Interactive energy use maps are fun.

Hey y'all, here's another way to procrastinate. Check out your block's energy usage, in oil, gas, hot water and electric, in this nifty interactive map...so many colors!

Says Treehugger.com:

The purpose of the map is to help urban planners and policy makers understand what the lay of the land is- how energy is used and where things can be improved. Even a casual perusal of the map shows that the dominant energy use in most of the city, outside the highest energy consumption areas (like the Financial District), goes to heating. Nearly all of that, Modi says, comes from oil and natural gas.

Beyond the Captain Obvious factor, pretty neat!

Interactive energy use maps are fun.

Hey y'all, here's another way to procrastinate. Check out your block's energy usage, in oil, gas, electric in this nifty interactive map...so many colors!

Says Treehugger.com:

The purpose of the map is to help urban planners and policy makers understand what the lay of the land is- how energy is used and where things can be improved. Even a casual perusal of the map shows that the dominant energy use in most of the city, outside the highest energy consumption areas (like the Financial District), goes to heating. Nearly all of that, Modi says, comes from oil and natural gas.

Beyond the Captain Obvious factor, pretty neat!

Green Coalition/Food Fighters is back!

The CUNY Law Green Coalition/Food Fighters is back in action! Last week several dozen students stopped by the GC's Bike Bonanza, a bike tune-up, safety and know-your-rights training and party. Trained bike mechanics stopped by to fix bikes, a rep. from Bike NYC presented (and passed out reflectors and other freebies), and the served samosas disappeared fast.

Thank you to our volunteers and all those who stopped by!

Food Fight!

Care about fair wages and labor conditions? Health and nutrition policy? Poverty, racial justice, access, government subsidies and corporate power? Oh, and eating?

Awesome event alert: Food Fight! Countering Corporate Control of the Food Supply, a conversation among food justice and sustainability activists, at 6:30 p.m. March 1 in the CUNY Law auditorium, hosted by CUNY Law Review and CUNY Law Green Coalition Food Fighters.

Speakers on the panel, attorney-activist Michele Simon, New York City food and garden organizer Karen Washington, Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch will break down the struggle for control over our food environment and strategies to tackle that control. Anna Lappe, author of "Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork and What You Can Do About It," will moderate.

The event is free with a reception to follow.

Go, go, Gowanus -- or not

Maybe you've heard -- the Gowanus Canal is polluted? Here's solid proof, for those who've considered taking a swim there once (if?) summer rolls around.

The Environmental Protection Agency released results of its year-long study of the canal yesterday, concluding the 150-year-old waterway is a public health threat. For more than a century, numerous manufacturing, gas and chemical companies have dumped all kinds of waste into the canal, which for most of its life never emptied into any major body of water, resulting in insanely toxic levels of mercury, lead, copper, PCBs, human waste, and more. Meanwhile, 300 million gallons of sewage and waste continue to flow in each year. Ugh.

Last year the federal government declared the canal a SuperFund site, a status the city and some local residents opposed, though most are now on board. Officials estimate it'll take about 10 years to clean -- who'll pay? The EPA plans to get some of the original polluting companies that still exist today to pony up for much of the cleanup.

Meanwhile, stay out of the water. The water poses a health risk to those who eat any fish or crabs from the canal or those who frequently touch the sediment, says EPA offcials. Sightseeing, anyone?

Food Fighters meeting Monday!

The Green Coalition Food Fighters will be meeting at 5 p.m. this coming Monday in the 2nd floor lounge. Anyone who cares about food sovereignty, farm worker rights, access to fresh, healthy food, and the future of our food supply should swing by!

Thanks, weather guy.

Loving this "wintry mix"? Prepare for 21 inches more by the end of winter. Well, so says this guy.

All you see is torts.

When's spring break, again?

EPA, those moments when you do your job, clap clap clap.

Breaking news: EPA vetoes Spruce Mine permit « Coal Tattoo



HA!

to summarize, this is one of the only times ever that the EPA has vetoed an already permitted mine. Politicians are pissed, business is flipping out, activists are all like 'phew'.

