PLEASE KEEP OUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT CHANNEL ISSUE FORUMS OPEN!
The City Administration recently cancelled issue forums about Fayetteville High School and Walton Arts Center, although the forums were requested by a City Council member. The City has arbitrarily decided that they will not allow such forums, although they have served our community for over 15 years. Please keep television Channel 16 open to requests by city council members and citizens, so that the channel can continue to help create an open and participatory city government, as called for in Fayetteville Ordinance 4504 and current Government Channel policy.
SIGN HERE TO ENSURE THAT OUR CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS AND ALL CITIZENS
CAN CONTINUE TO REQUEST LOCAL ISSUE FORUMS ON CITY 16 TV:
I, being a registered voter, living within the city limits of Fayetteville, ask that the Telecommunications Board and City Council continue the current policy and procedures of allowing City Council members and citizens to request forums, about issues faced by local governments, to be produced and shown on the Government Channel.
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Friday, June 27, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Congress to hear call to punish fossil-fuel industry executives for pretending global-climate change not real
Put oil firm chiefs on trial, says leading climate change scientist
· Testimony to US Congress will also criticize lobbyists
· 'Revolutionary' policies needed to tackle crisis
Ed Pilkington in New York
The Guardian,
Monday June 23, 2008
Article history
James Hansen, one of the world's leading climate scientists, will today call for the chief executives of large fossil fuel companies to be put on trial for high crimes against humanity and nature, accusing them of actively spreading doubt about global warming in the same way that tobacco companies blurred the links between smoking and cancer.
Hansen will use the symbolically charged 20th anniversary of his groundbreaking speech (pdf) to the US Congress - in which he was among the first to sound the alarm over the reality of global warming - to argue that radical steps need to be taken immediately if the "perfect storm" of irreversible climate change is not to become inevitable.
Speaking before Congress again, he will accuse the chief executive officers of companies such as ExxonMobil and Peabody Energy of being fully aware of the disinformation about climate change they are spreading.
In an interview with the Guardian he said: "When you are in that kind of position, as the CEO of one the primary players who have been putting out misinformation even via organisations that affect what gets into school textbooks, then I think that's a crime."
He is also considering personally targeting members of Congress who have a poor track record on climate change in the coming November elections. He will campaign to have several of them unseated. Hansen's speech to Congress on June 23 1988 is seen as a seminal moment in bringing the threat of global warming to the public's attention. At a time when most scientists were still hesitant to speak out, he said the evidence of the greenhouse gas effect was 99% certain, adding "it is time to stop waffling".
He will tell the House select committee on energy independence and global warming this afternoon that he is now 99% certain that the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere has already risen beyond the safe level.
The current concentration is 385 parts per million and is rising by 2ppm a year. Hansen, who heads Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, says 2009 will be a crucial year, with a new US president and talks on how to follow the Kyoto agreement.
He wants to see a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants, coupled with the creation of a huge grid of low-loss electric power lines buried under ground and spread across America, in order to give wind and solar power a chance of competing. "The new US president would have to take the initiative analogous to Kennedy's decision to go to the moon."
His sharpest words are reserved for the special interests he blames for public confusion about the nature of the global warming threat. "The problem is not political will, it's the alligator shoes - the lobbyists. It's the fact that money talks in Washington, and that democracy is not working the way it's intended to work."
A group seeking to increase pressure on international leaders is launching a campaign today called 350.org. It is taking out full-page adverts in papers such as the New York Times and the Swedish Falukuriren calling for the target level of CO2 to be lowered to 350ppm. The advert has been backed by 150 signatories, including Hansen.
About this article
Close
This article appeared in the Guardian on Monday June 23 2008 on p8 of the UK news section. It was last updated at 10:42 on June 24 2008.
· Testimony to US Congress will also criticize lobbyists
· 'Revolutionary' policies needed to tackle crisis
Ed Pilkington in New York
The Guardian,
Monday June 23, 2008
Article history
James Hansen, one of the world's leading climate scientists, will today call for the chief executives of large fossil fuel companies to be put on trial for high crimes against humanity and nature, accusing them of actively spreading doubt about global warming in the same way that tobacco companies blurred the links between smoking and cancer.
Hansen will use the symbolically charged 20th anniversary of his groundbreaking speech (pdf) to the US Congress - in which he was among the first to sound the alarm over the reality of global warming - to argue that radical steps need to be taken immediately if the "perfect storm" of irreversible climate change is not to become inevitable.
Speaking before Congress again, he will accuse the chief executive officers of companies such as ExxonMobil and Peabody Energy of being fully aware of the disinformation about climate change they are spreading.
In an interview with the Guardian he said: "When you are in that kind of position, as the CEO of one the primary players who have been putting out misinformation even via organisations that affect what gets into school textbooks, then I think that's a crime."
He is also considering personally targeting members of Congress who have a poor track record on climate change in the coming November elections. He will campaign to have several of them unseated. Hansen's speech to Congress on June 23 1988 is seen as a seminal moment in bringing the threat of global warming to the public's attention. At a time when most scientists were still hesitant to speak out, he said the evidence of the greenhouse gas effect was 99% certain, adding "it is time to stop waffling".
He will tell the House select committee on energy independence and global warming this afternoon that he is now 99% certain that the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere has already risen beyond the safe level.
The current concentration is 385 parts per million and is rising by 2ppm a year. Hansen, who heads Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, says 2009 will be a crucial year, with a new US president and talks on how to follow the Kyoto agreement.
He wants to see a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants, coupled with the creation of a huge grid of low-loss electric power lines buried under ground and spread across America, in order to give wind and solar power a chance of competing. "The new US president would have to take the initiative analogous to Kennedy's decision to go to the moon."
His sharpest words are reserved for the special interests he blames for public confusion about the nature of the global warming threat. "The problem is not political will, it's the alligator shoes - the lobbyists. It's the fact that money talks in Washington, and that democracy is not working the way it's intended to work."
A group seeking to increase pressure on international leaders is launching a campaign today called 350.org. It is taking out full-page adverts in papers such as the New York Times and the Swedish Falukuriren calling for the target level of CO2 to be lowered to 350ppm. The advert has been backed by 150 signatories, including Hansen.
About this article
Close
This article appeared in the Guardian on Monday June 23 2008 on p8 of the UK news section. It was last updated at 10:42 on June 24 2008.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Please urge Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission to classify CO2 at pollutant
Would you write to the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission (APCE) and tell them you support changing the definition of CO2? Art Hobson describes the petition from Sierra Club, Audubon, and the Environmental Integrity Project, and asks people to write in support, kind of like this:
"Because anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions are causing global warming that is changing our planet and could be disastrous in the future, carbon dioxide needs to be classified as a pollutant, or "air contaminant," in Arkansas. I hope you will change Regulation No. 26 accordingly, as requested in the petition from Sierra Club, and others that will appear soon before the APCE." (Art Hobson)
Instructions for writing APCE are in Art's email below. Thanks to all you moved to write.
Gladys
--- On Mon, 6/23/08, Art Hobson wrote:
From: Art Hobson
Subject: Ask that CO2 be classified as a pollutant
To: ahobson@uark.edu
Date: Monday, June 23, 2008, 2:51 PM
Dear Friends,
You can make a real difference in Arkansas global warming politics. The Ark Sierra Club, Ark Audubon Society, and the Environmental Integrity Project are petitioning the Ark Commission on Pollution Control and Ecology (PCE) to allow CO2 to be declared an "air contaminant" (or pollutant). Their petition is attached. This issue is of crucial importance because the Ark Dept of Environmental Quality (ADEQ, which is PCE's parent organization) must soon either grant or deny a permit to the proposed Hempstead coal-fired generating plant, and ADEQ has been unable to include CO2 as a possible air contaminant in this case because present Ark regulations proclaim that CO2 is not an air contaminant. As you know, human-caused CO2 emissions are now the most deadly pollutant of all, because they can change our planet in large and harmful ways. In a contentious 2-to-1 ruling, the Hempstead plant has already received its Public Service Commission permit to proceed. If ADEQ also grants a permit, Swepco will immediately begin construction of the plant and it will then be impossible to stop. If CO2 is declared a pollutant, ADEQ will need to consider the entire issue of global warming before making a ruling on the Hempstead plant, and there's an excellent change that they will rule against the plant (for confirmation that there are good reasons to rule against the plant, see Judge David Newbern's dissenting opinion in the PSC ruling).
The PCE is a public commission that will hear/read your comments and take them into consideration. Your comment can be long and detailed, or it can be as short as:
Because anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions are causing global warming that is changing our planet and could be disastrous in the future, carbon dioxide needs to be classified as a pollutant, or "air contaminant," in Arkansas. I hope you will change Regulation No. 26 accordingly, as requested in the petition from Sierra Club and others that will appear soon before the APCE.
Feel free to quote me on that.
To submit a comment, go to the ADEQ website, http://www.adeq.state.ar.us/poa/forms/questions.asp. PCE is actually a sub-division of ADEQ. At that website, you'll find a space to make your written comment to both the PCE and to ADEQ. You'll also find a phone number if you'd rather talk with them.
Please pull out all the stops in telling others about this. If we can get excess CO2 classified as the planetary threat that it actually is, it will make a big difference.
Cheers - Art
"Because anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions are causing global warming that is changing our planet and could be disastrous in the future, carbon dioxide needs to be classified as a pollutant, or "air contaminant," in Arkansas. I hope you will change Regulation No. 26 accordingly, as requested in the petition from Sierra Club, and others that will appear soon before the APCE." (Art Hobson)
Instructions for writing APCE are in Art's email below. Thanks to all you moved to write.
Gladys
--- On Mon, 6/23/08, Art Hobson
From: Art Hobson
Subject: Ask that CO2 be classified as a pollutant
To: ahobson@uark.edu
Date: Monday, June 23, 2008, 2:51 PM
Dear Friends,
You can make a real difference in Arkansas global warming politics. The Ark Sierra Club, Ark Audubon Society, and the Environmental Integrity Project are petitioning the Ark Commission on Pollution Control and Ecology (PCE) to allow CO2 to be declared an "air contaminant" (or pollutant). Their petition is attached. This issue is of crucial importance because the Ark Dept of Environmental Quality (ADEQ, which is PCE's parent organization) must soon either grant or deny a permit to the proposed Hempstead coal-fired generating plant, and ADEQ has been unable to include CO2 as a possible air contaminant in this case because present Ark regulations proclaim that CO2 is not an air contaminant. As you know, human-caused CO2 emissions are now the most deadly pollutant of all, because they can change our planet in large and harmful ways. In a contentious 2-to-1 ruling, the Hempstead plant has already received its Public Service Commission permit to proceed. If ADEQ also grants a permit, Swepco will immediately begin construction of the plant and it will then be impossible to stop. If CO2 is declared a pollutant, ADEQ will need to consider the entire issue of global warming before making a ruling on the Hempstead plant, and there's an excellent change that they will rule against the plant (for confirmation that there are good reasons to rule against the plant, see Judge David Newbern's dissenting opinion in the PSC ruling).
The PCE is a public commission that will hear/read your comments and take them into consideration. Your comment can be long and detailed, or it can be as short as:
Because anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions are causing global warming that is changing our planet and could be disastrous in the future, carbon dioxide needs to be classified as a pollutant, or "air contaminant," in Arkansas. I hope you will change Regulation No. 26 accordingly, as requested in the petition from Sierra Club and others that will appear soon before the APCE.
Feel free to quote me on that.
To submit a comment, go to the ADEQ website, http://www.adeq.state.ar.us/poa/forms/questions.asp. PCE is actually a sub-division of ADEQ. At that website, you'll find a space to make your written comment to both the PCE and to ADEQ. You'll also find a phone number if you'd rather talk with them.
Please pull out all the stops in telling others about this. If we can get excess CO2 classified as the planetary threat that it actually is, it will make a big difference.
Cheers - Art
Monday, June 23, 2008
Ozark Highlands Group of Sierra Club to meet with James Burke to discuss fight against dirty coal burning in Arkansas at Smiling Jack's at 7 p.m. Wed.
Our June monthly meeting will be this Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Smiling Jack's just off Dixon Street behind the Dixon Street book shop.
James Burke will be joining us to talk about the coal campaign and the progress we are making in that area. It will be very informal; this is a great opportunity to learn more about what we can do to make sure Arkansas doesn't build any new coal fired power plants. Bring your coal questions for James to answer!
Our Arkansas Chapter chair, Adrienne, will be bringing some yard signs protesting dirty coal if you would like one.
As always, please forward this email along to others you think might be interested.
Molly Rawn
Sierra Club, Ozark Headwaters Group
Intern
(479) 879-1620
James Burke will be joining us to talk about the coal campaign and the progress we are making in that area. It will be very informal; this is a great opportunity to learn more about what we can do to make sure Arkansas doesn't build any new coal fired power plants. Bring your coal questions for James to answer!
Our Arkansas Chapter chair, Adrienne, will be bringing some yard signs protesting dirty coal if you would like one.
As always, please forward this email along to others you think might be interested.
Molly Rawn
Sierra Club, Ozark Headwaters Group
Intern
(479) 879-1620
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Wetland article ignores drawbacks in wetland mitigation projects but provides valuable insight and source of hope for urban wetland protection
Woolsey wetland article in The Morning News
The Woolsey Prairie is adjacent to land where the new wastewater-treatment plant was built. Actually, the plant was built on what might be called the original Woolsey Prairie.
