Wishing Well - Ithaca, NY - Sustainability

Singlebrook iPhone App Competition

McKenzie Jones-Rounds — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 14:07:39 +0000

Do you consider yourself a techie environmentalist? Perhaps a social movement nerd? Maybe a naturalistic business guru? Then you’ll love Singlebrook Technology’s pro bono proposal to create an iPhone app for an organization that strives to meet the comprehensive needs of the community. A small custom web development firm located in Ithaca, NY, Singlebrook is now accepting applications from not-for-profit, social, or sustainable mission-driven organizations, or B-Corporations for its Singlebrook Sustainable iPhone App Program. Technology and activism unite.

Singlebrook, which has joined the forces of over 300 progressive companies striving for more than the bottom line, is itself a certified B Corporation. Developed by B Lab, a non-profit that establishes the legal and performance standards for organizations seeking certification, B Corporation certification communicates to the public and consumers that business is not business as usual. In a time of industrial uncertainty and corporate distrust, B Corporations let the world know that they care about the environment, social justice, and doing the right thing. Sure, they still have salaries to pay and investors to keep happy, but they’ve made it their mission to be sustainable and support their local communities. Thanks to B Lab, our communities can start weeding out the greenwashers and show our own support of the companies that have our backs, many of which we already know and love, such as Seventh Generation, Numi Organic Tea, and Dansko.

So where exactly does the iPhone fit into this dreamy marriage of business and responsibility? For one thing, people love the technology and the access it provides. If a phone can be more than a phone and act as a technological agent for justice and progress, why not utilize its power to spread the good word? According to Elisa Miller-Out, Singlebrook CEO, “As a certified B Corporation whose mission now incorporates a commitment to a sustainable environment, donating our time to create a custom iPhone app for another social or sustainable mission-driven organization allows us to use technology as a force for positive change.” For a technology company, it is the most practical medium. For a B Corporation determined to provide the highest quality products to its clients while preserving the environment and enhancing society, it is an enlightened business move; one that people are sure to notice.

Non-profits, B Corporations, low-profit limited liability corporations (L3C), and mission-driven organizations are encouraged to apply for the Singlebrook Sustainable iPhone App Program by August 15, 2010. Applications must include company information and an idea for the iPhone app that will be developed by Singlebrook. Only iPhone apps intended to have a positive social or environmental impact will be considered, such as carbon footprint calculators, shopping guides, tips for healthy living, and FAQs about protecting water and air. Singlebrook Technology will announce the winning entry on October 1, 2010 and begin development of the iPhone app in the fall. The web development company, in very B Corp fashion, will donate the time invested in the iPhone app, expecting to provide its client with up to 50 hours or $10,000 of free labor. The chosen organization will own the completed iPhone app, and likely the buzz and good press surrounding such an evolved partnership.

So if you belong to an organization with a mission, have an idea that could change the world, or just love your iPhone, more information about the Singlebrook Sustainable iPhone App Program can be found on the company’s website, www.singlebrook.com. To learn more about B Corporation certification, visit B Lab’s website, http://www.bcorporation.net/. The iPhone and existing apps can be checked out on Apple’s website, http://www.apple.com/iphone/. Singlebrook just might be changing the face of technology and business, all while putting a smile on the face of ethical stewardship.

Add a Photo Slideshow

Placement:

Place slideshow at the bottom of the post

Upload a Video

Placement:

Place video player at the bottom of the post

Creek and waterfront cleanups: Embracing the lake!

Hilary Lambert — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:05:10 +0000

Cayuga Lake and its creeks are at the heart and center of our lives, and need our celebration and protection. The Cayuga Lake Watershed Network urges people to embrace Cayuga Lake with creek and lakefront cleanups. Beginning in mid-April 2010, community groups “Embraced the Lake” with numerous creek and waterfront cleanups. View the slide show below and go to www.cayugalake.org for more information.

Mid-April: Cayuga Lake waterfront in Aurora – Peachtown Elementary School students and teachers picked up lakefront trash from the Wells College Boat House to Payne’s Creek. Barb Post reports: “I had fun hoisting the largest carp skull I’ve seen on a stick for the little boys who were working! I also found some beautiful goose wing bones.”

Mid-April: Mill Creek and other King Ferry-area creeks draining to the lake – the Direct Streams water monitoring group and neighbors, a Girl Scout troop, and Poplar Ridge Friends worked over several weeks to collect trash from these steep, beautiful creeks. Ronda Fessenden helped with trash disposal.

April 16-18: Fall Creek in Dryden – Members of the Dryden Resource Awareness Coalition (DRAC) cleaned up trash at several creekside Dryden nature preserves – the Genung, Etna, and Campbell preserves – and at the parking area next to Fall Creek below the Route 13 bridge.

May 1: Cascadilla Creek tributary in Ellis Hollow – Girl Scout Troop 1107 trekked down the creek bed to gather trash and a wild assortment of mystery items, and made a pile of recyclable metals, including car body parts and bedsprings.

May 8: Fall Creek below Ithaca Falls – Trout Unlimited reeled in a strange assortment of banged-up items, and caught a bunch more down at the Cayuga Street bridge.

