NEWSLETTER: April 2007
It’s been a month filled with good news and bad news. Jack Kornfield, philosopher, says, “Ours is a society of denial that conditions us to protect ourselves from any direct difficulty and discomfort. We expend enormous energy denying our insecurity, fighting pain, death, and loss and hiding from the basic truths of the natural world and of our own nature.”
The bad news: Report from Brussels, Belgium.
A BBC summary with no frills comes from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which reports, “It’s the poorest of the poor in the world, and this includes poor people even in prosperous societies, who are going to be the worst hit.” Scientists are 90% sure that climate changes are caused by man. After six years of gathering materials, which were submitted by 2,500 scientists, they amounted to “more than 29,000 pieces of data on observed changes in physical and biological aspects of the natural world.” And 89% of these are believed to be consistent with a warming world. The report further stated that 75-250 million people across Africa are expected to face water shortages with a 50% drop in some countries, by 2020. Crop yields could increase by 20% in East and Southeast Asia, but decrease by up to 30% in Central and South Asia, and that 20-30% of all plant and animal species are at risk of extinction, if the temperatures rise between 1.5-2.5 C. Because of the increased melting of the glaciers, there will be a decline in meltwater supplies where more than one-sixth of the world population currently lives. “Coasts are projected to be exposed to increasing risks, including coastal erosion, due to climate change and sea-level rise and the effect will be worsened by increasing human pressures on coastal areas.”
“Several delegations, including the US, Saudi Arabia, China and India, had asked for the final version to reflect less certainty than the draft.”
“The irritating thing is that we have all the tools at hand to limit climate change and save the world from the worst impacts,” says Dr. Lara Hansen, chief scientist of WWF’s Global Climate Change Programme. “The IPCC makes it clear that there is a window of opportunity, but that it’s closing fast. The world needs to use its collective brains to think ahead for the next ten years and work together to prevent this crisis.”
Some good news items: Associated Press: “The Supreme Court made its first decision on global warming with a plea to anyone elsewhere in government who might be listening: Do Something.”
“Justice John Paul Stevens wrote a majority opinion Monday that stressed the U.S. contribution to climate change and the potentially calamitous consequences. The case concerned pollution from cars. “A reduction in domestic emissions would slow the pace of global emissions increases, no matter what happens elsewhere,” he wrote for the divided court. It was a close 5-4 vote, with Chief Justice John Roberts and three conservative colleagues disagreeing.
Representative Rosa L. DeLauro wrote, “The new Democratic majority in the House will make energy independence a priority. To do that, the House recently considered H.R. 6, the Creating Long-term Energy Alternatives for the nation (CLEAN) Act of 2007. This legislation would invest in clean, renewable energy, and energy efficiency by repealing $14 billion in subsidies given to oil companies that are raking in record profits. Moreover, this bill would close loopholes and end giveaways for oil companies in the tax code to ensure they pay their fair share. Lastly, the bill would create a Strategic Renewable Energy Reserve to invest alternative fuels, promote new energy technologies, develop greater efficiency, and improve energy conservation.” She voted for this bill, which passed in the House 264 to 163. She said she is hopeful the Senate will vote on similar legislation in the near future.
The investment house Goldman Sachs has built a “Green Tower” headquarters in Manhattan at the cost of $2 billion. They advised their clients to strike a massive compromise with the environmentalists to nix plans for all but 3 of the 11 coal burning plants intended to be built in Texas and was helped by the Environmental Defense in brokering the deal. Along with this change, there is more participation from other investment banks, going with the slogan; “the way to get the green is to go green.”
Massachusetts, because of the rise in asthma, has taken a dramatic step to improve air quality by promising to clean up every aging, publicly owned diesel bus in the state. Gwen Ruta, regional director at the Boston Office, said, “This is a very cost-effective way to cut air pollution and every dollar invested in filtering out pollutants in diesel exhaust yields $13 in health benefits.” New York has already passed a comprehensive bill cleaning up all state owned and school buses and construction equipment. Let’s hope Connecticut will do the same. Calls to your legislators are always appreciated for supporting our diesel bill. Call: Gayle Slossberg: 1-800-842-1420.
A news flash about the mysterious die offs of honeybees: I called Ralph Harrison, who is a local beekeeper and an ECC’er. He told me he has lost nine out of his twenty beehives. A report began late last year that there were about five states reporting many deaths of the honeybees and there was no definitive cause for their deaths, besides which, the dead bees were mysteriously nowhere to be found.
Ralph doesn’t know what the cause is, but he bends towards the theory that it might be the mites infecting the bees. He said Cornell University has a Bee Database containing 45,500 beekeepers, from which to gather data to try to determine the cause of the deaths.
