Updated Daily  02/03/2012 RochesterEnvironment.com

Our Environment is changing: Keep up with the Change.


Rochester, NY was one of the hosts of the World Canal Conference on September 19, 2010.

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

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Since 1998, RochesterEnvironment.com has been an ongoing experiment to completely inform one community [Rochester, NY] of all its environmental Newslinks, Events, Daily Updates, Resources, Environmental Education, regional Climate Change, and Environmental Issues. and more...    * Please read this carefully, it's not the usual Yada Yada

(Above scripts from Dynamic Drive)

RochesterEnvironment.com – This is site a free media resource to encourage public dialogue on local environmental issues, a local newspaper devoted to a single community’s environment, an archive of Environmental News to capture a proper sense of time in which environmental issues transpire, and an attempt to frame environmental issues free of corporate, governmental, and any ideology.  Sustainability, connecting the dots of our environmental information, rules.  Understanding that all of our local Environmental Issues now must be interpreted in the context of Climate Change, which will be continually moving the bar on the state of our environment, is critical for our survival.  Climate Change 101

The great conundrum of our times is that in a time of rapidly occurring Climate Change and a rapid disintegration of the environment that we need to thrive and survive, mainstream media still marginalizes environmental concerns. [Check often for this continually updated list on the possible consequences of Climate Change in our region--supported by facts.] If there isn’t a quick and substantial change in how environmental concerns are reported, edited, and chosen in mainstream media, the public will continue to believe that environmental concerns are merely special interest matters, issues they can avoid if they choose.  How can we inform the public and monitor our environment without abridging our Freedoms--in enough time to safe ourselves?   Bookmark This Site

Likely Changes                  Frank's Essays

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 | Top 10 things you can do for our environment | Green Events | Green Actions | This month's Winner of the Environmental Site Award

 

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Rochester area NewsLinks.

NewsLinks: Get the most important environmental news of the day and monitor your environment daily.  Also: Get Newslinks since 1998… Unlike other news, environmental news often takes time to reach our attention. Follow potential problems and catch them before they're catastrophes.

 

Today's Rochester-Area Environmental News:

All these news stories are connected to our area’s environment--even though many don’t come from local media. We need to understand environmental news in a way where we can monitor the state of our environment.

To be sure you have the latest News, refresh your browser, or Ctrl +R.  

News Highlight

Save the Planet, Surf the Web      

by Frank J. Regan


“Photo by Frank J. Regan"
I know, it sounds just a little too convenient and ridiculously easy to think we can save the planet by surfing the web.  But hear me out.  Your great big brain added to all the other human brains pondering our collective fate and interconnecting with each other on Climate Change could be one of our most effective Climate Change strategies.  For without a wholesale understanding of the Climate Change crisis by the public, all the other stuff—Climate Change talks, Climate Change actions plans, specific Climate Change Action (Tar Sands Action), and all those little things we do to limit our carbon footprints--are just are not going to happen at the speed and across-the board changes that will matter.   Climate Change cannot be solved by doing little things here and there.   (This is the bottom-up approach.)

Climate Change is a world-wide phenomenon that is happening right now and no matter how inglorious this issue many seem and how annoying the increasing natter about denial gets, we have to address it.  For a zillion reasons, the public (especially the American public whose per capita greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) out produces all other nations in warming up the planet) doesn’t want to hear about Climate Change.  They doubt it, or they believe it all too well and it makes them feel helpless, or they don’t understand how Climate Change is affecting them right now, or how it will increasingly do so.  Or, they think the Climate Change folks want to take their gas-guzzling pick-up trucks away from them.  Whatever.   The Climate Change crisis, however slow some may think it is occurring, is a kind of disaster like nothing our species has experienced.   more...

(Above scripts from Dynamic Drive) 

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 News for the Rochester, NY area:

Event Highlight

 
  • Friday, April 27, 2012 At "The Links" in East Syracuse, New York
    • Eighth Annual Symposium on Energy in the 21st Century| DescriptionofSymposium A Division of Synapse Sustainability Trust Inc. Looking Ahead to a Future in Renewable Energy A Local & Global Perspective Friday, April 27, 2012 At "The Links" in East Syracuse, New York  Symposium on April 27, 2012. Registration opens today. This Symposium is noted as one of the most important energy conferences in the Northeast.  This will be a very well attended Symposium and I encourage you to register ASAP. Last year we closed registration early at 360 attendees. This year we are going global, and including successful models of energy sustainability from other countries. Ruggero Schleicher-Tappeser, will be flying in from Berlin exclusively for this Symposium to speak Germany's success in using renewable energy, particularly solar voltaic. Willett Kempton, Ph.D, Visiting Professor at Denmarks Tekniske Universitet, will be speaking on Denmark's model, particularly in wind energy. Other esteemed speakers include Garry Brown, Chairman PSC, Laura Morton, Senior Advisor for Renewable Energy, U.S.D.O.E, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy,  Paul Tonko, Congressman, Nathanael Green, Director of Renewable Energy Policy, NRDC, Michael Gerrard, Director Climate Center, Columbia Law School, and Kit Kennedy, Counsel to Air & Energy Program, NRDC, who will be the moderator. Our keynote will be Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Included in the program is greetings from Frank Murray, President & CEO NYSERDA, and Joe Martens and, Commisioner DEC. We are giving a special award to Joanie Mahoney, County Executive of Onondaga County for her exceptional work. This will be a landmark Symposium!!
Symposium on Energy in the 21st Century

(Above scripts from Dynamic Drive) 

Top Ten Things You Can Do for Rochester’s Environment .

This list assumes you are ready to take responsibility (as a member of the only species capable of doing so) for your presence at this critical time in our planet’s history.  And, it isn’t about just your personal fulfillment thing—our environment isn’t politics, religion, a fad, or a cause; it’s science all the way down. Pollute the planet, stuff happens.  Finally, in order for the effects of this list to be effective a lot (I mean billions) of humans need to do them too.  In the deepest practical sense, everything you do (where you live, what you eat, what you buy, what you throw away) matters to our environment. Ready folks, here we go:

  • Be engaged with the issues surrounding our local environment by monitoring the media, books, reports, and the Internet using the laws of Nature as your guide to monitor how our lifestyle is affecting our environment.
  • When you consume anything--food, water, cars, gadgets, whatever—do so as though you were demonstrating how to consume for the rest of the world—considering the lifecycle of the products you buy, how they are made, how they are used, and how you get rid of them.
  • When you have someplace to go, consider all your options in order of their affect on our environment: walking, biking, car-pooling, mass transit, and lastly a personal vehicle. 
  • Conserve energy until we find a non-polluting, renewable energy source.
  • Vote. If you’re doing good for our environment and your representative in government doesn’t get it, you’re just making yourself feel good without much effect.
  • Recycle, reuse and encourage your local government to create a place where recycling just about everything is the norm.
  • Think twice before using toxic chemicals that make your yard look like a golf course and your house like a hospital.
  • Consider other species (plants and animals) and their role in sustaining our environment.  Some are annoying and critical.  Some are cute and a burden.
  • Adopt green business practices: your business will save our environment and be able to compete with the rest of the world.
  • Communicate your concerns about the state of our environment to everyone. Sustainability isn’t going to work unless everyone gets on board quickly.  11.   Encourage all your news sources to have an environmental section daily and help move environmental investigations and news to mainstream media.

 350.org

350.org is an international campaign that's building a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis—the solutions that science and justice demand. Our mission is to inspire the world to rise to the challenge of the climate crisis—to create a new sense of urgency and of possibility for our planet.  

Watch this video to understand why addressing Climate Change matters:

Bill McKibben, author and founder of the international environmental campaign 350.org, says that a global campaign to curb climate change, the ecological devastation that will result could make our planet uninhabitable. His appeal to citizens and policy-makers, the sixth video in the series "Peak Oil and a Changing Climate" from The Nation and On The Earth Productions, is a call to action as much as it is a sobering account of the damage we're already doing to our environment. Go to www.thenation.com  to learn more about "Peak Oil and a Changing Climate," and to see the other videos in the series.

 

Green Events.

RochesterEnvironment.com 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...    