May 8: Wells Campus creeks that run to the lake, Aurora – The Campus Greens report: “We collected over 10 bags of trash and recyclables as well as 4 tires, what we suspect to be some sort of muffler, some scrap metal, shoes, and other strange stuff. We faced the storm, cleaned up the creeks on and surrounding campus, and everyone received prizes.”

Coming this fall: Seneca-Cayuga Canal in downtown Seneca Falls – The Mynderse Academy (Seneca Falls high school)’s Envirothon Team will do a fall cleanup as the tourism season winds down.

Thank You to:

Ray Benjamin, Ithaca Streets and Facilities; and Jack Bush, Dryden Highway Department, for picking up the trash!
Ludgate Farms Gourmet Country Market for providing snacks to the Fall Creek and Cascadilla cleanups!

Embrace the Lake: Is your group interested in doing a creek cleanup on one of the 34 major creeks that drain to Cayuga Lake, a lakeshore cleanup, or along one of the many hundreds of smaller creeklets and streams that give their waters to Cayuga Lake? The Network supplies “Embrace the Lake” posters and flyers, gloves, trash bags from American Rivers, and snacks. We help with publicity, and make the contact for trash pick-up afterwards.

Spring and mid-late fall are best, when creekside vegetation is not too high. Plan ahead for fall 2010 or spring 2011! Contact Hilary Lambert at steward@cayugalake.org

Add a Photo Slideshow

Placement:

Place slideshow at the bottom of the post

Photos:

Upload a Video

Placement:

Place video player at the bottom of the post

Gown Creators Make Fashion Statement

Site Administrator — Mon, 17 May 2010 12:09:58 +0000

Photo by Ann KrajewskiEmma Cleveland, Claire Brown, Penelope Hobbs and Leah Saari with the dress forms that support the dresses they're creating, the basis of SewGreen's “Make Your Own Prom Dress” program. Hobbs and and fellow Cornell freshman Carly Neumann started the classes after discovering not only their mutual interest, but several others' as well.

An unusual “town-gown” partnership has resulted in three Ithaca teenagers making original prom dresses from (almost) all reused materials.

Cornell freshmen Penelope Hobbs and Carly Neumann have volunteered at SewGreen, a sustainable sewing program in downtown Ithaca, for a series of Friday night classes in which they showed the teens how to create their own dresses from scratch.

When asked what inspired her to offer the class, Hobbs, 18, says, “My own personal experience motivated me. I made my own prom dress when I was in high school and I remember hearing over and over from my fellow students how they would have loved to make their own outfit but had no clue as to how to even begin such a project. I decided that I wanted to make that wish happen.”

Neumann, 19, agrees. “Penelope and I were on a bus earlier this year and we reminisced about what it was like in high school,” she says. “I had been a volunteer at SewGreen and after coming up with a plan, Penelope and I, with our combined experience in sewing for much of our lives and even making gowns for our friends, approached Wendy (Skinner, SewGreen’s coordinator), who has been incredibly supportive and helped us to get the program off the ground.”

After volunteering to help with some children’s classes at SewGreen, they offered to teach “Make Your Own Prom Gown.” They agreed to follow SewGreen’s philosophy of reuse and selfreliance.

And almost two months of diligent work later, the creations of 15- year-old Emma Cleveland, 17-yearold Claire Brown and 14-year-old Leah Saari were nearly complete last week, fueling the girls’ ambitions and echoing the enthusiasm of all the participants.

“I’ve been participating in SewGreen since I was nine,” Cleveland says. “My friend Julia John and I competed in the Eco- Fashion Contest together and later on we plan to collaborate on designing a show together.”

Taking their inspiration from SewGreen’s stash of donated materials, the teens drew pictures and then designed the dresses. They created their own patterns, worked to get a perfect fit by first sewing pieces from cotton muslin, and are now in the process of completing the construction of the gowns.

Hobbs, Neumann and Skinner agree that their greatest satisfaction has been watching the girls get so excited by the prospect of creating a unique item that they can proudly wear.

Nearly nothing has been purchased new to make the dresses, which have been sewn with refurbished vintage sewing machines in the SewGreen classroom, located in downtown Ithaca.

“These older restored machines are wonderful,” says Hobbs. “Because they have all metal parts, they are very strong and the needles can sink into a lot of thick fabrics that many newer machines can’t. This has been a real plus for us because we’re working with a whole variety of fabrics including cotton, brocades and satins.”

The intersection of glamour and sustainability has been very successful, Skinner says. “Much is owed to the creative skills of Carly and Penelope, who invented the class and have led it on their own. The teens arrived with beginning level skills. Now they are sewing at an advanced level beyond that of many experienced sewing enthusiasts,” she adds.

“No one else will have a dress that looks like these,” says Skinner. “They are in every way designer originals.”

A showing of the finished dresses will be scheduled later this spring.

Hobbs also points out that after summer vacation, she and Neumann will conduct a corset class with SewGreen. “We’re still in the planning stage, but we look forward to it and of course we would like to continue with helping students create their own prom dresses as long as there are interested participants,” she says. SewGreen operates a not-for-profit sewing school and a reuse store. The classroom is in the Women's Community Building and the store is across the street in the DeWitt Mall at the corner of North Cayuga and West Seneca streets.

For more information visit www.sewgreen.org or call 227-7611.

