Updated Daily  3/14/2010 RochesterEnvironment.com

Our Environment is changing: Keep up with the Change.


Rochester, NY on a fall afternoon.

If it deals with the environment, Rochester, New York, and the Internet, it's here.

Since 1998, RochesterEnvironment.com has been an ongoing experiment to completely inform one community of all its environmental Newslinks, Events, Daily Updates, Resources, Environmental Education, and Environmental Issues. and more...

(Above scripts from Dynamic Drive)

My assumption is that if a community is given all the information they need to monitor their environmental health continuously, like an online newspaper, that community will respond by becoming engaged in the most critical issue of our day--our Environment.  Our environment is too important to be left up to any one media, business, or government.  Bookmark This Site

 

Anything else you're interested in is not going to happen if you can't breathe the air and drink the water. Don't sit this one out. Do something. You are by accident of fate alive at an absolutely critical moment in the history of our planet.-- Carl Sagan

Page Contents: Rochester-area NewsLinks | Daily Updates | Green Business | Green Discussions | Green Events | Green Actions | This month's Winner of the Environmental Site Award

 

Bookmark and Share

SEARCH: Use search engine below to find anything posted since 1998.

Loading
 

Rochester area NewsLinks.

NewsLinks: Get the most important environmental news of the day and monitor your environment daily.  Also: Get Newslinks since 1998…

Posted Today:

Posted Recently: 

 

Green Business.

Green Business - We are working on finding Green Jobs for our area.  As always, we will post anything we can dip up on finding employment for people who want to sustain themselves and the planet at the same time.

Here's the Latest on Green Business for the Rochester, NY area:

Green Discussions.

Below are recent Rochester area environmental discussions.  Also, frequently we get questions about our local environment from our visitors. You can always chime in at Environmental Thoughts For some of the most popular questions to ask an environmental question, go here: Questions

Here's the latest Questions & Discussions the environment for the Rochester, NY area:

