Golden Fairy Slumber

A single fallen leaf on Earth, originally uploaded by aurelio.asiain.

Nymph Palate Cleanser

Corydalis flexuosa Blue Panda, originally uploaded by growin.

Palate Cleanser Version Vert

England, Brontë-like Moors (public domain wallpaper)

Comtesse Palate Cleanser

Pour ma chère comtesse

Escrow and the Dead, Plus Ways to Help

(Image credit: Julie Dermansky, paid feature photo)

Well, here we are at Day 55, though actually, looking at my clock, in another ten minutes of writing it will be Day 56. A reader noticed I have the number of  days listed on the caption of the little boycott BP image. I just wanted to keep track so I know how much oil's been gushing, that's all. I'm gonna make a formula, something like (35 x 50,000/day) + ( 10 x 45,000/day) + (10 x 40,000) + (# of days for next insufficient intervention x whatever increment reduction of flow) = # of barrels the Gulf of Mexico, all its wildlife and countless denizens of every species, are screwed by.

So what's new besides the fact that BP now wants to start burning the oil because the cool containment dome is just totally out of storage space? (*cough* Boy, that means they're really awesome at estimating the volume that was flowing right? Because they weren't even capturing a quarter of the outflow.) What's the big deal? It would have ended up being CO₂ and CH₄ anyway, right? Now, later, what's the difference?

On the news front, the US Senate wants BP to set aside a $20B USD escrow fund to cover damages. (Sometimes I just love Harry Reid and company) It seems the Obama administration is fairly sure that they will be able to use the federal Oil Pollution Act of 1990 to their advantage. There are totally awesome components to the OPA 1990. For instance look at this cute little section on liability:

§1002(d) Provides that if a responsible party can establish that the removal costs and damages resulting from an incident were caused solely by an act or omission by a third party, the third party will be held liable for such costs and damages.

Frankly, I'm thinking that is the stuff of a BP and Transocean wet dream. They can just blame each other ad infinitum and drag out liability judgment for years. Heck, we've already seen a dress rehearsal up on Capitol Hill, haven't we?

(Attribution unknown and I can't read cartoonist's signature)

There's also this little useful subsection:

§1016 Offshore facilities are required to maintain evidence of financial responsibility of $150 million and vessels and deepwater ports must provide evidence of financial responsibility up to the maximum applicable liability amount. Claims for removal costs and damages may be asserted directly against the guarantor providing evidence of financial responsibility.

Damn. More of the same.

But personally my all time favorite (remember this was written right after Exxon Valdez) is:

§4202 Strengthens planning and prevention activities by: (1) providing for the establishment of spill contingency plans for all areas of the U.S. (2) mandating the development of response plans for individual tank vessels and certain facilities for responding to a worst case discharge or a substantial threat of such a discharge; and (3) providing requirements for spill removal equipment and periodic inspections.

Wow. I am just so impressed about the foresight they had and that they have put all of that in place now, 20 years later. Aren't you? Nothing like a federal law to give you confidence. Yes, indeedy.

So I've been prowling around looking for statistics on the number of animals lost in the Gulf spill and came across this marvelous site from UC Davis, The Oiled Wildlife Care Network. In addition to having massively depressing stats like these:

(from OWCN.org, updated Deepwater Horizon Spill statistics for June 13, 2010)

and so you can see the bump from day to day:

(from OWCN.org, updated Deepwater Horizon Spill statistics for June 14, 2010)

they have all manner of really useful information, including what to do if you find any oiled wildlife along your coastal areas and various facts about wildlife that has been oil exposed. Interestingly, many, many of the animals who have perished have no sign of external oiling.

Of course, there were also eleven men who lost their lives on that rig. I cannot fail to think of them. Adam Weise, 24; Aaron Dale Burkeen, 37; Donald Clark, 49; Roy Kemp, 27; Jason Anderson, 35; Stephen Curtis, 39; Gordon Jones, 28; Blair Manuel, 56; Dewey Revette, 48; Karl Kleppinger, Jr., 38 and Shane Roshto, 22.

I look at those men's names and feel much sadness for their families, many of whom still support offshore oil drilling.

So much loss and so much sorrow. Lives, livelihoods and futures destroyed.

Oiled Wildlife Care Network has a Facebook page where you can look out for volunteer opportunities. They have a great blog at http://owcnblog.wordpress.com/. If you have an interest in volunteering or making donations, you can contact them at http://www.owcn.org/network/training-and-outreach if you live on the West Coast (follow links for training partners in network) or on the East Coast you can contact Tri-State Bird Rescue.  Don't forget to check out Uzza's excellent article on the subject of helping wildlife.

U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer Caleb Critchfield. (Deepwater Horizon Response Flickr page)

BTW, in the LA Times article above they make mention of the fact that the Coast Guard is now saying, "Come on, man, get serious. Come up with a plan already!" BP's spokesman Jon Pack promised that they really, truly are (pinky swear) but they just can't make that plan public. Anyway, they were headed for a board meeting today and the agenda was a deep dark secret. But there have already been rumors of the big, bad B. You know, you do what you have to do. Until you just don't want to do it anymore.

The Deepwater Response Website is here. We owe the men and women of the US Coast Guard and all the people involved in cleanup and rescue of any sort our sincere thanks. If you listen to Jen or my friends in LA, the shenanigans that BP pulls to keep people in the dark are absolutely endless.

Meanwhile, the most excellent Uzza has availed us of some rather spectacular contests. The first is the real meaning of the acronym BP. Thus far, my fave is Beyond Prosecution. The other is for BP's new logo and and you can go here to see entries. The number one entrant thus far is:

although I'm also rather taken with:

but I'm not so sure I can only blame BP for that. After all, we let them.

