environment

Today was EcoFest at GCC, with local residents driving through the parking lot and dropping off old computers, TVs and other home electronics for recycling. Inside the college, there were also a number of environment-related information booths, activities for children and exotic animals.

More pictures after the jump:

Because wetlands are an important part of the environment, the Canadian-based Marsh Monitoring Program has been studying the effects of outside disturbances on the swamps, marshes, mini-wetlands and adjoining woodlands throughout the entire Great Lakes Basin.

 In their quest to determine the health of these wetlands as well as surrounding woodlands - the MMP enlists the help of volunteers who take a census of the amphibian and feathered inhabitants at selected locales.  A number of these volunteers work at collecting data for both birds and amphibians, others concentrate on birds alone while others focus on the frog population.

 Batavian Bill Moon is a local MMP volunteer who focuses on the amphibian population.  Waiting for a minimum air temperature of 60 degrees, he will select an evening during the months of April, May and June to visit nearby wetlands as dusk approaches. He waits for night to fall, then for a given time period, listens for spring peepers, green frogs and bull frogs, carefully charting the results. The nocturnal chorus, or lack thereof, speaks volumes for the Marsh Monitoring Program.

Due to the work of the program volunteers throughout the Great Lakes Basin, the MMP has established a ranking system, or report card so to speak, to evaluate the state of various wetlands stretching from Wisconsin to the St. Lawrence River. These wetlands range in size from vast swamps and cattail marshes to microcosmic wetland tracts.

Being among nature’s delicate species, the songbirds and amphibians serve as natural barometers, providing insight as to the health of the outdoors environment. As good indicators of air and water quality and other earth resources, such species are the first to be affected by various disturbances on the landscape such as Great Lakes water levels, housing or developmental sprawl, etc.   

Students with an interest in the outdoors and the environment can win a week at an environmental education camp if they can compose the best essay in an environmental writing contest sponsored by Assemblyman Steve Hawley.

The contest is open to students 12 to 17 years old.

The winner will be able to choose a week at one of four camps run by Department of Environmental Conservation.

Essays must be between 300 and 500 words long and submitted to Hawley's office by May 1.

Download a contest poster here (PDF).

Full press release after the jump.

Press Release:

As part of his ongoing constituent outreach program, Assemblyman Steve
Hawley (R, I, C - Batavia) is holding an essay contest to honor Earth Day
and to promote environmental stewardship.  The winner of the contest will
receive one free week at one of the Department of Environmental Conservation's
Summer Environmental Education Camps.

"As a child, I learned the importance of protecting our environment because
I was fortunate to grow up in Western New York where there are so many
beautiful places to enjoy the outdoors.  To continue that tradition, I am
proud to offer one student a free week at one of our state's fine
environmental education camps, where they can not only learn about
protecting our environment, but can develop a passion for the outdoors,"
said Hawley.

Students between the ages of 12 and 17 are eligible to enter the essay
contest.  Essays should be between 300 and 500 words and explain why the
environment is important to the student.  Last year's winner, Albion High
School student Rebecca Weller, used her essay to describe her passion for
spending time outdoors with her family and her efforts to protect the
environment, such as her innovative t-shirts promoting green living tips,
facts on global warming and Earth Day, in order to ensure the natural
environment is sustained for generations to come.

Assemblyman Hawley encourages educators to include the essay program as part
of their curriculum in order to highlight Earth Day on April 22.  Essays are
due to the Assemblyman's office by May 1, 2009.  The winner may choose from
the following four DEC summer camps:

a.. Camp Colby (near the Village of Saranac Lake in Franklin County)
b.. Camp DeBruce (in the southern Catskills near the Village of Livingston
Manor in Sullivan County)
c.. Camp Rushford (in the Genesee River Valley in Allegany County)
d.. Camp Pack Forest (north of Warrensburg in the southern Adirondacks)

For more information, visit the DEC Web site at www.dec.state.ny.us
(keyword: summer camps), call Assemblyman Hawley's district office at (585)
589-5780, or e-mail him at hawleys@assembly.state.ny.us.