  • Green Warning Signs Recently, we’ve noticed several signs that our environment is undergoing dramatic changes. Some of the most salient signs are the mercury-ridden fish in all of our streams, the collapse of the Copenhagen Climate talks, the release of methane gases from the Arctic Ocean, and a great resistance to greener transportation and energy. In that vein, the auto show I attended recently revealed little interest or efforts in adapting our vehicles to the reality that the automobile and its infrastructure greatly affect the health of our environment. I thought after all that talk about electric cars and fuel efficiency I’d see a new day at the shows. But there were the same old sexy cars and trucks—except now they cost more, still had lousy gas efficiency ratings, and have far more driver-distracting gadgets than ever before. more...
  • The Asian Carp is coming! That’s the big environmental story around the Great Lakes region this week. Even the local press has caught the news appeal of a bizarre foreign species that might radically change the Great Lakes’ ecology. Because of its size and reproductive capacity, it may scarf up all those little plants and animals that live at the bottom of the five Great Lakes, which, the present ecology depends on. More intriguing to the media are those riveting photos of speeding boaters smacking into these large creatures, which freak every time they hear motorboat noise and leap into the air. I say ‘might’ because no one can prove that if the Asian Carp makes it way up the Mississippi and into the Great Lakes, they will proliferate and eat everything in site. Though, given their past rap sheet, it’s a good bet they will.  more...
  • The Green Paradox Being able to see the correct model of reality is often the key to finding the solution to a complex problem. Take Zeno’s paradox of infinite regression: “Suppose Homer wants to catch a stationary bus. Before he can get there, he must get halfway there. Before he can get halfway there, he must get a quarter of the way there. Before traveling a fourth, he must travel one-eighth; before an eighth, one-sixteenth; and so on.” Zeno's paradoxes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia If you remain fixed on solving this paradox mathematically or logically, you’re probably going to be frustrated. Makes sense in a way, but it cannot be! Obviously, Homer will make it to his destination without getting lost in an infinite regression of half-distances. But, focused merely on the internal logic of the question can make this paradox unsolvable. The answer (provided by Aristotle) is that distances can be halved in your mind, but in the real world it doesn’t work that way. more...
  • Nature’s Kidneys Though we tend not to consider our wetlands until they get in the way of a development project, they play a unique ecological role. They are like our kidneys, a filtration organ cleansing our environment. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), using more rigorous language, defines wetlands as "those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs and similar areas." Wetlands | US EPA Given such a critical role, you’d think we’d be more careful with our wetlands. Au contraire: “In the 1600s, over 220 million acres of wetlands are thought to have existed in the lower 48 states. Since then, extensive losses have occurred, and over half our original wetlands have been drained and converted to other uses. Between the 1950s and 1970s an estimated 58,500 acres of wetlands were lost” (EPA 1995). more...
  • Reverting to a State of Green During these Extraordinary Times, where climate change, the loss of biodiversity, and our oceans are making human sustainability questionable, we must ask, how do we determine what constitutes Sustainability? But first, what is Sustainability and why is it so important? “For humans it is the potential for long-term maintenance of wellbeing, which in turn depends on the wellbeing of the natural world and the responsible use of natural resources…” (Wikipedia). In other words, we have to get Sustainability right, or the system that keeps us alive breaks down. You have to be alive to have‘wellbeing.’ We tend to assume that all those actively involved in monitoring our environment—official entities whose purpose is to monitor and maintain our environment, scientists, environmentalists, and the media—have at the very least a good idea of what a healthy environment looks like. Yet, I’m not so convinced that they do.  more...
  • We’re Going Blind Trying to negotiate the world as your sight gets worse does not make life easier. Rather, it becomes more difficult because you often miss critical warning signs. That’s worth keeping in mind as this week’s news illuminates a further decline in the public’s ability to ‘see’ the world around them. Story #1. Supreme Court Voids Campaign Spending Curbs - BusinessWeek.com- msnbc.com “A divided court strikes down decades-old restrictions on corporate campaign spending, 5-4, reversing two of its precedents and freeing companies to advertise” Although there has always been a disproportionate advantage for large corporations to self-servingly frame issues before public via the media, lately it has become more blatant and dire. Relying on corporations, who own most mainstream media, to report on environmental malfeasance is putting the fox in the henhouse. more...
  • The Loss of Rochester’s Biodiversity The United Nations has declared 2010 to be the International Year of Biodiversity. It is a wake-up call because we know that biodiversity around the world is crashing, which is why our age is sometime referred to as either the Holocene Extinction or the Sixth Great Extinction. However, unlike the other five mass extinction events (caused by asteroids, volcanoes, or global warming), this one is human caused. more...
  • Green Business As Usual Depending on your point of view, the Recession is either chugging along nicely (though cruelly) or it’s showing signs of a cascading collapse. Meaning, the banks we bailed out last year are thriving and many businesses are holding on, but job loss is dreadful. “The pace of layoffs has slowed sharply in recent months, but businesses still cut 85,000 net jobs in December, the Labor Department said.” (U.S. job loss report is blow to still-fragile recovery 1/09/10- washingtonpost.com) All these job losses make you wonder how we are going to recover our economy. Who is going to buy all that stuff from businesses if most of us are broke, can’t get loans, and are losing our houses? We could ask the rich (who horde a wildly disproportional share of the wealth in our country) to go out and spend more money. But, how many sneakers can even a rich person wear? more...
  • The State of Rochester’s Environment 2009 Summing up the year in a variety of ways (best films, biggest stories, funniest incidents, most tragic, etc.) has become such a tradition in the media at the end of the year that we expect it. It’s fashionable. (Not that this sort of thing is necessary, for has anyone actually forgotten the rotten economy and all the awful wars?) So as long as we are counting our chickens this New Year anyways, why not have a wrap-up about something useful, like the state of our environment? This kind of rundown does matter. We won’t have any more ‘best films’ or ‘most awkward moments’ for the year if our environment crashes.  more...

 

Green Events.

RochesterEvironment.com's Environmental Calendar is the longest running and most comprehensive environmental calendar for our area. Got an environment event? Contact me and I'll get it listed.

Here are some events coming up soon & lots more...

