GIS Tool: Data Resources

When you’re first starting a project, one of the most important things to have is data. Cats may have to create their own data, but if the data already exists, why reinvent the wheel?  There are many sources of GIS data for cats (and people) these days, and a few are highlighted below.

1. ArcGIS Online.  This is an online platform by Esri, the industry leader in GIS software.  With a free ArcGIS Online account, you have access to a lot of data, and with a paid account (see their website, very confusing), you can access even more.  Even with a free account there is a lot of data out there. Follow the link above, to sign up for a free account and play around.  Today, many federal, state and local agencies are putting their authoritative data (like the data you can trust) online for everyone to access for free through ArcGIS Online, and more organizations are adding data each day.

2. With ArcGIS Online, cats can use the data directly in ArcGIS Online maps, but what if they want to download the data?  A lot of agencies are putting their data online for you to download as well. For example, the State of Washington has a clearinghouse that compiles open data from multiple state agencies, counties, cities, and other sources.  For location specific data, go to geo.wa.gov. Oregon has a similar site and they have been working on consolidating data for several years.  Other states have similar sites, so if you live or are doing a project elsewhere, just have someone google that for you, er, um…or do a web search.

3. If the state clearinghouses don’t have the data you’re looking for, try your local county or city websites.  

4. For environmental data, the EPA is still a great source. It has a wealth of data you can search and download.

Do you have a good source of data that wasn’t mentioned?  Please tell us in the comments!

Tis the Season, For Giving!

The holiday season is upon us. Have you considered giving a charity gift card instead of a physical gift? There are actually two kinds; the first is a gift card that the recipient can spend on themselves but a portion of the face value is donated to a pre-selected charity, and the other is one where all (or most) of the face value is donated to charity but the cool cat who receives it gets to decide which charity (or charities) the funds are allotted to.

If you’re looking to buy the second kind, a comparison of five of them can help you decide which one to give. One of the best is called TisBest. It’s a local Pacific Northwest company, and the first charity gift card out there (they’ve been around since 2007). If you purchase a card before the end of the year, 100% of the face value goes to the designated charities! Don’t worry though, if you purchased before Nov 27 or after the end of the year, most of the face value (minus 3% + 1.95) still goes to the charities. You have the option to email the gift card or print it yourself on your home printer to be even greener. If you do choose to go plastic, they cost a little extra (1.95 extra, to be exact, but that covers the cost of the plastic card, a greeting card it’s sent in, and shipping!), and are made of 100% recycled materials. If you give one, you can also use it as a tax deduction. TisBest gift cards are only available in the US right now, so if that doesn’t meet your needs, find one that does.

Other charity gift cards include Charity on Top, Global Giving, The Good Card, and Charity Choice. Do your research, and spend wisely! Happy Holidays, and Will We Make It Out Alive?

Will We Make Out Alive? No.

Cat speaks out against climate change. Submitted as part of the 1 Minute to Save the World climate change short film competition http:www.1minutetosavetheworld.com

Did you miss the National Climate Assessment Report that came out on Black Friday? Coincidence…I think not…The assessment was compiled by over 300 scientist from the US government; Trump’s response to the report, “It’s fine” and “I don’t believe it.” Unfortunately, if you actually look at the report, that is not the outlook that it paints. Is it fire and brimstone…well basically…We are slated to experience the impacts of sea level rise, more natural disasters, increased forest fires, crappy air, messed up water cycle impacts and most likely we will not make it out alive. Meanwhile, while those things are all sucktastic, we, in the US, will also be dying younger (yes the annual US mortality rate just went down…again…for the 3rd year in a row!).

WHACK FACT: Jen the Magical Mapper is right on the edge of two age groups; one of which will make it out alive later in life and the other of which will die sooner…Guess that means she gets to choose her own adventure.

Their website does a nice job of summarizing the data based on regional areas. I am going to dive a little deeper into the forecasted impacts to the Pacific Northwest. Their key message for our region is that we will have water related impacts that will have “far reaching ecological and socioeconomic impacts” to our region. One of the biggest impacts will be the warming climate itself and the effects that has on our watersheds and the timing and amount of streamflow. We are already experiencing increased storm intensity and that is also predicted to continue.

Then there are all sorts of ripple conditions that will happen from this offset of our hydrologic cycle. This will include decreased water in the summer, making for tougher decisions when it comes to water rights and water use especially around irrigation for agricultural lands and consumption for people! Trees and plants that are stressed will be more susceptible to insects and disease.

For example, in snow dominated watersheds, we will see less snow pack (because it is warmer), which will result in increased river flows in the winter. Currently the snowpack lasts into the spring before becoming meltwater, which is slowly released into our rivers starting in late spring with the highest average flows in June or July. Under the climate forecasts, that same precipitation that currently comes down as snow in the winter will be rain through much of the year…by 2080, even under the mitigated emissions scenario, our peak flows will occur in February. This will result in much lower summer flows, which will also be warmer.

“Why do you always have to be so negative?”

— Jen The Magical Mapper

And one of the very important ecosystem functions of our large forests in the Pacific Northwest is to sequester carbon (that’s cause they “breath in” carbon dioxide and put the carbon in their tree bits). Oh, oh, oh, oh…staying alive…as in, as long as that tree is staying alive that carbon is all up in its tree bits and it not out in our atmosphere increasing greenhouse gases. So, when those trees are burned up in a forest fire or even when they are cut down or die they release the carbon that was stored up in there tree bits back into the carbon cycle where it can end up as a greenhouse gas in our atmosphere…FURTHER COMPOUNDING the impacts of climate change.

Meanwhile, warmer and lower flows in our rivers will impact all sorts of plants and animals that have spent at least the last 10,000 years (since the last ice age) perfecting their growing habits for our current climate conditions. Yes, adaptations can be made by natural organisms, but can they keep up with the accelerated rate? Under some scenarios, by 2080, we would see conversion of sub-alpine forests to other types of forests.

Our coastal areas will also see impacts both from sea level rise and from increased river flows during the winter season, and let’s not forget about the impacts of ocean acidification on our shellfish and the related industries. Our low lying coastal areas will see increased flooding in urban areas as stormwater systems overflow from the increased winter flows and at the same time they may be impacted by high tides that surge or push water from the marine areas into our existing pipes and conveyances, which typically are placed to prevent marine water from flowing back into the stormwater system. However, as the marine waters rise, they will follow the path of least resistance, which will backflow into the stormwater system and if the system gets enough flow will result in water pushing out of catch basins and manholes. Let’s not forget, this will be brackish water and is likely to have marine water species that get brought into our freshwater conveyances and then end up dying.

Of course, for those that do not think these impacts will affect humanity (they will, though!); there is also a 500 billion dollar price tag associated with the impacts of climate change. So, this is going to have a HUGE impact on our salmon, forests, rivers, agriculture and ultimately our health.

Remember not breathing for like two months last summer? Get ready for more of that! Asthma and breathing related diseased are expected to increase due to poorer air quality resulting from increased forest fires.

And those are just some of the highlights of the impacts to the Pacific Northwest. Check out the full report and all of the SCIENCE that went into.

One Positive Action Can Create A Movement!

This cat wants to cough up a hairball every time she sees a negative environmental story. Sure, we need the warnings, but hearing all of these negative stories can result in a feeling of impending doom that has the potential to lead to sleeping 20 hours a day instead of taking small steps (or any steps) toward saving the planet.

I much prefer positive stories. This is why I was excited to stumble across the idea of EcoTipping Points! There is an entire website devoted to positive actions taken by various communities.

WHACK FACT: EcoTipping Points represent small positive actions that can serve as the change, or tipping point, from destruction to restoration and sustainability of natural and societal systems.

There has been a lot of study on this idea, and the website gives over 100 real-life examples of projects that have turned ecosystems and communities around in a positive, sustainable way.

There are stories from around the world here, and a few of my favorites from the US/Canada/Pacific Northwest include:

Mosaic, which allows people to invest small amounts (starting at $25) in community-based solar projects and potentially receive large returns.

Whistler 2020, a community planning effort that is aiming to stop uncontrolled growth in Whistler, BC and become a sustainable community, which has resulted in awards and other communities wanting to follow in their footsteps.

Flexcar, a car-sharing company based in Portland, Oregon, which aims to reduce the total number of cars by increasing the productivity and use of existing cars (thus reducing the need for extra parking and road infrastructure, as well as resources needed to produce the cars themselves).

If more of these stories make their way into the world, maybe more people will be inspired to take small actions that just might be EcoTipping Points, and maybe we’ll make it out alive after all!

Are there potential projects in your own community where small efforts may lead to big sustainable changes? Learning from the success stories from other communities and understanding where their small actions resulted in change may help individuals understand how they too can start small and have impressive results. Share your ideas in the comments below and see if you can get started in finding your community’s own tipping point to sustainability!

The Mappiest Day! Tomorrow, November 14, 2018.

I paid a professional to make this…

GIS Day is definitely not something I made up, no matter how many people accuse me of it. It’s also not a day where people buy GIS practitioners gifts, as I was asked last year (although I should have answered yes…).

Whack Fact: GIS Day has been around officially since 1999, and is a day where GIS professionals share all things GIS (especially GISsy cakes) with the rest of the world (or maybe just their local communities, schools, or workplaces). It is celebrated each year on the Wednesday of Geography Awareness Week, which is the third week of November. That means GIS Day falls on Wednesday, November 14th this year.

You can look on the GIS Day website (you’ll need to scroll about halfway down the home page) to search the map of registered events and see if there’s a celebration near you. A few celebrations in the Pacific Northwest include Joint Agency GIS Day put on by Washington State in Olympia (which is like a free mini-GIS conference complete with a keynote speaker, presentations, and posters), a GIS Day evening event in Portland with free pizza, networking and a raffle, a Humanitarian Mapathon hosted by OpenStreetMap and Portland State University in Portland (no mapping experience needed!), and a GIS Day event with presentations and posters at the University of Idaho.

Happy GIS Day!

Help the Southern Resident Orcas Make it Out Alive...Participate in the Puget Sound Orca Recovery Day - November 10!

Will the Southern Resident Orcas make it out alive? Not without our help. As the Governor’s Task Force continues to make decisions on proposed management and measures to help save our endangered Southern Resident Orcas, there are actions we can all take everyday to help save them.

In addition, you can participate in Puget Sound Orca Recovery Day by joining one of ten Puget Sound Conservation Districts this Saturday, November 10, 2018 at various locations throughout the Salish Sea. The main purposes of the day include attempts at either increasing the preferred food for the Southern Residents (chinook salmon) or decreasing pollution from entering Salish Sea. These service related events range from installing plants at a low impact development (LID) rain garden, to removing invasive species and helping restore salmon streams by replanting native vegetation.

Click on the links below to find a project near you!

Clallam Conservation District | King Conservation District | Mason Conservation District | Pierce Conservation District | Skagit Conservation District | Snohomish Conservation District | San Juan Islands Conservation District | Thurston Conservation District | Whatcom Conservation District | Whidbey Conservation District

Cool cats want to make good choices on their own property and they want to do their part to help the Southern Resident Orcas make it out alive! If you would like to learn more about actions you can take on your own property check out these fact sheets, which include a variety of information from small farming practices, to plantings for soil stabilization or how to attract bees with your landscaping!

WHACK FACT! LID - Low Impact Development is a form of development that attempts to more closely mimic the natural water cycle; reducing stormwater runoff volumes and treating pollution prior to discharging to our surface or ground water. LID also includes development practices such as attempting to retain native vegetation and soil structure at sites during construction and minimizing the development footprint. When stormwater treatment facilities are needed, typically LID uses more smaller dispersed facilities that reduce runoff and treat for pollutants using a special mixture of soil and plants.

If we all take action, the Southern Resident Orcas might make it out alive!

Earth Challenge 2020

Globe sculpture at El Yunque National Forest’s El Portal Visitor Center.

A new citizen science initiative has just been announced to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Earth Challenge 2020 hopes to engage millions of cats like us from all over this globe we call home to help the earth make it out alive.

The first step in the process is happening now. The organizers are currently asking all of us to submit research questions about environmental and human health. Some sample questions they list on their website are:

How much plastic is in my water?

What is the biodiversity of my region?

How does air quality impact the health of my community?

To submit your questions, you can use the form on their website (link above), or tweet @Earth_Challenge using the hashtag #EC2020. You can submit as many questions as you can think up, but the deadline is November 22, 2018.

Organizers will then distill the questions down into common themes, and their expert panel will announce the final questions in early 2019. Hackathons will be held in spring of 2019 to develop applications and technology solutions to collect and synthesize the information needed to answer the chosen questions. The best solutions will be formally developed during the summer and fall of 2019.

WHACK FACT: Hackathons are huge collaborative events where computer programmers, software designers, graphic designers and others get together to develop applications in a short period of time.

Citizen scientists like me and you will use these apps to collect data in the spring of 2020, with the goal of collecting over one billion data points around the globe by Earth Day 2020 (April 22).

Now go submit your questions!

Green Search Engines

Are you a cat that is stuck mousing around with the same, carbon draining search engine? Did you know there are “green” search engines out there? These alternative search engines are mostly powered by the big guys, but part of the ad revenue goes to charity or protecting the environment instead of profits. Some cool cat search alternatives to look into include:

Ecosia.org - Powered mostly by Bing, they use their proceeds to plant trees in order to offset all of the carbon used to power the search engine.

EcoSearch.org - Powered by Google, but donates 100% of their proceeds to other environmental charities.

GoodShop.com - This isn’t a typical search engine. It is powered by Yahoo! and searches the web for the best deals as you shop for items. They then donate a portion of your purchase price to a charity of your choosing (at no extra cost to you).

If you want to stay with the tried and true, Google is working on their environmental impact. They are carbon neutral, but partly through purchasing carbon offsets. You can read their 2017 report here (it’s actually interesting, I swear!).

Every little bit adds up!

A Few of my Favorite Things!

So many dams…

Maps, maps, interactive maps!!! A new edition of the Pacific Northwest Atlas is available, and this one is electronic and interactive! There are eight chapters on a variety of topics including energy resources, water, and natural hazards. The maps are beautiful, and you can drill down to get links to the actual source data! This cat is seriously geeking out! This is a great resource for curious minds, as well as scientists trying to figure out how we can make it out alive. And did I mention the maps are beautiful? And the narrative and language is so poetic!

Will the Honeybees Make It Out Alive?

This may or may not be a honeybee…And it may or may not have made it out alive.

Honeybees are important pollinators and are dying off at an alarming rate.  You can help by keeping hives or creating habitat for pollinators. Whack Fact: if you steal all of the honey from the hive, the bees will die over the winter because you just stole all of their food!!!

Plant local, bee-friendly plants such as CATNIP, lavender, sage, and rosemary (even a small area can help), add a tiny bee bath or volunteer with a group such as NW Honey Bee, which aims to turn grass strips between sidewalks and streets into pollinator habitat.  

To volunteer visit NW Honey Bee or to learn more about urban beekeeping check out Seattle Tilth.

How do Your Actions Affect Salmon?

Do you know how your individual actions affect salmon?  You can take a free self-assessment here: https://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/pub.php?id=00499 to see how your actions at home and in the community are impacting salmon/fish and how changing some of your behaviors might help.  After taking the self-assessment, create an action plan! The assessment has resources to help.

If you’re curious, one action I’ve already taken is to reduce my time in the shower from an average of 20 minutes (gasp!) to an average of 5 minutes. One item on my action plan is to reduce the size of my lawn by planting more areas of native vegetation (including a pollinator garden). What actions are you taking or are you willing to take to help the salmon make it out alive? Share your ideas on our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WillWeMakeItOutAlive/

Know Your Ocean Etiquette

Angie, DON’T TOUCH THE MONKEY! It will eat your face off! Whack fact: Monkeys live on the beach in some places such as Railay Beach, Thailand.

The only National Marine Sanctuary in the Pacific Northwest is the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary off the Northern Washington coast.  The Olympic Coast Discovery Center in Port Angeles is open in the summer, and offers information on marine conservation, animals and habitat in the Sanctuary, and how you can help in its protection. I’ve never visited the Center, which is a personal failing I hope to rectify soon. I have visited the actual Sanctuary though, and it is beautiful!

When visiting the ocean, there are rules of etiquette everyone should follow.  These include keeping your distance from wildlife no matter how tempting it is to reach out and touch them (they might eat your face off, but also, it could harm them), refraining from feeding wildlife (seriously, stop), learning about wildlife and their habitat before you go, and spreading the word to others (like I’m doing here).  For more information on ocean etiquette, visit https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/protect/oceanetiquette.html.

Help the marine critters make it out alive, even marine monkeys!

Clean Coastal Trash and Help Scientists!

So much garbage! We were unprepared, but improvised with dog poo bags. Note to self, bring bags and gloves everywhere!

A lot of people around the world participate in International Coastal Cleanup® Day in September of each year.  Sadly, cleanup is needed year round. There are several efforts out there, such as the Take 3 for the Sea campaign.  

This organization urges you to take 3 pieces of trash with you every time you leave an ocean or waterway (or anywhere, really), share a photo of you with your three pieces on social media with the hashtag #Take3fortheSea to inspire others, and reduce your plastic footprint.

While you’re participating in Take 3 for the Sea, why not also use the CleanSwell app?  You can see the impact you’re making by tracking things such as miles cleaned and weight of trash removed while earning cool badges, and you can help scientists identify locations and types of garbage being removed. This allows the scientist to track trash patterns and inform policy solutions.

Get out there and start cleaning!

Help While you Shop

Whack Fact: Amazon will not actually ship live cats.

For those of you who shop on Amazon.com, did you know you can support your favorite charity by using the link smile.amazon.com?  The shopping experience is the same and it doesn’t cost you more, but the charity you choose will receive a small portion of the proceeds.  Very small. But hey, these things add up, and every teeny tiny bit helps! There is a fairly significant list of organizations you can support, from large, international organizations to small, local groups. Why not sign up?