#i continue to be a enrd

[plaid-n-converse]

what better way to celebrate surviving 2017 than posting my best selfies of the year!

[outofcontextbiomajor-blog]

Does Wilderness even exist?

In 1964, Congress passed the aptly named Wilderness Act which defined Wilderness as “an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor and does not remain.”

Does this wilderness exist? 

It doesn’t.

An area on Earth untouched by humans does not exist. In particular, the American wilderness is a carefully manicured image. 

The creation of set aside wilderness in the form of National Parks and Forests followed hard on the heels of forcing Native Americans from their lands and onto reservations. The Shenandoah National Forest, near my college, was created by evicting 500 families from their homes in the Blue Ridge mountains. These people groups still struggle due to the government and the public’s desire to create an area untouched by humans. 

Even our prairies can never be defined as “untrammeled” when it’s missing one of what should be its defining features - the bison. As it stands today, humans methodically destroyed the bison enough to be functionally extinct in its own natural habitat.   

William Cronon, an environmental historian, considers there to be “nothing natural about the concept of wilderness.”

Yet we still love the wilderness and want it- or at least the concept of it.

Historically, wilderness meant a lack of civilization - a lack of safety. Wilderness was to be feared, hated, and conquered by the powerful. This can even be seen in religious texts. In the Bible, the wilderness was meant to be feared - it was where the Israelites wandered for 40 years after coming out of Egypt. Jesus went into the wilderness and found the devil. The wilderness was the land of degenerates and criminals. 

    The wilderness still means a lack of civilization, but now that is something good. The wilderness is a place of refuge from the rest of the world. A place that is safe.

There are generally two ways to place value, and the wilderness has both: intrinsic and instrumental value. 

Intrinsic value based on the fact that wilderness has worth simply for what it is - it has value for being. 

The wilderness certainly has instrumental value- as in value from what it can give. Aldo Leopold, the father of conservation said that wilderness reveals, “what the land was, what it is, and what it ought to be.” Essentially, it shows conservationists how to conserve in a way that is accurate and helpful for the area. 

Beyond conservation reasons, the wilderness is, for some, “church.” A place to experience God, bring meaning into lives, and find moral truths. Wilderness can also be a refuge for restoring mental health - a chance to be in a different environment.

Wilderness gives so much for those who seek it and we love it. Hardly a day goes by on my college campus where I don’t see a sticker or other merchandise proudly proclaiming, “the mountains are calling and I must go.”  

If wilderness continues to be something that must exist without humans, then we can’t function within it. Even Congress’ definition is only functional if humans and wilderness don’t interact together. 

We need to be able to find a balance. We can’t be separated from wilderness and the environment anymore. We just can’t.

http://faculty.washington.edu/timbillo/Readings%20and%20documents/Wilderness/Cronon%20The%20trouble%20with%20Wilderness.pdf

https://www.humansandnature.org/aldo-leopold-reconciling-ecology-and-economics

https://www.justice.gov/enrd/wilderness-act-1964

[earthandwatergroupblog]

New Post has been published on Earth & Water Group

New Post has been published on http://www.earthandwatergroup.com/epa-enforcement/what-does-a-trump-epa-bode-for-environmental-enforcement/

What Does a Trump EPA Bode for Environmental Enforcement?

Doug Parker, President of Earth & Water Strategies, and former head of EPA’s criminal investigation division, has a piece in this week’s BNA Daily Environment Report that offers perspective on the future of federal civil and criminal environmental enforcement in a Trump Administration.

Practitioner Insights: What a Trump EPA Means for Enforcement BY DOUG PARKER

As the Trump team begins to take shape, a great deal of attention (and in many quarters anxiety) is focused on what his presidency means for environmental protection. The most talked about areas involve what a Trump EPA (and a Republican House and Senate) mean for environmental regulation. But before this focus takes all the oxygen away from the debate, it’s important to look at another area of the Environmental Protection Agency’s work that will be impacted by a new administration with a different ideological bent—enforcement of existing environmental laws. Change is coming, but the questions are, how much and how soon?

EPA Administrator’s Role in Environmental Enforcement One reality that Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt will face if confirmed by the Senate to lead the agency is that the EPA administrator has minimal dayto-day impact on civil enforcement and no practical influence when it comes to what criminal cases to investigate and how to investigate them. For the most part his authority will lie in the senior personnel, policy and resource decisions he will make. He’s likely to weigh in on only the most significant civil settlements of the time—think Volkswagen AG’s emissions cheating scandal or the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill.

