Beijing, with a population of over 20 million, has suffered from hazardous air pollution since last January, which has threatened the people greatly since the pollutants can cause fatal health problems.

On January 12, the air quality monitor run by the U.S. embassy in Beijing reported an air pollution level of 886, which directly indicated PM2.5 – a fine particulate less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter – is off its maximum level of 500. This warns that everyone should refrain from all physical activities outdoors. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the average concentrations of PM2.5 per cubic meter should not be more than 25 micrograms, yet the readings on some days in January exceeded 40 times of the standard.

The effect of the PM 2.5 is even more disastrous: The U.S. embassy Beijing air quality monitor website stated “PM 2.5 particulates are of concern since they are small enough to directly enter the lungs and even the blood stream,” and warned that ‘hazardous’ level of air quality can result in “Serious aggravation of heart or lung disease and premature mortality in persons with cardiopulmonary disease and the elderly; serious risk of respiratory effects in general population.”

Nonetheless, you did not need to check the Air Quality Index (AQI) to see how dreadful the air quality was. The darkness from the extreme dustiness lasted the whole afternoon on that day, and the thick dusty layers hindered sight within approximately 300 meters, where even the huge skyscrapers were hardly visible. “The smog was so thick that more than 50 flights were cancelled at Beijing Capital International Airport, causing chaos ahead of Chinese New Year, when city-dwellers travel to see relatives” reported the Independent on January 29. The effect of the ‘hazardous’ level of the air quality was immediate. Dr. Huang of the Beijing Shijitan hospital said in an interview with CBS News that the number of patients hospitalized because of chronic bronchitis or other respiratory illnesses had increased by 20% after the hazardous air quality days.

Yet, this catastrophic phenomenon did not just happen for an occasional day. Beijing has been besieged by the hazy and dusty skies for the last several months at a consistent level, and there have been only a few days of blue skies; the AQI reads under the degree of ‘Unhealthy’. Even China’s national newspaper, China Digital Times, published an article titled “Beijing Air Quality: Worse than SARS.”

As a response to the people’s outcry, the city government took urgent action. According to Bloomberg on the last January 29, Beijing decided to temporarily shut down the 103 factories around the city, and the government agencies and state-owned companies were commended to reduce vehicle use by 30% until the end of January.

The scenery of Beijing in the past months has been changed visibly. People started wearing PM 2.5-blocking masks outside, and frequently check AQI via the application on their mobile phones. The term ‘PM 2.5’ is often being discussed everywhere – in newspapers, television and people’s daily dialogue. Some companies distribute free 3M dust masks for college students on campus instead of their traditional marketing strategies of giving a small gift such as stationary.

It is estimated to affect the job market in Beijing as well. On April 1, Financial Times reported that the ‘Airpocalypse’ has made it difficult for companies to find international work talent, and many expatriates are planning to leave Beijing due to the concern for health. There are nearly 200,000 foreign residents in Beijing and many of the expats are professionals with high-earning jobs, which contribute greatly to the socio-economic development of the city, the news report said.

“Air pollution is a major problem in China because of the country’s rapid pace of industrialization, reliance on coal power, explosive growth in car ownership and the sometimes disregard for environmental laws,” said CNN news on January 19. China has been the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter since 2007, and approximately 70 percent of its total energy still comes from coal.

The 2012 Cancer Registry Annual Report showed that cancer-related mortality in China has increased by 465 percent in the past three decades and the lung cancer was the top cause among all the cancers.

According to the World Bank (WB) report, 20 cities in China listed on the 30 most polluted cities in the world. In the recent study by Greenpeace and Peking University’s School of Public Health, it is estimated that the exposure to PM2.5 caused more than 8,500 premature deaths in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Xi’an in 2012.

Image credit: People in Beijing via Flickr.com

The article ‘Airpocalypse’ in Beijing: The Days with ‘Hazardous’ Air Quality appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

‘Eco Future’ is a yearlong exhibition opened recently in Manarat Al Saadiyat. The exhibition aims to urge the society and especially young generations to live a sustainable life style. It focuses on increasing the awareness of global warming, pollution and the green lifestyle.

Manarat Al Saadiyat literally means “the place of Enlightenment.” It is a 15,400 square meter arts and culture center located in Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

The exhibition is organized by the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority with other governmental organizations such as Masdar, Abu Dhabi Education Council, Urban Planning Council, Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi, the Imperial College London Diabetes Centre, Emirates Wildlife Society and Tourism Development and Investment Company.

The main teaching method in the exhibition is done by lectures, workshops, games, videos, trips with the illustrated paintings and distributed brochures. The exhibition uses interactive cartoon characters, which are taken from the local community of the UAE. The characters Ali, Moza, Yas and Sara are used to attract a younger audience, especially kids between 8 to 12 years old. It includes a large number of interactive games to teach the kids green lifestyle choices from eating and drinking to how to make eco-friendly cars.

The exhibition contains six different areas including Drinking, Eating, Enjoying, Moving, Building and Future City. In each area are environmental oriented artistic workshops. Also, they organize  kayaking trips for both kids and adults.

The 7days newspaper has published some environmental facts taught during the exhibition:

• The UAE’s energy use is seven times the global average.
• The UAE is the world’s largest generator of waste.
• At current rates, the UAE’s fresh water supply will be unusable in 50 years.
• One computer left on all day releases over 680 kg of carbon dioxide a year. It would take 100 to 500 trees to absorb that amount.
• It takes roughly 25 bathtubs of water to grow enough cotton to make a T-shirt.
• One per cent of the earth’s water is fresh. All the rest is salty sea water or frozen ice caps.

The exhibition is open daily from 10am – 8pm from September 27, 2012 to September 26, 2013. The admission to  Manarat Al Saadiyat is free , while the entrance ticket of the exhibition is  for  30 dirhams for adults and 25 dirhams for kids. Families of 4 members can enter the exhibition for 80 dirhams only. The exhibition can be reached by public buses, taxis and cars.

Image Courtesy of  Saadiyat Cultural District

The article ‘Eco Future’ is in Abu Dhabi appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The Awqaf and Minors Affairs Foundation (AMAF) in Dubai has announced a plan to convert a mosque to the first eco-friendly mosque in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). According to the Khaleej Times newspaper, the project will cost 25 million UAE dirhams or 6.81 million USD.

The eco-friendly mosque is expected to save about 20 percent of water and power consumption. The normal consumption of water in the mosques is about three liters per person a day while the normal consumption of electricity in the mosques is about  250 kilo watts per square meter a year. Adding to eco-friendly conversion, the mosque would extend to about 9,754.82 square meters (105,000 square feet), making it the largest mosque in Dubai.

After the modifications, the mosque would accommodate about 3,500 worshipers at the same time. The roof of the mosque would be gardened to reduce the sun heat; additionally, it will use the solar energy to heat ablution water. The ablution is an Islamic procedure for washing parts of the body by using water to be prepared for prayer. The recycling plant within the mosque facilities will take the used ablution water for gardening and washroom use. The mosque will be constructed by eco-friendly materials to avoid non-biodegradable waste. It will also use an automatic thermostat to keep cool without wasting energy and will use natural light.

According to the Khaleej Times, Mr. Tayeb Abdulrahman Al Rais, Secretary-General of the AMAF, said: “The construction of the mosque is in line with the UAE leadership’s vision towards the conservation of resources, environment protection, and the adoption of green practices. With the global call for energy conservation, it is essential for developers to take responsibility for creating buildings that comply with green standards. The mosque project complies with best practices in corporate governance, while being transparent and gaining the validation of Awqaf, government and private institutions.”

In the neighboring city, Abu Dhabi’s General Authority of Islamic Affairs & Endowments department approved the plan of an eco-friendly mosque to be built within Saadiyat Island. The design was made by Suhail Mohammed Suleiman, a graduate architecture student at Al-Hosn University. This initiative is not the first in the mosque-building field. In 2008, the Islamic community in Manchester opened Masjid-E-Noor, which was the first partially eco-friendly mosque in the world. The mosque was built with wood from renewable sources.  It also possessed solar panels to generate electricity.

In 2010, the Muslim community in Cambridge opened the first fully operated eco-friendly mosque. The mosque was designed by the award-winning architecture company, Marks Barfield, who designed a lot of projects in the UK and in the world, such as London Eye and Kew Treetop Walk.

Additionally, in 2010, eco-friendly mosques were opened in Buyukeceli village, which is in the Mersin province of Turkey. The mosques were opened by the residents of the village to protest having a nuclear plant there. This action was taken to show the government that there are many renewable sources that generate clean energy and are preferable to a nuclear plant.

The article Mosques Go Green to Conserve Resources appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Chicago, U.S.A. – Just ahead of a major U.S. Senate vote on the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to clean up mercury and other toxic air pollutants, a Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) report shows that the 25 worst coal-fired power plants account for more than half of the dangerous mercury pollution emitted by the total of 144 electricity generation facilities in the Great Lakes region. The report also finds that almost 90 percent of the toxic emissions could be eliminated with off-the-shelf technologies.

According to ”Poisoning the Great Lakes: Mercury Emissions from Coal-Fired Power Plants In the Great Lakes Region,” Ohio emits the largest amount of mercury from coal-fired power plants (21 percent of the total in the Great Lakes region), followed closely by Pennsylvania (20 percent) and Indiana (16 percent). The remaining five states in the region rank as follows: Michigan (14 percent); Illinois (11 percent); Wisconsin (9.5 percent); Minnesota (6.5 percent); and New York (2 percent). Plants from outside the region also contribute to mercury pollution in the Great Lakes.

The Great Lakes region’s five worst coal-fired power plants for mercury pollution are: Shawville (Clearfield County, PA); Monroe (Monroe County, MI); Homer City (Indiana County, PA); Cardinal (Jefferson County, OH); and Sherburne County (Sherburne County, MN). (See the complete list below of the worst 25.) A dozen power plants in Ohio and Indiana – owned in whole or part by American Electric Power — accounted for 19 percent of all mercury emitted in 2010 from the total of 144 coal-fired power plants in the region.

U.S. Senator James Inhofe, R-OK, recently filed a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to void health standards reducing mercury and other toxic air pollution from power plants and to permanently block EPA from re-issuing similar safeguards.

