Last fall, scientists from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revealed that a popular lake in Wyoming鈥檚 Wind River Range is contaminated with human feces. And not just contaminated, but the most heavily contaminated lake out of nearly 1,000 lakes surveyed across the United States.

Look up a picture of Lonesome Lake, and you may be surprised. It doesn鈥檛 look like a biohazard. At first glance, it seems like paradise. The alpine lake sits at around 10,000 feet in elevation, and is ringed by the 鈥攁 picturesque semi-circle of 12,000-foot granite spires that has long enchanted rock climbers and trekkers alike. It鈥檚 also a stone鈥檚 throw from the Continental Divide Trail听and a common stopping point for long-distance hikers. As a result, it is among the most heavily-trafficked backpacking destinations in the region. During peak season in August, as many as 400 hikers may visit the Cirque of the Towers each week.

In the spring of 2022, as part of the EPA鈥檚 , the agency collected samples of water from 981 lakes around the country, including Lonesome. The results, published last fall, show that Lonesome Lake contains 490,895 calibrator cell equivalents of the bacteria genus Enterococci for every 100 milliliters of water, the highest of any lake tested. The EPA鈥檚 safe limit for swimming鈥攏ot just drinking, mind you, but swimming鈥攊s 1,280 per 100 milliliters, meaning the contamination in Lonesome Lake is a jaw-dropping 384 times higher than the recommended limit.

As noted by local nonprofit news outlet , 鈥淎rguably, Lonesome Lake was the most spectacular, remote waterbody in the broad study examining lake health all around the United States 鈥� and yet the data also suggested that Lonesome Lake鈥檚 water was the most polluted by poop. That鈥檚 especially remarkable given that the assessment also looked at lakes and ponds in urban areas and agricultural regions more typically associated with feces-related pollution.鈥�

It鈥檚 worth noting that high concentrations of Enterococci do not necessarily equate one-to-one to high concentrations of feces. Researchers say more work still needs to be done. 鈥淎 single datapoint doesn鈥檛 necessarily tell us much of anything,鈥� the DEQ鈥檚 Ron Steg told WyoFile. 鈥淲e need to get some real data to understand if there is a problem. If there is, we鈥檒l react to the results of the data.鈥�

Enterococci is intestinal bacteria, and thus its presence in a water supply is a strong indicator of fecal contamination. The sampling at Lonesome was conducted through the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), and when the results came in last fall, researchers from the DEQ and U.S. Forest Service went out to take additional samples at the lake, this time searching for another indicator of fecal contamination, Escherichia coli, but came up with nothing. Over the next two months, at Lonesome Lake and nearby Big Sandy Lake, another popular trekking destination, to get a more definitive picture of the degree of contamination.

But to those in the know, the study results come as no surprise. 鈥淚 tell people definitely do not swim in there, I tell people definitely do not drink the water,鈥� Brian Cromack, a local outdoor gear shop employee, told WyoFile. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been heavily contaminated for a long time, just via the negligence of outdoor recreation enthusiasts over the years.鈥�

Although they may look pristine, alpine lakes surrounded by granite peaks like the Winds can face higher levels of contamination, because the non-porous granite and thin soil create a 鈥渂athtub effect,鈥� offering no natural filtration for water. This, combined with the steep gradients, means that rain and snowmelt quickly wash fecal matter鈥攏ot just from humans, but from dogs and natural wildlife鈥攆rom the surrounding slopes down into the low-lying lakes. This problem peaks during spring thaw, when months of waste frozen in snowpack are often flushed into the water all at once, coinciding with peak visitation periods in the summer. At high elevations, cold water temperatures also allow dangerous pathogens like Giardia and E. coli to survive for longer periods.

It remains to be seen what the follow-up studies will reveal at Lonesome Lake, or what is to be done about it. Other high-traffic wilderness locales, like California鈥檚 Mount Whitney Zone, now require all visitors to pack their waste out in a 鈥渨ag bag.鈥� Currently there is no specific stipulation on how to dispose of bodily waste in the Cirque of the Towers, aside from following basic Leave No Trace principles鈥攂ury waste in a hole six inches deep, 200 feet from trails and water sources. But research is increasingly indicating that, taking into account the growing number of people recreating in the wilderness, these practices actually are no longer enough to prevent fecal contamination.

The post Scientists Reveal That a Popular Backpacking Lake Is Chock-Full of Poop appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Beauty industry buzzwords come with contradictions. If you prefer to invest in products that are safe for both your body and the Earth, you鈥檙e likely already aware of this conundrum. Descriptors like 鈥渘atural鈥� and 鈥渟ustainable鈥濃�攁long with 鈥渃lean,鈥� 鈥済reen,鈥� and others鈥攕trive to communicate a company鈥檚 commitment to prioritizing your health and that of the planet. But finding products that are both natural and sustainable is a difficult feat鈥攁s is defining the labels themselves.

鈥淭here are still lots of myths in the industry that endure despite us having access to more information,鈥� says Ana Green, Education Manager at , an online institute for organic beauty product formulation. She and CEO Lorraine Dallmeier dive into this gray area on the brand鈥檚 podcast, . 鈥淚 think there鈥檚 a lot of confusion about both natural and sustainable beauty and what those things are.鈥�

Green notes that because a focus on natural beauty arose before the discourse around sustainability, there is a common perception that natural beauty products are always sustainable. Spoiler alert: This is not always the case.

