1 PEATDUSTER...4 The Sierra Club Explore, enjoy and protect the planet. - Explore, Enjoy and Protect the Planet Volume 51 Number 1 P-4 Peatduster Delta-Sierra Group January February

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PEATDUSTER

Volume 51 Number 1 P-1 Peatduster Delta-Sierra Group January February 2020

HAPPY NEW YEAR

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Explore, enjoy and protect the planet. Explore, enjoy and protect the planet. Explore, enjoy and protect the planet. Explore, enjoy and protect the planet. Explore, enjoy and protect the planet. The Sierra Club - Explore, Enjoy and Protect the Planet


MEETINGS

All Delta-Sierra Group general meetings are open to everyone whether you are a Sierra Club member or not. Meetings are held in the Fireside Room at the Central United Methodist Church, 3700 Pacific Avenue, Stockton, across from the University of Pacific Tower.

Monday, January 27 at 7 pm Carol Witham Vernal Pools – Kaleidoscopes of Life

Kaleidoscopes were a favorite holiday gift for children many years ago. They displayed a quickly and constantly changing series of brilliantly colored patterns. The metaphor works for California’s vernal pool landscapes. Carol Witham will help us to explore the short-lived, weird-looking, fascinating fauna that evolved millions of years ago, and dazzling swaths of tens of thousands of tiny flowers that change from week to week through a two to three month season. This tour of California’s vernal pools will answer questions such as “what makes a vernal pool?” and “why are they found almost nowhere but California?” plus we will explore vernal pools from throughout the state. Carol Witham is a self-taught vernal pool ecologist and has been studying that ecosystem for over three decades. She is a private consultant specializing in rare plants and animals found in vernal pools and their management. Carol is author of Field Guide to the Vernal Pools of Mather Field, Sacramento County and co-editor of Jepson Prairie Preserve Handbook, 3rd Edition. She is also very active in vernal pool conservation advocacy and education. Editor’s Note: Both books are apparently out of print, but are available at Amazon.com and listed as in very good condition.

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Photos: Carol Witham

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Please Note: There will be no evening meeting Monday, February 24.

See the next page.

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Climate Change Crisis: Seeking Solutions Saturday, February 29, 2020 @ 12:30-3:30 pm

Fireside Room, Central United Methodist Church 3700 Pacific Avenue, Stockton, CA

The HBO Movie Ice on Fire is an eye-opening documentary that

focuses on solutions designed to slow down our escalating environmental crisis. The film goes beyond the current narrative and offers hope that we can stave off the worst effects of global warming, but we must take action.

The film which provides many never-before-seen solutions was produced by Oscar-winner Leonardo DiCaprio, with George DiCaprio and Mathew Schmid and directed by Leila Conners.

This may be the last Leap Year humanity can deal with climate change before climate change permanently deals with us! Following the film there will be a group discussion about actions that are taking place in our community and how we can and must all be involved. This is URGENT!

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Exploring the South Bay by Train, Bus, and Bicycle

By Elaine Gorman (Yokuts) and Paul Plathe (Delta-Sierra) Up at 5 am, I ate a quick breakfast, then filled my day pack with items needed for the day. I left home near Modesto at 6 am, giving me almost ninety minutes to drive 20 miles to catch the 7:24 Altamont Corridor Express commuter train in Manteca/Lathrop. A couple of miles from home, I realized that I had forgotten my folder containing directions, itinerary, and notes. I pulled a U-y and headed back home, retrieved the folder, and was relieved that the maneuver only took 10 minutes, still giving me over an hour to get to the station.

Two weeks prior, I had received an email from hiking pal Paul Plathe, outlining his idea for this trip to San Jose and Los Gatos. We had been communicating about destinations near the Central Valley that were accessible by public transportation. This day-long trip seemed easy and fun, and would give me the experience of traveling sans automobile.

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When I reached the highway 99 on-ramp in Salida, my heart sank. In the pre-dawn dark, all I could see in the northbound lanes were red taillights in a sea of near-motionless vehicles. It took me almost 15 minutes to crawl down the on-ramp. I called Paul in a panic, explained the traffic situation and warned him that I may not make the train (Paul was boarding the train in Stockton). With only 40 minutes left to get to the station, I decided to get off 99, and to drive the back roads to Manteca.

