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October, 2009
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Pilgrims Make Offerings to Mother Ganga
Kartik Maas, the eighth lunar month in the traditional Hindu calendar, is considered highly auspicious. On November 2nd, 2009, Hindus all over the world will celebrate Kartik Snan or Kartik Purnima, a day dedicated to the worship of Ganga Maa (Goddess of the Sacred Rivers). All through the month of Kartik (October-November), an early morning bath in a sacred body of water is considered highly meritorious. Bathing festivals are held at the Ganges, Yamuna and other sacred rivers. Some devotees camp near the banks of the holy rivers to pay homage to Ganga Maa and return to their distant homes upon termination of the month-long cleansing ceremony. Ganga is a perennial river and people have great belief in her divine powers of healing and regeneration. The Goddess is the embodiment of purity, piety and spiritual rejuvenation. For, She descended onto earth to rinse away the sins of mankind and to provide nourishment and sustenance. Maintenance and natural preservation of Ganga is largely ...
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Wikinews: "The free news source you can write!"
Last week I wrote up a review of a Copenhagen story published by four of the world’s prominent newspapers. These articles, written by professional journalists, covered the same story but with different takeaway messages. That got me wondering how citizen journalists would report on these stories.
Because I’m an experienced college student, my first stop was Wikipedia. For years, professors have written off Wikipedia as amateur and unreliable, but my generation continues to turn to it for information ranging from an actor’s height to the range of the spotted salamander. I have come to trust Wikipedia’s information both because changes to articles are strictly edited and submissions are required to cite sources. Surprisingly, some of my professors have come to trust the site as well, and encourage students to create or improve wiki articles for our term projects.
What I stumbled upon this week, however, was a spin-off of Wikipedia: Wikinews, “The free news source you ...
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Miracle Wolf: The Story of Nakai
I wrote this story for my website, and I think it's so inspirational a subject matter that I will post it in it's entirety here as my first ever onearth blog posting.
Miracle Wolf: The story of Nakai
Few will face the challenges which Nakai, a seven-month-old wolf, has already lived through. Fewer still will emerge on the other side with his sweet disposition, brave determination and a zest for life which bought him time to prove everyone wrong.
All to often, it is easy to become cynical. The harsh realities of the challenges facing American wolves are painful to learn about. The mission to educate seems daunting.
Sometimes, however, a story touches your heart. Nakai's story is one of those.
The Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center is more than a friend to HOWLColorado.org, it is the inspiration. Without Darlene Kobobel, her animals and the works she does, I would never have started this site.
It is home to several canids. Most are wolves, but there are a few coyotes, endangered swift f...
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A Discussion with Ex-NYPD Officers on the Environmental Conditions of Ground Zero and Its Consequences
In seeking to understand the onslaught of chronic and terminal illnesses that are plaguing the Ground Zero rescue workers it is most essential to first survey the environment – which has been described by the many rescuers I have spoken to as “a gruesome crime scene”, “hell on earth” and “World War III” - that they voluntarily subjected themselves to out of heroism for anywhere from 72 hours straight to over 1,000 hours. The World Trade Center towers were built from 1968 to 1972. At this point in time fireproofing material for buildings contained a mixture of cement and asbestos thus hundreds of tons of the material used for the construction of the twin towers was covered with this toxic materials. The cocktail of chemicals and toxins was discussed in greater detail in my previous entry: http://www.onearth.org/node/1467.
In my first blog I also made a point to emphasize the interview and discussions that will be the basis for my forthcoming blogs. ...
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The Channels of Climate Change Exploration
Partially in response to an accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, temperatures are rising and patterns in climatic behavior are changing. Though it was, and still is a hotly debated topic of discussion, there is an ever increasing arsenal of scientific evidence that supports that succession of climate change. International, national, and local actions and policies have to be molded to address potential adaptation plans.
On the local level, since my interest is primarily in New York State, there have been policies and programs put in place to address the issue of climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. For example in 1998 New York State established a System Benefit Charge that is based on electricity produced by investor-owned utilities. NYSERDA launched the New York Energy $mart programs to improve energy efficiency and advance research and development of renewable energy (Get Energy Smart). Similarly the New York Power Authority (NYPA) and the Long Island P...
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Invasive Plants: From the Nursery to Your Garden
According to the New York Invasive Species Research Institute (NYISRI), New York is plagued by about twenty invasive plant species. On this list are thirteen common plants that are available at plant nurseries in the New York area, including:- Phragmites (Phragmites australis)
- Mile a minute vine (Persicaria perfoliata)
- Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria)
- Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii)
- Norway maple (Acer platanoides)
- Tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima)
- Russian olive (Elaeganus angustifolia)
- Smooth buckthorn (Rhamnus frangula)
- Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia)
- Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica)
- Multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora)
- Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus)
- S...
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Creating Awareness through Education
Education is a key component to creating an environmentally aware society. Environmental science is a relatively new field; only within the past few decades have colleges and universities in the United States developed environmental science departments. Few elementary, middle, or high schools treat environmental studies as a core subject, if it is taught at all. As a result, students have a lacking knowledge of the environment and the ways in which humans impact it. This is slowly changing.
Peter Bower, senior lecturer at Barnard College, has been a leader in environmental education. He has been teaching students about the impacts of environmental contamination through a computer-based simulation known as Brownfield Action. Bower collaborated on the development of this program with Columbia University’s Center for New Media Teaching and Learning in 1999. Brownfield Action has been a big success in creating awareness and changing attitudes in regard to the environment and, in ...
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Bringing Bulk Buying to Local Food: Wholesale Greenmarket
This week I went to the Council for the Environment of the City New York (CENYC) to talk to the folks at the Wholesale Greenmarket program. CENYC is awesome and has many great programs, ranging from the Environmental Education Program to the Community Garden Program (click the links to check out what these programs are all about). Wholesale Greenmarket provides a way for businesses to buy fresh local produce in bulk at competitive prices. To the environment, every table that switches to local food makes a huge difference, and programs like Wholesale Greenmarket are essential to making this transition feasible on a larger scale. The farmers that are now a part of the Wholesale Greenmarket have been at Hunts Point Food Terminal since 2007, with little management and support. That's where CENYC comes in - they just got a two-year grant sponsored by the State Agriculture and Markets Department to take over management of Wholesale Greenmarket in September. They are currently invol...
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Saving Jamaica Bay, an Urban Wildlife Refuge
The United States Army Corps of Engineers announced the signing of a pact with a series of agencies to restore the valueable ecology and habitat in threatened salt marshes. According to a recent New York Post article, New York City will receive $20 million to restore 38 acres of wetlands and grasslands located on the shores of Jamaica Bay. These natural habitats are adjacent to the Paerdegat Basin Combined Sewer Overflow Facility.
Jamaica Bay surrounds the Gateway National Recreation Area, a preserve containing a wildlife refuge known for its biodiversity. The marshlands are the core of the bay's ecosystem, providing a haven for more than eighty species of fish and shellfish, a remarkable diversity of migratory birds and a number of endangered and threatened species, including the Atlantic Ridley sea turtle and the Peregrine Falcon.
Will the marshlands make a comeback? (Picture taken from 10,000 Birds Conservation)
Noteworthy efforts were made to protect th...
