How green are our valleys? Safeguarding our earth and the natural systems that sustain people, animals and plants has become a major international focus as we see the damaging effects of pollution and global warming all around us. When you begin to investigate thinking green you realize we face a long-term mostly uphill battle and one that we must win. There are wonderful web sites that inform and educate about what is and is not being done. The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) which urges everyone to join the fight is a great place to begin to get into a green state of mind. • A recent Proctor & Gamble ad for Tide Coldwater pointed out that if everyone in New York City washed laundry in cold water for just one day, the energy saved would be enough to light the Empire State Building for an entire month. Source: Chemical & Engineering News by Michael McCoy • Building and commercial development are eating up American open land at the rate of about 365 acres per hour, often creating malls, unplanned suburbs and untenable traffic. Some communities are using smart growth to stem this tide, save our countryside and improve the quality of American life. • In Rutland, Vermont, Wal-Mart and city planners found a creative way to site and design the store, putting it in an abandoned building adjacent to the city's downtown. Addison, Texas, a Dallas suburb, has created a walkable center, Addison Circle, that is a mix of homes, shops and offices, parks, sidewalks and an elegant boulevard all close to public transit. In Pearl Lake, Michigan, citizens worked together and bought back the area from a developer that has now been incorporated into a nearby state forest where it is permanently protected. • The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has joined with the US Green Building Council and the Congress for the New Urbanism to create a national set of standards for developing environmentally-responsible neighborhoods. A Green Communities partnership is a five-year, $550 million initiative to build more than 8,500 green affordable homes across the country. Their criteria are designed to promote health, conserve energy and resources and enhance access to jobs, schools and services. NRDC is one of the original founders of Smart Growth America, a coalition that brings together 100 environmental, housing, social justice and preservation organizations from across the country to work on smart growth. Read what the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System, the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings, is doing to create more green neighborhoods across the U.S. A new NRDC book, Solving Sprawl, by F. Kaid Benfield, Jutka Terris and Nancy Vorsanger, details a promising but previously untold story about alternatives that beat back sprawl, save landscapes and make communities better places to live. Source: www.nrdc.org • Toyota has sold its one millionth hybrid making it the leading automobile manufacturer in the field of environmentally-friendly cars. >From CBS Business News Radio • General Motors announced two new contracts designed to speed up production of electric batteries for its Chevy Volt. GM's CEO said alternative fuel vehicles were a high priority. Source: GreenBiz.com • Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered all New York City taxis to operate on hybrid engines by 2012 as part of a drive to reduce pollution. He said that because of the large number of taxis the new order will have the equivalent effect of removing 32,000 individually owned gas powered vehicles from the streets. The city will also switch garbage trucks and buses over to hybrids as such vehicles become available. Source: Bloomberg News • The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced it will provide up to $14 million in funding for a $28 million cost-shared solicitation by the United States Advanced Battery Consortium for plug-in hybrid electric vehicle battery development. This research aims to find solutions to improving battery performance so vehicles can deliver up to 40 miles of electric range without recharging. This mileage includes most round trip daily commutes. Source: Alternative Fuels Index; a weekly benchmark for alternative fuels • People differ on how much fossil oil is left on earth, however, all agree there is only enough for a few more generations. We have consumed in under 100 years almost half of all the oil it took the earth millions of years to form. • A $200 million power plant that burns turkey litter to produce electricity began operation in mid-May in Benson, Minnesota. It is the first such plant in the country to burn animal litter. Controversy surrounds the operation from critics who say the litter is more valuable when used as an organic fertilizer. Learn more at nytimes.com/energychallenge • A report from the US Army Corps of Engineers states that we are near or at peak in global oil production. There is evidence that the large increase in oil and gas prices may be related to peak oil concerns as demand outpaces supply. Sweden, a country of 9 million people just slightly larger than California, intends to get off oil by 2020. Currently, Sweden generates 34% of its total energy demand including electricity, natural gas and transportation fuels from renewables: biomass (energy from plants and plant-derived materials), hydropower and wind power. Of their remaining demand, about 40% comes from oil, 14% from nuclear power and the rest from other sources including natural gas. Sweden plans to grow its biofuels, biomass and wind industries to meet its 2020 goal. From Santa Barbara News-Press. • The scientific community has reached the consensus that the world is undoubtedly warming largely as the result of emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities. The greenhouse effect keeps the earth warm creating a world-wide average temperature of about 45 degrees Fahrenheit. Natural green house effect is clearly a good thing, however, enhanced greenhouse effect caused by pumping man-made greenhouse gases into the atmosphere is altering nature's process. Continuation of these enhanced emissions unchecked will result in unnatural warming over the 21rst century resulting in sea-level rise that will inundate coastal areas, increase beach erosion and flooding from storms, changes in precipitation, risk of droughts and floods, threats to biodiversity and challenges for public health. • This month, Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski signed a bill requiring the state's largest utilities to meet 25% of their electric load with renewable energy sources by 2025. Sources that count toward the standard include wind, solar, wave, geothermal, biomass and new hydro. • Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty signed into law legislation to increase energy efficiency, expand community-based energy development and establish statewide emission reduction goals by 15% by 2015, 30% by 2025 and 80% by 2050. • On May 8, 2007 more than 30 states became charter members of The Climate Registry, a collaboration to develop a common system for reporting greenhouse gas emissions. This group represents the largest national effort to date to track greenhouse gas emissions. Source: Climate Registry Website and compiled from www.pewclimate.org. • You can even honeymoon at a green resort. The United States Green Building Council's rating system scheduled to open this August outlines requirements for a hotel to go green. The Sandpearl Resort in Clearwater Beach, Florida is right on the cutting edge having installed a geothermal system to heat the pool and spas through solar energy and an energy management system to regulate room temperatures based on occupancy. A salt bromine pool-filtration system will eliminate chlorine waste and a cool water air-conditioning system will allow for higher air quality. An ozone laundry system will reduce water consumption. From the New York Times, Sunday, June 10, 2007. • …Dell computers has launched a long-term, global effort to reduce carbon emissions of its operations, suppliers and customers to manufacture the 'greenest P.C. on the planet.'…Wachovia announced it will build 300 LEED-certified banks nationwide starting with eight in California and its new, green headquarters in Charlotte, N.C….Waste Management's new facility is expected to increase the recovery of recyclable materials by up to 30 percent and can process up to 1,000 tons of recyclables per day. Headlines from GreenBiz.com. In future issues, we will be examining many of the efforts, many on Long Island, that are being made to move toward an environmentally sustainable healthy future for all people and our precious earth.
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