EASY BEING GREENer

The LORAX returns after 40 years

2012-02-09T17:47:00.000-05:00

WHO SPEAKS FOR THE TREES?

“I am the Lorax! I speak for the trees,

Which you seem to be chopping as fast as you please.”

Skimpy buffers of trees surround the newest shopping meccas in our area. Aggressive clear cutting continues and our planet’s rainforests are still disappearing at an alarming rate.

So it is appropriate that the movie industry will reintroduce us to The Lorax on March 2, Dr. Seuss’ birthday—this time in 3D. Seuss published his cautionary tale of corporate greed and environmental destruction in 1971 and it remains a worthy introduction to environmental awareness for children.

In this much hyped movie version, Seuss’ grumpy but endearing fictional character will now “speak for the trees” using Danny DeVito’s voice, trying to save truffula trees from disappearing by giving the last truffula seed to a worried little boy. Such responsibility on small shoulders!

Negative hype too — The book was accused of being unfair to the logging industry when it was first released. That industry is alive and well in Virginia, so I assume critics were many.

Now Universal Studios is getting support for its latest movie from companies that want to latch onto the Lorax’s environmental friendly message. They have nearly 70 “launch partners,” including the EPA, Whole Foods Market and Seventh Generation, some of whose customers are not happy with that company’s decision to plaster the Lorax on their diaper packaging.

Hilton's DoubleTree hotel chain is sponsoring a trip for four to eco-tourism mecca Costa Rica. Read Across America will encourage teachers across the country to read the Lorax book to children on the film's opening date. IHOP will serve Seussian breakfast of green-colored eggs and ham, as well as distribute seeds for planting.

Why plant trees? Realtors tell us that healthy, mature trees add 10 to 20 percent to your home’s value. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says that the net cooling effect of a young, healthy tree is equivalent to ten room-size air conditioners operating 20 hours a day. If you plant a tree today on the west side of your home, in 5 years your energy bills should be 3 percent less. In 15 years, the savings will be nearly 12 percent.

One acre of forest absorbs six tons of carbon dioxide, puts out four tons of oxygen and improves water quality by reducing erosion and the chemicals and sediment draining into our watershed.

One Texas A&M study found that visual exposure to trees produce significant recovery from stress within five minutes, as indicated by changes in blood pressure and muscle tension. But these blasted clearcut shopping centers elevate my blood pressure.

I have never actually hugged a tree, but my love for trees began many decades ago during my tree climbing years. It jumped quite a few notches in 2003 during Hurricane Isabel as we watched a mighty oak in our backyard slowly topple over. Shortly thereafter a dozen huge pines joined the now horizontal woods. And our re-forestry efforts in James City County began.

Wetland restoration — Is a billion-dollar-a-year industry in the United States in which land developers aim to mitigate the loss of trees and filled in wetlands by creating ecosystems similar to those they destroyed. But a new analysis of restoration projects shows that restored wetlands seldom reach the quality of a natural wetland and may never recover. Even after 100 years, restored wetlands are still different from what was there before.

Also, wetlands accumulate a lot of carbon. Restored wetlands contain about 23 percent less carbon than untouched wetlands. So drying up a wetland for farming or new homes is like pouring carbon into the atmosphere.

What can you do? Do not wait until April 27, 2012 to celebrate Arbor Day and think about the value of trees. Get in the Arbor Day spirit early by planting a few new trees in your yard—on the west or south side if you want to reduce the workload on your air conditioner. Learn about native trees that are suitable for our hardiness zone (7B) and less-than-ideal soil at www.arborday.org/treeinfo/zonelookup.cfmt .

Teachers, get 50 free bare-root evergreen seedlings for your school (one application per school) at http://www.arborday.org/disney if you apply by April 15 or April 1 if you want to receive them in time for Arbor Day.

Give a tree gift through the Arbor Day Foundation at www.arborday.org/shopping/gifts.cfm .

Kudos — to the 56 cities in Virginia that have earned the official “Tree City” status from the Arbor Day Foundation. One criteria is that the community has a community forestry program supported by an annual budget of at least $2 per capita. Williamsburg is not yet on that list, so I hope that they will pursue it.

What if the Deepwater oil spill had never occurred?

2012-01-24T12:04:00.001-05:00

How could that 205 million gallons of oil been used?

This video by Chris Harman was released on the first anniversary of the BP gulf spill, but I just saw it.

His numbers are eye-opening. Be sure your sound is turned on.

Pipelines across America

2012-01-20T11:52:00.001-05:00

map from Pipeline 101

The proposed Keystone XL pipeline debate got me wondering just how many pipelines (both oil and gas) already exist in the US. I've come across a few in our former days of long hikes in the wilderness. And all of us have seen "Pipeline" signs somewhere or other in our neighborhoods. Some of us may have even "discovered" some in our yards when we have not heeded the utility company's warning to "Call before you dig."

We've seen photos of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline because huge portions of it are above ground--unlike most others. And the folks at BP taught us a lot about offshore drilling for oil in 2010.

Above is a graphic map (from Pipeline 101) that answers my question-- approximately 55,000 miles of major crude oil pipelines (from 8 to 24 inches wide) already exist in the US.

We also have another estimated 30,000 to 40,000 miles of small gathering lines (usually 2 to 6 inches in diameter) located primarily in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Wyoming with small systems in a number of other oil producing states.

Then there are approximately 95,000 miles nationwide of refined oil products pipelines--found in almost every state in the US, with the exception of some New England states. These refined product pipelines vary in size from relatively small 8 to 12 inch diameter lines up to 42 inches in diameter.

Click here for more info from this very informative Pipeline 101 website. I know, I know--I must have too much time on my hands to post all this info. But haven't you ever wondered how many miles of pipelines already existed?

What about natural gas pipelines?

Natural gas, unlike oil, is delivered directly to homes and businesses through pipelines. That is a LOT of miles of pipeline. First, there are about 20,000 miles of natural gas gathering lines. The gathering lines then move natural gas (both onshore and offshore) to 278,000 miles of large cross-country transmission pipelines. Large distribution lines, called mains, move the gas close to cities. These main lines, along with the much smaller lines to homes and businesses, deliver natural under streets in almost every city and town and account for the vast majority of pipeline mileage in the U.S. – 1.8 million miles. No wonder the advice is to "Call before you dig." The natural gas pipelines map is pretty impressive.

Twenty interstate natural gas pipeline systems operate within the Northeast Region (Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, and West Virginia). These deliver natural gas to several intrastate natural gas pipelines and at least 50 local distribution companies in the region. In addition, they also serve large industrial concerns and, increasingly, natural gas fired electric power plants. Natural gas is a lot cleaner than coal, so this conversion is a good thing.

The not-so-good aspect is that a lot of this gas comes to us from "fracking." More on that another day.

Domestic natural gas flows into the region from the Southeast into Virginia and West Virginia, and from the Midwest into West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Canadian imports come into the region principally through New York, Maine, and New Hampshire.

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies also enter the region through import terminals located in Massachusetts, Maryland, and New Brunswick, Canada. We have seen the huge LNG terminal at Calvert Cliffs, Maryland while sailing in the Chesapeake .

Who Watches Out for Pipeline Safety? The pipeline companies are responsible for the safety and reliability of their own pipeline systems and for protecting wetlands, wildlife, ecosystems and drinking water resources. BP taught us that the corporate bottom line can trump safety.

But federal and state regulators within a LOT of agencies oversee compliance with a host of regulatory requirements. The safety aspects of pipeline operations are audited and inspected frequently by the federal Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) in cooperation with the states in which pipelines are located.

Positive US energy news

2012-01-19T09:42:00.003-05:00

I can understand why this was not a topic during recent Republican debates. But why did I not see this in the mainstream media?

The United States topped China for the first time since 2008 as global clean energy investment reached a new record of $260 billion in 2011, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The analysis company reported on January 12 that the total was up 5 percent over 2010, as solar spending outpaced investments in wind.

That means the US regained first place, with total investment surging to nearly $56 billion, up 33 percent; China saw investment rise just 1 percent to $47 billion. The report noted that a major portion of the U.S. increase was due to the now expired federal loan progam, and that another contributor, the production tax credit for renewables, is set to expire at the end of 2012. Guess there's no $$$ to keep that alive?

Overall, solar technology investments surged 36 percent to almost $137 billion. This nearly doubled the $75 billion spent on wind power, which was down 17 percent. As I have posted previously, we haven't seen much investment or progress in Virginia. And we have some consistent winds off our coast.

MORE GOOD GREEN NEWS: Major Potential for Wave and Tidal Energy Production Near U.S. Coasts

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) just released two nationwide resource assessments showing that waves and tidal currents off the nation's coasts could contribute significantly to the United States' total annual electricity production--especially to coastal cities and communities. We've all been knocked down by waves, so this isn't really a big surprise.

Water power, including conventional hydropower and wave, tidal, and other water power resources, can potentially provide 15 percent of our nation's electricity by 2030. Sounds like a lot of new jobs to me!

Green apps of the month

2012-01-18T17:44:00.002-05:00

It is so easy to go app crazy! Here are a few of the ones I recommend this month. I know more will be released soon. These are free and for both android and iPhones.

Want to shop green? The free GoodGuide app’s barcode scanning feature accesses their health, environment and social ratings for more than 120,000 products. GoodGuide’s personalization features enable you to choose the issues you care about most—like nutritional value, safe and healthy ingredients, animal welfare, human rights, climate change, energy efficiency, and more. The app will then inform you whether food, personal care, household cleaner, baby, and many other products pass or fail on your key criteria. You can even make a list of products to avoid.

Shopping for fresh fish or seafood restaurants? Monterey Bay Aquarium SeaFood Watch can help you buy the fish you think you're buying. A recent Consumer Reports article reported that “Americans spent $80.2 billion on seafood last year… but they aren’t always buying what they think they are. More than one-fifth of 190 pieces of seafood we bought at retail stores and restaurants in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut were mislabeled as different species of fish, incompletely labeled, or misidentified by employees.” You can sort seafood by “Best Choice,” “Good Alternative” or “Avoid” rankings. You can also share the locations of restaurants and markets where you’ve found sustainable seafood.

Looking for the closest farmers market? Or the closest farm selling your favorite produce? Locavore is a great free app for those looking for local, in season, organic foods in your area. The appalso has one-click access to thousands of healthy, seasonal recipes and other information.

Have some time to explore green apps? Eco-Libris is assembling a 2012 list of the top green apps that is VERY comprehensive, with more posted each month. Avego Driver sounds very promising for folks who want to ride-share.

MORE:

Click here for all of the green apps suggested by Treehugger.

Click here for some dandy green apps recommended by the TechCrunch folks.

Overpackaging is another thorn in my side

2012-01-18T15:15:00.002-05:00

Retail overpackaging is another “eco sin” that really bothers me. I've whined about it every Christmas. Approximately one-third of the garbage we generate is packaging that is thrown away immediately after we purchase merchandise. It’s a waste of good trees and plastic.

It’s hard to think outside the box when Danny, our friendly UPS man in brown, delivers an Amazon purchase. And Amazon is actually working on reducing manufactuers' packaging.

Why do small objects need big boxes? When did "nano" imply huge? At least Apple mailed me my new iPhone in a small box.

One of the dumbest things I ever saw was bananas in shrinkwrap plastic. I’ll accept that some items require special packaging for public health, safety, shelf-life and theft considerations. But most over-the-top packaging is purely marketing—for more shelf space appeal to catch the consumer’s eye.

Being green shouldn’t be so frustrating. Friend Gary saw the irony when he emailed me a photo of a table full of “cardboard harvested from 8 CFL bulbs and 4 floods.”

And what about these whitening strips? The manufacturer had to justify the price some way! So what if I didn't want to buy a plastic container tough enough to fall from a plane and later whiten my teeth.

I thought that we wanted to cut down our dependence on foreign oil. Petroleum based plastics will always have a valid market, but this is ridiculous.

K-cups and squeeze packs are NOT green

2012-01-18T14:58:00.014-05:00

Calling all waste watchers!

Excuse me if I sound like Andy Rooney (may he rest in peace), but did you ever wonder when Americans fell in love with single serve food packaging?

This question popped into my head recently (too much caffeine?) as I enjoyed K-cup brewed coffee in our daughter’s kitchen. Are these little plastic gizmos even recyclable? No familiar chasing-arrows triangle logo on them!

So I checked the Keurig website and discovered that the coffee industry is also “very sensitive about the waste created by the K-Cup portion packs and are investigating alternative materials.” Sure hope they have them soon.

Manufacturers are going squeeze pack crazy. Even houseplant fertilizers now come in single-use packaging.

One out of every three servings of water is taken from one of the 45 million plastic water bottles purchased every day, 90 percent of which are not recycled.

Today’s parents — Are raising many spoon-impaired kids who prefer single serve “easy squeezy” packaging. I have almost recovered from my Pampers disposable diapers guilt during the 1980s, and I now find myself casting blame on the manufacturers of my two year old grandson’s favorite snacks. He prefers “squeezy yogurt” in tubes (gogurt) and “squeezy applesauce” on-the-go that must contain about 5 spoons worth. These pouch packs require no spoon and they are convenient for car trips and lunchboxes. But they take up landfill space until someone comes up with compostable packaging.

I admit they are very convenient and that my children’s diapers will linger forever in Texas and New Jersey landfills.

But yogurt also comes in #5 plastic containers that are recyclable at the Colonial Williamsburg Recycling Center on Botetourt St. The challenge is to minimize or eliminate packaging in the first place—before it becomes waste.

A Stonyfield Farm study revealed that switching to 32-ounce yogurt containers from the single-use 8-ounce cups normally packed in school lunches and served at school would save 12,000 barrels of oil per year.
The average elementary school student eating homemade lunches is estimated to generate between 45 and 90 pounds of plastic bags, foil pouches, and other packaging waste each year. That’s more than a lot of them weigh!

Supposedly, Americans purchase and throw away over 300 million hot and cold take-out beverage containers each day.

What can YOU do? Weight Watchers (waist watchers) promotes this kind of packaging for “portion control.” But “waste watchers” can buy in bulk and pack their own 100-calorie servings in reusable cups.

Bigger used to be better, but many consumers are no longer willing to spend more per volume for single serve mini-boxes of cereal and pudding or other snack packs--even though they are convenient and portable for today’s on the go mothers.

Look for an alternative product without packaging or the least amount of packaging. This might send a message to manufacturers that you don't like waste.

Consider it a treat when you choose those convenient microwavable single portion soups. The alternative is soup in BPA-lined cans.

Kudos to greener packaging promises

2012-01-18T14:27:00.004-05:00

Some manufacturers are serious about reducing packaging, in spite of what I see on most grocery and retail shelves. Dell is the first company that comes to mind when it comes to reducing unnecessary packaging. They have implemented a plan to simplify and revolutionize computer packaging that will result in estimated savings of more than $8 million and the elimination of approximately 20 million pounds (10,000 tons) of packaging material from 2008 through 2012. Dell, take a bow!

But Hasbro, in its first corporate social responsibility report, says that GI Joe's plastic and cardboard package will now be environmentally-friendly. Buying Mr. Potato Head, Play-Doh, Monopoly, Candy Land and the Transformers will be guilt-free too for waste watchers concerned with overpackaging.

The report says Hasbro will eliminate polyvinyl chloride (PVC) from all new core toy and game packaging beginning in 2013 and ensure that 90 percent of paper and board packaging will come from recycled material, or from sources that practice sustainable forest management, by 2015. It has already replaced all the wire ties in its packages with ties made from paper rattan or bamboo mix. The company said the changeover to rattan and bamboo "eliminated approximately 34,000 miles of wire ties – more than enough to wrap around the circumference of the Earth."

Sure hope they are finger-friendly. I have cussed at these ties recently after buying and opening toys for my grandson.

Kudos to Wal-Mart for trying to get their suppliers to cut back on packaging. Some stores offer a “packaging feedback form” that customers can use to report the store products that they feel are inappropriately packaged. So tell companies what you think. Direct customer input is a powerful thing.

Click here to see what greenbiz,com reports on green product design and packaging, cradle-to-cradle (closed-loop production systems involving benign materials), green chemistry (less- or non-toxic alternatives to petrochemicals), and local sourcing (to reduce transport energy use and emission).

Recycling guitar strings into jewelry

2012-01-16T10:00:00.002-05:00

Attractive items made of recycled stuff are my weakness and I'm an "easy mark" at arts festivals. I've posted about some of my findings before.

So once again last week, I just had to look closer at the Strung Up Jewelry booth during Jensen Beach Arts Festival in Florida. The "Jewelry from Recycled Guitar Strings" sign caught my eye.

Then Glen and Rose, the friendly cofounders of Concerts of Hope, had my complete attention as they told their story of fighting the stigma of mental illness and hoping to go to the 2012 NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Convention.

They encourage the buyers of their unique jewelry to tell their story. To "wear it and share it" to raise awareness of mental illness. I am now the proud owner of one of their hand-crafted pieces and telling their story. They are inspirational artists, musicians and advocates. I wish them well on their journey.

Silver or gold teeth????

2012-01-02T21:38:00.002-05:00

How about green teeth?

When a dentist extracts a crown, inlay or bridge, most patients never ask, "What do you do with these?" So the dentist reaps the bounty--if there is any. I never knew teeth could be "recycled."

My dentist knows I'm green (NOT with green teeth) and told me he'd give my old crown back to me with a mailing envelope to a company that pays folks for any silver, gold, platinum or palladium that's present after they separate out any precious metals.

Whoopee, I thought, as I mailed back the crown with a small bit of shiny material inside it to Garfield Refining. Three days later, I got a check for the palladium that was present. Unfortunately there couldn't have been much. The check was for $8.90.

But as the saying goes, that's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. I think I'll treat myself to a cup of coffee with my earnings.

Uranium in Virginia?

2012-01-02T13:07:00.001-05:00

The big announcement from Iran about their first nuclear fuel rod should make everyone wonder about the process of getting uranium in the first place. It's a natural element (see December posting) but rather frightening if it gets into the wrong hands.

The Keep the Ban Coalition folks are fighting to keep the 1982 moratorium on mining Virginia's uranium in effect. Their fear is that allowing one permit in Virginia will open the door to more mines, with the accompanying threat to land and water from their waste products. One of the other areas which MIGHT have uranium deposits is the Rapahannock watershed--where I frequently sail.

The Coalition launched a statewide petition drive, beginning with 41 groups and localties and 1,000 signatures of citizens who are urging the General Assembly to keep the ban on uranium mining in Virginia. The upcoming 2012 session of Virginia's General Assembly will look at this issue--carefully and impartially I hope.

On the other hand, Virginia Uranium Inc. is hot to trot into the Coles Hill 300-acre section of southern Virginia, south of Roanoke and Lynchburg, near the North Carolina border. On November 27, 2007, the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy (DMME) issued a permit to Virginia Uranium to allow the commencement of exploratory drilling on Coles Hill.

This Pittsylvania County area may have 119 million pounds of the radioactive element, perhaps the 7th largest uranium deposit in the world. That could be enough to power U.S. nuclear power plants for more than 20 years. But you might want to know that 14 Virginia legislators accepted an all-expense paid trip to France from Virginia Uranium on a “fact-finding mission” last summer (one later declined). Yet, French uranium mining operation stopped in 2001. Hmmm.

You can follow nuclear energy news at the Nuclear Energy Institute website.

Get LED Christmas tree bulbs for next year

2011-12-29T13:05:00.001-05:00

Did unlit bulbs on your Christmas tree make you a Scrooge this Christmas?

Get ahead of the rush for NEXT Christmas by recycling your old incandescent holiday lights for those LEDs you've been wanting. Click here to participate in a light recycling program that will get you a 25 percent off coupon for new LEDs.

Green "huzzahs" in 2011

2011-12-26T15:49:00.000-05:00

As New Years Eve approaches, it's the ideal time to look back at some green highs and lows in the greater Williamsburg, VA area during 2011.

Super green huzzahs to the folks at the Williamsburg Land Conservancy for adding almost 1000 acres of conservation easements in the lower James and York Rivers watersheds in 2011—more than 850 rural acres in one fell swoop. Thank you, landowners, for helping the health of the Chesapeake Bay by preserving these acres along the Pamunkey River from development. The parcel had been approved for a 110-lot subdivision.

This year’s additional easements brought the total number of the Conservancy’s protected acres to more than 4,000—quite an accomplishment during their 20 years.

Green cheers ─ To the City of Williamsburg for their expanded and remodeled Municipal Building. One of the most sustainable things they did was to renovate instead of building a new edifice, reducing the burden on local landfills. Of the original building’s exterior walls, floors, and roof, more than 75 percent was retained.

Their parking lot is pervious concrete paving that allows rainwater to soak through during storms, reducing the stormwater runoff and pollutants flowing into the Bay. This Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified project deserves additional kudos for the careful design and placement of outdoor lighting that greatly reduces light pollution.

The project included bicycle storage racks and employee shower facilities to encourage use of alternative means of transportation; improved air quality through the use of low-emitting materials; native landscaping to minimize the need for irrigation water; high-efficiency plumbing fixtures using 40 percent less water consumption; occupancy sensors to shut off lighting when rooms are not in use; improved insulation and geothermal heat pumps using almost 25 percent less energy.

Speaking of geothermal — Green huzzahs to Eve Otmar and other homeowners who replaced old heating and cooling systems with super efficient geothermal ones, taking advantage of the constant year-round temperature of about 50°F that is just a few feet below the ground’s surface. Eve’s decision was prompted by the death of 29 coal miners in a West Virginia mine disaster. Generating clean renewable energy was important to her. Eve told me that “it was time to do the better thing, and definitely worth the effort and expense.” Extreme Climates, a Yorktown HVAC company, dug a 250 foot “well” to replace her totally electric heating with a closed loop geothermal one. Tax credits and other incentives can reduce the payback period to 5 years or less.

