York Goes Green

Protecting the ocean from lawns

wayne — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 01:20:47 +0000

Well, the problem is not lawns themselves but the overuse of fertilizers and pesticides on lawns, which can eventually run off into fragile waterways. A group in York is looking to protect our local river and ocean ecosystems.

YORK — Protecting lobsters and the ocean from the harms of pesticides and lawn chemicals is the goal of a new group in town.

Lawns 2 Lobsters, made up of community board members, town officials and other residents, held its second meeting Jan. 18 at the Senior Center. The group is seeking to raise awareness of its mission by printing brochures, having a web presence and creating lawn signs.

Members include representatives from the York Harbor Board, the Old York Garden Club, lawn company owners, town officials and others. Their aim is to reduce the amount of fertilizer that seeps into local waterways.

“Fewer chemicals, cleaner water,” is the motto of the growing statewide effort that began in Kennebunkport in 2009.

Other towns call their effort “Lawns for Lobsters.” At the first meeting in December, the local group decided “Lawns 2 Lobsters” sounded more dynamic, said Town Planner Christine Grimando, who facilitated the meeting of an estimated dozen people.

Linda Scotland of the Cape Neddick River Association made the initial pitch to start a group in York, Grimando said.

The Cape Neddick River Association is working to clean up pollution in the river, where water tests often return high bacteria levels.

Scotland is working on printing signs sporting a red lobster with a shovel that can be placed on York lawns.

Resident Carol Donnelly said the group needs to find ways to make a statement at events such as those held on Earth Day.

The group promotes alternatives to fertilizer and suggests such practices as planting clover, which chokes weeds, and also creating sustainable landscapes by allowing the growth of indigenous plants. Water runoff can be avoided by allowing a lawn to grow at least three inches before cutting and creating a rain garden beside asphalt surfaces such as driveways, they said.

In 2009, the Kennebunkport Conservation Commission, in partnership with the University of New England, the Maine Lobstermen’s Association and others, developed the Lawns for Lobsters program, which has spread all over the state of Maine, according to the Cape Neddick Association website, www.capeneddickriver.org.

From the Seacoastonline article River association makes environmental push in Lawns 2 Lobsters.

Renewable energy as a moral imperative

wayne — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 01:20:05 +0000

From an editorial in the 1/25/12 Kennebec Journal:

…Shame on us if we saddle our children and grandchildren with our addiction to oil, a dependency that has shackled our economy and put many of us in danger of freezing to death.

The best gifts we can give our descendants are renewable energy sources right here in Maine. This is a moral imperative. And that’s why the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Initiative is so important. Best of all — you get to decide!

Maine Citizens for Clean Energy — a coalition that includes environmental groups, labor unions and businesses — has collected sufficient signatures to qualify their initiative for the November ballot. The initiative would require that at least 20 percent of Maine’s electricity come from renewable energy sources, including wind, water, and wood by 2020.

…”We have tremendous potential to grow the production and use of our own indigenous renewable energy resources … and we can do so in a way that makes sense for the ratepayers, for our economy, for public health and that clean air and clean water.”

Read the rest of the editorial.

2011: Earth’s 11th warmest year

wayne — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 03:25:29 +0000

The numbers are in, and 2011 was another one for the record books. A great source of weather and climate information is the blog of Dr. Jeff Masters at Wunderground.com.

The year 2011 tied with 1997 as the 11th warmest year since records began in 1880, NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center said last week. NASA rated 2011 as the 9th warmest on record. Land temperatures were the 8th warmest on record, and ocean temperatures, the 11th warmest. For the Arctic, which has warmed about twice as much as the rest of the planet, 2011 was the warmest year on record (between 64°N and 90°N latitude.) The year 2011 was also the 2nd wettest year over land on record, as evidenced by some of the unprecedented flooding Earth witnessed. The wettest year over land was the previous year, 2010.

Masters also explains how much of these temperature changes are due to natural causes like the El Nino and La Nina events. More on that in a later post.

Updated plant hardiness zone maps

wayne — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:19:41 +0000

For gardeners who are thinking about spring planting season (that would be all of us), there is a new USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map. Here is the section that covers southern Maine:

The 2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map is the standard by which gardeners and growers can determine which plants are most likely to thrive at a location. The map is based on the average annual minimum winter temperature, divided into 10-degree F zones.

For the first time, the map is available as an interactive GIS-based map, for which a broadband Internet connection is recommended, and as static images for those with slower Internet access. Users may also simply type in a ZIP Code and find the hardiness zone for that area.

For various reasons, this updated map shows that parts of southern York County have “moved” from Zone 5b to Zone 6a, which, incidentally, is the same zone as half of Missouri and most of Ohio.

To receive, share

wayne — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 03:22:58 +0000

To be a complete person we must travel many paths, and to truly own anything we must first all give it away. This is not a riddle. Only those who share their multiple and varied skills, true friendships, and a sense of community and knowledge of the earth know they are safe wherever they . . . → Read More: To receive, share

January meeting changed to Tuesday the 17th

wayne — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 22:44:59 +0000

The York Energy Efficiency Committee annual meeting has been changed to January 17th, 7:00 pm at the York Public Library. At that meeting, officers will be chosen for 2012, and we will discuss goals for the coming year. Email us at info[at]yorkgoesgreen[dot]org with any questions or suggestions.

YEEC Co-Founder Cynthia Raymond 1913-2011

Eric — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 14:10:51 +0000

When I first met Cynthia Raymond in 2005, she immediately reminded me of Rose – the plucky, fictional heroine of James Cameron’s classic 1997 film, “Titanic”.

