Bisphenol A Banned

Treehugger
October 13, 2010

Effective immediately, the chemical Bisphenol A is officially considered toxic in Canada. BPA, as you're likely aware, is a chemical commonly found in plastics, food cans, water bottles, and paper receipts. BPA mimics the hormone estrogen and has been linked to a number of severe health woes, including breast cancer and early puberty in women. Canada has long been more proactive in taking on the use of BPA in manufacturing than the US -- a proposal was made in 2008 to declare BPA toxic, and Canada is already in the process of banning infant products that contain it. Now, BPA is officially toxic. And Canada had good reason to change its tune when it did:

According to CBC,

In August, Statistics Canada reported that measurable levels of BPA were found in the urine of 91 per cent of Canadians aged six to 79.

"Health Canada considers that sufficient evidence relating to human health has been presented to justify the conclusion that bisphenol A is harmful to human life and should be added to Schedule 1 of [the Canadian Environmental Protection Act]," the federal government reported in the Canada Gazette.

Canada is now the first nation in the world to have officially deemed BPA toxic -- in fact, the first major jurisdiction. The European Union recently completed an investigation of the chemical, but didn't label it toxic in the end.

In the United States, conscious companies have been phasing out products that contain BPA due to consumer demand, but the FDA has thus far made little progress in properly investigating the chemical -- only recently has the body agreed to reexamine the issue, and a study is expected to be completed next year. The powerful commercial chemical lobby here in the states had more than a little to do with that. Perhaps Canada's ruling will persuade regulators to pick up the pace.

More on BPA
BPA Danger may be greater from Tin Cans than Water Bottles
Bisphenol A Is In Your Tomato Sauce
Bisphenol A Could Be In Your Teeth

Bike commuting in The City on the rise

Examiner
October 6, 2010

By: Will Reisman
Examiner Staff Writer
10/06/10 4:15 PM PDT

Bicycle commuting in The City increased by 10 percent from 2008 to 2009, a rise in activity that moved San Francisco into fourth place nationally in the category.

Overall, 2.98 percent of The City's population biked to work in 2009, a rate that placed San Francisco just behind Seattle's 2.99 percent mark, which was the third-best in country, according to a new study released by the League of American Bicyclists. At 5.86 percent, Portland had by far the highest percent of bike commuters in the nation. Minneapolis was second, at 3.86 percent.

In 2008, San Francisco ranked fifth overall in bike commuting, but its 10 percent increase in 2009 moved The City in front of Oakland for fourth place.

That 10 percent increase came despite a four-year legal injunction against any bike-related improvements in San Francisco. Earlier this year, that injunction was lifted.

"We are committed to doing the work needed to keep the number of bicyclists growing in the years ahead," said Nathaniel Ford, executive director of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which oversees all bike operations in The City.

Read more at the San Francisco Examiner: http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/under-the-dome/Bike-commuting-in-San-Francisco-on-the-rise-104449913.html#ixzz11icH074B

Green jobs rise in state, study finds

Sacramento Bee
October 6, 2010

By Rick Daysog
rdaysog@sacbee.com

Published: Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 8B

Despite the decline in manufacturing employment in California, one key industrial sector is seeing robust job growth: the green economy.

In a study released Wednesday, Palo Alto-based nonprofit Next 10 and Collaborative Economics Inc. of Mountain View found that manufacturing jobs in the state's green sector grew by 19 percent between 1995 and 2008.

The increase came at the same time that overall manufacturing jobs in California tumbled 9 percent.

"The green economy is in every region ... and if it continues to grow, it will continue to create new jobs," said F. Noel Perry, founder of Next 10, a nonprofit group that focuses on economic and environmental issues in the state.

While clean tech businesses represent a small segment of the overall manufacturing industry, the study suggests that California's green industry is emerging as a major economic engine.

The study noted that other barometers of the green economy – venture capital investments and patent awards – have risen sharply.