Add a Photo Slideshow

Placement:

Place slideshow at the bottom of the post

Upload a Video

Placement:

Place video player at the bottom of the post

Locals Can Control Drilling Waste

Site Administrator — Mon, 17 May 2010 12:03:29 +0000

Horizontal drilling in Marcellus shale has yet to begin in New York, but some communities face questions about how to handle drilling waste. The Chemung County landfill is already accepting drill cuttings from Marcellus wells in Pennsylvania, but there are few places to send drilling wastewater.

In the draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS), the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) states that Marcellus permits would require drilling companies to provide a disposal plan for fluid wastes.

Currently drillers may truck brine and flowback to a treatment plant in Pennsylvania or other neighboring state, send it to a suitable sewage treatment plant in New York state, or inject it into an underground disposal well.

Pennsylvania may stop allowing treatment plants to accept drilling waste; there have already been several incidents in which excessively high levels of total dissolved solids have polluted rivers. The dissolved solids came from sewage plants accepting brine.

New York doesn’t have the capacity for treating huge quantities of drilling wastewater. The municipal wastewater treatment plant in Watertown is the only one accepting brines, and they are limiting the amount they accept.

That leaves underground injection wells, an option EPA touts as “the safest” method for disposal of drilling wastewater. Currently there are six active injection wells in New York and eight in Pennsylvania. Ohio, with 159 active state-regulated injection wells, is concerned about the amount of wastewater expected from increased Marcellus drilling; the state is considering a 20-cents/barrel tax on out-of-state brine.

The good news, according to attorney Rachel Treichler, is that local governments can regulate disposal wells. If municipalities do not already have such laws in place, they should develop local legislation as soon as possible. “It can be done through a local permitting process,” Treichler explains.

Treichler was one of three panelists who spoke at an educational forum in Ithaca on May 3. Cornell engineering professor Tony Ingraffea and USGS scientist William Kappel also spoke, addressing the geology and engineering aspects of underground injection wells.

Injection wells are regulated by EPA under the Safe Drinking Water Act. In addition, the DEC has its own list of criteria. “Waste fluids have to be injected below the drinking water aquifers,” Kappel says. The injection pressure is critical; it must remain below 80 percent of the fracking pressure.

Companies looking for disposal options may drill a disposal well or convert an existing deep well into an underground injection well for wastewater, Kappel says. The geologic formations most likely to accept injected waste are the Oriskany and Medina sandstones and the Potsdam layer. Old Trenton-Black River wells may be converted to disposal wells, too, as they have larger spaces for liquids to fill.

What hydro-geologists must determine is how porous the formation is, how permeable the layer is and the thickness of the layer. They also need to know the locations of abandoned gas or oil (or even drinking water) wells in the area before injecting waste, because any unplugged wells could provide a conduit for waste fluid to contaminate groundwater.

“It is important that they do an injection test prior to any sustained liquid injection and observe the limits of injection capacity,” Kappel notes. In one case a company tried to inject too much fluid into their wells. As the wells filled, they increased the pressure, and eventually the injections set off seismic activity, he added.

For the municipal officials attending the forum, the most encouraging news is that they have the power to regulate disposal wells. “If they have the laws in place,” Treichler emphasizes.

Before a company may drill a disposal well, or convert an abandoned deep well to that use, it must apply for several permits. These include an EPA permit for a Class IID injection well; a DEC State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) permit for brine disposal; a SPDES permit for stormwater runoff; a DEC MRB well permit to drill a brine well or convert a well to that purpose; a Municipal Special Use permit if required by local law; a State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) for a brine disposal facility and permission of the landowner.

“Municipalities may issue permits if their local laws require it or if zoning requires it,” Treichler says.

Add a Photo Slideshow

Placement:

Place slideshow at the bottom of the post

Upload a Video

Placement:

Place video player at the bottom of the post

Technology for the Masses at eCenter

Site Administrator — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 13:28:50 +0000

Photo By Patricia BrhelProgram coordinator Bailey Phipps at work at the eCenter.

There’s a new store in town. An outgrowth of Finger Lakes Reuse, the eCenter not only keeps material out of the landfill, it’s selling technology that anyone can afford.

On April 15, at the grand opening, the store was crowded with people: the curious, volunteers and those interested in finding used, but tested and renovated equipment for their homes and offices. The eCenter has a lot to offer, including desktop and laptop computers, scanners, printers, computer cases, speakers, cords and just about anything else in the computer world that you can imagine. There is lots of storage shelving, a neat work area, test benches and an area set aside for education, with classes expected in the future.

Carol Cohen, mother of eCenter executive director Diane Cohen, traveled from Albany for the grand opening. “I’m proud of my daughter,” she says with a smile. “Diane has taken our lessons in recycling and used them in two businesses. This is the second grand opening I’ve have the privilege to attend.”

Diane concurs, saying, “My parents always talked about recycling, both to save money and to save the planet. We probably threw out less trash than anyone else in the neighborhood, but mom always made it seem like fun.”

The eCenter grew out of Cohen’s original operation, which is a nonprofit operation dedicated to recycling building materials, appliances, furniture and household supplies. It soon became clear that there were a lot of computers and office equipment coming in that needed a home of their own and people who knew how to evaluate, renovate and get these items back into the community, she says. “We thought that once we announced that we’d take computers that there would be great interest, and today’s opening is the proof,” she adds.

