Yesterday, I paid a couple of bills. I didn’t venture outside, though I suppose I might have, because besides the evacuations the day before, we also has spring winds (to blow them away) – but that’s a straight stick which points two ways, – the winds could aldo have brought the fires (and their smoke) closer. Not difficult to justify doing what I wanted to do anyway (grin.)
Cartoon –
Short Takes –
truthout – DeSantis’s Congressional Maps Deemed “Unconstitutional” by Judge He Appointed
Quote – Smith will likely replace DeSantis’s gerrymandered maps with one of two that the Republican-controlled legislature had previously passed, which the governor had vetoed earlier this year. Though still advantageous to the GOP, those maps are seen as somewhat better (though by no means perfect), in terms of respecting Black voters’ voices, than the ones DeSantis demanded be passed after his veto. Click through for article. Here’s my take on DeSantis.
Media Matters – Fox News melts down following revelation Karine Jean-Pierre called the network racist. She’s right.
Quote – It’s not just people on the left pointing out Fox’s racism. In 2020, amid the George Floyd protests, The Daily Beast reported that it “spoke to more than a dozen Fox News insiders, who all suggested that behind the scenes there is a growing despair among employees about the network’s role in demonizing and spreading fear about Black Americans in particular.” One Fox staffer quoted in the piece described some of the network’s personalities as “a white supremacist cell,” adding, “This is rank racism excused by Murdoch.” Another described Fox programming as “white supremacist crap.” Click through if you can stand to. Shall we expect Fox staff to treat Karine with even more disrespect than they did Jen? (OK, I grant I was shocked when Doocy said on camera that he would miss her because she’d always been a “good sport.”)
Robert Reich – Personal history: The Supreme Court I argued before fifty years ago
Quote – Douglas, Marshall, and Blackmun were the intellectual leaders of that Supreme Court. Their opinions gave the Court its moral heft. They drew not only from the Constitution as written but also from the nation as it had evolved. They understood the moral leadership America needed to protect the rights of the voiceless and the powerless. Today’s Supreme Court majority doesn’t have a clue about the Court’s moral authority, and couldn’t care less. Click through for history, nostalgia, and moral clarity. Today’s FFT is a meme drawn from this article. Feel free to share it.
Food For Thought
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 16: Former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich testifies before the Joint Economic Committee January 16, 2014 in Washington, DC. Reich joined a panel testifying on the topic of “Income Inequality in the United States.Ó (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Glenn Kirschner – Mark Esper hides Trump’s crimes & unfitness for office; discloses those crimes & abuses in his book
The Lincoln Project – Yes We Know
RepresentUs – Sen. Warnock and Sen. Ossoff on Gerrymandering and Voting Access
Farron Balanced – Lauren Boebert Informed By FEC That She’s Breaking The Law
PBS – Amanpour and Company – Kristin Du Mez: How Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith
Yes, this is long. But it is extremely illuminating. I assume the book is even more illuminating. It’s not brand new, but not much has changed.
Stray Puppy Wanders Into Stranger’s Home in the Middle of Night
Beau – Let’s talk about Britney Spears being every woman in the US….
Glenn Kirschner – Justice Alito should now be the subject of both a perjury investigation AND an impeachment inquiry
Meidas Touch – Texas Paul REACTS to Trump Wanting to Bomb Mexico (a little late, but to important to omit entirely)
The Lincoln Project – Bonfire
Thom Hartmann – Can We Sanction Fox News To Save Democracy?
RepresentUs – Sen. Warnock and Sen. Ossoff on the Importance of Bipartisanship (If they can put their money – that is to say, their actions – where their moouth is, more power to them.)
MSNBC – It Was A Coup: Jan. 6 Investigator Says Panel Will Prove Riot Plot
Beau – Let’s talk about the statements by Justice Clarence Thomas….
Glenn Kirschner – Giuliani now in contempt of Congress, literally & figuratively. Will Congress use inherent contempt?
Meidas Touch on Twitter – Someone you love
Someone you love might need an abortion someday. Help ensure that when that day comes, they are able to get the care they need. Pass this video on and show your support. pic.twitter.com/iyjha2jfAJ
Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”
The sight of industrialists stealing resources from indigenous peoples, and of that theft essentially turning into genocide, is unfortunately nothing new. It is as famiiar at Standing Rock as it is in the Amazon basin. But there’s a new twist to this story – the potential use of satellite techno;ogy and data to provide proof of injury – and of agency when the guilty parties deny fault. See what you think.
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Satellites over the Amazon capture the choking of the ‘house of God’ by the Belo Monte Dam – they can help find solutions, too
NASA’s Landsat satellites have been monitoring changes on Earth’s landscape for 50 years. NASA illustration
The Xingu River is revered as the “house of God” by the Indigenous people living along its Volte Grande, or Big Bend, in the Brazilian Amazon. The river is essential to their culture and religion, and a crucial source of fish, transportation and water for trees and plants.
Five years ago, the Big Bend was a broad river valley interwoven with river channels teaming with fish, turtles and other wildlife. Today, as much as 80% of the water flow is gone.
