Tall Cats

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Two of our three cats have managed the leap from the kitchen counter to the space above the cabinets. They apparently like the vantage point. The one with the white patches is the smallest of the three but she is the most agile…and she is persistent enough to open doors with lever knobs (we had to replace the knob on our closet for that reason). The darker cat is the largest; he was the first one we found on the cabinet tops.

There is a glass cabinet in the piano room that is also a ‘tall cat’ destination. They use the passthrough from the kitchen as their launching point.

The platform is small enough that they take turns being there (and exploring).

My husband has a step stool handy for him to help them get down but they seem to be as adept at finding their own way as they are at jumping up.

Farmers Market

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The joys of summer produce….

I was overwhelmed by the bustle of the Springfield MO farmers market – decided to explore the smaller ones in the surrounding communities. The first one I tried was too small…the second was just right! They are open on Thursday afternoon, and I go before the after-work crowd. So far – I’ve enjoyed the heirloom tomatoes (big ones and small ones),

Zucchini,

And basil (one time they had arugula…one of my favorites).

There are more than produce vendors. I bought goat milk soap (with lavender) last week….tried a fried pie the week before.

There are more than produce vendors. I bought goat milk soap (with lavender) last week….tried a fried pie the week before.

There is not enough produce variety to support a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture); maybe there are some veggies that just don’t sell well enough for the farmers to grow for the market. Things like collards, kale, Asian veggies, tomatillos, fennel etc. I wish there were. I might look around next spring for a local CSA. I like to discover new favorites while I also enjoy the regulars. Freshly picked heirloom tomatoes are always better than the ones in the grocery store!

Hummingbird Moth

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While I was doing the daily check of my miniature pumpkin vine (it now has at least 8 pumpkins), I noticed a hummingbird moth on one of the leaves. I took initial pictures with my phone (Samsung Galaxy S10e) then hurried inside to get my bridge camera (Canon Powershot SX-70 HS) with more optical zoom capability. Note: Click on any of the smaller images to see an enlarged version.

Fortunately, the moth has stayed on the. I got a few shots with the bridge camera

Before the moth took off to get some nectar. The wings move so fast that even in bright sunlight, they are blurred. Note the coiled proboscis as the moth flies away in the last shot.

The moth didn’t go far. It rested on a nearby flower. Maybe the morning was a little too cool for it to be moving around a lot. A little research revealed that it was a Snowberry Clearwing….probably a male.

August Sunrise

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The days are getting short enough that I am consistently in my office before sunrise (now a little before 6:30 AM). The rhododendron, pine, oak, and river birch foliage is lush enough that the sunrise from the patio is a wash of color behind silhouettes…not a clear view of the horizon. On any other morning – I might have walked out into the yard to get a little better view, but it was the day our sprinkler system was on, so I was content with the view from the patio.

A little after I took the picture some clouds rolled in, and the color was gone along with a lot of the light! The start of the day paused. The forecast is for clouds, not rain; my plan for mowing our yard might still work.

Sales Tax Holiday

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I took advantage of the sales tax holiday on school supplies in Missouri to buy supplies for Zentangle creation: neon card stock and pens. I cut one page of each of the cardstock colors into 3.5-inch squares to use immediately…and am enjoying one of the black Sharpie gel pens.

New supplies are still a treat – just as they were over 60 years ago when I was in elementary school. The list of supplies was not published in advance by the schools so there was a line to get into the store and pick up things once we had it. My mother always included us in the shopping…if there was a decision on color/style – we got to make it! What made the experience so memorable? Maybe it was the crowd. I can remember savoring the new supplies too – the pristine crayons, the packages of notebook paper, pencils to sharpen, a fabric covered looseleaf notebook.

I don’t think there were sales tax holidays 60 years ago. Perhaps they are what causes a crowd in the school supply area now since the supply lists are published online or available printed in the stores. When I was in the store there was a mother with two children shopping for supplies…it was before 8 AM on the first of day of the 3-day holiday. The store had organized the school supply area for a crowd…anticipating lots of shoppers to come. I was glad to make my purchases early.

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 12, 2023

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Neolithic Necklace from Jordan Reassembled – Jewelry that was beautiful long ago…and still is. Beads of stone and shell primarily.

