Daniel Salzler No. 1105 EnviroInsight.org Five Items June 4, 2021
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Enhance your viewing by downloading the attached pdf file to view photos, etc.
The attached is all about improving life in the watershed.
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1. Where Were You at 3:30 A.M. On May 26th? If you were not looking into the southwestern sky, this is what you missed.
Photos by D. Salzler using a Canon digital camera and a 1,000 mm lens. According to NASA, the moon was 222,059 miles from Earth during the Blood Moon eclipse.
2. Never PUT These Things Down Your Drain …
You might think you already know what never to put down your drain. But, 99% of homeowners don’t know ALL of the things in this article:
So, if you think there’s any chance whatsoever that you might be putting the wrong thing down the drain … from wet wipes down your toilet to coffee grounds down your sink … read on! The vast majority of people are doing at least ONE thing wrong. So take a couple of minutes to read this article and save yourself a couple hundred or even a couple of of THOUSAND dollars in the future!
NO-NO #1: “FLUSHABLE” KITTY LITTER
You know better than to flush kitty litter down the toilet … But, what if it claims to be “flushable” on the box? We want to say that this is one of the most dangerous marketing claims we’ve seen! Not only does flushable kitty litter clog your drain, but it also traps bacteria in a unique way that isn’t killed in the water treatment process. EW! Do you know how they say a pregnant woman shouldn’t clean the litter box in case of exposure to toxins? The same thing is true with flushing kitty litter down the toilet. Not only is it not flushable, but it’s also poisoning the water supply! OK, maybe poisoning is a strong word, but please, stop flushing “flushable” kitty litter!
NO-NO #2: “FLUSHABLE” WET WIPES
Along with the pandemic came a rise in the number of wet wipes people bought to sanitize surfaces. While that’s a good thing, flushing them down the toilet isn’t! You’re probably thinking to yourself, “But if they claim to be safe to flush, then don’t they break down in your pipes?” Well, that’s just the thing. There have been lawsuits against wet wipes companies for marketing themselves this way, and then their wipes block the pipes!! “Flushable” wet wipes aren’t truly biodegradable, and they often get stuck in your drain, like at an elbow/turn point. And then once one gets stuck, more and more get stuck. This clog could end up causing a gross mess in your bathroom. There’s a reason this made “#2” on our list!
NO-NO #3: LIQUID DRAIN CLEANER
You may have already known that drain cleaner is wrong for your drain, but we want to explain precisely why you should never use it! And why you should use a licensed/bonded plumber in an emergency instead!
The problem with liquid drain cleaner is that it corrodes your pipes. And that’s not just true for copper pipes. It warps PVC pipes, too. It can even crack the porcelain of your toilet! And, did you know, even pouring boiling water down your sink or toilet can warp PVC pipes? Crazy, right? This is possible because if the boiling water doesn’t get rid of the clog, that
We spoke with Robert Bardon, a professor of forestry and environmental resources and associate dean for extension at the College of Natural Resources, to find out what is causing the lumber shortage and to discuss the importance of lumber to the economy. Here’s what we found out.
3. What Is Causing The Lumber Shortage And Price Surge?
The lack of lumber available in stores is less to do with a shortage of trees or, even lumber production. What is driving the increase in lumber prices are recent convergence of Canadian lumber tariffs, increase in demand for home remodeling and building of homes brought on by the pandemic, and hiccups in supply related to transportation.
At the beginning of the pandemic demand for lumber was slightly down and mill inventories purchase a home or build a new home, causing an increase in demand for lumber.
The industry, impacted by the pandemic, had to adjust their operations, which at first slowed production, resulting in less supply. The lack of transportation to move the lumber from the mills to the dealers is also playing a role in increasing lumber prices. The pandemic reduced the number of drivers and impacted rail transportation, making it difficult for mills to ship lumber to the dealers.
Explaining the supply chain cycle for lumber?