Because the plant destroyed a great many wetland acres, the Corps of Engineers permit required mitigation. There have been many shows on Government channel about the progress of creating the mitigation area over the past couple of years, mostly as a part of shows on progress of construction of the plant itself.
The good news is that the city is "manufacturing" wetland to make up for destruction. That isn't as good as preserving existing wetland exactly as nature made it. However, it is beautiful site.
The bad news is that a plan to allow developers to "purchase" shares in such mitigation land is similar to trading carbon-pollution rights. It means developers can dredge and fill to build on wetland in the city and "mitigate" it by paying for creation of such sites. This is better than nothing. However, it doesn't protect property from flooding downstream from the development. And it allows valuable habitat to be destroyed where it should be kept. It doesn't make stormwater remain where it falls and soak in to keep vegetation healthy and replenish underground aquifers.
That was the first story I ever read by Skip Descant. He appears to be a good reporter.
He wouldn't likely know about World Peace Wetland Prairie or that "keeping the water where it falls" is the contrasting idea that would have had to have been included in the story if his plan was to write a truly multi-source story.
In fact, WPWP is exactly opposite to a manufactured wetland area. It protects habitat and lets water soak in UPSTREAM where it falls. It was saved from development and stands in stark contrast with the Aspen Ridge/Hill Place development site to to its north.
While it has a large population of nonnative species, particularly fescue and Japanese honeysuckle that require constant volunteer effort to remove, it never had its basic seed and root base of native species removed.
Being inside the city and a part of the headwater system of the Town Branch of the West Fork of the White River and thus a significant area that helps protect the Beaver Lake watershed, its soil and plant life (even the invasive nonnative species) are functioning perfectly for stormwater management and protection of water quality.
The already completed Woolsey Prairie serves to catch water NEAR where it falls on the sewage-treatment plant. But adjacent parcels that may be saved as wetland prairie or savannah will be for sale to developers as mitigation for environmentally destruction parcels upstream. That part of the story has been discussed on several Government Channel productions related to the new sewage-treatment plant.
It would be nice to have a map of wetland areas. I frequently offer such information with photos from various parts of the watershed on my blogs and Flickr photo sets. But an overall plan to protect wetland isn't something everyone wants. Such a citywide delineation of wetland areas could prevent developers from buying property that should not be developed on the assumption that they will always get permission to dredge and fill such places simply by buying a share of an already preserved parcel miles away or not even in the same watershed.
Some developers and even some city officials and staff members don't want to acknowledge the existence of more than minimal wetland because public knowledge of the facts of Northwest Arkansas' environment might stifle their desire to build and pave every acre in the city.
More than two years ago, the Fayetteville Natural Heritage Association created a booklet with a list of environmentally sensitive areas in the city that the group deemed worthy of protection. That information has never been used by the city in any way, as far as I can tell. During the June 17, 2008, meeting of the Council of Neighborhoods, Bruce Shackleford's presentation on Woolsey Prairie got his ideas out to a lot of people and excited some of the neighborhood advocates to realize the importance of wetland prairie, exactly what we've been trying to do with our photos on Flickr and on our blogspots for the past year and for more than six years on Aubunique.com and for decades in various newspaper and magazine stories.
Fran Alexander and others persevere, but are only voices in the wildnerness, it seems.
Too many of the most outspoken people in the green, "sustainability" movement mostly focus on compromise positions. The paid environmentalists are all about compromise these days. Compromise mostly leads to learning to lose gracefully.
It takes people such as Fran Alexander with passion to get things done. And Shackleford's passion about the prairie wetland can do more to stir fervor in the fight to do the right thing in Fayetteville than some of us have done in decades. A lot of us old "tree-huggers" will be supporting his educational effort in every way we can.
For photos and more information, please use the following online links.
Hill Place/Aspen Ridge set of photos
Pinnacle Prairie set of photos — west side of World Peace Wetland Prairie
World Peace Wetland Prairie collection of sets of photos
Town Branch watershed set of photos
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Eight-year-old news report displays past forum decisions at Government Channel
Please click on image to enlarge:
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Environmental training to be available in September
In September, Ruth Rosenhek (Director of the Rainforest Information Centre) will be travelling through Canada and the US offering several Deep Ecology Facilitation Training Workshops as well as showings of her new film entitled Earth Spirit Action.
We currently have two Facilitation Training workshops scheduled for the West Coast on September 12-13th (Victoria, B.C.) and September 19-20th in Southern Oregon (contact rainforestinfo@ozemail.com.au if you are interested to attend).
It would still be possible to schedule in an east coast training on the weekend of September 5-6th. Let us know if you would be interested to host this.
Also, please let us know if you would like to show Ruth's new inspirational film, Earth Spirit Action featuring Starhawk, Vandana Shiva, Matthew Fox, John Seed and Ruth Rosenhek speaking on topics such as Deep Ecology, the Council of All Beings and Transformation of Consciousness. The film includes beautiful nature footage and a compilation of action footage as well.
It is also possible for Ruth to offer a few one day Earth Spirit Action workshops in follow-up to film showings that will include Despair & Empowerment work and Deep Ecology.
Let us know your thoughts! Please reply to ruthr@ozemail.com.au
for the Earth
Ruth and John
Rainforest Information Centre
Box 368 Lismore
NSW 2480
AUSTRALIA
61 2 66897519
ruthr@ozemail.com.au
www.rainforestinfo.org.au
www.climate.net.au
We currently have two Facilitation Training workshops scheduled for the West Coast on September 12-13th (Victoria, B.C.) and September 19-20th in Southern Oregon (contact rainforestinfo@ozemail.com.au if you are interested to attend).
It would still be possible to schedule in an east coast training on the weekend of September 5-6th. Let us know if you would be interested to host this.
Also, please let us know if you would like to show Ruth's new inspirational film, Earth Spirit Action featuring Starhawk, Vandana Shiva, Matthew Fox, John Seed and Ruth Rosenhek speaking on topics such as Deep Ecology, the Council of All Beings and Transformation of Consciousness. The film includes beautiful nature footage and a compilation of action footage as well.
It is also possible for Ruth to offer a few one day Earth Spirit Action workshops in follow-up to film showings that will include Despair & Empowerment work and Deep Ecology.
Let us know your thoughts! Please reply to ruthr@ozemail.com.au
for the Earth
Ruth and John
Rainforest Information Centre
Box 368 Lismore
NSW 2480
AUSTRALIA
61 2 66897519
ruthr@ozemail.com.au
www.rainforestinfo.org.au
www.climate.net.au
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Global warming called a war-generating machine
Global Warming is a war generating machine. Fight it to avoid more conflict.
Cutting back would hae been gentle if started iin 1990. Sarting cutting back this late, now, if to be successful - it's going to be really drastic. But even so, not as bad as the comnig Runaway Global Warming.
Harry Holloway
------------------------------------------------
Came from
aubrey@gci.org.uk
via GCN@igc.topica.com
------------------------------------------------------------
Various C&C News World Environment Day
[1] “The Age of Stupid”
Simply the best film on climate change ever made. The 'Age of Stupid'
was previewed to a selcted audience in London yesterday.
This full-length climate docu-drama is certainly informative. It is also
authentically hilarious yet gut-wrenching around the folly of our double
standards on the global impacts of poverty and climate change - now and
into the future.
The film's grim prognosis is seen ‘retrospectively’ by the actor Peter
Postlethwaite. He reviews the descent into the hell-on-earth of runaway
climate change from a specially created ‘future-archive for a failed
civilizations’ in the Artic Ocean.
Picking up the words of a Katrina survivor he asks ‘how could we have
been so stupid?’
The film recognises that the only serious proposal between now and that
prognosis-come-true is C&C.
As serious critical journalism, this film ranks with Naomi Klein, Robert
Fiske and a host of eminent others. But for relevance it outranks them
all as it understand the reality in the recent words about climate
change of James Hansen: - “The stakes, for all life on the planet,
surpass those of any previous crisis. The greatest danger is continued
ignorance and denial, which could make tragic consequences unavoidable.”
An extraordinarily effective piece of work. If five-stars is tops this
gets them all.
The general release date has not yet been revealed.
http://www.crudemovie.net/category/film
All this goes straight to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Climate
Change. The news from there is that the UK Climate Bill is back for
'debate' in the UK Parliament next week. Still without any coherent
methodology behind its numbers for emissions control, it is said the
Government want its 'Royal Assent' before summer recess [Mid July].
This UK 'uni-lateralism' is at odds with the debate beginning again in
the US Senate where, the Liebermann 'Climate Act' notwithstanding, the
demand for globality [this equals at least India and China on the
accounts] hasn't gone away and the 'pragmatic' C&C answer to this
stand-off has been upheld on both sides of that divide.
We are now beyond climate denial. So the severe and worsening problem
for us is 'picking emissions control numbers out-of-a-hat' . . . that
don't add up now to a coherently safe and stable ppmv outcome. With
Hansen calling for 350 ppmv [!] all out best local efforts will be
wasted in the large global failure that attends this absence.
As the film upholds, there is a way to address this - its called C&C.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[2] Fair Shares Fair Choice: -
http://www.fairsharesfairchoice.com/
A brilliant local campaign in the UK South West specifically based on
C&C: -
http://www.fairsharesfairchoice.com/the_science.asp
. . . . has reached the support figure of 1,000 MPs and Councillors etc.
Here is the press release from Sustainability South West: -
http://www.gci.org.uk/press/Fair_Shares_Press_Release.pdf
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[3] Nice new website for the indefatigable C&C champion Mayer Hillman: -
http://www.mayerhillman.com/Articles/tabid/101/EntryID/51/Default.aspx
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[4] A very funny and very clever critique of Foot-printing/C&C at ‘Cheat
Neutral’: -
http://www.maxgladwell.com/2008/05/what-is-your-cheating-footprint/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[5] Some more C&C input to Government from: -
http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file30864.pdf [Plaid Cymru]
http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file30744.pdf [Brecon Beacons]
http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file31378.pdf [Welsh Greens]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[6] Derek Wall of the UK Green Party – “C&C is Progress”!
http://another-green-world.blogspot.com/2008/06/permanent-revolution.html
Cutting back would hae been gentle if started iin 1990. Sarting cutting back this late, now, if to be successful - it's going to be really drastic. But even so, not as bad as the comnig Runaway Global Warming.
Harry Holloway
------------------------------------------------
Came from
aubrey@gci.org.uk
via GCN@igc.topica.com
------------------------------------------------------------
Various C&C News World Environment Day
[1] “The Age of Stupid”
Simply the best film on climate change ever made. The 'Age of Stupid'
was previewed to a selcted audience in London yesterday.
This full-length climate docu-drama is certainly informative. It is also
authentically hilarious yet gut-wrenching around the folly of our double
standards on the global impacts of poverty and climate change - now and
into the future.
The film's grim prognosis is seen ‘retrospectively’ by the actor Peter
Postlethwaite. He reviews the descent into the hell-on-earth of runaway
climate change from a specially created ‘future-archive for a failed
civilizations’ in the Artic Ocean.
Picking up the words of a Katrina survivor he asks ‘how could we have
been so stupid?’
The film recognises that the only serious proposal between now and that
prognosis-come-true is C&C.
As serious critical journalism, this film ranks with Naomi Klein, Robert
Fiske and a host of eminent others. But for relevance it outranks them
all as it understand the reality in the recent words about climate
change of James Hansen: - “The stakes, for all life on the planet,
surpass those of any previous crisis. The greatest danger is continued
ignorance and denial, which could make tragic consequences unavoidable.”
An extraordinarily effective piece of work. If five-stars is tops this
gets them all.
The general release date has not yet been revealed.
http://www.crudemovie.net/category/film
All this goes straight to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Climate
Change. The news from there is that the UK Climate Bill is back for
'debate' in the UK Parliament next week. Still without any coherent
methodology behind its numbers for emissions control, it is said the
Government want its 'Royal Assent' before summer recess [Mid July].
This UK 'uni-lateralism' is at odds with the debate beginning again in
the US Senate where, the Liebermann 'Climate Act' notwithstanding, the
demand for globality [this equals at least India and China on the
accounts] hasn't gone away and the 'pragmatic' C&C answer to this
stand-off has been upheld on both sides of that divide.
We are now beyond climate denial. So the severe and worsening problem
for us is 'picking emissions control numbers out-of-a-hat' . . . that
don't add up now to a coherently safe and stable ppmv outcome. With
Hansen calling for 350 ppmv [!] all out best local efforts will be
wasted in the large global failure that attends this absence.
As the film upholds, there is a way to address this - its called C&C.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[2] Fair Shares Fair Choice: -
http://www.fairsharesfairchoice.com/
A brilliant local campaign in the UK South West specifically based on
C&C: -
http://www.fairsharesfairchoice.com/the_science.asp
. . . . has reached the support figure of 1,000 MPs and Councillors etc.