UNESCO Recommends Adding Venice to List of World Heritage in Danger – UNESCO is indicating that Venice’s proposed solutions are “currently insufficient and not detailed enough and should be subject to further discussions and exchanges.” I’m a little surprised that Venice hasn’t been on the list for years.

'Time-traveling' pathogens in melting permafrost pose likely risk to environment – Quantifying the risks using simulations. The results so far estimate that 1% of the invaders (ancient pathogens) are unpredictable…some could cause 33% of the host species to die out while others could increase diversity by up to 12%. Outbreak events caused by ancient pathogens represent a substantial hazard to human health in the future.

In Peru, discovery of ancient ruins outpaces authorities' ability to care for them – Lima is home to more than 400 known pyramids, temples and burial sites, many of which predate the Incas and are known in Spanish as "huacas"…and archaeologists continue to find/dig new sites! 27 sites are open to visitors…the rest are deteriorating (or actively being destroyed by looters or squatters).

Inflammation discovery could slow aging, prevent age-related diseases – Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have discovered that improper calcium signaling in the mitochondria of certain immune cells (macrophages) drives harmful inflammation. Creating drugs that increase calcium uptake by mitochondrial macrophages could prevent harmful inflammation and slow age associate neurogenerative diseases.

Piecing Together the Puzzle of Oman’s Ancient Towers – 4,000 years old! And there are over 100 known towers found today in Oman and the United Arab Emirates. The purpose and function of the towers remain largely a mystery although water might be involved. They appear to be built close to places where there is/was access to surface water.

Lake Tahoe’s Clear Water Is Brimming with Tiny Plastics – Its water contains the third-highest amount of microplastics among 38 freshwater reservoirs and lakes around the globe! Lake Tahoe is also full of garbage ranging from sunglasses to car tires; 25,000 pounds of debris was removed from the lake between 2021 and 2022.

Dementia becomes an emergency 1.4 million times a year – And these patients are 2x more likely to be seeking emergency care after an accident or a behavioral/mental health crisis. Once a person with dementia is in the emergency department, it can be a very disorienting experience. "Even routine blood draws from unfamiliar staff can be a very scary experience for a patient with advanced dementia."

Decades of public messages about recycling in the US have crowded out more sustainable ways to manage waste – To often we overlook waste reduction and reuse in favor of recycling.

Steel Industry Pivoting to Electric Furnaces - Iron and steel production accounts for 7% of carbon emissions worldwide – using coal in blast furnaces. But – progress is being made. 43% of planned steelmaking capacity globally will rely on electric-arc furnaces, up from 33% last year! Even so – the rate of transition needs to be increased to stay on track for only 1.5 degrees C warming.

2 Ernst Kreidolf eBooks

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Internet Archive has 2 books by Ernst Kreidolf -  published in the early 1900s. He was a Swiss painter know for illustrating children’s books that include flower people.

The first book was published in 1909 as a portfolio - Ernst Kreidolf – of his early (pre-flower people) works.

The second book was published in 1922 - Alpenblumenmärchen – and includes his best known images.

There are other books written during the early 1900s but not scanned and available yet. Later versions of the books were translations to English and are still under copyright protection.

Josey Ranch Feathers – July 2023

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There is an area at the edge of the smaller pond at Josey Ranch (Carrollton, TX) that seemed to have more feathers. Maybe birds tend to preen there…or maybe the breeze carries the feathers there – either on the water surface or into the grass. Many of them seem to have a lot of down rather than being flight feathers. Some look very fresh with all the parts neatly zipped…still the way they were when maintained by the bird. Others have been on the ground long enough to be bedraggled. Most of them are white although there are some brownish tones in some.

Most of these pictures were taken from the same spot! Using the optical zoom on my Canon Powershot SX-70 HS on a monopod…I simple turn all around to get the feathers visible in every direction. It was still within the magic hour after sunrise…. lots of good light to highlight the feathers and their background. I like the structure of the feathers – the gentle curves – the delicate wisps of down – the magic of birds.

Josey Ranch Plants – July 2023

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Some plants of note at Josey Ranch (Carrollton, TX).…noticed while I was looking at birds….

In the garden between the big pond and library/senior center – I realized there were quite a few beautyberries. Most of them were doing great. There was one that was wilted (as was the redbud tree growing near it). I guessed that the sprinkler system was not working properly. Even native plants are challenged by days and days (maybe weeks and weeks) of 100+ temperatures with very little rain!

