Monthly Archives: July 2007

County, environmentalists call for mine study

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The mine application calls for 1,800 acres of wetlands to be preserved and 511 acres of wetlands and 55,000 linear feet of stream channels to be mined.

The plan calls for Mosaic to mitigate those impacts by reclaiming the site with 837 acres of wetlands, including some 400 acres of manmade lakes. The company is seeking a waiver from state water quality standards for the lakes because their waters won’t meet required levels for dissolved oxygen.

Also, Mosaic plans to replace the excavated streams with manmade channels designed to resemble natural streams.

Good plan! Destroy an ecosystem that’s been perfecting itself for a couple of thousand years and “replace” it with a system that’s inferior by your own admission. God, I love Republicans!


County, environmentalist call for mine study

Fires Blaze Across Southern Europe Due to Heat Wave

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In the northwestern part of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, a new fire erupted Saturday near the mountainous Jasen National Park. Two helicopters from KFOR (UN Peacekeepers — Kosovo) were sent to help extinguish the flames.

In the UN-run province of Serbia, three new fires are blazing northwest of Kosovo’s capital Pristina.

Southern European countries are battling blazes and blistering temperatures that have soared above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees F), torching wildfires in Greece and Italy.

Firefighters battled some 1,500 blazes within a 24 hour period in parts of central and southern Italy during the July 24 weekend. Three pilots were killed while operating fire-fighting aircraft.

Two Greek pilots died when their Canadair crashed while taking part in an operation to put out a major fire on the island of Evia. One Italian pilot was killed and another seriously injured in an accident during a fire-fighting operation in the area close to L’Aquila.

Large areas of central and southern Italy are still ablaze, although fire officials report crews are gaining control despite searing heat and high winds. One of the emergency areas is still the southern region of Puglia where dozens of new forest and bush fires have been reported.

BLISTERING HEAT AND ARSONISTS SET SOUTHERN EUROPE ABLAZE 

Central Florida Zoo — More than zoo — it’s a garden, too

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SANFORD – -It has been more than eight years since Steve DeCresie wrote his
first memo suggesting that the Central Florida Zoo seek the designation of
botanical garden.

At the time, he was a bird keeper with a passion for plants.

Now, he is the zoo’s first and only horticulturist, with stewardship over a
multitude of plants that flourish throughout the 117-acre park.

More than zoo — it’s a garden, too — OrlandoSentinel.com

News tapes expand eclectic Wolfson visual history archive

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Among the footage in the donation: the station’s 1980 coverage of the McDuffie riots and the Mariel boatlift.

The
Wolfson archive opened in 1986 and is partially funded by local, state
and federal grants. It’s located in a 1,500-square-foot room of the
main branch of the Miami-Dade Public Library downtown.

Dedicated
to film produced in or about Florida, the archive houses everything
from county-commissioned videos to promotional videos made for local
tourist attractions, like Parrot Jungle, now called Jungle Island.

The
footage dates as far back as 1910. Film that runs the risk of
deteriorating or holds significant historical importance has been
restored to original quality.

Some of it is wacky only-in-Miami
images like one-time sideshow, vaudeville and movie stars Violet and
Daisy Hilton — Siamese twins — operating their snack stand on West
Flagler in 1960.

Stacked in reels, the titles alone tell the story of the area — 1926 Miami after Hurricane; 1955 Overtown Easter Parade; 1961 Dade County Jail.

The Wolfson also collects home videos donated by Floridians, a rarity among archives.

……………….

News tapes expand eclectic Wolfson archive – 07/30/2007 – MiamiHerald.com

In East Texas, Residents Take On a Lake-Eating Monster — Is Florida Next?

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UNCERTAIN, Tex., July 25 — How this one-time steamboat landing on Caddo
Lake got its name is, well, uncertain — as uncertain as the fate that
now clouds this natural wonder, often called the state’s only honest
lake.

With more submerged acreage than Minnesota, Texas
has just 166 bodies of water commonly considered lakes. All but one of
them, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, are
artificial reservoirs, most created in the 1950s to fend off drought.

Now
that one, Caddo Lake, a mystical preserve of centuries-old mossy
cypress breaks, teeming fisheries and waterfowl habitats, is under
siege by a fast-spreading, Velcro-like aquatic fern, Salvinia molesta,
also known as Giant Salvinia.

In what East Texans here liken to
a horror movie, the furry green invader from South America, which is
infiltrating lakes in the American South and abroad to growing alarm,
is threatening to smother the labyrinthine waterway, the largest
natural lake in the South, covering about 35,000 acres and straddling
Texas and Louisiana.

In East Texas, Residents Take On a Lake-Eating Monster – New York Times

Sewage-contaminated groundwater found at offshore reefs of upper Florida Keys

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The widespread use of in-ground waste disposal through septic tanks and injection wells appears to be leading to the contamination of submarine groundwater even up to six miles offshore, said study author Erin Lipp, associate professor at the UGA College of Public Health.When the contaminated groundwater mixes with surface water and reaches the reef, the corals as well as human health might be harmed.

The findings were presented Tuesday at a meeting of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Water Quality Protection Program Steering Committee in Marathon, Fla.

Lipp and doctoral student Carrie Futch, along with Dale Griffin of the U.S. Geological Survey in Tallahassee, sampled surface water, groundwater and corals from five sites from nearshore to offshore beginning outside of Port Largo Canal and ending near Molasses Reef. Their three-year study revealed common fecal indicator bacteria and human viruses. …

Sewage-contaminated groundwater found at offshore reefs of upper Florida Keys

Battle for the soul of Florida

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On the ground you see strip malls and platted subdivisions by the
thousands. What you don’t see is how the entire financial system that
depends on diversifying risk, fails to account for what people want and
what people need in terms of quality of life, the environment, and
principles of “sustainability”.

Builders complain about their
critics: “we are only building what the market wants.” It’s a fallacy.
Builders build what bankers can finance.

And bankers, in this
case Wall Street, will finance whatever generates the most commissions
and bonuses for top shareholders, absent regulation. …

Eye On Miami: Battle for the soul of Florida by gimleteye

Lughnasadh: Pagan Celebration

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Both Pagans and Christians celebrate the first harvest. Originally, it
was not held on August first, but on the day of the initial harvest.
The Pagans primarily call it Lughnasadh, pronounced LOO-nas-ah,
August Eve and Lammas, while the Christians call it Lammas, Harvest
Home, Feast of Bread and Harvest Festival. Christians celebrate by
baking bread, then placing it on the church’s altar. Some also put
fruit there. Prayers of Thanksgiving are said and there are hymns of
gratitude. …

Lughnasadh: Pagan Celebration: Also Called Lammas, Harvest Home or Festival, Feast of Bread

88-year-old Florida man awarded Eagle Scout honors

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Hart joined the Navy in 1943 and served for two years aboard the USS
Alfred A. Cunningham, preventing him from getting his award. But Hart
found some of his old Boy Scout memorabilia last year, including
documents that showed he completed the requirements for his Eagle Scout
rank. He contacted the scouts about receiving his award.

88-year-old Florida man awarded Eagle Scout honors — South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com