JCC Supes ─ Earned some green grades recently by approving an EcoDiscovery Park in the near future in the Jamestown Marina area adjacent to Jamestown Settlement. This idea was floated and pursued by Steve Rose, owner of Williamsburg Event Rentals. Will a water permeable parking lot (similar to Premium Outlets’ parking spaces) be part of this green educational project? Or will more stormwater runoff degrade the health of the James River?

Any opportunity to give green huzzahs to our board of supervisors is a good thing. These are the same folks who believe that a buffer of trees can be as narrow as the one surrounding the new Fresh Market on Monticello. Perhaps they need a visit to Sea Pines in Hilton Head to see how stores can be tucked behind a true stand of trees and still be visible.

Academic green huzzahs — go to WJCC schools for earning a “Certified Green School Division” status from the Virginia School Boards Association in October. Their many energy efficiency and waste management initiatives saved $1.2 million over the last two years.

William and Mary’s Career Center earned LEED gold certification as well, the third campus building to do so since 2010. Looks like they truly believe in sustainability, although that word and concept seem to offend quite a few people in our area.

Dirty air ─ was in the news and in our lungs this summer for almost four months as the fire in the Great Dismal Swamp Wildlife Refuge gave us unhealthy air quality advisories. More than 6500 acres out of the 111,000 acre refuge were scorched. A major loss for birds and trees.

Coal ─ is still a dirty fuel, especially when it’s burned in 50 year old power plants. So Dominion Virginia Power’s decision to retire the Yorktown and Chesapeake coal plants, two of Virginia's oldest and dirtiest coal plants, in 2015 gave them some green huzzahs. Both burn about 6700 tons of coal every day, so that’s a lot less mercury getting into our air and water. Switching power plants to biomass or natural gas is the latest trend although fracking (fracturing) the earth to reach this gas is still controversial.

Dominion still has opportunities to invest in clean, renewable energy like wind and solar as part of their long-range energy plan. You may see them install solar panels on large commercial rooftops and look into off-shore and on-shore wind generation.

Other good news is that Dominion plans no new coal-fired plants. The bad news is that consumers may foot a higher Dominion bill and ODEC’s proposed new coal-fired plant in Dendron is still in the works.

Green kudos ─ To JC4 (James City County Citizens Coalition) for weighing in on St. Bede’s controversial six proposed mausoleums and addressing the scale of the project. The 2009 Comprehensive Plan included this area as a “Community Character Corridor” where development should preserve the original character of the road. Only new berms with many trees could maintain that character.

Stormwater management issues are a major challenge in this proposal as well. If ever approved, the project should include pervious paving to assure that adjacent creeks, streams and residences are not negatively impacted by runoff.

Water quality ─ Got a good bit of help from the volunteers who built an impressive “living shoreline” breakwater along the James River near the ferry dock. The spartina cordgrass plantings will help bind the new sand and control the erosion from waves.

But the Chesapeake Bay continues to plead for help with its pollution diet and the James River Association downgraded the health of the James River from “C+” to “C.” The record-setting year of 2011 dealt a major blow to the bay as oxygen-choking nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment continued to be a perpetual plague.

A report by the Natural Resources Defense Council says that at least 64 weather records were broken in Virginia in 2011. That includes 32 rainfall records. Hurricane Irene rain dumped tons of sediment into the Susquehanna River which flows into the bay. You could see the brown plume in a NASA photo. Cows still graze in streams and many farmers do not use “no till” farming practices.

Yes, our economy faces major challenges, but the cost of doing nothing is high. Loses to the fishing and tourism industries will be high.

Local roads ─ Qualified for a lot of green complaints this year. First, Route 199 went through a lengthy repaving project with questionable materials and a lot of debris hauled off to landfills. The Ironbound Road widening continues with an elusive finish date.

Finally, the neighborhoods of Season’s Trace, The Colony, Kingswood and also some secondary streets such as Neck-O-Land Road were resurfaced with an unattractive asphalt aggregate last fall. The material had a lot of excess gravel and sheds like a Labrador retriever. That’s most likely not so good for an area so integral to the nearby watershed. So JCC is now asking VDOT to stop using the material in the future.

Nuclear power — Remains on the table in spite of cost and safety worries. The nearby Surrey nuclear plant came through last August’s earthquake unscathed, although it was built to withstand a smaller quake than we experienced. See other blog postings about the 30 year moratorium on mining uranium in Virginia.

Finally . . . Mercury and toxic air pollution standards

2011-12-22T17:38:00.002-05:00

What a great Christmas present for those of us worried about the mercury and other toxins emitted every day from nearby coal-burning power plants. The EPA just set the first-ever national standards for mercury and other toxic air pollution for power plants. Too late for the Madhatter, but in time for us.

These historic new health standards will save lives, help prevent illnesses like asthma and bronchitis, avoid hospitalizations and missed days at work, and create jobs in pollution control technology. The folks fighting against these standards should note that last objective--JOBS.

Why anyone would prefer power plants to keep spewing out mercury, arsenic, lead, dioxins, acid gases and other harmful pollutants is beyond my understanding.The EPA estimates that these new standards will save thousands of lives, prevent up to 120,000 cases of childhood asthma and avert 11,000 cases of acute childhood bronchitis every year starting in 2015.

So thank you, Santa, for having Lisa Jackson (EPA chief) as one of your elves. This has been a long time coming--20 years. President H. W. Bush authorized the EPA to reduce air toxins in 1990. Now I can sleep in heavenly peace.

Or will this provide political fodder in the coming months? Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) is already fuming and threatening to overturn this ruling. Perhaps he should take some deep breaths near a coal-burning plant. Or maybe he already has. The Madhatter did, and might agree with Inhofe that climate change is a hoax.

Uranium mining in Virginia update

2011-12-20T16:44:00.004-05:00

Are the rewards worth the risks?

The long awaited report (all 290 pages) from the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) about mining uranium in Virginia provides some not-so-surprising news. The bottom line is that Virginia must overcome “steep hurdles” before it can assure that mining uranium in the western part of Virginia, at the Coles Hill site, can be safely done.

The NAS report does not definitively state that extracting possibly 119 milllion pounds of uranium can be done safely in this area of Spotslvania County, but defers that to our legislators as a policy decision. THAT is scarier than the largest undeveloped deposit of the radioactive element in the U.S. itself.

Why would they lift a 30-year moratorium on mining uranium? Because Virginia Uranium Inc. wants them to and even funded the $1.4 million study. Hmmm? That company even spnsored a trip to France earlier in the year for a lot of the lawmakers to see how it's done safely in France. Hmmm again.

There are many risks, needless to say, in mining uranium. Yes, it's on that perioidic chart of elements we may remember from high school and it occurs naturally in the earth. But we saw how BP mitigated the dangers of offshore oil well drilling with their "infallible" blowout preventers.

Before the report was released, Governor Bob McDonnell stated that public safety must trump the potential economic impact and a boost in jobs to Southside Virginia. But campaign contributions could easily sway some legislators.

Virginia also has no uranium monitoring experience, and the U.S. has little experience with modern mines. So the state would have to enact a whole new set of uranium laws for optimal regulation and oversight. The East Coast has never seen full-scale uranium mining, but it has seen hurricanes on a regular basis. At the moment, the only folks who have a real voice are adjacent landowners. But didn't Japan's nuclear disaster extend farther out than a few miles? And do we yet know the extent of radiation exposure in that disaster?

It may take between five to eight years after lifting the moratorium to commence any uranium mining. So we don't need to suffer immediate heartburn over this possibility. Although last summer's earthquake should make us wary of any down-in-the-earth substances.

One member of the uranium mining subcommittee of Virginia's Coal and Energy Commission asked if maintaining a radioactive tailings (uranium mill waste) containment site for 1,000 years, as per federal regulation, was realistic.

Uranium mining opponents, such as the Southern Environmental Law Center, found the NAS report validated their concerns about potential risks to human health and the environment, But Virginia Uranium Inc. viewed the report as a “clear road map” for moving forward.

Yes, coal-burning power plants are dirty and we need uranium for our nuclear plants, and we import more than 90 percent of our nuclear fuel. But I'd want a very muscular regulatory power in place well before the moratorium is lifted.

Let the spin doctoring begin. The long-suffering Chesapeake Bay has enough problems with the current pollutants. Can we risk more?

Click here to learn what American Rivers folks have to say about uranium mining, or click here for input from the Piedmont Environmental Council..

Jewelry from vintage buttons?

2011-12-20T14:57:00.001-05:00

I saw some mighty cool jewelry made from old buttons at a craft show in Beverly, Massachusetts, last month. Renee took some buttons handed down from past generation who collected and preserved them and transformed them into some unique necklaces, bracelets, etc.

These "wearable art" pieces are a great conversation piece too. Check them out at http://www.lastingattachments.etsy.com/ and you'll see what I mean.

Coal plants closing?

2011-12-19T17:14:00.002-05:00

It's been a big week for the fossil industry. First Congress is trying to tie a decision on the Keystone pipeline onto a tax-credit extension (see blog post below), And now an AP survey predicts that more than 32 mostly coal-fired power plants in a dozen states will be forced to shut down and an additional 36 might have to close because of new federal air pollution regulations. Looks like the EPA has cojones after all when it comes to clean air and water.

So the term "blackout" now pops up to scare us into believing that cleaner air means no lights when you need them. Worse yet, no AC?

The truth is that closing these oldest and less-efficient plants (average age 51years) will temporarily result in tax revenue and job losses. And you can count on any necessary investment on the part of the power companies being paid for by we consumers.
Coal has been the dirtiest source of power since Dickens days. Many estimates from energy analysts, congressional offices, government regulators, unions and interest groups have inflated the number of plants retiring by counting those shutting down for reasons other than new EPA rules that take effect in 2014.

EPA's first rule curbs air pollution in states downwind from dirty power plants. The second reduces mercury emissions by 90 percent, smog-forming nitrogen oxide pollution by half, and soot-forming sulfur dioxide by more than 70 percent. Other rules about cooling water intakes at power plants and coal ash disposal were not included in the AP survey.

"Clean coal" has been a pipe dream for a long time. Many think it already exists. Perhaps we will see cleaner coal plants in the near future as pollution controls are installed. As Dickens' Oliver would say, "Please sir, I want some more." And I want them tomorrow.

The impact will be greatest in the Midwest and in the coal belt (Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia) where dozens of units probably will be retired. Dominion Power already told us they'd be closing two of their oldest coal-fired plants in Virginia. It would be dandy if their employees could find jobs manufacturing parts for wind farms or solar panels. But unfortunately, that may not occur.

But ODEC plugs along with their proposed coal-fired plant in Dendron, Virginia. Yes, electric lights still need to illuminate our homes, and higher-efficiency bulbs cannot make a huge dent in our demand for energy. Wind farms won't be operational for many years. But moving away from Dickens is the right move. It's just not an easy one.

The EPA estimate is that by 2016, these proposed rules could avert between 6800 to 17,000 premature deaths annually. Those numbers are meaningful.

What's up with the Keystone pipeline?

2011-12-19T16:29:00.003-05:00

And why is it so contentious?
This proposed 1700 mile oil pipeline from Canadian tar sand fields to our Gulf coast has been in political crosshairs for some time. The Canadian pipeline company, TransCanada, is hot to trot to get it installed. They have a LOT of oil waiting for some market, any market. If it doesn't go through the U.S., they say they'll take the pipeline west to Vancouver and sell the oil to China. That gets the attention of a lot of folks.

TransCanada has also bandied around a tantalizing number of jobs they claim this huge project will create--6500 jobs each year. Even the State Separtment agrees that 6500 jobs could be created, many of them temporary. After a pipeline goes down, it doesn't need a lot of babysitting. Perhaps only 50 permanent jobs will remain after the oil gets pumping.

So why the hubbub? There's this little aquifer (no actually HUGE aquifer) that's along the proposed route. The Ogallala Aquifer (also called the High Plains Aquifer) is one of the world's largest aquifers and it provides drinking water to 80 percent of the folks who live in Nebraska, and parts of Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. It's also used for irrigating crops in this "breadbasket of America" area that has suffered greatly from recent drought. It's not an especially deep aquifer either, so a nearby pipeline seems a real threat. Kinda like putting an open can of oil next to a pitcher of iced tea in your fridge and hoping the kids don't knock it over.

Some hydrologists say that the pipeline would be far enough west of the aquifer to not be a problem. Hydrologists also say that aquifers are replenished slowly, if at all. Many may dry up in 25 years. Oops, that's a mighty big problem.

Robert Redford stated this on Huffington Post today: "Keystone XL would cross more than 1,500 waterways, threatening them with the kind of accident that dumped 42,000 gallons of oil in the Yellowstone River last summer and put 20 times that much tar sands in Michigan's Kalamazoo River in 2010, in a spill that hasn't been cleaned up yet." Robert always gets my attention when he talks like that.
And the crude oil that the pipeline would carry may not end up for domestic use anyway. The Gulf Coast refineries have existing contracts to export much of it. So that argument of "getting us"off foreign oil" doesn't hold water.

President Obama recently put the project on indefinite hold by deciding that no decision would take place until after the fall 2012 elections. "Unlikely to have significant environmental impact" was not good enough for many protesters who recently encircled the White House.

But Congress had to deal with the expiration of the payroll tax deduction--about $1000 to most Americans. So why not demand that in return for extending that cut for two months, the President make the Keystone pipeline decision before those two months are over? Only a disfunctional Congress can think like this, but that's what's going on. Only electoral politics can be as crude as this oil.

Click here to see a map of U.S. aquifers. Then take a cold sip of water and pray that the environmental oversight on this project will be tight if it proceeds, as it certainly might.

Green Christmas gift ideas

2011-11-27T14:24:00.002-05:00

Green gifts are always in vogue. But buyer beware. Greenwashing by the corporate marketing folks can easily mislead the wisest consumer. “Truth in advertising” is still just a phrase.

Whatever you buy, wrap them in green. It's easy to make Christmas gift bags with seasonal material from your local fabric store. I'm still using the ones I sewed 25 years ago. And even newsprint can look attractive with ribbons.

“Need or want?” is the question most of us should ask ourselves more often. When you get down to it, “nothing” is exactly what many of us truly need. Nothing is more wasteful than unwanted gifts.

The Black Friday hype about buying those latest gadgets or toys makes a lot of people forget that the perfect gift is still something made by the giver or a service that will never end up in a landfill. How about “Four hours of babysitting,” movie/DVD gift certificates, “One home-cooked meal” or a CSA membership at a local farm for family members?

Or what about recycling something as the ultimate in re-gifting. I’m not talking about that hated tie or old perfume, but something truly creative. Even Lady Gaga’s latest “trashion” video has her sporting empty soda cans and a repurposed rotary phone.

Crab by Marcie Evans

One person’s junk? Another’s treasure? I have run into quite a few artists who can turn a bunch of "junk" into amazing pieces of art. Poquoson, VA artist Marcie Evans does some dandy feats with nails and bolts. I first saw her work at Williamsburg's annual Occasion for the Arts.

I had an "Aha!" moment when I saw how she transformed nails into fish and crabs. So I asked if she'd like eight huge glass jars full of multi-size nails—my Dad's collection over his lifetime that had been gathering dust in our garage. I couldn't toss them, but I had no idea of how to "recycle" them in a meaningful way. Check out http://www.marcieevansart.com/ to see more of Marcie's work or find out which local galleries have them.

Green gift suggestions ─ For foodies, animal lovers, DIYers, kids, health and wellness gurus, pop culture fans, and others can be reviewed, by category, at www.treehugger.com/giftguide . I fell for the cute building blocks that can teach about the rainforest, and unmatched gloves turned into cute teddy bears.

Treat yourself ─ To a free EnergySMART Programmable Thermostat if you have a natural gas furnace—or a $25 rebate on the programmable one of your choice. The Department of Energy estimates these can save you up to $180 a year if you use the recommended manufacturer settings. Apply at http://virginianaturalgas.com/Rebates/VirginiaNaturalGas.aspx until the offer ends on December 31.

You saw it here ─ Soon you will be able to harness solar energy the iPad way with a nifty portable gadget that should remain useful beyond the lifetime of many of your etoys. Third Wave Power’s researchers came up with the multi-functional mPowerpad product for outdoor enthusiasts and those who travel to remote places and need to recharge their cameras, iPhones and iPads. It might seem like an infomercial because it also includes a reading light and even an ultrasonic insect repellent. It will not, however, spin your salad. It was unveiled it a few weeks ago and should start shipping in January for about $80.

Giving is easy ─ If you make a charitable donation that allows the giftee to give your donation to one of 180 causes of his or her choice—such as Cell Phones for Soldiers or the Nature Conservancy. Simply order a greeting card at http://www.bluebellgiving.com/ and activate a code with a specific donation amount. Donation amounts start at only $5. Bluebell Giving uses Charity Navigator to evaluate charities on their operational efficiency and financial stewardship.

Virginia coal plant not a "go" yet

2011-11-23T15:38:00.002-05:00

The largest yet coal-fired power plant in Virginia hit a snag when a Surry County Circuit Court judge ruled that a zoning change approved last year was not valid because it was not properly advertised to the public.

Many area environmentalists welcomed this delay in Old Dominion Electric Cooperative's (ODEC) proposed 1500-megawatt power plant as good news. ODEC had announced last year that they'd delay building the plant by 18 to 24 months because of a slowdown in energy demand and uncertaintly in new regulations.

Also, Isle of Wight's Board of Supervisors voted recently to oppose the power plant. More and more nearby folks may be realizing that the power plant will emit mercury and other toxic particles into our air. And the prevailing winds will carry most of that over the James River and into the Hampton Roads and Williamsburg area.

Any hopes for "clean coal" technology disappeared in the near future when American Electric Power (AEP) suspended a $668 million clean coal project this past summer after Congress faild to set any limits on carbon emissions. This project could have resulted in many new jobs, so it's a "lose-lose" as far as I'm concerned. The good news, however, was AEP's summer announcement to close down five older coal-burning plants by 2014.

The EPA is sticking to its guns on cross-border-pollution from plants in neighboring states. It's not simply a matter of "pick your poison"--increased coughs or increased costs. The coal industry claims that cutting pollution will cost them $18 billion per year, and the consumer will pay this. But they fail to see or admit the economic benefits. The EPA folks say that the plant upgrades will cost $2.5 billion per year, and provide $280 billion in public health benefits (fewer death, hospital stays and sick leave days).

Natural gas industry invests in big time lobbying

2011-11-19T14:04:00.002-05:00

If only the $747 million that the natural gas industry is spending to lobby members of Congres was installing more wind and solar power, rather than convincing our great leaders over a ten-year campaign to support fracking and ignore the possible dangers of this rapidly expanding but poorly regulated method of tapping gas reserves.

A Common Cause report says this figure includes $1.4 million to members of the Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works and $3.7 million to members of the House Energy & Commerce Committee. That Senate committee does, after all, include the word Environment. You'd think that meant protect the environment, not risk it.

Unfortunately, money does talk. It always has, and it always will. It showed its effect in other Congressional thinking last week too that might affect the school lunch. The final version of a spending bill released last Monday shows the results of lobbying from the food industry. It would allow pizza to be counted as a vegetable (good ole tomato sauce!), not limit the use of potatoes in school lunches, delay limits on sodium and delay a requirement to boost whole grains.

What is the role of menhaden or alewife?

2011-11-15T12:23:00.001-05:00

Menhaden fish

This oily little fish has a lot of names: menhaden, herring, bunker, alewife, and more. You won't see it on restaurant menus, and the folks who know what it smells like when it is "cooking" are the residents of Reedville, Virginia, or boaters downwind of the Omega Protein plant.

This Houston-based company is the world's largest producer of omega-3 fish oil and North America's largest manufacturer of fishmeal. It's a really big business, with a really big odor. One night, when we were anchored out, just north of that plant in a cozy little creek, the wind direction shifted. Yegads, what is that horrendous smell? The Reedville residents say it is the "smell of money." Glad that they can tolerate it. We pulled up anchor and got away from the overwhelming aroma.

The story is that menhaden were the fish that the Native Americans taught the Pilgrims to plant in the hole with corn. So it's appropriate, this Thanksgiving season, to thank the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission for voting to reduce the menhaden harvest by 25 percent of what was caught last year. Since Virginia had NO limit on how much menhaden could be taken out of the Chesapeake Bay, that's good news for the rockfish population.They, along with bluefish, tuna, cod, and haddock, like to see menhaden on their menu! And they should see about 60,000 more metric tons of their favorite meal.

We have watched from our small sailboat as a fleet of menhaden fishing boats encircled large schools of these fish in the Chesapeake Bay, with help from spotter planes. It reminded me of shooting fish in a barrel.

Estimates are that the mendaden population has dropped to about 10 percent of its Pilgrim era numbers. They have been overfished 32 out of the past 54 years. Some may say that government makes too many regulations, but time proves that most companies will not voluntarily reduce their fishing takes. Look at the whaling industry for another example.

What does the tar sands pipeline delay mean?

2011-11-15T11:49:00.001-05:00

TransCanada's controversial Keystone XL pipeline has been in the national spotlight for the last few months and a lot of misinformation has been included. Not usual in today's climate, or is that word not a good choice?

The Obama administration's decision last week did NOT nix the pipeline, but delayed it to give the State Department adequate time to review the possible consequences to the Ogallala aquifer that supplies drinking water to at least seven states. I drank from that aquifer during the ten years we lived in Arlington, Texas.