In the Pocket Prairie area – the sunflowers were still growing very well.

There was a surprise zinnia. Not sure why it was there with the native plants but it was growing quite happily.

In the area just outside the Pocket Prairie, there where cracks in the sod/soil and some strange features. At first, I thought they were roots but now I am not sure.

Josey Ranch Birds – July 2023

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It was over 80 degrees in Carrollton, TX in July first thing in the morning (every day I was there it climbed quickly to over 100 degrees!), so I made my visit to Josey Ranch just after sunrise. It’s also a time of day when there is a lot of bird activity. I checked the larger pond first. There were lots of raucous grackles…I managed to see a juvenile just as it hopped from the boardwalk to the grass.

Out in the shallow water was a Snowy Egret and

A Great Blue Heron in deeper water.

The Little Blue Heron was the high point of the morning. There was an adult in the water. I saw it catch a fish and then a crayfish in the short time that I was watching!

The Little Blue Heron and Snowy Egret crossed paths – making for a great image to compare their relative size.

In the shallows near the cattails there was a juvenile little blue heron. It always is a bit of a surprise to see this white bird…think it is a snowy egret at first and then realize that it is not (beak wrong color and shape, legs wrong color). There appear to be some blue feathers near the tail and around the eye already.

In the smaller pond, there were more Snowy Egrets

And a Great Egret.

I was trying to see if there were growing up ducklings. They grow so fast that they are already almost adult size; judging from the sheer numbers of ducks, some of them must be the two sets of ducklings I saw in June.

Overall – a good birding morning!

Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge – July 2023 (2)

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The butterfly garden at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge had butterflies in July. There were Queen butterflies feeding in a group – the longer one looked, the more butterflies there seemed to be! This butterfly is seen more frequently further south than north Texas (almost into Oklahoma); maybe the extremely hot summer is pushing them further north.

The other butterfly I photographed was a male black swallowtail – a large butterfly that flutters as it collects nectar (as seen in the video below).

There were grasshoppers too! I photographed two after I startled them on the path and saw where they landed on a plant (and managed to zoom in with my camera to photograph them without being close enough to force them to move again).

It didn’t take long in the butterfly garden before I needed water…and air conditioning! I continued my road trip to Carrollton.

Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge – July 2023 (1)

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It was in the 90s when I visited Hagerman in July…early afternoon so not yet the peak for the day which would be over 100. As usual, I started my visit on the dusty wildlife loop – using my car as a blind and with the air conditioner working to keep the car cool even when I temporarily open a window for photography. I photographed a few birds near the ponds: Great Blue Heron, Snow Egrets, and a Great Egret.

There were still colorful wildflowers in the meadow areas…lotuses blooming on one of the ponds. Some of the plants are already producing their seeds.

I headed back to the butterfly garden near the visitor center. I appreciated my hat and darkening glasses! The garden is not large, but densely packed with blooming flowers; there is something to photograph at every turn! I had my bridge camera (Canon Powershot SX 70 HS) on a monopod – which made it easy to stand on the path and use the zoom to compose the images I wanted.

More from Hagerman tomorrow (butterflies and grasshoppers).

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 5, 2023

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Four key questions on the new wave of anti-obesity drugs – Several of the drugs were originally developed to treat type 2 diabetes but now are popular weight loss drugs.

Sweet smell of success: Simple fragrance method produces major memory boost – A study done by the University of California, Irvine on older adults…participants reaped a 226% increase in cognitive capacity compared to the control group. A product based on their study and designed for people to use at home is expected to come onto the market this fall.

How the US is fighting back against deadly floods – Identifying flood plains…not building back in them after a flood.

Old-Growth Trees, Some Dating To 17th Century, Protected at New River Gorge – The Burnwood Loop – where I want to hike first in the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve!

Does Cooking with Gas Stoves Hurt Indoor Air Quality? – Yes…but how much is the better question. 12.7% of current childhood asthma in the United States is attributable to gas stove use.

A quick look inside a human being – Magnetic Particle Imaging (MPI)…using a portable scanner to visualize dynamic processes in the human body such a blood flow.