State officials announced in Albany yesterday the arrest of 23 people -- including an unidentified Genesee County man -- for allegedly dealing illegally in New York native species.

The group of people were allegedly capturing and selling native rattlesnakes, salamanders and turtles.

"We were addressing what was becoming a mammoth industry in New York, and that was the illegal trade in New York reptiles," said Thomas, a law enforcement lieutenant at DEC's regional headquarters in Avon, Livingston County.

Thomas said that reptiles and amphibians should be valued and protected as bedrock species in their ecosystems that consume insects and small mammals perceived as pests, and in turn being consumed by larger animals.

UPDATE: The D&C's version of the story includes this information:

Among those charged with misdemeanor counts were Kenneth R. Howard Jr., 53, of Oakfield, Genesee County, and Michael J. Loveless, 58, of Machias, Cattaraugus County. Both men are accused of illegally trapping snapping turtles and selling them in Maryland for meat.

This morning, the Daily reports on "earth-friendly" plans for the new Wal-Mart in LeRoy.

Le Roy's store also will include what is known as "daylight harvesting," he said.

A sensor on the floor determines how much sunlight is entering the store. If it's a significant amount, the sensor automatically turns the lights down "so we don't use that energy," Serghini said.

Of course, not all environmentalist buy into a Green Wal-Mart.

This cannot be dismissed as greenwashing. It's actually far more dangerous than that. Wal-Mart's initiatives have just enough meat to have distracted much of the environmental movement, along with most journalists and many ordinary people, from the fundamental fact that, as a system of distributing goods to people, big-box retailing is as intrinsically unsustainable as clear-cut logging is as a method of harvesting trees.

Here's the key issue. Wal-Mart's carbon estimate omits a massive source of CO2 that is inherent to its operations and amounts to more than all of its other greenhouse-gas emissions combined: the CO2 produced by customers driving to its stores.

The post asserts that big box stores encourage us to drive further -- an average two miles longer each trip -- to do our shopping.

Yesterday, Alice announced the formation of Green Businesses for Alice, a bipartisan group of green business representatives from Western New York who are supporting her candidacy. The group is the result of Alice's work in the community bringing these businesses together, showing the leadership skills we will need to help us realize the promise of the green economy and encourage the growth of small businesses.

Local businessman Andrew McLellan, who runs Environmental Education Associates, commented: "During her campaign she's reached out to green businesses across our community, and her efforts to bring us together have served as a catalyst for the formation of an ongoing association of green businesses that will work to bring good-paying jobs here to the district and help us take advantage of the growing green economy."

Alice is already taking steps to make her policy goals a reality once she is elected. For too long we've had politicians who seem more concerned with empty talking points than with getting things done. Alice is the only candidate in this race to put out real plans on how she'll lower taxes, bring jobs to the area, and encourage the growth of small businesses. That's the kind of leadership we need in Washington.

Anne Wadsworth

Kryzan for Congress

www.kryzanforcongress.org 

Batavia will host a public hearing later this summer on the state's proposed changes to the open burning law. The Daily Mail in Greene County reported that the town of Athens is right now taking a closer look at those changes and urging residents to get involved.

"There are a lot of small communities in the state, particularly here in upstate New York, where burn barrels are used on a regular basis," said a Council member in Athens.

Open fires are currently banned only in cities, villages and towns with populations greater than 20,000.

Changes being considered by the state Department of Environmental Conservation would "limit agricultural burning to naturally grown products such as vines, branches, leaves and stubble." Exception will be made for "fire training, small cooking, campfires and ceremonial fires."

The hearing in Batavia will be held Juy 2. No other information was given about the session, its location or time.

DEC invites all persons, organizations, corporations and government agencies that may be affected by the proposed revisions to attend the hearings. In addition, written statements may be submitted to DEC until 5 p.m., July 10.

For more information on the proposals, information may be obtained from Robert Stanton, professional engineer, DEC’s Division of Air Resources, at the Albany’s Broadway address or by calling (518) 402-8403.

Is open burning an issue in and around Batavia? It's clear that agriculture has a major presence here. Would any farmers be directly affected by these changes? What is being burned now that would not be permitted if the changes go through?