Updates April - May 05

•  05/31/05 -- One way to check West Nile Virus is to monitor the mosquito activity in your area.  Go to this site, type in your zip code, and find out the mosquito activity in your area: Mosquito Activity Forecast --from the weather.com
•  05/29/05 -- Windmills - Are they a boon or a nuisance?  Check out this full resource page for Windmills in our area.
•  05/29/05 -- The great attractions of Rochester, New York must include its many Parks, including three Olmstead Parks.   Parks are a reminder that Nature is a part of our modern life, even in the cities.  But some of our parks have problems.  Check out this great article:  Monroe's parks face undergrowth of worry - Amid joys of a gemlike system lie concerns over development, vandalism, nature itself - But the rave reviews are sometimes shaded with worry. Public parks also face challenges, including declining staffs and shrinking budgets — although officials contend that the parks have not suffered greatly from the cuts. Other problems: vandalism, breakneck ATV riders, parking woes and pressure from developers. You can help - To get involved, contact: City of Rochester, (585) 248-6770. County of Monroe, (585) 256-4956. www.rochesterenvironment.com , for list of local environmental groups. (May 29) Democrat and Chronicle
•  05/28/05 -- Brownfields are a problem in Monroe County: Polluted sites shown on map - Schumer says gas additive has contaminated 89 places in county - With massive gasoline storage tanks towering in the background, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., stood Friday on Genesee Park Boulevard and unveiled a map showing 89 spots in Monroe County that have been contaminated by methyl tertiary butyl ether, a gasoline additive and potential carcinogen.  (May 28, 2005) Democrat and Chronicle  To view maps of toxic sites, including MTBE contaminated areas, in towns throughout Monroe County, go to www.toxicstargeting.com/toxicmaps/monroe/monroe_maps.htm  Also: MTBE LIST - .pdf needed to view files.
•  05/27/05 -- From our friends in Canada, with whom we share the Great Lakes.  Find out about the continual pollution in the Great Lakes and what it means for the future of our shared resources: http://www.on.ec.gc.ca/greatlakes/2A68CF24-642A-479F-A96B-F7AE6CCCBF35/Our_Great_Lakes.pdf  ---needed to view files.   --from Our Great Lakes - Environment Canada - Ontario Region
  We are a science-based government department whose business is helping Canadians live and prosper in an environment that is properly protected and conserved. It's our goal to help make sustainable development a reality in Canada and, by doing so, make our country an example to the world. The Ontario Region of Environment Canada delivers national programs tailored to respond to regional and local issues; implements Great Lakes 2000 and the Canada-Ontario Agreement (COA) Respecting Great Lakes; and represents Environment Canada corporately, in binational, national, regional and local partnerships.

•  05/27/05 -- **EVENT** 05/27/05 -- The largest Rochester Development project is getting underway.  It may be a great design and give our city a economic boost and provide many jobs, but how will such a large project (250 Million) affect our environment.  Because it is getting some public transportation funds it needs to help with our sprawl and air pollution problem.  Check out Renaissance Square and become part of the public scrutiny of this project:  "Public input - The first public workshop for the Renaissance Square project will be Tuesday, June 14, from 4 to 8 p.m. at City Place, 50 W. Main St. At the workshop, members of the community will be able to interact with the project design team, according to Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks. Additional workshops are planned throughout the design period, which is expected to take about a year." --from Architect set for challenge — Designing Renaissance Square in a way that enlivens Rochester's downtown is one challenge, the project's chief architect said Thursday. Designing the project so it can be built within budget is an even bigger challenge, he said. "I think the biggest challenge here will be doing all the things we want to do with the money that will be available," project architect Moshe Safdie said in a presentation to more than 800 people at the Riverside Convention Center.  (May 27, 2005) http://www.democratandchronicle.com
•  05/26/05 -- Energy for our area and our country is going to become a critical issue.  One of the great threats about producing energy in the future is that the public will not learn about this issue and know that they are an integral part of the Energy Solution.  Read this short and concise encapsulation of the problem we face with windmills: Tilting at Windmills Local Environmentalism is Undermining One of Our Best Options for Slowing Global Warming - by Bill McKibben - "Finally, American environmentalists have a chance to get it right about wind power. News broke this week of plans for the first big wind energy installation in the Adirondack Park. Ten towering turbines would sprout on the site of an old garnet mine in this tiny town. They'd be visible from the ski slopes at nearby Gore Mountain, and they'd be visible too from the deep wild of the Siamese Ponds Wilderness, one of the loneliest and most beautiful parts of New York's "forever wild" Adirondack Forest Preserve, the model for a century of American conservation. In fact, it would be hard to imagine a place better suited to illustrate the controversy that wind power is causing in this country." --from Common Dreams | News & Views

•  05/24/05 -- Why does the City of Rochester do this or that about picking recycling or what to you do with hazardous waste?  Find out the answers to some frequently asked questions of the Environmental Service of the City of Rochester: Frequently Asked Questions
•  05/21/05 -- Be sure to get all the environmental news. Check this month's EANY - Green Sheet New York Archives  -from Environmental Advocates of New York
•  05/21/05 -- Thinking of buying a new car?  Maybe you should consider a hybrid.  But, what they and where can I find some info: GreenTips Home (Index)  How to Buy a Hybrid - May 2005 - Hybrid vehicles, which combine a gasoline engine and electric motor, have the potential to increase fuel economy and reduce emissions. But not all vehicles being marketed as hybrids take advantage of the full range of hybrid technology. If you care about having a car with the least harmful environmental impact, it’s important to know what’s under the hood. --from Union of Concerned Scientists
•  05/21/05 -- Our air doesn't look so good today: American Lung Association: SOTA05 County Report --from the American Lung Association State Of The Air: 2005 Report Calls On Congress To Stop Siding With Corporate Polluters - American Lung Association site
•  05/21/05 -- Energy is becoming such a profound question for this century that I'm going to create a web pages specifically for Windmill Power.  To kick off, here's a story that describe and hopefully seeks a solution to windmills biggest bugaboo--where to place windmills.
•  05/21/05 -- Interesting online discussion with scientist about trying to accommodate humans and the environment ·NPR : Addressing Hunger and Poverty How best to meet the needs of a growing population? More than a billion people live in extreme poverty, plagued by diseases such as AIDS and malaria, and without enough fresh water to drink or food to eat.  Can science and technology play a role? Talk of the Nation, May 20, 2005 NPR : Science Friday
•  05/16/05 -- Something new.  A new Rochester area magazine devoted to living sustainably. Rochester Lifeways Rochester Lifeways is: "A magazine supporting sustainable and Earth-friendly living opportunities in the Greater Rochester Area" …a resource of quality information about products, services, and participatory events offered right in our community that will help us all live healthier, more sustainable, and Earth-friendly lifestyles. …a controlled-circulation (free) publication with 6,000 copies professionally distributed to more than 200 locations in Monroe and surrounding counties. These locations include locally-owned businesses, grocery stores, coffee shops, garden centers, health and wellness centers, hardware stores, farm markets, and more!
