Check out this photo from July. It is one of a half dozen photos from a dozen observations between mid July and August in one of our habitats in Vermont.
Looks for all the world like our Orchard Mason bee Osmia lignares, one of our 352 native species that emerges as an adult in early spring and is a terrific pollinator of apples and other early spring flowers. By the time the apple blossoms fall her work is done. Her babies are growing through larval stages and will be tucked away as adults by mid summer. So what is she doing working this cavity nest in the heat if summer? Watching her I spoke the words aloud- 'I don't know what you are.'
The answer is Osmia texana, the clue is the pinkish- purple pollen. That's from thistle.
She has no common name because she is uncommon. In fact the last time she was seen in this region was 1979. Jimmy Carter was President. There were 4 billion people on Earth, and the Village People were being sued nby the YMCA.
This one of four species we have identified in our habitats in numbers where they haven't been seen for decades.
One third of the way into the UN's Decade of Restoration, where is the policy? Where is the acreage? Hell, where is the word? Once in the MURRDI document, and your piece kindly mentions pollinators. Nowhere else.
Always enjoy your pieces. Thanks for including pollinators.
We have a strategy for creating resilience, not just protecting it.
Also, finally we have a solar field in Maine.
That pipeline photo could make you puke but to me it looks like a 100 ft wide contiguous corridor of opportunity.
Sorry for the slow response, Mike. I'm traveling. Really glad you spoke up. Feel free to name and describe your organization so my readers can learn more. I did neglect the positive possibilities of turning solar and wind sites into rich habitat, especially for pollinators and native plants. I had my hands full wrangling the NIMBY and siting issues. And you're right about the lack of common discourse on habitat and biodiversity at a time when we should be devoted to it. Really happy you're out there providing rewilding habitat in the midst of this huge transition. Thank you.
Now that I'm home, I'll follow up for anyone following these comments:
Mike's Kiernan's organization, based in Vermont, is Bee the Change (https://beethechange.earth/home). Bee the Change is transforming solar array sites with pollinator plantings and making a huge difference in local pollinator diversity. Check out the Bee the Change site, and consider offsetting your home or office footprint (https://beethechange.earth/offset-your-footprint-1) with a donation.
Thank you for this well-researched and considered survey of some of the issues facing renewable energy siting. I am a NEPA attorney, and much of my work has involved helping nonprofit organizations fight poorly planned and poorly located resource-extraction projects. My work overlaps with renewables in a number of ways, from power line placement to wind energy and solar energy impacts on threatened and endangered species. I appreciate your presentation of the NIMBY nuances, which can be oversimplified and misrepresented in the press when traditional green groups come out against certain renewable energy projects. After all, power production, even using renewables, is never fully green: habitats are destroyed at the site of source material removal and at the end placement site, fossil fuels are deployed in manufacture, transportation, and build-out, and toxic externalities exist at all stages of production. In addition, all is for naught if renewable capacity does not replace fossil fuel capacity but is instead additive, as we see in certain circumstances. I think we must ask ourselves if destroying an ecosystem with a renewable power plant is really that much better that destroying that same ecosystem with an oilfield, just because the result is, presumably, a bit less fossil fuel used overall. It's the old "do the ends justify the means" dilemma. Maybe for some, the answer is yes. There are certainly thorny issues here!
Great to have you and your experience engaging with the writing, Rebecca. My interest in working through this siting topic was to find some clarity on the trade-offs involved as we transform the energy infrastructure. It's clear that the grid and its sources have to change, and soon, and it's clear that a fossil-fueled world is a catastrophic world. What we need is one eye on biodiversity as we're staring down the climate crisis, which in this case means setting policy that insists on doing as little harm to ecosystems as possible. We can't be too delicate about it, but we can't let the world burn either. What would help is a larger shift to restoring landscapes elsewhere - like that inland sea in CA you write about - as we sort out the siting for renewables.
Super valuable essay, Jason. This whole series on NIMBY phenomena has been revelatory to me at least. As a philosopher cum mathematician, I immediately start thinking about Mereology, parts and wholes/regions and subregions/network connectivity,
tiling and so forth- trying to see if any insights from those are applicable.. my takeaway is that this type of cross-disciplinary thinking is already being done by better minds than mine in the effort to save this burning planet. Will it be enough? Hope so.
On an unrelated note: what are your various subscription levels? I see only two currently.
I can't speak to mereology, Michael, but I can certainly speak to the fragmentation of the living world. It's no accident that our experience of life is also fragmentary, and that our solutions will arrive in patchwork. The bright side would be if we focused on multi purpose solutions first.
Just the two sub levels. Keeping it simple. I haven't set up a founding member level bc I didn't want my strong family/friends contingent to give too much.
But on the other hand, what you are doing is very important! I think your reluctance does you credit, but some of us undoubtedly wish you would allow us the opportunity to get some good karma from supporting you! I'm just the only one brash enough (and rude enough)) to bring it up! Anyway, thank you so much for what you're doing!!
IMG_3654.jpg
Check out this photo from July. It is one of a half dozen photos from a dozen observations between mid July and August in one of our habitats in Vermont.
Looks for all the world like our Orchard Mason bee Osmia lignares, one of our 352 native species that emerges as an adult in early spring and is a terrific pollinator of apples and other early spring flowers. By the time the apple blossoms fall her work is done. Her babies are growing through larval stages and will be tucked away as adults by mid summer. So what is she doing working this cavity nest in the heat if summer? Watching her I spoke the words aloud- 'I don't know what you are.'
