RENewsletter | July
31, 2011
The Free environmental newsletter from RochesterEnvironment.com
“Our Environment is changing: Keep up with the
Change.”
[7/24/11 – 7/31/11]
* Got news? | Go to my blog: Environmental Thoughts - Rochester, NY or Tweet me @ http://twitter.com/#!/FrankRrrr On
Twitter, I post local environmental events, news, and commentary as soon as it
happens. 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.
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?
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
Opening Salvo | NewsLinks | Daily Updates | Events | Environmental Site of the Month
| Take Action |
* The July 2011 Environmental
Site of the Month Award goes to R-Cause:
Rochesterians Concerned About Unsafe Shale-gas
Extraction “: Go to Award.
[Hyperlinks work by CTRL + click to follow a link]
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Opening Salvo: “Debt crisis could jeopardize Free TV in
Rochester; do we care?”
If you are still one of those
luddites like me who can only get local Television by antenna (via the digital converter
box, of course), there is the threat that that this free service that we have
known ‘forever’ is going to be gone.
The great wailing and gnashing of teeth has begun on local TV and from
the sounds it, it’s pretty serious.
Check this out:
Debate over debt
ceiling could impact local TV viewing | www.WHEC.com “The debate over raising the debt ceiling and
cutting spending could have an impact on TV viewing. Some of the proposals in
Washington include allowing the FCC to reduce the airwaves used by local TV
stations including ours” (July 28, 2011)
And:
Is
"Free TV" coming to an end in the Rochester area? - Local News -
Rochester, NY - msnbc.com The president of the New
York State Broadcaster's Association believes one of the plans to resolve the
debt ceiling crisis could put an end to free, "over the air"
television in the Rochester area. Dave Donovan says a proposed auction to sell
broadcast frequency space used by television stations to cell phone companies
would knock four of the five Rochester TV stations off the air. (July 30,
2011)
But would it be a travesty to
lose this ‘free’ service that is, of course, riddled with ads? What would we miss if local TV just
died? We’d miss all those local sports
scores, all those gory accidents that our unsustainable and unsafe transportation
system fosters, all those pets being abused, those weather reports that still
deny Climate
Change (despite the recent heat wave’s relationship to Climate Change
predictions). And, allegedly, we’d miss
all those public service announcements that are provided for the public interest--not.
In short, what we’d miss is
not much except a deluge of non-news and non-weather that has little relevance
to important matters that the public needs to know. When is the last time you saw our local TV
investigate an environmental problem or explain how Climate Change will happen
here? When is the last time you heard a
report about the local concerns about possible hydrofracking in our area, or safety
and maintenance issues involving local nuclear power plants? When is the last time you heard or watched a
program on the miserable foreclosures endured by those who did not cause our
economic problems?
Mostly, local TV is run by
corporations who are pushing their agenda:
Laissez-faire Capitalism not only provides you with a lot of neat stuff,
in fact it solves everything. The
message from those free signals now in trouble is that everyone is doing just
fine during this economic crisis, getting all the jobs and medical care they
need.
Let’s be honest: Local TV is
a great wasteland that numbs the mind. Local
free TV does little to provide what the public needs to know to be an informed
citizen, like how to recycle properly.
They don’t remind vehicle owners, whose business they constantly solicit,
to let bikes share our roadways too.
The media throughout the
world is in crisis. And the Internet is
not wholly to blame. The media, bought
up and consolidated by ideologue media moguls, provide the public with nonsense
they don’t need and little of what they do.
There is an outcry for critical information that is being met by
bloggers and new media concepts like ProPublica.
We need information for folks
in all walks of life in order to have a decent democracy and a clean and
sustainable environment. But the
corporate media, who have dominated those free antenna bandwidths, have
squandered this resource by filling those airwaves with rubbish not fit for a
society as resourceful and intelligent as ours.
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]
________________________________________
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.]