•  05/16/05 -- **EVENT** Wind farm plan takes a licking in Livingston — SPRINGWATER — The Town Board heard the voices of the people Sunday on a proposed 14-turbine wind energy farm that has stirred controversy and emotions throughout the community. An overwhelming majority of those who officially registered their position opposed the wind farm, which PPM Atlantic Renewable wants to build. What's next: The Springwater Town Board will discuss a possible moratorium on wind farms during its meeting at 7 p.m. June 6 in Town Hall, 8022 S. Main St.(May 16, 2005)  Democrat and Chronicle

•  0516/05 -- **EVENT** On SATURDAY, MAY 21, the Center for Sustainable Living will sponsor two participatory events to be held at the East Hill Farm of the Rochester Folk Art Guild from 10 AM to NOON. CONTACTS: Composting: Call Michael Hunter at (585) 554-3945 Nature Walk: Call Joe Morse at (585) 313-1934 - A COMPOSTING WORKSHOP led by Mark House will feature a 12 foot worm box which fertilizes the whole kitchen garden and was built by Mark together with youth from the Rochester Roots program at the Martin Luther King School. Two other composting sites will be shown. "We will make compost together and all will take a container of 'starter; from a 30 yr. old composter", said Michael Hunter of the folk Art Guild. "Learn the elements of successful composting and how to adapt it to your needs." Also beginning at 10 AM will be a NATURE WALK with Joe Morse, Finger Lakes Community College grad in Natural Resources and Conservation, on the trails of the Rochester Folk Art Guild. Joe will share the fundamentals of plants and wild life in a North Eastern hardwood forest showing examples of forest successions over the years. On the April walk, Luis and Esteban Lugo, students at East High in Rochester commented, " It was all great....the possum holes, pond wild life and trudging through the forests seeing how nature builds different trees over time." Registration is appreciated. $10 suggested donation. $5 for students and children under 12 free. Directions to the Folk Art Guild: Go So along E. Lake Rd. from Canandaigua on Rt. 364 15 miles to Middlesex. Left and up the hill on 364 to 2nd road, Upper Hill. Go right 1.3 mile just past sign "Lake Mitchell" and farm is on the left. The Center for Sustainable Living (CSL) is a not-for-profit teaching and demonstration center concerned with all aspects of sustainable living. The CSL Mission recognizes the wisdom in natural systems that serve as models for ecological well-being. The Center provides a place for instructional programs and educational resources that integrate this knowledge into human ways of living.
•  05/15/05 -- **MY THOUGHTS** Remote Killing:  Just about the sickest activity I have ever come across in all my years watching environmental stories has to be this one:  Remote hunting targeted ( Albany – New York lawmakers aim to shoot down a new computer game that allows users to kill by remote control. The state Senate yesterday passed legislation outlawing the use of Web sites that let users hunt live game with just a click of the mouse. Outraged lawmakers in the Assembly said they are more than ready to push the bill through there, too.) I have heard about blasting an entire population of cormorants on Galloo Island a few years ago because some fisherman were tired of competing with this fishing bird for fish in the Great Lakes, shooting coyotes in a Honeoye contest because hunters believed that they were unfairly competing with hunters for killing deer (they weren't, deer population are vast), and shooting crows in a contest because another crow population farther away was bugging city residents, but this remote killing thing is far sicker.  When is our species going to grow up?  When is killing animals for sport going to cease to be entertaining for a species that is supposedly maturing?  But, I guess I cannot get my mind around the depth of depravity of creating a web site where you can actually kill an animals from your desk top computer with the click of a mouse.  That our state government even has to waste its time consider stopping this activity is sad beyond sad.  I'm almost lost for words on the depth of depravity that humans can descend to at times.  Killing real animals from your desk top computer is has to be a sign of a species so bored with itself that must reach to the lowest depths of its soul to come up with this sort of 'entertainment'.  Of course, in the scheme of things, of evil, remote killing does not compete with murdering humans, serial killers, rapists, even robbery, but for sheer moronic depravity remote killing is about the stupidest and childish adult behavior I have ever heard of.  If it is not instantly obvious to you that remote killing is not only wrong, but a sign of something going wrong in the way some people things, then I guess our species needs an adult caretaker.
•  0515/05 -- **EVENT** Pesticide appliers fight law - Lawn care companies push for registry instead of notification. -— Call it a day of turf wars. On Tuesday, three separate events in Rochester underscored a months-long local battle over a proposed law that would restrict commercial pesticide use in Monroe County. Lawmakers are deliberating a notification law that passed in 2000 in Albany, and has an opt-in provision for counties. Endorsed by county executive Maggie Brooks in January, the measure would require applicators to give neighbors of lawn care clients written 48-hour notice before spraying pesticides. Industry sources say that would mean 100,000 letters going out five times a year. What's next - The Monroe County Legislature will likely vote on the 48-hour pesticide neighbor notification bill on June 14, during the next full session. Lawn care companies say their alternative, a voluntary registry, would make a better law.  (May 11, 2005) Democrat and Chronicle
•  05/15/05 -- How many deer taken in 2004 in New York State?  Find out from the NYS Dept. of Conservation NYSDEC Whitetail Deer Publications
•  05/15/05 -- **ACTION** Chronic Wasting Disease regulations - comments will be accepted through July 5 - Part 189 - Chronic Wasting Disease
  This rulemaking is necessary to prevent the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease in New York and protect New York's white-tailed deer. Chronic wasting disease (CWD) was recently discovered in two captive white-tailed deer herds and in a wild white-tailed deer in Oneida County, New York. CWD is an infectious neurological disease of cervidae, the family which includes deer and elk. It is categorized within a group of diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. Chronic Wasting Disease is a progressively fatal disease with no known immunity, vaccine or treatment. Management of CWD is further complicated by the fact that it is a poorly understood disease with clinical signs not apparent for at least 18 months and an unknown mode of transmission.
•  0515/05 -- **EVENT** The Backyard Habitat Garden Tour: Saturday, June 18 from 9 to 4 p.m. - Tour features yards demonstrating excellent wildlife habitat plantings. Includes two nationally certified wildlife gardens; Park and East Avenue neighborhoods, Brighton, Irondequoit, the Children’s Garden and a woodland habitat nestled within a Genesee Land Trust conservation easement. Tour is self-guided and self-paced. Gardeners are available for questions. Tickets are $15 for non-members and $12 for GLT members and will be available this spring at GLT and Wegmans. Volunteer Garden Greeters needed! Please call Margaret Potter at 256-2130. Click here for sneak preview of some of this year's gardens --from Genesee Land Trust
•  05/15/05 -- The warm weather is coming.  Are you using old inefficient air conditioners?  Saturday's your chance to junk air conditioners — Stay Cool! on Saturday at a free public event designed to get inefficient air conditioners out of homes and into the trash. Stay Cool!, a program of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, has organized the statewide collection of 260,000 old air conditioning units in the last five years. For household hazardous waste pickups at any other time, county residents may call (585) 760-7600. (May 13, 2005) Democrat and Chronicle
•  05/15/05 -- Remember Lyme Disease is going to be with us for a long time, so each spring we should remember that May is Be Tick Free - May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month - May is the month when most people who get Lyme disease are exposed to it. Nymphal deer ticks are active from May through July, and it is the bite of these small ticks (as opposed to adult deer ticks active in fall) that lead to most Lyme infections.
•  05/15/05 -- Tis the season to begin thinking about Rabies again: Check this site for some good info: Rabies Laboratory at the Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health The Rabies Laboratory of the Division of Infectious Diseases provides rabies-related laboratory services to all of New York State. It is located at the Wadsworth Center's Griffin Laboratory facility in the Albany suburb of Guilderland. The laboratory's primary service functions are the diagnosis of rabies in animals and the detection and quantification of rabies antibody in human serum.
•  05/15/05 -- Here's an interesting Recycling idea: Yahoo! Groups : aagainrochester Around Again Rochester - Do you have an attic or a garage full of junk? How about those boxes of books sitting in the closet? Have your kids outgrown their rollerblades? Do you really need to keep all four old computers? If you have "stuff" you want to get rid off, and you figure someone else can use it, then this is the place to be. It's recycling with a new "twist"! Offer stuff to other people! Snatch up goodies for yourself! Most of all enjoy what great things life throws our way! Around Again Of Rochester serves the Rochester, NY / Metro area including Batavia.