Bailey Phipps, program coordinator for eCenter, was hired just a few weeks ago. On opening day he was busy checking in the computers and equipment being donated and taking money for the items sold. “I’ve had a few different jobs, including as a preschool teacher, but making computers accessible for those who can’t just run out and buy new is a great idea and I’m happy to help,” he says. “I’m hoping that we’ll be able to change the lives of at-risk kids, including teaching them video and audio editing, programming and other skills. We’ve been working with the Computer All Stars and their director at the Ithaca Youth Bureau and hope to expand on that program.”

Volunteer Forest Kennedy has been putting in about 16 hours a week, doing everything from painting the store to assembling computers. A student at the Leman Alternative School, he became interested in computers when he joined the Computer All Stars.

Seated at a machine that he’s programming to communicate with other machines, he’s busily clicking and scrolling, multitasking while we talk. “I think that open source, or what’s known as alternative software is important. I’d rather the developers make their money through advertising, to keep the programs available to those who need them, Kennedy says. “We had two computers at home when I was growing up,” he relates. “Here I get to learn about all kinds of machines and equipment. I like the idea of making computers available for everyone and enjoy showing kids how to use them.”

Another volunteer, Frank James, was recently laid off from radio station WVBR. He’s using this time between jobs productively, keeping his computer skills sharp while making sure that machines are available and affordable for those who can’t just plunk down hundreds of dollars for a new one.

The eCenter’s mission is to enhance community, the economy and environment through the reuse of computer technology and all computers and equipment sold goes to support this. The center offers financial assistance to customers who participate in a federal or state aid program such as food stamps, Medicaid, WIC, HEAP, the reduced school lunch program or have similar financial challenges.

All eCenter equipment sold comes with a 30-day warranty, minus the usual exemptions for physical damage and tampering. They accept computers, monitors, printers, scanners, speakers and other related equipment as well as DVD players, CD players, game consoles, PDAs, electronic games, office electronics, medical electronics, bank and much scientific equipment.

They don’t take lab glass, cracked or broken monitors or TVs, or TVs over 27 inches (unless they are LCD/DED).

Staff members removed the data from all donated computers using a secure three-pass rewrite, so people can donate without worrying about their privacy. If you have special security issues they can, for an additional charge, wipe the data to Department of Defense standards or even destroy the hard drive. Most computers donated will not need this extra security, but it is available.

For more information or to volunteer, visit the eCenter in the Triphammer Mall, 2255 N. Triphammer Road, call 257-9699, email ecenter@fingerlakesreuse.org or visit www.fingerlakesreuse.org.

Add a Photo Slideshow

Placement:

Place slideshow at the bottom of the post

Upload a Video

Placement:

Place video player at the bottom of the post

Forum Outlines Risks to Drinking Water

Site Administrator — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 13:23:44 +0000

Drilling for natural gas is inherently risky, and should not be allowed in the New York City watershed or near any water supply in the state. That was the message Dusty Horwitt shared with citizens, scientists and county and municipal officials early last week.

Horwitt, senior counsel for the Environmental Working Group, addressed the risks of gas drilling and drinking water in a forum at the Unitarian Church on April 18. The following day he brainstormed with scientists and elected officials about strategies and the need for further research.

Marcellus shale is attractive to drillers because of the vast reservoir of natural gas trapped in the rock, Horwitt said. It’s getting it out of the ground that’s difficult; the rock must be fractured to allow the gas to migrate to the surface. That means mixing water with sand and chemicals and injecting the fluid into the well under high pressures , Horwitt noted.

“The water shooting out of Ithaca fire company hoses is 100 psi – enough to knock you over,” Horwitt said. “Frack pressure is hundreds of times more.” But the actual process of hydro-fracking a well presents only one avenue of risk for water contamination.

Horwitt and Steve Penningroth, who directs the Community Science Institute, outlined the numerous ways water might be contaminated during the drilling process. “Surface water is particularly at risk,” Penningroth said. Chemical spills could happen during transport to a drilling site, from leaks of chemicals stored at the drill site, or during transport of waste fluids away from the drilling site.

“If there were only a few hundred trucks involved, that would be one thing,” Penningroth said. “But we’re talking about thousands of truck trips.” He also raised concerns about dumping drilling flowback and brine into public wastewater treatment plants. Undisclosed fracking chemicals may not be detected by the plant operator and may end up in public water supplies.

Unknown fracking chemicals are only part of the problem. For the past year Horwitt has been investigating known petroleum-based fracking chemicals used by drilling companies. Federal exemptions allow companies to inject kerosene, mineral spirits and a number of other petroleum distillates into wells.

The problem, says Horwitt, is that these distillates often contain high levels of benzene, a carcinogen so toxic that EPA’s “safe level” for benzene in drinking water is only 5 parts per billion (ppb). That’s the equivalent of five drops of contaminant in 500 barrels of water.

Because of high benzene levels, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates diesel fuel under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). Companies wishing to inject the fuel as a friction-reducer must obtain the permits through the EPA.

“Ironically, these other petroleum distillates, chemicals they are allowed inject without permits, can contain 93 times more benzene than diesel,” Horwitt said. Petroleum naphtha, for example contains 93,000 ppm (parts per million) benzene — 18.6 million times higher than the EPA standards.