© Bright Nepenthe, 2010

Neda's Death... What does it really mean? Has anything changed as a result?

On the heels of a discussion earlier today with a friend about whether anything has changed at all in Iran, I received this lovely email from H.B. suggesting I take a look at this newsy.com video report about For Neda, and whether anything has changed in Iran as a result of the Green Movement and Neda's death.

Even if we see only quiet remembrance of Neda's sacrifice for the cause of freedom, I have to believe one thing has definitely changed:

How scared is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of one slim documentary and the fact that no one but no one believes that Neda's death was anything other than murder at the hands of his administration?

Thank you H.B. and thanks to readers who engaged in lively discussion on the subject of the courage of the Iranian people. For anyone who says that the fire of last summer has died, I wonder if you would stand up in front of armed police for your right to have your vote count. How many of you sat quietly in 2000 when Al Gore had the election stolen in Florida or again in 2004 when votes were mysteriously overcounted by a factor of a hundred in some counties in Ohio in favor of George Bush?

© Bright Nepenthe, 2010

Reminder: For Neda

(For Freedom, For Truth,) For Neda will air on HBO tonight, Monday night, at 9 pm EDT. This is CNN's Fareed Zakaria's What in the World segment devoted to the film, which Iran is trying to prevent it citizens from seeing by jamming Voice of America's broadcast signal. 


But you can watch it.

Text content © Bright Nepenthe, 2010

Moments of Magic and Solitary Bees, Part 1

The Secret Garden by MACHADOANA

When I was a child some of my most magical moments were had in a backyard garden. Back in the days when the climate was not as harsh (and for those of you who don't think our climate is harsher, all I can say is ask a gardener and get an earful) we used to grow roses and cornflowers and bee balm here in South Florida. While I ought to own up to the fact that some of my least magical moments were had in a garden (weeding has to be one of my least favorite things ever and it's one of the best reasons to have children and the best alternative to corporal punishment of a child you didn't hear that from me) I have magical memories of our garden and bees. Which is rather ironic because I'm actually allergic to bees. (Thelma Lee is reading this and wondering what I'm not allergic to and GlamKitty is reading this and thinking I better quit it with the parentheticals and my mother will read this and wonder why I didn't mention the Weed Fairy, who I am sure follows behind "weeding me" and drops little weeds behind my back to taunt me when I turn around to look back over my weeded beds.)

My childhood introduction to solitary bees looked much like this:

(Image credit: Christine Farmer and you have to check out her blog!)

Those are old-fashioned roses which don't do very well in South Florida, where we are so very hot and humid and have no real freeze that lasts in the winter. We just grew the regular floribunda varieties but the blooms aren't really the point at all. Look at those leaves! At the neat and precise little circles cut out of them. As a very vocal and curious nine year old I knew two things. If I couldn't be Elizabeth I (hard because she was dead) and I couldn't be Mad Laurie from Thomasina (I was told I was Irish and not Scottish and that if I brought home one more pet that I was getting in serious trouble) then I wanted to be Mary Lennox in her Secret Garden. The second thing was that there was something messing with our (my) roses! 

My mother really encouraged scientific me. She told me to observe and figure it out. Being nine, I put on my hat, moved my lounge chair over near the rose beds, sipped grape Koolaid and promptly got distracted that hot summer afternoon. But eventually, one day while helping to deadhead (I was very proud when I was finally allowed to deadhead) I saw something rather amazing. What I saw was very much like this:

Leafcutter bee snipping a piece from a rose leaf

(Image credit: Shirley Woods)

My mystery was solved! The perfect little circles were from Leafcutter bees and after I pulled out an encyclopedia and read the small amount of information about them, I decided that they were allowed to take bits of leaf because they used them to build their nests.

Leafcutter bees are among the solitary bees. Solitary bees are a different species of bee from the common Honeybee. They do not make honey or beeswax and most importantly they are not susceptible to Varroa mites, a very serious threat to Honeybees. Solitary bees are very important pollinators. In fact Orchard Mason bees are solitary and got their name precisely because they are orchard pollinators. Solitary bees are a crucial component of fruit production in the US, Canada and Japan. They rely on building nests rather than hives and they pack their nests with things like plant debris and pieces of leaves.

Orchard Mason Bee on an Apple Blossom

Red58bill, Wikimedia Commons

If you live in an area with Orchard Mason bees or Leafcutter bees, you can provide them with a home by offering structures packed with little tubes. Gardner's Supply has a very pretty one made of bamboo, but you can make your own, too. Christine Farmer's solitary bee page is a revelation and her artwork is simply exquisite. You'd probably be doing a whole lot better with your Sunday if you quit reading my blog and went over to Christine's pages to check out her garden's Leafcutter bee housing and her gallery of beautiful drawings.

 

      Mason Bee House, Gardener's Supply                         Nesting Tubes, Christine Farmer

In developing this post, I found this delightful video, Leafcutter Bees of Hell's Kitchen, by Helen B. Kennedy of NYC, of Leafcutter bees collecting lilac leaves for nesting. I hope that Helen knows how valuable and endangered bees are becoming. Let's hope those solitary Leafcutters continue to show up to enjoy her lilacs!

I'll have a more facts-based post on solitary bees later this week. It was Sunday after all, and I wanted to write something relaxing, filled with beauty and to distract from all the... all.

Until then, enjoy your Sunday and remember, even in Hell's Kitchen you can be Bee friendly.... Encourage your local bees! If you can have happy bees in Manhattan, you can wherever you are, too!

Karen Strickler

www.pollinatorparadise.com

© Bright Nepenthe, 2010