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A few weeks ago we launched our Facebook page, where you can get B'More Green updates automatically.
If you're not a fan yet, now is a good time to become one. Once we reach 150, we will pick one of our fans at random and send him or her The Whole Green Catalog, 1,000 Best Things For You And the Earth. Come on, don't be shy!
(AP photo)
A Pennsylvania environmental group is warning that pollution from large-scale livestock farms in that state is worsening, and it's calling for stricter government regulations and enforcement to help restore the Chesapeake Bay.
Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future, or PennFuture, released a report contending that there's been an increase in the past five years in the amount of farm animal manure washing into one of the major tributaries to the Susquehanna River - itself the bay's largest tributary.
Among the group's findings:
- just 57 percent of livestock operations in the Octoraro Creek watershed are in compliance with "nutrient management plans" limiting how, when and where they can spread manure on their fields to fertilize crops;
- though the number of livestock operations has declined in the past five years, the amount of manure generated has increased substantially and nearly all of it is used or disposed of in the watershed.
"The cleanup program based on voluntary efforts is going the wrong way," Jan Jarrett, PennFuture's president and CEO said in a release accompanying the report. Her group called for stricter enforcement by Pennsylvania, or to have the federal Environmental Protection Agency step in and start denying permits for any new livestock operations in watersheds already impaired by nutrient pollution from farm runoff.
The Chesapeake group of the Waterkeepers Alliance has been making similiar complaints about Maryland's oversight of manure generated by livestock farms, especially the many poultry operations on the Eastern Shore.
You can read PennFuture's report here.
The Obama administration wants to strengthen federal oversight and regulation of toxic chemicals, citing public and scientific worries about the health and environmental effects of the compounds used in making everything from cars to clothing and even food and water containers.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson laid out a broad set of principles last night she said she hoped would guide Congress as it prepares to tackle an overhaul of the 33-year-old Toxic Substances Control Act, which critics consider virtually toothless and ineffective. You can read her speech here and a story about her announcement here that I wrote in The Baltimore Sun today. Other accounts here and here.
The move to address toxic chemicals nationally comes as environmental and health advocates regionally have expressed concern about their impact on the Chesapeake Bay. Not long ago, they produced a report urging closer scrutiny of their presence in the water, soil and air - and action to reduce their exposure to fish, wildlife and people. I wrote about it earlier on this blog.
The EPA administrator's speech is drawing guarded praise from environmental advocates and scientists who believe exposure to low levels of toxic chemicals in consumer products could be responsible for a variety of health, developmental and reproductive problems in children and adults. Richard Wiles of the Environmental Working Group likened the current oversight of the thousands of chemicals in use to "the Wild West.
"EPA has no authority to regulate industry," Wiles said, "and as a result it's not unlike banking. You end up with some very high-risk products."
It's also backed, at least in principle, by the chemical manufacturers themselves, who contend their products are safe but believe stronger federal oversight can restore public confidence.
With both industry and advocates in favor of stronger federal regulation, what could go wrong? As Richard Denison of the Environmental Defense Fund says, "the devil is in the details." For instance, would stronger federal oversight of toxic chemicals trump laws limiting their use in states like California? EPA's Jackson was silent on that issue, while environmental advocates vowed to fight any move to toss state laws. The American Chemistry Council's Cal Dooley, speaking for manufacturers, said the industry would prefer one nationwide set of rules, but hopes that a stronger federal law will head off any further state actions.
The industry also signaled its willingness to pay steeper fees to have its chemicals reviewed by the government, but indicated it wants some assurance the reviews wouldn't drag on and slow or block the introduction of new products.
Get a good look at some of Baltimore's parks and its harbor from a bicycle this Sunday. It's the annual Tour du Port bike ride around the city.
It begins and ends in Canton Waterfront Park. There will be on-sight registration from 7 a.m.-8:30 a.m. for $60 or register here for $50.
Routes are 12, 20, 41 and 51 miles. Riding starts at 7:30 and there are snacks along the way. Lunch is also served on the waterfront at the end.
The event benefits One Less Car, a nonprofit that adocates for better bike and pedestrian access and mass transit.
(I've done this ride, and be mindful that the roads are not closed for the event. With so many riders and the early hour, it feels pretty safe. And it wasn't as hilly a ride as I was expecting. Still, don't forget your helmet.)
Wow, we sure got a variety of responses to our call for eco sins. Glad to know I'm not the only one who struggles.
As promised, we are rewarding one of our commenters with an eco-friendly pampering kit. Bonnie, who tells us she does many things to reduce her carbon footprint, but can't resist cranking the air conditioner on a hot Baltimore summer day, was chosen from our random drawing of names. Congratulations!
Her comment got me thinking about getting ready for the cooler weather. Last winter, my heat was constantly running, but I was still covered in a wool sweater jacket, and occasionally a winter hat, to keep warm inside. I'm debating whether to replace my drafty windows or just cover them in plastic. Has anyone purchased energy efficient windows that qualify for the tax credit? Was it money well spent?
(AP photo of frosty windows)
Local metal sculptor Ed Kidera believes that functional art should last forever. With a Masters of Science in Ocean Engineering and a keen eye for recycled craft, Ed creates unique pieces like bells, mailboxes, bird baths, and even kinetic sculptures out of old steel cylinders, car, truck, and farm parts. He has built more than 4,300 works of upcycled art that can be found in homes and galleries worldwide. Lucky for us, Ed Kidera is one of many crafters who will be presenting at this year’s Sugarloaf Crafts Festival in Timonium.
As for the giveaway, be the first reader to post the correct response to the following question and you will win two (2) complimentary tickets to the Sugarloaf Crafts Festival.
Question: What was one of the first pieces that Ed built as a kid (hint: it’s an alternative mode of transportation)
The Sugarloaf Crafts Festival will be held Friday, October 2 and Saturday, October 3 from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.; Sunday, October 4 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Maryland State Fairgrounds, located at 2200 York Road in Timonium, MD.
Adult admission to the Sugarloaf Crafts Festival is $7 when purchased online, $8 for adults at the door, and free for children under 12. Admission is good for all three days, and free parking is available.
For more information about the Sugarloaf Crafts Festival, directions, or to purchase discount admission tickets visit www.sugarloafcrafts.com or call (800) 210-9900.
Additional show information, artist profiles, and special offers may be found on Sugarloaf’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/sugarloafcrafts.
Image courtesy of the artist
If you've never visited the isolated watermen's communities on Smith and Tangier islands in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay, you've really missed an eye-opening cultural experience. Imagine having to catch a boat to go to school, as kids do on Maryland's Smith, or depending for a living on what you can find and catch from the water surrounding your home.
Tonight (Sept. 29), there's a chance to pay a virtual visit to one of these island communities for a few hours without needing to get in a boat or a plane to get there. A new one-act play about the watermen of Tangier Island will be performed at 7 p.m. at the Annapolis Maritime Museum. “Fishing Gone,” written by Roger Vaughan and directed by Joel Kolker, stars Lisa Wheatley, a Tangier Island resident, who plays herself as Lisa. After the show there'll be a discussion led by Peter Lesher, curator of collections at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels.
Admission is free. The play will be at the Annapolis museum, at 723 Second St. in Eastport. For more info, go here or call 410 295-0104.
Fall is here, and Gov. Martin O'Malley wants you to plant a tree. He's throwing in some incentives.
Under the Marylanders Plant Trees program, the Department of Natural Resources will hold monthly drawings to give away prizes for those who register their trees online. The prizes include overnight stays at Rocky Gap Resort, state park passes and Christmas trees.
In announcing the prizes, O'Malley said,"Trees improve the quality of our water, our air and our daily lives. Planting a tree is a simplace act with a big impact. By planting a tree, every Marylander can do his or her part to create a smarter, greener Maryland."
The governor launched the tree-planting program last year and has a goal of planting 50,000 trees by 2010. So far, more than 18,000 new trees have been planted and registered.
The state is continuing to offer $25 coupons toward the purchse of native trees costing $50 or more. They are redeemable at nearly 70 nurseries.
Photo of Gov. O'Malley planting a tree courtesy of the state of Maryland
A New York-to-DC charity bike ride to push for climate action passes through Maryland this week. The second annual Climate Ride, organized to raise funds for promoting public awareness of climate and energy issues, stops off in Reisterstown Tuesday night.
The riders - reportedly ranging in age from 12 to 82 - will be greeted at the Pearlstone Retreat Center by Denmark's ambassador to the United States, who'll talk about the international climate summit planned in his nation's capital in December. Other speakers include Mike Tidwell, head of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, and a leading Danish cycling advocate. The 7 p.m. event is open to the public, but seating is limited; email caeli@climateride.org if you'd like to stop by.
