Many environmentally related posts appearing at Daily Kos each week don’t attract the attention they deserve. To help get more eyeballs, Spotlight on Green News & Views (previously known as the Green Diary Rescue) appears twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The most recent Wednesday Spotlight can be seen here. So far, more than 19,790 environmentally oriented diaries have been rescued for inclusion in this weekly collection since 2006. Inclusion of a diary in the Spotlight does not necessarily indicate my agreement with or endorsement of it.
“We are not drowning. We are fighting.”—by boatsie: “Paddling out in hand-made canoes from Australia’s Horseshoe Beach, twelve Pacific Island nations early this morning blockaded coal ships as they approached Newcastle, the world’s largest coal port. Late last night Australia time, as the small flotilla returned to shore, only four of twelve ships approaching the port, including two coal ships, had broken through their blockade. Now that is what I call an event of awesome beauty. Of heroic desperation. A poignant battle cry so primal in its power it ought to ignite a vehement, almost voracious response from around the globe. ‘For 20 years we’ve asked world leaders to take action to stop polluting the atmosphere. We cannot wait longer. Now, warriors of the Pacific are rising peacefully to protect the Pacific Islands from climate change. Our message: We are not drowning. We are fighting.’”
Momentum builds in Louisiana, the latest front in the fight against coal exports—by Mary Anne Hitt: “In recent weeks, something amazing has been happening in the Gulf Coast of Louisiana—communities have been standing up and casting votes to ring the alarm about proposed coal export projects. As U.S. coal use has declined, mining companies are looking for a future in international markets. And while most people might think of the Pacific Northwest as ground zero for planned coal export facilities, the Gulf Coast is home to over a dozen proposed coal export terminals as well. Thankfully, as the plans to export coal through the state grow, so does the opposition from local residents.
Case in point – the small town of Gretna, Louisiana, in Jefferson Parish. This is a historic metro area of New Orleans, and it’s also the site of a proposed coal export project called the RAM coal export terminal. If constructed, the facility could see some six to eight million tons of coal and refinery waste exported overseas every year (that’s about six coal-fired power plants worth of coal). It would add to the dust and water pollution burden in the communities it neighbors by sending mile-long, uncovered coal trains running through historic neighborhoods, and it also threatens the state’s vital coastal restoration projects.”
The Daily Bucket – madrona shedding season—by OceanDiver: “Clinging tenaciously to dry rocky bluffs, madrona trees settle into the autumn season with a flamboyant display of color. It’s quite unlike the leafy shades of red that briefly decorate deciduous forests before those trees drop their foliage and subside into the colorless dormancy of winter. The bright colors of madronas come from their bark, varying and persisting throughout year, renewed each autumn by a thin outer layer falling away. Arbutus menziesii is a lovely iconic tree that stands out in the coniferous forests of the Pacific Northwest, remarkable in many ways. In contrast to the telephone-pole-straight trunks typical of conifers, it grows in randomly beautiful curvaceous forms which makes each tree unique. It flourishes on rock with minimal soil and its large glossy broadleaf foliage is evergreen. Its wood and flowers and fruits are special too.”
You can find more rescued green diaries below the sustainable squiggle.
