Sustainability Now Radio

The Crises of Sustainability as Birth

2012-02-12T17:45:00.005-05:00

Environmentalists everywhere are at no shortage of awful things to describe in gory detail. Polar bears are drowning because their habitat is changing and disappearing. Natural gas drilling is ruining people's lives in Pennsylvania and Wyoming and mountain top removal creates cancer clusters in West Virginia and Kentucky. To hell in a hand basket we go! But could the ecological crises at hand be the possibility for rebirth of humanity?

In this brief conversation one of our former guests, Kevin May (Phil Osophical on YouTube) talks with Charles Eisenstein, author of Sacred Economics and The Ascent of Humanity. Instead of viewing humanity as a cancer or a virus, maybe it is more suitable to think of humanity in its industrial development as a fetus. It can't live as it has inside of its mother forever. As it gets bigger, it must be discharged into a new way of life to which it cannot know. Is development driving us to a new way of being in the world and even in a new world?

In a great confluence, our guest this coming Friday is Charles' brother John Eisenstein, owner of Jade Family Farm.

What Is Sustainability?

2012-02-10T11:52:00.006-05:00

As you know, we ask everyone who comes on the show: "What does sustainability mean to you?" And if you've listened or use a little imagination, you know that there are nearly as many definitions of sustainability as there are people who have thought about sustainability for more than one minute. Now the term is everywhere.

Last week, Richard Kahn called sustainability a "contested" term. Who uses it and how they use it will tell us what should be sustained, maybe even how, why, for whom, and maybe even for how long. Exxon using the term means something different from a small Pennsylvania farmer which is different from the U.N.'s definition from the famous Our Common Future publication defining sustainable development. The contest over defining sustainability means people can use it very differently. Deep ecologists can make it into some purist notion, so-called pragmatists can use it as a lens for understanding issues, and the corporate status quo can use it to "greenwash" their images.

All of this means sustainability is a slippery term. It's also very popular these days. I'll borrow from our compatriot Katherine Watt at Spring Creek Homesteading who posted this cartoon graph a few weeks ago:

It's all very simple and very complicated. Most people want sustainability. Most people want what they have. Most people would like to believe that they are doing good. Most people want what they have to be sustainability because they want to believe that they are doing good. Therefore, the term will be used to make everyone feel good. It might be something like that anyway.

Today we will talk about this issue for the whole show: What does sustainabilty mean? Andy Lau is a professor of engineering at Penn State and former assistant director of the Penn State Center for Sustainability. My first encounters with him were opinion pieces on sustainability in local papers and then a presentation at a forum with Don Brown, a previous guest on this show on the ethics of climate change. Lau, like Brown, sees sustainability as something that could transform not only education, but our entire way of living. He has incorporated sustainability into a lot of his teaching, in his professional work as an engineer, and into his personal life. It's fair to say he's a sustainability wonk, going so far as to write an article on the many dimensions of sustainability and sustainable design as a new paradigm for engineering education. Lau is a funky kind of engineer, known as much for his relaxed philosophizing as he is for his engineering chops.

If you have any thoughts or questions, post them here or over at our Facebook page where you can get more involved. Listen in at 4 pm at The Lion and feel free to call in: (814) 865-9577

Denialism, Hockey Sticks, Climate Wars, and Radicalism

2012-02-09T19:56:00.004-05:00

Today I went to Dr. Michael Mann's talk at the Penn State Forum, "Confronting the Climate Change Challenge." It was a talk meant to prelude and outline his forthcoming book, The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars. In it, he laid out the scientific case for climate change, the validity of "the hockey stick" and climate change models since James Hansen's in the 1980s, and the subsequent valid predictions climate scientists have made. Depending on our fossil fuel choices, we will have different futures.

Already we have a world where gardeners, hikers, hunters, anglers, and farmers already see climate change in North America. Species of plants and animals are migrating north for warmer temperatures. Others, ill-adapted for a warmer world including polar bears and walruses, are being selected out. The world is changing and it's getting plainer and plainer to see. It's common sense for attentive people to see.

But common sense is exactly what seems to be lacking, especially by people who claim to be at the front of the The Common Sense Movement, a coal industry front group that bought ads on local radio attacking Mann's credibility and climate science (see here). This group joined dozens of other industry astroturf groups (fake grassroots movement) and public relations moves by the merchants of doubt to scientize politics. It is, as Mann noted today, a way to "wage politics as usual...to use science as a political football," including the climate denialism and sought-after political and professional persecution campaigns of current Republican presidential candidates, Senator James Inhofe (R-Ok), Representative Joe Barton (R-Tx), and the Republican Attorney General of Virginia. Mann, in short, has been the victim of a Republican War on Science. Climate science anyway. (David Frum and Kevin Silber have tried to point out that republicans aren't universally opposed to science.)

And it was interesting to hear Mann respond to questions. A lot about dealing with the "merchants of doubt" as Oreskes has called them and combating climate denialism. He dealt with being a political football. With education. With capitalism. Interestingly, he didn't attack capitalism but instead attacked the way we've structured our economy. Capitalism "has been stacked" he said. Toward what? Fossil fuel economics. In so many words, he was referring to sunk costs.

But what some of you might be most interested in was how he discussed shale gas drilling.

He talked about its lower carbon footprint as a burned fuel. It is "cleaner burning" with roughly one half the carbon footprint of coal per btu. However, and I think this might have stunned the powers that be, he cited a study released in the last week that showing that fugitive emissions from shale gas drilling might nullify the carbon benefits of burning natural gas. With 105 times the climate forcing potential over a 20-year span, methane leaked at 4% from shale gas operations demolishes the climate bridge fuel argument. As he seems to like to do, and many academics do for good reasons, he encouraged us to have discussions with evidence before us.

From a more radical sustainability view, some people would find Mann's talk a little disappointing. The personal steps he has taken (or at least the stated ones) were technological household fixes like changing lightbulbs and using lower-energy appliances. Don't get me wrong by any means, do it. But given our guest last week Richard Kahn, it seems that deeper and deeper transformations are needed. Mann certainly confronts the status quo of the big fossil fuel industry, but there was no call for a radical restructuring of all society right now. But...and it's a big BUT...he recognizes that climate change is a civilization-challenging issue.

Alarm? Yes. Alarmist? Maybe. Radical? Not really. I'd actually call him pretty calm.

Calm or not. You have to get a picture with a Nobel-Prize sharer.

Attacking the messenger is the coal lobbies favorite tactic

2012-02-03T14:06:00.004-05:00

In case you haven't been following, Dr. Michael Mann is under attack by the merchants of doubt. Again. As if the manufactured extreme doubt of the odiously named "Climategate" scandal two years ago weren't enough, the climate ostriches have restarted a fullscale character assassination and attempts at blacklisting campaign.

Mann created one of climate sciences most enduring images, "the hockey stick." The image shows the unequivocal correlation between rising annual temperatures and rising carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It's the best visual out there showing us that humans burning fossil fuels causes climate change. Burning coal, oil, and natural gas releases CO2 into the atmosphere. It's very simple. But the ostriches and the industry-financed doubt mongerers who laughably call themselves skeptics are throwing their money behind propaganda campaigns to silence voices of reason.

One local radio station WBUS has been airing an ad asking listeners to ask Penn State to cancel an upcoming talk by Mann. Who's behind it?

The Common Sense Movement, a coal industry front group with a PAC called Secure Energy for America Political Action Committee (SEAPAC). They have a stock letter-writing campaign that sews doubt where there is a great deal of certainty on climate impacts.

On February 9th, the Penn State Forum Speaker’s Series is featuring
Professor Michael Mann in a speech regarding global warming. This is the same
professor who is at the center of the ‘Climategate’ controversy for
allegedly manipulating scientific data to align with his extreme political
views on global warming. Join us in calling on the administrators of Penn State
to end its support of Michael Mann and his radical agenda.

It attacks Mann's credibility, calling him "disgraced." Mann was cleared of all alleged scientific wrongdoing by Penn State and National Academy of Sciences and other investigations. So if by disgraced they mean one of the most decorated climate scientists at Penn State today and one of the most distinguished scientists in the world, I guess that's accurate. Somehow, I suspect they mean something else.

No doubt the laughably named Common Sense Movement is upset because Mann has a new book coming out called The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars that takes the denial machine to task and explains very clearly that climate science shows us we are in a very bad place regarding climate stability. The summary reads:

The Hockey Stick became a central icon in the “climate wars,” and
well-funded science deniers immediately attacked the chart and the scientists
responsible for it. Yet the controversy has had little to do with the depicted
temperature rise and much more with the perceived threat the graph posed to
those who oppose governmental regulation and other restraints to protect our
environment and planet. Michael E. Mann, lead author of the original paper in
which the Hockey Stick first appeared, shares the real story of the science and
politics behind this controversy. He introduces key figures in the oil and
energy industries, and the media front groups who do their bidding in sometimes
slick, bare-knuckled ways to cast doubt on the science. Mann concludes with an
account of the “Climategate” scandal, the 2009 hacking of climate scientists’
emails. Throughout, Mann reveals the role of science deniers, abetted by an
uninformed media, in once again diverting attention away from one of the central
scientific and policy issues of our time.

The worst of the worst are the polluting fossil fuel industries are hellbent on maintaining their grip on government, policy, regulation, and the market. If they leash the other powers that be, then renewables will be delayed and the CEOs of the corporate kleptocracy can keep us leashed.

This is a perfect example of Don Brown's arguments about ethics in climate change messaging. These include:

Lying Or Reckless Disregard For the Truth
Focusing On Unknowns While Ignoring The Knowns.
Specious Claims Of "Bad" Science
Creation of Front Groups
Manufacturing Bogus Climate Science
Think Tank Campaigns
Misleading PR Campaigns
Creation of Astroturf Groups
Cyber-bullying Scientists and Journalists

Lying, specious claims, and cyber-bullying accounted for. Definitely a front group using a misleading PR campaign. It's hogwash from beginning to end. Unethical is the nice way to refer to this kind of bile. I prefer to call it toxic "bullshit" meaning it is both lying and nonsense.

Interestingly, people have been taking the Common Sense Movement to task. They've attempted to hijack the letter-writing campaign. They've gone to the group's Facebook page (which has apparently stopped fans from leaving comments). They've urged WBUS to yank the commercial. Others are calling Penn State President Rodney Erickson and telling them they support Mann.

The blogosphere is up in arms about it too. Andy Revkin and Joe Romm have pieces up.

What is a university if not a place for challenging ideas and practices? By the Common Sense Movement's actions it's a place for corporately controlled speech and the unfettered pollution and bought speech.

Not at my university.

Education in the Age of Ecological Crisis

2012-02-03T06:37:00.004-05:00

In the age of peak oil, climate change, and ecological crises, educational institutions must change. That's the gist coming from a growing number of people. College presidents are signing the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, they are hiring sustainability officers to help manage the waste and energy from operations, research into renewable and alternative energy grows, and there's a growing field called sustainability studies in academia. Last week on Sustainability Now we talked to Dr. David Reilly (PSU Center for Sustainability) and Steve Maruszewski (PSU Office of Physical Plant) people doing such things at Penn State. There is a lot of agreement for change.

"Jump!" they say.

"How high?" people ask.

Richard Kahn is a professor at Antioch University in Los Angeles. He's an anarchist educator who studies social movements and challenges the way dominant institutions - corporations, government, medicine, and industry hinder "greater planetary freedom, peace, and happiness." Over the last several years, Kahn has created a broad critique of modern industrial life. It is not just negative, but also a vision of future life liberated from denigrating practices and belief structures like racism, sexism, speciesism, and the corporatized consumerism literally consuming us and the planet. A high bar to jump over.

One of his most potent formulations of this critique and vision came in his 2010 book Critical Pedagogy, Ecoliteracy, and Planetary Crisis. In it, he writes for "ecopedagogy." He describes it as,

a movement concerned with the cosmological, technological, and organizational dimensions of social life, that seeks to achieve victory through its ability to:
1. provide openings for the radicalization and proliferation of ecoliteracy [see Orr, 1992] programs both within schools and society;
2. create liberatory opportunities for building alliances of praxis between scholars and the public (especially activists) on ecopedagogical interests; and
3. foment critical dialogue and self-reflective solidarity across the multitude of groups that make up the educational left during an extraordinary time of extremely dangerous planetary crisis (page 56).

Unlike some university professors, Kahn refuses to shy away from political positions.

We will talk with Kahn about ecopedagogy and our educational future. Sustainability, radical sustainability, needs to be front and center. Maybe in jumping, we can take flight.

Listen in today at 4 pm on The Lion 90.7. Call in (814) 865-9577.

Sustainable Penn State?

2012-01-27T10:20:00.005-05:00

"We can do this. There's absolutely no question that we can do this. But the longer we wait, the harder it gets."
~Richard Alley, Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences

How long has Penn State waited? What are people doing there? And how is the institution building sustainability into everything it does? How quickly will it proceed?

Today we are revisiting the Penn State Sustainability Strategic Plan with two men who have been pushing sustainability-related issues for years. David Riley is the director of Penn State's Center for Sustainability, the piece of Penn State charged with fomenting an educational culture for sustainability. Steve Maruszewski is the Assistant Vice President of Penn State's Office of Physical Plant. He oversees or is involved with many of the physical operations of the university from energy to waste.

These videos give a sense of the vision, the scope of Penn State's influence, education, and research initiatives, energy and waste issue, and what staff can do to change things.

Yes. That is co-host Peter Buckland on the Green Team video talking about bottled water.

We will talk about the strategic plan. Where will it take this university and how will that influence the rest of the world? There is a sense in some circles that it might be greenwashing. We'll get at that too. If Penn State really has a vision, what is it?

Listen in today at 4 pm on The Lion 90.7 and feel free to call in with a question or brief comment: (814) 865-9577. You can find us on Facebook too and request to join our group. Feel free to leave questions here or there!

Follow Sustainable State's YouTube account here.

The End of Economic Growth?

2012-01-20T14:54:00.003-05:00

If you listen, read, or watch national or global news, you know that "economic growth" is very important. Have you stopped to wonder why? And what's the problem with no end to growth?

Below, we include a piece from Richard Heinberg, author of The End of Growth.

"Money and debt require natural resources...It's a pyramid scheme." But will it continue? How will we experience the limits Heinberg discusses?

Tune in to today's show at 4 pm when we talk to Asher Miller, executive director of the Post Carbon Institute where Heinberg is a fellow. We'll be discussing this topic and many others PCI covers. As always, feel free to call in: (814) 865-9577.

Governor Slashes Science, Sierra Club's Jeff Schmidt Swings Back

2012-01-18T19:20:00.006-05:00

State Impact's Scott Detrow reports Gov. Tom Corbett's (R-PA) administration has gutted funding for research on the environmental impacts of Marcellus Shale natural gas development. Despite numerous statements by Corbett, DEP director Mike Krancer, and Lt. Governor Jim Cawley that they make decisions "based on science" or "based on fact," the picture painted here seems to black out the science.

Detrow writes that Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary director Richard Allan has overseen "significant changes" to state scientific research projects examining natural gas drilling and climate change impacts. "Last month, Allan slashed the budget of the agency’s wildlife research program by nearly 70 percent...without consulting the four-person staff responsible for vetting submitted proposals and recommending them for funding." According to the article, DCNR attributes the cuts were caused by declining revenue in the conservation program’s fund. However, DCNR's statement released no criteria for why one program was cut over another.

Under the Rendell administration in 2010, four studies on gas drilling impacts and climate change impacts were funded. This coming year: only one. Despite the endorsement of the Wild Resource Conservation Board to fund two studies on gas, two on climate, and eight others in October. Then the rules abruptly changed, the budget was gutted, seventeen studies were slashed. Only one natural gas study remained.

It appears that political maneuvering played a key role. Detrow reports,

In 2010, nine of the recommended research projects examined the impact of climate change, and four looked at natural gas drilling’s implications. Before the board voted, a staffer representing Hutchinson at the meeting read a statement expressing “deep concern and reservation” about the recommended projects. “In the past the [conservation program] has supported projects that sought to restore a variety of plant and non-game species to their habitats. It seems to me that this theme is not being carried forward,” Hutchinson had written. “Instead, it appears to me, that the committee is being asked to recommend projects for funding that…[are] based upon advancing specific public policy agendas rather than one that is more neutral and scientific based.” Hutchinson said he was referring to the climate change projects.

