Mamaroneck, NY, another of the Sustainable Westchester communities that want to go forward – photo by Doug Kerr via Flickr
cleantechnica.com - by Roy L. Hales - March 18, 2016
Seventeen municipalities are involved in this pilot program, which has been described as “a transformative shift in the way we buy and use electricity.” Audrey Zibelman, Commissioner of the New York State Public Service Commission, said she has “great hopes for this as a critical pilot for the Reforming the Energy Vision.” This will be the first Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) pilot program under Governor Cuomo’s Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) strategy.
Danish architectural firm EFFEKT envisioned a future where self-sustaining communities could grow their own food and produce their own energy. They incorporated that vision into the ReGen Village, a planned off-grid community that addresses issues ranging from climate change to food security through sustainable design. They plan to start building these utopian communities this summer.
Many of us will be firing up our grills this weekend for some well-deserved barbecue time. After all, barbecuing is one of America’s greatest pastimes, but it certainly isn’t one of our most environmentally friendly. Whether you prefer charcoal, wood chips or propane, grilling releases emissions and contributes to poor air quality.
I am reaching out to you on very short notice today to see if you can still alert your membership about the important Public Hearings on the NYS Clean Energy Standard scheduled for this Tuesday, May 17th in Riverhead. It is crucial we show a solid turnout and explain why New York needs to switch to renewables without further delay.
Below are the details and relevant web links for the event. People interested in attending can RSVP via Renewable Energy Long Island’s website (or the Facebook event). People unable to attend can submit a comment online. We have posted some basic talking point on reLI’s website.
City’s Zika action plan enhances mosquito surveillance and control - Expands testing of humans and mosquitos, and launches public awareness campaign
nyc.gov - April 18, 2016
NEW YORK––Marking the start of mosquito season, Mayor de Blasio today detailed a three-year, five-borough plan to protect New Yorkers and prevent the spread of the Zika virus in New York City.
“We are doing all we can to target the mosquito that could transmit Zika here in the city, and building the capacity to respond to every possible scenario, no matter how unlikely,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “We will spare no effort to protect pregnant New Yorkers from the devastating consequences of Zika, and we ask New Yorkers to help us by taking simple steps to get rid of standing water where mosquitos can breed. We also ask pregnant women who may have been exposed to Zika to talk to their doctors about getting tested.”
nytimes.com - by The Editorial Board - April 4, 2016
Some world leaders, especially in developing countries like India, have long said it’s hard to reduce the emissions that are warming the planet because they need to use relatively inexpensive — but highly carbon-intensive — fuels like coal to keep energy affordable. That argument is losing its salience as the cost of renewable energy sources like wind and solar continues to fall.
Image: A photograph of a city skyline at dusk with lamps in the foreground that resemble stylized trees.
huffingtonpost.com - October 20th, 2015 - Jeremy Rifkin
The global economy is slowing, productivity is waning in every region of the world and unemployment remains stubbornly high in every country. At the same time, economic inequality between the rich and the poor is at the highest point in human history. In 2010 the combined wealth of the 388 richest people in the world equaled the combined wealth of the poorest half of the human race.
With its miles of low-lying coast land and population pressures, the East End of Long Island is vulnerable to disaster. It could come suddenly in the form of a storm like Hurricane Sandy. Or creep inexorably toward us on the encroaching tide of sea level rise or the degradation of our land and water resources. Or from some other completely unexpected direction, like a pandemic.
Yet we are also a community rich in people committed to the health and well-being of the region. We also have fisheries and farmland to sustain us.
Bringing our resources to bear on building community resilience is the goal of the East End Resilience Network.
We talk today with the organizer of that network, Michael McDonald. As Coordinator of the Global Health Response and Resilience Alliance and Chairman of Global Resilience Systems, Inc., McDonald has been involved in building resilience networks all over the world.
Increased use of low-carbon energy sources instead of fossil energy sources is making it easier for countries to decouple economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new report. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/Reuters
New report from green think tank Heinrich Boll shows OECD countries grew their economies 16% in last decade – and cut greenhouse gas emissions 6.4%
theguardian.com - by Bruce Watson - September 26, 2015
As the world works out how to avoid catastrophic climate change, one of the biggest questions remaining is whether we can continue to grow economically without also increasing greenhouse gas emissions.
blogs.bmj.com - by Trish Groves / The BMJ - September 8, 2015
The whole debate on sharing clinical study data has focused on transparency, reproducibility, and completing the evidence base for treatments. Yet public health emergencies such as the Ebola and MERS outbreaks provide a vitally important reason for sharing study data, usually before publication or even before submission to a journal, and ideally in a public repository.