Here is the press release from Sustainability South West: -
http://www.gci.org.uk/press/Fair_Shares_Press_Release.pdf
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[3] Nice new website for the indefatigable C&C champion Mayer Hillman: -
http://www.mayerhillman.com/Articles/tabid/101/EntryID/51/Default.aspx
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[4] A very funny and very clever critique of Foot-printing/C&C at ‘Cheat
Neutral’: -
http://www.maxgladwell.com/2008/05/what-is-your-cheating-footprint/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[5] Some more C&C input to Government from: -
http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file30864.pdf [Plaid Cymru]
http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file30744.pdf [Brecon Beacons]
http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file31378.pdf [Welsh Greens]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[6] Derek Wall of the UK Green Party – “C&C is Progress”!
http://another-green-world.blogspot.com/2008/06/permanent-revolution.html
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Monday, June 2, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Keep America's Largest Forest Off of the Chopping Block
Keep America's Largest Forest Off of the Chopping Block
Earth Justice Takes Action to Protect Tongass National Forest
The Tongass National Forest in southeastern Alaska is the crown jewel of our nation's wild forests. At 17 million acres, the Tongass is home to a stunning variety of wildlife, including wild salmon, bears, eagles, and wolves. This key piece of our natural heritage should be preserved for future generations to enjoy, yet the Bush administration wants to open up 2.3 million acres of Tongass backcountry for roads and clearcut logging.
Tell the Forest Service that this pristine forest must be protected!
The landmark Roadless Area Conservation Rule was established in 2001 to protect natural treasures like the Tongass from exploitation and destruction, but in 2003 the administration announced that it would move to exempt the Tongass from Roadless Rule protections so that its timber industry friends could be free to move in with their chainsaws.
Lawsuits brought by Earthjustice on behalf of conservation groups and Alaska Native villagers were able to expose the flaws of this plan -- including a gross overestimation of timber demand -- and convince a federal court to send the administration's ill-conceived plan back to the drawing board.
But the revised plan still fails to protect 2.3 million acres of pristine forest that provide critical wildlife habitat, world-famous recreation opportunities, and jobs. On May 15, 2008, Earthjustice and many other conservation groups filed appeals with the Chief of the Forest Service seeking to protect these vital places.
Now is the time to tell the Forest Service to adopt a Tongass management plan that restores protections for the 2.3 million acres of wild forest now open to destruction. Our wild forests should be cherished and preserved for future generations, not used as an ATM for the timber industry.
Take action today!
-Earthjustice
Because the earth needs a good lawyer
P.S. Every voice counts! Please tell a friend to take action!
Earth Justice Takes Action to Protect Tongass National Forest
The Tongass National Forest in southeastern Alaska is the crown jewel of our nation's wild forests. At 17 million acres, the Tongass is home to a stunning variety of wildlife, including wild salmon, bears, eagles, and wolves. This key piece of our natural heritage should be preserved for future generations to enjoy, yet the Bush administration wants to open up 2.3 million acres of Tongass backcountry for roads and clearcut logging.
Tell the Forest Service that this pristine forest must be protected!
The landmark Roadless Area Conservation Rule was established in 2001 to protect natural treasures like the Tongass from exploitation and destruction, but in 2003 the administration announced that it would move to exempt the Tongass from Roadless Rule protections so that its timber industry friends could be free to move in with their chainsaws.
Lawsuits brought by Earthjustice on behalf of conservation groups and Alaska Native villagers were able to expose the flaws of this plan -- including a gross overestimation of timber demand -- and convince a federal court to send the administration's ill-conceived plan back to the drawing board.
But the revised plan still fails to protect 2.3 million acres of pristine forest that provide critical wildlife habitat, world-famous recreation opportunities, and jobs. On May 15, 2008, Earthjustice and many other conservation groups filed appeals with the Chief of the Forest Service seeking to protect these vital places.
Now is the time to tell the Forest Service to adopt a Tongass management plan that restores protections for the 2.3 million acres of wild forest now open to destruction. Our wild forests should be cherished and preserved for future generations, not used as an ATM for the timber industry.
Take action today!
-Earthjustice
Because the earth needs a good lawyer
P.S. Every voice counts! Please tell a friend to take action!
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Why we not have?????? Simsbury, Conn., has commission to protect wetland, watershed
Conservation Commission - 09/07/04
CONSERVATION COMMISSION/INLAND WETLAND
AND WATERCOURSE AGENCY
REGULAR MEETING-TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 7, 2004
SIMSBURY TOWN OFFICES- 7:30P.M.- MAIN MEETING ROOM
CALL TO ORDER
Chairman Howard Beach, Jr. called the Meeting of the Conservation Commission/Inland Wetland and Watercourse Agency to order at 7:30 P.M. in the Main Meeting Room at Simsbury Town Hall. The following members were present: Margery Winters, Richard Miller, William Nowak, Thomas Sharpless, Christopher Ursini, and Andrew Bucknam.
APPOINTMENT OF ALTERNATES
None
PRESENTATION (S) AND DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE VOTE
A. Application of Kevin and Mary Jo Crimmins, Owners, for an Inland Wetland Permit to construct a one-car garage within the regulated area on property at 32 Walker Drive.
Mr. Kevin Crimmins was present to address the board. They wish to construct a 16-foot one-car garage addition within the 100-foot upland review area. The structure will be approximately 45 feet from the watercourse, and they are proposing installing silt fencing during construction and stabilize with seed upon completion. They propose doing this in October or in the spring. Mr. Crimmins was also before the board in June for the approval of a pool.
Chairman Beach asked about the level of the area. Mr. Crimmins stated that the area is very level. They might have to raise the floor a few inches to match the level of the other floor, but will not change the grade at all.
Chairman Beach asked about material being used. Mr. Crimmins said that they will be digging up topsoil, which he will then use in other parts of the yard to even out.
Chairman Beach asked about the change to the driveway with this addition. Mr. Crimmins stated they will be adding an apron only.
Commissioner Bucknam asked if the watercourse would be described as a low area that gets wet or is there any kind of a stream. Mr. Crimmins answered that it was a low area 20 years ago, when the property next door added a garage and buried the section between the two properties from the road back about 60-80 feet. There is no wetland that is exposed. It is a depression in the ground that is wet in the spring and wet after a heavy rain.
Commissioner Nowak commented that the disturbance then consists primarily of digging a footing a putting a foundation on top of that.
Commissioner Nowak asked why this wasn’t proposed in July with the proposal for the swimming pool. Mr. Crimmins answered that they weren’t sure if they could afford to do both projects.
A motion was made by Commissioner Sharpless that this is a regulated activity by reason of removal of material from the construction site in the upland review area.
The motion was seconded by Commissioner Miller, and carried unanimously.
A motion was made by Commissioner Sharpless that this is a significant activity, by reason that the activity has potential to cause siltation to a wetland.
The motion was seconded by Commissioner Miller, and carried unanimously.
A motion was made by Commissioner Sharpless that a public hearing is not required, as there has not been any indication of public interest.
The motion was seconded by Commissioner Miller, and carried unanimously.
A motion was made by Commissioner Sharpless to grant a permit for the proposed activity with the understanding that town be notified at least 3 days before the proposed activity is to commence so someone can check out the site before the digging can commence.
The motion was seconded by Commissioner Miller, and carried unanimously.
PUBLIC HEARING, DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE VOTE
A. Application of Ensign –Bickford Realty Corporation for an Inland Wetland Permit for regulated activities associated with the proposed development of 182 homes within the Powder Forest at Bushy Hill and Stratton Brook Road. (continued from 7/20/04 meeting)
Mr. Donahue was present to address the Commission and introduce the presenters.
He stated that along with permits from the Wetland Commission, they are seeking permits from other boards; a zone change to allow a village cluster, a subdivision of the parcel into a single parcel, and site plan approval. On September 20, 2004, there will be a joint public hearing on this application with zoning and planning. Since last before the commission, they have received enthusiastic approval for the plan from the design-review board.
Michael Klein presented the wildlife corridor information.
Both flora and fauna at the site were looked at, and they identified no state-listed species present. The site has the potential to support and does support some forest interior birds.
Time was spent looking at the reptile and amphibian populations at the site because a report through the natural diversity database found eastern box turtle in the area in addition to the presence or absence of mole salamanders and wood frogs, considered vernal pool indicators. He explained that since the natural diversity database showed evidence of box turtle in the area, a visual search was done, but none were found. There are some isolated repressional wetlands on the site. They did not find any box turtles or mole salamanders at the site. The cluster of the three wetlands supported nothing in the way of frogs and salamanders. The semi-permanent pond does support wood frogs and although they are listed as a vernal pool indicator species, they also breed in many other places. He noted that as for the larger mammals, this patch of habitat is not large enough to support the more wide ranging species like bobcat.
A function and value assessment, broken down in three areas, was done for the wetland. The cluster of small depressional wetland areas is considered low to moderate in quality value. The large significant 12-½ acre wetland area is considered moderate- to high-value quality, however it is not considered high quality fish habitat. The semi-permanent pool does provide amphibian-breeding habitat, and it is valued as moderate-quality value.
Mr. Klein stated that in essence there are indirect impacts to the site, which are related to either construction, or the long-term change in land use of the site. He also noted that there is extensive use of best-management and low-impact development practices that have been incorporated into the plans. For example, rather than a traditional centralized stormwater collection and management system, they have a stormwater management system whereby 15 separate water disbursement areas are used to minimize the use of collection systems to get the water into the ground. The indirect impact to the wildlife habitat will be minimized by limiting development in the vicinity of the semi-permanent pond. Per a recommendation by the commission, they will be removing some of the silt fencing to allow migration coming in and out of the pond.
On the plans, he showed the open space on the site, surrounding properties, and locations of buffer zones for access into and out of the wetland system. He stated that the main concern during the site walk seemed to be with how the larger mammals (deer, bobcat, and bears) will access the space. He showed on the plan where the linkages are so that these mammals are able to move through.
Chairman Beach praised Mr. Klein on his effective job of giving a predevelopment evaluation of the three wetland areas. He asked if Mr. Klein could sum up the postdevelopment value of the wetland, in terms of general wildlife. He also asked him to address the apparent fragmentation of the areas. Mr. Klein explained that the functional evaluation methods are not designed as an impact assessment tool, they are designed as a resource tool. He did say that roads do not deter larger mammals, and that he does not see a dramatic alteration of the wetland-dependant wildlife. Mr. Klein said they try to focus on species of conservation concern as opposed to those that are fairly common.
Chairman Beach noted that other species should be focused on as well, lest they also become species of concern.
Chairman Beach complemented the applicant on the systems put in place (stormwater catch basins, swales etc.) to keep the nutrients away from Hazel Meadow Pond. He likes the fact that they provide swales for bio-remediation.
There was a discussion surrounding the vernal pool and the plants currently growing around it. Mr. Klein stated that hydrologically it is a semi-permanent pond, but it has some vernal pool-like functions in that it provides breeding habitat for wood frogs.
Chairman Beach discussed the bio-diversity study, stating it shows about what the commission is concerned and asked if the walking trail near the vernal pool could be moved. Mr. Ferrero stated that it is an existing path.
Commissioner Miller asked about the invasive plantings. Mr. Klein said the fragmites, which are near the wetland, could cause much damage to it, and will be cut out and the area and the area mowed. The tree of heaven will receive two applications of non-invasive, hand-applied herbicide to remove it. The herbicide will be applied during a non-windy day so as to have minimal drift potential.
The commission voiced concern regarding the closeness of Hazel Meadow Pond and unit/lawn development along its boundary. Chairman Beach asked if there will be enough bio-remediation in the swale to neutralize nutrients in the water before being introduced into the brook, what with the number of units that back up to the area. He also wanted to know about the turf-management system being used. Mr. Ferrero said that it is a small watershed because all of the roots are being removed, and he believes that the swale will be high enough. Mr. Klein stated that he doesn’t anticipate that any products will be used within the swales themselves. Mr. Donahue explained that one company will manage the units’ yards and therefore they will not have the owners themselves caring for the yards/grass.
Chairman Beach asked about the distance between the cutting line and the property line. It was explained that there is a 40-foot building setback and the swale is within that 40 feet.
Chairman Beach said that even small amounts of nutrients can devastate the ecosystem, and asked if there could be a 75- to100-foot no-cut zone beyond the property line since there is very little vegetation around the area. Mr. Ferrero stated that they are not encroaching upon the 100-foot buffer zone within Hazel Meadow Pond.
Commissioner Nowak asked about the wildlife corridor to the west side on Bushy Hill. He asked where the wildlife corridor would be for smaller wildlife such as turkeys, etc.
Mr. Klein answered that the area near Bushy Hill is residential development and that, if small wildlife can move through that area, they will be able to move through the corridor Mr. Nowak speaks about. He stated that it is surprising how tolerant many of the species have become. Mr. Nowak stated that the proposed units are much closer together (18-25 feet apart) than the 1+ acre residential houses where it is easier for animals to navigate. Mr. Klein answered that the property provides more open space. Chairman Beach noted that most of the open space is wetland and couldn’t be built on anyway.
Commissioner Miller asked if the wildlife corridor could be opened up more along Stratton Brook road. A discussion about that ensued.
Chairman Beach asked about possible space available along the road for bio-remediation to reduce the development by 75 feet. Mr. Ferrero said that they don’t want to clear so much vegetation along the road that it opens up a view to and from those units. Chairman Beach applauded their decision to include a buffer along Stratton Brook, but said that, if there were one or two spots, it would help with the hydraulic plan. Commissioner Bucknam said that. if the path is lowered to 80’or 60’ from 100' there will not be much room for wildlife refuge. Mr. Merriam stated that it would be virtually impossible to relocate it.
