CT Green Scene

Traditional Farming better for Biodiversity. Well, duh...

The Science and Development Network, a non-profit organization based in England and Wales, reported that research has shown traditional farming is crucial for keeping certain species alive. The research was conducted in developing countries as well as Europe.

It seems biodiversity is important to maintain the health and vitality of the land, the plants, birds and insects, as well as a host of other animals that feed off the land and call it their home. Industrial farming apparently harms the ecological bubble and depletes the natural habitats. Huh, go figure...

See the excerpt below.

Traditional farming 'can save threatened species'
Jan Piotrowski
22 December 2011 | EN

Traditional farming methods are crucial for protecting a number of threatened bird species in the developing world, including bustards, cranes, ibises and vultures, a study has found.

Livestock grazing and features associated with arable farming — such as hedgerows — create environmental conditions that certain birds currently depend on for food, shelter and breeding, the authors report.  

But as industrial farming methods eliminate these habitats, these species are threatened with extinction, said Hugh Wright, a researcher in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia, United Kingdom, and lead author of the study, published in Conservation Letters earlier this month (5 December).

No More Frankincense? What's a Wise Man to do?

According to a recent study documented by Dicovery News on December 22nd, frankincense--the resin best known as a gift from the Magi--has gradually been decreased to a point where it is in serious danger of disappearing. But unlike what overfishing has done to the fish industry, its depletion has been attributed mainly to fires, beetle destruction, and cattle grazing.

Estimates show that in 50 years the supply of frankincense may be as much as 90% less than what it is now. Rick K, who made his comments online, stated his case: "People have been using unsustainable harvest methods on MANY different wild populations for millenia to the degradation and often decimation of the very population of organisms that supported their commerce whether for subsistence or for profit."

Too true. Whether animals and fire or people, we need to protect our resources. See the excerpt below.

Frankincense May Be Doomed
Analysis by Emily Sohn
Thu Dec 22, 2011 03:32 PM ET

Frankincense has a long history as an ingredient in incense and perfumes, with references dating back to ancient Egypt. In the Bible, the Magi brought the fragrant resin as a gift to the baby Jesus, along with gold and myrrh -- and it remains part of the classic Christmas story.

But frankincense, whose smell is sometimes described as sweet or spicy with a mix of lemon and pine, will soon become only a relic of the past if nothing is done to protect the trees that produce it, according to a new study.

Those trees, which belong to a species called Boswellia, grow in the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa. To extract frankincense, people tap adult trees by cutting into their bark, allowing the resin to ooze out and harden so it can be collected.

Previous studies have shown that tapping Boswellia trees can sap out carbohydrates, stunt growth, and reduce the viability of seeds. To assess the long-term effects of those injuries, scientists from the Netherlands and Ethiopia studied more than 6,500 trees and seedlings for two years in a remote region of northwestern Ethiopia.

When the researchers compared data from tapped trees with data from untapped trees, they came up with some discouraging projections. Given the tree’s current rate of decline, they reported in the Journal of Applied Ecology, numbers of frankincense-producing Boswellia could drop in half over the next 15 years. Fifty years from now, there will be 90 percent fewer trees.

To read more, click here.

Image courtesy of DiscoveryNews.com.

Wastewater Wetlands: Not an Oxymoron

From hiking trails along railway tracks to nature preserves outside waste water treatments plants, a number of areas across the country are finding value in the land and recycling it in an unexpected way. Alligators glide through slick waters with reckless abandon outside Wakodahatchee Wetlands preserve in Florida. The High Line, a recycled railway on Manhattan's West Side, is rife with wildflowers and functions as a raised park. See the excerpt below from this morning's New York Times:

Emerald Cities
By DIANE ACKERMAN
Published: August 15, 2011

“Wastewater Treatment Plant” may not sound like a scenic destination. But some ecologically minded towns have been designing a new breed of wildlife preserve, one that gives recycling a lively twist. Instead of dumping treated water, they return it to nature as the essence of an ecosystem that offers food and habitat to animals. Migrating and native birds find a niche, entangled communities of plants and insects take up residence and a hodgepodge of wild animals bustles in...

A similar panorama greets visitors behind fashionable waste treatment plants around the country. What an admirable trend. Our planet’s web of life is so fragile that one can’t afford to be a snob about reclaimed land or mind why a business goes green...

Mining the wilderness for new formulae, while leaving it intact, they’ve discovered that a standing forest is more valuable than a leveled one.

To read more, click here.

Images courtesy of the Palm Beach County Water Utilities Department.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers?

That may be the case in Kivalina, AK. Have you heard about the bizarre orange goo--looking not unlike the inner contents of a macaroni and cheese packet--coating their shores? Discovered last week, tests have shown that the ooze is a film of microscopic eggs that even long-time residents cannot recall ever seeing before. When the icky stuff dried, it became airborne and coated at least one roof and floated in rain barrels. The town is still unsure if this will affect their drinking water. See the excerpt below:

Orange goo near remote Alaska village ID'd as eggs
By RACHEL D'ORO - Associated Press

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Scientists have identified an orange-colored gunk that appeared along the shore of a remote Alaska village as millions of microscopic eggs filled with fatty droplets.

