RENewsletter | July 26, 2009

 

The Free environmental newsletter from RochesterEnvironment.com  

“Our Environment is changing: Keep up with the Change.”

[07/19/09– 07/26/09]

 

Need to vent? | Go to my blog: Environmental Thoughts - Rochester, NY

Found an important Rochester environmental story from a credible source that you think needs attention? SEND ME THE LINK.

 

Opening Salvo | NewsLinks | Daily Updates | Events | Environmental Site of the Month | Take Action |

 

*** The July 2009 Environmental Site of the Month Award goes to The Rochester Greenway http://rochestergreenway.org / Go to Award.

 

[Hyperlinks work by CTRL + click to follow a link]

 

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Opening Salvo:  “Our Future: Connecting Green Dots”

 

Several models of how future media might evolve are rampant.  But, one thing is for sure:  Our evenings with Uncle Walter Cronkite are over. No more ‘most trusted man in America’ giving us “the way it is.” 

 

There might be paid links to each online news services. News aggregators might be charged. Non-profit status might be given to some media. Or, citizen reporters could join professionals (ProPublica) digging down into stories in a novel way. You’ll get your environmental news from TV, radio, podcasts, websites, independent local films (like “The Last Experiment”) and your all-in-one gadget phone. Alas, the future bodes to be much messier than a few experienced professions speaking together on a relatively few stories directed by a cabal of know-it-all editors.  The Recession, media consolidation, and the Internet have seen to that.

 

One possible scenario for future environmental reporting: We imagine connecting the dots of environmental stories through many dimensions—not one. The past, present, future and all of the possible variations of each could very well be how our grandchildren manage the planet.  That’s right; in the future we won’t be watching in horror as a Katrina-like Hurricane unfolds. Our kids will have to be involved in the story.  They’ll be connecting the dots along with the experts trying to find out how this disruption occurred, what past activities brought it on, how various actions by everyone might play out, what other events will be linked to any particular reactions they have to the event and so on. In other words, we have been for some time now (regardless of present media coverage) active players in our planet’s environment.  We control the temperature, water levels, chemical dispersals, resources, and probably a host of factors we haven’t even discovered yet that run our planet’s ecology.  Survival will require an acknowledgement and understanding of this fact so that our children can actually thrive on it. Putting our environment on the media’s backburner will not be an option.

 

For example: News coverage on manmade chemicals and pharmaceutical that show up in our lakes and rivers won’t be same. Presently, the media marches a study out and lets the naysayers carp at it at will—often questioning the motives of those doing such a study. The public shakes their collected heads in frustration and shrugs at yet another ‘remote’ news story, which will have to be ignored if they’re going to remain happy. 

 

In the future I imagine the media (which will be the full breath of all our abilities) will tear into these studies like bulldogs. I imagine the new media checking how much the government knew about this issue, what capabilities our water filtration systems have in screening our medicines in our drinking water, how future studies might be designed to find out all the possible pharmaceuticals and how they all react together as they land in one place (our drinking water). All possible effects on all possible plants and animals, including ourselves and our ability to have future selves (endocrine disruptors) will be thoroughly examined. Future media won’t be sitting back and asking Dr. Blowhard who probably works for a pharmaceutical company what his or her spin is on it—that would properly be regarded as insane.  

 

Connecting the green dots, the effects of one species who consumes 25% of the energy and resources on this planet, will not be a headline one day and a phantom the next. The green dots will comprise our existence and they won’t be ignored.

 

FrankRegan@RochesterEnvironment.com  (Click on my email for feedback)

 

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NewsLinks – Environmental NewsLinks – [Highlights of major environmental stories concerning our area from the past week]

 

·         Reservoir Hole

·         Brown Root Rot

·         Great Lakes Wind Energy

·         Green Jobs

·         More Greenways Coming

·         Reducing Sewage in Great Lakes

·         Canadian Sewer Upgrades

·         Zebra Mussels Buffalo

·         Bears Update

·         EPA Trucks Emissions

·         Penfield on Bikes

·         West Nile Virus in Monroe County

·         Cleaning up the Great Lakes

·         Diabetes & Contaminants?