- 7/30/2011 -Physics, politics, and Climate Change, what are you
going to do? At the end of the day, despite American reluctance to forgo
their political prejudice against Climate Change, the energy of the sun is
getting more trapped by our increase of man-made greenhouse gases and
things are warming up. It gets complicated but what’s more important than
your planet overheating? 250-500
Million MW of Extra Energy Now Roiling the Earth’s Climate System | SolveClimate News As extreme weather events
multiply, scientists are still in the early stages of understanding how
more energy is influencing complex weather phenomena Despite America's
intense political polarization over climate change, the scientific
measurement of global warming is not in dispute. Since 1900, the earth as
a whole has warmed by 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit, an empirical fact that has
become an official U.S. government statistic of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration.
- 7/30/2011 - Hydrofracking in our region, what’s the rush? Check
out this very important report by the Citizens Campaign for the Environment
called: “Protecting
New York’s Air, Land, Water and People What’s the
Hydro-Fracking Rush?” There are many things to consider before a major
change to our region comes because of hydrofracking.
- 7/30/2011 - Find out about renewable energy and Climate Change
from our foremost Climate Scientist Dr. James Hansen, where he says “The
bigger problem is that people who accept the reality of climate change are
not proposing actions that would work. This is important, because as
Mother Nature makes climate change more obvious, we need to be moving in
directions within a framework that will minimize theimpacts
and provide young people a fighting chance of stabilizing the situation.”
Baby Lauren and the Kool Aid A discussion
of renewable energies can be found on my website.
Jim Hansen
- 7/30/2011 - More evidence of the havoc wreaked by Climate Change:
Tundra Fires And Climate Change: More Bad News :
The Two-Way : NPR It may be cold up there in the Arctic, but that
doesn't mean it doesn't burn. And as the planet gets warmer, tundra fires
are not only becoming more common, they may also shift a huge amount of
carbon from the soil into the atmosphere, a new study reports. Back in 2007,
lightning struck the remote North Slope of Alaska, igniting the largest
fire to hit the region since modern recording began in the 1950s. The fire
burned for nearly three months until snowfall finally put it out in
October. It left behind a charred scar of 400 square miles — big enough to
see from space." (July 28, 2011) Environment : NPR
- 7/30/2011 - Free seminar on becoming a BPI Certified Contractor NYSERDA
Energy $mart Seminar for Home Improvement & HVAC Contractors Friday,
August 26th 2011 from 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM CCE (Highland Room) 249 Highland
Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620 Home Performance Contracting provides full
diagnostic of the home, gauging: heat loss, electrical load, health &
safety hazards. Homeowners receives a report
detailing opportunities for energy savings & necessary health/safety
measures. Measures with the most affordable rate of payback are
prioritized. Find out the benefit of becoming a BPI Certified Contractor
and how that gives you the edge on your competition. Register for free
contractor seminar here.
More
details. --from CEI: Center for
Environmental Information
- 7/29/2011 - Action
you can take for our environment from the Rochester Sierra Club and the
City of Rochester Remove invasive species in the Cobb's Hill forest.
The City of Rochester is looking for volunteers to battle the invasive
species in the Cobb's Hill Forest. more...
- 7/29/2011 - Environmental
data must include Climate Change data – Climate Change indicators Recently, at a meeting to update ACT Rochester talks included
adding Climate Change indicators to their Environment
page. Although this may seem arcane to some, it’s crucial that the data we
use to plan our future include the likely
changes that Climate
Change will bring to our area. We can only do that if we have accurate
data that reflect all areas of concern in our changing environment. So,
let’s start with the beginning. What is ACT Rochester? more...