The answer is Osmia texana, the clue is the pinkish- purple pollen. That's from thistle.
She has no common name because she is uncommon. In fact the last time she was seen in this region was 1979. Jimmy Carter was President. There were 4 billion people on Earth, and the Village People were being sued nby the YMCA.
This one of four species we have identified in our habitats in numbers where they haven't been seen for decades.
One third of the way into the UN's Decade of Restoration, where is the policy? Where is the acreage? Hell, where is the word? Once in the MURRDI document, and your piece kindly mentions pollinators. Nowhere else.
Always enjoy your pieces. Thanks for including pollinators.
We have a strategy for creating resilience, not just protecting it.
Also, finally we have a solar field in Maine.
That pipeline photo could make you puke but to me it looks like a 100 ft wide contiguous corridor of opportunity.
Sorry for the slow response, Mike. I'm traveling. Really glad you spoke up. Feel free to name and describe your organization so my readers can learn more. I did neglect the positive possibilities of turning solar and wind sites into rich habitat, especially for pollinators and native plants. I had my hands full wrangling the NIMBY and siting issues. And you're right about the lack of common discourse on habitat and biodiversity at a time when we should be devoted to it. Really happy you're out there providing rewilding habitat in the midst of this huge transition. Thank you.
Now that I'm home, I'll follow up for anyone following these comments:
Mike's Kiernan's organization, based in Vermont, is Bee the Change (https://beethechange.earth/home). Bee the Change is transforming solar array sites with pollinator plantings and making a huge difference in local pollinator diversity. Check out the Bee the Change site, and consider offsetting your home or office footprint (https://beethechange.earth/offset-your-footprint-1) with a donation.
Thank you for this well-researched and considered survey of some of the issues facing renewable energy siting. I am a NEPA attorney, and much of my work has involved helping nonprofit organizations fight poorly planned and poorly located resource-extraction projects. My work overlaps with renewables in a number of ways, from power line placement to wind energy and solar energy impacts on threatened and endangered species. I appreciate your presentation of the NIMBY nuances, which can be oversimplified and misrepresented in the press when traditional green groups come out against certain renewable energy projects. After all, power production, even using renewables, is never fully green: habitats are destroyed at the site of source material removal and at the end placement site, fossil fuels are deployed in manufacture, transportation, and build-out, and toxic externalities exist at all stages of production. In addition, all is for naught if renewable capacity does not replace fossil fuel capacity but is instead additive, as we see in certain circumstances. I think we must ask ourselves if destroying an ecosystem with a renewable power plant is really that much better that destroying that same ecosystem with an oilfield, just because the result is, presumably, a bit less fossil fuel used overall. It's the old "do the ends justify the means" dilemma. Maybe for some, the answer is yes. There are certainly thorny issues here!
Great to have you and your experience engaging with the writing, Rebecca. My interest in working through this siting topic was to find some clarity on the trade-offs involved as we transform the energy infrastructure. It's clear that the grid and its sources have to change, and soon, and it's clear that a fossil-fueled world is a catastrophic world. What we need is one eye on biodiversity as we're staring down the climate crisis, which in this case means setting policy that insists on doing as little harm to ecosystems as possible. We can't be too delicate about it, but we can't let the world burn either. What would help is a larger shift to restoring landscapes elsewhere - like that inland sea in CA you write about - as we sort out the siting for renewables.
And I'd say you achieved that clarity, which is so needed here in what can be such a muddled arena.
Today, I learned about something new from @theclimateaccordingtolife. The Heinberg Pulse - were you aware of this idea? Here's the link Rob shared in case you weren't: https://www.resilience.org/stories/2023-04-05/the-heinberg-pulse/
I haven't had a chance to dig any more deeply than clicking a link or two at this point, but it seems relevant to NIMBYism. Cheers
I'm glad you're reading Rob's work. I'll take a look. Thank you.
Super valuable essay, Jason. This whole series on NIMBY phenomena has been revelatory to me at least. As a philosopher cum mathematician, I immediately start thinking about Mereology, parts and wholes/regions and subregions/network connectivity,
tiling and so forth- trying to see if any insights from those are applicable.. my takeaway is that this type of cross-disciplinary thinking is already being done by better minds than mine in the effort to save this burning planet. Will it be enough? Hope so.
On an unrelated note: what are your various subscription levels? I see only two currently.
I can't speak to mereology, Michael, but I can certainly speak to the fragmentation of the living world. It's no accident that our experience of life is also fragmentary, and that our solutions will arrive in patchwork. The bright side would be if we focused on multi purpose solutions first.
Just the two sub levels. Keeping it simple. I haven't set up a founding member level bc I didn't want my strong family/friends contingent to give too much.
But on the other hand, what you are doing is very important! I think your reluctance does you credit, but some of us undoubtedly wish you would allow us the opportunity to get some good karma from supporting you! I'm just the only one brash enough (and rude enough)) to bring it up! Anyway, thank you so much for what you're doing!!
I'll think it over, Michael. I very much appreciate your generosity of spirit, and the spiritedness of your generosity...
I see the basic problem and it is perplexing... I guess it is one that strikes many of the writers here. And subscribers.