·         Greenhouse Gas Review Policy - DEC

·         Wind Jobs

·         CA Selling Water to US?

·         Monroe Co. Sewage Tunnel

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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? Clicking on -DISCUSSION – will take you to my blog “Environmental Thoughts, NY, where you can add your comments.]

·         7/24/09 - Why Littering Won't Work: It shouldn’t have to be this way—upping fines for littering—but what’s the alternative?  How much trash lays around one community seems to correlate with how that community views its environment? That’s not a scientific conclusion, just a personal one—though the corollary, a visually pristine community, may not be actually environmentally sound either.  As many pollutants and unsustainable practices can be hidden behind the veneer of high-tech development. Besides the polluting and disruptive character of trash about a community to the flora and fauna, it certainly is a sign of distain there must be in a place littered by trash. Cleaning up trash or stepping up fines for littering maybe mostly cosmetic, but it certainly shows a positive attitude. Besides being environmentally repulsive, littering is counter-productive.  The response to activities like littering on a planet where our environmental distain is catching up with us is not going to be for the community to give up and wallow in garbage; it’s going to be for communities and governments to take corrective actions—as any organism must adopt in order to survive.   Check out: Lyons increases littering fine to $250 — At separate meetings this week, the village and town boards approved increasing the fine for littering to $250. July 23, 09) Finger Lakes Times Online

·         7/23/09 - Good incentive by the EPA: Rachel Carson Contest Form | Aging Initiative | US EPA EPA Invites Public to Vote in the Rachel Carson Sense of Wonder Contest   WASHINGTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency invites the public to vote for their favorite submissions in the third annual Rachel Carson Sense of Wonder Intergenerational Poetry, Essay, Dance and Photography Contest. A panel of judges has selected the finalists in five categories: photography, essay, poetry, dance and mixed media (photography and a poem or essay).   Carson is considered to be the founder of the contemporary environmental movement through her book, "Silent Spring." Using the title of another of Carson's books, "The Sense of Wonder," the contest sought submissions "that best express the 'Sense of Wonder' that you feel when observing the sea, the night sky, forests, birds, wildlife, and all that is beautiful to your eyes."   Finalists were selected based on originality, creativity, use of an intergenerational team, and ability to capture a sense of wonder. The deadline to vote is October 1. Winners will be announced later that month.   The contest is sponsored by the U.S. EPA Aging Initiative, in partnership with Generations United and the Rachel Carson Council Inc., and the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange.   To vote: http://www.epa.gov/agingepa/resources/thesenseofwonder/2009/vote.html --from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

·         7/23/09 - Action item from Citizens Campaign for the Environment Speak Out to Ensure That New York Implements the Great Lakes Compact Effectively! Comments on Draft Report accepted until August 14, 2009 Now that the landmark the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact is law, it is up to New York State to effectively implement the law to ensure that our Great Lakes are protected for current and future generations. In the NYS legislation that ratified the Compact, the Great Lakes Basin Advisory Council (GLBAC) was tasked with developing recommendations for legislation and regulations that would be necessary to implement the Compact in NYS. The GLBAC recently released a draft report entitled “Our Great Lakes Water Resources: Conserving and Protecting Our Water Today for Use Tomorrow,” which is meant to provide those recommendations.

·         7/23/09 - Get that training for the new economy: EERE News: DOE Webinar July 30: Funding Opportunity for a Wind Turbine Drivetrain Testing Facility The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program invites you to join a 1 hour webinar on July 30, 2009 at 11:00 am EDT/8:00 am PDT to discuss the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled "Recovery Act: Large Wind Turbine Drivetrain Testing Facility," which is currently open. The full announcement, DE-FOA-0000112, can be found on the FedConnect Web site.

·         7/21/09 - Don't forget, with summer comes the threat of West Nile Virus: West Nile Virus Rochester | news links WNV | RochesterEnvironment.com Since 1999, West Nile Virus, an invasive disease from North Africa, has become a yearly concern for us in Western New York, as in other US states.  This potentially dangerous disease for people with fragile or compromised immune systems can be fatal.  However, monitoring this disease during middle and late summer and taking a few precautionary measures, we can keep this new disease, which will probably be with us for a long time and have periods of high and low concern, in check.  This page has most of the resources you'll need to stay abreast of this disease with list of resources we can use to prevent this disease without using pesticides--which has the potential to make a bad problem much worse by further polluting our environment with toxins.