•  05/12/05 -- Deer Problems: We have been following this issue and it seems to be turning into a major issue: Deer disease threatens to sicken area economy - — WASHINGTON — A deadly deer disease could cost upstate New York's hunting industry millions of dollars unless the federal government steps in quickly, Sen. Charles Schumer warned Wednesday. Seven deer in Oneida County recently tested positive for chronic wasting disease, a fatal illness of the nervous system that afflicts deer and elk. What's at stake - Deer hunting in the Rochester/Finger Lakes region. Chronic wasting disease, fatal to deer, could spread from Oneida County, threatening the state's hunting industry. (May 12, 2005) Democrat and Chronicle
•  05/12/05 -- **ACTION** It ain't over until it's over: Drilling in the Artic for Oil is still preventable according to the Sierra Club: Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Main Page - Wildlands - Sierra Club By narrow margins and in spite of strong bipartisan opposition, both the House and Senate passed a Budget Resolution that opens the door for drilling the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. But one thing hasn't changed -- and that's the American public's strong feelings against using a backdoor scheme to pass this unpopular drilling plan. They will let their members of Congress know how unhappy they are about this vote and that they want their representatives in Washington to continue to fight to protect the Arctic.
•  05/08/05 -- Global Warming, it's not just a rumor.  Check out The New Yorker  magazine online and read the three-part series: Thee Climate of Man.  Squabbling about whether or not Climate Change is happening should be over and turning our collective behavior around to mitigate the consequence of it should reign.
•  05/08/05 --**ACTION** Urgent Action Alert – Assembly Health Committee Considering Ban on Lindane this Tuesday! The NY Assembly Health Committee is scheduled to consider the ban on the dangerous pesticide Lindane this Tuesday May 10th, less than a week away. We have a real opportunity to get the bill passed in the Assembly this year, however an industry lobbyist has been hired to kill this important public health bill. We need your support to make sure it passes out of committee and moves forward. Please call and e-mail members of the Assembly Health Committee TODAY, especially if you reside in their district, and urge them to support the Lindane ban and vote it out of committee this Tuesday! Every year, thousands of children across the state are exposed to Lindane, a toxic pesticide used to treat head lice and scabies.
  Unfortunately, many parents don’t know Lindane is a possible carcinogen that may be absorbed into the skin, digestive system, and respiratory tract and may result in seizures. Despite the FDA's 2003 review of Lindane and approval for use in treating lice and scabies, the World Health Organization reports a six-fold increase in non-Hodgkins lymphoma in farmers after exposure to Lindane, and recent case studies report high rates of childhood brain cancer due to treatment with Lindane. In addition, after Lindane is applied and patients rinse shampoos and creams down the drain, one dose can pollute as much as six million gallons of water! The good news is safe and effective alternatives are widely available, leaving no viable reason to keep this deadly poison on the consumer market. In fact, over 50 countries world-wide have already banned the use and distribution of Lindane. A 2003 study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 62% of U.S. residents sampled carry Lindane in their body, and the highest levels are found among women of childbearing age. You can also log onto http://www.assembly.state.ny.us/mem/  to find out who your Assemblyperson is. After you take action, please forward this message to 5 friends and family and encourage them to call their representative. Please e-mail us at cecmike@choiceonemail.com  <mailto:cecbobbi@igc.org > and let us know how you made out. Want to learn how lindane affected one New York family? Log onto http://www.timesunion.com/aspstories/story.asp?storyID=356822  to hear how a seven year old buy developed convulsive disorders and a variety of other health issues after being treated with Lindane. Learn more about the lindane campaign at: http://www.headlice.org/lindane from - Mike Schade, Western New York Director, Citizens' Environmental Coalition, 543 Franklin Street.
  Buffalo, New York 14202 - (716) 885-6848 Phone (716) 885-6845 Fax - cecmike@choiceonemail.com http://www.cectoxic.org/
  http://www.ecothreatny.org/ - http://www.kodakstoxiccolors.org/
•  05/08/05 -- Nature loses big.  New Rule to Open National Forest to Roads  --from Common Dreams | News & Views
•  05/08/05 -- Environmental information from the Governor New York State Home Page :  Check out New York State | Citizen Guide for complete information on Environment > Air, Land and Water .
•  05/08/05 -- **EVENT** HOWARD LYMAN - coming to Rochester NY: HOWARD LYMAN "Plain Truth from the Cattle Rancher
  Who Won't Eat Meat" May 15th, 2005 (Sunday) 7:00pm - Brighton Town Lodge, 777 Westfall Road, Rochester NY - Sponsored by RAVS (Rochester Area Vegetarian Society) www.RochesterVeg.org Open to the public Non-members always welcome.  ..... and before Howard's lecture, join us for a potluck ..... 5:30pm = VEGAN Share-a-dish dinner bring a Vegan-Only dish to share, with list of ingredients, - or - if you just bring - yourself, $3.00/each =HOWARD LYMAN - "Mad Cowboy" and former Oprah co-defendant President, Voice for a Viable Future www.madcowboy.com *Brighton Town Park Lodge: 777 Westfall Road - between S.Clinton and E.Henrietta Rd. - driveway to Lodge is on south side of Westfall Rd and is called Haudenosaunee Trail --RAVS P.O. Box 20185- Rochester, NY 14602 - (585) 234-8750
•  05/08/05 -- Rochester premier environmental information institution the Center for Environmental Information (CEI) for environmental information on: acid rain north coast conference New York Rochester info hosted a two program that focused on our Great Lakes: Lake Ontario Coastal Initiative
•  05/04/05 -- Got Air Pollution?  This from the American Lung Association: "...about the launch the online version of the State of the Air 2005 report, http://lungaction.org/reports/stateoftheair2005.html It's a tragedy that in 2005, dirty, polluted air threatens our health, our children's well being, and the future of our planet. Air pollution decreases our personal quality of life and deteriorates precious natural habitats. Smog, ozone and particulate pollution leave children, seniors, and people with compromised health vulnerable to disease and illness. The American Lung Association is asking you to spread the word and help millions of Americans to become vocal advocates for breathable air. The American Lung Association's annual State of the Air report is a county-by-county report card that rates each region's air quality. This year's report shows that over 152 million Americans, 52% of the population of the United States, breathe unhealthy air. Click here to see your region's air quality score: http://lungaction.org/reports/stateoftheair2005.html  Also check the ZIP codes of family, friends and loved ones, or your favorite green space. While you may be fortunate enough to live in a community without significant air quality problems, you have the power to impact change for neighborhoods nationwide. As an organization who cares about environment and conservation issues, the American Lung Association would like to share the online State of the Air ZIP-code lookup tool with the visitors of RochesterEnvironment.com.  The American Lung Association is the oldest voluntary health organization in the United States, with a National Office and constituent and affiliate associations around the country. Founded in 1904 to fight tuberculosis, the American Lung Association today fights lung disease in all its forms, with special emphasis on asthma, tobacco control and environmental health.
•  05/01/05 -- You cannot say enough good of a project like this:  Rochester Man Gives Out Free Bikes - A Rochester man is giving kids a free ride around the city; he's doing it one bike at a time. Ray Fitzgerald never imagined his work as a helicopter mechanic in the Army would lead to this. R News: As It Happens, Where It Happens
•  05/01/05 -- Think about it.  This possible development could be a major change in our environment: Enough Land In Henrietta For A Casino - 04/29/05 - After Rochester leaders have debated building a casino downtown for about the past year, is there a chance players could eventually go to gamble... in Henrietta? Tower Investments has an option to buy 700 more acres, and they envision more than just a casino. They want to build an entire resort, including hotel and golf course as well. But if the Town of Henrietta does not approve, the plan won't go anywhere. 13WHAM-TV || ROCHESTER
•  05/01/05 -- **EVENT** Lake Ontario Coastal Initiative Conference May 5-6, 2005 - A major conference will be held about restoration, remediation, protection, and sustainable use of the Lake Ontario coastal region – New York’s North Coast – that stretches for 300 miles from the Niagara River to the St. Lawrence. The Center for Environmental Information (CEI) is organizing the conference, in partnership with the Lake Ontario Coastal Initiative. For further information contact CEI at cei@ceinfo.org  or 585-262-2870.
•  05/01/05 -- This week we celebrated Arbor Day -- The National Arbor Day Foundation - We inspire people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees. -- Plant a tree.