Why it's so important to figure out when a vital Atlantic Ocean current might collapse - Humans are changing the fundamental processes of the Earth faster than we can understand them. The collapse of the current would have effects around the planet: temperatures in Europe would fall, heat in the tropics would rise, rainfall would decrease across the Sahel in Africa, the summer monsoon would weaken across Asia, and sea levels would rise even faster in the eastern US.

New Thermal Activity on Geyser Hill in Yellowstone National Park – Short video from the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.

‘Perfectly Preserved’ Glassware Recovered From 2,000-Year-Old Shipwreck – The shipwreck was located 1,148 feet below the surface in waters between Italy and France. Two remotely operated vehicles (ROV) were used to scan the site and recover artifacts.

Short bursts of daily activity linked to reduced cancer risk - A total of just 4.5 minutes of vigorous activity that makes you huff and puff during daily tasks could reduce the risk of some cancers (i.e. cancers associated with physical activity such as liver, lung, kidney, gastric cardia (a type of stomach cancer), endometrial, myeloid leukemia, myeloma, colorectal, head and neck, bladder, breast and esophageal adenocarcinoma (cancer of the esophagus) by up to 32 percent.

eBotanical Prints – July 2023

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Twenty-one more books were added to the botanical print collection this month. Eight of the books are ‘nature prints’ (a process in which an object as a leaf or flower) is pressed into a plane surface to make either a direct printing surface or a matrix); the images made via nature print this month were from the late 1700s.

Garden Books from Montgomery Ward from a few years before and after I was born are available on Internet Archive…clues about what home gardeners were planting during those years.

The most recent book was about liverworts and hornwarts of New Zealand – published in 2008. I chose a drawing for the sample image but there were many color photographs as well.

There were 3 volumes of American Grasses from 1899-1900 and 3 volumes of flora from the Pacific states from the 1944-1960.

Overall – quite a range of publications!

The whole list of 2,675 botanical eBooks can be accessed here. The list for the July 2023 books with links to the volumes and sample images is at the bottom of this post.

Click on any sample images in the mosaic below to get an enlarged version. Enjoy the July 2023 eBotanical Prints!

Ectypa plantarum Ratisbonensium, oder Abdrücke derjenigen Pflanzen, welche um Regensburg wild wachsen V1 * Hoppe, David Heinrich * sample image * 1787

Ectypa plantarum Ratisbonensium, oder Abdrücke derjenigen Pflanzen, welche um Regensburg wild wachsen V2 * Hoppe, David Heinrich * sample image * 1788

Ectypa plantarum Ratisbonensium, oder Abdrücke derjenigen Pflanzen, welche um Regensburg wild wachsen V3 * Hoppe, David Heinrich * sample image * 1788

Ectypa plantarum Ratisbonensium, oder Abdrücke derjenigen Pflanzen, welche um Regensburg wild wachsen V4 * Hoppe, David Heinrich * sample image * 1789

Ectypa plantarum Ratisbonensium, oder Abdrücke derjenigen Pflanzen, welche um Regensburg wild wachsen V5 * Hoppe, David Heinrich * sample image * 1789

Ectypa plantarum Ratisbonensium, oder Abdrücke derjenigen Pflanzen, welche um Regensburg wild wachsen V6 * Hoppe, David Heinrich * sample image * 1790

Ectypa plantarum Ratisbonensium, oder Abdrücke derjenigen Pflanzen, welche um Regensburg wild wachsen V7 * Hoppe, David Heinrich * sample image * 1791

Ectypa plantarum Ratisbonensium, oder Abdrücke derjenigen Pflanzen, welche um Regensburg wild wachsen V8 * Hoppe, David Heinrich * sample image * 1791

The Garden Book - Montgomery Ward - 1949 * Montgomery Ward * sample image * 1949

The Garden Book - Montgomery Ward - 1950 * Montgomery Ward * sample image * 1950

The Garden Book - Montgomery Ward - 1951 * Montgomery Ward * sample image * 1951

The Garden Book - Montgomery Ward - 1952 * Montgomery Ward * sample image * 1952

The Garden Book - Montgomery Ward - 1953 * Montgomery Ward * sample image * 1953

The Garden Book - Montgomery Ward - 1954 * Montgomery Ward * sample image * 1954

A flora of the liverworts and hornworts of New Zealand * Engel, John J.; Glenny, David * sample image * 2008

American grasses. I, Descriptions of the species * Lamson-Scribner, F. * sample image * 1900