·         7/2109 - Soon to be gone bicycle museum, get some history on one of our most basic Transportation modes: Pedaling History Bicycle Museum Pedaling History Bicycle Museum, in Orchard Park, New York, features one of the world's largest collections of antique and classic American bicycles, including thousands of items of cycling-related memorabilia. From the antiques through the classics to modern bikes: social, design, manufacturing, marketing, and sports aspects are all reflected in our displays.

·         7/20/09 - This could change Rochester's concept of Transportation, check it out: Rochester Greenway The Rochester Greenway A revolutionary all-weather alternative energy transitway for bikes, e-vehicles, joggers, and skaters connecting RIT, U of R, and MCC, downtown Rochester. Three Opportunities, One Big Idea.

·         7/20/09 -Why does NYS have 370,000 people with Asthma? Could it be our Air Quality?  State Health Department Provides 23,000 Health Care Providers with New Asthma Toolkit Asthma, a controllable chronic disease, is a significant public health problem in New York State. More than 1.1 million adults and 370,000 children living in New York have asthma. While New York's comprehensive asthma programs have contributed to a 23 percent reduction in asthma hospitalization over the past decade, its hospitalization rates are higher for all age groups with the exception of New Yorkers 65 years old and older.

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Events – Rochester Environmental Events Calendar – [The most complete listing of all environmental events around the Rochester, New York area.]  If you don’t see your event, or know of a local environmental event, please send me the info: FrankRegan@RochesterEnvironment.com with (EV event) in the subject line.

 