•  05/01/05 -- **EVENT** The Green Party of Monroe County's May meeting will feature Guest Speaker, Evan Lowenstein of Green Village Consulting  Mr. Lowenstein will be leading a discussion entitled, "Sprawl and Our 'Thinning Metropolis': Causes, Consequences, and Solutions."  Evan Lowenstein has recently formed Green Village Consulting, through which he works to advance the local and national quests for sustainable development, smart growth, and environmental protection.  We will also be discussing the Hilderbrant for Leg Campaign, voting on GPoMC By-law changes, and talking about other Green activities including the upcoming Green Party State Committee meeting. The meeting will take place Monday, May 9th at 179 Atlantic Avenue at 7pm. As usual, our meeting is free and open to the public.
•  05/01/05 -- **EVENT** Talk on Bird Collisions kicks off annual festival. - The Migration Obstacle Course, by Norman Wolfe. May 13, 2005 at 7:30 p.m., Braddock Bay Park Lodge (E. Manitou Rd at Lake Ontario State Parkway, Town of Greece) Local author and educator Norm Wolfe will present “The Migration Obstacle Course,” a program about bird collisions, at 7:30 p.m. on May 13, 2005 in the lodge at Braddock Bay Park. The presentation will kick off the 3rd annual International Migratory Bird Day (IMBD) Festival which continues through Saturday, May 14. Collisions: Clear the Way for Birds! This year's national theme for IMBD focuses on the threats to birds from collisions with a variety of human-made structures, and what people can do about this urgent problem. Cell phone towers, power lines, motor vehicles, windows, and even sources of renewable energy, such as wind turbines, create obstacles for birds in flight. Collisions with these obstacles may cause the death of one bird or tens of thousands of birds in a single incident. Biologists estimate the combined death toll from aerial collisions may exceed 700 million birds each year. Concerned scientists, conservation organizations, communities, and individuals are joining forces with industry representatives to unravel the causes of bird collisions and to explore ways of making a bird’s journey safer.  Norman Wolfe is the author of Birding in Central and Western New York (2001, Footprint Press), a compilation of trails and water routes for finding birds. Program Contact: David Semple, BirdCOR Executive Director, dsemple@eecg.org , 585 223-8369
•  05/01/05 -- Interested in birds in the Rochester area? BirdCOR Bird Coalition of Rochester—a nonprofit group -Increase public support for migratory bird research and conservation through involvement of a variety of organizations interested in migratory birds. Build public understanding of the basic needs and activities of migratory birds. Identify needs for focused, effective support for management of the migratory bird resource.
•  05/01/05 -- Check out this worth organization: NYFOA Members of the New York Forest Owners Association volunteer their time and resources to promote stewardship of private forests, with the not-for-profit group consisting mainly of landowners. New York Woodland Stewards is its non-profit sister organization. Stewardship puts into practice knowledge of forest ecosystems, silviculture, local economies, watersheds, wildlife, natural aesthetics and even law for the long-term benefit of current and future generations. NYFOA, through its local chapters, provides this knowledge for landowners and the interested public.
•  05/01/05 -- **EVENT** Tuesday Nature Nights 2005 - All events begin at 6:15 (Due to very changeable summer weather, any cancellations due to weather will be made on site or start time.) Join us each Tuesday evening at 6:15 p.m. June 7 to August 30, 2005 on bike, on foot or in a canoe as we explore nature in our neighborhoods.  All rides and walks are open to the public and suitable for all ages, no pre-registration is necessary.  The walks and rides are leisurely, slight grade changes, mostly on paths or sidewalk.  Helmets are required for bike rides.  On each ride a "Sweep Rider" is available to help with any emergency breakdowns.  For more information call 428-6770. -- Parks, Recreation and Human Services - City of Rochester N.Y..
•  04/30/05 -- Here's the latest Question and Answer Page for Rochester's Environment to RochesterEnvironment.com :  "I would love to be able to speak with you for I am an environmentalist and I am very concerned about allowing my daughter to attend [a college in our area] I am trying to find out as much as I can regarding the safety of the location of [the college] in regard to pollution from Kodak and other surrounding plants.....can you please advise? My child has been accepted and I am greatly concerned regarding environmentally safety...thank you"  Answer:  You should be proud that your daughter has been accepted at the [college].  I’m sorry if my web site makes you concerned about the environmental health effects of your daughter living in the Rochester, New York area. It should not. There reason why you see so many environmental concerns pertaining to the Rochester area is because my web site is one of the few in the world that has actually monitored and kept track of the environment of one city for seven years. I am sure that if all cities in the US were under such environmental scrutiny that they would fare far worse that we do. I created my site to suggest that all of our communities are reaping the problems of an attitude towards the environment that is not sustainable and many have problems that the press and our environmental official offices do not address rigorously enough. Having said that, I think Rochester is a great place to live and go to college. Let’s face it our world is polluted and the climate is warming up, Rochester just one city that reflects being a part of all that. I have lived here since 1976 and I am very healthy. We have many environmental issues of course –Superfund, Zebra Mussels, Deer Problem, Lyme Disease, Rabies, Urban Sprawl, Invasive Species, Recycling, Great Lakes, Commuting, Parks, Genesee River, Fast Ferry, Pesticides, Wet Lands, Lead Poisoning, Brownfields, Dioxin, Water Quality, Finger Lakes, West Nile Virus, Geese Problem, Energy, Air Pollution, Acid Rain, Food, Animals, Plants, Environmental Health – but so does every other community and Rochester, I believe, is better than most at trying to address them. Kodak has and is a problem with pollution, but several environmental groups are trying to change that. We have over 80 environmental groups in the area. No matter where you daughter lives or goes to college on this planet, there are going to be environmental problems. Just because a community does not display or address them, doesn’t mean they are environmentally healthy. Rochester, because of my sites, is one of the few cities that takes a very close look at its environment and is trying make it the healthiest place to live.  Every city should have an environmental site like RochesterEnvironment.com.

•  04/29/05 -- **MY THOUGHTS**  Delirious media: Certainly, this story is an exciting issue: 4/28/2005~Once-thought Extinct Ivory-Billed Woodpecker Rediscovered in Arkansas .  It's always great to find we have not completely exterminated another species, though we are though neglect, development, lack of population control, pollution, and sprawl creating a human-caused Great Extinction event not seen since the dinosaur ear.  Read March 2, 2004: The Sixth Great Extinction)  What the news media has failed in explaining to the public that while it is fascinating that we might have found a single member of a previously thought extinct species, that unless there is a sustainable population of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker it is only an anachronism --a curiosity without much meaning.  All animals and plants have an important place in creating the environment we evolved in, they are both shaped and shaped by our environment.  A single member of a species is not going to make it to influence our environment, it needs a sustainable population to survive, one that is large enough to protect its diversity of genes in times of disease and other environmental factors.  Our major news media is incapable of explaining to the public the meaning of discovering this once-thought extinct species.  And, so it becomes a raving side-show for a few day without educating the public the importance of preserving a species or what it takes to preserver a species.  A single member of a species does not help our environment, only our penchant for exciting new news. See: Ivory-Billed Woodpecker: Researchers find ivory-billed woodpecker in Big Woods of Arkansas, home of the ivory-bill bird - The Big Woods Conservation Partnership
•  04/29/05 -- Concerned about the lasted discovery of chronic wasting disease in our deer population?  Check out: Chronic Wasting Disease --from Cornell Cooperative Extension
•  04/29/05 -- Want to reduce your dependence on pesticides and herbicides to make your lawn attractive?  Check out: New York State Integrated Pest Management Program "We encourage people to adopt a sustainable approach to managing pests, using methods that minimize environmental, health, and economic risks." --from Cornell Cooperative Extension
•  04/23/05 -- The Windmill conundrum:  This quote ("a possible sign that battles over wind power will at some point become fairly common in the Rochester area.") from the today's D&C, anticipates what will be an important environmental issue for our area.  The question is simple-What is more important: clean, renewable energy for us all, or the rights of individual property owners?"- the answer is very complex.  Wind power talks aren't a breeze — SPRINGWATER — The people who want to build a wind farm in this rural Livingston County town and those who oppose them presented their cases Saturday before an overflow crowd at the Springwater Fire Hall. The public meeting drew people from beyond Springwater's borders — a possible sign that battles over wind power will at some point become fairly common in the Rochester area. What's next - The Springwater Town Board has tentatively scheduled a public hearing on the PPM Atlantic Renewable wind farm project for 3 to 5 p.m. on Sunday, May 15, at the Springwater Fire Hall on Route 15.(April 24, 2005) Democrat and Chronicle
•  04/23/05 -- What does the EPA think a green car is made up of? Green Vehicle Guide This guide rates only environmental performance when the vehicle is in use. It does not account for other environmental factors, such as recyclability of the vehicle, or for any other factors that people may consider when choosing a vehicle, such as safety, cost, or driving performance. Information on this site is based on data that vehicle manufacturers submit to EPA. While EPA makes every effort to assure that these data are complete and accurate, it cannot guarantee this.