Within the criminal space, he will be briefed on the most senior matters, but his involvement will generally be limited to ‘‘knowing’’ cases, not shaping them. In 24 years as a special agent with the EPA I never saw an administrator weigh in to impact a criminal matter in any respect, and the career law enforcement officers and attorneys in EPA’s criminal enforcement program as well as the prosecutors at the Department of Justice (DOJ) will not accept such involvement.

So how then can we see where civil and criminal enforcement are headed in the new Trump EPA? Part of the answer is to take a look at what is coming out of the transition and at the nominees to head both EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) and DOJ’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) when they emerge. Both positions will ultimately wield considerable influence on the enforcement of our environmental laws.

Ideology Generally Runs into Reality Among the themes coming out of the transition team are a move toward greater state autonomy as well as whispers of trying to reorganize OECA and disperse enforcement to the respective EPA program offices (air, water, etc.)—in effect dismantling the enforcement office at EPA. In the case of Pruitt, his actions in eliminating his department’s own environmental enforcement unit as Oklahoma attorney general may signal an openness to such an approach. That being said, those involved in the transition probably deeply underestimate the time and political capital involved in such a move. Moving enforcement ‘‘back to the programs’’ may be couched as a way to ‘‘ensure greater alignment’’ between the respective offices, but in reality, it would be viewed by most observers as a clear attempt to cripple environmental enforcement.

More than a hypothetical gutting of enforcement though, there is the stated desire to defer to states in the management of environmental issues. That initially leads one to think of a posture with less federal enforcement moving forward, but reality may intrude on that approach. The Flint lead contamination crisis, the massive Duke Energy Coal Ash release in North Carolina, and the contamination of Charleston, West Virginia’s drinking water supply by a local chemical company all occurred under the watch of state agencies. And in each case, the EPA had to step in, assist the states and conduct its own enforcement investigation along with DOJ. When the next major public health or environmental crisis occurs, the buck will stop with the EPA administrator, and telling the citizens of the latest Flint that ‘‘the state will handle it’’ is probably not politically sustainable.

Civil Enforcement The agency’s posture toward civil enforcement is more amenable to political influence than is the case when it comes to criminal enforcement. One prime example of this relates to the EPA’s National Enforcement Initiatives. These are the agency’s stated enforcement priorities, which run on a three-year cycle and have been developed with significant stakeholder input. The current set of initiatives for 2017-2019 was announced in 2016, but there is nothing that would prevent the new administration from changing or eliminating some or all of them.

It is unlikely that there would be a wholesale stripping of these initiatives in the near term, but the efforts focused on illegal conduct in the energy extraction sector and water pollution emanating from large scale animal feeding operations could be ripe for the picking. Both the energy and agriculture sectors have a significant presence in the Trump transition, and support from within those sectors contributed to his electoral victory support. Don’t be surprised to see those as areas the new administration takes a hard look at when allocating (or not allocating) resources. At the same time, a continued focus on the most significant air enforcement issues (both stationary and mobile source) and ongoing attention on chemical and pesticide safety are likely to continue under the Trump administration.

It is also likely, though, that the Trump EPA will take a less expansive view of its settlement authorities when it comes to resolving major civil cases. The recent Volkswagen settlement and congressional hearing on the case are instructive on this point. A number of Republicans viewed the EPA as moving beyond its clear authority in crafting electrical vehicle and green energy mandates for VW to follow. Look for future civil resolutions to be narrower than those in the Obama administration, which sought to leverage such settlements to recoup the environmental damage caused by misconduct.

Criminal Enforcement In terms of criminal enforcement, the key questions come down to resources and United States Attorneys’ Offices. Although the EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division (CID) works closely with the DOJ’s ENRD, most environmental prosecutions arise out of the 94 largely autonomous United States Attorney’s Offices, which will soon be led by new appointees. These U.S. attorneys will have their own local priorities, and environmental crimes will be competing with health care fraud, gun crimes, tax fraud and the myriad of other issues these offices face. Highprofile cases will likely still get prosecutorial support. The question is whether it will be as deep and unwavering as EPA has seen with the most recent crop of U.S. attorneys. Even with a diminished focus on environmental priorities, DOJ is likely to continue to prioritize cases associated with significant worker safety violations, incidents with large-scale environmental impact, and major fraud schemes.

