Ripple Effect

Our warming planet: NOAA says May was the 13th consecutive month the world's average temperature set a monthly record

Thirteen and counting...

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration just announced the globally averaged temperature over land and ocean surfaces for May 2016 was the highest for the month of May in the agency's database for global records, which goes back to 1880.

May 2016 also was the 13th consecutive month a monthly global temperature record was broken.

 

That 13-month streak itself is the longest on record itself, NOAA said.

 

The March-to-May seasonal and year-to-date (January-to-May) global temperatures also are the highest on record, the agency said.

 

Go here for NOAA's May summary and here for its full May report.

 

America's West has been in a prolonged drought, as illustrated in this Associated Press file photo of the Echo Bay Marina near Lake Mead in Nevada.

 

Climate change is, of course, not about anomalies but trending data.

 

Thirteen consecutive months of new monthly records being established for globally averaged temperatures is not, in itself, proof of climate change.

 

But it adds to the growing body of evidence.

 

What is perhaps most noteworthy about these kinds of statistics, as records keep being made, is how hard it is to think globally.

 

Climate change is not about what happens in your backyard or what you think you remember about one day in high school back in the 1970s when it was 80 degrees in March.

 

It's about the collective impact over a long period of time - not just 13 months or 13 years or even 130 years.

 

But, at some point, people need to accept what's happening and do whatever they can in their power to lessen impacts.

 

Here in northwest Ohio, for example, we've had slightly below-normal rain for the first time since the 2012 drought.

 

We've had a few scorchers and steamy, high-humidity days. 

 

But nothing too far out of the ordinary - yet - and, so far, 2016 has been a somewhat comfortable year for the entire Great Lakes region, which had a mild winter tempered by an El Nino weather pattern.

 

In other parts of North America, though, NOAA has documented unusual warmth - especially in Alaska, Canada, and Mexico.

 

Australia, New Zealand, Africa, and South America have experienced unusual warmth, too.

 

 

New May records for warmth were set in 20 parts of Europe, NOAA said.

 

Record high sea surface temperatures have been recorded in the Indian Ocean, parts of the Atlantic Ocean, and in the southwest Pacific Ocean, the agency said.

 

The 11 highest monthly global ocean temperature departures have all occurred in the past 11 months, NOAA said.

 

 

 

 

 

ALGAE 2016: Rain in coming days leads to "more uncertainty" in current forecast

The amount of rain and severity of storms over the next week could play a big role in determining how large this summer's algal bloom gets in western Lake Erie.

That's the latest from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Heidelberg University's National Center for Water Quality Research, which continues to say all signs point to a milder bloom than the last three years but now has a big asterisk to go along with that prediction, based on what happens over the next few days.

"While drier conditions are expected to continue over the next six weeks, some rain expected over the next week leads to more uncertainty in the forecast than last week," according to their latest Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) Bulletin. "However, the current projection is still for a smaller bloom than the last three years."

Western Lake Erie as it appeared in early August, 2014. BLADE photo.

It bears repeating the size of a bloom doesn't correlate with its toxicity, though.

Western Lake Erie's 2015 algal bloom, for example, was a record for biomass but relatively low in toxin.

The 2014 bloom - the one that brought us the Toledo water crisis - was far smaller, but a lot more toxic.

Go here for the latest HAB bulletin. The next one is expected to come out Tuesday. 

The season's most reliable HAB forecast will be made by NOAA and Heidelberg on July 7 during a sixth annual midsummer event at Ohio State University’s Stone Laboratory on Gibraltar Island, near Put-in-Bay.

Weekly bulletins leading up to that event began last year because of heightened interest following the 2014 Toledo water crisis.

 

 

 

 

 

One year later, Pope Francis still inspires the world to take action on climate change

This week marks the one-year anniversary of Laudato Si', the groundbreaking, 184-page encyclical that Pope Francis issued in 2015.

Only a small part of it was dedicated to climate change.

But the pope's firm convictions about why mankind has a moral obligation to act caused a global uproar that continues today.

