Seems like every week a species from somewhere else shows up in a new area and takes over, wreaking havoc. The latest hotspot: the Galapagos, where non-native mosquitoes are arriving via aircraft and tour boats.

The southern house mosquito, Culex quinquefasciatus, already messed up Hawaii. It arrived there, most likely in airplanes, in the late 19th century and had a devastating effect on the islands’ endemic birds.

The new bird house at the Philadelphia Zoo has an exhibit explaining what happened. About 20 to 50 alien species of plants and animals arrive in Hawaii every year, and one of them was the mosquito. It proved an excellent vector for the transmission of diseases among birds, and today most of the surviving avian species live more than 2,000 feet above sea level, where it is too cold for the mosquitoes.

The honeycreeper was particularly hard-hit. Only 19 out of 42 species and subspecies now remain, and many of the extinctions are considered to have been caused by diseases spread by the mosquito.

Now, scientists from the University of Leeds, the Zoological Society of London, the University of Guayaquil, the Galapagos National Park and the Charles Darwin Foundation, have shown that the mosquito is regularly hitching a ride from the mainland to the Galapagos and breeding with existing populations. They’re also spreading via tourist boats that visit the islands.

Arnaud Bataille, a Leeds doctoral researcher said that, on average, the number of mosquitoes per airplane is low, “but many aircraft arrive each day from the mainland in order to service the tourist industry, and the mosquitoes seem able to survive and breed once they leave the plane.”

Fellow researcher Andrew Cunningham said their studies who “that everything is in place for a similar disaster to occur in Galapagos as occurred in Hawaii. Unless immediate and forceful mitigating actions are taken, it is only a matter of time before Galapagos wildlife meet the same fate as the Hawaiian honeycreepers.”

Tourism to these islands, so rich in wildlife, provides a lot of funds. But now, some are wondering if the cost outweighs the benefits.
 

The Fisker Karma

“Experts” have long been saying the popularity of hybrid vehicles is waning, in parallel to lower gas prices. Say it ain’t so? It ain’t!

The Hybrid Owners of America organization reported today that purchases of hybrids in July were up 35 percent from June numbers, and 31.8 percent from the year before.  July sales also reached a record market share of 3.55 percent of new car sales. In comparison, the organization reports, sales of conventional vehicles rose 15.4 percent from June.

July was also the first time a U.S. manufacturer had two of the top four hybrid models in sales — the Ford Escape and Fusion hybrid.

Meanwhile, Fisker Automotive reports from Monterey,  California, that its plug-in hybrid electric vehicle — a PHEV — made its public driving debut last weekend, 19 months after being introduced as a concept.

The 403 hp prototype, called the Fisker Karma, reached a speed of 100 mph, but used no gasoline as it went around the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca during the Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races.
The company reports that the Karma can reach 60 mph in six seconds and a top speed of 125 mph. It can go 50 miles on its Lithium-ion battery and, overall, can  achieve well over 100 mpg. Carbon emissions are also lower than today’s hybrids, Fisker says.

“This demonstration represents a significant milestone for Fisker Automotive and PHEV technology,” said CEO Henrik Fisker in a statement. “The future of clean cars is bright.”

Finally, electric car enthusiasts won’t want to miss this week’s New Yorker profile of Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors.

Philadelphia council members who have long been pushing for a way to limit plastic bag use — and, by extension, plastic bag litter — may want to take note of what’s been happening in Seattle.

Yesterday in a referendum, voters overwhelmingly nixed a 25-cent fee for each bag used.

In May, Philadelphia had proposed the same thing, but the measure was withdrawn from consideration. The full story is here.

The environmental commmittee came back at the issue in June, proposing an all-out ban, but council voted it down. That report is here. Councilmen James Kenney and Frank DiCicco have pledged not to give up on trying to limit plastic bag use.

Here’s the report on yesterday’s Seattle referendum from Associated Press writer Phuong Le:

Seattle voters’ rejection of a 20-cent fee on plastic and paper bags represents a sound defeat for other efforts in U.S. cities to limit the use of the throwaway bags, plastics industry officials said Wednesday.

A referendum on an ordinance to charge the bag fee at grocery, drug and convenience stores was easily defeated in Tuesday’s primary in this liberal city — whose voters are known for taxing themselves to pay for parks, libraries, affordable housing and other causes.