Patrick Henderson represented Republican Senator Mary Jo White at the meeting. He had a problem with the projects, too. The official minutes, approved by the board during its 2011 meeting, read, “Mr. Henderson expressed concern about natural gas extraction being identified as an environmental impact.” He said, “these projects may not warrant this grant money,” referencing souring budget conditions.

Henderson, of course, went on to become Governor Corbett’s point man on energy and drilling policies. As Energy Executive, Henderson sat on Corbett’s 2011 Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission, and wrote the bulk of its final report.

Why does any of this matter? Detrow writes about the threat to scarlet tanager (pictured at right). These migratory songbirds require deep woods to thrive. As more well pads go in, there is less habitat for the birds. The 8-acre-per-well impact that's often quoted for Marcellus wells has a much larger impact in the forests. Including roads and all of the encroachment factors involved, the total impact can be 31 acres, roughly 1/3 of a kilometer per well. When you multiply that by the hundreds of wells in forests now and the thousands to come, the impacts become enormous. Wildlife is and will suffer.

The Response

The Sierra Club of Pennsylvania's Jeff Schmidt has come out swinging. In a press release today, he is quoted as saying, "Governor Corbett and DEP Secretary Mike Krancer repeatedly say they want sound science to dictate environmental policy in Pennsylvania. However, we have now learned that they are willing to slash funding for necessary scientific research to determine potential environmental harm for which their policies could be responsible. It is clear that the Corbett administration's political goals to promote gas drilling trump their claim to support sound science. In fact, the inconvenient reality is that while gas drilling is ruining drinking water supplies and wildlife habitat, the Corbett administration engages in a cover up of the true impacts."

The press release goes on to cite instances where DEP covered up a Cabot Oil and Gas spill in Lenox, Pennsylvania and ruled the company could cease supplying fresh water to the town of Dimock despite having been found to have polluted the town's water. To compound issues with the directorship of DCNR, earlier this week the Executive Director of the Conservation and Natural Resources Advisory Committee (CNRAC), who provides oversight of DCNR's oil and gas drilling activities on Pennsylvania's public forests and parks, was fired.

"The pattern of the Corbett administration's environmental policies is becoming more apparent every day," Schmidt continued. "We call on the General Assembly to halt the rush to drill in Pennsylvania, and to scrap legislation such as HB 1950, which was written by the Corbett administration. It is time our elected officials represented the people of Pennsylvania, not the out-of-state drillers."

We suspect that in the next 24 hours, the blogosphere will light up with this news as will other environmental organizations like PennFuture, PennEnvironment, and others.

Post Carbon Institutue: Resilience and Hope in the Face of Ecocide and Greed

2012-01-18T14:13:00.006-05:00

Is it possible to comprehensively rise to the sustainability and resilience challenges of the present day? Can we work as individuals, communities, businesses, and governments to tackle local, regional, and international economic, social, and environmental problems? Are there movements afoot looking these issues in the face and fostering social movements to change our directions? Yes. And this Friday

This Friday we'll be hosting Asher Miller, Executive Director of the Post Carbon Institute. Post Carbon brings together the people working on issues like climate change, energy, agriculture, education, economics, and more to foment creative action toward sustainable, resilient, and healthy societies and economies within a healthy environment. Their fellows include well-known leaders like David Orr, Richard Heinberg, and Bill McKibben, champions of sustainability themselves for at least three decades and emerging sustainability wizards like Majora Carter who has been fostering resilience in New York City with incredible results.

But it is Post Carbon which means the end of fossil fuel use. To get a sense of their take on the end of the carbon age, watch this video.

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We'll talk about these issues and people this Friday at 4 pm on The Lion 90.7 fm. Feel free to call in (814) 865-9577.

Looking back at 2011 & Looking forward to 2012

2012-01-13T15:06:00.002-05:00

2011 was a great year on Sustainability Now. Our mission, from the beginning, has been to bring our listeners and readers news and views on and by local people working on sustainability issues with the hope that we can work better together. In a minutes we’ll look back at our shows to touch on some of the themes.

Before going on, it’s important to note that all of our guests respond to the same question at the show’s start: “What does sustainability mean to you?” Every guest answers it in their own way. Dave Yoxtheimer from the Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research talked about the wise use of resources, the Heinz brothers talked about developing intelligent technologies, and while Rosa Eberly talked about what isn’t sustainable in a democracy. Many people focus on notions of responsibility to people and nature though weighing those responsibilities differently. Some brought up the rights of people and even other organisms not yet born to whom we owe dignity and respect. Others, like Dr. Anrew Kleit think sustainability is basically nonsense and nobody really knows what it means. His near polar opposite, Dr. Donald Brown, said that in some sense it doesn’t matter exactly how we define it because it is “an orienting concept” like “justice or freedom” that gets us pointed in the right direction. With two exceptions, all of our guests work on projects they believe move us in better – i.e. more sustainable – directions.

What themes did we find? Localists. Shale gas. Energy, economy, and the environment. Global action. Higher education.

We have the real localists in our communities and in a few others working on community-level projects. These included Krystn Madrine from the Sustainable Kitchen who talked about local, organic, and sustainable food systems and the mutual service we get from knowing our farmers and caterers. That thinking is right in line with our talk with people from the local Slow Money and Transition Towns movements, both of whom work to create local resilience. But we’ve also talked about the role of media and outreach so that people can learn about these initiatives whether that’s through touring the state on a motorcycle with Going Local author Ken Hull, former Voices editor Suzan Erem, or Janaia Donaldson from Peak Moment TV out of northern California.

Probably the biggest political splash for the localists came from Braden Crooks and Groundswell PA. The group successfully petitioned to have an environmental and community bill of rights and a ban on hydraulic fracturing and new natural gas development up for popular vote on the November ballot. It won with a landslide 72% of the vote. People in State College deeply distrust gas development.

Marcellus Shale issues were, of course, big news. On March 9th, co-host Peter Buckland rode his bike to Harrisburg to meet with Governor Tom Corbett. It was a protest and consciousness-raising ride to draw attention to the environmental impacts of natural gas development in the state and a way to push for better controls on the industry. The spirit of the ride was shared by guest Barb Jarmoska of the Responsible Drilling Alliance who, ironically enough, thinks that drilling isn’t being done responsibly. That sentiment was shared by attendees of the Marcellus Protest 2011 at Penn State in November and Dr. Tony Ingraffea of Cornell University who gave a talk at Penn State on the truths and myths of natural gas development.

But some don’t agree. Dave Yoxtheimer, a certified geologist working at Penn State’s Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research thinks we can do this right. He walked us through the challenges shale gas development brings, but believes that ultimately natural gas is the best bridge fuel available and that, by and large, it’s being done pretty responsibly with smaller negative environmental and human health impacts than other fuels like coal. But people are still worried.

Former Pennsylvania legislator Carol Rubley co-chaired the Citizen’s Marcellus Shale Commission. She found that people across the state were very concerned about their air, their health, their water, their community integrity, and their economic futures. Though quite a few saw opportunities, most believed that natural gas development as it was being done was unacceptable and therefore needed to be regulated more strictly and that its economic windfalls be used to ensure economic, community, and environmental well-being for the long haul.

This brings us to the intersection of energy, economy, and the environment. Our shows on this included how we get electricity, why it’s priced the way it is, how we could use it better, what generating all of that electricity does to the environment and human health, and how it should be regulated. Clayton Barrows walked us through the production and distribution part of the issue. How does burning coal provide electricity that powers your light? Could it be “smarter”?

That physical infrastructure is one thing, but the price of electricity is another. Last year, Pennsylvania began de-regulating its electricity market, something many thought would cause our electricity prices to spike. But they didn’t. Well, how does the electricity market work? Dr. Andrew Kleit and Dr. Anastasia V. Shcherbakova walked us through some of those issues. But the market and the producer aren’t it. Maybe you can work on how much you rely on that producer and reduce the market’s uptake of your money by using software to control your electricity use at home or work. Chris Heinz from Energy Cap does just that.

But the effects of generating all of that electricity are very costly. They generate what economists call “negative externalities.” Burning coal creates CO2. The scale of our coal, gas, and oil consumption generates incredible environmental and health effects that we pay for in other sectors of the economy like medical bills and environmental protection, but that other creatures pay for with their lives.

For Don Brown of Penn State’s Rock Ethics Institute, the ethical models that underlie the energy sector, engineering, and much of scientific and technological progress are dubious. Monetizing the death or illness of children or other species is profoundly immoral. And the costs are mounting as glaciers and ice caps melt, people are displaced, oceans acidify, boreal forests tip or sink, and islands are steadily being covered by rising seas. But it isn’t just CO2 and greenhouse gases. Burning coal releases other toxins into the environment.

Ed Perry of the National Wildlife Federation came on the show and we asked him, “What’s with the attacks on clean air and clean water by the current Republican congress?” His answer was like Brown’s. The current deregulated version of capitalism foisted by the Republicans right now is contrary to 40 years of environmental regulation created by bi-partisan support starting with the creation of the EPA and the Clean Air Act in the 1970s. The “profit-at-all costs” mentality has taken over our politics. “It’s an ideology,” he said. It’s the same one that denies climate change, tobacco’s role in causing cancer, and the denial of the degradation of the ozone layer by CFCs. There are indeed merchants of doubt out there maintaining a divided status quo. But there are merchants of hope too.

Think of this past year’s incredible global political changes and moves by people for self-determination, for happiness, and for restoring or fomenting well-being where there has been so little. Eric Sauder and Spud Marshall of New Leaf Initiative came in to talk about so many of the initiatives they’ve become involved with. One of them is in Haiti where they work with people to foment sustainable solutions for human well-being. In a nation as impoverished and resource depleted as Haiti, this is an invaluable service. And those solutions run from creating better and more responsible building materials to getting money to songwriters. People need art and joy.

On two shows last spring, we hosted students from Iran and Oman to talk about the “Arab spring.” Democracy and self-determination are often seen as pillars in sustainability. Here we had people whose families and friends were in the streets working to change their destinies on an unheard of scale. The hope the Arab spring engendered was amazing.

Luis Caza came and talked to us on the air about Occupy Wall Street. Having gone to the motor of the machine of income inequality, he came back to Penn State and collaborated with other students and community members to bring the message home. In effect, the gross injustice of the financial system had rippled out and ripped apart the economic security of people across the globe and right here at home. They want to change the world by changing the university.

And universities are changing. We talked to people from Penn State and Bucknell on what higher education is doing in light of sustainability. On the operational side, we talked to Lydia Vandenberg and a few staff people from the university about Green Teams, staff and faculty groups changing their daily work to conserve energy and materials, reduce waste, and even have good times doing it. On research, we spoke to Tom Richard, Director of Penn State Institutes for Energy and the Environment about the dizzying amount of research being done here. Whether it’s developing new technology, working out industrial scale composting, or understanding the effects of intense gas development on Pennsylvania schools, there is a lot to learn here. Is that playing out educationally?

Dr. Denise Wardrop of Riparia and member of the Penn State Sustainability Strategic Plan team walked us through the strategic plan. The goals are to make Penn State a living laboratory for sustainability, develop sustainability leadership, and disseminate sustainability into the culture at large. With a new president at the university’s helm, there is a lot of hope it will get some traction.

At Bucknell, a plan has been in effect for a few years now. Dina El-Mogazi of Bucknell University's Environmental Center walked us through their work. A few years ago, their president Brian Mitchell signed the American College and University President’s Climate Commitment. Doing so committed Bucknell to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions and developing educational programs for sustainability and climate neutrality. They are one of the few universities in the country with a general education requirement for sustainability. Every student at Bucknell has to take a class on the intersection of humans and the environment. Sounds good to us.

All of these people are working for a more sustainable world…Almost all of them anyway. So are we. We hope that by bringing these people, their experiences, and their actions to you, that we can work together for more sustainable beliefs, ideas, actions, and technologies. It’s a small thing, but we believe in it.

Now we are in a new year and we look forward to building on these topics. You can look forward to more on community, energy, and environment. Most of all, you can look forward to some really interesting people doing great work.

Hear Mike and Peter run down their favorite parts of the last year from 4-5 pm EST on 90.7 fm, streaming at http://thelion.fm/listen. Feel free to call in (814) 865-9577.

Clean Air Council attacks Pennsylvania's DEP over Air Quality from Shale Gas Operations

2012-01-10T10:35:00.003-05:00

This was just sent out from the Clean Air Council:

The Inside Story
Pennsylvania SIP Fight Escalates
Posted: January 6, 2012

Pennsylvania's top environmental official is asking EPA to dismiss activists' petition that claims the state is violating its own air quality plan for meeting agency air standards by offering streamlined permits for hydraulic fracturing operations in the state -- claims the state strongly rejects.

The fight over Pennsylvania's state implementation plan (SIP) highlights long-running concerns from environmentalists about emissions from fracking operations in states on the Marcellus Shale. The activist group Clean Air Council's (CAC) challenge to the SIP, which outlines how the state intends to comply with EPA air standards, includes claims that Pennsylvania failed to provide adequate notice and access to information on “minor” source Clean Air Act permits for drilling operations in the state -- permits that activists say are inadequate to control emissions.

Michael Krancer, secretary of Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), sent a Jan. 5 letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson saying the petition “lacks merit. . . . EPA should promptly dismiss this without any further action.” It adds that the state and EPA “should not be unnecessarily distracted by this contrived and irrational petition from the important and serious work our agencies perform.”

The letter adds that DEP “has expanded the public participation process in appropriate instances to include public meetings and public hearings,” and asserts that it is in full compliance with its latest SIP -- which the state submitted to EPA but which the agency has yet to approve. EPA-approved SIPs outline enforceable air pollution reduction policies and mandates. The 2008 SIP changes include a controversial “streamlined” minor source permit process that has resulted in inadequate permitting of Marcellus Shale drilling sources, CAC charged in its Nov. 28 petition asking EPA to find that Pennsylvania fails to comply with its SIP. The SIP fight comes in the midst of CAC and EPA opposition to a related Pennsylvania DEP drilling guidance that seeks to set a first-time distance threshold for when drilling emissions sources must be combined, or aggregated, for permit purposes, likely expanding the definition of minor sources.

Now CAC is quickly criticizing Krancer's letter to EPA, issuing a Jan. 6 statement that says, “It is clear from the public outcry that a 'streamlined' process is inappropriate for Marcellus Shale 'minor source' permits.” The statement adds that the minor source permit hearing Krancer announced was scheduled only after 60 citizens filed requests. “Citizens should not have to force a public hearing on every compressor station because the notice and access to information is insufficient.”

CAC also points out that because EPA has not approved the SIP changes, the streamlined permit provisions are unlawful. “Further, the revision frustrates the underlying purpose of public notice and comment periods and does not meet Clean Air Act requirements. The council expects that EPA will deny the revision and force Pennsylvania to revoke its 'streamlined' permitting program.”

Jay Duffy, Esq.
Staff Attorney
Clean Air Council

As this story carries on, we'll be sure to follow it.

51% of all renewable energy in Germany is owned by individual citizens or farms. Can we do that?

2012-01-08T08:25:00.003-05:00

There is a lot of talk in the United States about renewable energy sources, especially solar, since the Solyndra debacle last year. In Germany they are doing something different, and succeeding. But not in the United States.

A lot of people here worry. Politicians worry about business competitiveness and government "picking winners and losers" in the market. Fossil fuel companies argue solar PV and wind can't provide the service 24-7 that oil, gas, and coal can. Climate scientists, environmentalists, wildlife observers, and people in movements like Transition Towns worry we aren't ameliorating climate change and preparing for a post-carbon economy. In the northeast where we live, a lot of people think there just isn't enough sun to make it worthwhile, even though Pennsylvania receives about 70% of the sunlight New Mexico does annually. Can Germany provide a model that gets us over that worry?

According to Paul Gipe at Wind Works, "51% of the renewable energy generation is owned by its own citizens." [See chart below for breakdown. Image from Wind Works.] They will be holding a conference for people to learn about the German "Stromeinspeisungsgesetz, literally the "law on feeding in electricity" (to the grid) was introduced by conservative Bavarian farmers frustrated with their utility's intransigence to connecting their small hydro plants with the grid."

He continues,

"The "feed-in" law was passed overwhelmingly by the conservative government of Helmut Kohl, and quickly ushered in a revolution in the way electricity was generated in Germany, spreading rapidly from Bavaria in the south all the way to the Danish border in the north.
Farmers, individuals and community groups could, for the first time, emulate their Danish neighbors by installing their own wind turbines and selling the resulting electricity at a hoped-for profit. These electricity rebels, Stromrebellen as they're called in German, began appearing all across the country, even in the former communist East Germany."