Rather than debate the pros and cons of what Pope Francis said - in my mind, any pope should feel free to speak his mind about climate change or any other topic he is passionate about - I'd like to step back again and reconsider the growing importance of religion as a form of environmental communication.

As a longtime journalist, I'm fascinated by all forms of communication.

Religion speaks to people.

Pope Francis: One year later, he's still inspiring the world to take action on climate change. Photo credit: Associated Press

As much as I'd like to think most people get their information from serious news articles, documentaries, and broadcast reports, we all know many people are heavily influenced by late-night talk shows and other forms of comedy - often more than they admit or realize.

The whole entertainment genre - including Facebook, Twitter, and other forms of social media, as well as advertising, video games, music icons, friends, relatives, teachers, Internet websites, brochures, and a whole host of other venues - mash together views that are a combination of fact and fiction.

Religion, though, serves many people as one of their most important and credible forms of information-gathering. For a certain segment of the population, religion's been a great communicator as long as humans have existed, with each faith - obviously, not just Catholics - having a unique role.

Now, despite some of the differences religion has had with science over the years, it has embraced a greater moral responsibility for trying to save the planet.

Pope Francis "affirms a clear link between the importance of caring for God's creation and the dire consequences for the poor from a climate-threatened world," Dan Misleh, Catholic Climate Covenant executive director, said at the beginning of an online webinar on Monday.  

The pope's 2015 message "upped the game significantly," according to Bishop Oscar Cantu of Las Cruces, N.M., who chairs the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on International Justice and Peace.

Critics talk like the pope's message is something new, radical, politically driven, or an epiphany of some kind.

But several faiths have been concerned about climate change for years.

Bishop Cantu said he and other bishops have been expressing concerns about climate change since at least 2001.

Today, 68 percent of Catholics believe they have a moral obligation to act on climate change, Mr. Misleh said.

A year after Pope Francis' landmark encyclical, 68 percent of Catholics believe they have a moral obligation to act on climate change. Photo credit: Associated Press.

Over the past year, Pope Francis' plea has prompted many of them to lower the carbon footprint of their homes and schools, pursue more renewable energy, and take the message of better Earth stewardship to more churches, colleges and universities, he said.

"It's clear that our collective efforts have made a difference," Mr. Misleh said.

Bishop Cantu said the pope's 2015 message has prompted Capitol Hill visits and briefings that have engaged more than 100 members of Congress.

In the coming years, more staff resources will be dedicated to environmental justice programs. A new pastoral education program for clergy is beginning this fall, along with continuing education programs for parish leaders, he said.

Bishops have set a goal of better educating at least 30 dioceses and 500 priests on climate change and other environmental justice issues over the next three years, Bishop Cantu said.

"The bishops of the United States are doing their part to foster this critically important dialogue about our common home," he said.

 

Carolyn Woo, Catholic Relief Services president and chief executive officer, said climate change has had "a profound loss of productivity" on farmers and the world's food supply, mostly from a combination of drought, unpredictable rainfall, and insects.

 

She said the Catholic Church is trying to galvanize people into taking a "holistic and comprehensive" response.

 

Maria Vorel, Catholic Charities USA senior vice president for disaster operations, said climate change has been the catalyst for more extreme disasters.

 

"We have been challenged to hear the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor," she said, paraphrasing Pope Francis.

 

In a more practical sense, many people believe the 2015 encyclical will encourage more support for President Obama's controversial Clean Power Plan, which sets the toughest rules ever for coal-fired power plants, the largest source of climate-altering greenhouse gas emissions.

 

Interfaith Power & Light is encouraging people to share their stories on its Facebook page and tag stories and pictures with #AllAreCalled.

 

"We've never seen this kind of leadership from the most high-profile religious leader in the world, and it has mobilized millions of people of faith into action to address climate change," Sally Bingham, Interfaith Power & Light president and founder, said.

 

Jesuit Father Timothy P. Kesicki, Jesuit Conference president, said the pope's historic message is not about short-term change or easy fixes.