The 300-mile ride, sponsored by the water-filter maker Brita, pedals on through Maryland Wednesday and finishes in Washington with a rally on the Capitol Lawn, which is open to everyone. For details of that event, go here.
Inspired by her grandmother’s penchant for old English silverware, crafter Jennifer Northup of Silver Spoon Jewelry creates exquisite necklaces, bracelets, watches, and earrings from vintage silverware – particularly pieces with heirloom patterns of the 1800s. I have indeed fallen madly in love with her work – the Julia Necklace and Elaine Ring (see above) – are simply stunning. And hey, Jennifer also makes belt buckles, cufflinks, vases, and business card holders – all are repurposed. Northup is one of many crafters who will be presenting at this year’s Sugarloaf Crafts Festival in Timonium. See my previous post for more details.
As for the giveaway, be the first reader to post the correct response to the following question and you will win two (2) complimentary tickets to the Sugarloaf Crafts Festival.
Question: Name the quiet, countryside inn where Jennifer found endless inspiration as a child.
Images courtesy of the artist
Stephen Von Worley created this map that highlights all the Golden Arches in the country. And it looks a little like America has been tossed on the grill next to all those Big Macs.
The effort was inspired by a recent drive through the countryside that was rudely interrupted by a strip mall. Von Worley began to wonder "just how far away can you get from our world of generic convenience? And how would you figure that out."
You can read the full ode to open space on Von Worley's blog, weathersealed.com.
But here's a bit: "I’ve got nothing against Petco, Starbucks, OfficeMax, et al. When overcome by the desire for a cubic yard of kitty litter, a carafe of pre-Columbian frappasmoochino, or fifty gross of pink highlighter pens, I’m there in a jiffy! But, Mr. Real Estate Tycoon, did you have to plop your shopping center smack dab in the middle of what was previously nowhere?"
He reports to B'More Green that he's gotten a much larger response that he was expecting. "People seem pretty passionate about Micky Dee's," he said.
Indeed. According to a recent story by fellow Sun writer Jill Rosen about upscale restaurants suffering in this economy, the Maryland Restaruant Association reports that there are 300 McDonald's within 50 miles of Baltimore and they all seem to be doing just fine.
Photo courtesy of Stephen Von Worley
In case you don't watch much TV, you might not have heard - a new Ken Burns epic debuts this weekend - "The National Parks, America's Best Idea."
If you love parks, the outdoors or history, you'll probably want to check it out. Burns, who's filmed histories of the Civil War, baseball, jazz, the West, the Second World War and more, spent six years compiling footage and stories from national parks in every corner of the land - Acadia, Alaska, the Everglades, the Grand Canyon and Yosemite, to name just some.
It airs on PBS over six nights, starting Sunday Sept. 27 at 8 p.m. If you can't wait, or want to know more, go here for a preview and here to get a snapshot of the parks' history.
Of the 250 artists at next weekend’s Sugarloaf Craft Festival, many of them will be offering goods made from upcycled and/or repurposed materials, like jeweler Victoria Tane’s Driftwood Necklace (see above image). Every year, Sugarloaf celebrates the diversity of American Craft by showcasing innovative work from some of the country’s most recognized artists and crafters.
The Sugarloaf Crafts Festival will be held Friday, October 2 and Saturday, October 3 from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.; Sunday, October 4 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Maryland State Fairgrounds, located at 2200 York Road in Timonium, MD.
Adult admission to the Sugarloaf Crafts Festival is $7 when purchased online, $8 for adults at the door, and free for children under 12. Admission is good for all three days, and free parking is available.
For more information about the Sugarloaf Crafts Festival, directions, or to purchase discount admission tickets visit www.sugarloafcrafts.com or call (800) 210-9900.
Additional show information, artist profiles, and special offers may be found on Sugarloaf’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/sugarloafcrafts.
Image courtesy of Sugarloaf Crafts Festival
Now the anti-sprawl group 1000 Friends of Maryland is trying a new tack to keep farmland from growing houses. It's decided to extend a hand to farmers, offering to support tax reforms, public funding and other incentives to keep farming profitable and the developers at bay. Under the slogan "Keep Farmers Farming", the Baltimore-based group is launching its new campaign tonight with a $65-a-head bash at the Green Spring Valley Hounds hunt club in Reisterstown, featuring locally produced food and drink, and a chance to meet and mingle with the farmers who produced it.
"We've always supported agriculture," maintains Dru Schmidt-Perkins, Friends' executive director. The group has long advocated for farmland preservation as a key part of the state's Smart Growth policy, which seeks to preserve rural and environmentally sensitive lands by steering development into existing urban areas. But Friends has favored putting more teeth in the state's growth management laws, something farmers have tended to fight because they have more clout at the county courthouses.
Now the group has decided to throw its lobbying weight behind helping farmers in the belief that the best way to save the farmland is to help ease the economic pressures driving farmers out of business.
"There isn't going to be a fresh peach on every (Baltimore city) student's desk next fall if the farmer who raises the peaches is gone," Schmidt-Perkins says. "We have to make farming work because we have to eat. We're not going to get at climate-change issues, transportation issues, healthy food issues unless we have a really strong agriculture system nearby."
1000 Friends isn't the first environmental group to try cozying up to farmers instead of sparring with them all the time. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation made a similar shift about a decade ago, in the wake of a fierce struggle in Annapolis over regulations aimed at curbing farm runoff, the leading source of pollution fouling the bay and its tributaries. The Annapolis-based group, which had angered farmers with its support of the nutrient management law, declared then that it favored helping farmers do the right thing with government payments or other incentives, rather than trying to force them through regulations. Its soft-pedaling of farm pollution issues irked other environmentalists, though.
This new olive branch comes at another difficult time for the state's farmers. They face renewed pressure as federal and state governments look to jump-start the lagging bay cleanup effort by tightening rules on farming while also offering them money to comply. Meanwhile, farmers like everyone have been struggling in the recession, especially dairy farmers hit with plummeting milk prices. On the other hand, the real estate slump has eased development pressures on farmers - though many think that's only a temporary respite in the Monopoly-like march of houses across the remaining rural landscape.
Jim Baird of the American Farmland Trust, one of the sponsors of tonight's bash, has called Friends' overture "perfect timing" and a possible bridge between beleagured farmers and urban and suburban residents who increasingly crave locally grown food but don't appreciate what it takes to produce it.
Farming interests are willing to listen, at least. Val Connelly, legislative director for the Maryland Farm Bureau, said she won't be at 1000 Friends' party tonight because of another commitment. Her group has long complained about government laws and policies making farming more costly and less economically viable. But she offered encouragement.
"We welcome them to the fold," she said.
Schmidt-Perkins made clear in an interview that while her group will seek changes to inheritance tax laws and other measures to help farmers stay in business, it's really looking to promote small to medium-sized operations supplying food and other agricultural resources to the region and state. "Industrial farming is not really where we're going to be spending our time,'' she said, in an allusion to the poultry industry that dominates the Delmarva Peninsula - and accounts for much of the farm runoff affecting the bay.
It'll be interesting to see if Friends can really separate the two. To make it even more complicated, the heartland of the poultry industry, Wicomico County, lost state certification - and funding - for farmland preservation this week. Wicomico doesn't have the most farmland or farms, but the value of the chickens and other crops and livestock produced there is the highest among all counties in the state.
Earlier this year, after a fierce debate pitting farmer against farmer, the county council had refused to eliminate a loophole in its agricultural zoning that allows a home on every three acres of farmland if the dwellings are clustered. The Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation board gave the county until the end of this month to take concrete steps to protect farmland from development pressures. County officials said they were seeking to balance preservation of farming with farmers' insistence on maintaining the option to sell their land for residential development. But despite assurances they were trying, county officials took no action or made any firm commitments - so the board voted to strip state certification of Wicomico's agricultural land preservation program.
This isn't the first county in Maryland to lose some of its state funding for farmland preservation. Howard County, long since heavily suburbanized, lost its state certification in 2007 after balking at downzoning its remaining farmland. Other growing counties like Queen Anne's and St. Mary's are struggling with similar debates and face similar sanctions soon if they don't move to curb the loss of farmland, said Joseph Tassone, coordinator of the agricultural preservation program for the state Department of Planning.
The Farm Bureau's Connelly deplored the state action and said farmers believe the state should leave land use decisions to local officials.