In the first half of 2010, the state's clean tech firms attracted more than $2.9 billion in venture capital money.

That represented a 250 percent increase from the year-earlier period and more than 40 percent of the global venture capital investments in green industries last year.

California also was the top state for green technology patents with more than 450 patent registrations from 2007 to 2009 for solar energy, wind energy and advanced battery technology.

New York was next with 300 patent registrations.

The study's finding will likely add more fuel to the ballot battle over California's landmark climate change law, which aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions sharply by the year 2020.

A voter initiative, Proposition 23, seeks to roll back the climate change law until the statewide unemployment rate drops to 5.5 percent for four consecutive quarters.

Opponents say Proposition 23 will hurt one of the few sectors that's creating jobs in California.

According to the Next 10 study, the growth in green jobs is geographically dispersed throughout California, underscoring the industry's economic potential.

Sacramento and the Sacramento Valley, for instance, saw a 19.1 percent gain in green manufacturing jobs between 1995 and 2008.

During the same period, overall factory position in the regions fell by about 20.9 percent.

The San Francisco Bay Area had the largest gain at 55 percent, followed by Orange County, where the number of green jobs grew by 54 percent.

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/10/07/3085807/green-jobs-rise-in-state-study.html#mi_rss=Business#ixzz11htkkpKT

Global warming: a rise in river flows raises alarm

Los Angeles Times
October 5, 2010

The volume of fresh water pouring from the world's rivers has risen rapidly since 1994, in what  researchers say is further evidence of global warming. The study, led by a team at UC Irvine, is the first to estimate global fresh-water flow into the world's oceans using observations from new satellite technology rather than through computer or hydrological models.

Published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study found that annual fresh-water flow increased 18% from 1994 to 2006, suggesting an acceleration in the global water cycle of evaporation and rainfall, which influences the intensity of storms, floods and droughts.

UC Irvine Earth System Science professor Jay Famiglietti, the principal investigator, said that the data have major implications for California, where warmer temperatures are already triggering earlier snow melt. Rising sea levels are expected to significantly alter the state's long coastline.

"Until now, we have had no continuous record of global-scale river discharge," said Famiglietti. He noted that the time period of the study was short, but added, "If these trends persist, they will be a smoking gun that the water cycle intensification, predicted by climate scientists, is already upon us."

Globally, river flows are often a politically-fraught subject. Countries measure the quantity of water locally, and inconsistently, with mechanical or electronic guages, but they often refuse to share the data, according to hydrologist Peter Gleick, editor of the biannual "World's Water" survey and director of the Oakland-based Pacific Institute think tank. Pakistan and India are in conflict over flows from the Indus. Israelis, Palestinians and Lebanese all depend on the Jordan River. Ten countries are sharing water along the Nile. [Corrected at 9:31 p.m.: An earlier version of this post implied Palestine is a country. It is not.]

The UC Irvine study "is additional clear evidence that the hydrological cycle is accelerating," Gleick said. "This is exactly what climate modelers have said would happen from climate change, and now we see it happening. How much more evidence do we need before we take action against climate change?"

In the hydrological cycle, as grade-schoolers learn, fresh water evaporates from the oceans, rains onto the land and flows into rivers which then empty into the oceans. The increase in fresh-water flow, documented in the paper, was the missing element that complemented existing evaporation, rainfall and sea level rise data, proving that the cycle is speeding up, Famiglietti said.

"If the water cycle intensifies, then we will see more frequent, more intense floods, and more persistent drought," he said. He noted that because of atmospheric circulation patterns, the impact will be uneven, with stronger rainfall and more severe storms in the tropics and the Arctic, and more drought in temperate regions such as California.

UC Irvine last year opened the UC Center for Hydrologic Modeling, directed by Famiglietti, which will do more specific climate-related studies on California, such as the implications of groundwater depletion in the Central Valley.

