Environmentalists always portray the effects of a so-called warming planet in a negative light only. As it may pertain to animals, this same negative harping exists. Surely there are just as many positive results from global warming as there are negative, but they are seldom, if ever, discussed. Do you agree?

New York, NY – Mayor Bloomberg is planning on creating a “voluntary” composting program that will eventually become mandatory, the New York Times reported on Sunday.

“This is a rotten idea for the Big Apple,”says Jeff Stier, the New York City-based Director of the National Center for Public Policy Research’s Risk Analysis Division.

The National Center for Public Policy Research supports voluntary composting. “In fact,” says Stier, “we already have voluntary composting where residents can send their kitchen scraps to gardens around the five boroughs.”

So why the need for a new program? A Bloomberg official admitted to the New York Times that while initially voluntary, the goal is to require all residents of the city to save their kitchen scraps for a government-administered composting program. Those who don’t compost would be subject to fines.

“We live in a big city, not on a farm, and while composting is a great idea in certain circumstances,” says Stier, “it doesn’t make sense to mandate that all New York residents save their rotting food.”

Stier says the Mayor’s view is skewed in favor of anything labeled “green.” “If they mayor applied his risk-averse trans-fat banning, soda-size limiting science to the risks of composting in NYC he wouldn’t be making it mandatory, he’d be banning it,” exclaims Stier.

“Consider the increased risks from disease-carrying vermin (a problem the city still hasn’t conquered), from all of the pre-compost material sitting around our dense living spaces, not going out with the trash each night,” says Stier.

Stier wonders why Nanny Bloomberg isn’t worried about greenhouse gas emissions from the extra “compost trucks” that’ll have to be deployed. “Perhaps they’ll be carrot-peel powered,” chides Stier.

“There’s no way food scraps can be picked up from every home throughout the city without greatly increasing the number of trucks, traffic, and tyranny.”

Mayor Bloomberg has banned smoking and trans fats from New York bars and restaurants, required calorie counts on restaurant menus, banned smoking in city plazas, parks and beaches, and banned private food donations to city homeless shelters in an effort to monitor the fat, salt and fiber content of foods eaten by the homeless, a story broken by Stier’s reporting.

The National Center for Public Policy Research, founded in 1982, is a non-partisan, free-market, independent conservative think-tank. Ninety-four percent of its support comes from individuals, less than 4 percent from foundations, and less than 2 percent from corporations. It receives over 350,000 individual contributions a year from over 96,000 active recent contributors.

Contributions are tax-deductible and greatly appreciated.

Technically speaking, it is difficult to know whether the fox in this photo is a true “silver fox” because of the historic differences in coloration, etc. It certainly appears to have more grey or “silver” than a common grey fox, and it does lack the classic white-tipped tail and black ears.

Either way, this is a gorgeous animal and I want to thank Bob Clifford for sharing this photo. I am to understand that this fox is a regular visitor to Mr. Clifford’s backyard.

The focus of the funding is to expand FWP’s wolf collaring program in areas where the impact on elk, deer and other ungulates is particularly severe. Placing more collars on wolves will allow FWP to better expand the science of wolves by furthering the understanding of their territory, home range, the number of wolves in a pack, and helping to implement Montana’s approved wolf management plan.

“This is a part of a continuing commitment by RMEF to support the ultimate goal of state management, which is to sustain all species on balance with the available habitat and local communities where people live,” said David Allen, RMEF president and CEO. ”

Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks appreciates the partnership it has with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation,” said department director Jeff Hagener. “This donation is another example of RMEF’s long-time commitment to wildlife conservation in Montana.”

In keeping with the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation, RMEF supports state-regulated hunting and trapping as the preferred tools of wolf management. RMEF staunchly supports management to balance and control wolf populations.

“The more collars we can get on wolves, the better understanding we’ll have on how many wolves are really out there, where they go on the landscape, and help to ensure the future of elk and all wildlife,” added Allen.

RMEF also remains committed to learning more about wolves through research efforts. Since 1989, RMEF invested more than $400,000 in research grants to advance scientific understanding of wolves, wolf interactions with other species, and overall wolf management. The total includes more than $200,000 in science grants in just the past five years, more than any other five-year period in RMEF history. Most of the contributions paid for independent research by leading universities, state and federal wildlife conservation agencies and tribes.

Earlier this month, RMEF furthered its commitment to elk and elk country in Montana by announcing grants that total $276,195 that will fund more than 20 habitat projects that will positively affect more than 20,000 acres of habitat in 15 different counties.

The Calgary Sun has the story along with the photographs.

We can add this to the list of “there’s never been a wolf attack in North America.”