EPA – Southern Fried Science

Open Science in Africa, defend the ADA, the value of the outdoors, Minke whale rides, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: February 19, 2018.

February 19, 2018February 19, 2018 Andrew Thaler

Weekly Salvage

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

Sign up for AfricaOSH: The Africa Open Science Hardware Gathering and meet some of the most incredible, innovative technologists in the world!
Remember when the disability community put their bodies on the line to defend the Affordable Care Act? Remember the videos of people in wheelchairs being handcuffed outside Mitch McConnell’s office? Last week, the House voted to gut the Americans with Disabilities Act. There’s no bill in the Senate yet, but the time to mobilize is now. Call your Senators and defend the ADA.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

In the annuals of obvious thing that still need to be said: protecting wild places is better for Americans and better for the economy than strip mining them. Outdoor Recreation Is a Bigger Economic Booster Than Mining.
The Cousteau Society shares a great little clip of all the great Cousteau tech.

Parasitic barnacles, a code of conduct for marine conservation, #BillMeetScienceTwitter, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: May 22, 2017.

May 22, 2017May 22, 2017 Andrew Thaler

Weekly Salvage

Fog Horn (A Call to Action)

27 National Monuments are under review by the Department of the Interior. Our Nation Monuments are our National Treasures. Don’t let them be sold to the highest bidder! Submit formal public comments on the DOI Monument Review and make your voice heard.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

This parasitic barnacle, Sacculina carcini, replacing the reproductive organs of a crab.

Hat tip to Tommy Leung, who’s twitter feed is a gold mine of fantastic parasites and where to find them.
#BillMeetScienceTwitter. What started as an inquiry into whether science celebrities really engage with practicing scientists on a regular basic morphed into the best way to find new scientists to follow on Twitter. I’m curating a massive list of all the self-identified Ocean Scientists that participated.

Jetsam (what we’re enjoying from around the web)

Deep-sea mining is gearing up on the high seas, and international regulations is still lagging far behind technology: The Wild West of Deep-Sea Mining.
oceanbites rolls out an excellent overview of the different kinds of robots used in conducting deep-sea research.
Beyond drug lords and conservationists: Who is missing in the coverage of the vaquita’s demise? from the legendary team at Deep Sea News.
Henderson Island is isolated and uninhabited, so why are all its beaches so completely covered in garbage? Spoilers: It’s because the planet is an interconnected global system with impacts felt far beyond the source of insult.
Bone-eating snot flower worm will never not be my favorite common name. Tiny Zombie Worms Are the Beavers of the Deep.
The history of the entire world, in one entertaining YouTube video (via Vox):

Are Ships The Careless Giants Of The Sea? Yes, but they don’t have to be.
Trump’s EPA Greenlights a Nasty Chemical. A Month Later, It Poisons a Bunch of Farmworkers.
Trump country is flooding, and climate ideas are shifting.
The Ocean as the New Frontier of Climate Action.
The Antarctic Peninsula is 3 degrees warming than is used to be, and that means plants are growing and Antarctica is getting greener.
The long history of ocean drilling and scientific discovery.
A tiny anchovy could be a silver bullet for malnutrition in Peru—if only we would let it: The Fish that Smells like Money.
I talk alot about e-waste and disposable electronics, which is why I’m excited to see modular, open-source smartphone projects finally start to mature. The ZeroPhone looks like on of the most promising additions to this space.
Skeptic Magazine has a pseudoscience problems. Unfortunately, this time it’s the skeptics promoting some pretty eyebrow-raising junk science. I went a little deeper into this on Twitter.

Bony-eared assfish, shark swarms, ocean plastics, and more! The Monday Morning Salvage: May 15, 2017

May 15, 2017May 14, 2017 Andrew Thaler

Weekly Salvage

Fog Horn (A Call to Action)

This is you last day to submit public comments in defense of the Environmental Protection Agency! The time to save the EPA is now! If you don’t know quite what to say, I’ve prepared a script for you.
27 National Monuments are under review by the Department of the Interior. Our Nation Monuments are our National Treasures. Don’t let them be sold to the highest bidder! Submit formal public comments on the DOI Monument Review and make your voice heard.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

This bony-eared assfish, courtesy of Sheldon Comics. Go show the some love on Twitter and Patreon.