But the mystery is not quite solved. Officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday they don't know for sure what species the eggs are, although they believe they are some kind of crustacean eggs or embryos. They also don't know if the eggs are toxic, and that worries many of the 374 residents of Kivalina, an Inupiat Eskimo community located at the tip of an 8-mile (12-kilometer) barrier reef on Alaska's northwest coast...

Scientists also don't know why the unidentified eggs suddenly emerged on the shores of Kivalina last week. Villagers say they've never seen such a phenomenon before...

To read more of the article, click here.

Image courtesy of the Associated Press.

Running out of fish?

Like seafood? So does everyone else, apparently. We're running out of sustainable fishing in our oceans. We essentially have nowhere left to go. According to an article in ScienceDaily, the University of British Columbia in collaboration with the National Geographic Society has conducted a study on the spatial expansion of global fisheries. The study indicated the "no fish left behind" mentality of corporate-run fisheries. That mentality is exactly why sources like bluefin tuna (as per a previous article on this site) are disappearing at an alarming rate and running the risk of becoming an endangered species. See an excerpt below from ScienceDaily.

'No Fish Left Behind' Approach Leaves Earth With Nowhere Left to Fish, Study Finds

ScienceDaily (Dec. 3, 2010) — Earth has run out of room to expand fisheries, according to a new study led by University of British Columbia researchers that charts the systematic expansion of industrialized fisheries.

In collaboration with the National Geographic Society and published in the online journal PLoS ONE, the study is the first to measure the spatial expansion of global fisheries. It reveals that fisheries expanded at a rate of one million sq. kilometres per year from the 1950s to the end of the 1970s. The rate of expansion more than tripled in the 1980s and early 1990s -- to roughly the size of Brazil's Amazon rain forest every year.

Between 1950 and 2005, the spatial expansion of fisheries started from the coastal waters off the North Atlantic and Northwest Pacific, reached into the high seas and southward into the Southern Hemisphere at a rate of almost one degree latitude per year. It was accompanied by a nearly five-fold increase in catch, from 19 million tonnes in 1950, to a peak of 90 million tonnes in the late 1980s, and dropping to 87 million tonnes in 2005, according to the study.

"The decline of spatial expansion since the mid-1990s is not a reflection of successful conservation efforts but rather an indication that we've simply run out of room to expand fisheries," says Wilf Swartz, a PhD student at UBC Fisheries Centre and lead author of the study.

Click here to read more of the article.

Image courtesy of ScienceDaily.

Leaf Peeping Season Underway

by Angela Hotaling

Angela is a recent graduate from SUNY Oneonta where she earned a B.S in Philosophy. She is a native to southern Columbia County in New York and is there now working on her applications to graduate school. Angela is very passionate about the environment and enjoys hiking, playing, and promoting the protection of various places. One of her favorite places to visit is the Catskill Mountains. She also enjoys traveling, cooking fresh vegetarian meals, and reading. One of the accomplishments that Angela hopes to achieve within the next year is to master her downhill skiing abilities.   
   
It’s foliage season! All throughout the northeast, residents and visitors admire the yellows, oranges, and reds of giant oaks and maples. The trees are a significant tourist attraction throughout the area and people value the sensual autumnal stimulation that is flying through the air. Autumn is a period of transition between summer and winter and it contains feelings of reflection and anticipation. We miss the hot, languid days of summer as the days grow shorter. The winter will soon be here.

Dirt! The Movie

by Eileen Weber

If you haven’t seen this movie, you should. On Wednesday evening, the Pequot Library screened the documentary Dirt! The Movie with a homemade pie auction and an awards ceremony celebrating local environmentalists afterward.

The event was sponsored by The Fairfield Organic Teaching Farm and emceed by Fairfield Green Food Guide’s Analiese Paik. The film, pardon the pun, digs in deep about all the things that happen to dirt—how we often disregard it, abuse it, ruin it, and fight over it. Produced and directed by Bill Benenson and Gene Rosow and narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis, it illustrates that what could be our most valuable resource is our most under-appreciated one.

Franken-Salmon: Monster or Miracle?

by Catherine Monahon



The FDA is currently in the process of assessing the AquaBounty Technology’s “Franken-Salmon,” a super-sized fish that grows twice as fast as non-modified salmon. Though this product ensures an increase in production, the “bigger is better” (or in this case, “faster is better”) mantra that our society lives by may not placate the concerns of potential consumers.

Genetic modification is not new. Corn, oats, rice, wheat, and many other types of plants have been modified to maximize survival and production rates. However, the development of Franken-Salmon has made it easier to observe the effects on the organism, and the act of changing the genetic make-up of an animal has hopefully forced many to second guess the food on their plates.

Ecotourism and Volunteer Travel: Behind the Lingo

by Julie Johnson

Ecotourism. Curiously, few people seem to know exactly what that means. For some, it is travel to a country to enjoy its natural beauty. For others, it is merely environmentally friendly travel. However, according to The International Ecotourism Society (TIES), which coined the term in 1990, true ecotourism is “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people.” At its best, ecotourism can educate the traveler, fund conservation efforts, and support local communities by increasing jobs and income to the area.

