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Good Friday Morning,
There was a victory of sorts of visual pollution on our roadways and it didn't come from Keep Putnam Beautiful. The Town of Kent has sent an "Order to Remedy Violation" to Michael Lalor to remove his signs from town roadways and, lo and behold, they're gone. I knew this because, on my way down Peekskill Hollow Road to the Taconic parkway yesterday afternoon, the moment you hit the Putnam Valley line the signs start again. So, I'm urging those of you who live in Putnam Valley to write your town board and insist they do the same since I know you have similar laws in that town. Write today and let me know how it turns out. We can free ourselves from constant political harassment, er, campaigning by taking a little action and we'll do it town by town if we have to. Get active!
 As promised, I attended the Federated Conservationists of Westchester County's (FCWC)Annual Meeting yesterday afternoon at Croton Point Park and it was a wonderful affair. There were folk from all over the region, Garrison and New Fairfield, Connecticut in attendance. The weather cooperated beautifully and the sunset over the Hudson was, as it usually is, stunning.
To make up for the increase in the cost of aviation fuel, airlines have begun to charge extra for pretty much everything these days. Luggage, pillows and the like. But the latest assault on passengers comes from US Airway which is going to start charging for non-alcoholic beverages - like water. Yup, a small bottle of water will now cost you $2. You'd think there's nothing inherently wrong with this but here's the deal and why it's wrong:
Flighthealth.com and other health professionals warn that the air in the cabin is dry and can lead to dehydration and the best solution to that is to drink lots of water. While on a short flight this may not be too much of an issue, once you start crossing the continent or an ocean or get stuck on a runway for two hours it becomes critical to stay hydrated and if you're not carrying the cash hope your health insurance payments are up-to-date.
It's not like you can bring your own water on the plane like in the old days. No, the Department of Homeland Security has deemed water a possible terrorist threat so you have no choice: pony up the 8 bits or go dry. Oh yes, Thanks for flying with us and have a nice day.
While we're talking about water, Expo 2008 has just opened in Zaragosa, Spain. This 62 acre international expo, running for three months and featuring 105 countries, is focused on water and water conservation around the world. A three-day pass to the expo will set you back about $80US (plus the cost of airfare and hotels, etc.,) and assuming you haven't dried up on the flight over into a wisp of once-human flesh, you should have a pretty good time. I'd love to see the expo so if anyone out there would care to sponsor a trip for me and a companion, please write.
And, while we're also talking about flying, the International Civil Aviation Organization has created a calculator that allows you to determine the carbon footprint of your flight. That page is here.
There's a lot going on this weekend and one of the most important is the benefit rock concert Youth Committee of Arts on the Lake is holding for the children of the Achiola Tribe in northern Uganda on Saturday evening. Beset by a senseless civil war for 20 years, these kids are living in refugee camps, unable to leave for fear of being kidnapped by The Lord's Army rebels and forced to be child soldiers. Learn more here and then view the film "War Dance" to learn about what one region is doing - and accomplishing - with a little outside help. You'll be glad you did.
Lastly, don't forget to save the date - Saturday, July 12th - for the Garden Party an event you probably don't really want to miss.
Now, the news:
- A growing trend: Buying produce fresh from the farm
- Reps critical of President’s proposed offshore and Arctic oil drilling
- Cameras photograph wildlife in Yorktown
- LEED for Neighborhood Development Pilot Launches
- Mass Transit Busting at the Seams
- Congress Strikes Deal to Overhaul Wiretap Law
A growing trend: Buying produce fresh from the farm Judith Hausman
For The Journal News
Dan Tashman is the cook in his family and when it comes to feeding his seven-month-old Zeke, only the freshest food will do. That's why Tashman, who lives in White Plains with his wife, Elana Frankel, shop the farmers markets.
"We want to know where our food comes from, we want to support the community and the food just tastes better," says Frankel as he's looking for snap peas at the new Muscoot Farm farmers' market in Somers. As for any added expense it might mean? "This is a choice we're making" says Tashman. "We make the commitment and it's worth it."
Farmers market shoppers are making choices based on more than price. Despite the impact of soaring fuel costs on vendors' costs for production and transportation, farmers work to keep prices.
Miriam Haas, who created the network of Community Markets, which plays middleman between farmers and municipalities to set up markets, echoes these young families in a recent e-mail.
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Reps critical of President’s proposed offshore and Arctic oil drilling WASHINGTON – Both House Members John Hall and Maurice Hinchey, who represent portions of the Hudson Valley, are opposed to President Bush’s new proposal to open up more of the Outer Continental Shelf for oil drilling and to allow oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Hall and fellow Democrats have introduced the “use it or lose it” bill.