•  04/23/05 -- How's our water?  Check Monroe County Water Authority Home Page Monroe County Water Authority. Our MCWA treatment plants produce 62 million gallons of drinking water every day for homes in Monroe, Genesee, Ontario, Wayne, and Orleans counties.  For more information about drinking water quality or for a free copy of our Annual Water Quality Statement, call Customer Service at 585-442-7200.
•  04'/23/05 -- I don't use RochesterEnvironment.com to push magazines or any products, for that matter.  But, this is the New York State Department of the Environment's magazine and much of the information comes from our public officials that make the environmental rules we must follow.  So, check out Conservationist Magazine - NYS DEC
•  04/23/05 --**MY THOUGHTS** Not everyone has the time to add comment to all the our public officials are doing to keep our environment healthy.  But, we should at least be informed of the opportunity to do so.  I applaud the Monroe County government for making those opportunities available.  And example of this important democrat feature is the Stormwater report by Monroe County, where you can review what they have done and add your comments before the official report is completed.  The public is a very important part of how environmental decisions are made in our community.  Check out Stormwater Management Program Annual Report The Monroe County Department of Transportation is pleased to be an active member of the Stormwater Coalition of Monroe County. As a regulated Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) operator, MCDOT is required to report on an annual basis its progress towards complying with Federal stormwater regulations and to make this report available for public review.
  
•  04/23/05 -- Sure insects are on the march against your home and garden and lawn, but do you have to use pesticides, which are dangerous to all living beings, including your children, your pets, and your self?  There are solutions: Integrated Pest Management  -- from Office of New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer
•  04/23/05 -- Summer is coming and so is a shift in our Energy uses.  Check out the Office of New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer  site about how to conserver energy: NYSOAG: Consumer Tips: Energy Conservation Tips Energy Conservation -Five Ways the Consumer Can Reduce Electricity Consumption, Reduce Electricity Bills and Reduce Harmful Air Emissions from Power Plants.
•  04/22/05 -- Good Idea: Keeping our ever expanding development environmentally friendly is going to be challenge for our future.  Nature has less and less pace to do its job--which is maintaining an environment we can live in.  Here's a community who has come up with a new idea about creating micro-ecologies with private and public lands, so that plants and animals can survive while we develop. NPR : Florida County Seeks to Redefine the Wildlife Refuge  -- Listen to this story from National Public Radio.
•  04/21/05 -- **EVENT** Please join us for a Community Forum on: Healthy School Environments - Wednesday, April 27 - 7:00 PM - Rochester Museum and Science Center - Bausch and Lomb Auditorium -  Keynote Speaker: Mr. Stephen Boese, MSW - NY State Director, Healthy Schools Network - Children, teachers, and administrators spend the majority of their days in school buildings or on school grounds. How healthy are these environments? How are school environments regulated? How can interested parents and professionals learn more? - Stephen Boese of the Healthy Schools Network will present the findings of his organization’s recent survey of 300 reports on indoor air and environmental quality of schools. He will also discuss cases of school environmental health concerns in our region and the policies related to school health in New York State. - Mr. Boese will be joined by a panel of local citizens and professionals who are involved in issues of school environmental health. The panel will reflect on the implications of the Healthy Schools Network’s findings for the Rochester area and answer questions from the audience. A reception with local groups with healthy schools programs and information will follow the panel. Sponsored by the University of Rochester’s Environmental Health Sciences Center -For more information: Please call (585) 273-4304 -or email katrina_korfmacher@urmc.rochester.edu
•  04/20/05 -- Coming from no less authority that the New York State Department of Health,, remember that pesticides are dangerous.  Think of this and come to the May 10 Public Hearing for 48 Hour Neighborhood Notification Law. The next public forum will be at 6 p.m. May 10 in the Monroe County Office Building legislative chambers. You can sign up to speak by calling (585)428-5350. --State Health Department Urges Careful Pest Control Practices ALBANY, NY, April 20, 2005 - State Health Commissioner Antonia C. Novello, M.D., M.P.H., Dr.P.H., today reminded New Yorkers to take precautions and follow manufacturer directions when applying pesticides to their property. Handled properly, pesticides can be useful to control pests typically found in and around the home, lawn, landscape and garden. --New York State Department of Health
•  04/20/05 -- Don't Forget Earth Day:  Sierra Club fetes Earth Day's 35th - — The mother of all area Earth Day events makes its appearance Thursday, the day before the 35th anniversary celebration of Earth Day itself. The annual environmental forum, sponsored by the Rochester Regional Group of the Sierra Club, will be one-stop information shopping for anyone interested in the groups that track issues of regional land, water and air quality. If you go
  What: Sierra Club environmental forum. When: 6 p.m. Thursday. Where: First Unitarian Church, 220 S. Winton Road. Cost: Free and open to the public. For more: http://newyork.sierraclub.org/rochester/ .(April 20, 2005) Democrat and Chronicle
•  04/20/05 -- **EVENT** "Coyote-killing Contests, Canned Hunts, Trophy Hunting: Should Recreational Killing of Animals be Allowed in New York State?"  A thought-provoking and sometimes humorous presentation entitled: "Wanted: Wildlife Dead or Alive." Presentation (hour-long lecture, followed by Q&A) by: VALERIE WILL, from Buffalo NY - May 2, 2005 (Monday) - 7:00pm Brighton Town Hall, 2300 Elmwood Ave, Rochester NY - AUDITORIUM (wheelchair accessible: elevator by rear entrance) - Sponsored by: Animal Rights Advocates of Upstate NY
  www.ARAUNY.org  Open to the Public - Free ($donations accepted to help offset ARA costs)  Join us for a thought-provoking and sometimes humorous presentation by a hunting advocate's worst nightmare, Valerie Will. Valerie has spoken publicly throughout upstate New York for the past fifteen years, and has been a regular guest on television and radio shows in the Buffalo NY area. She will offer a glimpse of the world of "sport" hunting as most people have never seen it. Learn why some people view sport hunting as killing for fun, or as ecology in reverse. For a more Compassionate World, Lois Baum, President, Animal Rights Advocates of Upstate NY, www.ARAUNY.org
•  04/18/05 -- Want an Environmental Job - Coalition Employment Opportunity - Western New York Director - Buffalo, NY - Organization: Citizens' Environmental Coalition is a statewide grassroots environmental organization dedicated to eliminating pollution in New York State through education, organizing and advocacy. We seek a Western NY Director for our Buffalo office. Qualifications: Organizing, foundation fundraising, coalition building, research, writing, and management skills and strong environmental commitment. Non-profit environmental organization experience preferred. Salary: Commensurate with experience. CEC offers excellent benefits including union membership, health/dental, vacation, and retirement compensation, consistent with our strong social justice values. To Apply: Send resume and writing sample by April 30, 2005 to:
  Kathy Curtis, Executive Director, CEC, 33 Central Avenue, Albany, New York 12210, ceckathy@igc.org -Mike Schade - Western New York Director - Citizens' Environmental Coalition - 543 Franklin Street. - Buffalo, New York 14202 (716) 885-6848 Phone (716) 885-6845 Fax
  cecmike@choiceonemail.com - http://www.cectoxic.org/ - http://www.ecothreatny.org/ - http://www.kodakstoxiccolors.org/
•  04/18/05 -- Don't forget Earth Day --APRIL 22 - is almost here: Earthday Network Homepage