Typical vacation packages often take tourists to the same countries and even the same areas of the country as ecotourism ventures are found. But, eighty percent of the price of a conventional vacation package goes to large international companies such as hotel and resort chains, rather than to the local economy. Ecotourism projects that do the most good take a small number of tourists and focus on quality rather than quantity. They hire locals and provide guests with food and personal items like those used by the local community, instead of shipping in familiar brands. 

An Environmental and Moral Predicament for the “Plain People”

Located in different parts of rural Pennsylvania, the Old Order Amish and Mennonites, also known as the “Plain People”, have been farming and cultivating the land for centuries.  Their resistence to modern farming practices has in the past allowed them to adhere to their agricultural roots. However most recently, this resistence has caused the Amish some trouble with the Environmental Protection Agency. Worried about the pollution from runoff of manure in the Chesapeake Bay, the E.P.A. is attempting to enforce stricter regulations on how how the Amish and other farmers in Pennsylvania dispose of their animal wastes. The following article posted on June 8th in The New York Times discusses this issue and the ways in which both the Amish and the agency is trying solve it.

Amish Farming Draws Rare Government Scrutiny
By SINDYA N. BHANOO
The New York Times
Published: June 8, 2010

LANCASTER, Pa. — With simplicity as their credo, Amish farmers consume so little that some might consider them model environmental citizens.  “We are supposed to be stewards of the land,” said Matthew Stoltzfus, a 34-year-old dairy farmer and father of seven whose family, like many other Amish, shuns cars in favor of horse and buggy and lives without electricity. “It is our Christian duty.”

But farmers like Mr. Stoltzfus are facing growing scrutiny for agricultural practices that the federal government sees as environmentally destructive. Their cows generate heaps of manure that easily washes into streams and flows onward into the Chesapeake Bay.

And the Environmental Protection Agency, charged by President Obama with restoring the bay to health, is determined to crack down. The farmers have a choice: change the way they farm or face stiff penalties.
“There’s much, much work that needs to be done, and I don’t think the full community understands,” said David McGuigan, the E.P.A. official leading an effort by the agency to change farming practices here in Lancaster County.

To read more, click here.

Image courtesy of The New York Times.

Cormorant in a Coalmine

by Amanda DeMatto

It’s not unusual for Charlie Clarkson, an ecologist at the University of Virginia, to return from a day’s work caked, from brim to boot, in bird excrement. “It’s a very dirty, smelly job,” he chuckles, “but I like it.” He spends his summer days mucking about the islands that pepper the New York Harbor and Virginia’s Eastern Shore collecting bird vomit and feathers from the young nestlings of two seabird species: the double-crested cormorant and the glossy ibis.

There’s no doubt Clarkson’s job is offensive to the nose, but it’s importance as a novel approach for understanding why 90% of bird species are in decline supersedes its unpleasantness. The condition of the feathers and vomit provides clues about the health of the nestlings and the environment as it concerns all living things, even us. 

Permaculture: An Approach to Sustainability

by Julie Johnson



Julie is a recent graduate of the University of the South: Sewanee, and a biology major. Having majored in science, she always had an interest in the subject of English and in writing. She has always been concerned about and fascinated by environmental issues and, until recently, planned to go to graduate school in marine biology to "save the coral reefs". 

Until a few weeks ago, the only word I knew with the prefix “perma-” was “permafrost.” Even with all the conservation articles and websites I’d read, the concept of permaculture had never once crossed my radar. This may have something to do with its scope; permaculture is difficult to compress into a sentence or two, and this prevents it from finding an easy niche in our sound bite culture.

The practice of permaculture, in its original sense, has probably been around for thousands of years. The idea was first discussed and circulated in a book by an American agricultural scientist who observed the way many farmers grew crops in Asia a hundred years ago. However, it wasn’t until the seventies that two Australians, Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, began studying and systematizing ideas about sustainable agriculture in the context of modern ecology. Their first book, Permaculture One, created a surge of interest in the topic, which waned briefly but appears to have returned quite emphatically.

The Plastiki: An unconventional ship sets sail

by Simone Pipek

Don’t be fooled by its cute name! The Plastiki catamaran has a serious message. Everything on this boat is made out of reclaimed plastic. For instance, the hull is made of PET (recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate), which is widely used in plastic bottles, and an experimental fabric called self-reinforcing PET (srPET), woven from recycled fibers.

Unlike fiberglass boats, which cannot be recycled, Plastiki’s hull, deck and cabin are completely recyclable. The boat uses wind, solar and pedal power to move, and the roof of the cabin captures rainwater for showers. Over 12,000 plastic bottles were collected and filled with powdered dried ice for this project. Once the ice turns from a solid structure to gas it becomes carbon dioxide, which keeps the catamaran afloat.

Why build a boat made of recycled plastic?

First of all, I don’t think I have to tell you that recycled is always better than new materials. Secondly, the unconventional catamaran is drawing attention to the millions and millions of plastic bottles and plastic bags that flood our oceans. Starting at the San Francisco Bay, it will cross the 11,000 miles of the Pacific Ocean to eventually reach Sydney harbor in Australia. Three months of an exciting journey!