What Do the Terms ‘Natural’ and ‘Sustainable’ Even Mean?

鈥淪ince the rise of clean beauty, there have been many definitions of natural and sustainable,鈥� says Jenefer Palmer, founder of the skin and body care company . 鈥淭he truth is, there is not one consensus definition of either within the cosmetics industry.鈥�

Natural Versus Sustainable Beauty Products

Although “natural” and “sustainable” are seemingly linked concepts, they鈥檙e not synonymous.

• Natural: 鈥淣atural鈥� tends to describe products that rely predominantly on materials derived from nature (such as plants and minerals) rather than synthetic (i.e., chemically synthesized and human-made) ingredients.
• Sustainable: Products labeled 鈥渟ustainable鈥� claim to put the planet first and feature formulations that cause the least possible detriment to the environment.

Natural and Sustainable Don’t Automatically Mean Safe for Humans

Neither term is regulated, making misuse and misunderstanding inevitable. Kaley Beins,听a senior scientist in toxicology at the听, explains that the lack of legal enforceability surrounding the claims means that companies can define them as听they choose. 鈥淎dditionally, neither of these terms address human health and safety. Just because an ingredient is naturally derived or manufactured in a sustainable way doesn鈥檛 necessarily mean it is safe,鈥� she says.

Allison Audrey Weldon, CEO and founder of the home, hair, and skincare brand , explains that transparency around sourcing is an essential first step.听鈥淪imply knowing where exactly the ingredient comes from and how it鈥檚 made helps with accountability. However, it does bring up more questions about sustainability.鈥�

鈥淭he complexity of sustainability as a topic makes the perception of both natural and sustainable difficult,鈥� says Green. She explains that brands and consumers tend to focus on select areas that are meaningful to them rather than 鈥渢he bigger picture of sourcing, long-term sustainability, and ensuring the preservation of natural resources.鈥�

Examples of Natural and Sustainable Products

Some natural ingredients are less sustainable than their synthetic counterparts due to factors such as overharvesting and extraction, transportation across thousands of miles, and borne by the necessary processing. However, when you consider the entire life cycle of the ingredient, some natural options become the more sustainable choice.

Lavender

Weldon shares an example of the numerous contradictions within the space. She uses locally grown and distilled lavender in many of her products, believing it to be more sustainable than many synthetic alternatives for both fragrance and skin health. 鈥淣ot only does it support a local farm and industry, but it doesn鈥檛 travel far, is healthy for humans, and it鈥檚 biodegradable,鈥� she says. In this case, the natural ingredient serves as both a sustainable and natural one.

Rose Otto Oil

Then there鈥檚 Rose Otto oil, a popular ingredient in both the fragrance and skincare spaces. 鈥淩ose Otto oil comes from Bulgaria and requires masses of rose petals to create one drop,鈥� says Weldon. This environmental impact could make creating a synthetic version more sustainable.

But it鈥檚 not a zero-sum equation. 鈥淲hen that Rose Otto oil is washed off in the shower and goes into the ocean, its biodegradable nature may redeem the ingredient in comparison to the manufacturing and life cycle of a synthetic alternative.鈥�

We Need Products That Are Both Good for Us and for the Planet

Many beauty brands that favor naturally derived ingredients do so for their purported efficacy. 鈥淲hether it鈥檚 , anti-bacterial agents, vitamins and/or minerals, or essential , having the actives come from a natural source is a pure, effective way to correct, protect, and prevent the issues people are dealing with,鈥� says Serina Godin, chief product officer of skincare brand .

In an era plagued by and , the rationale for prioritizing sustainability by protecting the planet and preserving the natural world is self-evident. 鈥淲e love and respect the plant kingdom and want to give more than we take,鈥� says CEO of Britany LeBlanc. 鈥淎s over-harvesting limits supply or impacts natural environments, we are seeking other ways to leverage upcycled ingredients and sustainable sourcing.鈥�

Creating products that are mindful in a holistic sense鈥攇ood for you and the planet鈥攊s an undertaking that isn鈥檛 always possible in our current consumer landscape…yet.

What Does the Future of Mindful Beauty Look Like?

Although manufacturing and purchasing less is the most sustainable route available in terms of skincare and cosmetics, there are more brands than ever before working to better align the industry鈥檚, at times, disparate goals.

鈥淲e believe that natural and sustainable must go hand-in-hand,鈥� says Godin, citing initiatives like regenerative farming and wild harvesting as examples of ongoing efforts. For its part, hair care company (a branch of the ) has partnered with the , a non-profit organization dedicated to regenerative organic agriculture, in an effort to innovate and cultivate processes that enhance soil health and regeneration.

For Sonia Ziveri, Chief Sustainability Officer for the Davines Group, collaboration is the key to creating meaningful change. 鈥淚 believe that enduring, positive change can only happen when an increasing number of public and private entities, as well as individual citizens, come together to work toward a common goal.鈥�

So, whether you鈥檙e shopping for products for a new skincare routine or evaluating your current collection, when you encounter either descriptor, question it. And then research it. You鈥檒l either debunk a claim, discover a brand that鈥檚 doing the work, or (more likely) some hybrid of the two. You鈥檒l come away informed and ready to make a decision. After all, what is a mindful consumer if not a realist?