Commissioner Nowak asked about plantings, and Mr. Ferrero stated they do not currently have a landscape plan, but do know that it will include indigenous species.
Commissioner Miller asked about slope stabilization measures being taken. Mr. Ferrero explained they have gravel slopes. They will rough cut some slopes, stabilize them with erosion control mats and reforest them with Mr. Klein’s help.
Chairman Beach asked about retaining walls. Mr. Ferrero said they will not be using mass retaining walls anywhere on the site, but there are a number of walkout basements. It will be up to the owner whether they wish to have slopes or build 4- to 5-foot high retaining walls instead. On one main slope they proposed building a wall, but it would have been a 6-foot wall, which would be monstrous.
Based on the discussion so far, Mr. Merriam summarized 5 conditions of approval.
No individual application of herbicides and pesticides by the homeowners. One company will do the lawn maintenance of each unit.
A post-construction site visit by the commission.
Come back with a best-management practices plan using organic materials.
Field markings on the site at sensitive areas/points. These markings indicate that, if materials are applied to that site, they could be damaging to the wetland system.
A 2- to 3-year ongoing post-construction monitoring plan implemented, that would take samples of run off and come back and report to the commission. If there are problems, corrective action will be taken.
Chairman Beach asked if there were some kind of performance bond associated with the post-construction monitoring. Mr. Merriam stated that a bond is a good idea and that, if the commission wishes this, the applicant will look into it.
Chairman Beach asked if the post-construction monitoring could go on for 5 years instead of 2 or 3. Mr. Merriam said that, by monitoring the surface runoff, they will know fairly quickly if any material is getting off the site, and said 3 years seems appropriate.
Chairman Beach said three years is a good timeline.
Mr. Donahue confirmed that the streets are private, and will be maintained by a private company. Chairman Beach said he hopes sump-pump issues are covered by the monitoring and maintenance plan.
Commissioner Miller was concerned about Hazel Meadow Pond and if it could be restored even though the applicant is not “responsible” for it.
Mr. Donahue stated that, as part of the land-use process, the applicant is putting out a revised master plan for the site, which identifies the place reserved for Dyno Nobel, and any other site available. It will show what is allowed and what is likely in the future to come forward to zoning.
Commissioner Winters asked if a wildlife corridor section could be widened a bit. Mr. Ferrero said they could look into that.
At this point in the meeting, Chairman Beach closed the public hearing, since no one was present to speak on the issue. Commissioner Sharpless moved to close the public hearing. Commissioner Bucknam seconded with all in favor.
Commissioner Sharpless stated there should be a good monitoring plan established, and the commission should be specific about what they want to see being monitored.
Chairman Beach said he is concerned about the possibility of nutrient impact on Hazel Meadow, which is a separate issue. Within the site itself, he is concerned about any evidence of nutrient loading in the second brook. A question was asked of how the water going into Hazel Meadow would be monitored. There was a discussion about how the commission could monitor the Hazel Meadow. Mr. Donahue said that they would seek permission on behalf of the commission to get a sample of the Pond if they so desired.
The Commission concluded that as part of the monitoring plan they would look for nitrate, phosphate, chloride, and vod. Apart from the wetland area they will also monitor road water, storm salts/sand, and stormwater discharge, and sump pumps. This will be monitored for a period of three years, and a performance bond will be issued. Fertilizer will be included in the best-management plan. Also, some of the specified units should be spaced farther apart.
For the next meeting, Mr. Merriam will draw up the monitoring plan, etc., for the next meeting, and will bring in the information Commissioner Miller wanted on the field markings.
A motion was made by Commissioner Ursini to continue this application at the next meeting; it was seconded by Commissioner Miller with all in favor.
CONSERVATION COMMISSION/INLAND WETLAND
AND WATERCOURSE AGENCY
REGULAR MEETING-TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 7, 2004
SIMSBURY TOWN OFFICES- 7:30P.M.- MAIN MEETING ROOM
CALL TO ORDER
Chairman Howard Beach, Jr. called the Meeting of the Conservation Commission/Inland Wetland and Watercourse Agency to order at 7:30 P.M. in the Main Meeting Room at Simsbury Town Hall. The following members were present: Margery Winters, Richard Miller, William Nowak, Thomas Sharpless, Christopher Ursini, and Andrew Bucknam.
APPOINTMENT OF ALTERNATES
None
PRESENTATION (S) AND DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE VOTE
A. Application of Kevin and Mary Jo Crimmins, Owners, for an Inland Wetland Permit to construct a one-car garage within the regulated area on property at 32 Walker Drive.
Mr. Kevin Crimmins was present to address the board. They wish to construct a 16-foot one-car garage addition within the 100-foot upland review area. The structure will be approximately 45 feet from the watercourse, and they are proposing installing silt fencing during construction and stabilize with seed upon completion. They propose doing this in October or in the spring. Mr. Crimmins was also before the board in June for the approval of a pool.
Chairman Beach asked about the level of the area. Mr. Crimmins stated that the area is very level. They might have to raise the floor a few inches to match the level of the other floor, but will not change the grade at all.
Chairman Beach asked about material being used. Mr. Crimmins said that they will be digging up topsoil, which he will then use in other parts of the yard to even out.
Chairman Beach asked about the change to the driveway with this addition. Mr. Crimmins stated they will be adding an apron only.
Commissioner Bucknam asked if the watercourse would be described as a low area that gets wet or is there any kind of a stream. Mr. Crimmins answered that it was a low area 20 years ago, when the property next door added a garage and buried the section between the two properties from the road back about 60-80 feet. There is no wetland that is exposed. It is a depression in the ground that is wet in the spring and wet after a heavy rain.
Commissioner Nowak commented that the disturbance then consists primarily of digging a footing a putting a foundation on top of that.
Commissioner Nowak asked why this wasn’t proposed in July with the proposal for the swimming pool. Mr. Crimmins answered that they weren’t sure if they could afford to do both projects.
A motion was made by Commissioner Sharpless that this is a regulated activity by reason of removal of material from the construction site in the upland review area.
The motion was seconded by Commissioner Miller, and carried unanimously.
A motion was made by Commissioner Sharpless that this is a significant activity, by reason that the activity has potential to cause siltation to a wetland.
The motion was seconded by Commissioner Miller, and carried unanimously.
A motion was made by Commissioner Sharpless that a public hearing is not required, as there has not been any indication of public interest.
The motion was seconded by Commissioner Miller, and carried unanimously.
A motion was made by Commissioner Sharpless to grant a permit for the proposed activity with the understanding that town be notified at least 3 days before the proposed activity is to commence so someone can check out the site before the digging can commence.
The motion was seconded by Commissioner Miller, and carried unanimously.
PUBLIC HEARING, DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE VOTE
A. Application of Ensign –Bickford Realty Corporation for an Inland Wetland Permit for regulated activities associated with the proposed development of 182 homes within the Powder Forest at Bushy Hill and Stratton Brook Road. (continued from 7/20/04 meeting)
Mr. Donahue was present to address the Commission and introduce the presenters.
He stated that along with permits from the Wetland Commission, they are seeking permits from other boards; a zone change to allow a village cluster, a subdivision of the parcel into a single parcel, and site plan approval. On September 20, 2004, there will be a joint public hearing on this application with zoning and planning. Since last before the commission, they have received enthusiastic approval for the plan from the design-review board.
Michael Klein presented the wildlife corridor information.
Both flora and fauna at the site were looked at, and they identified no state-listed species present. The site has the potential to support and does support some forest interior birds.
Time was spent looking at the reptile and amphibian populations at the site because a report through the natural diversity database found eastern box turtle in the area in addition to the presence or absence of mole salamanders and wood frogs, considered vernal pool indicators. He explained that since the natural diversity database showed evidence of box turtle in the area, a visual search was done, but none were found. There are some isolated repressional wetlands on the site. They did not find any box turtles or mole salamanders at the site. The cluster of the three wetlands supported nothing in the way of frogs and salamanders. The semi-permanent pond does support wood frogs and although they are listed as a vernal pool indicator species, they also breed in many other places. He noted that as for the larger mammals, this patch of habitat is not large enough to support the more wide ranging species like bobcat.
A function and value assessment, broken down in three areas, was done for the wetland. The cluster of small depressional wetland areas is considered low to moderate in quality value. The large significant 12-½ acre wetland area is considered moderate- to high-value quality, however it is not considered high quality fish habitat. The semi-permanent pool does provide amphibian-breeding habitat, and it is valued as moderate-quality value.
Mr. Klein stated that in essence there are indirect impacts to the site, which are related to either construction, or the long-term change in land use of the site. He also noted that there is extensive use of best-management and low-impact development practices that have been incorporated into the plans. For example, rather than a traditional centralized stormwater collection and management system, they have a stormwater management system whereby 15 separate water disbursement areas are used to minimize the use of collection systems to get the water into the ground. The indirect impact to the wildlife habitat will be minimized by limiting development in the vicinity of the semi-permanent pond. Per a recommendation by the commission, they will be removing some of the silt fencing to allow migration coming in and out of the pond.
On the plans, he showed the open space on the site, surrounding properties, and locations of buffer zones for access into and out of the wetland system. He stated that the main concern during the site walk seemed to be with how the larger mammals (deer, bobcat, and bears) will access the space. He showed on the plan where the linkages are so that these mammals are able to move through.
Chairman Beach praised Mr. Klein on his effective job of giving a predevelopment evaluation of the three wetland areas. He asked if Mr. Klein could sum up the postdevelopment value of the wetland, in terms of general wildlife. He also asked him to address the apparent fragmentation of the areas. Mr. Klein explained that the functional evaluation methods are not designed as an impact assessment tool, they are designed as a resource tool. He did say that roads do not deter larger mammals, and that he does not see a dramatic alteration of the wetland-dependant wildlife. Mr. Klein said they try to focus on species of conservation concern as opposed to those that are fairly common.
Chairman Beach noted that other species should be focused on as well, lest they also become species of concern.
Chairman Beach complemented the applicant on the systems put in place (stormwater catch basins, swales etc.) to keep the nutrients away from Hazel Meadow Pond. He likes the fact that they provide swales for bio-remediation.
There was a discussion surrounding the vernal pool and the plants currently growing around it. Mr. Klein stated that hydrologically it is a semi-permanent pond, but it has some vernal pool-like functions in that it provides breeding habitat for wood frogs.
Chairman Beach discussed the bio-diversity study, stating it shows about what the commission is concerned and asked if the walking trail near the vernal pool could be moved. Mr. Ferrero stated that it is an existing path.
Commissioner Miller asked about the invasive plantings. Mr. Klein said the fragmites, which are near the wetland, could cause much damage to it, and will be cut out and the area and the area mowed. The tree of heaven will receive two applications of non-invasive, hand-applied herbicide to remove it. The herbicide will be applied during a non-windy day so as to have minimal drift potential.
The commission voiced concern regarding the closeness of Hazel Meadow Pond and unit/lawn development along its boundary. Chairman Beach asked if there will be enough bio-remediation in the swale to neutralize nutrients in the water before being introduced into the brook, what with the number of units that back up to the area. He also wanted to know about the turf-management system being used. Mr. Ferrero said that it is a small watershed because all of the roots are being removed, and he believes that the swale will be high enough. Mr. Klein stated that he doesn’t anticipate that any products will be used within the swales themselves. Mr. Donahue explained that one company will manage the units’ yards and therefore they will not have the owners themselves caring for the yards/grass.
Chairman Beach asked about the distance between the cutting line and the property line. It was explained that there is a 40-foot building setback and the swale is within that 40 feet.
Chairman Beach said that even small amounts of nutrients can devastate the ecosystem, and asked if there could be a 75- to100-foot no-cut zone beyond the property line since there is very little vegetation around the area. Mr. Ferrero stated that they are not encroaching upon the 100-foot buffer zone within Hazel Meadow Pond.
Commissioner Nowak asked about the wildlife corridor to the west side on Bushy Hill. He asked where the wildlife corridor would be for smaller wildlife such as turkeys, etc.
Mr. Klein answered that the area near Bushy Hill is residential development and that, if small wildlife can move through that area, they will be able to move through the corridor Mr. Nowak speaks about. He stated that it is surprising how tolerant many of the species have become. Mr. Nowak stated that the proposed units are much closer together (18-25 feet apart) than the 1+ acre residential houses where it is easier for animals to navigate. Mr. Klein answered that the property provides more open space. Chairman Beach noted that most of the open space is wetland and couldn’t be built on anyway.
Commissioner Miller asked if the wildlife corridor could be opened up more along Stratton Brook road. A discussion about that ensued.
Chairman Beach asked about possible space available along the road for bio-remediation to reduce the development by 75 feet. Mr. Ferrero said that they don’t want to clear so much vegetation along the road that it opens up a view to and from those units. Chairman Beach applauded their decision to include a buffer along Stratton Brook, but said that, if there were one or two spots, it would help with the hydraulic plan. Commissioner Bucknam said that. if the path is lowered to 80’or 60’ from 100' there will not be much room for wildlife refuge. Mr. Merriam stated that it would be virtually impossible to relocate it.
Commissioner Nowak asked about plantings, and Mr. Ferrero stated they do not currently have a landscape plan, but do know that it will include indigenous species.