Raw Deal - A Global Battle Over Fish

by Michael A.  Cuomo

Snow leopards, pandas, and chimpanzees, oh my! But bluefin tuna? Could a fish frequently served at local restaurants deserve the endangered species list? That question is to be decided at an upcoming conference of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). CITES members are meeting in Doha, Qatar from March 13-25 to vote on a proposal by Monaco to list bluefin tuna on Appendix I to the Convention, the result of which listing would be a complete ban on international trade of the fish. Conservation groups such as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) say this is a last ditch effort to prevent extinction of the species, while fishing industry groups argue that a ban would wipeout the livelihoods of fisherman in the U.S. and Europe. Thousands of tons of bluefin are shipped each year to buyers in Japan and elsewhere. 

The bluefin population in the western Atlantic and Mediterranean has been devastated by relatively unchecked commercial fishing. The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), chief overseer of the species, confirms that stocks have declined precipitously in the last forty years due to more effective fishing methods, such as purse seining and longlining, and an increased demand by consumers. 

Environmental Crisis: Human Population

by Kathryn E. Arion

Kathryn is a junior at Dartmouth College majoring in Environmental Studies and minoring in Anthropology. She is originally from the Eastern Shore of Maryland, where her parents live and own a veterinary clinic. In her spare time, Kathryn likes to read fiction novels, run and weight-train at the gym, and snowboard. She is also a devoted sister of Epsilon Kappa Theta sorority at Dartmouth. Kathryn hopes to work after graduation with groups promoting conservation of biodiversity and protection of endangered species.
 
Human overpopulation seems to be a taboo subject, even in the field of environmental studies. The growth of society is seen as progress, a step in the right direction for mankind. The immense human population tends not to be viewed as an environmental problem; if other issues facing the planet were addressed, then the world population would not matter. But what if overpopulation is the underlying cause of environmental degradation?

Over two hundred years ago, Dr. Thomas Malthus, a British scholar from the late 18th to the early 19th century known for his analysis on societal improvements and population growth, predicted the issues of worldwide hunger that we are facing today. He wrote An Essay on the Principles of Population that stated while the human population can grow exponentially, agriculture and food supply could not keep up. In an article published on December 9, 2008, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations claimed that there were 963 million people going hungry. By June of 2009, that number had risen to over one billion.

Why, in the 21st century, in an age of rapidly growing technology, is a sixth of the world’s population starving? The answer is that, no matter what types of technology or innovations we create, there is just no way for our earth to sustain six billion people. There are simply not enough resources to feed everyone. Even if we tried to allocate resources to everyone, we would only further contribute to environmental degradation.

Green Skiing

For all those ski bums out there, here's something to consider: Some ski resorts are more environmentally friendly than others. It's not whether they use CFLs in their lighting fixtures or waterless toilets. It's not their fabulous recycling program, either. It's how they construct their runs--are they graded or cleared? That makes all the difference. See the excerpt below from this morning's New York Times:

Not All Ski Slopes Are Environmentally Equal, Study Concludes
by Sindya Bhanoo
Published January 11, 2010

"Ski resorts are not as fun for the environment as they are for skiers. The damage to forested hills caused by the construction of ski slopes is obvious. Trees are cut down, ground is cleared, and the resulting slopes are maintained as the foundation for a yearly carpet of snow.

Some ski slopes, however, are more environmentally friendly than others, according to a new study. Cleared ski runs, where trees and other tall, woody plants are cut down to open skiing pathways, cause less damage to the natural ecosystem than graded ski runs, which are bulldozed, leaving little or no vegetation or shrubs.

'Cleared slopes are actually more like forests than graded slopes,' said Jennifer W. Burt, the lead author of the study, published in last month’s issue of Ecological Applications. 'This was an unexpected result of our research,' said Dr. Burt, who studied ski slope construction as part of her doctoral research. On cleared runs, seed banks are left intact, and small shrubs remain undamaged. Also left intact are the top layers of the soil, which support plant growth and more robust and diverse vegetation, which in turn support wildlife.

Machine-graded runs, on the other hand, remove topsoil and vegetation, significantly damaging the ecosystem."

To read more of the article, click here.
To read a previous article on this site about green ski resorts in the Northeast, click here.

Image courtesy of The New York Times.

Wipe Out?

by Eileen Weber
 
Yesterday, The Huffington Post had an entry that caught my eye. It focused on the death of tens of thousands of bats this year due to a mysterious fungus. Called “white-nose syndrome”, the disease is wiping them out.
 
Why should we care? Because bats eat the insects that are harmful to us and our crops. Without them, there would be a massive overpopulation of insects.
 
Earlier this year, the same story was reported on National Public Radio. So why is it that no one seems to be paying attention? Is it just because bats aren’t fuzzy and cute? If this were a blight wiping out all domestic kittens, would we be more concerned? There has been little funding for the cause yet it could have catastrophic results if left unattended.

Race For Space

by Eileen Weber

There are some people who give a lot of thought to the open space available in Connecticut. One of those people is Karl J. Wagener, Executive Director of the Connecticut Council of Environmental Quality, an organization that objectively monitors the state’s environmental progress.

Last night at the Pequot Library in Southport, Wagener lectured that Connecticut may be doing a lot of things right when it comes to the environment. But when it comes to land conservation, we still have a long way to go.

“Land is one of those things that Connecticut can’t seem to do right,” said Wagener. “A lot of land conservation is unaccounted for. We don’t really know how much we’ve got.”