In terms of resources, Mr. Pruitt will face an early test. The Pollution Prosecution Act of 1990 mandates a staffing level of 200 special agents—a statutory requirement that both the recent Bush administration and the Obama administration did not always meet. EPA’s criminal case docket routinely includes cases involving dozens of deaths, scores of serious bodily injuries, and hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit gain. Whether or not CID has adequate resources to effectively respond to the next chemical explosion, massive fraud scheme or public health emergency will be an important factor in shaping the public perception of the Trump EPA.

How Much Change? In the short term, don’t expect immediate change. Career professionals will continue to drive ongoing negotiations, settlements and investigations. Changing the direction of enforcement takes time, and significant movements are guaranteed to generate intense scrutiny. At the same time, a newly energized and increasingly sophisticated environmental NGO sector is gearing up to fill any void that may arise from a less robust EPA.

There may be other changes, though, where environmentalists and industry can find some agreement. Innovation and market-based opportunities to advance environmental compliance will most likely find a receptive audience with both groups. And those looking with concern at what a Trump EPA means for protecting the public should view this as an area for possible progress. In addition, environmentalists can take heart in the fact that efforts to diminish, or even eliminate, the role of the cop on the environmental beat will surely lead to a costly and extended fight.

###

Doug Parker is a former special agent and director of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division. He is currently the president of E&W Strategies, a Washington, D.C.-based environmental advisory firm that is part of the Earth and Water Group.

Reproduced with permission from Daily Environment Report, 24 DEN B-1, 02/07/2017. Copyright 2017 by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. (800-372-1033) http://www.bna.com

[paultys]

We left the UK on a new adventure just over two years and four months ago. Although Bev had work, and would be teaching albeit in very different circumstance, I was stepping into the complete unknown, no job, no plan, no clue. I knew I would have some time on the Island, and I had always wanted to take up photography as a hobby, so equipped with an amazon kindle book, and a £500 second hand canon with kit lens I started learning what all the buttons did.

=

–

Some of my earliest shots before I left the UK

I had no idea that it would take me anywhere. When we arrived on the Island I secured my first job with the tourism office, taking photos of the local restaurants and B&Bs etc. I had to get a work permit and register my business, Paul Tyson Photography (creative eh!?!) .

Photos of mixed standards of tourism establishments required creative thinking when it came to angles and lighting. Now I know why those glossy hotel brochures always look better than the real thing!

My landscape work was already quite well known and established by then, it seems I arrived at a  good time when excellent professional photographer Darrin Henry was busy travelling the wold, and there were no other commercial photographers on the Island. Realising there was a gap in the market I promoted my new business, I remember Bev telling me, that “Any money I made from photography, I could spend on photography, but “(quite understandably) I wasn’t to spend any of the money she was earning!

Early St Helena Landscapes

Fair enough, but this provided me all the motivation I needed, the more money I make, the more toys I can buy. Inspired, and slightly jealous of friend David Higgins and his big lens for photographing ST Helena’s wildlife, bought a lens, one of those ones that people look at and think “he must be making up for something” or, “what a dick”!

My new f2.8 300mm lens allowed me to take these shots.

But I loved it and I could afford it, largely because of a new contract, and one I was most proud of, a commission from French Consul to St Helena to take exclusive photographs for a new guide book to Napoleonic sites on St Helena.

Photos and book cover from “On the Tracks of Napoleon” my first published images.

Next came night skies, we finally started to see the odd clear night sky and it was breathtaking, I simply had to get the gear to capture it on camera, another lens beckoned.

Some of my first Milky Way shots over our house in Half Tree Hollow.

In the mean time I was getting enquirers for studio type photo shoots, so though I should pursue this and get some more gear, backdrops, flash stands, wireless triggers and shoot through umbrellas followed. I think by now Bev may of been starting to regret telling me  I could spend anything I earnt on photography!!

The studio work didn’t automatically follow though, the requests continued, but, having set what I considered to be very reasonable, even low prices given the outlay I had made, bookings did not come my way. My first studio shoot eventually came at the end of November 2015, it went well, very well, largely because of the gorgeous little girl I was photographing, and once the photos hit facebook the bookings came in.

My first studio shoot with the most gorgeous, smiling, happy young baby ever!