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Thoughts on International Justice vis-à-vis Pakistan’s Water
What does a country do when it is confronted by an aggressive neighbor that can potentially control its water supply by playing the role of the upstream riparian? Unfortunately, when dialogue is not constructive and the policies of the upstream riparian are becoming increasingly about a strategic advantage, options are very limited. Pakistan is faced by such a situation with its neighbor, India. Though the Western media likes to highlight problems in Pakistan such as terrorism and the (unfounded) concern that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is in danger of falling into the wrong hands, India's often menacing policies, state-sponsored terrorism and denial of Pakistan's right to free-flowing water goes largely ignored. With this post, I hope to shed some light on the reality of the situation.
Early on, Pakistan realized that unless a legally binding international treaty is made with India, water wars would be inevitable. The World Bank was soon involved and the Indus Waters Treaty was bo...
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Pakistan's Water Dispute with India, part 2
In my last blog post (http://www.onearth.org/node/1492), I mentioned that the presence of all Indian projects - except one - on waters before they enter Pakistan is allowed by the Indus Waters Treaty; the real problem was the design of the projects. The one project whose very presence is problematic under the Treaty is in Kishenganga, on the Neelam River, in Indian-controlled Kashmir. This dispute involves a diversion by India of one tributary to another. This is an outright violation to terms under the Treaty.
Geologically, this project is very complex as it will have a 27km long tunnel to divert water from the Neelam River from its natural course. The tunnel will be fed water from a 103 meter high reservoir on the river, the presence of which threatens to submerge the entire Gurez Valley, causing immense ecological damage.
The Indian defense is that through the proposed Wullar Barrage project (which will be discussed in another post), constant yearly flow of the Jhelum River ca...
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Mercury: EPA Puts Health First
EPA has announced it will set standards limiting mercury emissions from coal-and oil-burning power plants by late 2011, resolving a lawsuit filed by a dozen public health and environmental groups in December of 2008.
This is great news. Exposure to mercury, even at low levels, can cause neurological damage, memory and learning problems, and delays in speech and reading ability, making it a particular concern during pregnancy and early childhood. The most common source of human mercury exposure is through eating fish contaminated with methylmercury, an organic—and highly toxic—form of the heavy metal. How does mercury get into fish? Airborne mercury pollution, emitted from coal-fired power plants, waste incineration, cement kilns, among other sources, is carried by precipitation into waterways. There it is absorbed by plants and aquatic life and converted to methylmercury. As bigger fish eat contaminated smaller fish, it concentrates in their flesh.
According to the EPA, Ameri...
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Deer Threaten Polar Bears and Humans
This past week, I was driving down a commonly used side road and had to bring the car to a crawl because of a young white-tail deer in the road. With the sun shining on the road and the colored leaves floating to the ground around it, my immediate reaction was saying aloud, "Aw, it is gorgeous". I sat in the car, almost at a complete stop, for a good two minutes watching this young deer walk along the yellow lines in the middle of the road with no intention of hurrying or getting off of the road. Unaware of what triggered the change in my thoughts, I finally realized that this is not how it is supposed to be. I should not be the one changing my plans of driving down this road to my destination because this deer feels like walking on man-made roadways. The deer did not appear graceful and mesmerizing anymore but rather seemed like a nuisance and an obstacle. Sometimes when we see nature out its normal habitat, like deer in roads, it may appear picture-worthy or exciting...
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Would journalism tips be useful at OnEarth.org?
The number of websites today collecting, reporting, and reflecting on news is uncountable, and continues to grow. For the optimist, this expansion shows an increase in interest in news, and, perhaps more importantly, a growing desire of citizens to interact with professional media. This interaction ranges from independently reporting on issues to critiquing the manner in which certain media organizations deliver their news.
The journalism website Poynter Online, founded by The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, creates an all-encompassing forum. The site supports a news feed that draws from professional organizations and provides a blog roll, allowing professionals and citizens alike interact with the news. Its mission statement, found in the here, emphasizes the goal of creating citizen journalists who are educated, effective, and ethical.
One of Poynter’s most intriguing aspects is its dedication to educating citizen and professional journalists. Currently, many journal...
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Whatever Happened To 'Save the Whales'?
It used to be such a good catchphrase. "Save the Whales!" But then, as legislators and enforcement seems to be cracking down on illegal whaling and blatant toxic pollution of our oceans, it lost its lustre, and people turned to other, newer, more exciting and pressing issues.
But they're back. Well, the whales issue never really left, but with releases of films like The Cove that turned people's eyes back to the problem of large-scale, long-term loss of marine mammal life, the whales are getting our attention once again. For instance, see what The Whaleman Foundation is doing, with their Save the Whales Again campaign. Reports from scientists who have been studying the effects of human actions on whale populations are beginning to make the news, again.
Want to know more? Here's some in-depth information on the Southern Resident communities of orca whales from explore's trip to the Pacific Northwest, guided by Ken Balcomb, who, like many engaged in studying and preserving these giant...
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New York's New Forests
So this past Saturday was It's My Park! Day in New York City, a day when much tree-planting was going on under the direction of the NYC Parks Department, the Partnership for Parks, and MillionTreesNYC. Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend, since I was with a class, studying the flora of the New Jersey Pine Barrens by canoeing the Batsto River - all in all a good way to spend a Saturday, although it meant I didn't get to witness all the volunteering that went on in the city that day.
But even though I wasn't there, I can claim to have participated. As part of my internship with the city Parks Department, I had helped lay out two tree-planting sites in Brooklyn - including one at Marine Park, where ConEd was evidently helping out on Saturday.
(Planting site at Marine Park, Brooklyn. White X's indicate where trees go.)
At the planting sites, which were grassy and scrubby and had been mown to a short, dry stubble, we laid out plots of 15x15 meters; within each plot, we marked tree...
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Veterans for American Power Tour Rolls to Finish Line in Florida
After marching through more than 30 cities and towns in 12 states and the District of Columbia, the southern bus of the Veterans for American Power Tour criss-crossed the Sunshine State this weekend to convince people that America will be more secure by switching to a clean energy economy.
Our first stop was in the American Legion Hall Post 6 in Deland, FL. In a room appointed with military memorabilia and a wall-mounted M16, the vets mingled with fellow veterans of wars dating back to World War II.
Many in the room agreed with their message: we need to find other sources of clean energy here at home to keep American armed service members from having to deploy and fight in wars over oil and other energy sources. It's the best way to avoid future conflicts fueled by the increasing threats of climate change.
After ordering a takeout lunch, the vets boarded their navy blue bus and headed to the sprawling campus of the University of South Florida in Orlando. The vete...
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With a Presidential Push Vets March Through Florida
It's not everyday that the commander in chief recognizes your actions in a major speech to the nation. But that's exactly what happened yesterday, and the ex-service members aboard the southern bus of the Veterans For American Power Tour gave out a loud rebel cheer when they heard the news (there were a few Yankee hollers as well).
"It's not everyday that the president acknowedges your accomplishments," said Army veteran Ed May, a South Carolina native now living in Tennessee. "I joined this tour because I love my country and this is the most important service I can give to it. It makes me proud to know our commander in chief feels the same way."
The vets started their tour yesterday morning when their distinctive logo-emblazoned blue bus pulled into the Sunshine State's capital grounds. After a thorough search of the bus by officers with security dogs, the bus began drawing a small crowd of well wishers and media. Numerous cars honked their horns in support.
Tallahassee native ...