Wagener says the biggest problems center around a lack of money to fund the inventory of available land, a good strategy for better land conservation, and looking at the land acquisition as a unified whole rather than as a compilation of separate, individual acquisitions.

While the state does have a Green Plan to reach a land preservation goal by 2023, Wagener says it’s hard to get people excited about something that has no plan of attack and no way to pay for it.

Making a Difference

Congratulations to this team of volunteers who participated in International Coastal Clean Up Day and CFE Save the Sound on Saturday, September 19th 2009 on Goose Island.

Appearing from left to right: Hanne Flaherty, Kevin Flaherty, Mark Watkins, Curtis Watkins, Luke Watkins and Caroline Politi.

Giant garbage patch in Pacific Ocean's possible effect on marine life worries researchers

When more garbage dumps are being filled to capacity with enough plastic to sink a ship, it's disheartening to read about it in the oceans as well. And, with landfill issues in Connecticut as recent as the one in Franklin, where we put our debris is a growing problem. See the post below originally from the Associated Press.

MICHELLE RINDELS
Associated Press Writer
August 27, 2009

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A tawny stuffed puppy bobs in cold sea water, his four stiff legs tangled in the green net of some nameless fisherman.

It's one of the bigger pieces of trash in a sprawling mass of garbage-littered water, known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, where most of the plastic looks like snowy confetti against the deep blue of the north Pacific Ocean.

Most of the trash has broken into bite-sized plastic bits, and scientists want to know whether it's sickening or killing the small fish, plankton and birds that ingest it.

During their August fact-finding expedition, a group of University of California scientists found much more debris than they expected. The team announced their observations at a San Diego press conference Thursday.

"It's pretty shocking — it's unusual to find exactly what you're looking for," said Miriam Goldstein, who led fellow researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego on the three-week voyage.

While scientists have documented trash's harmful effects for coastal marine life, there's little research on garbage patches, which were first explored extensively by self-trained ocean researcher Charles Moore just a decade ago. There's also scant research on the marine life at the bottom of the food chain that inhabit the patch.

Climate Change Seen as Threat to U.S. Security

August 9, 2009
The New York Times
By JOHN M. BRODER

WASHINGTON — The changing global climate will pose profound strategic challenges to the United States in coming decades, raising the prospect of military intervention to deal with the effects of violent storms, drought, mass migration and pandemics, military and intelligence analysts say.

Such climate-induced crises could topple governments, feed terrorist movements or destabilize entire regions, say the analysts, experts at the Pentagon and intelligence agencies who for the first time are taking a serious look at the national security implications of climate change.

Recent war games and intelligence studies conclude that over the next 20 to 30 years, vulnerable regions, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and South and Southeast Asia, will face the prospect of food shortages, water crises and catastrophic flooding driven by climate change that could demand an American humanitarian relief or military response.

Fish Food

by Eileen Weber

The next time you fire up the grill for some Cajun catfish, consider where that fish came from. Is it really safe?

Much of the seafood we eat comes directly from fish farms, also known as aquaculture. More specifically, the majority of those fish farms are in China and some in Vietnam. With shrimp, eel, catfish, basa, and dace among them, the Chinese alone farm more than 50 million tons of fish. Compare that to about 5 million tons produced in the U.S., a mere fraction of the Chinese market.

According to some statistics listed on the Food & Water Watch web site, Americans eat more than 16 pounds of seafood per person per year. That’s almost 30 percent more seafood than 25 years ago. The amount we consume is about two billion pounds, which is the weight of approximately 270,000 Hummer SUVs.

Part of the problem with the Asian fish farms is that many of them are contaminated by sewage, agricultural runoff, and industrial chemicals dumped into the waterways. They keep the fish in near-shore pens, nets, and enclosures that become breeding grounds for disease. To counteract this, Asian fish farmers turn to illegal veterinary drugs to ward off bacteria and parasitic infections. When that seafood is contaminated with illegal veterinary drugs and other environmental contaminants, what’s on our plates doesn’t seem all that appetizing after all.

The drug residue on Chinese farmed fish was the reason for a block on imports in 2007. According to a New York Times article dated December 28, 2007, the drugs are effective in fighting disease and increasing the survival rates of the fish, which directly affects their profitability.

“The dirtier the water and the more pollution there is, the more drugs are used, there’s no question about that,” said Lai Zini as quoted in the article. Zini is a researcher at the Pearl River Fisheries Research Institute in southern Guangdong Province

Natural Pesticides that Work

EarthTalkTM
From the Editors of E/The Environmental Magazine

Dear EarthTalk: What green-friendly lawn and garden pesticides are available today? I’m particularly interested in options that won’t harm my cats.     -- Nancy Blanchard, via e-mail

Pesticides have greatly boosted agricultural yields over the last half century, so it is no wonder, given the commercial availability of many of these synthetic chemicals, that American homeowners apply 100 million pounds of the stuff each year to make their own gardens grow bigger and faster, too.

But the downside of using such chemicals is that they can poison people and pets as well as backyard wildlife: “Common insecticide ingredients such as 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), atrazine and dicamba have been shown to harm mouse embryos at times equivalent to the first week after conception in humans,” says Erica Glasener of The Green Guide. Due to such revelations, home gardeners are fast discovering the benefits of avoiding chemicals in favor of natural, less toxic alternatives.

