Monday, November 30, 2009

Green Drinks--December 1 Tuesday

Green Drinks is meeting tomorrow at Spurlock's in Lafayette. Anyone is welcome to come.

Networking-Conversation-Education

Spurlock's Restaurant
721 Main St -- Lafayette

*PLEASE NOTE: This month's meeting will take place at Spurlock's due to scheduling conflicts. In January, Green Drinks will once again begin meeting at Puccini's.

TUESDAY, December 1
6:30 pm Social Gathering
7:00 pm Guest Speaker

GUEST SPEAKER: Jon Guenin, Energy Efficiency Specialist, Purdue TAP

Jon will explain some of the available energy efficient technology, as well as the importance of energy audits to identify the most economical ways of minimizing your energy consumption. If you want to find easy, low-cost ways to reduce your energy usage, bring your questions, your appetite -- and of course, YOURSELF -- to the December Green Drinks, and discover all of the ways that you can save money and reduce your carbon footprint this winter.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Copenhagen diagnosis

Here is a recent report on what is known about climate change

Link to the Copenhagen diagnosis:


A decarbonized global society is proposed:

"If global warming is to be limited to a maximum of 2oC above pre-industrial values, global emissions need to peak between 2015 and 2020 and then decline rapidly. To stabilize climate, a decarbonized global society – with near-zero emissions of CO2 and other long-lived greenhouse gases – need to be reached well within this century."

That means at the least a complete stop to the use of fossil fuels.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Practically Green


Practically Green by Micaela Preston is a handy new guide to living green. It’s not very big but is full of a lot of useful information. Each page is beautifully designed so that there are lots of separated areas that capture your attention. Micaela has divided the book into six chapters that cover most aspects of our everyday lives. She explains terms, labels, current issues in a very understandable manner. Each chapter has helpful charts that summarize information. Eco-Alerts and Health Alerts are examples of sections that separate and highlight current concerns such as the problems with non-stick cookware. Eco-Spotlights bring our attention to new products and issues plus websites to find more information. Each chapter has a Do It Green section with instructions for recipes and projects that are eco-friendly. I’m going to try making the bag from an old tie.

In the “Eating” chapter, Micaela does a great job of explaining sometimes confusing terms like local, organic, certified human, etc. There are more terms than I imagined and she explains the differences and similarities between them. I found the sustainable seafood guide especially helpful.

The “Living” chapter has a discussion about products and materials that we live with everyday. The plastics guide summarizes the seven categories of plastic, which to avoid and which are safer. She includes instructions for eight green make it yourself projects like homemade play dough and cloth napkins.

Micaela explains in “Cleaning” how to clean the home with green products. She recommends some easy to find safe cleaning products and she tells which ingredients to avoid. In the Do It Green section she tells how to make your own cleaning products the inexpensive simple way.

Just as the house needs safe cleaning and care products, so do you. In the “Caring” chapter Micaela describes how to simplify and improve the hygiene products we use. She explains which ingredients to avoid and recommends safe alternatives. Moms will find the section on alternatives to disposable diapers helpful.

The “Wearing” section is about eco-fashions and earthy friendly fabrics. The Eco-Spotlights in this section suggest good websites to find eco-friendly fashions.

The “Conserving” chapter is about how to be a green consumer and how to get your recycling habits organized. The chart on “Where Can I Recycle That?” is especially valuable.

Micaela calls her book “Your Guide to Ecofriendly Decision-Making”. If you are already into living green, it would be a great reference to have on hand. If you have recently decided to live greener, this book tells you how to do it all. It would be a great gift for the holidays. I think it would fit nicely in a Christmas sock!

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Friday, November 20, 2009

Keeling curve

Fundamental to the understanding of the carbon dioxide levels driving climate change is the story of the Keeling curve:




Climate change can worsen public health

A recent Harvard study found that climate change can increase cases of malaria, lyme disease, respiratory illness, and kidney stones. Higher average temperatures tend to favor mosquitoes and ticks, which are major vectors for malaria and lyme disease, respectively. Heat also increases the formation of photochemical smog, which can increase the risk of asthma and other respiratory diseases. Most importantly, here's something that directly affects Hoosiers:

"Climate change is making Indiana warmer, raising the risk of kidney stones because of low urine volume linked to heat exposure, according to a study cited by the Harvard center. By 2050 southern Indiana will fall into the high-risk zone for kidney stones and by 2100, the entire state will."

All industrialized countries, except the U.S., already have plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
. It's time for the U.S., which has the largest per capita emissions in the world, to take action so please write to Senators Bayh and Lugar about the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act. For more info about the act, check out the Union of Concerned Scientists' website. They have an excellent summary and some good talking points too.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Bicycle pedestrian committee

Anyone interested there is another public meeting tonight of the WL Bicycle and Pedestrian committee





West Lafayette Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee

Improving West Lafayette for Bicyclists and Pedestrians

AGENDA for 6:00 PM Tuesday, November 17, 2009 Meeting

West Lafayette Public Library

Elm or Walnut Room.