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Meet Me At The Fair
"GUNS DON'T KILL PEOPLE, LIBERALS DO."
The banner flew over the National Rifle Association booth at the recent Delaware County Fair in Walton, New York. In front of the booth people milled about, listening as raffle tickets were being read off. There were families with young children, old people sitting on benches, some people in wheelchairs and many others robust and glowing in the health of hard farm work and rural living. There were also summer vacationers, dressed in casual urban attire.
I stopped for a moment and looked around at the people gathered under this banner. It was a week after Sarah Palin had announced that she did not support the Health Care Bill because of the "death panels" it would establish. This was clearly what had inspired the banner. Whether all the people there agreed with the message was unclear but, right or wrong, the message was simple and emotional. And it got me to thinking.
John and I go to this fair every summer and we always have fun. It was great ...
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Visual Representation of DNA and RNA by Gregor Mobius
This is a proposal to replace the existing DNA/RNA alphabet representation U C A G T with five discrete values on the gray scale Black, Dark, Gray, Light and White. These are percentage values in relation to one referential value named "black" and defined as "absence of light". Thus value of Black (Uracil) is 100%,"black", Dark(Cytosine)=75%, Gray(Adenine)= 50%, Light (Guanine) =25% and White(Thymine) = 0%. The value difference between neighboring bases is 25%. One interesting thing about this representation: if we establish all relationships between the bases that differ 50%, we will get only these three pairs: U-A, C-G and A-T. With this single rules we have not only established all the base pairs for DNA and RNA, but we could now see why only those and not some other pairs are possible. And the "exchange" value in these transactions is Gray(Adenine)
Further more, this visual representation could enable the analysis of larger structures, the patterns of distributions o... -
Superfund Nomination, Development, and the Economy: What They Mean for the Future of the Gowanus Canal
(Photo accessed on www.nyc.org)
The Gowanus Canal has the Hudson River beat when it comes to water pollution. Located in Brooklyn, the Gowanus Canal "is one of the most heavily contaminated water bodies in the nation," according to Riverkeeper. Alongside the canal, which was constructed in the mid-19th century, industrial projects sprang up-manufactured gas factories, cement plants, tanneries, oil refineries, and chemical factories, among others.
In the recent years, however, a new type of industry has become interested in constructing along the canal-real estate and other types of developers. In an article I came across in this past weekend's The New York Times Magazine, contributing writer Andrew Rice profiles this new industrial boom. In "On the Waterfront," Rice delineates four new major development projects in the proposal phase for the Gowanus Canal area: 1. Gowanus Canal condo or rental building (360 proposed units) 2. Toll Brothers condos and town houses (450 proposed ...
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Wild garden, part 2
In the last blog, "'Tis a wild, wild, wild garden we need to create", I started with my theme of tackling wildlife gardening from the ground up. Or rather, the lawn.....and how we got the balance between grass and garden plants all WRONG.
It starts with a new house. Developers tend to have favorite designs. First, a street tree or two with a perfectly circular mulched area at the base. Then, borders under the windows, generally with a cherry tree placed too close to the house and a series of unidentifiable shrubs that are always green but do absolutely nothing else (no flowers, no autumnal glory, no colorful berries)
Of course, after a time we realize their mistakes. The cherry tree is chopped down. The anonymous green shrubs are either tolerated or replaced by an ‘evergreen of color' like a blue Juniper or golden Chamaecyparis. And we buy pansies for the winter and spring and annuals for the summer. Every year.
And heft spadefuls of mulch in-between everything.
You don't have to...
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New book stresses the need for faith-based collaboration in combating climate change
A new book entitled "A climate for change: Global Warming Facts for Faith-Based Decisions" is beginning to make rounds in the blogosphere. Authored by husband-wife team Katharine Hayhoe (a professor of geosciences at Texas Tech) and Andrew Farley (a religious scholar at Texas Tech and an active pastor), the book has two goals: i.) to provide some truth in the nonsense-filled world of global warming "debates" that have overridden media and the internet, and ii.) to provide insight into what role the faith-based community can play in combating climate change. The book has already gotten several high-profile endorsements, including a glowing one from the past president of the Association for the Advancement of Science.
Although I haven't read the book yet (it is still on preorder and is due out this month), it exemplifies an important advance that needs to be made not just in dealing with climate change but with a whole host of environmental issues: collaboration between scientists ...
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At the End of an Era, a New One Approaches—As well as its Problems
Over the past few decades, manufacturing in the United States has shifted over seas as rising labor costs make outsourcing more appealing to American companies and consumers. As a result, more and more old factory buildings have been abandoned, leaving economically depressed, ghost-town neighborhoods in their wake. These abandoned properties are known as brownfields and often contain some level of pollution.
Noticing the ever increasing number of stagnant factories, in 1980 Congress passed legislation declaring property owners responsible for the cleanup of contamination on their land. This was one of the initial steps made towards brownfield cleanup programs in our country. In 1988 Minnesota was the first state to create a voluntary cleanup program. Many states followed suit, New York formed its own program in 1994. Other state and federal brownfield regulations have been developed over the past three decades in order to further the brownfield cleanup effort. Brownfield initiative...
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Reporting on International Climate Debate
The preparations for Copenhagen, and the role that the U.S. and other big names will play, are generating massive international press. Each news agency, it seems, is describing the story in a slightly different way. The following headlines are from online editions of a few international news sources on October 19 and 20 (mediocre headline translations and summaries courtesy of me):
New York Times :
“Hopes Fade for Comprehensive Climate Treaty” (note: title later changed to “As Time Runs Short for Global Climate Treaty, Nations May Settle for Interim Steps”)
Political issues will not be resolved before Copenhagen. The summit will lead to outlines and goals, but no effective plans. An EU meeting made progress on agreements to give aide to poor countries.
BBC :
“Climate treaty now ‘more do-able’”
UK Climate Secretary Miliband plans to go “all out” at Copenhagen, and calls for political leaders to get involve...
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Veterans For American Power Get Some Soothing Southern Hospitality
With sunshine pouring down like liquid gold, veterans of Alpha bus continued their push south, making stops in Charlotte, NC, Greensboro, SC and Columbia, SC. News cameras and supporters welcomed the members of the Veterans for American Power Tour as they continued to encourage community leaders and citizens to support the development of clean energy technologies to make Americans more secure.
After boarding the bus yesterday in Greensboro, NC, the first stop was at the Vietnam War Veterans Memorial in Charlotte. In a secluded park shaded by tall oaks and elm trees, the veterans walked along a sloping wall of names of members of the area who gave their lives during the war.
"We are here giving testimony to those who served before us," said Army veteran Rafael Noboa. "We stand here together to bring an important message that will help reduce conflicts like these that cost the lives of so many patriotic Americans. Energy security is national security. We can build a clean energy e...
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Veterans for American Power Tour Heads to Land of Dixie
Today the Veterans for American Power tour continues it's southern swing deeper into the land of Dixie. Over the past several days, we've traveled from West Virginia to Washington DC, and then headed south all the way to Greensboro, NC, visiting Richmond, Norfolk, Raleigh, Fayetteville and over-nighting in Greensboro.
The vets continue to press their message of clean energy and oil independence to make our country more secure.
In Richmond on Tuesday, Oct 20, we were met by a reporter of the Richmond Times, who boarded the bus and had a roundtable discussion with the vets.