Of the timber harvested approximately 43% is harvested for producing lumber. The remaining timber harvested is used in making other value-added products, such as paper, veneer, composites, and bioenergy. A typical supply chain cycle involves the timber owner, the buyer, the logger and the mill. The timber owner may sell the timber by themself, or they may seek the assistance of a consulting forester. The timber is sold either through a lump sum sale process or on a per unit bases, depending on the sale conditions.
Source: Washington State University
4. A New Fungus Strain Bred In A Lab Could Provide A Chemical-Free Method For Eradicating Mites That Kill Honey Bees. Varroa destructor mites play a large role in Colony Collapse Disorder, which destroys thousands of bee colonies every year.
A new fungus strain could provide a chemical-free method for eradicating mites that kill honey bees, according to a study published this month in Scientific Reports.
A team led by Washington State University entomologists bred a strain of Metarhizium, a common fungus found in soils around the world, to work as a control agent against varroa mites. Unlike other strains of Metarhizium, the one created by the WSU research team can survive in the warm environments common in honey bee hives, which typically have a temperature of around 35 Celsius (or 95 F).
“We’ve known that metarhizium could kill mites, but it was expensive and didn’t last long because the fungi died in the hive heat,” said Steve Sheppard, professor in WSU’s Department of Entomology and corresponding author on the paper. “Our team used directed evolution to develop a strain that survives at the higher temperatures. Plus, Jennifer took fungal spores from dead mites, selecting for virulence against varroa.”
Jennifer Han, a post-doctoral researcher at WSU, led the breeding program along with WSU assistant research professors Nicholas Naeger and Brandon Hopkins. Paul Stamets, co-owner and founder of Olympia-based business Fungi Perfecti, also contributed to the paper. Stamets is a fungi expert, well-known for using several species in applications ranging from medicine to biocontrol.
Varroa destructor mites, small parasites that live on honey bees and suck their “blood,” play a large role in Colony Collapse Disorder, which causes beekeepers to lose 30-50% of their hives each year. The mites feed on bees, weakening their immune systems and making them more susceptible to viruses.
The main tools beekeepers use to fight varroa are chemicals, such as miticides, but the tiny pests are starting to develop resistance to those treatments, Naeger said.
Metarhizium is like a mold, not a mushroom. When spores land on a varroa mite, they germinate, drill into the mite, and proliferate, killing it from the inside out. Bees have high immunity against the spores, making it a safe option for beekeepers.
Stamets, who did some of the initial testing with Metarhizium that showed the fungus couldn’t survive hive temperatures, was impressed by the work done by the WSU researchers.
“Science progresses through trial and error, and my technique wasn’t economical because of the hive heat,” he said. “But Jennifer did enormous amounts of culture work to break through that thermal barrier with this new strain. It’s difficult to really appreciate the Herculean effort it took to get this.”
Han and Naeger screened more than 27,000 mites for levels of infection to get the new strain.
“It was two solid years of work, plus some preliminary effort,” Han said. “We did real-world testing to make sure it would work in the field, not just in a lab.”
This is the second major finding to come from WSU’s research partnership with Stamets involving bees and fungi. The first involved using mycelium extract that reduced virus levels in honey bees.
“It’s providing a real one-two punch, using two different fungi to help bees fight varroa,” Stamets said. “The extracts help bee immune systems reduce virus counts while the Metarhizium is a potentially great mite biocontrol agent.”
The next step is to seek approval from the Environmental Protection Agency to use Metarhizium on hives used in agriculture. The team must also finalize delivery methods for beekeepers to apply the fungus in hives.
“We hope in 10 years that, rather than chemical miticides, Metarhizium is widely used to control Varroa mites,” Sheppard said. “And that the mite problem for beekeepers has been significantly reduced.”
The team thinks the methods they developed to evolve Metarhizium for varroa control could be used to improve biocontrol agents in other crop systems as well.
The majority of the funding for this work came from private donations from individuals and foundations. Additional funding came from Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) Specialty Crop Block Grant K2531 and the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Hatch 1007314.
Story Source:
Materials provided by Washington State University. Original written by Scott Weybright. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
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