American grasses. II, Descriptions of the species * Lamson-Scribner, F. * sample image * 1899

American grasses. III, Descriptions of the species * Lamson-Scribner, F. * sample image * 1900

An illustrated flora of the Pacific states - Washington, Oregon, & California V2 * Abrams, Leroy; Ferris, Roxana Stinchfield * sample image * 1944

An illustrated flora of the Pacific states - Washington, Oregon, & California V3 * Abrams, Leroy; Ferris, Roxana Stinchfield * sample image * 1951

An illustrated flora of the Pacific states - Washington, Oregon, & California V4 * Abrams, Leroy; Ferris, Roxana Stinchfield * sample image * 1960

Carrollton Yard – July 2023

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The temperatures were over 100 every day I was in Carrollton, TX in July; I spent most of my time in places with air conditioning. It was in the 80s when I ventured out not that long after sunrise…getting a bit of yard photography done before it got too hot. The naked lady lilies (pink) were the most spectacular flowers of July and my mother had brought some of them indoors to enjoy. There were plenty left amongst the greenery from cosmos (orange)…Crape Myrtle and Queen Anne’s Lace as back drop. The elderly mulberry trees are still healthy enough to sprout new leaves along their trunks. The toy truck, rooster, copper fountain, tractor windmill, and glass sphere are nestled among the plants. The red yucca is thriving. Many plants are growing seeds/pods already.

In the distance – the Carrollton water tower and the sun just above the horizon could be seen through the trees.

There is a sprinkler system that runs twice a week in the early morning….but my sister and father are supplementing that watering for the newer plants. There hasn’t been rain recently and the high temperatures are taking a toll. The hydrangea has not produced flowers at all this year and looks forlorn even with a lot of watering.

Beautyberry

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I always stop at the Texas Welcome Center on US 75 just after crossing the Red River from Oklahoma to Texas. There is always something to see in the extensive plantings in front of the building. I enjoy a quick round of macro photography.

The Beautyberry was the highpoint of my stop in July. The plants are in all stages of blooming and then berry formation. It seems like there are more plants than last year….these are hardy native bushes!

Soon the berries will start to turn purple. Here is a picture from last September. I will check the plants again when I pass through in August…maybe find a few berries turning purple.

Zentangle® – July 2023

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31 days in July….31 tiles selected from the 56 I made during the month! I enjoyed the variety of colored pens, starting patterns with the indentions left by cans of cat food in the lightweight cardboard tiles cut from boxes, and experimenting with purple tiles. Enjoy the July 2023 mosaic!

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The Zentangle® Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. It was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. “Zentangle” is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.

Ten Little Celebrations – July 2023

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Celebrating is often linked with appreciation. When I notice that I am celebrating something – I almost always notice that I appreciate that it happened or how beautiful it is…or just that it is a brilliant positive in my day.   Noticing little things to celebrate/appreciate every day is a habit that builds mental resilience!

Miniature pumpkins on the vine. I planted the seeds back in May, not confident that they would be more than vines. They started to bloom – and I enjoyed the flowers. I am celebrating the recognizable little pumpkins now.

A new low weight of the year. Slowly but surely…I am getting to the ‘normal’ weight for my height. Every time I reach a new low for the year, I celebrate!

Ozark (Missouri) farmers market. I was overwhelmed by the crowd at the farmers market in Springfield and underwhelmed by the sparse number of vendors in Nixa. I celebrated that the Ozark farmers market was the Goldilocks (i.e. ‘just right’).

2 ‘hens and chicks’ planted. I finally planted something new in the front flower bed; it wasn’t a simple task since it required moving rock and cutting away landscaping fabric underneath. I celebrated the completed project…and am enjoying the anticipation of ‘chicks’ appearing before fall.

Getting the lawn mowed. Avoiding high temperatures…rain..heavy due. I celebrated that the night was dry, the light dew in the morning, and the temperatures still in the 70s when I did the mowing.

Intensity minutes while gardening. This summer I have increased my ‘intensity minutes’ rather than simply sustaining my low sedentary time. Mowing generally results in ‘intensity minutes’…but I celebrated when some of my general gardening did too!

Lake Springfield meadow. There is something different to celebrate every time I go. In July the uptick in dragonflies and butterflies was the high-point.