The drilling companies will tell you there is no problem, that these are the same petroleum distillates used in cosmetics, Horwitt said. “But these chemicals are banned from cosmetics in the European Union.”

Citing the DEC’s Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS), Horwitt noted that horizontal wells in Marcellus and other shales will require from one to eight million gallons of water and fracking chemicals. The companies insist that they only add small amounts into the frack fluid.

“Point zero eight (.08) percent,” Horwitt said. “It sounds like a miniscule amount, but do the math.” His calculations show that even at that low level, anywhere from 800-6,400 gallons of petroleum distillates could be injected for a single fracking job.

“That would be enough to contaminate more than 100 billion gallons of water, more than 10 times the amount the entire state of New York uses in a single day,” Horwitt noted.

Horwitt thinks the exemptions for oil and gas drilling should be eliminated, with permits required for any chemical drillers inject into the ground. “Why require a permit for only one type of petroleum chemical,” he asked.

Furthermore,when he asked DEC officials whether they checked to see what chemicals companies are injecting, the response was no. “They [drillers] could easily be injecting diesel,” Horwitt said. And indeed, Halliburton, Schlumberger and other companies have admitted doing just that in some states.

One of the ironies of drilling waste is that even though it contains substances that, under any other circumstance, would be considered hazardous, federal exemptions from the Resource Conserva-tion and Recovery Act (RCRA) allow it to be treated as “non-hazardous.”

The FRAC Act would help close that loophole, Horwitt told a small group of geologists, soil scientists and others. But the FRAC Act won’t address concerns about radioactive elements in the wastewater and drill cuttings. Local landfills, including the one Chemung County, are accepting cuttings from Marcellus wells in Pennsylvania.

Ellen Harrison, former director of the Cornell Waste Management Institute, expressed concern about radioactivity in drilling wastewater that is shipped to public treatment plants. The radioactive elements will be concentrated in the sludge, she noted. And that sludge may end up applied to farmland as a “beneficial use.”

Physicist Bill Podulka pointed out endocrine disruptors might slip through wastewater treatment plants undetected as well, ending up in the effluent. He wondered whether scientists might be able to develop cheaper and better testing technologies.

One of the problems is the lack of good science. “The 2004 EPA study on hydro-fracking was deeply flawed,” Horwitt said, and he suggested that New Yorlk scientists might want to create a group for those investigating issues related to natural gas drilling.

Add a Photo Slideshow

Placement:

Place slideshow at the bottom of the post

Upload a Video

Placement:

Place video player at the bottom of the post

Earth Day Calls for Community Dialog

Site Administrator — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 02:49:53 +0000

Photo by Ann KrajewskiWally Woods, of the Center for Environmental Sustainablity, outlines his new strategy for Earth Day in Ithaca.

Earth Day celebrates its 40th anniversary this week. In the 21st century, it is more important than ever to understand how our planet works. To this end, an Earth Day celebration taking place in Tompkins County on Saturday, April 24, will be hosted by Cornell’s Center for Environmental Sustainability (CES) at the Southside Community Center in downtown Ithaca.

Wally Woods, co-founder and cochair for CES, says this year’s event is a sharp contrast from the celebration the organization has sponsored in the past. “We’ve been doing this event for over a decade and for years we held it at the Ithaca Farmer’s Market, filling the place with lots of vendors and music and we attracted a lot of people and that was great, but I noticed that with a festival-like atmosphere, people tend to stay in that [festival] mindset,” he says. “By that I mean people just milling about, sandwich in hand, and they weren’t really talking to each other. Sure, they spoke with the people they came to the event with, but not really with others.”

While he calls those events a success, Woods feels that the real message of Earth Day wasn’t getting across. “I’d been kicking around the idea for a few years that what we needed was a real dialogue between people about our world, the challenges we face and how to deal with them,” says Woods. “So CES sort of test-drove an entirely new concept of what Earth Day should be.We set up some hay bales and invited people to come and tell their stories and talk about what they were personally doing to make their homes and workplaces more earth-friendly.”

This year the focus is on collaboration, Woods says, in an effort to have a deeper conversation. “We won’t have any vendors; instead we’re having a big potluck lunch [bring your own place setting]. It is our hope that this way people can really connect in sharing their concerns about our only planet and home.”

Of course, the Earth Day celebration is meant to be fun, too. The day’s events will also include a parade at noon around the block of the Southside Community Center featuring people in costumes honoring creatures and elements of Earth, face-painting and music. Local musicians Fe Nunn and Friends will be leading a “drumming of the earth” and there will be a closing prayer.

“We need a shift in our consciousness from ‘I’ to ‘we’ and we need to understand that collaboration is the key here,” says Woods. “It’s very important for people to understand that collaboration is a process to better understand the complex aspects of the challenges we face in today’s world. And when we engage in conversation with each other in a compassionate and personal way, we have the opportunity to create effective solutions that strengthen the whole system. Potentially, it can be a transforming experience.”

Photo by Ann KrajewskiPaleontologist Trisha Smrecak at the Museum of the Earth's Global Change Project exhibit.