Want more听国产吃瓜黑料听health stories?听.

The post No, Your Natural Beauty Products Aren鈥檛 Necessarily Sustainable appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

The U.S. Senate’s plan to sell off millions of acres of public land just lost considerable steam in the halls of power.

And the Republican Senator behind the plan says he will adopt a new strategy.

On Monday, June 23, Elizabeth MacDonough, the Senate Parliamentarian鈥攁n advisor and referee-like figure who enforces the voting rules of the U.S. Senate鈥攔uled that the provision could not added to the Republican-led reconciliation bill. The decision was announced in a and was first reported by .

The move has raised the political bar for the provision. Instead of passing via a simple 51-vote majority, the plan would require a two-thirds vote to pass.

The current party division in the U.S. Senate is 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats, and two Independents.

The shift comes after the proposed sell-off generated vocal backlash not only from Democrats and conservation groups, but also from Republican officials, business owners, and non-profits focused on hunting and fishing.

The public lands sell-off was originally part of President Trump’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill,” and was added by Utah Senator Mike Lee, the chair of the Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources committee. The original plan called for the U.S. to auction off up to 3 million acres of land in 11 western states managed by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to raise funds for federal spending.

Housing prices are crushing families and keeping young Americans from living where they grew up. We need to change that.

Thanks to YOU鈥攖he AMERICAN PEOPLE鈥攈ere鈥檚 what I plan to do:

1. REMOVE ALL Forest Service land. We are NOT selling off our forests.

2. SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE鈥�

鈥� Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee)

On Monday, Lee saying he would alter the proposal鈥攂ut still include plans to sell public land.

“Remove all Forest Service land. We are not selling off our forests,” Lee wrote. “Significantly reduce the amount of BLM land in the bill. Only land within 5 miles of population centers is eligible.”

According to E&E News Lee has not yet submitted any changes to the plan to the Senate parliamentarian.

In late June, four Republican senators came out in opposition of the plan: Steve Daines and Tim Sheehy of Montana, and Jim Risch and Mike Crapo of Idaho.

“After reviewing the Senate Energy and Natural Resources reconciliation language, I do not support the proposed provision to sell public lands,” Risch released on June 20.

More pushback came from hunting groups. Hunter Nation, a non-profit group that aims to “preserve and protect our nation’s hunting heritage,” told its members on social media that it “stands opposed to the indiscriminate sale of our public lands.”

Update from Capitol Hill on the proposed sell off of public lands: is currently headed into a meeting with lawmakers to make sure our voices are heard!

Be sure to do your part as well and message or call your Senator TODAY!

鈥� James Jinnette (@james_jinnette1)

“These lands belong to ‘We the People’ and they should continue to remain as such,” the group wrote.

In Wyoming, to Senators John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis, calling the plan a “non-starter for Wyomingites.”

The news sparked a wave of positive public statements from conservation and wildlife non-profits.

The sell-off plan is out鈥攆or now. Last night鈥檚 win is a big step forward, but public lands are still under threat. Americans have spoken: These places belong to all of us. Let鈥檚 keep it that way. Read more from :

鈥� Trust for Public Land (@tpl_org)

The Trust for Public Land called the development “an important victory,” and the result of Americans making it “overwhelming clear they do not want to see their public lands sold off to the highest bidder.”

Tracy Stone-Manning, the president of , and former head of the Bureau of Land Management, said the news was “a victory for the American public.”

“We trust the next politician who wants to sell off public lands will remember that people of all stripes will stand against the idea,” Stone-Manning added. “Our public lands are not for sale.”

The post Political Forces Are Shifting Against the Public Lands Sell-Off appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

On May 31, 2025, a webcam in Yellowstone National Park detected a small explosion in the Biscuit Basin Area鈥攖he same zone that suffered an unexpectedly destructive hydrothermal eruption less than a year ago.

On July 23, 2024, steam exploded from the ground beneath Black Diamond Pool in the area, destroying a park boardwalk and launching water, mud, rocks, and other debris up to 600 feet into the air. Some of the stones were up to three feet in diameter and weighed hundreds of pounds, and the event was visible for miles in all directions. No one was injured, but the surrounding area has remained closed to tourists since the incident.

The webcam that captured the most recent eruption was 鈥攁long with seismometers, acoustic sensors, electromagnetic instruments, and other cameras鈥攖o monitor hydrothermal activity in the area.

YELLOWSTONE ERUPTION: The U.S. Geological Survey is reporting a small eruption occurred at the Black Diamond Pool in the Biscuit Basin, which was the site of a hydrothermal explosion last summer. Video Credit: United States Geological Survey

FULL STORY:

鈥� NBC Montana (@NBCMontana)

Although last week鈥檚 eruption is the first caught on video since the major explosion last year , the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) that 鈥渢here is evidence from other monitoring data and some eyewitnesses that sporadic eruptions have occurred several times since the July 2024 event.鈥� These include eruptions in January and November, both of which shot debris 20 to 30 feet into the air.

