RENewsletter July 25, 2010

RENewsletter | July 25, 2010

The Free environmental newsletter from RochesterEnvironment.com

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

[7/18/2010 – 7/25/2010]

* 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? Or, an Environmental Event, Please, SEND ME THE LINK. If you think this newsletter, which continually informs our community on our local environmental news, events, actions, is worthwhile, please encourage others to sign up.

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

*** The July 2010 Environmental Site of the Month Award goes to Green Monroe http://www.greenmonroe.org/ | Go to Environmental Award .

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

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Opening Salvo: “Green jobs right out of the box”

Green jobs are the new hot jobs. Opportunities for employment are opening up as a paradigm shift in the job market develops. You can get a sense of the dramatic shift in thinking about green jobs by reading how businesses are getting it: Amazon.com: Good to Green: Managing Business Risks and… Where recently only environmental engineer (janitor) opportunities populated the job boards, now you see: building retrofitting, renewable energy generation, alternative transportation , energy efficiency, green construction, energy trading, energy and carbon capture and storage, environment protection, agriculture and forestry, green manufacturing, recycling and waste reduction, and governmental and regulatory administration.

You can find these jobs by checking all the various green job sites, including the recently updated Green Careers New York: “GreenCareersNY was launched in a parternship [sic] between the State Department of Labor and NYSERDA, under the Green Jobs/Green New York Bill to match job seekers with green job and training opportunities.” Check this resource as it represents your tax dollars at work.

But while these jobs present new opportunities, they still represent thinking ‘inside the box’: traditional career choices retrofitted onto existing career fields. Nothing wrong with that—as far as it goes. In fact, what we now consider green jobs rising out of the construction and transportation fields will soon be merely jobs. Constructing green buildings and infrastructures will be the norm.

However, not everyone is mechanically inclined. Not everyone has the resources (or desire) to re-educate themselves from, say, a liberal arts background to being adept at developing, fixing, or selling new technology. There truly doesn’t seem to be any widespread attempt to leverage our available talents in today’s green market.

To get everyone employed, we need to think outside the box. We need all people in all walks of life addressing concerns about our environment and employment. A sustainable world is one where what we do doesn’t trash our environment. We need to shake up the status quo, even in the emerging green job market.

How is that possible? Don’t we just check all the available job boards and match our skills with what’s out here?

Not always. Some create new businesses and employment opportunities based not on some wild gadget they invented, but on a more realistic appraisal of reality. I think it odd when someone says environmentalists are idealists because they want an environmentally healthy world regardless of the constraints this puts on businesses. Actually, it’s the other way around. Groups, businesses, and political ideologues who think we can survive in any environment but a sustainable one are the dreamers. (How are our environment and our economy going? Not so good. )

Out-of-the-box thinking on green jobs: What if artists painted for the public what a sustainable environment looked like? What if historians reevaluated historical events in light of how we got off the track of living sustainably, instead of rehashing all those great wars? What if novelists reflected our newly-realized position on the planet (we’re now running the place) instead of ‘boy meets girl’? What if advertisers pushed a healthy planet, thus creating a world-wide desire for a sustainable planet, instead of some crazy online job scheme to rob us of all our money and our senses? What if someone created a business that hired the plethora of unskilled, uneducated, and undeterred unemployed workers to whip our environment back into shape and get its act together? The industrial revolution created a sea change in the job market. Before, the 1900’s most worked on farms, and then they came into cities and worked in factories. We need another sea change.

If you’re thinking that harping on greening up our jobs is just one of the ‘new’ ideas out there for creating jobs, think again. If we are to have a sustainable existence all jobs will have to be green. Like it or not, we have to move towards a mode of behavior (our economic system) that doesn’t ravage the environment and bring every facet of our environment to the brink of destruction. Otherwise, we’ll be like the vanishingly large number of species who have ever existed on this planet (99.9%) -- extinct.

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]

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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.]

