In light of Hurricane Sandy and the discussion about whether or not this storm was impacted by Climate Change, this article from Bloomburg Business Week (entitled: It's Global Warming, Stupid) really digs in and gets the discussion going with clarity. http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-11-01/its-global-warming-stupid#r=hp-lst By Dick Rothschild In these times of hubris and acrimonious confrontation it is a relief to report on what can be accomplished when cooperation and consideration are harnessed to achieve a common goal. A case in point is The Duxbury Community Garden, created this spring on part of what was once a small village farm. This serendipitous accomplishment came about early this year, when Anne and George Baird, and Jim Savicki of Sustainable Duxbury met with John McCluskey, the administrator of The Stewart family Foundation. Sustainable Duxbury had been searching for town land on which to establish a community garden. McCloskey was seeking new ways to realize the Foundation’s mission of preserving the property and integrating programs for the benefit of the community. Soon, the two parties had agreed on a community garden on the site and were fleshing out garden features and operating rules. Eighteen individual 12’ x 12’ garden plots would be made available to local residents at a nominal fee. Only organic fertilizer and organic pest and weed management would be allowed. If possible, horse manure from an adjacent property would be made available to the gardeners. Water from the old farm’s well would be piped to the garden in a way so that it could be used by gardeners on their individual plots as well as to water the overall garden during extended dry spells. Space in an existing shed would be made available to gardeners in which to store their tools. At this point Sustainable Duxbury reached out to those who had earlier expressed interest in community gardening and publicized the availability of garden plots to the community at large. Within a month the plots were over-subscribed. In May, Sustainable Duxbury’s Mike Wilson and Jim Savicki headed up a small team to set the garden boundaries, plow and fertilize the area. They laid out the individual plots, creating paths between them of wood chips obtained by John McCloskey who also provided the irrigation piping and an electrified fence around the perimeter. Today these plots are being worked by gardeners from aged 8 to 80 with the old hands pitching in advice and encouragement to first time and less experienced gardeners. On one of the plots, provided by the Stewart Family Foundation, students of the Cardinal Cushing School are growing their own produce. And, they are harvesting blueberries from a patch elsewhere on the property. The Foundation has also enabled a Cardinal Cushing Center program in which students manage the chicken coops on the property. Five days a week students feed the chickens, clean the coop and collect fresh eggs which are then used by The Cardinal Cushing intergenerational community as an ingredient of their meals. Cranberry Hospice has also taken a plot in the Garden for their Fragile Footprints program which they co-sponsor with Jordan Hospital. It will be using the plot to create a “therapeutic garden,” part of its palliative care program for children with life limiting illnesses. Exciting things, worth seeing, are going on in the new Duxbury Community Garden. So, Sustainable Duxbury and The Stewart Family Foundation are inviting the community to an “Open Garden” from 3-5 PM on Sunday July 22nd. At 66 Bayridge Lane, off Bay Road. While Chickens and Blueberries may be the top attractions for the younger set, the garden plots themselves, the manuring and composting system and the beehives are likely to intrigue the rest of us. Light refreshments will be served and the event is free. What better way for family members of all ages to enjoy and be enlightened for an hour or two in an enchanting place. © R.D. Rothschild 2012 I am being told over and over again that we really can't totally get off of nuclear energy. It's just impossible. We will always need some. Of course we could do something drastic like reduce our usage. That would help. But again, I am told we will always need some nuclear power for our energy needs. Then this morning I read this article: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-05/28/germany-sets-solar-power-record. We can do it if they can do it. We could be doing it right now. Read on: http://www.alternet.org/environment/155861/America_Could_Have_Dropped_Big_Oil_Decades_Ago_--_What_Happened?%2F A great article has appeared on the Sierra Club website: http://sierraclub.typepad.com/michaelbrune/2012/05/national-bike-month-bike-to-work-day-bicyles.html
To quote the article: On a bike, you can smell the flowers, feel the wind in your face, beat the traffic, and even help the climate. Here is the article: 05/14/2012 Share the Road AND the Future In San Francisco we celebrated Bike to Work Day last week, but so many people are riding their bikes to work here that every day seems like Bike to Work Day. Bicycle ridership is up by 72 percent in the past six years. This has become a much more bicycle-friendly city during the past decade, but the upward trend is national, too: Bicycle commuting in the U.S. was up by 40 percent from 2000 to 2010, and in the largest "bicycle friendly" communities (as identified by the League of American Bicyclists), it was up by 77 percent. That's great, but it's only scratching the surface of how biking could transform our country. Most people don't commute to work by bike. Most of us don't even use bikes for any of the relatively short trips we make to and from our homes. Forty percent of all car trips are to destinations less than two miles from home. If every