There is no need to rush this decision, because one pipeline already carries about 590,000 barrels of crude oil from Canada to Illinois and Oklahoma. Hmm, didn't Oklahoma folks just experience an earthquake.

The game plan was that an expanded Keystone system could move about 1.3 million barrels per day to Texas Gulf Coast refineries.

And today,TransCanada agreed to reroute the proposed pipeline to avoid the Nebraska Sandhills, a particularly sensitive ecosystem.
For an understanding of the issues and the opposition of some concerned folks in Nebraska, visit the Tar Sands Action website at http://www.tarsandsaction.org/. There is much more at stake than a simple choice between jobs or health.

Food ADDITIVES can turn your stomach

2011-11-08T10:24:00.002-05:00

Worried about gaining weight during the upcoming holiday season? "Pink slime" and chicken nuggets can help you diet.

Chicken nuggets ingredient?

Seriously! A photo really is worth a thousand words. I emailed this photo of "mechanically separated chicken" to our son-in-law a month ago and his food tastes changed.

I had my doubts when this email made the rounds a year ago, so I checked its "truthiness." Yikes, almost everything I read was true. See for yourself what Snopes had to say about it. But be forewarned. Your food tastes might change forever. I can't believe I fed nuggets to my kids years ago. Ignorance was bliss.

Then you might want to watch this April 2011 episode of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, and you'll most likely limit your intake of ground beef too--unless you like ammonia. He shows how a centrifuge removes the fat from meat scraps (once used in pet food) which is then treated with ammonia to retard spoilage (as in kill the E coli and salmonella) and turns the stuff into "a mashlike substance frozen into blocks or chips." Ground beef can contain up to 15 percent of this gunk, and about 70 percent of our ground beef does. So if you ate a burger today, there’s a good chance you also ate some pink slime.

And the USDA says that's OK and that ammonia doesn't need to be listed as an ingredient because it's a "process"? I'm getting closer and closer to becoming a vegetarian.

What Companies Use Ammoniated Boneless Lean Beef Trimmings? Supposedly, more than 7 million pounds a week of this slime is included in fast-food burgers and retail packages of ground beef. Most fast-food chains use it as a component in ground beef, as do grocery stores.

The only sure way to keep the beef trimmings out of your own meals is to ask your local butcher to grind the beef you pick out of the meat display. Or buy grass-fed beef, which supposedly is clearly labeled and contains no ammonia.

Bon appetit.

No more tears!

2011-11-03T08:43:00.002-04:00

Baby's bathtub is no place for formaldehyde, but it's been there. The persistent folks at the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics can take credit for Johnson and Johnson's latest press release in which J & J announced:

We are phasing out formaldehyde releaser preservatives from our baby products. The preservative technologies we use are approved and have been safely used in hundreds of millions of real life uses around the world. However, we know that some consumers are concerned about formaldehyde, which is why we offer many products without formaldehyde releasing preservatives, and are phasing out these types of preservatives in our baby products worldwide. We are no longer introducing new baby products that contain these types of preservatives. Over the past few years or so, we already have reduced the number of formulations globally with formaldehyde releaser preservatives by 33% and in the U.S. by over 60%.

We have reformulated approximately 70% of our baby products with new cleansing formulations that keep trace levels of 1,4 dioxane at below reliably detectable levels, and are continuing to reformulate. We also have established strict standards to ensure that the amount of 1,4 dioxane in any of our remaining products is kept to extremely low levels that are well below the level that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and regulatory agencies around the world consider to be safe."

Watchdog organizations really can force corporate America to do the "right thing." Keep up the good work.

Renewable wind energy in Virginia?

2011-11-01T19:37:00.011-04:00

Brodie Mountain, Massachusetts wind farm

Promises, promises?

Americans now have a full twelve months of campaigning before us, and a lot of hot air to anticipate. Much of it will be aimed at renewable energy, the alternative to fossil fuels. Thanks to Solyndra’s bankruptcy woes, many fear that wind industry financial problems may be just around the corner too.

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell got our hopes up shortly after he took office in 2010 by describing Virginia as “the Energy Capital of the East Coast,” and putting Virginia squarely into the efforts of the Atlantic Offshore Wind Energy Consortium. It looked like we truly might attain 20 percent of our needed electricity by 2020 by harnessing our wind and creating a quarter-million jobs in the process. Oops, big recession arrived.

Governor McDonnell now proclaims November as “Job Creator Appreciation Month.” Although lots of promises have been made, little has been accomplished to date in the wind industry in Virginia, and the offshore winds are being wasted.

A few weeks ago, Poseidon Atlantic LLC announced plans to develop, in the second half of 2012, a site on the Eastern Shore to test prototype offshore wind turbines on the ground before tackling their operation offshore. Makes sense to get it right early on. Also sounds like jobs. Virginia Lt. Governor Bill Bolling says only 25 jobs in the next two years at this test site, but 5000 over the long haul.

But first things first. Companies need to build the parts for these wind farms. The Spanish firm Gamesa and Newport News-based Huntington Ingalls Industries employ about 80 at their new Offshore Wind Technology Center in nearby Chesapeake where they are building a 5-megawatt prototype wind turbine. They hope to place it off Cape Charles in late 2012.

Transporting these humongous turbines (I’ve seen some up close in Massachusetts) is a mammoth job. So it makes sense to manufacture the turbines (some as high as 75 feet) close by the testing site. More jobs for Virginians?

Fugro, the world’s largest collector of wind data, plans to begin gathering information about our offshore winds within the next few months. More jobs?

The bigger goal is to tie the turbines into the electricity grid owned by Old Dominion Electric Cooperative. That’s the same company that has not given up building the largest coal-burning power plant in Virginia, not so far away from me in the small town of Dendron, Virginia. That would also mean more jobs, but not the kind I want. I prefer my air minus mercury and other particulates. I saw what our sailboat docked off the York River looked like before the coal-burning plant there ceased operation.

Google is part of a consortium that plans to develop underwater transmission lines from Virginia to New Jersey. Installation of those lines should also mean more jobs, not to mention the maintenance of this infrastructure.

More recently, Charlottesville-based Apex Wind Energy was one of two companies to submit an unsolicited bid to get something going off Virginia’s coastline. Another positive action, and during a tense economic climate.

Virginia joins other southern states on this revealing map from the American Wind Energy Association that shows the current operating wind energy in the U.S..

The bottom line is that Virginia has the potential for LOTS of manufacturing, logistics, operations and maintenance jobs in the wind energy business. 2012 could be a green and windy year. Virginia could be the hotbed for this emerging industry. Or it could be a lot of hot air. Election year is a tough time to get politics out of the air and make real progress that’s good for all Americans.

Mmm, Mmm Good, or NOT Good?

2011-11-01T14:54:00.001-04:00

Here's some food for thought.

The folks at TIME just did an eye-openig piece on the infamous McRib sandwich. Infamous because they only appear on the menu sporadically. And infamous now for what the Time writers reveal are some surprising ingredients that they discovered on McDonalds' website.

True, these are only present in very small amounts, but do you really want to ingest:

1) Azodicarbonamide, a " flour-bleaching agent that is most commonly used in the manufacture of foamed plastics like gym mats and the soles of shoes, that is found in the McRib bun. The compound is banned in Europe and Australia as a food additive. (England's Health and Safety Executive classified it as a "respiratory sensitizer" that potentially contributes to asthma through occupational exposure.) The U.S. limits azodicarbonamide to 45 parts per million in commercial flour products, based on analysis of lab testing."

2) Ammonium sulfate, which the EPA website tells us is "used as a nitrogen source in fertilizers." Hmm.

3) Polysorbate 80, a yellow liquid in LOTS of foods as an emulsifier, particularly ice cream.

Perhaps we need to check out other fast food restaurant websites too. As Gomer Pyle used to say, "Surprise, surprise."

Calling all worms

2011-10-30T13:33:00.004-04:00

Actually, it's a "casting" call!

If your garden struggled last summer, you might learn a thing or two from local teachers and their green thumb students who have jumped into the “school garden movement” and worm composting.

J. Blaine Blayton (JBB) Elementary PTA president, Marlene Armstrong, is an avid gardener and a volunteer with JBB's School Garden that was officially dedicated two weeks ago. She says, “The school garden movement is burgeoning across the country and especially alive and well in our area.”

Matthew Whaley, Matoaka, Norge, D.J. Montague and Stonehouse Elementary Schools, Berkeley Middle, and Jamestown and Lafayette High Schools are among those that operate school gardens.

Armstrong says, “I have been struck by the dedication of the teachers and James City County Master Gardeners in getting our project off the ground. But the gardens are heavily reliant on the financial and volunteer contributions of the community.”

See J. Blaine Blayton Elementary School's Garden Page and Stonehouse Elementary’s Habitat Garden to see how green these school gardens are. These programs are part of the reason that the Virginia School Board Association just announced that the Williamsburg/James City County schools are among the 37 public school divisions in Virginia that were recognized as a "Certified Green School Division" as part of their "Green Public Schools Challenge" this year.

Dig in — With worm “castings,” the end product (pun intended) of the breakdown of organic matter by nightcrawlers or red wigglers. Officially called vermicompost, this stuff is the “caviar of compost”—super for your garden, landscaped beds, potted plants or lawns.

“Worm guru” Ron Crum in James City County raises more than 500,000 worms for both composting and bait. Homeowners can buy Ron's screened worm castings in one quart ($3) bags or larger at Jamestown Feed and Seed or Homestead Garden Center in James City County. He says, “A Kingsmill garden club member told me that just a spoonful on her sad-looking African violet returned it to health.” I’m trying some around our stressed-out Virginia sweetspires.

Leftover Halloween pumpkins? I watched Ron Crum’s worms feasting on donated pumpkins in his compost bins. You can drop off your unwanted pumpkins at Crum’s worm farm on Forge Road in Toano. Look for his stonework pumphouse on the left, about 350 yards off Richmond Road or contact him at 291-6675.

Adopt-a-bin? Local resident Gina Ridgway launched the “WormWatcher” program last year for students and home gardeners. About 100 Virginia schools already use her worm composting bins. Students at Rawls Byrd, the Academy of Life and Learning, Williamsburg Montessori Middle School, Stonehouse Preschool, Bruton High, and Norge Elementary are among the 35 local schools that have embraced the program.

The worms need only apple cores, coffee grounds, etc. every few weeks and some newspaper for bedding and fiber. Devoted teachers keep the worms thriving during summer vacations.

But budget cuts limit the number of students who are able to watch worms convert two to three pounds of food waste into castings weekly—more than 100 pounds into 50 pounds of castings in a school year.

The children at a week-long camp at Boys and Girls Club studied whether worms preferred white chocolate chips over watermelon. The worms ate the melon first and left the chips fairly untouched. Smart little wigglers! These students want a bin for their afterschool program but cannot afford it yet.

Ridgway suggests, “There is an Adopt-a-Bin program to help schools purchase them. Wouldn’t it be great if folks or organizations like Garden Clubs, Master Gardeners, or generous businesses or individuals sponsored a classroom?”

The season of giving is just around the corner if you’re looking for a unique gift. You can find more info at WormWatcher or contact Ridgway at 256-3489 or regina@biomeinabox.com .

What is this fast insect with many legs, and his pokey friend?

2011-10-28T20:16:00.054-04:00

This insect "scoots" away because he's scutigera coleoptrata, or more simply called a house centipede. That is much easier to pronounce as you scream when he runs by your feet in the bathroom.

These critters come into the house when it's dry, when it's wet, when it's cold, and when it's hot. They are obviously in training as sprinters because they are the fastest insects I've ever seen. And all my friends in Virginia have seen these guys more than once.

Supposedly, they are not dangerous to humans although their bite can be painful. Luckily, I've not experienced that.

They are very scary looking, but the experts advise to leave them alone because they prey on other insects and spiders. No thank you! They must leave the premises--and quickly. To "bug heaven" it is!

And now, the experts warn that Virginia may be the next site for an invasion of stink bugs. The brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB), officially known as Halyomorpha halys, has been a plague to homeowners throughout the mid-Atlantic region for the last few years, so I suppose it's our turn in Tidewater Virginia. Our fellow state residents to the north know them well already. They have recently been spotted in Atlanta.

These critters are the losers in the sprint with a house centipede. Stink bugs, named for the smell when they are crushed, just "hang around" after they come inside your home as cooler weather arrives. But they are a bane to farmers in both their native range of China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan--and serious pests of fruit, vegetables and farm crops in the Mid-Atlantic region. The apple industry alone estimated losses of about $37 million as the result of stink bug infestations in the mid-Atlantic region in 2010.

Penn State will receive nearly $900,000 of a grant to study stink bug biology and behavior, develop monitoring and management tools and practices, and provide extension education programs to disseminate new knowledge to crop producers.
If numerous stink bugs enter your home, try to locate the openings where they gain access. Typically, stink bugs will emerge from cracks under or behind baseboards, around window and door trim, and around exhaust fans or lights in ceilings. Seal these openings with caulk or other suitable materials to prevent the insects from crawling out. Both live and dead stink bugs can be removed from interior areas with the aid of a vacuum cleaner - however, the vacuum may acquire the smell of stink bugs for a period of time.

Recycling JUNK into ART

2011-10-19T18:05:00.002-04:00

Crab by Tom Boring

One person's junk really is another person's treasure! I have run into quite a few artists who can transform a bunch of "junk" into amazing pieces of art.

This is recycling at its creative best!

Last summer, at a craft show in Anacortes, Washington, I saw some amazing scuptures by Tom Boring. From a distance, they appeared as a bird, fish, animal or familiar object. Then I noticed the nailclipper, or pliers head, or bolts. or whatever welded together into a coherent piece. Check out some of his creations at Second Chance Sculptures. He says that his sculptures are made from at least 95% recycled metal and found objects. Truly amazing stuff!

Crab by Marcie Evans

Closer to home, in Poquoson, Virginia, Marcie Evans does some dandy feats with nails and bolts. I first saw her work at Williamsburg's annual Occasion for the Arts a few weeks ago. I love how she can transform nails into fish and crabs.

I had an "Aha" moment and asked if she'd like 8 huge glass jars full of multi-size nails, my Dad's collection over his lifetime which had been gathering dust in our garage. I don't know if he ever used any of them, and I couldn't give them away until now. I had no idea of how to "recycle" them in a meaningful way. Check out Marcie's website link above and see what local galleries have her work.

The only creative "arty" thing we did was turn a bunch of old clay flower pots into "Potman Willy" for our yard. He now needs some minor repairs after Hurricane Irene met him. Then he can add a touch of whimsy again to our back yard.

Christmas is coming soon and I have a humongous collection of wine corks that I hope might make a unique Christmas wreath! Cheers!

We CAN recycle plastic

2011-10-12T17:54:00.001-04:00

It's an "urban myth" that plastics (all those numbers) cannot be recycled. Europe is way ahead of the U.S. in accomplishing it.

Click here to see a great TED.com video of Mike Biddle, explaining how his innovative plant does indeed recyle plastic, closing the loop on this minimally-recycled "stuff."

What is ZipCar?

2011-10-12T17:45:00.000-04:00

Zipcar is a huge car-sharing program with the goal of one million fewer cars on the road. That means less congestion, less pollution, less dependence on oil, and cleaner, fresher air to breathe. They claim that every Zipcar takes at least 15 personally-owned vehicles off the road. Multiply that by the more than 8000 cars in our fleet and you've got a really big number.

So Kudos to several William and Mary students who signed up in the second year of the Zipcar program on campus. Bill Horacio III, Director of Parking and Transportation Services, says that because of their "very active membership, we added a third car to our fleet of Zipcars on campus and many students are enjoying the cost savings this program offers." allowing students without cars on campus to use a car for up to 180 miles per day for a nominal per fee. Membership is $35, but Zipcar credits this fee in driving time within the first month. Daily rates are $8/hr; weekends $9/hr, including gas and insurance.

After joining Zipcar, 90% of their members drove 5,500 miles or less per year. That adds up to more than 32 million gallons of crude oil left in the ground—or 219 gallons saved per Zipster. And many of their cars are hybrids. Electric cars should be part of theri fleets too, I expect.

Too many food recalls?

2011-10-04T11:26:00.004-04:00

Eat, drink and be green? Not green as in organic, but green as in sick.

Did you throw out a cantaloupe last week “just to be sure,” although the one case of illness in Virginia from listeria occurred in someone who had recently traveled? This outbreak of food-borne illness in the United States is the deadliest in more than a decade, and makes many of us leery about what we put into our grocery carts. The more I researched this topic, the more I worried. There’s a lot of scary info out there, and I’m talking about government websites, not just watchdog groups. It makes "Virginia Grown" look better and better. Somehow, I trust my local farmers more than the factory farms.

Not too long ago we had salmonella-tainted peanuts; then questionable eggs; later deadly sprouts in Europe; then tainted ground turkey. Most food poisoning attacks occur shortly after ingesting tainted food. However, listeriosis symptoms can take up to two months to appear. 800 cases are reported in the U.S. each year.

Food recalls have become all too routine since the “great Alar apple scare” of 1989, and they are more frequent than you think. Check out the “Food Safety Recalls” link here on my blog (top left) to stay informed about the almost daily (yes daily!) recalls of foods.

Another good resource is Food Safety News and their foodborne illness outbreaks. It's great incentive to diet!

Chew on this — Putting politics aside (although food politics is a current hot topic), the often-maligned EPA reminds us that October is Children’s Health Month and that “protecting children’s health from environmental risks is fundamental to EPA’s mission.”

For years, the food industry has usually agreed with consumer groups on the need to modernize the nation’s food safety inspection system because recalls are expensive. Yet recent budget cuts to the FDA and USDA guarantee more food inspectors on the unemployment lines and more food-borne illnesses. Are we shooting ourselves in the foot? Too many mistakes in that farm-to-table chain are happening.

The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was signed into law by President Obama on January 4th, 2011. It aims to ensure the U.S. food supply is safe by shifting the focus of federal regulators from responding to contamination to preventing it. Yet key parts of the food-safety system clearly fail on a regular basis. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, about 1 in 6 people in the United States get sick from food poisoning each year; 128,000 are hospitalized; and about 3000 die.

15% of our food comes from other countries. Who is inspecting that?

Lettuce be safe — Packaged greens, with E.coli bacteria occasionally lurking in them, have been the culprit in recent recalls. These packaged greens are designed to stay “fresh” for up to two weeks, but I’ve seen some nasty dark limp leaves within only a few days.

Speaking of preservatives, I’m doing some unofficial food research in my bread drawer after I found a bag of sandwich buns well-hidden under a bag of pretzels a month ago. The “sell by” date was Jan. 19, 2011, but there’s no mold yet. That “retard spoilage” ingredient, calcium propionate must be potent stuff., even if the FDA considers it safe for human consumption.

A 2002 study published in the Journal of Pediatrics and Child Health states that children who suffered from restlessness, inattention, sleep disorders and irritability improved when bread without this preservative became part of their diet. What’s a mother to believe?.

More food for thought — Most of us are in the dark when it comes to how most food is grown and raised on “factory farms.” Probably best we don’t know.

Whether you accept the documentary Food Inc’s frightening look at industrial agriculture and toxic pesticides and bacteria or simply worry about the frequency of food recalls, “caveat emptor” is a worthy motto for consumers.

We want to trust farmers and ranchers, but should we? More and more pesticides are used on our crops, and more genetically-altered foods are on the horizon. Portion control may not be the only control we need. But that takes us back to "food politics."

Fertilize your lawn wisely

2011-10-02T17:58:00.000-04:00

Most established lawns require no phosphorus, yet many homeowners routinely applied fertilizer containing phosphorus. Fertilizer with nitrogen is also frequently misapplied to paved surfaces, frozen ground, or grass that simply doesn’t need it. Avoid chemicals and use an organic product like the truly organic Nutri-Green to topdress lawn areas that are suffering from drought, before reseeding those areas.

Bipartisan legislation in Virginia will soon bar the sale of fertilizer containing phosphorus for use on established lawns. Why? To avoid costly pollution cleanups later by not allowing the pollution to occur in the first place. This much-needed legislation could cut up to 230,000 pounds of phosphorus pollution per year, or 22 percent of Virginia’s phosphorus reduction goal for 2017. And that could save Virginia localities millions of dollars by reducing their need to install expensive runoff treatment systems to comply with the new Chesapeake Bay “pollution diet.” Once phosphorus gets into runoff, it can cost more than $30,000 per pound to remove it using engineered stormwater systems.

The new Virginia law also requires lawn service companies and other professionals to apply fertilizer only according to nutrient management standards, mandates clear labeling on fertilizer packages to inform consumers about proper application rates, and prohibits the use of de-icers that contain nitrogen.

Virginia has little to brag about on wind energy

2011-09-29T12:22:00.005-04:00

Not much is happening in Virginia onshore--or offshore--on renewable energy from the wind. The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) recently posted its state reports showing little to boast about in Virginia.

The greatest potential for class 3 and higher winds is from turbines on ridgetops in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains (specifically Highland County) and the open water off the Eastern Shore on the Outer Continental Shelf. After seeing quite a few mountaintop wind farms in Massachusetts and New York State this past summer, I'm a bit sqeamish about the destruction of thousands of acres of forests to access these ridges. Offshore wind farms may be the better choice, in my humble opinion.

But I'm now talking about the manufacturing side of these wind farms. Southern states are stepping up to the plate here, but Virginia is sitting on the bench. Recent headlines announce that the Southeast is emerging as a hub for making turbines and their parts. North and South Carolina have at least 30 wind-related manufacturing plants, including a major GE turbine factory in Greenville, S.C., and fiberglass factories in N.C. Florida has another 14 such facilities, while Arkansas has nine that are forecast to employ 2,900 people when they come online. Another 34 plants are located in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee, where the AWEA says 1,200 to 3,000 jobs are directly or indirectly supported by the wind industry.