7/24/2010 -Watch Climate Change: Check out this 3-part series of online videos of a report on Climate Changes Lake Superior. Lake Superior and Climate Change: In the first installment of the Institute on the Environment's three-part video series, researchers at the University of Minnesota Duluth campus discuss the impacts of climate change on Lake Superior and the questions yet to be answered. Part 2, Part 3.
7/24/2010 - Great way to help out our environment: Consider joining in one of our area’s biggest clean up event of the year. Bring your friends and family and get into the spirit of the clean-up. Join the 25th Anniversary NY Beach Cleanup September 25, 2010 Plan to be at an ocean beach or near a river, sound, stream, wetland, or lake in September to join a cleanup team and participate in the New York Beach Cleanup, coordinated annually by the American Littoral Society as part of the International Coastal Cleanup, a worldwide effort of The Ocean Conservancy to document and remove marine debris from our shores and waterways. Litter is not only unsightly; it poses threats to humans and wildlife. Birds become entangled in discarded fishing line and 6-pack ring holders; marine mammals ingest plastics that can obstruct their intestinal tract. Broken glass and metal inadvertently picked up by haying combines can cause fatal injuries to grazing livestock. In 2009, over 10,000 volunteers documented and removed 144,000 pounds of debris from 284 sites across New York. In September, visit the society’s website www.alsnyc.org where cleanups “at a beach near you” will be listed. For assistance in forming a cleanup team of your own, contact Beach Cleanup Coordinator Barbara Cohen at alsbeach@aol.com or (718) 471-2166. See the Flyer
7/23/2010 - A Good Example of Environmental Investigation: This three-part series on the fresh waters of the Great Lakes by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is an example of the kind of investigating reporting we need on our environment and what we may lose if we don’t find ways to increase thorough environmental investigations. Simple ad hock environmental stories when something big pop up and grabs our attention is not the way to report on our environment. Usually, by the time an environmental issue gets so bad that it captures our local media’s attention; it’s too late to do anything about it. What we need from our media is to practice the Precautionary Principle and anticipate environmental issues and investigate them thoroughly before our ability to choose has vanished. Check out this series of three stories that try to anticipate the need for fresh water in the future and how that may jeopardize the health of our Great Lakes. When a desperate nation demands fresh water from a water system that cannot tolerate water leaving it’s boundaries to remain the same that’s going to be too late to deal with the situation wisely. Divided Over Water | Part 1: Fresh water is in short supply in many Milwaukee-area communities. Tap into Lake Michigan, right? Wrong. An invisible line divides those who can use the Great Lakes from those who can't touch a drop. And if exceptions are made, who might come calling for water next? Part 2: Struggling with tainted water, the southeastern Wisconsin community of Pleasant Prairie and the northwestern Indiana town of Lowell both sought permission to tap Lake Michigan water. Pleasant Prairie got it; Lowell did not. Their stories are classic examples of the power and politics of Great Lakes water. Part 3: People who think the Great Lakes can't be damaged should talk to some farmers in the Great Plains. For 30 years, they pumped with abandon from an underground reservoir the size of Lake Huron, never thinking they might hit "E" on the tank that fueled the economy. Now, in some spots, they've run dry. --from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Breaking news, sports, business, watchdog journalism, multimedia
7/23/2010 - Will we lose our chance to Choose? How we get electricity in the future may not be driven by just Climate Change. If we in the US don’t wish to change our polluting ways of getting electricity, the market itself may force us to use better methods. The down-side of dragging our feet in addressing Climate Change and energy may be that we will have to fall in step with the rest of the world who will address these severe environmental issues. That means if the US doesn’t become a leader in cleaner, better energy production, we will have to take the lead of others. We might not like that. That’s the way it is with making bad choices, or not choosing to choose when a choice is necessary, you lose your chance to choose. U.S. Electric Utilities Must Embrace Clean Energy, Energy Efficiency BOSTON – The most successful utilities in the 21st Century will be very different from those of the 20th Century. To remain competitive, U.S. utilities will need to provide cleaner, low-carbon electricity while enabling customers to better manage and reduce their energy use. Achieving this will require significant changes to the traditional utility business model. That’s the core finding of Ceres’ new report The 21st Century Electric Utility: Positioning for a Low-Carbon Future, authored by Navigant Consulting. (July 8, 2010) Ceres - Advancing Sustainable Prosperity