But before thinking about applying pesticides, gardeners can design (or re-design) their gardens to make the most of native plants that have evolved over eons to thrive in local conditions without synthetic aid or lots of water. Choosing native plants appropriate to your elevation, soil type, drainage and sun exposure will naturally repel many common pests and also reduce the propagation of invasive exotic species.

Similarly, embedding your plants in healthy soil replete with beneficial insects and worms can also help reduce the need for pesticides. Laura Moran of Mainstreet.com suggests that home gardeners compost their vegetable food waste—which is chock full of nutrients that plants love—and mix it into existing soil to give the garden a healthy boost. “Aside from stimulating healthy root development,” she writes, “the addition of rich compost also improves soil texture, aeration and water retention.” It also provides a nice home, she says, for the beneficial bugs that are destroyed along with the bad ones by chemical pesticides.

If pesticides are necessary, there are a handful of organic varieties available. Bacillus thuringiensis (“Bt”) is a naturally occurring bacterium that is lethal to most leaf-eating caterpillars on trees, shrubs, flowers and vegetables. According to gardening writer Jeff Ball, it is harmless to all other insects, animals and humans. It comes in a powder form for use as a dust, or, when diluted with water, as a spray. Organic chemists have formulated varieties of Bt to kill mosquitoes or potato beetles as well.

83 Trees Cut Down to Make Better View for Billboard

Via The Green Vibration

Action is needed to protect trees in our very own state! We need to stop companies like LAMAR not only littering our landscapes but destroying our trees to achieve their goals. Send letters of support to Blumenthal and please visit www.scenic.org to send a letter to Jodi Rell stating your support of her bill to ban new billboard contracts in CT, including digital billboards.

Article Written By
BY ROBYN ADAMS REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

WATERBURY-- Nancy Voghel grew up on a "little piece of heaven," but she said Friday that the land near her childhood home has been destroyed.

Last year, Lamar Advertising of Hartford got a permit from the state Department of Transportation to trim and remove undesirable growth on state land off Sidney Street to increase the visibility of one of its billboards.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal filed a lawsuit against the billboard company and Long Hill Tree and Lawn Care Services of East Hartford for cutting down 83 trees that included birch, maple, oak and white pine that were between 85 and 200 years old. Long Hill Tree was hired by Lamar to do the work.

Hal Kilshaw, vice president of governmental relations for Lamar, headquartered in Baton Rouge, La., said the attorney general got it wrong.

"We got permission from the landowner and a permit from the state. We hired Long Hill and met with the state's landscape person, who was on site and agreed to everything that was cut," Kilshaw said in a telephone interview.

Many of the trees that were planted on the land in question were planted by Margaret Casey's grandfather.

"In less than one day, less than an hour, Lamar Advertising came in and changed our lifestyle," said Casey, of 56 Sidney St. "The noise -- we cannot open the windows anymore. We cannot hear the television because of the noise. It is unbearable."

The trees provided a buffer to highway traffic and noise, and soaked up water that spilled down the hilly terrain.

"Last year, I had five feet of water in my basement," said Jerod Voghel, 30, who is Karen Voghel's son. He bought the house that his mother grew up in four years ago; she now lives in Wolcott.

With the open swath of land in the background, Blumenthal and Rep. Selim Noujaim, R-75th District, talked to residents about the lawsuit.

Blumenthal said Lamar "clearly and disgracefully broke the law" by cutting 83 trees that provided a buffer to I-84. The state is suing for unspecified monetary damages to replace the trees.

Mercy Center at Madison: Connecticut’s Green Conference Facility

You’ve worked really hard this past year and now you need to get your staff psyched to launch a new product line. Or maybe your nonprofit organization is serving more people with fewer resources and you need to come up with a new fundraising plan. Setting aside a day once a year for a staff retreat to reconsider your mission and vision can yield big results.

Even better: schedule a staff retreat day to put your company’s sustainability plan and environmental policies on paper while enjoying and learning from an unusual organization that has made the commitment to sustainability themselves.

Mercy by the Sea, a 33 acre facility with 1100 feet of private beach offers nonprofit, government and business groups a “unique setting where learning, planning, exploring and innovating can flourish”, as described on their website, www.mercybythesea.org.

Two years ago they made a strong commitment to greening their operations and added an Ecology Department and Director, Sherill Baldwin, to their organization.

Friends United for Sustainable Energy (FUSE USA)

The aging Indian Point Nuclear Power point and its radioactive isotopes are far from a clean, green energy option. Previous arguements against closing the plant included not having enough power to replace the plant's output. This is no longer the case.

FUSEUSA (Friends United for Sustainable Energy) is a grassroots, not-for-profit organization, that advocates for the development and use of  sustainable energy, in an effort to protect public health and safety and to preserve the integrity of the environment. Their current campaign is to STOP the issuance of relicensing of the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plants, (located just outside New York City) that have a peak injury radius which includes Fairfield and Litchfield counties. They have already filed Contentions and Rulemaking Petitions with the NRC, and are currently preparing Intervener Petitions and other legal actions.

FUSEUSA is a member of the Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition (IPSEC) which is a coalition of over 70 community groups dedicated to the closure of Indian Point.  Visit their website or read more about their recent legal action in the NY Times.

