Tag Archives: South Carolina

CLIMATE POLITICS: Outgoing Republican congressman warns his party about the consequences of climate-change skepticism

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Political cartoons by Clay Bennett

Bob Inglis, a Republican congressman of South Carolina, “is often described as a casualty of the ‘Tea Party-ization’ of the GOP.” Recently, the congressman, in addressing his colleges, warned his party of the negative side effects from rampant climate-change skepticism and of “missed economic opportunities in clean energy development.” Via NYTimes.com:

Mr. Inglis used an analogy comparing the climate to a sick child.

“Your child is sick,” he said. “Ninety-eight doctors say treat him this way. Two say no, this other way is the way to go.”

By taking the minority viewpoint that carbon emissions are not a problem, “you’re taking a big risk with those kids,” he said.

On clean energy development, Mr. Inglis warned his Republican colleagues that China was preparing to “eat our lunch.”

“They plan on innovating around these problems, and selling to us, and the rest of the world, the technology that’ll lead the 21st century,” he said. “We may press the pause button for a few years, but China is pressing the fast-forward button.”

Other Republicans on the subcommittee stood by their doubts on climate change. Among those questioning the validity of climate science was Ralph Hall of Texas, the leading candidate to take the House Science and Technology gavel in next year’s Congress.

Sherwood Boehlert, a former Republican U.S. Representative from New York’s 24th District, also rebuked his Party’s denial of climate change. Via Think Progress:

In a Washington Post op-ed yesterday, former Republican Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (NY) articulated his confusion as to why “so many Republican senators and representatives think they are right and the world’s top scientific academies and scientists are wrong.” Allowing for debate over policy, Boehlert said he finds the GOP’s “dogged determination” to deny the actual science “incomprehensible”:

Watching the raft of newly elected GOP lawmakers converge on Washington, I couldn’t help thinking about an issue I hope our party will better address. I call on my fellow Republicans to open their minds to rethinking what has largely become our party’s line: denying that climate change and global warming are occurring and that they are largely due to human activities.[...]

Why do so many Republican senators and representatives think they are right and the world’s top scientific academies and scientists are wrong? I would like to be able to chalk it up to lack of information or misinformation.

I can understand arguments over proposed policy approaches to climate change. I served in Congress for 24 years. I know these are legitimate areas for debate. What I find incomprehensible is the dogged determination by some to discredit distinguished scientists and their findings.[...]

There is a natural aversion to more government regulation. But that should be included in the debate about how to respond to climate change, not as an excuse to deny the problem’s existence. The current practice of disparaging the science and the scientists only clouds our understanding and delays a solution.


MAP: Longevity in the United States

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Longevity In AmericaSouth Carolina’s bad healthcare outcomes: Like “teenage pregnancy rates, infant birth weight, premature births and infant mortality,” the life expectancy in South Carolina is at the bottom. Via FlowingData.

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INVASIVE SPECIES: South Carolina study to determine whether invasive Burmese pythons can survive further north

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Burmese Python Range United StatesTo test the theory of whether “after several generations, [Burmese pythons] could eventually migrate to and flourish in as much as a third of the continental United States,” the Savannah River Ecology Lab in South Carolina is conducting a study to determine whether Burmese pythons (Python molurus bivittatus) can survive further north.

Currently, these massive constrictors have established a breeding population within the Florida Everglades—which is expected to spread northwards—and this invasion has been blamed on the pet trade. Burmese pythons grow very large, so their prey can be large, but younger snakes feed on smaller animals. As a result, the impact on Florida’s ecosystems is systemic.

At the moment, a bill is in the works to control destructive non-native species kept as pets. Recently, “a Florida toddler was strangled on Wednesday by a 12-foot (3.6-meter) albino Burmese python that escaped from a holding tank in the girl’s home.” From the Richmond Times Dispatch:

Water managers dispatched two experts to Washington recently to back a bill targeting an Everglades problem that seems to get bigger every year. The latest, largest evidence emerged in mid-May: a Burmese python stretching 16½ feet.

It is the longest yet of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of the exotic constrictors the South Florida Water Management District has pulled off its lands and levees in the past few years. More sobering: The female was pregnant, carrying a clutch of 59 eggs — more proof the giant snakes are breeding in the wild.

“These are not little snakes running around. These are massive, dangerous animals,” said district spokesman Randy Smith.

.       .       .

But at its first hearing in April, the bill ran into what a co-sponsor quipped was a “hornet’s nest of opposition” from pet owners, breeders, hobbyists and pet stores. They expressed outrage to lawmakers in telephone calls, e-mails and YouTube videos — including one titled “Pets in Peril, Politicians Gone Wild” — arguing that the legislation would bar the ownership of anything more exotic than a Doberman or a Siamese cat.