Could there be an opportunity in the United States for community solar or in individual states or communities? First, we are in an economic recession and people are looking for work and construction companies need work. Second, local governments need long-term cost-cutting measures and renewable energy sources can provide that after initial implementation costs. Third, Transition Towns and community organizations are on the rise domestically, many of whom focus on community energy resilience and community food security. Fourth, electricity companies are incentivizing efficiency and paying back homes that feed back to the grid. Maybe we need more collaborations like this.

But there are things like it happening. There are parks in Seattle where pavilions are being outfitted with solar PV. The New Rules Project has created a guide for implementing a local community solar project. Northwest Community Energy works to increase access to solar energy, to reduce up-front costs for participants, improve economies of scale, increase public understanding of solar energy, and generate local jobs. Our former guest, Janaia Donaldson of PeakMomentTV has a 4-disc series called "The Renaissance of the Local" some of which details how to build energy resilience into your community.

Imagine this patchwork of initiatives getting more support. Imagine getting 20% of our energy from renewable community initiatives and half of that owned by you, me, our farmers, and indirectly through outfitting our parks with solar PV. We pool risk through insurance. I think it's time to pool burdens for energy sustainability and a clean environment. The Germans have done it at a large scale. Can we?

How would you contribute to pooling sustainable energy projects?

Veggie Commons in Central PA

2012-01-04T11:25:00.003-05:00

Two of our former guests, Chris Uhl and Dana Stuchul*, have started an intitiative in Central Pennsylvania called Veggie Commons. Their yard is one of the most productive food spaces in the area and here you can see it:

Stuchul says, "We are increasingly interested in doing more for ourselves and learning in the doing and stretching the boundaries of what's possible. Just our notions of a lawn looks like grass. Well really? If it's receiving lots of sun and you like to eat and if you have just the tiniest bit of experimentation urge, plant something and harvest it and eat and enjoy it. You'll notice that it's beautiful in the doing as well."

Seems that in the New Year, many of us could do with more fresh vegetables, bread, and eggs instead of what we've been eating over the winter holiday. Maybe I'm just speaking for myself...but I doubt it.

Later this spring we hope to have at least Stuchul back on the show to talk about work in the commons and the work of Ivan Illich.
---
*Dana Stuchul and Christopher Uhl are both on Peter Buckland's doctoral dissertation committee.

Aerial Footage of Marcellus Wells in Northern PA

2012-01-04T09:24:00.009-05:00

I watched this today, and I thought of two things. First, what is the value of natural gas? Second, what is the value of the land?

We can get into all of the economic bean counting that compares the total economic value of natural gas and its services. Then we can compare them to the total revenue brought in by people traveling to the land where gas drilling will take place, the revenue of farms, the dollars saved with clean air and water, and the economic value of active farms. Environmental economists can and will spar with each other, with energy economists, and supply chain economists, and so on about the best way to account for natural gas's economic value and the land's value. Doing all of that will require a lot of bean counting, future discounting, statistical modeling, and more to assess its utility or instrumental value. That is no doubt useful for economists and politicians seeking to make a case in a marketed world built on numbers rather than notions like beauty.

When I write value here, I don't just mean the cost in dollars and cents of a volume of natural gas and the taxable value of the land. By land here, I mean what people think of as "the environment" that is in some way productive in and for its own right and has not been mechanically developed...at least not overtly. What's its value? By value I mean something more than revenue. By value I mean its intrinsic worth to itself, its subjective worth in experience or reverence, and its worth as a common thing outside of dollars and cents.

Think of Aldo Leopold, one of the fathers of American conservation, who wrote about this better than anyone. In A Sand County Almanac he wrote:

All ethics so far evolved rest upon a single premise: that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts. His instincts prompt him to compete for his place in that community, but his ethics prompt him also to co-operate (perhaps in order that there may be a place to compete for).

The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land.

This sounds simple: do we not already sing our love for and obligation to the land of the free and the home of the brave? Yes, but just what and whom do we love? Certainly not the soil, which we are sending helter-skelter downriver. Certainly not the waters, which we assume have no function except to turn turbines, float barges, and carry off sewage. Certainly not the plants, of which we exterminate whole communities without batting an eye. Certainly not the animals, of which we have
already extirpated many of the largest and most beautiful species.

A land ethic of course cannot prevent the alteration, management, and use of these 'resources,' but it does affirm their right to continued existence, and, at least in spots, their continued existence in a natural state.

Ethics and morality are a question of value. So I ask you now a third question in light of Leopold and that video: Can we value natural gas and the land in a way that balances our demand for gas with the notion that we ought to cooperate with the land?

I posted a version of this question over on Facebook page. It prompted my friend Aaron to say, "What an absolutely ghastly video!!! Sickening. We belong to the land, its value is us."

What about you?

Park Planning for the 21st Century

2011-12-16T13:12:00.002-05:00

Parks are important to our society for so many reasons. Goals for parks are as diverse as the places they serve - they can filter water, provide green space, clean air, and lend ground for democracy to take place. This weeks guest, Kathleen is a park planner working for the City of Fort Collins, Colorado. Her background in landscape architecture allows her to facilitate changes, and build on complex relationships that exit between parks, our urban environments and peoples needs. Currently Kathleen is helping to shape the Sustainable SITES Initiative.

"The Sustainable Sites Initiative™ (SITES™) is an interdisciplinary effort by the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin and the United States Botanic Garden to create voluntary national guidelines and performance benchmarks for sustainable land design, construction and maintenance practices." (from www.sustainablesites.org)

Kathleen has also had experience designing and building natural playgrounds, and has studied the topic of childrens' play extensively.

Infrared footage of air pollution from gas drilling

2011-12-01T11:51:00.003-05:00

"A Chesapeake Bay Foundation infrared video investigation of natural gas drilling and processing sites in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia found invisible air pollution rising from almost three quarters of them." Learn more at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Marcellus Protest 2011 Redux

2011-11-28T09:11:00.003-05:00

On Friday November 18th, ralliers came together to demand change on the cost of doing business in the Marcellus shale and celebrate State College's passage of the Community Bill of Rights and Fracking Ban on November 4th. Read the storythe Centre Daily Times, WJAC TV, WTAJ TV, and follow-up story was printed online at The Daily Collegian.

We include here video excerpts courtesy of ScavengerhuntPA, a citizen finding unplugged wells across the commonwealth.

Responsible Drilling Alliance member Barb Jarmoska at Old Main...

..and at the Penn Stater outside of the Marcellus Summit.

Nathan Sooy of Clean Water Action.

Jeff Schmidt of Sierra Club Pennsylvania.

Pittsburgh councilman, Dough Shields.

Sustainability Now's Peter Buckland reads the letter we delivered to Penn State President Rodney Erickson, the Board of Trustees, and the staff at the Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research. Read the letter here.

We will follow up with President Erickson's response when we receive one.

Tragedies

2011-11-11T19:48:00.002-05:00

Today Peter Buckland of Sustainability Now Radio joined Radio Free Penn State's Andy Nagypal and other panelists to talk about the unfolding child sexual abuse case that has enveloped Penn State, State College, and the nation. There is no shortage of stories to read on radio, the web, television, or newspapers covering former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky's alleged sexual predation on 8 boys and a possible high-level cover-up by Penn State officials including football coaching staff, athletics, finance, and the office of the President. The failures reach out into the State College community and beyond. It is nothing shy of crushing.

You can read the Pennsylvania Attorney General Office's Grand Jury indictment here. It is nothing short of awful. Readers should be advised that it contains graphic descriptions of childhood rape.

Mike and Peter at Sustainability Now want to reach out to the young men who were allegedly victimized, their families, and the entire community. Our deepest sympathies are with you and we hope that this Penn State community can serve you by doing better.

Groundswells Matter

2011-11-10T20:26:00.004-05:00

The past week has been remarkable for environmental sustainability and energy.

On the local level, the State College Borough passed a Community Bill of Rights that includes a fracking ban. The referendum was passed nearly 3:1. This was in large part due to the work of Groundswell PA led by Braden Crooks and our team at work on the ground with EC3 and Sierra Club Moshannon.

On the national level, President Obama has delayed the Keystone XL Pipeline which would connect the dirty tar sands oil fields to Texas refineries and shipping. Last Sunday, 12,000 people surrounded the White House to show people want something different - less carbon, less pollution, more health, and more sustainability. People from the Centre Region have been involved in these issues. In September, Toni Gripp Brink went to Washington to join Bill McKibben, Josh Fox, Naomi Klein, James Hansen, and hundreds of others to protest the pipeline and the tar sands. Last weekend, Krystn Madrine of the Sustainable Kitchen went with her daughter to be in the human chain surrounding the White House. Obama landed in his helicopter during the event. It must have been quite a sight.

Perhaps Groundswells are on the rise. Occupy movements. Surrounding the White House. The recent Ohio referendum revoking the anti-union work of Ohio's governor. What's next?

Wondering about Candidates Critical of the Gas Rush

2011-11-06T12:27:00.002-05:00

A Facebook group has come together called "Marcellus as the Polls 2011." This is their list of people who are running who are critical of the gas boom.

PA - Fracktivist friendly candidates, as of 11/5/2011 v. 2

A. 2011 STATEWIDE

KATHRYN BOOCKVAR Commonwealth Court
**SIERRA CLUB ENDORSED** (rare!)
Campaign website: www.boockvar.com/about-kathryn.html
One page resume:www.boockvar.com/uploads/2/8/3/0/2830368/boockvar_for_commonwealth_court_2011_pdf.pdf
Platform on Marcellus within body: www.boockvar.com/index.html

DAVID WECHT (D) Superior Court
Campaign Ad (31 seconds): www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=291932100833883
Campaign website: www.wecht2011.com
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/pages/Judge-David-N-Wecht/149288135132481?sk=wall
About the Superior Court: www.superior.court.state.pa.us/about.htm

B. LOCAL (counties, towns & cities)

ALLEGHENY COUNTY

DANA DOLNEY for County Executive
**WRITE IN CANDIDATE FOR ALLEGHENY COUNTY EXECUTIVE**
Write in Dana's name regardless of party affiliation
Videos of Dana in action:
http://vimeo.com/24845035
Speech in Harrisburg: www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4ioGVJbV4w
FB page: www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=187377877976468
Open Letter: www.facebook.com/notes/dana-leigh-dolney/open-letter-to-councilman-dowd/10150331234806115

MUNICIPALITIES

PITTSBURGH
COREY O'CONNOR (D) City Council District 5 (formerly held by fracktivist Doug Shields)
Campaign website: http://coreyoconnorforcouncil.com
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/pages/Corey-OConnor-for-City-Council-District-5/134867899910379

Statement received from O'Connor on 10/14/11:
"Although I've been advised that the ban on Marcellus drilling in Pittsburgh could well be challenged in court on constitutional grounds, I believe that such drilling is an enormous threat to both Pittsburgh's watersheds and its air quality. In fact, I believe that unregulated Marcellus drilling could have a devastating impact on the already poor quality of our region's air. So I would support an amendment of the Home Rule Charter to reflect the present ban. I would also join in rewriting the city code's ban on drilling to comply with any court decision that might overturn the present ban. I have received advice that a rewritten restriction to Marcellus development could pass constitutional muster, and I would pursue that if it became necessary. My objection to drilling is essentially that our commonwealth's executive and its regulatory agencies seem to have little regard for the dangers inherent to our City and the regional environment. I have almost no confidence, today, that the state government will exercise it's legal oversight responsibility to protect our natural resources and quality of life from reckless, unregulated development."

SOUTH FAYETTE
LISA MALOSH, DERON GABRIEL, TODD MILLER, JOE HOROWITZ Township Commission
Platform/why they're running: www.post-gazette.com/pg/11296/1183985-503.stm#ixzz1bd6nidEo
Lisa Malosh: www.savesouthfayette.org/LisaMalosh/
Deron Gabriel: http://www.savesouthfayette.org/DeronGabriel/
Todd Miller: www.savesouthfayette.org/ToddMiller/
Joe Horowitz: www.savesouthfayette.org/JoeHorowitz/

JENNIFER C. FRANCIS Township Commission
Campaign website: https://sites.google.com/site/francisforsfcommissioner/platform
Candidate’s statement on Marcellus Shale Gas Drilling: I am in full support of the legal defense of our Township's Oil and Gas Ordinance. My stance on Marcellus Shale is to be as restrictive as possible and to provide the strongest legal protection for our Township. Safeguards must be put into place. It is a Commissioner's duty to protect the health, safety, and welfare of its residents.

Natural gas drilling is an industrial operation and should be treated as such. It should not be permitted in our residential and conservation district zones, which include our homes, schools and parks.

HEATHER L. LEVISEUR - Township Commission
Campaign website: https://sites.google.com/site/leviseurforcommissioner/platform
Candidate’s statement on Marcellus Shale Gas Drilling: I am in favor of the most restrictive regulations allowed under currernt Pennsylvania law. I am in full support of the legal defense of our township's oil and gas ordinance and believe that it is the responsibility of local government to promote the health, safety and welfare of it's residents.

BUCKS COUNTY
STEVE SANTARSIERO (D-31) State Representative
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/stevesantarsiero?ref=ts
Platform: www.stevesantarsiero.com/issues#environment
"He is not in favor of drilling in state forests or state parks. ~Paul Roden"

BUTLER COUNTY
JERRY JOHNSTON (D) County Commissioner
Campaign website: http://electjj.com/about/
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/pages/Elect-Jerry-Johnston/157655074288769
Johnston's statement: "I am not opposed to developing business and growing jobs in Butler County but I am against woeful irresponsibility and unaccountability. Until the multi-billion dollar gas industry can be sufficiently regulated to ensure minimal damage to our health, safety, and environment, that their efforts are creating local, well-paid jobs, and the natural gas which belongs to all of us is being used to our collective benefit as well as their profit then I am in favor of a moratorium on exploiting the shale."

MUNICIPALITIES

CHERRY VALLEY BOROUGH
MICHAEL BAGDES-CANNING (G) - Councilman
**WRITE IN CANDIDATE **
Held position for the last 23 years
Organizer with Marcellus Outreach Butler (AKA MOB).
Involved with the recent action at the Marburger Dairy, as a Marshall on the march and Police Liaison, along with the Pittsburgh ACLU.
Currently working on two initiatives: a community rights ordinance training for elected officials in Butler County, an interfaith forum that will examine the morality of shale gas development.
Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000327923549
MOB FB Page: www.facebook.com/MarcellusOutreachButler

CENTRE COUNTY

MUNICIPALITIES
STATE COLLEGE BOROUGH

SARAH KLINETOB Borough Council
Campaign website: http://sarahkforcouncil.com/Vote_Sarah_Klinetob.html
Candidate statement on Marcellus drilling: I am in strong support of a Community Bill of Rights and a Fracking Ban for the State College Borough. One thousand citizens of the Borough have already signed in support over the summer to assert our right to clean air, pure water, and the preservation of the environment. I encourage every voter to review and inform themselves on the document either online or at the polls. It is important to have the people’s voice heard on these matters, and I encourage you all to make it out on November 8th to get your opinion heard!

DAUPHIN COUNTY
MUNICIPALITIES

DERRY TOWNSHIP
STEVEN TODD (D) Township Supervisor
**WRITE IN CANDIDATE **
Campaign website: http://steventodd.wordpress.com/derry-supervisor/
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/stevenwtodd
"My main platform is getting non-constituent money out of our democratic republic. Until we do that, we are just two divided teams, half as strong as we could be. Big O&G, Big Ag, Big Pharma and Big Finance will keep laughing at us in our Tom-foolery...all the way to the bank on our dime." ~ Steve Todd

LYCOMING COUNTY
STEVE SHOPE County Commissioner
Campaign website: www.steveshope.com/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/steve.shope?sk=wall
Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLoc1auhh5c

LUZERNE COUNTY
BLYTHE EVANS (R) COUNTY COUNCIL
Campaign website: http://www.evans4homerule.com/
www.timesleader.com/opinion/letters/MAIL_BAG__ensp_LETTERS_FROM_READERS_11-03-2011.html Candidate statement on Marcellus: I would push for and draft direct amendments to county code that strictly forbids fracking and drilling on county owned property. I would also make sure that stricter legislation and security measures were maintained against people who decide to lease their land to the gas companies.

