The next couple of weeks are going to be dry in Virginia but the conditions should be temporary, according to an Accuweather Senior Meteorologist.

“While the next 1-2 weeks will be on the dry side, I don’t think we are heading into a drought,” said Tom Kines, Director of Forecaster Scheduling.

It does look like higher temperatures are also in the forecast next week, he said.

“It looks like we have a few days next week when heat returns, most likely the first half of the week,” Kines said.

He also predicts wetter conditions will return in September.

“We feel there will be more opportunities for rain as we enter the month of September,” Kines said. “We still feel September temperatures will average above normal and rainfall near to maybe a little above the historical average.”

The post Dry August will be followed by rainy September in Virginia, says expert appeared first on Augusta Free Press.

Virginians should take proper precautions when venturing outdoors as tick season heats up in warmer months.

In Virginia, tick exposure can occur year-round. The state ranks in the top 10 for tickborne disease cases with more than 6,000 recorded, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Bites from the small arachnids can infect humans with illnesses such as Lyme disease, which accounts for more than 80 percent of tick-borne illnesses.

Tick-borne diseases also can vary by region, with more than 17 human diseases known to be caused by at least nine kinds of ticks nationally, the CDC reports.

Spending time outside walking your dog, camping, gardening or hunting can put you in close contact with ticks, and many people encounter ticks in their own yards or neighborhoods.

The CDC suggests familiarizing yourself with where to expect ticks before stepping outside. Avoid woody and brushy areas with high grass and leaf litter, and walk in the center of trails.

While ticks can’t fly or jump, they can detect heat, breath and other signals from warm creatures.

To find meals, they typically cling to the tops of grass blades or leaves with their back legs and hitch a ride on people’s apparel.

Tips for avoiding ticks

• Check clothing for ticks upon entering the household, and use tweezers to immediately remove any that are found. Tumble dry clothes in a dryer on high heat for 10 minutes to kill clinging ticks, or longer if the clothes are damp. If washing clothing first, use hot water—cold and medium temperature water will not kill ticks.
• Ticks also can ride into homes on pets or objects and attach to a person later, so carefully examine pets, coats and daypacks.
• Showering within two hours of coming indoors has been shown to reduce the risk of getting Lyme disease and may be effective in reducing the risk of other tick-borne diseases.
• The CDC also recommends checking under arms, in and around ears, inside navel, back of knees, in and around hair, between legs and around the waist for any unwanted visitors.
• For extra protection, treating clothing and gear with products containing 0.5 percent permethrin or purchasing permethrin-treated clothing can help ward off ticks.

For more tips on avoiding ticks, visit cdc.gov/ticks/avoid/on_people.html.

Related stories

Tick in Virginia targeting cow herds; state vet warns it ‘could be threat’ to humans
Published date: August 7, 2023 | 11:46 am

How to safeguard against summer hazards including heat, ticks and algal blooms
Published date: July 24, 2023 | 5:25 pm

Asian longhorned tick infestation is a threat to Virginia livestock, including cattle
Published date: June 26, 2023 | 6:17 pm

The post Watch out for ticks: Exposure to tick bites in Virginia heating up as weather gets warmer appeared first on Augusta Free Press.

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services will accept applications for the 2023 beehive distribution program from Aug, 28 through Sept. 12.

The program provides free equipment for assembling new beehives to Virginia residents.

Qualified applicants are selected at random from qualifying applications received during the application period.

“In Virginia, honeybees are essential pollinators for the fruits and vegetables consumed by people and wildlife,” said Keith Tignor, State Apiarist. “The beehive distribution program helps counteract dramatic honeybee losses in the state over the past several decades by assisting individuals in establishing new hives.”

Beehive regulations

• Individuals who are Virginia residents, and 18 years of age or older at the time an application is submitted, are eligible to receive beehive units.
• Entities such as businesses, non-profit organizations and government agencies are not eligible to receive beehive units.
• Multiple individuals with the same mailing and/or physical address (household) may apply to the program; however, distribution of beehive units will be limited to no more than three beehive units per household in the same fiscal year, July 1 to June 30.
• Recipients of beehive units must assemble the equipment and occupy it with a colony of honey bees within one year of receiving the equipment.
• VDACS does not provide honey bees or equipment for managing the hives, such as personal safety equipment or honey processing equipment.

To learn more about the Beehive Distribution Program or to submit an application, visit the Beehive Distribution Program website.

For more information, contact the VDACS Office of Plant Industry Services at (804) 786-3515 or vabees@vdacs.virginia.gov.

