Legion of Angels News Archive

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - The drought that plagued the Deep South for more than a year is creeping northward, and officials in multiple states are restricting outdoor burning in the face of water shortages and forest fire risks from falling leaves and tinder-dry conditions.

Extreme drought conditions, the second-worst possible, have now spread into Kentucky, and severe conditions have returned to West Virginia and southwest Virginia, officials from the U.S. Drought Monitor say.

“The last three months have sucked every bit of moisture we’ve had,” said Ben Webster, a fire staff assistant for the West Virginia Division of Forestry.

In eastern Kentucky, retailers sent bottled water to drought-stricken Magoffin County after its primary water source, the Licking River, fell to low levels and residents were told to conserve tap water.

The county’s school system continue to serve meals on disposable plates with plastic utensils. Lunch trays have been temporarily shelved to save on dishwashing.

Kentucky also suffered through a severe drought a year ago, but “this is probably the worst that I’ve had to deal with,” said Joe Hunley, Magoffin County’s schools superintendent.

Tens of thousands of gallons of bottled water have been distributed through a fire department and a water company alone.

“We’re bringing water in daily and distributing it to those people who are in need,” said county health director Berti Salyer. “Of course, that’s just about everyone in Magoffin County right now.”

Outdoor burning has been banned outright in 34 Kentucky counties and limited to between 4 p.m. to 7 a.m. in West Virginia.

“We’re just telling people to use extreme caution and a whole lot of common sense when they’re burning,” Webster said.

‘Extra precaution’
Virginia officials need only look to last winter for reminder to be careful with campfires and burning leaves. High winds on Feb. 10 were blamed for wildfires that charred more than 16,000 acres.

“Take an extra precaution, take that extra time to make sure that fire is fully out, “said John Miller, the Virginia Department of Forestry’s director of resource protection.

Thursday’s rains did little to calm the threat and the short-term forecast holds no relief.

The largely hardwood forests of Kentucky and West Virginia do not burn as fiercely as the pine forests of the West. Since Oct. 1, 148 forest fires have burned 2,052 acres in Kentucky, and 103 fires have burned 452 acres in West Virginia.

West Virginia officials want to avoid years like 2001, when 86,465 acres burned during the October-December period, or 2006, when 1,022 fires were reported.

“The problem with a drought in the fall is as the leaves start to come down, if you have continued dry weather, the fire threats go up,” said Mark Pellerito, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Charleston.

West Virginia doesn’t have the water supply concerns seen elsewhere because water tables are still within a couple inches of normal ranges due to a wet spring, Pellerito said.

Water concerns
Elsewhere in the South, however, a lack of water remains the main concern.

Tennessee and South Carolina worry Atlanta may look to the nearby Tennessee or Savannah rivers for relief. Meanwhile, Georgia, Alabama and Florida have fought over how much water can be stored in north Georgia lakes.

South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster sued North Carolina last year after the state decided to allow 10 million gallons of water a day to be diverted from the Catawba River, which flows into South Carolina.

In Tennessee, Gov. Phil Bredesen has requested a federal designation of agricultural disaster for 39 counties because of crop and livestock losses.

Source — MSNBC

Looking to turn over a new leaf on your annual fall-foliage excursion? Trade in subdued “oohs” and “ahs” from the passenger seat for “wows!” and “holy cows!” by signing-up for a fun leaf-peeping adventure. Each of our 10 fall-foliage adventures is bound to give you a one-of-a-kind perspective on the bold wave of crimson, fiery orange, and golden hues that sweep the country at this time of year. So read on to discover 10 exhilarating alternatives to jumping in a fresh pile of crispy leaves!

1. Bike in Yosemite National Park
Post Labor Day, the deciduous trees of Yosemite National Park are not alone in experiencing a lovely transformation — temperatures become pleasantly cool (with subtle hints of Indian summer), the mosquitoes vanish, and the hordes of summer visitors disappear, leaving the park more reminiscent of a sanctuary than a frenzied tourist attraction. One of the best ways to experience the splendor of an autumn visit is by renting a bike from a park kiosk and pedaling over 12 miles of paved paths along the flat floor of the breathtaking Yosemite Valley.

2. Cruise Lake Champlain
Burlington-based Vermont Discovery Cruises’ Moonlight Lady plies the waters of Lake Champlain well into October, when a fiery display of fall foliage blankets the surrounding Adirondack and Green Mountains with a Technicolor coat of scarlets, burgundies, oranges, and golds. The one- to six-night sailing options — which debuted in 2008 as the first motorized overnight cruises on the lake in over 50 years — offer up outdoor decks for prime viewing, exceptionally fresh ‘farm to fork’ cuisine, and an intimate eight-cabin configuration.