Commissioner Miller asked about slope stabilization measures being taken. Mr. Ferrero explained they have gravel slopes. They will rough cut some slopes, stabilize them with erosion control mats and reforest them with Mr. Klein’s help.
Chairman Beach asked about retaining walls. Mr. Ferrero said they will not be using mass retaining walls anywhere on the site, but there are a number of walkout basements. It will be up to the owner whether they wish to have slopes or build 4- to 5-foot high retaining walls instead. On one main slope they proposed building a wall, but it would have been a 6-foot wall, which would be monstrous.
Based on the discussion so far, Mr. Merriam summarized 5 conditions of approval.
No individual application of herbicides and pesticides by the homeowners. One company will do the lawn maintenance of each unit.
A post-construction site visit by the commission.
Come back with a best-management practices plan using organic materials.
Field markings on the site at sensitive areas/points. These markings indicate that, if materials are applied to that site, they could be damaging to the wetland system.
A 2- to 3-year ongoing post-construction monitoring plan implemented, that would take samples of run off and come back and report to the commission. If there are problems, corrective action will be taken.
Chairman Beach asked if there were some kind of performance bond associated with the post-construction monitoring. Mr. Merriam stated that a bond is a good idea and that, if the commission wishes this, the applicant will look into it.
Chairman Beach asked if the post-construction monitoring could go on for 5 years instead of 2 or 3. Mr. Merriam said that, by monitoring the surface runoff, they will know fairly quickly if any material is getting off the site, and said 3 years seems appropriate.
Chairman Beach said three years is a good timeline.
Mr. Donahue confirmed that the streets are private, and will be maintained by a private company. Chairman Beach said he hopes sump-pump issues are covered by the monitoring and maintenance plan.
Commissioner Miller was concerned about Hazel Meadow Pond and if it could be restored even though the applicant is not “responsible” for it.
Mr. Donahue stated that, as part of the land-use process, the applicant is putting out a revised master plan for the site, which identifies the place reserved for Dyno Nobel, and any other site available. It will show what is allowed and what is likely in the future to come forward to zoning.
Commissioner Winters asked if a wildlife corridor section could be widened a bit. Mr. Ferrero said they could look into that.
At this point in the meeting, Chairman Beach closed the public hearing, since no one was present to speak on the issue. Commissioner Sharpless moved to close the public hearing. Commissioner Bucknam seconded with all in favor.
Commissioner Sharpless stated there should be a good monitoring plan established, and the commission should be specific about what they want to see being monitored.
Chairman Beach said he is concerned about the possibility of nutrient impact on Hazel Meadow, which is a separate issue. Within the site itself, he is concerned about any evidence of nutrient loading in the second brook. A question was asked of how the water going into Hazel Meadow would be monitored. There was a discussion about how the commission could monitor the Hazel Meadow. Mr. Donahue said that they would seek permission on behalf of the commission to get a sample of the Pond if they so desired.
The Commission concluded that as part of the monitoring plan they would look for nitrate, phosphate, chloride, and vod. Apart from the wetland area they will also monitor road water, storm salts/sand, and stormwater discharge, and sump pumps. This will be monitored for a period of three years, and a performance bond will be issued. Fertilizer will be included in the best-management plan. Also, some of the specified units should be spaced farther apart.
For the next meeting, Mr. Merriam will draw up the monitoring plan, etc., for the next meeting, and will bring in the information Commissioner Miller wanted on the field markings.
A motion was made by Commissioner Ursini to continue this application at the next meeting; it was seconded by Commissioner Miller with all in favor.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Global-warming commissioners, Carbon Caps Task Force meet in Springdale
Please click on image to enlarge.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Friday, May 16, 2008
Crawdad festival today and Saturday in Harrison
Please click on image to read:
Harrison celebrates Crawfish Days May 16-17
Harrison celebrates Crawfish Days May 16-17
West Fork Water Celebration coming Saturday
West Fork Celebration photos from 2007
West Fork Celebration on Saturday
3rd Annual West Fork Watershed Celebration
Riverside Park - May 17, 2008
FREE ADMISSION!
The 3rd Annual West Fork Watershed Celebration of 2008 is an important event. The West Fork of the White River flows into Beaver Lake, which is our supply of drinking water. Each year, a cleanup of our river is conducted as part of protecting our source of safe drinking water and protecting wildlife habitats.
If you or your child would like to be a volunteer for this year's river cleanup or volunteer to help with activities being held at Riverside Park on May 17, 2008, you must complete and sign the liability and registrations forms. These forms can be found by clicking the Forms link to the left.
Cleanup teams will conduct a cleanup of the West Fork of the White River from Brentwood to Greenland. Some volunteers will be in boats and others will walk. The River cleanup will be divided into four sections with several pickup points along the way. Teams will be assigned to each section. An adult Team Leader and other adults will be a part of each team, and will be responsible for coordinating his or her team for the pick-up of materials.
It is hoped that parents will join their children at this event and make it a family outing. Come join the fun and excitement!
Volunteers Needed!!!
Sign up for a clean-up team and include the whole family. Win Prizes! Call 225-1611 today.
Activity Schedule:
12:00 Registration and River Clean-up
Volunteers needed for river and park
Call 479.225.1611
3-6 Awards and Prizes...
Food prepared by the West Fork Fire Department and WFEPA
Activities for every age including:
music
fly-fishing
canoeing
fishing for the kids (poles provided, bait for sale)
water ecology
water dynamics/chemistry classes
plus bee-keeping
health info and more
6-8 LIVE MUSIC by Local Groups
Sponsored by the WF Lions' Club
QUESTIONS?
Call Henry Griffith at 479.839.3553
Frances Hime at 479.225.1611
http://www.wfepa.org
The 3rd Annual West Fork Watershed Celebration - 2008 is being coordinated by the West Fork E.P.A. with support from the cities of West Fork and Greenland, and partnership with the following non-profit organizations: Washington County Environmental Affairs, Audubon, Watershed Conservation Resources, American rivers, Beaver Water district, Washington County Conservation, Washington County Bee Keepers Assn., Scouts, other organizations and merchants., U.S.G.S., Arkansas Forestry Service.
The West Fork Environmental Protection Association is a 501(c)3 organization and is not affiliated with the Environmental Protection Agency or any other government agency.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Build Hill Place right or don't build it
The maps based on aerial photos below are reasonably new, and people who live in some houses along the Town Branch of the West Fork of the White River between Eleventh Street and Fifteenth Street who are paying on mortgages on their homes now have to pay for flood insurance.
A close look at the maps reveals that FEMA now acknowledges not only that many buildings in that stretch are either IN or immediately adjacent to the acknowledged flood plain but also that much of the infrastructure for the failed Aspen Ridge site was built in the flood plain between Sixth and Eleventh streets west of South Hill Avenue.
People who have lived in the neighborhood a long time know that the actual floodplain is much wider in places than the FEMA map shows.
While the developers of the Hill Place project are being required to remove a sewer line and blocks much of the flow under the bridge at Eleventh Street, they have not been told to build their proposed traffic bridge higher than the current walkiing bridge. In fact, they are proposing to build the traffic bridge LOWER than the walking bridge built in 2005 or 2006 across the stream. Because federal agencies will barely even look at the plans, the city must make the decision on this further construction in the floodplain.
In 2003 and 2004, the developers claimed that FEMA maps did not show floodplain in the area. Neighbors pointed out that the Town Branch FLOWED OVER much of that land frequently even though the government had not designated it as floodplain and that, not only did the stream flow over the bridge at Eleventh Street but sometimes flowed over the bridge at Fifteenth Street.
Just another example of NIMBIES being ignored in favor of developers and builders who don't care what harm their projects might do as long as they are able to reach the density level required to make a huge profit. People who say "Not in my backyard" in this neighborhood have seen the water there (and some have seen it in their houses or flowing in front of their houses); so they aren't talking about a trivial problem.
The lowest portion of the former wooded wetland at the southeast end of the project must be dug out and structured to pre-Aspen Ridge grade or lower to reapproach the historical flood-prevention capacity of that land.
No further paving should be done southeast of the existing walking bridge and the impervious fill dirt should be removed and water again should be allowed to soak into appropriate organic soil.
Developers claim their right to build as long as their project doesn't send more water off their land than flowed off there before.
They use voodoo mathematics that ignore overflow from the Town Branch and that ignore the nearly 100 percent permeability of the surface of the area before it was cleared and filled with rocky dirt and red clay.
They rely on the fact that water has threatened the downstream homes a little more each year during the decades the University of Arkansas has filled similar land on the campus and covered or dredged absorbent soil on the campus in favor of non-absorbent, non-organic soil and concrete.
Now is the time to begin to require developments to DECREASE downstream flooding, not aggravate it and blame the university for its building practices. Multiple wrong decisions don't add up to a right decision.
A close look at the maps reveals that FEMA now acknowledges not only that many buildings in that stretch are either IN or immediately adjacent to the acknowledged flood plain but also that much of the infrastructure for the failed Aspen Ridge site was built in the flood plain between Sixth and Eleventh streets west of South Hill Avenue.
People who have lived in the neighborhood a long time know that the actual floodplain is much wider in places than the FEMA map shows.
While the developers of the Hill Place project are being required to remove a sewer line and blocks much of the flow under the bridge at Eleventh Street, they have not been told to build their proposed traffic bridge higher than the current walkiing bridge. In fact, they are proposing to build the traffic bridge LOWER than the walking bridge built in 2005 or 2006 across the stream. Because federal agencies will barely even look at the plans, the city must make the decision on this further construction in the floodplain.
In 2003 and 2004, the developers claimed that FEMA maps did not show floodplain in the area. Neighbors pointed out that the Town Branch FLOWED OVER much of that land frequently even though the government had not designated it as floodplain and that, not only did the stream flow over the bridge at Eleventh Street but sometimes flowed over the bridge at Fifteenth Street.
Just another example of NIMBIES being ignored in favor of developers and builders who don't care what harm their projects might do as long as they are able to reach the density level required to make a huge profit. People who say "Not in my backyard" in this neighborhood have seen the water there (and some have seen it in their houses or flowing in front of their houses); so they aren't talking about a trivial problem.
The lowest portion of the former wooded wetland at the southeast end of the project must be dug out and structured to pre-Aspen Ridge grade or lower to reapproach the historical flood-prevention capacity of that land.
No further paving should be done southeast of the existing walking bridge and the impervious fill dirt should be removed and water again should be allowed to soak into appropriate organic soil.
Developers claim their right to build as long as their project doesn't send more water off their land than flowed off there before.
They use voodoo mathematics that ignore overflow from the Town Branch and that ignore the nearly 100 percent permeability of the surface of the area before it was cleared and filled with rocky dirt and red clay.
They rely on the fact that water has threatened the downstream homes a little more each year during the decades the University of Arkansas has filled similar land on the campus and covered or dredged absorbent soil on the campus in favor of non-absorbent, non-organic soil and concrete.
Now is the time to begin to require developments to DECREASE downstream flooding, not aggravate it and blame the university for its building practices. Multiple wrong decisions don't add up to a right decision.
Monday, May 12, 2008
FEMA floodplain map of Aspen Ridge/Hill Place and streets downstream
Please click on image to ENLARGE.
Please click on image to ENLARGE.
Please click on image to ENLARGE.
Friday, May 9, 2008
War Eagle Appreciation Day tomorrow ( Saturday, May 10, 2008) north of Huntsville, Arkansas
Please see
War Eagle Appreciation Day 2007 photos for a sample of what has been and may be again tomorrow.
Free Music, Food, Education at War Eagle Appreciation Day on Saturday May 10, 2008
Shannon Wurst, the Mountain Gypsies, and Crossroad Country will take the stage from 2-7 p.m. Saturday during War Eagle Appreciation Day at Crossbow Pavilion in Withrow Springs State Park about five miles north of Huntsville off Arkansas 23. Admission is free. Organizers suggest members of the public bring lawn chairs. A cookout sponsored by Arvest Bank and the Huntsville Chamber of Commerce will be provided from 4 to 7 p.m. The event also includes a float that morning led by educators with Ozark Natural Science Center, Audubon Arkansas and Beaver Water District; a stream cleanup that morning led by Madison County Solid Waste & Recycling, and educational booths with hands-on activities. Visit www.bwdh2o.org for more information. Or call 479-756-3651.
War Eagle is a sub-watershed of Beaver Lake Watershed. A watershed is an area of land that drains water, sediment, and dissolved materials to a common receiving body or outlet, which in this case is Beaver Lake, the primary source of drinking water for most of Northwest Arkansas. The purpose of the event is to draw attention to the rich history of War Eagle and the many benefits that War Eagle Creek brings to Madison County and Northwest Arkansans.
Amy L. Wilson, Director of Public Affairs, Beaver Water District, P.O. Box 400, Lowell, AR 72745
awilson@bwdh2o.org
479-756-3651 (office)
479-263-4584 (cell)
Beaver Water District, the second largest drinking water supplier in Arkansas, supplies drinking water to more than 250,000 people and industries in Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers, Bentonville and surrounding areas. For information, visit www.bwdh2o.org.
War Eagle Appreciation Day 2007 photos for a sample of what has been and may be again tomorrow.