 

"Pope Francis is calling us to ecological conversation and integral change, to free ourselves from a culture of waste and to live in solidarity with creation and the most vulnerable," he said.

 

The Jesuit Conference represents the Society of Jesus in Canada and the United States. 

 

Founded in 1540, the Society of Jesus is the largest order of priests and brothers in the Roman Catholic Church.

 

Regardless whose quote or sound byte it is, remember these words from Bishop Cantu:

 

Care for creation is a bedrock teaching of the Church.

 

One of the best books on the potential for good between the convergence of science and religion is a short, easy-to-read one I mentioned in this blog a year ago: The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth, by Harvard University's famed entomologist-author Edward O. Wilson.

 

Here's a review I wrote about it when it came out in 2007.

 

In his fascinating 2007 book, The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth, Harvard University famed entomologist-author Edward O. Wilson argued the world of science and the world of religion are both doomed unless they work better together. Photo credit: Associated Press.

 

In it, Wilson makes a strong argument for how Earth's future depends on the ability of religion and science to put aside their longstanding differences - Darwin theories and all - and work together.

 

Wilson, an Alabama native whose absorbing prose is often likened to that of Henry David Thoreau, writes the narrative as if he were writing a series of letters to a Southern Baptist minister.

 

In one section of the book, Wilson tells the minister how Earth "is a laboratory wherein Nature (God, if you prefer, Pastor) has laid before us the results of countless experiments."

 

"She speaks to us; now let us listen," Wilson writes.

 

He goes on to say how science and religion have a "moral imperative" to save the Earth, suggesting neither can do it on their own.

 

"Life on this planet can stand no more plundering," Wilson writes. "Those living today will either win the race against extinction or lose it, the latter for all time. They will either earn everlasting honor or everlasting contempt."

 

Catholics are not alone in their call for action on climate change.

 

Several years ago, the national Presbyterian Church USA filed a legal complaint against Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp., contending it was not moving fast enough to reduce greenhouse gases.

 

Comprised of 14,000 ministers and 2.3 million members in more than 10,000 congregations, the Presbyterian Church USA convinced the utility giant in 2008 to disclose plans for achieving further reductions in greenhouse gases from its coal-fired plants.

 

Climate change also has inspired those outside of traditional environmental circles, such as the Pentagon, which sees climate change as a threat to national security, and the health industry, which is getting more vocal about climate change being a public health threat.

 

In the business world, the insurance industry has been tracking climate change closely for years, adjusting policies accordingly.

 

The Vatican has made Pope Francis' 184-page encyclical letter available here. For a more traditional 8.5 x 11 inch page version go here.

 

The choice of words is fascinating, starting with the title which states "On Care for Our Common Home." 

 

Ironically, that's what I felt compelled to state in a different way with these words that I had permanently embedded on the home page of this blog: "Every pollution battle ultimately comes down to mankind's desire to better itself while protecting its sense of home."

 

I thought that having a pope named after St. Francis of Assisi, a 13th century saint who found great comfort with nature, was exciting then and still do - and I'm not even Catholic.

 

 

 

 

 

Plans for Utopia East Pipeline being discussed with Bowling Green Rotary Club

About 40 Bowling Green Rotarians are expected to get a presentation about the $500 million Utopia East Pipeline project at their luncheon Thursday inside the Bowling Green Country Club.

Allen Fore, Kinder Morgan public affairs vice president, is to be the featured speaker.

The project, which involves 14 Ohio counties and a 240-mile route, has garnered some attention, as all major pipeline projects do.

But it hasn't drawn nearly the controversy of the proposed $2 billion NEXUS Gas Transmission pipeline because Kinder Morgan wants to move ethane and ethane-propane mixtures from eastern Ohio to Windsor, Ont., not natural gas.

Kinder Morgan also proposes a 12-inch diameter pipeline, thinner than the 36-inch diameter pipeline NEXUS proposes across 255 miles.

Mr. Fore outlined the project to me in April, explaining the company will be negotiating with landowners in affected counties most of 2016.