American driver made just one of those trips each week on a bicycle instead of a car (going to church, for instance, or to the health club), we would collectively save nearly 2 billion gallons of gas in a year (not to mention about $7 billion). So why don't we do it? I suspect that if you asked people why they don't use a bike for those short trips, you'd hear one answer more than any other: "I just don't feel safe riding in traffic." That's understandable, because most of our roads and cities have been engineered for the safety and convenience of drivers -- not bicyclists. The solution is twofold: Better education for both drivers and cyclists on how to safely share the road and, even more important, an investment in reconfiguring our transportation infrastructure so that bicyclists and pedestrians can both feel and be safer. We need to do this not just because it saves on gas, helps the environment, and makes us healthier. We need to do it because many Americans do not drive at all -- about 100 million as of 2009 (and that number will increase as our population ages). Walking or biking (as well as public transit) are the only ways these people can get somewhere on their own. After decades of assuming that only cars matter, we really should be playing catch-up on behalf of other transportation modes. Currently, Americans make about 12 percent of all trips by biking or walking. So what if we invested 15 percent of our federal transportation funding on bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure? Too generous? How about 10 percent? Five percent? Believe it or not, five percent would still be more than three times as much as we're currently investing now, which is a measly 1.6 percent. Unfortunately, Big Oil's political allies think that even 1.6 percent is too much. Earth Day: Five small steps
1. Recycle Start recycling at home. Reuse jam jars and ice cream tubs as storage box for cookies and other food stuff. You may be surprised by how much can be recycled or reused! 2. Go paperless Try to use paper as little possible. Of course while print outs should be avoided it is best to use recyclable printer cartridges, since recycled replacements are cheaper than new ones. Use cloth napkins instead of paper ones. 3. Efficient electricity Use compact fluorescent bulbs instead of incandescent ones. LED lamps also use less energy. Many appliances have “standby” settings that draw power. Sometimes this takes as much as 15 or 20 watts, even when they’re turned off. To make sure that computers, monitors, printers, photocopy machines, televisions, VCRs, DVD players, and microwave ovens are not wasting any energy turn the appliance off and pull the plug rather than just flipping the switch on the machine. 4. Enjoy the sunshine! By far, the best and most economical source of light is the sun. Make the most of daylight by keeping your blinds and curtains open when light is required during day. Sunlight not only lights up the room, but morning sun rays are also supposed to be anti bacterial. It is not uncommon for interior air to be more contaminated with toxic chemicals than the air outdoors. Wooden furniture, carpeting, and paint are common sources of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), a family of chemicals that pollute the indoor environment. VOCs have been linked to birth defects, endocrine disruption, and cancer. 5. Turn off the lights! As efficient as your lighting equipment might be, it doesn’t make sense to have lights and fans on when no one is around. If you use an air conditioner, set the temperature to 26 degrees or higher and make use of the timer to turn the machine off when the room has cooled. Every little step makes a difference so tell your family and friends about how they can help too! Not only will you be saving the earth but you will save a few dollars on your electric bill as well! What are you doing to make a difference? A To Do list for your refigerator:
Several of us attended the Sustainable South Shore meeting last Thursday, March 29. There are several happenings around the area that we thought our members should be aware of.
Sustainable Hull is hosting a film called "Carbon Nation" on April 30 at 7 PM at Temple Beth Sholom. Carbon Nation is a documentary movie about climate change SOLUTIONS. Even if you doubt the severity of the impact of climate change or just don't buy it at all, this is still a compelling and relevant film that illustrates how SOLUTIONS to climate change also address other social, economic and national security issues. You'll meet a host of entertaining and endearing characters along the way. You can go to their website (www.sustainablehull.org) for more information. REACH, the Responsible Energy Alternatives Coalition of Hingham, has run a film series this winter. Their last film in the series is "Revenge of the Electric Car" on April 14. Information about the movies can be found at: http://www.wickedlocal.com/hingham/topstories/x1676720051/HINGHAM-REACH-Sustainability-film-series-starts#axzz1r6XDJ62s. Check out their website: www.hinghamreach.org. Mass Energy Consumer Alliance gave a talk about buying renewable energy and saving money on energy bills. You can visit their website for more information: www.massenergy.org. It gets very confusing but there are ways that you can buy more directly from renewables and these programs will put money into the system and encourage the growth of renewable energy. There are different programs with National Grid and NStar. Good luck! We may be having someone come and talk to us from Next Step Living and that will help shed more Following up on the recent article in the Duxbury Clipper, we have created an editorial cartoon about this massive turbine project. Scroll down......
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