The region still has a long way to go before it rivals the Midwest. Ohio has more than 50 wind-related manufacturing plants, followed by Michigan (31), Illinois (28), Wisconsin (22), Pennsylvania (15) and Indiana (14). And states that generate lots of electricity from wind have also gotten a jump on attracting factories, including Texas (35), Colorado (16), California (15) and Iowa (9).

According to a resource assessment from the National Renewable Energy Lab, Virginia’s onshore wind resource could provide 5 percent of the state’s current electricity needs--and offshore wind farms a lot more than that. Governor McDonnell says he supports a mix of energy sources, but has not matched his words with deeds. Only 200 direct or indirect green jobs in Virginia in wind energy in 2010?

West Virginia wind farms now online could power the equivalent of 100,000 homes. Maryland installed its first wind energy project in 2010, producing 120 megawatts (MW), with 13,191 MW wind projects in queue.

Why the disparities? Most of these other states passed Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standards, requiring all investor-owned utilities to supply a set percent of their future energy from renewable resources. The Virginia Assembly opted for voluntary renewable energy standards. And how often does any industry volunteer to rock their boat?

The second quarter of 2011 saw more than 1,003 megawatts (MW) of wind power capacity installed, bringing installations through the first half of the year up to 2,151 MW. The U.S. wind industry now totals 42,432 MW of cumulative wind capacity through the end of June 2011. The U.S. wind industry has added over 35% of all new generating capacity over the past 4 years, second only to natural gas, and more than nuclear and coal combined. Today, U.S. wind power capacity represents more than 20% of the world’s installed wind power. So progress is occurring--just not in Virginia. 400 manufacturing facilities across the U.S. making components for wind turbines is nothing to sneeze at.

Virginia, join the game. If we're going to have those wind farms offshore our state, let's manufacture the parts here. At Old Dominion University's recent Virginia Offshore Wind Conference, it was forecast that the emerging wind energy industry could create more than 10,000 jobs in Virginia. That is nothing to sneeze at.

Recycling PERKS

2011-09-26T19:21:00.002-04:00

Rewards for curbside recycling? I don't need the incentive but it's nice to get rewarded for filling my recycling bins. As a member of Recycling Perks, you will receive special discounts (such as at Farm Fresh), invitations to Special Events and Activities throughout the year.

Click the link above and you can be rewarded too. 100 points just for signing up.

TFC Recycling is currently awarding points to residents for curbside recycling participation in Chesapeake and Suffolk, Virginia. They are working towards launching in other cities in Hampton Roads. Please sign up today, and they will keep you informed of progress in your community.

Why did Solyndra go bankrupt?

2011-09-16T14:29:00.001-04:00

There's a LOT of talk going on about Solyndra's recent bankruptcy. Who is to blame? Was half a billion dollars of taxpayer money wasted? Indeed it was, but that's the nature of ventures. Some are winners; some losers.
Why did Solyndra declare bankruptcy? Simple math: since October of 2008, the average price of solar modules has fallen from $4.20 per watt to around $1.20 to $1.50 per watt today. Solyndra's technology had a reputed cost structure around $2 per watt.

Do the math, but don't schedule a funeral for solar energy yet. Our Sun sends us more energy than we can yet capture. Some day, solar and wind energy will reign. So Solyndra's demise (unpalatable as it is) does not mean that solar energy itself is dead.

Qualify for any energy efficiency rebates?

2011-09-14T13:32:00.003-04:00

It's not too early for Virginians to think about next winter's heating bill. You might consider a new furnace or water heater if your units are more than 10 years old. If so, see some dandy rebates on energy-efficient water heaters and furnaces from Virginia Natural Gas.

Also check out Dominion Power's Energy Conservation Programs website. Although they are in the business of selling electricity, they are also committed to energy conservation.

For example, Dominion has a goal of selling more than 2 million energy efficient bulbs per year. When you buy qualifying ENERGY STAR® lighting from participating stores, you will receive an automatic discount from Dominion. Currently, all of the products offered in their program are manufactured by GE or Feit Electric. Consider LED light bulbs as well as CFLs because they contain no mercury.

Dominion offers $40 annually to customers (* in some areas) who ask them to install an AC cycling or "smart" switch on your outdoor air-conditioning or heat pump system. Then it will cycle your air-conditioner or heat pump system on and off for short periods during times of high demand between June and September. You don't even need to be home during installation, and the equipment and the installation is free.The fan will stay on circulating already cooled air. For more information, call 1-888-366-8280. * At this time, participation is open for homeowners with a central A/C or heat pump system in Alexandria, Arlington, Charlottesville, Falls Church, Fredericksburg, Midlothian, Norfolk, Northern & Eastern Fairfax County, Herndon, Richmond & East Richmond, and the Springfield area - other areas will follow.

Lack of sufficient insulation is most likely to be the root cause of high heating and cooling bills. There may be weatherization assistance for many homeowners. For Weatherization Providers in Virginia, click here.

Check out Federal Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency too. Many are for items "placed in service" this year and expire at the end of 2011, but some last until the end of 2016. Or the Tax Incentives Assistance Project for the latest updates about federal incentives that were enacted in 2005 and revised and extended by Congress multiple times, generally for one or two years at a time.

And don't forget to check out offers and rebates from Energy Star partners, as well the state of Virginia's Income Tax Deductions on energy efficient products.

Virginia's Department of Energy website provides information about home efficiency rebates (opened on 6/20/11) and for geothermal heat pump rebates.

Another great resource for homeowners is from the NEXT STEP program, designed to promote and implement residential energy efficiency programs throughout the 16 localities that make up the Hampton Roads area. The program was designed by the Green Jobs Alliance (GJA), a Hampton-based nonprofit organization dedicated to developing the energy efficiency and renewable energy industries, as well as create the green jobs needed to support them. The NEXT STEP Program is modeled after the EPA’s Home Performance with ENERGY STAR™ Energy Efficiency Program, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Better Buildings Grant. $$$$ is still available but the Next Step program is on temporary hold while undergoing management change.

HELP (as in Home Energy Loss Prevention) could be yours if you live in any of these James City County neighborhoods. Check this JCC website out for more info on possible rebates.

Susquehanna River flooding fouls Chesapeake Bay

2011-09-12T18:49:00.003-04:00

NASA photo

I saw the high watermark of the Susquehanna River back in 1972 after Hurricane Agnes. I thought that was an anomaly caused by a wayward hurricane that took a path up the Chesapeake. But it appears that history has repeated itself.

Hurricane Lee, although only a tropical storm when it passed over the Bay area and then moved up over Pennsylvania and New York state, was Agnes' big, bad brother storm.

Today's photo from NASA shows, in a disgusting shade of brown, what the Susquehanna's flooding dumped into my Bay as of today. And that's not counting the logs, dead grasses and other debris that's included.

As Roseanne Rosannadana used to say, "Makes me wanna puke."

Thanks, Pennsylvania, for sending your fertilizer runoff, sediment, and the "stuff" from flooded sewage plants to us. The poor old Bay was supposed to be on a "pollution diet," but this was not what was meant.

The Bay's health is already bad, and now looks like it's on "life support." I'm waiting to hear how much of the sediment that's been accumulating behind the Conowingo dam on the Susquehanna River has now relocated to the Bay. It may, indeed, be more than the Bay can handle.

Hurricane Irene was really tough on birds

2011-09-08T18:07:00.001-04:00

Whimbrel

Even though Hurricane Irene was "only" a tropical storm when it hit the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, many trees fell in our community. During the height of the stom, especially at night after the power went off, I pictured tiny little avian claws holding on for dear life. And could my hummingbird friends find a "hidey hole" immune from the gusts?

Shortly after the winds stopped, my "hummies" were back. And it's the start of their migration time. I was happy after checking out our closest eagle nest after the winds subsided to find their nest intact. Other eagles were not so lucky, and they'll need to begin new nest construction next January.

Dan Cristol, from the Biology Department at the College of William and Mary, shares this disturbing news about the effects of Hurricane Irene on our local birds: "Hurricanes are a natural phenomenon and bird populations have adaptations to survive them. Yet, as with any agent of natural selection, the individual toll on birds from these storms is enormous. . . Biologists at the Center for Conservation Biology in Williamsburg quickly surveyed James River Bald Eagle nests by plane after the storm, and found that, just as with our last big hurricane Isabel eight years ago, approximately half of the nests were damaged or destroyed. Bald Eagles re-use the same nests for several years or more, adding to and repairing them each time."

According to Cristol, "Migrating songbirds most likely perish by the millions when their energy reserves are exhausted by fighting storm winds. The same is true for migrants on land, unable to find food and lodging in their temporary homes."

However, the Center for Conservation Biology and their partners found that two of the four Arctic-Caribbean migratory "Whimbrel" sandpipers that they monitor by transmitters survived the hurricane by "hunkering down in the marshes of the Eastern Shore of Virginia, protected by the Nature Conservancy. The other two migrated successfully, one around the storm and the other right through it."

To discover local birding opportunities visit http://williamsburgbirdclub.org/.

Are 5 million green jobs still a goal?

2011-09-07T13:29:00.005-04:00

President Obama's "about face" to relax regulations on ozone air pollution standards for coal plants and other industry still leaves me reeling. The EPA is under enough attack from folks who believe that a healthy environment and a healthy economy can't coexist. Rick Perry now promises that the EPA won't know what hit 'em, if he has his way. You'd think that a governor of a state dealing with massive wildfires and smoke would be a bit more concerned about reduced air quality.

I can't understand why some anti-regulatory folks perceive environmental regulations as job killers. I look at them as job builders--for those who develop the new technology, manufacture it, and install it. That's high tech jobs AND manufacturing AND hands-on.

Unfortunately, the EPA's timing for stronger standards came at the same time as the housing market collapse and high unemployment. But it's not a cause and effect situation. The inability of the U.S. to recover does have something to do with regulation, but it was the LACK of regulation of the banking and mortgage industry.

Some economists argue that air pollution regulations produce benefits to society far beyond the question of employment at power plants or smokestack industries. “The costs of regulations are dwarfed by the gains in lengthened lives, reduced hospitalizations and other health benefits, and by economic gains like the improvement to the real estate market,” according to the New York Times.

Letting polluters continue "business as usual" won’t create jobs or encourage fuel innovation. But it will cost lives and endanger the health of children and seniors.

Why can't more green jobs be created? Clean energy should mean the creation of more jobs to attain cleaner air--or cleaner water. Only two years ago, the U.S. Conference of Mayors estimated that green jobs could account for 10 percent of new job growth over the next 30 years. So what happened?

Why does that simple word "clean" scare so many conservative corporate folks. Good parenting requires certain rules for children, or chaos would ensue. Yet many corporations cannot see the phrases "cleaner air" and "cleaner water" and "good for the bottom line" as existing side by side.

A giant public investment in green energy should stimulate innovation, helping the economy and the environment. So why isn't it working? Why did California's $186 million in federal stimulus money to weatherize homes only create 538 full-time jobs? Why are more solar panels not being manufactured in America? It's more than cheap labor in China. Sure, the tax code is a factor, but can't we get beyond that?

I found these and other recent events disturbing. Will 28,000 meter-reading jobs really be replaced by the Smart Grid’s automatic transmitters? Is the McKinsey study correct in suggesting that clean energy may produce jobs for highly skilled engineers, but not for U.S. manufacturing workers? Why was $535 million in Department of Energy loans to solar panel maker, Solyndra, not sufficient to stave off their bankruptcyand layoff of 1000+ workers?

Something is not working here, and billions of dollars have been wasted! Is the federal government truly not capable of promoting green jobs?

Will sweetgum trees inherit the Earth?

2011-09-02T07:42:00.002-04:00

Why does our area have so many sweetgum trees? They may indeed inherit the Earth, based on the number of spiky sweetgum seeds (popularly called "gumballs") in my yard after Hurricane Irene. Her winds dropped many mighty oaks as well as weak Bradford pears, but most sweetgum trees survived. They just bend in the winds that hurricanes toss at them.

The only good quality of their messy gumballs is that they sometimes work as "pest-control mulch" because rabbits don’t like stepping on their sharp spines. Neither do I.

I might make a Christmas wreath out of them too this year--if I can find some heavy duty work gloves!

World population will reach 7 billion

2011-09-02T07:38:00.005-04:00

Did you know that Planet Earth will reach the demographic milestone of 7 billion humans in October 2011, only a dozen years after it surpassed 6 billion? And what about a projection of 9 billion on Earth by 2050? That is like adding two Chinas to the number of people alive today.

To put these numbers into perspective:

50,000 -- years it took for the human population to reach 1 billion, in 1800

12 -- years it took to add the latest billion, in 2011

158 -- people added to the planet every minute (births minus deaths)

227,252 -- people added to the planet every day

82,947,000 -- people added to the planet every year

5 -- number of children born to the average woman in 1950

2.5 -- number of children born to the average woman in 2011

2 -- number of children born to the average woman in the U.S.

$16.9 billion -- estimated annual cost of providing family-planning services to all women in developing countries

$20.8 billion -- amount Wall Street firms paid out in bonuses in 2010

4.5 -- percentage of world population living in the U.S.

1 -- rank of the U.S. in terms of overall global energy consumption

Concerned? 9 billion humans might not mean an apocalypse. However, will this ballooning population (an overpopulation to many) outpace our planet's ability to sustain them? Many of us won’t be around to find out, but our grandkids will.

Not surprisingly, over the next forty years, about 97 percent of the next 2.3 billion people will be born in developing countries, with nearly half of them in famine-prone Africa.

By contrast, the populations of more developed countries will remain relatively flat, but will grow older. Approximately 135 million people will be born in 2011 and 57 million will die—a net increase of 78 million people. That means fewer working-age adults to support retirees living on programs like Social Security.

Enough water? That certainly seemed true while Irene’s rain was pounding us, but a finite amount of drinking water for an increasing population may make that word “unsustainable” more real to all of us. Today’s Americans now use about 400 billion gallons of water each day, compared to 150 billion gallons by fewer Americans in 1950. Much of that is “wasted” on our lawns.

Most likely, the U.S. population will rise from today’s 311 million to 439 million by 2050 and 478 million by 2100. That’s a lot more Americans seeking not only water, but food and other resources such as electricity.

More Americans are choosing to live in rapidly expanding cities like San Antonio, Austin and Phoenix. The population in dry Phoenix grew by 33 percent since 2000.

Looking into the future — Comes with caveats. Can our planet support 10 billion people? Only time will tell. Will potential natural disasters, global pandemics, or war have any appreciable affect on population growth? AIDS, devastating as it is, has not been the demographic disaster that was once predicted.

“Sustainability” is a hot topic in many communities, but it’s a valid global issue. Will there be sufficient food and water available for the billions yet unborn?

Population growth — Is blamed for everything, from poverty and climate change to crime and conflict. But “population control” is another matter, even on a planet with finite resources.

The few environmental groups that bring up the issue of population growth, such as Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity, call for women's rights and education, plus voluntary family planning, not government mandates, to curb population growth.

This posting will include neither a well-deserved condemnation of China’s coercive one-child policy nor an ad for Planned Parenthood. But China has brought down birthrates—from 2.75 children per woman on average to 1.5. However, fertility rates have fallen even further in other Asian countries where force and coercion have not been employed in recent years, including Japan (1.4 children per woman), South Korea (1.2), Hong Kong (1.1), and Taiwan (0.9).

Hurricane Irene affected Chesapeake Bay shellfish

2011-08-30T16:30:00.002-04:00

The news about Hurricane Irene's torrential rains overwhelming sewage systems and releasing millions of gallons of nasty stuff into Chesapeake Bay tributaries was big on the "EWWWW Factor." And just in time for our long-delayed ten day sail up the Bay.

Many of Maryland's sewage treatment plants are still antiquated, mixing sewage and rain water in the same pipes. In Baltimore County, 12 pumping stations overflowed last weekend, releasing more than 13 million gallons of yucky stuff. Because of a 1997 lawsuit filed against the city of Baltimore by EPA and Maryland regulators, that city is now spending about $1.5 billion dollars replacing or fixing about 250 miles of its decaying pipes.

Virginia has done a bit better upgrading our wastewater systems, but this remains a regional problem because numerous tributaries from four states feed the Chesapeake.

In advance of Hurricane Irene, the Maryland Department of the Environment banned all harvesting of oysters and other shellfish until September 3 because of the likelihood that heavy rains flushed sewage and contaminated storm water (e.g. animal and farm waste) into the Chesapeake Bay.

Virginia also halted shellfish harvesting until September 3 in our portion of the Chesapeake Bay and along parts of the Eastern Shore after Hurricane Irene, although crabs and fin fish are "unaffected."

No crabcakes this weekend for me, just to be on the safe side. And we'll still need to dodge all those crabtraps.

All the news that's fit to print--AND BURN?

2011-08-30T14:36:00.000-04:00

Irene knocked out our power for two days, and I just now read some exciting news from Tulane University scientists. They discovered a bacterial strain, called "TU-103," that can produce the biofuel butanol from newspaper. Probably any old office paper could work, but they experimented with their local paper, The Times-Picayune.

Tulane has applied for a patent for this promising method to produce bio-butanol directly from cellulose. Butanol is better than ethanol as a biofuel because it requires no modifications to engines, is less corrosive, and has more energy. Plus, we Americans throw away 323 million tons of cellulose materials each year, so we'd save landfill space as well.

Hurricane Irene is poised for a visit to Virginia

2011-08-24T12:27:00.000-04:00

An earthquake yesterday? A swarm of locusts tomorrow?????

As Ocracoke Island residents begin to evacuate today, Tidewater Virginia residents are keeping our eyes peeled on the Weather Channel's regular updates on Hurricane Irene. Is she strengthening? Better yet, is she heading farther east and out to sea?

Many folks breathe a sigh of relief as past hurricanes changed their course and we dodged that weather bullet. But I always ask, "What about the new folks now in their paths?" Bermuda sits out there in the Atlantic as a sitting duck. And there's always a few unlucky (and sometimes unwise) folks out in small boats. As a sailor, we read about these boaters much more frequently that we'd like. Taking out any boat in "hurricane season" is a risky venture, and our insurance company does not even offer coverage if we'd stayed in southern coastal US waters.

Thankfully, insurance does cover most of the haul-out charges for named storms. So our boat was hauled out in Deltaville yesterday.

A deluge of rain may put a literal damper on the Great Dismal Swamp Refuge fire (sure hope so), but heavy rains in these parts will dump a lot of "stuff" (as in "stuff happens") into the Chesapeake Bay. More nitrogen and phosphorus pollutants from runoff are NOT what our bay needs.

So once again, we'll pray for a break from Mother Nature. But she sure showed a lot of us some of her fury yesterday. That 5.9 earthquake certainly got my attention. Do you think that she's tired of the oil and gas industry fracking her rocks? Hmmm.

Great Dismal Swamp fire is dismal indeed

2011-08-21T11:07:00.003-04:00

We should not SEE our air.

Smoke from the still-burning fire in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge continues to invade the Tidewater Virginia area. It's been dense smoke in recent days, but a haze reappeared again this morning. Glad I mowed the lawn and did my weeding in the last two days during a brief respite. Code Orange alerts from Virginia's Department of Environmental Quality will keep me inside today.

photo by M.A. Moxon

We motored through this amazing wilderness in 2010 in our sailboat on our way back from the Florida Keys. This is what this portion of the Intracoastal Waterway looked like then.

More than 6000 acres have already burned in this remote area of Virginia and North Carolina. Hundreds of firemen are trying to contain the fire, as hopes for enough rain to douse it continue.

The fire has affected communities 400 miles away, depending on which way the wind blows. Roads have even been closed for short durations until the super smoke cleared out. Outdoor activities have been curtailed as well. Asthamtics and the elderly have been warned to stay indoors.

I really can't complain since we just returned from two weeks in the Pacific Northwest area where the air was just very cool, and NOT visible. So we missed the worst of the smoke and particulates from this fire that began on August 4, when lightning struck an area of the wildlife refuge that had been burned in the 2008 swamp fire. This year's drought dried out the new growth in that "burn scar" and the dead trees there are fueling the current fire. Scientists explain that the burning soil (marsh peat) is the source of most of the smoke and particulate matter. In some areas the fire is burning a foot and a half underground which causes trees to topple.

Click here to view a video and more from the Virginia Pilot.

The truth about fracking

2011-08-21T10:23:00.002-04:00

Who do we believe? Or trust? The debate continues. . .

The oil industry touts the safety of fracking (fracturing shale rock with huge amounts of sand, chemicals and water to drive the gas to the surface), yet some folks in Pennsylvania can ignite the methane now in their drinking water at the faucet (as seen in the Gasland documentary).

An ExxonMobil ad promises an estimated 2500 trillion cubic feet in natural gas, enough to meet our energy needs for more than 100 years, as "an amazing resource for Americans" and describes the fracking process as a "responsible way to produce it." Their reassuring graphic depicts a natural gas well with groundwater just under the surface and a VERY deep (1.5 miles) pipeline, with "multiple steel and cement barriers" surrounding it. Surely no reason to worry--if you trust the mining engineers, drilling equipment and regulatory powers. Texas Governor Rick Perry trusts them, what about you?

Many environmental groups have demanded a nationwide moratorium on more fracking. While in New York state's Finger Lakes region this summer, I saw anti-fracking signs in many front yards.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu's expert panel agrees that natural gas is an abundant and increasingly important fuel that emits only half the carbon dioxide emitted by coal. This panel also warns that hydraulic fracturing presents real risks to the air, water and land that must be addressed by energy companies and federal and state regulators. The risks to water quality are real, as well as the challenge of safely disposing of the water used in the fracking (called "flowback"). Is it better to store that water, along with the accompanying chemicals, in onsite retention ponds? Or inject it back into the earth?

