 Air
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Kilauea's Toxic "Vog"
It's been 2 weeks since Kilauea started erupting and the nightmare is still not over for Hawaii's residents. On Tuesday the US Geological Survey (USGS) issued a Red Alert which means that another major eruption is imminent or underway and ash could affect air traffic. Officials warned residents and airplanes to stay away from part of the island after Kilauea launched a 12,000-foot plume of what scientists call "vog" (a mixture of ash and volcanic gas) into the sky. For airplanes, the vog not only drastically reduces visibility but also wreaks havoc on jet engines.
"At any time, activity may become more explosive, increasing the intensity of ash production and producing ballistic projectiles near the vent," the Hawaii Volcano Observatory said in a statement on the change in aviation alert level from orange to red. Hawaii Public Radio reports that a total of 20 fissures have appeared since Kilauea's latest surge in activity became evident on May 3 in the housing subdivision of Leilani Estates. The eruption has destroyed 25 homes and covered 115 acres in lava.
Why This Matters: Vog is quite dangerous to human health. As Janine Krippner, a volcanologist at Concord University, told to Earther, “Ash is not fluffy, it’s actually ground up pulverized rock, crystal, and glass, so it’s very sharp.” The ash is also dangerous to inhale as it can lodge itself deep in a person’s lungs. What's most toxic during eruptions are the gases released in lava and alongside volcanic ash, such as sulfur dioxide which has been a key pollutant from the erupting fissures and has been measured at dangerously high levels.
As Earther further reported, for the most part, the wind is blowing all these particles to the southwest, away from the rest of the islands up north. In Pahala, Hawaii, a town of just over 1,000, vog and ashfall have been reported. If the wind shifts direction, the eruption could pose a threat to even more people.
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 Forests
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Ann Walter, left, of the conservation group City in the Forest, rallies Atlantans to oppose a builder’s plans to cut down scores of trees in a leafy urban neighborhood. Photo: Matt K. Smith
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Can Atlanta Keep its "City in a Forest" Title?
Atlanta is a city known for its trees--towering oaks, poplars, pines, and white-blooming dogwoods, earn it the nickname the “City in a Forest.” But while the city has committed to keeping 50% tree cover, a recent urban boom that's added more than 50,000 residents since the 2010 census has meant that more trees are being cleared to make room for new neighborhoods and high-rise apartment buildings. Some of the trees slated for removal include oaks up to 4 feet across, according to City in the Forest, a non-profit that works to address Atlanta's tree loss.
As the Daily Beast wrote, on one recent muggy Saturday morning, about 50 people turned out in a leafy east side neighborhood to protest a developer’s plans to take down more than 200 trees. The 4-acre site was once part of a farm owned by John B. Gordon, a Confederate general whose statue still stands on the state Capitol grounds. A builder now wants to put up more than 40 new townhomes on the site. Tony Giarrusso, the associate director of Georgia Tech’s Center for Spatial Planning Analytics and Visualization, has used satellite photos to determine that Atlanta's tree cover fell from 48% in 2008 to 45% in 2014. Part of the problem is that Atlanta's tree ordinance needs updating as developers incorporate the fines paid for taking out trees into the cost of doing business.
Why This Matters: Trees are not only a point of heritage and pride for Atlanta but as cities get hotter as a result of climate change, increasing canopy cover is an easy way to cool soaring temperatures. This is also a testament to Atlanta's residents that value their trees and keep turning out to protest and work with the city government to update its environmental rules.
"Of course, we can’t save every tree. But we can do a lot better.” said Kathryn Kolb, director of the Atlanta-based conservation group EcoAddendum.
Go Deeper: On a global scale, countries with high levels of human well-being are more likely to show increasing forest growth.
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 Climate Change
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Photo: Julie Macklin, North Slope Borough
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Bowhead Whales Booming in the Arctic
Scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Native Alaskan North Slope Borough in their annual surveys have found that bowhead populations and the whales themselves are growing in size, according to the Anchorage Daly News. As we have reported often, Arctic temperatures are rising faster than anywhere else on the planet, and sea ice in the Bering Sea is at nearly an all-time-low for this time of year. But that is having a beneficial effect on bowheads by creating more open water that is apparently improving conditions for the tiny krill and other crustaceans the bowheads eat, scientists said.
- Megan Ferguson, a scientist with NOAA who runs the aerial survey program for Arctic marine mammals, said observers in 2016 and 2017 saw shockingly large groups of whales feeding off the mouths of Alaska rivers in summer.
- According to a longtime bowhead expert from Utqiagvik, the nation's northernmost community, "[o]ne of the best indicators of the overall health of the herd is good calf production and we're sure seeing that,"
- Records show the whales are also fatter than they were about 30 years ago, with full stomachs in fall and low disease rates, said Craig George, senior wildlife biologist for the North Slope Borough.