Thomas Cmar, attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council office in Chicago, said: ”Mercury is a dangerous brain poison that doesn’t belong in our Great Lakes. It puts the health of kids and pregnant women at risk and adds an unwelcome danger to eating what our fishermen catch. That’s why it is so important that we support the EPA’s standards to reduce mercury pollution by holding polluters accountable. Even more critical is that every single U.S. Senator from the region stand up for the Lakes by rejecting reckless attempts to derail the long overdue Clean Air Act updates that can help tame this problem.”

Cindy Copeland, report author and formerly with the EPA Air Program, said: “Mercury is poisoning the Great Lakes and the three states – Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania – that impose no rules are by far the worst offenders. Airborne mercury from coal-fired power plants in the Great Lakes Region harms our health, and the benefits of reducing mercury emissions are well worth the cost. With a reduction of health costs to the economy at up to $90 billion, it is hard to say no to this.”

In the Great Lakes region, there are more than 144 coal-fired power plants which pumped over 13,000 pounds of mercury into the air in 2010. Mercury pollution from these plants’ region accounts for close to 25 percent of the nation’s total. The Great Lakes region is comprised of the five Great Lakes (Erie,Ontario, Huron, Michigan, and Superior) and the eight surrounding states (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan,Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Wisconsin).

Eating poisoned fish is the primary cause of mercury poisoning of humans. Mercury is a neurotoxin that harms the brain, heart, central nervous system, kidneys, lungs, and immune system. Young children and developing fetuses are most at risk, and can suffer developmental problems from mercury poisoning.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently issued nationwide rules to require coal-fired power plants to limit airborne mercury emissions and other toxic air pollutants by 2015. The technologies to meet the EPA’s mercury limits are widely available and effective.

Based on projected reductions in fine particulate emissions due to the combined benefits of various air toxic pollution controls, the EPA has projected that the benefits of its Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) far outweigh the costs of pollution controls. The health benefits of the MATS are projected to be worth $37 to $90 billion in 2016 alone. The EPA has projected that the majority of the benefits would be reaped in the eastern United States, including the Great Lakes region.

Mercury emitted into the air from coal-fired power plants is by far the leading man-made source of mercury reaching the Great Lakes and the lakes, rivers, and streams of the Great Lakes region. This report lists the top 25 mercury emitting plants in the region. Mercury pollution from plants outside the region also contributes to the overall quantity of mercury found in the Great Lakes. When coal is burned to produce electricity, mercury is emitted into the air. The EPA estimates that coal-fired power plants are the largest man-made source of mercury pollution, accounting for 50 percent of mercury air emissions in the United States.

The article 25 Plants Blamed For Half of Great Lake’s Mercury Poisoning appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Texas, U.S.A - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency relied on four highly questionable assumptions in 2009 to drastically inflate the health benefits from far-reaching new rules, according to a new report published by the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

“For the last three years, the EPA has justified a series of strict and incredibly expensive new air quality regulations on the assumption that even trace levels of particulate matter can accelerate death,” said the report’s author, Kathleen Hartnett White. “But the science behind the EPA’s new approach to assessing health risks is deeply flawed and misleads the public.”

Since 2009, the EPA has attributed risk of “early death” or shortened lifespan from fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) concentrations far below the health protective national standards and even below natural levels that would occur absent human activity. The EPA is justifying the many unprecedented new regulations commonly known as the EPA train wreck on the basis of the health benefits gained from reducing these new risks from already low levels of particulate matter – a substantial portion of which is airborne dust.

The new regulations, however, target other pollutants and not PM 2.5. In the recently finalized rule to reduce mercury emission from power plants, EPA estimated 99.9% of the health benefits derive from coincidental reduction of particulate matter at levels far below the already conservative federal standard. Without this methodology, the cost of reducing mercury would be far higher than the benefits of further reduction of mercury.

In the report, White challenged four key assumptions at the root of the EPA’s new risk-assessment methodology:

• PM 2.5 causes early death.
• There is no level of PM 2.5 below which risks of premature death cease.
• The EPA’s new rules are necessary to prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths.
• Coincidental reduction of PM 2.5 is sufficient justification for new regulations designed to control other pollutants.

“The EPA’s manipulation of cost-benefit analyses to project massive benefits at comparatively modest cost denies policy­makers and the public the information needed to weigh the many trade-offs involved in complex societal decisions about unacceptable risks,” White said. “Economic impact does matter, and it matters to human health. Life span and health are strongly correlated with the opportunity to work and make a good income.”

The report recommends amendment of the Clean Air Act to establish minimal criteria for rigorous scientific risk assessment of health effects.

The report, “EPA’s Pretense of Science: Regulating Phantom Risks,” is available for download from the Foundation’s website.

The article Are EPA Regulations Misleading? appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Last week’s media coverage of the Obama administration’s newly-proposed fracking rules focused so heavily on how drilling companies would have to disclose the chemicals they use that it largely overlooked the toughest provisions: Drillers would be required to test the physical integrity of their wells, and more water would be protected from drilling. Since many wells fail because the cement and casings crack, the new tests could prevent dangerous leakages.

One major limitation: Although widely understood as “national” guidelines, the draft rules would in fact only apply to a sliver of the nation’s natural gas supply. That’s because they would apply to mineral rights managed by the Bureau of Land Management, which means areas beneath most BLM and tribal land, but scarcely any U.S. Forest Service, private or state-owned lands – where most drilling occurs. Industry has criticized the proposed rules as too restrictive.

The draft rules would require companies to conduct “mechanical integrity tests.” These include pressure tests to make sure that the well can withstand the highly pressurized fluid used for fracking. Ensuring that wells are properly sealed is considered critical for preventing water and ground contamination.

The proposed rules also expand the scope of water protected from drilling to include not just fresh water but all “usable water” – meaning lower quality water used for agriculture and construction, as well as water that can be treated to make potable. Currently, only water with up to 5,000 parts per million of total dissolved solids is protected by the BLM. The new rules would expand that definition to include water with up to 10,000 parts per million, which matches the EPA’s definition for an underground source of drinking water.

“The proposed rule will modernize our management of well stimulation activities – including hydraulic fracturing – to make sure that fracturing operations conducted on public and Indian lands follow common-sense industry best practices,” Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said in a statement.

The lands covered by the proposed rules are the source of “11 percent of the Nation’s natural gas supply and five percent of its oil,” according to the BLM. About 3,400 wells are drilled on these lands each year, according to the bureau, and 90 percent of those wells use hydraulic fracturing, a technique to extract natural gas by injecting into the earth highly pressurized fluids laden with chemicals, sometimes including potentially toxic ones such as benzene and lead.

Environmental activists wonder how likely the rules are to be enforced. In New Mexico, for example, the BLM oversees more than 30,000 active wells ­– with only 69 inspectors. “However strong the rules are, enforcement is only as good as staff on the ground,” said attorney Erik Schlenker-Goodrich of the Western Environmental Law Center.

Environmentalists also lambasted a provision that would require companies to disclose the chemicals they use to frack on some public lands. At issue was timing: The draft rule would allow companies to complete drilling before they make public the chemicals they had injected into the ground. Although some drilling companies report the chemicals they use to online public registries, they are not always required to do so. Many drillers claim that disclosure would amount to revealing “trade secrets.”

The timing of disclosure matters. Landowners who want to see if a nearby well is polluting their land or water need a baseline assessment of chemicals that are present before drilling. If they don’t know the chemicals the company will inject, the only way to get a baseline reading is to test for a vast number of chemicals, an expensive and impractical undertaking.

“Knowing after the fact is nice, but does not allow for any steps to be taken if the chemicals being used are of concern to the public. I urge the Interior Department to strengthen this rule,” Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) said in a statement. Hinchey co-authored national legislation to give the EPA the power to monitor all fracking activities in the U.S., which under current law the agency cannot regulate.

The proposed disclosure rules would not demand much more than the standards some states already have in place. For example Colorado and Wyoming have large swaths of public lands targeted by the draft rules, but they already have disclosure regulations that are equally stringent, if not more so, than the federal proposal. Colorado requires that companies disclose the chemicals they use in addition to their concentrations within 60 days of fracking activities. Wyoming requires disclosure of chemicals both before and after fracking, although its regulation has been criticized for not making all of those disclosures public.

“It seems like BLM has looked at state rules as a ceiling, not as a floor, for what should be done,” said attorney Schlenker-Goodrich, who charged that the administration was putting forward “half-measures.”

Industry charges that the rules would slow down drilling too much. The Independent Petroleum Association of America and ExxonMobil did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but the IPAA head Barry Russell told Reuters that the rules will “will undoubtedly insert an unnecessary layer of rigidity into the permitting and development process.”

Once the draft rule is published in the Federal Register, the BLM will take comments for 60 days before it finalizes the rule.

by Lena Groeger, ProPublica, May 8, 2012, 12:04 p.m.

Image Courtesy of    billb1961

The article 40 Acres and a Rule: Draft Federal Fracking Regs Cover Only A Sliver of Land appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Dallas, U.S.A. – With more than 500 exhibitors and a notable lineup of speakers, musicians and films, Earth Day Dallas ( EarthDayDallas.org ) brought more than 58,000 North Texans to Fair Park on April 21 and 22. For the second year in a row, the nonprofit organization hosted one of the nation’s largest Earth Day celebrations, inspiring individuals to be sustainable in the ways they think, work and live.

“Last year, we planted a seed in the minds of North Texans, and were thrilled to watch people latch onto the idea of every day environmentalism,” said Trammell S. Crow, founder of Earth Day Dallas, “This year, it was amazing to see the increase in participation, especially from exhibitors. In a time when other Earth Day festivals are downsizing, we were able to double the number of booths we had in 2011. From exhibitors to programming, we elevated every aspect of the event this year, making Earth Day Dallas a true Texas-sized celebration.”

To accommodate its growing presence, the festival moved from downtown Dallas to historic Fair Park, providing more than 600,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space. At the core of the event, the Eco Expo included a wide range of exhibitions by corporations, small businesses, nonprofits, government groups, hospitals and universities, demonstrating conservation at every level.