But Tassone said it's not just state bureacrats like him pushing for action, but the state's lawmakers. The General Assembly passed a law a few years back that insists on counties tightening farm zoning as a condition of getting maximum funding under the state ag land preservation program. Lawmakers did so after Tassone's department produced a report showing that farms voluntarily preserved with state funds were getting driven out of business anyway as neighboring farmers sold out and the surrounding fields sprouted houses.
1000 Friends, at least for now, has no opinion on the Wicomico controversy. Kelly Carneal emailed to say the group's leaders were too busy yesterday preparing for tonight's bash to give the issue much thought - but assured they would tackle it once the party's over.
(Baltimore Sun file photo by Barbara Haddock Taylor)
A bunch of lawyers paid a call on a West Baltimore school this morning...
No, that's not the opening line for another lawyer joke. These legal beagles dropped by Franklin Square elementary/middle to plant some trees with the kids.
It's part of a campaign launched by members of the American Bar Association who deal with environment, energy and resources issues. They're in town this week for their fall conference, and some of them came in a day early to participate in this demonstration of pro bono planting prowess.
Working with students from Franklin Square and Chesapeake Alternative Academy, the 16 lawyers planted 11 red maples and one river birch and helped weed the school grounds, according to Lynne Van Buskirk of the ABA. Partners on the project included the Parks & People Foundation and the Alliance for Community Trees. It's the opening act in an ambitious effort by the ABA's environmental section to plant one million trees nationwide over the next five years. Their aim is to stress the benefits of trees, particularly in combatting climate change.
Maybe it's also a bit of community service - penance if you will - for all the trees that have been chopped down to print the mountains of briefs generated by the legal profession?
(Photo courtesy of the ABA's Lynne Van Buskirk)
The Washington Post is reporting that a group of engineers at Nissan are trying to figure out how to add a little toot or whistle to the soon-to-come electric Leaf. The car is too quiet, they say. It could pose safety problems.
It's ironic considering that for years, engineers tried to make car less noisy. If you're on the street and an electric hybrid like the Toyota Prius comes by running on its battery, you can't hear a peep.
Tesla has already said it will not add noise to its electric Roadster. No word from the other car electric makers.
Congress is considering legislation to set some kind of safety standard since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the electric cars are 50 percent more likely to be involved in accident with a pedestrian. The Post says there's little actual evidence because there aren't that many electric cars on the road.
So, do we need the noise? Would you prefer the quiet?
Associated Press photo of the Leaf
Marylanders drove less last year, while hopping the bus or train more often. That's the upshot of the latest statistics-happy report from Environment Maryland, which touts public transit as a path to energy independence and reducing global warming.
Residents of the Free State drove 1.8 billion miles fewer in 2008 than the year before, a 4 percent decrease, according to figures from the federal government. Meanwhile, transit ridership jumped by more than 15 percent, the environmental group says, the third-largest increase among states nationwide.
The state's record transit ridership saved some 60.7 million gallons of gasoline, the group calculates - which is about the amount of fuel consumed ina year by 105,200 cars carrying 1.3 Marylanders each. Residents also saved dough, according to the American Public Transportation Association, the transit trade group - each regular rider in the Baltimore area saved more than $9,000 a year.
With transportation responsible for two-thirds of US oil consumption and about one-third of climate-warming carbon dioxide emissions, Environment Maryland urged Congress to funnel more money into transit, biking and walking. To read the report, go here.
(2008 Baltimore Sun photo by Gene Sweeney)
Wind energy seems quite popular right now. Maryland officials are moving ahead on planning for offshore wind turbines, and the Maryland Energy Administration offers tax credits for installing wind systems at home.
But some local counties are moving a little more slowly in figuring out how to allow the eco-friendly energy producers while not infringing on the rights of neighbors. At least two Maryland counties are trying to figure out what, if any, wind turbines are acceptable on people's residential property.
Baltimore County has proposed allowing wind turbines under certain conditions, like the lot has to be an acre and the turbine can't be taller than 150 feet. A meeting is planned at 5 p.m. tonight to get citizen input. The meeting will be held in the Planning Board Hearing Room, Room 104 of the Jefferson Building, 105 W. Chesapeake Ave., in Towson.
Click here for more information and a staff report on the subject.
Anne Arundel County is also trying to decide what to do with its one applicant. Baltimore City recently rejected the first person to seek a residental turbine (on the roof of a rowhouse) because zoning law didn't allow for it. The city is currently updating its zoning law.
So, are we moving too slow? Too fast?
Associated Press photo of an offshore wind farm in Denmark
it seems everyone is jumping on the green bandwagon these days. A new dentist's office is opening in the area that is claiming to be "eco-friendly." Dr. Judy Yu will open the Pasadena office called Cosmetic Dental FX today.
You may ask what does this mean?
Changes include: becoming a mercury-free environment; installing a hydraulic-free, energy-efficient elevator; using recycled flooring and countertop materials; employing chemical-free steam-based sterilization; using computerized charting to reduce paper usage; and using recycled paper products only and eco-friendly cleaning products.
The office also has added energy star efficient lighting throughout office and in outdoor signage; is using digital imaging to reduce radiation; has used low VOC paint and flooring adhesive; added environmentally conscious computers and eco-friendly furniture and cabinetry.
The office will also seeks to offer a more "spa-like" atmosphere with music and flat screen tvs, coffee, Wi-Fi and concierge service.
But do you still get your free toothbrush?
Baltimore Sun file photo/Lloyd Fox
Want to know if a business, school or some other facility in your neighborhood has been caught polluting a stream or the ground water in recent years? Check out this interactive graphic from the New York Times.
Drawing on pollution violation data kept by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the newspaper concludes that the system set up by the 1972 Clean Water Act to protect our streams and drinking water isn't working all that well.
In Maryland, for instance, it would appear that most of the 2,691 regulated facilities have violated the Clean Water Act at least once, often multiple times. Relatively few have been fined - though I suspect that many of these are what environmental officials would call "paper" violations, including failure to submit the required reports on time.
The Maryland Department of the Environment responded to the newspaper's data with a statement saying it "places a high priority on enforcing environmental laws." You can read the full text here. In a separate graphic, the NYT did indicate that Maryland took action against a greater share of its major violators than many other states, about 36 out of 100 violations being subject to enforcement.
This is part of an occasional "Toxic Waters" series the Times has been doing on water pollution problems across the United States. Other installments looked at drinking water contaminated by the popular weed-killer atrazine and at polluted runoff from large-scale livestock farms.
Christina Demorest-Sugg of Five Mile Road believes in preserving and renewing. Her hand printed, hand-dyed t-shirts are made using overstock, which is why many of them are limited edition and/or one-of-a-kind. I happened upon Christina’s stand at the JFX Farmer’s Market on Sunday and immediately fell in love with her goods, which included t-shirts, tank tops, long sleeve shirts, and the most delightful hand-printed vendor aprons. Her designs are unusual and diverse, as are her color combinations. Everything is well-priced too. Visit her Etsy shop or simply stop by the Farmer’s Market and experience Five Mile Road for yourself. You won’t be disappointed.
Image courtesy of Five Mile Road
The New York Times's Green Inc. blog has an item about an effort to compost dog waste in Ithaca, N.Y. It's kind of a pilot project where dog owners at a certain dog park are given special corn-based bags to pick up poop. They dump it in a special container that is picked up by a composting company.
The compost people haven't yet decided what to do with the waste. They'll mix it with top soil if it's not such good quality or use it in gardens if it's good quality.
But I've long thought about the amount of dog poop I throw away. All those plastic bags that sit in the landfill forever. But the alternative is to leave it on the ground. That's not really an alternative, though. People, including little kids, would step in it. And some of it would -- and lots does now -- end up in our waterways where bacteria already is a serious problem.
But would people actually participate in a composting operation here? There used to be a bin at work that was bright yellow and labelled for ink jet and electronic recycling only. Yet every day there was trash in it. I don't know if people didn't pay any attention or did it on purpose, but either way, I can imagine the other stuff that would go into the compost bin at the dog park.
So, what's the answer?
Associated Press photo of dogs in a park in Ithica, N.Y.
Kim Walker here with another guest post:
I wrote earlier today about being initially hesitant about switching to a low flow showerhead. Water (over)usage is my biggest eco sin. And every time I soak in a hot bath after a long day at work, I swear it'll be my last.
We all try to lessen our footprint, but everyone has a weakness or two. (Except for B'More Green blogger Meredith, who takes home her work junk mail so she can recycle it.) Are you a paper towel junkie? Do you love your SUV? Share your biggest eco sin in the comments by 5 p.m. Monday (Sept. 21) for a chance to win a prize. One commenter will receive an ecotools pampering kit with bamboo nail brush and lotion and cream that are 98 percent from nature. (I know, I know, a green blog shouldn't be rewarding bad behavior, but perhaps confessing your sins is the first step to reform.)
Baltimore Sun file photo of a bathtub that I wish was mine.
Maryland is studying how - and maybe even whether - to encourage development of a wind farm off Ocean City. How do you feel about it?
As reported in The Baltimore Sun a couple days ago, the state is inviting expressions of interest from wind developers while conducting an intensive review of the area of the Atlantic a dozen or so miles offshore, to see where would be most appropriate to place huge wind turbines - and if there are places along the Outer Continental Shelf to avoid. The state is also investigating whether the slowly revolving turbine blades pose hazards to birds and bats - an issue that's been raised with land-based turbines, particularly those placed on mountain ridges. To learn more about the state's action, go here.
Beyond the environmental and economic issues - whether wind can generate enough power cheaply enough to compete with other energy sources - there's the subjective but significant one of aesthetics. Can people live with seeing the turbines, which with their blades stand more than 400 feet high? In Massachusetts, a proposal to place turbines off Cape Cod has generated intense debate, driven in part by people's differences over their visual impact.
Wind energy developers have said that when placed 12 miles offshore, the turbines will appear no taller than half a thumbnail and thin as a toothpick when seen from the boardwalk or beach. They'll be most clearly visible on the horizon in winter, when the air is clearer, they say, but barely more than blips in the hazier days of summer, when the beaches would be most populated.
Of course, that's what the developers say. It's hard to gauge public sentiment until a concrete proposal comes in, of course. But a recent public opinion survey by Monmouth University's Urban Coast Institute found that 70 percent of Marylanders favor placing wind farms offshore, even if they'd be visible from the shoreline. In Delaware, where offshore wind has moved further along, the poll found 82 percent in favor.
Those results came from a broader survey of public attitudes on a variety of mid-Atlantic coastal issues, questioning a total of about 1,000 residents in New York New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. For the Maryland results, about 100 residents of Worcester County were interviewed by phone. To see the full survey, go here.
Baltimore Sun green living editor Kim Walker guest posts on her energy check-up experience:
Recently I signed up for a BGE Quick Home Energy Check-up. I'll write more about the overall experience soon, but one issue that stood out was whether to install the low flow showerhead.
The technician was a wealth of information, giving the pros and cons for each proposed improvement. When we got to the showerheads, he told me that some people complain that they have to take longer showers to rinse off all of the shampoo and conditioner. A longer shower during my morning rush didn't appeal to me, so I passed. If the difference in water flow is similar to what I'm experiencing with the sink aerators he installed, he was probably right.
Now I'm having second thoughts. I spoke to B'More Green blogger Meredith Cohn and others who have low flow showerheads, and they say they don't have that problem. The Maryland Department of the Environment says installing a low flow showerhead can save 3 gallons of water a minute and the Maryland Energy Administration calculates savings of 250 kWh a year and reduce household electricity consumption by 1 percent.
Has anyone switched to a low flow showerhead and now take significantly longer showers? Are there any showerheads worth recommending?
Photo of Delta Faucet 75152 Water Amplifying Adjustable Showerhead sold at Amazon.com.
Want to B (even) More Green? We now have a Facebook page!
Check us out! Become a fan! Or just quietly get your eco-updates while you're checking up on your friends.
Or you can keep checking in with us here for all your green info.
The page is here.
And I don't mean seasick.
Everyone's claiming to be green these days, including cruise lines. The environmental group Friends of the Earth has taken a closer look, though, and gives middling to poor grades to some of the biggest names in the business, including Celebrity, Carnival and Royal Carribean International, which sail out of Baltimore.
Friends rates the cruise lines on whether their ships treat the sewage produced by their thousands of passengers - small floating cities, in effect - or simply dump raw or partially treated waste in open waters - which they're legally allowed to do. It also scores them on air pollution, on compliance with water standards meant to protect Alaska's sensitive coast and on the accessibility of their environmental information.
Holland America, Norwegian and Princess rate B's. At the bottom of the pack, with Fs, are Royal Carribean and Disney, whose ships are pictured above.
Cruise Lines International Association, the Florida-based industry group, challenged the report card, calling it "arbitrary and flawed," according to this story in the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. The industry said cruise lines "comply with and in most cases exceed applicable environmental regulations."
To see the report card, go here.
(Associated Press photo)
No one has more at stake in wanting the Chesapeake Bay cleaned up than the men and women who still make a living - or try to, at least - from the fish, crabs and oysters still hanging on amid the bay's nutrient-fouled waters..
That's the point of "Watermen Blues," a new report by Environment Maryland. The Baltimore-based advocacy group produced the 36-pager to back up its call for the federal and state governments to ramp up bay restoration efforts.
"After decades of voluntary programs, minimal accountability and lax enforcement of bay protections, it's crystal clear that we need greater accountability and better enforcement of limits on all sources of pollution," the group's Tommy Landers said in a press release accompanying the report.
Environmental groups crank out reports like a popcorn popper sometimes, packed with policy prescriptions in dry prose. This report talks policy, too, but it's got flavor. Co-authored by Heather Dewar, a talented environmental writer who used to report for The Baltimore Sun, it vividly recounts how the bay's watermen and once-thriving seafood industry have faltered.
Pollution isn't entirely to blame for that, the report frankly acknowledges. Overfishing and lower-priced imported seafood has taken a toll as well. But it points out how fishermen have struggled as pollution has smothered the bay's grasses and starved it of fish-sustaining oxygen, rendering the deep waters a sterile "dead zone." Seafood packing houses have closed, boat carpenters have gone elsewhere to find work and watermen have been forced to take jobs on land building homes or working as prison guards
It's an eloquent, sobering reminder of how pollution hurts people and communities, even when it doesn't directly threaten their health. They say you don't know what you've lost 'til it's gone, but sometimes what's gone is forgotten. To avoid that, read the full report, go here.
(Baltimore Sun photo 2002 by Chiaki Kawajiri)
Clean water comes at a price, but why can't you have fun while doing your part? The Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper is holding its second annual Trash Bash on Saturday, Sept. 19 to raise awareness and funds to support the nonprofit effort to clean up the harbor.
There'll be open-air music by Can't Hang, S.T.O.R.M., and Derek Sholl, a selection of eco-vendors to browse and booths selling beer and food. The bash is to run from 2:30 to 8:30 p.m., so paddle, pedal, walk or drive over to Nick's Fish House, 2600 Insulator Drive, on the Middle Branch off Hanover Street. For directions, go here.
Tickets are $25 general admission or $100 for a VIP party featuring a seafood dinner, drinks and a silent auction. But you can get discounts of $5 or $25, respectively, if you buy tickets online by 3 p.m. Friday. Just click here to do that.
That way you can help Eliza Smith Steinmeier, the waterkeeper, seen at left in her boat, get trash, sewage and other gunk out of the harbor without getting your hands dirty - provided you don't fall in the water!
(Baltimore Sun file photos by Elizabeth Malby & Glenn Fawcett)
There's a newly green dry cleaner in town: the Glyndon Lord Baltimore Cleaners. The shop uses GreenEarth Cleaning, a solicone-based solution, which is like sand, instead of perchloroethylene. Perc is used by most dry cleaners and is considered a health and environmental hazard by the Environmental Protection Agency.
A few options for greener cleaning have cropped up in recent years, and experts don't agree that they are all perfect alternatives.
Here's what the Union of Concerned Scientists says about the silicone method: "Silicone cleaning is a proprietary technology that employs a silicone-based solvent to clean clothes. The solvent itself is currently considered safe for the environment because it degrades to sand, water, and carbon dioxide, but it has caused cancer in lab animals in EPA studies. In addition, it is manufactured using chlorine, which can generate harmful dioxin emissions."
The group points to other methods, including wet cleaning, which uses water and special computer-controlled washers and dryers and mild detergent. The EPA considers this among the safest pro cleaning methods. There is also carbon dioxide cleaning that uses liquid CO2 captured as a by-product of industrial processes. It the same stuff used to carbonate soda.
You fashionistas could consider not dry cleaning at all. Some stuff can go in the gentle cycle or be hand washed. You could try that special stuff meant to be used in the dryer in a bag. Or you could try not buying stuff labelled "dry clean only."
For its part, Glyndon Lord Baltimore Cleaners says it continues to research the best methods. In the meantime, operators also recycle hangers and containers, use earth-friendly soaps to clean most wet-cleaned clothes, drive high-mileage diesel vans and supply reusable bags to customers.
