compiled by Sharlynn Cobaugh

Warm Winter Leaves Columbia Basin Dry

If anyone has any question about just how dismal this winter was, ask anyone who skis or works for a ski resort and you'll get a definitive answer. Chances are they were barely able to get a few days in, as many Northwestern ski resorts were closed for a large part of the winter season due to rain and low snow pack.

The lack of snow is not just a recreation issue, however. The snowpacks in the Cascades and Northern Rockies are our water towers, and now those water towers are empty. At the end of the season, Cascade snowpacks were between 22 to 45 percent of average, with many snow-measuring sites reporting record lows. Experts are stumped when it comes to determining the cause of this year's weather, but say the signs point to global warming.

Apparently, global warming does not raise temperatures everywhere equally, but is most dramatic in the wintertime at high latitudes and in the mountains, especially mountains where a few degrees temperature change will make the difference between snow and rain such as it does in the Pacific Northwest.

The University of Washington Climate Impacts Group reports that spring snowpack in the Pacific Northwest has been declining in volume and melting earlier for 50 years. In western Washington and Oregon this decline has been especially evident: there has been a 50% decline in April 1 snowpack in the last 50 years.

The results of this dwindling snowpack is an earlier runoff in northwestern streams and rivers, which contributes to drought conditions later in the summer. Drought in summer means increased fire danger. In Washington State, Governor Gregoire has requested extra funding for early training of firefighters, and she has asked that the Washington National Guard be home and prepared to help fight fires this summer.

Oregon may be looking to the Washington National Guard this summer for help, as their entire fleet of Chinook helicopters is in Afghanistan. Montana may also find itself shorthanded this fire season as 1,400 of their 3,300 National Guard members are on duty in Iraq.

(High Country News, April 2005)

Oregonian's Stop-Loss Battle Lost

Oregon National Guard member, Emiliano Santiago, served his full 8-year commitment in the Guard. Four months after his termination date, he was called to active duty in Iraq, and was told his new termination date was in 2031. Santiago was in court April 6th to contest the fairness of this backdoor draft, officially known as "stop-loss".

Santiago's lawyer argued for an emergency injunction against his deployment, and was turned down that very day by the 9th Circuit Courct of Appeals. Judge Sandra Day O'Connor turned down Supreme Court consideration of the case. As of mid-April, Santiago is serving time in Iraq.

Santiago is not alone in his predicament. Young people being pressed to commit to military service are not being told about the "stop-loss" provision, a loophole in their contracts that gives the military the right to bind them to service indefinitely. In Santiago's case, with his forced 30-year extension, he will be in his 50s before he can leave the National Guard.

Santiago's case in not closed. Although the court did not issue any emergency injunctions, the written ruling left the case open to appeal. Currently the Center for Constitutional Rights has initiated a class-action suit--pending trial--in the name of David W. Qualls and seven anonymous soldiers who are currently serving in Iraq.

(Freedom Socialist, June-July 2005)

Global Warming and Northwest Forests

The number of bark beetles inhabiting northwestern forests is growing. Conditions are just right, with milder winters and forests that are stressed from overcrowding and drought. With their rising numbers and current forest conditions, the bark beetles are quickly gaining a lead against their prey, pine trees.

When bark beetles attack a pine tree, they live underneath its bark and eat its phloem (which transports nutrients and water and keeps the tree alive). When the tree can no longer support itself (or them) they move to another tree. In the process of fighting the bark beetles, the tree tries to drive the beetles out with its sap. When the tree turns from green to red, it is a signal that it is loosing this fight.

Bark beetle infestations have put British Columbia's lodgepole pine forests in total crisis. And although it may not be a full blown epidemic yet in the lower 48, bark beetle numbers are on the rise and there is much documentation of increased beetle infestations and forest kills. Landowners in Montana are actively addressing the bark beetle issue with their own money, and are concerned that nearby federal lands are not keeping up with needed management to address the growing problem.