Additionally, the festival featured a variety of engagement and entertainment for the whole family, including:

• Former first lady, Mrs. Laura W. Bush
• A book signing and lecture by world renowned theoretical physicist, Michio Kaku
• Live music performances by Amos Lee, Ponderosa, Diego Garcia and The Honey Brothers
• Film screenings including documentary Cafeteria Man and a farm-to-school discussion panel with the film’s star, chef Tony Geraci
• Picnic for the Planet, the Nature Conservancy’s attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the largest simultaneous global picnic
• A 5K fun run, and much more!

Earth Day Dallas would not have been possible without the significant support from its 2012 partners including Walmart, KXAS-NBC-5, DART, Live Nation, SHFT, 1SolTech and many others.

With its foot firmly planted in Fair Park, Earth Day Dallas has already begun planning for next year’s event. For more information about Earth Day Dallas 2012 and updates on the 2013 event, visit EarthDayDallas.org.

Image Courtesy of   Earth Day Dallas

The article Earth Day Dallas: Texans Go Green appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

New York, U.S.A. –  The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) handed nearly 110,000 signatures on its global petition to improve the treatment of farm animals, to the Executive Coordinators of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), Ms. Elizabeth Thompson and Mr. Brice Lalonde. The petition represents the significant and growing worldwide support for Pawprint – WSPA’s campaign to put farm animal welfare on the agenda at Rio+20 in June.

Every day, billions of animals suffer on industrial farms. Pigs, chickens and cows are unable to move freely, breathe fresh air or even feel the sunlight. Not only is this one of the worst animal abuses in the world, it also has negative effects on the environment, poverty and human health. Through Pawprint, people from every corner of the globe have asked world leaders to include animal welfare as part of the discussions at Rio+20.

“We are thrilled that tens of thousands of people around the world have acknowledged that the well-being of animals is crucial to the future of people and our planet,” said Luis Carlos Sarmiento, Country Director of WSPA-South America. “Now, more than ever, it is evident that better animal welfare belongs on the conference agenda.”

“It is very encouraging to see such vast support for implementation of comprehensive humane and sustainable agriculture practices,” said Mr. Lalonde. “Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture is one of the priority areas that will be addressed at Rio+20.”

In the lead up to the conference in June, WSPA has sponsored high-level expert meetings, and developed several credible reports and farm-based case studies – all of which showcase that humane farming is a viable, environmentally-friendly alternative to intensive industrial production methods. WSPA’s goal is to lobby five recommendations to the UN, national government delegates and the agricultural industry:

• Develop policies for sustainable food supplies
• Manage the unsustainable demand for farm animal products
• Support research and development of humane and sustainable agriculture
• Phase out subsidies and investments in unsustainable, inhumane systems
• Recognizes the importance of farm animal welfare to poverty alleviation and sustainable livelihoods

In addition to helping the animals themselves, humane and sustainable treatment of farm animals has been shown to provide a series of health, safety and environmental benefits:

• Meat from grass-fed cattle can contain as little as half the fat of that reared in intensive, grain-fed farming
• Cage-free poultry farms in the UK were found to be significantly less likely to harbour bacteria that can cause deadly food poisoning
• Grass-fed beef production can use just half the fossil fuel energy of intensive industrial farming

The article WSPA’s Global Petition to Improve Treatment of Farm Animals appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Milwaukee, U.S.A. – In celebration of Earth Day, Johnson Controls, the global leader in delivering solutions that increase energy efficiency in buildings, released its Top Earth Day Champions list to highlight organizations saving the carbon equivalent of 45,000 acres of pine forests through energy efficiency and renewable energy projects at their facilities.

Carbon emissions from building energy use are predicted to grow faster than any other sector in the next 25 years, according to the U.S. Green Building Council, making building efficiency critically important for the protection of the environment.

“These organizations have already made significant environmental improvements while at the same time attacking energy waste and reducing operational costs,” said Dave Myers, president of Johnson Controls Building Efficiency. “We recognize those who have committed to making their organizations more sustainable, their facilities more efficient, and their occupants more comfortable. Importantly, each one of these projects will also have strong financial paybacks.”

Here are the 2012 Top Earth Day Champions and the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide emissions they are saving annually through projects with Johnson Controls.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Oak Ridge, Tenn. tops the list with its annual reduction of 49,135 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. In 2008, ORNL replaced a natural gas steam plant with a wood gasification biomass system, reducing its carbon footprint and cutting fossil fuel consumption by 80 percent.

The Champions earned a spot on the list by making their facilities more efficient using a variety of measures, including: utilizing building management systems to optimize energy and operational efficiency, installing distributed generation and renewable energy technology, using more efficient lighting, and updating heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.

Since January, 2000, Johnson Controls energy performance contracting projects have saved nearly 18 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, equivalent to that saved by 3.5 million acres of pine forests, and generated savings of $6.5 billion in North America alone. With performance contracting, savings in energy consumption from facility upgrades pay for the project over the term of the contract.

If the savings are not realized, Johnson Controls pays the difference between the value of the measured and verified consumption and the guaranteed consumption under the contract.

The article Top Earth Day Champions in Reducing Carbon Emissions appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Washington, U.S.A. — As we approach Earth Day, it’s a good time to remember that energy efficiency can help “green” the planet while keeping more “green” in your wallet, says the Alliance to Save Energy.

Based on April data from the U.S. Department of Energy, the Alliance has calculated that the average U.S. household will spend about $2,100 on home energy this year.

“Consumers who experienced high winter heating bills and are already contending with spiraling gasoline prices are eager to spend less on home energy this spring and summer,” said Alliance President Kateri Callahan. “Energy efficiency not only significantly cuts home energy costs, it also increases indoor comfort.”

Top 10 [Simple Yet Effective] Home Energy Tips

To help U.S. consumers go green and save green, the Alliance offers this compilation of energy-saving tips:

The Alliance to Save Energy is a coalition of prominent business, government, environmental, and consumer leaders who promote the efficient and clean use of energy worldwide to benefit consumers, the environment, the economy, and national security.

The article Earth Day: Top 10 Home Energy Tips to Go Green and Save Money appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Modern farming practices such as conservation tillage and no-till farming are responsible for significant environmental benefits often overlooked by Earth Day observers.

With no-till, farmers plant crops and control weeds without turning the soil. This method decreases erosion, reduces fuel use and improves water quality. In addition to the environmental benefits, no-till empowers farmers to grow more crops and feed more people than was possible 42 years ago when Earth Day first originated.

In the 1970s, a revolution in agriculture began when farmers started converting from conventional, intensive tillage systems to a system more in tune with nature. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that soil erosion from U.S. cropland declined more than 40 percent between 1982 and 2007, thanks in part to no-till and conservation tillage practices. These modern farming practices were made possible in part by the use of atrazine, an herbicide that can manage many different types of weeds under a wide variety of conditions.

“Atrazine’s reliable performance gave farmers the confidence they could control weeds without tillage,” said Richard Fawcett, Ph.D., former agronomy professor at Iowa State University who is now an agricultural consultant.

No-till allows farmers to grow crops year after year without disturbing the soil, thus increasing the soil’s amount of organic matter and decreasing erosion, according to a study by Fawcett.

“While plowing has benefits, it leaves soil loosened and susceptible to significant erosion, ultimately polluting air with fuel burned in the plow equipment and contaminating water with sediment run-off,” said Fawcett. “No-till fields also provide a healthier habitat for wildlife.”

But this farming technique depends on the ability to control weeds, demonstrating the importance of the 50-year-old herbicide atrazine.

According to Paul D. Mitchell, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, more than one-third of U.S. cropland devoted to major crops such as corn and soybeans uses no-till systems. Farmers are applying atrazine on about half of no-till corn acres. Mitchell’s research also found atrazine enables farmers to save as much as 28-million gallons of diesel fuel per year, equaling more than 600-million pounds of carbon-dioxide emissions.

Earth Day started as a campaign to raise awareness of environmental issues.

“But many of the campaign elements ignore the environmentally friendly and earth-saving methods farmers use in their day-to-day operations,” said David C. Bridges, Ph.D., president of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, Ga. ”It is important to recognize the role of farmers and modern agricultural technologies in protecting wildlife, saving habitats and keeping our waters clean.”

Bridges, Mitchell and Fawcett are among a group of five academic researchers who recently studied the benefits of atrazine. Key findings include:

• Atrazine enables growers to use conservation tillage and other best-management practices, which contribute to a reduction in soil erosion in corn and sorghum.
• Atrazine and its sister triazine herbicides prevent up to 85 million metric tons of soil erosion per year – enough to fill more than 3 million dump trucks.
• Atrazine and the other triazines help reduce emissions by up to 280,000 metric tons of CO2 per year.
• Conservation tillage and no-till farming reduce agricultural diesel fuel use by more than 18-million gallons per year and annual carbon-dioxide emissions by more than 180,000 metric tons.

Syngenta, the principal registrant for atrazine, provided resources and support for the research. The papers are part of a broad assessment by Syngenta to examine the value of atrazine in today’s agricultural economy.

The article Earth Day: Modern Farming and The Enviroment appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

A recent study shows that beach sand contains pathogens (bacteria) that pose a risk to adults and children and can cause illness and disease, such as skin infections and gastrointestinal (GI) disorders.

The U.S.’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has formulated guidelines that determine when the pathogen levels are high enough to be dangerous for swimmers in both fresh water and sea water, but has not done so for recreational beaches. Researchers at the University of Miami and Northern Illinois University are beginning to rectify this by producing their own guidelines.

As the EPA monitored water containing fecal indicator fecal bacteria (FIB), so did the researchers because it poses as a large threat to humans (diseases such as E. coli are caused by feces-contaminated water). FIB comes from direct sewage spills and from dog and bird feces and would indicate the presence of pathogens of multiple virus strains.

“Infectious risks vary in different microorganism,” Tomoyuki Shibata tells the University of Miami. Shibata is the assistant professor in the Public Health Program and Institute for the Study of the Environment, Sustainability, & Energy at Northern Illinois University.

The researchers focused on studying sand from recreational beaches (mostly in Florida and California) because it would pose the most amount of threat to people.

In four steps, using reference pathogen guidelines from the EPA, the researchers essentially produced mathematical models, and computer simulations and measurements – per each gram of sand – of the disease-inducing pathogens to determine if the level of pathogens in the beach sand would go over the EPA’s guidelines. It turned out that it did. One fingertip dipped in the sand and inserted in the mouth contains enough FIB to cause GI. According to the researchers’ report, 19 out of 1000 beachgoers would be infected with GI.