MUNICIPALITIES
DALLAS TOWNSHIP
LIZ MARTIN (D) Township Supervisor
Campaign website: www.martin4supervisor.com/
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/pages/Liz-Martin-For-Supervisor/177638968950426
Platform: www.martin4supervisor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3&Itemid=4

HARVEYS LAKE
'HARVEYS LAKE HOPEFULS ' for Township Supervisors
Michelle Boice
Jamie Colman
Thomas Kehler
Ed Kelly
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003043778572

PHILADELPHIA COUNTY
MUNICIPALITIES

PHILADELPHIA CITY COUNCIL
**The Philadelphia candidates below voted to sue the Delaware River Basin Commission insisting that no drilling of the Marcellus Shale occur until a full environmental impact assessment is completed.
More info: www.hatchmag.com/articles/philadelphia-city-council-votes-unanimously-sue-drbc-forbid-fracking/771115
More info: http://protectingourwaters.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/philadelphia-city-council-unanimously-passes-resolution-to-sue-drbc-demand-impact-studies-forbid-fracking-for-now/

JANNIE BLACKWELL (D-3rd district)
www.seventy.org/Elections_City_Council_Districts_and_Candidates_ataglance.aspx#district3

DARRELL CLARK (D-5th district)
Campaign website: http://councilmandarrellclarke.com
www.seventy.org/Elections_City_Council_Districts_and_Candidates_ataglance.aspx#district5

KENYATTA JOHNSON (D-2nd district) (anti-fracking activist)
Campaign website: www.citizensforkenyattajohnson.com
www.keystonepolitics.com/2011/06/legislators-start-to-see-the-light-on-marcellus-shale-fracking/
www.seventy.org/Elections_City_Council_Districts_and_Candidates_ataglance.aspx#district2

CURTIS JONES (D-4th district)
Campaign website: www.curtisjonesjr.com
www.seventy.org/Elections_City_Council_Districts_and_Candidates_ataglance.aspx#district4

BRIAN O’NEILL (R-10th district)
Campaign website: http://oneil2011.com
www.seventy.org/Elections_City_Council_Districts_and_Candidates_ataglance.aspx#district10
MARIA QUINONES SANCHEZ (D-7th district)
Campaign website: www.maria2011.com
www.seventy.org/Elections_City_Council_Districts_and_Candidates_ataglance.aspx#district7

MARIAN TASCO (D-9th district)
www.seventy.org/Elections_City_Council_Districts_and_Candidates_ataglance.aspx#district9

AT LARGE CANDIDATES:
*The candidates below voted to sue the Delaware River Basin Commission insisting that no drilling of the Marcellus Shale occur until a full environmental impact assessment is completed.
More info: www.hatchmag.com/articles/philadelphia-city-council-votes-unanimously-sue-drbc-forbid-fracking/771115
More info: http://protectingourwaters.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/philadelphia-city-council-unanimously-passes-resolution-to-sue-drbc-demand-impact-studies-forbid-fracking-for-now/

BLONDELL REYNOLDS BROWN (D)
Campaign website: www.blondellonline.com
More info: www.seventy.org/Elections_City_Council_Districts_and_Candidates_ataglance.aspx

WILSON GOODE (D)
More info: www.seventy.org/Elections_City_Council_Districts_and_Candidates_ataglance.aspx

BILL GREEN (D)
Campaign website: www.greenforphiladelphia.com
More info: www.seventy.org/Elections_City_Council_Districts_and_Candidates_ataglance.aspx

BILL GREENLEE (D)
Campaign website: www.billgreenlee.com
More info: www.seventy.org/Elections_City_Council_Districts_and_Candidates_ataglance.aspx

JIM KENNEY (D)
Campaign website: www.jameskenney.com
More info: www.seventy.org/Elections_City_Council_Districts_and_Candidates_ataglance.aspx

WESTMORELAND COUNTY

COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

TED KOPAS (D) County Commissioner
Campaign website: http://tedkopas.com/
GERALD LUCIA (D) County Commissioner
Campaign website: www.geraldlucia.com/

Article: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/dailycourier/s_764080.html
More info: http://murrysville.inspotlight.com/2011/10/23/a-look-at-the-westmoreland-county-commissioner-candidates/

MUNICIPALITIES

COOK TOWNSHIP
MARK MCKLVEEN - Cook Township Supervisor

MURRYSVILLE
JOE GUTHRIE - Town Council
Campaign Website: http://joeguthrie.org/default.aspx
More Info: www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/westmoreland/s_763982.html

UPPER BURRELL
ALLEN UHLER - (D) Supervisor
Uhler's statement: "I support the following:
Fight to preserve the natural beauty and rural nature of the township
Fight for stronger measures to protect our citizens from irresponsible Marcellus drilling and pollution" http://pittsburghlive.com/x/valleynewsdispatch/s_764657.html

C. REFERENDUMS REQUIRING OUR VOTE:

PETERS TOWNSHIP, WASHINGTON COUNTY: Vote YES! on the Home Rule Charter Amendment Banning Fracking.

RUSH TOWNSHIP, CENTRE COUNTY: Vote YES! on the a community bill of rights and natural gas drilling ban. More info: www.centredaily.com/2011/10/27/2964624/we-can-be-changemakers.html
- More info: www.groundswell.gs/statecollege.html
- Facebook page: www.facebook.com/pages/Groundswell-PA/212230692152582?ref=ts
- 2nd Facebook page/event: www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=313959528618286
STATE COLLEGE BOROUGH, CENTRE COUNTY
http://www.groundswell.gs/statecollege.html
http://www.statecollege.com/news/local-news/environmentalrights-referendum-appears-likely-for-state-college-ballot-841873/ "Environmental-Rights Referendum Appears Likely for State College Ballot"

D. 2012
US CONGRESS

KAREN RAMSBURG (I) US Congress - PA's 9th, Congressional District (Mercersburg area)
Campaign website: http://ramsburg4congress.com
Candidate statement: "We all have a right to clean air and clean water. As an Independent candidate for PA's 9th, I want to lead the fight to pass legislation to hold the gas industry accountable for the damage they do. In general some Democrats are in support of restrictions but both parties are easily bought. I've come to the conclusion that we must run Independents in 2012 who will refuse to take corporate money and refuse to meet with lobbyists and corporate bankers once elected. My election is in Nov. 2012 but I started early this year to garner support."

STATEWIDE
EUGENE DEPASQUALE (D) Auditor General
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/DePasqualePA
Campaign website: http://eugene4pa.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/RepDePasquale
Platform (specific to mentioning his stance on drilling): http://eugene4pa.com/issues/pure-water/

Candidate information cut and pasted from: www.facebook.com/groups/MarcellusatthePolls/

Occupy Penn State's Teach-ins

2011-11-01T21:39:00.008-04:00

A lot of people thought that Occupy Wall Street would be a flash in the pan. It took a couple of weeks but the message stuck and people have been occupying Wall Street for about six weeks. In the meantime, the Occupy movement has spread to every major city in the United States, to divestments from corporations doing dirty business and from banks investing in practices the movement feels are undermining people everywhere, and finally occupying the hallowed halls of colleges and universities everywhere.

That includes Penn State. To go with the thrust of the Occupy movement in general and the spirit of Paulo Freire in education, the students Occupying Penn State (Facebook group), have organized teach-ins. If you want to link into the group, join their Facebook group above (they also have a Tumblr account), or visit them any time at the HUB on University Park campus.

I have to say that Sam Richards is one hell of a teacher. The opportunity to see him speak outside of class will be well worth it. We also know Eric Hayot who is also a really interesting thinker and speaker. Sustainability Now's Peter Buckland will also be leading a discussion this Thursday, Nov. 3 at 6 pm: "Education as the Assembly Line to Obsolescence or a Garden for Regeneration."

Occupy everything some might say.

Meditation and mindfulness

2011-10-31T13:21:00.003-04:00

Last year, we hosted Tsultrim Datso on our show. She is a Buddhist contemplative who works in the local community on a number of initiatives, all of which focus on mindfulness and many of which are for personal and community sustainability. Tsutrim and the Open Meditation Society at Penn State invite you to some mindfulness and meditation events.

Introduction to Meditation, Nov. 9 at 5-6 pm and Dec 7 at 5:30-6:30 pm , Pasquerilla Spiritual Center, Room 212, University Park campus. Offered by the Open Meditation (OM) Society, www.clubs.psu.edu/up/om, 919-928-2604.

Day-long Meditation Retreat at the Civil Engineering Lodge in Stone Valley
November 19, 2011

Meditation can be a valuable practice for personal growth and transformation, stress relief, life enhancement, and social evolution. This day-long retreat is offered by the Penn State Open Meditation Society in order to support individuals who are interested in integrating mindfulness into their daily lives. Practicing meditation together allows us to share our experiences, learn from each other, and benefit from one another’s efforts.

This day-long retreat will include periods of sitting meditation, walking meditation, and mindful movement activities including yoga. We will be having community meals for lunch and dinner. The retreat is also designed for individuals who are interested in learning more about what meditation is and how to practice and will include instruction and guidance.

The retreat will be held at Penn State’s Civil Engineering Lodge in scenic Stone Valley. Cost: $35 for community members, $20 for students and seniors. However, scholarships are available and no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

For more information and for registration, please visit our website at:
http://www.clubs.psu.edu/up/om/. Or call Tsultrim at (919) 928-2604 or Norrine at (814) 360-1236.

Want to learn some skills?

2011-10-31T10:15:00.002-04:00

Sustainability requires resilience. Today, lots of us simply never learned or have forgotten some of the basic and necessary skills of our ancestors.

How do you cook lower on the foodchain? Want to learn to sew or do basic carpentry? Want to know how to keep bees? Spring Creek Homesteading is doing just this. Katherine Watt has set up a great series of workshops for people in the Centre Region to skill themselves and one another. Learn more about skilling workshops at this link.

Here is a calendar of upcoming events.

PennEnvironment Citizen's Training

2011-10-31T10:02:00.003-04:00

From David Masur at PennEnvironment:

WHAT: State College Marcellus Shale Citizen Organizer Training
WHERE: Penn State, Chambers Building, Room 112, Allen Rd, State College, PA
WHEN: Saturday, November 5, 1:30-5 p.m.

After a few years of gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale, we've seen accidents and blowouts poison local streams and drinking water supplies; our state forests leased out as a cash cow with no regard for their natural beauty we all enjoy; and air emissions from gas wells exacerbate the smog pollution problems we already face here in Pennsylvania. Every month it becomes clearer that Marcellus Shale gas drilling is potentially the largest environmental disaster to ever hit Pennsylvania. Throughout it all, gas-drilling companies and their allies in Harrisburg have fought efforts to put public health and the environment first.

The training is part of a statewide project we've launched to train 1,000 Pennsylvanians to help protect their communities from gas drilling. Whether you're new to activism or been on the frontlines of the Marcellus Shale, this training will help you take the fight to the next level. You'll learn from our staff and other organizers in the area how to effectively engage with decision makers on these issues, generate massive coverage in the media, and how to hold your elected officials accountable for their failure to tackle the Marcellus Shale gas drilling issue. Register here.

This event is co-sponsored by Sustainability Now Radio, Sierra Club Moshannon, Transition Centre County, Groundswell, EcoAction, the Forest Coalition, Voices of Central Pennsylvania, Juniata Audobon, and Nature Abounds.

Who's responsible for climate change?

2011-10-29T10:34:00.002-04:00

A few days ago we posted some video of Dr. Don Brown talking about the eight ethical dimensions of climate change. To go farther into that, we are posting a talk by Peter Singer, the world's most famous living philosopher.

Morality is not Abstract for Climate Change

2011-10-27T17:27:00.002-04:00

Former guest, Don Brown, explains the eight moral dimensions he and others have found in the climate change discussion.

Pennsylvania Conservation. Alaskan Wilderness.

2011-10-27T13:19:00.007-04:00

This Friday at 4 pm we will be hosting Jennifer Shuey, the Executive Director of ClearWater Conservancy. They are a Centre County based land trust and natural resource conservation organization "promoting conservation and restoration of natural resources in central Pennsylvania through land conservation, water resource protection, and environmental outreach to the community." They work on a number of conservation initiatives from stream clean-ups to purchasing and maintaining conservation easements for recreation and preservation and lots of public outreach initiatives. She will be joined by photographer Sam Holderman (see below) about their initiatives this Friday from 4-5 pm on the Lion.

This weekend, they are putting an event as part of their Adventures in Conservation series.

Wildlife photographer Buck Wilde will show and narrate his photographs in "Voices from the Last Wilderness: A Spiritual Odyssey Among Wolf, Raven, Salmon, and Bear," Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. at the State Theatre, 130 West College Avenue, State College.

Join Buck in Alaska as grizzly bears and white wolves pursue wild salmon from estuaries to headwaters and witness the vitality of these unspoiled ecosystems. The home stretch of a two-year migration at sea lies upstream. But the salmon have one last gauntlet to run, between the legs of a gathering of hungry grizzly bears and white wolves. Not all of the salmon will make it home. The bears need high-grade sushi to survive hibernation, and the wolves are amazingly proficient at catching the salmon when trapped in shallows and bottlenecks, even more so than the grizzly bears.

Sam Holderman (a.k.a. Buck Wilde) is a Centre County native and Penn State alumnus. His passion for the natural world began here along central Pennsylvania's rocky ridge tops and mountain streams. He's been leading world-acclaimed filmmakers, photographers and nature enthusiasts into Alaska's unspoiled wilderness to capture amazing footage of nature's spectacles for more than 20 years. BBC naturalist David Attenborough refers to Buck Wilde as the Bear Whisperer! See more about Buck Wilde's adventures here.

Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children 12 and under and can be purchased in person at the State Theatre Box Office.

On Friday afternoon from 4-5 pm, listen in to The Lion 90.7 fm and feel free to call (814) 865-9577 to ask questions or comment. You can also send us questions by commenting below or emailing us at: sustainabilitynowradio@gmail.com. Join the Sustainability Now Facebook group page where you can interact with other listeners and leave questions.

What does sustainability mean to you?

2011-10-27T10:20:00.004-04:00

Mike and I have asked just about every guest this question: "What does sustainability mean to you?" But we've never asked you. Here's your opportunity to tell us.

If you need some prompting, here are three uses related to development, agriculture, and the work of environmental author Derrick Jensen.

"Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." United Nations Brundtland Commission, Our Common Future

"Sustainable agriculture integrates three main goals--environmental health, economic profitability, and social and economic equity." University of California - Davis, "What is Sustainable Agriculture?"

"The word “sustainable”… would apply to some action that can be done more or less forever, which means an action (or a way of life) that at the worst does not harm one’s land-base, and more realistically improves one’s land-base on the land-base’s own terms.” Derrick Jensen, Dreams

Now you tell us in as long or short a statement as you'd like. Maybe you have strong notions or are totally confused. We want to know. In a comment below or an email to sustainabilitynowradio@gmail.com, answer the question: "What does sustainability mean to you?"

$4.4 million in funding for "alternative" fuels

2011-10-25T19:56:00.004-04:00

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has granted $4.4 million for "alternative" fuels. They've granted $15,600 for a solar electric charging station project in Dauphin County, $100,000 for biodiesel, $700,000 for electric cars, and about $3.6 million for natural gas related projects. Read their press release here.

The electric infrastructure grant of about $240,000 will go to Pittsburgh Regional Clean Cities for the Energy Corridor 376 project to establish 45 electric vehicle charging stations along Interstate 376 and surrounding areas. The pollution savings from electric vehicles are impressive. Also, "350 Green LLC will receive $450,000 for the development of the state’s electric vehicle infrastructure. This project will include the construction of approximately 20 Level III fast-charging stations and 72 charging stations."

DEP reports "Berks County Intermediate Unit will receive $100,000 to support the continued use of B20 biodiesel in its fleet."

On the natural gas front, several projects will receive grants. They include switching or augmenting several diesel fleets to natural gas fleets and aiding the construction of compressed natural gas stations.

“These projects are terrific for the state’s economy and the environment,” DEP Secretary Mike Krancer said. “We have an available, abundant, domestic, economical and clean-burning source of energy under our feet, and these projects put those resources to good use.”

In the world of sustainability, is this what you've envisioned for switching to alternative and sustainable fuels? What would you award money to for alternative energy sources and more sustainable use?