However, this seemingly good news story is more complicated for the native Alaskan hunters. Climate change has made it much more challenging for subsistence whalers due to the animals' changing migration patterns and the deadly risks of traveling on thinner ice, said longtime Utqiagvik whaler Billy Adams, 52.
Why This Matters: No one knows how all this rapid change in the Arctic environment will play out over the long run. Emerging threats from increased Arctic ship traffic, newly introduced diseases, Arctic Sea oil and gas drilling, increased Arctic fishing, or other unforeseen circumstances could suddenly alter the picture. In the short run, the population increase should make it easier for Alaskan whalers to receive permission from the International Whaling Commission to continue their hunts for another 6 years -- that permit is up for renewal later in 2018.
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 People
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Photo: Tom Williams, CQ Roll Call via ABC News
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As Scandals Mount, Even Some Conservatives Tire of Pruitt
Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt testified yesterday before Congress -- purportedly about his agency's funding needs -- but the hearing was dominated by his personal ethics problems. Facing a litany of internal investigations into everything from his wasteful spending on trips and office luxuries to overpaying his staff to "needing" more security (including sirens) than a Brinks truck full of cash, Democratic Senators grilled Pruitt about his ethical lapses and expressed concerns for his ability to lead the agency. One Republican, Senator Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, said she was tired of being asked about his scandals and reading articles about his cozy ties to the industries he regulates. And on Tuesday, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa called for Pruitt's resignation because of the "hardship" waivers he has provided to rich refiners (like Carl Icahn) to give them a pass on the mandate that they make ethanol (a corn-based biofuel).
The hearing revealed two new problems for Pruitt -- that he accepted the free help of a subordinate to find his super-inexpensive condo ( a big no-no in government) and that he has started a legal defense fund to pay for legal fees he racks up responding to all the investigations (query - who is putting money into it).
Why This Matters: When a Cabinet official "suffers" this many scandals, it generally means that they are not up to the job. Coming from state government, Administrator Pruitt clearly misjudged the amount of scrutiny he would receive in federal service. Leadership matters -- and Pruitt's pattern of ethical and legal lapses is taking a heavy toll on the public's confidence in government. Legal scholar Bill Buzbee argues that even the most ardent conservatives like the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia would have found Pruitt's disregard for the law hard to take. And on Monday, the conservative publication The Weekly Standard opined that the "time has come" for Pruitt to step down. We could not agree more.
To Go Deeper: You can see the full list of investigations into Pruitt's actions as detailed in The New York Times -- simply click here.
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 Oceans
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Benham Rise, Phillippines Photo: Karl Hurwood and Miguel Zulueta, Oceana
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The Phillippines Declares New MPA To Preserve Deep-Sea Corals
Phillippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday signed a presidential proclamation to protect about 3,000 square kilometers of the Phillippines Rise, that contains important deep-sea corals and will provide benefits to many marine species, including whales, dolphins, sharks, rays and sea turtles. Scientists believe this area could also be important as the cooler, deeper waters may offer a refuge for species affected by rising ocean temperatures. The news is also interesting because the Philippine/Benham Rise has been a flashpoint for the relationship between the Philippines and China (hence the rename from Benham Rise to Philippine Rise last year).
In 2016, Phillippine government scientists found 100% coral cover in several sampling sites during an expedition to the Rise and they say that the area is also an important spawning site for Pacific Bluefin tuna. “This is a remarkable event, especially for the protection of our oceans and ensuring seafood security for future generations, amidst the growing threats of climate change and overfishing,” said Marianne Pan Saniano, a marine scientist for Oceana Philippines. Environmental organizations worked for several years to bring about these protections -- collecting tens of thousands of signatures on an online petition calling for the protection of the Philippine Rise.
Why This Matters: Aside from the greater global security implications of the Phillippines exerting its jurisdiction over this area, it is important because the Phillippines in the past has been more likely to overfish than to protect the marine environment. The government has long been pressured by the United Nations, the Europen Union and scientists to improve their fisheries management and provide greater oversight of the industry that has long had problems with human rights violations on its vessels. Not to mention that the Phillippine President is a controversial figure known for his aggressive war on drugs and has, according to his critics, "succumbed to executive overreach." However, we agree with our friends at Oceana that this is an important step toward the Phillippines cleaning up its act when it comes to oceans.
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 Animals
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One Funny Thing: A Bear With a Sweet Tooth
A black bear in New Jersey broke into baker Christine Allen's car and ate two dozen cupcakes. Allen said that the sneaky bear are every single chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry cupcake she had made for an order. She also noted that while she doesn't want her property destroyed that she didn't want the bear to be harmed, adding "animal cruelty is not what we do."
Allen, the owner of vegan bakery Mo’Pweeze, has taken a sweet spin on the unfortunate incident by creating bear-themed cupcakes to serve at the bakery.
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