Children would especially be susceptible to the pathogens and to becoming ill because they expose themselves to the sand more than adults.

“Parents of young children don’t need to overreact to our findings,” Shibata asserts. “They can reduce their child’s infectious risk by basic hygiene practices such as hand washing before eating or drinking and taking a shower.”

The report has been published in the American Chemical Society’s journal “Environmental Science and Technology,” and was written by Shibata and by Helena M. Solo-Gabriele, who is and the principal investigator of the study and a professor in the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering at the UM College of Engineering.

The article Beach Sand Unsafe, According to Study appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Bumblebee and honeybee populations have been declining quickly over the past couple of decades. This event has been dubbed the Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD. Beekeepers and researchers have been baffled, unable to determine what causes this sudden declination.

But just last week, researchers at the University of Stirling, UK and the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) conducted two separate studies that point to the culprit: commonly used pesticides, which have been proven to damage the bees’ central nervous systems and homing abilities (learning and memory skills for remember the paths to the plants) and affects the birth of queens for colony growth.

The decline is believed to have been caused specifically by neonitinoid insecticides (which is a class of chemicals), which have been used since the early 90s. The bees pick up the pesticide along with the pollen and transfer it to other plants and bring it home to their hives, making other bees susceptible to the poison.

“Some bumblebee species have declined hugely,” Dave Goulson of the University of Stirling in Stirling, U.K. says in the  AAAS news release. “For example in North America, several bumblebee species which used to be common have more or less disappeared from the entire continent. In the U.K., three species have gone extinct.”

The study at Stirling University worked with bumblebees, a couple colonies of which were exposed to low levels (low enough to not be fatal) of the chemical imidacloprid – which is found in many brands such as Gaucho, Conguard, and Xytect – while a couple more were not. The researchers weighed all of the hives separately to determine how much each would grow by the end of the experiment.

They placed the bumblebees in an enclosed space outdoors for six weeks so they could go about their business in natural conditions. It turned out the exposed colonies gained less weight. The hives were 8-12% smaller. The population decreased as wells the amount of honey/nectar. Also, these hives contained 85% fewer queens (2 queens compared to 14 produced by unexposed colonies) in comparison to the unexposed hives.

The researchers in Avignon, France worked with honeybees. They gave one colony nonlethal doses of thiamethoxam, another chemical found in pesticides. Next, they tagged honeybees with radio-frequency identification microchips to track them. Following the experiment, the researchers found out that the colonies with the infected bees were 2 to 3 times more likely to die than nonexposed colonies. The pesticides were believed to have greatly damaged the bees’ homing systems, reducing the amount of nectar brought the colonies.

The INRA researchers conducted a second study in which they produced a mathematical model of the dynamics of honeybee populations. When the failure of the homing abilities was incorporated, the model predicted honeybee colonies would be impossible to recover at a certain point.

In addition to the honeybees and bumblebees, all other kinds of bees pollinate major vegetable and fruit crops as well as flowers. Because of their waning populations, farms would face dilemmas for the lack of pollination, which would instigate a decrease in the development of crops.

“There are obviously big question marks as to whether the safety testing that was done on these was really adequate,” Goulson adds.

The article Bumblebees and Honeybees in Peril appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Verizon employees across the globe will join millions of people in more than 128 countries and territories to support Earth Hour on Saturday (March 31). From 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. local time, millions of square feet in more than 600 company locations will go dark, helping to raise awareness of energy-efficiency opportunities.

During the event last year, Verizon in just one hour saved 45,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity, enough energy to power approximately 10 homes for a year. Throughout all of 2011, Verizon reduced its energy usage by 2.34 percent – the equivalent of powering 20,600 homes for a year.

Sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund, Earth Hour is an event in which millions of people participate by turning off their lights at businesses and homes for one hour to support action on climate change and on creating a cleaner, safer and more secure future.

During the global event, now in its sixth year, the lights will be dimmed on global icons including the Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia, Buckingham Palace in London, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Taiwan’s 101 Financial Center in Taipei and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

In addition to darkening numerous floors in Verizon office buildings and technical sites in 40 different countries, Verizon also will dim lights and signs outside its major office sites including the Pearl Street building in Manhattan; a twin office complex in Irving, Texas; an entire campus in Basking Ridge, N.J.; and company sites in Dortmund, Germany; and Reading in the United Kingdom.

“Verizon is proud to once again demonstrate our commitment to the environment this year during Earth Hour,” said James Gowen, chief sustainability officer for Verizon. ”In 40 countries around the world our buildings will darken, and thousands of our employees will also participate from their homes. Together with our customers and suppliers, we can deepen the connection between our business interests and those of society.”

Verizon’s Sustainable Business Practices

Earlier this month, Verizon announced a partnership with VIA Motors to develop and demonstrate plug-in electric vehicles using VIA’s proprietary technology and to evaluate the technology for possible wide-scale use in Verizon’s fleet. The company also operates an extensive fleet of alternative-energy vehicles including hybrid vans and trucks, and natural gas and electric vehicles.

Last year, Verizon announced a collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to develop innovative ways to reduce energy use in the communications industry. Verizon and NREL are now working together to identify ways to make Verizon’s networks, data centers and office buildings more energy efficient.

Verizon has been named to several lists for sustainability, corporate ethical standards and social responsibility, including the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, Newsweek Global Green 100, Maplecroft Climate Innovation Inde, FTSE4Good Index, Ethibel Sustainability Index and Calvert Large Cap Value Fund.

Image Courtesy of   https://www.facebook.com/earthhour

The article Verizon Joins Earth Hour to Raise Awareness of Sustainable Business appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

CleanEquity Monaco, 29th & 30th March, the world forum for emerging cleantech companies, hosted by Innovator Capital and the Nobel Sustainability Trust, is pleased to announce the collaboration of the Hinduja Foundation, chaired by Ms. Shanu SP Hinduja.

The aims of the Hinduja Foundation, member of the Hinduja Group and a founding member of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, are embodied in the original Founder’s philosophy and commitment to serve those less privileged than him. This philosophy is simple: “My dharma (duty) is to work so that I can give.”  The Foundation has focused on promoting and improving healthcare, education, the environment, social welfare, arts and culture.

CleanEquity Monaco also welcomes the collaboration of Clark Langdon Partners, a leading retained executive search firm with a focus on CEO, Board of Directors and other senior executive leadership positions. Simon Clark, CEO and founder of Clark Langdon Partners, commented, “Cleantech companies are able to attract top CEO talent. It is rare that a new industry can successfully hire such strong leadership; even with capital available, the rarest commodity is people.”

We are pleased to confirm the participation of the following speakers:

Andrew Gilbert, Executive Vice President of European Innovation Development at Qualcomm Inc. Previously, from May 2002 to January 2006, Andrew served as Vice President and General Manager of Flarion Technologies European, Middle Eastern and African regions.

Gustaf Nobel, great-grandson of Ludvig Nobel, brother of Alfred Nobel, founded, together with 5 other Nobel descendants and on behalf of the Nobel family, the Nobel Sustainability Trust.

The Trust aims to crystallise global awareness and focus on environmental considerations and solutions, which ensure freedom of access to energy for all members of society whilst ensuring the protection of the Earth. Nobel Sustainability Trust seeks to provide cleantech innovation with the optimal environment for finance, expertise and networks to enable market reach.

George Frampton, senior counsel at Covington & Burling LLP, a leading law firm. He served as Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) from 1998 to 2001 and most recently as Co-Chairman of the Obama transition team for CEQ.

This year’s Presenting Companies will include:

Image Courtesy of   http://www.flickr.com/photos/nandorfejer/

The article CleanEquity Monaco: The Emerging Cleantech Companies World Forum appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

In a decision that could set a national precedent for how local governments can regulate gas drilling, a New York state court on Wednesday, February 22, ruled for the first time that towns have the right to ban drilling despite a state regulation asserting they cannot.

At issue was a zoning law in Dryden, a township adjacent to Ithaca and the Cornell University campus, where drilling companies have leased some 22,000 acres for drilling. In August, Dryden’s town board passed a zoning law that prohibits gas drilling within town limits. The next month, Denver-based Anschutz Exploration Corp. sued the town, saying the ban was illegal because state law trumped the municipal rules.

 As Anschutz noted, New York law promotes the development of oil and gas resources in the state. State Supreme Court Justice Phillip Rumsey addressed this point in his decision, writing: “Nowhere in legislative history provided to the court is there any suggestion that the Legislature intended — as argued by Anschutz — to encourage the maximum ultimate recovery of oil and gas regardless of other considerations, or to preempt local zoning authority.”

The Dryden case is merely the latest in a string of similar conflicts arising from Colorado to Pennsylvania that pit local communities against state oil and gas laws. It is common for local governments to zone industrial or commercial land, or to institute ordinances for noise or traffic. When it comes to the development of natural resources like oil and gas, the industry contends that local government shouldn’t make those decisions.

In New York, the controversy over state regulation of fracking has been brewing for years. In 2008, New York effectively put drilling on hold while it launched an environmental analysis of fracking, a process that uses a mix of highly pressurized water, sand and other chemicals to crack the earth deep underground. This is the first ruling on an industry effort to use the mineral extraction law to get around local bans.

In addition to the environmental and health concerns over fracking, which we’ve covered in depth, a fundamental issue has been the rights of localities against state or federal laws. According to Eric Goldstein, a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council in New York, the right of local governments to determine their own land use has been guaranteed by the Constitution for over a century.

“The argument is simple,” said Goldstein. “New York state laws shouldn’t override the authority of local governments to protect their constituents.”

In New York, two very similarly worded laws govern the regulation of mining and oil and gas drilling. The oil and gas provision gives the state the power to “regulate the development, production and utilization of natural resources of oil and gas.” The town of Dryden argued that it was not trying to regulate fracking but merely trying to protect its citizens and property.

It pointed out that courts have allowed towns to ban mining, and said Dryden should be allowed to do the same for fracking. The justice seemed to agree, concluding that the state’s oil and gas laws don’t prohibit localities from barring drilling.