Free Music, Food, Education at War Eagle Appreciation Day on Saturday May 10, 2008
Shannon Wurst, the Mountain Gypsies, and Crossroad Country will take the stage from 2-7 p.m. Saturday during War Eagle Appreciation Day at Crossbow Pavilion in Withrow Springs State Park about five miles north of Huntsville off Arkansas 23. Admission is free. Organizers suggest members of the public bring lawn chairs. A cookout sponsored by Arvest Bank and the Huntsville Chamber of Commerce will be provided from 4 to 7 p.m. The event also includes a float that morning led by educators with Ozark Natural Science Center, Audubon Arkansas and Beaver Water District; a stream cleanup that morning led by Madison County Solid Waste & Recycling, and educational booths with hands-on activities. Visit www.bwdh2o.org for more information. Or call 479-756-3651.
War Eagle is a sub-watershed of Beaver Lake Watershed. A watershed is an area of land that drains water, sediment, and dissolved materials to a common receiving body or outlet, which in this case is Beaver Lake, the primary source of drinking water for most of Northwest Arkansas. The purpose of the event is to draw attention to the rich history of War Eagle and the many benefits that War Eagle Creek brings to Madison County and Northwest Arkansans.
Amy L. Wilson, Director of Public Affairs, Beaver Water District, P.O. Box 400, Lowell, AR 72745
awilson@bwdh2o.org
479-756-3651 (office)
479-263-4584 (cell)
Beaver Water District, the second largest drinking water supplier in Arkansas, supplies drinking water to more than 250,000 people and industries in Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers, Bentonville and surrounding areas. For information, visit www.bwdh2o.org.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Wards one and four, Town Branch neighborhood meeting to discuss Aspen Ridge / Hill Place
Please click on image to ENLARGE.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Fayetteville City Council to visit Town Branch Neighborhood at 4 p.m. today. Everyone welcome.
The mayor and members of the Fayetteville City Council are to gather at the failed Aspen Ridge town-house construction site near W. Sixth Street and S. Hill Avenue at 4:30 p.m. today (Monday, May 5, 2008 ) to view the 30-acre parcel from which nearly all the trees and topsoil have been removed. The rich, fertile, stormwater-absorbing, water-purifying soil has been either dredged out and hauled away or buried under tons of less-absorbent rocky soil.
Tuesday at 6 p.m., the council is to evaluate a plan that has been brought forward by Hank Broyles, who sold his share of the Aspen Ridge property to his partner in that venture, Hal Forsyth, soon after it was approved in 2005, but who bought the whole parcel after Forsyth's development ended with hundreds of low-income residents displaced but nothing built on the property.
Broyles' new plan is to sell the property to
Place Properties, limited partnership, which develops and manages apartment complexes for college students in several states. The sale, apparently, is contingent on Broyles' getting the student-apartment plan approved by the council.
Please see
Summit Place, Hill Place maps and photos with first plans for Summit Place that were submitted to the Fayetteville planning department early this year.
Please see
Hill Place/Aspen Ridge plans, maps and photos with concept drawing from January 2008.
Town Branch neighbors are asking that the Summit Place plan be evaluated by the council before the council approves the Hill Place plan. Water from the eastern slope of Summit Place on Rochier Hill will increase erosion and further exacerbate the stormwater problems created by the Aspen Ridge land clearing and now the problem of the Hill Place project. Appian Design Center
Hill Place/Summit Place plan designers is planning both projects. Hank Broyles and John Nock reportedly own the Summit Place property.
The Summit Place project west of the Arkansas and Missouri Railroad is in Ward Four, while the Hill Place project is in Ward One.
As in the case of many adjacent projects, these are separate but the upstream work will have a bearing on the downstream project's success in protecting people further downstream on the Town Branch of the West Fork of the White River from flooding as well as an effect on the quality of water entering Beaver Lake, the water supply for most of Northwest Arkansas.
For details, please call 479-444-6072.
Tuesday at 6 p.m., the council is to evaluate a plan that has been brought forward by Hank Broyles, who sold his share of the Aspen Ridge property to his partner in that venture, Hal Forsyth, soon after it was approved in 2005, but who bought the whole parcel after Forsyth's development ended with hundreds of low-income residents displaced but nothing built on the property.
Broyles' new plan is to sell the property to
Place Properties, limited partnership, which develops and manages apartment complexes for college students in several states. The sale, apparently, is contingent on Broyles' getting the student-apartment plan approved by the council.
Please see
Summit Place, Hill Place maps and photos with first plans for Summit Place that were submitted to the Fayetteville planning department early this year.
Please see
Hill Place/Aspen Ridge plans, maps and photos with concept drawing from January 2008.
Town Branch neighbors are asking that the Summit Place plan be evaluated by the council before the council approves the Hill Place plan. Water from the eastern slope of Summit Place on Rochier Hill will increase erosion and further exacerbate the stormwater problems created by the Aspen Ridge land clearing and now the problem of the Hill Place project. Appian Design Center
Hill Place/Summit Place plan designers is planning both projects. Hank Broyles and John Nock reportedly own the Summit Place property.
The Summit Place project west of the Arkansas and Missouri Railroad is in Ward Four, while the Hill Place project is in Ward One.
As in the case of many adjacent projects, these are separate but the upstream work will have a bearing on the downstream project's success in protecting people further downstream on the Town Branch of the West Fork of the White River from flooding as well as an effect on the quality of water entering Beaver Lake, the water supply for most of Northwest Arkansas.
For details, please call 479-444-6072.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Friday, April 25, 2008
Earth Fest in Rose Garden during 2008 Springfest in Fayetteville, Arkansas
PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE photo
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Geese and goslings make do with slim rations on Aspen Ridge detention to avoid crowd at baseball games.
Please enlarge photo of geese and four goslings on Aspen Ridge/Hill Place detention pond on Aprile 23, 2008..
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Wishes for LOVING THE EARTH DAY
Wise Words About Where We Live!
EARTH DAY is April 22. Our favorite columnist, Scott Shalaway, says that over the years, he has occasionally commemorated the event by quoting writers, philosophers and scientists who inspire love and respect for the planet. He does this to provoke thought and because words used wisely can change the world. We thought you might enjoy reading and saving some of them for future reflection:
"Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed." -- Gandhi
"Humanity must stop behaving like a Gengis Khan of the solar system and think of itself ... as nature's co-pilot." -- Edgar Morin, French sociologist
"Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell." -- Edward Abbey
"Live simply so that others may simply live." -- Ghandi
"Look deeply into nature, and then you will understand everything better." -- Albert Einstein
"Go outside!" -- Eriks Janelsins
"Away from nature, Man's heart becomes hard." "Lack of respect for growing, living things leads to lack of respect for humans, as well." -- Lakota sayings
"I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anybody could ever want to own." -- Andy Warhol
"The idea of wilderness needs no defenses, it only needs more defenders." -- Edward Abbey
"After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics, conviviality, and so on, and have found that none of these finally satisfies, what remains? Nature remains." -- Walt Whitman.
We hope that your Earth Day was both meaningful and worthwhile!
Tom Patrick
WindStar Wildlife Institute
EARTH DAY is April 22. Our favorite columnist, Scott Shalaway, says that over the years, he has occasionally commemorated the event by quoting writers, philosophers and scientists who inspire love and respect for the planet. He does this to provoke thought and because words used wisely can change the world. We thought you might enjoy reading and saving some of them for future reflection:
"Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed." -- Gandhi
"Humanity must stop behaving like a Gengis Khan of the solar system and think of itself ... as nature's co-pilot." -- Edgar Morin, French sociologist
"Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell." -- Edward Abbey
"Live simply so that others may simply live." -- Ghandi
"Look deeply into nature, and then you will understand everything better." -- Albert Einstein
"Go outside!" -- Eriks Janelsins
"Away from nature, Man's heart becomes hard." "Lack of respect for growing, living things leads to lack of respect for humans, as well." -- Lakota sayings
"I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anybody could ever want to own." -- Andy Warhol
"The idea of wilderness needs no defenses, it only needs more defenders." -- Edward Abbey
"After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics, conviviality, and so on, and have found that none of these finally satisfies, what remains? Nature remains." -- Walt Whitman.
We hope that your Earth Day was both meaningful and worthwhile!
Tom Patrick
WindStar Wildlife Institute
Monday, April 21, 2008
Photo set from Sunday's Earth Day Celebration at World Peace Wetland Prairie will grow until complete
Please see first 33 photos in set of
Earth Day 2008 photos from World Peace Wetland Prairie and return later to see more!
Earth Day 2008 photos from World Peace Wetland Prairie and return later to see more!
Friday, April 18, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Monarchs sailing northeast Tuesday and some pause for nectar on World Peace Wetland Prairie in time for Earth Day celebration Sunday afternoon
2007 photos from World Peace Wetland Prairie and 2008 Earth Day announcement
Please click on image to ENLARGE photo of monarch butterfly feeding on dandelion.
I saw my first yellow swallowtail butterfly for the year on about 11:20 a.m. Wednesday. Spring has sprung!
Sunday, April 13, 2008
If you don't have room to plant an oak, you can get some free ones April 19 to plant on some public areas that recently were stripped of vegetation
Call the Sierra Club at 479-530-8328 to get free oak trees or volunteer on Saturday April 19.
Please click on images to enlarge photo above of Scull Creek Trail viewed from south of Maple Street and photo below of Town Branch of the West Fork of the White River west of the Ladyback Soccer Field. Obviously, whoever decided to remove all the vegetation with excellent bird-nesting habitat and great importance in the effort to decrease the load of silt pouring off the campus into the Town Branch didn't get this memo:
University of Arkansas Sustainability plan
Similarly, the city trail plan didn't consider the city's sustainability effort in removing the big shade trees along the Scull Creek trail corridor. It seems that emphasizing the idea that the trails are only a part of the transportation system fails to take into account the environmental damage of construction or routing and fails to provide consideration of natural resources. Instead of offering a shady, natural setting with wildlife and wildflowers and relief from the urban environment's overwhelming streetscape, poorly planned trails simply add hot space to the city.
Please click on images to enlarge photo above of Scull Creek Trail viewed from south of Maple Street and photo below of Town Branch of the West Fork of the White River west of the Ladyback Soccer Field. Obviously, whoever decided to remove all the vegetation with excellent bird-nesting habitat and great importance in the effort to decrease the load of silt pouring off the campus into the Town Branch didn't get this memo:
University of Arkansas Sustainability plan
Similarly, the city trail plan didn't consider the city's sustainability effort in removing the big shade trees along the Scull Creek trail corridor. It seems that emphasizing the idea that the trails are only a part of the transportation system fails to take into account the environmental damage of construction or routing and fails to provide consideration of natural resources. Instead of offering a shady, natural setting with wildlife and wildflowers and relief from the urban environment's overwhelming streetscape, poorly planned trails simply add hot space to the city.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Please volunteer April 19 to help give away oak trees in Fayetteville and Rogers
From Dina Nash of the Arkansas Sierra Club:
The Arkansas Forestry Commission asked if the Sierra Club would like to do a tree give-away project: They have 50,000 extra 3-foot-tall oak trees (Willow oaks, Water oaks, Shumard oaks, and Pin oaks) and they'd like to give them away. I said yes, and we very much need your members to volunteer some hours to help take these little trees out of the paper bundle of 100 trees, put 1 or 2 in a bag, tape the top of the bag with masking tape, and give them to people who will promise to water them once or twice a week for several months so they will get a good start. So if you have 3 or more hours to help give away trees to help global warming, please email or call me ASAP, so I can plan who'll be there to take care of the give-away table: Location: Wal-Mart on Mall Drive at Joyce Street, a block west of College. Near the Garden Center 10 AM-4 PM (3 hour shifts, 10-1 and 1-4, or the whole 6 hours) Three people per shift, some bagging, some taping, and some handing out trees and putting the planting info sheet with them An easy way to green up some bare places you may know of, too. Take some home to your yard, church, school, or farm! Give some to neighbors who lost a tree in a storm, etc. There are also openings at the Rogers Wal-Mart on Walnut Street on the l9th!!
Thanks so much for making this a success: please call me at 530-8328 My cell phone is in the 479 area code so Fayetteville friends don't need to make a long-distance call to reach me in Little Rock. Or you can email me at Dina_Nash@yahoo.com .
Thanks, Dina Nash, Vice Pres. Central AR Sierra Club 479-530-8328 Little Rock
If you can't reach Dina, you may call Aubrey Shepherd at 479-444-6072 for information. You need not be a Sierra Club member to participate.
The Arkansas Forestry Commission asked if the Sierra Club would like to do a tree give-away project: They have 50,000 extra 3-foot-tall oak trees (Willow oaks, Water oaks, Shumard oaks, and Pin oaks) and they'd like to give them away. I said yes, and we very much need your members to volunteer some hours to help take these little trees out of the paper bundle of 100 trees, put 1 or 2 in a bag, tape the top of the bag with masking tape, and give them to people who will promise to water them once or twice a week for several months so they will get a good start. So if you have 3 or more hours to help give away trees to help global warming, please email or call me ASAP, so I can plan who'll be there to take care of the give-away table: Location: Wal-Mart on Mall Drive at Joyce Street, a block west of College. Near the Garden Center 10 AM-4 PM (3 hour shifts, 10-1 and 1-4, or the whole 6 hours) Three people per shift, some bagging, some taping, and some handing out trees and putting the planting info sheet with them An easy way to green up some bare places you may know of, too. Take some home to your yard, church, school, or farm! Give some to neighbors who lost a tree in a storm, etc. There are also openings at the Rogers Wal-Mart on Walnut Street on the l9th!!