7/22/2010 - Quantifying our Natural Resources: Too often we forget that it is not our economic system that rules our planet; it is the laws of physics and our biology. That we have not come up with an easy way to quantify and qualify the separate elements of our environment—the value of our forests and oceans and the plants and animals that inhabit them—is not Nature’s fault. It is our inability to create an economic system that properly includes them so we know the true price of the resources we take from our environment. As one biologist said recently, (and I paraphrase from this interview A conversation on poachers, gorillas and copper wires | Home | Deutsche Welle) the animals in our environment are not postage stamps, they are the machinery of our environment. You would think that with the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity humanity would begin to rethink the way it values its biodiversity. Because at the rate we are going now, many animals and plants, which are an integral part of our environment’s ‘machinery’, are going extinct. Economists call for accounting rules on environmental impact | Business | Deutsche Welle | 14.07.2010 Businesses and economic planners use elaborate systems to measure various types of capital including financial assets and human resources. Now UN-backed experts say they should take biodiversity into account as well. With the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico damaging regional fishery and tourism industries, authors of a UN-sponsored report linking business and biodiversity are calling on companies to count the cost of overexploitation of natural resources. (July 14, 2010) Home | Deutsche Welle
7/22/2010 - Climate Change could impact every aspect of public health. Scientists Quantify Global Warming's Threat to Public Health: Scientific American From heat stress to sewage overflows, climate change promises to bring extreme weather that will challenge the ill-prepared U.S. public health infrastructure | Extreme weather induced by climate change has dire public health consequences, as heat waves threaten the vulnerable, storm runoff overwhelms city sewage systems and hotter summer days bake more pollution into asthma-inducing smog, scientists say. (July 12, 2010) Science News, Articles and Information | Scientific American
7/21/2010 - Our Climate will change. How much can we stand? Locking in our future — The Daily Climate Today's emissions decisions will drive the planet's weather for generations, panel concludes. The question for policymakers: How much change do we want to dial in? Welcome to the Anthropocene. Decisions made today about planet-warming emissions will influence climate impacts not just for decades but for centuries and perhaps even millennia, a panel from the National Academy of Sciences warned Friday. If I knew that every pound of cheesecake that I ate would give me a pound that could never be lost, I think I would eat a lot less cheesecake. - Susan Solomon, NOAA Given the longevity of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, these scientists said, these decisions effectively lock humanity in for a range of impacts, some of which can be "very severe." (July 16, 2010) --from The Daily Climate
7/21/2010 - ACTION: Finger Lakes Institute Invasive Species Plant Pull Saturday, August 7, 2010 from 9:00 am – 1:00 pm, Montezuma Wildlife Refuge Tschache Pool European frogbit is a non-native, free-floating aquatic plant that forms dense patches in marshes, edges of ponds, wetlands, and lake shorelines. The cover makes it difficult for wildlife to get thru the water and when the plants die they decay and deplete oxygen levels in the water hurting the natural habitat. This service project will have volunteers venture out in canoes to hunt down frogbit and pull it from the waters of Tschache Pool located in the Montezuma Wildlife Refuge.To volunteer call (315) 781-4382 or email smeyer@hws.edu [Watch the Video]