Like the 2024 eruption, last week鈥檚 smaller incident is not necessarily a sign of increased volcanic activity or hydrothermal volatility for the area, but more likely indicative of a continued resettling in the wake of the 2024 blast. 鈥淚t is likely that these small eruptions are a result of the hydrothermal plumbing system for the pool adjusting after the major disruption of the larger explosion last summer,鈥� USGS Scientist-in-Charge Michael Poland

Hydrothermal explosions occur when water underground is rapidly heated by a geothermal source, such as magma. Because the water is in a confined space, trapped under overlying rock, it鈥檚 pressurized, which means its boiling point can be much higher than the typical 100掳C/212掳F. That means the water can get significantly hotter before converting into steam. This is a process known as 鈥渟uperheating.鈥�

Once a pressurized body of water is superheated, any sudden drop in pressure (due to a fracturing of the surrounding rock, for example), will cause the water to rapidly convert into steam, resulting in instant and dramatic pressure expansion. Steam’s volume is over 1,500 times greater than that of liquid. This leads to a violent explosion, often strong enough to shatter the surrounding rock and send debris flying up to hundreds of feet into the air.

Hydrothermal explosions aren鈥檛 uncommon in Yellowstone. They occur in the park a few times each year. However, these typically take place in the backcountry, where they aren鈥檛 often detected and don鈥檛 pose a threat to park visitors.

The Black Diamond Pool/Biscuit Basin webcam can be viewed by the public round the clock on the , but although it records footage constantly, the camera does not upload footage live. Instead, fixed images are uploaded to the website at 15 minute intervals. If an event, such as last week鈥檚 explosion, does occur, the USGS plans to post video clips online.

The post Woah! A Dangerous Geyser in Yellowstone National Park Erupted Again. appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Dear Sundog,

I鈥檓 a biologist and land conservationist who has spent the last two decades working with farmers and ranchers to keep their land and way of life intact. I walk their property looking for habitats that might harbor rare plants and threatened wildlife. If the property meets certain ecological criteria, the owner can place the land under 鈥�conservation easement,鈥� basically a legal agreement ensuring they will not develop or subdivide the land.

This makes their ranch or farm less valuable on the real estate market; in exchange they get a considerable break on property taxes. I鈥檝e always thought that : habitat for the more-than-human organisms is legally protected into perpetuity, the community retains the working landscapes that give it character and beauty (鈥渃ows not condos鈥�), and families are able to continue ranching and farming, rather than having to sell to developers.

But lately the dynamics have changed. I鈥檓 starting to doubt the ethics of conservation鈥攁nd my own role in making it happen. Nowadays many of the landowners making easements are not multi-generational working families, but extremely wealthy out-of-staters with vacation homes and hobby farms. My work still protects critical habitat for plants and animals, but now I no longer feel like I am preserving a traditional way of life and culture of the west鈥攂ut bringing about its demise. What should I do? 鈥擟onserving Our Ground

Dear COG,

You鈥檝e tapped into such a timely and widespread issue. As the economy appears to be more controlled by a select few than ever, the rest of us face the hard ethical choice between participating鈥攚hich makes us feel complicit鈥攁nd opting out, for which the financial sacrifice is significant. For decades ; now it feels like collaborating with the dark side. And what an astonishing turn of events: to sense that the movement to preserve a healthy natural world for all of us has morphed into a cynical ploy by the elite.

Yale professor Justin Farrell astutely studies this phenomenon in Jackson, Wyoming and at the Yellowstone Club in Montana, in his alarming book

Farrell notes that for the investor class, conserving land isn鈥檛 simple philanthropy, it also allows them to increase their wealth. First, they get a hefty tax break by placing easements on the vast tracts of land of their trophy homes; next, the easement prevents the construction of more homes, exacerbating a housing scarcity which inflates their own property value; and lastly, as the pandemic and climate change incited a real estate bonanza in places with solitude and plentiful clean water, investments in land have appreciated even more sharply than most stocks, funds, or bonds.

To add insult to locals, these hedge fund dweebs cosplaying Yellowstone’s John Dutton in Wranglers and Carhartt coats on their private movie sets can now claim鈥攚ith some truth鈥攖o be saviors of the grizzly bear and the peregrine falcon.

But here鈥檚 the hard part: the work of conservation easements is supremely important. Study after study shows that . Threatened species from bears to wolverines to wolves need large continuous stretches of land, free from roads, houses and people. These animals don鈥檛 care if they are roaming through national parks or family ranches. As much as we may dislike massive private landholdings, they are scientifically better for other species than subdivided (affordable) ranchettes.

All political successes lay in the ability to build alliances. The beauty of conservation easements, COG, is that they allow a nature-lover such as yourself into partnership with old-time ranchers who might not give a hoot about the spotted owl, but simply want to keep the family land intact. But as you say, those roles and alliances are shifting. As just one example, look at the case chronicled in the new nonfiction book The Crazies: The Cattlemen, the Wind Prospector, and a War Out West by Amy Gamerman, in which a cash-poor Montana rancher who doesn鈥檛 believe in climate change sets out to build a wind farm on his property, only to be sued for marring the view by his billionaire neighbors鈥攐ne of whom made his fortune in fracking in less pristine places, all of whom claim the mantle of protecting the environment.

Here鈥檚 another case: for years, green liberals bought Teslas, likely not because they admired company co-founder Elon Musk, but because in an electric vehicle they saw the chance to do good for the planet. Musk played the savior, claiming at one point that he鈥檇 done more for the environment than any other human in history.

