The King benefits Nature

King Trump is not a naturalist.  He intends to slash environmental regulations and increase fossil fuel production.  He wants to severely reduce protected habitat in this country and to expand "development" wherever possible.  He is all about personal consumption, upscale recreation and a lavish lifestyle.

Yet, the King's rabid use of tariffs may benefit nature.  Individual savings are falling, prices are rising and a trade war is underway.  A tanking economy will greatly diminish corporate investment, personal spending, travel and recreational activity.  In a nutshell, human consumption may greatly fall in this country and across the globe.

Such a reduction in personal consumption is the major way by which all of us can do our part in rescuing the planet.  How ironic that the king of consumption is leading this conservation movement (not that he would admit it). 

Reassured at Eagle Bluffs

Despite the cool, cloudy weather and continued dryness at Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area, a friend and I were reassured that spring moves on.  Eight great egrets graced the refuge, the first we have encountered this year.

Common summer residents in central Missouri, these stately birds favor shallow lakes and wetlands where they feast on a wide variety of invertebrates, fish, amphibians and small reptiles.  They usually roost and nest in colonies, often in the company of other waders, and, by late summer, begin to gather in large flocks.  Most winter in the Gulf Coast States or along the lower Mississippi Valley.

For now, the egrets are relative loners, scattered about the refuge and lending their beauty to the rather drab, early spring landscape.  For that and for their promise of warmer and more colorful days ahead, we were grateful. 

High Risk Storm Days

In the not-so-distant past, the National Weather Service would issue "High Risk Storm Day" warnings on several days through the spring and summer months.  On such days, the atmosphere is primed for severe weather (tornados, large hail, torrential rain, destructive winds, flooding), triggered by powerful storm systems as they move eastward across the country.  Today is the second warning already issued this year.

Now centered over the upper Midwest, today's storm is relatively slow moving and its trailing cold front is expected to unleash both severe weather and extensive flooding from Arkansas east-northeastward through the Ohio River Valley.  North of the central low, snow will fall from the Northern Plains to the Upper Great Lakes.

As we approach the historic peak of the severe weather season in the American Heartland, it is clear that climate change is augmenting the effect of these storms (not to mention the intensity of hurricanes to our southeast).  Benign storm fronts have been relegated to our past and high risk storm days have become the norm. 

Flashback Post LXIV

March and April tend to be fickle months in the American Heartland, a fact I acknowledged in a post back on April 1, 2012.

See: Fooled by March