Massachusetts Plans to Spray Herbicides on Rights of Way

See other plans for Herbicide Spraying from Turnpike, Highway Department, Commuter Rail, AMEX, etc.
http://www.mass.gov/agr/pesticides/rightofway/plans.htm

An Environmental Partnership in Chelsea MA

US’ 2nd Largest Produce Market and The Chelsea Collaborative Form An Environmental Partnership
by Ellie Goldberg

 

Chelsea is the 3rd most environmentally overburdened community in Massachusetts.  An urban industrial city across the harbor from Boston, it is home to 40,000 residents (61% non-white 23.3% below poverty line) within 1.8 square miles -- every inch an environmental justice zone.

Chelsea has the highest rate of respiratory illnesses (child-senior), strokes, and cardiovascular disease in Massachusetts. It is in the highest category for expected lifetime cancer cases from diesel pollution (CATF).  Their diesel exhaust level is 5 times the U.S. average (EPA).

On the banks of Chelsea Creek along Chelsea's eastern border are the storage facilities for all of the jet fuel used at Logan International Airport, 80% of the home heating oil used in the region and all the road salt used in eastern Massachusetts.  Chelsea also has heavy diesel trucking corridors that cut through and surround the city servicing many other companies and industries.  Chelsea's New England Produce Center is the 2nd largest produce market in the country.

The Produce Center gets approximately 37,000 “refeers” (refrigerated trucks) deliveries from across the country every year.  With local produce distribution traffic, this adds up to about 2,000 - 3,000 delivery trucks in and out of the market each day. And, there are approximately 250-500 trucks idling at any one time. For extra cold storage space, many companies use stationary "refeers" that are no longer road worthy. Using high sulfur diesel “RED FUEL," they idle 24 hours/day, 365 days/year producing thousands of tons of hazardous pollutants.  (As of June 2010, red fuel will no longer be available for use in refeers.) 

The Chelsea Collaborative, a non profit human service agency, formed a Clean Air Coalition. Under the guidance of RoseAnn Bongiovanni, the Collaborative's associate executive director, the Collaborative was awarded $1.9 million in Recovery Act Funding to Reduce Diesel Emissions and Create Jobs in Chelsea. Forming a first time alliance with The New England Produce Center, the partners will upgrade the truck dock electrification system at the market and repower 79 stationary cold storage trailer with electric engines.

"The members of the New England Produce center are excited about enhancing the air quality by reducing harmful emissions caused by diesel engines. This project allows us to be a better neighbor and member of the community" said Brian Eddy, Sr., General Manager of The New England Produce Center.  "Our objectives from the start of this project were to obtain energy savings, environmental sustainability, and demonstrate community leadership.  We take great pride in our participation and view the project as a major success. The Chelsea Collaborative and its representatives have played an integral part in bringing all of us a better community in which to live and work."

Catherine Maas, an active member of the Chelsea community, a member of the Chelsea Board of Health, and the lead diesel activist for The Chelsea Collaborative, presented the Collaborative's unique community-market environmental partnership at the EPA's 2010 Environmental Justice Conference in New Orleans this past January.  Click here:  New England Produce Market Transport Refrigeration Unit (TRU) Electrification Project (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009)
 
http://www.cleanairinfo.com/ejconference/documents/Track%202%20Green%20Jobs/Catherine%20Maas_Putting%20Federal%20Dollars%20to%20Work.pdf

ROSEANN T. BONGIOVANNI
Roseann Bongiovanni is the Director of the Chelsea Green Space and Recreation Committee, a grassroots environmental group based out of the non-profit agency, the Chelsea Collaborative.  Roseann is a lifelong Chelsea resident.  After graduating from Chelsea High School where she was the Senior Class President, she attended Boston University on a full-tuition scholarship and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Italian.    Roseann was then awarded the Dean’s Scholarship to attend the Boston University School of Public Health where she earned a Master’s Degree concentrating in Environmental Health.   

Roseann is also a Chelsea City Councilor and served as the President of that elected body in 2007.   Roseann was a recipient of the ACE Founders’ Award in 2001; and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration named her one of 10 National Environmental Heroes in the Spring of 2006; and she was awarded the All Chelsea Award “Adult Resident of the Year” in 2007.   She has been a guest speaker at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Salem State School of Social Work, Boston University School of Social Work, Boston University Law School and numerous conferences.

Newton's Rachel Carson Day May 27 Keeps Her Legacy Alive

www.greendecade.org 617-965-1995
Sustainable Solutions for the 21st Century

Newton's Rachel Carson Day May 27 Keeps Her Legacy Alive*

On May 26 Newton Mayor David B. Cohen joined local environmental leaders at Newton City Hall to celebrate Rachel Carson's legacy with a Proclamation naming May 27 Rachel Carson Day and to highlight resources and opportunities for local advocacy to improve community and environmental health.

Whereas we believe in the power of the individual to make a difference; and

Whereas Rachel Carson's birthday, May 27, is an annual opportunity to remember the biologist, ecologist and author and celebrate her legacy; and

Whereas, Rachel Carson taught us that our health is intimately connected to the health of our environment, and that we must remain diligent to protect the natural ecosystem to maintain the health of the world’s citizens; and

Whereas the publication of Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring in 1962 generated a worldwide environmental movement and led to the creation of the U.S. EPA, the U.S. ban on DDT, and environment regulations such as the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act; and

Whereas Rachel Carson faced overwhelming illness and adversity, and yet retained her unwavering motivation to speak out about the hazards of pesticides due to her unabashed love of nature and sense of responsibility for human health and the public interest; and

Whereas, raising awareness of Rachel Carson's life and legacy can inspire citizens to get involved in efforts to protect our water, food and air from the contamination;

Now, therefore, be it resolved, that I, David B. Cohen, Mayor of the City of Newton, do hereby proclaim

May 27, 2009
Rachel Carson Day
In the City of Newton

and do further call on our citizens to remember the power of Rachel Carson’s words and the example of her life. With a determined collaboration, we can together promote the health and preservation of our environment; and commit to ecological and sustainable principles for landscaping and pest control in our homes, schools, neighborhoods, and throughout our community.

• Charlene Brotman, a board member of the Rachel Carson Council, Silver Spring Maryland (rachelcarsoncouncil.org), a national clearinghouse of inspiration and information for scientists and the public about pesticides, their dangers, and alternative pest controls.;
• Marcia Cooper, President of the Green Decade Coalition/Newton (greendecade.org), one of the most influential grassroots organizations in Massachusetts and a leader in our community for environmental action;
• Ellie Goldberg and Maeve Ward, Green Decade’s Committee for Alternatives to Pesticides and Organic Gardening and Landscaping Committee; and
• Aaron Toffler, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, Lasell College (lasell.edu), provides students with the opportunity to examine the connections between the environment and local and global communities.

• June 17 at 1:30 pm, the public is invited to a screening of the beautiful new dramatic film, A Sense of Wonder, about the last year of Rachel Carson's life after the publication of the book Silent Spring as she struggles to defend her message of environmental stewardship and fight a secret battle with breast cancer. At the Newton Senior Center, 345 Walnut Street, Newtonville, MA.

• May 28 at 7 pm Growing up Green(er) at the Newton Free Library, featuring Newton students from elementary, middle and high schools showcasing their school and community environmental projects.

Also see: What Would Rachel Say?

What Dog Walkers Should Know About Golf Courses

A neighborhood dog walker writes: "June 10, about 7am, one of the golf course employees drove by in a tractor which was pulling a spreader. He stopped the rig and told me that he was spreading fertilizer and Merit insecticide. According to him, dogs pads can absorb this, it lasts quite a while in the soil, but gets incorporated into the soil after the first inch of rain...."

From Ellie Goldberg, 617 965-9637

Below are some resources for you to read about Golf Courses and the insecticide Merit. Feel free to forward it to friends, neighbors and other dog lovers.

I believe golf courses should be required to give this information to anyone who uses golf courses, who live near golf courses, has access to golf courses (kids, dogs, etc.) , etc. (Especially in areas with elevated cancer rates such as Newton.)

(I also think there should have been a broad public notice when the Newton Parks Department used Trimec Plus on city fields.)