February 2012

  • February 2, 2012, 7PM film, 8PM discussion @ The Little Theatre, 240 East Ave Rochester, NY 14607
    • Greentopia Film: Urbanized "Urbanized is a feature-length documentary about the design of cities, which looks at the issues and strategies behind urban design and features some of the world’s foremost architects, planners, policymakers, builders, and thinkers. Over half the world’s population now lives in an urban area, and 75% will call a city home by 2050. But while some cities are experiencing explosive growth, others are shrinking. The challenges of balancing housing, mobility, public space, civic engagement, economic development, and environmental policy are fast becoming universal concerns. Yet much of the dialogue on these issues is disconnected from the public domain. Who is allowed to shape our cities, and how do they do it? Unlike many other fields of design, cities aren’t created by any one specialist or expert. There are many contributors to urban change, including ordinary citizens who can have a great impact improving the cities in which they live. By exploring a diverse range of urban design projects around the world, Urbanizedframes a global discussion on the future of cities. Urbanized is the third part of Gary Hustwit’s design film trilogy, joining Helvetica and Objectified. "
  • Learn about how water will factor in our future: Monday, February 6th, 2012, 6:30 to 8:30PM | Henrietta Library, 455 Calkins Road, Rochester, NY 14625.
    •  Climate Change is an issue of HOW we life.  Water Wars are an issue if we life.  Will Water be “the oil of the 21 century?” Why do people spend up to 4,000 times more for bottled water… when the purity is less than regulated tap water? Who will stop large multi-national corporations from taking over the world’s water supply? Blue Gold : World Water Wars The Great Lakes Committee of the Rochester Sierra Club will be hosting Blue Gold: World Water Wars.  Whether you are new to the topic or a long time advocate for water issues, Please join us for this film and discussion about the issue of water privatization.  These showing are free and open to the public.   For questions: greatlakes@newyork.sierraclub.org
  • Tuesday, February 7, 2012 Time: 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Where: Workers United Union Hall, 750 East Avenue, Rochester 14607
    • A Solar Jobs Act for New York Transitioning to a New Solar Economy Come and hear the experts and join in on the discussion When: Tuesday, February 7, 2012 Time: 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Where: Workers United Union Hall, 750 East Avenue, Rochester 14607 In his State-of-the State message, Governor Cuomo announced his New York Sun initiative to increase the deployment of solar energy in New York State. He reiterated this commitment in his Executive Budget with sales tax breaks targeted to commercial solar installations and for solar equipment leases. Meanwhile, the NY State Legislature has been working on its own versions of a solar jobs act. Come and hear more about these initiatives and offer your own views about how to increase solar energy deployment and component manufacturing in New York. For more information contact Bill Bastuk at 585-503-6826 or wbastuk@rochester.rr.com  For directions to the Forum, click here. There is no charge for this event "
  • February 8th, 2012 6:30pm | Monroe Branch Library 809 Monroe Avenue Rochester, NY 14607 
    • Winter Garden Symposium Wide Water Gardens, The City of Rochester and the Monroe Library are teaming up to help you get ready for the 2012 gardening season. Come to swap seeds, pick up free plant materials, rent a community garden plot and get all kinds of great gardening tips. No experience required! Reservations appreciated, so adequate materials can be provided.

April 2012

 
  • Friday, April 27, 2012 At "The Links" in East Syracuse, New York
    • Eighth Annual Symposium on Energy in the 21st Century | DescriptionofSymposium A Division of Synapse Sustainability Trust Inc. Looking Ahead to a Future in Renewable Energy A Local & Global Perspective Friday, April 27, 2012 At "The Links" in East Syracuse, New York  Symposium on April 27, 2012. Registration opens today. This Symposium is noted as one of the most important energy conferences in the Northeast.  This will be a very well attended Symposium and I encourage you to register ASAP. Last year we closed registration early at 360 attendees. This year we are going global, and including successful models of energy sustainability from other countries. Ruggero Schleicher-Tappeser, will be flying in from Berlin exclusively for this Symposium to speak Germany's success in using renewable energy, particularly solar voltaic. Willett Kempton, Ph.D, Visiting Professor at Denmarks Tekniske Universitet, will be speaking on Denmark's model, particularly in wind energy. Other esteemed speakers include Garry Brown, Chairman PSC, Laura Morton, Senior Advisor for Renewable Energy, U.S.D.O.E, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy,  Paul Tonko, Congressman, Nathanael Green, Director of Renewable Energy Policy, NRDC, Michael Gerrard, Director Climate Center, Columbia Law School, and Kit Kennedy, Counsel to Air & Energy Program, NRDC, who will be the moderator. Our keynote will be Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Included in the program is greetings from Frank Murray, President & CEO NYSERDA, and Joe Martens and, Commisioner DEC. We are giving a special award to Joanie Mahoney, County Executive of Onondaga County for her exceptional work. This will be a landmark Symposium!!