I soon began to realise that studio photo shoots, and portraits was a whole new ball game, and once again I started to feel the need to buy more gear. This time, it was a brand new camera, my first full frame, entry level professional camera. Wow what a difference it allowed me to push the boundaries of what I could do, particularly in low light photography. Following on from basic studio work I was asked for more complex fashion type shoots, and my first real maternity shoot.

Some of my more accomplished studio work. Many were no where like this, over processed and overdone in many cases, but all part of the learning curve.

Again it was a new commission that helped pay for the new camera, work to photograph all of the work that falls under St Helena Government Environment and Natural Resources division. This was a fantastic job, allowing me to see the workings of everything from the forestry team to the abattoir, from renewable energy to waste management. It was a mammoth job but again thoroughly enjoyable as I got to meet Saints from all walks of life.

From pigs in the butchery to people planting endemic seedlings, ENRD does it all.

In September 2015 the airport project started to hot up, as first flight after first flight landed in succession. First ever plane to land, first jet powered plane, first airliner. By now I had grown in confidence as a photographer and on the Island in general and I was pushy enough to speak to the important people and get myself runway access alongside the Islands media representatives. The results of this have been amazing, and my airport photographs can now been seen around the World as St Helena became the new hot tourism destination and my shots our the Islands wonderful landscape started to appear in prestigious travel sites such as Conde Nast.  Of course we all know that the airport did not open, but in terms of World media this was now an even bigger story and I had contacts from major newspapers and media outlets around the world. My photos of the airport and various planes landing can now been seen globally on sites ranging from the Times, the Independent and the BBC to USA today. Shots of the first commercial plane to land were quickly put on my facebook page and received over 100,000 views, astounding!

The first landing and first commercial jet liner to land on St Helena

Not only were my photos appearing in media outlets, I was now to be featured in World Famous London store Harrods, as I was commissioned to produce point of sale images for St Helena coffee!

Fancy a coffee? I have to admit this is one of my favorite photos, taken on a log in my lounge! The steam isn’t even real!

Photo shoots became a mainstay but a new and interesting job came up with Enterprise St Helena to produce interpretation panels for tourist spots around the Island. This was a brilliant new challenge, combining photography with graphic design and writing, as well as proving a fascinating journey through St Helena historical archives and old photos. Learning more about the history of the Island and getting paid was great, but more importantly its wonderful to know that when I leave St Helena there will be something I produced, left behind for others to enjoy.

One of 14 interpretation panels soon to be erected across St Helena.

As an aside I was also able to use my graphic skills when I was commissioned to produce the Governors official Christmas card. This was a test in itself, as the request was for a card featuring Lisa Phillips, her lovely black Labrador, dusty, and all twelve of Dusty’s new puppies!! Over 140 photos were taken to produce this card, mostly consisting of dogs bums and tails. But it was a huge pleasure, and the puppies were just lovely.

Governor Lisa Phillips and her adorable Labrador pups. As a thank you for this job the boys were able to go and meet the puppies and spent over an hour cuddling and playing with them. They are fabulous.

And so in December and January 2016/17 I find myself as a wedding photographer, with four bookings in as many weeks. Not my first I have done a few here and there, but as I have improved along with my gear these have been the first that I have charged sensibly for (relative to the amount of work) and that I feel accomplished in my work. I am enormously proud of the photos I have taken during wedding season. It is certainly a challenge, working fast, adjusting to rapidly changing light conditions, the photography is a challenge in itself, but its only now that I realise a wedding photographer is also the wedding director, and is looked upon to direct people from venue to venue, into groups, and to help ensure the day runs smoothly. It is daunting, hard work, but immensely rewarding.

If you’d of told me back in July 2014, as we packed our bags for the unknown that I would be a professional wedding photographer before I left St Helena Id of laughed at you, but as the New Year arrives and I look back on my time here I have come a long way. I am building both experience and a portfolio, and who knows where this may take me.

My readers can help me out here, have you recently got married in the UK, or been a close part of a wedding. How much did you pay the photographer, and how do my images compare to this. Id love to hear some open honest critique so I can better gauge exactly where I am.

        Weddings, who’d of though it We left the UK on a new adventure just over two years and four months ago. Although Bev had work, and would be teaching albeit in very different circumstance, I was stepping into the complete unknown, no job, no plan, no clue.