•  04/18/05 -- Keeping an eye on the present Deer Problem:  Current Situation Regarding Chronic Wasting Disease The state Departments of Environmental Conservation (DEC), Agriculture and Markets (DAM), and Health (DOH), together with the United States Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS) are cooperating to develop a comprehensive statewide response to the threat of CWD. These agencies are actively participating together with other agencies and organizations in nationwide efforts to learn more about this disease and to prevent its spread. --from New York State Department of Environmental Conservation - Protecting NY's Environment and Managing its Natural Resources
•  04/17/05 **MY THOUGHTS** Wind Power in our area? I wondering how we can move from the conundrum that renewable energy is a great movement towards a non-polluting energy source, to actually achieving this goal.  Most people like the idea of windmills added to our power grid providing us with a non-polluting energy source--until it threatens their area.  So, how can it happen?  I don't remember anyone having a choice as to whether a hydro-electric dam stopped up their river or a coal-burning power plant, which pollutes the air with smog and mercury, or community groups getting up in arms about a far more insidious form of energy.  But, every time a community is faced with having a windmill farm near their community, they get up in arms about how it will change the aesthetics of their landscape--or something.  In the case of Springwater ( see below), there is going to be  public information meeting about the possibility of creating a wind energy farm near Rochester and already groups are forming against it Springwater Preservation Committee. Here's their argument: "The town residents and visitors will most likely get nothing from this proposal but a destruction of their scenic landscapes, a bombardment of strobe lights, unwanted noise, and a drop in their property values." And if you listen to this program online --Catching the Wind --from the radio program Living On Earth -- there are many, many people fighting the creation of windmill farms in the United States.  Yet, oil is polluting, changing the temperature of our planet, and causing us wars around the world.  In my opinion, I think we are condemned to hitch our future on the horrific nature of oil (war and pollution) and nuclear energy (in which the latest Yucca Mountain scandal highlights just how impossible it is going to be to deal with spent fuel rods) unless we find a solution to creating wind farms, which are the only viable energy alternatives to the tremendous increase in energy uses we have.  There are other forms of renewable energy sources --solar, geothermic, etc.--but none of them can at this time complete with dirty oil and gas.    
•  04/17/05 -- **EVENT** Anxiety over wind tower plan - Livingston town is latest battleground over supertall alternatives to fossil fuel - The towers in the Springwater project would be 396 feet from the base to the peak of an upright blade. According to the proposal, the company would lease the turbine sites from property owners and give the town a payment in lieu of taxes. The amount hasn't been determined, Walker said. If you go - What: Public information meeting on a proposed wind farm in Springwater, Livingston County. When: 1 p.m. Saturday, April 23. Where: Springwater Fire Hall, Route 15. -Format: 1 to 2 p.m., viewing of displays; 2 to 2:45., presentation by PPM Atlantic Renewable; 2:45 to 3:30, presentation by Springwater Preservation Committee; 3:30 to 5, question period. (April 17, 2005) Democrat and Chronicle
•  04/17/05 --**ACTION** Draft Forest Preserve Roads Policy This policy establishes the criteria for determining which roads or trails, on state-owned land, should be open to ATV's.  Below is a schedule of public meetings on this policy and the person you can call or write if you have questions or comments. Written comments are welcome throughout the public review process but must be received NO LATER THAN MAY 27, 2005 in order to be considered. CONTACT: Robert Davies, NYSDEC, 625 Broadway, Albany, NY 12233-4250 - (518) 402-9405
  e-mail: lflands@gw.dec.state.ny.us DEC Draft ATV Policy Public Meeting Schedule: May 4, 5-8pm -Rochester Museum and Science Center
  657 East Avenue, Rochester, NY - Take Route 490 to Monroe Avenue to either Goodman or Culver Streets then to East Avenue. 
•  04/16/05 -- **EVENT**  MAKING DIESEL FUELS - A Second Chance - CONTACT: Bill LaBine 585-226-8521 - Center for Sustainable Living Workshop at a Solar Home At 290 Genesee Street, Avon (off traffic circle) - June 4, 2005 10:00AM-12 noon - Learn about BioDiesel, the clean-burning, domestically-grown, sustainable fuel that can be burned in an unmodified, modern, diesel engine or used as home-heating oil. Help make a batch of "home-brewed" BioDiesel while discussing the local and global impacts of its use. $10 registration Please call to pre-register, 585-226-8521. - Checks made out to the "Center for Sustainable Living" should be sent to 85 Lisa Lane, Spencerport, 14559. -  Center for Sustainable Living The Center for Sustainable Living (CSL) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit teaching and demonstration center concerned with all aspects of sustainable living, located in the Genesee Valley / Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. The CSL provides educational programs for all ages. Questions? Contact Mary Gleason at gleason@usadatanet.net , phone is 585-482-0763.
•  04/16/05 -- Time to think about what your lawn means to the larger Earth ecology: GreenTips Home  "The space around our homes provides us with places to play and relax. To local wildlife, however, expanses of lush, green grass might as well be asphalt. Lawns provide animals with no shade, shelter, or food, and the runoff from fertilizers and pesticides applied to lawns can contaminate wildlife habitats. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that approximately 20 million acres of land in the United States are dedicated to lawns—more than is used for any single crop." -- from Union of Concerned Scientists
•  04/16/05 -- **EVENT** FREE HOW TO GO SOLAR WORKSHOP ON APRIL 27 - McGraw Elementary School, McGraw, NY, will host How to Go Solar, a free workshop for homeowners, teachers, architects, building owners, developers and building trades professionals on Wednesday, April 27, from 1:30 to 4:30pm, in the gymnasium. The workshop will be held on the same day as the dedication of the school's newly installed solar electric system, scheduled for 7-9 pm. The school is the first and the only one in Cortland County -- and one of 50 across the state -- that have been awarded solar photovoltaic (PV) systems by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) through the School Power Naturally program. To register for the free workshop, contact Hal Smith at 607-655-2491 or e-mail him at hals205b@aol.com. The workshop topics and speakers: PV 101: Dispelling Myths about Solar - Why solar electricity is practical in New York (the state receives 60-70% as much sunlight as San Diego), who buys PV systems and why, what makes a good site, etc. Speaker Gay Canough, PhD, owner of ETM Solarworks, is a certified master trainer for PV installers. High-Performance Buildings: The building science approach
  Before going solar, it's essential to apply the principles of building science to make buildings comfortable, durable, and healthy while dramatically reducing energy use. This approach can be applied to new or existing buildings, both residential and commercial. Examples will be drawn from projects in the Ithaca area. Speaker Jon Harrod, PhD, is a building science consultant and energy auditor at Performance Systems Contracting in Ithaca. He also co-teaches a course on sustainable energy systems at Ithaca College and is a resident of Ecovillage, a cohousing community in Ithaca where clean energy is a central feature of all buildings. Financial Incentives and Other Support from NYSERDA - From loan subsidies and rebates to research programs and solar installations in schools and other public facilities, NYSERDA is helping New York to go solar. Speaker Judy Jarnefeld, NYSERDA - Living with Clean Energy Systems -What is it really like to live in a home powered by the wind and sun? Are seasonal or lifestyle adjustments necessary? What are the rewards of going solar? How does clean energy fit in the big picture -- national security, global warming and the future of Earth? Speaker Steve Nicholson, chair of the Tompkins County Environmental Management Council. The Nicholson home is a regular stop on the annual tour of solar homes organized by the Finger Lakes Energy Task Force. - Sponsors of the workshop are ETM Solar Works and Bearsch Compeau Knudson, architects and engineers; both firms are located in Greater Binghamton.
