PLANNING TO PRESERVE FLIES???

In California, of course. We've got some really big flies in Australia's cattle-country that we could donate to them if they're short

Since 1993, when the Delhi Sands flower-loving fly made the endangered species list, the tiny insect has cost the region millions of dollars, and hindered development. The fly added $3 million to the cost of Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, when the hospital had to be moved 250 feet. The fly also delayed the construction of the improved Sierra Avenue interchange on Interstate 10 in Fontana, among many other projects.

But regional cooperation hasn't blossomed in San Bernardino County. Colton fears it could become the fly hub for the rest of the county, because it has the largest stretch of available fly habitat. But if other cities can develop their fly habitat in exchange for enlarging the fly's zone in Colton, the tradeoff would rob Colton of economic activity and revenue that is vital to the city's future. In fairness, any regional approach would need to address Colton's concerns about equity.

Such deliberations should not be deal-breakers, though, because areas with fly populations -- including Rialto, Fontana and parts of unincorporated San Bernardino County -- stand to gain from a unified approach. As it is, every jurisdiction must independently negotiate fly protection with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which slows the progress for all.

A coherent, cooperative plan for the fly is possible and desirable. Flies cross city boundaries; plans for protecting them should be able to, as well.




"SMART GROWTH" AND HOUSING PRICE BUBBLES

I have lifted this post bodily from The Commons

The New York Times reports that housing prices in many markets are far too high, at least when compared with rents in the same markets. Nationally, home prices increased from about 12 times annual rents in 2000 to 17 times today. But in many California markets, prices are more than 25 times rents.

This is, of course, just the latest of many reports of a housing "bubble." But few reporters have bothered to ask why some markets have a bubble while other fast-growing markets do not. The usual answer is that the bubbles are on the coast because everyone is moving there, but many fast-growing regions in the West and South do not appear to have a bubble.<

The answer appears to be that "smart growth" and other growth-management policies restrict housing supply. Since housing is an inelastic good, a small restriction on supply leads to rapid increases in prices. This brings speculators into the market -- and a large percentage of homes today are being purchased with no-down-payment, interest-only loans by people who don't plan to live in the homes; in other words, speculators.

A list of regions that are suffering bubbles reveals that a very high percentage have implemented some form of growth management such as urban-growth boundaries, greenbelts, or restrictions on building permits.

One exception that probes the rule is Las Vegas, which has remained very affordable despite being the fastest-growing urban area in the U.S. -- until three years ago, when prices started rapidly increasing. Since Nevada is almost entirely federally owned, Las Vegas depends on federal land sales to meet the demand for housing. But environmental restrictions have limited sales in the past few years, limiting housing supply.

As long as builders can keep up with the demand for housing, markets should not suffer bubbles. As long as planners try to impose their visions of utopia on urban areas, homebuyers will suffer high prices and volatile markets. For more information, see my article on smart growth and housing bubbles.






ALPINE GLACIERS HAVE OFTEN BEEN MUCH SMALLER THAN TODAY

It is well-known that alpine glaciers are shrinking. But now it turns out that they were even smaller during Roman times; 7000 years ago, they possibly disappeared almost completely. "A few thousand years ago, there were no glaciers here," says Ulrich Joerin, a Swiss researcher. "At that time, we would be standing in the middle of a forest. And here is the proof." With his mountain boots he uncovers something dark in the snow: an old trunk, ice-covered, smoothly polished from the water and nearly black as a result of the humidity. "We are here today because of this trunk," he says.

Joerin is a climatic researcher at the Institute of Geology at the University of Berne and collects material for its PhD. Together with a small group of climatic researchers, he is fundamentally revising the picture of the Swiss mountain world. The trunk in the ice is part of a gigantic climatic puzzle, whose first outlines become recognizable now - and amazing obvious: The fact that the current melt of alpine glaciers is apparently nothing special at all, but rather part of the variability of ice and vegetation that has been going on for thousands of years.

According to the new hypothesis, alpine glaciers shrank at least ten times since the end of the last ice age some 10,000 years ago, and even came close of disappearing completely at time. "During the times of the Romans, for example, the glacier 'tongues' were about 300 meters higher than today", says Joerin. On his military passage over the Alps, Hannibal probably never saw any large ice mass.

The alpine landscape was changed drastically approximately 7000 years ago: At that time the mountains were nearly completely glacier-free - probably not due to a lack of snow, but because the sun caused the ice to melt. In addition, the tree line was higher than at present. The scientists' conclusions place the decrease of glaciers of the last 150 years into a completely new context: "For more than 50 per cent of the time during the last 10,000 years, the [alpine] glaciers were smaller (and shorter) than today", Joerin wrote in a paper which he co-wrote with Christian Schluechter, his PhD supervisor.

More here

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Many people would like to be kind to others so Leftists exploit that with their nonsense about equality. Most people want a clean, green environment so Greenies exploit that by inventing all sorts of far-fetched threats to the environment. But for both, the real motive is to promote themselves as wiser and better than everyone else, truth regardless.

Global warming has taken the place of Communism as an absurdity that "liberals" will defend to the death regardless of the evidence showing its folly. Evidence never has mattered to real Leftists

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