"It's really important that we let people know that what we learned in the military is to prepare for threats in advance," said Army vet Rafael Noboa, who served in Iraq. "With climate disruption, we know the threat is coming. Our own military is preparing for it. People need to understand that if we don't prepare for it and change to a clean energy economy then we will face a dangerous future."
On a crystal clear wa...
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Beyond Green
“Green is the new black” is so 2007. Oscars were won for a film about a slide show on global warming. Demand for hybrid cars outpaced production. Media companies, sports teams, everyone it seemed was turning green, toting thermoses and donning organic tees.
Was it all just a fad? Not entirely. A recent poll, conducted by Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, found that the percentage of Americans who believe there is solid evidence the earth is warming due to pollution, has dropped to 57 percent, down from 77 percent in 2006, and 71 percent in April 2008. However, despite their misgivings about the science, half the respondents still say they support limits on greenhouse gases, even if they could lead to higher energy prices, and a majority—56 percent—feel the United States should join other countries in setting standards to address global climate change.
With the economy and jobs foremost on people’s minds, no wonder they “see these issues as less gra...
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No trees, please, we're urban
Do you like trees? I like trees. I would be hard pressed to think of a tree I didn't like. Well okay, I've never been a big fan (so to speak) of palm trees, especially as urban trees -- which is why I felt somewhat vindicated a few years ago, when Los Angeles evidently decided that those spindly, frequently non-native, shadeless Dr. Seuss-inspired creatures will be less ubiquitous in that city in the future, despite their iconic status there.
Some people don't seem to like trees at all, though. A few days ago the Los Angeles Times (oddly enough) published an interesting in-depth article by Tina Susman about a spate of recent tree-killings in New York City. Apparently it's not enough that multiple windstorms have been dropping trees all over the city; someone out there thinks that getting rid of trees (or possibly just making mischief) is worth wandering around in a park at night with a chainsaw. People have also been protesting the planting of individual street trees, on the bas...
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Water: A Victim of Environmental Negligence in Southern New Jersey and Northern India
For the past two years, I have been working with a remarkable team of researchers at Barnard College and Lamont Doherty's Earth Observatory, research institution of Columbia University, to enhance the mobilization of arsenic from sediments at the highly contaminated Vineland Chemical Company Superfund site in southern New Jersey. The Vineland Chemical Company manufactured arsenic-based herbicides from 1950 to 1994 on a 54-acre site in a residential and industrial area of the City of Vineland. Prior to 1977, the company stored byproduct arsenic salts in chicken coops and open piles. Its environmentally negligent behavior led to the contamination of an adjacent wetland, surface and subsurface soils, groundwater, the nearby Maurice River and downstream Union Lake. Decades later, the 57,000 people who depend on the groundwater system in the area for drinking water, nearby residents and workers are still facing the repercussions of the company's reckless acts. The EPA has invested milli...
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Ornamental Shrubs: Pretty in the Garden but Bad for Native Ecosystems
This past summer I spent hours in Black Rock Forest (Cornwall, NY) doing research for my senior thesis. My daily routine required that I trudge through dense thickets of thorny Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii) on a daily basis to study its effects on the understory ecosystem in the Hudson Highlands forest. Japanese barberry is an invader that does three main things to the ecosystem that it invades:- It changes soil pH which allows it to out-compete other native species for space and resources and allows it to spread further (Li et. al 2008)
- It facilitates the invasion of other non-native species (i.e. Japanese stilt grass, garlic mustard, earthworms; Ehrenfeld et. al 2001)
- It is disrupting the habitat of many native species (i.e. salamanders, snakes, bears, etc.) by replacing native understory vegetation and seedlings (Maerz et. al 2009)
After a long, but fruitful summer of research, I was ready to return home to California to see my family and pets. When I arrived home, af...
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Bus Breaks Down But Our Spirits Stay High
A beautiful Indian summer day greeted the veterans of Alpha bus Sunday morning. We left the hotel in Roanoke early to meet a Roanoke Times reporter for an interview.
"I remember the oil embargoes of the 70s," said Ed May, an Army veteran of Desert Storm in Kuwait and Iraq. "Everyone said we needed to get off oil and find another source of energy. Then I went and served in the Gulf War, and after that they said the same thing. It's time to get something done now, for our nation's security sake."
Then we fired up the bus and headed north to Charlottesville, the home of Thomas Jefferson. But within minutes of leaving Roanoke, the bus blew a hose and we were forced to pull over. Ellis, our veteran pilot, guided the wounded blue bus to a nearby service station for repairs. The breakdown forced us to cancel our appearance in Charlottesville, where the mayor and other dignitaries awaited us.
But by mid-afternoon we were back cruising through the green hills of Virginia for an interview...
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Becoming a Locavore: tips for making the transition
I'm now finishing my third week of eating local produce, and I have to admit I'm missing exotic fruits and summer veggies. After experiencing the challenges associated with switching to a (partially) local diet, I have to ask myself; if after three weeks I'm already getting tired of just eating local produce, how have so many people kept completely local? And yes, they do exist. In fact, in recent years the local food movement has gained momentum; in 2007 "locavore" was announced the word of the year by the New Oxford American Dictionary. Just googling "locavore blog" gave me 1 and a quarter million hits!
So how do they do it? Here are some tips I've learned from personal experience or come across in my research. If you've been inspired to buy even a few products locally, I hope this helps. And if you haven't decided to give living like a locavore a try, maybe these will convince you how easy it is to start...
1. Start small. Part of the reason I didn't switch to a complete...
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Swimming in the Hudson River: Will the Water Quality Ever be Satisfactory?
Swimmers in the Hudson River on May 23, 2009 for the Great Hudson River Swim (Photo courtesy of Watts/News on www.nydailynews.com)
Imagine a sweltering summer day in New York City. Aside from staying inside your air-conditioned apartment, don't you wish you could head over to the West Side and jump into the Hudson for a nice, cool swim? The answer is probably no. Given the Hudson's history of pollution and overall poor water quality, it is difficult to imagine even taking a dip in the river. On May 23, 2009, about 200 swimmers went where many New Yorkers have not gone before and probably cannot imagine ever going-for a swim in the Hudson River. As part of the Great Hudson River Swim, these brave individuals swam a 1.3 mile race in the river. (Click here to view the video "Hudson River Swimmers Take the Plunge" on NYDailyNews.com).
These swimmers were not the first, nor will they be the last to brave the waters of an often thought unswimmable river. In July of 2004, Ch...
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Veterans for American Power Tour heads to DC
After barnstorming through much of the midwsest the Veterans for American Power tour is heading to the nation's capitol today. Since the tour started in Arkansas Oct 12, we been to dozens to towns and cities in a half dozen states, including Arkansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio and West Virgnia. The vets on the bus are from a wide range of services and tours, ranging from Operation Desert Storm in the Gulf to recent tours to Afghanistan. They all have been spreading the message that climate change is a national security threat, and that creating a new clean energy economy is the best way to keep our country safe and secure by getting off oil and creating more jobs in the US.
Army veteran Ed May plans to be with the tour the entire trip, ending up in Tampa October 25. "I'm on the trip because this is the most important mission in my life," he says. "I remember standing in the oily rain during the gulf War. I know what it's like to go to war over oil. We need to help ex...