The Final Report: Citizen's Take Marcellus Development Seriously

2011-10-24T20:26:00.002-04:00

The Citizen's Marcellus Shale Commission (CMSC) released their final report today. The commission, headed by 16 people from different social and economic sectors and representing diverse interests including the League of Women's Voters, Clean Water Action, the Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania, and others, held 5 hearings across the state in August and September. Unlike the governor's Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission, the Citizen's version was never accused of being an industry front group.

Most briefly stated, Pennsylvanians believe that Marcellus development is being done wrong and it needs to be done better. From water contamination to truck traffic, wildlife encroachment to health and medical concerns from air pollution, and corporate profiteering and a lack of government oversight, Pennsylvania citizens told the commission that they expect better.

The commission compiled, reviewed, and analyzed comments from 400 citizens and came up with many recommendations. These include standards like setting up a severance tax on the industry, placing a moratorium on new drilling in unleased state forest land and no drilling in state parks, and "perform a comprehensive cumulative impact analysis of existing and likely proposed industrial development."

Many regulations need to be broadened, deepened, and toughened. Some include increasing the distance that wells can be from schools to 3,000 feet from occupied structures and 5,000 from schools, child care programs, and hospitals. Others extend to waste water treatment, one going so far as to recommend eliminating the use of "toxic chemicals in all hydraulic fracturing operations." That's a tall order but one that will no doubt please many citizens concerned with the compound threats to public health and environmental integrity. Broadly speaking, the report recommends adoption of "best practice" measures across the board to minimize pollution and maximize retention of gas and water.

Three recommendations stuck out to me in particular. The first protects local home rule, including enacting "local ordinances on zoning...should not be abridged." Given some recent dust-ups in Warren, Mount Pleasant, Rush Township, and State College on issues of home rule, zoning, regulation, or community bills of rights, this comes at an interesting time. [Full disclosure: Peter Buckland of Sustainability Now is involved with promoting the State College Community Bill of Rights.]

The second and third are linked. Second, "Make industry pay its fair share...Ensure proper bonding and clean-up requirements are in place for all well sties and facilities, with an escrow fund established for unintended consequences to public health and the environment." Second, they recommend a "health registry and data base to track illnesses in drilling communities, use pre-existing data gathered in other states where appropriate. Adequate funding must be supplied to the PA Department of Health to cover the costs of creating a health registry." Put semantic battles about "unintended consequences" aside for just a moment and consider what this means. This would change something about environmental and public enforcement that has lacked in Pennsylvania for some time.

It seems something like this:

Excraction industries have harmed public health and the environment before.
Extraction industries have not paid their fair share for that harm.
Harming industries should pay for their damage.
The Marcellus natural gas industries, like other extractive industries, will harm public health and the environment.
Before they get going any further, they should be paying for those public health and environmental harms directly and through investment.

The report actually places the financial burden on the gas industry. It's not quite the precautionary principle, but it is a step toward the actual protection of people and their places instead of corporate profits and the lobbyists walking the halls in Harrisburg or manning the governor's commission.

This blog has only scratched the surface. I definitely recommend reading the general and specific recommendations by going to this link.

My question is, Will citizens take this to their supervisors, commissioners, legislators, and the governor for better action? Will you?

Citizens Marcellus Shale Commission releasing report

2011-10-21T16:16:00.002-04:00

Last month, we hosted Carol Rubley, the co-chair of the Citizen's Marcellus Shale Commission on our show. "The Citizens Marcellus Shale Commission was formed by eight leading civic and environmental organizations to give Pennsylvania citizens a place to speak out and recommend action on Marcellus gas drilling. The groups nominated citizens to serve on the Commission. The Commission held five hearings (in Western Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Williamsport, Towanda and Harrisburg) during August and September, receiving testimony from Pennsylvanians and national experts. About 100 Pennsylvanians submitted written comments to the Commission online."

Unlike Governor Corbett's commission, the citizen's panel was designed from the get go include input from citizen's organizations and public health and was established to create parity for social, environmental, and economic concerns. As former co-commissioner Rubley told us, there is a lot to be concerned about.

The Citizen's Commission will release a final report and recommendations at 11:30 on Monday October 24th in the Capitol Rotunda. The report will be released at a Capitol press conference in Harrisburg. Members of the Commission will also discuss the report and take questions during a statewide media conference call.

SPONSORING ORGANIZATIONS: Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, Clean Water Action, Keystone Progress, League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania, Penn Environment, Sierra Club, Pennsylvania Chapter, and the CLEAR Coalition.

Bringing Sustainability to Life

2011-10-16T08:36:00.002-04:00

Some people think sustainability and sustainable development are ill-defined pie in the sky. On the right, you have people like Phillip Stott, a biogeography professor from University of London, writing, "[S]ustainability is thrown into the argument to block development and growth, to conjure up a return to an imagined, usually rural, Utopia. But, theoretically, sustainability flies in the face of reality." It's Arcadia. It's Eden.

On the left people deeply steeped in sustainability talk like David Orr question the growth-oriented economy and, more or less, the trajectory of western civilization. In "Four Challenges to Sustainability" he wrote, "Genuine sustainability, in other words, will come not from superficial changes but from a deeper process akin to humankind growing up to a fuller stature. The question, then, is not whether we will change, but whether the transition is done with more or less grace and whether the destination is desirable or not."

What are you sustaining? For whose advantage? You can sustain status quo at lots of people's expense. Maybe your squashing people's creativity and potential with an eco-fascist mindset. Friday's guests, I'm sure, disagree.

Eric Sauder and Spud Marshall started New Leaf Initiative (pic at right) "brings sustainability to life." From central Pennsylvania to Haiti, they guide their collaborations by integrating the four sustainability concepts from Natural Step . They aren't going the eco-fascist route, setting up a "Green" jack-booted gestapo to enforce regulations limiting greenhouse gas emissions and polluting extractive technologies. Through their incubator and consultancy, they work with people on the ground and in the street to help create happier, healthier, and more inventive people, cleaner and safer economies of scale, and thriving environments. From art to buildings to education, people work with them our best to life.

Listen to our October 14th show with them here.

Water is Rising

2011-10-12T13:57:00.004-04:00

Penn State's Center for the Performing Arts will be showing Water is Rising on November 8th. Water is Rising brings together thirty-six artist from the smallest countries in the world - Kiribati, Tokelau and Tuvalu (population 1000, 1,500 and 12,000 respectively). With elevations of only 2-3 meters above sea level, life on coral atolls requires a deep respect for the forces of nature. Their survival depends on communal values and cooperation; music and dance are a key to developing and expressing these values.

The synchrony and joy of group performance speaks to their collective solidarity, empathy, self confidence and self-awareness of these Pacific Islanders. Gracious gestures describe the abundance of their ocean; forceful movement shows the vitality of a seafaring life; and poems speak of a heroic past. As they tour the U.S. for the first time, these artists will share stories of atoll life amid climate change and rising sea waters.

Their world is threatened by climate change. As ice caps and glaciers melt and oceans rise because from more and warmer water, nations like Tuvalu and Maldives and their cultures in their homelands will probably disappear.

Following the film, a panel will discuss the film's meaning and ramifications. The panelists include Anne Clements from PSU School of Music, Jamison Colburn from Environmental Law and Policy, and former Sustainability Now guest Don Brown of the Rock Ethics Institute and blogger at Climate Ethics.

Company fined for dumping HCl in Oklahoma. How safe are Pennsylvania's waters?

2011-10-12T10:22:00.006-04:00

On our last show, Dave Yoxtheimer from Penn State's Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research talked about some of the hazardous materials used in hydraulic fracturing operations. One of those is hydrochloric acid. According to the Department of Justice's Office of Public Affairs, an employee of Integrated Production Services, LLC has pleaded guilty to improper handling of 500-700 gallons of the acid.

Here's DOJ's release:

WASHINGTON – Integrated Production Services, LLC, (IPS), a Houston-based natural gas and oil drilling contractor, pleaded guilty today to a negligent violation of the Clean Water Act in federal court in Muskogee, Okla., announced Assistant Attorney General Ignacia S. Moreno for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, and Mark Green, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

In entering the plea, which is subject to approval by the court, IPS has agreed to pay a $140,000 criminal fine and to make a community service payment of $22,000 to the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation for ecological studies and remediation of Boggy Creek, located in eastern Oklahoma. IPS will serve a two-year period of probation, during which it will be required to implement and perform an environmental compliance program at a cost of $38,000, to train IPS employees regarding proper hazardous waste handling and spill response procedures.

In May 2007, IPS was performing drilling operations at the Pettigrew natural gas well site in Atoka County, Okla. The company’s operations included hydraulic fracturing, which entails the use of drills and hydrochloric acid to penetrate through bedrock and substrata in order to access natural gas reserves. On May 24, 2007, a tank at the site leaked hydrochloric acid onto the bermed surface of the well, which also was flooded due to recent heavy rainfall. Rather than taking the necessary steps to properly remove the rainwater from the site, Gabriel Henson, an IPS supervisor, drove a company pickup truck through the earthen berm, causing the discharge of the rainwater and an estimated 400-700 gallons of hydrochloric acid into Dry Creek, a tributary of Boggy Creek.

On July 20, 2011, Henson pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor violation of the Clean Water Act. Henson is awaiting sentencing. He faces up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine. “As hydraulic fracturing occurs with increasing frequency across the country, companies and individuals involved in those operations must adhere to the laws that protect human health and the environment and level the playing field for responsible businesses,” said Assistant Attorney General Moreno. “We recognize the critical importance of developing domestic sources of energy responsibly, and will continue to vigorously prosecute illegal conduct.”

“This was a case of a corporate employee making a careless decision that caused the release of dangerous hydrochloric acid into our waters,” said U.S. Attorney Green. “Whether to expedite oil production or to save corporate expense, these types of actions cannot be justified nor can they be tolerated. This office will pursue all legal remedies necessary to prevent and/or punish such actions.”

“Hydrochloric acid is a highly corrosive substance. Its release into a tributary of Boggy Creek was a serious threat to the environment,” said Ivan Vikin, Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) criminal enforcement program in Oklahoma.

“Today’s guilty plea demonstrates that companies will be held responsible for environmental crimes.” This case was investigated by the U.S. EPA Criminal Investigation Division and the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office of Inspector General. The case is a joint prosecution between the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma and the Environmental Crimes Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division.

Just a few weeks ago I was at an EPA public comment hearing on new regulations for natural gas operations (tweeted here on September 27th, 2011). Outraged Pennsylvanians at that hearing wondered who in the government was sticking up for them. It appears as though someone is working in Oklahoma.

But do you ever wonder how many spills like this happen and aren't caught? I am reminded of Jeff Tietz's Rolling Stone article (pdf) on the pork industry a couple of years ago in which he alleged that Smithfield Foods' chairman Joseph Luter III said that the 74 EPA citations under the Clean Water Act were paltry in comparison to the likely 2.5 million violations he estimated they'd actually committed.

The oil and gas industry is not the same as the pork industry. But much of the public suspects that there is woefully little oversight. According to Mary Carol-Frier who compiled DEP numbers with Pennsylvania Land Trust Association report numbers (pdf) , between January of 2008 and June of 2010 in Pennsylvania, the oil and gas industry were cited by DEP for 161 violations for discharge of industrial waste including into streams, 524 discharges of pollutional materials into waters of Commonwealth, 1,149 Oil and Gas Act-specific violations, including improper pits, impoundments, well waste treatment, well casements and cementing and plugging. It is troubling to imagine that the oil and gas industry could be cited for as relatively few violations as the pork industry might have been.

Pennsylvania has the second most surface water in the fifty states after Alaska and a booming gas industry. Many people aren't sure who's protecting them. One woman at the EPA hearing pointed her finger at the board and said, "How do you sleep at night? You're supposed to be protecting us." Three compressor stations roar around her property and fill the air with a smell she can hardly believe. "It's like living in a third world country."

As Dave Yoxtheimer said on our show, there are some good actors and some who aren't. There are the fly-by-night guys and those who are good neighbors who work with families, municipalities and the state. Can we get all of them to be the best neighbors they can be?

Dairy Farm Protests in Butler County

2011-10-11T08:56:00.003-04:00

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that Butler County residents are protesting drilling operations at a dairy farm (pic at right from Marcellus Protest).

They report:

"There's no way this drilling can contaminate our milk," Larry Wendereusz, general manager of the dairy operating facility, said in an phone interview Friday. "Our milk is tested for everything ... we run all kinds of tests."

Members of the advocacy group Marcellus Outreach Butler believe otherwise. They chanted slogans and complained that the planned underground hydraulic drilling will put crops, livestock and milk at risk for contamination. The group gathered in front of the drilling rig that sits next to the Marburger property along Mars-Evans City Road.

"They're not being a good neighbor," Alex Stehman of Saxonburg said about the farm. She said she no longer buys Marburger milk in an attempt to send a message to the farm's owners. "Organic farmers are more responsible."

On last week's show we touched this issue briefly. There are some farmers leasing their land while many organic farmers allege their operations are threatened by gas operations' because of possible groundwater contamination, air pollution, methane migration into wells, and other issues. But gas companies and some farmers argue these worries are unfounded and possibly hysterical.

In 2010, 28 cows were quarantined after exposure to fracking fluid. This year a Chesapeake Energy well blew out in Leroy Township sent thousands of gallons of frack water into a nearby stream for at least 12 hours. Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has said that the stream was not compromised and fined Chesapeake over $1 million. DEP said:

“It is important to me and to this administration that natural gas drillers are stewards of the environment, take very seriously their responsibilities to comply with our regulations, and that their actions do not risk public health and safety or the environment,” DEP Secretary Mike Krancer said. “The water well contamination fine is the largest single penalty DEP has ever assessed against an oil and gas operator, and the Avella tank fire penalty is the highest we could assess under the Oil and Gas Act. Our message to drillers and to the public is clear.”

Protesters have some warrant given some recent history. But what are the chances that cow's milk could be contaminated with gas drilling pollutants? Does anyone even have this data?

Slowing Down the Marcellus Information Orbiter

2011-10-07T09:47:00.014-04:00

MARCELLUS SHALE.

These two words have changed Pennsylvania. For most people paying attention to news in the Mid-Atlantic these days they evoke a host of other words and images. Natural gas. Water. Energy security. Bridge fuel. Pollution. Fracking and hydraulic fracturing. Flammable faucets. Gasland. Jobs. Truck traffic. Industry. Environment.

Tracking it all can be like riding an Orbiter ride (pictured at right). Up becomes down, moving keeps you in one place, and when you try to focus on something your vision is too blurred because it's all shifted.

I still remember the first time I heard about the Marcellus Shale formation and natural gas. Four years ago a friend of mine came over for dinner. He told me that his brothers were involved in new natural gas drilling. A bunch of companies were leasing farmland across Pennsylvania farmers and other large landowners seemed eager to make money from gas, he said. The process to get the gas required injecting water into wells at high pressure was environmentally sound. It all seemed pretty incredible and he was really excited.

Pennsylvania would see more financially stable farmers and rural landowners. Increased energy security would from clean-burning natural gas. It could help free us from the coal- and oil-dependent industries, from transportation that accelerates climate change, and bring us to a less carbon-intense economy. Maybe it would even provide a bridge to renewable energy.

At the center of this story in Pennsylvania were Penn State University and Range Resources. In December 2007, Range reported successfully horizontally drilling, hydraulically fracturing, and extracting natural gas from the the Marcellus Shale bed ~5,000 - 7,000 feet below the surface (watch this animation/ map at right). The five wells they reported on were in southwestern Pennsylvania. One month later, Penn State professor of geology Terry Engelder calculated the Marcellus Shale formation Range had successfully “fracked” held between 168 trillion and 516 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, gas that existing technology made accessible. The rest is history.

Today, the Marcellus Shale play is the biggest new economic game in Pennsylvania. Former governor Ed Rendell called it "the golden goose." Just a few years ago there were a handful of Marcellus wells. As of May 2011, there were over 4,500. All of this gas development has brought incredible changes to the state.

Each well is a roughly $4 million-dollar affair to drill and frack and employs a small fleet of people to set up. It brings some economic benefits to the hosting municipalities and, for some landowners, large sums of money. Hotel, restaurant, and bar owners in Williamsport and other towns have made a fortune. Rental property owners have made serious money renting houses, apartments, and townhouses. And of course there is all that gas people use to heat their homes, burn for their stoves, and industry and transportation uses for fuel. Former Governor Tom Ridge stated the position clearly on The Colbert Report: “Pennsylvania is sitting on top of something that I think could lead a renaissance in America with regard to energy.” It hasn't been called the Saudi Arabia of natural gas for no reason.

