NEWSLETTER: June 2004
Dear ECC Member:
We still have this project for the Long Island Sound Storm Drain Program -- to deliver theirs and our Freedom Lawn brochures to each house in Milford. We have completed only about one third of the city. The good news is that nearly all the homes along the Sound have received the brochures, with a few exceptions. In addition, markers are to be applied to appropriate storm drains. This project has been put on the priority list of importance because the EPA has made it their mandate as per the Clean Water Act of 1970, that all communities, in particular, those of 50,000 or more, be responsible for preventing, protecting, cleaning roads, gutters and storm drains, installing new sewer systems and educating the public as to how we as citizens must keep our water systems clean and clear of pollutants. This means citizens need to individually participate to assist their community in this endeavor by allowing only water to go down storm drains, by keeping your gutters and storm drains free of debris, and using organic products for your garden and lawns. The city is responsible for upgrading sewer systems, with proper pipes, correct sizes, and design, helping with education and changing behavioral patterns for activities, like washing cars on gravel or grass, but not on asphalt driveways, for example. Even the Fire Department is going to have to change its methods of cleaning their trucks.
The rationale, of course, is to prevent any of the pollutants from cars or trucks with their oils, gas, etc., from going into the storm drains and into Long Island Sound.
Mayor Richetelli has formed a committee that is made up of representatives from commissions and city departments that are structured for cleaning, prevention, protection and educating the public, all in regard to the EPS’s mandate. A plan will have to be made and presented to the public through a Public Hearing. This plan must be initiated and followed through in a specific time frame with reports completed in order for the city to receive proper permits to manage its sewer system and the rain runoff into storm drains, which must have been properly inspected.
So we are asking our members, of which we total around 250, to commit to handing out these brochures on yours or a neighboring street. Please come to the meeting to pick up the brochures to do your part for the city, for clean water, organic yards and safe environment for your children. It will take only a few minutes of your time and please feel free to leave if you can’t stay for the meeting.
Because we, the ECC, are part of this mandate, our projects fit the description of education. So this year we will be promoting our Freedom Lawn Contest to Highlight Milford’s Mandate for Clean Water. Applications are available at the Café Atlantique and Treat’s Farm. You may fill it out and deposit it in a box that is provided. You may also copy the application from our website, www.Milfordecc.com and send it to 33 River St., Milford, CT or call in your information to either 878-0910 or 878-7056. The dead line for the applications is July 15th. For those who are new to the contest, only organic lawns and or gardens can be considered. We don’t look for the perfect lawn but yards that can be judged for creative gardening, design, composting, use of native plantings and recycled materials. We have 5 categories: lawn, vegetable garden, best overall design, variety of specimens and commercial gardens. If you have a street that you know everyone uses organic lawn and garden care, please enter the street. We have one street, South St. that has had Freedom Lawns for a number of years. I know from canvassing in Milford, that there are many streets that might qualify as an organic street. We would be very happy to add streets as another category, since it is our desire to have all of Milford organic.
The winners are announced at the Oyster Festival and we always have a large display of the photos of the participants and winners. We always get good newspaper coverage for the winners and we even got mentioned in the Christian Science Monitor this year. So lets get more applicants and early, so we can photograph your gardens at the height of their beauty. You may also submit your own photos.
There is a lecture at the Regional Water Authority, 90 Sargent Drive, New Haven on June 17th at 1:00. The title is: “Dirty Air and Pesticide Use: the Effects on our health and Status of legislation.” If there is anyone who would like to attend, please call 878-0910 to car pool.
They call this the “Sneezing Season.” I know when cutting those bushes, one has to be aware when you use those clippers, especially if they are electric, so not to sneeze at the wrong moment. With all the rain, the pollen count is rather high. They suggest to stay indoors with the windows closed and the air conditioning on; keep your car window closed when driving; avoid outdoor exercise in the morning; and avoid gardening and lawn mowing. Miserable suggestions, but they come from Dr. Katz in the Register. I guess for those who really suffer, better to stay inside. He said there are 23 tree species in Connecticut giving off pollens, and then there are mold spores everywhere; add to this the grasses. We can’t blame Nature for our allergies. Unfortunately our immune systems are constantly being impacted by and exposed to so many chemicals and pollutants, that more of us are becoming chemically sensitive. Mary Ludwig, sent this report: Inquires have been coming in about ailing Eastern red cedar, Juniperus virginiana, from throughout the state. Although this native species is usually considered relatively trouble-free in CT, this year we are seeing dramatic and conspicuous damage on trees in all age and size classes, care regimes, and locations, including natural stands and managed landscapes.