In light of the recent passing of Judy Bonds, longtime MTR activist and really amazing speaker, this is a somewhat appropriate tribute to her legacy (although there's a whole lot further to go).

Banjo politics

The second floor lounge saw its most rockabilly time yesterday when local banjoist Morgan O'Kane, accompanying a crew of mountain top removal activists visiting from North Carolina, took over with an impromptu short set for extremely appreciative law students.

The activists had just led a lunchtime talk on their legal and direct action efforts to stop the environmental devastating, dangerous and illegal practice of mountain top removal, a preview of the discussion at last night's "Voters Over Donors: Uniting Against Plutocracy" panel to analyze the influence of money in politics especially in the wake of last year's Citizens United SCOTUS ruling.

Mountain top removal activists in action

Eight speakers, including Lanny Smith, founder of Doctors for Global Health, Joan Mandle, executive director of Democracy Matters, Jay Mandle, professor of economics Colgate University, spokesperson for Friends of the Congo, Charles Suggs, of Climate Ground Zero, and Tony Avella, Queens state senator and advocate for clean elections, gave a brief, riling overview of the influence of corporate donations and lobbying in various segments of policy, from health care to international investment and trade.

The New York Democracy Project, the Green Coalition, LALSA, BALSA, MELSA, Law Students for Reproductive Choice, the Labor Coalition, Democracy Matters, IALSA, the American Constitution Society and Voters for Clean Elections all sponsored the event.

Anyone interested in further work toward clean elections and restoring citizen power, contact Matthew Edge at democracymatt@gmail.com.

oops!

Vermont Yankee and one reactor at Indian Point shut down due to some itty bitty fires and nuclear leaks AND

Radioactive leak from Knolls cleanup site also happened in the past two days.

Good thing the state can't afford regulators!

(this entry is sarcastic.)


Indian Point, so pretty, so close to home.

USDA wants you to eat more fast-food cheese

So, cheese is delicious! But a USDA partnership with fast-food restaurants to develop and market crappy, cheese-crammed, heart-attack inducing foods? Something stinks and it ain't Limburger.

The New York Times published an investigation this weekend of the USDA's own Dairy Management, which pushes Americans to buy more cheese (in return for dairy industry lobbying funds) even as the department preaches healthy eating and funds anti-obesity initiatives. We eat more than three times the amount of cheese now than in the 1970s. Here it is, in case you missed it.

The USDA is behind such gems including Pizza Hut's Cheesy Bites pizza, Wendy's Double Melt, Burger King's Cheesy Angus Bacon cheeseburger and an extra cheesy Domino's pizza. All are packed with calories and saturated fat.

Marion Nestle, author of Food Politics, wrote on her blog today that we shouldn't be so shocked, as after all, the USDA has always worked hand in hand with the dairy industry -- that was its purpose. "Only in the 1970s, did the USDA pick up all those pesky food assistance programs and capture the 'lead federal agency' role in providing dietary advice to the public."

The USDA's double-dealing is hardly shocking, of course, given the flood of industry lobbying dollars within every federal nook. But the implications at the intersection of poverty, health, food access, nutrition and race (fast-food restaurants target low-income areas and those in low-income struggle most with obesity and access to affordable, healthy foods) makes this feel somewhat indicative of what food activists are up against.

texas, charming.

Texas Battles E.P.A. Climate Regulation - NYTimes.com

Fail, Grist.org!

Hmm. If describing the connection of environmental degradation to breast cancer, what visual aid would best come to mind? How about an image of a healthy woman's breasts in a low-cut top, with no head, no body or legs, just the breasts? You got it!