After I reached the station parking lot with 5 minutes to spare, I grabbed my bike out of the back of the car, and rode it to the ticket kiosk. I was happy to show my drivers license to get the senior discount - only $13 for a round-trip ticket to San Jose! On board, I located Paul, and since this was the final ACE train of the morning, it was fairly empty, with plenty of space in the bike rack.

During the nearly 2-hour train ride, I gazed at the water birds in the sloughs of the San Joaquin River, the tawny hills of the Altamont, the yellowing leaves of the trees in Niles Canyon, and the salt pyramids along the Bay. Deboarding in San Jose, we grabbed cups of coffee, then headed to another set of tracks to catch the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority light rail to Campbell and transfer to a VTA bus going to Los Gatos. Paul showed me how to load the bikes (easy!) on the front of the bus and we had a short ride to downtown Los Gatos.

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After a yummy brunch at the Los Gatos Cafe, we found the Los Gatos Creek bike trail and headed north. We had a leisurely ride, stopping periodically to admire the creek, greet Canadian geese, and read interpretive signs. Paul would occasionally check his GPS for our location. After a quick side trip to Campbell to check out the historic Ainsley House, we rode on quiet streets for a few miles.

Via Willow Street, we continued our bike adventure on the Guadalupe Creek Trail, traveling through the center of San Jose. We passed by several over-flowing homeless encampments. We rode under freeway overpasses. The San Jose Airport hummed noisily just to the west of the trail. For the last few miles to the station near Levi’s Stadium, we enjoyed the quiet and solitude along Guadalupe Creek. Later we returned home via public transport.

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Volume 51 Number 1 P-10 Peatduster Delta-Sierra Group

FROM THE EDITOR The end of November and beginning of December 2019 gave us a preview of the New Year’s attractions and they were not nice. A United Nations Climate Action Summit report told us that the increase in the earth’s temperature and carbon dioxide in our air is accelerating at an accelerated rate. Meanwhile, action on climate change around the world is decreasing mostly at an accelerated rate. A few days later Public Broadcasting System presented a new in-house documentary about plastic trash. Let’s examine these topics a little more. ScienceMag.org stated, "The summary findings of the UNCAS are bleak. Countries collectively failed to stop the growth in global greenhouse gas emissions, meaning that deeper and faster cuts are now required." The World Meteorological Organization, meanwhile, said average CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere rose to 407.8 parts per million in 2018, surpassing its estimate in 2017 of 405.5 parts per million. Greta Thunberg was given a chance to speak at the UN meeting and she brings a whole new meaning to the quote “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” Watch Greta Thunberg’s full speech. It’s about 5 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAJsdgTPJpU Mother Earth News published this graph in their last issue and gave credit to the Sierra Club as the source for the information. Some states wish to meet International Panel on Climate Change goals sooner than the agreed date and without the participation of the United States of America. The sad news is only 10 states are listed and of those, 2 are listed as a goal and 1 is listed by executive order. Executive orders are easily trashed by the next group in power such as we seen with the Trump Administration.

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The original goal of the International Panel on Climate Change was to have all countries participate. That man who is in office here in the United States took us out of that agreement with a Tweet. C’est la vie. The next goal of the IPCC was to have all countries generate 80% of their electrical requirements with renewable non-polluting power sources by 2050. Obviously, we cannot start this action in 2049 and expect to limit the world temperature increase to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius, which is the IPCC target. We are not doing enough fast enough. That about sums it up! On other topics PBS states, “By 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans. It’s an environmental crisis that’s been in the making for nearly 70 years. Plastic pollution is now considered one of the largest environmental threats facing humans and animals globally.” In this hour film PBS focuses on 2 floating garbage patches in the Northern Hemisphere and 1 in the Southern Hemisphere. Actually there are 5 according to theoceancleanup.com. You can and should watch this film at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RDc2opwg0I

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That same week PBS Newshour was dealing with food waste by discussing ways to use waste food in aerobic digesters to produce methane gas to burn and produce electricity on farms. The digesters work somewhat like sewer plants but without secondary and tertiary treatment. About 10% of methane gas comes from landfills. If we can control some food waste (they say a typical family of 4 wastes $1800 a year tossing food), we might automatically reduce some greenhouse gases and waste plastic. You see, to combat climate change, we have to put out every fire along with every other fire.