Yet this is not just a win. Pennsylvania is still the only state in the nation without an impact fee or severance tax on the industry despite overwhelming public opinion calling for one. Governor Corbett has proposed an impact fee but it has been received skeptically by Republican and Democratic legislators, environmental groups, and county officials.

Well blowouts and truck crashes have spilled tens of thousands of gallons of toxic "produced water" into streams, fields, and onto lawns. Methane has migrated into well water causing hundreds if not thousands of families to require water be provided for them in external water tanks often called “water buffaloes.” People are reporting new ailments. Open air pits of produced water and compressor stations release volatile organic compounds (VOCs) known to cause and exasperate lung conditions. The land impacts from well pads disrupt habitat. At an EPA air quality hearing last week, several people testified to that their lives have been ruined by the gas industry and that they are treated like occupants of a “third world nation.”

On one side the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry-sponsored group tends to paint the picture as rosy and a big win. On the other environmentalists and community health advocates say that Marcellus development is a disaster of unprecedented proportions unfolding across the state. As you know, we've been quite critical of Marcellus development on Sustainability Now (archive here). But what’s real and what’s spin? What’s scientifically valid and what’s not? Who’s pulling strings and who should be? How the game changer going to change even more with a possible rush into the Utica Shale?

Between public outrcy, job creation, environmental and public health fears, corporate influence, the blogosphere, and who knows how many stories that the Marcellus information spin is a rapidly accelerating Orbiter ride. It's disorienting. We hope our guest today will help us slow down the spin.

Dave Yoxtheimer is a geologist the Penn State Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research (MCOR). Yoxtheimer is a certified geologist who has worked on water projects across Pennsylvania for several years and today works on several MCOR projects, specifically those that deal with environmental impacts.His work has included developing better practices for water withdrawal, recycling, disposal, and treatment.

MCOR has been set up to provide education and research initiative on unconventional gas plays like the Marcellus formation. They are set up to “serve state agencies, elected and appointed officials, communities, landowners, industry, environmental groups and other stakeholders.” Their seminar series on Marcellus Shale have featured former DEP Secretary John Hanger, the prospect of developing the Utica Shale, a larger and deeper shale play in North America, and produced water treatment.

We will be asking Yoxtheimer about the current and future state of Pennsylvania’s human and non-human residents and Marcellus and Utica Shale.

The show airs today at 4 pm on The Lion 90.7. You can stream the show online. As always, feel free to call (814) 865-9577 to comment and ask a question. This week we will also have our email open so that you can send questions to sustainabilitynowradio@gmail.com
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Update: You can listen to the show at this link.

Tapping ourselves out

2011-10-03T13:04:00.002-04:00

The Bucknell University Environmental Center is hosting a screening of "Tapped," a 2009 documentary film directed by Stephanie Soechtig on Tuesday, Oct. 4 at 7 p.m. The film will show at the Campus Theatre on 413 Market St., Lewisburg
Tickets are $2 and the show is open to the public.

Consider the following:
Giant masses of plastic particles swirling in the ocean.
Human health impairment in towns where PET plastics are manufactured.
Chemicals leaching from plastic packaging into drinking water.

What do these things have in common? They are some of the surprising and far-reaching impacts of the bottled water industry exposed in Stephanie Soechtig's debut feature film, Tapped. Per year, Americans pay a huge premium to consume over 8 billion gallons of bottled water, yet few consider where each bottle comes from and where it ends up. The film also probes topics like the petroleum used to make plastics and transport bottled products long distances, excessive groundwater withdrawals by bottling plants, and the general lack of regulatory oversight over the bottled water industry. Who profits and who loses out when society prioritizes convenience over sustainability? Watch this documentary and find out what's really in your bottle.

You are invited to stay for a post-screening discussion and Q & A session about bottled water and its impacts here in Pennsylvania. The discussion will be moderated by Cathy Curran Myers, Director of the BUEC and former Deputy Secretary for Water Management at the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. Sustainability Now's Peter Buckland will be a panelist discussing his recent experiences advocating for reduced bottled water use on the Penn State University Park campus.

Please note the BUEC's "Green Screens" sustainability series continues Nov. 8 Manufactured Landscapes and Nov. 29 Consuming Kids.

This event is co-sponsored by the Bucknell Environmental Club, the Bucknell Environmental Studies Program, and the Bucknell Department of Geography. "Tapped" is presented in partnership with the Bucknell Film/Media Studies Film Series (http://www.bucknell.edu/x71259.xml). For more information, visit www.campustheatre.org or email Wendy Chou (wc013@bucknell.edu).

Will peak everything bring peak resilience?

2011-09-30T10:43:00.003-04:00

A few years ago, author and activist Derrick Jensen wrote in Orion magazine, "The most common words I hear spoken by any environmentalists anywhere are, We’re f***ed." I'd say that assessment - that a lot of environmentalists say that anyway - is pretty accurate.

Face it. Current and coming generations of people and other organisms face a wicked problem of interconnected wicked problems. Here are six:

Global human population will hit 7 billion this October and is projected to climb to 9 billion by ~2050.
Global warming has already reduced sea ice in the Arctic Ocean and caused extensive ice cap and glacial melting from Greenland to Argentina to Antarctica. Projected warming from the IPCC and other scientific bodies will cause further melting which will raise sea levels over the coming century, flooding coastal cities and sinking islands.
Deforestation, especially tropical deforestation, prevents carbon sinking and increases other greenhouse gas emissions while also changing the way equatorial weather patterns that regulate other weather patterns.
Industrial production is increasingly toxifying air, water, and land in many different places across the Earth and the most educated societies in the world do not understand the interactive effects of tens of thousands of unregualated chemicals.
Anti-biotics and vaccinations drive bacterial and viral virulence.
The modern industrial and post-industrial economies have been built with fossil fuels, mostly oil for transportation. Coal and oil peak production has more or less been reached while natural gas from deep shale gas is on the rise.

These problems all feed one another. Peak everything is here or coming and the response to it by big government and big industries is, well, sorely lacking according to today's guest.

Janaia Donaldson hosts Peak Moment TV, "online television series featuring people creating resilient communities for a more sustainable, lower-energy future. Programs range from permaculture farms to electric bikes, ecovillages to car-sharing, emergency preparedness to careers for the coming times." Like other guests on our show working with the "transition" and "slow money" movements, Donaldson has focused on how the big wicked problems above can be tackled by resilient and skilled people working together. She has interviewed women who have worked to bring gardens to school, psychologists examining reactions to climate change, economists critiquing growth economics, and environmental activists rallying people to find strength within themselves.

If there is anything we can be sure of, Donaldson has witnessed and soaked up a lot of wisdom on sustainability and resilience.

Hear her on today's Sustainability Now on the Lion 90.7 from 4-5 pm.

EPA Air Quality Hearing

2011-09-26T07:02:00.003-04:00

On our last show, Peter Buckland announced an Environmental Protection Agency "first-ever emissions standards to control and reduce toxic air pollution from oil and gas wells that are hydraulically fractured like those tapping into the Marcellus Shale formation in Pennsylvania and other Appalachian states" according to the Post-Gazette. Buckland said it was on Wednesday, September 27th. A listener corrected him. It is on Tuesday, September 27th from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Does ozone create the no zone?

2011-09-23T09:53:00.004-04:00

On today's show, we will discuss air quality in the United States and in Pennsylvania.

A lot of the United States lives with a lot of smog a lot of the time. That puts a lot of people - especially children and elderly Americans - at risk for health problems like asthma and other respiratory illness. That's the gist of a new report Danger in the Air, released on Wednesday, from PennEnvironment.

The report tells us that some of our large and mid-size cities have pretty awful air from smog. Not surprisingly, cities like Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Houston have bad air a lot more often than they should. But even idyllic places like State College, PA have higher levels of ambient air pollution more often than we might suspect.

The report takes aim at the Obama administration for its recent decision not to tackle ozone standards. As Charlie Dorsaneo of PennEnvironment said, "They chose to kick the can down the road until 2013." PennEnvironment recommends policy makers take positive action to alert the public with a stricter standard, to reduce air pollution through tighter regulation on emissions sources like cars, trucks, industry, and power plants, and finally to invest in renewable and less wasteful energy sources like solar and wind.

On that last note, you might be interested to see that even in the wake of the Solyndra controversy, that Republican Congressman Joe Barton agrees:

Sustainability Now's Peter Buckland joined State College Mayor Elizabeth Goreham, Sierra Club Moshannon's Gary Thornbloom, and PennEnvironment's Charlie Dorsaneo at the State College press conference on the report. Buckland;'s remarks are included here:

I don’t know if anyone here knows, but this week is No Impact Week. It’s a funky approach to reduce our individual and collective negative impacts and increase our positive impacts. I think those are just plain good things to do.

PennEnvironment’s report today shows us some challenges we face from our society’s and our economy’s impacts. This is about us.

Every year, thousands of people get sick from ambient air pollution. Every high-risk ozone day brings thousands of asthma attacks. It harms elderly people and young children disproportionately. 92% of ozone comes from fossil fuels and the lion’s share from transportation and industry. We in central Pennsylvania live downwind from coal plants and industrial hubs to our southwest. The pollution they pour into the air hurts us. It illustrates how we all live downstream, or downwind in this case.

Now I don’t know about you, but I love being outside. For years I have been riding mountain bikes like they are going out of style. I quit smoking and have since ridden my bike more than most people think sane. It’s fun. It’s also healthy. My wife rides. I have ridden with hundreds or thousands of people across this lush and verdant state. Just about every day, my wife and I play outside with our four-year-old son. We play baseball. A lot. He and the other kids on Chestnut Street run around constantly. Riding, running, and playing should to be healthy.

But what the Danger in the Air Report shows us, and I am not being an alarmist, is that I might actually get sick from exercising. Moderate to intense exercise for a few hours puts people at higher risk of respiratory dysfunction on high pollution days. As we’ve just heard, the alerts are lower thresholds than they should be according to the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee. In places like Philly and Houston, you’re talking about regular health threats to people doing the right thing. I quit smoking for a reason.

Governor Corbett says Pennsylvania has the opportunity to be the next Texas because of the Marcellus and Utica shale natural gas booms. Take note of Pennsylvania’s air quality now. It’s not so different from Texas’. Philly is just a bit worse than Houston but Fort Worth is just a little worse than Pittsburgh. Now add tens of thousands of wells, compressor stations, pipelines, and the trucks to service it all and let’s talk about Pennsylvania air quality. As a bike racer I like to rank high. But this is no race for Pennsylvania to win. I say “No thank you” Mr. Corbett. So should you.

We need real action for health. Regulations are structured for polluters’ exorbitant profits. They say they fuel progress. More asthma and chronic breathing conditions – in humans or otherwise – is not progress. Progress is not pollution.

Health and happiness are progress. Congress and the President must act. We must also call our power companies to initiate switches from toxic power to less wasteful and renewable energy.
It can’t stop with phone calls, policies, and techno-fixes. Just like healthy diets and exercise, live to reduce pollution. Don’t go for no impact. Go for better impacts. Today, eat lower on the food chain. Tomorrow carpool, ride the bus, or ride a bike. Next week, figure out ways to throw away less stuff. Trash here travels 75 miles to Somerset county in 4 mpg trucks. Next month, get an energy audit and work your way toward a high efficiency low impact house.

Those impacts aren’t no impacts. They are much better impacts. That’s progress. It’s work. Let’s work together.

Listen in today from 4-4:30 pm on The Lion 90.7. Call in at (814) 865-9577.

Catering for the local economy by sustaining a healthy appetite

2011-09-17T13:09:00.002-04:00

Krystn Madrine, the "kitchen maid" of the Sustainable Kitchen came on the show yesterday and served up some great thoughts on how we feed ourselves and how we can do it better. To Madrine, sustainability means, "being able to keep it going... and with food the path we're on is not sustainable." Listen to her talk with us about food security, regional food systems, sustainable food systems, seasonality, health, and knowing about your food.

What we found so great to hear about are all of the people Madrine gets to know from her work and the web of pretty direct benefits buying her food brings. Learn more about her work with Chef Andrew Monk and the Sustainable Kitchen by listening to the show at this link. You can find them each week at the Boalsburg Farmer's Market on Tuesday and on Saturdays at the North Atherton Street Farmer's Market at Home Depot. They also cater lots of events. To see what they are about you can go to the State Theater in State College on Wednesday Sept. 21st for the showing of Forks Over Knives.

P.S. The Veggie Patty sandwich and the Italian Wedding soup is amazing.

Parking Day 2011 in State College

2011-09-17T12:03:00.005-04:00

All over the world, people participated in yesterday's Parking Day, "an annual, worldwide event that invites citizens everywhere to transform metered parking spots into temporary parks for the public good." Listen and see some of the ways that three teams of Penn State landscape architecture students took part.

Kind of interesting how the noise of urban space proves some of the point for Parking Day. At the risk of being simplistic, don't you wonder sometimes if cities exist to help people be healthy and happy or do they exist for roaring cars and trucks? For humans or machines?

How would you like urban space to become more friendly? Participate in Parking Day next year. Better yet, work with your communities or planning commissions to redesign your spaces for more friendlier, safer, and healthier living.

Climate action in the name of God

2011-09-16T11:06:00.004-04:00

This Sunday, September 18, 2 p.m. in the Foster Auditorium of the Pattee library Interfaith Power and Light and the Rock Ethics Institute are teaming up to show “The Human Face of Climate Change: Food, Faith and other necessities of life.” Prof. Bill Easterling, Dean of the Penn State College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, and Rev. Jim Deming, Minister for Environmental Justice for the United Church of Christ will be there to discuss the film with attendees.

There will be a Green Fair following the film from 3:30-6:00 p.m.in the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center. It will feature local vendors and non-profit organizations focused on sustainability. There will also be climate change workshops focusing on the drought in East Africa, local farmers, Marcellus Shale, congregational action and what one family can do to make a difference.

Learn more here.

A wellspring for Groundswell Pa

2011-09-16T10:46:00.002-04:00

Last week we had Braden Crooks of Groundswell PA on the show. They're arguing for an Environmental Bill of Rights and they are filming the whole movement.

Check it out:

Contribute here to help them document it.

Getting real about the climate with Al Gore

2011-09-15T09:07:00.003-04:00

For 24 hours Al Gore's newest project, the Climate Reality Project, will be addressing the scope and scale of climate change and some of the solutions at hand to mitigate and adapt. Watch Gore on the Colbert Report plugging it.

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

Josh Fox at Shale Gas Outrage

2011-09-12T20:26:00.005-04:00

Gasland director Josh Fox all called on the Shale Gas Outrage crowd last Wednesday to keep gas drilling out of the Delaware River Basin. Having just been arrested for civil disobedience in Washington, D.C. over tar sands oil and the proposed Keystone XL pipeline (see here and here) he asked people to confront the Delaware River Basin Commission on October 21st and demand a basin-wide fracking ban. He distributed the DRBC's phone number to the crowd, some of whom called DRBC on the spot. You can call them at (609) 883-9500. If push comes to shove, he believes people are going to have to be civilly disobedient and be arrested. Watch his speech here.

We want to know, do you think that fracking is worthy of civil disobedience? Should people pursue the regular channels of regulation and legislation? Or is this all what former Governor Ridge called "phony hysteria"?

Is there a better way of dealing with shit?

2011-09-11T14:48:00.005-04:00

Shit. Crap. Poop. Dung. Feces. Defacation. Pee. Piss. Urine. Call them by their coarsest or most sanitized names, we all make it and we spend a lot of money and use a lot of water coping with it. 3,000 gallons of potable water each year goes to flushing your excrement to sewage treatment plants. The rough back of the hand calculation would mean that America flushes a few hundred BILLION gallons of water to sewage treatment plants each year. And what do we do with all of that crap?

Like most people, you probably don't know. Whatever your answer is, think about something else for a minute. Shit and piss are organic right? It's not frack water or radium 226 or bisphenol-A. It's basically digested food and microbes. So's cow manure that farmers spray on fields. And manure is in many conventional fertilizers you can purchase in home and garden shops. Well, what about basically free human manure? Humanure for short.

Enter the composting toilet. Madhu Suri Prakash explains the what, the why, and the how in this video on ecological toilets.

Talk about closing waste loops. A human growing their own garden and being not just a consumer with her/his body but also a producer in the most fundamental way. With good methods and proper conditions, this takes a considerable step toward what Wendell Berry (whom Prakash loves) calls "solving for pattern" (pdf here).

