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• Tennessee Theatre latest major venue to require vax proof or test result for entry
  in Feedbag
  By Thomas Fraser

  The Tennessee Theatre announced Monday it will require proof of inoculation against Covid-19 or a recent negative test for the virus before entry into the historic, storied theater on Gay Street in Knoxville. The theater will also require that all audience members be masked. The new rules are effective immediately.

  The theater said in an email that increasing rates of infection in the Knoxville area and elsewhere in the country — predominantly in the Southeast — prompted the public-safety decision.

  ”Because of this, the Tennessee Theatre is enacting some new (Covid) protocols to allow us to continue presenting events while doing our best to keep our audiences safer and healthier.“ The rules will be in place at least through Halloween, according to the theater.

  ”While we take these necessary steps to remain open and serving the community while providing a safer environment for all, we ask for patience and understanding as we continue to navigate a challenging period in the Tennessee Theatre’s 93-year history.”

  The negative test must have been administered within the preceding 72 hours.

  Some upcoming shows and events at the Tennessee Theatre into October include this week’s screening of the Goonies; three Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Masterworks Series performances; the Righteous Brothers; and an Alton Brown appearance.

   

• One town tried to eliminate waste. Plastic posed a problem.
  in Earth
  By Olivia Sullivan

  Kamikatsu, Japan, famously declared its goal was to go waste-free by 2020. It didn’t quite get there.

  This story was originally published in The Revelator

  One of the many unfortunate outcomes of the coronavirus pandemic has been the quick and obvious increase in single-use plastic products. After COVID-19 arrived in the United States, many grocery stores prohibited customers from using reusable bags, coffee shops banned reusable mugs, and takeout food with plastic forks and knives became the new normal.

  Despite recent scientific evidence that reusables don’t transmit the virus, the plastic industry has lobbied hard for a return to all things disposable plastic. Inevitably, a lot of that plastic will continue to flow into our environment.

  While COVID-19 has certainly thrown a wrench into the hard-earned progress we’d been making in reducing waste, eliminating plastic pollution entirely was always going to be challenging — with or without a pandemic. The jarring rise of single-use plastics is an expedited version of a familiar trend. Plastic production has been steadily increasing for quite some time.

  As a zero-waste advocate, I’ve seen how the tsunami of plastic continuously being produced and flooding our planet has made achieving zero-waste goals incredibly difficult. The sheer amount makes it hard to safely and efficiently dispose of plastic, no matter how hard we try.

  But as I examine the problem, and search for solutions, I keep coming back to one noteworthy example. 

• The days the Earth stood still (Part 1): Covid cleared the air in the lonely Smokies
  in Air
  By Thomas Fraser
  Great Smoky Mountains National Park Air Resource Specialist is seen at the Look Rock air quality research station.   Courtesy National Park Service

  The lack of regional and local vehicle traffic during the pandemic greatly reduced measurable pollution in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

  This is your Hellbender weekend read, and the first in an occasional Hellbender Press series about the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the natural world

  Great Smoky Mountains National Park shut down for six weeks in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. Recorded emissions reductions during that period in part illustrate the role motor vehicles play in the park's vexing air-quality issues. The full cascade of effects from the pollution reductions are still being studied.

  Hellbender Press interviewed park air quality specialist Jim Renfro about the marked reduction of carbon dioxide and other pollutants documented during the park closure during the pandemic, and the special scientific opportunities it presents.  He responded to the following questions via email.

  Hellbender Press: You cited “several hundred tons" in pollutant reductions during an interview with WBIR of Knoxville (in 2020). What types of air pollutants does this figure include? 

• Male sparrows sang sexier tunes during lockdown
  in Event Archive
  By GreyW

  Mar 12  ^{noon–1 p.m. EST}

  Songbirds Changed Their Tune During the Pandemic

  Elizabeth Derryberry, associate professor in the UT Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

  University of Tennessee Science Forum

  Zoom Meeting - Free and open to the public - RSVP

  Dr. Derrberry’s study of white-crowned sparrow songs during lockdown received nationwide attention.

  With noise pollution from traffic cut in half, white-crowned sparrows sang more softly, using tones more attractive to females.

  After registering,

  you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

• Air pollution deadlier than COVID-19!
  in Feedbag
  By GreyW

  ScienceDirect: Global mortality from outdoor fine particle pollution generated by fossil fuel combustion

  New report estimates 8.7 million premature deaths anually from fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) 

  Fossil fuels are the major source of invisible airborne particles that cause disease and mortality.