3. Horseback Ride in Grand Teton National Park
Strap on your boots and saddle up — autumn is the perfect time of year to explore Wyoming’s stunning wilderness. Local wranglers, like those at Dry Ridge Outfitters, offer a variety of guided horseback riding trips that last anywhere from an hour to several days out on the trails. Prime leaf-peeping season is mid-September to mid-October, when Grand Teton National Park is flush with red-gold aspens and golden cottonwoods, set against a brilliant blue sky. Back at ground level, keep your eyes open for moose, elk, and the occasional bear, too.

4. Hot Air Balloon in Asheville
For a bird’s-eye view of autumn’s changing hues, the sky’s the limit on the foliage you’ll see from aboard a hot-air balloon out of Asheville, North Carolina. Asheville Hot Air Balloons will have you soaring to a leaf-peeper’s cloud nine some 500 to 2,000 feet above Pisgah National Forest and the Great Smoky Mountains — the latter of which boasts the superlative foliage of the Blue Ridge Parkway, one of America’s premier scenic drives for foliage fanatics. One-hour flights depart daily at sunrise.

5. Kayak on the Saco River
Take a leisurely autumnal paddle on the scenic Saco River with a fall-foliage kayak or canoe trip from Saco Bound. This pristine New Hampshire waterway courses through some of New England’s more scenic autumnal forests and farmlands (including some in Maine), and boats are available for hire through mid-October — the height of the spectacular foliage display.

6. Llama Trek in Taos
While running off in search of foliage and llamas in the adobe-speckled artists’ colony of Taos, New Mexico, might sound like a quest for fool’s gold, rest assured that the golden hues you’ll discover in the nearby aspen forests are indeed the real deal come autumn — as are the llamas-for-hire that can accompany you into the woods, courtesy of Wild Earth Llama Adventures. While indigenous to South America, the ‘llovable’ gear-carrying llamas fare extremely well in Taos’s climate and make great companions, along with a naturalist guide, for navigating the foliage-speckled terrain.

7. Ride the Cog Railway in White Mountain National Forest
The thrills of riding Mt. Washington’s Cog Railway haven’t lost any steam since the locomotive first began ascending New England’s highest peak in 1869. As much a New Hampshire rite of passage as leaf-peeping, the three-hour journey is the best way to appreciate the region’s fiery fall plumage. Admire nature’s handiwork up close (maple reds, beech bronzes, birch lemon-yellows) as you chug up the 3.1-mile trestle, then experience the full tour de force of the autumnal palette from the 6,288-foot summit, where the views encompass four states, Quebec, and the Atlantic Ocean.

8. Rock Climb in the Hudson River Valley
Autumn in New York’s Hudson River Valley is a sight to behold – and there are few better vantage points from which to take it all in then dangling from a rock face on the Shawangunks — affectionately dubbed “The Gunks” — range, some 90 miles north of Manhattan. A magnet for adrenaline junkies, this revered rock-climbing mecca is scalable by first-timers and expert climbers alike with the professional guidance of outfits like New Paltz-based Alpine Endeavors. Stay the weekend at the historic Mohonk Mountain House and you can also visit one of several nearby harvest festivals kicking off in October.

9. Wine-Taste in Shenandoah Valley
As the foliage of over 15-million acres turns brilliant shades of reds, golds, and browns, the entire state of Virginia celebrates a month-long wine festival that would make Bacchus proud. October 2008 marks the 20th anniversary of Virginia Wine Month, with some 30 wineries falling within the scenic Shenandoah Valley area. The list of possible activities is endless, but highlights include attending a blues festival, overnighting at a winery, enrolling in food-and-wine camp, or popping open some bubbly from a hot-air balloon.

10. Zip Line in Texas Hill Country
For a most colorful encounter with nature this fall, zip on over to Cypress Valley Canopy Tours, based just 30 miles outside of Austin. Sail through picturesque Texas Hill Country by zip line, right through the burnt-orange and yellowish hues of cypress trees that can reach as high as 100 feet tall here. October also marks the onset of exciting regional events like the Texas Wine Month Trail and the Gruene Music and Wine Festival, making it a great time to experience another side of Texas.

Source — MSNBC

The torrential rains of a single typhoon can bury tons of carbon in the ocean, two new studies suggest.

It’s Nature’s way of healing itself.

The findings help determine how much carbon that big storms have historically taken from the atmosphere and buried for thousands of years beneath the sea. And more carbon could be buried by these storms if global warming increases their intensity and frequency, as some scientists have predicted. Scientists have been looking at ways to store carbon to lower the levels of carbon dioxide building up in Earth’s atmosphere.

Scientists have long suspected that hurricanes and typhoons (along with cyclones and tropical depressions, these are all versions of storm systems called tropical cyclones) can cleanse the environment of a lot of carbon, because their rains sweep soil and plant material into rivers and then out to sea. This effect is particularly significant for mountainous islands prone to frequent hits from tropical cyclones.