“If they can’t do it there, they can’t do anywhere,” said Stephen Joseph, a San Francisco attorney with SavethePlasticBag.com, who has challenged several plastic bag bans in California.

The ordinance approved by city leaders was to start in January, but the plastics industry bankrolled a referendum to put the question to voters.

The Progressive Bag Affiliates, an arm of the American Chemistry Council, spent $1.4 million to overturn the ordinance, the largest contribution to a local ballot measure in recent history. Supporters raised about $93,000.
Heather Trim, a spokeswoman for the Seattle Green Bag campaign, said other cities will surely look to Seattle’s outcome for cues on how to proceed.

“They’re going to think twice because they know that the ACC is willing to spend as much as needed to defeat it,” said Trim, toxics program manager for People for Puget Sound.

But communities and citizens will also become better aware of the industry’s influence and arm themselves appropriately, she said.

Supporters argued the fee would encourage more reusable bags, cut down on pollution and waste, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The ubiquitous thin, cheap plastic bags have been blamed for littering streets, polluting oceans and harming marine life. The city’s ordinance targeted both paper and plastic sacks after city officials determined that paper bags were worse for the environment.

Adam Parmer, a spokesman for the Coalition to Stop the Seattle Bag Tax, said Seattle voters rejected the bag fee because it was unnecessary, costly and the wrong approach to changing behavior.

Supporters here are now considering an outright ban, Brady Montz, Seattle chairman for the Sierra Club and a spokesman for the pro-fee group, said Wednesday. He noted that San Francisco considered a fee before becoming the first city in the nation to ban plastic bags in 2007.

David Lewis, executive director of Save the Bay, an Oakland, Calif., said many cities haven’t been deterred by aggressive lobbying by plastic bag makers.

“Even if a proposal like this fails, the problem continues to grow,” Lewis said. “That’s why I think, ultimately, the efforts to restrict and reduce bag use will be successful.”
 

I wrote in Monday’s GreenSpace column about toilet paper and other household paper products, and how Greenpeace has buried the hatchet after a five-year battle with tissue giant Kimberly-Clark.

Greenpeace mainly objected to K-C’s use of virgin wood pulp — especial from Canada’s Boreal Forest, ancient woodlands that are home to caribou and billions of nesting songbirds. But K-C and other major paper products manufacturers say that Americans demand softness in their paper products (unlike Europeans, which demand toughness). And, they say, virgin pulp is the only way to get it.

Greenpeace and K-C reached a detente after the company agreed to several measures: It promised that by the end of 2011, its North American fiber would contain at least 40 percent content that was either recycled paper or pulp from trees that had been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council as sustainably logged. Within that, it promised that after 2011, the company would use no pulp from the Boreal that had not been certified by the council.

It didn’t take long for the skeptics to start up, claiming, basically, “Big whoop.” They felt there was no reason at all to use virgin pulp, certified or not. Ever.

Rolf Skar, Greenpeace’s senior forest campaigner, called the other day from the UN climate negotiations in Germany to defend Greenpeace’s endorsement and put it into context.

He said it wasn’t fair to compare K-C, the largest tissue products manufacturer on earth, with smaller companies. “I hope those companies grow into huge global companies,” but the fact is that, for the moment, they’re not. So they’re a whole lot more nimble.

K-C, on the other hand, simply can’t shift overnight. “In order for them to feed a gigantic mill that makes Kleenex, they need to have a dependable supply,” Sklar said. “We know it’s out there. But there’s a difference between being out there and making sure it ends up at a manufacturing facility in usable quantities. So there’s a gap here.”

What’s important, he said, is that K-C made a commitment that is “unprecedented” in the global paper market. He said it amounted to “a global policy that takes off the table a lot of the last, best forests left on the planet.”

He also felt it was important that K-C was setting an example for other companies. “Once they start distinguishing themselves by using recycled content .. by developing new markets for FSC pulp, then what’s  next? Proctor Gamble and Union Pacific? It’s their move next,” he said.

Meanwhile, Greenpeace plans to update its tissue-buying guide as companies and the industry changes. For now, K-C products are still in the “to be avoided” column.
 

Smithsonian graphic

Coffee, anyone? I’ve been trying to keep stocked with beans certified as bird-friendly, but they’re tough to find. Often, I simply have to pick an organic brand at my grocery story and hope that suffices.