Anyone use Glyndon? Other dry cleaners. Or have you found alternative methods that are eco-conscious and actually clean?
Photo courtesy of außerirdische sind gesund via flickr
Waverly’s first collaborative public art space and community garden, Tinge’s Commons, will hold its second garden party and public art exhibit on Sept. 20 from 4-7 p.m. The event will include food from the community garden and a new art installation from local artists Cyle Metzger and Colin Benjamin titled Color Path Projections. Metzger and Benjamin have created structures that utilize playful color and dynamic spatial relationships to enhance the pedestrian experience within Tinges Commons as well as challenge guests to reconsider their engagement with public space. Color Path Projections will remain on exhibit through Oct. 17.
Tinges Commons is located at the southeast corner of Frisby and 33rd streets. For more information, contact Graham Coreil-Allen at detourne@gmail.com.
Image courtesy of Graham Coreil-Allen
The harbor has long been a popular place to kayak, boat, fish, crab and admire. And more people than ever live near the water. Still, most people probably understand it is polluted.
We're interested in hearing from you about this. Do you boat or fish despite the water's condition? Do you avoid the water, or prefer to admire it from land only? Did you buy a house near it? Do you believe it's an important part of the local economy? What do you think should be done?
Please comment here or email meredith.cohn@baltsun.com.
Baltimore Sun file photo of the Inner Harbor/Jed Kirschbaum
Maryland and the rest of the Chesapeake Bay states get some pretty poor marks in a new report assessing their performance in curbing polluted runoff from developed lands.
Despite adopting strict new rules aimed at protecting streams from new development and demands put on largely suburban Montgomery County to clean up already built-up neighborhoods, Maryland rates only a D-plus overall for its efforts to rein in polluted runoff, according to the Chesapeake Stormwater Network.
"Once a national leader in stormwater, Maryland has fallen behind its peers, and has not exploited the permit system to restore the bay," says the report by the network, a new environmental group dedicated to curing what it sees as a glaring weakness in the struggling bay cleanup. The report, underwritten by the Keith Campbell Foundation, was presented last week to the Chesapeake Bay Commission at its meeting in Williamsburg, Va.
There's a "collusion of complacency" among state regulators almost baywide in avoiding tackling the problem, says Tom Schueler, the network's coordinator and a widely recognized expert in storm-water pollution. Their reluctance is understandable because it's tough and expensive to develop without harming streams. It's even tougher and costlier to prevent trash and pollution from washing down storm drains in communities like Baltimore that were built decades before any pollution controls were required. (The photo above is of a weed- and trash-clogged storm drain in Highlandtown.)
But unless something is done to clean up storm water, Schueler warns, the bay will never recover. While farmland is still the leading source of nutrient pollution fouling the Chesapeake, there's more land in lawns and turf than in growing corn, he points out. Runoff from urban and suburban lands, new and existing, accounts for 16 percent of the nitrogen fouling Maryland's portion of the bay. And the harm it is doing is growing as more pavement and lawns spread across the state.
Maryland was one of the first states in the nation to recognize decades ago the damage to streams from development, and to try to do something about it. But those early measures were not enough, and the state has not even enforced them as aggressively as they could, contends Schueler.
Only Pennsylvania, with a straight D, fares worse than Maryland in Schueler's grading. Virginia merits a C-plus, West Virginia a C, and the highly urban District of Columbia a surprising B-plus.
While stepping up to require the state's largest county, Montgomery, to retrofit storm-water controls in existing neighborhoods, the state lags in imposing similar requirements in other communities, including Baltimore, according to Schueler's report. He contends the state also is lax in regulating runoff from industrial sites. Only 14 percent of industrial and construction sites with permits will get inspected this year, he contends, citing data from the Maryland Department of the Environment.
"There are a lot of serious runoff and pollution problems that are going on," Schueler told me. "At almost every (industrial) facility I've been at, operators tell me they've never seen a storm-water inspector."
MDE spokeswoman Dawn Stoltzfus disputes Maryland's near-failing grade, saying Schueler's report is "not an accurate, up to date reflection" of the state's commitment to reducing storm-water pollution. The new regulations on construction and development, plus the storm-water fixes to be required of Montgomery County, should reduce the amount of nutrients polluting the state's waters by 20 to 30 percent, Stoltzfus says. For more on MDE's position, go here.
We'll have to wait a bit to see if those predictions come true. The new development rules - and the Montgomery permit requiring cleanup in already built-up neighborhoods - have yet to take effect. Meanwhile, Schueler warns that new requirements won't mean much unless there's some oversight and muscle to back them up. By his assessment, the state has some remedial work to do in those basic areas.
It's not too late to head to the beach. Why not plan on hitting Assateague Island National Seashore on Saturday (Sept. 19) and spend a few hours picking up butts and other trash littering the sand?
The ponies, birds and fish will thank you, and you'll be in great company. Last year, 2,600 volunteers collected something like 20,000 pounds of trash - everything from cigarette butts and drink cups to bicycles, porch blinds and a lawnmower.
The Assateague trash roundup, sponsored by Delmarva Power, is part of the 2009 Coastal Clean Up Day, in which volunteers police beaches all around the country. Trash bags will be provided, so just bring work gloves, sunscreen and bug spray. For more info, go here or contact Assateague Coastal Trust by phone 410-629-1538 or email mail@actforbays.org
(July 2009 photo by Kim Hairston of The Baltimore Sun)
Going green isn't just a personal decision. You're neighbors get a say, too.
After I wrote about a woman who unsuccessfully tried to install a wind turbine on her Baltimore rowhouse, partially because of her neighbors' complaints about the safety and looks of the thing, I got a lot of messages from people who said they, too, faced opposition from their neighbors for their environmental home projects.
They wanted everything from solar panels to clotheslines. One guy said his association wasn't the problem, but historic preservationists were. He wanted storm windows and environmental decking but it meant he was not elligible for tax breaks.
So, I wrote another story. I talked to a woman who wanted a rain barrel and some small solar lights on her walkway. But the homeowners association said no. The association is just trying to keep things looking nice. And the neighborhood did look nice.
But there's actually a Maryland law now that says HOAs must try and accommodate solar panels, and the sponsor Sue Hecht said she may introduce another bill next session to address other issues such as wind turbines if enough people seem to have trouble going green. A "right to dry" bill that would allow clotheslines has been shot down for the past two years, but Hecht said it is also likely to be reintroduced next session.
The Sun's editorial board has also chimed in on the matter -- in favor of clotheslines.
Do you think more laws are needed? More editorials? More something? Think we should just be able to reason with each other and strike some kind of balance?
Baltimore Sun photo of Katie Roberts showing the height and location of her proposed rain barrel/Amy Davis
The program is a little behind schedule, but Baltimore's new Charm City Circulator buses are definitely coming this fall, members of the Charm City Circulator Team say. The system will be made up of a fleet of 21 hybrid-electric buses that will pick up residents in close-in neighborhoods such as Federal Hill and Fells Point and take them to stops around downtown.
The idea is to get people out of their cars by making it really convenient and cheap -- FREE -- to get around downtown. The buses have been behind schedule because of the recession and problems in the automotive supply chain, the team says.
But in the next few weeks there will be visable progress, including info panels at stops, signs and street markings for the "buses and bikes only" lanes on Pratt and Lombard. (Hmm, how do we feel about buses and bikes sharing lanes? And if we're okay with that, wouldn't we like to see some north-south lanes as well? I believe the city is working on such lanes.)
Anyway, the buses are supposed to run seven days a week, every 10 minutes and along three routes. There's also a plan to allow people trying to get across the harbor to take the Water Taxi Harbor Connector for free. It will leave from Maritime Park at Living Classrooms Foundation in Fells Point and from the Tide Point dock in Locust Point every 10 minutes. Go to www.watertaxi.com for more info.
So, think you'd take the new bus?
The Historic Annapolis Foundation is hosting a four-part Green Lecture Series in October that will include information on gardening, construction materials, low-cost greening and solar power.
The lecture will be held in downtown Annapolis at the James Brice House, 42 East St., at 7 p.m. October 7 and 21 and November 4 and 18. There will be a wine and cheese reception after each one so participants will have a chance to mingle with the speakers. Admission is $15.
The speakers are shop owners, professors and non-profit workers.
For reservations and information, call 410-267-8146 or go to annapolis.org.
Live music at Refest 2008 If you’re a resident of Remington, don’t miss the opportunity to spend some quality time with your neighbors Saturday at Remfest 2009, sponsored by the Greater Remington Improvement Association with support from the Baltimore Community Foundation. Festivities will begin at 4 p.m. in the field next to the GreenMount School (501 W. 30th St.) and include a flea market, freecycling, soccer, arts and crafts, live music and tree plantings. Neighbors will also have the opportunity to tend to the gardens they’ve planted during prior GRIA-led gardening workshops. GRIA is a resident-based group working to make Remington a safer, greener, more vibrant and socially connected community. To read more about their work visit their web site.
Image courtesy of GRIA.
(An earlier version misstated the date of the event. B'More Green apologizes for the error.)
Who knew there was a creek in the Baltimore area with the savory-sounding name Bread and Cheese?
Well, there is, sure enough, in Dundalk. Unfortunately, as the photo above shows, this tributary of Back River and the Chesapeake Bay could use some help looking more appetizing.
There's a stream cleanup planned between Merritt Boulevard and Plainfield Road on Saturday, rain or shine, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Baltimore County is providing dumpsters and some gloves and hand tools, and area businesses have pledged water and snacks. All that's needed are volunteers like you, willing to wade in and reclaim a stream from bottles, bags, shopping carts, concrete blocks and assorted other human flotsam.
If you want to pitch in, wear boots or tennis shoes you don't mind getting a little wet. Long pants, gloves, hat, sunscreen and insect repellant also are recommended. A few more rakes, shovels, saws and axes wouldn't hurt, either. Nor would wheelbarrows or wagons.
To get there, go to Merritt Boulevard, turn on to German Hill Road headed east, then turn left (North) onto Plainfield Road. At the bottom of the hill you will see the three large dumpsters. Parking is available on the street or in a parking lot at the top of German Hill Road.
For more information, contact the cleanup's organizer, creekside resident John Long at (410) 285-1202 or Clean_Bread_And_Cheese_Creek@yahoo.com And for more on the stream, go here.
(Photo by Kharstin, used here with permission of John Long)
Seems like everyone is shopping at a local farmers' market or organic food market these days. But for those who want to eat green, that may not do it all.
To help answer questions about how to eat green, the Johns Hopkins Center for Liberal Arts is sponsoring a three-part lecture series.
They will not only address the terms -- "free range" to "organic" to "wild caught" --but talk about the issues of how much resources are needed to grow or harvest food, how much pollution is produced and how much damage is left behind.
Mark Rifkin, a nutritionist, will walk you through it all.
The sessions are $90 and are held on Mondays, from 6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m. Nov. 2-16. For more information or to register, call 410-516-8516 or click here.
Baltimore Sun file photo
Red Clover Collective in Better Waverly
Interested in learning how to make your own all-natural cleaning products? Join the Red Clover Collective and local crafter Aliza Sollins of The Baltimore DIY Squad on Sept. 20 from 1-4 p.m. for a discussion and workshop about eco-friendly cleaning products and methods. You’ll learn how to make homemade laundry detergent, dish soap, and all purpose cleaner – bring your own empty bottle to fill with the cleaning solution of your choice.
The Red Clover Collective is an urban intentional community located in Better Waverly. The cost for this workshop is $5 and space is limited. Sign up here or visit redclovercollective.org to read more about their work in Baltimore.
Image courtesy of Red Clover Collective.
CDs, DVDs, and computer discs can contribute to household clutter. Sometimes you have to take a hard look and be honest: How often do you really watch "Almost Famous"? And if the songs are not on your MP3 player, will you really miss those CDs? You can always donate them to the library or thrift shops or try to sell them. But here are some other ways to help thin out those piles:
• Coasters: eHow, Scrapdash and design*sponge are just a few of the many tutorials out there.
• Relfectors: Many sites suggest using the CDs as reflectors on your bike or mailbox. They can also be used in the garden to scare away birds.
• Art: Break up the CDs to create mosaics or this cool light catcher by Planet Green
• More: Interbent has 22 ways to reuse CDs, including an iPod doc and disco ball.
Now it's your turn. Have done anything cools with old CDs? Leave a comment below. (AP photo)
It seems the latest ideas for restoring the Chesapeake Bay got delayed yesterday on purpose - not necessarily because they weren't quite ready.
An Environmental Protection Agency official, who would only speak on background, says the public release of federal agencies' plans for ramping up the bay restoration were held until today to avoid getting overshadowed in the news by President Obama's nationally televised speech last night about health care reform.
"We wanted to give the subject the attention that it deserved," the official said, "and Americans were focused on health care yesteday."
This reason for the delay was reported today by The Washington Post, quoting the same unnamed official. But it's a different explanation than I got yesterday from Jim Edwards, deputy director of EPA's bay program office in Annapolis. He told me that more time was needed to finish tweaking the seven separate reports and to prepare brief executive summaries of each. Calls and emails to other EPA officials and to EPA's Washington press office did not elicit any other explanation.
Of course, a one-day delay in the release of some draft reports is trivial compared with the bay cleanup's history of failing to reach its pollution reduction targets. But given the weeks-old public pledge EPA officials had made to release the reports yesterday, it's not a model of clear communication - something EPA's bay program has been criticized for in the past.
If you've been anxiously awaiting, as I have, the chance to see what "game-changing" ideas federal officials have come up with for jump-starting the lagging Chesapeake Bay restoration, you'll have to wait until tomorrow. There's been another delay - an all-too-familiar event in the troubled 26-year history of the bay cleanup effort.
Today was the day the state and federal bay "partnership" had publicly announced it would release a series of draft reports outlining proposals for accelerating the pace of cleaning up the Chesapeake and safeguarding its fish and wildlife. Spokesmen for the Chesapeake Bay Program office in Annapolis had said as recently as yesterday that the seven draft reports would be posted online by around 9 a.m. today, and that there would be either a press conference or a tele-conference in early afternoon with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson.
Late this morning, more than two hours after the promised release time, Jim Edwards, deputy director of EPA's bay program office, told me when I reached him by phone that the reports were not quite ready for prime time, and their release had been delayed until Thursday.
The documents are still being "finalized," he said, in particular one report that focuses on restoring and maintaining the bay's "living resources," including bay grasses, oysters, crabs, fish and other wildlife. Plus, he said, officials are busily writing executive summaries so the public won't have to wade through all those 30- to 50-page reports to get the gist of what's being proposed. For background on what to expect in the reports, go here.
Edwards said the bay program staff still expects to present the reports to the EPA administrator by the end of the day today. If that happens, then techincially, at least, they would avoid running afoul of the deadline set by President Obama in the executive order he issued last May calling for a new federal strategy for restoring the bay. Obama's order requires the draft reports to be submitted by Sept. 9, and that a cleanup strategy be developed from those drafts and put out for public comment by Nov. 9. EPA bay program officials, however, had gone beyond the letter of the president's order to say the reports would be made publicly available today, the day they had to be submitted.
The delayed release drew a mildly barbed response from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which has sued the EPA over its failure to step in in the face of repeated failure by the bay restoration "partners" to meet deadlines and commitments they've set for cleaning up the estuary. President Obama's executive order was meant to break out of that rut.
"They're not off to the kind of start that you want to be off to," said John Surrick, spokesman for the Annapolis-based environmental group. "
As the days grow cooler and leaves begin to turn, I can’t help but long for Halloween – it’s one of my favorite days of the year. If you’re anything like me, you are already considering how to decorate your doors and windows and what costume to wear. Fortunately, there is still plenty of time between now and Oct. 31 to prepare for trick-or-treaters and haunted houses in the greenest way possible.
Try your hand at making all-natural face paints with this easy-to-follow recipe (courtesy of Green Halloween):
•1 tsp cornstarch
•1/2 tsp water
•1/2 tsp all natural diaper rash cream
•1-2 drops natural/ organic food coloring
In a small bowl, mix water and cornstarch. Add baby cream and food color and mix a bit more.
Looking for some eco-friendly decor? Comb through your recycling bin for coffee cans, yogurt cups, or cardboard tubes. With a little paint and some pipe cleaners, these throwaways can be easily transformed into pumpkin faces, black cats, spiders, and skeletons.
Finally, there’s a great list of homemade Halloween costume ideas here. You can opt for an old standby like a white sheet with two holes. Or, you can be more elaborate. My personal favorite is the “Cereal Killer” costume, which requires a few cereal boxes, kitchen knives, and some red paint - how marvelously green!
Image courtesy of Crafting a Green World.
Could federal regulation of lawn fertilizers be on the way?
Obama administration officials are tightlipped about the laundry list of ideas they've come up with for jump-starting the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay. Draft reports are due to be released on Wednesday -- the first step in fulfilling President Obama's May executive order directing federal agencies to take the lead in pushing for more progress in the long-running bay cleanup.
One Environmental Protection Agency official did hint last week, though, that rules on lawn care in the bay region may be among the ideas floated.
Speaking to a lunchtime gathering of lawyers in Washington, J. Charles Fox, special adviser on the bay to EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, pointed out that polluted stormwater runoff from urban and suburban areas is an increasing threat to the bay.
Then Fox brought up home use of lawn fertilizers, whether do-it-yourself applications of products bought from Home Depot or Lowe’s or lawn-care services.
"We are going to have to look at this," he said, adding that "today we have more turf grass in the watershed than we do corn."
A few years back, bay area states got fertlizer manufacturers voluntarily to agree to halve the amount of phosphorus used in lawn-care products in the region. But the regulatory screws have tightened even more here in Maryland. The city of Annapolis this year banned lawn fertlizers containing phosphorus, while the General Assembly barred the sale of anything but low-phosphorus fertilizer for use on lawns by April 2011. Lawn care sevices and lawn startups were exempted from the state decree, however.
Fox also suggested, without going into specifics, that there would be proposals for curtailing farm pollution. Though farmers have reduced runoff of chemical fertilizers and animal manure, Fox said, agriculture remains in the crosshairs because it is still the source of roughly half the nutrients and sediment fouling the bay.
The EPA adviser's remarks came during a panel discussion co-sponsored by the Environmental Law Institute and the District of Columbia bar association. At a "town hall" meeting last month with environmentalists in Annapolis, Fox said that "we have to look at game-changing solutions," since the bay has shown only modest improvement despite billions spent on cleanup over the past 26 years.
Environmentalists and others are anxious to see if the feds do propose truly dramatic changes from the lagging status quo. Roy Hoagland, a vice president of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, called the draft reports due tomorrow "the first test" of the Obama administration's commitment to restoring the bay.
Those ideas, once floated, are to be boiled down into a proposed federal bay cleanup strategy by December, which would be formally adopted in May after the public has an opportunity to comment on it. For background on the reports, go here.
A bike commuter resource guide is now available from the Baltimore Metropolitan Council.
It talks about getting your bike ready and laws and offers maps and routes, as well.
There's also information about combining your biking with other forms of public transportation. You may not know, but you are allowed to bring your bike on light rail and the subway in Baltimore, and the public buses now also have racks.
There certainly has been a lot of talk about safety and security when it comes to biking in the city. But the council and area officials say they're are working on the issues.
They're adding more bike lanes and racks. More than 100 racks have been added in the region this year, and you can request a rack in your area here.
Further new bike routes are being planned for Bolton Hill, Reservoir Hill and Lake Avenue. They'll either connect existing routes or planned routes.
Hopefully, the number of accidents and thefts can be reduced.
The Eco-Dentistry Association wants everyone to turn off the tap while they brush their teeth, and it's pressing the message with a Healthcare Environmental Awareness Week from Sept. 13-19.
The group, whose members are dental professionals who encourage eco-friendly practices, says the typical person wastes about 90 glasses of water every day by running the water while they brush.
That means Americans pour some 27 billion glasses of drinking water down the drain every day. That's a big deal, especially considering that the World Water Council estimates that one out of six people around the globe live without clean drinking water.
They've named the campaign “Save 90-A-Day.”
Not sure I need to pass on the specifics, but the group recommends: Wetting your toothbrush under the water, turning off the tap, applying toothpaste, brushing your teeth for 2 minutes, filling a small glass with water, rinsing and swishing with water from the glass and telling a friend or family member to do the same.
Image courtesy of the Eco-Dentisty Association
If you’re still shopping for back to school, consider buying local and handmade. Jennifer O’Brien’s durable tote bags, which are made out of heavy duty duck cotton canvas and lined with felt, are perfect for carrying textbooks. Need a globe? Check out Bluebell’s collection of vintage home décor. Fuzzy Mug’s snazzy wire bound journals are made from recycled paper stock, and Glow Girl’s reusable fabric sandwich sacks are so much cooler than plastic baggies. The best part is that all of these items are available on Etsy, so you won't have to fuss with long lines. Simply click and enjoy:
4 Pack of Hair Clips by Froggy Pants Creations ($5), Bird on the Water Tower Pleated Bag by jennyjen42 ($70), Sandwich Snack Baggies by Glow Girl ($7).
Vintage Replogle World Globe by Bluebell ($25), Black Pebble Scarf by Red Prairie Press ($18), The Squirrel Did It Wire-Bound Journal by Fuzzy Mug ($20).
It's been said before, but now some experts have put numbers to it: building more walkable, transit-oriented communities would reduce driving and fossil fuel consumption, and it could curb climate-warming pollution by up to 11 percent.
So says a new report by the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies of Science. If density of housing could be doubled in three-quarters of new development, compared with current building trends, then fuel use and carbon dioxide emissions could be trimmed by 7 to 8 percent from what they otherwise would be by 2030, and by 11 percent by 2050.
The experts on the board disagreed on how feasible that was - noting that local zoning and land-use controls would be major obstacles. I'm guessing many residents would bridle at having denser development built around them, too, based on the oft-heard complaints about gridlock and overcrowded classrooms whenever new housing projects are proposed. Changing the public's perception by making compact development more attractive no doubt would be key, and that will take money and time. Some experts have suggested we have a decade or less to act to curb carbon emissions, or risk the worst-case climate-change predictions. And money doesn't grow on trees - how much are we willing to spend, i.e. tax ourselves, to reduce the threat of warming? To read the report or a summary, go here.
On Sept. 14, the Chesapeake Sustainable Business Alliance will hold their first meeting of the new program year at Gertrude’s Restaurant at the BMA. You can expect to learn more about the CSBA’s member benefits while networking with members and other local, sustainable businesses. The program includes local fare prepared by celebrity chef John Shields, who will also speak about serving local food. Keith Lasoya of Waste Neutral Group will also hold a discussion about commercial kitchen waste composting.
The program begins at 6 p.m. and runs until 8. Register here.
Image courtesy of John Shields
Can't get enough green in your life? Want to learn more about environmentally conscious products and energy-saving technology right here in the Charm City metroplex?
Well, then, the Greentech Maryland Conference and Expo may be for you. Marketed under the slogan "Wow! I didn't know that!" the shindig promises to have one of General Motors' futuristic fuel-cell concept cars on display, and more info about the all-electric Volt, which GM claims will go a fantastic 230 miles per gallon of gas.
The lineup of speakers - all supposedly strictly limited to 10-minute, "Twitter-style" talks - includes local politicos as well as a slew of folks from area corporations and businesses touting their green cred. It runs from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Friday Sept. 18 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Timonium, 2004 Greenspring Drive. (And yes, that's even reachable by light rail.) It's not free - $60 for the day, but lunch is included. For more info and to register, go here.
Over the next five years an ambitious group plans to plant one million trees across the United States. The American Bar Association, is partnering with the Alliance for Community Trees and Baltimore's Parks & People Foundation and will kick off the effort Sept. 23 at Franklin Square Elementary/Middle School in West Baltimore.
Parks & People, the local ACT affiliate, will bring together volunteer ABA members, students, teachers and community members to plant 10-15 trees in the schoolyard and around the building. They will also weed and mulch and plant flower beds.
Organizers say the event will also serve as a start point for NeighborWoods Month, which is a community service campaign to build awareness of trees that not only beautify the cities where they are planted but help fight climate change. The Home Depot Foundation has provided grant money for the program.
More information about the effort is here. The public is welcome to come help with plantings. The local school event starts at 9 a.m.. But organizers are encouraging people in general to plant more trees and care for trees.
On that front, Parks & People have a tree sale going on now -- $30-$55 a tree -- and an adopt-a-tree program for those with out yard space. Coupons for $25 off are available from the Department of Natural Resources.
Baltimore Sun file photo of ginko biloba tree outside the Sun offices/Algerina Perna
Environmental activists pressed again today for the federal government to take a stronger hand in restoring the Chesapeake Bay, delivering appeals with about 19,000 signatures on them to the Environmental Protection Agency's senior advisor on the bay.
With nine days to go before federal agencies unveil their ideas for jump-starting the bay cleanup, leaders of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and Environment Maryland staged a media event at the bay program office in Annapolis. They gave stacks of postcards and other documents signed by bay region residents to the EPA's J. Charles "Chuck" Fox Jr. and urged him to relay their message to EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson.
The bay foundation, meanwhile, piled on with a letter co-signed by other environmental groups to Jackson detailing steps it would like to see the federal government take. They urged federal officials to block permits for any new wastewater discharges into bay tributaries if they will add to the existing pollution. They also called for tougher, enforceable limits on urban and suburban stormwater runoff.
Federal environmental agencies are scheduled to release on Sept. 9 their draft recommendations for accelerating bay cleanup efforts. The agencies are acting in response to an executive order President Obama issued in May directing them to take the lead in what has until now been a multi-state, largely collaborative effort that has yielded only mixed results over the past quarter century. EPA has responsiblity for coordinating the agencies' proposals.
A couple weeks back, you'll recall I wrote that EPA's Fox, in a town hall meeting in Annapolis, said federal officials were looking at "game-changing" policies aimed at achieving signfiicant reductions in the nutrient pollution fouling the bay. He indicated officials were focusing on two of the more troubling sources - runoff of fertilizer and manure from farmland, and runoff of tainted stormwater from new and existing development.
Federal agencies, meanwhile, have set up a couple Web sites where the public can track and comment on new moves to bolster the bay cleanup. One you can find here focuses on the federal agencies' response to the president's executive order.
The other, here. deals with the EPA's previously announced plans to impose a strict pollution "diet" on the bay, with numerical limits to be set by the end of 2010 on how much nitrogen and phosphorus can be discharged into streams and rivers by sewage plants and businesses.
They're still struggling to rebuild New Orleans, four years after Hurricane Katrina dunked the Crescent City and other low-lying areas in southern Louisiana and Mississippi. The costliest storm in US history hit Aug. 29, 2005.
Now come two coastal scientists who warn that what's being rebuilt is likely to get flooded again - and that other waterfront communities, including Baltimore, face the risk of similar watery calamities as global warming raises sea levels across the planet.
In "The Rising Sea," Orrin Pilkey and Rob Young argue that "the world is poised on the edge of a cliff (of its own making). We must act now by responding to the challenges of sea level rise in a planned and rational way, taking a long-term view. If we don't start planning now, a huge 'natural disaster' is facing us."
Their book, published by Island Press, focuses on New Orleans and Miami and other cities frequently in the cross-hairs of hurricanes. But in a telephone interview, the authors say the Chesapeake Bay and Baltimore will not escape the rising seas, either. We do get hit by the occasional storm - just six years ago, Tropical Storm Isabel flooded the Inner Harbor, as seen at right, as well as City Dock in Annapolis and other low-lying communities around the bay. But Pilkey and Young say even without storms, the bay will continue to creep inexorably inland, as it has for decades.
"One of the interesting problems you guys face is your port facility," said Pilkey, professor emeritus at Duke University and a long-time critic of coastal development. As the seas rise over the next century, he says, "you can bring in bigger ships, but your docks will be inundated."
Some may wonder what the fuss is about when even the United Nations-backed scientific study two years ago projected that sea level would rise somewhere between 7 and 23 inches by the end of this century But Pilkey and Young point out the scientific congress low-balled its estimate because it couldn't agree how much the seas would rise as ice sheets and glaciers melt in frozen Greenland and west Antarctica. Other scientists since have suggested that that melting ice could dwarf the cautious official projections, by several feet. Pilkey and Young suggest planners might want to assume as a worst case that sea level could actually climb 7 feet by next century.
A scary scenario, to be sure. But, they argue, sea level rise is already under way, and no one in authority is taking the gradual threat seriously enough yet, particularly in cities like Miami, with high-rises crowding the beachfront.
Projections are that sea level rise likely will accelerate as the planet warms and more ice melts. But even if it continues to creep upward at the rate of 2.5 to 3.5 millimeters a year - as it has for the past decade - that spells "a big heap of trouble" for barrier islands and communities like Miami, says Young, geosciences professor at Western Carolina University and a native of Newport News, Va. Around the Chesapeake, the water has risen about a foot in the past century - half from rising sea level, the rest from sinking land.
The two say they're not advocating an abandonment of an already heavily developed coast. But they say government should absolutely stop letting anymore high-rises be built close to the water - and should stop subsidizing redevelopment of storm-ravaged areas.
"This is America," Young says. We don't like retreat. We don't like telling people what to do. But at the very least, they should be planning for where people could be relocating or retreating after the next storm hits and the community is destroyed."
They acknowledge there may be good cultural and political reasons to rebuild a city like New Orleans, but they also say engineers and politicians alike need to be honest about the likelihood the water will be back. They say they fear that Louisianans, in particular, have been misled to think that restoring the wetlands along the Gulf coast will shield them from future storms. Those assurances are based on shaky science, they warn.
"The jury is still out to what degree - if any - wetlands may mitigate storm surge," Young says. Yet just last week environmental groups upset with the Army Corps of Engineers pace of wetlands restoration hailed the Obama administration for vowing to take a stronger hand. The green groups repeated the oft-stated assertion that Katrina's damage was so severe because Louisiana has lost about a third of its original coastal wetlands.
Though Young and Pilkey says they support environmental restoration, they say it needs to be done for the right reasons - and in places where it will last.
"One has to question spending billions of dollars on environmental restoration in an area that's going to be under water in decades," Young says.
A couple native Alaskan fishing communities are already planning to relocate at vast government expense as the sea encroaches on their land. So are isolated communities hugging low-lying atolls in the Pacific. Here in Maryland, Smith Island is at obvious risk - taxpayers must ask themselves whether they want to pay for seawalls to try to hold back the rising tides, or to pay for relocation to higher ground.
"You don't have to be alarmist to be concerned," Young concludes. Even if you're being extremelyl conservative .. these are issues that are going to have to be tackled."
What do you think? Are you willing to contribute your tax dollars to replenishing the sand on eroding beaches in resorts like Ocean City? When the waves get high enough, would you be willing to pay for sewalls that keep the water off the boardwalk, most of the time? Do you mind paying for roads, schools and other public infrastructure in flood-prone areas when it gets damaged by storms?
For more on the mid-Atlantic coast's sensitivity to sea-level rise, you can find a federal science report here. Or check out the report of the Maryland Climate Commission here.
(Photos of Isabel flooding in downtown Baltimore, Sept. 2003, by Amy Davis of The Baltimore Sun.)
There have been a lot of films, books and lectures recently about what's wrong with American agriculture. Well, now you can get all the info in one place.
The Creative Alliance at the Patterson (3134 Eastern Ave. in Baltimore) is screening "Fresh," a film about the food chain and was to improve things.
The film by ana Sofia joanes (that's the way she writes it), is presented by the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, the Rodgers Forge Farm Initative and Hamilton Crop Circle.
The Creative Alliance describes the film this way: "Hear the stories of farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system: urban farmer, activist, and 2008 MacArthur 'Genius' Award fellow, Will Allen; sustainable farmer and entrepreneur, Joel Salatin (from Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma); and supermarket owner, David Ball, who is creating a new market model for family farmers. 'Fresh' offers a call to action... with actionable solutions. Local-food bazaar precedes the screening and a panel discussion w/ local farmers and experts follows."
The show is at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 10. A local food bazaar is at 6:30 p.m. And there will be a panel discussion with local farmers and food experts after the film.
Go to the Creative Alliance Web site for tickets. They're $12. And in the meantime, check out this video clip:
This weekend, I purchased a beautiful bundle of hydrangeas at the 32nd Street Farmer’s Market in Waverly with the intention of taking them home to dry them. The vendor warned me that there was a 50/50 chance they may just shrivel up and die, and she gave me a few helpful tips (one of which was to buy extras just in case a few of them bombed).
August through October is the ideal time for cutting hydrangea blossoms. They should be just over peak bloom, when the larger petals are beginning to fade and some small flowers are just about to bloom. Overall, the subtle fade in color is your best indicator that the blossoms are ready to be cut – or, you can just rely on an experience flower vendor to do your cutting for you (like I did).
Once you have your blossoms in hand, there are several ways to dry them. One of the easiest ways is to simply trim the leaves and hang them upside down. Your stems should be around 12-15 inches, and your blossoms should be hung separately. It will take about a day or two for them to dry. Another easy way is to place the stems in fresh water until it evaporates. With water drying, your flowers may end up being a little less brittle than with the hanging method. Either way, once they’re dry they make a beautiful statement and if handled with care can last for years.
Baltimore Sun file photo
Tim Wheeler reports on the environment and Chesapeake Bay. A native of West Virginia, he has focused mainly on Maryland's environment since moving here in 1983. Along the way, he's crewed aboard a skipjack in the bay, canoed under city streets up the Jones Fall from the Inner Harbor, and gone deep underground in a western Maryland coal mine. He loves seafood, rambles in the country and good stories. He hopes to share some here.
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