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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.

July 2010

Wednesday, July 28th starting at 6:00 PM | The Sky Bar* D'Arcy McGees, 257 Franklin St., Buffalo, Ny

Green Drinks - July Wednesday, July 28th starting at 6:00 PM at The Sky Bar* D'Arcy McGees, 257 Franklin St., Buffalo Please join us at the next Green Drinks Networking event. Every other month people who work to make business greener meet up for libations at informal sessions known as Green Drinks. We have a lively mixture of people from business, academia, government and non-profits who come together to share ideas and information. Join us to network with other professionals who are working to reduce the environmental impact of businesses. Wednesday, July 28th starting at 6:00 PM at The Sky Bar* at D'Arcy McGees 257 Franklin St., Buffalo *Green Drinks will move downstairs to D'Arcy McGees if the weather isn't cooperative.

Saturday, July 31, 9 a.m. to 3 pm, | Naples Community Park

Saturday, July 31, 9 a.m. to 3 pm, " Hiking Trail Construction and Maintenance", Naples Community Park. Presenter and guide, Marty Dodge, Professor in the Conservation Dept. of the Finger Lakes Community College has built and maintained trails in NY, Me, and Alaska including Nature Interpretation Trails at Cummings Nature Center. Work gloves, long pants and long-sleeved shirts recommended. Bring water and bag lunch. Registration required to dodgemc@flcc.edu or 394-3500. While Marty is leading a month trip to Alaska, registration taken by Alison Clarke , 394-0864 or accompost@gmail.com, CSL contact or Mary Norman, 585-278-7547, mary.norman@xerox.com, contact for the local Sierra Club, a co-sponsor

SATURDAY, JULY 31st at NOON | We will gather at the Bandstand at 11:30 and join hands at noon Ontario Beach Park (north end of Lake Avenue, Rochester)

THIS TIME, IT'S NOT JUST BP! We'll be gathering at Ontario Beach again to "draw a line in the sand" against the continuing corporate plunder of our earth and its resources. Please join us as we say NO! to off-shore oil drilling, hydrofracking, mountaintop removal, coal mining, and all other unsafe pillage for profit. The time has come again to join "HANDS ACROSS THE SAND" JOIN HANDS WITH OTHERS IN THIS REGIONAL EVENT TO OPPOSE THE DESPOILING OF OUR PLANET AND SUPPORT RENEWABLE ENERGY Saturday, July 31 We will gather at the Bandstand at 11:30 and join hands at noon Ontario Beach Park (north end of Lake Avenue, Rochester) Please wear black. What else you can do: [ ] Bring a sign! [ ] Bring a friend. (Children especially welcome!) [ ] SPREAD THE WORD TO YOUR FRIENDS, NEIGHBORS, CO-WORKERS.... [ ] PLACE A NOTICE ON THE BULLETIN BOARD WHERE YOU WORK, WORSHIP, SHOP.... Concerned citizens from throughout the greater-Rochester region will gather once again at Ontario Beach Park to express their opposition to unsafe drilling and mining, and to champion clean energy and renewable energy sources. We will join hands at noon as an expression of our caring for our planet and its fragile ecosystem, and for the wildlife and human populations dependent upon it. Local contact: VickiRyder@juno.com

Saturday, July 31, 2010 from 10AM to 4PM | Stokoe Farms, 656 South Road - Scottsville, NY

Wildlife Educators Coalition & The Living Collection are joining forces to bring you CREATURES FROM EVERY WORLD Hosted by Stokoe Farms, 656 South Road - Scottsville, NY On Saturday, July 31, 2010 from 10AM to 4PM Come to our unique & amazing Child-Friendly/Family Expo Featuring Exotic Animals, Petting Zoo, Stage Shows, Animal Based Games, Entertainment & Interactive Environmental Education Adults-$8; 12 & under-$4: Family of 5 - $20 Group Rates-please call 585-259-7112 or email: karinf@nywec.org

August 2010

August 2-6, 2010 | SUNY Cobleskill, Cobleskill, NY

“Compost Operations Training Course” Learn best management practices to improve efficiency and cut costs of production! August 2-6, 2010 SUNY Cobleskill, Cobleskill, NY Still Time To Register… Registration Information: go to: Compost Operations Training Course SEE Questions: contact Cary Oshins at: 484-547-1521 or email: cary.oshins@compostingcouncil.org Sponsors and Partners: US Composting Council, SUNY Cobleskill, Soil Control Lab, ReoTemp, Cornell Waste Management Institute, Northeast Recycling Council Inc, NYS DEC, NYSAR3, CT DEP, and NY SWANA. Please post and/or forward this information to those you feel would benefit! Thank you. If you want to be removed from this email list, please let us know at: cwmi@cornell.edu Cornell Waste Management Institute Department of Crop & Soil Sciences Cornell University 101b Rice Hall * Ithaca, NY 14853 email: cwmi@cornell.edu ph: 607-255-1187 fx: 607-255-0238 http://cwmi.css.cornell.edu

10 a.m. Friday, Aug. 6 | The invitation-only ceremony will take place at the preserve on Black Brook Road, south of Route 318.

