News — jmblog

Warmer temperatures and droughts may lead to trees drying out faster than they can suck up water. According to an article in Rolling Stone, drought stressed trees have less sap to use to defend themselves from insects. They are also more vulnerable to wildfires. Instead of live tress absorbing carbon, dead trees may release carbon. Fires will release soot, which can lead to more warming. Live forests store about 25 % of greenhouse gas emissions. An article in the Daily Camera says that western forest fires are caused by climate change, not insect damage. Join Clean Energy Action, 350.org, 350clorado.org, Greenpeace, Citizens' Climate Lobby, and Sierra Club to work against global warming.          

Satellites can calculate groundwater disappearance by measuring a decrease in gravitational attraction. With less water in the ground, there is less mass and less attraction. The Colorado River Basin has lost 17 trillion gallons since 2004, mostly groundwater. Our water use is steadily growing, but groundwater losses take millennia to be restored by nature. Seventy percent of the basin's water supply goes to water-intensive agriculture, and much goes to population growth in cities. Solutions:

• municipal conservation
• reuse
• grey water treatment
• irrigation efficiency

Come see films about rhinos, condors, pandas, hawks, and orangutans; films about native cultures: Mayans, Inuit, Nuxalk, Micronesians, and Hawaiians; "Damnation", about dams; and "Burden of Dreams", about the making of Herzog's "Fitzcarraldo" in the Amazon. The Festival is run by the Boulder County Audubon Society, a voice for migratory bird and wildlife conservation through habitat protection, political action, and education. When: October 17-19, 2014 Where: Boulder Dairy Center for Performing Arts Tickets: Dairy Center for the Performing Arts ticket office and website Informational contact: Steve Jones More info: Living in Nature: First Boulder Rights of Nature Film Festival

Some people here in Boulder are trying to get the city to take its money out of JP Morgan Stanley, claiming that immoral or unethical acts by that bank harm people and society. Good banks and credit unions invest and loan locally. They avoid laundering money, screwing customers, and investing in polluting and damaging companies. There are similar socially responsible mutual funds and companies. Learn more:

• Ethical banking - Wikipedia
• Green America's Guide to Socially Responsible Investing: Choosing a Bank that Makes a Difference
• Global Alliance – For Banking on Values ~ Socially Responsible and Green Banks as a Vehicle for Socio-economic Development and Change

Help elephants! Please write to newspapers, your representative, senators, and president, asking the sale of elephant ivory products to be banned in the US, Japan, and China. Poachers kill 30,000 elephants per year for their ivory tusks. Ivory products are sold in China, Japan, and the US. Ask that countries burn their ivory stockpiles. Ask countries to decrease the demand, disrupt the trafficking, "follow the money", and set an example. Learn more: http://eia-global.org/blog/crush-the-ivory-trade-not-just-the-ivory

Breaking update: Governor Hickenlooper cut a secret deal with the oil and gas industry to take away your right to protect your family and future from fracking. After months of closed door negotiations, Governor Hickenlooper, Congressman Polis and the oil and gas industry announced last Friday that they had made a deal to address fracking. But one key piece of the legislation would take away the ability for a Colorado community to ban or place a moratorium on fracking. They want to pass this measure in a special session of the Colorado Legislature in the next few days. Tell your legislators to oppose this backroom deal! Find the names and contact info of your state senator and state representative here. Please tell them that you do not want this "backroom deal", where Gov. Fracken blooper and the oil and gas companies are trying to preempt the votes of the citizens. Also, please tell Rep. Polis that you want him to stop this deal of a special session of the legislature. Call (202) 225-2161 or send him a message. Tell him to allow the past votes to stand and sign the petition to get initiative 75 for local control onto the ballot. Please oppose the Hickenlooper fracking deal. It will take away the hard won victories - the moratoriums and bans on fracking in Fort Collins, Boulder, Lafayette, and Broomfield. These bans and moratoriums allow us time to find out the results of health and scientific studies. Then we can make an informed choice, instead of letting the powerful and greedy oil and gas industry to grab profits before we know for sure whether they are harming our health, the water, and our future. For more info go to fractivist.org, frackfreecolorado.com, deargovernorHickenlooper.com, and 350colorado.org.