If only I wasn't renting.

Dr. Prakash is a Professor of Educational Theory and Policy at Penn State, a contributing editor at Yes! Magazine, and a frequent speaker across the United States and world on education and development having worked with the Bhutanese government on educating for happiness and the United Nations Educational Program. She is also co-host Peter Buckland's graduate adviser.

Today's show: Groundswell and Outrage [Updated]

2011-09-09T09:39:00.001-04:00

Today at 4 pm, we'll be airing our first show of the fall season. It will be as fresh and local as we can make it.

Braden Crooks, founder of Groundswell will be on to discuss the what and the why of an Environmental Bill of Rights and a ban on hydraulic fracturing proposed for popular vote in State College, Pennsylvania. [For more see last week's blog post.] What rights does the other-than-human environment deserve? What are our responsibilities to it? What are our responsibilities to future generations of people and their living places and the organisms and systems that will support them? It's no small thing to wrap your head around.

After the 4:30 break we'll be joined by Iris Marie Bloom of Protecting Our Waters. She is one of the principle organizers of Shale Gas Outrage rally and demonstration and the Freedom From Fracking conference this Wednesday, September 7th in Philadelphia. They write,

This demonstration is in response to the Marcellus Shale Coalition’s conference in Philadelphia on Sept. 7th and 8th. CEOs from major fracking companies will be plotting to expand their poisonous operations in PA, NY, OH, MD, WV, VA, and NJ. Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett and former governors Tom Ridge and Ed Rendell will be speaking in support of the industry. Dubbed “Shale Gas Insight,” this is not only a key trade show for the industry, but also a brazen expression of its political muscle.

Today, Bloom will give us the rundown about what we can expect next in the continued wrangling over the natural gas rush in Pennsylvania.

Sustainability Now's Peter Buckland was at the demonstration on Wednesday [read here], doing interviews and getting the inside scoop. People from across the commonwealth were there demanding change, all while being called liars or hysterical by the gas industry.

Perhaps Groundswell's Environmental Bill of Rights is the wave of the future for communities seeking some respite from natural resource extraction, habitat fragmentation, and pollution. Bolivia, following in the footsteps of Ecuador, is set to pass a historic Law of Mother Earth that would grant other-than-human nature equal rights. Is State College next?

Listen this Friday from 4-5 pm on The Lion 90.7 fm. Feel free to call in at 865-9577.

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Here is a copy of the Environmental Bill of Rights itself.

The Logic of Transition and Resilience

2011-09-08T17:59:00.004-04:00

Last year, we talked to Katherine Watt and Bill Sharp of the State College Transition Town movement. They discussed the intertwining problems of climate change and peak oil in an oil-dependent society and economy. For some people, this is frightening and paralyzing. For others, it opens up new possibilities.

Enter Rob Hopkins, the founder of the Transition Towns movement who sees a new design to society and economy and culture based on moving past oil and living with climate change. Essentially, it's a new and positive vision that is transitional, adaptive, cooperative, and most importantly resilient. He does not think that high technology is going to save us. There is no techno-messiah. Essentially, he thinks that these are "solutions where they are" that is sensitive "to place, where they are" and "a process that is joyful."

Below is his TEDTalk.

People mix hope, rage, and resolve at Shale Gas Outrage

2011-09-08T08:34:00.006-04:00

Yesterday, about 1,000 people attended the Shale Gas Outrage demonstration in Philadelphia. The events was convened as counter-voice to the Marcellus Shale Coalition's Shale Gas Insight conference for industry.

Individuals, community groups, and established organizations joined organizers Protecting Our Waters, Food & Water Watch, Marcellus Protest, and others to call for changes to the way gas drilling is proceeding in Pennsylvania. People joined in chants of "Shut them down!" and "Ban fracking now!"

Meanwhile inside, Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon derided the demonstrators as "extremists" and former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, who also headed the Marcellus Shale Coalition, called environmental concerns "phony hysteria." But former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell shot back in his own speech to the Shale Gas Insight attendees, saying that they needed to step up and pay a severance tax and that people's concerns over clean air, clean water, and health were legitimate.

Outside, speakers shared a mixture of fear, hope, and calls to action. Pittsburgh Councilman Doug Shields riled up the crowd by highlighting Pittsburgh's unanimous vote to ban hydraulic fracturing within the city. Several speakers, including Delaware River Keeper Tracy Carluccio, Al Appleton, and Gasland director Josh Fox all called on the crowd to keep gas drilling out of the Delaware River Basin.

Fox, having just been arrested for civil disobedience in Washington, D.C. over tar sands oil and the proposed Keystone XL pipeline (see here and here) implored people to descend on the Delaware River Basin Commission on October 21st to demand that they ban fracking in the basin. He distributed the DRBC's phone number to the crowd, some of whom called DRBC on the spot. You can call them at (609) 883-9500. If push comes to shove, he believes people are going to have to be civilly disobedient and be arrested. Without civil disobedience, he and other said, blacks would still be riding in the back of the bus and women wouldn't be voting.

Whether this is hysteria or legitimate, people attending were very concerned. Here are four of them.

Tony Ruggiero is from Texas. His 10-acre $300,000 Texas property has almost completely lost its value because of gas operations.

Nathan Sooy of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania is a member of Clean Water Action.

Eric Weldman works for Food & Water Watch. They are asking people to call President Obama on October 13th to change federal policy on hydraulic fracturing.

Gary Thornbloom is the head of the Sierra Club's Moshannon chapter in central Pennsylvania. They are calling for a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing.

Where do you stand?

One woman's commitment to solidarity and sustainability

2011-09-06T10:36:00.003-04:00

Toni Brink believes there are so many things that people can do for a better world today and tomorrow. She really hopes that people can "live more harmoniously with the planet." Driven in part by a longtime commitment to social and environmental justice, the 66-year-old grandmother joined thousands of demonstrators in Washington, DC to oppose the proposed Keystone XL pipeline last week.

The 1,600-mile pipeline would carry heavy oil from Alberta's tar sands across Montana and the Midwest to Port Arthur, Texas. A broad range of environmentalists, scientists, farmers, politicians, and citizens worry about air, water, and land pollution, damaged habitats, and the climate impact of tar sand development. Proponents, including TransCanada who has proposed the pipeline, argue that tar sands oil could reduce U.S. dependence on oil from the Middle East and Venezuela. That claim is disputed by Oil Change International. [For background from Sustainability Now, read our previous story here.]

On Thursday, September 1st, Brink was arrested in front of the White House. [Picture below courtesy of Nick Brink] “It really solidified my commitment," said Brink. After a briefing the night before and joining three other women, two of whom were lawyers, she felt as prepared as she could be. Bill McKibben spoke to them as did Josh Fox, director of the film Gasland, who sees an intimate and destructive connection between tar sands development and natural gas development in the Marcellus Shale and elsewhere. Tar sands refinement to get bitumen requires enormous amounts of natural gas, enlarging its energy and climate impacts.

"I've been standing with 8 or 10 people opposing the wars [in Iraq and Afghanistan] for years." She sees joining the likes of Fox, Bill McKibben (who spoke at Penn State last year), James Hansen, Naomi Klein, Darryl Hanna, and 1,200 other people as a natural and necessary step for a better world. [Learn more from 350.org.]

She hopes people will make better choices. These can be as varied as growing your own food or purchasing from local markets to reduce energy waste and restore soil to organizing political actions to helping develop cleaner and more efficient technologies.

Asked what she took away from the experience, she said, “While the destination is a safe, sustainable, equitable future for all, the journey can be a joy. It can open up new creative avenues when we work together. We are not alone.”

Sustainability Now's co-host is Tweeting

2011-09-05T12:21:00.002-04:00

If you're interested in following some of the news and views that Sustainability Now's Peter Buckland is reading, you can follow him on Twitter @PeterEvolves. He's following a fleet of organizations, news outlets, and people around the state and country weighing in on sustainability issues.

Getting off a diet of tar sand with Toni Brink

2011-08-31T10:03:00.004-04:00

Toni Brink (pictured at right) was a dietician for over three decades. Today, she sees the U.S. fossil fuel diet as not only unhealthy, but destructive. She doesn’t just hope that President Obama helps us get a better diet, she is doing something about it.

This week Brink, a 66-year-old mother of five and grandmother of ten will join the No Tar Sands (their Twitter feed) protests in front of the White House in Washington, DC.

Over the last week and a half, hundreds of people have joined noted environmental author and activist Bill McKibben (see 350.org). climate scientist James Hansen, and writer Naomi Klein to protest the Keystone XL pipeline. The proposed pipeline would bring oil from the tar sands of Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico across vulnerable habitats in the Midwest. A broad coalition of Midwest residents, farmers, conservationists, and scientists worry about the pipelines’ and tar sands’ long-term effects.

“If that oil is taken out it’s a dirty process,” says Brink referring to the tar sands extraction process. Matt Price of the Environmental Defense Fund says that the Florida-sized affected region of Alberta where the tar sands lie is effectively destroyed. And the waste ponds left from the process can be seen from space.

Proponents say that Canada’s proximity to the United States can help us use energy that comes from friendlier sources with less travel. However, the process from beginning to end is itself very fuel-intensive, yielding little energy compared to the energy return from the sands themselves. Daily, tar sands production generates the amount of greenhouse gases of approximately 1.3 million cars. Those effects combine with the tar sands refinement and its eventual use as fuel to create one of the most greenhouse gas intensive fuels on Earth.

Brink says. “The use of that oil will raise the temperature of the Earth more. It’s already evident that we have extreme weather. It could play into making the Earth uninhabitable to humans or at least unfriendly,” she says. Climate and atmospheric scientists have predicted that storm, flood, drought, and heat wave intensity as human fossil fuel use generates more greenhouse gases.

The Pew Center on Global Climate Change reports that hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean have become both more frequent and more intense in recent years consistent with predictions by scientific bodies like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. High temperature records have also been more frequent and heat waves longer and more intense.

Noted climate scientist James Hansen has said similar things. Writing on Huffington Post, he says,

Easily available reserves of conventional oil and gas are enough to take atmospheric CO2 well above 400 ppm, which is unsafe for life on earth. However, if emissions from coal are phased out over the next few decades and if unconventional fossil fuels including tar sands are left in the ground, it is conceivable to stabilize earth's climate.

Phasing out emissions from coal is itself an enormous challenge. However, if the tar sands are thrown into the mix, it is essentially game over. There is no practical way to capture the CO2 emitted while burning oil, which is used principally in vehicles.

It’s not just climate or extraction. “The pipeline will go over the Oglala aquifer in the Midwest. And they say the pipeline won’t leak but there’s no guarantee,” says Brink. Indeed, the pipeline would transect farmland and interrupt wildlife corridors. However, the risk of spill is predicted to be very low by the State Department. Russ Girling, the President of company proposing the pipeline has said, "[T]he Keystone XL pipeline will have no significant impact on the environment.” But Midwest residents are not convinced.

And what about our energy infrastructure? Brink worries that increasing U.S. reliance on tar sands and the Keystone XL will harm us in other ways. “I’m afraid it will divert from renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and geothermal and also from energy conservation.” Currently, the United States gets only a tiny portion of its energy from renewables. But if Richard Alley is correct in his program, Earth: The Operator’s Manual, things could be different with the major proportion of our energy coming from renewables if society and economy could be rearranged.

Tomorrow she is going to risk arrest at the White House. “I think it’s really important. Future of life on our planet depends on it.” Like many who have engaged in non-violent civil disobedience before her, she believes that this is the right thing to do. It shows that a large number of people think that this issue needs to be visible.
The protestors, she said, “speak out by putting their bodies on the line.”

What does this all come down to? “We could do so much better,” said Brink. So she is going to put her own body on the line.

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If you care to follow up, Tar Sands Action asks that you call or write President Obama or send a letter to the editor of your local paper to speak against the Keystone XL pipeline. Brink agrees.

Is any message what it's FRACKED up to be?

2011-08-30T09:57:00.004-04:00

Responsible Drilling Alliance recently got this billboard up in Williamsport, Pennsylvnia (picture courtesy of Citizen Sane). In the world of messaging, competing marketing and advertising, it can be hard to break through the noise.

Compare that image to the Range Resources billboards out there or their website, MyRangeResources.com.

People on all sides of this issue are being bombarded by messages and images but it seems that few stick. Let's face it, most of us come into this issue with some pretty powerful preconceived notions about water quality and job creation, taxes and outdoor recreation, or air quality and property rights. And they're in tension with one another a lot of the time. So how do you get people to look at something differently?

What messages do you want to see or think we need to see?

Ban? Moratorium? Acceleration? Just get informed and get involved.

2011-08-29T13:53:00.003-04:00

How is your community handling natural gas development? What would you like to do about it?

It seems that the conversation in the halls of government in Pennsylvania has been controlled by gas industries and those who profit from natural gas development. Where has the community voice been in the scale and pace of this "boom"?

Whether you want a ban, a moratorium, more drilling, or aren't sure what ought to be done, it might be a good idea to get involved and deliberate with your fellow citizens. Events like this one in Williamsport might be your ticket to understanding the current conditions and acting responsibly in your community and with other communities.

This is a democracy right? Then be a citizen and get involved.

An Environmental Bill of Rights for State College, PA

2011-08-29T12:37:00.004-04:00

On Tuesday August 30th at 11 am, Braden Crooks of Groundswell will be talking to press at Schlow Memorial Library about the Environmental Bill of Rights appearing on the popular ballot in State College, PA this November 8th.
Yesterday, he wrote the following to supporters:

If passed, a Community Environmental Bill of Rights and Natural Gas Drilling Ban will mark a dramatic turning point in the operations, governance, scope and sovereignty of the Borough of State College. By recognizing the environment as something other than just property, Environmental Rights alter the legal perception of our environment in a way that has remained unchanged in the history of Western Civilization, until now. Local Rights, like the right to Local Self-Government, alter the role of a local government in America from a tertiary role behind the state, to a Primary Democratic Institution, capable of empowering its citizens to make decisions about what can and cannot happen within the boundaries of their community. Finally, we will ban the commercial extraction of Natural Gas within the borough; a preemptive and proactive measure, designed to ensure urban drilling cannot occur in the Utica Shale under State College and meant as a powerful demonstration of the kind of decisions our community is now capable of making.

If you'd like to learn more, you can visit Groundswell's Facebook page here. Better yet, listen to our show on Friday September 9th when we will be talking to Braden Crooks for the whole show and a segment with Iris Marie Bloom from Protecting Our Waters on activism across the state on natural gas development.

What do you think of environmental rights? What are your responsibilities?

What do you want from us this fall?

2011-08-26T10:03:00.004-04:00

Starting again in two Fridays, September 9th, Sustainability Now Radio will be bring you an exciting fall series. There's an Environmental Bill of Rights coming up for popular vote in State College, Pennsylvania, new directions for positive action with Peak Moment TV, green education in Pennsylvania, urban planning that's better for people and the planet, and more.

You have any ideas?

Energy? Food? Climate? You name it and we can try to make it happen. If you have any ideas or would like to appear on our show leave a comment below or send us an email with all of the skinny at:

sustainabilitynowradio@gmail.com

Drop us a line and we'll do our best.

"Green" kitchen remodeling

2011-08-24T14:08:00.006-04:00

How do you go about remodeling a kitchen in a more sustainable way? Centre region Dylan Wadlington, owner of Wadlington Remodeling, was recently featured on Home and Garden TV with a piece explaining just that. Watch it here.

What tips do you have on home remodeling to make it more sustainable?

Peak Oil Blues and Panglossian Disorder

2011-08-24T09:53:00.004-04:00

On our show we've introduced you to the Transition Towns movement - a global positive community-level response to climate change and peak oil. Peak Moment TV deals peak oil, climate change, and institutional, community, and personal responses every week. We'll likely be talking to them on the air later this semester.

To whet your appetite, watch this episode. Janaia Donaldson interviews psychologist Kathy McMahon who wondered if she was "a whacko" when she had such a strong flight reaction to learning about peak oil. But she's also found other reactions, a Panglossian Disorder where people believe that some techno-magic fix will save existing civilization as it is. She thinks that people can find real comfort and real action and real meaning in moving toward locally resilient communities. You can learn more about her work at Peak Oil Blues.

What about you? What are you doing?

Andean fracking? No thank you.