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No Lions in the Classroom, Please
A few years ago, the African Wildlife Foundation presented me with an unusual request: build a new school for Maasai children in Tanzania... one that is not right in the middle of an elephant breeding ground, preferably, and one in which the children would not have to share their playground with wandering lions, zebras, and other wild animals.
We thought that sounded pretty reasonable. And so began the Manyara Ranch school project. See the video below for the introduction to the project. Follow up with the rest of the videos from the series: Building the School, Manyara Dorms, and Classroom of Hope.
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The Federation of Hindu Mandirs Organizes Beach Cleanup
In a January 7th, 2007 New York Times article entitled, "Offerings to Mother Ganga, Worries About Mother Nature," Dorothea Poggi, founder of the Ferry Point Park West Coalition, commented on the practice of Hindu rituals at a small beach in Ferry Point Park in Bronx, NY: "I think the ritual is beautiful. I just wish they would stuff it in the garbage pail." For more than a decade, Hindus have been accused by many for desecrating the serenity of beaches and rivers. Because some Hindus leave floatables that are not rapidly biodegradable on the shores of the waterways, harsh generalizations are made about Hinduism and its relationship with natural ecosystems. However, we must avoid labeling any group of people based on detrimental practices done by a fraction of the mass. Just as important is encouraging that misguided fraction to alter its mindset and change its traditionally ingrained habits.
Many Hindu families have adapted their worship to include proper disposal ("consecration") o...
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Citizen Scientists: Get Involved!
A movement that is currently sweeping the nation is the concept of the "citizen scientist." Citizen scientists are members of the public who volunteer to help collect observational data and minor measurements regarding the environment. This kind of scientific research requires minimal to no specific scientific training at all. The only necessary contribution that citizen scientists must make is a few hours of their time.
People who enjoy watching the annual bird migrations throughout their area may not have any formal scientific training, but when they are asked to fill out a bird count card with what birds they have seen and how many, they are contributing to scientific research. These ordinary citizens have become involved in more than just their every day routines; they have become a part of on-going scientific research that began with only their passion for birds.
The benefits of citizen science include:
- 1) Getting the public involved in on-going research projects
- 2) Helping p...
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Will the Pursuit of Natural Gas Endanger New York’s Drinking Water?
Beneath much of the New York City Watershed and extending over numerous states lies the Marcellus Shale, an expansive mineral reserve and sedimentary rock formation thousands of feet below the earth's surface. As the appropriate technology for extraction has become available, oil and gas companies see the prospects of tapping into this sizeable, untouched reserve for new fuel options.
Recently, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) issued a draft environmental impact statement (DSGEIS) for the regulation of natural gas drilling that would occur in the state of New York if the draft were to be finalized. Since natural gas releases fewer pollutants into our atmosphere than oil or coal, the likelihood of natural gas drilling in the future is high. But does the probable damage done to the water supply outweigh these atmospheric benefits?
Since the New York City Watershed supplies safe, quality drinking water to nine million residents...
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Pakistan's Water Dispute with India, part 1
Before certain rivers enter Pakistan, they pass through territory administered by India, making Pakistan understandably nervous about any Indian construction on these waters. With the exception of one project (which I will talk about in a later post), none of the projects being proposed by India (or constructed to date) involve consumptive use of the waters; instead they are all run-of-the-river plants in which the water continues straight through the project. Pakistan's primary objection to these plants has not been to their existence but to their design, because the design affords India considerable control over Pakistan's water supply. This was the fundamental dispute with Baglihar, a massive Indian dam erected on the Chenab River before it enters Pakistani territory.
The officially stated purpose of the project, which cost an estimated $1 billion, is hydroelectric power generation (it is also known as the "Baglihar Hydroelectric Power Project"). The design of the project includes...
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Brownfields versus Greenfields
There are many issues to consider when selecting real estate for a new building project, one of which is whether to build on “old” land, a brownfield, or on “new” land, a greenfield. A brownfield is land that has been formerly developed but is no longer in use. This land may contain levels of contamination. A greenfield is defined as a plot of land that has not been previously developed. Examples include forests, wetlands, or open fields. Greenfields generally feature no significant amount of toxic materials.
There are pros and cons to building on both types of land. Because greenfields are in pristine condition, they are usually much cheaper to build on than brownfields. Greenfields require neither cleaning nor the removal of hazardous structures. Although greenfields are cheaper, they come at a price for the environment. Developing new land contributes to urban sprawl and can lead to deforestation, the destruction of natural habitats, increases in greenhouse gasses, ...
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City Parks: Beyond Trees
For me, city parks serve mainly as mini-wildernesses, providing escape from the occasionally oppressive communion with my fellow beings that characterizes big city living. It's fairly logical, therefore, that I can't wait to go see the new exhibition by Bronx-born documentary photographer Joel Meyerowitz at the Museum of the City of New York. Entitled "Legacy: The Preservation of Wilderness in New York City Parks," running through March 21st, the show evidently features giant, gorgeous prints of wild-looking parks all over the city. The City Room blog at the New York Times has a brief article with a tantalizing slide show here.
On reflection, though, the show is an odd phenomenon. The parks as art? Going to a city museum to see parks? Parks that are even in the same city as the museum? An interesting intersection of culture and nature. On the other hand, culture and nature are always intersecting -- and that's pretty much what city parks are for, although sometimes I like to pretend...
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Managing the Deer for the Forest
Once at devastatingly low population levels, white-tail deer repopulated with the help of hunting regulations and overprotection. This was a success in terms of conservation, but it was not long after its revival that the deer population kept rising to reach unmanageable numbers. Without natural predators like wild dogs and coyotes, white-tail deer are now destroying forest habitat and endangering the lives of other animals. A question my professor likes to ask is, “should we manage the deer for the forest or the forest for the deer?” The answer to this interesting question is the former; the deer need to be managed for the forest. If this is not done, our forests are going to undergo drastic changes, which will affect the plants and wildlife. Although I have experience in studying deer in New York State, I am going to discuss some impacts the deer diet has on the forest in general without concentrating on New York in particular. Some numbers and dates that are mentioned...
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Wolf 527 is gone
527 is gone.
It is with a heavy heart that I write yet another obituary for a wolf that was part of our lives for 7 years. 527 was one of nine wolves that have been shot in a backcountry wolf hunt district in Montana j...
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The Arctic Circle: Moffen Island
October 10th, Moffen Island, 80°N, 14.5°E
From this completely flat island on the horizon we see nothing, as if we are deposited in some alien sea. It is strangely warm and moist, nothing like the endless winter one might imagine at the end of the road of darkness. Through September it is forbidden to land on this island in case breeding walruses and seabirds might be disturbed. By October the law permits us, and it is now possible to walk right up to huddled walruses and tap them on the shoulder, inject them with tranquilizers, and take a sample of something. But we're not scientists, so we don't do that, though we do approach close enough to feel their eyes looking right at us, squinting, trying to see something of interest. Eye of the walrus-doesn't sound as romantic as ‘eye of the whale,' and I don't know how humans have been changed or touched by it.
The tiny human forms traipse across the white landscape, looking for something, as always, an idea, a creative ...
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Veterans for American Power Tour Motors Through Missouri and Nebraska
On Wednesday, Oct 13, the Veterans for American Power pulled out of St Louis in its brilliant Navy blue bus, wrapped with the names of 66 cities and towns in the 22 states that the bus tours will visit this month.
