-40th)
Delegate Scott Lingamfelter (R-31st)
Delegate Bob Marshall (R-13th)
Delegate Randy Minchew (R-10th)
Delegate David Ramadan (R-87th)
Delegate Michael Webert (R-18th)
Prince William County Board Supervisor Maureen Caddigan (R-Potomac)
Prince William County Board Supervisor Pete Candland (R-Gainesville)
Loudoun County Board Supervisor Janet Clarke (R-Blue Ridge)

Salmonella Bacteria, Backyard Chickens and Safer Eggs

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, salmonella bacteria causes about 1.4 million cases of foodborne illness each year. Salmonella bacteria in eggs account for 80% of the salmonella enteritidis infections. Symptoms—fever, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and headache—can last a few days but is often lasts longer and can lead to severe complications or death. Salmonella causes more deaths than any other foodborne bacteria. The salmonella bacteria entered the chicken population in the last fifty or sixty years. Chickens harbor the salmonella bacteria without any signs of illness, making it impossible to know which animals are infected, and pass Salmonella along to both the yolk and white while the egg is forming in the ovaries and future generations of chickens. It is impossible to tell by appearance which eggs might be infected, and though in truth only a tiny proportion of eggs are infected, millions of eggs are consumed each day.

Federal regulations require pasteurization of raw liquid egg products used in commercially sold dishes such as ice cream, eggnog, sauces and ceasar dressings, but raw eggs sold in the shell to consumers are not required to be pasteurized. Less than 0.5% of all shell eggs produced for retail sale in the United State is pasteurized, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, USDA. I take food safety very seriously since I feed not only my family every day, but I cook and host holiday celebrations and prepare food for community and group gatherings. A family tradition (and specialty) is homemade eggnog. It is made with raw eggs. The alcohol does not kill the salmonella bacteria, despite what bar tenders tell you. So, for approaching 20 years I have made the eggnog and other recipes using Davidson’s Pasteurized eggs now called “Safety Eggs.” I have not used these eggs exclusively because I find the texture of the whites is not quite right. When you use them in some recipes they do not rise properly without extra whisking, though I have managed with the help of my Kitchen Aid Mixmaster to beat dozens of the egg whites to soft peaks year after year.

From Davidson's web site

Now, however, researchers at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have developed a new technique and device for rapidly pasteurizing eggs in the shell reportedly without changing the texture of the egg white. The new method uses radio frequency (RF) energy to transmit heat through the shell and into the yolk while the egg rotates. While the yolk is heating cool water flows over the rotating egg to protect the white which is more sensitive to heat than the yolk. The RF energy creates an electric current that produces heat inside the egg. The egg is then bathed in hot water to pasteurize the white and finish pasteurizing the yolk.

The team lead by David Geveke from the USDA and Christopher Brunkhorst PPPL engineer, believes they have produced a pasteurized egg that is hardly discernible from a fresh, non-pasteurized egg. The USDA Agricultural Research Service in Wyndmoor, Pa. teamed up with PPPL engineer Christopher Brunkhorst, an expert in RF heating, to develop the method and device. The prototype can pasteurize shell eggs in about one-third of the time that current methods require. Current methods place the eggs in heated water for about an hour and change the consistency of the egg white. The RF process reportedly maintains the egg white's transparency and texture. The USDA has applied to patent the prototype design which, delivers RF energy through the shell by placing electrodes against opposite sides of the egg. The egg rests on rollers that turn it to distribute the cooling and heating water evenly.

Egg safety affects all of us. Remember, salmonella is not just a disease of commercial chickens. It's common these days for chickens, ducks, and other poultry to carry Salmonella. Live poultry kept as pets or to provide fresh eggs may harbor the salmonella bacteria. Salmonella bacteria live in the intestines of poultry and many other animals. Even organically fed poultry raised in a home setting can have Salmonella, because they were born with it. Live poultry can shed Salmonella bacteria in their droppings and from their bodies (feathers, feet, and beaks) even when they appear healthy and clean. The germs can also get on cages, coops, feed and water dishes, hay, plants, and soil in the area where the birds live and roam and can be picked up by children or adults who work or play where they live and roam. 

from CDC web site

Recently, a national outbreak of salmonella has been linked to an eastern New Mexico hatchery that sells live baby chickens, ducks and other poultry by mail and direct supply. New Mexico’s Department of Health said a strain of salmonella that's infected more than 300 people in 37 states was found in a duck pen at Privett Hatchery in Portales. According to the New Mexico Department of Health news release, salmonella infection is especially risky when parents keep the baby birds inside the house and allow their small children to handle and snuggle with them. Other cases can occur when parents don’t wash their hands properly after handling the birds, indirectly giving the infection to their children. Remember, these are backyard poultry. 

