WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
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HEADLINES
WFIU reported the northern Indiana utility NIPSCO wants to raise rates to clean up coal ash ponds at its Michigan City coal plant. Other utilities in the state may be following suit. Activists say NIPSCO’s customers shouldn’t have to pay for what they call an “incomplete” cleanup.
—Norm Holy
Pam Roberts, with MC-IRIS, has identified the Callery Pear as the species for the Reduce One Invasive Species Challenge for Bloomington and Monroe County this year.
—Julianna Dailey
Law enforcement officers arrested six Congressional staffers after they held a sit-in in Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer’s office peacefully protesting Schumer’s failure to force the Senate to pass climate legislation.
—Linda Greene
165 staffers from federal health and environmental agencies and 75 congressional offices have risen up to urge President Biden to give it his all in the fight against the climate crisis. They’ve written a letter demanding that Biden be more aggressive in his efforts to pass a comprehensive and long-promised climate agenda through the Senate.
—Linda Greene
EcoWatch reports on the status of dead zones at the end of July. Midsummer is the time for forecasts of the size of this year’s “dead zones” and algal blooms in major lakes and bays.
—Norm Holy
The New York Times reports 100 million Americans from Arizona to Boston are under heat emergency warnings, and the drought in the West is nearing Dust Bowl proportions. Britain declared a national emergency as temperatures soared above 100 degrees Fahrenheit and parts of blistering Europe are ablaze.
—Norm Holy
The fact that scientists say nations must quickly cut greenhouse gas emissions or global rising temperatures will reach catastrophic levels does not appear to faze many conservatives. In many ways, elected Republicans mirror the views of their voters.
—Norm Holy
According to a class-action lawsuit filed in the U-S District Court for the Northern District of California, Skittles, a popular candy made by Mars, is unfit for human consumption because it contains the food coloring titanium dioxide.
—Linda Greene
A new survey of 3,331 scientists studying biodiversity across 187 countries has revealed that more species are threatened with extinction than previously thought. As many as 50% of species have been threatened with extinction or driven to extinction since 1500, according to survey results.
—Norm Holy
A Congressional subcommittee has called the Seresto flea and tick collar the most dangerous such product on the market. The Canadian government found that 45% of 251 deaths of companion animals were probably or possibly linked to the collars, whereas the EPA found that the figure was 33%. Nearly a 100,000 dogs and cats suffered injury or death linked to the collar.
—Linda Greene
Europe is in the midst of a climate-fueled heat wave that has ignited dangerous wildfires from Portugal in the west to Turkey in the East. The fires in 2022 could be one of the continent’s worst years for extreme weather events like drought and wildfire because of the climate crisis, as AP News reported.
—Norm Holy
Wild salmon off the coast of Washington state are still recovering from an epidemic of parasites called sea lice that 263,000 salmon caused by escaping from Cooke’s factory fish farm in 2017.
—Linda Greene
More than 90 percent of the Great Barrier Reef was impacted by coral bleaching during the Australian summer of 2021 to 2022. This is the conclusion of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, which released the results of aerial surveys. This is the fourth mass bleaching event since 2016 and the sixth to occur on the Great Barrier Reef since 1998.
—Norm Holy
The U-S Forest Service has just approved a plan allowing oil trains more than a mile and a half long to travel through a protected roadless area in the oil trains in Utah. The goal is to massively increase oil production in the Uinta Basin of Utah and transport the oil to refineries in Gulf Coast communities already suffering from fossil fuel pollution.
—Linda Greene
CALENDAR
| A Natural Rope and Plant Cordage program is scheduled for Saturday, August 6th, from 12:30 to 2:30 pm at the Wapahani Mountain Bike Park. This hands-on workshop will help you identify, find and process plants into cordage. Register at bloomington.IN.gov/parks. |
| Join the park naturalist for a guided Lake Ogle Hike on Trail 7 at Brown County State Park on Sunday, August 7th, from 11 am to 12:30 pm. Hear the history of the lake, and learn about the animals that make the lake home. There are short staircases, uneven surfaces and muddy spots. |
| Take the Full Sturgeon Moon Hike at Spring Mill State Park on Friday, August 12th, from 10 to 11:30 pm. Anthony will meet you at the Donaldson Cave parking lot for this summertime night hike. Learn history and lore of the Full Sturgeon Moon. |
| Take a Beginner Kayaking class at the Paynetown State Recreation Area at Monroe Lake on Sunday, August 14th, from 10 am to Noon. The class is designed for people who have little or no paddling experience. You will learn basic paddling and safety skills in a quiet water area. Sign up at bit.ly/begkayak-aug14-2022. |
| Learn Composting Basics at Winslow Woods Park on Sunday, August 14th, from 2:30 to 3:30 pm. Learn how to prepare your garden for the fall, how to incorporate composting in your yard, and why composting is important. Meet in the shelter and register at bloomington.IN.gov/parks. |