The post Virginia beehive distribution program application period open Aug. 28 through Sept. 12 appeared first on Augusta Free Press.

Devastating events like the one in Hawaii may cause considerable community stress or trauma, according to a disaster resilience expert at Virginia Tech.

Liesel Ritchie, an associate director of the Center for Coastal Studies, has traveled to disaster sites all over the world to work with communities after a disaster.

“The social upheaval associated with these natural and human-caused events is not only immediate, with the loss of lives, homes and livelihoods, but it is long-lasting and can take communities years to recover,” said Ritchie.

It’s not yet clear what caused the fires, but Ritchie’s research shows that when disaster events are caused by human actions or are worsened by human inaction, issues of blame and responsibility can hinder community recovery.

“There is potential for this in the case of the Hawaii wildfires, given that local officials decided not to activate the warning sirens, which might well have saved lives and property. It is also not clear as to the exact cause of the fires. There is some speculation that downed power lines sparked the initial flames, which further exacerbates uncertainty in the situation,” she said.

With all the uncertainty about what’s happened, Ritchie says research on other disasters suggests that we will see considerable community stress and trauma.

“This can become exacerbated over time, if attention is not paid to the emotional and mental health needs of those most directly affected,” said Ritchie. “We know based on experience and research that there is a high likelihood that there will be tension between those who want to build back quickly and others who want to “build back better.”

“It will be a balancing act, as the Lahaina community works to move forward not only with rebuilding its physical infrastructure, but with its social systems, as well.”

Tips for giving to Hawaii

Ritchie says it’s important to keep in mind that while this tragedy will soon be lost amidst coverage of other events in the news, the people of Maui will need support in the coming weeks, months and years to move beyond this disaster.

“Even after a natural disaster has ended people are going to need help; they’re going to need financial support, and they’re going to need social support,” said Ritchie.

The Better Business Bureau of Western Virginia offers tips and guidance to consumers wishing to help aid in the relief efforts in Maui.

• Visit Give.org to verify if a charity meets BBB Standards for Charitable Accountability. Take the time to find out how the organization will address immediate or long-term needs.
• Double-check crowdfunding sites. Keep in mind that some crowdfunding sites take precautions in carefully screening, vetting, and managing postings, while others may not. Review the crowdfunding site to find out about posting procedures, transaction fees, and other specifics. If a crowdfunding site claims to pass any collected funds to a charity, consider donating on the charity’s website directly.
• Be wary of “100 percent” claims. Watch out for claims that all donations will go to victims and their families. While a charity may be using other funds to cover administrative and fundraising expenses, that does not mean those costs don’t exist. Ask how much of your donation will assist victims directly.
• Use caution online. Never click on links to unfamiliar charity websites or in text messages or emails. These may take you to look-alike websites where you will be asked to provide personal financial information. Some websites could even download harmful malware onto your computer. Don’t assume that charity recommendations on social media have already been vetted.
• Check for government registration. Most states require charities to register with a state government agency before they solicit charitable gifts. While registration with a government agency does not mean the government is recommending or endorsing the charity, it does show the group has filed the appropriate required paperwork.

The post Expert: Wildfire disaster and recovery in Maui may cause long-term stress and trauma appeared first on Augusta Free Press.

A group of Virginia and North Carolina U.S. House members are leading an effort to get the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to deny Mountain Valley Pipeline’s requested extension of its Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for the Southgate project.

The certificate is needed for construction of a 73-mile proposed extension of the MVP that would span from southern Virginia into northwestern North Carolina.

A letter from Virginia Democrats Jennifer McClellan and Bobby Scott and North Carolina Democrats Valerie Foushee and Kathy Manning was signed onto by two dozen other House Democrats.

In the letter, the lawmakers points out the potential climate and environmental justice risks from the pipeline, including risks to drinking water quality.

According to the North Carolina Department of Environment Quality, MVP Southgate would impact 301,994 square feet of regulated riparian buffers, 13,986 linear feet of streams, and 12.4 acres of wetlands.

“As Members of Congress committed to addressing the climate crisis, we… urge the Commission to deny an extension of the Certificate for MVP Southgate,” the lawmakers wrote. “If built, this pipeline would lock homes and businesses in the Southeast into the long-term use of natural gas during a critical moment in which we must transition away from fossil fuels to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.”

Since the initial filing for Southgate, Congress has taken action to fight climate change and advance environmental justice through passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. The law invests billions of federal dollars to support residential and commercial alternatives to natural gas.

