March 07 RENewsletter

Highlights of the March 2007 RENewsletter: As always, there's lots going on in the Rochester area pertaining to our environment. You just have to look all over the Internet to find the stories. But, here at RochesterEnvironment.com we bring it all to one place.

* Hottest issue this month of March 2007: My vote for the biggest environmental story for our area this month is Earth Day. Go to RochesterEnvironment.com/calendar and check out all the Rochester-area environmental events. There are programs (like the 9^th Environmental Forum by the Sierra Club on keeping the small Finger Lakes pristine), conferences (Like the U of R Sustainability Conference), clean-ups of important biological areas (like Irondequoit Bay) and even a “StepItUp2007” demonstration on Twelve Corners in Brighton. If you don’t know about the world-wide Earth Day Demonstration by Bill McKibben about upping our commitment to curbing Global Warming then, surf over to http://www.stepitup2007.org/ and learn about it. It would be great if you and ten others you know stopped over on April 14th, from 2 to 4 PM at Twelve Corners in Brighton and helped put Rochester, NY on the map. I will be there adding to the numbers of individuals from Rochester to want to raise their voice for Climate Change.

* Other Hot Environmental issues this month: Big this month on the Rochester environment scene is pollution, with a major breakout in Victor, NY. But, there are other stories about pollution in our Great Lakes and how some major companies are cleaning up their act. VHS or Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia is still making news all over the Great Lakes, so much so that I’ve created a page that chronicles the news articles from beginning to present on the discovery where you can see the dept and breath of this invasive, viral, fish disease at <http://www.rochesterenvironment.com/vhs_news_links.htm> Also, we are finding that Monroe County and one of our great universities (the University of Rochester) is the epicenter of research and prevention for the possible pandemic flu. A recent test at the Dome Arena shows Rochester is actually preparing and not just talking. Energy development, in the form of wind, fuel cells and ethanol, is shaping our environmental and our economy. Sounds more and more like the Rochester area is going to be a leader in renewable energy research--good place for future workers to come. And more stores about land being set aside for environmental preservation, this time in southern Canandaigua. In this vein, don’t miss the Sierra Club's Rochester Regional Group’s 9^th Environmental Forum, on the preservation of Hemlock/Canadice Lakes http://newyork.sierraclub.org/rochester/9th_environmental_forum.htm>

* The silent stories [important stories we didn't hear much about]: Finally, I’m seeing a story in the Rochester area about the looming Bee Colony Collapse Syndrome. I’ve been following this story around the county and finally this story is showing up and educating the public in this area about this potential threat to our apple industry and other agricultural products that are pollinated by bees. Let me be clear: no bees, no apples. Something else that I personally think is a great story is one out of City Newspaper: “In its proposed new five-year plan, the Genesee Transportation Council has included $7 million worth of bicycle and pedestrian improvements.” I don’t know all the details, but I have contacted the GTC long ago about connecting the plethora of Rochester bike trails so that as many as Rochester commuters as possible can use our bike trails for getting to work. My wife just changed jobs so she could bike to work and I believe many would use this non-polluting, healthy way to work if it was feasible. First, you have to get your head around the idea of not jumping into a car to get to work, but when you do, Rochester may have some connecting trails for you to ride. Finally, the drafting of a bill by one of our state senators to curb the use of plastic bags in stores caught my attention because plastic bags are such a litter problem. Maybe the solution is reusable shopping bags that one of our largest stores is adopting.

* On-Going Concerns: My latest and greatest concern is for neighboring communities who are confronted with wind farms (and there are a couple of stories on this, this month) is for them to see the Big picture: that our communities should not have a public discussion of the implementation of wind farms unless they consider climate change and that they are now using a very pollution and global warming energy source as they discuss this issue. I fear that in many communities wind farms will be ruled or moratoriumed out because the public will not even consider the Bigger issues—as if they are not part of the world community. Too often wind farms are dismissed because they might hurt birds or bats and ruin the aesthetic appeal, or the noise, or the flicker effect, or the disruption, or the whatever. The concerns of the anti-wind farm people are important, but the must be placed in the context of our planetary climate change. And, there are answers to the objections of wind farms, one of the most salient being that more cats kill birds than a country filled with wind farms might. If the issue is saving birds, place a moratorium on letting pet cats wander outside to do what they do best, pounce on birds at birdfeeders. The number of birds killed this way runs in the tens of thousands per year. And, countries like Germany, where a large percent of their energy comes from wind, loves how they look on their countryside. Just because a coal-fired energy plant is not at your doorstep doesn’t mean it isn’t having a profound environmental effect on our environment.

* Environmental Actions you can take for our area: The most important environmental actions you can take this month is to participate in one of the environmental events listed on <http://www.rochesterenvironment.com/calendar.htm> our calendar, the most updated and comprehensive environmental calendar for Rochester, NY.

* Environmental events going on this month: Just as individual e-mails don’t raise any red flags when one of us e-mails our public officials, a lone person standing on the corner demanding that our country do something about global warming won’t have much effect. But, a lot of e-mails, tens of thousands, will get noticed by your political official, believe me. And, the local “StepItUP2007” program will put a lot of people on the corner demanding that we do something about global warming. The media is drawn like bugs to large gatherings of any kind. So, Check this out: A Rochester-area Step it up 2007 Earth Day Event- MARCH TO CALL FOR BOLD ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE - April 14th, from 2 to 4 PM at Twelve Corners in Brighton. - http://www.stepitup2007.org -Step it Up is a campaign to raise awareness and call on Congress to take action to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The technology exists today to make the necessary cuts in emissions, but legislation and funding are necessary to put this technology into practice. Come join us to make the biggest possible statement to Rochester and our local leaders that addressing Climate Change should be a top priority. For more information contact: Keri A. Kaminsky kakaminsky@frontiernet.net or kakaminsky@yahoo.com

* Rochester-area Environmental Site of the Month: Pathways to a Sustainable World -Conference on Sustainability - April 13, 14 University of Rochester - "This conference will bring the greater Rochester community together to explore critical issues in creating a truly sustainable world. Communication and education are essential to understand the challenges we face to create the world we want. The conference will highlight inspiring talks by innovators proposing solutions across a wide range of areas, including education, ecology, economics, social policy, arts, and science. It specifically aims to support positive change at the local and regional level, strengthening community and encouraging local economies. It will be a forum for discussion and interaction in which we will share our knowledge and skills, and be inspired and motivated towards creating a genuinely sustainable world.

NEWS SUMMARY: Many of the news links below may already be out of date because these online news sources do not archive their stories. To get the full articles, you can contact the news service and ask them for a copy.

WHAT'S NEW? Each day RochesterEnvironment.com scours the Internet for all environmental articles, events, actions and issues pertaining to Rochester, New York.

Events of the month: Each Month I will post all up and coming environmental events until they are over. Be sure to check the list often as events come and go and I only post this newsletter once a month.