Our busload of veterans, nicknamed "Team Alpha," assembled in the early morning darkness for a 6 am departure from St. Louis to Jefferson City, the capital of the Show Me State. There the vets were met by a variety of media, including the CBS station KRCG-TV, the Jefferson City News Tribune and St Louis Public Radio, KWMU, and the Brownfield Farm Radio network.
With the state capital dome looming in the background, the vets lined up outside the bus on a damp and gray fall morning. Billy Froeschner, an Army vet from Missouri, told the group of reporters,"We need to bring jobs back to Missouri and we think changing to a clean energy economy is vital to our national security. We want clean American power and we want it soon."
Others vets in the group chimed in. "We don...
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The Arctic Circle: A saxophone someplace far off played
October 9th, Sallyhamnen, 79.7° N 11.2°E
Today we saw three fat walruses asleep in front of an abandoned cabin. A wet snow fell from a dark gray sky. Later we came across seven polar bears eating the rotting carcass of a minke whale. From the peaks above they had slid down fat tracks indented in the snow, making the whole area look like a polar bear ski resort. Baby bears played in the snow with their parents and each other. Two arctic foxes padded by, hoping for a taste. The mouths of the bears were covered in blood as they came down to the shore and smiled again as they reached for the carcass to pull off another piece of rancid meat. We all snapped as many photos as we dared.
Later I played my soprano saxophone aboard the zodiac as we motored close to the whiteblue tongue of a glacier. The scene was being filmed by Italian artist Andrea Galvani for a giant photograph he would later print from a 4x5 or 6x7 camera. The one reproduced here is digital, ‘whi...
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The Arctic Circle: A Circle of Artists and Scientists in the Arctic
October 8th, Fourteenth of July Bay, Krossfjorden, Spisbergen 79.2Ą N 12ĄE
We have been out two nights, a hundred year old schooner populated by fourteen artists, two scientists, and a crew of four, and already we have met a phenonemon of nature that cannot be captured in an image. The aurora borealis is a beautiful piece of natural performance art cannot be filmed or photographed. A time-lapse photo reveals only fuzzy colors, and a moving image cannot get enough light to capture the dynamic strangeness of it all. The Northern lights have been painted as hanging, shimmering curtains of multicolored fire, and old engravings show an imaginary fierce luminosity that wants to leap from the page into our minds.
It is the aurora that makes me more than smile, but open my mouth into an astonished "O." I have seen it many times before but it is never less beautiful or surprising than before. We can make art out of it but we cannot ever replay it. The images we snap and flash...
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911 Response to Climate Change in New York State: ClimAID
In recent times New York State has experienced several emergencies as a result of weaknesses in critical infrastructure posed by climate change. These include, but are not limited to, more frequent black outs and combined sewage overflows as a result of severe storms that lead to unsanitary conditions in neighborhoods. However climate change can also create challenges in the agriculture sphere. For example higher temperature can increase crop yield but will also lead to the introduction of aggressive invasive species that will offer competition to native species and which might pose threats in terms of loss of biodiversity. Additionally human health impacts are identified to be related to climate change including increased heat-stress, morbidity and mortality rises, respiratory conditions as a result of poor air quality, as well as changes in the intensity and range of insect-borne infectious diseases. There is also always the potential for variation in pathogens which are sensitive...
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Down on the Farm...
Last Friday, I finally got the chance to visit Garden State Urban Farms (GSUF) in Newark. It was probably one of the most amazing places I’ve been in my life. Unfortunately, the lot that the farm currently resides on was only on-loan from the City, and is now going to be used for a low-income housing development. Most of the Earthboxes were gone by that point, they had already been moved to other locations, but the ones remaining still had some awesome fresh produce growing in it. I got to pick my own lettuce, zucchini, and golden beets. While I was there we met with a woman who worked for the Newark Housing Authority (NHA). Based on everything we discussed, the partnership between the City and GSUF, if allowed to come to full fruition, could become a vehicle for serious social change in Newark, and in other depressed communities. The possibilities for expanding GSUF are endless. We tossed around ideas like, a partnership with UMDNJs nutrition program to develop nutrition and co...
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Getting on the Bus with Veterans for American Power
Greetings from the Veterans for American Power Tour! Over the next two weeks, I'll be travelling with a group of veterans through the Midwest and down the East Coast.
Why did these veterans, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, sign up to take a bus across America? Because they recognize that clean energy solutions are essential for America's economy, our climate and our national security.
The veterans have come together for an unprecedented 21-state journey organized by Operation Free to talk to citizens and community leaders about the looming crisis of climate change-which not only threatens our planet, but also threatens our national security. Operation Free is a coalition of veterans and national security groups working together to raise public awareness about the threats of climate change and our addiction to oil.
There are two buses of veterans heading out on the tour, one starting in Montana and one in the Arkansas. On my bus are five veterans from diverse backgrounds. Rafael N...
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Swimming in a Sea of Acid
My latest film is a beautiful, independent documentary called "ACID TEST" that explores the urgent problem of rising ocean acidity caused by our burning of fossil fuels. The 22-minute film premiered in August on Discovery Planet Green and is now available online at www.acidtestmovie.com.
The website enables you to see the whole film, take action to reduce carbon dioxide pollution, see extended interviews with top ocean scientists, learn about the science of acidification, and request a free DVD and action kit for home screenings with friends and family. (I hope many people will take advantage of this. ACID TEST is a fascinating, frightening but ultimately hopeful film, and a home screening is a great way to begin making a difference for our oceans.)
Scientists have known for decades that when carbon dioxide mixes with ocean water it creates an acid, but only recently did they begin to realize what this growing quantity of acid would mean for ocean life. As you can see in the fil...
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Cold Cuts
With World Food Day approaching on the 16th, I started thinking — not about world hunger, but rather about how cultures approach food so differently.
Globalization has brought a lot of changes, especially in the world of food: pineapples in the dead of a Michigan winter, Belgian chocolates in Goa, peanut butter in sub-Saharan Africa. And that's just on the surface; I won't even get into the deeper economic impact of the global food trade.
But there are still some cultures that have maintained a strong mono-culinary tradition, partly because of geographic isolation, but in part of the connections it has with their history and culture.
Way, way up north, in the deep Arctic territory of Nunavut, Canada, and parts of Greenland, for example, the Inuit people still eat caribou, seal, walrus, and whale — the very animals they used to hunt in the backcountry, but don't anymore, as much of the Arctic's wildlife population recedes along with the permafrost, and modernization pushes activit...
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How Green is Your Table?
Today I went to the Green Table, a restaurant in Chelsea Market featuring local food. As part of my research I've been looking around for New York restaurants that focus on local food. To any other New Yorkers, check out the book "Clean Plates NYC" by Jared Koch and Alex Van Buren for a good guide of NYC's "healthiest tastiest" restaurants. New York City is a pretty good area for local food -- many of the places the authors identify as healthy and delicious are also focused on serving local food. I picked the Green Table because they self-identify as a "fresh, local, seasonal, handcrafted sustainable eatery and wine bar."
I went because people throw around a lot of lingo when it comes to food; food vendors and grocery stores advertise their operations as fresh, local, organic, sustainable, seasonal. With green movements gaining momentum, this type of marketing pays off, and often these words are used interchangeably. However, these qualifiers have unique meanings. For example,...