- 7/28/2011 - Biking in our parks talk today: "The
International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA) Trail Care Crew will be
visiting our region, this week, for site visits and a seminar. This is a
team of trail professionals, focused on sustainable building practices,
who travel year-round throughout the United States for educational
outreach. While they are in town, the Monroe County Department of Parks
will host the IMBA Trail Care Crew for their presentation of "Land
Manager Training" on Thursday, July 28th from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
at Pavilion Lodge in Ellison Park. The presentation highlights include:
IMBA’s mission; Methods and importance of sustainable trail building; and,
Management of off-road bicycling. "
- 7/28/2011 - Some things you can do about
Climate Change in Rochester, NY: In the Rochester, NY area check out
this event: Say
No to fracking and Yes to renewables | Moving Planet Do you want our
leaders in Albany hear your voice? Do you want to make sure that our
Finger Lakes region and Monroe County remain unscathed by fracking for natural gas? Would you like to see an
investment in renewable energy such as wind, solar, and geothermal? At the
Public Market on Sept. 24th, we'll provide ways for you to let your voice
be heard. Petitions and letters destined for our leaders in Albany as well
as the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) will be available,
plus we'll have up-to-date info on what is happening with the fracking regulatory process and renewable energy
legislation. Plus, kids of all ages can make mini-windmills and solar
collectors!” Also, check out more stuff you can do from 350.org. 1) If you
live in the USA, please check out the civil disobedience campaign at www.TarSandsAction.org-- it's not
a campaign coordinated directly by 350.org, but it has the potential to be
a game-changer in the movement to fight the climate crisis. 2) If you're
on social networks, please share the petition to President Obama with just
a couple of clicks on Facebook
and Twitter. You can also forward on
the email below to get them to sign onto the campaign. 3) If you want to
get involved in this movement locally, join Moving Planet, a global day of
action coming up on September 24. In cities all around the world, there
will be bike parades, rallies, teach-ins, and events of all kinds designed
to move the world beyond fossil fuels. Many thanks for helping to build
this movement. Onwards, The 350.org Team
- 7/28/2011 - Good conversation with an expert on Climate Change,
check it out: Weather
Warnings For A 'Climate Changed Planet' : NPR
"This summer of record breaking heat followed a spring that brought
some of the most extreme weather on record. Climatologist Heidi Cullen
writes, "It's time to face the fact that the weather isn't what it
used to be." "
- 7/24/2011 -Anti-Hydrofracking event coming up. Jeff & Jodi Filmshttp://www.allfrackedup.com/ Jeff
& Jodi Films Jodi and I are farmers turned filmmakers. We are
concerned citizens who are frightened that the natural beauty of New York
State — our streams, rivers, pristine lakes, aquifers, private water
wells, and municipal water supplies — will be irreversibly ruined by the
process of hydro-fracking. Wanting to go beyond
merely sticking a "No-Frack" sign in
front of our house, we decided to get the word out to as many people as
possible. Since people like to watch movies, and movies can both entertain
and educate, we decided to make an anti-fracking
documentary. The result is "All Fracked
Up," a hard hitting documentary which shows that hydro-fracking is an extreme technology used to obtain
extreme energy with potentially extremely direconsequences.
The film has had screenings all over the area, at colleges and churches
and public assemblies. To see the viewing schedule and how to order your
own copy, click here.
NEXT BIG EVENT: 2-Day Camp-OFF on our highlands farm, starting Saturday
Morning July 30, 2011. (You can set up your camp Friday night starting at
6:00 PM.)
- 7/24/2011 - Finding out about hydrofracking in yet another way: Shaleshock
Media | artists and media activists engaged in the struggle against
hydrofracking "Shaleshock Action
Alliance is a movement that works toward protecting our communities and
environment from exploitative gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale region. Shaleshock Media is a network of artists and media
activists who engage their skills and talents as part of this movement.
Our network is open to videographers, audio recordists
and engineers, still photographers, media activists, graphic designers,
and artists of all sorts to showcase and syndicate our work, encourage
collaboration, offer our services, and provide mutual support. "
- 7/24/2011 - Addressing energy efficiency and Climate Change
through NYSERDA: New York State Energy Research and Development Authority Toward a Clean Energy Future: A Three-Year Strategic
Outlook 2011–2014 "NYSERDA diversifies New York’s portfolio of
energy resources by growing renewable and distributed generation resources
and reducing fossil fuel dependence. Production and use of in-state
renewable energy resources can increase the reliability of our energy
systems, reduce energy costs, and contribute to meeting climate change,
public health and environmental objectives. Through its administration of
the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), NYSERDA implements programs to
increase the proportion of renewable generation to 30 percent of the
State’s electricity demand by 2015. NYSERDA’s Combined Heat and Power
(CHP) program promotes cleaner and more-efficient electrical power
generation, heating and cooling for buildings, and industrial processes.