Anschutz’s lawyer, Thomas West, said he was not sure whether the company would appeal the decision. Even if it does so, said Joseph Heath, an environmental attorney in New York, Tuesday’s win could help set a precedent for other communities. Despite the threat of similar lawsuits from a major corporation, local fracking bans and moratoriums have continued to grow in the last few years. ”People are now concentrating on local governments because that’s the best form of protection against fracking,” said Heath.

Such protection is unlikely to come from the states, as New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation has already deferred to the courts. When ProPublica interviewed the commissioner last year, asked him specifically about the potential for conflict between local municipalities and states. He said it was likely “that the courts will need to decide these issues in a lawsuit between the town and the drilling company, not the state.” Now, it looks as if at least one court has decided.

“[The Dryden case] is an important indicator of how those battles are likely to play out,” said the NRDC’s Goldstein, “although it’s not the final word.”

by Lena Groeger, ProPublica, Feb. 22, 2012, 5:51 p.m.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.flickr.com/photos/akinloch/

The article New York Court Affirms Towns’ Powers to Ban Fracking appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been ranked as hosting the cleanest environment among the Gulf cooperative council countries (GCC) and the second best in the Middle East region according to World Environmental Performance Index (EPI) in a recent press release.

The surprise of this ranking is that the UAE has jumped from a 152^nd place in 2008, which was considered among the poorest scoring eco-friendly country in the world, to number 77 in 2012.

The other GCC rankings include Saudi Arabia (82^nd), Qatar (100^th), Oman (110^th) and Kuwait (126^th), while Bahrain is not including in the ranking. The EPI’s indicators and policies are evaluated in many categories such as Environmental Diseases, Water, Air Pollution, Biodiversity and Habitat, Forestry, Fisheries, Agriculture, Climate Changes.

Meanwhile, the UAE is ranked 27^th in The Pilot Trend Environmental Performance Index, a new tool launched this year to measure the eco-friendly inclinations in different countries.

The world’s top ranker in the index is Switzerland, while Iraq has the lowest ranking among the 132 included countries this year. The UAE is ranked one step after Egypt, which is the highest ranked among the Middle Eastern and Arab countries. This index is issued every year by Yale and Colombia University based on 22 environmental indicators and policies.

The local governments of each Emirate have started green polices in their governmental sectors and urge the private sector to take steps into eco-friendly policies as well to protect and develop the limited natural resource of the warm and humid weathered countries. These efforts focus mainly on reducing the energy and water consumption, as well as initiating sustainable waste management.

At the end of 2011, Abu Dhabi’s municipality introduced fines against spitting, disposing gums and throwing cigarettes in the streets as in an effort to save the clean environment in the city. These fines would also reduce the unaccepted behavior of certain communities in the city. These fines vary from 100 dirhams to 500 dirhams (27.22 to 136 USD).

In addition, the Urban Planning Council of Abu Dhabi urges all future villa owners to use an online tool to ensure that they plan their villas according to the green building code. This code aims to reduce the energy and water bills by 40% by urging villa owners to use alternative energy types and to increase green landscaping around their villas.

According to officials in The UAE’s Ministry of Environment and Water, the UAE plans to be a plastic bag free country by the end of 2013, to help reduce plastic consumption in the country. In collaboration with the ministry of Economy, both ministries urge all supermarkets and shops to give their customers biodegradable bags rather than plastic bags in order to reach this goal on the specified deadline.

The alternatives to plastic bags are made from recycled paper, jute or polycaprolactone which is easily biodegradable. Plastic bags on the other hand are known to be highly non-easily biodegradable, and can last for more than 100 years.

Image Courtesy of  slava296 / Shutterstock.com

The article The United Arab Emirates: Second Cleanest Nation in Middle East appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The first Plantagon Greenhouse breaks ground. A new type of greenhouse for vertical farming, an international Centre of Excellence for Urban Agriculture, a demo-plant for Swedish clean-tech and a climate-smart way to use excess heating and CO2 from industries. The potential is tremendous and ambitions high for the new greenhouse being built in Linkoping, Sweden, near the regional energy company, Tekniska Verken. Not least, it will be a new landmark for the people in Linkoping to enjoy.

Representatives from Linkoping city, Plantagon and Tekniska Verken gathered for a symbolic groundbreaking ceremony. Once the drafting stage is complete, construction of the greenhouse will take an estimated 12-16 months.

“I am immensely proud that Linkoping is the chosen site for the first vertical greenhouse. We will be the first city in the world to test the new technology and the systems involved to develop sustainable agricultural solutions for future cities,” says Paul Lindvall, Mayor of Linkoping.

“We are full of praise for Plantagon’s exciting project launching in Linkoping. Our ambition is to support the project with smart ideas for sustainable energy systems,” says Anders Jonsson, CEO of Tekniska Verken.

“This is a historic day for Plantagon. This ceremony marks the realization of the vision of creating functional sustainable solutions for the growing cities of today and tomorrow, where we can grow food in the cities in a resource-smart way, making use of the special conditions of the city,” says Hans Hassle, CEO of Plantagon.

The Plantagon greenhouse, developed together with Sweco, is designed for vertical agriculture of vegetables in urban areas. In cooperation with several partners, Plantagon plans to develop integrated solutions for energy, excess heat, waste, CO2 and water.

“With this greenhouse we’re developing and fine-tuning the technical systems required for vertical farming in urban areas, together with several well-known Swedish partner companies. We want to gather expertise in the field, and our long-term objective is to create an international Center of Excellence for Urban Agriculture here in Linkoping,” says Hans Hassle.

The article The World’s First Plantagon Greenhouse Breaks Ground in Sweden appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The Bureau of Reclamation has received a proposed set of common-sense solutions to solve the imbalance between supply and demand for water in the Colorado River Basin, where the Bureau projects river flow will decrease by an average of about nine percent over the next 50 years due to climate change.

The proposal by Environmental Defense Fund — which includes ideas by other conservation groups and stakeholders — was in response to the deadline for public input of “options and strategies” for a study to define and solve future imbalances in water supply and demand in the basin through 2060.

“Our proposed solutions don’t include expensive new infrastructure and diversions that threaten the health of the Colorado River and the recreation and tourism economy of the region,” said Dan Grossman, Rocky Mountain regional director for Environmental Defense Fund and a former vice chairman of the Agriculture, Natural Resources and Energy Committee in the Colorado Senate.

“Instead, we are focusing on common-sense ideas — including water banks, water re-use and municipal and agricultural efficiency — to solve the imbalance between supply and demand, while protecting the healthy flows of the river.”

Water banks are institutional mechanisms that can be set up in one state, or by multiple states, to use existing storage in a more flexible manner — particularly during drought — by holding “deposits” of water leased or purchased from existing users.  For example, they hold the potential to be a cost-effective way of preventing the chaotic effects of a ”call” on the river under the Colorado River Compact.

The compact stipulates that when river flows are insufficient to satisfy the Lower Basin states’ water entitlement on the river, the lower basin can place a call on the river water, forcing upper basin states to stop diverting water until the lower basin’s water entitlement is satisfied.

“Managing the Colorado River in a hotter and drier west requires bold and innovative thinking,” added Grossman.  “We can’t continue to adhere to the dogmas of the 19th and 20th centuries and expect to solve this impending crisis.”

The Colorado River Basin is one of the most critical sources of water in the western United States and Mexico, providing water to 30 million people in seven states: Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming.  The Colorado River Basin Water Supply & Demand Study – due to be completed in June by the Bureau of Reclamation and agencies from the seven basin states – is focusing on the needs of basin resources that are dependent upon a healthy river system.  They include:

• Water for municipal, industrial, and agricultural use;
• Hydroelectric power generation;
• Recreation;
• Fish and wildlife and their habitats;
• Water quality including salinity;
• Flow and water-dependent ecological systems; and
• Flood control, all under a range of conditions that could occur over the next 50 years.

“As we begin forging a new path forward for managing the Colorado River in the age of limits, we need to think about the impacts of our actions on future generations in the west,” concluded Grossman. “Current demands from residential development and agriculture are overtaxing a river that is diminishing because of a changing climate.  We need flexible, market-driven solutions that will protect the river and the ecosystems and western economies it supports.”

The article Proposal to Protect Colorado River Flow, Ecosystems, Western Economy appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Energy rates are going to rise over the next 5-10 years and consumers who resist switching to new, energy efficient lighting will see their lighting bills rise 15-20 percent over the next decade. So warns Rodney Heller, Lead Lighting Designer at Energy Performance Lighting (EPL) in Madison. Heller, a nationally recognized leader in the field of energy efficient lighting, explains that the reason energy rates will soon be on the rise comes down to common sense and simple economics.

“Electric utility companies need to maintain a certain profit margin in order to stay in business,” said Heller. “Right now, 20-30 percent of the energy that is taken off the power grid goes to powering light bulbs. As more and more people cut their energy consumption by using new, more efficient lighting, the utilities’ profit margin will be reduced substantially.

As a result, they will need to raise their rates. In turn, businesses and consumers that stick with the older, less efficient light bulbs will see their electric bills rise 15-20 percent over the normal rate of inflation in the next decade.”

Heller is the executive producer of a recently released video special entitled Electric Light: Dawn of a New Era . The program features interviews with several of the nation’s most eminent lighting experts and explores dynamic electric lighting changes that are already well underway. Consumers will have a wide range of lighting options to choose from, including compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs), Halogens, LEDs (light emitting diodes) and OLEDs (organic light emitting diodes).

“There will be more change in lighting over the next few years than there has been in the previous 100 years,” said Heller. “I highly recommend that consumers take a little time to educate themselves about how the newer forms of lighting not only will save them money but will make their lives better. Consult an expert to help you understand about the color of the light and where and how to place the light to create the ideal atmosphere, whether it’s to relax at home or to become more productive at work.”

The article Wisconsin Lighting Expert Cautions on Rising Energy Rates appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The Residential Recycling Conference will convene for its third annual gathering at the Gaylord Texan on March 28-30, 2012. The nation’s premier recycling conference features municipal recycling leaders, executives from privately owned recycling companies and leaders from non-profit groups and associations.

The two-and-a-half-day event includes more than 25 speakers, an adjoining exhibit floor featuring the latest recycling technology and equipment, networking receptions, classes to earn professional education credits and a tour of a nearby recycling facility. Waste & Recycling News and Republic Services Inc. are the co-organizers of the Residential Recycling Conference.