• EERE News: DOE Webinar July 30: Funding Opportunity for a Wind Turbine Drivetrain Testing Facility The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program invites you to join a 1 hour webinar on July 30, 2009 at 11:00 am EDT/8:00 am PDT to discuss the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled "Recovery Act: Large Wind Turbine Drivetrain Testing Facility," which is currently open. The full announcement, DE-FOA-0000112, can be found on the FedConnect Web site.New York Green Fest 2009 Share ideas and skills for sustainable living and Green politics, August 7-9, in Alfred, NY. Learn how to build your own wind turbine, produce videos for the internet, make tofu, make poetry, grow nut trees, and build an earth oven. Discuss economics as a cultural system, sustainable cities, the rights of nature, local sovereignty, the reality of renewable energy and liberation ecology. Listen to our plenary speakers: Virginia Rasmussen and Cyril Mychelako on the Politics of Sustainability, Art Weaver and Dan Miner on Sustainable Energy, Joel Kovel and Tony Gronowicz on Politics and Nature, Bill Kauffman and Lyn Gerry on Regionalism and Sustainability, and Steve Welzer and Jason Nabewaniec on Visioning a Green Future. Green Fest 2009 will be held on the campus of Alfred University in Alfred, NY. Alfred is in rural Allegany County, 80 miles south of Rochester. The Short Line Bus runs several buses daily between Alfred, Westchester, New York City and Long Island. Green Fest will arrange buses from Rochester for attendees.
• New York Green Fest 2009 Share ideas and skills for sustainable living and Green politics, August 7-9, in Alfred, NY. Learn how to build your own wind turbine, produce videos for the internet, make tofu, make poetry, grow nut trees, and build an earth oven. Discuss economics as a cultural system, sustainable cities, the rights of nature, local sovereignty, the reality of renewable energy and liberation ecology. Listen to our plenary speakers: Virginia Rasmussen and Cyril Mychelako on the Politics of Sustainability, Art Weaver and Dan Miner on Sustainable Energy, Joel Kovel and Tony Gronowicz on Politics and Nature, Bill Kauffman and Lyn Gerry on Regionalism and Sustainability, and Steve Welzer and Jason Nabewaniec on Visioning a Green Future. Green Fest 2009 will be held on the campus of Alfred University in Alfred, NY. Alfred is in rural Allegany County, 80 miles south of Rochester. The Short Line Bus runs several buses daily between Alfred, Westchester, New York City and Long Island. Green Fest will arrange buses from Rochester for attendees.
• CEI: Center for Environmental Information Hightlight on the Lake Ontario Watershed Tuesday, August 25 from 9 am until 4 pm in the New York State Room of Cooper Hall at SUNY Brockport Coastal Connections II offers a brief scientific and ecological overview of Lake Ontario and its watershed. Speakers on the “State of the Lake and Influence of Its Watershed” will include Dr. Joseph Makarewicz of SUNY Brockport and David Klein of The Nature Conservancy. Conference fee of $25 includes lunch. http://www.ceinfo.org/resources/ccIIpressrelease.doc
• Healthy Buildings 2009 (http://www.hb2009.org), an international conference and exhibition showcasing innovations in indoor environmental quality and healthy and sustainable environmental technology, will be held in US for the first time in 12 years, September 13-17, 2009. Hosted by the Syracuse Center of Excellence and Syracuse University, ISIAQ's signature conference will draw more than 1,000 researchers and professionals from the disciplines of architecture, building products and services, engineering, indoor environmental quality, public health, urban planning, and workplace performance from more than 42 different countries. HB2009 includes remarkable plenary speakers such as Rick Fedrizzi, Founder of USGBC, as well as Dr. Eduardo de Oliveira Fernandes of the University of Porto in Portugal, Dr. Yuguo Li of the University of Hong Kong, and Dr. Shin-ichi Tanabe of Waseda University in Japan; who have each made immense contributions to the body of research in indoor air quality and related fields. The exhibition (http://hb2009.org/exhibition), featuring the latest advancements in green and clean technologies and innovation, will also showcase "OppEx," an Opportunity Exchange (http://hb2009.org/opportunity_exchange) that will include industry-leader keynote speakers; healthy buildings and clean and green technology product and service demonstrations; technology transfer ideas from world-class research universities; and many more opportunities for intellectual collisions among attendees. In today's uncertain economic climate, the benefit of international exchange and engagement is critical. HB2009 offers researchers, professionals, and community planners a unique opportunity to think strategically about the direction of industry and technology through academic and industry collaboration in a world going green. For more information about the conference and exhibition please visit our website at www.hb2009.org, or contact clmatthe@syr.edu. Also, in addition to the rates currently listed on the web site, there is also a $25 one-day exhibition pass for those wishing to be a part of HB2009 on a limited budget.
• Help Clean Up the World and put your activity on the global environmental map!   Held in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Clean Up the World is one of the world’s largest community-based environmental campaigns with an estimated 35 million volunteers from 120 countries participating annually in environmental activities.   Join the campaign and put your group and its activity on the global environmental map by visiting activities.cleanuptheworld.org .  Activities can be conducted year round, however the campaign’s flagship event, Clean Up the World Weekend (18-20 September 2009) is a global celebration of the environmental actions and achievements of participants.   Joining Clean Up the World is simple: ■ Register online: http//:activities.cleanuptheworld.org ■ Email: info@cleanuptheworld.org ■ Visit: www.cleanuptheworld.org ■ Call: +61 2 9692 0700 ■ Post: 18 Bridge Road, Glebe NSW 2037, Australia. Clean Up Clean Up the World partners with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to inspire and assist communities to "clean up, fix up and conserve their local environment" through carrying out initiatives ranging from waste removal and tree planting to water and energy conservation projects. Clean Up the World and its participating organisations mobilise an estimated 35 million volunteers from more than 120 countries annually.
• Cordwood Sauna Workshop September 26th & 27th, 2009  WHO  - Peter Turkow,  Co-Founder of Rochester Green Living  After seeing an article on cordwood construction in Mother Earth News my father, Dave Turkow attended a Rob Roy cordwood workshop (http://www.cordwoodmasonary.com) in 1984. In 1985 we broke ground on a 40ft diameter, round, load-bearing cordwood home covered with geodesic dome, I was hooked. In 1996 we designed and built 2 story cordwood workshop/garage approx 32x22 with 22x10ft deck. More details can be seen @:  www.daycreek.com/dc/HTML/Turkow.htm        WHAT – Each day is a mixture of classroom and hands-on activities & building. Classroom sessions include general cordwood home AND sauna information, power point presentations, and discussions on the various styles of cordwood building, as well as, the different types of wood species (and how long to dry them). The workshop’s hands-on project will be a 14’ x 12’ mixed use sauna & enclosed changing/relaxation area with outdoor deck. Attention to detail assures that the students learn visually pleasing techniques, as well as, structurally sound and energy-efficient construction methods. WHEN - Friday the 25th (optional, but starts at 6pm) will be a meet & greet event, as well as, a free event for the Rochester Green Living group and others from the area to learn a little more about future workshops. Workshops run from 9am -5pm. There will also be a social gathering on Saturday evening (students only & weather permitting). WHERE - This cordwood workshop will be held at the Turkow residence @ 6776 Luddington Rd   Elba, NY 14058 (directly between Rochester and Buffalo & 5 miles from the thruway – (Batavia  Exit 48). 
• October 24, 2009 is INTERNATIONAL CLIMATE ACTION DAY, and is being coordinated by 350.org, the grassroots organizing brainchild of Bill McKibben. The idea is to mobilize grassroots groups all over the world to hold highly visible public / media events on 10/24/09. Each event should highlight the number 350—the maximum global atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (in parts per million- ppm) that is safe for the long term. We are already up to 387, and increasing. For more details: http://www.350.org/  We need to do something in Rochester, and to be worth doing, it should be a coordinated effort between several groups, and something creative, eye-catching…. Media-worthy! That’s the point—to have media worldwide show that there is a groundswell of popular support for a global treaty (successor to Kyoto), and that therefore world leaders must craft a plan to bring levels down to 350 ppm by the time they leave the international climate talks in Copenhagen in December of this year. Are you interested in helping? If this is to be done, we would need people to: • Reach out to other groups/ organizations to see what they are doing, and try to coordinate (for all I know, there is already an effort planned that we could work with) • Be creative- come up with a good location / “shtick” to make it media-worthy • Recruit others • Contact media