•  04/16/05 -- What's in that fish and game sport that you should be aware of before you eat it? Find out from the New York State Department of Health ---   2005-2006 Health Advisories: Chemicals in Sportfish and Game
•  04/16/05 -- Since Windmills may someday be a viable energy source for our area some day, you might want to listen to a great program that covers this issue well: Catching the Wind --from the radio program Living On Earth.
•  04/13/05 -- Getting rid of the hard to get rid of stuff: Monroe County, Webster & Penfield To Host Household Hazardous Waste Collection -To schedule an appointment Webster residents can call 872-1443. Penfield residents can call 340-8710. You must schedule your appointment before April 22nd...
  
•  04/13/05 -- Interested in tracking our weather?  Worldwide Weather Forecasting, Worldwide Weather Information This website has been designed to combine my biggest interests in weather - pinpoint worldwide weather forecasting for pleasure, commerce, and industry and tracking Central New York's weather, all with a special emphasis on safeguarding our shared environment. Tom Hauf
•  04/13/05 -- Some Changes: 1. Genesee Valley Earth Institute has a new web address: www.gvearth.org 2. Center for Sustainable Living The Center for Sustainable Living (CSL) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit teaching and demonstration center concerned with all aspects of sustainable living, located in the Genesee Valley / Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. The CSL provides educational programs for all ages.
•  04/09/05 -- The March Green Sheet is out --from Environmental Advocates of New York 

•  04/09/05 -- Is the EPA keeping us safe from Mercury Contamination? t r u t h o u t - Mercury Study Stripped from Public Documents
•  04/09/05 --**ACTION** --from World Wildlife Fund: *Get Involved* Arctic Contamination: Just the Tip of the Iceberg - A new WWF study, "The Tip of the Iceberg: Chemical Contamination in the Arctic," states that the Arctic is being contaminated with toxic pollutants that are carried up there on air, river and ocean currents, as well as by migrating wildlife. The contaminants are then gradually released into the Arctic environment, where they are already affecting beluga whales, walruses, polar bears, seals and many other Arctic species. Read the report, and then learn more about how you can limit your use of toxic chemicals to help protect the animals of the Arctic.   WWF | Toxic Chemicals | Featured Projects | Arctic Report
•  04/09/05 -- Don't miss this important environmental study: The State of the World? It is on the Brink of Disaster --from Common Dreams | News & Views
•  04/09/05 -- Need to talk about the environment?  NRDC Action Fund - Fighting in Congress for our Environment  The BLOG.
•  04/09/05 -- Great statewide environmental site with lots of ways you can help our local environment: Citizens Campaign for the Environment --CCE works to build widespread citizen understanding and advocacy for policies and actions designed to manage and protect interdependent land and water resources, wildlife and public health. CCE carries out this mission through public education, research, lobbying, organizing and public outreach.  (Nearest office in Buffalo.) Western New York/Southern Tier - 3144 Main Street, Buffalo, N.Y. 14214
  Phone: 716-831-3206 - Fax: 716-831-3207 - E-mail: buffalo@citizenscampaign.org
•  04/01/05 **MY THOUGHTS** Is Environmentalism Dead? Ah, No!   Although I disagree with the author's of this report, I believe that it is a good time for environmentalists to reexamine their strategies and assumptions.  This online document has the environmental community abuzz with doubt: Global warming politics in a post-environmental world | By Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus | Grist Magazine | Main Dish | 13 Jan 2005  The Death of Environmentalism - Global warming politics in a post-environmental world - By Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus -13 Jan 2005. -  What is very troubling about this report is several assumptions by the authors that they have 'go it' what is wrong with the environmental movement and how to fix it.  I disagree that the 'doom and gloom' attitude of environmentalists is responsible for their failure, allegedly selling a poor product (the lousy health of our environment) to an American public that only wants to hear good news.  The authors believe that environmentalism should be repackaged into something entirely different from the way it has been presented to the public and how it is fought in the courts.  We should for example, not mere focus on better fuel standards for new automobiles, but should consider the wider scope of why American car manufacturers are creating less fuel efficient cars and help them conform.  That is, we environmentalists should also push for a better health plan for American auto workers so they can compete with Japanese automakers, who get their health plans subsides by their governments.  This will put both manufactures on an even footing and make them truly competitive.  The authors also think that environmentalists should get unstuck from the second of three steps in a successful environmental plan: 1. conservation 2. regulation, and 3. investment.  The environmental community, they say, should stop focusing on 'special interest' of environmentalists, i.e., global warming, and embrace an entirely new and positive vision of our environment.  They use the New Apollo Project, as an example of a SEA change in environmentalists thinking and a way for them to reconnect with the American public in promoting a positive and hopeful vision of the future.  There is a whole lot more to "The Death of Environmentalism," but basically Environmentalism in the United States is failing and and the heads of our environmental groups ought to think of better schemes like using investments to make American want to move in a positive direction.--instead of the step-by-step compromises with polluters and manufacturers and a doom and gloom mentality that leaves American without hope.  This sounds interesting, even hopeful.   Sounds , though, very Karl Rowe-ish: something isn't working, so (regardless of its ethics and sustainability) just find what will make it work and make it work. The trouble with this self-serving claptrap is that our environment really is getting worse: 1. The State of the World? It is on the Brink of Disaster 2. Most other nations around the world signed on to the Kyoto Protocol, the Americans dropped out because President Bush said it would "hurt American businesses." 3. There is not any logical way (that is in a world that works by the way physics as scientists understand it) that we can allow corporations to go on the way they are going--polluting our planet's air, water, and ground, and leaving it all to brownfields and superfund sites when they're done.  4.  Like it or not, nothing but regulation works in a corporate world where giving their shareholders a profits is the only goal of any corporation--who only understand short-term selfish goals.  -- I do think Environmentalists should rethink some of their strategies in winning the war on the environment, but giving into the Bush agenda, that is make a good product so American will want to 'buy it' is insulting, immoral, and it won't give us a stainable environment.  I'll say it again because this is the hold grail of Environmentalism: If our environment (that is, that relatively narrow band of all possible environments in which man can survive) is not sustainable, our children don't get to survive.  Because environmental problems usually take so long to show up (because we are dealing with a very large system here) there is not an immediate and direct link to our pollution and us getting sick because of it.  All in all, our citizens and our corporations seem hell bent on having what they want, when they want it, meaning they want.  In other words, in the United States (and I'm sure many Europeans would agree with this) we want to be able to have total freedom to have what we want regardless of its effect on our environment.  We should shoot any animals that takes our stock--even if they play an important part in our environment, we should have any vehicle we want, regardless of what getting fuel for it means to our resources and global warming, we should allow any corporation to do whatever they want because they are providing jobs.  I don't think so.  There is a problem with our environment, of which Global Warming may highlight some of the issues that seem to be unsolvable.  Anyone who has looked at the state of our environment must see that we do not have a sustainable environment, that man has so influenced the workings of this planet's environment that we have to, like it or not, be a part of it sustaining itself.  Nature cannot be left alone to do its job, because we don't know what it is.  There won't be any quick fixes, and we cannot simply vote people into office who will allow us to live the way we want, regardless of its environmental implications.  I believe that Environmentalists must get the public, especially the American public, on board on environmentalism because we so influence the way the rest of the world goes.  Everything points to condition that in order for most American to 'get it' on the environment a major and in-our-face catastrophe, an environmental 9/11 will have to happen before we limit corporate pollution and change our economies so that they helps sustain our environment instead of degrading it.  Blaming this condition on Environmentalists because they didn't sell environmentalism in the way the American people wanted to see it (i.e., so they don't have to change their ways) is foolish and only allows the American public that this state of affairs is not their fault and they don't have to do anything about it.  Well, regardless of what our attitudes are about environmentalists, if we don't change our environment becomes more hostile to our species survival.  That you can take to the bank. 