Thanks so much for making this a success: please call me at 530-8328 My cell phone is in the 479 area code so Fayetteville friends don't need to make a long-distance call to reach me in Little Rock. Or you can email me at Dina_Nash@yahoo.com .
Thanks, Dina Nash, Vice Pres. Central AR Sierra Club 479-530-8328 Little Rock
If you can't reach Dina, you may call Aubrey Shepherd at 479-444-6072 for information. You need not be a Sierra Club member to participate.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Keep the Water Where It Falls — Earth Day at World Peace Wetland Prairie from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday April 20
PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE to ENLARGE photo of Lonicera sempervirens, the native trumpet honeysuckle about to bloom April 9, 2008, on World Peace Wetland Prairie.
Fayetteville's Town Branch Neighborhood and the OMNI Center for Peace, Justice and Ecology have announced that the Fourth Earth Day Celebration since the Founding of World Peace Wetland Prairie, a city-owned nature park and natural rain garden in south Fayetteville, is planned for 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, April 20, 2008.
Nature walks will be led by local biologists and nature enthusiasts, highlighting Arkansas native plants and describing the value of natural wetland and its function for stormwater abatement and cleansing in an urban environment.
Information from founding organizations and area environmental groups will be offered as well as an opportunity to participate in planting trees, native grass and flowering plants and in helping remove Japanese honeysuckle, fescue and other non-native invasive species. Some small trees and possibly some flowering plants will be available for adoption.
Musicians and poets are invited to perform with acoustic instruments; and environmentally friendly songs and poems are especially welcome. Activities suitable for small children will be offered.
Bird-watchers are encouraged to come at dawn or stay until dark. Bring a camera or video recorder. Nice photo opportunities are likely.
The theme for 2008 is "Keep the Water Where it Falls, Maintain the Habitat."
Updated information on plans for Earth Day activities at 1121 South Duncan Avenue in Fayetteville may be found at
http://worldpeacewetlandprairie.blogspot.com
Links to photo albums and slide shows on WPWP flora and fauna may be found at
http://www.worldpeacewetlandprairie.com
Remember: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday April 20, 2008
Fayetteville's Town Branch Neighborhood and the OMNI Center for Peace, Justice and Ecology have announced that the Fourth Earth Day Celebration since the Founding of World Peace Wetland Prairie, a city-owned nature park and natural rain garden in south Fayetteville, is planned for 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, April 20, 2008.
Nature walks will be led by local biologists and nature enthusiasts, highlighting Arkansas native plants and describing the value of natural wetland and its function for stormwater abatement and cleansing in an urban environment.
Information from founding organizations and area environmental groups will be offered as well as an opportunity to participate in planting trees, native grass and flowering plants and in helping remove Japanese honeysuckle, fescue and other non-native invasive species. Some small trees and possibly some flowering plants will be available for adoption.
Musicians and poets are invited to perform with acoustic instruments; and environmentally friendly songs and poems are especially welcome. Activities suitable for small children will be offered.
Bird-watchers are encouraged to come at dawn or stay until dark. Bring a camera or video recorder. Nice photo opportunities are likely.
The theme for 2008 is "Keep the Water Where it Falls, Maintain the Habitat."
Updated information on plans for Earth Day activities at 1121 South Duncan Avenue in Fayetteville may be found at
http://worldpeacewetlandprairie.blogspot.com
Links to photo albums and slide shows on WPWP flora and fauna may be found at
http://www.worldpeacewetlandprairie.com
Remember: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday April 20, 2008
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Friday, April 4, 2008
Monday, March 31, 2008
Gov. Beebe addresses joint session of Arkansas General Assembly
For full text of
Governor Beebe addressing joint legislative session
click the link.
Governor Beebe addressing joint legislative session
click the link.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Information on renewable energy in Arkansas
Arkansas Energy Offiice
The ADEQ director's position described below and the Arkansas Energy Office's efforts (click on link above) to educate the public illustrate how badly Arkansas needs an umbrella agency to include all environmental issues and see that we do the right thing!
A single wildlife biologist writing a basic report on the destruction of habitat for a coal plant should prevent its creation.
A single water-quality expert or air-quality expert writing a simple report on the project should prevent it.
A single county agent writing a soil-erosion and quality reduction report on the project should prevent it.
As our state operates now, nothing — nor everything — written or spoken by such state-paid experts will stop it. This is an issue the governor and legislature should be addressing along with the severance tax at the legislative session that begins Monday.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
CANCELED: Watershed meeting in Rogers brings water warriors from across country
NWA Morning News on Illinois River watershed trial in Oklahoma
NOT TOO LATE.
PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Our Suicide Mission with Coal
Our Suicide Mission with Coal
By Kelpie Wilson, TruthOut.org
Posted on March 25, 2008, Printed on March 25, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/story/80521/
As the global energy/climate crisis deepens, coal has become the starkest symbol and most telling measure of our predicament. Coal produces more carbon emissions than other energy sources -- more than twice that of natural gas per unit of energy output. Consequently, coal-fired power plants are responsible for about one-third of US emissions of carbon dioxide. Despite this, we are mining and burning more coal than ever.
On March 18, the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) released an analysis of EPA data showing that carbon dioxide emissions from the electric power industry increased by 2.9 percent in 2007 and have risen 5.9 percent since 2002. Coal is the culprit.
According to an Associated Press report, the cause of last year's increase was a combination of three factors: increased electricity demand; a shortage of hydroelectric power, leading to greater reliance on coal, and the reduced efficiency of aging coal-burning power plants.
While utilities around the nation have plans to construct more than 100 new coal-fired power plants, public concern over global warming and toxic pollution has put the brakes on many of them. Last year in Texas, public interest groups prevented TXU Energy from going ahead on eight new coal-fired plants that would have increased the state's emissions by 24 percent, according to the EIP report.
But as demand for electricity rises and cleaner fuels like natural gas get scarcer and more expensive, the relentless pressure to burn coal fuels delusions such as "clean coal."
"Clean coal" is a combination of two technologies, one of which is expensive and the other completely unproven. The expensive one is coal gasification, and it is a genuinely cleaner way of burning coal. It involves baking coal to drive off gasses that aren't much dirtier than natural gas, and the gasses then are burned for power production. This technology costs a minimum of 20 percent more than a conventional pulverized coal plant, which is why only two such plants exist in the United States.
The other part of the "clean coal" scheme involves carbon capture and storage. This technology is not proven and the potential costs are enormous. A US Department of Energy pilot project called FutureGen was recently canceled with the DOE citing soaring cost projections among its reasons for ending the project.
But even if the "clean coal" idea were workable, the realities of the coal fuel cycle ensure that coal can never be truly clean.
At the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference in Eugene, Oregon, in early March, a panel of citizen activists talked about the front and back ends of coal use: mining and waste disposal. Teri Blanton, of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth spoke about the heartbreak of mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia. The mining technique is dynamiting hundreds of thousand of acres of biologically diverse forest ecosystems to get at the coal underneath, and dumping the waste into streams. Blanton told the story of one of her neighbors who lost his land to a mining company. "When I say he lost his land," she said, "I mean he literally lost his land. One day he found that his land was just gone, blasted away to nothing."
According to the group Appalachian Voices, more than 800 square miles of mountains have already been destroyed by mountaintop removal and if the blasting continues unabated it will devastate an area the size of Delaware by 2010.
Coal mining also uses great quantities of water and pollutes streams in the process. Slurries of waste laden with toxic heavy metals are leaching into streams and river systems. Earthen impoundments that hold back the sludge are unstable and threaten communities. A sludge dam breach in 2000 in Martin County, Kentucky, dumped more than 300 million gallons of toxic sludge, killing virtually all aquatic life for 70 miles downstream of the spill.
Brad Bartlett of the Energy Minerals Law Center talked about the post-combustion end of coal. Air pollution controls at existing coal plants capture 125 million tons of pollutants, amounting to "the largest solid waste stream in the US," according to Bartlett. He said that it is not formally regulated as hazardous waste despite the presence of heavy metals and other toxins. Some of it is used to make building materials and roads, but the rest is just landfilled.
When you think of Alaska, you usually think of oil, not coal, but Vanessa Salinas of Alaskans for Responsible Mining said that Alaska also has huge amounts of coal -- about one-eighth of the world's coal reserves and half of US coal reserves. Currently there is only one operating coal mine in Alaska, but BHP Billiton, the largest mining company in the world, is conducting an extensive coal exploration program and four new strip mines are being proposed.
Alaskans should be more concerned than most people, Salinas said, because global warming impacts are being felt more strongly in the Arctic than anywhere else. On February 26, the tiny village of Kivalina sued two dozen oil, power and coal companies over their greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. Melting sea ice is exposing the village to erosion from storm waves and surges.
Coal burning also threatens Alaska's famed fishing industry. Coal is notorious for its mercury pollution, and older marine fish are showing increasing levels of mercury. Salinas blamed coal burning pollution from Asia and noted that most of the coal mined in Alaska would be shipped to Asia. In this way Alaskans would poison their own fishing industry.
Salinas has worked with Native Alaskans to stop these coal mines. She said Native people have told her that they feel coal functions as "the liver of the world" and it should be left in the ground. Coal as the "liver" of the world is not a bad metaphor. Coal is not just another mineral; it is biological. It is the remains of ancient life. The liver cleanses toxins from the body, and coal, if left in the ground, keeps our climate cool and our air and water clean.
While Alaskan coal is destined to be shipped to Asia, it looks like Appalachian and even Wyoming coal will increasingly be shipped to Europe. Recent reports in The New York Times and The Washington Post describe a spike in global coal consumption. With the falling dollar value, American coal is now a bargain for overseas buyers; however, that is in the context of an overall price rise that is unprecedented. Spot market coal prices have risen by 50 percent or more in recent months. Coal consumption worldwide has increased by 30 percent over the last six years.
American electricity consumers are used to hearing that coal is much cheaper than renewable alternatives like solar and wind, but that might not be true for long. Consumers haven't seen the impact of expensive coal yet because most utilities lock in coal supplies with long-term contracts. Electricity rates will begin to shoot upwards when those contracts expire in the years ahead.
There is no chance that prices will come back down again either, because Peak Coal, like Peak Oil, is fast approaching. Journalist David Strahan, in a January 17 article for New Scientist, has documented what's known about coal reserves. He concludes that the official figures, like the official figures for recoverable oil reserves, have been vastly inflated.
On March 18, Standard & Poor's released a study concluding that utilities and states with Renewable Portfolio Standards need to do a better job of revealing how expensive their mandates for renewable solar and wind power will be. By that same token, utilities should be required to reveal all of the current and future costs for dirty and increasingly expensive coal power.
Kelpie Wilson is Truthout's environment editor. Trained as a mechanical engineer, she embarked on a career as a forest protection activist, then returned to engineering as a technical writer for the solar power industry.
© 2008 TruthOut.org All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/80521/
By Kelpie Wilson, TruthOut.org
Posted on March 25, 2008, Printed on March 25, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/story/80521/
As the global energy/climate crisis deepens, coal has become the starkest symbol and most telling measure of our predicament. Coal produces more carbon emissions than other energy sources -- more than twice that of natural gas per unit of energy output. Consequently, coal-fired power plants are responsible for about one-third of US emissions of carbon dioxide. Despite this, we are mining and burning more coal than ever.
On March 18, the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) released an analysis of EPA data showing that carbon dioxide emissions from the electric power industry increased by 2.9 percent in 2007 and have risen 5.9 percent since 2002. Coal is the culprit.
According to an Associated Press report, the cause of last year's increase was a combination of three factors: increased electricity demand; a shortage of hydroelectric power, leading to greater reliance on coal, and the reduced efficiency of aging coal-burning power plants.
While utilities around the nation have plans to construct more than 100 new coal-fired power plants, public concern over global warming and toxic pollution has put the brakes on many of them. Last year in Texas, public interest groups prevented TXU Energy from going ahead on eight new coal-fired plants that would have increased the state's emissions by 24 percent, according to the EIP report.
But as demand for electricity rises and cleaner fuels like natural gas get scarcer and more expensive, the relentless pressure to burn coal fuels delusions such as "clean coal."
"Clean coal" is a combination of two technologies, one of which is expensive and the other completely unproven. The expensive one is coal gasification, and it is a genuinely cleaner way of burning coal. It involves baking coal to drive off gasses that aren't much dirtier than natural gas, and the gasses then are burned for power production. This technology costs a minimum of 20 percent more than a conventional pulverized coal plant, which is why only two such plants exist in the United States.
The other part of the "clean coal" scheme involves carbon capture and storage. This technology is not proven and the potential costs are enormous. A US Department of Energy pilot project called FutureGen was recently canceled with the DOE citing soaring cost projections among its reasons for ending the project.
But even if the "clean coal" idea were workable, the realities of the coal fuel cycle ensure that coal can never be truly clean.
At the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference in Eugene, Oregon, in early March, a panel of citizen activists talked about the front and back ends of coal use: mining and waste disposal. Teri Blanton, of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth spoke about the heartbreak of mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia. The mining technique is dynamiting hundreds of thousand of acres of biologically diverse forest ecosystems to get at the coal underneath, and dumping the waste into streams. Blanton told the story of one of her neighbors who lost his land to a mining company. "When I say he lost his land," she said, "I mean he literally lost his land. One day he found that his land was just gone, blasted away to nothing."
