Lake Superior Shrinking

Note from Leslie:
Having lived very near Lake Ontario for a number of years, there is one factor that makes Ontario's water level ebb and flow - land owners. You would not believe the outcry of waterfront property owners when levels are kept at historic averages. It erodes their property and endangers their homes! I kept asking why they built so close the water to begin with and got nothing but curses hurled at me. With the lakes being connected - either by nature or man - this could be part of the loss of Superior. A small part, but part, just the same.


Mighty Lake Superior Mystifies Scientists
By JOHN FLESHER,
AP
Posted: 2007-07-29 18:13:34
Filed Under: Nation News, Science News

MARQUETTE, Mich. (July 29) - As the research boat bobs up and down on gray, choppy Lake Superior, Michigan Tech University chemist Noel Urban and two students drop a metal cylinder over the side to retrieve a water sample from the bottom.

They are measuring carbon dioxide content -- an unspectacular statistic by itself, yet an important piece of a highly complex puzzle.

"It helps us develop a model that can say what's going to happen as the lake warms up," Urban says.

Plenty of people are wondering the same thing.

Something seems amiss with mighty Superior, the deepest and coldest of the Great Lakes, which together hold nearly 20 percent of the world's fresh surface water.

Superior's surface area is roughly the same as South Carolina's, the biggest of any freshwater lake on Earth. It's deep enough to hold all the other Great Lakes plus three additional Lake Eries. Yet over the past year, its level has ebbed to the lowest point in eight decades and will set a record this fall if, as expected, it dips three more inches.

Its average temperature has surged 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit since 1979, significantly above the 2.7-degree rise in the region's air temperature during the same period. That's no small deal for a freshwater sea that was created from glacial melt as the Ice Age ended and remains chilly in all seasons.

A weather buoy on the western side recently recorded an "amazing" 75 degrees, "as warm a surface temperature as we've ever seen in this lake," says Jay Austin, assistant professor at the University of Minnesota at Duluth's Large Lakes Observatory.

Water levels also have receded on the other Great Lakes since the late 1990s. But the suddenness and severity of Superior's changes worry many in the region; it has plunged more than a foot in the past year. Shorelines are dozens of yards wider than usual, giving sunbathers wider beaches but also exposing mucky bottomlands and rotting vegetation.

"C'mon, girls, get out of the mud," Dan Arsenault, 32, calls to his two young daughters at a park near the mouth of the St. Marys River on the southeastern end of Lake Superior. Bree, 5, and 3-year-old Andie are stomping in puddles where water was waist-deep a couple of years ago. The floatation rope that previously designated the swimming area now rests on moist ground.

"This is the lowest I've ever seen it," says Arsenault, a lifelong resident of Sault Ste. Marie in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

Superior still has lots of water. Its average depth is 483 feet and it reaches 1,332 feet at the deepest point. Erie, the shallowest Great Lake, is 210 feet at its deepest and averages only 62 feet. Lake Michigan averages 279 feet and is 925 feet at its deepest.

Yet along Superior's shores, boats can't reach many mooring sites and marina operators are begging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to dredge shallow harbors. Ferry service between Grand Portage, Minn., and Isle Royale National Park was scaled back because one of the company's boats couldn't dock.

Sally Zabelka has turned away boaters from Chippewa Landing marina in the eastern Upper Peninsula, where not long ago 27-foot vessels easily made their way up the channel from the lake's Brimley Bay. "In essence, our dock is useless this year," she says.

Another worry: As the bay heats up, the perch, walleye and smallmouth bass that have lured anglers to her campground and tackle shop are migrating to cooler waters in the open lake.

Low water has cost the shipping industry millions of dollars. Vessels are carrying lighter loads of iron ore and coal to avoid running aground in shallow channels.

Superior's retreat creates a double whammy in Grand Marais, where the only deepwater harbor of refuge along a 90-mile, shipwreck-strewn section of the lake already was filling with sand because of a decaying breakwall.