This year for Earth Day the Museum of the Earth at the Paleontological Research Institute (PRI) is focusing on global education with a special lecture by Peter Bardaglio on Thursday, and with a family-day on April 24. Both events will be held at the Museum of the Earth.

The lecture, titled “The Revolution in Sustainability Education” by former Ithaca College provost and Second Nature senior fellow Bardaglio will take place at 6 p.m. Wine and light hors d’oeuvres will be served and a $10 admission will be charged. On Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon the museum will host fun Earth-centric activities and have a special Natural History at Noon lecture, “Climate Change: Past, Present & Future” by PRI’s Warren Allmon, Rob Ross and paleontologist Trisha Smrecak. The presentation will focus on the global climate crisis and is based on the new book of the same name published by PRI, with a book signing to follow.

According to Bardaglio, “The challenge of building a more sustainable civilization has far-reaching implications for those of us who are committed to educating the citizens, professionals, and leaders of tomorrow. Even as we acknowledge the demands of this challenge, we should recognize the opportunities that it affords.”

Bardaglio will discuss the latest developments in sustainability education at the secondary and postsecondary levels, exploring how these developments are leading to breakthroughs in more effective teaching and learning.

As Frank H. T. Rhodes, president emeritus of Cornell University contends, the concept of sustainability offers a new foundation for the liberal arts and sciences. “It provides a new focus, sense of urgency, and coherence at a time of drift, fragmentation and insularity,” what Rhodes calls “a new kind of global map.'"

Earth Day celebrations at the Museum of the Earth are part of the Institution's ongoing Global Change Project (GCP), which was developed to increase public understanding of how the Earth is changing and what role humans are playing in it. The GCP consists of a museum exhibit, comprehensive web site, lecture series, educational programming, and research projects.

For information on CES Earth Day activities contact earthdayithaca@yahoo.org, visit www.ces-ithaca.org/, or call 564- 9406 for parade information. For information regarding the Museum of the Earth’s activities call 273-6623 or visit www.museumoftheearth.org

Add a Photo Slideshow

Placement:

Place slideshow at the bottom of the post

Upload a Video

Placement:

Place video player at the bottom of the post

Dairy Seeks Closure in Raw Milk Debate

Site Administrator — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 02:40:56 +0000

Photo providedBarb and Steve Smith and friends are producing raw milk for the Meadowsweet Limited Liability Corporation.

It’s been exactly three years since Barb and Steven Smith of Meadowsweet Farm (http://meadowsweetfarm.com/) in Lodi got out of the yogurt business and started distributing raw milk through their LLC. Supplying milk to around 100 households, with a constant waiting list, their business model has been economically successful, but legally, not so much.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) takes a very negative view of raw milk, citing health concerns. Although many people find that raw milk doesn’t have the same negative health impacts that pasteurized does, the possibility of food poisoning from raw milk and raw milk products is higher than with pasteurized milk. Food poisoning can end in organ failure or death in vulnerable individuals.

The USDA has charged the Smiths with a number of violations, and the last hearing for their current LLC is coming up this year. Meadowsweet argues that they are not selling milk to the public, they are caretakers of some cows for the Limited Liability Corporation known as Meadowsweet Farm, owned by the members.

They and their lawyer, Gary Cox of the Farm to Consumer Foundation, contend that this arrangement is no different than that between a gentleman farmer and his herd manager, who can provide raw milk to his employer’s table without fear of the USDA coming after him. This argument was dealt a blow in a March 12 ruling, when the Appellate Division of the state Supreme Court stated that the Department of Agriculture and Markets has jurisdiction over all milk in the state and that anyone who “makes milk available to a consumer” must have a permit from the department. The Smiths are appealing this ruling as well, but their legal avenues are running out.

In addition, the Smiths have had other legal troubles with the USDA over intrusive searches and seizures, and how and what sort of warrants can be used. Those legal battles are also likely to be resolved this year. Meanwhile, the Smiths want to raise public awareness, and maybe get some turnout for their court appearances, when they are finally scheduled.

Economically speaking, the Smiths haven’t figured out the costs and benefits of their milk business, in part, as Steven says, because there are “intangible benefits” that can’t be expressed in dollars. A herd the size of the Smiths’ is usually more of a hobby than a business, but Steven figures they clear about $25,000 a year, with between four and six hours of work a day, depending on the season. “We aren’t doing this for the money. We are doing this to set a model for a sustainable local food system,” says Barb.

The model certainly is sustainable. The cows are fed very little grain, just enough to supplement the hay in the winter, and to lure them into the barn for milking during the summer. When the Smiths arrived at their farm the pastures were solid goldenrod, with an understory of moss, the surest sign of a depleted, waterlogged clay soil. “I thought we needed to at least harrow-plow, but Steven was dead set against it” says Barb.With what she characterizes as equal parts laziness and cheapness, the Smiths put their cows and sheep out to graze. With each year, the golden rod retreated, while volunteers of red clover and various grasses moved in. “Rotational grazing was a radical idea in those days, but it proved perfect. Even the drainage problems went away as biomass increased,” Barb says.

The life of the modern dairy cow is usually short and bitter, rarely lasting more than five years and characterized by bouts of mastitis, stress and boredom. Barbara figures the oldest cow in their 42-animal herd is 15. Seven are milking cows, five of which are milked for the LLC. The rest of the herd are youngsters, bred heifers that will be milked after they have their first calf or calves being raised to sell as steers.