Not a day goes by without the “CC “ words being used. You find them on TV and radio news, the Internet, newspapers and magazines. Time Magazine devoted one entire issue to climate change and later placed Greta Thunberg on their cover as Person Of The Year for 2019.

In July, Mother Jones printed a story by David Corn called, “It’s the End of the World as They Know It - The distinct burden of being a climate scientist.” This was a very comprehensive article about posttraumatic stress disorder among scientists who are dealing with the hands-on impacts of global warming.

In the latest issue for 2020, Mother Jones printed an article by Kevin Drum called

“WARMING IS OVER if we pay for it!” It makes a comparative and convincing case for fighting climate change as a nation like we did for World War 2. Both articles can be found on the Internet or contact me and I’ll send you a link.

Even Rick Scott, Governor of Florida 2011-2019, who ordered his Department of Environmental Protection not to use the term “climate change” or “global warming” in any official communications, emails, or reports has altered his position as a Senator for Florida with this flattering, pretentious statement:

“Climate change is real and requires real solutions, and we can all agree that we need clean air, clean water, and must continue to make strategic investments in environmental protection. That is why, as Governor of Florida, I worked toward real solutions for the effects of climate change by investing hundreds of millions of dollars to address sea-level rise, including over $300 million for flood mitigation, coastal resiliency, beach re-nourishment, and coral-reef protection. As your Senator, I will continue to build on these efforts to ensure that future generations can enjoy all that Florida has to offer.” Truth be known, he probably got his alligator shoes wet on a typical Miami sea rise, King Tide day.

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It appears the only person working hard to deny climate change is your commander in chief. Trump delivered a series of bizarre remarks about his plans to weaken environmental regulations. Trump claimed water conservation standards have gotten so tight that toilets frequently require people to flush ten or 15 times for a single trip: "We have a situation where we're looking very strongly at sinks and showers, and other elements of bathrooms." "People are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times, as opposed to once." For the record, it takes 72 seconds for my toilet to refill. If I flush it 15 times and not wait for the 15th tank to fill, it will take 16 minutes and 48 seconds to complete this task. I will have used 24 gallons of water.

Trump also added that he intends to weaken standards of electricity usage in light bulbs. The new, efficient bulb “doesn’t make you look as good. … It gives you an orange look. I don’t want an orange look.”

The California Democratic, Libertarian and Republican primaries take place on Tuesday, March 3, 2020. Voting by mail will start February 3. First, please, please vote. Next, VOTE WISELY.

Australia’s Turn. Photo by Matthew Abbott/The New York Times/Redux

"I believe in clean air. Immaculate air. But I don't believe in climate change." DJT 2015

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Explore, enjoy and protect the planet.

Stockton, Modesto & Sonora Sierra Club Groups Find us at this active link:

https://www.meetup.com/S-M-S-SierraClub/members/28813452/

We have been in operation since October 2011 and now have 1911 members. You can find many of our local Sierra Club activities posted there.

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Executive Committee and Email Addresses You must copy and paste an email address into your email program. Chair: Margo Praus [email protected] Vice Chair & Membership Chair: Paul Plathe [email protected] Treasurer & Chapter Delegate: Richard Abood [email protected] Secretary & Alternate Chapter Delegate: Steve Harvath [email protected] Conservation Chair & Web Master: Mary Elizabeth [email protected] Program Chair: Margo Praus [email protected]

Executive Member: Knute Momberg [email protected] Newsletter: Robert Evans [email protected]



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DELTA-SIERRA GROUP P.O. BOX 9258 STOCKTON, CA 95208

Explore, enjoy and protect the planet.

“Sometimes we just simply have to find a way. The moment we decide to fulfill something, we can do anything. And I’m sure that the moment we start behaving as if we were in an emergency, we can avoid climate and ecological catastrophe. Humans are very adaptable: we can still fix this. But the opportunity to do so will not last for long. We must start today. We have no more excuses."

Greta Thunberg

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1 PEATDUSTER...4 The Sierra Club Explore, enjoy and protect the planet. - Explore, Enjoy and Protect the Planet Volume 51 Number 1 P-4 Peatduster Delta-Sierra Group January February