It turned out to be a deal with the devil. Once EVs made him the world鈥檚 richest man, Musk used his treasure to dive into American politics, and has now helped to gut the Environmental Protection Agency, end climate research, and eradicate programs that include the phrase 鈥渆nvironmental justice.鈥� He has crippled the agencies that might regulate his own businesses鈥� ecological practices. The one-time green hero instead joins an environmental rogue鈥檚 gallery of fellow easy-to-hate villains: the skipper of the Exxon Valdez, James Watt, and Kelcy Warren, who built the Dakota Access Pipeline over the objections of the Standing Rock Sioux.

The takeaway here is not something simple like 鈥渄on鈥檛 trust the rich.鈥� Rather it鈥檚 that saving the planet is most likely to happen in a democracy than any other form of government, and consolidating more wealth among the one percent is bad for democracy. When we see the laudable conservation effort of tycoons like Ted Turner, it鈥檚 tempting to cede the movement to the oligarchs; after all they can conserve more land more quickly than the impossibly complex process of government managing its holdings. But if these oligarchs鈥攐r their heirs鈥攕hould like Musk gain enough power to be above the law, their green veneers may quickly erode.

As for your own complicity, COG, I wouldn鈥檛 advise quitting your job over it. The work you鈥檙e doing is important for saving wildlife, and to put it bluntly, these societal economic changes are not your fault, and reversing them is simply above your pay grade. Wresting power from corrupt and entrenched barons will take鈥攏ow just as every other time it has been attempted鈥攁 national grassroots political movement rising in concert with some elected trustbusting brawler in the mold of a Roosevelt: take your pick between the Republican Teddy or the Democrat Franklin. Keep doing the good work.

Got a question of your own? Send it to听sundogsalmanac@hotmail.com

(Photo: Mark Sundeen)

The post Is Conservation Only for the One Percent? appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Deep in the night on August 4, 2018, a trio of timber cutters bushwhacked into a steep valley thick with brush, wearing headlamps and carrying a chainsaw, gas can, and a slew of felling tools. Their target, a trifurcated, mossy bigleaf maple, towered above Jefferson Creek, which gurgled down the narrow ravine floor that drains the Olympic National Forest鈥檚 Elk Lake. Justin Wilke, the band鈥檚 captain, had discovered the massive tree the day before and dubbed her 鈥淏ertha.鈥�

Wilke had established three dispersed campsites in the Elk Lake vicinity, some 20 miles from the nearest town of Hoodsport, Washington, over the previous weeks. By day he scouted for the most prime bigleaf maples. He had illegally felled at least three in the area since April, but he considered Bertha the mother tree.

A carpenter by trade, Wilke, then 36, dabbled in odd jobs in construction, as a mechanic, on fishing boats, and in canneries, but like many across the peninsula鈥檚 scattered hamlets, he鈥檇 been a logger since his hands were sure enough to wield a chainsaw. A tattoo the length of his left arm read 鈥淲est Coast Loggers,鈥� his tribute to a heritage that began with his grandfather.

Honest work had grown scarce. Wilke and his girlfriend were camping on a friend鈥檚 property just outside the national forest to trim expenses and lived on his earnings from cutting illegal firewood and selling poached maple. The situation wasn鈥檛 tenable. He was hungry, and he needed a windfall.

Closing in on Bertha in the darkness alongside Wilke were Shawn 鈥淭hor鈥� Williams and Lucas Chapman. Thor had just sprung from a stint in prison two weeks earlier. A 47-year-old union framer, Thor had also dabbled as an MMA fighter and debt collector and carried a litany of past convictions ranging from assault and burglary to unlawful imprisonment. He hoped the job would deliver him back to his daughter and sometimes-girlfriend in California. Chapman, 35, was Wilke鈥檚 gopher, hired primarily to watch the campsites during the operation. The three were high on methamphetamines.

Though the relative humidity that night hovered around 75 percent, the air a pleasant 60 degrees, rainfall had been unusually sparse that summer. Higher than average temperatures ushered the typically wet Olympic region into a moderate drought. Smoke from various wildfires in British Columbia had clouded the air throughout the summer.

Bertha held a bee鈥檚 nest in a hollow at the base of her trunk that made chainsaw work problematic. 鈥淚鈥檓 not going over there,鈥� Thor, who was allergic to bees, protested. At their campsite two days earlier, he鈥檇 been stung on the hand and suffered mild anaphylaxis after he sipped a can of Four Loko with a bee in it. 鈥淚鈥檒l take care of it,鈥� Wilke said.

Accounts of who did what next vary, but someone pulled out a can of wasp killer and sprayed the hive to little effect, then doused it in gasoline and lit a match. The offended bees clouded the air. Flames sprouted up Bertha鈥檚 trunk and expanded in the underbrush at her roots.

For the next hour, Wilke, Thor, and Chapman beat the burgeoning fire with sticks, kicked dirt over it, and used Gatorade bottles to quench its tongues with creekwater. 鈥淟et鈥檚 go,鈥� Wilke finally ordered. 鈥淚t鈥檚 out.鈥�

By the time the poachers left, cold and wet from splashing in the waist-deep river, all clear signs of flame had vanished. The first gauzy motes of dawn lightened the sky. In the leafy silence that followed the thwarted thieves鈥� retreat, beneath the duff at Bertha鈥檚 roots, still-hot embers smoldered and crept through the forest, invisible but surging with the breaking day.

