Squawk-fest

News blues

NPR examined COVID deaths per 100,000 people in roughly 3,000 counties across the U.S. from May 2021, the point at which most Americans could find a vaccine if they wanted one. Those living in counties that voted 60% or higher for Trump in November 2020 had 2.26 times the death rate of those that went by the same margin for Biden. Counties with a higher share of Trump votes had even higher mortality rates.
The scale of the preventable loss of life is staggering. According to a recent analysis by Brown University, nearly 320,000 lives nationwide could have been saved if more people had chosen to get vaccinated. The Brown analysis also shows a partisan split in how those preventable deaths are distributed. States that went most heavily for Trump – including Wyoming and West Virginia – have among the highest rates of preventable deaths, while states that voted heavily for Biden – such as Massachusetts and Vermont – had among the lowest.

Read more >> 

***

Healthy planet, anyone?

Otters unite!
I’m physically far from the KZN stream, but my idealistic plan to reintroduce otters into the waterway  continues ... It is good to know other places and countries are looking to free the water, too. European countries are onboard:

More than 1m barriers - dams, weirs and other river obstacles - are estimated to exist on Europe’s rivers, with many built more than a century ago. At least 150,000 are old, obsolete barriers that serve no economic purpose.
[These] block fish migration routes, often leading to the loss of breeding areas and reduced numbers of species such as salmon, sturgeon, trout and eel, which affects the wider biodiversity of ecosystems, including species ranging from eagles to otters. Free-flowing rivers also transport sediments and nutrients.
[Now] at least 239 barriers, including dams and weirs, were removed across 17 countries in Europe in 2021, in a record-breaking year for dam removals across the continent.
Spain’s Pao Fernández Garrido, project manager for the World Fish Migration Foundation, who helped produce Dam Removal Europe’s annual report, said, “An increasing number of governments, NGOs, companies and communities are understanding the importance of halting and reversing nature loss, and buying into the fact that dam removal is a river-restoration tool that boosts biodiversity and enhances climate resilience. We’re also seeing lessons being learned from previous dam removals, new countries kickstarting removals, and new funds, including crowdfunding.”

Read more >>

Unfortunately, back in the ye olde country, South Africa’s Nelson Mandela Bay is going dry >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

The Bay Area will heat up over the next days. Parasailing and parasailers showing signs of taking to the waters again. I captured this yesterday.

 ***

A murder of crows had a loud, 10-minute long squawk-fest in the trees outside my apartment at 4:00am this morning. What, someone wet the nest?

 
SF Bay Area:
Sunrise: 5:53am
Sunset: 8:17pm

KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 6:39am
Sunset: 5:11pm