Seneca Meadows preserve opening set for August 6 SENECA FALLS — A grand opening ceremony for the Seneca Meadows 600-acre Wetlands Preserve will be 10 a.m. Friday, Aug. 6. The invitation-only ceremony will take place at the preserve on Black Brook Road, south of Route 318. (July 23, 2010) Finger Lakes Times Online - Front [more on Wetlands in our area)

Saturday, August 7, 2010 from 9:00 am – 1:00 pm, Montezuma Wildlife Refuge

Finger Lakes Institute Invasive Species Plant Pull Saturday, August 7, 2010 from 9:00 am – 1:00 pm, Montezuma Wildlife Refuge Tschache Pool European frogbit is a non-native, free-floating aquatic plant that forms dense patches in marshes, edges of ponds, wetlands, and lake shorelines. The cover makes it difficult for wildlife to get thru the water and when the plants die they decay and deplete oxygen levels in the water hurting the natural habitat. This service project will have volunteers venture out in canoes to hunt down frogbit and pull it from the waters of Tschache Pool located in the Montezuma Wildlife Refuge.To volunteer call (315) 781-4382 or email smeyer@hws.edu [Watch the Video]

August 12 at the Anderson Performing Arts Center at Binghamton University in Binghamton, N.Y. for 3 sessions - 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., and 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. EDT (June 18, 2010) U.S. EPA Newsroom - News Releases [more on Energy in our area]

EPA Announces a Schedule of Public Meetings on Hydraulic Fracturing Research Study; August 12 Meeting to be Held in Binghamton, N.Y. (New York, N.Y.) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is hosting four public information meetings on the proposed study of the relationship between hydraulic fracturing and its potential impacts on drinking water. Hydraulic fracturing is a process that drills vertical and horizontal cracks underground that help withdraw gas or oil from coalbeds, shale and other geological formations. By pumping fracturing fluids (water and chemical additives) and sands into rock formations, fractures are created in the formation from which natural gas or oil can be more easily extracted. The meetings will provide public information about the proposed study scope and design. EPA will solicit public comments on the draft study plan. The public meetings will be held on: August 12 at the Anderson Performing Arts Center at Binghamton University in Binghamton, N.Y. for 3 sessions - 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., and 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. EDT (June 18, 2010) U.S. EPA Newsroom - News Releases [more on Energy in our area]

September 2010

Saturday, September 4, 2010 from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. | Ontario Barn Vineyards 513 Whitney Road, Ontario, NY

The annual Ontario Barn Festival will be held Saturday, September 4, 2010 from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. The festival will feature all day live music, BBQ, arts & crafts, promotion of solar energy, apple picking, free ice cream and face painting and lots of fun! Bring the entire family! Sept 4, 2010 Ontario Barn Festival. Part of our mission is to promote solar energy.

Sunday, September 5, 2010 1 – 5 P | High Falls Rec Area, Mt. Morris Entrance Letchworth Park

Letchworth Park – Farewell to Summer Sunday, September 5, 2010 1 – 5 PM - Admission free with park admission Letchworth Park Farewell to Summer High Falls Rec Area, Mt. Morris Entrance Wildlife Educators Coalition presents Live, Exotic Animal Exhibit & Animal Games For more information: please call 585-259-7112 or email: karinf@nywec.org

Saturday, September 11, 2010 | Main Street, Livonia, NY

Livonia Autumn in the Village, Main Street, Livonia, NY Saturday, September 11, 2010 Street Fair – Free Wildlife Educators Coalition presents Live, Exotic Animal Exhibit & Animal Games For more information: please call 585-259-7112 or email: karinf@nywec.org

Sunday, September 19, most of the day | Cyclists will be riding from multiple starting points along the Erie Canalway Trail to the east and west of Rochester, converging at the Erie/ Genesee River crossing where in Genesee Valley Park where there will be a rest stop with refreshments at the Round House

