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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

News of spring: the good, the bad, and the hopeful

Nancy Jo Tubbs
Posted 5/19/14

I had almost lost hope of spring arriving this May. A certain silvery tinkling sound signals this season to me. According to the Ely Field Naturalists, the garter snakes are slithering, Wilson’s …

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News of spring: the good, the bad, and the hopeful

Posted

I had almost lost hope of spring arriving this May. A certain silvery tinkling sound signals this season to me. According to the Ely Field Naturalists, the garter snakes are slithering, Wilson’s snipes flutter in mating flights and rafts totaling more than 100 loons gathered to yodel on Shagawa Lake last week.

But the sound that makes me want to throw off my jacket, kneel down and kiss Mother Earth is made by thin slivers of ice blown up on the shore of Burntside Lake after a balmy melting streak. It’s not the crunch of the thick slabs that shoved our docks up on land and took down a clump of mature birch last May. My favorite windblown sound is more like broken bells being gently swept up after a winter storm. We got that this past Tuesday after a sunny weekend melted Burntside ice to an inch of thickness, and then the winds set it tinkling.

Spring has lots of folks thinking about the birds and bees—specifically the effect of pesticides containing chemicals called neonicotinoids on honeybees, butterflies and other insects, especially those that pollinate flowers and crops. Recently 17 DFL members of the Minnesota State Legislature raised a red flag about the state Department of Agriculture’s plan to study the pesticides without the possibility of restricting or banning them in the state.

It’s not uncommon for garden nurseries to sell plants meant for pollinators that have been treated with these widely used pesticides. Recently the Minneapolis-based Bachman’s chose to not use neonicotinoids in its own greenhouses and plans to label plants from other growers that have been treated with the chemicals. Providers have been using neonicotinoids to control Japanese beetles, emerald ash borers and other insects that damage plants.

Studies are ongoing to determine whether the chemicals are a significant factor in the die-off of what the U.S. Department of Agriculture says is one-third of honeybees across the country in recent years. Beekeepers are on high alert, and one group is suing the Environmental Protection Agency for not yet regulating the pesticides.

While I’m celebrating the spring melt on Burntside, NASA scientists are warning that the melting West Antarctic glaciers will raise the sea level by as much as 12 feet, rather than the earlier predicted 3 feet. The good news is that the calamitous collapse of the ice sheet could take 200 to 1,000 years to reach that effect. The bad news is that human intervention in reducing green house gasses could only slow, but not halt, the melt. Scientists predicted that the meltdown is unstoppable, and could even speed up if greenhouse gasses increase.

A potpourri of causes are at play—human-caused global warming, natural changes in climate, and the ozone depletion over Antarctica. However the major factor is warmer deep ocean water moved by intensifying winds that surround Antarctica, and is flowing under and melting the glaciers. The NASA study is backed up by another from the University of Washington that also reported that four huge glaciers are retreating.

But there’s good news in spring too. Locally, prom dresses, fishing gear, baseball cheers and garage sales are breaking out all over. Help wanted ads dot the newspapers, golfers are warming up their swings, folks are out raking their yards, and it won’t be long before hanging flower baskets festoon the streets.

This spring bodes well for women. From the politics desk we learn that last Sunday Gov. Mark Dayton signed the Women’s Economic Security Act into law. The package of nine bills is geared to help women employees across the state. It requires most businesses with government contracts to pay equal wages regardless of employees’ genders and keeps employers from banning discussion of pay among staff. The new regulations allow employees to use sick leave for “safety leave” for the employee or covered relatives. This leave is “for the purposes of providing or receiving assistance because of sexual assault, domestic abuse or stalking.”

The bill doubles the length of unpaid maternity leave to three months and allows sick leave to be used to care for ailing grandchildren. Nursing mothers are guaranteed a private place other than the workplace bathroom to pump breast milk.

Spring has arrived kindly, if late. She brings good news for mothers, concern for faithful bees, relief from the chill, rain and mist, and we hope soon, a burst of wildflowers to lead us into summer.