Category Archives: environment

Add Ozone to the miseries of the Seattle Smoke

To quote Cliff Mass: According to Dr. Jaffe, we have not seen [ozone] like this in decades.  So with smoke adding lots of particles into the atmosphere (documented in previous blogs), high ozone levels, a depressing sky with little visibility, and … Continue reading

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Sea-Tac’s rain gage has been empty!

From Gordon Gray:  

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Eclipse solar glasses

From Ann Milam: The market is flooded with “solar glasses” that are unsafe. Please check this reference from the National Science Foundation before ordering a pair: https://eclipse.aas.org/resources/solar-filters

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Finding Freeway Park – give your input!

From Sue Van Leuven: The Freeway Park Association is working with SDOT and Parks to design safer and more attractive pedestrian entrances to the Park. take a few minutes to review a series of Finding Freeway Park design boards that can … Continue reading

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Umbraphiles, coronaphiles, eclipsoholics and ecliptomaniacs

From Ann Milam Click here for an interesting history of eclipses from the Smithsonian Magazine.  

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The Greening before The Smoke

Satellite photo 7/31/2017 from a few days before the BC smoke obscured the area.  That’s a phytoplankton bloom covering all of Hood Canal. The source of discoloration is a huge bloom of microscopic phytoplankton plated with white calcium carbonate. Under … Continue reading

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Planned downtown marina

Big plans by the Port of Seattle. Click here for more info on the Bell Harbor Marina. Some wonder just how big the Port’s budget is!

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The Smoke comes and goes

The Seattle Times put together a nice illustration of how our smoke comes and goes:

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Cliff Mass’s updates on the smoke, fires and global warming

The following is from his website: Click here for more If you want to escape smoke, go south of Olympia or head to the coast. Now the bad news.  Today is the good day for air quality around Puget Sound.  The … Continue reading

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August 3 smoke pours out of British Columbia

Most of the smoke comes from just north of the top of the picture.  Without much wind to mix and thin the smoke, much sits in river valleys, almost as if it were flowing down the Fraser River.  But the … Continue reading

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Sunrise in the east—do my eyes deceive me?

 From Ann Milam  

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Red levels of air pollution

The red dots are Stay Indoors for seniors.  Those fires up in BC have been active since spring.  That’s the area devastated by the mountain pine beetle, which has had  a population explosion in the last decade thanks to warmer … Continue reading

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Air quality continues to deteriorate as B.C. wildfire smoke fills Washington skies

“SEATTLE (KOMO) — A thick, smoky haze from wildfires burning in British Columbia continued to blow into Washington on Wednesday, giving the skies an orange-brown tint and degrading the air quality. Air quality monitors with Puget Sound Clean Air Agency and … Continue reading

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Celebration on 8th Avenue next Tuesday August 1st

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Seattle’s new seawall: Holding back the tide, protecting salmon

From Crosscut: “Thousands of tourists migrate to Seattle’s waterfront each year to experience the ferry rides, kitschy stores and sweeping views of Elliott Bay. Jeff Cordell says they’re overlooking something that makes the waterfront even more special: filamentous microalgae. “Brown … Continue reading

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Robotic cars may be coming – and may not help our traffic!

From Crosscut: “The robot cars are coming, like it or not. And local researchers say Seattle better be prepared. From BMW to Ford, car companies say they aim to introduce fully automated cars in only a few years. More conservative … Continue reading

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Anxiety in Eastern Washington Orchards

From Crosscut: “In the Yakima Valley, nestled east of the Cascades, the fruit trees are waking up. Signs along State Highway 24 advertise openings for “piscadores,” or harvesters. At the Doornink Fruit Ranch in Wapato, expert hands prune hundreds of acres … Continue reading

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Human evolution lectures now on streaming video

https://plus.google.com/collection/0IJzmB All five lectures are collected at that URL.

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A message in a sand castle & “fake news” from Pogo

A wise message from a State’s rights small government President. Wonderful to find this quote on a Coronado beach. A similar corollary is from Walt Kelly through Pogo (below). We need to say this over and over again: The “enemy is … Continue reading

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Spinning Ice Disk – pretty cool

 

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Seattle nostalgia

From Crosscut: “The media is full of stories bemoaning change in Seattle. Old cafes closing, landmarks demolished, efforts to save legacy businesses like that dive bar down the street. There are more construction cranes dotting the skyline than in any … Continue reading

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In Mexico, Murray joins united front against Trump

From Crosscut: “MEXICO CITY — Continuing his defiant tone following the presidential election, Mayor Ed Murray insisted that Seattle will continue to press forward on climate change whatever the policies of the Trump administration. On his first official trip to … Continue reading

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Human population through time

From Aeon: “From our origins in Africa, humans began migrating around the globe roughly 100,000 years ago. But it was only with the advent of agriculture about 12,000 years ago that our population started to swell to more than a million. This data … Continue reading

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ATTEND THE CONVENTION CENTER ADDITION PUBLIC BENEFITS OPEN HOUSE 12/7

To build the Washington State Convention Center Addition project, the Washington State Convention Center (WSCC) is requesting that the city vacate three alleys and underground portions of Olive Way and Terry Avenue. The project will pay for these rights of … Continue reading

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Seattle’s tech boom is just getting started

There interesting commentary in Crosscut discussing the silicon valley and San Francisco tech growth problems. Seattle is beginning to look more and more attractive, perhaps not to the new hires who sleep on futons, but certainly to the more mature tech … Continue reading

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