A Major Cycling event comes to Rochester. Be a part of it. Rochester, NY Welcomes The World Canals Conference The New York State Canal Corporation, Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor Commission, Canal Society of New York State, the City of Rochester, Monroe County, Bergmann Associates, and PIANC-USA welcome delegates to the World Canals Conference scheduled 19 to 24 September 2010. Cycling Event WCC 2010 Bicyclists can take part in the festivities taking place on Sunday, September 19, to kick off the 2010 World Canals Conference in Rochester. Cyclists will be riding from multiple starting points along the Erie Canalway Trail to the east and west of Rochester, converging at the Erie/ Genesee River crossing where in Genesee Valley Park where there will be a rest stop with refreshments at the Round House. At 12:30 p.m., the cyclists will depart the Genesee Valley Park along with a flotilla of vintage and contemporary canal boats for Corn Hill Landing, riding up trails along the east and west sides of the Genesee River. The starting points for the cyclists from the west will include Holley, Brockport, Spencerport and Greece. Starting points to the east will include Palmyra, Macedon, Fairport, Pittsford and Brighton. Anyone interested in being a ride leader or participant at these or other locations should contact Richard Desarra, the Cycling Event organizer, at rdscomm@rochester.rr.com.

September 25, 2010 | In September, visit the society’s website www.alsnyc.org where cleanups “at a beach near you” will be listed

Join the 25th Anniversary NY Beach Cleanup September 25, 2010 Plan to be at an ocean beach or near a river, sound, stream, wetland, or lake in September to join a cleanup team and participate in the New York Beach Cleanup, coordinated annually by the American Littoral Society as part of the International Coastal Cleanup, a worldwide effort of The Ocean Conservancy to document and remove marine debris from our shores and waterways. Litter is not only unsightly; it poses threats to humans and wildlife. Birds become entangled in discarded fishing line and 6-pack ring holders; marine mammals ingest plastics that can obstruct their intestinal tract. Broken glass and metal inadvertently picked up by haying combines can cause fatal injuries to grazing livestock. In 2009, over 10,000 volunteers documented and removed 144,000 pounds of debris from 284 sites across New York. In September, visit the society’s website www.alsnyc.org where cleanups “at a beach near you” will be listed. For assistance in forming a cleanup team of your own, contact Beach Cleanup Coordinator Barbara Cohen at alsbeach@aol.com or (718) 471-2166. See the Flyer

November 2010

Friday November 5 and Saturday November 6 |the First Congregational United Church of Christ, Fairport, NY

The First Congregational United Church of Christ, Fairport, NY will be hosting our 2nd Annual "My Brother’s Keeper - Artisan Gift Fair”. The focus of this event is providing a marketplace for goods that promote economic independence for its producers both locally and in third worlds, as well as for products made in an environmentally conscious manner. The fair will feature vendors that possess one or more of the following attributes: (1) Fair Trade; (2) Eco-Friendly; (3) Organic; (4) Recycled/Reused products; (5) Locally produced products; and/or (6) Products that provide benefits to disabled, unemployed, poor or displaced individuals

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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.

Action: Due Date: Now

The Child Product Safety Act has been introduced in the New York State Legislature and needs support to get it passed. This law would prohibit products which have toxic heavy metals, flame retardants and other toxic chemicals from being sold in our state. What we need right now are calls to individual Senators, so they know their constituents want them to support S 7070a. It's a two-minute call - just dial 518-455-2800 and ask for your Senator's office. (don't know who that is? Find out here.) Identify yourself as a constituent, and tell them you want your Senator to co-sponsor the Child-Safe Products Act, S 7070a, and to actively work for its passage this session. (Senator James S. Alesi 585-223-1800 and Senator Joseph Roback 585-225-3650 ) Feel free to add your personal message. 585-225-3650 Thank you Judy Braiman, Consumer Advocate

ACTION: Due Date Now.