The cruelest irony is that these most maternal of animals are usually separated from their calves within a couple days of birth. At Meadowsweet, all cows remain with their calves. “It took a few years for us to figure out the system, because cows won’t let down their milk for you if they have a calf, but now we separate the calves at night. In the morning, the udders are so full that we can get a good milking, and then reunite everyone on pasture,” Barb explains.

Whatever the outcome of the Meadowsweet court case, one thing is clear: the controversy over raw milk will continue to attract passionate debate from both sides.

Add a Photo Slideshow

Placement:

Place slideshow at the bottom of the post

Upload a Video

Placement:

Place video player at the bottom of the post

Tabulating True Costs of Gas Drilling

Site Administrator — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 01:18:30 +0000

Economic studies indicate that drilling in the Marcellus Shale will bring wealth to upstate communities. Certainly there will be some new jobs, Steve Coffman points out. There will be a spurt of supporting businesses and some people will see bonus and royalty income.

But communities will also see a need for more housing and public health and emergency services. Communities will face damage to roads and bridges and volatile real estate prices, Coffman says. He joined Ithaca attorney Helen Slottje, winery owner Joyce Hunt and John Benson in the Citizens for Healthy Communities-sponsored forum at Elmira Heights Theater on April 3.

Beth Miller, who moderated the forum, explained that the group is not against all drilling. “But the way it is done now,” she says, referring to high volume hydraulic fracturing, “is destroying our land and our rural economy.”

Joyce Hunt owns and operates Hunt Country Vineyards with her husband, Art. Their vineyards are located on the west side of Keuka Lake, just a few miles north of the disposal well Chesapeake had proposed for Pulteney. Hunt is concerned that natural gas drilling — and the waste associated with the process — will harm the regional economy.

Industry and regulatory officials insist that drilling technology, including hydraulic fracturing, is safe, Hunt says. “But 30 years ago the Department of Energy assured us that they could dispose of nuclear waste safely, and they still haven’t done that.”

Agriculture and tourism are the major industries in the Finger Lakes region, Hunt says. She notes that in 2008 the Pennsylvania gas industry contributed $2.3 billion to that state’s economy. “That same year the wine and grape juice sector alone contributed $3.76 billion to New York’s economy,” she says, adding that giving up agriculture for mineral extraction is a moneylosing trade in the Finger Lakes.

Economic studies rely on what can be measured, Steve Coffman says, but the connection between what a community was and what it hopes to be cannot be easily measured. When evaluating potential gain, Coffman cautions that people must consider the “real value of what we stand to lose.” Topping his list are water resources and the agricultural land use that makes the region attractive to tourists and residents. Surveys show that farms contribute to the character of this region and protect the open spaces people desire, he adds.

How can New York State promote first-class trout streams in the same area they hope to drill wells? asks Coffman. “Most of the fracking chemicals are toxic to fish.” Citing a safety data sheet from Multifunctional Surfactant F105, manufactured by Schlumberger, he says, “It warns that the product is hazardous to skin and eyes. Inhalation or ingestion can depress central nervous system, and it is toxic to aquatic organisms.”

The natural gas industry emphasizes that these additives make up only .5 percent of the fracking fluid and are contained in every day products, Coffman says. He calculates that 55,000 gallons of endocrine disruptors and other chemicals will be used to frack each well.

One industry projection calls for 40,000 wells to be drilled in New York State over the next decade. “That’s 2.2 billion gallons of chemicals,” says Coffman. He points out that the state could strive to retain its fishing streams and farms. “Or we can be a first-class producer of natural gas. But we can’t do both,” he says.

Hornby resident John Benson spent four days driving his pick-up truck through Bradford County, Pa., to get an idea of what residents south of the border are facing. “It really woke me up to what’s happening,” he says. “Some of the information coming from the companies is incredibly dishonest.”

There are eight energy companies drilling in the Bradford County area, Benson says. In addition, numerous businesses support the drilling industry by supplying gravel and pipes, hauling water to the drill site and hauling frackwater away. “The industry is monstrous,” Benson says. “It’s like the invasion of Normandy.”

Marcellus drilling hasn’t started in New York, but already some communities are seeing an influx of businesses that support gas drilling. Helen Slottje gave a quick PowerPoint tour of such industries currently located in Horseheads Center. Gas Field Specialists offers a wide range of rental equipment including backhoes, water pumps, frack tanks, storage tanks and mud pumps.

McJunkin Red Man (MRM) Pipe Yard provides gas transmission products. Kayden Industries provides centrifuges, tanks and other equipment for separating chemicals and particles from water, while their neighbor, Schlumberger Technology Corp., supplies equipment and chemicals for drilling gas wells. Just down the road Newpark Drilling Fluids claims that their water-based drilling fluids are environmentally- friendly and safer and easier to use.

Horseheads Center is actively wooing the gas industry, Slottje says. They promote the rail service to each building, easy access to major highways and “low cost utilities and labor.”

“But there is growing evidence that energy extraction is not the road to effective economic strategy,” Slottje says. At least not in rural areas. If drilling displaced agriculture, would communities benefit? Slottje compared the economic impacts of farming and drilling using “economic multipliers.”