At times of dramatic changes in the surface temperatures, natural disasters often occur. Check out the dates – 1938 for one. You may access this graph by logging on to “The Day After Tomorrow”. The graph is also published in the book, Global Warming by Mark Maslin. Several of us saw the movie and the consensus was thumbs down. I would, on one hand, have to agree, as this movie sends a wrong message, opting to entertain without educating. However, on my other hand, since I acknowledge global warming, I can’t shake this feeling that what may look like extremism or absurdity in this film, there is a deep sense of reality for me, that can’t be discarded as Hollywood science fiction. I am as vulnerable and capable as the next person to escape into a cocoon of protective denial. Hollywood has made it possible for this kind of escape mechanism, so much so, that when I watched the actual attack on the twin towers – it was just too, too unreal – making for a retarded acceptance. Even though most of us are exposed only to the horrors of war through movies and news reports, logic still invites the question of why are we so prone to go back into the war zone. So it seems that for most of us, the disconnection just doesn’t come together until we are experiencing it for ourselves. The same may be true for many of us in regard to the threat of global warming.
However, our denial balloons, just may be burst very soon and it probably won’t come from the “storm”, scientist, the environmentalist or the government, but from the insurance companies. Just a few weeks ago it was reported that the Andover Companies, corporate parent of Cambridge Mutual and Merrimack Mutual, plans to drop all its existing policy-holders in Barnstable County. The move means roughly 15 percent of Cape households will have to make new insurance arrangements. There may be more cancellations to come. There were 95,000 households on the Cape in the 2000 Census.
Why is this happening? Facts are, because, as E Magazine reported, “ The number of weather-related natural disasters has increased five-fold. Last year was the second-hottest year since records began in 1860. This means five times as many major hurricanes and tornadoes annually touching down in places like Miami and Houston. “According to the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, insured losses will then be amplified another 900 percent. A large hurricane would no longer cost $15 billion, but $135 billion in present-day dollars. They are projecting that temperatures will increase, up to 06.C, by the mid-century. They are not, nor is the government, prepared to face these kinds of mega-catastrophic disasters. The present administration must acknowledge global warming as they are attempting to deny federal insurance to people who get hit by floods more than twice in 10 years.
As I see it, Mother Nature, without even competing, has the most profound reputation over director, Roland Emmerich for the biggest production of disasters. In 2003, there were unusual climate related events worldwide; droughts in southern Africa, heat waves in India, France, huge forest fires in Siberia, flooding in parts of South America. In 2004, the first appearance of a Cyclone in the South Atlantic, Cyclone Catrina hit Brazil, causing considerable destruction and loss of life. Over 20,000 people died, when hurricane Mitch struck Central America. A gas hydrate tsunami, 8,000 years ago, the size of Whales, produced a 50-foot wave that wiped out many Scottish villages. Gas hydrates can occur anywhere in the ocean.
With all the collected data, the experts are still unable to predict climate outcomes because of so many variables, one for example, the ocean currents and how they work together. It is difficult to deny a warming is happening, especially when an opening of the ice at the north pole is large enough to be seen from space, large ice melts at both poles, melting permafrost threatens the escape of methane. Such events complicate the prediction of global disasters.
“Global Warming is one of the greatest threats to face humanity. It is also humanity’s greatest challenge. Human ingenuity is such that finding alternatives to fossil fuel is within our current technology. All that is needed is strong global political support to get something done. If we do not then the consequences will be the poorest people in the world who will suffer, the numbers of whom will be measured in billions.” Author, Mark Maslin
Ann Berman, Chair of ECC
www.milfordecc.com
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