Chemical Clean Up in Milford

(Boston, Mass. – September 24, 2007) – A recent agreement cleared the way for cleanup work to begin at a contaminated drainage swale at 80 Wampus Lane in Milford, Conn. The work is being conducted jointly by EPA and FCI USA Inc. to remove contaminants from the site, including metals (beryllium and lead), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and oils.

The current cleanup, estimated to cost approximately $360,000, will address contaminated surface soils in a 210 foot-long, man-made earthen drainage swale on the property. The swale reportedly received treated plating wastewater, which still contained harmful liquids, between 1965 and 1991.

The 24 acre site likely was contaminated from years of industrial activity on the property, where the manufacturing of electrical components and accessories took place from 1956 to 1999. Operations at the facility included rubber and plastic molding, screw machining, de-greasing and plating as well as waste water treatment. The Conn. Dept. of Environmental Protection (CT DEP) has previously overseen the remediation of two contaminated waste lagoons and a landfill on site. Read the full story here.

Green-E Profile of a CT Riverman

What is the name of your organization and what is its mission? The Farmington River Watershed Association was established as a 501©3 non-profit conservation organization in 1953 with a mission of protecting the Farmington River and its watershed forever through implementing research, education, and advocacy programs.

What is your day-to-day role in the organization? Every day I am involved with directing programs, making public presentations, responding to questions about the watershed, developing ideas for new programs on emerging environmental issues, serving as a liaison with our Board of Directors, working with other local and statewide groups trying to make a difference, and raising funds to support our activities.

What prompted you to become eco-conscious? I grew up in Pittsfield, MA near the Housatonic River.  As a kid, I went to the Pleasant Valley (Audubon) Wildlife Sanctuary day camp in Lenox and learned about pond, river, and meadow ecology.  In High School, I started hearing and learning about PCB’s and other environmental contaminants that were added to the River by a local business, and my AP Biology teacher inspired me to think about a career in science.  After graduating from the University of Michigan with a History degree, I went to work for Congressman Silvio O. Conte in Washington, DC serving as his legislative aide handling elderly, environmental, health, and women’s issues.  With Conte, environmental issues quickly became my favorite and I worked with a team of people to write legislation that created the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge along the Connecticut River.  When Conte passed away in 1991, I went to work for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, then got a Master’s degree in environmental science at U.C. Berkeley, and I haven’t looked back since.  I have been FRWA’s Executive Director since January, 2003.

What do you see as the most pressing environmental issue in Connecticut? Why?

Many environmental issues are connected but I would say that one of the prime drivers of environmental problems is sprawl (a.k.a. unwise land use).  This leads to a bevy of problems:  an increase in impervious/paved surfaces which leads to more stormwater run-off pollution and flooding as well as less groundwater/aquifer recharge; an increase in commute times which are connected to increased consumption of fossil fuels and a worsening of global warming and air pollution; and the loss of key habitats and species due to fragmentation by roads and poorly planned developments.

Connecticut Birding Blog

For all of you bird watching and naturalists out there, you must check out the lively posts and OUTSTANDING PHOTOS on The Brownstone Birding Blog, written by a Connecticut native with an interest in birding who shares his adventures in the great Connecticut outdoors.

Coastal Cleanup

The Ocean Conservancy’s 22^nd annual International Coastal Cleanup will involve hundreds of thousands of volunteers around the globe on Saturday, September 15, 2007.
Locally, volunteers of the Norwalk River Watershed Association [NRWA], Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, other groups, and members of the public are encouraged to participate in “pollution prevention” by teaming up to remove trash from our region of the Long Island Sound’s shoreline.  Trash removed from the shore saves marine animals’ lives and can improve water quality, and so Ed Holowinko of NRWA will be at Norwalk’s Veteran’s Park at 9 AM to organize local volunteers who want to take part in this global effort.  Please call Ed at 203.852.7187 to register your interest.  Volunteers working for three hours will satisfy the hands-on component required to earn the Norwalk River Watershed Patch.  Visit www.norwalkriver.org for details.

For people who wish to work in other geographic locations, online registration may be done at the Ocean Conservancy’s website; visit www.oceanconservancy.org, and click on the International Coastal Cleanup “Register Now” box. Boaters who can clean up coastal islands and boat ramp areas are especially appreciated!

Storms Bring Sprawl Pollution to Rivers

By Eric Hammerling

The pejorative term “sprawl" conjures up an image of cookie-cutter subdivisions marching inexorably over gentle hills that were once farms or forests. Many of us bemoan the changes that sprawl has wrought on our neighborhoods and towns — more paved areas, more traffic, more look-alike strip malls. We rarely speak of what may be the most harmful aspect of sprawl, and that is how it affects our water supply.

What is happening isn’t hard to explain. Sprawling development is accompanied by an explosion of paved areas, which scientists call “impervious surfaces.” When rain falls or snow melts, the water runs off these impervious surfaces into storm drains and is conveyed directly into the nearest river, stream, or lake. Stormwater, as this runoff is known, carries along whatever is in its path. That too often includes pet wastes; road sand and salt; oil, gas, heavy metals and other car-related pollutants; pesticides; and fertilizers and sediment from poorly controlled construction sites. These pollutants, especially when combined with low water and warm temperatures, can spell serious trouble for the river or lake and the fish and the wildlife who depend upon it.