According to the group Appalachian Voices, more than 800 square miles of mountains have already been destroyed by mountaintop removal and if the blasting continues unabated it will devastate an area the size of Delaware by 2010.
Coal mining also uses great quantities of water and pollutes streams in the process. Slurries of waste laden with toxic heavy metals are leaching into streams and river systems. Earthen impoundments that hold back the sludge are unstable and threaten communities. A sludge dam breach in 2000 in Martin County, Kentucky, dumped more than 300 million gallons of toxic sludge, killing virtually all aquatic life for 70 miles downstream of the spill.
Brad Bartlett of the Energy Minerals Law Center talked about the post-combustion end of coal. Air pollution controls at existing coal plants capture 125 million tons of pollutants, amounting to "the largest solid waste stream in the US," according to Bartlett. He said that it is not formally regulated as hazardous waste despite the presence of heavy metals and other toxins. Some of it is used to make building materials and roads, but the rest is just landfilled.
When you think of Alaska, you usually think of oil, not coal, but Vanessa Salinas of Alaskans for Responsible Mining said that Alaska also has huge amounts of coal -- about one-eighth of the world's coal reserves and half of US coal reserves. Currently there is only one operating coal mine in Alaska, but BHP Billiton, the largest mining company in the world, is conducting an extensive coal exploration program and four new strip mines are being proposed.
Alaskans should be more concerned than most people, Salinas said, because global warming impacts are being felt more strongly in the Arctic than anywhere else. On February 26, the tiny village of Kivalina sued two dozen oil, power and coal companies over their greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. Melting sea ice is exposing the village to erosion from storm waves and surges.
Coal burning also threatens Alaska's famed fishing industry. Coal is notorious for its mercury pollution, and older marine fish are showing increasing levels of mercury. Salinas blamed coal burning pollution from Asia and noted that most of the coal mined in Alaska would be shipped to Asia. In this way Alaskans would poison their own fishing industry.
Salinas has worked with Native Alaskans to stop these coal mines. She said Native people have told her that they feel coal functions as "the liver of the world" and it should be left in the ground. Coal as the "liver" of the world is not a bad metaphor. Coal is not just another mineral; it is biological. It is the remains of ancient life. The liver cleanses toxins from the body, and coal, if left in the ground, keeps our climate cool and our air and water clean.
While Alaskan coal is destined to be shipped to Asia, it looks like Appalachian and even Wyoming coal will increasingly be shipped to Europe. Recent reports in The New York Times and The Washington Post describe a spike in global coal consumption. With the falling dollar value, American coal is now a bargain for overseas buyers; however, that is in the context of an overall price rise that is unprecedented. Spot market coal prices have risen by 50 percent or more in recent months. Coal consumption worldwide has increased by 30 percent over the last six years.
American electricity consumers are used to hearing that coal is much cheaper than renewable alternatives like solar and wind, but that might not be true for long. Consumers haven't seen the impact of expensive coal yet because most utilities lock in coal supplies with long-term contracts. Electricity rates will begin to shoot upwards when those contracts expire in the years ahead.
There is no chance that prices will come back down again either, because Peak Coal, like Peak Oil, is fast approaching. Journalist David Strahan, in a January 17 article for New Scientist, has documented what's known about coal reserves. He concludes that the official figures, like the official figures for recoverable oil reserves, have been vastly inflated.
On March 18, Standard & Poor's released a study concluding that utilities and states with Renewable Portfolio Standards need to do a better job of revealing how expensive their mandates for renewable solar and wind power will be. By that same token, utilities should be required to reveal all of the current and future costs for dirty and increasingly expensive coal power.
Kelpie Wilson is Truthout's environment editor. Trained as a mechanical engineer, she embarked on a career as a forest protection activist, then returned to engineering as a technical writer for the solar power industry.
© 2008 TruthOut.org All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/80521/
Tiffany to address Sierra Club in Fayetteville, Arkansas
Gladys Tiffany — president of the OMNI Center for Peace, Justice, and Ecology — is to be at Wednesday's Sierra Club meeting at Smiling Jack's to discuss OMNI's Carbon Caps Task Force. Please call with questions and invite everyone.
Molly Rawn
Sierra Club, Ozark Headwaters Group
Intern
(479) 879-1620
Molly Rawn
Sierra Club, Ozark Headwaters Group
Intern
(479) 879-1620
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Friday, March 21, 2008
Beebe calls special session on Severance Tax, reports The Morning News
Of the revenue generated, 95 percent would go to road improvements. Of that, 70 percent would go to state highways, and counties and cities would receive 15 percent each.
The remaining 5 percent would go to general revenue to replace the current tax, which amounted to less than $700,000 last year, and to fund environmental and conservation needs, Beebe said.
For the full story, click on the following link
Beebe calls special session on severance tax, by The Morning News or see your morning newspaper.
The remaining 5 percent would go to general revenue to replace the current tax, which amounted to less than $700,000 last year, and to fund environmental and conservation needs, Beebe said.
For the full story, click on the following link
Beebe calls special session on severance tax, by The Morning News or see your morning newspaper.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Upper White River Basin Foundation to honor successful watershed organizations
NOT TOO LATE. Rooms and conference seats remain available as of March 18, 2008.
PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE.
PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Two members of University Union honored by Sierra Club. ENERGY SHIFT concert in Little Rock successful
Local 965 Members Honored by Sierra Club
Two members of AFSCME Local 965 were among those honored with Conservation Awards at the Arkansas Sierra Club's annual banquet last month.
Ward Four Alderman Lioneld Jordan received recognition as the sate's Outstanding City Official on environmental issues. The awards committee cited his tireless work on the Fayetteville City Council in promoting transportation impact fees to reduce the public cost of sprawl, his support for the Ozark Botanical Garden, acquisition of the Mt. Sequoyah Woods and the Brooks-Hummel Nature Preserve, his backing for the city's trail system, and his leadership in advocating bike lanes and a landscaped median on the Crossover Road project.
State Representative Lindsley Smith received recognition as a state official for having a 100% Environmental Voting Record on the Sierra Club Legislative Scorecard for the second consecutive session. The awards committee also noted her sponsorship of the Citizen Participation in Government Act that protects activists from expensive SLAPP lawsuits, an appropriation of state funds for construction of Scull Creek Trail, her legislation expanding the Wetlands Mitigation Bank Act to include additional aquatic resources, and the Net Metering Act to promote conservation and alternative energy resources.
Alderman Jordan is a supervisor with UA Facilities Management, and Representative Smith is a Research Assistant Professor of Communication. We add our congratulations to that from the Arkansas Sierra Club.
PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE.
Sierrans:
Please mark your calendar for what’s shaping up to be a great night of music and activism. Join us on Saturday, March 15th, for the first Sierra Club “ENERGY SHIFT” concert in Little Rock. It’s an all-ages show, full of great music and great opportunities to make YOUR voice heard against dirty coal-fired power plants. Four of the acts were semifinalists in this year’s Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase, and one will be in the finals next weekend.
Come hear some of Little Rock’s hottest rock and hip-hop acts, while you learn more about the dangers of the coal-fired power plants being proposed for Arkansas and what YOU can do to stop them.
Glen Hooks, Regional Representative
Sierra Club
1308 West 2nd Street
Little Rock, AR 72201
(501) 301-8280
(501) 744-2674 (cell)
glen.hooks@sierraclub.org
www.arkansas.sierraclub.org
www.myspace.com/arkansassierraclub
Tune into SIERRA CLUB RADIO Tuesday mornings at 9 a.m.
88.3 FM in Central Arkansas, or listen live online at www.kabf883.com
Two members of AFSCME Local 965 were among those honored with Conservation Awards at the Arkansas Sierra Club's annual banquet last month.
Ward Four Alderman Lioneld Jordan received recognition as the sate's Outstanding City Official on environmental issues. The awards committee cited his tireless work on the Fayetteville City Council in promoting transportation impact fees to reduce the public cost of sprawl, his support for the Ozark Botanical Garden, acquisition of the Mt. Sequoyah Woods and the Brooks-Hummel Nature Preserve, his backing for the city's trail system, and his leadership in advocating bike lanes and a landscaped median on the Crossover Road project.
State Representative Lindsley Smith received recognition as a state official for having a 100% Environmental Voting Record on the Sierra Club Legislative Scorecard for the second consecutive session. The awards committee also noted her sponsorship of the Citizen Participation in Government Act that protects activists from expensive SLAPP lawsuits, an appropriation of state funds for construction of Scull Creek Trail, her legislation expanding the Wetlands Mitigation Bank Act to include additional aquatic resources, and the Net Metering Act to promote conservation and alternative energy resources.
Alderman Jordan is a supervisor with UA Facilities Management, and Representative Smith is a Research Assistant Professor of Communication. We add our congratulations to that from the Arkansas Sierra Club.
PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE.
Sierrans:
Please mark your calendar for what’s shaping up to be a great night of music and activism. Join us on Saturday, March 15th, for the first Sierra Club “ENERGY SHIFT” concert in Little Rock. It’s an all-ages show, full of great music and great opportunities to make YOUR voice heard against dirty coal-fired power plants. Four of the acts were semifinalists in this year’s Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase, and one will be in the finals next weekend.
Come hear some of Little Rock’s hottest rock and hip-hop acts, while you learn more about the dangers of the coal-fired power plants being proposed for Arkansas and what YOU can do to stop them.
Glen Hooks, Regional Representative
Sierra Club
1308 West 2nd Street
Little Rock, AR 72201
(501) 301-8280
(501) 744-2674 (cell)
glen.hooks@sierraclub.org
www.arkansas.sierraclub.org
www.myspace.com/arkansassierraclub
Tune into SIERRA CLUB RADIO Tuesday mornings at 9 a.m.
88.3 FM in Central Arkansas, or listen live online at www.kabf883.com
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Monday, March 10, 2008
Town Branch Neighborhood Aspen Ridge/Hill Place meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday March 11, 2008, at S. Hill Av. Church of Christ
Omni Carbon caps Task Force – Agenda
Universalist Unitarian, 901 W. Cleveland*1, Fayetteville, AR 13 Mar 2008 @2:00PM
Introductions
Approval of Minutes of 2008 Feb 20
Approval of Agenda of 2008 Mar 13
Announcements
Reports
Governor's Commission/TWG – from Robert, Edward, or other TWG participants
Arkansas Coal Plants – from Robert
Caring for Creation – from Maya
Environmental awareness caucus, from ???
Planetwork – from Maya, Gladys, and Matt
Reaching out to the Democratic Party and Northeast Arkansas
Carbon Caps Fund – from Gladys
GW lobbyist with APP – from Gladys
O.L.L.I. collaboration opportunities – from Matt
Old Business
Springfest/Dickson St Music Festival – from Kelly or Donna or Matt
Arkansas Earth Day – from Robert / volunteer-gathering info from Matt
PSA's – from Dava / Gladys was finding student newspapers / will KUAF help us record audio versions?
Living It Green Expo
Buttons and hats – more detailed price structures from Edward and another design from Matt
Global Warming Videos – from Gladys
Scheduling the Commissioners for a CCTF fundraiser and a high school education event
New Business
Using Boozman's recent appointment as an opportunity for reaching out
Using the Internet more effectively – need more than a blog
Approval of Summary
Adjourn
*1 From Maple Street turn north onto Storer, continue to Cleveland, turn left, take the second driveway.
Universalist Unitarian, 901 W. Cleveland*1, Fayetteville, AR 13 Mar 2008 @2:00PM
Introductions
Approval of Minutes of 2008 Feb 20
Approval of Agenda of 2008 Mar 13
Announcements
Reports
Governor's Commission/TWG – from Robert, Edward, or other TWG participants
Arkansas Coal Plants – from Robert
Caring for Creation – from Maya
Environmental awareness caucus, from ???
Planetwork – from Maya, Gladys, and Matt
Reaching out to the Democratic Party and Northeast Arkansas
Carbon Caps Fund – from Gladys
GW lobbyist with APP – from Gladys
O.L.L.I. collaboration opportunities – from Matt
Old Business
Springfest/Dickson St Music Festival – from Kelly or Donna or Matt
Arkansas Earth Day – from Robert / volunteer-gathering info from Matt
PSA's – from Dava / Gladys was finding student newspapers / will KUAF help us record audio versions?
Living It Green Expo
Buttons and hats – more detailed price structures from Edward and another design from Matt
Global Warming Videos – from Gladys
Scheduling the Commissioners for a CCTF fundraiser and a high school education event
New Business
Using Boozman's recent appointment as an opportunity for reaching out
Using the Internet more effectively – need more than a blog
Approval of Summary
Adjourn
*1 From Maple Street turn north onto Storer, continue to Cleveland, turn left, take the second driveway.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Lioneld Jordan to announce candidacy to be mayor of Fayetteville on the town square this afternoon
Lioneld to speak at 2 p.m. today at the downtown square in Fayetteville, Arkansas. In the meantime, visit
Lioneld Jordan's campaign to be mayor of Fayetteville online" for background information.
Lioneld Jordan's campaign to be mayor of Fayetteville online" for background information.
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