“In the five years since the Southgate extension was proposed, the energy landscape has continued to evolve, further diminishing the need for additional gas for residential purposes,” the lawmakers wrote. “Clean energy generation continues to grow, and home electrification has become more accessible through the passage of federal climate and clean energy legislation… Given this changed landscape, the Commission should not rely on its previous and now outdated determination that there is a market need for this pipeline.”

The post Virginia, North Carolina lawmakers urge FERC to deny Mountain Valley Pipeline permit appeared first on Augusta Free Press.

Rotarian Al Jubitz, founder of the War Prevention Initiative, has pointed out an ill-starred coincidence: the town of Lahaina was burning on the anniversary day, even at the very hour (11:02 a.m. in Japan is 4:02 p.m. in Maui) that the United States dropped its second nuclear weapon on the people of Nagasaki back in 1945.

We have no need to rehash the controversy over whether Japan was ready to surrender even before President Truman decided to use those two city-extinguishing “gadgets” (as Oppenheimer and his team called them in an initial euphemism, one followed by many others, including “peacekeeper”) to quicken the end of a brutal war.

What is infinitely more significant for us is what events like the Lahaina holocaust portend for the looming history of our future on Planet Earth. If Lahaina carries an echo of Pearl Harbor, the fire-bombing of Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki, it also ties together the two largest challenges our species faces together, nuclear war and climate catastrophe.

The two crises are unavoidably and intimately linked. The nine nuclear powers are plunging headlong into the renewal of their nuclear arsenals at just the moment they need to be finding novel ways to cooperate to mitigate global warming. The money and scientific brainpower desperately needed for the conversion to sustainable energy continue to be drained into an international deterrence system which, as we have seen in Ukraine, does nothing to deter the scourge of war. And should deterrence break down completely, no victory is possible for anyone.

In the case of both challenges, there is no impediment to workable solutions other than the lack of sufficient political will and the resistance of powerful special interests—though these are more than enough to accelerate our drift toward a twin apocalypse. This drift is perpetuated by a media environment where the indictment of a clownish conman for a dangerous but ultimately banal conspiracy to steal an election takes up a quantum more space in the press than more hopeful stories appearing at the same time, such as the children, exercising political will at its finest, demanding that the state of Montana live up to its constitutionally guaranteed environmental protections.

Even as we drift, a new idea has been pressing into our collective mind for almost a century: the fates of everyone on the planet are intertwined. This was always true, but now we know it both through the science of ecology, and through the poetry of seeing the curve of Earth from space. We’re all in this together. We have only one small home, in the shape of a sphere, and a sphere has only one side. We are all on the same side.

What I do to conserve energy, or waste it, in my local situation affects everyone else globally, and vice versa. My security is only as strong as the reliability of the circuits and wires in all the nuclear bombs out there, only as strong the training and restraint of the people who maintain them at the ready, only as sure as the communication systems that may be vulnerable to error or misinterpretation, only as healthy as Montana’s willingness to phase out coal. The Golden Rule that appears in all the major world religions turns out to have deep practical, logical, and scientific implications that call for a profound change in the way we think and act.

Our radical interdependence has been reinforced by our explorations of deep space by the Hubbell and Webb telescopes. Everything on earth, human, plant, rock, or the miracle of water, derives from atoms forged in the furnaces of stars. Everything is part of the same emergent story that is 26.7 billion years old. We all come from the same place and face the same fate together.

But our thinking has not caught up to such fundamental principles. We remain religiously sectarian and politically factional, blind to a more planetary vision of our self-interest. The hollowness of our avoidance has become a cavern in which we all sit passively, waiting for experts to find us a way out.

And there are experts. We know a lot about how to resolve our conflicts nonviolently. We know more than we ever did about how to communicate clearly, how to share our separate assumptions across languages and cultures to ensure understanding. We can model possible futures with our computers. With their help we can see how the potential of nuclear winter renders the whole enterprise of the nuclear arms race irrelevant at best, malevolent in fact.

But even the most knowledgeable and experienced establishment experts (as one of the most revered, Henry Kissinger, admits) have no idea what will unfold once the chaos of conventional war, say, between the United States and China over Taiwan, escalates to the nuclear level. There isn’t a single general or statesman on Earth who can predict what will happen, let alone control it to any one party’s advantage. This reality in itself points to the only solution: survival requires us to go to war against war itself.

In the same way the global climate emergency also invites us to go to war against real enemies like rising levels of greenhouse gases and ocean temperatures, and to mobilize on the level of urgency that the allied powers did during World War II, when our leaders knew that citizens were waiting to be called to sacrifice for a larger cause. The decimation of Lahaina has brought out that spirit of cooperative good will—can we summon a similar spirit to prevent global conflagration and build a world where children can flourish?

