Biodiversity Photodiary: Carnivorous Plants and Friends (aka Little Blog of Horrors)

by matching mole

This is the international year for biodiversity.  Early this year I planned to write a series of diaries in honor of the year.  I haven't got very far but will try to make up for it now.  Yesterday I finally visited a habitat I'd heard quite a bit about ever since we first considered moving to Tallahassee over three years ago.  Although the Florida panhandle is called the redneck Riviera and is rightfully known for its right wing politics, it is also one of the most biodiverse regions of the US.  The long leaf pine forests, rivers, and swamps house an incredible diversity of plants, reptiles, and other forms of life.  One spectacular example of this diversity are bogs filled with carnivorous plants.

continued at Daily Kos....

Gulf Recovery: BP Worker Exposes Truth of Working Oil Spill Cleanup

by Project Gulf Impact

Project Gulf Impact wants to use its diary in the Daily Kos Blogathon for the next three days to allow residents of the Gulf to be heard. Project Gulf Impact is down in the Gulf right now conducting interviews and launching preliminary relief efforts to give the citizens of the Gulf a voice, a chance that is long overdue for Gulf residents.

continued at Daily Kos...

The Famine Of 2011

by Stranded Wind

 Thanksgiving of 2008 I published The Famine Of 2009. I was right about starvation, only partially right about the causes and conditions, and two years premature.

    I called my wheat farmer friend Bryan Lutter today to double check my thinking, and I'm really, really worried about what I see coming at us in 2011.

continued at Daily Kos...

Ice, Fire, Deluge, Famine, Heat and a Definitive Trend: Act Today

by LaFeminista

Ice:

"Nobody can claim this was caused by global warming. On the other hand nobody can claim that it wasn't," Muenchow said

Fire:

"The mortality rate has doubled," said Andrei Seltsovsky, head of the city's health department. There were usually 360 to 380 deaths a day in the city, but "now that number is about 700".

Deluge:

The full scale of the tragedy engulfing Pakistan  is now emerging, with the United Nations saying today that the floods, which have entered their third week, have now affected 13.8 million people.

Famine:

The Diff animal herders who, by most estimates, have lost more than half of their livestock, say this year’s drought is not only worse than the one in 2005, but the worst in living memory.

continued at Daily Kos...

Dawn Chorus Birdblog: The Essential Elements (Yosemite)

by lineatus

Earth, water, fire, air  ...and birds.  In the middle ages, those first four were considered the essential elements for life.  In my middle age, the fifth one is also crucial.

At this moment last weekend, I was making coffee in the Yosemite Valley, preparing for a hike through Foresta - the starting point for last year's huge fire.  Also the starting point for this year's best lupine, best dipper fledgling and bluest butterfly.

Earth + Water + Fire + Air =

larger version (all links open in new windows)

continued at Daily Kos....