A Green Wedding Gift

Many young couples are concerned about climate change.  Davie and Tiffany Foley, a newly wedded couple received an unusual wedding gift from their relatives--this forest in Costa Rica designed to balance their carbon emissions for the next 25 years.

CO2 is responsible for climate change and global warming. The average annual per capita CO2 emission of each U.S. citizen was 23.5 metric tonnes in 2004, up 18% since 1990.  A couple who does not take measures to reduce their emissions is thus responsible for 47 tonnes each year.

In addition to buying hybrid cars, installing solar panels, switching over to clean energy, and reducing our use of electricity, another option for managing CO2 emissions is to sponsor a carbon-offset forest.  Working with farmers to reforest pastures in 25-year contracts, programs like Reforest the Tropics manage new forests to produce wood for farmer income and to sequester CO2 on behalf of U.S. emitters.

B-Greener Tips for the BIRDS!

I love listening to and watching the birds that come and visit my yard. If you want to attract more birds, as well as do your part to conserve dwindling wild bird populations, read these tips offered by Partners in Flight.

And if you don't get past this intro, at least stop using chemical pesticides on your lawn--each year, 4 million tons of pesticides are applied in the U.S. exposing 672 million birds to the harmful effects of these chemicals. One-tenth of those exposed, or 67 million birds, are estimated to die as an immediate result!

Balancing Your School's CO2 Emissions

By Dr. Herster Barres

Reforest The Tropics, Inc. (RTT) is a CT-based non-profit organization that works with schools to teach students about climate change.  The approach to learning involves teaching students the somewhat grim realities of climate change, but offers practical steps that students can take to feel a part of the solution.

There are four basic ways to deal with global warming: energy efficiency, energy conservation, new sources of clean energy, and sequestration of CO2--which is accomplished by trees that hold units of CO2 until they are cut down or die.  Working in the area of sequestration, Reforest the Tropics has developed a working model of the long-term sequestration of US CO2 emissions in sustainable tree-farm forests located in Costa Rica, where year-round temperatures are best for growing healthy trees.

As a part of the program, all participating schools receive science or math instruction with RTT staff or a local environmental group to achieve the following:

1)  Learn how to calculate the CO2 emissions of your school and home in order to track our success in reducing these emissions.  Student can do an in-class exercise each year to up-date their school's inventory.

2)  Sponsor a forest on a farm in Costa Rica, a forest dedicated to offsetting 25 or more tonnes of CO2 each year in a long-term contract with the farmer.  You can track the growth and sequestration in this forest through data and pictures taken by the RTT forester in Costa Rica and sent to your school's
e-mail address.

For more information, visit reforestthetropics.org or contact hbarres@aol.com in Mystic, CT.

Get Invloved!

NOFA (Northeast Organic Farming Association CT) makes it easy to get involved in raising awareness about the importance of organic farming and supporting Connecticut-grown organic farmers. Visit the NOFA website to donate or join, or browse the list below for ways to make a difference.

Source: CT NOFA

Carbon Neutral and Guilt-Free

By Heather Burns-DeMelo

A few weeks ago I read an article in the Danbury News Times about a man named Dr. Herster Barres whose program, Reforest the Tropics, partners with farmers in Costa Rica to plant and manage trees in order to offset personal and corporate CO2 emissions.

While working for the United Nations and as Director of the applied research program, Reforest the Tropics, Dr. Barres has studied the fastest growing and best carbon-gulping tree species in order to sequestor 25 tons of CO2 per year, per 2.5 acres. To date, 54 New England emitters have sponsored 263 acres of new forests in Costa Rica.

Carbon offsets are a hot topic these days, especially with corporations frantically trying to "green" their image. Credit companies like GE are offering card holders the opportunity to purchase carbon offsets, but as this Yahoo! article points out, the carbon offset market isn't regulated, so there's no way to be certain if your carbon is truly being offset. That is, of course, unless you purchase your credits from Reforest the Tropics, where a real person answers your questions, addresses your concerns, and they work hard to keep each sponsor in touch with their forests.

To Do or Not to Do, That Is NOT the Question

I came across this video clip while reading the latest post on Colin Beaven's No Impact Man blog. It's an interesting argument and I'd love to hear what all of you out there think.

Birds and Frogs and Fungi, Oh MY!

On a rainy day in June, 170 scientists from around the country gathered in the town of Middletown, Connecticut to trap, photograph and catalog as many species of living organisms as possible in a 24-hour period. The habitat range in the Middletown area offered exceptional survey opportunities including trap rock, the Connecticut River, floodplain forests, and two pristine reservoirs.

Total Number of Species: 2231
Mammals 25
Reptiles/Amphibians 27
Birds 93Fish 20
Vascular plants 468
Bryophytes/Lichens 95
SMMMNIAI* 164
Parasites 48
Beetles 237
Diptera 110
Hymenoptera 95
Butterflies 25
Moths 408
Dragonflies/Damselflies 36
Lesser insect orders 113
Acari (mites/ticks) 34
Spiders & kin 83
Fungi 104
Plant pathogens 46

*SMMMNIAI = Single and Multicelled Microscopic Non-insect Aquatic Invertebrates