In the film, Rose is first introduced in the form of an elderly woman – spunky but well-advanced in her years – accompanying a group of modern-day treasure hunters in search of a famed jewel rumored to be on Titanic. We don’t meet this version of Rose very much as the movie progresses but she reappears dramatically in the unforgettable conclusion. When Rose quietly passes in her sleep in the final moments, a series of photographs flash by chronicling the long accomplished life she lived after surviving the Titanic and losing her true love.

While the character of Rose was fictional, Cynthia was not. Born a year after the sinking of the Titanic, she had already accomplished so much in her life by the time I met her. You could feel it in her presence, in her voice, in her passionate enthusiasm for the things she cared deeply for. I wasn’t just impressed by what she had done – but what she was still doing at age 92 when I first met her.

Throughout her long life, she was a passionate advocate for protecting the environment, conserving natural resources, and celebrating the beauty of nature. A prolific writer of letters-to-the-editor, her written voice was always articulate, vibrant, and classy. When energy and environmental policy was being discussed at town meetings, Cynthia was often there in the audience – quietly speaking with her presence. I’ll never forget the time I saw then state senator, Peter Bowman come to one of our meetings at the library. Surprised, I asked him why he was there given his busy schedule. His response, “when Cynthia Raymond asks me to come to a meeting, – I come to the meeting!” She was just that kind of person.

I’m honored to have known and worked with her, and for my daughter to have met her. She will be missed.

Eric Hopkins

Chairman

York Energy Efficiency Committee

Keystone XML a bad deal for America

wayne — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 03:36:17 +0000

Although the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline appeared to be put on hold recently, there are special interests working to slip it in the back door, despite all the problems that it would bring. Some in Congress are trying to force approval of the KXL Pipeline in exchange for the payroll tax cut extension. The following is a Sierra Club editorial reproduced in its entirety.

The Keystone XL Pipeline Scam

With all the political posturing in Congress over the Keystone XL tar-sands oil pipeline, it’s easy to lose sight of the real issue: This pipeline is dangerous, unnecessary, and would cost the American people far more than we can afford. What we’re watching unfold in Washington, DC, is more than just a high-stakes political power play — it’s a scam undertaken by Big Oil’s congressional puppets on the orders of oil companies that have billions of dollars at stake.

The politicians pushing the pipeline are (how can I put this politely?) lying to the American people and pandering for dirty oil money. What do we really stand to gain if this thing is rammed down our throats? Higher gas prices, more air pollution, the threat of poisoned water, and enough carbon pollution to make stopping climate disruption next to impossible — but few of the jobs and none of the huge profits that Big Oil would reap.

Exaggerated job numbers play well to public concern about unemployment and the economy, but they are a hollow promise. The numbers from TransCanada — the company behind the pipeline — have already been discredited as fuzzy math for using tricks like double counting and incidental employment for dancers, choreographers, and speech therapists. Here’s some non-fuzzy math: The pipeline would raise gas prices across the Midwest — hurting both consumers and businesses. Ironically, the pipeline could actually destroy more jobs than it generates.

Meanwhile, our nation’s largest aquifer, which supplies one-third of U.S. irrigated farmland and the drinking water for millions, would be put at imminent risk. Although that risk most directly affects the farmers and ranchers whose livelihoods hang in the balance, every American would feel the effect of an oil-spill catastrophe in the nation’s agricultural heartland.

TransCanada has a dismal record of cutting corners, ignoring the law, and spilling oil. The company’s Keystone 1 pipeline spilled more than 12 times in its first year of operation, including a 21,000-gallon spill in North Dakota in May 2011 that shot a 60-foot geyser of oil into the air. Last year, the U.S. EPA determined that sections of the Keystone 1 pipeline were constructed using inferior steel and defective welds.

That means we have an irresponsible company asking for permission to build a kind of pipeline that is already far riskier than normal. Unrefined tar sands crude is both thicker and more toxic than conventional crude oil. Sand in the mixture scours the inside of a pipe, and highly reactive chemicals in the crude corrode the steel. Making things even worse, the heavy, gooey tar sands has to be pumped at far higher temperatures and pressures than conventional oil.

The riskiness of piping this toxic crude all the way across America is bad enough, but on top of that, this pipeline would actually make the U.S. less secure. Retired Brigadier General Steven Anderson said itplainly:

The Keystone XL pipeline will not reduce America’s dependence on Middle East oil, or do anything to get us off oil completely, which is key to America’s national security future. Much of the oil produced by Keystone won’t go right to American gas-tanks – it is to be exported, meaning we will need to import oil the same as before.

But pipeline advocates aren’t really concerned about what’s best for the U.S. At least one oil company backing the pipeline, Valero, has made it clear that its main goal is to reach growing foreign diesel fuel markets. Port Arthur, TX, where the Keystone XL would end, is a Foreign Trade Zone. That means oil companies would avoid paying U.S. taxes on oil that is imported from Canada, refined in Texas, and then exported to China, Latin America, or Europe. The American people get to assume all of the risk, but would see none of the benefits, not even the tax revenues.

This pipeline is a bad deal that would generate billions in profits for oil companies while leaving Americans to pay the price in higher fuel costs, energy insecurity, and polluted air and water. At a time when we need to be doing everything we can to get off oil and reduce global-warming pollution, the Keystone XL would take us in exactly the wrong direction. Tar sands oil is a gigantic climate disaster waiting to happen.

President Obama did the right and responsible thing by deciding to reevaluate this project. The Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is dangerous, unnecessary, and would cost the American people far more than we can afford. We cannot — we must not — let Big Oil and its minions in Congress force it upon us against our will.

Michael Brune is the Sierra Club’s executive director.