It hopes to do construction in 2017 and begin moving product in January, 2018.

Kinder Morgan is North America’s largest energy infrastructure company.

Paul Wohlfarth, one of the region’s most outspoken pipeline activists, has said there is “hardly the same risk” between the two projects.

Ethane, used as feedstock to make plastics, is a byproduct of the process energy companies use to hydraulically fracture shale so they can extract previously untapped reserves of oil and natural gas.

The fracking boom in eastern Ohio has led to major pipeline projects.

Mr. Fore told me Kinder Morgan is building its pipeline to transport ethane products from the Utica shale region to NOVA Chemicals Corp., a project that will help make use of waste products.

Kinder Morgan’s proposed route touches or passes through Harrison, Tuscarawas, Carroll, Stark, Wayne, Ashland, Richland, Huron, Seneca, Sandusky, Wood, Lucas, Henry, and Fulton counties. It is to tie into an existing line that passes through Lenawee, Monroe, and Wayne counties, where it goes under the Detroit River and winds up in Windsor.

The company initially wants to transport up to 50,000 barrels a day, and the system will be built with the capability of expanding that volume another 25,000 barrels a day, Mr. Fore said.

The project is expected to generate 900 local union construction jobs during 2017, and five full-time, permanent positions in Ohio.

Kinder Morgan employs nearly 12,000 people in the United States and Canada.

It owns an interest in or operates 84,000 miles of pipelines and 165 terminals transporting natural gas, refined petroleum products, crude oil, carbon dioxide, and other products. It also stores or handles products such as jet fuel, ethanol, coal, petroleum coke, and steel.

In Ohio, it operates 920 miles of pipelines and six terminals in 22 counties. Its Ohio workforce consisted of 176 employees with a combined $7.7 million payroll in 2015.

 

 

 

 

 

Algae 2016: Only a mild bloom for western Lake Erie if current weather patterns hold

Don't look now, but western Lake Erie's 2016 algal bloom may not be so bad.

In their latest HAB (Harmful Algal Bloom) bulletin, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Heidelberg University's National Center for Water Quality Research said drier conditions are expected for the next six weeks.

If that happens, there won't be nearly as much rain pushing farm fertilizers, animal manure, and raw sewage into area rivers and streams, which means there could be far less algae than we've seen in recent summers except for the drought year of 2012, when the lake was clearer than it'd been for years.

The amount of algae is directly related to the amount of farm runoff and, to a lesser extent, sewage overflows. Those are directly related to how much rain we get.

Scientists used to think the most important window of time for runoff was March 1 through June 30. But they've come to realize the amount of runoff in July matters a lot, too.

Knock on wood: Most of western Lake Erie likely won't turn this green unless the region gets soaked by massive thunderstorms before the end of July. BLADE photo from August, 2014.

Obviously, nobody has a crystal ball. Long-range forecasts are very fickle and it's hard to predict weather with any certainty more than 5-7 days in advance.

Last year at this time, NOAA and Heidelberg predicted an average bloom, only to have that forecast shattered by record rainfall in June and early July, resulting in a record bloom.

This year, they predicted an average bloom again, but now think it'll be even milder than that unless we get soaked with more rain than expected.

None of this really means a lot beyond aesthetics, though.

The size of a bloom doesn't correlate with its toxicity.

Western Lake Erie's 2015 algal bloom, for example, was a record for biomass but relatively low in toxin.

The 2014 bloom - the one that brought us the Toledo water crisis - was far smaller, but a lot more toxic.

Go here for the latest HAB bulletin. The next one is expected to come out Tuesday. 

Public comment deadline approaches: In a related matter, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is accepting comments through June 25 on Ohio’s plan for implementing the Western Basin of Lake Erie Collaborative Agreement.

That's not as wonkish as it sounds.

Signed in June 2015 by Ohio, Michigan and Ontario, it's basically a non-binding agreement which calls for the three states to try reducing phosphorus loading to Lake Erie by 20 percent by 2020 and 40 percent by 2025.

In other words, it's an incentive-laden, mutual policy goal. 

It gives Ohio a two-year jump start on U.S. EPA’s and Environment and Climate Change Canada’s deadline to develop a state plan required under the U.S.-Canada Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.

The plan is available at epa.ohio.gov/Portals/33/documents/WLEBCollaborative.pdf and on the respective state agency websites, the Ohio EPA said.

Comments can be sent to [email protected].

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Public hearings set for proposed Rover Pipeline compressor stations

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency announced this afternoon it has scheduled five public information sessions/hearings to discuss compressor stations that would be built in Carroll, Crawford, Defiance, Harrison, Monroe, Noble and Wayne counties to move natural gas along the proposed Rover pipeline.

One will be in northwest Ohio, on June 22 inside Defiance College's Schomburg Auditorium, 701 North Clinton St., Defiance.

Four others precede that one, starting June 14 at Monroe Central High School in Woodsfield, Ohio. That session has been called to simultaneously discuss proposed compressor stations in Monroe and Noble counties.

A June 21 hearing inside Harrison Elementary Barr Memorial Gymnasium in Scio will likewise be used to discuss two compressor stations, ones in Harrison and Carroll counties.

All meetings start at 6 p.m.

If the hearings are anything like one held March 16 in Waterville Primary School in Waterville, they should be humdingers.

The March 16 hearing on a proposed compressor station near Waterville for a different pipeline, one planned by NEXUS Gas Transmission, Inc., drew more than 600 people. THE BLADE/Lori King

That hearing, for the proposed NEXUS Gas Transmission pipeline, drew a feisty, standing-room-only crowd of more than 600 people, many of them public officials.

The turnout was made even more amazing by the fact the Ohio EPA didn't initially plan to schedule one for the Waterville area because it wasn't sure there was enough interest.

Below's the hearing schedule:

Rover Clarington in Beallsville (Monroe Co.) and Rover Seneca in Summerfield (Noble Co.): June 14, Monroe Central High School, 469 Lewisville Rd., Woodsfield

Rover Mainline CS3 in Chatfield Township (Crawford Co.): June 15, Buckeye Central High School, 938 S. Kibler St., New Washington

Rover Mainline CS2 in Wooster (Wayne Co.): June 16, OARDC’s Fisher Auditorium, 1680 Madison Avenue, Wooster

Rover Cadiz in Cadiz (Harrison Co.) and Rover Mainline CS1 in Sherrodsville (Carroll Co.): June 21, Harrison North Elementary Barr Memorial Gymnasium, 322 W. Main St., Scio

Rover Defiance in Defiance (Defiance Co.): June 22, Defiance College Schomburg Auditorium, 701 North Clinton St., Defiance

The Ohio EPA said people may testify at the hearings or submit comments in writing to the agency.

Copies of draft permits and information on how to submit comments (including deadlines) are available online at http://epa.ohio.gov/pic/roverpipeline.aspx or by contacting Ohio EPA’s Public Interest Center at 614-644-2160.

The Ohio EPA said permits would allow the installation and operation of equipment associated with compressor stations at each respective site. Air permits are required because compressor stations air pollution.

The agency said it does not have authority over siting, eminent domain, setbacks, noise levels, traffic congestion, pipeline safety, zoning, impacted property values, and other issues.

An Ohio EPA fact sheet detailing the Agency’s role in issuing air permits and considerations related to natural gas compressor station emissions can be viewed online at http://epa.ohio.gov/Portals/47/nr/CompressorStations.pdf.

 

 

 

 

 

Cool new birding tool: The State of North America's Birds 2016, a first of its kind

Days after the conclusion of another successful Biggest Week in American Birding comes the release of a cool report that's a first of its kind: The State of North America's Birds 2016.

Published by the North American Bird Conservation Initiative, it's an easy-to-understand, nifty interactive research tool for bird lovers in the Great Lakes region and the rest of North America.

It's organized by the continent's major habitats - oceans, coasts, boreal forest, tropical forests, temperature forests, grasslands, and wetlands - and has animated maps, based on NASA remote sensing data, that help you visualize how some species migrate between northern Canada and southern Mexico.

The images are shown on a week-by-week basis for seven birds. For example, you can see how the Magnolia Warbler and the Yellow-rumped Warbler migrate across the Great Lakes and other parts of the continent. The maps also provide information about abundance and distribution of those species.

This Yellow-rumped Warbler was photographed in Ottawa County's Magee Marsh in April, 2015. THE BLADE/ANDY MORRISON

In the Great Lakes region, wetlands are the primary type of habitat discussed. The report said that healthy populations of ducks and other waterfowl "show what our countries can accomplish when we work together on bird conservation," while also warning that wetlands "are being drained for agriculture and development, polluted by pesticides and invasive species, and lost to climate change."

The report asserts that more than a third of all North American bird species are in urgent need of habitat protection and enhancement. It is based on a continent-wide assessment of 1,154 native bird species and involved efforts of thousands of citizens and scientists across the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

"Tens of thousands of Canadians, Americans, and Mexicans contributed bird sightings to help produce a continent-wide assessment of North America's birds," John W. Fitzpatrick, Cornell Lab of Ornithology executive director, said.

He described birds as "sensitive barometers of environmental health."

For more information, go to stateofthebirds.org.

The North American Bird Conservation Initiative was created by the continent's three countries in 1999 "to recognize birds as an international “natural economic resource.” Its report was released simultaneously Wednesday at the Canadian Embassy in Washington and the Museum of Nature in Ottawa to help mark International Migratory Bird Day.

One of its key partners is the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, which represents state agency members in the United States on Capitol Hill and North America fish and wildlife agencies in general.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Western Lake Erie legend John Hartig named Conservationist of the Year by the John Muir Association

Congratulations to John Hartig, Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge manager, for recently being named the John Muir Association's Conservationist of the Year at a ceremony near San Francisco.

Hartig, who also serves on the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy board of directors, has authored or co-authored more than 100 publications on the environment, including four books.

One of them, Burning Rivers: Revival of Four Urban-Industrial Rivers that Caught on Fire, was reviewed by yours truly for the January 2012 edition of SEJournal, the quarterly magazine of the Society of Environmental Journalists (I've been with SEJ since 1993 and have been SEJournal's volunteer book editor since 2011).

John Hartig, manager of the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge, is the John Muir Association's Conservationist of the Year. Photo credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

I've known John through most of the 23 years I've been with The (Toledo) Blade and can attest to his honesty, integrity, and deep commitment to the outdoors.

He has a wealth of information about how the Great Lakes region, especially western Lake Erie, emerged from a soupy mixture of industrial chemicals in the 1960s and early 1970s to become the world-class fishery it is today while also grappling with a new round of chronic and potentially devastating toxic algae blooms since 1995.

The Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge he manages is a one-of-a-kind marriage between two countries - the United States and Canada - over a shared resource for wildlife. 

The John Muir Foundation is based in Martinez, Calif.

It honors the legacy of one of the nation's greatest conservationists, John Muir, who founded the Sierra Club.

Organized as the John Muir Memorial Association in 1956, its name was shortened in 2004.

It works with the National Park Service to preserve Muir's former 10,000-square-foot home and surrounding orchards in Martinez. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed legislation making the site a National Historic Site on Sept. 3, 1964.

John Hartig in a northern Monroe County section of the Detroit International Wildlife Refuge in 2014. BLADE PHOTO/TOM HENRY

 

 

 

 

 

Have you hugged your bison? Obama made it America's national mammal today

Here's something I didn't see coming: President Obama today made the American bison the national mammal of the United States.

Obama signed the National Bison Legacy Act into law, putting the bison on par with the Bald Eagle as an official symbol of our country.

As the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service points out, both are among the greatest conservation success stories of all time.

The awesome, incredible - and resilient - American bison. Photo credit: Jim Carr, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Millions of bison roamed across North America in prehistoric times, only to have their numbers decimated to a few hundred by the late 1800s.