“Which would ban oil companies from getting any more leases until they start developing oil leases they already hold. That’s about 10,000 different leases totaling over 68 million acres of land and off-short territory.”
The lawmakers want a provision that would tell oil companies they must start drilling on the federal land on which they already hold leases.
Hinchey said the unused federal land for which the oil companies already have leases could produce an additional 4.8 million barrels of oil and 44.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas each day, doubling current domestic oil production.
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Cameras photograph wildlife in Yorktown Michael Risinit
The Journal News
YORKTOWN
Chipmunks scurried along stonewalls, a garter snake slithered across the ground and a cardinal filled the air with his liquid song.
That's Teatown Lake Reservation on a recent day when a group of pre-schoolers led by an educator wandered down the center's Hidden Valley trail and a FedEx truck rolled along Blinn Road. By night, the call of the wild takes a deeper grip on the nature preserve's 834-acres as the coyotes, raccoons, possums and even a fisher come out.
"There's another world in the forest at night. Animals divide the habitat by the time of day," Teatown's executive director Fred Koontz said.
To capture that world, or, really, just to get a glimpse of life at Teatown sans humans, Koontz and his staff set up automated cameras. With an infrared sensor, the cameras are triggered by a body heat and motion - be it a curious hiker, a wandering dog or cat, a strutting turkey, or the creatures who own the night.
"It's good for confirming things, but it's mostly good as an educational tool," Koontz said.
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LEED for Neighborhood Development Pilot Launches New rating system shifts focus to sustainable development in green urban neighborhoods
With the release of the LEED-Neighborhood Development pilot rating system this week, it is clearer than ever that green building design and community form shouldn't go it alone. The most powerful strategy for achieving environmental sustainability is incorporating high-performance buildings in compact, mixed-use neighborhoods that reduce driving by making walking and transit attractive options for commuting and other trips.
A joint venture of the Congress for the New Urbanism, the US Green Building Council, and the Natural Resources Defense Council, LEED-ND acknowledges that more than a third of greenhouse gases and a similar share of other environmental impacts are generated by buildings (primarily heating and cooling them) but another third is generated transporting people and goods to and from those buildings. Through a multi-year research and review process, the LEED-ND partners have identified draft criteria that will guide developments to achieve significant improvements in sustainability on both of these fronts, as well as related ones such as water management and habitat preservation. That pilot version of LEED-ND was released this week and is now available for download (warning: large PDF). Read More
Mass Transit Busting at the Seams June 19, 2008
As I circled my local BART’s overflow-overflow parking lot (also full) I was both frustrated and stoked. Frustrated as I was late for work due to my futile hunt for an available parking space, but stoked because I have noticed an undeniable increase in public transportation ridership even in the last few weeks, which is great. But mass transit needs serious investment and committment to expand to meet skyrocketing demand and fuel costs.
The promise of structurally increased ridership is something that is necessary for long-term investment in expanded public transit services. And that promise is being made: public transit ridership is the highest it has seen since 1950 with no reason to abate. With fossil fuel only getting more expensive, new records will be set and broken for mass transit. Municipalities and transit districts are scrambling to quickly patch service by implementing emergency expansion measures like more frequency and adding additional buses and trains where possible. These measures are insufficient for what’s coming: increasing urban populations that simply can’t afford to buy gas.
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Congress Strikes Deal to Overhaul Wiretap Law By ERIC LICHTBLAU
WASHINGTON — After months of wrangling, Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress struck a deal on Thursday to overhaul the rules on the government’s wiretapping powers and provide what amounts to legal immunity to the phone companies that took part in President Bush’s program of eavesdropping without warrants after the Sept. 11 attacks.
The deal, expanding the government’s powers to spy on terrorism suspects in some major respects, would strengthen the ability of intelligence officials to eavesdrop on foreign targets. It would also allow them to conduct emergency wiretaps without court orders on American targets for a week if it is determined that important national security information would otherwise be lost. If approved, as appears likely, the agreement would be the most significant revision of surveillance law in 30 years.
The agreement would settle one of the thorniest issues in dispute by providing immunity to the phone companies in the Sept. 11 program as long as a federal district court determined that they received legitimate requests from the government directing their participation in the program of wiretapping without warrants.
With AT&T and other telecommunications companies facing some 40 lawsuits over their reported participation in the wiretapping program, Republican leaders described this narrow court review on the immunity question as a mere “formality.”
“The lawsuits will be dismissed,” Representative Roy Blunt of Missouri, the No. 2 Republican in the House, predicted with confidence.
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