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New Beginnings: Giving Land a Second Chance
The word brownfield is an important term in this age of environmental awareness and conservation that many may not be familiar with. A brownfield is a plot of land previously utilized for industrial or commercial purposes that is now no longer in use and contains varying amounts of pollution. This contamination can result in significant environmental damage as well as human health problems. Improperly disposed of toxic chemicals can seep through soil and into our ground water systems, eventually making their way into our drinking water. Not only do these sites pollute our land, brownfields remain as useless eyesores to local communities.
So much can be gained through brownfield cleanup programs. Our environment becomes safer and healthier as previously undesirable land can be made beneficial to a community. Cleaned land can be used for anything from new residential or business locations to public parks local residents can enjoy.
New York City is currently doing just that, making ...
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New York City Parks -- and Me
For a country girl presently immersed (sometimes drowning) in New York City, the city parks are islands of refuge. I love walking in them and suddenly noticing that I can't see any buildings, that the roar of traffic is gently submerged beneath the rustling of leaves in the wind. Ahhhh. A valuable moment, worth protecting.
So when I was assigned by a university course to find, within a couple of weeks, a semester-long project tackling an environmental issue I care about, the parks came easily to my mind, especially because I sometimes worry (rightly or wrongly) that some parks are in danger of being -- at best -- abandoned to the rats, or -- at worst -- bulldozed in favor of luxury condos. How can I help the parks? I thought a good place to start would be to find a group that's already helping the parks. So, okay -- who's already helping the parks?
Evidently, a lot of people.
As I looked for a way to get involved, the main challenge of my search was not a lack of opportunit...
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Dwindling Water Security in Pakistan
Water is very precious. This may come as a surprise as over 70% of the Earth's surface is covered by bodies of water and 60% of the human body is made up of the stuff. The amount of water we can currently harness for civilization to survive given current technology, however, is extremely little: about 3% of Earth's water is fresh, and an even smaller fraction is readily usable (the rest is in ice caps and glaciers, which may melt at an accelerated rate due to climate change and cause dramatic changes in the availability of water). As populations continue to increase, so does water stress, as there are simply a greater number of people in need of a limited resource; the word "need" is key here, as civilization cannot survive without a constant and ample water supply, making conflict over water inevitable.
The sustainable use, planning and development of water resources is a global challenge of enormous proportions: the consequences of poorly distributed water will necessarily result ...
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Revisiting the Lingering Health Concerns of Ground Zero Workers
For the next three months I will be measuring certain effects of the September 11 attacks on New York City. More specifically I plan to research the mounting health issues that are affecting thousands of Ground Zero rescuers and workers.
The September 11th attacks have had and continue to have profound effects upon everyone’s lives –- no matter where one calls “home”. Nearly 3,000 lives were lost on September 11, 2001, and an estimated 2,750 of them resulting form the World Trade Center and 87 and 60 lives from Flights 11 and 175, respectively. It has been reported that more than 90 countries lost citizens in the attacks on the World Trade Center.
The scope of the chronic and tragic health issues effecting ground zero workers is massive and extends beyond ground zero and the surrounding tri-state area. The effects of the attacks on New York City have reverberated throughout the United States, and have continued throughout the rest of the world, as the eco...
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Green Action Project Beginnings
As a current senior at Barnard College, I am pursuing a major in Environmental Science with an emphasis in environmental policy and law. Perhaps best explained by my years of interest in meteorology, my idea of the perfect vacation would be an invitation to join the "Twister Sisters" and chase tornados in the Midwest. Realistically speaking, this is not going to happen any time soon and I am left with the task of desperately trying to find alternative, healthy, outlets to express my passion for the environment and to incorporate my interests in public policy and education. When I learned about the agenda of the Environmental Ethics class taught at Barnard I was immediately interested because it was perfectly harmonious with my desire to channel my energies into a meaningful initiative.
In partial fulfillment for the Green-Action Project component of the Environmental Ethics class, I was offered the opportunity to work with a senior research scientist at the NASA Goddard Institute for...
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The Need for Deer Management: Case Study at Black Rock Forest
Having grown up in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, it is hard to remember the first time I ever saw a deer. In childhood, I did not despise them for their diet (the shrubs on my family's property) or think of ways to get rid of them, but instead enjoyed watching "Bambi", or spotting them in the yard and watching the white of their tails bob as they gracefully ran. However, it wasn't until I became an environmental biology major in college that I began to think of their impact on the forest and our daily life. Deer have become so overabundant in certain areas that they are causing some real problems, and the population needs to be managed in the best way possible.
It is important that in states such as Pennsylvania and New York, where the deer are overpopulated, deer management plans are implemented. It amazed me when I learned how much research, data collection, planning, and discussion needs to go into the management decision and execution process. For the past two summers, I ha...
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A Timid Start in the World of Environmental Media
This week I will be starting a project at OnEarth, working with editors to analyze how the public interacts with environmental media. While I’m sure that the experience will be challenging and enlightening, I don’t doubt that I can accomplish the work. The thing that I am most worried about is my ability to go beyond what the magazine asks of me. I’m humbled by the work done at the NRDC, and I have found myself asking, ‘What could I possibly add to this powerful body of thinkers and planners?’ My experience and education is limited compared to others at OnEarth, and while I consider myself independent and imaginative, I can’t help but think it unlikely that my ideas will have an impact in such an advanced organization. Nevertheless, I have some hope that although I feel lost now, I will come to find a way to make a difference—no matter how small.
The most practical way for me to accomplish this is a three-fold plan:
Step One: watch, listen, repeat.
At first, I will...
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A Garden grows in Newark: Urban Farming in the Garden State
When you think about Newark, New Jersey, food production certainly does not come to mind. However, in the last year and a half Garden State Urban Farms (formally Brick City Urban Farms) has begun to change that. GSUF is part of the growing movement in the United States to re-localize agriculture, bringing small farming operations to urban population centers, as opposed to away from them.
In the United States, most people are completely disconnected from the process of food production. This is largely the result of the industrialization of agriculture, which not only separates people from where and how their food is produced, but also comes at a huge environmental and social cost. In comparison, Urban Agriculture provides an answer to many of the problems that Industrialized agriculture creates. Although most people think it is impossible to have agricultural operations of any scale in the cramped quarters of the modern metropolis, this is simply not the case. Abandoned lots, which...
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The Hudson River and Its Waterways: Preserving a Precious Resource
I am currently enrolled in a science and public policy course entitled Environmental Literature, Ethics, and Action (ELEA) at Barnard College of Columbia University. One of the major assignments for the course is our semester-long Green-Action Project, which is a research venture based on an environmental issue that we are passionate about. For me, picking a topic was easy. This past summer, I volunteered with a river clean-up group in my home state of New Jersey, canoeing along various rivers collecting trash. Glamorous, right? Although I felt immense satisfaction knowing that I was doing my part in helping to restore the rivers, the experience got me thinking. Why should I, or any of the other volunteers, have to pick up trash from the waters in the first place? By the summer's end, I realized that ignorance was to blame. What's needed is increased awareness of the severe negative impacts of polluting our waterways.
Summer vacation was over before I knew it, and I was back ...
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Leadership to the Nth Degree: A Q & A with Nancy Floyd
Nancy Floyd is the Founder and Director of Nth Power, a venture capital firm based in San Francisco that is the first and most experienced venture capital firm currently funding promising startup companies in the field of energy technology, materials and other related businesses. I recently spoke with her about why climate change legislation is important to our economy and how Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) is trying to get it passed in the United States Congress.
Q. How did you become involved with E2?
A. I have been involved with E2 almost since it was founded. I knew of Bob Epstein and had met him. I thought the idea of bringing the business voice and entrepreneurs to the energy and environmental discussion made a lot of sense.
Q. How have you been active in the organization?
A. I've been involved in a number of ways over the last six years. I've spoken at E2 EcoSalons, which are held three or four times a year and provide members with information on important environmental issue...
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Love and Responsibility
When I realized that global warming posed a threat to my two young children's health and well being-- not just in the future, but now-I became what I call an "unlikely environmentalist." I became a recycling fanatic and I started unplugging. I began to apply my professional expertise as a psychologist to the problem of how to enlist the unenlisted. But love for my children also propelled me to become an engaged voter for the first time in my life.
I realized that lifestyle change is necessary but not sufficient. I learned that unless we change the policies that promote climate change, our efforts to change our lifestyles and business practices will be for naught.
I don't feel guilty about actions I didn't take when I didn't know better. But now I feel responsible for whether my children will live in a world in which they suffer or thrive.
You probably feed your children healthy feed and give them the best possible education.
Well, calling your Senator is an act of parental responsibi...
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The Conflict between Worshipping and Protecting Mother Nature at Rockaway Beach
Take a trip to Rockaway beach on the South Shore of Long Island in Queens, NY on a Saturday morning in the summer. You will see a diverse group of people surfing, sunbathing, strolling the boardwalk, watching the piping plover birds or playing handball at one of the handball courts. If you are fortunate enough, you might also see a group of Indo-Caribbean Hindus paying homage to Mother Ganga (Goddess of the Sacred Rivers) by making offerings to the Divine Mother. More formally, the ceremony is called Ganga Puja, and is performed annually by most Hindu families with the objective of gratifying Mother for all she has provided during the year. Puja has sixteen steps in which various items are offered to a Murti (representation of the Divine) or picture of the Goddess with the idea of giving back what they have received. Some of these offerings include items such as cloths, foods and spices, flowers, fruits, milk, water, leaves and money. This beautiful ceremony highlights the Vedic c...
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Road to Copenhagen: A Very Slow Dance
The lesson from the first week in Bangkok was this: negotiations don’t go anywhere without U.S. numbers on the table. Meaning, everyone’s pretty much dancing around the real discussion until Pershing & Co. lay down a couple crucial bits of information–-namely, what America can offer in terms of emissions reductions and straight up cash for adaptation. Minus these corner pieces, there’s no way to start putting the puzzle together.
In their absence, we’ve seen a lot of fidgeting over structure, fretting over language, and very little actual progress. From my perch-–and, granted, us “observer” organizations only have access to the public sessions, and there are all sorts of “informal” sit-downs behind closed doors where (hopefully) more could be getting done–-it seems as if the only real headway has been the consolidation of some text related to basic structural elements of how this thing is written. What do we talk about when we talk about financing?
Which might ...
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'Tis a wild, wild, wild garden we need to create
In his incomparable book The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan describes Americans, quite justifiably, as creatures of corn. This is because of the ubiquitous nature of the plant - feeding us directly, feeding cows (who would be a lot happier eating regular grass), being turned into high fructose corn syrup to sweeten our food the cheapest way possible, being converted into countless food additives....corn is indeed king of our landscape.
Unless you are in the suburbs of course. There, anyone can observe that another grass has domesticated Homo sapiens - the common or garden lawn grass. We are its creatures, manicuring it, feeding it, ensuring no other plant crowds it to mar its perfect greenness, and poisoning any insect that dares crop it. Even if we might admire a natural, wooded landscape on an opposing hillside, we prefer our own yard to be a pristine green sward. In fact, together with a deck and grill, owning such a lawn is the dream of most Americans.
So what?
Well, ironi...
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Road to Copenhagen: U.S. Makes Waves on Day One of Bangkok Talks
Over the next three months, I'll be tracking the American positions in the international climate treaty negotiations for the Adopt-A-Negotiator project. Together, we're tracking the negotiators from twelve key countries up to and through the December COP15 meetings in Copenhagen.
The negotiations came to a head pretty quickly here in Bangkok. Late last Monday afternoon, the first day of meetings, the U.S. delegation tore straight into one of the most critical and contentious issues of the talks-how developed and developing countries should address mitigation. Things got a little ugly between the U.S. and India, and plenty of folks left the U.N. worrying that the talks could derail entirely.
The spat was technically procedural--U.S. lead delegate Jonathan Pershing requested a new discussion sub-group on "mitigation elements common to all Parties." Outside of Diplomacyland, this roughly translates to "we've really got to talk about what China and India's are going to offer." Pershi...
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Fear and Loathing on the Road to Copenhagen
Over the next three months, I'll be tracking the American positions in the international climate treaty negotiations for the Adopt-A-Negotiator project. Together, we're tracking the negotiators from twelve key countries up to and through the December COP15 meetings in Copenhagen.
I wasn't in Bangkok for more than a day before the shame was sickening. I'm an American tracking the American position at these international negotiations where America stands clumsy and tall as the biggest obstacle to an effective agreement. An agreement which--it's no hyperbole to say--could mean the difference between a manageable future and utter climatic catastrophe. An agreement that everyone with a shred of conscience wants to be fair, ambitious, and binding. Indeed, all of us trackers in this Adopt-a-Negotiator program, and everyone in the TckTckTck campaign that we're a part of, are working to ensure that an eventual treaty in Copenhagen could be rightly described by these three characteristic...
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The Price of Our Produce
Walking through the produce section in my grocery store this afternoon, I was confronted by a veritable cornucopia of fruits and vegetables. At first glance, this variety seemed great - I could snack on a banana grown in India, an avocado grown in California. But then I took a second look at my cart. That banana, a tropical fruit native to Southeast Asia was never meant to sit next to that avocado, a fruit native to South America. Zucchini, which is harvested in the summer, shouldn't be bagged up and taken outside into the chilly fall weather. The surreal nature of the produce aisle struck me - an over-plentiful, sterile garden, where food is picked shelves instead of from the ground. No seasons. No geography. Everything you want, when you want.
But where does your produce come from? The answer to this question is actually pretty simple. In most cases in the U.S. "not from around here" is accurate, regardless of your location. So how do fruits and veggies get to you, at ... -
The Red Rock Wilderness Act: Our Chance to Be Present at the Creation
This week marks an historic turning point for people who love the wild canyon country and sweeping mesas of Southern Utah. For the first time, the U.S. House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forest, and Public Lands will consider a bill designed to protect millions of acres of spectacular Utah lands as wilderness.
All of these lands-some of the last great places on earth-are owned by the public, but most of them remain vulnerable to industrial development. America's Red Rock Wilderness Act would protect them from oil and gas development, uranium mining, and off-road vehicle use. Meanwhile, hunters, anglers, hikers, and families could continue to enjoy these lands, including the renowned Cedar Mesa, San Rafael Swell, and the Book Cliffs.
This is our chance to be present at the creation. If we pass the Red Rock Wilderness Act, we can tell our grandchildren that we helped birth the latest Yellowstone. We can say we preserved treasures equal to Zion, Arches, and Canyonlands National Par...
Mowing the Lawn