The study found that the 13-year increase in fresh-water discharge of 540 cubic kilometers was mostly due to rapid evaporation from the oceans, which led to more rainfall on land. Only 10% of the increase in discharge could be attributed to melting ice sheets in Greenland and the Antarctic, although those sources are expected to be a growing proportion as earth's temperatures rise, Famiglietti said.

Other causes for the rise in river flows include melting glaciers and permafrost on land, and practices such as groundwater pumping for irrigation.

"Given the importance of water and the impact of climate change, we need a comprehensive global monitoring network that can measure water stocks and fluxes," Famiglietti said. "We need ground-based measurements of snow, ice, permafrost, lake levels, river flows, soil moisture and groundwater levels. We need dedicated satellite missions. The technology is all there. We just need to make the investment in the ground, and in remote observations, and in the predictive models to synthesize them."

The lead author on the paper, which was funded by NASA, is Tajdarul Syed of the Indian School of Mines, who did most of the research as a graduate student and postdoctoral associate under Famiglietti. Other authors are Don Chambers of the University of South Florida, Joshua Willis of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, and Kyle Hilburn of Remote Sensing Systems in Santa Rosa, CA.

FTC 'Green Guides' Revised To Clear Up Misleading Environmental Claims On Products

Huffington Post
October 6, 2010

EILEEN AJ CONNELLY | 10/ 6/10 02:10 PM |

Read More: Federal Trade Commission, Federal Trade Commission Green Guides, Ftc Eco-Friendly, Ftc Environmental Claims, Ftc Green Claims, Ftc Green Guides, Ftc Green Marketing, Ftc Misleading Claims, Green Guides Ftc, Green Living, Green News

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NEW YORK — It's an inconvenient truth: Many of the environmental claims in advertisements and packaging are more about raking in the green than being green.

Aiming to clear up confusion for consumers about what various terms mean, the Federal Trade Commission has revised its guidelines for businesses that make claims about so-called "eco-friendly" products.

The proposed new version of the agency's Green Guides was released Wednesday, with recommendations for when to use words like "degradable" and "carbon offset," in advertisements and packaging, and warnings about using certifications and seals of approval that send misleading messages.

"In recent years, businesses have increasingly used 'green' marketing to capture consumers' attention," said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz in a statement. "But what companies think green claims mean and what consumers really understand are sometimes two different things."

The last update to the Green Guides was in 1998, so the existing guidelines don't address environmental claims that are common today such as "renewable materials" and "renewable energy." The proposed update says companies should provide specifics about the materials and energy used in manufacturing, to make sure customers aren't confused.

The agency noted that consumers can also be misled by broad generic terms like "environmentally friendly," which are often interpreted to mean the product has specific environmental benefits. So the new guide cautions against making claims with such terms.

Likewise for certifications and seals of approval, which make up a whole section of the proposed revision, versus one page in the older version. Companies should only use these if there's a specific list of criteria used for the certification, the new guidelines say.

The new Green Guides generally advise companies that they will need "competent and reliable scientific evidence" to back up their claims. While the Green Guides are not enforceable as law, the FTC can take action if it deems a particular company's marketing unfair or deceptive.

The lack of specific rules for how companies should make environmental claims shows how complicated some of these issues can be, said Lew Rose, an advertising and marketing attorney with Kelley Drye & Warren in Washington. "There's very, very little area in which there's a lot of concrete guidance," he said, adding that can be viewed as a positive from an industry standpoint. "In a perfect world, they would prefer a clear set of rules, but in this area, what I think these guides reflect is a recognition by the FTC that it's impossible to do that, without creating more problems than you're resolving."

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But while the new Green Guides will discourage companies from making thoroughly misleading claims, one concern is that by directing companies to stick with specifics that can be backed up, consumers could become even more confused, said Tom Lyon, director of the Erb Institute for Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan.

"They're trying to be very clear about what's 'greenwash' and what's not," he said. But it will be hard for individuals to make sense out of multiple environmental claims on a product.