from the Green Party of Monroe County "The Green Party of Monroe County is looking for progressives in our community to enhance its local platform. If you have an interest in real solutions to our environmental, economic and social problems, you can have an impact on what the Green Party will do when elected. Work on your own or with other like-minded folks to create individual planks of our local platform. Issues can be something you have already been working on or something you have always wanted to fix. Examples of some issues include, industrial pollution, area brownfields, renewable energy, land trusts, etc. Contact Dave Atias if you are interested in helping get our government on the side of the people. Greenpmc34@yahoo.com or 585-315-7687 "

ACTION: Due Date Now:

URMC Receives $15.5M for Live Virus Vaccine Isolation Studies - News Room - University of Rochester Medical Center This week, the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) announced plans to begin a cluster of bird flu vaccine trials, many of which will contain live, weakened viruses and require participants to remain in isolation for several days a time. Slated to start this summer, the studies are funded by a National Institutes of Health grant amounting to more than $15.5 million over five years. Volunteers could receive up to $2,025 for completing this study – including a $50 honorarium for a screening visit, $125 per day spent on the isolation unit, $75 per follow-up outpatient visit, and a $250 bonus for completing all study visits on time. As the isolation unit does not offer cooking facilities, food and beverages will be provided. For further information or to enroll, please call the Vaccine Research Unit at (585) 273-3990. (June 15, 2010) University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester NY

Action Alert: Due Date Now:

CITIZENS CAMPAIGN FOR THE ENVIRONMENT ACTION ALERT URGENT! Call the New York State Senate Today Hydro-Fracking Moratorium On the Move! A key NYS Assembly committee approved the moratorium on hydro-fracking! With this movement in the Assembly, it is important that the Senate now move as well. Call Senator Antoine Thompson, Chair of the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee, and urge him to put the Hydro-Fracking Moratorium bill on the agenda and urge the Senate to pass the Hydro-Fracking Moratorium before the recess. Take Action Now

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: (July 21, 2010 - 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM )

Take action on helping to establish bait rule on the Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS) issue: DEC Seeks Public's Input on Baitfish Transport Regulations - NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation Baitfish Health Regulations Public Meeting Schedule New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Pete Grannis today announced that DEC will seek public input on the current ban on transporting uncertified baitfish. The ban was established in 2007 after an outbreak of viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS) in the Great Lakes system in 2005. VHS is a disease that causes internal bleeding and sometimes death in certain fish when they are stressed in cooler temperatures. While VHS was the primary concern, eight other pathogens also were addressed when the rules were established. The current regulations ban "the overland (motorized) transport of personally collected baitfish (baitfish that are uncertified as far as not tested for fish diseases)." This is the only part of the state's fish-health regulations that DEC is seeking comment on at this time. DEC has slated a series of public meetings across the state (schedule attached). For two of the meeting dates, there will be live video feed at multiple locations. In addition, members of the public may participate by web conference. To learn how to use a home computer to participate, please visit DEC website for more information. (July 21, 2010 - 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM Rochester Area (Live video feed) NYSDEC Region 8 Headquarters 6274 Avon-Lima Rd. (Rtes. 5 and 20) Avon, NY 14414-9519 585-226-5324

ACTION: Due Date: Saturday, August 7, 2010 from 9:00 am – 1:00 pm, Montezuma Wildlife Refuge

Finger Lakes Institute Invasive Species Plant Pull Saturday, August 7, 2010 from 9:00 am – 1:00 pm, Montezuma Wildlife Refuge Tschache Pool European frogbit is a non-native, free-floating aquatic plant that forms dense patches in marshes, edges of ponds, wetlands, and lake shorelines. The cover makes it difficult for wildlife to get thru the water and when the plants die they decay and deplete oxygen levels in the water hurting the natural habitat. This service project will have volunteers venture out in canoes to hunt down frogbit and pull it from the waters of Tschache Pool located in the Montezuma Wildlife Refuge.To volunteer call (315) 781-4382 or email smeyer@hws.edu [Watch the Video]