In a response today to a reader's question about how environmental factors relate to breast cancer, typically awesome enviro magazine Grist.org has emphasized its incredibly important message with said image, which currently serves as dominant image on the homepage. (Page-traffic ploy? Of course not!) It's super disappointing for such a progressive environmental news source to fall back on a tired, problematic practice -- featuring a photo of only a highly sexualized part of a woman's body detached from the rest of it, rendering her identity-less, just a part, further concretizing woman's objectified, commodified status. It's unnecessary, disrespectful and frankly, inappropriate, considering the tenor and purpose of the piece. We're talking breast cancer, the leading cause of death for women in the United States in the middle of life, not happy-sexy-boob talk.

To be fair, Grist.org isn't any sort of specifically feminist or gender-related advocacy or news site, and maybe the photo was meant to lighten the gravity of the piece. But all of us working within various movements can't afford to be sexist, or racist, or classist, even if that's not our "issue" if we want to win our battles together, in mutual support. Not cool, Grist.org, not cool at all.

The Spill

Haven't watched it yet over here, but it's probably awesome. CUNY Appleseed hearts PBS.

Race and food justice take root in Bronx, Brooklyn

Over at Grist.org, writer Natasha Bowen has turned her attention to New York City's growing community of black and Latino farmers and organizers within the sustainable food movement here. In researching her piece, she met an impressive number of farmers and food organizers from organizations in every borough, including Just Food, the New York City Community Garden Coalition, the New School's Living Concrete/Carrot City series, the Brooklyn Rescue Mission, which runs a farm in Bed-Stuy, the Bronx's Tagwa Community Farm and La Finca del Sur, led by women of color, and finally, Dennis Darryck, who started a farmshare project for residents of the South Bronx and Harlem recently profile in the New York Times.

Bowen also mentions the Community Vision Council, a group organizing the first annual Black Farmers and Urban Gardeners Conference just a month from now, from Nov. 19 to 21 at Brooklyn College. The conference will explore how activists and workers can examine the intersections of food, race, poverty and social justice and tackle issues around hunger, access, food-related illnesses and more.

Critics of the food justice movement most commonly, and justifiably, decry it as Whole Foods-elitist, white, wealthy and largely oblivious to the realities of most Americans and unable (or unwilling) to address said issues. How great to see these much-needed conversations and activism take root here.

Anyone plan to attend the conference?

Photo credit: David Barrie via Flickr

NY's solution to under staffing?

As blogged here a few days ago, apparently the solution is to just cut out the agency head. ProPublica (a constant source of excellent journalism) has been covering the enforcement, or lack thereof, of natural gas drilling for years now. They have a state-by-state breakdown site.

Here are some of the graphs for New York:

So if you click the image I think you can see it larger, but the important points to note: down to 16 people enforcing regulation of natural gas wells in NY State.

And look at this:

A nice steady increase of wells being drilled by year, with a dwindling staff. Note the number above the graph - 19 enforcement staff for 13,684 wells in 2008.

Hectic!

Good thing Paterson just sacked Grannis, for sure... Even though he was supporting hydrofracking, he internally spoke up about an inability to manage what we're already doing.

In light of these realities, Grannis' memo is quite grim:

Thanks to ProPublica!

LEED green building officials blue under new lawsuit

Founders and members of the U.S. Green Building Council, who maintain the popular LEED rating system and guidelines for green building design and energy use, have been slapped with a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for allegedly fraudulently misleading consumers and misrepresenting energy performance of buildings with LEED certification.

The filing plaintiff, longtime outspoken LEED critic and engineer Henry Gifford, owner of Gifford Fuel Saving of Manhattan, is part of a class of plaintiffs consisting of business owners who paid for LEED certification and taxpayers who claim they helped subsidize LEED buildings. Gifford, deemed worthy of a New Yorker profile in 2003, not only claims he has been harmed by USGBC, but claims to represent the interests of the other plaintiffs who say they paid for LEED certification under false promises. Under the suit, they demand that USGBC pay $100 million in compensation and legal fees to victims, and stop their alleged deceptive practices.

But the case seems shaky, at best. Gifford cites his evidence of misrepresentation on his own analysis of data from the most thorough study done of LEED construction to date, a 2008 study from New Buildings Institute (NBI) and USGBC. Gifford claims that, under his own analysis, LEED buildings are, on average, 29 percent less efficient -- a sharp contrast to the findings from the NBI study (supported by the National Research Council Canada) which found LEED-certified building an average of 25 to 30 percent more efficient than the average building.