"It's going to be too complicated for the average consumer to work through," if there are a dozen different environmental claims on a single package, he said. "What we need is to build trust at the consumer level with well-documented labels." He pointed to the Energy Star label used for appliances as an example that's easier for consumers to understand.

Some relief might come from retailers, who can build reputations for offering green products that their customers can count on, Lyon suggested. "Consumers are just not going to take the time to do the research."

Recent cases in which the FTC took action included three companies charged with making false claims that their products were biodegradable and clothing companies charged with deceptively labeling and advertising products as made of bamboo fiber using an environmentally friendly process.

The three biodegradable cases had to do with companies making claims about paper plates. While a single plate left outside might degrade, the FTC requires such claims reflect normal use, a spokeswoman said. Since most paper plates would end up in trash that is sent to a landfill – where nothing degrades quickly – the agency said companies shouldn't make the claim. Likewise, for the textiles made from bamboo – bamboo can be used to make rayon, the fabric in question – but the manufacturing process is far from environmentally friendly, the spokeswoman said.

In general, the FTC issues a cease and desist order when it takes action against a company, and can step up to levying fines if violations continue. The enforcement action taken varies by case, the spokeswoman said.

The proposed guides were put together after a lengthy process that included public input from workshops and surveys, but consumers and others have another chance to submit comments through Dec. 10. Comments can be submitted electronically at: . http://public.commentworks.com/ftc/ProposedRevisedGreenGuides

Online:

http://www.ftc.gov

Something's in the air: BPA found around the world.

Environmental Health News
September 30, 2010

Pingqing F and K Kawamura. 2010. Ubiquity of bisphenol A in the atmosphere, Environmental Pollution 158:3138-3143.

Synopsis by Adelina Voutchkova and Laura Vandenberg

A global study finds bisphenol A is in the air, showing yet another possible way people are exposed to the notorious endocrine disruptor.

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Add air to the growing list of places where bisphenol A (BPA) is found, say a pair of Japanese researchers who have measured and reported levels of the chemical in the world's atmosphere. They discovered BPA in air samples from all over the world at widely varied levels – from almost nothing in remote areas near the poles to 10,000 times more than that in India and other heavily populated regions of Asia.

The results show the far reaching extent of BPA contamination and identify yet another likely source of exposure for people. Exposure is possible because researchers found that BPA floats in the air attached to particles that can infiltrate lungs. Still, the amounts of this exposure and any potential health risks from breathing the contaminated air are not known.

Researchers believe that BPA enters the air when plastics, electronics and other waste are burned, since the highest concentrations were measured near populated areas and coincided with high levels of other chemicals that are associated with burning plastics. BPA is a common ingredient in these types of products, and incineration is a popular way to dispose of this waste in certain parts of the world. Manufacturing processes for plastics and other consumer products containing BPA are also thought to be a major source of BPA in the air.

Controlling these emissions could limit worldwide exposure – especially in Asia – and could reduce any health effects associated from breathing it in, the researchers conclude.

Recently, much media attention has focused on the safety and health risks of exposure to BPA. The ubiquitous chemical has been measured in human blood, urine and umbilical cord blood, as well as in soil, water and dust.

Hundreds of scientific studies have linked BPA to health effects in animals. Rodents and monkeys exposed to BPA in the womb develop obesity, neurobehavioral and reproductive problems, and cancers of the prostate and mammary gland as they age. In humans, BPA exposure is linked to diabetes and heart disease in adults and behavioral problems in toddlers.  Another study linked high levels of BPA to sexual dysfunction in Chinese factory workers.

Because of concerns for the plausible health effects of BPA exposure, a few U.S. states, Canada and some European countries have restricted or banned the use of BPA in baby bottles or children's products, but widespread use remains.

Most human exposure is believed to occur through eating foods contaminated with BPA that seeps out of food and beverage can linings. BPA has also been detected in a range of paper products including cash register receipts, food-contact papers – like the kinds used for take-out food –  and paper towels. Recent studies indicate that the BPA in thermal and carbonless paper products can rub off onto skin where it can be absorbed or eaten. Inhaling or ingesting BPA-contaminated dust is also a potential way that it can get into people, especially toddlers.

In this unprecedented, multinational study, Japanese researchers Pingqing Fu and Kimitaka Kawamura reported on levels of BPA in 12 cities in India, China, Japan, New Zealand and the U.S.; two rural sites in China and Germany; eight marine areas in the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Sea of Japan and the China Sea; and three polar regions in Canada and the Antarctic. They examined more than 260 samples collected when they cruised the world and used some previously recorded levels, most noteably a decades-old measure from the one U.S. city they included in the study. Comparisons for this city were limited due to the age of the reading.

The levels around the world varied wildly, depending on their distance from populated areas. Although levels in many Asian cities were high, levels in megacities Mumbai and Chennai in India were 10 times higher than those in China, Japan or New Zealand. The highest concentrations at the marine sites were found off the Asian coast.

BPA was also detected in the air at all three polar sites studied, although levels were much lower than samples collected elsewhere. Not surprisingly, the lowest levels of all were collected in Antarctica.

The authors suggest that the Asian continent is a strong source of BPA. BPA may be "emitted" from there and carried in the air for long distances by winds to other areas of the world, they propose. This is one reason they sampled air at the North and South poles.

There may be a silver lining, according to the researchers. If burning plastics are the main cause for the elevated levels of BPA in the air of some Asian megacities, simply eliminating the burning would be one way to significantly lower its levels in the atmosphere.

Bill would cut dumping of U.S. electronic waste in China, India

California Watch
October 5, 2010

Curtis Palmer/FlickrPoliticians and Silicon Valley computer giants want to stop the export of e-waste from the U.S.

Silicon Valley and some House Democrats are teaming up to stop the annual export of millions of tons of e-trash to developing nations.

Apple, Dell and Samsung support the legislation, introduced by Mike Thompson, D-Calif., and Gene Green, D-Texas, which would prohibit the sale of some e-waste to countries such as China and India.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, more than 300 million tons of old computer hardware, mobile phones and other electronic waste was shipped out of the country in 2007.

And while the EPA says e-waste is the fastest growing waste stream in the U.S., the agency has no framework to control or monitor the removal, disposal or export of this hazardous and toxic garbage to other countries.

"Every year, we scrap 400 million units of electronics in the U.S.," Thompson said in a news release. "Each piece of e-waste can be incredibly harmful to our environment. Congressional action to stop the free flow of these dangerous materials is long overdue and we must act now before it is too late."

The bill, called the Responsible Electronics Recycling Act, will also spur growth in the domestic recycling industry, say the lawmakers.

Some local e-waste recyclers think the bill is missing the target.

"Let's clean up our landfills before we go clean up landfills overseas," said Eddie Inamdar, the CEO of Union City's recycle1234.com.

He said legislation should be aimed at requiring enforced e-waste recycling here in the U.S., not at simply prohibiting exports of the junk.

"Our landfills are so messed up," he said, describing the e-waste that businesses and homeowners throw out with their regular recycling. "Why should we worry about Ghana's when we do such a lousy job with our own?"

But, he does agree that the legislation will do some good.

"It'll stop everyone overseas blaming Americans for dumping our trash on them," he said.

"The marketplace has rejected the practice of dumping e-waste on developing countries, but exporting instead of recycling is still common in our industry," said Robert Houghton, president of Ohio-based asset recovery company Redemtech Inc., in a press release.

"Such so-called recyclers are virtually defrauding customers who count on them for responsible recycling, at the same time they are helping to poison workers in recycling sweat shops overseas," he said. "By ending the toxic trade in e-waste, this bill does the right thing, and will create thousands more jobs in recycling and refurbishment here in the U.S."