Burt Township, the local government, is extending the harbor's boat launching ramp an additional 40 feet, Supervisor Jack Hubbard says. Sand and shallow water are choking off aquatic vegetation that once provided habitat for hefty pike and trout.

Puffing on a pipe in a Grand Marais pub, retiree Ted Sietsema voices the suspicion held by many in the villages along Superior's southern shoreline: Someone is taking the water. The government is diverting it to places with more people and political influence - along Lakes Huron and Michigan and even the Sun Belt, via the Mississippi River.

"Don't give me that global warming stuff," Sietsema says. "That water is going west. That big aquifer out there is empty but they can still water the desert. It's got to be coming from somewhere."

A familiar theory - but all wet, says Scott Thieme, hydraulics and hydrology chief with the Corps of Engineers district office in Detroit. Water does exit Lake Superior through locks, power plants and gates on the St. Marys River, but in amounts strictly regulated under a 1909 pact with Canada.

The actual forces at work, while mysterious, are not the stuff of spy novels, Thieme says.

Precipitation has tapered off across the upper Great Lakes since the 1970s and is nearly 6 inches below normal in the Superior watershed the past year. Water evaporation rates are up sharply because mild winters have shrunk the winter ice cap - just as climate change computer models predict for the next half-century.

Yet those models also envision more precipitation as global warming sets in, says Brent Lofgren, a physical scientist with the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor. Instead there's drought, suggesting other causes.

Cynthia Sellinger, the lab's deputy director, suspects residual effects of El Nino, the warming of equatorial Pacific waters that produced warmer winters in the late 1990s, just as the lakes began receding.

Both long-term climate change and short-term meteorological factors may be driving water levels down, says Urban, the Michigan Tech researcher.

But he and Austin are more concerned about effects than causes. There's a big knowledge gap about how food webs and other aquatic systems will respond to warmer temperatures, they say.

"It's just not clear what the ultimate result will be as we turn the knob up," says Austin, the Minnesota-Duluth professor. "It could be great for fisheries or fisheries could crash."

That's a question Urban and his colleagues want to help answer with their carbon dioxide measurements on Lake Superior. Plugging those and other statistics into comprehensive ecosystem models will give scientists a basis for making predictions.

"We're always reacting to what's already happened instead of looking forward," Urban says. "As long as we have a poor understanding of the basic functions of the lake, we won't be able to say whether this warming is of major concern or not."

Editor's note - John Flesher is the AP correspondent in Traverse City and has covered environmental issues since 1992.


Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
2007-07-29 13:46:48

Misc. Links

Until I find a good spot to put these, they'll be here. LOL I hope to actually make a link index as well as something on the side bar...
L

http://www.thegreenproject.org/
NOLA recycling building supplies

http://www.azsolarcenter.com/technology/solarh20.html
Making a solar hot water heater

http://www.communitygarden.org/starting.php#Committee
Starting your own community garden

http://www.smartgrowth.org/default.asp?res=800
Smart Growth a community based solution site

Buy Your Food Locally

The concept of buying local is simply to buy food (or any good or service) produced, grown, or raised as close to your home as possible. With industrialization, our food is now grown and processed in fewer and fewer locations, meaning it has to travel further to reach the average consumer’s refrigerator. Although this method of production is considered efficient and economically profitable for large agribusiness corporations, it is harmful to the environment, consumers and rural communities.

Food Miles, Resources and the Environment
"Food miles" refer to the distance a food item travels from the farm to your home. The food miles for items you buy in the grocery store tend to be 27 times higher than the food miles for goods bought from local sources.i

In the U.S., the average grocery store’s produce travels nearly 1,500 miles between the farm where it was grown and your refrigerator.ii About 40% of our fruit is produced overseas and, even though broccoli is likely grown within 20 miles of the average American’s house, the broccoli we buy at the supermarket travels an average 1,800 miles to get there. Notably, 9% of our red meat comes from foreign countries, including locations as far away as Australia and New Zealand.iii

So how does our food travel from farm field to grocery store? It’s trucked across the country, hauled in freighter ships over oceans, and flown around the world.