Gifford (EBN)

Meanwhile, the class action suit might fall apart, as each plaintiff's case varies widely and the lead plaintiffs may not be the best to represent the class. Then there's the question of whether Gifford specifically was truly harmed from the alleged fraud. Oh, and there's this statement:

"I'm afraid that in a few years somebody really evil will publicize the fact that green buildings don't save energy and argue that the only solution [to resource constraints] to more guns to shoot at the people who have oil underneath their sand," he told Environmental Building News.

Hmm. EBN interviewed several lawyers who explained that consumers have numerous opportunities to verify their energy consumption under LEED and that LEED design alone could not reduce energy use if residents do not also adjust other living factors. They're sure the suit won't get too far.

But if the suit succeeds, what could it mean for green building? Read more details to the debate here.

Gov. Paterson fires environmental leader over leaked memo

Gov. David Paterson is doing his darn best to tick off environmental advocates just months before he leaves office.

After writing a completely legitimate memo critiquing budget cuts to already strapped state environmental programs, Pete Grannis, New York State's commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation was fired Thursday, prompting environmental activists and other politicians to call for his immediate rehiring.

Former commissioner Grannis

In his memo, published Tuesday by the Albany Times-Union, Grannis wrote that cuts to the state's environmental programs -- two offices' budgets were slashed about 12 percent from last year's totals -- have left them "hanging by a thread." About 209 people would lose jobs, bringing the total lay-offs to nearly 800 within the past few years, and leaving even fewer people to manage all the offices oversee.

Since when is critique of Albany's disastrous budgetary crisis worthy of firing? Perhaps if Grannis had been talking crazy -- instead, tons of Albany insiders back his concerns. So far, state Assemblyman Bob Sweeney, chairman of the Environmental Conservation Committee, Assembly member Kevin Cahill, head of the Energy Committee, and eight other Assembly members including Jim Brennan of NYC have all spoken up in favor of rehiring Grannis, writes Brian Nearing of the Times-Union. Leaders from more than a dozen environmental groups have spoken out Gov. David Paterson for the firing.

In its statement on the firing, the Sierra Club called it "the latest in a series of appalling assaults to the environment coming out of Governor’s office." "While we may have locked horns with Pete over gas drilling, he has 40 year record of protecting the environment and has fought to keep his decimated agency together – always doing more with an ever-shrinking pool of funding and staff." Others critique the suddennes and process of the firing, especially since the governor's office moved without consulting the Assembly or Grannis.

Grannin also wrote in his memo that the budget cuts, and future cuts, will not only devastate programs based in state parks, hunting, hiking, fishing and camping, but also weaken the state's efforts to reign in the corporate push for the uber dangerous, environmentally devastating natural gas drilling within the Marcellus Shale further upstate. (Check this video here).

Irked? Call or email the Governor's office at 518-474-8390 and governor@chamber.state.ny.us to call for Grannis's reinstatement.

Event: Campus Clothing Swap!

Hold on to your socks! Well, actually, let 'em go, along with your shirts, pants, jackets, skirts, bowties, zoot suits, cowboy hats, whatever. Bring them all to the Green Coalition's Second Annual Clothing Swap, at SIT time (12:15 to 1:45 p.m.) Thursday, Nov. 4, location TBA!

(Something like that)

For those who have never attended a clothing swap, it's super fun, super simple, super cheap (i.e. free) and green, based on that good old theory of "one person's trash is another person's treasure," etc., etc. Drop off your gently-used clothes at the swap, sift through the pile of awesome used clothes donated by your classmates, and pick up new duds for yourself! If you hadn't noticed, CUNY Law students are an extremely well-dressed bunch. Trust us, you'll definitely go home happy!

Chevron Pranked (Probably) by the Yes Men

compliments of GOOD magazine