  • Monday, March 15 | The talk is open to the public and will be held in the new TLT Studio in the basement of the Wallace Library (Rm. 05-A400).
    • Black Mountain College alumna and Crooked Lake Review co-founder Martha Treichler will be at RIT this Monday, March 15, along with her daughter Rachel Treichler, noted environmental activist and former Green Party candidate. They will be discussing the legacy of Black Mountain College, the history of the Back-to-the-Land Movement, and lessons for today’s sustainability quest. The talk is open to the public and will be held in the new TLT Studio in the basement of the Wallace Library (Rm. 05-A400).
  • Saturday, March 20,
    • LAKE SHORE MARSHES EAST WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AREA A tour of the marshes to look for migrating waterfowl and other migratory birds. Meet in Webster Plaza -- at junction of Route 404 and Hard Road -- near Starbucks at 7:30 a.m. Extra spotting scopes and FRS radios would be very helpful. For more information, 872-7334 and (315) 331-0316 or visit www.rochesterbirding.com.
  • Saturday March 20 from 10am-12pm - Visual Studies Workshop is located at 31 Prince Street, Rochester NY 14607 (located between University Ave and East Ave)
    • WindTamer Demo Saturday March 20, in Downtown Rochester WindTamer Corporation would like to invite you to our demo day presentation sponsored by Rochester Green Living at the Visual Studies Workshop on Saturday March 20 from 10am-12pm. Rochester Green Living provides workshops in sustainability, promotes local green events, provides free local resources in sustainable information, and creates connections to green organizations throughout New York. WindTamer sales representatives will be hosting two presentations beginning at 10:15am and 11:15am. If you have not had a chance to view our mobile unit or speak with a WindTamer representative, please join us in Rochester to do so! If you are interested in adding a WindTamer turbine to your property, please bring a copy of your utility bill and a property map if you have one. Directions: Visual Studies Workshop is located at 31 Prince Street, Rochester NY 14607 (located between University Ave and East Ave) View Map WindTamer Corporation began customer installations in January 2010. As of early March there are 32 turbines either installed or scheduled to be installed. For more information on WindTamer turbines, visit windtamerturbines.com. WindTamer Corporation | Investor Relations | Cherrie Mahon | (585) 243-4040 | ircontact@windtamerturbines.com  This message was sent from WindTamer Turbines to peterturkow@myway.com . It was sent from: Cherrie Mahon, 156 Court Street, Geneseo, NY 14454. You can modify/update your subscription via the link below. 
  • Sunday, March 21, HAMLIN BEACH STATE PARK
    • Looking for diving ducks, Red-necked Grebes (note: grebes are best seen early in the day) and other spring migrants.  Meet in parking lot No. 1 at 7:30 a.m.  Extra spotting scopes would be very helpful. For more information, 288-2611 or visit www.rochesterbirding.com .
  • Tuesday, March 23rd, at  4:30 PM – 6 PM  | at the AAUW house, 494 East Ave, Rochester, NY
    • Zero Waste Committee:  How can the Rochester, NY area recycle more and waste less?  Come on over and find out what we’re doing, thinking, and who we’re networking with on this issue. Join up and get our notices at  Rochester Zero Waste Committee. We are working on several projects, including how to let the public know where and how to recycle. –from the Rochester Regional Group Sierra Club | Sierra Club
  • Friday, March 26, 2010 | RMSC at 657 East Avenue
    • Great Lakes Water Conservation Workshop Friday, March 26, 2010 at the RMSC at 657 East Avenue This one-day workshop is to help craft brewers and cheesemakers save water and save money. With many water utilities in the Great Lakes region increasing fees by 25% or more in the next year, this workshop will pay for itself through practical systems for water savings.
  • Action Due Date: March 27, 2010  from 8:30 to 9:30pm,  
  • Sunday, March 28, DURAND EASTMAN PARK and LAKESHORE
    • We’ll search for migrants. Meet at the Lake Shore Boulevard parking area between Log Cabin Road and Zoo Road (Parking Lot D) at 8:00 a.m. For more information, 227-5837 and 482-7778 or visit www.rochesterbirding.com .

 

The Upstate Green Business Network, a program of the "Center for Environmental Information", is a network of businesses, institutions and organizations that share a mutual concern for the state of our environment.

Green Action.

ACTION: Often, I receive requests to pass on alerts, petitions, Public Comments on local environmental issues needing action by the Rochester Community and around the world. 

  • Action Due Date: Today
    •  Donate to a worthy cause: Christine Sevilla Project (Christine Sevilla Project) "Welcome to A Living Project to Preserve a Place in Christine's Honor  For All to Enjoy in Perpetuity Christine's family and friends envision a natural area, including wetlands, preserved in her memory.  This vision includes an educational component, like an interpretive trail to help others recognize what Christine saw - an interconnected natural community of flora and fauna, soil and water. Perhaps even an  Arts and Music Festival to celebrate what Christine so treasured. "
  • Action Due Date: March 22
    • EPA Strengthens Smog Standard/Proposed standards, strictest to date, will protect the health of all Americans, especially children The United States Environmental Protection Agency today proposed the strictest health standards to date for smog. Smog, also known as ground-level ozone, is linked to a number of serious health problems, ranging from aggravation of asthma to increased risk of premature death in people with heart or lung disease. Ozone can even harm healthy people who work and play outdoors. The agency is proposing to replace the standards set by the previous administration, which many believe were not protective enough of human health.  EPA will take public comment until March 22. The agency will hold three public hearings on the proposal: Feb. 2, 2010 in Arlington, Va. and in Houston; and Feb. 4, 2010 in Sacramento. More information: Ground-level Ozone | US EPA  (January 7, 2010)  [more on Air Quality in our area]
  • Action Due Date: March 27, 2010  from 8:30 to 9:30pm,  
  • Action Due Date: April 10th, 2010  10AM - 2:00 PM| Email or call today to register your family, group of friends, club, organization, scout troop, or class! Contact Ryan Loysen at rloysen@monroecounty.gov or 585-753-7281.
    • We're passing on this request from Monroe County Parks : Pick Up the Parks A new initiative from the Monroe County Department of Parks April 10th, 2010  Join us and several local recreation and environmental groups in kicking off this new local stewardship event. In this first year, we will be targeting 4 parks: Ellison, Genesee Valley, Greece Canal, and Ontario Beach Parks for clean up and other park improvements. Why just four? As you know there are 21 parks within the Monroe County Parks system. As it’s a first year event, we wanted to identify popular parks that could also accommodate our widespread community. We welcome your ideas for future projects and will certainly add more parks to the event as community support grows.   Email or call today to register your family, group of friends, club, organization, scout troop, or class! Contact Ryan Loysen at rloysen@monroecounty.gov or 585-753-7281.   Be sure to tell us your group size, preferred park, e-mail address, and phone number, or just come on out to one of the project sites on April 10th and register on-site. Orientation begins at 10 a.m. at each project site with refreshments and additional information. Group projects and field work will begin at 10:30 a.m.   The Monroe County Parks belong to all of us, so let’s join together to keep them clean and green. Check back for additional event details, meet-up locations and park information at Parks | Monroe County, NY

 

FreePressFree Press is a national, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working to reform the media. Through education, organizing and advocacy, we promote diverse and independent media ownership, strong public media, quality journalism, and universal access to communications.

Daily  Updates.

Daily Updates: Connecting the dots on Rochester’s environment. Find out what’s going on environmentally in our area—and why you should care? Get Daily Updates since 1998...

  • 3/14/2010 - This week's RENewsletter has been published - RENewsletter March 14, 2010 - Each week get al the environmental NewsLinks, events, actions and comment free.  Click Subscribe.
  • 3/12/2010 - Demonstrate your concern for Energy Conservation: Earth Hour 2010: turn off your lights for one hour  The Town of Brighton is officially signed up for Earth Hour 2010! On Saturday, March 27, 2010 from 8:30 to 9:30pm, join your neighbors, and hundreds of millions of people around the world by turning off your lights for one hour. --from Home Page - Color Brighton Green
  • 3/11/2010 - How’s your drinking water? One of the great things about drinking municipal water instead on bottled water is that you get an annual description of your water quality and statistics.  You have a pretty good idea of your water quality.  And, if you have questions, concerns, or complaints you have the power to address your water quality concerns.  If you live in the City of Rochester, you got your 2009 Water Quality Report and you can review past water quality reports here:   City of Rochester | Water Quality Annual Reports "The City of Rochester is proud to supply its residents with clean, high quality water. The Bureau of Water annually produces a Water Quality Report that provides residents with information on the quality of drinking water, news on the water system, details on the source of drinking water and its treatment and test results. " -from City of Rochester
  • 3/11/2010 - Transportation mega leap: I had heard for some years that Google was considering including bicycle routes on Google Maps and now it has come to be.  To those who have not thought about transportation, except to jump into their gas-guzzler even for short distances, this added feature to Google search engine doesn’t seem like much of a news item.  But, it is.  more...
  • 3/10/2010 - More indictments on why the Copenhagen Climate Change talks failed.  This time the environmentalists turn on themselves.  Serious charges though they are, the ultimate question in the fallout from the climate science email, the Himalayan glaciers, is the drumbeat: What are we going to do about Climate Change? The answer is not ‘nothing.’  There’s not only overwhelming and compelling evidence that the planet is warming up and nearing tipping points from which there is not turning back to a climate we grew up in, making wholesale changing to curb Climate Change is reasonable assumption that a reasonable people should adopt. If you rapidly change the human population to 6 billion people, who drive millions of greenhouse gas emitting gas into the atmosphere, and create an extinction event equal to the five other great extinction events, only a lot quicker, then it is a reasonable assumption that we have to change our collective behavior towards the planet to ensure our way of live. more...
  • 3/10/2010 - The EPA establishes a new Responsible Recycling Practices: Responsible Recycling Practices for Electronics Recyclers | Wastes Newsroom | US EPA "Americans are growing more concerned about the responsible handling of used electronics (e-waste) as the media sheds light on horrendous e-waste recycling practices in some developing countries that are sometimes the ultimate destination of unwanted equipment from the United States. Questions have been raised on what EPA has been doing to practices by irresponsible recyclers. Recognizing the critical importance of environmentally sound recycling, EPA has worked closely with stakeholders, including recyclers, equipment manufacturers, representatives of state government, trade associations, and public interest groups, to develop a new set of standards, the Responsible Recycling Practices for Electronics Recyclers (R2). On July 27, 2009, the American National Standards Institute-American Society of Quality National Accreditation Board (ANAB) announced that it will start accrediting companies that will certify recyclers of electronic equipment under the R2 practices. EPA will not audit facilities for compliance with the R2 Practices; however, private, third-party certification bodies will conduct audits and issue certificates of conformance to electronic recyclers that successfully demonstrate they meet R2 requirements. " U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
  • 3/10/2010 - Free webinar on collecting Food waste: Hi everyone. The second in a series of five food waste webinars sponsored by USEPA and NYSDEC takes place on March 10 at 1:00.  The topic is the Separation and Collection of Food Waste.  We have three fantastic speakers lined up:   • Institutional Food Waste: Collection, Containers and Costs - Mike Manna (Organic Recycling Solutions, LLC.) • Collection in an Urban Setting: NYC - Chris Balfe • New Opportunities for Diverting Food Scraps and Soiled Paper - Peter Anderson (Center for a Competitive Waste Industry)   To register, go to Training Exchange There are only 50 spots left.  If you want to register, it is best to do it sooner rather than later.  You can also register for the remaining webinars at the same time.
  • 3/09/2010 - The list of Environmentalists in the Rochester, NY region keeps growing.  People who organize to help make our environment sustainable. This Is My Planet--Citizens for a United Earth "Citizens for a United Earth is a group of volunteers in the area of Rochester, NY, who want a peaceful, sustainable, prosperous future for all the world's people. We believe the time has come for global citizenship, with people aware of their interdependence with others all over the world. Click on Earth Plan on the "Essays" page to learn more. "
  • 3/08/2010 - More Climate Changes here: The list of possible environmental changes due to Climate Change in our region grows.  The more we understand and study Climate Change and its implications the more we understand that warmers summers and warmer winters aren’t going to be the only consequences of New York’s Climate Change.  Doing the things we have to do to stop Climate Change, which is within our powers (like ‘cooling it’ on burning greenhouse gases), is going to be a whole lot more tolerable than adapting or changing to Climate Change here.  Invasive Plants Move North Fall foliage is the veritable trademark of the Northeast. Families flock from around the world to take in the natural splendor. Imagine autumn in New England without its distinctive palette - choked out by a dense labyrinth of invasive vines. This nightmare may become a reality in the near future if current climate trends continue, increasing the threat of invasive plant species to the Northeast Region. (February 18, 2010)  Northeast Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [Climate Change in our area]
  • 3/06/2010 - ACTION - Take action to Save NYS Parks: NYLCV Joins Parks Lobby Day In Albany | NYLCV - New York League of Conservation Voters NYLCV, our environmental partners and park lovers from around the state gathered at the Capitol in Albany on Wednesday to make a forceful case for not closing state parks. --from NYLCV - New York League of Conservation Voters | Educating and Electing for the Environment
  • 3/06/2010 - Climate Change: What is being done about it?  There’s that old joke that everyone talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.  But, around the world there are being things done about Climate Change—more than people sitting at their computers ranting about the newest factoid or arguing point to back up one’s Weltanschauung.    Global Ideas | Deutsche Welle Melting ice caps, catastrophic hurricanes, floods and drought plunging entire regions into a water crisis. These are the drastic images often associated with climate change. But what's actually being done on the ground to halt global warming? What kind of projects are helping to reduce emissions, inform people and spur them to change their lifestyles?  (March 5, 2010)  [More on Climate Change in our area]
  • 3/06/2010 - Living Green: Reduce your carbon footprint: In order to combat Climate Change a lot of people are going to have to make quick changes. But, that doesn’t mean individually we can help drive those necessary changes by changing some of the things we do in our own lives.   Ten Things You Can Do to Shrink Your Carbon Footprint | Use Celsias.com - reduce global °Celsius Most environmentalists agree that government, with its power to regulate, is critical in finding and enforcing solutions to global warming. But consumers represent 70 percent of US economic activity--indeed, the average American's carbon footprint is twenty metric tons, five times the global average. --from Use Celsias.com - reduce global °Celsius
  • 3/06/201 - Bird Care: If you do care about birds, consider the number of bird deaths due to glass. Some changes in the windows and the placement of bird feeders could save birds’ lives. Birds and windows "Clear and reflective sheet glass as window panes in homes or entire walls of multistory commercial buildings is a passive invisible killer of wild birds worldwide. Among the dead are the abundant as well as the rare, threatened, and endangered species. Investigators have gathered extensive evidence documenting sheet glass as a growing source of avian mortality, and a suspected contributor to overall bird population declines. Preventing these unintended fatalities will require education addressing preventive techniques, regulation addressing the installation of glass in buildings, and enforcement of existing legislation to protect wild birds as an aesthetic and environmentally valuable natural resource. Read more on the Fact Sheet. "
  • 3/05/2010 - One of those Climate Change predictions: One of the things that a good theory about what is going on in the world is that it will predict future events.  This is opposed to a lot of ideas about the way many people think the world works—more often than not those which present a hypothesis that is incapable of predicting anything solid. For example, those ideas that the world was going to end in say, 2000, met with complete failure because it didn’t happen. That crazy theory was not based on science.  This is instructive as we move towards serious environmental problems.  If we don’t have a view of reality that is correct and predictable, we’re going to cook the next generation. more...