News of developments since the last meeting:

Status of various ongoing infrastructure development projects

North Salisbury Phase II Completed

Sycamore

Cumberland

Projects under study and/or awaiting funding: Wabash Heritage trail extension, US231, Purdue Ring

Road Phases 1 and 2, Happy Hollow Road, Soldiers Home Road, Yeager Rd, Klondike Rd/Lindberg.

Update on Bike Ped Plan and Thoroughfare Plan at the Area Plan Commission – Transportation planning

Others news – by participants present


Open forum for problems and ideas for new actions


Project status reports, planning and brainstorming

Web site being constructed for WLBPC www.westlafayettebikeped.org.

Presentation projects:

General presentation - Status report

Bicycle Commuting - Status report

CLEAN City Challenge (IDEM) Project

Bike share monitoring project

Bike to Work 2010

Incentives for Bicycle commuters

Green Roof

There is a nice article on the Citizen Green blog about the new green roof on Schleman Hall.


There is a second green roof on Purdue's campus, it is the Undergraduate Library, much of it is below ground level.

Newport Prairie at risk

The Newport Prairie in Vermillion County is at risk for elimination to become soybean fields or an industrial park. Here
is a letter explaining the situation:

From: Phillip Cox <philwcox@gmail.com>
Subject: SAVE THE LARGEST CONTIGUOUS BLACK SOIL PRAIRIE IN INDIANA TODAY

Date: Sunday,
November 15, 2009, 4:22 PM

The Newport Chemical Depot Reuse Authority is still accepting comments for
the Reuse of the 7,000 acre US Army Newport Chemical Depot in Vermillion
County.

There is a 336 acre tallgrass prairie (with approximately 40 species of
forbs & grasses) that is according to the Division of Nature Preserves, "by far
the largest contiguous black soil prairie in
Indiana". Wild pheasants and bobcat
(documented last Sunday), quail, Virginia rail, great egrets, grassland bird
species, turkeys, waterfowl thrive in the mosaic of prairie and adjacent
wetlands on the southwest corner of the Depot. The biodiversity here is
incredible.

Currently the DRAFT Reuse Plan makes no provisions for preserving the prairie,
instead it leaves open the possibility of using it for "other agricultural
production" (pg. 87 of the Draft Plan) or for "business and technology". There
are already 3,375 acres designated for "business and technology" and 1,250
acres designated for "agricultural and forestry" in the DRAFT Reuse Plan. Currently there is already 3,000 acres of corn/soybeans on the Depot.

You can help, send your comments in to
comments@necdra.com right now while there is still time!!! Comments are currently being accepted until the Public Hearing. Don't
think that someone else will comment for you. Comments can be short or long.

The Public Hearing is at 6:30 on Thursday
November 19 at the Clinton Municipal
Building,
259 Vine St. Clinton, Indiana. Everyone is invited.

If you have any questions you may contact me at
philwcox@gmail.com or
765/548-4007 or see
www.necdra.com .

Thanks,

Phil Cox
INPAWS member and
President
Wabash Valley Audubon Society

For a photo of the Newport Chemical Depot Prairie go to
www.wabashvalleyaudubon.org

West Lafayette GoGreener meeting

The city sponsored GoGreener group is at a public meeting tonight at West Lafayette City Hall at 7:15 pm.

Friday, November 13, 2009

So... what about recycling?

I don't know about all of you, but I've been seriously wondering about recycling and the environmentally friendliness of the processes. I'm currently looking up more info of which I'll share later. Here's an article to get you started thinking about the issue.

How might it apply to us as Greater Lafayette citizens?

Knowing more about recycling, what are your thoughts on whether or not recycling should be done?

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Kerry Boxer Bill

Both our Indiana Senators Lugar and Bayh are "fence sitters" on the Kerry-Boxer bill (a bill for Cap-and-Trade). Read more about the bill here! Then call your Senators and let them know you support the bill!

Senator Lugar: (202) 224-4814
Senator Bayh: (202) 224-5623

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Copenhagen conference

The UN conference on climate change is in Copenhagen on Dec. 7-18 this year. They are going to be working on a framework for climate change mitigation. Here are some links:


Free stuff that could have been thrown out

Don't throw hazardous household waste in the trash, take it to the Wildcat Creek Solid Waste District office. You can get good stuff there for free, go here first before you buy it at the store. This is the best kind of recycling.



here is a link to the story:

Monday, November 9, 2009

Take the bus

A good way to get around in Lafayette is to use the CityBus public bus system. Here is a link to CityBus:

The trolley between downtown Lafayette and Purdue campus is always free: