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

- Submitted by (the late) Judith Wagner and Ann Heidenreich, St. Lawrence County Branch.

Updated: February 6, 2012

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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:

  1. 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.
  2. During drought and heavy rainfall, a reduction in crop yield and subsistence agriculture leads to malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies.
  3. 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.
  4. 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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