Winslow Myers, syndicated by PeaceVoice, is the author of “Living Beyond War: A Citizen’s Guide.”

The post Lahaina and global reality appeared first on Augusta Free Press.

Two volunteer groups partnered with the City of Waynesboro over the weekend to replace beaver cages around planted trees on the South River Greenway.

The project was spearheaded by Breyette Covington of Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards.

Covington, a master naturalist, is a resident of Waynesboro.

CATS teamed with Headwaters Master Naturalists in the weekend project, which involved cages around more than 50 trees along the 1.8-mile greenway path.

The post Waynesboro: Volunteer groups lead effort to protect trees along South River Greenway appeared first on Augusta Free Press.

Virginia Naturally Schools is the Department of Wildlife Resources’ official environmental education school recognition program in the Commonwealth.

The program’s goal is to recognize exemplary efforts undertaken by Virginia schools to increase environmental awareness and stewardship by students.

Schools’ environmental efforts support the Virginia Department of Education’s Profile of a Virginia Graduate through the development of the students’ communication, collaboration, critical thinking, creative thinking and civic responsibility.

For the 2022-2023 school year, 48 schools were recognized by the program, including 16 schools which were recognized for the first time since the program’s inception in 2000.

Three schools were recognized for 22 years of environmental efforts. The schools reached more than 33,000 students across the Commonwealth during the last school year.

Among school recognized this year are Staunton’s Bessie Weller Elementary and Roanoke County’s Glenvar High. Harrisonburg’s Spotswood Elementary was recognized, as well as Rockingham County’s Lacey Spring, Linville-Edom and John Wayland elementary schools. Fairfield Elementary in Rockbridge County and Post Oak Middle in Spotsylvania County were also recognized.

Schools interested in the program may apply online for next spring’s round of recognitions.

The post Staunton’s Bessie Weller among 48 schools recognized for environmental awareness efforts appeared first on Augusta Free Press.

Dear EarthTalk: Is there any way to stem the tide of fiberglass pollution from aging and discarded boats fouling marine ecosystems?   – Jared Grissom, Summit, NJ

It’s summer vacation and you’re ready to let loose on the water. Time to head out to the lake house, bring the boat out of the driveway, and cruise around the lake. Now imagine that same vessel 10 years from now, rotting away and destroying the local marine ecosystem. Nobody wants to kill off Nemo and Dory when boating on the bay, but sometimes innocent pastimes have unintended consequences. The fiberglass in these watercrafts has a rippling wave of destruction on our marine friends, damaging aquatic organisms’ organs and leaching toxic chemicals into public soils and seas, affecting life even on land.

Okay fiberglass is pretty harmful, we get that, but then why is the boat industry still chock full of it? For one, fiberglass is much stronger compared to boat material alternatives like aluminum. Fiberglass simply resists adverse weather conditions better than other materials. Boats are more flexible than aluminum, giving them more maneuverability and versatility. The fiberglass allows for better hydrodynamics, increasing efficiency when venturing into the open water. In addition, boats made out of fiberglass allow for more surface area actually inside the vessel, a favorable advantage for fishermen and families alike.

To call degrading fiberglass damaging is an understatement, as the material’s effects have had astounding impacts globally. The microplastics present after fiberglass breaks down over time silently enter the bodies of aquatic organisms. These microplastics can disrupt their biological organs, like the endocrine system which is responsible for regulation of hormones. Toxic chemicals like lead and copper dilute in the water and break apart precious, coastal ecosystems like estuaries and coral reefs. These same heavy metals can stay in the soil and leach into clean groundwater, contaminating healthy resources. Amplifying the problem is the difficulty of disposing of fiberglass boats. It is complicated, costly and, time-consuming. A lack of education about the true severity of abandoning vessels further contributes to a carefree release of fiberglass toxicity into our marine ecosystems.

Thankfully, the ship of environmental remediation hasn’t fully sunk. Ships in good condition can be sold used, and others can be reused piecemeal as parts. Organizations can help as well. Groups like the Vessel Disposal and Reuse Foundation, U.S Coast Guard and others can help organize the recycling process.

The federal government, through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has collaborated with organizations like the Lynnhaven group and has granted almost $2 million in debris removal initiatives. There is still hope for optimism that we will solve the fiberglass issue. It is crucial to educate ourselves and our neighbors about the harsh dangers of fiberglass to really emphasize the magnitude of the issue. We can speak our minds to local legislatures for tighter regulations on the disposal of boats. While the issue of fiberglass pollution is still plaguing our waterways, we have many tools at our disposal to fight back.