“I love the RRC because it is singularly focused on residential recycling. It’s a business that deserves special emphasis, given its complexity and reach into our daily lives,” said Brennan Lafferty, publisher of Waste & Recycling News. “Our attendees make great connections with their peers, and exhibitors consistently tell us that they are now doing business with someone they met at the RRC.”

The general session is a diverse mix of panel discussions and singular presentations. Highlights include a panel on the challenges of recycling in apartments and other multi-family locations, a session on educating community residents using schools and social media, and a discussion on how recycling managers can maximize the prices they receive for their collected material..

Speakers include experts from Coca-Cola Co., Sims Municipal Recycling, ERI Electronics Recyclers, ReCommunity and several municipalities, including the city of San Antonio, Texas.

“There is always something new and exciting about this event,” Conference Chairman Kurt Blascoe said. “I look forward to hearing from the team of all-star speakers and to seeing the latest in technology from our valued vendors.

Through recycling’s evolution, we have begun to see a paradigm shift from doing it for economic reasons only to doing it because it’s the right thing to do,” said Blascoe, who serves as director of marketing materials for Republic Services.

The article Recycling Officials Will Converge on Dallas in March appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), the largest environmental advocacy organization dedicated to protecting the Southeast, has announced its fourth annual list of the top 10 places in the South that face immediate, potentially irreparable threats in 2012.

Many of the areas on SELC’s Top 10 list are endangered by pressure to undercut environmental protections and to lower the hurdles for potentially destructive projects, whether it’s fracking in the North Carolina Piedmont, uranium mining in Virginia, or deepwater drilling in the Gulf.

“The South’s special places and natural riches are threatened by a wave of calculated attacks on the bedrock laws that protect our environment and health,” said Marie Hawthorne, SELC’s Director of Development. “Under the guise of promoting economic growth, anti-environmental forces are working in Congress, in state legislatures, and in government agencies to gut our most essential safeguards.

“The truth is, environmental protection had nothing to do with the financial crisis or today’s weak economy,” Hawthorne added. “Doing away with effective laws and enforcement will accomplish nothing except sacrifice the natural treasures like those on our Top 10 list and other resources that make the South such a great place live, work, and raise our families. We owe it to ourselves — and to future generations — to make sure this doesn’t happen.”

Top 10 Endangered Places in the Southeast for 2012

The following endangered areas were chosen from among hundreds of special places that the SELC is defending through its law and policy work in the six states of Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama.

Alabama’s coast: Following the tragic BP spill, the government has returned to business as usual and is authorizing risky deepwater drilling projects under the same assumptions that failed in the Deepwater Horizon disaster. This approach is irresponsible, illegal, and poses an ongoing threat to Alabama’s beaches, marshes, wildlife, and coastal communities.

Dawson Forest, Georgia : A costly, unnecessary proposed reservoir would siphon 100 million gallons per day from the Etowah River to fuel metro Atlanta’s unchecked sprawl, threatening prime habitat for endangered aquatic life, water supplies of downstream communities, and a popular recreation area.

Catawba-Wateree Basin, North Carolina & South Carolina: The health of the Catawba-Wateree River, which provides drinking water for hundreds of thousands of residents of central North Carolina and South Carolina, faces an array of threats, including pollution from toxin-laden coal ash ponds, hydroelectric dams that will continue to disrupt stream flows and fish migration, water withdrawals that rob water from downstream farms and communities, and unnecessary reservoir projects that promote inefficient development and water use.

North Carolina Piedmont: The gas drilling industry and its allies in the North Carolina General Assembly are pushing hard to pass legislation that would expedite hydraulic fracturing (a.k.a. ‘fracking’) to extract natural gas, despite mounting evidence that the drilling technique, in the absence of appropriate regulatory controls, can lead to the contamination of groundwater and surface water. Potential fracking sites in North Carolina’s Piedmont are underneath or upstream from water supplies for 2.4 million people.

Savannah River, South Carolina & Georgia : The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ plan to deepen 38 miles of the Savannah River shipping channel would increase saltwater intrusion in the river and jeopardize freshwater marshlands in the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge, drinking water supplies for Savannah and other communities, and habitat for endangered aquatic species.

Chilhowie Mountain, Tennessee: The outdated plan for completing Corridor K between Chattanooga and Asheville includes a proposal to cut a new four-lane highway through the Cherokee National Forest near the Ocoee Gorge, even though improvements to the existing two-lane highway on its current footprint would be less damaging, less costly, and no less effective.

Chesapeake Bay, Virginia: For decades the Bay has suffered from pollution from all sides — air, land, and water. Unfortunately, industry interests and their political allies are doing all they can to impede a comprehensive rescue plan.

Mountains of Tennessee & Virginia: Mountaintop removal and other destructive coal mining practices have already destroyed at least 500 mountains and damaged 1,700 miles of streams in Virginia, Tennessee and other central Southern Appalachian states, and pressure continues to mount.

Charlottesville, Virginia & Surrounding Countryside: Local and state decision-makers are attempting to revive a wasteful, destructive, and ineffective proposed bypass that would leave a permanent scar on one of the South’s most special communities.

Southside Virginia: An intense push to mine uranium in southern Virginia risks polluting drinking water supplies with radioactive and toxic-laden wastewater. Lifting the state’s ban on uranium mining could open up Virginia’s Piedmont countryside to more large-scale mining projects.

The article Top 10 Endangered Places in Southeast US appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

FirstEnergy has announced that its generation subsidiaries will retire six older coal-fired power plants located in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland by September 1, 2012.  The decision to close the plants is based on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), which were recently finalized, and other environmental regulations.

The total capacity of the competitive plants that will be retired is 2,689 megawatts (MW).  Recently, these plants served mostly as peaking or intermediate facilities, generating, on average, approximately 10 percent of the electricity produced by the company over the past three years.

The following plants will be retired: Bay Shore Plant, Units 2-4, Oregon, Ohio; Eastlake Plant, Eastlake, Ohio;  Ashtabula Plant, Ashtabula, Ohio; Lake Shore Plant, Cleveland, Ohio; Armstrong Power Station,Adrian, Pa.; and R. Paul Smith Power Station, Williamsport, Md.

In total, 529 employees will be directly affected.  Existing severance benefits will apply to eligible, affected employees.  However, the final number of affected employees could be less as some are considered for open positions at other FirstEnergy facilities and work locations, and eligible employees take advantage of a retirement benefit being offered to those 55 years and older.

“This decision is not in any way a reflection of the fine work done by the employees at the affected plants, but is related to the impact of new environmental rules,” said James H. Lash, president, FirstEnergy Generation and chief nuclear officer.

“We recently completed a comprehensive review of our coal-fired generating plants and determined that additional investments to implement MATS and other environmental rules would make these older plants even less likely to be dispatched under market rules. As a result, it was necessary to retire the plants rather than continue operations.”

The plant retirements are subject to review for reliability impacts, if any, by PJM Interconnection, the regional transmission organization that controls the area where they are located.

FirstEnergy is finalizing MATS compliance plans for its remaining coal-fired units.  Since the Clean Air Act became law in 1970, FirstEnergy and its predecessor companies have invested more than $10 billion in environmental protection efforts.

Since 1990, FirstEnergy has reduced emissions of nitrogen oxides by more than 76 percent, sulfer dioxide by more than 86 percent and mercury by about 56 percent.  When the six coal-fired plants are removed from FirstEnergy’s competitive generating fleet, more than 96 percent of the power provided will come from resources that are non- or low-emitting, including nuclear, hydro, pumped-storage hydro, natural gas and scrubbed coal units.

FirstEnergy is a diversified energy company dedicated to safety, reliability and operational excellence.  Its 10 electric distribution companies comprise the nation’s largest investor-owned electric system.  Its diverse generating fleet features non-emitting nuclear, scrubbed coal, natural gas, and pumped-storage hydro and other renewables, and has a total generating capacity of nearly 23,000 megawatts.

The article FirstEnergy to Retire Six Coal-Fired Power Plants appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Juhl Wind Inc., the Leader in Community Wind Power, has announced the official commercial start-up and operation of the two turbine project for Gundersen Health System in Winona County, MN. The 4.95 megawatt project (the “GL Wind project”) is the first-of-its-kind in North America to be constructed specifically to address the energy concerns of a large regional health organization, in this case, Gundersen Health System.

“This unique wind project represents the continued activity by Juhl over the past two years and highlights our strength and diversity in the community wind energy market,” stated Corey Juhl, Vice President of Development for Juhl Wind Inc.  “We are seeing an increased demand for large commercial and industrial organization projects such as Gundersen’s as they fit extremely well within Juhl Wind’s area of expertise. This community-based project will provide significant economic benefits to the region. As one piece of their Envision program, the wind farm project will help Gundersen Health System achieve their goal of becoming 100% energy independent by 2014.”

“This is an exciting time for Gundersen and our Envision program. This community wind project we have done with Juhl Wind was about two years in the making, and we’re happy to report that the turbines are now creating energy,” said Jeff Rich, executive director, GL Envision.

Rich added, “As a healthcare organization, it is important for us to lead by example. Creating renewable energy through programs, like the GL Wind project in Lewiston makes good business sense, creates local jobs during construction and ties directly to our mission of improving the health of the communities we serve. The money we generate from renewable energy projects, like the wind farm, and the money we save through energy conservation can be passed on to patients in the form of lower healthcare costs. The renewable energy projects are also allowing us to improve our environmental footprint in the communities we serve.”

The article Community Wind Farm Project for Gundersen Health System appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

After being found liable in Ecuador for creating one of the world’s worst oil disasters, Chevron filed a notice of appeal to Ecuador’s highest court where it seeks special treatment not afforded any other litigant under the nation’s laws — the waiver of a bond required to suspend enforcement of a judgment during the pendency of any appeal.

It would be illegal under Ecuadorian law for the appellate court to grant Chevron’s unusual and unprecedented request to waive the bond requirement, said Pablo Fajardo, the lead attorney for the indigenous and farmer communities who brought suit against the oil giant for the dumping of billions of gallons of toxic waste into the waterways used by several indigenous groups and farmer communities.

“Chevron has every right under the law to seek an extraordinary appeal to the highest court as long as it can cite a proper legal basis,” said Fajardo.  “But Chevron is yet again seeking a special exemption under Ecuadorian law when it claims the bond requirement should not apply to it, while it applies to every other litigant in the country.”