The Vanishing Bee and our Food Supply

from USDA

Pollination, the delivery of the male gamete of a plant to the female stigma of the same species of plant, is essential for fertilization and for the plant to produce seeds and fruit. Without pollination there would be no fruits, no vegetable and no seeds. Though, grasses, conifers, and many deciduous trees are wind-pollinated, most flowering plants need birds and insects for pollination. Birds and bats can pollinate a limited number of plants, but the vast majority of plants are pollinated by insects. Some wasps, flies, beetles, ants, butterflies and moths pollinate various flowers, but bees are responsible for the vast majority of pollination. Commercial agriculture uses honey bees raised to pollinate its crops. It was estimated by a Cornell University study that the value of honey bee pollination in the United States is more than $14.6 billion annually.

It is variously reported that honey bees pollinate between 100-130 crops that span the entire cultivated crop spectrum- fruits and vegetables, nuts, herbs and spices, livestock forage, and oil crops. That is everything from apples and avocados to turnips and watermelon, almonds to macadamia nuts, allspice to oregano, alfalfa to sweet clover, canola to sunflower. The extent of pollination dictates the maximum number of fruits a tree or plant will bear and honey bees are responsible for more than 80% of the pollination in cultivated crops. 

The honey bee, an immigrant from Europe, is an essential element to our monoculture form of agriculture. It is not really suprising since most of our crops and many of our garden plants evolved in areas where honey bees were native, and both crops and insects were brought to the United States with the colonists to become essential parts of our agricultural system. With modern agriculture’s vast fields and groves of a single kind of plant all flowering at the same time, farmers can’t depend on feral honey bees that happen to nest near crop fields. The single flowering will not support a large bee population. Instead, farmers contract with migratory beekeepers, who move millions of bee hives to fields each year just as crops flower. To pollinate California’s estimated 420,000 acres of almond trees alone takes more than 1 million honey bee colonies that are trucked to the groves in trucks.

from USDA

In the 1990s two species of parasitic mites were accidentally introduced from Asia. The tracheal mite and varroa mite caused severe declines in honey bee populations within a few years. These parasitic mites were finally controlled in honey bee hives by using with chemical pesticides, substantially increasing the costs of large beekeeping operations. Until then many beekeepers had avoided pesticides. Unfortunately, the feral populations of honey bees that once thrived in the wild and brought genetic diversity to the honey bee population were essentially killed off by the parasitic mites, and no longer contribute substantial genetic variability to the managed bee populations.

Then during the winter of 2006-2007, a large number of bee colonies died out, losses were reported to be between 30% to 90% in the impacted beekeeping operations. While many of the colonies lost during this time period exhibited the symptoms from parasitic mites, many were lost, from unknown cause. The next winter, the number of impacted honey bee operations spread across the country. Honey bee colonies died out at even higher rates. The phenomenon was termed Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD. No disease or cause was identified, the adult honey bees seemed to just disappear with very few dead bees found near the impacted colonies. The impacted colonies had low levels of parasitic mites and minimal evidence of wax moth or small hive beetle damage. The other active bee colonies did not steel the food reserves, they avoided the impacted hives. Often there was still a laying queen and a small cluster of newly emerged attendants present.

There appears to be no end in sight, CCD is spreading around the world. This mysterious disappearance of honey bees is troubling, the bee population is falling and we may end up with insufficient numbers of pollinators to fulfill the demands of our agricultural industry. Last winter, 31% of the U.S. honey bee colonies were wiped out. The year before that it was reported as 21% of colonies lost. These losses if they continue could have a catastrophic impact on agriculture, and we do not know what is causing the problem let alone how to fix it. One third of all food eaten in the United States requires honey bee pollination.