The post The Thieves Didn’t Leave Fingerprints. Detectives Used Tree DNA To Convict Them Instead. appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

An increasing number of smart, eco-conscious entrepreneurs are putting Earth first by utilizing unwanted materials that would otherwise end up as trash. From trendy tote bags and fanny packs made out of billboard vinyl to casual and recovery footwear made from leftover running shoe midsole scraps, the following four companies are doing their best to keep our planet鈥檚 landfills and oceans from overflowing with trash. In the process, they鈥檙e creating awesome gear.

Rareform Bags

caught my attention by infiltrating my Instagram account. Intrigued, I reached out to the company to learn that while traveling in El Salvador, Alec Avedissian saw locals utilizing the water-resistant, durable material that covers billboards for roofing. Alec and his brother, Aric, launched Rareform in 2013 with a surfboard bag made from discarded billboard material. They鈥檝e since expanded to tote bags, hip packs, and other bags out of brightly colored vinyl that isn鈥檛 traditionally recyclable.

鈥淭he lifespan of a billboard typically is around four to six weeks,鈥� says Alec Avedissian, who also serves as CEO of the company. 鈥淲hen the billboards come down, we then work with our partners to get them shipped to our warehouses in Thousand Oaks, California, and Nashville, Tennessee.鈥�

The company has since kept 700,000 billboards, which amounts to over 30 million pounds of material, out of the landfills by repurposing them as bags.

I鈥檝e been testing the ($80) and love its large capacity, multiple pockets, zippered closure, and waterproof exterior in a one-of-a-kind design for traveling. I can also see myself using this bag for summer adventures as a 鈥渢hrow everything in and figure out what I need on the way to the trailhead鈥� type of bag.

听Trash Gear Co.

Pete Grunwald started collecting discarded plastic 鈥渁s a fun side project鈥� in 2021 while he was working full time as an industrial designer creating protective eyewear for military applications. He鈥檇 break down plastic waste in a blender and use a panini press to mold the pieces into something new: bicycle fenders. He now collects and molds plastic full time with his company听., which continues to make fenders and is soon releasing sunglasses with frames made from repurposed plastic.

鈥淎 big source of my plastic waste is Pak-Techs (plastic can carriers) and I work with beer distributors, breweries, and various stores to collect used ones that customers bring back,鈥� he explains. 鈥淚 have a whole host of smaller sources of plastic as well, much of it coming from friends and community members who are excited by what I’m doing and set aside waste plastic for me.鈥�

After working in the outdoor industry for years, a vendor trip to China opened his eyes to the environmental impacts of traditional manufacturing and, coupled with his knowledge of the massive amount of waste plastic being produced domestically, pushed him toward the Trash Gear concept. 鈥淭hat trip sparked the idea: What if a company could collect local waste and turn it into high quality outdoor gear?鈥� Grunwald says.

While Grunwald says he鈥檚 loved using kitchen tools and figuring things out on the fly, he adds: 鈥淥ne day I hope Trash Gear Co will have a proper manufacturing space and truly be an example of a better way to produce great products.鈥�

I鈥檝e been testing a sample of Trash Gear Co. sunglasses and love their unique frame coloration鈥攖he swirled pattern of the plastic reminds me that they kept something out of the landfills.

Think Blue Surf Bag

Designed to keep your key, key fob, credit card, cash, or anything small completely dry while you surf, SUP, kayak, or play in the water, the听 is made out of aviation life vests that would otherwise end up in a landfill.

Co-founders Marlene Smith and Cathy Chin used to fuel their surfing sessions with Ziploc bags full of cookies鈥攏ot very successfully. They tried making more functional waterproof bags out of various materials before finding a solution in aviation life vests. Smith, who is a private pilot, and her husband, who works in aircraft maintenance, knew that the life vests were discarded after some of their components expired, while the material of the vest itself, having been stored in an airtight bag in the dark, was still as good as new.

鈥淎pproximately 5,000 life vests have been diverted from the landfill into our inventory,鈥� says Smith. 鈥淥f those, so far 2,000 have been converted into The Surf Bag. Every time someone chooses to purchase The Surf Bag over a product made from new plastic, they are making a direct impact on the environment by participating in this diversion.

鈥淢y dream is to ultimately divert all the retired life vests from the landfill into a variety of high-quality waterproof products making it easy for consumers to choose a sustainable product over new plastic products and allowing them to directly contribute to sustainability.鈥�

The small bag lies flat in board shorts pockets and can be connected to a surfboard or SUP leash tie, or to kayak straps or a backpack with a carabiner.

Fleks Footwear

Fleks Footwear founder Leah Larson says the ocean has always been her happy place. 鈥淚 used to go jump in the ocean before high school if I was in a bad mood,鈥� she says. After years in the footwear industry, including a long stint as the VP of Product and Creative Director of Ugg, Larson wanted to find a way to reuse the discarded waste from footwear manufacturing while also solving the wastefulness of flip flops, which become toss-away rubber and plastic. Her love of the ocean inspired her to minimize footwear manufacturing leftovers and discarded beach shoes. She teamed up with a friend and past co-worker, Stuart Jenkins, founder of Blumaka insoles, to launch Fleks Footwear.