"
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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.
August 2011
- Fri., Aug. 5 to Sun., Aug. 7, 2011 in Alfred, NY on the campus of
Alfred University
- New York Green Fest 2011 Its not enough to just say
no— What's the alternative? Join us for New York Green Fest/GP-US ANM
Fri., Aug. 5 to Sun., Aug. 7, 2011 in Alfred, NY on the campus of Alfred
University It is not enough to oppose toxic drilling and injustice, we
need alternatives. The most difficult questions of sustainability are not
about technology; they are about implementing our values. Implementation
is achieved in the political arena. At NY Green Fest we explore the
politics that enable us to live in a sustainable world. For NY Green Fest
2011, we return to the beautiful campus of Alfred University in Alfred,
NY. We are joined by Greens from across the country and Canada coming to
the 2011 Green Annual National Meeting (ANM), which is being held in
conjunction with Green Fest this year. Our program features more than 30
great workshops on politics, energy, media and ecology (check out the
list on the right), four forums and great music on our solar stage. Presenters
include Elizabeth May, Canada's first elected Green Party member of Parliament, David Korten,
author of Corporations will Rule the World and co-founder of YES!
Magazine, Tina Clarke from the Transition Towns Movement, David Cobb,
2004 Green nominee for President, Virginia Rasmussen from the Program for
Corporations Law and Democracy (POCLAD), Gay Nicholson from Sustainable
Tompkins, Richard Grossman from Frack Free
Catskills and Jack Ossont and Kate Bartholomew
from the Coalition to Protect New York among many. Several Green Party
candidates and officeholders from New York and other states will attend.
At least one candidate for the Green presidential nomination, Kent Mesplay, will be present. Four excellent forums will
be held during the event: Building Local Economies, Fri., Aug. 5, 6:45 pm
September 2011
- September 17-18, 2011 - High Falls, Downtown, Rochester, NY
- Greentopia Festival
The Greentopia Festival is Rochester’s and the Finger Lakes celebration
of the green movement sweeping around the globe. The two-day, interactive
fest in historic High Falls will reveal what the region is doing to help
the environment – and envision a greener Rochester of the future. Think
of Greentopia as a walk-through of a totally sustainable Rochester. We’ve
already begun this walk by exploring healthier ways of living, as
individuals and as a community. In social, economic and environmental
ways, we’ve made the decision to go green.
October 2011
- October 16, 2011, 2-4PM Temple B’rith Kodesh
2131 Elmwood Avenue, Rochester, NY 14618
- How Hydrofracking Will Impact Rochester October 16, 2011, 2-4PM
Temple B’rith Kodesh 2131 Elmwood Avenue,
Rochester, NY 14618 Presented by Social Action Committee and Women of
Reform Judaism of Temple B'rith Kodesh
Sponsored by Interfaith IMPACT of NYS, Interfaith Alliance of Rochester,
Social Justice Council of First Unitarian Church, Sierra Club - Rochester
Regional Group Organized by R-CAUSE (Rochesterians Concerned About Unsafe
Shale-gas Extraction) FORUM KEYNOTE SPEAKER: ANTHONY INGRAFFEA, Ph.D.,
P.E. Dr. Ingraffea is the Dwight C. Baum
Professor of Engineering and a Weiss Presidential Teaching Fellow at
Cornell University. He did R&D for the oil and gas industry for 25
years, specializing in hydraulic fracture simulation and pipeline safety,
and twice won the National Research Council/U.S. National Committee for
Rock Mechanics Award for Research in Rock Mechanics. Some of his many
professional accolades: · Fellow of the American Society of Civil
Engineers in 1991, · Co-Editor-in-Chief of Engineering Fracture Mechanics
in 2005, · ASTM’s George Irwin Award for outstanding research in fracture
mechanics in 2006, · Fellow of the International Congress on Fracture in
2009. Recently, he has been deeply engaged in informal education
regarding hydrofracking with over 50 public presentations over the last
year. Other speakers TBA
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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
- Take action against hydrofracking. Not enthralled with the
possibility of hydrofracking in New York State possibly contaminating our
drinking water? Take ACTION: Take Action to Help
Food & Water Watch Protect the Commons | Food & Water Watch
"With mounting evidence that fracking for
natural gas is poisoning our air and water, and a national movement
against fracking that continues to grow, why is
Congress poised to commit us to an energy policy that will encourage even
more fracking? Please fill out the form below
to take action. Your message will be sent directly to your legislators.
To edit the letter, take
action here. "--from Food
& Water Watch
- ACTION:
Due Date: August 9th
- Availability for Comment on Draft TMDL This notice announces the
availability of a DRAFT Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) document proposed
by New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC) and
United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) to address the
following waterbody: Lake Ontario Lake Ontario
is impaired for fish consumption by polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
Public comment on this document will be accepted for 30 days, through
August 9, 2011. Background: States are required by Section 303(d) of the
Clean Water Act and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (US EPA's)
implementing regulations (40CFR Part 130) to develop TMDL plans for waterbodies and pollutants where water quality
standards are not being met. By definition, a TMDL specifies the
allowable pollutant loading from all contributing sources (e.g., point
sources, nonpoint sources, and natural background) at a level necessary
to attain the applicable water quality standards with seasonal variations
and a margin of safety that takes into account any lack of knowledge
concerning the relationship between the sources of the pollutant and
water quality. In essence, a TMDL defines the assimilative capacity of
the waterbody to absorb a pollutant and still
meet water quality standards. The proposed PCB TMDL for Lake Ontario will
require a greater than 99% reduction in the load of PCBs entering Lake
Ontario. Where applicable, permit limits will be established for those
dischargers who, through monitoring, are shown to have PCBs in their
discharges that can be controlled through the implementation of a PCB
Minimization Plan. Nonpoint sources of PCB contamination will continue to
be tracked down through the Lake Ontario Management Plan. The primary
source of PCBs related impairments is from legacy contaminants in the
lake sediments as well as exchange from the atmosphere. Information:
Copies of the proposed
draft plans can be found on the NYS DEC website at: http://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/23835.html,
or by contacting Lorraine Holdridge at NYS DEC
- Division of Water, Bureau of Water Resources Management, 625 Broadway,
4th Floor, Albany, NY 12233-3508, or by phone at (518) 408-5718, or via
email at: laholdri@gw.dec.state.ny.us.
Comments should be sent, written or via email, to the same addresses.
Comments received by close of business August 9, 2011 will be considered
prior to submitting the final TMDL to the US EPA for approval.
- ACTION:
Due Date: now
- Major action on Climate Change by Bill McKibben and 350.org. You
can take part and act locally. Recruiting Local
Businesses | The U.S. Chamber Doesn't Speak For Me "Here’s the
plan: If we can get thousands of small businesses across the country to
declare that “The US Chamber Doesn’t Speak for me,” we can get local and
state chambers of commerce to do the same. By compiling thousands of
declarations, we’ll build a critical mass representing the true voice of
business, and fight back against the millions of dollars of money
pollution that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is pumping into Washington
DC. " - from 350.org
- Action: Due Date - Now
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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 2001 Environmental
Site of the Month Award goes to R-Cause: Rochesterians Concerned About Unsafe
Shale-gas Extraction This new website already contains a wealth of
resources and information you should know to keep abreast of the very
controversial method of natural gas extraction called hydrofracking.
Find out about events, resources, information, and news. Whether you are for,
against, or don’t know about hydrofracking, don’t be ignorant about something
that could have such a profound effect on our environment. There are a lot of
questions about hydrofracking that still have to be answered—including what
will the drafting of this document mean for drilling in our region
R-Cause: Rochesterians Concerned About Unsafe
Shale-gas Extraction “R-CAUSE was
created by Rochester citizens who treasure New York State and want its waters,
land and air to remain clean and its communities to remain viable. R-CAUSE's
goal is to inform as many people in the Rochester area as possible about the
risks associated with high-volume, slick-water, horizontal hydraulic
fracturing.”