“Chevron behaves in Ecuador as if it is above the law while thousands of people continue to suffer the devastating effects of the company’s toxic contamination,” said Fajardo.  ”This abuse of the judicial process must end.”

For execution of a court judgment in Ecuador to be suspended pending appeal to the highest court — called the National Court of Justice — the losing party must post a bond that is usually calculated at roughly 8% of the amount of damages awarded (roughly $1.5 billion in this case). Chevron is seeking to have enforcement suspended even without posting a bond even though the indigenous and farmer communities continue to suffer grave health effects engendered by the company’s delaying tactics, said Fajardo.

Karen Hinton, the U.S. spokesperson for the Ecuadorians, said in a statement that “for almost two decades, Chevron has stood in the way of a comprehensive cleanup of billions of gallons of crude oil and toxic waste water it deliberately dumped into the pristine rainforest of Ecuador.”

“Thousands of people have died or suffered from illnesses as Chevron and its army of lawyers have waged a campaign to distract attention from the overwhelming scientific evidence against the company,” said Hinton. “Chevron has always believed that Ecuador’s many laws prohibiting environmental contamination should not apply to its misconduct.”

The bond requirement, typical in countries around the world including the U.S., is intended to protect the winning side from unnecessary delays during appellate review.  Ecuador’s first-level appellate court already affirmed the trial court judgment that the company is required to pay $18 billion for a clean-up, a relatively modest amount compared to BP’s estimated $60 billion liability for the smaller Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Fajardo also said that an arbitral order cited by Chevron as justification for its request for a bond waiver is not binding on the rainforest communities as they are not a party to that proceeding, which is held in secret pursuant to a U.S.-Ecuador investment treaty.

In any event, the arbitral panel never ordered — and under the law cannot order — that Ecuador’s courts take steps that would “clearly violate” Ecuador’s Constitution and international treaties binding the government to protect the fundamental human rights of its citizens, including the right to life and the right to seek legal redress in national courts, said Fajardo.  Further, the arbitral panel has never even held an evidentiary hearing on Chevron’s claims that a remediation contract with Ecuador’s government released it from liability.

“We believe Chevron clearly is misinterpreting the scope of authority of the arbitration,” he added. ”We want to reiterate that Chevron has every right to appeal to Ecuador’s National Court of Justice, but it has no right to special treatment during the pendency of the appeal,” Fajardo added.

The trial court decision, issued in February 2011, found that Chevron systematically dumped billions of gallons of toxic waste into the Amazon, poisoning waterways that local inhabitants use for drinking water and causing increased cancer rates. Damages were set at $18 billion.  In 2002, the case was shifted from U.S. federal court to Ecuador at Chevron’s request.

The trial court in Ecuador also repeatedly sanctioned Chevron’s legal team for filing frivolous motions intended to delay the proceedings, and for threatening a judge with jail if he did not rule in favor of the company.  These actions led to a punitive damages award that accounts for roughly half of the total judgment.

Chevron has roughly two more weeks under Ecuadorian law to determine if it will publicly apologize for its misconduct, which would allow it to eliminate the punitive damages component of the award.

As support for the contention that Chevron believes it does have to adhere to the law in Ecuador, Hinton cited a comment in a 60 Minutes interview where Chevron attorney Silvia Garrigo – pressed as to why the company said it would never pay any adverse judgment in Ecuador – said: “We don’t believe we should be in any court, much less the courts of Ecuador.”

The 188-page trial court judgment is undergirded by a wide body of scientific and testimonial evidence submitted during eight years of proceedings that prove Chevron designed a system of oil extraction that deliberately discharged toxic oil waste into the environment to keep production costs to a minimum. Chevron also has been heavily criticized for trying to defraud the Ecuador court and sabotage the proceedings.

In briefs submitted to U.S. and Ecuadorian courts, the rainforest communities submitted evidence that Chevron technicians staked out “clean” spots at contaminated well sites to test prior to court-supervised judicial inspections; sent dirty soil samples to a secret lab to prevent their disclosure to the court; and doctored a “judicial playbook” document so two academic experts in the U.S. would endorse the company’s misleading sampling protocol, among other charges.

A separate ruling by a New York federal appellate court marks Chevron’s third consecutive legal setback in its effort to block enforcement of the Ecuador judgment.

In September, a federal appellate panel blocked Chevron’s attempt to seek an unprecedented worldwide injunction blocking enforcement. In January, a federal district court judge denied Chevron’s illegal attempt to freeze the assets of the plaintiffs. And on January 3, Ecuador’s first-level appellate court confirmed the validity of the trial court judgment.

The article Chevron Claims Special Treatment Under Ecuadorian Law appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Climate change is likely to harm California’s economy by reducing the types of natural, non-irrigated vegetation available for livestock forage and the ability of forest ecosystems to store carbon dioxide, according to a peer-reviewed study published in the scientific journal Climatic Change.

The ability of ecosystems to store carbon dioxide is a key part of implementing the state’s climate law, the Global Warming Solutions Act, also known as Assembly Bill 32 or AB 32.

“Much of the talk about climate change in California has been about the impacts of sea level rise and droughts,” said study coauthor Linwood Pendleton, director of ocean and coastal policy at Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, acting chief economist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and study author. “Our work shows that even the gritty worlds of cattle ranching and forestry may take it on the chin as California skies become increasingly carbon-rich.”

The study was conducted by researchers from Duke University, Environmental Defense Fund, The Nature Conservancy, Conservation Biology Institute, USDA Forest Service, Stanford University and the University of California at Santa Barbara. It examines how climate change will impact the fundamental character of California’s ecosystems and the valuable services that they provide to the economy.

To analyze the impact to carbon sequestration and natural, non-irrigated livestock forage—two important ecosystem services that contribute to the state’s economy—the researchers used climatic change scenario models from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and three atmospheric-oceanic models.

The researchers identified that climate change would cause a consistent decline in conifer woodlands and forests through the end of the century that could decrease the amount of carbon storage in forestlands and harm the forestry industry.

They also determined that climate change is likely to alter the amount and timing of rain, hail and snow in California, resulting in a 15 to 70 percent increase in shrub lands and a consistent decline in natural, non-irrigated forage production for livestock.

“A less stable climate will reduce the ability of natural landscapes to support cattle grazing, so ranchers may have to grow or buy extra hay instead of getting it for free from nature, as they do now,” said lead report author Rebecca Shaw, Ph.D., associate vice president of EDF’s Land, Water and Wildlife program and a working group member of the IPCC.

“We calculated that replacing lost forage caused by climate change with extra hay will hike costs for the California ranching industry by up to $235 million per year by 2070,” said Shaw. “That’s why it’s important for policymakers to better understand the value of services that nature provides to California’s economy, so that they can work to protect our natural resources and the economy in the face of climate change.”

“Fortunately, California’s Global Warming Solutions Act provides new economic opportunities for landowners—both inside and outside California—to be part of the climate solution,” said economist Belinda Morris, a report coauthor and regional director of EDF’s Center for Conservation Incentives.

“Landowners can earn credits for capturing carbon on their land that they can sell to offset industrial carbon emissions. These credits will bring in a whole new revenue stream that can benefit the ranching industry, helping ranchers to keep ranching.” Carbon credits are an integral part of the carbon cap-and-trade program that is scheduled to begin this year under the Global Warming Solutions Act. It allows for 8 percent of the law’s carbon emission reduction goals to be achieved by offsetting emissions with carbon credits.

“EDF is working with landowners, academic institutions and others to develop cost-effective methods for capturing carbon on rangelands that could generate new revenue streams for ranchers as part of a carbon credits market, while also improving soil fertility,” Morris said.

The article Climate Change Threatens California Economy appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors and The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company announced the recipients of the 2012 ‘GRO1000’ Gardens and Green Spaces Grant Awards Program. The grants, which focus on improving our nation’s cities through the development of community gardens and green spaces, were announced at The U.S. Conference of Mayors’ 80th Winter Meeting in Washington, DC.

This year’s winning cities are:

• Baltimore – Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake
• Columbia, SC – Mayor Steven Benjamin
• Cleveland – Mayor Frank Jackson
• Corpus Christi, Texas – Mayor Joe Adame
• San Francisco – Mayor Edwin Lee

“Over the last several years, The Conference has pushed for cities to develop community gardens to enhance the health and quality of life in our neighborhoods,” said Conference President Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. “This new Grant Awards Program shines an important spotlight on mayoral efforts to support innovative gardens and green spaces.”

Through a new partnership with the U.S. Conference of Mayors and ScottsMiracle-Gro, more cities across the nation will be able to enjoy the benefits of gardens and green spaces. The partnership awards grants to cities for the creation of innovative public gardens and green spaces and recognizes mayoral stewardship in the development of urban greenscapes.

“The importance that a garden can have in a community is irrefutable,” said ScottsMiracle-Gro CEO Jim Hagedorn. “We were inspired by the innovative ways that mayors across America are using gardens and green spaces to improve their cities. From fostering urban revitalization to developing edible gardens for its citizens, the winners of these grants truly demonstrate the power that gardens can have in a community.

“We are proud to provide support for these efforts and look forward to helping each of these cities bring their projects to life.”

The winning cities were selected by a panel of former mayors and national garden experts from a pool of more than 80 applicants. Grants, in the amount of $25,000 from ScottsMiracle-Gro, were awarded to five cities.

“Mayors understand that gardens and green spaces are important to the quality of life for their residents, and the Conference of Mayors, in partnership with ScottsMiracle-Gro, is pleased to be able to provide grants to help them expand green spaces in their cities,” said Tom Cochran, USCM CEO and Executive Director.

The article Five American Cities Receive Green Grant Award appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Bernardin Lochmueller & Associates (BLA), a leader in sustainable infrastructure design, recently received a method patent for its Eco-Treatment constructed wetland system to treat wastewater from animal confinement operations

Manure management processes by Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) have come under increasing scrutiny. Some CAFOs store manure in lagoons, until they can dispose of it, most often by applying it to fields. Environmentalists and some regulators are concerned about the release of raw wastes into watersheds, especially when rain causes lagoons to overflow or manure runs off of fields into nearby bodies of water.