An economic multiplier is a number used to estimate economywide impacts of industry-specific economic changes. The “multiplier effect” is often tossed around when economists discuss the benefits drilling will bring to a community. Drilling, economists predict, will bring money into a region and, as the money is spent, it will pass through the local economy a number of times.

The multiplier effect for the energy industry is 1.4, Slottje says, possibly because the workers are coming from outside of the community. In contrast, agriculture has a multiplier of 2.8. That means that farming generates more income in the local economies than drilling.

The biggest problem with economic studies in rural areas is their failure to factor in the loss of agriculture when they calculate economic gain, Slottje says. Lebanon Town Supervisor Jim Goldstein would second that. His town, he says, has not seen a dramatic increase in economic activity over the past few years of intensive drilling.

Add a Photo Slideshow

Placement:

Place slideshow at the bottom of the post

Upload a Video

Placement:

Place video player at the bottom of the post

New Pasture Rules for Organic Dairies

Site Administrator — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 13:22:06 +0000

Photo by Tina WrightCows at Jerry Dell Farm, an organic dairy farm in Dryden, will soon be enjoying summer pastures. The USDA insists on outside grazing for cows producing organic milk.

Local organic dairy farmers are happy that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has issued a “pasture rule” that spells out a minimum amount of time that organically- raised cattle must spend on pasture. To ship organic milk, farmers must execute a plan to have all cows and calves over six months old outside grazing at least 120 days a year, and even more where climate permits. Going into effect this June, the rule for organic pasturing also requires that cows get at least 30 percent of their feed from grazing.

When the USDA first established organic standards in 1990, the requirement that organic cows have “access to pasture” was not specific. The fight over what the pasture rule really meant in the field was put off to another day. Then a large dairy in Colorado, Aurora Dairies, began shipping “organic” milk from thousands of cows on concrete eating organic food out of a bunk, many organic dairy farmers and consumers protested that this was not organic milk.

It was time to get specific on USDA pasture requirements. The National Organic Standards Board came up with its recommendations for pasture rules in 2005.

What took so long to implement these regulations? Vaughn Sherman, a partner at Jerry Dell Farm, an organic dairy in Dryden, has a sense of humor about it. “You know, democracy is a great thing until it gets abused. It took them forever to go through all the hearings and regulations. I don’t know, it’s ridiculous to me that it took that long,” he says.

The USDA‘s commitment to organic agricultural regulations was half-hearted in the Bush years, according to a recent investigation by the USDA’s own inspector general. Released in early March, the report details the agriculture department’s collusion with rulebreakers and the indifference to testing and enforcement of organic standards by its National Organics Program, the arm of the agriculture department that regulates the organic farming industry.

Kathie Arnold, an organic dairy farmer from Truxton (north of Cortland), has faith in the current USDA leadership. In an e-mail interview, she says, “Miles McEvoy, the new deputy administrator of the National Organics Program (NOP), has made it clear that enforcement of organic standards, including the new pasture standard, will be a hallmark of his administration at the NOP.”

In various leadership roles, especially at the Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance, Arnold has pushed for organic cattle-grazing regulations for years. She says the new pasture rule is important to organic dairy farmers. “It helps level the playing field as to production practices on all organic dairy farms and it will provide integrity to the organic market by clarifying and strengthening the previous nebulous ‘access to pasture’ rule that had been unevenly enforced,” she says.

Sherman points out that his organic-certifier and milk cooperative have always demanded intensive pasturing, even before the USDA action. He says, “Even NOFA-NY, they check us out with their certifications and inspections and so does Organic Valley. They come by and make sure we abide by the pasture rules. The [USDA] pasture rule, it’s minimal. It could be a lot more grazing but at least it’s enough to get by.”

The Northeast Organic Farmers Association-New York (NOFA-NY) certifies many organic farms in this area. Jerry Dell Farm has shipped milk to Organic Valley since the Dryden farm on Gee Hill went organic in 2001. The Sherman family partnership milks over 300 Holstein cows, grazes hundreds of acres and raises most of its own cow feed.

At the same time the housing bubble burst in 2008, the organic milk market blew its milk bubble after years of stunning growth, 20 percent every year from 2002-07. The $1.3 billion organic milk market is now flooded and organic dairy farmers are taking price cuts, quotas and even losing their organic markets altogether in some cases.

In the Northeast, HP Hood started dropping out of the fluid organic milk market last year. They had been licensed to handle the organic fluid market side for New Hampshire’s Stonyfield Farm since 2004. On Jan. 1, Organic Valley Cooperative picked up most of the former HP Hood farms, but the cooperative is managing them as a separate supply group. Organic Valley is a Midwest-based agriculture cooperative that has over 400 organic milk producers in the Northeast and New England.

The future looks scary for both conventional and organic milk producers looking at low prices for milk. Organic dairy farmers who pasture intensively are hoping that milk from large confinement-style herds will be siphoned out of the organic dairy market as pasture rules are enforced. This subtraction could cut the organic milk surplus, leading to additions in milk checks that organic dairy farmers can really use, they suggest.

Add a Photo Slideshow

Placement:

Place slideshow at the bottom of the post

Upload a Video

Placement:

Place video player at the bottom of the post