French towns swap rubbish trucks for horse-drawn carts

The Guardian
October 1, 2010

Perpignan is one of 60 French towns that have struck upon a cheaper and greener way to collect household waste – ditching the dustbin lorry in favour of a horse and cart

A horse and cart is used to collect the recycling in the St Prix area in France. Photograph: Sita

Long before recycling became a household word, a Paris prefect called Eugene Poubelle, introduced three separate containers for household waste – glass and pottery, oyster and mussel shells, and the rest - and had horse-drawn carts empty them. Six years later, his surname entered the Academy dictionary as the word for "dustbin". Now, over a century later, a growing number of French towns are returning to horse-drawn kerbside waste collection, as a better way to recycle.

For Jean Baptiste, mayor of medieval Peyrestortes, near Perpignan and one of 60 towns now using horses to collect waste, the benefit above all is practical. "You can't turn a waste collection vehicle around here. We used to block streets to traffic and keep waste in open skips." He sold off a dustbin lorry and acquired two Breton carthorses instead. Asked whether the changes are saving money, he says: "It's too early. But money isn't the only reason. The exhaust smells have gone, the noise has gone, and instead we have the clip-clop of horses' hooves."

In Saint Prix, however, in Greater Paris, Mayor Jean-Pierre Enjalbert is certain he is saving money as the novelty of the horses has increased recycling rates. "By using the horse for garden waste collection, we have raised awareness. People are composting more. Incineration used to cost us €107 a tonne, ridiculous for burning wet matter, now we only pay €37 to collect and compost the waste."

Well-established horse-drawn collections also succeed in Trouville, and in Vendargues near Montpellier, but many ventures last only a few months. Sita, France's second biggest waste management and recycling company, has now integrated the "collecte hippomobile" into three refuse collection circuits in the Aube département in central France.

Sita's Alexandre Champion, who instigated the idea, points to several factors behind the failed ventures: unsuitable horses, untrained workers or inadequate terrain, poor equipment. Housing estates or old town centres with flat terrain work best, with a circuit of under 20 km a day, he says. But even terrain problems can be overcome, and this autumn Sita starts horse-drawn collection in hilly Verdun, with a pair of strong carthorses.

As for profitability, Champion fears that amateur draught horse associations, who offer the service to some towns under guidance from the National Stud, simply don't have the means to invest, or the commercial know-how. "We are able to sign six-year contracts with municipalities; it means heavy initial investment costs can be spread out. That's what makes the difference."

Nonetheless, Pit Schlechter, president of FECTU, the European Federation for the Promotion of the Use of the Draught Horse, based in Luxemburg, is sceptical, arguing the use of horses is simply because people like the animals. "Horses are only profitable in places like the German island of Juist, where motor vehicles are banned, or Gaza, where donkey-carts are back because of the petrol shortage."

In Sicily, another place bringing back four-hoofed transport, Mario Cicero, mayor of 14th-century town Castelbuono, disagrees. He pioneered glass and cardboard collection using two packsaddle donkeys in 2007. Three years on, Cicero has done his sums and calculated a cost saving of 34%, as well as winning over a sceptical population and putting more donkeys to work.

"Compared with €5,000–7,000 annual running costs for a diesel truck, an ass costs €1,000–1,500 and can live 25-30 years. A truck costs around €25,000, lasts around five years and can't reproduce," says Cicero, whose four asinelli have now produced 25 offspring, so he won't even be buying any more.

Inyo chipmunk's apparent disappearance indicates a changing Sierra

Sacramento Bee
October 4, 2010

By Tom Knudson
tknudson@sacbee.com

Published: Monday, Oct. 4, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 1A

With button-brown eyes, striped cheeks and a bushy orange-black tail, the Inyo chipmunk has darted among the gnarled pines of the Sierra Nevada for centuries.

But it has apparently vanished.

"We have not been able to find it anywhere," said James Patton, a retired UC Berkeley professor of zoology who has scoured parts of the high Sierra over the past two years in search of the elusive species.