Gas companies now extract 30 percent of our natural gas through this process, so these concerns are growing. The public is getting wary, after watching the oil industry's recent spills. We are not now so trusting--of either industry or government.

Then there's the air quality issue. Can we afford to allow any escaping methane in the gas to join the existing greenhouses gases? Let's hope the industry can prevent leaks better than BP's "preventer" did in the Gulf a year ago.

Stay tuned as this becomes a bigger campaign issue.

Bad, bad, Leroy Brown and BROWN PINES

2011-08-14T21:55:00.001-04:00

I've seen a LOT of brown pines in our summer travels along the East Coast and had wondered if the extreme heat or drought had claimed some more victims. Then I read about the herbicide, Imprelis, the newest "wonder" herbicide from DuPont.

OOPS! Big Oops. . . The Environmental Protection Agency just banned the sale of Imprelis. Landscapers linked it to thousands of tree deaths around the country, especially Norway spruce, balsam firs, and white pines. DuPontsuspended sales of the product last week and announced plans for a refund program. The company already faces lawsuits from property owners who lost numerous trees after landscapers began applying Imprelis to lawns and golf courses this spring. It seems that DuPont may have known about this predisposition of their latest herbide to kill trees under stress.

Now I am stressed! The good news is that only turf and landscaping professionals were allowed to buy or apply Imprelis. And this product may take years to break down in the soil.

James River ghost fleet shrinking

2011-08-03T16:25:00.003-04:00

James River ghost fleet 2006 (Moxon)

These mothballed ships are officially called the James River Reserve Fleet and they used to be numbered in the hundreds--as many as 700 after World War II. But those of us who frequently drive down Colonial Parkway along the James River still call these anchored obsolete ships the "ghost fleet." Their number have diminished since I first saw them "up close and personal" in 2003 and again in 2006 as we warily sailed by. Two were towed away recently, leaving less than 10 now. Good riddance to these old relics.

They have been called "an environmental disaster waiting to happen" by many because of the toxic chemicals, PCBs, mercury and petroleum products still inside many of them. Today's double-hulled ships are much safer, although any ship can spring a leak. At the beginning of every hurricane season since we moved to Virginia, I always remember they are lurking out on my river. I recently learned that the USS Arizona's oil continues to leak into Pearl Harbor, so our concerns are not without warrant.

Suisan Bay, California and Beaumont, Texas are also home to other ghost fleets whose days of glory are long ago. Some never even had glory days. The two behemoths that recently left the James River (near Fort Eustis), the Benjamin Isherwood and Henry Eckford, were out of vogue before they were finished. Talk about a waste of federal funds!

The U.S. Maritime Administration (NARAD) has been whittling away at these fleet for many years. The challenge is that these ships don't recycle easily or cheaply. They are sold for scrap smetal, but dismantling them is a mammoth task.

Cape Charles concrete ships (Moxon)

These "concrete ships" off Kiptopeke State Park on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake near Cape Charles are also rather creepy looking. These nine Liberty ships were deliberately sunk in 1948 to form a breakwater and they now provide a super fishing spot, plus a great nesting spot for local seabirds. No nasty stuff in their holds or bilges, I hope.

Other hazardous corroding wrecks still linger off Virginia's Atlantic coastline. One sank in 1983 with 3600 barrels of fuel oil in it. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, better known as NOAA, has inventoried more than 30,000 coastal shipwrecks along our country's coasts and identified 233 as the worst threats. The Coast Guard will receive this list by the end of 2011 and begin to prioritize which ones need attention first.

Supposedly the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund will cover these costs. The oil industry owes us this much, in my humble opinion. Those subsidies are not for naught!

Water shortage in 30 years???

2011-08-03T13:36:00.001-04:00

Don't waste water, little guy!

In 30 years, I'll be 90ish, but I might be thirsty too. So the recent prognostication from Hampton Roads Planning District Commission, about water demand exceeding supply, caught my eye.

Then I read that in my area (James City County), that shortage might hit in only 22 years. I might be even thirstier in my 80s.

As I read further, I learned that water desalinization might be the hope for our future--plus buying water from across the James River. Desalinization has its pros and cons, plus the salinity range of our local rivers varies depending on the tides and rainfall.

Lawn irrigation continues to drain our aquifers. Rain sensors prevent sprinklers from operating when there's been adequate rain. So why do I see so many sprinklers on after a heavy rain? Guess some folks have money to burn.

Recycling on the grand scale

2011-07-31T18:26:00.002-04:00

With Super Phil, Goodwill, and the landfill!

Helping my 93-year-old mother move into assisted living this summer and finding new homes for her 50 years worth of "stuff" before putting her home on the market was the ultimate recycling experience for my husband and me. She does not qualify for the TV show, Hoarders, but she was a pack rat and stockpiler. Just how many bottles of skin moisturizer or cinnamon can one woman need? And what about household cleansers, furniture polish, and pantyhose?

When you are in this situation (and all of you will) you too will need a Super Phil, Goodwill and the landfill—plus a lot of cousins.

Our Super Phil is Mom’s neighbor’s father, recently retired and now very much into flea markets. As quickly as we filled the tables along both sides of the garage, he hauled the goodies away, paying us a very fair amount for each van-load. Seven trips for Super Phil and we could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Otherwise, Goodwill and a local homeless shelter were the lucky recipients of lots of cans of soup, gently-used clothing, and furniture. Numerous cousins were helpful too, getting lots of "Aunt Mary keepsakes."

If you have heard comedian George Carlin’s routine on “stuff,” you’ll appreciate my dilemma. He made us laugh at ourselves when he said that a house is “just a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get more stuff.” Mom had a PhD in stuffology!

Do you frequently ask yourself “Why was I saving this?” Then you might need to hire a “clutter consultant” to help you organize your belongings or motivate you to purge your home. You know you need to make some tough decisions if you’ve moved boxes to three different homes and never unpacked them. It’s then time for http://www.freecycle.org/ , a dandy recycling resource. There are all sorts of helpful folks out there in your community who will respond to your "OFFER" postings.

Many things that end up on the curb each week are not thrown out because they're broken or even obsolete. They are simply just not useful to their owner anymore and take up too much space. Freecycle.org, a network of community message boards, became my best friend last week when I finally concluded that I was NOT going to tutor any more elementary school kids. So why was I saving a 4-drawer file cabinet full of language arts and math workbooks?

To join the more than 940 Freecycle members in the Williamsburg, VA area, visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WilliamsburgRecyclist It’s very easy for members to post “Offer” or “Wanted” to give away (not sell) items or request almost anything.

If you want to reclaim your garage or basement, you might also check out FreeSharing.org’s Pack Rats Anonymous at http://freesharing.org/pra.php .

The cable show, American Pickers, follows two guys as they treasure hunt around America, frequently sleuthing through abandoned barns. Look in your attic or garage, and it’s likely you’ll see the kinds of items and memorabilia that interest them. These self-described "modern archaeologists" are a far cry from dumpster divers. Much of this stuff would have been destined for landfills without these ultimate recyclers. But one person’s trash may be another’s treasure.

Honeybee population still declining?

2011-07-31T10:00:00.002-04:00

There is more "buzz" coming from beekeepers in Virginia than from their bees. The decline of the honeybee population has been in nationwide news for many years. Virginia had about 100,000 honeybee hives in the 1970s, and we are now down to about 35,000.

'Colony collapse disorder' is the name for the decline. Mites infiltrate hives and wipe out 30 percent of Virginia's honeybees every winter. Other suspects are pesticides, transporting bees from one area to a different environment, and even electromagnetic waves from cellphones.

The bright side to this is that a renewed interest in beekeeping has resulted in more than 40 beekeeper groups in Virginia today--up from 12 in 2000.

This downward trend does not bode well for many crops and fruit trees. The USDA estimates that "bee pollination contributes $15 billion annually to the nation's crop value." (Daily Press)

Miles per gallon increasing

2011-07-30T10:42:00.000-04:00

From today's average of 27 mpg. to more than 54 mpg.

That was the good news from the auto industry yesterday. Funny how the top executives and the unions finally accepted environmentalists' demand for 'cleaner' cars--but members of Congress keep politics as an obstacle to settling our debt limit and deficit challenges. All in the same week.

Cumulative oil savings will amount to at least 2.2 million barrels a day by 2025, about one-fifth of today’s imports. Even though fuel-efficient cars may cost more initially, lower fuel use is expected to save consumers up to $3,000 over the life of their vehicles.

Biomass, the basic facts

2011-07-28T14:29:00.001-04:00

Biomass may indeed be the wave of our power future. But what exactly is biomass or biofuel?

It is organic which means that is was a living plant or animal--wood, crops of all kinds, manure, and even metahne from garbage in landfills. Ethanol from corn is only one type. Switchgrass from the plains is a renewable source that is preferred because it doesn't compete for food.

The great thing about biomass is that it contains stored energy from the sun and it's a renewable energy source because we can grow more of it--unlike coal, oil, or gas. Biomass can be converted to other useable forms of energy too, such as methane gas or transportation fuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel. Corn and sugar cane can be fermented to produce ethanol. Biodiesel, another transportation fuel, can be produced from left-over food products like vegetable oils and animal fats.

So why is Dominion Virginia Power jumping on the biomass bandwagon? The company recently announced they'd soon be converting three of their smaller coal-fired plants into biomass-burning facilities, to try to attain the voluntary goal (yes, voluntary in Virginia) of providing more of our power from renewable sources by 2013. They will most likely be using the waste from Virginia pulp factories.

How Much Biomass Is Already Used for Fuel? Only about 4 percent of the energy used in the United States in 2010. Of this, about 46 pecent was from wood and wood-derived biomass, 43 percent from biofuels (mainly ethanol), and about 11 percent from municipal solid waste.

The Union of Concerned Scientists' website reports: " When done well, biomass energy brings numerous environmental benefits—particularly reducing many kinds of air pollution and net carbon emissions. Biomass can be grown and harvested in ways that protect soil quality, avoid erosion, and maintain wildlife habitat. However, the environmental benefits of biomass depend on developing beneficial biomass resources and avoiding harmful resources, which having policies that can distinguish between them."

Click here to read what Cory Nealon wrote about biomass in a recent Daily Press article. Or here for a great website that explains it in easy-to-understand terms.

SUPER trees in Singapore

2011-07-28T13:35:00.002-04:00

Just as you think you've seen everything . . .

Along Singapore's waterfront, these "Supertrees" have sprouted. They are vertical gardens, embedded with environmentally sustainable functions and range from 25-50 meters in height [that's 9-16 stories tall[, with emphasis placed on the vertical display of tropical flowering climbers, ferns and epiphytes from around the globe. The "Supertrees" are part of the government's efforts to bring their national gardens into the city center. (Jakarta Post)

They are quite dramatic, but I wonder what Dr. Seuss' Lorax would think. I also wonder if they'll rust!

Happy RED White and Blue Day

2011-07-04T21:45:00.001-04:00

There’s plenty to smile about in July—in spite of the heat. We can take a break from those tasteless industrial tomatoes, for instance, and enjoy real tomatoes ripe from a local vine.

Did you know that 80 percent of all tomatoes in the U.S. are picked while green? Then they are artificially gassed with ethylene in warehouses until they acquire the rosy red skin tones of a ripe tomato. But beauty is only skin deep. According to analyses conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, fresh tomatoes today have 30 percent less vitamin C, 30 percent less thiamin, 19 percent less niacin, and 62 percent less calcium than they did in the 1960s.

You don’t need to be a foodie to ditch the faux foods and fast foods that are now so much of the American diet. Farmers markets and produce stands are your best bet for “Virginia Grown” in season veggies.

What’s in season now? Click here.

Chesapeake Bay waters not so beach-worthy?

2011-07-02T07:55:00.002-04:00

Just in time for the 4th of July, the Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC) published its annual report this week and the results are not pretty if you are planning on being on Virginia’s 48 coastal beaches any time soon. Looking at the number of beach closures due to yucky water in 2010, Virginia ranked 12th nationally. We exceeded the EPA’s water contamination standard 5 percent of the time. That’s an increase from 3 percent in 2009. So we are not trending in the right direction. Maryland ranked 16, violating recommended bacteria standards 7 percent of the time, also up from 3 percent in 2009. Can you say Chesapeake Bay?????

The beaches with the highest percent violation rates of bacteria standards in 2010 were Festival Beach in Mathews County (38%), Hilton Beach (32%) and King/Lincoln Park (28%) in Newport News, Fairview Beach in King George County (25%), Chick’s Beach (13%) and Lesner Bridge East (13%) in Virginia Beach, and Anderson’s Beach in Newport News (13%).

According to the report, Mathews County had the highest bacteria exceedance rate (38%) in 2010, followed by King George County (25%), Newport News (22%), Virginia Beach (3%), Hampton (2%), and Norfolk (1%). And I’m in a sailboat off a Mathews County beach as I write this. Yuck!

And yet, many of our legislators (both in DC and Richmond) are clamoring for the EPA to be neutered? How many of them get political contributions from the National Home Builders Association? I’ve always looked at farmers—at least the small independent farmer—as being patriots and a part of the American backbone. But the agri-business folks at the American Farm Bureau Federation are anything but patriotic as they fight pollution limits in the Bay.

OOPS, we forgot to display the stars and stripes on the stern as we rushed out on the Bay this morning. Excuse me as I go below and get our flag.

American Idol wasting energy in my home?

2011-06-27T21:41:00.001-04:00

Oh no. I set my DVR to record a lot of shows when we're not home. Now I'm feeling very guilty. The 6-25-11 New York Times story, Atop TV Sets, a Power Drain That Runs Nonstop, caught my eye.

I never thought about that little cable box that's always lit up. And I've written about "vampire power" in the past too. It seems that televisions have become the single largest electricity drain in many American homes, with some using more power than a new refrigerator and even some central air-conditioning systems.

The approximate 160 million so-called set-top cable boxes in the United States, as well as add-on digital video recorders (DVRs), which use 40 percent more power than the set-top box, are wasting a lot of energy. They run all day so that we can watch the drivel that a lot of us enjoy.
A recent study, by the Natural Resources Defense Council, concluded that the boxes consumed $3 billion in electricity per year in the United States — and that 66 percent of that power is wasted when no one is watching and shows are not being recorded. That is more power than the state of Maryland uses over 12 months.

Fixes exist, but they are not currently being mandated or deployed in the United States. Similar devices in some European countries automatically go into standby mode when not in use, or even into deep sleep. Cable companies use the lame excuse that customers will not tolerate the time it takes to reboot the system once the system has been shut down or put to sleep. But low-energy European systems reboot from deep sleep in one to two minutes.

I don't know about you, but I can tolerate wasting a few minutes of my time, rather than wasting a lot of electricity. The good news from the EPA is that this agency has established Energy Star standards for set-top boxes and has plans to tighten them significantly by 2013.

Worried about the foods you eat?

2011-06-26T11:09:00.000-04:00

Those E coli-related sprouts in Germany sure got my attention recently. Maybe we should simply cross our fingers and only eat four-leaf clovers.

You can sign up for e-alerts on food recalls at http://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/recalls/index.html . The frightening thing is that there are frequently multiple alerts DAILY. You have the option of signing up for "immediate" alerts, "daily," or "weekly."

Water, water, everywhere?

2011-06-14T11:52:00.001-04:00

While I'm perseverating about water use in this blog, I might as well mention a few newer books on the topic.

Alex Prud'homme's new book, The Ripple Effect, focuses on how the human race is mismanaging our water resources and predicts that the next century will see more water crises than a tsunami--even going so far as hinting of water wars. New York City's sewer system, for example, uses 200-year-old tunnels. Sure wish that some stimulus funding went in that direction.

Charles Fishman (love that name for an author of a book about water) paints a somewhat different picture in his new book, The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water. Kathleen Parker wrote a great op-ed about it recently. There is already an ongoing online debate about one of Fishman's statements--that water can't be destroyed, but there are a lot of water myths out there. Fishman stresses that in his opinion, all water problems are local and solvable. Tell that to the 1.8 million children who are estimated to die each year from either lack of water or tainted water.

Artificial turf????

2011-06-14T11:28:00.001-04:00

Think fake. Some folks are looking to the newest generation of synthetic turf as their permanent solution to mowing, fertilization, and irrigation. Cooke's Garden Center (Williamsburg, VA) now carries it and it is water-permeable. I walked on some around a pool in Maine last summer (the perfect use for it) and didn't notice it was artificial grass for an hour. Can you see how I was so easily fooled?

The cost, however, is pretty steep, and most brands only carry a 10-15 year warranty. Of course, if you factor in the irrigation costs you do NOT incur, it might be a bargain.

Artificial turf proponents claim:

• Depending on the region of the country, one full-size synthetic turf sports field saves 500,000 to 1,000,000 gallons of water each year. During 2010, between three to six billion gallons of water were conserved through its use.

• For a multi-use field in Texas, where there is little rain, the water savings is much greater. School officials with the El Paso Independent School District stated that their 10 new synthetic turf sports fields will save more than 80 million gallons of water every year, or 8 million gallons of water per field.

• The estimated amount of synthetic turf currently installed has eliminated the need for nearly a billion pounds of harmful pesticides and fertilizers.

• In a July 7, 2007 article entitled Grass Warfare, the Wall Street Journal states, “The pesticides used in lawn-care products found on shelves nationwide are considered legal by government standards. But broader research on health risks from such chemicals has prompted general warnings. The EPA, which regulates pesticide use, notes on its own website that kids are at greater peril from pesticides because their internal organs and immune systems are developing.”

• The EPA has identified runoff of toxic pesticides and fertilizers as a principal cause of water pollution. According to that federal agency, approximately 375,000 acres of lakes, 1,900 miles of rivers and streams and 550 square miles of estuaries in Florida are known to be impaired by nutrient pollution, a primary source of which is excess fertilizer.

• Most of the current synthetic turf sports fields feature crumb rubber infill recycled from used tires, keeping more than 105 million used tires out of landfills.

• Synthetic turf helps reduce smog and noxious emissions. According to the EPA, “lawn mowers emit high levels of carbon monoxide, a poisonous gas, as well as hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides that contribute to the formation of ground level ozone, a noxious pollutant that impairs lung function, inhibits plant growth, and is a key ingredient of smog.”The EPA also reports that a push mower emits as much pollution in one hour as 11 cars and a riding mower emits as much as 34 cars.

• According to a 2010 BASF Corporation Eco-Efficiency Analysis which compared synthetic turf athletic fields with professionally installed and maintained grass alternatives, synthetic turf can lower consumption of energy, raw materials and solid waste generation depending on field usage. BASF also found that the average life cycle costs over 20 years of a natural grass field are 15 percent higher than the synthetic turf alternatives.

• Using synthetic turf can help environmentally conscientious builders and specifiers with LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) project certification from the U.S. Green Building Council in the areas of Water Efficient Landscaping, Recycled Content, Rapidly Renewable Material and Innovation in Design.

• From Disneyland and the Wynn Hotel to the Twentynine Palms Marine Corps Base and your neighbor’s yard, thousands of homes, businesses, golf courses, and public spaces have turned to synthetic grass to provide a lush, attractive landscape solution that requires minimal resources and maintenance.

• Water conservation is a necessity. In March 2011, Wharton published a report about the growing scarcity of water. It references a prediction by the 2030 Water Resources Group that by 2030 global water requirements will be “a full 40% above the current accessible, reliable supply.” Further, less than 3% of all available water is fresh and drinkable. Underground aquifers hold almost all the potable water available in liquid form, and their rate of depletion more than doubled between 1960 and 2000.[6] Yet, the EPA states that nationwide landscape irrigation is estimated to account for almost one-third of all residential water use, totaling more than 7 billion gallons per day.

• Synthetic turf promotes greater utilization of land, as you can do more with the same space than natural grass. Rooftops once deemed unusable for high-rises and residential buildings can now feature lush green areas. Hotels that had to restrict the overuse of the lawns can now schedule multiple functions year-long.

• The Southern Nevada Water Authority estimates that every square foot of natural grass replaced saves 55 gallons of water per year.[8] If an average lawn is 1,800 square feet, then Las Vegas homeowners with synthetic turf could save 99,000 gallons of water each year or about $400 annually. In Atlanta, homeowners could save $715 a year, not including much higher sewer charges.

• In its report, “Municipal Solid Waste in the United States, 2009 Facts and Figures”, the EPA estimates that 33.2 million tons of yard trimmings were generated in 2009, the third largest component of Municipal Solid Waste in landfills. As yard trimmings decompose, they generate methane gas, an explosive greenhouse gas, and acidic leachate.

• A June 2008 National Public Radio report called “Water-Thirsty Golf Courses Need to Go Green” reported “Audubon International estimates that the average American course uses 312,000 gallons per day. In a place like Palm Springs, where 57 golf courses challenge the desert, each course eats up a million gallons a day. That is, each course each day in Palm Springs consumes as much water as an American family of four uses in four years.”

"Honey, I shrunk the lawn!"

2011-06-14T11:10:00.001-04:00

That’s how I greeted my husband recently after my busy morning with a shovel, newspapers and a few bales of pinestraw mulch. Some of our shrubs had overgrown their borders after eight years and mowing around them had become difficult.

So I solved the problem by enlarging the beds. I dug a new edge trench, then covered the grass with overlapping triple sheets of newsprint. That does a dandy job of killing the turf without chemicals. Cover the newspaper with a few inches of pinestraw and you can say “goodbye” to some of your turfgrass. Some golf courses in Nevada are removing large swaths of grass to deal with their water woes.