Now they're in all 50 states. According to the InterTribal Buffalo Council, which helped push for the designation, the population has rebounded to about 500,000 bison today.

The group has said bison contribute to a "multimillion dollar sector of American agriculture."

"Had it not been for a few private individuals working with tribes, states and the Interior Department, the bison would be extinct today," the agency said.

See this for 15 fun bison factoids, such as their ability to run 35 mph, their nearsightedness, and how you can tell their mood by looking at their tail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Biggest Week in American Birding, aka Warblerstock 2016: Happy birding, y'all

When I picked up a copy of this year's Biggest Week in American Birding program earlier this week from Mancino's Pizza & Grinders on Woodville Road in Oregon (yes, a passing reference to a sponsor - read on and you'll see why), I got a chuckle out of a word at the top of the cover.

Warblerstock.

Love it.

Same goes for the subhead beneath it:

Peace Love Birds.

A male yellow warbler photographed by freelancer Art Weber as part of a gallery published by The Blade in 2013.

As I got back to my car with the Italian grinder I ordered for me and my wife (delicious as always, by the way), a thought dawned on me: That little extra touch - the word Warblerstock - is one reason why the Biggest Week in American Birding has become a smashing success.

It's playful and unpretentious, an obvious tongue-in-cheek reference to the landmark Woodstock rock festival on an upstate New York farm in August of 1969.

For The Biggest Week in American Birding, Kim and Kenn Kaufman, Mark and Julie Shieldcastle, and their down-to-Earth colleagues at the Black Swamp Bird Conservancy, plus countless other volunteers, have paid attention to detail and sweated the logistics.

Yet they've also injected some humor and chilled out just enough to make their mega 10-day gathering anything but a stuffy, rigid corporate event.

They've engaged numerous businesses, tourism promoters, government officials, and the like around birds and, ultimately, the need for protecting coastal habitat.

That's not an easy needle to thread. 

But when something as simple as the words "Warblerstock" and "Peace Love Birds" bring smiles to the faces of would-be birders, novices, and serious orinthologists (always loved that word), you've got the right mojo working.

A yellow warbler photographed years ago in Magee Marsh by The Blade's Andy Morrison.

Of course, the Kaufmans, the Shieldcastles and others step back and credit the birds as the stars of the show.

But all have worked tirelessly to make vital linkages with motels, restaurants, and shuttle services. Kim has gotten restaurants, for example, to see the value of eco-tourism by having past attendees of the Biggest Week in Birding leave special note cards on their tables.

Birds have been stopping along the Lake Erie shoreline for thousands of years. But the Biggest Week in American Birding has brought an awakening and helped spread the word, partly because of the simple little details in planning.

It's not like the words "Warblerstock" and "Peace Love Birds" are guaranteed to produce Birkenstock moments in our stressed-out minds. But they offer an amusing little perk.

Consider also that the catchy phrase caught on with audubon.org, the website for the world's largest birding organization, which offers this headline in an in-depth story promoting the Biggest Week in Birding last fall: Welcome to Warblerstock, Ohio's Grooviest Birding Festival.

The program cover also caught the attention of Oregon's intensely local paper, The Press, which explains in this story how and why Indianapolis graphic designer Scott Arvin came up with the idea.

I stopped off at Mancino's on my way back from covering a news event on Wednesday at the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge featuring U.S. EPA senior adviser Cam Davis, a former environmentalist I've known for years. He was in the area to announce major grant money - $12.5 million for 28 projects - to fight invasive species and algae across the Great Lakes region.

An agency staffer told me the day before that event that the wildlife refuge was chosen because it is in the heart of the Biggest Week in American Birding activities that were two days away from starting.

During his remarks, Davis mentioned the growing impact of eco-tourism and noted that the "old division between the environment and economic growth is breaking down.”

Translation: Nature benefits when people are in touch with it.

The Biggest Week in American Birding drew more than 77,000 people from 47 states and 22 counties last year.

Its impact and reach keeps growing.

So have fun birding, y'all.