Current theories about the cause(s) of CCD include increased losses due to the invasive varroa mite; new or emerging diseases, especially mortality by a new Nosema species related to the microporidian giardia; and pesticide poisoning (through exposure to pesticides applied for crop pest control or for in-hive insect or mite control). Neonicotinoids, a relatively new class of chemical insecticides, are highly toxic to bees, and can cause behavioral changes to bees at sub-lethal doses. These chemicals could be a potential factor in CCD. In response to the crisis, the European Commission (EC) announced this past spring that it intends to impose a two-year ban on the entire class of pesticides known as Neonicotinoids

In addition to these suspects, the U.S. Department of Agriculture believes the a likely cause of CCD is a potential immune-suppressing stress on bees, caused by one or a combination of several factors. Stresses may include poor nutrition, drought, and migratory stress brought about by the increased need to move bees long distances to provide pollination services to farmers. It is believed that by confining bees during transport, or increasing contact among colonies in different hives, the industry has increased the transmission of pathogens and spread CCD. Some researchers suspect that stress could be compromising the immune system of bees, making colonies more susceptible to disease.

CCD may not be an entirely new and distinct phenomenon. Large-scale honey bee die-offs and disappearances have reportedly happened in the past. Historic literature describes spring dwindle disease, fall dwindle, or autumn collapse in bee keeping. In 1975, honey bees experienced Disappearing Disease which affected a large number of bee colonies in the U.S. It may never be determined if these historic situations share a common cause with the current crisis, but unfortunately with the loss of feral populations to the Asian mite and cheap sources of imported honey the honey bee keeping industry was at a low point when CCD began to strike.

Rising Sea Levels and Shrinking Artic Ice

from NASA to see animation click

In mid-August a draft copy of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, and five year report due to be peer reviewed this coming fall then officially released to the public was leaked to Reuters and the New York Times. The media (both print and Internet) was a buzz despite the fact that the IPCC does not do any original research, but merely summarizes the published scientific literature on climate change. Six years ago the IPCC report predicted a maximum of 23 inches of sea-level rise by the end of this century, but according to the New York Times, the new report lays out several possibilities from as little as 10 inches to a maximum of 21 inches by the end of the century.

These estimates of sea level rise are based on the amount of warming experienced by the plant in response to the increase in greenhouse gases that has already occurred. Even if the entire planet stopped burning fossil fuels tomorrow, the planet would continue to warm. Whatever is going to happen will happen; it is too late to change that. Warming increases sea level in two ways: thermal expansion and the melting of the glaciers and ice caps. When water warms it expands in volume and is expected to contribute a portion of the sea level increase. More than 97% of the Earth’s water is already within the in oceans. The remaining 2.8% of water is the water within the land masses, 2.15% is contained in icecaps and glaciers. The melting of the ice, which has so far been most pronounced in mountain glaciers might increase surface infiltration of water, but the remainder will flow to the oceans increasing sea volume. The big concern is for the future of the ice sheets in the Arctic and Antarctica and what impact the volume of water contained there will have on sea levels.

Last Friday the sea ice minimum analysis produced at NASA’s Goddard space laboratory using satellite data was released. The melting of sea ice in the Arctic reaches its annual minimum, when the ice cap covers less of the Arctic Ocean than at any other period during the year, in the middle of September each year. The good news is that NASA is predicting it is unlikely that this year’s summer low will break a new record. Still, this year’s melt rates are in line with the long term decline of the Arctic ice cover observed by NASA and other satellites over the last several decades. The data record, which began in November 1978, shows an overall shrinking in the size of the Arctic sea ice minimum each summer since 1978 of 14% per decade.

The ice cover in the Arctic Ocean was measured at 2.25 million square miles on Aug. 21. For comparison, the smallest Arctic sea ice extent on record for this date, recorded in 2012, was 1.67 million square miles, and the largest recorded for this date was in 1996, when ice covered 3.16 million square miles of the Arctic Ocean. Though, early summer saw a fast retreat of the sea ice, melting slowed as clouds over the central Arctic kept temperatures cooler than average, and the Arctic experienced mild summer storms. According to Walt Meier, a glaciologist with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland: “Last year’s storm went across an area of open water and mixed the smaller pieces of ice with the relatively warm water, so it melted very rapidly. This year, the storms hit in an area of more consolidated ice. The storms this year were more typical summer storms; last year’s was the unusual one.”

In Antarctica, the story is different. Right now, Antarctic sea ice is in the midst of its yearly growing cycle and is heading towards the largest extent on record. Antarctic sea ice reached 7.45 million square miles on Aug. 21. In 2012, the extent of Antarctic sea ice for the same date was 7.08 million square miles. The phenomenon, appears counter-intuitive, and is currently the subject of many research studies. Still, the rate at which the Arctic is losing sea ice surpasses the speed at which Antarctic sea ice is expanding so sea level rise is of great concern to mankind who throughout history has settled along the coast lines.