Fleks (and Blumaka) grind up footwear manufacturing waste鈥擡TPU scraps left over from the midsole manufacturing process鈥攁nd shape the conglomerate material into slides, clogs, and other casual and recovery footwear. Larson says there鈥檚 enough discarded manufacturing foam waste in the footwear industry to make two and a half billion pairs of midsoles for Fleks shoes. Plus, says Larson, 鈥淭his process uses no solvents and a lot less water than traditional manufacturing.鈥�

I鈥檝e been testing the听, and while they might not be as plush underfoot as my son鈥檚 Yeezy Slides that I occasionally steal, I love how my feet stay put on the footbed. Larson chalks that up to the tiny bits of repurposed foam that morph around the foot.

I also love the flecked rubber; it reminds me that my slides kept discarded waste out of the landfills and the ocean, which, like Larson, I鈥檇 like to keep healthy. (Larson and I graduated together from the same San Diego high school and used to jump into the same stretch of ocean before classes started.)

The post This Great Gear is Made Out of Trash appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

The Trump Administration is eliminating a 2024 rule that places environmental protection on par with mining, ranching, and timber cutting on lands overseen by the Bureau of Land Management.

On April 14 the White House about its intent to rescind the , also called the Public Lands Rule.

The rule, which was formally published on June 12, 2024, requires the BLM to “support ecosystem health and resilience” and “protect landscapes, restore degraded habitat, and make informed management decisions based on science and data.” The rule allows the BLM to lease land to non-profit organizations for the sole purpose of restoration and conservation.

国产吃瓜黑料 reached out to the U.S. Interior Department for comment, and a media representative confirmed that the Bureau of Land Management will rescind the Public Lands Rule.

The move has generated praise from some state officials and harsh criticism from non-profit groups that work in land management and environmental protection.

The Bureau of Land Management oversees 245 million acres of land in the American West, or roughly one tenth of the country’s entire landmass. According to the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, which creates the framework for modern public lands management, the BLM should administer public lands “on the basis of multiple use and sustained yield” of resources.

When it was published in 2024, the Public Lands Rule drew immediate criticism from some lawmakers. In June, 2024, lawmakers in to repeal the rule, arguing that it “represents a sea change in how the BLM will carry out its mission moving forward.”

“The Public Lands Rule is a classic example of a solution looking for a problem,” Utah governor Spencer Cox said at the time.

In February of 2025, senators in both Utah and Wyoming introduced the Western Economic Security Today Act鈥攁 law that would repeal the Public Lands Rule. Republican senator a “radical rule that threatens our Wyoming way of life.”

On Thursday, April 17, the Utah Attorney General that the Utah is “thrilled” about the Trump Administration’s move to rescind the rule.

“This rule could keep Utahns off public lands and would employ a museum-type management approach,” he said. “You can look, but you can’t touch.”

But several non-profit groups that focus on ecology and environmental protection hit back at the decision. In a public statement, Alison Flint, senior legal director for the nonprofit group The Wilderness Society called the move “a blatant giveaway to industry.”

“Public lands belong to all of us, and they should not be cast off to the highest bidder,” Flint said. “With last week鈥檚 directive, the president is putting himself above the law and planning to slash the safeguards that protect wildlife, clean air and water and the communities that depend on them.”

A statement from the Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, a nonprofit representing communities that hunt and fish, pointed out that the Public Lands Rule was published after the general public was allowed to submit comments both for and against it. The White House’s did not allow the public to comment prior to its decision to repeal it.

鈥淭he notion that the administration may intend to move forward unilaterally without following any public engagement process is deeply troubling,鈥� said Kaden McArthur, director of policy and government relations for Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, in a statement. 鈥淭he Public Lands Rule reflects years of work, including extensive input from stakeholders, to ensure the long-term health of the landscapes we rely on for healthy fish and wildlife habitat.

Steve Bloch, legal director of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, a nonprofit that advocates for environmental protection, levied harsh criticism at Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who has spoken publicly about wanting to open public lands up for agriculture, industry, and energy exploration.

“Doug Burgum often invokes President Theodore Roosevelt鈥檚 conservation legacy as a model for his own tenure as Secretary of the Interior,” Bloch said. “Teddy Roosevelt is rolling over in his grave at both the comparison and Burgum鈥檚 ever-darkening legacy over the nation鈥檚 public lands.”

The post This Rule Boosted Public Land Protection. The Feds Are Removing It. appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

When I was 16 years old, my father鈥檚 mother, whom we called Meemaw, gave up the ghost. We all flew down to Fort Worth, where, per her wishes, my dad hosted a wake filled with live music, stiff cocktails, and loose stories. (Meemaw was, among other things, a former vaudeville performer and the sister of a legendary jazz drummer.)

The next morning, we drove to the cemetery. In the surreal haze of my grief-softened, hangover-warped brain, the place struck me as bleak and strange and sad, but not in a gothic or gloomy way. It billed itself as a 鈥済arden of memories,鈥� but upon entering, I saw there was nothing gardenlike about it. It was essentially one huge lawn, composed of scratchy, heat-tolerant Texas grasses, like the upper surface of an enormous kitchen sponge. Here and there, far from Meemaw鈥檚 grave, a few small trees attempted, unsuccessfully, to quell the rage of a Texas sun. The only flowers I saw were made of plastic, and the only animals, other than us, were flies.