Action Due Date: August 16, 2010

DEC Extends Public Comment Period on Draft Solid Waste Management Plan - NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation Comments Now Accepted until Aug. 16, 2010 The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has extended the public comment period for the draft Solid Waste Management Plan, "Beyond Waste: A Sustainable Materials Management Strategy for New York," until Aug. 16, 2010. (June 3, 2010) [more on Recycling in our area] Public Input Requested: Help the DEC set a new bar on what should be recycled in our area and the rest of New York. Things have been changing in our ability to recycle in the past years. “The Solid Waste Management Plan (SWMP) was issued in 1987. It set a waste reduction and recovery goal of 50%-bold for its time--and contained a broad and aggressive list of recommendations.” But, now there are new waste streams such has electronics, and things we don’t want in our waste streams at all such as pharmaceuticals, and mercury-containing products. So, take a look at the Draft Solid Waste Management Plan. - "The Draft Solid Waste Management Plan entitled "Beyond Waste: A Sustainable Materials Management Strategy for New York State" is now available for review. Check out Beyond Waste and attend one of the several hearings coming to a place near you. If you cannot attend one of the hearings, you can write in your response. “Comments should be submitted to Ed Dassatti, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, Division of Solid and Hazardous Materials, 625 Broadway, Albany, NY 12233-7250.” You can comment through July 6. Please email us with any questions or comments. Draft New York State Solid Waste Management Plan - NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation This SWMP process offers an opportunity to take stock of where we are with regard to solid waste management strategies and articulate a bold vision for maximizing recovery and minimizing waste. A SWMP will provide the Department with an opportunity to address the broader environmental implications of solid waste management alternatives, including global climate change. The Plan will include an analysis of the environmental and economic benefits of its recommendations to maximize recovery and reduce waste. In so doing, we will build the case for legislative and regulatory actions to achieve more aggressive recovery goals. "

ACTION due Date - October 10, 2010 - 10/10/10

Create October 10 Action | 350.org "10/10/10 will be a day of work parties all over the world. Will you join us? In every corner of the globe, we will implement solutions to the climate crisis: from solar panels to community gardens, wind turbines to bike workshops. We'll tell leaders: “We're getting to work--what about you?” To read more about our plans for 2010, click here It's still early, so it's OK if you don't know all the details of your local work party. There's a list of work-party ideas at www.350.org/workparty-ideas to get things moving, but don't worry if you don't have a game-plan just yet. " --from 350.org

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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.]

The July 2010 Environmental Site of the Month Award goes to Green Monroe (http://www.greenmonroe.org/ Green Monroe is a great example of a local community putting its resources together to help individuals and businesses become more environmentally friendly by addressing energy consumption. Becoming more sustainable is going to take some research finding the best programs and incentives for lowering your energy impact on our environment—Green Monroe helps take the drudgery out of that and steer you the best sources. Be sure to sign up to their very useful Green Monroe Newsletter.

Green Monroe (http://www.greenmonroe.org/ “GreenMonroe.org is a website for Monroe County residents, businesses and organizations to identify energy saving incentive programs. These are programs offering money to help you with energy saving upgrades - in homes and in commercial buildings – and rebates to encourage the purchase of energy efficient products. GreenMonroe.org has interactive tools and reference materials for Monroe County residents, businesses and organizations on the topics of conserving energy, switch to renewable energy sources and reduce environmental footprint on energy uses. GreenMonroe.org also showcases energy conservation and renewable energy projects implemented by the Monroe County government and by residents, businesses and organizations in Monroe County. These projects demonstrate the benefits of adopting energy efficiency products and renewable energy sources.”

Frank J. Regan (FrankRegan@RochesterEnvironment.com) or (FrankRegan@Frontiernet.net ) - Please visit: http://RochesterEnvironment.com: Where you can get all the environmental news, events, documents, and services on the Internet for Rochester, New York.

RochesterEnvironment.com is the most complete, non-profit environmental site for any one city in the world. You can also subscribe to RochesterEnvironment.Com. Once a month, get RochesterEnvironment.com's "RENewsletter in your mail" - http://rochesterenvironment.com/subscribe.htm. Or, join in discussion on Rochester environmental matters at Environmental Thoughts - Rochester, NY - http://rochesterenvironmentny.blogspot.com/