Sprinklers all working. We noticed that one zone of our sprinkler system was not working when the grass started turning brown…so we celebrated when it was fixed (and also that we got rain too) and the grass started its recovery.

Rounding of 3 corners in our yard. I had an idea to round the corners of our yard to make mowing easier (curves rather than right angles) and celebrated that the actions I took for 3 corners (planting some and putting down landscaping cloth to kill grass so that I can plant something) is working!

Test at doctors office shows all OK. Its always worth celebrating when a test comes back with the desired result….of course, with some measure of relief too.

Zooming – July 2023

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The photographic opportunities bulged with the addition of a trip to St. Louis along with the monthly trip to Texas…. local walk abouts in our yard and neighborhood…the Lake Springfield boathouse too. They all added up to a lot of zoomed images taken with my bridge camera (Canon Powershot SX70 HS). I enjoyed choosing which ones to include in this month’s post!

Gleanings of the Week Ending July 29, 2023

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

An elegant enigma – A shipwreck discovered 30 feet below the surface 15 years ago…what we know (and don’t know) about it after study of the 1,500 objects recovered including textiles in 4 chests. The name of the ship is still unknown but the construction indicates it was a Dutch trader constructed around 1645 and sank around 1660.

At Peru temple site, archaeologists explore 3,000-year-old 'condor's passageway' – A 3,000 year old sealed corridor in a massive temple complex built by the ancient Chavin culture.

Does Nature Need a Trigger Warning? – A thought provoking post. Predators must be part of our conservation actions…and need to be valued as they are rather than simplistically.

Two-Hundred Years of Written Observations of Kīlauea's Summit Activity – On August 1, 1823, an English missionary visited the summit and published his observations (I found the book online -available on Internet Archive…Chapter 6 begins on page 121…image below). Mark Twain visited in 1866 and trekked across the caldera floor to Halema’uma’u, watching “a heaving sea of molten fire of seemingly limitless extent.” There are several links in the article that are worth following. My favorite is the USGS Views of a Century of Activity at Kilauea Caldera – A Visual Essay.

How Texas is racing to thwart the heat  - Unfortunately, planning for heat is not as well-developed in the US as planning for other hazards like flooding so many cities are scrambling to take proactive measures to cool their streets down and protect people from the dangerous impacts of overheating. In urban heat islands, temperatures can be up to 20 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than less populated areas. Austin, TX has a climate resilience plan that includes strengthening emergency response and future-proofing new facilities and infrastructure. It also developed an urban forest canopy for the city to ensure cool outdoor spaces. The city has now applied for a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) grant to plant more trees after finding the tree canopy coverage was helping Austin to adapt to hotter temperatures. In 2021, San Antonio became the first city in Texas to participate in a pilot project to lower pavement temperatures by applying a coat of paint that reflects the sun's rays. I was disappointed that other large cities in Texas (like Dallas and Houston) were not mentioned in the article. My impression of Dallas is that there is a lot of concrete.

Detecting spoiled foods with LEDs – A potential improvement in non-invasive monitoring of fruit and vegetable freshness.

Joshua trees are dying. This new legislation hopes to tackle that – A compromise law…sets up a conservation fund and requires the state to develop a conservation plan and companies to obtain a permit from the state to cut down or relocate existing trees.

The looming 840,000 ton waste problem that isn't single-use plastics – Carbon and glass fiber composites used in wind turbine blades, hydrogen tanks, airplanes, yachts, construction, and car manufacturing. "This is a huge opportunity," said Dr Wei. "And not only because various modes of recycling are cost-effective and minimally impactful on the environment. In an era of mounting supply chain disruptions, local recycled products can provide a more immediate product when compared to imports and create a burgeoning advanced manufacturing industry."

National Park Visitors Warned to Be "Prepared to Survive" Heat – My husband and I have avoided trips to the western national parks in summer since the 1980s…primarily to avoid crowds but now ‘excessive heat’ is part of our rationale too.

The ocean's color is changing as a consequence of climate change – The color shifts have occurred in 56% of the world’s ocean based on analysis of data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Aqua satellite, which has been monitoring ocean color for 21 years. Tropical oceans have become steadily greener. Changes in color reflect changes in plankton communities, that will impact everything that feeds on plankton. It will also change how much the ocean will take up carbon, because different types of plankton have different abilities to do that.