A tremendous amount of fossil fuel is used to transport foods such long distances. Combustion of these fuels releases carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter and other pollutants into the atmosphere, contributing to global climate change, acid rain, smog and air pollution. Even the refrigeration required to keep your fruits, vegetables, dairy products and meats from spoiling burns up energy.

Food processors also use a large amount of paper and plastic packaging to keep food fresh (or at least looking fresh) for a longer period of time. This packaging eventually becomes waste that is difficult, if not impossible, to reuse or recycle.

Aside from the environmental harm that can result from processing, packaging and transporting long-distance foods, the industrial farms on which these foods are often produced are major sources of air and water pollution. Small, local farms tend to be run by farmers who live on their land and work hard to preserve it. Buying local means you can talk directly to the farmer growing your food and find out what they do and how they do it. Do they grow their food organically? If they're not certified organic, ask them why. Many small farms, even if they haven't taken the certification step, still utilize sustainable or organic farming methods that help protect the air, soil and water.

Health and Nutrition
Buying food from local farms means getting food when it’s at its prime. Fresh food from local farms is healthier than industrially-farmed products because the food doesn’t spend days in trucks and on store shelves losing nutrients.v

Food transported short distances is fresher (and, therefore, safer) than food that travels long distances. Local food has less of an opportunity to wilt and rot whereas large-scale food manufacturers must go to extreme lengths to extend shelf-life since there is such a delay between harvest and consumption. Preservatives are commonly used to keep foods stable longer, and are potentially hazardous to human health. Industrially-produced foods are also difficult to grow without pesticides, chemical fertilizers, antibiotics and growth hormones, all of which can be damaging to both the environment and human health.

Local foods from small farms usually undergo minimal processing, are produced in relatively small quantities, and are distributed within a few dozen miles of where they originate. Food produced on industrial farms, however, is distributed throughout the country and world, creating the potential for disease-carrying food from a single factory farm to spread rapidly throughout the entire country. The 2006 E coli outbreak is a good example of this, as contaminated spinach from a single region in California managed to sicken people in 26 states.vi

Products such as ground beef, which is pooled from hundreds of different animals, are of particular concern. The meat from a single diseased cow could end up contaminating hundreds of pounds of food distributed to thousands of people. Once such a product is on shelves, it is very difficult to determine where the contaminated meat came from. Preventing or controlling disease outbreaks in such a system is nearly impossible.

In addition, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the federal agency which inspects meat and poultry, does not have the authority to order a recall of dangerous or mislabled product once it has left a plant. The agency can only urge the company to issue a recall themselves. This often leads to delays in notifying the public, wasting valuable time and increasing the odds that unsafe products get eaten by consumers.

Family Farms and Community
According to the USDA, the U.S. has lost over five million farms since 1935.vii Family farms are going out of business at break-neck speed, causing rural communities to deteriorate. The U.S. loses two acres of farmland each minute as cities and suburbs spread into the surrounding communities.viii By supporting local farms near suburban areas and around cities, you help keep farmers on the land, and, at the same time, preserve open spaces and counteract urban sprawl.

What You Can Do
Join the growing movement of consumers around the world who are making a little extra effort to find food raised nearby.

Check out our Eat Seasonal page to find when foods are in season in your area.
Buy food directly from your local farmer at a farm stand or a farmers market. Or join a CSA group and get a farm share.
Encourage your local grocery store to stock food from local farmers.
Visit our Shopping Guide section for CSAs, farmers markets and other sustainable outlets.
Join the 100-mile diet movement.

Find your 100 mile limit:
http://100milediet.org/map/
http://www.localharvest.org/

Bio Fuel Information

Tidbits I find, I'll post here. If you have any you'd like to share - and can state your source, please let me know! I'll post with thanks to you.

