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Wednesday, August 03, 2005
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Starbucks committed recently to purchase wind power to offset a portion of the energy used in its operations, a move that places the company in the top 25 U.S. purchasers of renewable energy. But mitigating climate change, not garnering pro-environment publicity, is the main driver behind Starbucks' decision to buy renewable energy certificates. By Denis Du Bois [Source: ClimateBiz.com]
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Meet the world's first hybrid-cab driver. [Source: Grist Magazine]
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The Ezra Jack Keats Foundation offers mini-grants of $350 to school and public libraries for programs that encourage literacy and creativity in children. Mini-grants have been used in a number of successful school and library programs, including: programs featuring guest authors/illustrators; activity programs; book writing contests; parents as partners workshops; etc. Programs relating to the work of Ezra Jack Keats are welcome, but not required. The application deadline is September 15, annually.
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For many years few people were eager to wade into a river befouled by raw sewage and all manner of industrial waste. But bathing in the Hudson River is making a comeback. Years of improvements in water quality have inspired not only kayaking and fishing, but also swimming - at least in a handful of places between New York City and Troy, N.Y., north of Albany, with sanctioned beaches. [Source: New York Times]
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EPA says race, income shouldn't be environmental-justice factors. [Source: Grist Magazine]
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Economic leaders, scientists, and local officials agree: A multi-billion dollar proposal to restore the Great Lakes will help rehabilitate heavily degraded environments throughout the world’s largest freshwater ecosystem and provide a much needed boost to the region’s struggling economy. [Source: Michigan Land Use Institute]
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What began with a company-wide seafood policy that ensured Xanterra Parks & Resorts served only sustainable seafood in its 64 restaurants is now an aggressive program that includes a wide variety of new innovations in sustainable cuisine. [Source: GreenBiz.com]
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Pennsylvania dentists have partnered with the state Department of Environmental Protection to review voluntary best-management practices for mercury-bearing amalgam wastes and collect obsolete supplies of elemental mercury to prevent the material from entering the environment. [Source: GreenBiz.com]
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Local economies benefit when manufacturers efficiently manage their energy use and their industrial waste, according to a new report by the Environment and Business Roundtable, a group of South Carolina government, business, and academic leaders organized by the Alliance to Save Energy (ASE) and Clemson University. Download the Roundtable's report from ASE's Web site online. [Source: GreenBiz.com]
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Army officials at Camp Edwards believed they were being eco-friendly when they started using a "green bullet" that contains no lead _ a move meant to prevent polluting an aquifer beneath the base.But six years later, after a million rounds have been fired at the base's shooting ranges, new information suggests the green bullets may not be much better for the environment than the lead ones. [Source: Washington Post]
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The blood of residents of a four-community region of southeastern Ohio contain levels of a chemical used to produce Teflon more than 60 to 80 times higher than those typically found in the general population, according to the nation's first government-sponsored epidemiological study of the chemical in the residents. The research team concluded that water is the major source of contamination.
The study -- which is independent of any corporation, law firm, or class-action suit -- is funded through a four-year Environmental Justice Partnership grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences; and is specifically designed as a collaborative initiative among environmental health scientists at University of Pennsylvania (Penn) School of Medicine, the Decatur Community Association in Cutler, Ohio, and a local physician affiliated with Grand Central Family Medicine in Parkersburg, W.Va.
The objectives of the study were threefold: to measure the levels of C8 in the blood of a sample of the population exposed to C8; to determine whether the major route of exposure is from air, water, or a combination; and to determine if the levels of C8 are associated with adverse changes in biomarkers of health effects. The researchers are continuing their analysis of the data related to the third objective.
Additional information about PFOA can be found at http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/pfoa. [Source: Water & Wastewater Products E-News]
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The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, which only recently had raised concerns about the adequacy of leg room in hybrid vehicles, cleared the way July 26 for six hybrid models to be used as taxicabs as early as this fall. [Source: New York Times]
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One student negotiated a $40,000 settlement. Another faced off against a roomful of Exxon-Mobil's high-powered lawyers. A third got snapped at by a judge for failing to stand while addressing the court.
Relaxing around a broad conference table, the students of Pace University Law School's environmental law clinic share the triumphs and crises of the past year, when they received their first taste of professional practice. Even before they took the bar exam, many already had legal victories on their résumés. [Source: Christian Science Monitor]
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Of the hundreds of building projects that have earned the U.S. Green Building Council’s coveted Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating since the program’s inception in 2000, not one has been a hotel. But the new Hilton Vancouver in Vancouver, Washington might soon change that. The 226-room facility, which opened in June, contains an impressive raft of sustainable-design elements that the hotel’s owners are hoping will earn the property a LEED certification later this year. [Source: Metropolis Magazine]
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The mission of the Captain Planet Foundation is to support hands-on environmental projects for children and youth (ages 6 through 18). The Foundation is interested in funding innovative programs that empower children and youth around the world to work to solve environmental problems in their communities. All funded projects must include adult supervision and must help young people develop planning and problem solving skills. Requests are reviewed quarterly, and the remaining deadlines for 2005 are September 30 and December 31.
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The mission of the SHOPA Kids in Need Foundation is to recognize, promote, and support initiatives that foster educational excellence. Kids In Need Teacher Grants provide K-12 educators with funding to help them realize their dreams of providing innovative learning opportunities for their students. The purpose of the grants is to provide funds for classroom teachers who have innovative, meritorious ideas but lack the budget to bring them to life. The deadline is the last working day in September, annually.
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Large numbers of Internet users do not know the basic definition of some of the hottest new Internet innovations and one of the most serious online dangers.
