Environmental News & Action Items
"I recognize the right and duty of this generation to develop and use our natural resources,
but I do not recognize the right to waste them, or to rob by wasteful use, the generations that come after us."
— Theodore Roosevelt
"The Iroquois Confederation made their decisions based on the welfare of their children
and childrens' children for seven generations. Will our leaders do the same?"
— Joe Hoff, Chairman, Keuka Citizens Against Hydrofracking
In 2000, the following resolution was submitted and passed at the AAUW-NYS Convention:
Environment and Health
- Branches work in coalition with other community groups to become informed on environmental and health issues;
- Branches advocate legislation at the state and local levels to ensure a clean and healthful environment;
- A workshop on environmental and health issues be included periodically at the New York State Convention.
- Submitted by (the late) Judith Wagner and Ann Heidenreich, St. Lawrence County Branch.
Updated: February 6, 2012
- In the News: The New York Solar Study shows that the Empire State should move quickly and advance an aggressive investment in solar power by the end of this Legislative Session—because a big commitment to solar power would reduce our dependence on oil, reduce greenhouse gases, and create new green jobs.
- In the News: NASA Finds 2011 Ninth-Warmest Year On Record
- In the News: New Tool Reveals Country's Most Polluted Places: How Close Do You Live?
- In the News: State Gets 20,000 Comments on Its Gas Drilling Rules by Deadline
- In the News: Interior Department Creates Science Group for Disaster Preparedness
- In the News: Online Map Shows Biggest Greenhouse Gas Emitters
- In the News: Natural Disasters Make 2011 a Record Year for Insurance Loss
- In the News: Naomi Klein's Inconvenient Climate Conclusions
- Link to Dr. Stephen Bird's podcat on: Hydro-fracking in New York State: What to do?
- In the News: The young and the restless: Kids Sue Government Over Climate Change
- In the News: Online map helps determine weather risk
- In the News: Billion-dollar weather disasters smash US record
- AAUW in the News: Recent presentation at Clarkson on the hype and economics of shale gas development now available on YouTube (Nov. 22, 2011)
- AAUW in the News: The Deborah Rogers "Shale Gas: Panacea or Shell Game?" video is now on-line. (Nov. 21, 2011)
- In the News: From Shore to Forest, Projecting Effects of Climate Change in NYS
- In the News: Erratic, Extreme Day-To-Day Weather Puts Climate Change in New Light
- AAUW in the News: Expert speaks at Clarkson about economic anomalies of hydrofracking
- AAUW in the News: NCPR: All Before Five: A conversation with a Texas economist who says the economic arguments for fracking don't work out.
- In the News: Americans Using More Fossil Fuels
- In the News: Captain Planet Foundation: Grants for the Environment - The Captain Planet Foundation funds hands-on environmental projects to encourage youth around the world to work individually and collectively to solve environmental problems in their neighborhoods and communities. Maximum award: $2,500. Eligibility: U.S.-based schools and organizations with an annual operating budget of less than $3 million. Deadline: January 15, 2012.
- In the News: What’s the Price of Climate Change? $14 Billion in Lost Lives and Health Care
- In the News: Experts Recommend the Inclusion of Rainwater-Collection Systems in Cities
- In the News: Global warming worsens weather extremes, climate panel to say
- In the News: Interior Maps Best Solar Development Zones in Six States
- In the News: Bangladesh, India Top Climate Change Vulnerability Index
- In the News: Governments Must Plan for Migration in Response to Climate Change, Researchers Say
- In the News: Tokai University Car Victorious in World Solar Challenge
- In the News: 10 Northeast States Form Northeast Electric Vehicle Network
- In the News: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Joins EcoWatch to Announce Launch of Nationwide
News Service Website
- In the News: State lawmakers grill Department of Environmental conservation on hydrofracking
- In the News: Extreme Summertime Temperatures to Become a Regular Occurrence, Researcher Predicts
- In the News: Film Personalizes Climate 'Weathering' on Women
- In the News: U.S. Experiences Second Warmest Summer On Record: Texas Has Warmest Summer On Record of Any State
- In the News: California Warned to Prepare for Hotter, More Deadly Heat Waves
- In the News: U.S. Home Refrigerators Placed on Strict Energy Efficiency Diet
- In the News: Fracking at Drinking Water Source for 80,000 Pennsylvanians Raises Alarms
- In the News: The Flaws of New York's Fracking Guidelines
- In the News: Fracking Water Killed Trees, Study Finds
- In the News: UK Could Be Rocked by Climate Change Far Away
- In the News: Climate Change Disrupts Great Lakes National Parks