From Organic Gardening (May 2007):
400 million gallons of gasoline are used in the US per year.
560 gallons of ethanol are needed to replace 400 gallons of gasoline (1.4 to 1)

Ethanol (gallons) produced from one acre of grasses - 1000
Ethanol (gallons) produced from one acre of corn - 400

More carbon is stored in roots and soil of grasses than it takes to produce ethanol from it. Renewable resource. Nitrogen neutral (needs virtually no fertilizer)

More carbon is used to produce ethanol from corn than is stored in its roots or soil. Must be replanted. Very nitrogen needing (needs heavy fertilizing, depletes soil rapidly)

(from Scott Chapman)

If you replaced just four 100-watt incandescent bulbs that burn four or more hours a day in your home with four 23-watt fluorescent bulbs, you’d get as much light and save at least 1,356 kilowatt-hours of electricity and $108 over three years. If all our nation’s households did the same, we’d save as much energy as is consumed by some seven million cars in one year.

Refrigerators in the U.S. alone use the equivalent of the output of about 60 300-MW power plants. If all the nation’s households used the most efficient refrigerators, electricity savings would eliminate the need for about 30 power plants.

The typical refrigerator sold in 2002 has more features yet uses about half the electricity of a comparable model sold in 1980.

Each year, Americans spend more money to power home audio and DVD products when turned off than when actually in use.

The energy use of two families living in two homes that are EXACTLY alike can vary by 100 percent –– which means that how you use what’s in your home can double (or halve) your energy bills

It might be going out the window –– literally. Some homes have enough leaks around its windows and doors to equal one open three foot by three foot window! Check your home’s first line of defense against the elements –– the roof, walls, floors, windows, and doors. It pays to deal with air leaks first to get the maximum savings from your heating and cooling systems and other energy-efficiency measures.

Rule of thumb for thermostat savings: For each degree you lower your thermostat in winter, you can save about 3 percent on your heating bill.

Every kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity you avoid using saves more than 1½ pounds of CO2 from being pumped into the atmosphere. If over the next 15 years, Americans bought only Energy Star qualified products, we would shrink our energy bills by more than $100 billion and eliminate as much greenhouse gas pollution as is produced by 17 million cars for each of those 15 years!

drive a little slower –– for each mph you drive less than 65, you save about 2 percent

Websites:
GreaseCar Diesel2VegOil
Frybrid Diesel2VO

Outdoor Water Conservation

I'd rather people not water anything outside, but I know that's a foolish thought. Vanity, which brings about container plants that don't belong in all parts of the country, etc. Watering will continue to occur.

The following is from the Home Depot Gardening Newsletter.

Water is a precious resource, and for homeowners on a municipal water supply it’s an expensive one, too. Since up to one half of all household water is used in the lawn and garden, it makes sense to look at efficient, effective, and convenient ways to keep plants healthy so you can enjoy a beautiful landscape and conserve water.

Water at the Right Time
You may be surprised at how much water is lost to evaporation when you water on a warm, sunny afternoon — estimates put the amount at up to 30%. The best time to water is early morning or evening. If you are using an overhead sprinkler, water in the morning so foliage can dry quickly. During drought conditions, some municipalities mandate that watering be done after dark. A programmable timer that turns water on and off at set times is especially handy in this situation.
From L - watering in the early AM is best - higher water pressure AND reduction of risk for fungal diseases.


Avoid Runoff
In addition to evaporation, water is frequently lost to runoff. If land is sloped or soil is compacted, water won't sink in but will instead drain away. Soaker hoses minimize runoff, but there are other ways to help, too. For example, create a "donut" of soil around new plants by mounding soil into a low berm around the stem or trunk. This creates a shallow bowl where the water you apply will puddle and soak in slowly, rather than running off. Once plants are established, flatten this berm so water drains away from the plant.

From L - if you are watering in zones - time it so you water for a limited time in each zone, repeating zones 3-4 times. When I lived in TX, I watered each zone for 15 minutes 3-4 times. I had virtually no run off and used 1/4 of the water with better plant results than our neighbors.