CONTACTS: The Environmental Hazards of Fiberglass Boat Disposal, partsvu.com/blog/the-environmental-hazards-of-fiberglass-boat-disposal/; Fiberglass Pollution: Abandoned Boats A Growing Problem In VA, chesapeakebaymagazine.com/fiberglass-pollution-abandoned-boats-a-growing-problem-in-va/; Nautical not nice: How fiberglass boats have become a global pollution problem, .theguardian.com/environment/2020/aug/06/nautical-not-nice-how-fibreglass-boats-have-become-a-global-pollution-problem.

EarthTalk® is produced by Roddy Scheer & Doug Moss for the 501(c)3 nonprofit EarthTalk. See more at emagazine.com. To donate, visit earthtalk.org. Send questions to: question@earthtalk.org.

The post Is there any way to stem the tide of fiberglass pollution from aging and discarded boats fouling marine ecosystems? appeared first on Augusta Free Press.

Dear EarthTalk: How are amphibians doing in the U.S. and around the world these days? – D. Victor, Philadelphia, PA

Amphibians, such as frogs, toads, salamanders and newts, live on both land and in water. Having emerged over 300 million years ago, today there are over 7,000 known species. However, they are perishing at an alarming rate. In 2004, about a third of amphibian species were threatened by extinction. Scientists have calculated that amphibian populations are decreasing at an annual rate of 3.79 percent in the U.S. alone.

Amphibians are crucial for ecosystem viability. They improve biodiversity and resilience in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems by transferring energy and organic matter. Certain amphibians eat decomposers, allowing soil to retain nutrients longer. Tadpoles feed on algae, slowing algal blooms and subsequent eutrophication. Lizards, birds, fish and snakes rely on amphibians as a source of food. Certainly, the disappearance of amphibians will have serious repercussions throughout a wide range of ecosystems.

Amphibians typically have highly permeable skin that helps them breathe. Oxygen molecules dissolve into the skin’s mucus membrane and surface blood vessels. Since their skin is so permeable, amphibians are very sensitive to their surroundings. As such they are considered an “indicator species” because they react so quickly when environmental factors change and can signal trouble for the wider environment.

There are many reasons why amphibian populations are declining, many of which are human-related. When people build roads and dams, amphibians may be separated from other members of their species. The infrastructure also interrupts migrating patterns and the flow of larvae in water. Water retention in rivers, streams and ponds is declining and shorelines are receding. Additionally, people exploit amphibians as pets or ingredients in medicinal/biological markets.

Many amphibians lay eggs in water, and toxins like road salts, pesticides, fertilizers, industrial wastes and plastics can penetrate the eggs’ membranes and poison the developing larvae. Pollutants can also cause behavioral irregularities, lower reproductive success, and even cause death. Moreover, ozone layer erosion has let more of the sun’s ultraviolet rays infiltrate the atmosphere. UV-B rays can kill amphibians directly and cause growth delays and immune dysfunction. These changes result in the mass mortality of eggs, larvae, and metamorphosizing amphibians.

Since the mid-1900s, there has been a pandemic of the infectious chytrid fungus in over 700 amphibian species. The fungal spores move through water and stick in soil. When amphibians (notably frogs) come in contact with this fungus, it degrades the keratin layer of their skin, causing skin sloughing, lethargy, weight loss and death. Scientists are still exploring efficient ways to slow the spread of this lethal fungus.

Everyone can play a part in helping amphibians, from keeping pets indoors, reducing fertilizer and pesticide usage, covering your pool when not in use (to save amphibians from falling in). These are some of many ways that you can do your part to help these endangered critters out!

CONTACTS: Why are amphibian populations declining? usgs.gov/faqs/why-are-amphibian-populations-declining; Water Quality and Amphibians, conservewildlifenj.org/blog/2015/03/27/water-quality-and-amphibians/; ​​What Amphibians Can Tell Us About Water Quality, cnr.ncsu.edu/news/2023/04/amphibians-water-quality/; What You Can Do, nps.gov/subjects/amphibiansandreptiles/what-you-can-do.htm.

EarthTalk® is produced by Roddy Scheer & Doug Moss for the 501(c)3 nonprofit EarthTalk. See more at emagazine.com. To donate, visit earthtalk.org. Send questions to: question@earthtalk.org.

The post How are amphibians doing in the U.S. and around the world these days? appeared first on Augusta Free Press.