Got dem IUCN Blues

The 2/3rds of the White House that is still standing issued an Executive Order today withdrawing the U.S. from 66 international organizations.  Among them was the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).  Nothing could make clearer that this administration passionately hates our environment.  

The list is long and includes:  

• Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
• International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property
• International Tropical Timber Organization
• Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme
• UN Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries
• UN Oceans
• UN Population Fund
• UN Water

On top of that clear message that the U.S. has no interest in preserving a functional global habitat for humans, let alone wildlife, there were a few other ringers:  

• International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies
• International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance
• International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law

I am deeply, deeply distressed.

And all this atop a day of ICE shooting an unarmed observer in Minneapolis.  

I did manage to update our hardcopy Nature's Notebook records based on Monday's observations. 

 

January 6 Redux

Welp, here we are again "celebrating" 1/6, the convicted felon's (TFC) failed coup.  Five years later and we haven't learned the lesson:  justice delayed is justice denied.  Congress had their chance, but the McConnell-led Senate didn't convict TFC after his second impeachment.  Their rationale:  the court system is the appropriate venue to punish him for his actions (and inactions) that infamous day.  

And we're still paying the price.  

That said, it looks like the tide is turning.  Mark Kelly refuses to be cowed and others in the Pentagon  are pushing back against those vindictive actions.  There's a vote coming in Congress to overturn his first veto of the 2nd term.  SCOTUS might declare illegal his abuse of tariffs.  The misadventure in Venezuela may rapidly backfire. 

Hide and watch.  

Shifting topics, there was set of Nature's Notebook observations to be made yesterday, followed by an online "murmuration."  That Zoom chat involved about 16 various NN users.  I'm reminded that I need to pull together a slide deck for a lightning talk about our BioPark group for the NN virtual conference coming up later this month.  

In things both political and natural science, I'm find solace in the story of the candle and the sun.  A candle complained about being small next to the sun.  The sun replied, "In darkness, your light matters more than mine."  Small things can have profound effects at the right time.

I'll end by noting that the sun is returning.  Today has about 50 seconds more sunlight than yesterday.  

First Phenology Observations of the New Year

 Political matters out of Washington continue to dominate rent-free space in my head.  Today I came across a succinct quote from one of the founding parents:  

“The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny,” James Madison warned in Federalist No. 47. 

Watching television news is definitely not good for my mental health, so getting out in the Garden was a very pleasant diversion.  Sandy and Sheila were out for various reasons and that left me on my own for making Nature's Notebook observations.  

It's winter and that means most of our species under observation are dormant.  There are a few green leaves on one chamisa (Ericameria nauseosa) and the cholla's fruits (Cylindropuntia imbricata) still can't decide if they are green or yellow.  

This time of year if there's something up in a cottonwood, it's either a snoozing porcupine or a cluster of mistletoe.  Today I saw only the latter.

Now that it's January, River of Lights is over and the crews are out dismantling the displays.  It will take them weeks to undo all the zillions of lights and pack everything away until next fall.  Let's hope that they don't clobber too many of the new labels in the process. 

Datura in the Cottonwood Gallery

Assume Corruption

Our American experiment in Democracy seems to have failed.  The founding parents assumed that wise and honorable men (white landed males) would control the levers of power.  Even through the Civil War and the depredations of the late 19th century Robber Barons, things held together.  Richard Nixon was unable to subvert our system. 

But with the coming into power of a second DJT term, the wheels are off.  Toadies in Congress and the Supreme Court do nothing to exercise their lawful obligations to be checks and balances.  Along with a feckless Department of Justice that no longer heeds its requirement to be an independent agency, there is no resource in our system of government that can reign in the current administration.  

The result is a president unfettered by law, Constitutional, International, or otherwise.  That he would pardon one convicted former president of a Central American country, all the while violently attacking another while confiscating their oil makes a lie of his interest in protecting the U.S. from South American drugs.  

When/if we have an opportunity to redress this situation, it will not be by reestablishing "norms" of governance.  Laws will have to be enacted that codify unambiguously the limits of power and the forceful and redundant means of enforcement.  

Never again will SCOTUS or DOJ be allowed to subvert our Constitutional rights and protections.  Their behavior forces us to assume corruption and greed will be the prevalent motivation and that institutional guardrails will have to become fortress walls.  No longer can we rely on "men" of good will to uphold our way of life as the current group has abdicated all respect and honor.  They will long be remembered as cowards who sold their country for a handful* of silver.   

________________

* Federal Reserve data indicates that as of Q1 2024, the top 1% of households in the United States held 30.5% of the country's wealth, while the bottom 50% held 2.5%.

Exceptions

White rabbit, white rabbit, white rabbit!*

Now that I've got that detail taken care of, I can wish everyone a happy New Year.  

There are, of course, exceptions.  People who are particularly hard to extend a loving kindness metta to.  

Moving on to more positive thoughts, I can vouch for this recipe:  cacio e pepe from research published last year in Nature.  Two thirds cups of cheese to a scant teaspoon of cornstarch turns out to be the optimum ratio.  

Here's a toast to a better 2026... 

_______________

*  Spoken and typed before even the title of this piece :-)

100 Days

Periodically at Garuda (my tai chi class), our instructor would announce 100 days of training.  The idea was not to resolve to do something forever more, but rather, to do a push for about 3 months and then see if the habit sticks.  

Seems like today will be a good time to commit to 100 days of tai chi and see if my old muscle memory is still there.  Definitely feels better than trying to come up with a New Year's resolution. 

I'll have to give it a go and then dust off my old videos to correct myself.  Good thing I captured those videos of me when my form was pretty good.  Wish I'd recorded tai wu sequences and the kata.  I'll see if I can remember them and if so, will take videos.  

Stepping Over Stones
From May 2012

A Brief Respite

Having survived a couple holiday dinners (one out at M'Tucci's, the other at our place), the main events were visits out (open house at Deb & Nat's, Christmas Eve dinner at Debbie's).  Then followed the Jane and Tommy take-out / eat-in evening.  Now, finally, we've had a couple days to ourselves to recoup.  

Today's effort is a batch of baguettes.  With 520 ml of water in 700 g of flour, it's a wet, sticky dough.  But after 3 risings, it's stretchy and alive.  

Now for shaping before the final rise.   

And finally, baking.  First above a pan of boiling water, then finishing in dry heat until golden brown and delicious. 

Now I just have to keep my hands off them until they're cool enough to slice for tonight's charcuterie board.