The problem with many of the major brands is that the coffee plants are grown in monocultures on large plantations, often requiring pesticides, herbicides and fertilizer.

The more traditional, earth-friendly way to grow coffee is in the shade of forests, in areas rich with birds and native plants. Organic means that the plants are grown sans the nasty chemicals, but it may not mean the growers have gone all the way to ensure bird habitats, worker rights and a fair price. So clearly there’s a lot more to consider.

I’ve found a local source for bird-friendly certified coffee at the Reading Terminal Market. I wound up passing by one day when I hadn’t expected to and decided to stock up. My pride level shot up. How eco! I didn’t even have to make a special trip.

Once the clerk filled several little bags of it, she looked up. “Do you need a bag?”

Gulp. I realized I hadn’t brought one.

“Yes, please,” I said, chagrined.

She gave me a withering look. “That’s not very bird-friendly,” she said.

For more information, here’s a link to a column I wrote not long ago about coffee.

The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center has trademarked the "Bird Friendly" seal and has a rigorous program. The Rainforest Alliance certification focuses on sustainability, wildlife and the workers. Audubon has adopted that for its coffees as well.

Off to the patch

Two ships are on their way to the Pacific gyre — also known as the Pacific Garbage Patch — to assess the vast island of floating plastic debris. Researchers on the 90-day mission want to try to figure out if it can be, in effect, harvested for recycling. Which would also accomplish the goal of cleaning it up.

One of the two principle sponsors of the mission is the Bureau of International Recycling, an the international federation of recycling industries based in Belgium.

The plastic patch has been estimated to contain about 4 million tons of plastic over an area about twice the size of Texas, although another of the research goals is to measure it more precisely. It’s sometimes referred to as “the eighth continent.”

While some are simply horrified that so much plastic is adrift on what should be a pristine ocean, others are concerned about the effects on wildlife that might ingest some of the stuff. Others are concerned that as the plastic breaks down, pollutants become chemically attached and can also affect wildlife.

Landlubbers can track their progress at on the website of Project Kaisei.

The researchers on the ship have a blog. On Saturday, they reported that although they were still more than a day and a half away from the gyre — which drifts somewhat — “we could see small and large pieces of plastic floating by. In lieu of fish, one of our anglers found pieces of plastic net on his hooks.”

Camping at Locust Lake (DCNR photo)

Although I haven’t done it for a few years, I love camping. (As in tent camping. Not bringing along a whole trailer-full of energy-sucking amenities.) And seeing as how it’s so green, I just might get back to it. Just think: No hotel room to cool or heat. Evenings by lantern-light. Low-impact activities like hiking, watching the stars and telling outrageous stories. And, for many, NO TV!!! I love the feel of the air, the sound of the wind in the trees, the glow of the moon.

But some camps can be greener than others, and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has some thoughts. It is setting up demonstration “green” campsites at state parks this summer. How green do they go? Each has a tent and sleeping bag made from recycled materials, a fuel efficient cooking stove, an LED flashlight, solar charger and reusable batteries, reusable cook set, solar camp shower, non-toxic bug repellent, bear-proof food container, a clothes line and reusable marshmallow sticks.

I can attest to those solar showers. I’ve used them on boats, and they can sure absorb a lot of heat over the course of a sunny day.

Here are more tips from the DCNR:

* Look for a campsite that is already established, more than 200 feet from a water source, and stay off plants as much as possible.
* Use re-usable plates instead of paper.
* Take along re-usable water bottles. If you use commercial bottled water, make sure to recycle the bottles.
* Use biodegradable camp suds for dishes and your body.
* Avoid dumping soapy water on plants because the soap could kill them.
* Recycle aluminum cans because burning them in a campfire will release chemicals that pollute the air.
* Leave in place any plants, fossils, flowers or other things that you find.
* Keep campfires in rings or use a cook stove instead.
* Use local firewood instead of carrying it with you as some unwanted invasive pests might hitch a ride.
* Tie a clothes line from tree to tree; bring along hot dog sticks instead of breaking off tree branches; set your lantern on the table instead of putting a nail in a tree to hang it.
* Do not feed wildlife.
* Dispose of trash properly or take it with you when you leave and recycle it when you get home.