 

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Action – Take Action - Often, I receive request to pass on alerts, petitions, Public Comments on local developments, and environmental items needing action by the Rochester Community and around the world. I’ll keep Actions posted until their due date. 

 

·         7/24/09 - ACTION - Get a bike rack in a good city location for increasing bike transportation in Rochester: I am gathering requests for bike racks in the City of Rochester area. If you know of a location that would help increase bike transportation in the city of Rochester by having a convenient bike rack nearby, send me a note about the location and I will forward that on.  In the subject line type "bike rack requests" and send to FrankRegan@RochesterEnvironment.com

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Award – Environmental Site of the Month Award – [On the last Sunday of each month, we present an environmental award for the Rochester-area environmental web site or blog that best promotes the need to protect and offers solutions for our area's environmental issues.]

 

·         Don’t get down because Rochester’s showcase project, the Renaissance Square, might have gone the way of the Passenger Pigeon. That project to bring in tourists, give our selves a new sense of community pride, jobs, and some slight transportation options, is not the end of Hope. There are more good ideas out there that could replace one vision with other. Instead of a complex building complex almost too complex to imagine and finance, how about 5.2 mile year-round bike trail from RIT, U of R, straight into the city?  Get to our wonderful city, see our great events, go to work on bike healthy, safe, and sound, while developing a new vision for our city, friendly to our environment and leaving the rest of our sister cities pea green with envy? 

·         Rochester Greenway “A revolutionary all-weather alternative energy transitway for bikes, e-vehicles, joggers, and skaters connecting RIT, U of R, and MCC, downtown Rochester. Three Opportunities, One Big Idea. The Green path north from U of R on the East Side is a scenic paved bikepath. The Blue path north from U of R on the West Side of the river, also scenic, is part of the City's existing Greenway trail. The river crossing on the the Blue path is an unused railroad bridge that could be rehabilitated spectacularly!”