  • 3/05/2010 - Oceans Count: We keep hearing that our oceans are in trouble because of acidification (a consequence of Climate Change) pollution and other factors.  But, how is marine life doing in our oceans.  Check this out:    Census of Marine Life | Making Ocean Life Count "The Census of Marine Life is a global network of researchers in more than 80 nations engaged in a 10-year scientific initiative to assess and explain the diversity, distribution, and abundance of life in the oceans. The world's first comprehensive Census of Marine Life - past, present, and future - will be released in 2010. "
  • 3/04/2010 - Gas Drilling Presentation: View a gas drilling presentation from: Environmental Advocates of New York - Issues - Water & Natural Resources - Natural Gas Drilling/Marcellus Shale Formation "ABOUT NATURAL GAS DRILLING IN NEW YORK STATE New York’s Southern Tier and Catskills are home to small towns, family farms, scenic rivers and irreplaceable open spaces, as well as the drinking water supplies of millions of New Yorkers. But beneath this natural beauty lie trillions of cubic feet of natural gas, trapped within the rock of the Marcellus Shale formation." --from Environmental Advocates New York
  • 3/04/2010 - Increase your Environmental Education on fresh clean water. Check out this instructive lesson on where we get our drinking water. Multimedia - where does your water come from? It’s not surprising that so many Americans don’t know where our drinking water comes from. We have long benefitted from sophisticated water infrastructure – networks of pipes and pumps and filtration plants – that bring water from rivers, lakes and natural underground supplies right into our homes. The Nature Conservancy - Protecting Nature, Preserving Life
  • 3/04/2010 - Get money to save energy: From the White House, find out about the Homestar Energy Efficiency Retrofit Program that will create jobs and save homeowners energy costs.  Fact Sheet: Homestar Energy Efficiency Retrofit Program | The White House "Fact Sheet: Homestar Energy Efficiency Retrofit Program WASHINGTON--In his State of the Union address, the President called on Congress to pass a program of incentives for homeowners who make energy efficiency investments in their homes. Today, while touring a training facility at Savannah Technical College, the President outlined more details of a new “HOMESTAR” program that would help create jobs by encouraging American families to invest in energy saving home improvements. Consistent with the President’s call for a HOMESTAR program, the Senate Democratic leadership included a proposal of this kind as part of their Jobs Agenda released on February 4, 2010. The President looks forward to continuing to work with Members of Congress, business, environmental and labor leaders to enact a HOMESTAR program into law. "
  • 3/03/2010 - Earth Day coming Soon! Don't forget to find an activity for Earth Day. International Programs & Events | Earth Day Network Earth Day Network was founded on the premise that all people, regardless of race, gender, income, or geography, have a moral right to a healthy, sustainable environment. Our mission is to broaden and diversify the environmental movement worldwide, and to mobilize it as the most effective vehicle for promoting a healthy, sustainable environment. We pursue our mission through a combination of education, public policy, and consumer activism campaigns. Our campaign and programs are predicated on the belief that an educated, energized population will take action to secure a healthy future for itself and its children. Earth Day Network has a global reach with a network of more than 17,000 partners and organizations in 174 countries. More than 1 billion people participate in Earth Day activities, making it the largest secular civic event in the world.
  • 3/03/2010 - Bird deaths and wind turbines: For all the talk and clamor about wind turbines causing thousands of bird deaths, it should be remembered that bird deaths due to other human factors kill a lot more birds. Cars, cats allowed to roam neighborhoods, and glass windows probably cause far more bird deaths that wind turbines ever will.  Check this out: “Estimates are that between 100 million and 1 billion individual birds are killed annually by collisions with windows in the United States alone.” –from    Window Glass: Silent Bird Killer? | Cool Green Science: The Conservation Blog of The Nature Conservancy "Birds just do not get the concept of “glass.” We’ve all surely had the experience of having a bird fly into a window at our home, office or school, usually with unfortunate consequences for the bird. But have you ever stopped to think about how widespread this phenomenon is and how many birds it might be killing annually? " The Nature Conservancy - Protecting Nature, Preserving Life
  • 3/02/2010 - Energy Pursuit: In our pursuit of the perfect energy source, where it doesn’t pollute, doesn’t cost much, frees us from foreign energy, will we get to the Holy Grail.  There’s a lot on ingenuity out there, maybe this gadget is the one—The Bloom Box. ‘Bloom box’ fuel cell system wins big companies’ favor "(CBS)  In the world of energy, the Holy Grail is a power source that's inexpensive and clean, with no emissions. Well over 100 start-ups in Silicon Valley are working on it, and one of them, Bloom Energy, is about to make public its invention: a little power plant-in-a-box they want to put literally in your backyard. " (February 18, 2010) 60 Minutes - Interviews, Profiles & Reports - CBS News Also, check out this article: ‘Bloom box’ fuel cell system wins big companies’ favor "A growing number of Fortune 500 companies have installed the new fuel cell system offering from a company that traces its roots to a NASA program. Bloom Energy Corporation’s fuel cell system, the Bloom Energy Server, is reportedly emerging as a potential alternative to both traditional and renewable energy sources by generating a steady supply of clean, cheap and efficient energy. " February 25, 2010) GREEN NEWS - ECOSEED's Global Green News Portal