Why the urgent concern for the bees? In case you didn’t realize, much of our food depends on these plants being pollinated; plants like pumpkins, squash, cucumbers, all our fruit trees to name just a few. One interesting statistic Ralph gave me was the almond industry in California, it depends on 100 million bee colonies to keep their business alive. Ralph’s hives, on average, produce 40 pounds of honey a year and two of his hives that are located on a pumpkin farm are known to produce as much as 100 lbs. per hive. Many of his bees derive their honey from the Black Locust tree and the sweetest honey comes from purple loosestrife, an invasive plant, and Japanese bamboo. He added that a honeybee hive during the winter is kept warm, up to temperatures between 85-90 degrees. The wintering 12-15,000 bees produce heat by shivering their flight muscles. Bees won’t fly in temperatures 50 degrees or below. A hive during the summer months can house between 650,000 to 860,000 bees. We need to keep on top of the bee news.
I recommend reading the book DEEP ECONOMY, by Bill McKibben. It is easy reading, but at the same time filled with incredible facts and information. He discusses one at a time, those elements, in which there is a direct relationship between environment/ecology and economy. He skillfully leads us through its history, building facts upon facts to its present state, showing both the profit and debit sides. He does not leave it hanging there in the present, but projects what can happen in the future, if problems are not addressed and relates many stories of how some of the solutions are already being worked on in small pockets around the world. He unequivocally states that if we continue to see economic growth, as the sisters of BIGGER AND BETTER, it can lead only to surefire self-destruction.
He makes his arguments thus: “growth is no longer making most people wealthier, but instead generating inequality and insecurity. And growth is bumping against physical limits so profound—like climate change and peak oil, --that continuing to expand the economy may be impossible; the very attempt may be dangerous.” He further explains and in great detail later in the book, that research shows increased growth followed by increased wealth, doesn’t make us happier.
This month we will meet on April 19th in Conference Rm C at 7:30. We hope to have a discussion on defining goals, setting priorities and touching on what we think we could do to contribute towards developing a sustainable community, with the intention of carrying this discussion further into the next month by inviting a facilitator. We have informally discussed this issue, but are waiting for confirmation of his schedule. This meeting will give us points to think about for May. In addition, we will find out about the Recycling first meeting report, and discuss strategies of how to be more efficient in getting some of the other committees into operation. We will discuss our Earth Day event and the need for volunteers, both for our table and to help getting the 26 or so exhibitors located, moved and directed to a parking place. We will need help with the Freedom Lawn Contest and the possibilities of sponsoring a guided tour of our Freedom Lawns and gardens. By the way, the final version of our Freedom Lawn brochure is ready for the press. We will also be looking for baked foods to support the Veterans.
Brief Program for Earth Day, Saturday, April 28th. The Scouts will meet around 8:15a.m. and have a brief ceremony with a short talk by Mayor Richetelli. Then off to do their clean-ups of our parks and beaches. When they return, there will be lunch and music by a Foran High member band. After which, the Fife and Drum Corps will lead them in a short Parade for the Planet up to High Street and back. There will be storytelling and crafts by Michele Piselli and Diane Vasseur for the younger children in the morning at the Fowler building. More details will be posted in the newspapers.
The ECC has invited 26 exhibitors to show their works, some to purchase, some to learn from, plenty of brochures, and plenty of interesting people to meet and find out what is available for saving energy and how to recycle. Twenty of these exhibits will be in the Fowler Building and the others will be outside or under the Fowler Pavilion. The list below:
- CT Recycling Center from Hartford
- Inland Wetlands Exhibit
- Sunlight Solar--photo voltaic panels info
- Milford Trees, Inc.
- ECC
- Clean Water Action/Climate Change
- Valentines from the Sea, Seashell arrangements
- Rent a Bicycle
- PED, bicycle routes and maps for Milford
- CT Fund for the Environment/Save The Sound
- Smart Living—Energy Savings from UI
- Community Energy Inc.—Clean Energy
- Green Goods to Give: recycled bags
- S-Designs from Madison, sea glass jewelry
- Measure for Measure: recycled home products
- Milford Garden Club
- Eco-Logic Solutions
- Solar Hot water Heater/ inventor, Mike Costin
- Fuel Cell operation and demonstration
- Colonial Toyota: Prius
- Solar Water Heaters, portable for hot tubs or swimming pool
- A Forester: equipment and demonstration
- Organic Care for trees and lawns demonstration
Looking for donations of homemade baked goods: Please call 878-0910 for instructions on packing and the listing of ingredients. Bake Sale to support the Veterans.
The up-to-date tally on our membership collection: 93 of 400 plus members donated $1,225. We thank all those members and especially some of you who donated more than your share, one $100, one $50 and others $20.
Thank you.
Ann Berman, Chair of ECC
www.milfordecc.com
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