The day turned out to be a fiasco, in a darkly comedic way that my grandmother, who was an inveterate smartass, would probably have appreciated. First the florist failed to arrive, so there were no flowers. Then, looking over the headstone, my sister Alexis noticed that someone had gotten the date wrong. It said, erroneously, that Meemaw had died at the age of 95, rather than 85. There was some discussion that day of having it fixed, but it was ultimately deemed too much trouble. The error was written, as they say, in stone.

At the site of Meemaw鈥檚 grave, each of us read a short letter we had composed, telling her how much we loved her and how deeply we would miss her. Then we placed the letters inside the grave. While we went about this solemn little ritual, the gravedigger, an off-puttingly upbeat guy in his thirties, stood off to the side, watching us with evident curiosity.

After we had all finished, he spoke up.

鈥淣ow I know it鈥檚 not really my place, but I had a suggestion for y鈥檃ll,鈥� the chipper gravedigger said. 鈥淚鈥檝e got some Ziploc bags there in my truck. What if you were to put the letters in them Ziplocs, and that way, if the young one there鈥濃�攁nd here, he pointed to me鈥斺�渆ver wants to come back with kids of his own one day and read these letters again, they鈥檇 still be intact.鈥�

My dad, who had inherited his mother鈥檚 preternaturally razory wit, thought this suggestion over for a moment, then replied: 鈥淲hen my mother went to the grocery store, she always chose paper over plastic. So I think we鈥檒l just stick with that.鈥�

At the time, what struck me as farcical about this suggestion was the notion that I would one day want to return here, kids in tow, to dig up my own grandmother鈥檚 grave. (One can only imagine the stares this would draw from the gentle people of Fort Worth.) But now, with the benefit of two decades of hindsight and a lot of time spent thinking about land and human bodies and how the two commingle, what seems even more absurd to me is the idea that I鈥攐r anyone, really鈥攚ould ever want to visit that hot, dead, rot-resistant landscape ever again.

The post How to Be Reborn as a Tree appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

I have a secret fascination with the (MWOB), the weather station situated atop America’s windiest mountain.

Every few days, the scientists living inside the MWOB publish an or an about the extreme conditions on the , and the photos or videos always boggle my mind. Plunging temperatures mixed with fog will occasionally transform the peak into a hockey rink, and wind-whipped blizzards will make the observatory tower look like a The Empire Strikes Back. Last week, two interns saved a that landed on the observatory after its eyes froze shut (they warmed it up, named it , and released it back into the forest).

But the big story at MWOB this winter has been the wind. According to a by weather forecaster Charlie Peachey, the observatory was battered by gusts over 100 miles per hour for 39 consecutive hours in late February. During this stretch, the weather station recorded one gust of 161 miles per hour. This was the second-strongest gust recorded at the station since 1994 and the 20th strongest听gust ever recorded.

“For all but two staff members at the observatory, that was the highest wind gust that any current staff has ever experienced,” Peachey wrote. Peachey added that the observatory staff often brag about the wind events they’ve personally experienced at the station. The handful of meteorologists and forecasters who man the station are split into two crews, and each crew lives in the station for one week at a time. Alas, Peachey was offsite when the 161-mile-per-hour gust hit, so zero bragging rights for him.

Peachey was confident that the windy conditions in February would continue when he and his crew returned in early March. And when Peachey began crunching weather data collected from other stations across the Northeast, he predicted that another major wind event would batter Mount Washington on Friday, March 7.

He was right. As the day unfolded, the gusts returned, first topping 120 miles per hour before they increased. A gust knocked out electricity to the MWOB offices at the base of Mount Washington while atop the peak, blowing debris and gusts battered the observatory.

Now, here’s why Peachey and the other MWOB forecasters are a different breed. My assumption is that most rational human beings would happily stay in a warm and cozy office and simply listen to the building creak and groan under the force of the violent gusts. But MWOB workers, of course, want to know what a 130-mile-per-hour gust actually feels听like. So, Peachey and his crew zipped up their parkas and wind pants and walked out into the melee. You can check out their hijinks below.

They sat on the frozen concrete and allowed the gale to push them across the ground like sticks blown across your patio by a leaf blower. Yep鈥攊t’s like a Buster Keaton scene, just add the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme music.

Of course, then the team had to army crawl back to the observatory doorway, which wasn’t easy.

“After a few seconds of crawling, I realized that my 20-foot journey might not be possible,” Peachey wrote. “Wind gusts of 120 mph+ were attempting to pick me up and blow me across the deck at every chance they got, so I had to begin army crawling with my chest to the ground to make it to the starting line.”

I may not be part of the MWOB staff, but I believe Peachey and his cohort officially earned their bragging rights, even if the gusts they surfed only topped 138 miles per hour.

Predicting the weather on Mount Washington during transition seasons is famously tricky due to the topography and the swirling weather along the east coast. Models can only tell a meteorologist so much, and Peachey and his team had to rely largely on their own intuition to predict the storm. This鈥攁nd many other reasons鈥攊s why educated human beings will always be needed to forecast the weather. “As meteorologists, it is our job to interpret when these errors exist in the model and then use our judgment to think of what will happen,” he wrote. “It is one of the reasons why a knowledgeable human forecaster will always be better than a single computer model.”

That, and a computer is far less graceful at butt-sliding.

The post Scientists Braved 130-Mile-Per-Hour Winds on Mount Washington appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.