  • 3/02/2010 - Climate Change Changing: How is the fallout from all that international focus on the Climate Change controversy going:  Here's some stories: Signs of Life, and Change, in Climate Inquiry - Dot Earth Blog - NYTimes.com (February 24, 2010) Natural Resources and the Environment - Dot Earth Blog - NYTimes.com Also, get the perspecitive of a climate scientist: Michael Mann - Unprecedented Attacks on Climate Research | Point of Inquiry For the scientists who study global warming, now is the winter of their despair. In the news, it has been climate scandal after alleged climate scandal.  First came “ClimateGate,” then “GlacierGate,” “Amazon Gate,” and so on.  In public opinion polls, meanwhile, Americans’ acceptance of the science of global warming appears to be declining.  Even a freak snowstorm now seems to sow added doubt about this rigorous body of research. " (February 24, 2010) Point of Inquiry
  • 3/01/2010 - Pesticide Drift: We have a law in Monroe County called the 48 Hour Neighborhood Notification Law that was implemented to avoid pesticide and herbicide drift, but is it being complied with? Last time we checked, it wasn’t much:  Lawn care law largely ignored — "Many Monroe County homeowners are not complying with the county's new pesticide neighbor notification law, officials say. Under the law, homeowners who apply weed-killers and insecticides to lawn and garden areas larger than 100 square feet must post small signs informing neighbors that chemicals have been applied. In addition, the law requires retailers to post signs next to pesticides explaining the law to their customers." (April 15, 2006) Daily Messenger On a large scale, how is pesticide drift being addressed nation wide?   'Pesticide Drift' Eluding Efforts To Combat It : NPR The Environmental Protection Agency is considering a petition from farm worker and public health advocates to ban pesticide spraying near schools, hospitals and child care centers. Part of the evidence they cite comes from California, the nation's largest agricultural producer, and a state where pesticides carried from the fields by winds sicken hundreds of people each year. (February 25, 2010) NPR : National Public Radio : News & Analysis, World, US, Music & Arts : NPR
  • 3/01/2010 - Rochester’s Water Quality:  How good is Rochester, NY area’s water and what’s in it?  Check it out:   EWG's Drinking Water Quality Analysis and Tap Water Database | Environmental Working Group "Since 2004, testing by water utilities has found 315 pollutants in the tap water Americans drink, according to an Environmental Working Group (EWG) drinking water quality analysis of almost 20 million records obtained from state water officials. More than half of the chemicals detected are not subject to health or safety regulations and can legally be present in any amount. The federal government does have health guidelines for others, but 49 of these contaminants have been found in one place or another at levels above those guidelines, polluting the tap water for 53.6 million Americans. The government has not set a single new drinking water standard since 2001. "--from EWG Home | Environmental Working Group
  • 3/01/2010 - Good article by Al Gore on why the public shouldn’t be distracted by the climate denier noise in the face of a real threat to our environment. Op-Ed Contributor - We Can’t Wish Away Climate Change - NYTimes.com It would be an enormous relief if the recent attacks on the science of global warming actually indicated that we do not face an unimaginable calamity requiring large-scale, preventive measures to protect human civilization as we know it. (February 27, 2010) The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia
  • 2/27/2010 - Is Cap and Trade a possible solution for manmade Climate Change, or does it simply just put money it the pockets of the people who cause Climate Change?   The Story of Cap & Trade is a fast-paced, fact-filled look at the leading climate solution being discussed at Copenhagen and on Capitol Hill. Host Annie Leonard introduces the energy traders and Wall Street financiers at the heart of this scheme and reveals the "devils in the details" in current cap and trade proposals: free permits to big polluters, fake offsets and distraction from what’s really required to tackle the climate crisis. If you’ve heard about cap and trade, but aren’t sure how it works (or who benefits), this is the film is for you.
  • 2/27/2010 - Environmental Baseline: Instead of trying to come up with might seem a reasonable assumption about how many animals or plant species there should be in any given area based on modern data or what seems a comfortable number to us, wouldn’t it make a lot more sense to find out what the historic populations used to be—before massive human intervention?  In other words how do we decide today how many deer, wolves, salmon, or birds there should be in our environment before we either take them off or put them on an endangered species list?  How many animals or plants and it what proportions make up an healthy environment? We’re just guessing unless we really go out an examine all the data we can to find out what the baseline used to be for particular species in particular places. One such project is going just that in our oceans:   History of Marine Animal Populations "Is a global research initiative. We study the past ocean life and human interaction with the sea. About 100 researchers have joined forces to develop an interdisciplinary research program using historical and environmental archives. We analyze marine population data before and after human impacts on the ocean became significant. Our goal is to enhance knowledge and understanding of how the diversity, distribution and abundance of marine life in the worlds oceans changes over the long term. "