 

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 February 9th, 2012
  • ACTION: Due Date Now
    • Request from the DEC for some help on keeping our Great Lakes healthy:    "Your Observations Can Help the Health of the Great Lakes! If you spend time around the Great Lakes shoreline, please consider sharing your observations of injured or dead animals, or algal blooms by using the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative - Wildlife Health Event Reporter (http://glri.wher.org/) (GLRI-WHER). Scientists working in state, federal and non-profit agencies are looking for your help to identify events that are important in research of avian botulism and algal bloom outbreaks, in the interest of protecting wildlife from this disease as well as algal neurotoxins. For a healthy Great Lakes ecosystem, do your part and share what you see by setting up a reporter account (http://glri.wher.org/users/add) on the GLRI-WHER website. E-mail any questions regarding reporting to botnet@wdin.org.
    ACTION: Due Date: March 5, 2012
    •  NFWP Climate Adaptation Strategy "The Public Review Draft of the National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy is now available for public review and comment. To ensure that we are able to consider your comments, we must receive them by March 5, 2012. You can submit your comments through the web, by mail, or in person. Learn how to submit your comments here. Public workshops will be conducted at several locations around the country to provide additional opportunities for public comment and discussion of the draft. Please visit our Public Workshops page for more information. In addition, a free, public online web conference or webinar will also be held. Learn more and sign up here. "
  • ACTION: Due Date: Now
    • Sewage Pollution - Citizens Campaign for the Environment "Many communities in New York State, Connecticut, and throughout the nation are served by aging and dilapidated sewage infrastructure. When our sewage infrastructure is not properly operated or maintained, billions of gallons of untreated raw sewage can be released in to the environment before reaching a treatment plant. Sewage is primarily discharged into the environment through Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSO) and Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO). Separate sewer systems carry only wastewater such as domestic sanitary waste and commercial and industrial waste to a sewage treatment plant. Separate sewers are not designed or intended to carry water such as storm water. SSOs occur in separate systems. Combined sewer systems are built larger than separate sewers so that they can carry two components: wastewater, carried continuously, and runoff, carried after storms.  How you can help: Email your state representatives. Urge them to support a Sewage Pollution Right-to-Know law. Sewage overflows put our environment, economy, and health at risk; and we deserve the right to know when they occur. "
  • ACTION: Due date: Now
  • Action: Due Date - Now

 

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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...

  • 2/03/2012 - Can Capitalism save our environment? I’m not a free market capitalist, and I’m certainly not a laissez-faire capitalist, as they both tend to rape our environment and not even ask questions after.  But this discussion by Mr. Kennedy (see below) on how the free market can solve our environmental issues is worth your attention.  After listening to this interview with Mr. Kennedy I think there is a lot that can be accomplished with our existing economic system if those who pretend to believe in the free market would stop gumming up the works with their agenda—like protecting their own slice of the pie at the expense of everyone else.  more...
  • 2/03/2012 - Interesting talk about Fracking by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. given his role: “I sit on the New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo's High Volume Hydraulic Fracturing Advisory Panel.” The Fracking Industry's War On The New York Times -- And The Truth | Toxics Targeting "Superb investigative journalism by the New York Times has brought the paper under attack by the natural gas industry. That campaign of intimidation and obfuscation has been orchestrated by top shelf players like Exxon and Chesapeake aligned with the industry's worst bottom feeders. This coalition has launched an impressive propaganda effort carried by slick PR firms, industry funded front groups and a predictable cabal of right wing industry toadies from cable TV and talk radio. In pitting itself against public disclosure and reasonable regulation, the natural gas industry is once again proving that it is its own worst enemy. " by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Huffington Post October 20, 2011
  • 2/02/2012 - Climate Change deniers, even Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) who dismisses climate scientists, will have to bow to insurance rates    Three States Tell Insurers to Disclose Responses to Climate Change - NYTimes.com Insurance commissioners in California, New York and Washington State will require that companies disclose how they intend to respond to the risks their businesses and customers face from increasingly severe storms and wildfires, rising sea levels and other consequences of climate change, California’s commissioner said Wednesday. Up until this point, those states required about a third of larger insurers to turn over the information in a survey; for all others it was voluntary.  (February 1, 2012) The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia [more on Climate Change in our area]
  • 2/02/2012 - Lyme disease is particular interest to us New Yorkers, as “New York State has experienced the emergence of several vector-borne diseases in the past few decades. For instance, the state leads the nation in numbers of Lyme disease cases.” (ClimAID, page 404) Tick Tally Reveals Lyme Disease Risk : Shots - Health Blog : NPR Roll call for bloodsuckers. Vampires, step back. For four years, researchers combed through hundreds of state parks and bushy areas looking for the culprit responsible for Lyme disease. The blacklegged tick, also known as a deer tick, transmits the disease through a bite. About 20 percent of the 5,332 ticks collected in the Eastern half of the country were infected with the bacterium that causes Lyme disease. (February 1, 2012) Environment : NPR
  • 2/01/2012 - Warm winter days in Rochester, NY and the danger of knowledge gaps As I write it’s seven in the morning on February 1, 2012 and fifty degrees outside.  Yesterday, it was well into the fifties and sunshine.  It’s not an anomaly; it’s been warm most of January, warm in the sense that insects were buzzing about at times.  How many other plants and animals have been fooled into thinking spring has come I cannot say.  But we can say we haven’t got much snow: more...
  • 2/01/2012 - New version of Donate Recycle Reuse (DRR) document just updated.  Find out easily where to Recycle just about everything in the Rochester, NY area.   