Lawn are now the largest “crop” grown in the Chesapeake watershed and are increasing at an annual rate of 8.6 percent—faster than the rate of population growth. Nationwide, 21 million acres are covered by grasses. World Bank predicts that two-thirds of the global population will suffer from lack of access to freshwater by 2025. Some rivers that formerly reached the sea no longer do so—all of the water is diverted before it reaches the river’s mouth. I saw that in Sonoma, California a few years ago as we drove westward along the Russian River. It slowly dwindled to a pond just a few hundred yards from the Pacific.

Does the average homeowner really spend $1200 watering their lawns and landscaping each year? 30 percent of the water used on the East Coast is used to water lawns. Yikes! And many of my neighbors still nearly scalp their lawns. REMEMBER THAT TALL FESCUE ENJOYS BEING 4 INCHES TALL. Then it can shade the soil and not dry out so soon. Chokes out weeds too since the seeds need sunlight to sprout.

Here are some tips if last summer’s water bill got your attention or you’re tired of mowing large expanses of the green stuff. Most homeowner associations will approve these small changes to your landscaping plan, but ask for permission first.

Groundcovers — Provide terrific alternatives to water-hogging turf especially in shady areas. A generous neighbor gave me a few bayberry volunteers seven years ago. They came with a hidden gem—periwinkle—that has now covered three large areas of our landscaped beds. No need to mulch there now. Technically, periwinkle is a non-native “invasive exotic” plant but I find it charming and far removed from invasives like kudzu and Japanese stiltgrass. Groundcovers that do well in our area include Liriope (if you don’t have deer) and most varieties of thyme and sedum.

Visit Virginia Native Plant Society’s website for more info on invasive plants. Or Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation at http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural_heritage/invsppdflist.shtml

Go native — Native grasses are resistant to drought, insects, and disease. Maiden grass is one of my favorites although it too is considered invasive. But I welcome these “volunteers.” The helpful folks at James County Service Authority (JCSA) provide a list of “Water Smart” plants at http://www.bewatersmart.org/resources/plants/plants.html

If you want to see an attractive drought tolerant garden, visit the Ellipse Garden at Williamsburg Botanical Garden at 5535 Centerville Road. I was very impressed driving back to it. James City County has preserved a LOT of land! (757) 903-9103

Think rain barrel — One inch of rain on 1,000 square feet of roof yields up to 600 gallons of rainwater. James City County averages 47 inches of precipitation per year—or 28,200 gallons per year.

Both Ace Peninsula stores in our area, as well as most garden stores have these barrels in stock. JCSA offers rebates up to $25 per rain barrel—limit four barrels. If your development signed a “Water Conservation Agreement,” you may not be eligible for this rebate. See JCSA’s rebate info at http://www.bewatersmart.org/pdfs/rebates/jcsarebatebooklet_10.pdf

* The Historic Triangle Senior Center (5301 Longhill Road, Williamsburg; 757-259-4187) sells rain barrels made from recycled 55 gallon olive barrels and include a screen, overflow valve and spigot--all for $50.

Give our aquifers a break — Let the soil dry between waterings to prevent lawn disease and help fight the unsustainable demand on groundwater. During hot, dry spells, a healthy lawn can survive on just one inch of water, including rain, per week. During our peak summer season, water usage dramatically increases by 60-70 percent.

If you are a JCSA customer, you are using water from the Chickahominy-Piney Point and Potomac Aquifers that are hundreds of thousands of years old and whose extraction is not being replenished by rainfall. Mining them for water today means depriving future generations of liquid treasure.

Turf is tricky in our area because we are in a transition zone between northern and southern climates. Neither cool season nor warm season turf absolutely thrives here, and maintaining a healthy lawn takes work.

Instead of long watering times on each station, I set our irrigation system to 10 minutes per oscillating station and 2 minutes per pop-up station at 5 a.m., with a repeat an hour later.

Or you can let your fescue go brown and dormant—just water once a month and it will (may?) bounce back in the fall.

Sure wish we could easily irrigate our plants with "gray water." There's little rationale for irrigation water (or to flush our toilets) to be the same quality of water as we need to brush our teeth or make ice cubes.

Phonebooks passe?

2011-06-11T20:40:00.002-04:00

Let your fingers do the walking!

Does it seem like you just got a new phonebook, then there's another one waiting for you in the driveway? It sure seems that way.

When was the last time you used one anyway? The same day that you called "Information" for a phone number? Thanks to the Internet, phonebooks seem like a relic from Father Knows Best days.
So stop the presses (literally). Stop the waste of paper, ink, and fuel to deliver them.

One of our local phonebooks makes opting out possible. If you don't want to receive the "Local Edge" directory, call 1-800-388-8255; enter "2" and ask to be removed from their list.

Verizon received permission from 11 of 12 states to cease automatic delivery of these bookstops. AT&T is also trying to give the folks in 14 states this option. Seattle passed an ordinance in November, 2010 to allow customers to opt out of delivery. San Francisco just jumped on that opt-out bandwagon too.

Check out http://www.yellowpagesoptout.com/ to reduce those annoying arrivals in your driveway!

Heavenly advice about lawns and landscaping

2011-06-11T14:54:00.002-04:00

You really have to laugh at this story, or you’ll want to cry.

GOD: "Frank, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there in America? What happened to the dandelions, violets, milkweeds and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the blossoms attracts butterflies, honey bees and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now. But, all I see are these green rectangles."

St. FRANCIS: It's the tribes that settled there, Lord—the Suburbanites. They started calling your flowers “weeds” and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with grass.

GOD: Grass? But it's so boring. It's not colorful. It doesn't attract butterflies, birds and bees; only grubs and sod worms. It's sensitive to temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want all that grass growing there?

ST. FRANCIS: Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. They begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that pops up in the lawn.

GOD: The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow really fast. That must make the Suburbanites happy.

ST. FRANCIS: Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it—sometimes twice a week.

GOD: They cut it? Do they then bale it like hay for the animals?

ST. FRANCIS: Not exactly, Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags.

GOD: They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?

ST. FRANCIS: No, Sir, just the opposite. They pay to throw it away.

GOD: Now, let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so it will grow. Then when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw it away?

ST. FRANCIS: Yes, Sir.

GOD: These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on the rain and turn up the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves them a lot of work.

ST. FRANCIS: You aren't going to believe this, Lord. When the grass stops growing fast, they drag out hoses and pay more money to water it, so they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it.

GOD: What nonsense! At least they kept some of the trees. That was a sheer stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the autumn, they fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep moisture in the soil and protect the trees and bushes. It's a natural cycle of life.

ST. FRANCIS: You’d better sit down, Lord. The Suburbanites have a different cycle. As soon as the leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and pay to have them hauled away.

GOD: No!? What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the winter to keep the soil moist and loose?

ST. FRANCIS: After throwing away the leaves, they go out and buy something that they call mulch. They haul it home and spread it around in place of the leaves.

GOD: And where do they get this mulch?

ST. FRANCIS: They cut down the trees and grind them up to make the mulch.

GOD: Enough! I don't want to think about this anymore. St. Catherine, you're in charge of the arts. What movie have you scheduled for us tonight?

ST. CATHERINE: 'Dumb and Dumber', Lord. It's a story about....

GOD: Never mind, I think I just heard the whole story from St. Francis.

Still on the fence about coal plants?

2011-06-09T12:37:00.001-04:00

Read the recent report from the wonderful folks at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. It's only your health that we're talkin' about.

If this report doesn't get your attention, read what the Union of Concerned Scientists predicts for Virginians. Click here to read the Daily Press article about Virginia being in the top 10 states at risk.

Offshore drilling slows down

2011-05-19T11:40:00.001-04:00

Whoopee! The cries to "Drill, baby, drill" have been stifled a good bit by the U.S. Senate. They voted yesterday to neither allow more coastal oil and gas exploration nor speed up issuing drilling permits to oil companies.

The amount of recoverable oil and gas was a drop in our energy bucket. An offshore area the size of Delaware, about 50 miles away from the Chesapeake, was expected to provide merely 6.5 days of oil and 18 days worth of natural gas for the U.S. Does that put things into perspective for you?

There's no rush to jump into this possibly dangerous drilling offshore Virginia shorelines. Meanwhile, turn off lights and adjust your thermostat a few degrees.

Nuclear power facts

2011-05-17T21:47:00.007-04:00

Surry Nuclear Power Plant reactors

Pro-nuclear power advocates and anti-nuclear activists such as Greenpeace have been on different sides of the nuclear power issue long before Three Mile Island in 1979, Chernobyl in 1986, and now Japan’s Fukushima. The debate about the safety of nuclear power has been going on since 1954 when the world's first nuclear power plant became operational in Obninsk, outside of Moscow.

In the 1950s and continuing through the environmental waves of the 1970s, fears were frequently based on emotion. “Cheap coal” (if you ignore $4 billion of annual taxpayer subsidies to oil and gas companies) made nuclear power plant construction less attractive.

We’ve heard the term "nuclear renaissance" in recent years, referring to a possible nuclear power industry revival as part of our power mix to supply our growing appetite for electricity.

I used to sit on the fence about the role of nuclear power, but I sleep better after my recent tour of the Surry Nuclear Information Center. Dominion Power offers a very informative tour of this facility—ten miles away as the crow flies—to neighborhood organizations and youth groups.

Rick Zuercher, Dominion’s Manager of Nuclear Public Affairs, confirmed that they welcome pre-arranged, organized tours. He also stressed that this plant was “designed to withstand winds in excess of 300 miles per hour.” That was reassuring after the recent tornado activity in our area of Virginia.

The Surry Information Center has interactive exhibits and a see-through nuclear plant model that make understanding the process very easy.

Call 757-357-5410 at least two weeks prior to a free tour. Or check out http://www.dom.com/about/stations/nuclear/surry/surry-nuclear-information-center.jsp .

Meanwhile, here are some basic FACTS about the nuclear power plant closest to the Historic Triangle (Williamsburg, Jamestown & Yorktown):

FACT: Dominion’s Surry Power Station operates two pressurized water nuclear reactors across the James River from Williamsburg. 900 employees are on this site on a normal day. Two more reactors are in northern Virginia. Fukushima’s reactors were the boiling water variety, by the way. Surry’s Unit 1 began operating in 1972; Unit 2 in 1973. Both recently received 20-year extensions. More than half of U.S. nuclear reactors are over 30 years old and almost all are over twenty years old.

FACT: The Surry station's concrete containment structure walls are 4.5 feet thick--with loads of rebar. They sit on foundation pads that are 10 feet thick. Containment structures are meant to serve as the first line of defense against catastrophe.

FACT: The Achilles’ heel of f the nuclear energy industry is still nuclear waste disposal. Uranium rods have a lifespan of about 4 1/2 years. After the “spent” fuel at Surry has cooled in deep pools of water, it is transferred to huge concrete dry containers. The Surry plant was the first in the U.S. to use this method of dry storage.

According to the Congressional Research Service, 62,683 metric tons of commercial spent fuel has accumulated in the United States as of the end of 2009. The total increases by 2,000 to 2,400 tons annually.

About 78 percent of this is stored in pools. Only 22 percent is stored in dry casks. Permanent storage underground in U.S. had been proposed at the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, but that project has now been effectively cancelled

FACT: The Surry plant uses approximately 1,500,000 gallons of water per minute in its cooling water system, returning the water to a canal leading back into the James River--about 10 to 15 degrees warmer.

FACT: There's a good bit of "down time" in a nuclear plant. Each unit at the Surry plant is "shut down" approximatley every 18 months. So only one unit is then operating.

FACT: More nuclear power is years away in the U.S. The U.S. has had no new nuclear plants in about 30 years. One new nuclear plant today would cost at least $7 billion and take 8 years from conception to completion. Estimates are that the U.S. would need 150 more nuclear power plants over the next 30 years.

The U.S. produces about 20 percent of our electricity from 104 reactors at 65 sites. The last nuclear power plant came online in Tennessee in 1996. China, however, has 20 new reactors under construction—to add to the 400 now providing 17 percent of the world’s electricity.

Of the 253 nuclear power reactors originally ordered in the United States from 1953 to 2008, 48 percent were canceled, 11 percent were prematurely shut down, 14 percent experienced at least a one-year-or-more outage, and 27 percent are operating without having a year-plus outage.

30 nuclear plants may be closed world-wide as a result of the Japan disaster, with those located in seismic zones or close to national boundaries being the most likely to shut. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will undertake a comprehensive safety review of all nuclear power reactors across the United States.

Recently, the Areva plant in Newport News that was going to manufacture nuclear plant components and create hundreds of jobs has been put on hold.

FACT: Nuclear energy is extremely efficient. One uranium fuel pellet (about the size of a pencil eraser) produces as much energy as one ton of coal, or 150 gallons of oil, or 17,000 cubic feet of natural gas. Nuclear power plants emit no greenhouse gases. However, nuclear energy is a NON-renewable energy source as we operate it in the U.S. (see nuclear waste disposal info above).

FACT: The U.S. has about 7 percent of the world's "recoverable" uranium. Kazakhstan and Canada mines produce the most uranium.

Do cellphones cause cancer?

2011-05-03T12:10:00.000-04:00

There are MANY known causes of cancer, such as tobacco and asbestos, to avoid already. What about cellphones? The jury is still out on cellphone radiation, but I try to use the "speaker phone" option as much as possible.

The challenge is that there's not one simple test for carcinogens. Plus it takes years for many cancers to appear, and human trials are few and far between. Mickey Mouse in a lab and John Q. Public are quite dissimilar. Often one test must be corroborated by another. Some trials have even been contradictory.
The National Toxicology Program has begun a promising study in which cellphone radiation will be turned on and off for 10-minute stretches for 20 hours each day. But we'll need to wait until 2014 for the results on the nearby mice. So cellphones will probably be called "potentially carcinogenic” until then.

In the meanwhile, check out the levels of cellphone radiation (called SAR for "Specific Absorption Rate" ) at http://reviews.cnet.com/cell-phone-radiation-levels/ for your phone.

A fuelish solution?

2011-04-25T16:31:00.010-04:00

That disturbing "drill baby, drill" mantra appeals to some Americans as gasoline prices continue to soar. Rumors of $5 and even $6 per gallon prices by summer don't help. Have we already forgotten what BP taught us about blowouts?

What most folks do not realize, however, is that increased offshore drilling for oil off our East and West coasts, as well as western Florida, is unlikely to have much effect on gasoline prices. The latest figures estmate that opening up these new oil-drilling areas could generate an extra half million barrels daily by 2030. Perhaps that sounds like a lot while you're pumping 20 gallons into your car's gas tank. But the world is consuming 89 million barrels per day. So any new domestic oil would really be a drop in the proverbial bucket.

The U.S. is already producing about 9.7 million barrels of oil per day, the most in 20 years and about a million and a half more barrels today than it did six years ago. But we import about 11 million gallons of oil per day. We need to understand that both deepwater drilling and shale-rock extraction (through fracking) are neither cheap nor without threat to our environment.

Shell Oil folks are asking to drill up to ten new wells off Alaskan waters. They claim there's potentially enough oil there (maybe 27 billion barrels of the stuff) to fuel 25 million cars for 35 years. I've also seen that's an extra 2.8 million barrels per day by 2025. Might wanna ask the residents of the Louisiana coast if that's worth it.

So what's a viable solution? President Obama is calling for a variety of energy efficiency and renewable energy measures to reduce U.S. oil imports by one-third by 2025. Conservation can't make more than a dent in our consumption. Public transit just isn't there for many of us. Solar and wind-driven cars are a pipe dream. Natural gas is being pushed by T. Boone for buses, although he's not saying much about the dangers of fracking. But what's going to propel our cars? Maybe it's time to put down a deposit to reserve an electric car and hope that charging stations will be there if you need one.

Or better yet, giant algae farms could produce enough biofuel to produce 21 billion gallons of algae oil and replace 17 percent of our imported petroleum, according to researchers at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Lab. Both ODU and VCU are turning algae into biofuel in their labs, and William and Mary is part of ChAP (Chesapeake Algae Project). Exxon Mobil just committed $600 million to develep algae-based fuel too. I'm hoping to hear more from these folks soon!

Growing algae requires a LOT of water, sunshine, and humidity. Duh. Sounds like Tidewater Virginia to me! Now that would really create green jobs--slimy green jobs. Algae doubles their mass in a few hours and produce 30 times as much oil per acre as sunflowers do. The stuff thrives in sewage and brackish water too.

Any suggestions for a marketable name for "algae oil"? "Slimy slime" perhaps????

Virginia is 26th "Greenest State"

2011-04-16T14:19:00.002-04:00

The Greenopia folks, who bill themselves as "experts on green living" rank Virginia as the 26th greenest state in their 2011 annual ratings, based on air quality, water quality, recycling rates, number of LEED registered or certified buildings, per capita energy consumption, water consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

They also report that: Virginia has good water quality according to EPA data and has a better than average recycling rate at around 38%. Virginia has a good number of LEED buildings when you scale against its population. Virginia is better than average in emissions per capita and average in water and energy consumption. Virginia utilizes a decent amount of renewable energy, but we would prefer to see it move away from hydro and wood-biomass and towards other greener technologies.

Environmental Negatives: Virginia has worse than average air quality according to EPA and American Lung Association data. Virginia does not have a lot of green businesses even when you scale them against its population. Virginia should also look into adding more renewable energy types to its grid mix and utilize less coal and petroleum. Finally, Virginia has one of the worst per capita generation rates in this study.

Click here to see where your state ranks.

"Go Green" stamps from USPS

2011-04-16T12:25:00.001-04:00

When we can't use Facebook or email to communicate, we have to resort to the postal service. The new stamps from the United States Postal Service (just in time for Earth Day 2011) don't make a huge difference to our planet, unless those using them follow the advice on these 16 stamps.

But hey, the stamps are cute. Click here to find out more about them.

Do more online. CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW TO:

Print postage-paid shipping labels with Click-N-Ship®
Save gas by scheduling a FREE package pickup from your mailman
Buy stamps and order supplies online
Put your mail on hold

March "Climate Madness"?

2011-04-10T12:19:00.000-04:00

Weather or climate change?

NOAA's National Climatic Data Center just made it official, folks: "The U.S. had above normal temperatures and precipitation in March." The average temperature in March was 44.0 degrees F, which is 1.4 degrees F above the long-term (1901-2000) average.

But a LOT of Americans can't look beyond their own backyards. They are correct when they claim that THEY experienced little rain ruining their March weekends. But that's weather, NOT climate. For example, March precipitation, while record dry in areas like Texas, was overall 0.22 inch above the long-term average for the ENTIRE country. That's why that vexing word "global" enters the picture. Scientists (at least most of them) look at the bigger picture than climate change skeptics--even though NOAA's recent announcement is ONLY about the U.S.

NOAA also says,

"Above-normal warmth dominated much of the southern U.S. and Rocky Mountains. The largest temperature departures were in Western Texas and New Mexico, which had its fifth-warmest March on record. Midland, Texas had four consecutive days—March 16 – 19—of temperatures that tied existing records.

Cooler-than-normal temperatures were present in the northern and western areas of the country. Conditions were especially cool from southwestern Minnesota across the Dakotas into eastern Montana. Within this belt, March temperatures were as much as 6 degrees below the 20th Century average.

Precipitation varied across the country, as the west and east coasts received above normal amounts, while the central and southern United States was largely dry. Texas had its driest March on record, with a statewide average of 0.27 inch. This was 1.47 inch below its 20th Century average, and broke the previous record of 0.28 inch set in 1971. It was the third driest March in New Mexico and 10th driest in Oklahoma.

Record warm maximum temperatures exceeded record cold minimum temperatures by a 5-to-1 ratio.

Washington, Oregon and California had their second, fifth, and ninth wettest March on record, respectively. Regionally, it was the second wettest March on record for the Northwest. In the Northeast, Pennsylvania had its third wettest such period.

Drought conditions continued to intensify across much of the nation in March. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, the overall footprint of drought did not increase, holding fairly steady at about 24 percent of the country. However, the area covered by the “Severe” and “Intense” drought categories almost doubled, from about 12 percent early in the month, to more than 20 percent at month’s end.

Dry conditions across the Southern Plains contributed to above average wildfire activity during March. Across the U.S., approximately 385,000 acres burned, marking the second most active March in terms of wildfires on record, behind March 2006."

I don't have time to crunch all these numbers, so I'll take NOAA's analysis. You can find more at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/

Nuclear Waste News

2011-04-10T11:40:00.002-04:00

We have approximately 80 million gallons of radioactive waste sludge stored in the United States alone. That's in addition to those "spent" (or not so spent) nuclear fuel rods that we now know are stored near our nuclear power plants--because we still have nowhere to send this toxic stuff. The infamous Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada is still a fable.

So this promising news (in ScienceDaily) from Northwestern University and Argonne National Laboratory researchers caught my interest. It seems that common freshwater algae, Closterium moniliferum, one of the bright green algae often seen in ponds, can remove radioactive strontium from water. Now that's a diet I can support because we have to discover something to handle nuclear waste cleanup--even if all the nuclear plants were shut down in the future.

The researchers are looking at using the algae for direct bioremediation of waste or accidental spills in the environment or designing a new process for waste treatment inspired by how the algae work. They want to isolate highly radioactive 'high-level' waste from 'low-level' waste. And this he algae offer a solution.
Even though strontium 90, with a half-life of 30 years, doesn't appear to be a significant environmental threat following the nuclear accident in Japan, the radioactive isotope will need to be dealt with during the power plant and nuclear waste cleanup. This element is drawn to bones and the cumulative cancer risk is quite high if it hangs around in your bones for 30 years.