- In the News: Europe Adopts Long-Term Nuclear Waste Storage Law
- In the News: College Interns Spreading Eco News By Bike
- In the News: Global Investments in Green Energy Up Nearly a Third to $211 Billion
- In the News: Fire to Become Increasingly Important Driver of Atmospheric Change in Warming World
- In the News: 47 Groups Oppose Fracking Plans of New York's Cuomo Administration
- In the News: Millions of African Climate Refugees Desperate for Food, Water
- In the News: Bayer to Pay U.S. Farmers $750 Million Over Genetically Modified Rice
- In the News: New Climate Hot Map shows effects of global warming around the world
- In the News: The Globe’s Not Only Getting Hotter. It’s More Unjust and Unstable, Too
- In the News: Scientists: Extreme Weather Link 'Can No Longer Be Ignored'
- In the News: 2010 One of Two Warmest Years On Record; El Niño-Southern Oscillation and Other Climate Patterns Play Major Role
- Resource: EnergySavers.gov - Keep Cool And Conserve
- In the News: Economic Cost of Weather May Total $485 Billion in US
- In the News: Italy Says Goodbye to Nuclear Energy
- In the News: Climate Scientists Forecast Permanently Hotter Summers
- In the News: Google Earth Tool Shows Alarming Proximity of Nuclear Power Plants to Populated Areas
- In the News: CARBON EMISSIONS FROM ENERGY USE HIT RECORD LEVEL, AGENCY SAYS
- In the News: Human Impacts of Rising Oceans Will Extend Well Beyond Coasts
- In the News: BobVila.com Partners With GreenTowns.com
- In the News: Most Endangered Rivers of 2011
- In the News: Lowe's Partnership Will Rent Solar Panels To The Masses
- NetGreen News Launches Wellness News Channel
- In the News: Climate change bringing infection, hunger, illness
- In the News; New York State Launches its First Solar Thermal Incentive Program
- In the News: Julia Roberts Accepts Role as Global Ambassador for Clean Cookstoves Alliance
- In the News: In Nuclear Accident, Risks Extend Beyond Evacuation Zone
- In the News: Half of All Americans Breathe Polluted Air
- In the News: Appeals Court Upholds California Greenhouse Gas Tailpipe Standards
- In the News: Consumer Electronics Industry Sets Itself Billion Pound eCycling Challenge
- In the News: Which US States Are Leading the Clean Energy Charge?
- In the News: Our Lives Are Under Threat From Some of the Most Powerful and Richest Entities -- Here's How We Can Fight Back and Win
- In the News: Climate Change Poses Major Risks for Unprepared Cities
- In the News: Medical Groups Warn Of Climate Change's Potential Impact on Health
- Global Map Tracks Diseases at the Animal-Human Interface
- UN General Assembly: Invest in Natural Disaster Risk Reduction
- Asian Bank Warns of Mass Climate Change Migrations
NetGreen News Launches Wellness News Channel
To answer the public’s growing demand for high quality health and wellness news, NetGreen News has launched NGN Health & Wellness, a high-quality video news service that provides engaging, original wellness content to viewers who want credible, well-presented information to help them improve the way they live and work.
- From ENS Newswire story for May 17, 2011.
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New York State Launches its First Solar Thermal Incentive Program
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) announced on April 5, 2011 that it has launched the state's first incentive program for solar thermal systems, which produce hot water from solar power. The 5-year, $25 million program will provide incentives of up to $4,000 per site for eligible single- and multi-family residences and up to $25,000 per site for eligible commercial and nonprofit customers who currently use electricity to produce hot water. The state's solar thermal target is the displacement of about 46 megawatts of electrical use by the end of 2015.
To qualify for incentives, equipment and systems must be certified by the Solar Rating and Certification Corporation. Incentives will be available only on approved solar thermal systems installed by NYSERDA-approved solar thermal installers. Applications will be accepted through December 31, 2015 or until the funds are fully committed.
In addition to the NYSERDA incentives, customers can apply for federal tax incentives, which cover 30% of the cost of an installed solar thermal system, and New York State tax incentives, which cover 25% of the installed system up to $5,000. Electric hot water generally makes up 17 to 20% of a homeowner's monthly electric bill and less than 10% of the monthly bill for the average commercial building. Solar thermal systems can provide approximately 50 to 80% of a homeowner's hot water needs.
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Global Map Tracks Diseases at the Animal-Human Interface
A real-time, open-access map that tracks emerging infectious diseases moving between wildlife and people was introduced at this week's International Meeting on Emerging Diseases and Surveillance in Vienna.