  • 2/26/2010 - Focusing on Climate Change: Tired of reading about Climate Change because it just hurts your eyes?  Well, listen to a podcast entirely dedicated to speaking about Climate Change news.     Earthbeat Radio Earthbeat Radio is the only hour-long broadcast of any kind in America dedicated entirely to the global warming crisis. Syndicated to over 50 stations nationwide from our Washington, D.C., studios, Earthbeat takes on every aspect of the climate / clean energy issue with interviews, features, humor, and commentary. Launched in 2003, we are an independent radio show produced out of Pacifica Radio’s flagship station WPFW 89.3 FM in Washington.
  • 2/26/2010 - Garbage dumps: For far too long we’ve held this fantasy that when we through garbage away it somehow disappears.  It doesn’t really.  It’s just that Earth is a really big place, but eventually that stuff we throw away accumulates somewhere: In our land and air and in this case our oceans: BBC News - Plastic rubbish blights Atlantic Ocean Scientists have discovered an area of the North Atlantic Ocean where plastic debris accumulates. The region is said to compare with the well-documented "great Pacific garbage patch". (February 24, 2010) BBC NEWS | News Front Page
  • 2/25/2010 - Environmental Groups Divided on Fracking for Natural Gas: Natural Gas As A Climate Fix Sparks Friction : NPR "Some local chapters of environmental groups find themselves battling their national leadership over issues like natural gas. The national groups see natural gas as a less-harmful alternative to coal. But local groups fear the damage that gas production could bring to their fresh water and landscapes. "
  • 2/25/2010 - Interesting essay on Natural Gas Drilling by Fracking: Cracking Down on Fracking | CommonDreams.org "Mike Markham of Colorado has an explosive problem: His tap water catches fire. Markham demonstrates this in a new documentary, “Gasland,” which just won the Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize. Director Josh Fox films Markham as he runs his kitchen faucet, holding a cigarette lighter up to the running water. After a few seconds, a ball of fire erupts out of the sink, almost enveloping Markham’s head. "
  • 2/25/2010 - ACTION - We're passing on this request from Monroe County Parks : Pick Up the Parks A new initiative from the Monroe County Department of Parks April 10th, 2010  10AM - 2:00PM  Join us and several local recreation and environmental groups in kicking off this new local stewardship event. In this first year, we will be targeting 4 parks: Ellison, Genesee Valley, Greece Canal, and Ontario Beach Parks for clean up and other park improvements. Why just four? As you know there are 21 parks within the Monroe County Parks system. As it’s a first year event, we wanted to identify popular parks that could also accommodate our widespread community. We welcome your ideas for future projects and will certainly add more parks to the event as community support grows.   Email or call today to register your family, group of friends, club, organization, scout troop, or class! Contact Ryan Loysen at rloysen@monroecounty.gov or 585-753-7281.   Be sure to tell us your group size, preferred park, e-mail address, and phone number, or just come on out to one of the project sites on April 10th and register on-site. Orientation begins at 10 a.m. at each project site with refreshments and additional information. Group projects and field work will begin at 10:30 a.m.   The Monroe County Parks belong to all of us, so let’s join together to keep them clean and green. Check back for additional event details, meet-up locations and park information at www.monroecounty.gov/parks 
  • 2/24/2010 - Why public is not 'getting it' on Climate change: I suspect as the planet warms up there is going to be endless speculation as to why, despite all evidence, the public does not believe in Climate Change.  It seems NPR would like to believe it’s because people’s world view is the answer Belief In Climate Change Hinges On Worldview : NPR, meaning "People tend to conform their factual beliefs to ones that are consistent with their cultural outlook, their world view," Braman says.”  Perhaps, but I think there’s more going on and certainly the media itself plays a role in why we as a species cannot adequately address a looming environmental problem.  Others too are beginning to think the role of the media plays a critical part of the missing components in the world-wide acknowledgement of Climate Change.   Check out: Signals and noise. Mass-media coverage of climate change in the USA and the UK "Various studies have shown that the public gathers much of its knowledge about science from the mass media (Wilson, 1995), with television and daily newspapers being the primary sources of information (Project for Excellence in Journalism, 2006; NSF, 2004). "