1/31/12

*Rachel Carson Sense of Wonder Contest

Sense of "Water" Contest
2012 is the 40th Anniversary of the Clean Water Act, and this year's Sense of Wonder contest will focus on water. For this year only, the contest has been renamed as the Sense of Water Contest in honor of the 40th Anniversary. Deadline for entries is June 1, 2012.

The Robins Of MSU, George Wallace and Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, MSU Alumni Magazine – Winter 2012 by Gary Morgan

A half century ago, George Wallace—and the robins—of MSU helped inspire Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, arguably the most important book in the 20th century.... READ ARTICLE
Upcoming Events: 
In May 2012, the Michigan State University Museum will open an exhibit on the story and legacy of Silent Spring, including specimens of the robins collected by Wallace and his students on the campus of MSU. Check out the Silent Spring walking trail that connects campus spots where events happened Relevant to the book.

The MSU Museum will feature Dying to be Heard, a 30-minute documentary based on the story of Wallace and his robins produced in 2007 by MSU s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism.


Each year, the MSU Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability and Dept. of Fisheries and Wildlife stage the Rachel Carson Lecture Series about global environmental challenges. The MSU Department of Zoology offers an annual George J. Wallace and Martha C. Wallace Endowed Scholarship Award for graduate students in ornithology.

1/25/12

Sentinel Lion

Mary Lamielle Receives Martin Luther King Freedom Medal

Mary Lamielle, executive director of the National Center for Environmental Health Strategies, is one of fourteen Camden County, New Jersey, residents chosen to receive the 2012 Camden County Freedom Medal, honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., for their unselfish contributions to improving their community.

For three decades Mary has dedicated herself to promoting the public health and improving the lives of people sick or disabled by environmental exposures. She has served on dozens of federal and state advisory committees including the recently concluded CDC National Conversation on Public Health and Chemical Exposures. She is a member of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences’ Public Interest Partners and HUD’s Disability Task Force.

Mary was nominated for the Freedom Medal by Diane Reibel, Assistant Professor of Physiology at Thomas Jefferson Medical School in Philadelphia. In nominating Mary, Dr. Reibel noted that “I met Mary twenty-five years ago when I became ill from chemicals in my research laboratory. Mary’s knowledge, support, and advocacy were a life saver for me. What Mary did for me, she has done for thousands of people across New Jersey and tens of thousands nationwide.”

Mary was recently honored with the 2011 New Jersey Governor’s Jefferson Award for Public Service, PSEG Environmental Stewardship Award, and a 2010 US EPA Region 2 Environmental Quality Award, the highest civilian award given by the EPA.

The Camden County Freedom Medal award was created in 2001 to honor the ideals indicative of the slain civil rights leader. According to Camden County Freeholder Director Louis Cappelli Jr., “This is Camden County’s way of honoring Dr. King.”

Medals will be presented during an evening ceremony at the Camden County Boathouse at Cooper River on January 20.

Author: National Center for Environmental Health Strategies, Press Release, January 2012
 

1/24/12

Beyond Pesticides. Do you want to protect kids from pesticides in schools? Contact your Representative. January 24, 2012

Ask your U.S. Representative to sign-on as an original co-sponsor the School Environmental Protection Act (SEPA). Later this month, Rep. Rush Holt and colleagues will be introducing SEPA, a bill to protect children from pesticides in schools, and it is important that this legislation be introduced with as much support as possible. Please forward this email to your friends and family!

It is time that our nation embraces a basic protection to ensure a healthy learning environment, many of the standards that have been adopted in 35 states. More information, including your state's requirements, are available on Beyond Pesticides' SEPA webpage (bill text, summary, Mr. Holt’s “Dear Colleague” letter, and other useful information).

Need for Federal Legislation

Children need better protection from toxic chemical exposure while at school. Numerous scientific studies find that pesticides used in schools are linked to cancer, asthma and other health problems. A 2010 Harvard University study links everyday pesticide exposure to ADHD. While some states have taken limited action to protect children from pesticides in schools, these policies represent a patchwork of laws that are uneven and inadequate. SEPA would provide a minimum national standard to protect kids in their places of learning.
SEPA Summary

--  SEPA requires that all public schools adopt defined integrated pest management (IPM) programs for buildings that emphasize non-chemical pest management strategies and only use least-toxic pesticides as a last resort.
-- Requires organic management of school grounds and playing fields, and prohibits synthetic fertilizers due to their adverse impact on healthy soils, plants, and turf, and associated environmental impacts.

--  Least-toxic pesticides do not include: carcinogens, reproductive and developmental toxicants, nervous and immune system poisons, endocrine disruptors, or have data gaps or missing information on health effects, as well as outdoor pesticides that adversely affect wildlife, have high soil mobility, or are groundwater contaminants.

--  The bill establishes a 12-member National School IPM Advisory Board that, with the help of a technical advisory panel, will develop school IPM standards and a list of allowable least-toxic pesticide products.

--  It requires each state to develop its IPM plan as part of its existing state cooperative agreement with the U.S. EPA.

--  A public health emergency provision allows the use of a pesticide, if warranted. In this case, notification of the pesticide application is required to be provided to all parents of students and school staff.

1/18/12


tvnz.co.nz
Small globules of oil have begun washing up in the Bay of Plenty following the latest oil spill from the wreck of the Rena.
... Much debris has also washed up on Matakana Island, including a large quantity of small plastic beads that could be dangerous to wildlife.

Container recovery company Braemar Howells had acted quickly to secure the container of plastic beads, MNZ said.
It held 660 bags, containing nearly 17 tonnes of the 2-3mm translucent polymer beads used in the plastics industry.
The beads are used by the plastics industry and aren't biodegradable, but authorities insist they're unlikely to cause too much damage...

Another perspective on birds and plastic: Animal Planet Link
Chris Jordan's work attempts to place the impact of consumerism in perspective. For his latest project he traveled to the Midway Islands, near the heart of the Pacific Trash Gyre, to photograph the decomposed bodies of chicks that have been fed plastic litter by confused parents.
Sentinel Lion 2012

Courageous Whistleblower Wants You To Know: The Keystone Pipeline is a Lemon  January 8, 2012

 ... As an inspector who was responsible for monitoring the pipeline’s construction, Klink has already witnessed more than a dozen spills at pumping stations that were covered up and not reported.
Why did Klink come forward knowing that telling the truth would cost him his job? After sharing what he had seen with his family, his own kids who love and believe in him, didn’t want their Dad to be part of a sinister corporate cover-up. Sounds like Mike passed along some important “family values” to his children...
Mike Klink: Keystone XL pipeline not safe
By Mike Klink | Posted: Saturday, December 31, 2011  
Read: http://journalstar.com/news/opinion/editorial/columnists/mike-klink-keystone-xl-pipeline-not-safe/article_4b713d36-42fc-5065-a370-f7b371cb1ece.html
...Despite its boosters' advertising, this project is not about jobs or energy security. It is about money. And whenever my former employer Bechtel, working on behalf of TransCanada, had to choose between safety and saving money, they chose to save money.
  ... After repeatedly telling the contractor and TransCanada about my concerns, I lost my job.

But I couldn't watch silently as a company put innocent people at risk with a haphazardly built pipeline. I am speaking out on behalf of my children and your children.


Oil spills are no joke. We need to do all we can to protect our water and our food. I am glad the Nebraska Legislature stepped up to protect Nebraskans. I can only hope that they stand up to TransCanada. We should all take a hard look at the damage that this pipeline will do. I should know; I've s een it in person.
The 30th National Pesticide Forum  
March 30-31, 2012
Healthy Communities: Green solutions for safe environments,Yale University School of Forestry & Environmental Studies,
Kroon Hall,
New Haven, CT  

Although organic farming and  land management continue to grow, policies to protect people from pesticides are threatened in the Northeast and around the country. At the same time, cutting-edge science links pesticide exposure to health problems, honey bee colony collapse, and other environmental issues. Join researchers, authors, beekeepers, organic business leaders, elected officials, activists, and others to discuss the latest science, policy solutions, and grassroots action.


Register online and learn more:  http://www.beyondpesticides.org/forum/  

Fees start at $35 ($15 for students) and include all sessions, conference materials, and organic food and drink. Non-members: $75 (Incl one-year membership.)


Join: Membership

Speakers.   Confirmed speaker highlights include: Gary Hirshberg, chairman and co-founder of Stonyfield Farms; John Wargo, PhD, author and Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies professor; David Hackenberg, beekeeper to first discover Colony Collapse Disorder; Curt Spalding, Administrator for EPA's New England Region; Christian Krupke, PhD, Purdue University entomologist studying impacts of systemic pesticides on bees; Chip Osborne, organic turf expert and president of Osborne Organics; and more. See full speaker list.

Organizers. The conference is convened by Beyond Pesticides, Environment and Human Health, Inc., and the Watershed Partnership, Inc., and co-sponsored by Audubon Connecticut, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Connecticut Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA), Grassroots Environmental Education, Green Decade/ Newton, GreenCape, NOFA Massachusetts Chapter, Northern New Jersey Safe Yards Alliance, Rivers Alliance of Connecticut, SafeLawns Foundation, Sierra Club-Connecticut Chapter, and Toxics Action Center. Contact us if your organization is interested in co-sponsoring this event.

1/11/12

IPM on the World Stage

The 7th International IPM Symposium is right around the corner and registration will be open in the next couple of days.  The 7th International IPM Symposium, "IPM on the World Stage" is in Memphis, TN from March 27 - 29th.  For more information on the Symposium and to register, visit our website at www.ipmcenters.org/ipmsymposium12.   

1/10/12

Join CAMEL


The National Council for Science and the Environment and the Council of Environmental Deans and Directors (CEDD) are pleased to inform you that the formal launch of the Climate, Adaptation, Mitigation, E-Learning (CAMEL) online resource and community portal will take place on January 19, 2012 at the 12th NCSE National Conference on Science, Policy and the Environment: Environment and Security in Washington, DC.

CAMEL is a free, comprehensive, interdisciplinary, multi-media online resource for faculty members and other educators to enable them to effectively teach about climate change.  CAMEL is developing a climate-literate community of researchers, educators and students to meet the major challenges of the changing climate and is making this information widely accessible by providing a forum for sharing and accessing quality curricular materials...

You may join CAMEL here or contact the CAMEL project director  

Reforming the Toxic Substances Act (TSCA)

The following link to the Physician’s for Social Responsibility (PSR) Environmental Health Policy Institute contains statements by Dr. Georges Benjamin for APHA and other key leaders in the field about reforming the Toxic Substances and Control Act (TSCA).  Healthcare professionals and public health advocates across the country are speaking out about the harmful role that toxic chemicals play in our lives, and the need for a robust regulatory strategy to address them. With a bill under consideration in the Senate (the Safe Chemicals Act of 2011), and 12 Senators already signed on to co-sponsor it, will 2012 be the year of comprehensive chemical policy reform?

1/5/12



Growing Power: NPA awards Will Allen with the Rachel Carson Environmental Award for his outstanding contribution to the natural products industry
1/4/2012

Winners to Be Honored at Natural Products Association MarketPlace 2012, June 14-16 in Las Vegas

Milwaukee – The Natural Products Association (NPA) announces the winners of the 19th Annual NPA Awards for outstanding individuals and businesses that have made important contributions to the success of the natural products industry. Awardees will be honored for their achievements during Natural Products Association MarketPlace 2012, NPA’s annual trade show and convention, June 14-16 in Las Vegas. For more information, visit http://www.NPAinfo.org/awards. Honorees include Growing Power’s CEO, Will Allen, who will receive the Rachel Carson Environmental Award for his outstanding contributions to the environmental community.

Through this award the NPA recognizes the breadth of Mr. Allen’s accomplishments within the urban farm movement. By receiving this award, Allen joins a prestigious group of individuals who have made similar significant contributions in the sustainable environmental arena. Past winners include Paul Anastas, known as the father of green chemistry; Denis Hayes, director of the Bullitt Foundation, and creator of Earth Day; Dr. Peter H. Raven, director of the Missouri Botanical Garden and expert in biodiversity and species conservation; Dr. Michael Balick, director of the Institute of Economic Botany for the New York Botanical Garden; Alice Waters, chef and champion of locally-grown and natural ingredients; and Frances Moore LappĂ©, author of Diet for a Small Planet.

Will Allen shared his gratitude for this honor and invited the greater community to join him and the Growing Power team this year as they continue to build the Good Food Revolution, “We offer monthly workshops, job training, farm outreach, internships, and youth programs to improve the environment locally and in communities across America.” He continued, “I believe that healthy communities cannot exist without healthy food systems, especially in urban areas, and I appreciate this recognition by the NPA for the work we have accomplished in Milwaukee, Chicago, and throughout the U.S.”

For more information about the NPA Awards and winners, visit http://www.NPAinfo.org/awards

About Growing Power

Growing Power was started in Milwaukee, Wis., in 1993 by Will Allen, a 2008 winner of a MacArthur “Genius Award” who has long worked to produce and deliver healthy food to low-income communities. It is a national nonprofit organization and land trust supporting people from diverse backgrounds, and the environments in which they live, by helping to provide equal access to healthy, high-quality, safe and affordable food for people in all communities. Growing Power implements this mission by providing hands-on training, on-the-ground demonstration, outreach and technical assistance through the development of Community Food Systems that help people grow, process, market and distribute food in a sustainable manner.

About Will Allen

Will Allen, son of a sharecropper, former professional basketball player, ex-corporate sales leader, and now farmer, has become recognized as among the preeminent thinkers of our time on agriculture and food policy. The founder and CEO of Growing Power Inc., a farm and community food center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Allen is widely considered the leading authority in the expanding field of urban agriculture. At Growing Power and in community food projects across the nation and around the world, Allen promotes the belief that all people, regardless of their economic circumstances, should have access to fresh, safe, affordable and nutritious foods at all times. Using methods he has developed over a lifetime, Allen trains community members to become community farmers, assuring them a secure source of good food without regard to political or economic forces. In 2010 Mr. Allen joined First Lady Michelle Obama as she launched the White House’s “Let’s Move” campaign to address issues affecting American youth and the risk of obesity and Mr. Allen was also recognized as one of TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World.

About Natural Products Association

The Natural Products Association (NPA), founded in 1936, is the largest and oldest nonprofit organization dedicated to the natural products industry. NPA represents over 1,900 members accounting for more than 10,000 locations of retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors of natural products, including foods, dietary supplements, and health/beauty aids. As the leading voice of the natural products industry, the NPA’s mission is to advocate for the rights of consumers to have access to products that will maintain and improve their health, and for the rights of retailers and suppliers to sell these products. Visit http://www.NPAInfo.org.

Media Contacts:
Growing Power
Anne Eaton
(414) 527-1546, ext. 102
staff@growingpower.org

Natural Products Association
Michael Keaton
mkeaton@npainfo.org