One significant catch is that nonradioactive strontium, which is chemically identical to the radioactive version, was used in the experiments. The researchers do not know how well the algae would survive in a radioactive environment, although the organisms have proven resistant in other harsh environments. So keep your fingers crossed for the humble algae organism to do more than slime ponds.

Any way you see it . . . BEWARE!

2011-04-08T16:14:00.000-04:00

United Nations Symbol for Radiation In 2007, after a 5 year project in 11 different countries, the United Nations introduced a new symbol to help reduce accidental exposure to large radioactive sources. The new icon is aimed at alerting anyone, anywhere to the potential dangers of being close to a large source of ionizing radiation. The new symbol will not be visible under normal use, but only if someone attempts to disassemble a device that is a source of dangerous radiation. It will not be located on building access doors, transportation packages or containers.

In the mean time, you'll see this familiar magenta or black "tri-foil" on a yellow background that is the international symbol to protect people from being exposed to radioactivity. It is a warning, posted where radioactive materials are handled, or where radiation-producing equipment is used such as the nuclear medicine area of a hospital. This sign is used as a warning

Speaking of dams

2011-04-06T10:40:00.002-04:00

Conowingo Dam on the Susquehanna River

The recent "Damned If You Do; Damned If You Don't" article by Jody Argo Schroath in Chesapeake Bay Magazine opened my eyes WIDE. This is one of my favorite publications by the way.

I first saw the humongous Conowingo Dam on the Susquehanna River years ago and followed its damage in 1972 by Hurricane Agnes when I lived in Baltimore. But I never realized that it's only one of three hydroelectric dams on the lower part of that mighty river, the longest along the East Coast by the way. As a sailor, I don't get to explore some rivers thanks to dams. You can't portage a 36 foot sailboat. Damn! The dam used to be a problem to shad swimming upriver as well. But a $12 million fish lift was completed in the early 1990s and has restored more than 1 million shad to the upper Susquehanna.

The Conowingo Dam, which began generating power in 1928, is a big player in "nonpoint source pollution" prevention. It has trapped a bunch of nasty stuff behind its thick walls and flood gates that doesn't need to flow into the Chesapeake Bay. Schroath says, "an average of 3.5 million pounds of phosphorus and 2 million tons of dirt every year." Yes, every YEAR! So one third of the phosphorus coming from farms, lawns and other sources of "nonpoint source pollution" and half the sediment washed off farmed and developed tree-less terrain end up in Conowingo Pond. You might think that that's a good thing, but this pond does not have infinite capacity. Just how long before it's full? I hope Schroath can answer that in next month's issue.

Dam it! Is anyone talking about hydroelectric power?

2011-04-06T09:58:00.000-04:00

One source of clean (and renewable) energy was missing in a recent feature article, "Is there Any Safe Energy?," in NEWSWEEK. Are our mega-dams outta sight these days? I realize that most of our major rivers are already dammed and producing megawatts of electricity, but is anyone talking about building more hydroekectric power? It's out there! Just not free for the taking.

It seems that hydropower CAN be added to many of the Interior Department's flood-control dams. On March 31, the U.S. Department of the Interior released the results of an internal study that shows it could generate up to one million megawatt hours of electricity annually (that's a lot) and create an estimated 1200 jobs by adding hydropower capacity at 70 of its existing dams, canals, tunnels, and other water-handling facilities. That's enough clean, renewable energy to annually power more than 85,000 households. Doing so would move us toward Obama's goal of meeting 8o percent of U.S. energy needs with clean sources by 2035.

These 70 facilities identified in this report are located in 14 states. Colorado, Utah, Montana, Texas, and Arizona have the facilities with the most hydropower potential, but facilities with hydropower potential were also found in California, Idaho, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming.

Fracking for natural gas ALERT

2011-04-05T12:22:00.005-04:00

"Slow down; you move too fast."

That line from Simon and Garfunkle's "Feelin' Groovy" comes to mind when I learned that the great state of Pennsylvania approved 3300 drilling permits for natural gas in 2010 and is looking at another 3500 in 2011. In the first half of last year alone, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection found more than 530 violations at natural gas drilling sites across that state, ranging from spills and leaks to poor erosion and sediment controls, according to the state agency. Some of these chemicals could migrate into nearby sources of drinking water. Yikes!

These chemicals also remain in the fluid that returns to the surface after a well is hydrofracked. A recent investigation by The New York Times found high levels of contaminants, including benzene and radioactive materials, in wastewater that is being sent to treatment plants not designed to fully treat the waste before it is discharged into rivers. At one plant in Pennsylvania, documents from the Environmental Protection Agency revealed levels of benzene roughly 28 times the federal drinking water standard in wastewater as it was discharged, after treatment, into the Allegheny River in May 2008. Yikes again!

The "experts" now suspect that more methane leaks out of these wells than they thought. Methane is the wonderful gas that ignited when those hapless Pennsylvania families opened their faucets in the "Gasland" documentary. That was NOT computer-generated graphics, folks. It's a no-brainer to take it easy on allowing more fracking (horizontal hydraulic fracturing) for natural gas wells in my great state of Virginia.

Yes, the Marcellus Shale formation stores googads of natural gas from its northern reaches in New York State down through West Virginia. It's huge too--under 60 percent of Pennsylvania’s total land mass, where it is buried up to 9000 feet deep.

But many elected folks in Virginia are chomping at the bit to allow fracking here--in the far western (very rural!) parts of the state.

So the Chesapeake Bay Foundation leads a coalition of environmental groups in petitioning the White House Council on Environmental Quality for a comprehensive federal analysis of the cumulative impacts of natural gas drilling in the Mid-Atlantic region on streams, the Bay, drinking water, air pollution, and human health. That word "comprehensive" implies a LOT of research and more than just a simple EIS (Environmental Impact Statement). And the word "cumulative" is not one that the gas industry especially likes. But moving too fast just to make a quick buck (actually lots of bucks) from natural gas can leave a lot of tainted water in its path.

The National Parks Conservation Association is one of the petitioning organizations because of their concern that public lands will also be damaged by drilling.

For a look at this issue from the industry, click here to see how the Marcellus Shale Coalition presents its case.

A brown Chesapeake Bay?

2011-03-30T14:54:00.000-04:00

A photo really is worth a thousand words.

Check out March 17, 2011 on this super cool "Eyes on the Bay" website from the ever watchful Maryland Department of Natural Resources. After a heavy rain that day, you can see the brown sediment from runoff. Sure wish that our developers, planning boards, and farmers thought about "wise land use" before cutting down so many trees, paving for commercial and residential development. and planting to the edge of streams.

This particular photo was taken on St. Patrick's Day too. Nothing GREEN about this shot.

Uranium in Virginia?

2011-03-27T14:17:00.002-04:00

For almost 30 years, Virginia has banned the mining and milling of uranium in our state. Now, a foreign-backed company has spent more than $250,000 lobbying Virginia's legislature to lift that ban.

Sierra Club's Glen Besa reports that in a recent presentation to potential Wall Street investors, Walter Coles, Jr. (CEO of the uranium company) said he already has the support of members of the legislature and the Governor for lifting the ban. But hey, Walter, wait! There are four studies taking place to weigh the pros and cons of uranium mining. And the public has not yet been asked. Perhaps you know the frackers in Pennsylvania who are blasting away for natural gas? You know, the ones who got that methane into quite a lot of drinking water?

I thought the adage was "measure twice; cut once." I guess it's "drill now; answer questions later."

Thank you, Christine Todd Whitman and William Ruckelshaus!

2011-03-27T13:36:00.001-04:00

Both of these former heads of EPA, in yesterday's letter to the Washington Post, blasted our current members of Congress for their recent attempts to "neuter" the EPA. This agency has accomplished only a small percentage of what it was empowered to until recent initiatives. And now, our super-partisan Congress is trying to tie the enforcement hands of the EPA by reducing this agency's budget by one-third and "disapproving" of the dangers that greenhouse gases are doing to our air, water, and us.

Our Chesapeake Bay watershed states have dilly dallied on putting the Bay on a "pollution diet," and the EPA is finally doing what it was designed to do, controlling the pollution that our industrialized growth has brought with it. Like a loving parent telling their lazy teenager to clean up his room.

Harken back to the days of yore: Congress passed the Clean Air Act in 1970 by a vote of 73 to 0 in the Senate and 374 to 1 in the House. Can you imagine that kind of bipartisan support on ANY legislation in the current political climate?

Whitman and Ruckelshaus' letter also states,

"The air across our country is appreciably cleaner and healthier as a result of EPA regulation of trucks, buses, automobiles and large industrial sources of air pollution. There are three times the number of cars on the roads today as in 1970, yet they put out a small fraction of the pollution.

Likewise, American waterways have shown marked improvement. Lakes and rivers across the nation have shifted from being public health threats to being sources of drinking water as well as places for fishing and other forms of recreation. Lake Erie was declared dead in 1970 but today supports a multimillion-dollar fishery.

Amid the virulent attacks on the EPA driven by concern about overregulation, it is easy to forget how far we have come in the past 40 years. We should take heart from all this progress and not, as some in Congress have suggested, seek to tear down the agency that the president and Congress created to protect America’s health and environment.

It has taken four decades to put in place the infrastructure to ensure that pollution is controlled through limitations on corporate, municipal and individual conduct. Dismantle that infrastructure today, and a new one would have to be created tomorrow at great expense and at great sacrifice to America’s public health and environment. The American public will not long stand for an end to regulations that have protected their health and quality of life.

Our country needs today what it needed in 1970: a strong, self-confident, scientifically driven, transparent, fair and responsible EPA. Congress should help America achieve that. It should do so not with lowered sights but lowered voices that will result in an EPA fully capable of helping fashion a prosperous, healthy America whose environment continues to improve.

"Going nuclear"

2011-03-25T10:31:00.021-04:00

Surry Nuclear Power Reactors, Viirginia

No one can yet define the "worst case scenario" in the continuing disaster in Japan. But our hearts go out to those facing not only the effects of the earthquake and tsunami, but the radiation escaping from the vulnerable nuclear power plants. No one yet knows the extent of that radiation, but yesterday's warning from the Japanese government to limit drinking water to infants was a wakeup call to many and today's announcement that the government will assist those evacuating the area within 20 miles shows the uncertainties facing those near the six reactors at Fukushima.

We do know that radiation can take years to do its damage. One study just released showed that those who drank contaminated milk after the 1986 Chernobyl accident still suffer from an increased risk of thyroid cancer.

Thanks to media coverage, we also understand that the "spent" nuclear fuel is really NOT spent and that there is four times as much radioactive material in those storage pools in which the rods must be submerged than in the reactors. Plus permanently storing this nuclear "waste" continues to elude us.

Meanwhile, as we debate the safety of nuclear power plants, engineers are building a radically different type of reactor in China that may offer a safer nuclear technology when they are operational in 4 years. These Chinese reactors will use hundreds of thousands of billiard-ball-size nuclear fuel elements, each covered in a protective layer of graphite that can dissipate heat on their own, even if coolant is lost. The U.S., South Africa, and Germany have experimented with this "pebble-bed reactor" technology but deemed it to have technical problems, not to mention a lack of financing. Wall Street has not been behind the interest in a "nuclear renaissance" that President Obama has supported. Nuclear plants are VERY expensive. And our recent economy has not been condusive to innovative ventures.

The Chinese government, however, paid for the R&D and 30 percent of the construction of these two new pebble-bed reactors and still plans to build as many as 50 nuclear reactors, most of the conventional design, over the next 5 years (NY Times).

The Natural Resources Defense Council folks say that pebble-bed reactors would probably be less dangerous than current nuclear plants, and might be better for the environment than coal-fired plants. But Greenpeace opposes pebble-bed reactors, and questions the safety of any nuclear technology.

Whether nuclear power will remain part of our "power mix" remains to be seen. The Three Mile Island accident in 1979 put a halt to new nuclear power plant construction in the U.S. Virginia's Surry Nuclear Power Plant's Unit 1 began commercial operation in December 1972 and Unit 2 began operating in May 1973.

Chinese safety regulations require that all nuclear plants be located at least 30 miles from the nearest city. Many Americans, including this blogger, live much closer to a nuclear power plant than this. "Hmmmm."

That "green thing"

2011-03-24T10:26:00.002-04:00

I just had to post this interesting green perspective from my 92-year-old father in law. Thanks, Dad!

In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that plastic bags weren't good for the environment. The woman apologized to her and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."

That's right, they didn't have the green thing in her day. Back then, they returned their milk bottles, Coke bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, using the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.

But they didn't have the green thing back in her day.

In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. They walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks.

But she's right. They didn't have the green thing in her day.

Back then, they washed the baby's diapers because they didn't have the throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts - wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that old lady is right, they didn't have the green thing back in her day.

Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house - not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a pizza dish, not a screen the size of the state of Montana . In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn't have electric machines to do everything for you. When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used wadded up newspaper to cushion it, not styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, they didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised by working so they didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she's right, they didn't have the green thing back then.

They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty, instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They refilled pens with ink, instead of buying a new pen, and they replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But they didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar and kids rode their bikes to school or rode the school bus, instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And they didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But they didn't have the green thing back then!

Is our mercury rising?

2011-03-17T17:26:00.001-04:00

As the Republican members of Congress take aim at de-funding the EPA's regulatory authority, the EPA proposed new mercury emission standards for our not-so-clean coal plants across the nation yesterday. Sounds like the proverbial peeing contest to me. And our rivers are the urinals. Eww. That's a nasty metaphor, but it is true as coal plants have continued to emit mercury which then drops into our rivers.

So what if the Chesapeake Bay states have looked the other way over the last few decadees as those inconvenient deadlines to clean up the Chesapeake have approached. Some folks are so trusting that they truly believe that these polluting industries will monitor themselves and clean up their act with no EPA "sheriff" standing by.The American Lung Association and many physicians are not so gullible.

EPA head Lisa Jackson estimates the total annual cost of compliance at about $10 billion and the health and environmental benefits at more than $100 billion a year. Read those figures again to evaluate the benefits.

Households could expect to see their electric bills rise by $3 to $4 a month if the regulation is put into practice after 2015, while creating 31,000 short-term construction jobs and 9,000 permanent utility sector jobs. But the power utilities continue to whine that this reg would hurt their profits and be "burdensome."

Dirty air and polluted Chesapeake watershed waters are burdensome too, guys. Roughly half of the nation’s more than 400 coal-burning plants have some form of control technology already installed. so please stop your bellyaching. But maybe your mothers never made you clean up your rooms before you went out to play. Some little boys (and girls) never learn responsibility--corporate or otherwise.

In December 2000, the EPA. finally listed power plants as a source of hazardous air pollutants under the Clean Air Act. Twenty years plus is a long time to remain patient. This frequent boater would love to get back INTO the water again, without thinking about mercury, arsenic and chemicals. The EPA’s most recent data shows that from 1999 to 2005, mercury emissions from power plants increased more than 8 percent, to 53 tons from 49 tons. Arsenic emissions grew even more, rising 31 percent, to 210 tons from 160 tons. So much for "self-policing" from the power companies.

Bald eagles making a big comeback on the James River

2011-03-09T11:51:00.006-05:00

Go eagles!
Visit the eagle cam at Norfolk Botanical Garden for a closeup look into the nest.

James River eagles

The folks researching eagles in Virginia for the Center for Conservation Biology (CCB) say that the eagles along the James River are having a baby boom soon. They have noted a record number of eagle nests and 165 breeding pairs along the James River in their recent low-altitude overhead flights (the researchers' flights, not the eagles!). That's up from the 154 breeding pairs seen last year. That's especially good news for the James River because the eagle population along this tributary were decimated by ketone, DDT and other pollutants three decades ago.

Later this spring, the CCB research team will do a second round of flights to check known nest locations for chicks, and will most likely find a few more nests. They are not difficult to see because some of them can be the size of a Volkswagen Beetle and weigh a couple of tons. One large pine with an eagles nest behind my home blew down in a huge windstorm a few years ago, and I was astounded by how large it was on the ground. The eagles returned the following year and established a new nest nearby.

CCB's 2011 survey marks the 50th consecutive season that the bald eagle population has been observed by air, making the survey the longest-running eagle census in the United States. It’s also the 35th consecutive year that William and Mary Professor Emeritus of Biology Mitchell Byrd (what an apt name) has surveyed the population.

CCB is a joint program of the College of William and Mary and Virginia Commonwealth University. During the 2010 breeding season, they surveyed more than 900 nests throughout the lower Chesapeake, and documented more than 680 breeding pairs that produced more than 880 chicks. That's a true success story. Click here for the 2010 CCB study report.

Progress toward biofuels

2011-03-08T11:17:00.001-05:00

Thje U.S. is "on the precipice of a revolution in biofuels," says Energy Secretary Steven Chu, as he congratulated the Department's BioEnergy Science Center researchers who have achieved another advance in using bacteria to convert plant matter directly into isobutanol (IB), which can be burned in regular car engines with a heat value higher than ethanol and similar to gasoline. Isobutanol is much less prone to absorb water from the atmosphere too, so it's less corrosive toward engine parts. That's welcome news from boaters who have learned the hard way that ethanol in their outboard tanks "gums up the works."

A new industry from bio-material such as wheat and rice straw, corn stover (what's left after the corn harvest), lumber wastes, and plants specifically developed for bio-fuel production sounds like a win-win for both the economy and the environment. And a welcome change to the continuing production of ethanol from corn fields--especially at a time when more Americans are going to bed hungry. Not to mention the loud call from many for hydrofracking for natural gas. However, the question of scale remains. How much and how soon?

Producing isobutanol (get used to that term) directly from cellulose soundfs like less fertilizer use too.

"Unlike ethanol, isobutanol can be blended at any ratio with gasoline and should eliminate the need for dedicated infrastructure in tanks or vehicles," said Liao, chancellor's professor and vice chair of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science and a partner in BESC. "Plus, it may be possible to use isobutanol directly in current engines without modification."

Are Chesapeake watermen an endangered species?

2011-03-06T10:47:00.001-05:00

Will the Pruitts, Crocketts and Parkers--and a slew of other 3rd or 4th generation watermen--stop working the waters of the Chesapeake Bay for oysters and crabs any time soon?

One enterprising photographer, Glen MClure, sure makes that unsettling possibility quite real. His black and white photo exhibit of Chesapeake watermen, Endangered Species: Watermen of the Chesapeake , in the Virginia Mariners Museum until May 2, 2011 is mesmerizing. I saw it a month ago and the photos still haunt me. I've met a few of these hardworking watermen while sailing the bay over the last 8 years. One trip to Tangier Island last summer was especially poignant. We got to meet the "famous" and colorful Parks Marina owner, Milton Parks, 80+ and still working hard to make visiting boaters feel welcome.

Cory Nealon's Daily Press article, "Last buyboat a relic of bygone Bay era," about the last buyboat hauling oysters from Virginia's Tangier Island to nearby Reedville gave me reason to sigh as well.

Both of these put faces on those confronting the continuing assault on the Chesapeake Bay's quality. Perhaps members of Congress should visit the Mariners Museum exhibit before they continue their effforts to end the EPA's enforcement funds. Tangier Island folks have some unique sayings that really make sense. We really do need to "make a hurry" (hurry up) to clean up these "hucky" (really dirty) waters soon.

Natural gas NOT so clean

2011-03-02T09:56:00.000-05:00

A video is worth a million words. This one from the New York Times shows how some families are coping with the toxic pollution coming from nearby natural gas wells. Watch to the very end. The irony will not escape you when a proponent of natural gas proudly states that the nearby hospital was built using revenues from the nearby natural gas industry. Does that make up for the families forced to leave their homes?

2011 VA Legislature Report Card

2011-02-28T10:24:00.001-05:00

The good, the bad, and the ugly

The Virginia Conservation Network compiled a telling summary of how the 2011 Virginia Legislature acted on promising environmental legislation over the past few weeks. Too bad that these elected folks are not in a classroom. Some teachers would give them failing grades in many areas.

Some highlights from their recap:

The General Assembly created a Voluntary Solar Resources Fund and lifted the ceiling on residential net metering—good news for Virginia homeowners who want to become more energy independent with solar powered homes.
The Senate Commerce and Labor Committee killed bills instructing the State Corporation Commission to reform residential electricity rates. However, the committee was "redeemed somewhat when it axed two troublesome bills backed by the Tea Party, one of which postured against energy efficiency."
A controversial change to put the menhaden fishery industry into the hands of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (it regulates all other fisheries) failed--despite strong support from conservation and angling groups.
The House sunk a 1-year old plan to establish aquaculture opportunity zones because the oyster industry can't agree on how to handle it.
Both houses passed legislation to restrict phosphorus in lawn fertilizer, removing thousands of pounds of phosphorus pollution from our rivers. Whoopee, that's good news.
Legislature to permanently transfer oversight of coal surface mining (as in mountaintop removal) from the State Water Control Board to the Director of Mines, Minerals and Energy passed. So all authority to issue and oversee water pollution permits will now be in the hands on one person--a political appointee. Members of the public and scientists, take a seat in the back of the bus.

Shedding some light on energy efficient lighting

2011-02-26T11:33:00.002-05:00

Or "Lighting 101 for Dummies"

Look at shoppers’ faces as they stand in front of the lightbulb shelves in any store, and you’ll see some perplexed looks. Whether installing outdoor lighting or replacing indoor bulbs, there is a lot of confusion among consumers about the newer bulbs now available. And perhaps even anger and angst.