I recommend going to the GreenCAP webpages for the Pesticide Primer for basic concepts before reading the fact sheets. http://www.greendecade.org/greenCap_primer.html

You might also enjoy this videopodcasts: The Truth about Cats, Dogs & Lawn Chemicals http://catsdogslawnsvlog.blogspot.com/

1) GreenCAP, The Green Decade Coalition/Newton's Committee for Alternatives to Pesticides

2) JOURNAL OF PESTICIDE REFORM/ SPRING 2001 • VOL. 21, NO. 1 15 l I N S E C T I C I D E F A C T S H E E T Imidacloprid http://www.pesticide.org/imidacloprid.pdf

3) From Beyond Pesticides Gateway: http://www.beyondpesticides.org/gateway/index.htm

Imidacloprid Chloro-nicotinyl insecticide
(see product names)

Agriculture
Toxic
See chart
Extoxnet, PAN-UK, NCAP, NPIC, PAN

4) Toxic Fairways: Risking Groundwater Contamination From Pesticides ...The Attorney General's survey of pesticides used on Long Island golf courses .... (3) The actual rate of golf course pesticide use may be much higher than ...

5) Golf and the Environment Beyond Pesticides' work on golf and the environment continues to be an important strategy for outreach to the land area with one of the most highly concentrated per acre use of pesticides. The extensive use of pesticides on golf courses raises serious questions about people's toxic exposure, drift over neighboring communities, water contamination, and effects on wildlife and sensitive ecosystems.

Beyond Pesticides serves on a steering committee that seeks to develop a collaborative strategy with the golf course industry in an effort to effect change. This group developed the Environmental Principles for Golf and the Environment. Increasingly, players and golf course managers are asking the right questions and looking for answers that result in meaningful reductions in pesticide use.

In what it calls the most important article it has ever published, Golf Digest in its May 2008 issue (pp 196-232) published an article, "How Green is Golf?," which asks the hard questions about the environmental impact of golf in a series of in-depth interviews, including a builder, golf course superintendent, regulator, environmentalist and activist - Beyond Pesticides executive director, Jay Feldman (read Jay's interview).

The article spans a range of opinions on water usage, pesticide contamination, and management practices, with general agreement that golfer expectations and management practices must move and are moving in an environmental direction, citing important ways in which attitudes and understanding must change.

Read about this article on Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog, "Experts Discuss the Greening of Golf Courses," April 17, 2008.

A Smart Choice for the Children of Massachusetts

Regarding S-2481: An Act to Promote Safer
Alternatives to Toxic Chemicals.

On behalf of the Massachusetts Parent Teacher
Association (MassPTA) I urge you to do all that you
can to pass S-2481: An Act to Promote Safer
Alternatives to Toxic Chemicals.

Supporting the Safer Alternatives Bill is the safe
choice and the smart choice for Massachusetts. This
is the most important step you as a policy maker can
take for public health this session.

We know enough about the damage caused by toxic
chemicals to act now. We know that synthetic
hormones, pesticides, flame retardants and other
toxic chemicals are in our bodies and even in
newborn baby cord blood.

We know there is a direct connection between these
toxic chemicals in our water, food and air and the
growing rates of asthma, cancer, birth defects,
neurological and immune system disorders and the
crises in health, health care costs, and health
insurance – the budget busters of every family,
business and municipality in the state.

You can help stem the epidemic of illnesses and
disabilities caused by toxic chemicals and the
growing burdens they impose on our families and
communities.

Vote yes to pass S-2481. The wealth of our
communities is the health of our children.

Don't be fooled by the few short-sighted marketers and
manufacturers who think putting short-term profits before
people is good for Massachusetts. Setting a high standard
for community and workplace safety, public health and
corporate responsibility protects our children and the
health of our local economies and our long term interests
in the global marketplace.

Please let me know that I can tell the 19000 members of
the Massachusetts PTA that you are a leader among
legislators because you are committed to public health and
good government for all the residents of Massachusetts.

Ellie Goldberg, M.Ed.
Massachusetts PTA Legislative Chair
Massachusetts State PTA www.masspta.org
ellie.goldberg@gmail.com (H) 617-965-9637