In a nationwide phone survey between May 4 and June 7, the Pew Internet & American Life Project asked Internet users if they knew what certain Internet terms meant. The results showed that some terms were well known, but that the terms "podcasting" and "RSS feeds" were not familiar to a majority of internet users and that "phishing" is still a foreign term to many.
The findings are another reminder that new and exciting technology developments that seize the interest of industry officials and journalists, such as podcasting and RSS feeds, usually take a while to register in the wider public. [Source: OCLC Abstracts -- July 25, 2005]
In the interest of education, here are some definitions, directly from the study:
Internet "phishing": Unsolicited emails that attempt to acquire an internet user’s sensitive information, such as credit card numbers by pretending to be a trustworthy person on business.
Podcasting: Audio files that are downloaded from Web sites, then loaded onto MP3 players such as iPods and played at the convenience of users. Generally spoken word rather than music files.
RSS feed: A file format that allows syndication of Web content, including web blog postings, to those who have subscribed to the material.
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Final permission has been given to plans for a £1m hydro-electric power plant to supply Windsor Castle. [Source: BBC News]
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Green architect Raphael Sperry answers Grist's questions.
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Pinaki Bose, 12, Fort Worth, Texas
Finalist, Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge, 2004
Project background: At an aquarium, Pinaki heard about the dangers plastics pose to wildlife. He was delighted to see a dolphin grab a plastic bottle and pass it to a sea lion, who tossed it into a recycling bin. He decided to search for an alternative to conventional plastics. He contacted several experts who told him about biodegradable polymers.
Tactics and results: Pinaki discovered that the high cost of biodegradable plastics kept them from competing in the market. He decided to try to make a less expensive version of the polymer polycaprolactone, made from the milk sugar lactose, by reinforcing it with sawdust—a cheap, renewable resource. In a series of experiments, Pinaki mixed molten polycaprolactone with various proportions of fine and coarse sawdust. He shaped the resulting composites via standard plastic-working techniques such as warm rolling, compression molding, and injection molding.
Pinaki discovered that one composite, with 20 percent sawdust, was stronger than pure polycaprolactone. All of the composites began to degrade after two months of exposure to the environment.
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The Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) is a tool for evaluating the environmental performance of electronic products throughout their life cycle. The tool was developed to meet the growing demand by large institutional purchasers to buy greener electronic products. It is expected to gain wide acceptance in IT (information technology) purchasing by federal and state government. EPEAT consists of both a set of criteria for assessing products and a management system for their application and maintenance.
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A long-term study of organic farming shows that corn and soybean yields could rival those of conventional farming, while offering major benefits in soil fertility, drought resistance, and water pollution. Many people accept that growing crops without synthetic fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides can bring environmental benefits. But can organic put as much food on the table? Does it require too much weed-whacking labor? Is it profitable? [Source: Why Files]
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Wind turbines are ugly and no one wants to live near one. Right? Wrong. Steve Rose on the new architects of spin. [Source: The Guardian]
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Wolves, wild boar and brown bears are moving west in Europe as nature takes hold of rural regions abandoned by people seeking work in the cities.
Wildlife migration is shadowing human migration and, according to population experts, is set to transform the way we look at the Continent. Wild boar are already ransacking dustbins on the outskirts of Berlin and bears are startling schoolgirls in Austria. [Source: Times Online]
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Grist Magazine's Bill Penrose asks, "When it comes to green products, who's zoomin' who?"
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Air pollution blows across the Pacific Ocean from Asia to North America far more regularly than was previously thought, according to a new University of California, Davis (UC Davis), study. The findings, announced July 19, are likely to affect attempts to clear hazy skies over much of the United States and to understand how growing Asian air pollution will influence global climate change, the researchers said.
The study appeared in a recent issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research (V. 110, D09S90, doi:10.1029/2004JD004973, 2005). Additional information on the article can be accessed at http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2005/2004JD004973.shtml. It was based on air samples collected and analyzed during the 2002 Intercontinental Transport and Chemical Transformation experiment (ITCT 2K2), sponsored by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). [Source: Environmental Protection E-News]
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EPA's latest Tribal Waste Journal focusing on Tribal composting programs is now in print and available on EPA's website at:
http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/tribal/pdftxt/twj-4.pdf
The journal highlights tribes that are making great strides in solid waste management through composting. Read all about how these tribes started their composting programs to divert waste, save on waste
disposal costs, and nourish land and tradition.
You can hear all about the composting efforts from these tribes and more at the Tribal Composting Workshop on August 28 in Minneapolis:
Individual Home and Vermiculture Composting
Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin
Blackfeet Nation, Montana
Fond du Lac Band of Chippewa, Minnesota
Casino Waste and Large Scale Composting
Bois Forte Band of Chippewa, Minnesota
Eastern Band of Cherokee, North Carolina
Prairie Band Potawatomi, Kansas
All the latest information on the Tribal Composting Workshop can be found at http://www.epa.gov/region5/solidwaste/tribalcompost.htm
Register today!
http://www.nrc-recycle.org/congress/mn05/registration/regularregform.pdf
(Note: Registration fee for the Tribal Composting Workshop is $35. Includes a free one-day pass to the National Recycling Coalition Exposition Hall on August 29. You do not have to register for the full
NRC conference to attend the tribal workshop/exposition hall).
For more information on tribal scholarships and the tribal workshop, contact:
Dolly Tong
Tribal Solid Waste & Pollution Prevention Coordinator
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - Region 5
77 W. Jackson Boulevard (DW-8J)
Chicago, IL 60604
312-886-1019 phone
312-353-4788 fax
tong.dolly@epa.gov
3:21:45 PM Google It!
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© Copyright
2005
Laura L. Barnes.
Last update:
10/25/2005; 12:11:26 PM.
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