Did the government outlaw incandescent light bulbs? No. The 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act did not outlaw incandescents. Instead, it set efficiency standards that incandescents cannot meet. The law requires that all general-purpose light bulbs that produce 310–2600 lumens of light (more on that later) must be 30 percent more energy efficient than current incandescent bulbs by 2014, beginning with 100-watt bulbs in 2012. The new standard applies to clear, frosted, soft white, and daylight bulbs; specialty colors and shapes are not. It does not affect the existing supply of incandescent bulbs in retail stores or on your top shelf at home. Feel free to use them up if you don’t mind wasting energy.

When do the new efficiency standards go into effect? Under the legislation, 100-watt incandescent bulbs will be replaced starting Jan. 1, 2012, followed by 75-watt bulbs in 2013, then 40-watt and 60-watt bulbs in 2014.

In the average U.S. home, lighting accounts for about 20 percent of the electric bill. A high-quality CFL will save about $30 over its lifetime and pay for itself in about 6 months. It uses 75 percent less energy and lasts about 10 times longer than an incandescent bulb. Nationwide, the energy savings potential is significant. According to the U.S. government's ENERGY START program, if every U.S. home replaced just one incandescent bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, enough energy would be saved to light more than 3 million homes for a year and reduce energy costs by $600 million.

Will the new standards reduce light pollution? More energy efficient lighting will reduce the wasted energy cost of $2 billion in the U.S., but unshielded up-lighting--most from poorly designed street lights—will still illuminate the sky. Currently, two-thirds of Americans cannot see the Milky Way from their backyards. Homeowners should consider this when adding up-lighting in their backyard landscaping.

How does a Compact Fluorescent Lightbulb (CFL) work? The argon and mercury vapors inside the twisted tube of a CFL get very excited in the presence of an electric current, producing invisible ultraviolet light as the mercury turns into a gas. That makes the phosphor coating inside the bulb glow—without much heat by the way. It takes a few seconds for all this excitement to occur. So be patient as the bulb gradually brightens. On the other hand, the electric current inside an incandescent bulb heats a thin tungsten filament to the point that it glows, but the bulb loses about 75 percent of its energy in the form of heat.

Why do CFLs cost more? At the moment, CFLs are more costly because they include a ballast (or resistance) at the base of the bulb to regulate the current. Think back to the original cost of DVD players and computers. You can expect a drop in efficient light bulb costs during the next few years as well. Consumers should factor in the lower energy cost and much longer lifespan of CFLs that offset the higher initial cost of CFLs. The latest packaging for CFLs includes an estimated saving that’s quite impressive. The bottom line is that CFLs and LEDs last longer and they will continue to get better, more efficient, safer and less expensive.

What are lumens? You really need to understand lumens to shop intelligently when replacing your incandescent bulbs. Lumens—not watts—tell you whether a bulb will be bright enough to meet your needs. More lumens mean a brighter light. A CFL and an incandescent bulb with the same lumen rating will produce the same amount of light. Just remember that one dinner candle provides about 12 lumens and that you need about 1600 lumens for reading without eye strain.

We are more familiar with watts which measure the amount of energy used to create that light, and we’ve been wasting a lot of energy to brighten our rooms. Don’t even worry about amps unless you’re an electrician! The color temperatures are usually specified in Kelvins (K). Foot-candles is another term that the average homeowner can leave out of their vocabulary—unless you’re trying out for Jeopardy.

What typical wattage will I need to replace a traditional incandescent bulb? Many folks give CFLs a bad name by not knowing what they’re doing when they try to go green. One Florida resort where I recently stayed replaced their 150 watt incandescents with 8 watt CFLs; reading was next to impossible with them.

When choosing compact fluorescents, always look for bulbs that are ENERGY STAR® qualified because they have been tested to meet stringent performance criteria established by the U.S. Department of Energy and the EPA.

Beginning in mid-2011, new labels will be required on light bulbs to help us get used to thinking in lumens, not watts. In the meanwhile, use this approximate conversion chart when replacing light bulbs.

2600 lumens = 150 watt incandescent = 42 watt CFL
1600 lumens = 100 watt incandescent = 23-27 watt CFL
800 lumens = 60 watt incandescent = 13-16 watt CFL
250 lumens = 25 watt incandescent = 5 watt CFL

Is light from a CFL similar to an incandescent bulb? While the first generation of CFLs had a characteristic blue tint, newer designs from reputable manufacturers recreate the warm glow of incandescent bulbs. GE’s “Reveal” CFL brand is supposedly great for reading.

Bulb color temperature is rated in Kelvins. Confusingly, higher Kelvin temperatures are what we consider cool and lower color temperatures are considered warm. CFLs on the low end of the Kelvin scale emit a warmer, yellowish light, like a conventional incandescent bulb. CFLs with higher Kelvin numbers emit a bluer light, like conventional fluorescent lights. To maintain consistent light quality, it’s best to use only bulbs with the same color temperature in a single room.

Quick guidelines:
Soft White: 2500-3000 K; Warm, yellowish light; ideal for living rooms, dens and bedrooms
Bright White: 3500-4100 K; Crisp, white light; ideal for kitchens and work areas
Daylight: 5000-6500 K; Similar to natural sunlight; ideal for reading and detail-oriented work

Color rendition is generally considered to be a more important lighting quality than color temperature. Soou might see “Color Rendering Index” (CRI) on packaging soon to help you compare it with natural sunlight and how colors appear. The top value of the CRI scale (100) is based on illumination by a 100-watt incandescent light bulb. Good quality CFLs have a CRI value between 80-85 which is appropriate for home use. It’s similar to the quality of light used in stores. So check out the labels for “color” of the light that’s produced.

Do CFLs still need to warm up? The first CFLs flickered when they were turned on because it took a few seconds for the ballast to produce enough electricity to excite the gas inside the bulb. Thanks to refined technology, there is now no significant flicker (less than 1 second). However, these bulbs do require a short warm-up period before they reach full brightness, which is why they may appear dim when first turned on. Compact fluorescent bulbs are best used in fixtures that are left on for longer periods of time, rather than in fixtures that are turned off and on frequently.

Do dimmable CFLs exist? Yes, and 3-way settings as well. They are a relatively new line, so read the packaging carefully. Dimmable CFLs typically dim down to about 20% of total light output. Below that, the bulb switches off. If you want to use a CFL with a dimmer switch, make sure you choose a bulb with “dimmable” on the packaging.

What is a Light-Emitting Diode (LED) bulb? Put simply, LEDs emit light by the movement of electrons in a semiconductor material that converts electricity directly into light. They produce less heat than CFLs and last even longer, so are even more energy efficient; they contain no mercury. In contrast to an incandescent bulb, which produces a continuous spectrum of light, the LED emits light of a particular color or wavelength depending on the material used at the base of the chip. Light quality is good as well. They offer a great potential for the future of lighting, but they are still more expensive than CFLs.

What about halogen bulbs? Think of them as a hybrid or a good compromise. They are incandescent bulbs that use gases to improve efficiency. Most halogens achieve the required energy efficiency. Energy saving is approximately 25 percent, compared to 75-80 percent for CFLs.

Finally, what the heck is an ESL bulb? One of the latest bulbs on the block (actually only on the internet) is the "electron stimulated luminescence" bulb, and it contains NO mercury. This mouthful (otherwise known as a Vu1--or Vu one) is UL-certified and recalls the old TV technology of cathode tubes. It seems that a cathode can generate and spray electrons onto a bulb's interior phorphor coating too and make it glow. ESLs have efficiency efficiency and cost somewhere in the middle between CFLs and LEDs. They are dimmable too. Check them out at http://www.vu1corporation.com/ .

Energy Efficient Lightbulb Tests and Tips

2011-02-22T08:27:00.003-05:00

Check these out for great lighting information.

Daily Green's CFL, LED, Halogen, etc. Test Results
Daily Green's 10 CFLs to Fit Any Lamp
Grist's Advice on Replacing Light Bulbs

Another 'down day' for the Chesapeake Bay

2011-02-22T08:14:00.000-05:00

My hopes for a cleaner Chesapeake go up and down like the stock market. This week's news about the House vote to block federal funding for the Environmental Protection Agency's Chesapeake Bay "pollution diet" has me in a funk.

The long-delayed cleanup of the nation's largest estuary by putting it on a "pollution diet" is SOOOOO overdue. But Congressman Bob Goodlatte, R-VA does not share my concern. He hailed the vote as "an important step in stopping the EPA’s regulatory power grab. . . "These overzealous regulations will affect everyone who lives, works, and farms in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed," Goodlatte said in a statement reported by the Roanoke Times, "and the cost of complying with these requirements will be devastating during our current economic downturn, result in many billions of dollars in economic losses to states, cities and towns, farms and other businesses."

Unfortunately, this kind of head-in-the-sand thinking drives me crazy. Why can't he get his head around the economic harm continuing pollution does to our area as far as lost tourism, recreational fishing, and the lives of our watermen?
The 230-195 House vote split largely along party lines, with eight Democrats joining Republicans in seeking to block the EPA's bay diet.

Chesapeake Bay Foundation President William C. Baker issued a statement decrying the vote, saying it undoes the efforts of the EPA and the six bay states to develop pollution reduction plans . "This vote effectively removes the federal partner from the equation, placing the burden squarely on the shoulders of states, municipalities, and individuals," Baker said. "It is in direct contradiction to the best science in the world, which defines the Bay as a single system that must be managed as one.”

Now we'll await the thinking in the Senate.

Lights out for incandescents?

2011-02-21T21:49:00.001-05:00

Sorry, Thomas Edison. Your light bulb invention was a dandy idea 130 years ago, but not very energy efficient. Very soon it will be lights out for incandescent light bulbs because they create more heat than light and convert only 5-10 percent of the energy they consume into emitting light. That is not a good return on investment—especially if you consider the coal burned to create that wasted electricity.

In 2007, President Bush signed the bipartisan Energy Independence and Security Act that includes a standard of 30 percent more energy efficiency for lighting. It phases out traditional 100-watt bulbs in January 2012, 75-watt in 2013, and 60-watt and 40-watt bulbs in 2014.

The new standard is technology neutral, which means that consumers can choose Compact Fluorescent Lightbulb (CFL), Light Emitting Diode (LED), halogen or some new technology still in research labs.

Many think that watts represent light output, but wattage is a measure of power consumption, not brightness. CFLs and LEDs consume more than 75 percent less power to produces the same amount of light as our old bulbs. Thus, a lower wattage number indicates greater energy saving, not lower light output.

Some folks see America’s move away from Edison-style watt bulbs to CFL and LED lights as light bulb socialism. But what force other than government can make Americans stop wasting energy and money? In general, CFLs last about 10 times longer. Even so, in a recent survey, about 13 percent of Americans said that they would stock up on 100-watt incandescents before they disappear from store shelves.

Before you begin stockpiling, reflect on this—especially if you like extra cash in your pockets and clean air. These new lighting standards, fully implemented, may cut America’s energy bill by $13 billion per year and eliminate the need for 30 large power plants, most of which are currently burning coal.

Don’t like the look of those “twisted” CFL bulbs? Manufacturers are now beginning to place them inside a conventional looking bulb for people opposed to change or for lamps where the bulb is quite visible.

Dangerous mercury in CFLs? Like all fluorescent bulbs, CFLs contain small amounts of mercury (roughly equivalent to the tip of a ball-point pen) and that complicates their disposal. They are safe to use if handled and used properly. Many large retailers, including Lowe’s and Home Depot, will recycle CFLs bulbs for free. All CFL lamps are marked with a crossed-out wheeled dust bin logo, indicating that they should not be disposed of with regular household waste but should be returned making use of existing local waste deposits according to national legislation.

However, if you ever break a CFL, don’t panic. Simply turn off the AC/Heat, open a window, and leave the room for about 15 minutes. If the bulb breaks while burning, a small amount of mercury vapor will get into the air and you don’t want to inhale it. Unplug the lamp before gathering up the fragments. Place them in a glass jar with metal lid or in a sealed plastic bag. Use a disposable paper towel or sticky tape to remove small pieces. Use a vacuum cleaner only if the surface leaves no alternative (like a carpet). After that, dispose of the vacuum bag containing the lamp fragments. Wash your hands after disposing of the jars or plastic bags containing clean-up materials. Take to your county’s next Household Chemical Collection event.

Click http://www.epa.gov/cfl/cflcleanup.html to read EPA’s instructions on broken CFLs.

EPA again under fire

2011-02-12T07:19:00.001-05:00

What a difference a day makes!

Yesterday the EPA announced that this agency was "in the process of developing the first-ever national rules to ensure the safe disposal and management of coal ash from coal-fired power plants. The proposed regulations will ensure stronger oversight of the structural integrity of impoundments, and protection of human health and the environment. The agency is evaluating more than 400,000 public comments on the proposed rule, which was released in May 2010.

For more information and to view all the electric utility action plans and EPA coal ash assessment reports: http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/industrial/special/fossil/surveys2/index.htm

Today a headline proclaimed that the Republicans in Congress were proposing a 30 percent cut to EPA's budget--especially targetting their regulatory efforts.

Can the Chesapeake be too clean?

2011-02-04T13:27:00.003-05:00

Not if you read what the James River Association says on its website:

The goals for pollution reduction are attainable. No one is trying to eliminate all pollution from our rivers. Scientists, business leaders, and government officials can all agree that some pollution is an inevitable side-effect of economic activity, and that we need to have a healthy economy alongside a healthy environment. That’s why the new goals for reducing pollution in the James River allow for 23 million lbs. of nitrogen, 2.37 million lbs. of phosphorous, and 920.23 million lbs. of sediment pollution each year. Before you let anyone tell you that the James River will be getting “too clean,” reflect on these numbers. Imagine 130 large dump trucks lined up at a boat ramp (that’s a line about 9 football fields long) on the James River every day, dumping a payload of these pollutants straight into the river. That’s how much pollution is allowed under the new EPA goals. That’s how much pollution we can reasonably expect this river to take and still be healthy enough for wildlife and humans to use and enjoy.

That's a great visual, isn't it? So please stop your bellyaching, industry and farm lobby! Get onboard the EPA's efforts to clean up our waters.

Fracking 101

2011-02-02T10:36:00.001-05:00

Or how Clean Water Act violations can occur

If you haven't heard about the fracking process used to get to natural gas that's lurking in underground shale deposits, there's a very informative website, Fracking Resource Guide, with some easy-to-understand graphics and text that should arouse your concern.

There's another one at http://nofracking.com/ that focuses on fracking in New York State.

All Americans need to get up to speed on this fracking process before everyone's drinking water is harmed.

A New York Times story this week should have opned your eyes, if you thought that the drilling companies were going to keep you informed. It seems that some oil and gas service companies have been injecting tens of millions of gallons of diesel fuel into onshore wells in more than a dozen states from 2005 to 2009.

OOPS! What about the Safe Water Drinking Act, you ask? Congressman Henry Waxman also asked. But oil and gas companies admitted using diesel fuel in their fracking fluids, but they rejected the assertion that it was illegal. They said that the EPA had never properly developed rules and procedures to regulate the use of diesel in fracking, despite a clear grant of authority from Congress over the issue. Kinda a "frack you" response, I'd say--especially since Halliburton (them again?) and two other drilling companies signed an agreement in 2003 to limit diesel in fracking. But maybe that was only in shallow drilling???? Loopholes, loopholes!

These companies had traditionally used diesel fuel as part of their fracturing cocktails because it helps to dissolve and disperse the other chemicals (Yikes, there are more?) suspended in the fluid. But toluene, xylene and benzene, a carcinogen, are in that diesel--and they are finding their way into some drinking water, in spite of the EPA conclusion in 2004 that this did not occur. So EPA folks are re-visiting the issue again, although the results are not expected until 2012 at the earliest.

Here's an interesting fact: in 2005, Congress amended the Safe Water Drinking Act to exclude regulation of hydraulic fracturing, but allowed regulation of diesel fuel used in fracking. That was a "Halliburton loophole."
Many companies have eliminated or cut back on the use of diesel in fracking, but 12 companies (in 19 states) reported having used 32.2 million gallons of diesel fuel, or fluids containing diesel fuel, in their fracking processes from 2005 to 2009. Approximately half the total was in Texas, but at least a million gallons of diesel-containing fluids were also used in Oklahoma (3.3 million gallons); North Dakota (3.1 million); Louisiana (2.9 million); Wyoming (2.9 million); and Colorado (1.3 million).

The important fact is that no permits for diesel-based fracking have been sought or granted since the Safe Drinking Water Act was amended in 2005. But the EPA never created the rules or procedures to apply for these permits. That's analogous to parents not telling little Johnny that he needs to ask before staying out until midnight before telling him that they'll go bonkers when he tries it.
Making rules and enforcing them is a new job for the EPA after many decades of lax oversight. I'm hoping that EPA poohbah Lisa Jackson is up to this task--and soon.

If you want to read the industry's side of the fracking debate, check out http://www.shalecountry.com/.

Virginia's wetlands are under attack

2011-01-24T09:34:00.000-05:00

The Chesapeake Bay is again imperiled. It doesn't make sense to introduce any legislation to negatively impact non-tidal wetlands at this time, but obviously developer interests rule to some lawmakers.

See what the Chesapeake Bay Foundatio blog has to say about this by clicking here.

$ave some $$$ on lawn fertilizer in 2011

2011-01-17T20:56:00.022-05:00

Not-so-green lawns in 2011?
Lawmakers in New Jersey recently passed what some call the toughest restrictions on lawn fertilizer in the nation to protect Barnegat Bay. So why do Chesapeake Bay states not restrict fertilizer use on the sprawling 3.8 million acres of lawns in our watershed? 1.3 million acres in Virginia turf alone. That's more than corn and soybean acres combined!

Lawns and golf-course fertilizers are the source of roughly 10 percent of the nitrogen pollution in the Chesapeake that causes algae blooms and low-oxygen "dead zones." Then there's the phosphorus that we continue to dump on our lawns whether they need it or not.

Make a 2011 resolution today (it's not too late) to reduce your fertilizer use, especially if your lawn is near a pond, stream, river, or wetland. Rethink your green lawn culture and say, “Happy New Year, Chesapeake Bay!”

The Virginai legislature just might help us if they follow through on some proposed legislation, Senate Bill 1055 . Sponsored by Senator Richard Stuart, it seeks to ban the sale of lawn fertilizers that contain phosphorus for routine lawn maintenance.

Will it progres through committees? The EPA has charged Virginia to cut its nitrogen pollution by 12.3 million pounds and its phosphorus pollution by 1.7 million pounds by 2025. Where will that come from? Stormwater runoff from all the grass growing in the urban and suburban areas of Virginia, I'm hoping.

Established lawn with no phosphorus

Chuck Eppes posted this on the Chesapeake Bay blog: "We know that once pollution gets into stormwater runoff, it can be expensive to remove it. For example, on average it costs $30,000 to remove a pound of phosphorus from runoff using engineered stormwater system retrofits (retention ponds, drainage and storage tanks, pervious pavers, etc.). By banning phosphorus in fertilizer at the point of sale, that cost is reduced practically to zero. If passed, the legislation could save Virginia localities millions of dollars to meet permit limits and Bay cleanup goals, as well as save homeowners the expense of buying lawn fertilizer they don’t need. Oh, and it helps save the Bay, too."

Environmental Filmfest in Williamsburg

2011-01-17T12:04:00.002-05:00

The Williamsburg Climate Action Network (WCAN) folks and the Kimball Theatre are teaming up to show a series of great environmental films monthly from January through June (I first viewed "Inconvenient Truth" at the Kimball). Here is info on the first two. Tickets and reservations are needed. Call 1-800-HISTORY for prices and reservations.

Fuel January 22, 25, 26, 2011; 111 minutes; 6:30 PM
Winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival

Fuel is a comprehensive and entertaining look at energy in America: a history of where we have been, our present predicament, and a solution to our dependence on foreign oil. Rousing and reactionary, Fuel is an amazing, in-depth, personal journey of oil use and abuse as it examines wide-ranging energy solutions other than oil, the faltering U.S. auto and petroleum industries, and the latest stirrings of the American mindset toward alternative energy.

Dirt! The Movie Feb. 22–27, 2011; screening room; 86 minutes; 6:20 PM

Dirt! The Movie is an insightful and timely film, narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis, that tells the story of the glorious and unappreciated material beneath our feet. Inspired by William Bryant Logan’s acclaimed book Dirt: The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth, Dirt! The Movie takes a humorous and substantial look into the history and current state of the living organic matter that we come from and will later return to.

Solar energy subsidies in the headlines

2011-01-16T11:30:00.001-05:00

"Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy." John Denver had no idea when he sang those words about the solar panel battlefield of the next century.

The New York Times provided an easy-to-understand look at subsidies for solar panels in a recent story about a "buy American" provision in the military appropriations law recently signed by President Obama.

The Defense Department must purchase solar panels made in the U.S. now. But the U.S. is the world’s largest importer of solar panels (about $1.6 billion of the world's $29 billion worth last year) and China the largest exporter, especially during the past two years. So more green jobs should be on our horizon if we're going to fulfill Defense Department needs in Iraq and Afghanistan, let alone our residential and commercial demands.

China accounted for at least half the world’s production last year, and its market share is rising rapidly. How? China subsidizes their solar panel manufacturers, while the U.S. subsidies go to consumers! There are some free trade issues with both solar panels and wind turbines that are involved too. But that's for another posting.

The American military is a rapidly growing consumer of renewable energy products, because it is extremely expensive and frequently dangerous to ship large quantities of fuel into remote areas of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Imported panels typically cost 20 percent less than American-made panels due to lower labor and overhead costs. So we need some creative R&D soon. Or perhaps we'll see Chinese-owned solar panel factories in the U.S.