No one knows why – or when – the species vanished. There is talk about air pollution and competition from other chipmunk species. But most of the speculation centers on climate change, which has brought warming temperatures, earlier snowmelt and changing forest conditions to the region over the past century.

"Something is going on," said Patton, whose previous research helped show that the abundance and distribution of other chipmunks in the Sierra has changed, sometimes dramatically, as the range has warmed.

There is still a chance, of course, that some of the missing Inyo chipmunks may turn up somewhere. But Patton, one of North America's leading mammalogists, is not optimistic.

"As near as we can tell, it is gone from the Sierra," he said.

If true, it would mark the first time in many decades that a mammal has disappeared from the Sierra. And while Inyo chipmunks can still be found in the nearby White Mountains, their exit from the Sierra has struck a note of concern.

"Who knows where they are going to disappear next?" said David Graber, chief scientist for the Pacific West region of the National Park Service.

"The ecosystem of the Sierra Nevada is now more impoverished because it's lost this species."

While the Inyo chipmunk is the only one that has disappeared from the Sierra, other species of chipmunk are on the move.

The alpine chipmunk, for example, was common in Tuolumne Meadows at 8,600 feet above sea level in Yosemite National Park a century ago. Today, it can be found only at higher, cooler elevations. Another species abundant in Yosemite in the early 1900s, the shadow chipmunk, is now exceedingly rare.

All of which makes Patton believe chipmunks are the most sensitive barometers of climate change in the Sierra – more so than the rabbitlike pica, which live above the tree line and have become a poster child for global warming and a magnet for research dollars.

"Pica are easy to study," said Patton. "Anybody can go out and determine whether they are present. It takes an expert, for the most part, to distinguish species of chipmunks in the field.

"Chipmunks are giving us a bigger signal of change than any of the other small mammals in the Sierra Nevada," said Patton. "Chipmunks are far more interesting than what everybody is focusing on."

Could a few degrees, though, make a difference to a chipmunk?

"They don't look like the kind of animal that would have a direct temperature issue," said Graber, the Park Service scientist.

"That makes me believe this is a food issue, that their habitat has changed and they don't have what they need to make a living," Graber said. "Of course, that's speculation. I don't really know."

Not much is known about the Inyo chipmunk itself. Guidebooks show the animal, a subspecies of the more widely distributed Uintah chipmunk, is 4 to 5 inches long, weighs just 2 to 3 ounces and was found only at higher elevations in the southern Sierra. Patton began searching for the species in the Cottonwood Lakes Basin west of Lone Pine at 11,200 feet above sea level in 2009, setting out hundreds of small live traps, baiting them with rolled oats and comparing his results with those of pioneering zoologist Joseph Grinnell, who collected specimens in the same area in 1911.

Back then, Grinnell found alpine chipmunks were abundant among the wind-stunted pines of the basin. Inyo chipmunks were fairly common. And another species, the lodgepole chipmunk, was rare.

Last summer, Patton found that much had changed. Lodgepole chipmunks were everywhere. Alpine chipmunks were scarce and living in the rocks above tree line. And the Inyo was gone.

In August, he returned again, hoping against hope to find an Inyo chipmunk. But not a single one turned up.

"We just have not been able to find them at any of the historic localities," said Patton, who is the curator of mammals at the University of California, Berkeley, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. "It's what we would call an extirpation from the Sierra Nevada, for reasons unknown."

If his assessment is correct, the roster of Sierra Nevada chipmunk species will drop from nine to eight.

"Wow, what a scary thing. That's tragic," said John Muir Laws, a naturalist and artist whose watercolor sketches of all nine chipmunk species appear in his popular 2007 "The Laws Field Guide to the Sierra Nevada" (Heyday, $24.95, 366 pages).

"I'm going to have to go back and redo this," said Laws, who is working on a second edition of his field guide. "I'm going to have to take it out of the book, and that breaks my heart."

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