Water Deeply
When you water, strive to moisten the soil down to the depth of the plants' root systems. Newly seeded areas and transplants may need daily watering. But for established plants and lawns, daily light sprinklings of water can actually do more harm than good because they encourage plants to form shallow roots, which dry out quickly. Weekly deep soakings are much better for plants. Water established perennial plants so that soil is moist to a depth of at least six inches. On lawns, moisten soil to depth of at least two and preferably three inches. Dig a hole to see how deeply the water has penetrated.
From L - if you don't get about 1/2" of rain each week, water your annuals and newly transplanted perennials with the method I mentioned above. This should take the water down to the depth the roots can use them. Deep roots mean strong roots.

Adjust Water to Plants' Needs
Some plants need more water than others to thrive. Squash, melons, and tomatoes require consistently moist soil to produce their best. Other plants, such as many native flowers, can dry out between waterings with no ill effects. A rule of thumb is to apply one inch of water per week — and that includes what nature provides. The easiest way to determine this is with a rain gauge.

One simple way to determine how much water you're applying with an overhead sprinkler is to set out an empty can — a tuna or cat food can is handy because it's about an inch tall. When the can is filled an inch of water has fallen. Once you determine how long it takes your system to apply an inch of water, you can set a timer.

Amend Soil and Apply Mulch
Interestingly, adding organic matter to soil helps it absorb and retain water, while also improving its drainage. Mix in organic matter at planting time and use organic mulches, such as bark chips or pine straw; as they decompose they'll add organic matter to soil.
From L - There are good mulches and bad mulches.
Bad
peat moss - Peat bogs are being dessimated along with their ecosystems because Americans are under the assumption that peat moss helps the soil. It doesn't for more than a week. Don't spend the money
wood chips and bark - take far more nitrogen to break the wood down than it supplies to the soil, making the soil worse than before. It also will wash away easily unless shredded and can introduce molds and fungus to your soil that you don't want.
stone does nothing to hold water in or moderate temperature of the soil. If you feel you NEED stone, choose a stone that is mined locally and not through strip mining and place it on top of a good mulch.
grass clippings - too high in nitrogen and can burn the plants you've placed it around. It also breaks down very quickly and will not last an entire season. Why mulch multiple times if you don't have to?
Good - compost, leaf mulch - both, placed at about a 2" depth will keep weeds to a minimum, hold moisture in, bring beneficial insects and moderates soil temperatures during the extremes of summer.
OK - Recycled Paper - doesn't add much to the soil as it breaks down but earth worms LOVE paper. So, if you wish to buy or have a certain color, this might be a good option for you.

7/15 From Organic Gardening - Research Report on mulches

Ice Sheet Melt - New Information

by Dave Lindorff Jul 6 2007

The bad news, so far completely ignored in the mainstream US media, comes from James Hansen, the top climate expert at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

Hansen, lead author of a new scientific study published in the May issue of the British journal, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, says that the slow melting of the Greenland and West Antarctic Ice Sheets predicted by the IPCC as the basis for their estimate of a rise in sea levels of only 59 centimeters (less than two feet) by the end of this century is wildly off the mark and doesn't fit current data on ice melting.

The reason for Hansen's much more dire outlook on the ice sheets' longevity is that the IPCC apparently did not consider the effect of a change in reflectivity of ice when the surface melts and becomes wet, a so-called "albedo switch," which Hansen says makes it much more absorptive of solar energy. As well, it is now known that instead of simply melting slowly from the top down, ice sheets form large surface pools of water, which both absorb more heat, and also melt their way through the ice, forming a kind of "Swiss cheese" effect that weakens the ice sheet structure. That same water then lubricates the sheet and allows it to move more rapidly to the sea. All of this makes loss of ice sheets much more rapid than in the IPCC model.

Similarly, there has been no reporting on Hansen's other warning, embedded in this same May Royal Society report--that failure to hold the global temperature rise to within about two degrees Fahrenheit (quite a challenge, and highly unlikely) could lead to massive release of methane from the arctic permafrost, thus tossing out all current predictions about the future (methane is 24 times as potent a global warming gas as carbon dioxide, and there are 400 billion tons of the stuff frozen as so-called methane cathrates under the permafrost).

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/8548