That’s because in late 2015, the massive Belo Monte Dam project began redirecting water from the Xingu River upstream from the Big Bend, channeling it through a canal to a giant new reservoir. The reservoir now powers one of the largest hydropower dams in the world, designed with enough capacity to power around 20 million households, though it has been producing far less.
Indigenous communities living in the Big Bend region of the Xingu River and its Bacaja tributary rely on the river for food and to transport crops. Taylor Weidman/LightRocket via Getty Images
Most of the river’s flow now bypasses the Big Bend, and the Indigenous peoples who live there are watching their livelihoods and way of life become endangered. Some of the most devastating effects are during the rainy season, when wildlife and trees rely heavily on having high water. The consortium of utilities and mining companies that runs the dam has pushed back on government orders to allow more water to reach the Big Bend, claiming it would cut their generation and profits. The group has argued in the past that there was no scientific proof that the change in water flow harmed fish or turtles.
There is proof of the Belo Monte Dam project’s impact on the Big Bend, though – from above. Satellite data shows how dramatically the dam has altered the hydrology of the river there.
The front satellite image shows the Big Bend of the Xingu River on May 26, 2000, before the Belo Monte Dam project began. Move the slider to the left to see the same region on July 20, 2017.
The same satellite data can also point to potential solutions and ways that operators of the Belo Monte Dam could revise the dam’s operations to keep both its renewable power and the Xingu River flowing at the most important times of the year.
As scientists who work with remote sensing, we believe satellite observations can empower populations around the world who face threats to their resources. The fact that satellite observations of surface water of the Xingu River can be clearly tied to the construction and operation of the Belo Monte Dam offers hope that this kind of knowledge can no longer be hidden.
50 years of Earth observation
Satellites have been monitoring changes in Earth’s landscapes for 50 years, ever since the U.S. launched the first Landsat satellite in July 1972. By piecing together data from the Landsat program and other satellites, scientists can reconstruct historical patterns of change in the landscape and predict current and future trends. They can monitor forest cover, drought, wildfire damage and desert expansion, as well as river flows and reservoir operations around the world.
An example of how that data can be used to help threatened communities is the global Reservoir Assessment Tool, which was created by colleagues and one of us at the University of Washington. It monitors how much water is in about 1,600 reservoirs around the world.
The Reservoir Assessment Tool allows communities to track river flow changes caused by nearby dams and locate proposed dams. It currently tracks dams built before 2000. University of Washington
Dam operators already collect thorough on-site data about water flow, but their datasets are rarely shared with the public. Remote sensing doesn’t face the same restrictions. Making that data public can help hold operators to account for and protect local communities and their rivers.
How satellites could pressure Belo Monte to share
Satellite monitoring can provide unprecedented insight into the operations of dams like the Belo Monte and their impact on downstream populations.
Existing satellite data can be used to monitor recent historical behavior of a dam’s operations, track the state of the river and patterns of inflow and outflow at the dam, and even forecast the likely state of the reservoir. Much of that data is easily accessible and free. For example, a tool created for the regional governing body of the Mekong River Commission is empowering communities along the river in Southeast Asia by giving them access to satellite data about water flow at each dam – data that cannot be hidden or modified by those in power.
While estimates based on remote sensing have higher uncertainty than on-site measurements, unfettered access to such information can provide local populations with evidence to argue, in court if necessary, for more water releases.
Members of Indigenous groups living in the Big Bend region talk about changes they’ve seen since the dam was built.
Long-term observations of dams and hydroclimate records show it is possible to revise the standard operating procedures of dams so they allow more water to flow downstream when needed. A compromise with the Belo Monte Dam could ensure that enough water flows to the Xingu’s Big Bend region while also providing hydropower benefits.
By making the impact of the Belo Monte Dam and others like it public to the world, agencies and the general public can put pressure on the dam’s operators and its investors to release more water. Public pressure will become increasingly important, as water disputes in the Amazon are expected to worsen as the planet warms and deforestation continues. Climate change will affect river flow patterns in the Amazon and likely increase droughts, leaving less water during some periods.
Monitoring dams is a powerful way satellites can make a difference. Nearly two-thirds of Brazil’s electricity comes from more than 200 large and 400-plus small hydropower plants, and more large dams are expected to be built in the Amazon this decade. Many are in areas with Indigenous populations.
The Belo Monte Dam’s construction, shown here in 2012, flooded land and changed the river. Mario Tama/Getty Images
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Remote sensing may not directly solve the problem of social injustice, but it offers the tools needed to recognize the problems and explore solutions. Being able to monitor changes in near-real time and compare them with historical operations can help maintain the checks and balances required for equitable growth.
Raaghul Senthilkumar, a former Master’s student at the University of Washington, contributed to this article.
============================================================== Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone, as the authors point out, satellite data is not a solution – it is only a tool – but it appears to me to be a darned good one. Put on your Eumenides hats, and stir up indigenous people and activists who care, and help them acquire and use this tool, with all other tools, to defend themselves. And, please – without delay. Our environmentsal losses, cultural losses, human losses have been so severe already, largely through delay, that we really cannot afford any more.