•  04/03/05 -- **EVENT** The next monthly meeting of the Green Party of Monroe County will feature two guest speakers, Judy Braiman from Rochesterians Against The Misuse of Pesticides and Mike Schade from the Citizens Environmental Coalition. They will be discussing the bill in the County Legislature on the commercial use of pesticides.  The meeting is Monday, April 11th at 7pm at 179 Atlantic Avenue.  Along with our guest speakers we will be updating folks on the Hilderbrant for County Leg campaign, state Green Party news and more. We hope you can make it.
•   04/01/05 New listing: The Cayuga Bird Club (CBC), founded in 1913, provides its members and the community at large with opportunities to learn about birds, local birding localities, and the environment. CBC membership is composed of a diverse group of people from various professions and backgrounds, whose common bond is a keen interest in the observation and preservation of bird life. CBC field trips and monthly meetings offer members a chance to meet socially and to focus on a topic or locality of interest. Most field trips visit areas within the Cayuga Lake Basin, although the club regularly visits places farther afield, such as Amherst Island, Ontario; Niagara Falls, New York; and Hawk Mountain, Pennsylvania. Lectures and presentations offered at the monthly club meetings draw from the great variety of professional and amateur researchers at the Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, and Ithaca College, as well as the local community.
•  04/03/04 -- More on why you should be concerned about our environment: Yahoo! News - Report: Human Damage to Earth Worsening Fast OSLO (Reuters) - Humans are damaging the planet at an unprecedented rate and raising risks of abrupt collapses in nature that could spur disease, deforestation or "dead zones" in the seas, an international report said on Wednesday. The study, by 1,360 experts in 95 nations, said a rising human population had polluted or over-exploited two thirds of the ecological systems on which life depends, ranging from clean air to fresh water, in the past 50 years.
•  04/02/05 -- **EVENT** RMSC-Museum Rochester Museum & Science Center - 2005 Richard C. Shultz, Distinguished Scholars Lecture Series - Dr. Thomas Eisner speaks on The Bombardier Beetle - Wednesday, April 6 at 7:30 PM - Eisenhart Auditorium on the RMSC Campus, 657 East Avenue at the corner of Goodman Street, Rochester 14607 -" The aptly named bombardier beetle displays a startling defensive tactic when disturbed: with an audible "pop!" it ejects a boiling hot (100C) jet of fluid that can be aimed at predators.  How bombardiers might have evolved this remarkable defense is the subject of Dr. Eisner's talk. Tickets - General public: $15; $8 Students - Group rates available.  Call 585-697-1942 for Reservation.
•  04/02/05 -- Hopefully, this Deer Problem will not turn out to be a major problem: Deer wasting disease found - New York case is the first confirmed in the East - State agriculture and environment officials on Thursday confirmed the first New York state case of Chronic Wasting Disease, a brain and nervous system disorder that affects members of the deer family, including white-tailed deer, elk, mule deer and moose. The disease, prevalent in Western states, has previously been found only as far east as Illinois. The disease does not affect humans, domestic livestock or other mammals. The New York case, in Oneida County, is the first on the Eastern Seaboard. (April 1, 2005) Democrat and Chronicle
•  04/02/05 --From Citizens’ Environmental Coalition (CEC) March E-Alert. In this month’s alert, you will find: - 1) Groundbreaking Report Finds Hazardous Chemicals in Household Dust Across U.S. 2) Action Alert - Protect Children From Shampooing with Poison  3) Help us Build a Strong and Diverse Environmental Health Movement in NY!  4) Action Alert – Support Healthy Cleaning in NY Schools5) Come to Earth Day Lobby Day! Log onto our website at www.cectoxic.org  to learn more about our work to protect the public’s health from dangerous chemicals.
•  04/02/05 -- **EVENT** Please join us for a Community Forum on: Healthy School Environments - Wednesday, April 27 - 7:00 PM - Rochester Museum and Science Center - Bausch and Lomb Auditorium -  Keynote Speaker: Mr. Stephen Boese, MSW - NY State Director, Healthy Schools Network - Children, teachers, and administrators spend the majority of their days in school buildings or on school grounds. How healthy are these environments? How are school environments regulated? How can interested parents and professionals learn more? Stephen Boese of the Healthy Schools Network will present the findings of his organization’s recent survey of 300 reports on indoor air and environmental quality of schools. He will also discuss cases of school environmental health concerns in our region and the policies related to school health in New York State. Mr. Boese will be joined by a panel of local citizens and professionals who are involved in issues of school environmental health. The panel will reflect on the implications of the Healthy Schools Network’s findings for the Rochester area and answer questions from the audience. A reception with local groups with healthy schools programs and information will follow the panel. Sponsored by the University of Rochester’s - Environmental Health Sciences Center - For more information: Please call (585) 273-4304 - or email katrina_korfmacher@urmc.rochester.edu  
•  04/02/05 -- Good to know what's going on with the environment just north of us: http://www.cleanairalliance.org - The Ontario Clean Air Alliance is a coalition of health, environmental and consumer organizations, faith communities, unions, utilities, municipalities and individuals working for cleaner air through strict emission limits and a phase-out of coal in the electricity sector. Our partner organizations represent more than six million Ontarians. To subscribe or unsubscribe to this list please visit www.cleanair.web.ca/getin .
•  04/02/05 -- **EVENT** From EANY - Earth Day Lobby Day -Come to Earth Day Lobby Day! - Join hundreds of activists and students from across the state, and countless local, state and national environmental groups for New York's largest annual environmental event on Tuesday, April 19, 2005 in Albany. There will be speeches from leading government and environment officials, issue briefings and a how-to-lobby workshop in the morning. After a noon rally, participants will lobby key legislators on important environmental issues. For more information, log onto:
  http://www.eany.org/takeaction/earthday.html
•  04/02/05 -- **EVENT** "Vegetarianism 101": a talk by Erik Marcus - Monday April 4 at 7:30 p.m., Bausch & Lomb Hall room 109, U. of Rochester - Becoming vegetarian or vegan is easier than you think -- let Erik Marcus show you how. Erik has been vegan for more than fifteen years, and is the author of two books on the subject. Come learn the ins and outs of how to change your diet easily and effortlessly. About the speaker: Erik Marcus is one of America's leading writers about animal agriculture. He is the author of Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating (1998), as well as the acclaimed new title, Meat Market: Animals, Ethics, and Money (2005). In addition to writing books, Erik publishes Vegan.com, a popular website devoted to animal protection and the vegan lifestyle. He also hosts Erik's Diner -- a podcast talk show about food and farmed animals. A highly regarded public speaker, Mr. Marcus lives outside of Boston, Massachusetts. Admission and parking is FREE and open to the public. Bausch & Lomb Hall is wheelchair accessible. Sponsored by UR-VEG, the UR Vegetarian Education Group. For directions and parking information, please see  http://urveg.org/events
•  04/01/05 **MY THOUGHTS**  Don't ignore this major report. Why have a website like RochesterEnvironment.com?  Is it a passion, or a quirk of the mind?  The truth is that any way you slice it, Earth just cannot conform to the way we would like it to be.  There really is an impending problem and it isn't going to go away by voting for people who distain the environment or think corporation's interests are more important.  Of course I've been saying that since the Industrial Revolution Nature is no longer the self-regulating system most think it and now it seems that things have accelerated since 1945. Good to do the research and get the facts, but there have been signs that this kind of devastation has been going on for a long time without exact data, just the preponderance of evidence. How long will the majority of man continue to hide his head in the sand?  Read on: The State of the World? It is on the Brink of Disaster - An Authoritative Study of the Biological Relationships Vital to Maintaining Life has Found Disturbing Evidence of Man-made Degradation - Planet Earth stands on the cusp of disaster and people should no longer take it for granted that their children and grandchildren will survive in the environmentally degraded world of the 21st century. This is not the doom-laden talk of green activists but the considered opinion of 1,300 leading scientists from 95 countries who will today publish a detailed assessment of the state of the world at the start of the new millennium. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment