9/25 Broadleaf plantain, climate report, no turn-off-the-taps, WA oil spill response, Erich Hoyt, low-interest armor removal loans, humpback, first foods

Broadleaf plantain [E. Fogelfors]

Broadleaf plantain Plantago major
Plantago major (broadleaf plantain, white man's foot, or greater plantain) is one of the most abundant and widely distributed medicinal crops in the world. A poultice of the leaves can be applied to wounds, stings, and sores in order to facilitate healing and prevent infection. The active chemical constituents are aucubin (an anti-microbial agent), allantoin (which stimulates cellular growth and tissue regeneration), and mucilage (which reduces pain and discomfort). Plantain has astringent properties, and a tea made from the leaves can be ingested to treat diarrhea and soothe raw internal membranes. Broadleaf plantain is also a very nutritious leaf vegetable that is high in calcium and vitamins A, C, and K. The young, tender leaves can be eaten raw, and the older, stringier leaves can be boiled in stews and eaten. Broadleaf plantain is not related to the fruit also known as plantain, which is a kind of banana. (Wikipedia)

Climate change: UN panel signals red alert on 'Blue Planet'
Climate change is devastating our seas and frozen regions as never before, a major new United Nations report warns. According to a UN panel of scientists, waters are rising, the ice is melting, and species are moving habitat due to human activities. And the loss of permanently frozen lands threatens to unleash even more carbon, hastening the decline. There is some guarded hope that the worst impacts can be avoided, with deep and immediate cuts to carbon emissions. Matt McGrath reports. (BBC) See also: New U.N. climate report: Massive change already here for world’s oceans and frozen regions   A definitive new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change finds dangerous sea level rise and mass death of corals and other key ocean life has already been unleashed. Chris Mooney and Brady Dennis report. (Washington Post)

B.C. wins injunction blocking Alberta's turn-off-the-taps legislation over oil 
The Federal Court has suspended Alberta's turn-off-the-taps legislation, aimed in part at the embattled Trans Mountain pipeline extension, granting British Columbia a temporary injunction blocking the law until the courts can decide whether it is valid. The legislation was passed — but never used — by Alberta's former NDP government to give its energy minister the power to pinch oil and crude exports to other provinces. It was perceived as a move that would punish B.C. over its continued challenges to the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. B.C. challenged the law in court this spring, saying the bill was unconstitutional. Federal Court Justice Sébastien Grammond said Tuesday the law raised a "serious issue" that could hurt British Columbians. Rhianna Schmunk reports. (CBC)

State updating oil spill response plan
State oil spill rules that apply to pipelines, facilities and vessels are being updated. The state Department of Ecology began reviewing the state’s oil spill contingency plan in January and is accepting public comment on a draft update through Oct. 6. The update was prompted by the state Legislature, which in 2018 directed Ecology to update the plan by December 2019, including adding the latest knowledge of oils that may sink when spilled in water. The plan requires large commercial vessels, oil handling facilities and pipelines to have detailed plans and contracts in place for oil spill response equipment and trained personnel to respond. Kimberly Cauvel reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

‘I’m always optimistic, I have to be.’ Author recalls early orca research amid book tour
Two pods of the scarcely seen Southern Resident orca population showed up in the waters off Seattle within just a few hours of author Erich Hoyt’s return to the Pacific Northwest for his book tour. Hoyt knew next to nothing about the iconic whales when he first started studying them in the 1970s, back when they were abundant in the Salish Sea. He says it took several years of coming back every summer before he really started to get a sense of how they live...Hoyt is the author of the book, "Orca: The Whale Called Killer," which recently was updated and expanded in a fifth edition. Bellamy Pailthorp reports. (KNKX)

PSI study will look at potential of low-interest loans for armor removal
There are more than 45,000 residential properties along Puget Sound’s shoreline. Of those, almost half have some form of environmentally damaging shoreline armoring, researchers say. That makes private landowners a primary focus of state and federal armor removal efforts, but many landowners say they either lack funds or are unwilling to pay for sometimes costly beach restorations. Now, the Puget Sound Institute in collaboration with Coastal Geologic Services and Northern Economics is looking at ways to provide low-interest loans to homeowners for this purpose. (Puget Sound Institute)

A Humpback Whodunit
The whale on the beach has a story to tell and Stephen Raverty is here to extract it. The veterinary pathologist has traveled to British Columbia’s remote central coast on this sunny May Sunday to perform a necropsy on a male humpback that washed ashore on the surf-tossed west side of Calvert Island. Larry Pynn reports. (Hakai Magazine)

Tradition, environmental health central to Swinomish tribe's first foods project
From watching for camas flowers to bloom in the spring to seeing salmon return in the fall, indigenous groups including the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community have for thousands of years been tied to the land. The Swinomish tribe is now working to restore traditions and ensure knowledge is passed on to future generations about camas, salmon and other plants and animals considered traditional “first foods.” The tribe recently received a $1.6 million grant from the National Science Foundation to expand an environmental education program focusing on first foods. Kimberly Cauvel reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)


Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  246 AM PDT Wed Sep 25 2019   
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM THIS EVENING THROUGH  THURSDAY MORNING   
TODAY  E wind 5 to 15 kt becoming W to 10 kt in the afternoon.  Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell 9 ft at 13 seconds. 
TONIGHT  SW wind 10 to 20 kt rising to 15 to 25 kt after  midnight. Wind waves 2 to 4 ft. W swell 8 ft at 12 seconds. A  chance of rain in the evening then rain after midnight.



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