Two different groups of researchers took samples of the sediment in rushing river waters on Taiwan during Typhoon Mindulle, which hit the island in July 2004. One group, whose findings are detailed in the Oct. 19 issue of the journal Nature Geoscience, took sediment samples from the LiWu River, while the other group, whose work is detailed in the June 2008 issue of the journal Geology, sampled the Chosui River.

The Nature Geoscience study, funded by The Cambridge Trusts and the UK National Environmental Research Council, found that 80 to 90 percent of the organic carbon (in the form of soil and plants) eroded by the storms around the LiWu were transported along the river to the ocean.

By dangling one-liter plastic bottles over the Chosui River during the typhoon, the researchers of the Geology study found that 61 million tons of sediment washed out to sea from the river. The amount of carbon contained in that sediment is about 95 percent as much as the river transports during normal rains over the entire year. That works out to more than 400 tons of carbon washing away during the storm for each square mile of the watershed, the researchers reported. Their work was funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation.

The carbon in the soil and plants came from carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. When the storm washes the sediment out to sea, it can sink down to the deep ocean, where it will eventually compact and form rocks that can store that carbon for millions of years.

And if typhoons and hurricanes do become more intense or frequent, as some models have indicated, the burial of carbon in the ocean from storm runoff could counteract some part of the warming, by locking the carbon away in the deep ocean, the researchers of the Nature Geoscience study said.

But typhoon runoff is not a cure-all for the carbon dioxide that’s been building up in the Earth’s atmosphere. Not enough carbon is washed down either as plant material and soil or by chemical weathering of rocks (where carbon dioxide and water disintegrate rock) to get rid of all the extra carbon dioxide that has built up in the atmosphere.

“You’d have to weather [and erode] all the volcanic rocks in the world to reduce the CO2 back to pre-industrial times,” said Anne Carey of Ohio State University and a member of the Geology study team.

Understanding how typhoon runoff fits into the Earth’s carbon cycle could help sharpen climate change models, though.

Source — MSNBC

IN THE MARSH OF CAMERON PARISH, La. - Joe Johnson craned his neck from the airboat as it circled a patch of brown marsh grass. The runaway coffin was not where it was supposed to be.

Johnson pulled up to a pile of rocks, killed the motor and hopped out. After a few minutes of scouring along the tall, reedlike grass, he flagged down two fishermen.

“Can you possibly take me along the shoreline?” Johnson asked. “I’m looking for a casket.”

Beyond the usual, dismal rebuilding, Hurricane Ike left another grim task when it struck last month: Its 13-foot storm surge washed an estimated 200 caskets out of their graves, ripping through most of Cameron Parish’s 47 cemeteries and others in southwest Louisiana and coastal Texas. Some coffins floated miles into the marsh.

At Hollywood Cemetery in Orange, Texas, Ike unearthed about 100 caskets. Dozens more were disgorged in hard-hit Galveston.

Caring for dead ongoing challenge
Officials in coastal areas have long struggled with interring the dead, as caskets buried in low-lying areas are susceptible to being belched up by floodwaters. Some areas — most notably New Orleans — house the dead in above-ground crypts to keep them from drifting away in storms.

For many of the dead forced up by Ike, it wasn’t their first disturbance. About 80 percent of the caskets in southwest Louisiana displaced by Ike were rousted by Hurricane Rita just three years earlier, said Zeb Johnson, the Calcasieu Parish deputy coroner who’s headed casket recovery efforts for Rita and Ike.

Of the caskets ejected by Rita in September 2005, 335 were found and reburied, he said. Eighteen were never found.

“Our mother came out for Rita, and now she came out for Ike,” said Debra Dyson, a commercial fisher whose house in Cameron was destroyed by Ike.

Dyson said coffins holding her brother-in-law and cousin also were heaved out by Rita. Ike was worse — the storm thrust out caskets containing her mother, brother-in-law, cousin, niece, three uncles and two aunts.

The one containing Dyson’s mother floated to the same spot it came to rest after Rita, 22 miles from the cemetery. Only this time, it didn’t take nine months to find it.

“It’s hard to lose your home, but the first stop you make is that cemetery just to make sure they’re still there, and it’s heartbreaking when they’re not,” said Marilyn Dyson Elizondo, Dyson’s sister who lives in Dayton, Texas.

Hauling coffins back to shore
Zeb Johnson helms a team of two employees, volunteer boat pilots and state prisoners to search hundreds of miles of marsh with loaned equipment and haul coffins back to shore. The work is backbreaking, with caskets weighed down by mud in swampy areas teeming with alligators and snakes and the stench of rotting marsh grass.

“It’s a job that has to be done,” said Joe Johnson, a funeral director and embalmer from Lake Charles who is not related to the deputy coroner.