In 2008 the EPA established zero discharge requirements but did not require facility-specific reporting. A proposed EPA rule would require CAFOs to provide information on waste discharges starting this July in an effort to protect water quality. The public comment period for this new rule closes January 19.

Constructed wetlands, whether used as a stand-alone system or in combination with land application or other treatment alternatives, offer a cost-effective solution to assist CAFOs in meeting the zero discharge requirement. Using plants and a variety of filter media, the system provides a natural approach to reducing or eliminating nutrients and other chemicals from manure and wastes. The system can even be fine-tuned to provide effluent with nutrient loads that match the needs of specific crops.

To date, BLA’s Water Resources Team, led by Mark Harrison, PE, LEED AP, has designed more than 80 constructed wetland systems for the treatment of animal waste, site and municipal sewage, and Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs). A number of these have won state and national awards for innovative engineering.

One recent project is saving the City of Washington, Indiana, a city of 12,000, more than $40 million on its plan to meet federal mandates for CSO water quality. The wetland system will also save the city $1.6 million in annual operations and maintenance. It was recently named one of the Top Projects for 2011 by Water & Wastes Digest.

“Constructed wetlands offer a variety of benefits,” says Harrison. “Because nature does the work, it reduces the energy used, be that energy needed to transport manure or run a mechanical treatment system, not to mention cutting the cost of additional chemicals to treat waste. In some instances, we’ve even designed wetlands to provide habitat for wildlife or walking trails. It’s just an all-around great solution!”

The article New Patent for CAFO Wastewater Treatment Wetlands appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Southwest Airlines has introduced a new sleek cabin experience to enhance Customer comfort, improve fleet efficiency, and give back to the environment. Dubbed ‘Evolve: The New Southwest Interior’ , the cabin update utilizes durable and environmentally responsible products to reduce waste and create weight savings onboard the aircraft, while enhancing comfort for Customers.

Inspired by Southwest’s past with a nod to the airline’s future, the cabin refresh features recyclable carpet, a brighter color-scheme, and a more durable, eco-friendly, and comfortable low-profile seat that weighs less than the current seat.

The new interior design also provides the unique opportunity of greater revenue potential by increasing the number of seats onboard from 137 to 143, without sacrificing Customer comfort and personal space but, at the same time, increasing under-seat room for carryon luggage.

“We are preparing now for our next 40 years with a fleet modernization plan that includes the new interior, the Boeing 737-800 which is scheduled to come online beginning in March this year, and the 737 MAX, which is expected to join the Southwest fleet in 2017,” said Bob Jordan, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer.

“The evolutionary changes we’re making with the new interior uphold our low-cost roots and historic focus on Customer Service. The cabin upgrade also allows us to create significant revenue opportunities without adding unwanted fees.”

Beginning with a partnership between Southwest’s Maintenance and Engineering and Marketing Teams, Southwest set out to improve the inflight Customer Experience while increasing the durability of onboard materials, but without adding costs. In 2009, Southwest launched the “Green Plane” to test the market’s latest sustainable products onboard an aircraft in an effort to forge a new path in onboard eco-friendly products.

Based on the inflight test results and feedback from Customers onboard the Green Plane, Southwest’s new Evolve interior features the E-Leather seat cover and many of the other products tested on the Green Plane including the carpet, life vest pouch, foam fill, and passenger seat rub strips. To view a time lapse video of a Boeing 737-700 transforming into the Evolve: The New Southwest Interior.

Southwest will begin retrofitting its current fleet of 372 Boeing -700s with the Evolve interior in March 2012, anticipating completion in 2013, for a total estimated cost of approximately $60 million.

As integration of AirTran Airways, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Southwest, moves forward, Southwest anticipates that AirTran’s Boeing -700s and 717s will also be retrofitted with the new cabin interior as those aircraft are converted into the Southwest brand over the next several years. Other Southwest fleet types are still being evaluated for a possible retrofit.

reventon2527 / Shutterstock.com

The article Southwest Airlines Introduces Evolution of Cabin Interior Design appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

While indigenous groups in Ecuador’s Amazon face possible death and grave illness from Chevron’s “Rainforest Chernobyl” disaster, several prominent U.S. law firms and their well-known partners are billing the oil giant hundreds of millions of dollars to forestall a clean-up that could save thousands of lives, according to court documents.

Chevron’s lead outside law firm in the U.S., Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, has 60 lawyers working extensively on the case, a recent court filing revealed. The filing also showed that Chevron has paid almost 500 attorneys and paralegals from 39 different law firms since the celebrated case was filed in U.S. federal court in 1993.

The litigation was shifted to Ecuador at Chevron’s request in 2002, with a subsequent eight-year trial resulting in an $18 billion judgment against the oil giant for causing what experts believe could be the world’s worst oil-related contamination.

The Ecuador litigation represents the first time that indigenous groups have successfully sued a large oil company for harm caused to their health and ancestral lands, said Karen Hinton, the U.S. spokesperson for the Ecuadorians.  Evidence from independent health evaluations concluded that more than 9,000 rainforest dwellers face the risk of contracting cancer absent a rapid cleanup of the damage.

In all, Gibson Dunn was billing Chevron an estimated $250 million per year in 2010 and 2011 as the company launched lawsuits against the plaintiffs in 16 different federal courts, helped to litigate an international arbitration action against Ecuador’s government, filed a fraud case against the Ecuadorians and their lawyers in U.S. federal court, and supervised Chevron’s battery of local lawyers in Ecuador as they faced multiple setbacks that culminated in the adverse judgment against Chevron, said Hinton.

“Chevron’s environmental destruction in Ecuador is the best thing that ever happened to the bottom line of Gibson Dunn,” said Hinton, who noted the firm reported a 20% increase in per-partner profits in 2010 during a downturn in the economy as dozens of its lawyers worked full-bore on the Ecuador matter.

“Clearly, Gibson Dunn and several other firms are profiting from rainforest destruction,” Hinton added. “These lawyers have proven that fighting to deny the human rights of indigenous groups can be a very profitable business model.”

Gibson Dunn clearly has sold Chevron on its willingness to engage in questionable tactics and push the ethical envelope, said Hinton.  The firm boasts that it engages in “recuse operations” for clients in trouble and that if the law is in the way it is willing to maneuver around it to achieve client objectives. Several judges have sanctioned Gibson Dunn lawyers for trying to intimidate witnesses and for filing frivolous lawsuits on behalf of Chevron, and one well-known partner has been accused of trying to mislead the Congress about the case.

A federal judge in Oregon fined Chevron after a team of Gibson Dunn lawyers had harassed the executive director of a respected environmental organization that had filed a brief in support of the Ecuadorians.

Gibson Dunn also uses cookie cutter lawsuits, Hinton said, where defenders of human rights victims and their supporters are always accused of “fraud” for trying to hold wrongdoers like Chevron accountable for their misconduct.

“The basic Gibson Dunn template is to attack victims to distract from the evidence,” said Hinton.  “When that doesn’t work, the firm resorts to outright intimidation to silence any lawyer or advocate who stands up to the firm.”

Gibson Dunn’s approach also has created numerous problems for Chevron in Ecuador, the fifth-largest oil producing nation in South America.  Chevron’s legal team in Ecuador is said to be furious with the Gibson Dunn lawyers for losing the case because of their arrogant treatment of Ecuadorian judges, said Hinton.

Chevron lawyers in Ecuador working closely on the case with Gibson Dunn’s “rescue” team have been sanctioned repeatedly for filing frivolous motions (once filing a motion eighteen times in 30 minutes), threatening the presiding judge with jail time if he didn’t rule in Chevron’s favor, and paying a Chevron contractor to secretly videotape a judge to try to entrap him in a trumped-up bribe scandal.

The Ecuador court imposed a large punitive damages award on Chevron in large part for its abuse of the judicial process in Ecuador, according to the judgment.

In the meantime, the case has become a financial bonanza for several other large law firms who represent Chevron. The list of 39 law firms disclosed by the company in a U.S. court action also includes the prominent criminal defense firm of Arguedas, Cassman & Headley; Jones Day; King & Spalding; Akin, Gump, Strauss; Hauer & Feld; Holland & Knight; Jones Day; Steptoe & Johnson; and Williams & Connolly.

The all-star cast of attorneys who have worked on some aspect of the case for Chevron include Theodore Olson of Gibson Dunn, a former Solicitor General of the United States; Brendan Sullivan of Williams & Connolly, who reportedly represented a Chevron executive who faced potential criminal liability in Ecuador; Greg Craig of Skadden Arps, President Clinton’s impeachment lawyer who Chevron reportedly hired to explore settlement;

Mickey Kantor of Mayer Brown, the former U.S. Trade Representative under Clinton who spearheaded a Chevron effort to cut trade preferences for Ecuador; David Boies , whose firm helps the oil giant fight discovery actions in the U.S. designed to expose its corruption in Ecuador; and Alan Vinegrad , a former U.S. Attorney who represented a Chevron lawyer indicted on criminal charges of fraud for lying to Ecuador’s government about the results of a sham remediation.

Chevron also has used six public relations firms to push talking points denying the company caused any environmental damage in Ecuador, even though the judgment is undergirded by extensive scientific evidence and the allegations have been confirmed by numerous independent news accounts.

After an eight-year trial, the Ecuador trial court in 2011 found the oil giant systematically discharged billions of gallons of toxic waste into the rainforest, decimating indigenous groups and causing an array of oil-related health problems. An Ecuador appellate court affirmed the judgment in early January, potentially opening up Chevron to standard collection actions against its assets in jurisdictions around the world unless its posts a bond in Ecuador.

Chevron stripped its assets from Ecuador and has vowed never to pay for a cleanup, even though reports indicate it contacted the plaintiffs recently in an attempt to explore settlement possibilities. Ultimately, one must wonder how much Chevron shareholders are getting in return for these expensive legal services, she said.

In the last three years, since Gibson Dunn’s “rescue” operation was launched, Chevron was hit with the $18 billion judgment, the largest ever for an environmental case; the judgment was confirmed by a three-judge panel; multiple courts sanctioned the company for its unethical litigation tactics; and a U.S. appellate court in New York prevented Chevron from seeking a worldwide injunction to block enforcement of the judgment.

The article Chevron Pays Steep Fees To Prevent Clean-up of Ecuador Pollution Crisis appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.