“One-third of our nation has non-native species as pets, and apart from dogs, cats and goldfish, which are exempt [in the bill], virtually every species in those homes falls under” the legislation, said Marshall Meyers, CEO of the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council. The bill “could shut down major segments of the pet industry virtually overnight.”

Proponents, including a coalition of 15 major environmental organizations such as the National Audubon Society and the National Wildlife Federation, call the fears unjustified. They say the bill targets only species that pose a threat.

Still, some suggest the language in the bill is vague.

“There were some legitimate concerns, no one doubts that,” said Peter Jenkins, director of international conservation at Defenders of Wildlife. He notes that pet owners were alarmed when some animals — ferrets, gerbils, guinea pigs and others — weren’t named as species that would be exempt from the bill.

.       .       .

Biologists argue that more than 400 of the 1,300 species on the endangered-species list are at risk primarily because they compete with — or are targets of — invasive species.

As one of the largest snakes in the world, sometimes topping 20 feet, pythons potentially could challenge the natural dominant predators of the Everglades or other wild places — a concern illustrated in 2005 by the now-famous photos of a 13-foot python that exploded after swallowing a 6-foot alligator.

Water district spokesman Smith said the impact is obvious along the L-67 levee.

“You won’t find a rabbit down there anymore,” he said. “That’s the most noticeable effect. It [the snake] doesn’t seem to have any predators, and it preys on native wildlife.”

Image Found Here

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WILDLIFE: Alligator photographed in Georgia with deer kill

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The extraordinary images below show an American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) with what appears to be a freshly killed adult white-tailed deer. I imagine if the gator didn’t find the deer dead fresh that it took the deer swimming or crossing the waterway or via ambush.

The American alligator was once an endangered species, but it is now considered a recovered species. However, as these great predators continue to recover, conflicts with people will likely become more common. Furthermore, primarily because of fear and ignorance, humans have historically targeted large predators (the gray wolf is a good example). From the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service:

The sight of a 12 to 14 foot-long alligator is something south Georgia folks see occasionally, but few have seen one take an adult deer out to lunch. Actually — for lunch.

The photographs of this deer-eating alligator were taken from the air by Terri Jenkins, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service District Fire Management Officer. She was preparing to ignite a prescribed fire at Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge, about 40 miles south of Savannah, Georgia, on March 4, 2004. The photo has

“One advantage of fire work is you get to see that 12-14 footers are common from Santee National Wildlife Refuge in South Carolina to Coastal South Carolina to Georgia’s coast,” said Jenkins. “It looks like the alligator population is doing extremely well.”

This one was at least 12-13 feet long. Jenkins said that some bull alligators have a 35 inch girth.

The Service uses a helicopter capable of igniting controlled burns by dropping flaming fuel-filled ping pong balls on pre-selected areas. She works throughout parts of North Carolina, South Carolina and Coastal Georgia refuges and fish hatcheries. The Service uses prescribed fire to improve habitat and reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires.

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Images via Terri Jenkins for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

A very large alligator was shot in Texas back in 2005, because it was living in someone’s back yard. From Brazosport Facts:

“The first time I really got an idea of the size of it was when they got it,” Anita Rogers said.

Spring is mating season for the reclusive animals and the bulls tend to roam, said Joe Goff, who is not only the game warden who shot the animal, but has a house behind the Rogerses.

“In the last two weeks, we’ve had a number of nuisance alligator calls,” Goff said.

But Friday’s took the cake. Normally, game wardens will capture the animals and turn them over to alligator farms. Not this one.

“He’s too big,” Goff said. “We couldn’t capture him, he’s too dangerous. He’ll eat the females.”

Goff said the alligator swam to within 3 feet of him. Goff shot him with a .22-caliber rifle.

“He’s blind in his left eye,” Goff said. “It was spooky.”

Goff said the alligator will be given to a nuisance hunter who puts bids in with the state and will pay for the animal. The hunter then will clean the carcass and sell the meat and hide for processing.

While alligators can be a danger to pets, they’re generally not a threat to humans, said Charles Mann, a zookeeper in the reptile and amphibian department at the Houston Zoo.

“Certainly an alligator that gets up to 13 feet long gets that way by being very wary and probably tries to shy away from anything that could hurt it, mainly people,” Mann said.

Mann estimated the animal had to be at least 12 to 15 years old, but could be much older, based on its size.

“They grow about a foot a year until they’re 7 or 8 feet long, then past that they grow slower,” Mann said. “The record for longevity would be 50 or 60 years.”

Anita Rogers said she kept her dogs in the fence when she first heard the stories and heard the bellowing, which she likened to a giant bullfrog.

The Rogerses are glad the reptile is gone, but they don’t have problems with the smaller ones in the water.

“They keep the bayou cleaned out,” Charles Rogers said.

Mann said the animals, which have been around for hundreds of millions of years, were almost wiped out before the federal government stepped in.

“It’s really a success story of the Endangered Species Act,” he said.

Alligator