In a fit of pique, I have deleted the DCNR's last tip, which is to be considerate of others when using cell phones. How is THAT "green?" It's just being polite. Skip the cell phone altogether, I say. Give the world a break from blather and yammer.

And here's another tip: Don't bring your own firewood. You may inadvertently transport an invasive insect or plant disease along with it.  

The demonstration locations:
* July 17-20: Cowans Gap State Park, Fulton County
* July 24-27: Ohiopyle State Park, Fayette County
* July 30 - Aug. 3: Laurel Hill State Park, Somerset County
* Aug. 7- 10: Parker Dam State Park, Clearfield County
* Aug. 14- 17: Worlds End State Park, Sullivan County
* Aug. 21-24: Hickory Run State Park, Carbon County
 

There’s more news on the red knot front.

When we last left the subspecies, a good number of those leaving the Delaware Bay in late May had reached optimum body weights, priming them for reproductive success when they reached the Arctic.

I wrote about that development here.

Now, the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network has chimed in with an article that contains more good news.  In the spring, researchers documented a phenomenal feat: “Two individual knots stunned everyone by being seen in Florida by Pat and Doris Leary only 13 days after they were last seen in San Antonio Oeste, Argentina. The straight-line distance (which would involve an undocumented crossing of the Andes) would be about 7,800 kilometers; a more likely coastal route would involve traveling some 10,000 kilometers. This is the first hard evidence that knots move north without significant stopovers and is the result of intensified banding and resighting efforts made at an international scale over recent years.”

Then, on Delaware Bay, “Luís Benegas of Argentina, working with Allan Baker and Patricia González, resighted “B-95,” the same adult red knot he banded in Río Grande, Tierra del Fuego (Argentina), in 1995! B-95 is now at least 17 years old and continues to inspire us—and our supporters!”

But, alas, the news from up north has not been as good.

The Winnipeg Free Press noted last month that winter still gripped the Arctic, and migratory birds were unable to breed. “Prolonged cold snowy conditions in the Hudson Bay area are expected to obliterate the breeding season for migratory birds and most other species of wildlife this year,” the reporter wrote.

“According to Robert Jefferies, professor emeritus of botany at the University of Toronto, the last time there was a late spring in northern Manitoba, in 1983, there was a total reproductive "bust" in lesser snow geese. Most species of birds did not nest at all.”

So, as usual, the plot thickens....
 

Some of the 87

Amid all the rain and the dead seedlings and the late plantings, I’ve had an encouraging success: 87 heads of garlic!

Here’s how it all happened:

A few years ago I planted some garlic in the garden and it never quite took off. Very clay-ey soil. So I dug it all up and planted it in a garden formed by a rock wall on a hill, back filled with looser soil. Winter sun on the rocks keeps it warmish, too.

Last year, the garlic sprouted. I let the green plant-tops die back like I thought I was supposed to. But then, I couldn’t find all the garlic. Partly, I’m sure, it was because it was so small.

This year - WOW! — the greenery came up gonzo. Last weekend, I was weeding around it, and a lot of the leaves looked dead. I consulted the ridiculously comprehensive “Growing Great Garlic” - 213 pages of musings and advice, thank you — and got more confused than ever. Harvest now or later? Rinse or dry dirty?

But as I was pulling weeds, the soil seemed so loose that I grabbed ahold of a garlic top and pulled gently. Out came a big one. My husband joined in and we pulled it all. In 10 mins, we had the most amazing bounty.

The heads have been drying (slightly rinsed) on the back porch for a few days. This morning, with rain forecast, 85 of them went into a large, flat basket inside. (Two had already gone into spaghetti sauce.)

Meanwhile, we spent seven hours of gardening on Monday, a day off. We put nets around the blueberries, filled in a few blank spaces in the garden with more tomato plants and  planted more cukes, limas, string beans and okra where the critters had eaten them.

The chard seems to be the favorite of whatever’s been getting under/through/over the fence. Just nubs are left. But we covered them with netting and hope they’ll grow back. It’s pretty hardy stuff.

I finally got the eggplant seedlings into the ground, too. I sprinkled pepper all around and over them, and so far they have been immune to the critters and flea beetles. They may even be growing a bit.

This time of year it seems like all work and no pay-off.

But the older cukes and some squashes have flowers.

And some little green tomatoes are forming.

Can dinner be far behind?