“You are paddleboarding next to approximately 15 great white sharks… exit the water in a calm manner.” When paddleboarding, this is not what you want to hear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5SPMrmRMjE

But, of course: The Viral Video of 15 Sharks Circling Near Surfers in California Shows a Much Bigger Problem.

Terraforming Mars on Earth, giant larvaceans, conservation jobs, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: May 8, 2017

May 8, 2017May 8, 2017 Andrew Thaler

Weekly Salvage

Fog Horn (A Call to Action)

The time to save the EPA is now! The EPA is seeking public input on the new administrations approach to environmental regulations. They are required to seek public input. They are required to respond to public input. Go tell them how you feel. Public comments close May 15. Here’s the docket with instructions on how to comment: Evaluation of Existing Regulations. We’ve even prepared a script for you.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

On a tiny island in the middle of the Atlantic, a terraforming project a century-and-a-half in the making is underway. A 150-year-old experiment on the remote Ascension Island may help us green Mars. Can it also help us save Earth?

Seabirds on Ascension Island. Photo by Clare Fieseler.

It also happens to be longtime friend of Southern Fried Science Clare Fieseler’s first major story for National Geographic, so go follow her on twitter.

Jetsam (what we’re enjoying from around the web)

Women have a crucial—yet often overlooked—role in fisheries. The Invisible Fishing Fleet by Ilima Loomis at Hakai Magazine.
“What do you do when you’re a graduate student and you’ve been sexually assaulted by the PI of a very exciting paleoanthropological site?” An incredibly powerful piece by Holly Dunsworth: In case this helps you: This happened to me while I was trying to become a paleoanthropologist.
The general theme of this site appears to be ‘humans are terrible, robots are awesome’. Staying on brand: In a first, deep sea robots get a close look at giant larvaceans, a key player in the biological carbon pump.
Deep-sea mining is really heating up. Locals threaten armed campaign against PNG seabed mine.
In the Pacific Northwest, the diligence of citizen scientists is shedding light on the lives, and deaths, of seabirds. Drawing Meaning from Death, One Seabird at a Time by Larry Pynn at Hakai.
This is a pretty great demonstration of how statistics can be used to mislead: Generating Datasets with Varied Appearance and Identical Statistics through Simulated Annealing.

The time to defend the EPA is now!

May 1, 2017May 6, 2017 Andrew Thaler

Conservation

Executive Order 13777 created a Regulatory Reform Task Force to oversee the evaluation of existing regulations to make recommendations about potential repeal, replacement, or modification to the Environmental Protection Agency. The dissolution of the EPA would be catastrophic for this country. Fortunately, the wheels of bureaucracy turn slowly, and before any recommendations are formally issued, … Read More “The time to defend the EPA is now!” »

Deep-sea Disco, Giant Icebergs, Pokémon Go, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: April 24, 2017

April 24, 2017 Andrew Thaler

Weekly Salvage

Fog Horn (A Call to Action)

Still time! The EPA is seeking public input on the new administrations approach to environmental regulations. They are required to seek public input. They are required to respond to public input. Go tell them how you feel. Public comments close May 15. Here’s the docket with instructions on how to comment: Evaluation of Existing Regulations.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

This deep-sea mining Disco video is something.

Jetsam (what we’re enjoying from around the web)

Do environmental regulations harm the economy?

October 28, 2011October 31, 2011 David Shiffman 7 Comments

Conservation

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Image courtesy SlopeMedia.org

One of the main themes of the Republican Presidential primary campaign has been that government regulations- specifically, regulations designed to protect the environment and public health from industrial pollution- is damaging to the economy. Nearly all of the Republican Presidential candidates have expressed this view: Rick Perry wants to “lock the doors and turn off the lights” at EPA headquarters, Michelle Bachmann thinks it should be called the “job-killing organization of America“, and both Newt Gingrich and Herman Cain want to abolish the agency entirely.

Is there any truth to the idea that environmental regulations cost jobs and are slowing the economic recovery? On it’s face, the idea makes sense. A business has a finite amount of money, and the more money they have to spend on complying with environmental regulations, the less money they can spend on hiring workers. If a business has to pay for new technology to reduce the amount of pollution their manufacturing process produces, the money spent on that technology is money that can’t be spent on new workers. The real question, though, is not whether there are costs to environmental regulations- there obviously are, and they can sometimes be quite high to particular industries. The real question is whether the benefits of these environmental regulations outweigh the costs.