I read the news today, oh boy

I tried to think of something to add to this heartbreaking article last night, but I couldn’t, so I’m just posting the link here. Bats are dying off, and no one knows why, leading biologists to talk of their possible extinction.

This article is closer to home, and another example of, if not unintended, then unexpected consequences of the foreclosure crisis. Landlords facing foreclosure are not paying their water bills, hoping thereby to force out their tenants (and make for an easier sale of the property, I would guess.) So the East Bay Municipal Utility District is changing its policy to putting liens on defaulting landlords’ property, rather than shutting off the water to tenants.

And, in another unexpected consequence, the Mercury reports that researchers were themselves surprised to find that extensive computer modeling of water circulation in Lake Tahoe predicts that, due to climate change, by 2019, it may stop altogether, leaving the deeper layers devoid of oxygen, and driving cold water species into shallower water, where they will get eaten by introduced species.