    Donate Recycle Reuse (DRR) Version 30 (Updated June 02, 2011) Check out this special resource for recycling opportunities for the Rochester area. This "Donate Recycle Reuse" list by one of your neighbors makes it easy to recycle in our area.  It's a work in progress so, send Jeanette your additions or corrects make sure that next discarded item doesn't go in the landfill. For questions and ideas about this page contact Jeanette jdztechw@rochester.rr.com

  • 1/31/2012 - ‘Tinkering in the margins’ certainly won’t fix a world in environmental crisis.  Wholesale changes in our economy and how we treat the environment are required to solve these major issues but we aren’t even close.  Most Climate Change studies, for example, suggest that the public and governments must get engaged to make the kind of changes that are required on these planetary issues and give little information on how to do that.  That’s because figuring out how to get the majority of folks on this planet to understand and help solve Climate Change, problems on a scale never experienced before by mankind, are beyond most studies.  World lacks enough food, fuel as population soars: U.N. | Reuters (Reuters) - The world is running out of time to make sure there is enough food, water and energy to meet the needs of a rapidly growing population and to avoid sending up to 3 billion people into poverty, a U.N. report warned on Monday. As the world's population looks set to grow to nearly 9 billion by 2040 from 7 billion now, and the number of middle-class consumers increases by 3 billion over the next 20 years, the demand for resources will rise exponentially.  (January 30, 2012) Business & Financial News, Breaking US & International News | Reuters.com
  • 1/30/2012 - Time is running out to comment on this important Climate Change report, maybe the GOP candidates will do so too:   NFWP Climate Adaptation Strategy "The Public Review Draft of the National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy is now available for public review and comment. To ensure that we are able to consider your comments, we must receive them by March 5, 2012. You can submit your comments through the web, by mail, or in person. Learn how to submit your comments here. Public workshops will be conducted at several locations around the country to provide additional opportunities for public comment and discussion of the draft. Please visit our Public Workshops page for more information. In addition, a free, public online web conference or webinar will also be held. Learn more and sign up here. " from NFWP Climate Adaptation Strategy
  • 1/30/2012 - Sure we’re finding more and more planets out there that might support life, but Earth still does and it’s worth saving: Rio+20 - United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development "The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) is being organized in pursuance of General Assembly Resolution 64/236 (A/RES/64/236). The Conference will take place in Brazil on 20-22 June 2012 to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), in Rio de Janeiro, and the 10th anniversary of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg. It is envisaged as a Conference at the highest possible level, including Heads of State and Government or other representatives. The Conference will result in a focused political document. "
  • 01/30/2012 - This week's RENewsletter has been published RENewsletter January 29, 2012 Each week get all the environmental news, events, actions and comment free.  Click Subscribe
  • 1/28/2012 - One of the aspects of Climate Change that we don’t talk about enough is that the oceans are absorbing most of the carbon dioxide that we are releasing into the atmosphere.  Among other unstable effects, like causing hurricanes because of warmer waters, is acidification.  Rapidly changing the Ph in our oceans is probably not a good thing: Yale Environment 360: Ocean Acidity Rise Unprecedented in Past 21,000 Years, Researchers Say in Past 21,000 Years, Researchers Say Carbon dioxide emissions caused by human activities over the last century have increased the acidity of the world’s oceans far beyond the range of natural variations, which may significantly impair the ability of marine organisms such as corals and mollusks to form their skeletons or shells, a new study says. (January 23, 2012) Yale Environment 360: Opinion, Analysis, Reporting & Debate [more on Climate Change in our area]
  • 1/27/2012 - In your face Climate Change for the Rochester, NY region: Gardening changes. There a many, many Likely Changes coming to the Rochester, NY region because of Climate Change.  But because of the relatively slow nature of Climate Change it’s often easy to deceive yourself that it is not really happening.  (I say ‘relatively slow nature of Climate Change’ because only from our human daily awareness outlook is Climate Change proceeding slowly; from a geological standpoint Climate Change is hurling itself upon us with frightening rapidity.) You look around Rochester, NY now and you feel a very warm, wet winter that certainly haunts the skiing, skating, ice fishing, and snowmobile businesses—and those who grew up with colder winters with more snow.  Is all this the new normal for January? more...