In response, Missoula, Montana's urban forester Scott Stringer says, "We do as much as we can with the resources we have. I think that all the public land agencies want to do as much as they can, but having 700,000 acres infested is hard to deal with.... It's a lot of space for minimal resources."

Dealing with bark beetle infestations means going in and removing the trees before the beetles exit and move on to another host. Infested logs should not be cut up for firewood, as the beetles will leave the woodshed and infest nearby trees. Landowners can take preventative measures to tip the scales in favor of the trees by proactively going in and thinning their forests, as crowded trees are more stressed and thus more attractive to attacking beetle swarms.

(Missoula Independent, May 19, 2005)

Summer Sun and Skin Cancer

Rising rates of skin cancer have Americans reaching for the sunscreen before every outdoor summer outing, but new studies show that the sunscreens we use to protect us may be contributing to the rising cancer rates. In tropical countries, rates of skin cancer are very low, which doesn't make sense if you believe that the sun causes skin cancer.

Indeed the sun may not be the cause of the rise in skin cancers. Consider this: the sun is a source of vitamin D, and exposure to the sun prompts our skin to make melanin, our own natural protection against sunburn and skin cancer.

This summer, think twice before you slather your skin with chemicals that are suspected to be bad and are possibly cancer-causing, such as: octyldimethyl-Paba (OD-PABA), benzophenone - 3 (BP - 3), homosalate (HMS), octyl-methoxycinnamate (OMC) and 4 methyl-benzylidene camphor (4 - MBC).

Instead, try wearing light cotton clothing that will shade your skin from the sun. For those places and times when you can't avoid intense sun exposure, try a healthy home made sunscreen made with Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C). Simply mix the ascorbic acid powder into water or your favorite cream and apply every 30 to 60 minutes.

(Alternatives, Volume 29 Summer 2005)

CA Nurses Take On Schwarzenegger

Wherever the governator goes these days, he is plagued by a dedicated team of workers, California's nurses. As they protested at a recent speech he gave in Sacramento, he told the audience, "Pay no attention to those voices over there.... The special interests don't like me in Sacramento because I am always kicking their butts." An interesting choice of words, considering that in general, most people think of big business as special interest and unions as guardians of workers rights.

Since coming into office, Schwarzenneger has made it clear that he sees things how big business would like him to see. According to the Secretary-Treasurer of the California Federation of Labor, Schwarzenneger has taken more money "per hour" in office from big corporate special interests than any governer in California history.

And, because this money comes with strings attached, the governer has been puppeting away, killing bills that would increase the minimum wage, curb outsourcing, and protect employee privacy.

The reason he got on the nurses' bad side is because he delayed the implementation of a law, passed in 1999 and due to be active in 2004, which required hospitals to have one nurse on duty for every 6 patients. By January 2005 this was supposed to be down to one nurse to every 5 patients. But, the governator has delayed implemenation of this law until 2008, which is why the nurses have gone on the offensive.

And unlike Arnold put it in his speech, it is the nurses who are kicking butt. The California Nurses Association has sued him twice and won both times, and a Sacramento superior court ruled against delaying the implementation of staffing ratios. His approval rating has dropped from 65 to 55% between September 2004 and January 2005, and with the nurses hot on his trail, it may just keep falling.

(Labor Party News, April 2005)

Harvard Takes Action Against Genocide in Darfur, Sudan

After months of repeated student protest, Harvard University officials announced this April that Harvard will divest $4.3 million in stock out of PetroChina Company Limited in protest of the company's support for the government of Sudan. PetroChina's parent company, China National Petroleum Corporation is a leading partner of the Sudanese government in the production of oil.

The Harvard statement reads "Oil is a critical source of revenue and an asset of paramount strategic importance to the Sudanese government, which has been found to be complicit in what the US Congress and US State Department have termed 'genocide' in Darfur."

(Multinational Monitor, March/April 2005)