From swine flu in North Carolina to anthrax in Croatia; from bird flu in Hong Kong to hantavirus in Chile - diseases that can jump from animals to humans, called zoonotic diseases, are mapped for easy reference in seven languages at HealthMap.org.
HealthMap.org uses an automated process to monitor more than 50,000 web sources an hour, such as online news aggregators like Google News, eyewitness reports, expert-reviewed online discussions, and official reports from agencies such as the World Health Organization.
The map integrates the field surveillance activities of PREDICT, a global early warning system created in 2009 to anticipate and prevent emerging infectious diseases through identification of possible pathogenic threats as part of the United States Agency for International Development's Emerging Pandemics Threats Program.
- From ENS Newswire story for February 9, 2011.
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UN General Assembly: Invest in Natural Disaster Risk Reduction
Natural disasters last year set a record for lives lost and infrastructure destroyed, the UN General Assembly acknowledged Wednesday during its first-ever debate on disaster risk reduction. With increasing risk from extreme weather events triggered by climate change, the 192-nation UN body urged investments now to reduce the toll of deaths and damage by building safer schools, hospitals and cities.
"Barely a day went by without lives devastated, homes demolished, people displaced, and carefully cultivated hopes destroyed. It was one of the deadliest years in more than a generation," said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in opening the session. Earthquakes, heat waves, floods and snowstorms affected 208 million people around the world, killing nearly 300,000, and costing $110 billion in losses, only $37 billion of which were insured, according to global reinsurance company estimates.
"Children are among the most vulnerable," Ban declared. "Thousands died last year as earthquake, flood or hurricane reduced their schools to rubble. These deaths could have been prevented. Lives can be saved by advance planning - and by building schools, homes, hospitals, communities and cities to withstand hazards. Such measures to reduce risk will grow ever more important as our climate changes and extreme events become more frequent and intense."
Ban said the UN's global disaster risk reduction campaign has attracted nearly 600 towns and cities from all regions that have committed to a 10-point checklist for making them more resilient. "We need to take lessons from cities and countries that have shown how to reduce risk," said Ban, "as well from those less fortunate, whose examples of calamity should give us all pause for thought."
Te Hyogo Framework for Action: 2005 - 2015, was adopted in January 2005 a month after the tsunami, by 168 countries attending the UN World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Japan. The 10-year plan calls for putting disaster risk reduction at the center of national policies, strengthening the capacity of disaster-prone countries to address risk, and investing in disaster preparedness.
"Post disaster management is of growing importance," said UN-HABITAT's Executive Director Dr. Joan Clos earlier this month. "The increasing frequency of disasters means that people have barely been resettled and rehabilitated before there are new emergencies," she said, expressing concern that a shortfall in funding recovery from last October's Cyclone Giri in Myanmar, also known as Burma, would make some communities unnecessarily vulnerable ahead of the coming monsoon season. The Cyclone Giri funding shortfall echoes that of the response to Myanmar after Cyclone Nargis, which left some 140,000 dead and affected the lives of an estimated 2.4 million people in May 2008.
Only one-third of the US$690 million needed for the Post-Nargis Recovery and Preparedness Plan, covering up to the end of 2011, has been forthcoming, and recovery activities in the country's Ayeyarwady Delta are stalled for lack of funds.
- From ENS Newswire story for February 10, 2011.
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Asian Bank Warns of Mass Climate Change Migrations
Governments in Asia and the Pacific need to prepare for a large increase in climate-induced migration in the coming years, says a forthcoming report by the Asian Development Bank.
Typhoons, cyclones, floods and drought are forcing more and more people to migrate, the bank said in a statement Monday announcing the report. In the past year alone, extreme weather in Malaysia, Pakistan, China, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka has caused temporary or longer term dislocation of millions of people. The bank said it expects this process to accelerate in coming decades as climate change leads to more extreme weather.
An article in the May 2009 issue of "The Lancet," a leading medical journal of record, that called climate change "the biggest global health threat of the 21st century."
Likely issues include:
- Climate change will increase extreme weather events, causing injuries and loss of life, water contamination, infectious diseases, food shortages, and mental health problems associated with disaster and tragedy.
- During drought and heavy rainfall, a reduction in crop yield and subsistence agriculture leads to malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies.
- An increase in the number of very hot days in large cities will exacerbate urban air pollution, while forest fires and dust storms affect air quality over broad areas, both rural and urban.
- Vector-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue are highly correlated with temperatures and rainfall patterns. Warmer temperature will increase the geographical habitat of vectors of diseases, such as mosquitoes and rodents.
- From ENS Newswire story for February 8, 2011.
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