  • 1/27/2012 - Something wicked this way comes with fossil fuels: Breaking News | InsideClimate News Critics are attacking Canada's energy strategy after internal documents shed new light on the extent of federal efforts to advocate for the oil sands industry.
  • 1/27/2012 - Learn about sewage pollution in our region from Citizens Campaign for the Environment - New York and Connecticut Environmental Protection Preservation and Advocacy.  This is scary when you know “The top nine beaches in NYS that had the most days that exceeded standards for contamination in 2010 were ALL Great Lakes beaches;’’ and that “There is currently no law requiring public notification if a sewage overflow has contaminated a local beach, waterway, or entered a community in either New York State or Connecticut.” Learn more and then act: Sewage Pollution - Citizens Campaign for the Environment "Many communities in New York State, Connecticut, and throughout the nation are served by aging and dilapidated sewage infrastructure. When our sewage infrastructure is not properly operated or maintained, billions of gallons of untreated raw sewage can be released in to the environment before reaching a treatment plant. Sewage is primarily discharged into the environment through Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSO) and Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO). Separate sewer systems carry only wastewater such as domestic sanitary waste and commercial and industrial waste to a sewage treatment plant. Separate sewers are not designed or intended to carry water such as storm water. SSOs occur in separate systems. Combined sewer systems are built larger than separate sewers so that they can carry two components: wastewater, carried continuously, and runoff, carried after storms. "
  • 1/26/2012 - President Obama mentions ‘Climate Change’ in his State Union Address Last year President Obama avoided using ‘Climate Change’ in his State of the Union Address and focused on clean energy.  This year the President did mention Climate Change, but not in a good way: “The differences in this chamber may be too deep right now to pass a comprehensive plan to fight climate change.”  2012 State Of The Union Address Enhanced Version | The White House#transcript The President’s bowing to the power of the ‘chamber’ when he should be leading the country on Climate Change is disproportional to the concerns coming from our country’s own climate assessments.  For example, this report that just came out this month from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, with support by the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies minces no words on the scale and immediacy of the Climate Change problem.  more...
  • 1/25/2012 - I saw Urbanized at the Toronto Film Festival (TIFF) and it was very entertaining and informative.  Find out how many communities around the globe and dealing with a world that is becoming predominately urbanized.     Ubanized, February 2, 2012, 7PM film, 8PM discussion @ The Little Theatre, 240 East Ave Rochester, NY 14607 Greentopia Film: Urbanized "Urbanized is a feature-length documentary about the design of cities, which looks at the issues and strategies behind urban design and features some of the world’s foremost architects, planners, policymakers, builders, and thinkers. Over half the world’s population now lives in an urban area, and 75% will call a city home by 2050. But while some cities are experiencing explosive growth, others are shrinking. The challenges of balancing housing, mobility, public space, civic engagement, economic development, and environmental policy are fast becoming universal concerns. Yet much of the dialogue on these issues is disconnected from the public domain. Who is allowed to shape our cities, and how do they do it? Unlike many other fields of design, cities aren’t created by any one specialist or expert. There are many contributors to urban change, including ordinary citizens who can have a great impact improving the cities in which they live. By exploring a diverse range of urban design projects around the world, Urbanizedframes a global discussion on the future of cities. Urbanized is the third part of Gary Hustwit’s design film trilogy, joining Helvetica and Objectified. "
  • 1/25/2012 - How will Fracking affect our communities?  Check it out:    SHALE GAS EXTRACTION IN WESTERN NY:  Exploring Community Impacts & Implications for Our Towns   7PM, Tuesday, January 31, 2012 West Bloomfield Congregational Church 9035 Route 5 & 20, West Bloomfield, NY 14585 (corner of Route 5 & 20 and County Road 37) This presentation is free and open to the public   Presenter: Arthur J. Buckley,  County Planner for the County of Wyoming   Hosts: The Community Information Committee of West Bloomfield   Press Release attached 
  • 1/24/2012 - The scientist: Jim Hansen risks handcuffs to make his research clear — The Daily Climate NASA's chief climate scientist built his career studying Earth's atmosphere and modeling humans' potential impacts on climate. Then he realized that laboratory work wasn't enough. (January 24, 2012) The Daily Climate
  • 1/24/2012 - Biggest construction project in the Rochester, NY region since the untangling of the Can of Worms could be an opportunity for Active Transportation (bicycles and walking) for our area.  Check this out: Let NYSDOT know what YOU Think about the Access 390 project that could connect UR, RIT, and MCC with the City! | Rochester Cycling Alliance "An Active Transportation Network for the Rochester Multiversity. Jon Schull, co-founder Rochester Cycling Alliance With small modifications, a proposed “Access 390″ highway project could bind Rochester’s three major universities with several multi-use trails and bikeways, and move us toward a future that is more ecological, economical, healthful, and energy-independent. It could really happen…but we have to ask for it! The New York State Department of Transportation’s (NYSDOT) is accepting written comments from the public until January 31 (see below), and NYSDOT officials at the meeting seemed genuinely receptive to constructive suggestions backed up by citizen support. This is a big opportunity! " Rochester Cycling Alliance
  • 1/23/2012 - There’s no environmental freight to throw overboard; it’s a Fracking delusion Environmental issues are riddled with examples of why our environmental infrastructure must remain intact for us humans to have a sustainable future.  I mean intact in the way that 4 billion years of biology and evolution on this planet has fit every little piece of our environmental puzzle together resulting in our specie’s appearance and survival.  Deep ecology recognizes that our environment is not just about us. Take biodiversity for example.  If we carve up our environment for our particular immediate needs, we threaten our environment’s ability to rebound after a disaster—say extreme weather. A disease could rip through our monocultures, like the potato blight, and leave our agriculture crippled.  Allowing other plants and animals to survive gives our environment a cushion against a complete collapsed when things go awry. more... 
  • 1/23/2012 - ACTION: Got ideas on how we should solve Climate Change?  How important are nature’s services (one of them being LIFE) are to you?  The Public Review Draft of the National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy is now available for public review and comment.  You have until March 5th, 2012 to submit comment via mail, web, or in person.  NFWP Climate Adaptation Strategy "The Public Review Draft of the National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy is now available for public review and comment. To ensure that we are able to consider your comments, we must receive them by March 5, 2012. You can submit your comments through the web, by mail, or in person. Learn how to submit your comments here. Public workshops will be conducted at several locations around the country to provide additional opportunities for public comment and discussion of the draft. Please visit our Public Workshops page for more information. In addition, a free, public online web conference or webinar will also be held. Learn more and sign up here. "
  • 1/21/2012 ACTION: Chime in on helping to identify ways to reduce packaging waste, increase recycling, and reduce the overall impact of packaging materials on the environment—by February 9th, 2012. Dialogue on Sustainable Financing of Recycling: Dialogue Report on Consumer Packaging | Resource Conservation | US EPA "Stakeholder Dialogue Report The participants in the dialogue were tasked with producing a report that discusses multiple strategies for financing municipal recycling systems focusing on consumer packaging. While the report is a result of an EPA-convened dialogue, the report is a work product of the dialogue participants, and not of EPA. Reference to any specific company or commercial products, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation or favoring by the United States Government. EPA invites you to review and comment on the report. Final Report of the Dialogue on Sustainable Financing of Recycling of Packaging at the Municipal Level (PDF) (128 pp, 872K) How to Submit Comments EPA will accept comments on this report for until February 9, 2012 . The docket for this rulemaking is EPA-HQ-RCRA-2011-0912 and can be accessed at Regulations.gov. Comments on the report will be collected into a companion document, and made available here. EPA will review all comments received and consider them in any future actions, but does not plan to formally respond to comments on the final report. Related Materials Issue Assessment: Sustainable Financing for Recycling of Packaging Materials (PDF) (20 pp, 119 K) Dialogue Meeting Summaries and Presentations "
  • 1/21/2012 - Finally, a Rochester, NY area forum on a useful and good source of energy for our area that won’t put our water in jeopardy and won’t warm the planet.  Be there if you care:    "You are invited to a Greater Rochester Apollo Alliance Forum A Solar Jobs Act for New York Transitioning to a New Solar Economy Come and hear the experts and join in on the discussion When: Tuesday, February 7, 2012 Time: 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Where: Workers United Union Hall, 750 East Avenue, Rochester 14607 In his State-of-the State message, Governor Cuomo announced his New York Sun initiative to increase the deployment of solar energy in New York State. He reiterated this commitment in his Executive Budget with sales tax breaks targeted to commercial solar installations and for solar equipment leases. Meanwhile, the NY State Legislature has been working on its own versions of a solar jobs act. Come and hear more about these initiatives and offer your own views about how to increase solar energy deployment and component manufacturing in New York. For more information contact Bill Bastuk at 585-503-6826 or wbastuk@rochester.rr.com  For directions to the Forum, click here. There is no charge for this event "
  • 1/21/2012 - As Fracking is becoming the most immediately critical environmental issue of our NYS region, a little lesson on Fracking might be just the thing.  Check this series out:   Teaching About Marcellus Shale: Part One - GrowWNY "by Don Duggan-Haas, The Paleontological Research Institution & its Museum of the Earthon January 12, 2012 Terms:Arts & Culture, Don Duggan-Haas, Eco-Tourism, Energy & Climate, Hydraulic Fracturing, Jobs & Economy, Nature & Habitat, Schools & Education, Technology, The Museum of the Earth This post is intended to serve as a gateway to a range of readings and other resources to support teaching about the Marcellus Shale and the larger energy system, but before simply posting a list of linked resources, some background is needed as to the types of knowledge needed to effectively teach this content. Part 1, this post, is the introduction to the kinds of knowledge needed to teach the Marcellus Shale. Part 2 will include a list of readings and other resources for building that knowledge. "  -from GrowWNY
  • 1/20/2012 - If you care about our environment you need to hear this:    Bill McKibben on Occupy The Courts - YouTube "350.org Founder Bill McKibben discusses the need for environmentalists to support the fight to overturn Citizens United. "
  • 1/20/2012 - Wanna do something about Climate Change in Rochester, NY?  (Hint: bike.) If you care about increasing Active Transportation in the Rochester, NY region you can still make comment on this major road construction project by the New York State Department of Transportation (DOT) until January 30th, 2012.  Check this out: Access 390: Interchange 16   more...
  • 1/20/2012 - Science educators need help in defending your right to teach the science of Climate Change in your school?  Check this out: NCSE | National Center for Science Education - Defending the Teaching of Evolution & Climate Science The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) is a not-for-profit, membership organization providing information and resources for schools, parents and concerned citizens working to keep evolution and climate science in public school science education. We educate the press and public about the scientific and educational aspects of controversies surrounding the teaching of evolution and climate change, and supply needed information and advice to defend good science education at local, state, and national levels. Our 4500 members are scientists, teachers, clergy, and citizens with diverse religious and political affiliations.
  • 1/17/2012 - Trying to communicate Climate Change over the din of Super denials The collective human reaction to Climate Change in the US can be characterized as dysfunctional.   I use ‘dysfunctional’ in the sense that our collective reaction to the Climate Change threat is not normal for a functional species—a species intent on survival.  Whether most folks in the United States understand Climate Change, or ‘think’ they understand Climate Change, we aren’t really addressing it in any meaningful way.  To ‘get’ Climate Change in a meaningful way would be to see a massive turnaround in how our media, politics, and our culture itself reacts to the most troubling issue of this century.  Only a top-down, that is, leadership from government s around the world will bring down our greenhouse gas concentrations in our atmosphere to a level that won’t threaten our ability to survive.  That is not even close to happening.  We need to find a way to communicate this issue that is like no other challenge the human species has ever faced.  Never had we had to change human behavior instantly on a planetary scale to survive. more...
  • 1/17/2012 - Looks like a great way to bone up on your Climate Change education.  This is something the public needs to take a little time and understand the science behind the gravest problem of our generation.     Open Climate Science 101 "Three thousand non-science major undergraduates at the University of Chicago have taken this class since 1995, and learned the science behind the forecast for a human influence on Earth's climate. The story combines physics, chemistry, biology, and Earth and atmospheric science. The content of this class is now being served to the internet world at large. You can watch video lectures followed by quizzes to stimulate your understanding, and work your way through tutorial exercises letting you get hands-on with interactive models and simple mathematical ideas. You can work at your own pace, on your own time. You don't get University of Chicago credit, but it's free, and if you complete the exercises you can download a certificate of accomplishment signed by me. "