Joe Johnson’s half-hour ride with the fishermen didn’t turn up the pink casket reported to the coroner’s office, like so many other tips that don’t pan out. An hour later, however, he returned with another coffin found in thick grass near a canal bank.

A hole was drilled into the silver metal container to drain out marsh muck and lighten the load for the airboat. Prisoners pulling the casket from the boat tipped it again to empty out more of the fetid water.

The coffin was trucked to the city coliseum in Lake Charles, where the Federal Emergency Management Agency was providing refrigerated trucks to hold caskets until reburial arrangements could be made.

“It’s a slow process,” Zeb Johnson said.

The Calcasieu Parish Coroner’s Office is footing most of the search and recovery bill, which hasn’t been tallied. But reburying the dead is estimated to cost as much as $100,000 on top of the recovery costs, with much of the money needed for new caskets and vaults. Zeb Johnson wasn’t sure who’ll cover that price tag, so he wasn’t sure when reburial could begin.

Not all will be found
More than 140 coffins had been found by Wednesday, and about 20 others that didn’t stray far from their burial sites were quickly reburied. Zeb Johnson doesn’t expect to find all of the two dozen or more that remain missing.

“The first day we found caskets that had floated 30 miles from their cemeteries,” he said. “You just have caskets floating out in the marsh. At least seven of these caskets ended up in Texas, kind of like boats, they just got out in the currents from the high waters and carried them to Texas.”

The identification work in many instances is easier this time around. Bodies found after Rita were tagged with special markers, as were the silver metal coffins in which they were reburied. The coffins include a scroll with the deceased’s name, where they were buried and other information.

A few families are considering reburials on higher ground. Cameron Parish’s government has proposed requiring deeper burials.

Elizondo, whose family awaits word on the missing Dyson caskets, said her brother was buried in January in a deeper vault than those that housed her missing relatives. Ike didn’t disturb her brother, so Elizondo wants to rebury her mother the same way, though it is more expensive.

“It’s worth it. That way we have the peace of mind that mom won’t be gone again,” Elizondo said. “We’ve even offered to do the backhoe ourselves. We just don’t want her coming back up again.”

Source — MSNBC

NEW YORK - The red line starts low to the ground, showing how much carbon was in the atmosphere before the Industrial Revolution. As the timeline moves forward and the world becomes more industrialized, the line goes up, up and up to modern times, when it’s above visitors’ heads.

Starting with that opening image, a new exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History is trying to help viewers understand what people have done to cause global warming, and what impact it is having on the planet and what people can do to fix it.

“Climate Change: The Threat to Life and a New Energy Future” opens Saturday at the museum and runs through August 16.

Museum President Ellen Futter said the exhibit was balanced between making people comprehend what a potentially dire, issue global climate change is and helping them figure out what they, their communities and their countries can do.

“We want them to understand how serious, and urgent really, this problem with climate change is but also that there are solutions to it,” she said.

“What we have to do is convert the ingenuity that created the Industrial Revolution and accidentally caused global climate change and use that ingenuity and apply it to finding solutions.”

The show starts with a section on fossil fuels, and then looks at how the Earth has become warmer as more greenhouse gases have ended up in the atmosphere. Another section lists the kinds of actions people can take on an individual level, from paying bills online to avoid the waste of paper statements to not drinking bottled water to using cold water instead of hot for laundry.

Other parts of the show look at how the atmosphere, polar ice, the oceans and land are all affected, using models and interactive components to make the point. In one section, a model of lower Manhattan is partly flooded to show what would happen if sea levels rise as polar ice melts. Another section has a model of dead coral, bleached white, that shows the risks of ocean warming.

The show ends with a display of some alternative energies, from solar power to nuclear to wind. Visitors are invited to write down their thoughts and reactions before leaving the exhibit.

Ed Mathez, who co-curated the exhibit along with Michael Oppenheimer of Princeton University, said it was a complicated subject to make into an exhibition, but he hoped it would answer any confusion the public had over the issue.

Oppenheimer said the exhibit shows that the response has to come on different levels, from the individual to the government, and that people would be inspired to want their governments to act.

“I hope it would empower people to go out of here and demand leadership,” he said.

The exhibit had a number of American and international collaborators: The Cleveland Museum of Natural History, The Field Museum in Chicago, the Saint Louis Science Center, the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage in the United Arab Emirates, Instituto Sangari in Brazil, Junta de Castilla y Leon in Spain, the Korea Green Foundation, the Natural History Museum of Denmark, and the Papalote Museo del Nino of Mexico.

The show will travel extensively once it leaves New York, including to many of these locations.

Futter said the international collaboration in putting it together reflects the understanding that climate change is a planetary issue. It “really speaks to the fact that this is a shared concern,” she said. “Increasingly, we are beginning to understand that the driving issues of our time are ones that exceed geographical boundaries, that require increased coordination and cooperation.”

Source — MSNBC