2011-08-23T12:43:00.003-04:00

New York Times contributor Stanley Fish is one of America's best known and engaging public academic intellectuals. In yesterday's Times he tackled natural gas development and fracking as seen by residents of Andes, New York (link here). It is both sobering and hopeful.

Fish writes,

Then came the evening’s centerpiece, three-minute prepared statements delivered by townspeople who had signed up in advance. It is often said that the opponents of fracking are mostly second-home-owners and weekenders who selfishly prefer their enjoyment of a bucolic landscape to the needs of the long-termers who came before them. But the speakers who stood up to have their say represented every sector of the population — farmers, small-business owners, real estate agents, six-generation natives, newcomers, artists, musicians.
As different as they were, the message was the same and it was eloquently proclaimed: “What we have here is unique and beautiful.” “We have to take action to keep the town we love.” “We must take our destiny into our own hands.” “Andes could become the model for the country.” One of the speakers was a local and a folksinger. She made up a song on the spot and taught it to everyone. The refrain was “If we work together / Then we can make it better.”

It is striking to read this as a Pennsylvanian where natural gas development has barely been checked by citizens at all and coddled by the legislature, two governors, and what some have called a gutless regulatory bureaucracy and enforcement branch. I don't doubt that people in Andes, New York have seen what's happening in Pennsylvania and reached Fish's conclusion.

There was agreement that regulation wasn’t the answer, first because no regulation could prevent the disasters that come along inevitably with a project this large, and second because the state couldn’t be counted on either to pass or enforce regulations: “I can’t trust an industry that has got itself exempted from the air and clean water act.” The position that emerged at the end of the evening was simple and unequivocal: “You can’t regulate them but you can ban them if you are sophisticated enough legally and if you remain strong and stay the course.” Every statement was greeted with loud applause. One speaker called for a straw poll. “Anyone in favor of fracking?” Not a hand was raised.
“Inspiring” is not a word I usually use, but this evening was inspiring. The devotion to community, the civic-mindedness, the sheer intelligence displayed by everyone who spoke was a more powerful argument for coming to Andes than the beauties and attractions listed by the Post. But the argument will come to nothing, and everything the Post celebrates will be no more, if the rural birthright of Andes is sold for a mess of fracking.

Will Pennsylvanians be so inspired? Will we turn this tide?

Corporate censorship

2011-08-05T14:41:00.005-04:00

According to a newletter sent out to environmental groups today this billboard was taken down. It was paid for by the Sautner family of Dimock, Pennsylvania who have had their water contaminated by gas drilling operations, a contention fully supported by a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection investigation. You can watch some coverage before it was torn down here at News Channel 34 or read more about the clash over the billboard at The Citizen's Voice.

Queen of the Sun

2011-08-01T10:30:00.003-04:00

Bees matter. A lot. Find out how and why this week by going to see the film Queen of the Sun at the State Theatre in State College. It is a film about the history of beekeeping, the way that bees have been used in industrial agriculture, and the crisis of Colony Collapse Disorder - a pandemic threatening to extinguish honey bees worldwide - and what we can do to harmonize how we do things.

The last showings are tonight, August 1st, at 4 pm and 7 pm.

#1 Party school. Get #1 in beer cooling. [Updated]

2011-07-31T08:16:00.005-04:00

Let's face the reality here. Penn State has been called the #1 party school. The title even prompted public radio's This American Life to do a show about it. For some, this has been a black eye, a blemish, an embarrassment. But maybe...just maybe...it's an opportunity to understand something about energy use.

Look at this low-tech solution to refrigeration.

Go that? All you need is two sizes of clay pots, sand, water, and towels to cover your pots. As a fan of many Pennsylvania microbreweries, I will surely try this out.

What else should we use this for?

***

Here is a picture of my own. I put in some fine Pennsylvania Victory Brewery beers and at the end of the day...They were cool. Not icy cold, but definitely cool. And you know, not having to pay additional refrigeration costs is kind of nice.

Climate change and population

2011-07-28T21:36:00.002-04:00

Demographers predict that Earth's human population will reach 7 billion by Halloween of 2011. Global development seeks to to increase the affluence and health of the world's underdeveloped populations. With increased affluence comes more purchasing power to consume anything from toys to bottled water to cell phones to cars to pets.

In their book, Healing the Planet, Paul and Anne Ehrlich proposed an equation I=PAT. It's a heuristic, or cognitive short cut, to represent environmental impact.

Impact = Population x Affluence x Technology

Like any heuristic, it has some shortcomings, but it's useful because it gets us to glimpse the unseen. Impact can be expected to increase if there is a net increase of P, A, and T. If affluence and technology remained steady but more people use them, impacts increase. If the population and technology remained steady but affluence increased, then more purchased stuff by the population increases impact. If population and affluence remained steady but technological impacts went up because of proliferation or size, then impact increases.

Today, we have all three. There are more people with more purchasing power buying more pieces of technology that net more material and energy use than ever before. Today's I=PAT is much larger than 1950's I=PAT even though we have had so much progress in that time.

So when we get to an issue like climate change, it's been easy to talk about energy efficiency or renewable energy. Environmentalists in the United States generally laud wind power and eschew coal. In a world with lots of poor people it's been important to laud global development efforts that afford people the ability to meet their daily necessities of food, water, shelter, community, and healthy environments. Beyond that, most people hope that people can meet more than the necessities but be comfortable and happy. There's the rub.

What's a necessity, or as the Brundtland Commission called it in their report Our Common Future, a "need"? If we all "need" to have heated or cooled housing, cars, and electronic gadgets, how can we expect to stop a problem like climate change if development mandates increased affluence and technological dispersion for 7 billion people later this year and 9 billion by 2044? With no appreciable reduction in fossil fuel demand by efficiency, are we on a collision course with the climate?

Get some insights on it from Lester Brown and Robert Engelman on Hard Ball. This is a hard nut to crack and it's impressive that MSNBC took it on at all.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Groundswell for environmental rights

2011-07-26T23:15:00.003-04:00

Want an environmental bill of rights in your area?

Braden Crooks thinks communities need them. Until August 8th, he's working in State College, Pennsylvania to get an Environmental Bill of Rights on the popular ballot in the borough this fall. Groundswell believes that state and federal government are unduly influenced - some might say polluted by - industrial corporate power brokers who damage land, ruin air, toxify water, and reap enormous profits at communities' expense. The best option is to declare this "a civil rights issue as much as an environmental problem. As we move toward environmental and energy crises on a global scale we will build sustainable places where we live. We deserve the right to do so." State College? A more sustainable place to live?

According to statecollege.com,

The measure, if approved through a popular vote, would revise the borough home-rule charter to underscore borough residents' rights to clear air and clean water -- rights already prescribed under the state constitution.

It also would say that residents have a right to sustainable energy; that ecosystems have the rights to clean air and water; that future gas drilling is banned within the borough; and that any "non-sustainable energy production" would be persona non grata in State College proper.

The effort has already gained support from borough Mayor Elizabeth Goreham and some Borough Council candidates, including incumbents Peter Morris and Theresa Lafer and challenger Sarah Klinetob. But to get on the November ballot, Crooks, 23, and his Groundswell colleagues will need to gather just more than 700 petition signatures by Aug. 8.

Only borough residents may sign the petition.

Have you signed yet? If you haven't, why not?

Learn more about Groundswell at their website or their Facebook page and contact them to learn more.

24 Hours of Reality

2011-07-26T23:05:00.003-04:00

An enormous act of public education is in the works on the largest ecological sustainability crisis out there - climate change. On September 14th, Al Gore's new Climate Reality Project will launch a massive 24-hour piece of education on the scale, scope, depth, and ramifications of this problem.

How will you get involved?

Increasing fuel efficiency

2011-07-01T08:25:00.004-04:00

This morning on my walk to the bus station in Pine Grove Mills, PA, I saw gas at $3.69 a gallon. It's been higher than that recently and analysts predict that in coming years it will continue to climb over $4 a gallon. No doubt, filling the tank in our Honda is now a $60 endeavor. What's it like to have a Jeep or an Escalade? It's expensive.

Expense doesn't just go to families. There's the cost of obtaining, extracting, shipping, refining, and shipping all the petroleum to do all that. Obtaining all that oil and securing it has no small part in the wars in the Middle East which are in the trillions of dollars in taxpayer expense. We have record breaking oil disasters to deal with and their years of side effects. Later, there's the cost to air quality because of particulates and fumes. And don't forget the growing and ever looming costs greenhouse gases like CO2, and CO. That's a lot of consequence from just filling up your tank to get to work, take your kids to a baseball game or piano classes, or go on vacation.

But they are there: wallet to war and gulf to greenhouse.

Short of cutting individual car use what's to be done? The Pew Environment Group is calling on President Obama to increase fuel efficiency standards. They are asking you to help by signing on and telling the President to increase fuel efficiency to 60 miles per gallon for light trucks by 2025. They say in a press release, "With a 62 MPG standard, vehicle owners could see an average net savings of $6,475 over the lifetime of the car." That's nothing to ignore for most people in today's economy. Sectors of industry and so-called "consumer choice" will and have decried these standards as draconian and unrealistic, but the interconnected realities of peak oil, increasing global oil consumption, and climate change will make oil much more expensive and the cost of using it increasingly pressing as well.

So it looks as though we might aim at fuel use reduction as a goal. Reduce is the first of the "three R's" after all: Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

But if reduction is a genuine goal, then why not push even harder for even bigger reductions through bigger changes? In the same Pew press release they write, "[R]ecent polls show that Americans want to drive farther on a tank of gas, including one survey on behalf of Go60MPG, a coalition of advocacy groups seeking higher fuel-efficiency standards, which revealed 74 percent of those surveyed supporting 60 MPG by 2025." This is confusing.

Many people want more efficient cars which would reduce environmental and personal economic woes if they drive the same amount. More than doubling fuel economy could more than halve your gas payout if you drive the same distance. But if you double your driving distance you have neither saved fuel, money, nor the effects of burning that gas. Do you smell a Jevons Paradox?

What do you think? Should we go beyond fuel efficiency standards? Should we go beyond transportation to urban or national planning?

Groundswell for a Sustainable State College

2011-06-30T08:12:00.003-04:00

Farmers markets in full swing

2011-06-08T07:18:00.005-04:00

June means that the farmers markets and community supported agriculture (CSA) are in full swing. If you are looking for fresh local produce, local meats, eggs, cheeses, or milk, fresh cut flowers, honey, or a nice place to spend some of your afternoon, go to the local markets.

In the Centre Region we have several markets within about 25 miles of State College each week:

Tuesdays: Boalsburg Farmers Market at the Pennsylvania Military Museum and State College Farmers Market on Locust Lane
Thursday: Huntingdon at Portstown Park
Friday: State College on Locust Lane and Philipsburg on Main Street
Saturday: North Atherton in State College at Home Depot, Bellefonte at the Gamble Mill, Millheim Farmers Market, and Philipsburg
Last Saturday of the summer months Village on the Green Market in Julian, PA

If you want to find farmers markets and farms near you, use the search feature at the Buy Fresh Buy Local page through the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture website. It's also a great way to get in touch with your local growers to see about buying weekly shares of food that can be delivered to market for you. Or if you just want local flavors served up for you in beers or meals, restaurants and bakeries can be found too.

If you want to get some insight on vendors or have some to leave, you can also use Local Bounty as well. It's a website that offers "users the chance to find local sources for goods of all kinds — from apples to art, pets to pumpkins. Users can enter information about local producers, write reviews, and rate their experiences."

Eat fresh. Eat local.

Fracktivism reaches new pitch at state Capitol

2011-06-07T21:25:00.004-04:00

Capitol lobbying day in Harrisburg culminated for many in an anti-drilling protest.
Groups such as Clean Water Action, Sierra Club, Gas Truth, and Marcellus Protest convened on the steps of the rotunda with several hundred protesters to speak out against shale gas drilling in Pennsylvania.

Many of those attending lobbying day met with their legislators to discuss budget issues. Members of public sector unions came out to lobby for their slice of the pie. But by far, the biggest spectacle came when citizens and activist organizations started up just before noon.

Nathan Sooy of Clean Water Action and Gas Truth pitched up the crowd with chants. By noon the rotunda steps were lined with citizens. Unlike many of the talking points circulated by some groups and moderates, many of those who spoke today oppose drilling all together. For them, a moratorium is only the beginning.

Craig Sautner of Dimock, PA held up a jug of water contaminated by Cabot Oil and Gas operations. He cited the moratorium for nine square miles around his house and said, "[Gas companies] should be banned from the state of Pennsylvania for good." He received loud applause. He and others hope to move the conversation from a severance tax or drilling fee, as some legislators have proposed, to a ban.

Some speakers, including Crystal Stroud whose drinking water contains dangerous levels chemicals like gross-alpha, strontium, and others, cited the Pennsylvania Constitution:

"The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania's public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people."

Article 1 Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution

But the conversation is the important part as Nathan Sooy makes clear in this brief interview:

After the rally, citizens were joined by Gasland director Josh Fox who joined other citizens in a sit-in outside of the governor's office. They were unable to meet with the governor.

You can read about the day's events at PennLive, WITF, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Lobbying the state and federal government with citizen voices

2011-06-07T08:05:00.004-04:00

Today is lobbying day at the Capitol in Pennsylvania, organized in no small part with groups like Berks Gas Truth, PennEnvironment, and PennFuture because of environmental, public health, infrastructure, and community disruption caused by the natural gas boom in Pennsylvania. No matter your position on this and a number of other critical issues - tax rates, school budgets, environmental regulation, and health care - you might consider calling your Pennsylvania legislators to let them know where you stand and how they can represent your and your community's interests.

On that note: Want the federal government to hear your voice? Here's your chance. It's easily accessible to Pennsylvanians.

[6450-01-P]

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Secretary of Energy Advisory Board Natural Gas Subcommittee

AGENCY: Department of Energy

ACTION: Notice of Open Meeting

SUMMARY: This notice announces an open meeting of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB) Natural Gas Subcommittee. SEAB was reestablished pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. No. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) (the Act). This notice is provided in accordance with the Act.
DATES: Monday, June 13, 2011 7:00pm – 9:00 pm

ADDRESSES: Washington Jefferson College
60 South Lincoln Street
Washington PA

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Renee Stone, Deputy Designated Federal Officer, U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585; email to: shalegas@hq.doe.gov or at the following website: www.shalegas.energy.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background: The SEAB was reestablished to provide advice and recommendations to the Secretary on the Department’s basic and applied research, economic and national security policy, educational issues, operational issues and other activities as directed by the Secretary. The Natural Gas Subcommittee was established to provide advice and recommendations to the Full Board on how to improve the safety and environmental performance of natural gas hydraulic fracturing from shale formations, thereby harnessing a vital domestic energy resource while ensuring the safety of citizen’s drinking water and the health of the environment. President Obama directed Secretary Chu to convene this group as part of the President’s “Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future” – a comprehensive plan to reduce America’s oil dependence, save consumers money, and to make our country the leader in clean energy industries.
Purpose of the Meeting: The purpose of this meeting is to allow Subcommittee members to hear directly from natural gas stakeholders.

Tentative Agenda: The meeting will start at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, June 13, 2011. The tentative meeting agenda includes a technical presentation on long-lateral hydraulic fracturing. From approximately 7:15 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., the Subcommittee will hear comments from members of the public. The meeting will conclude at 9:00 p.m.
Public Participation: The meeting is open to the public. Space is limited. Individuals and representatives of organizations who would like to offer comments and suggestions may do so on Monday, June 13, 2011. Approximately 105 minutes will be reserved for public comments. Time allotted per speaker will depend on the number of individuals who wish to speak but will not exceed 2 minutes. The Designated Federal Officer is empowered to conduct the meeting in a fashion that will facilitate the orderly conduct of business. Those wishing to speak should register to do so beginning at 6:30 p.m. on June 13, 2011.

Those not able to attend the meeting or have insufficient time to address the committee are invited to send a written statement to Renee Stone, U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington D.C. 20585, or by email to: shalegas@hq.doe.gov.

This notice is being published less than 15 days prior to the meeting date due to programmatic issues and members’ availability.
Issued at Washington, DC on June, 2011.

LaTanya Butler
Acting Deputy Committee Management Officer

New York could continue drilling moratorium until June 2012

2011-06-07T06:10:00.002-04:00

This is just in from the New York State Assembly:

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Environmental Conservation Committee Chair Robert K. Sweeney today announced that legislation to suspend the issuance of new permits for hydrofracking in New York State until June 1, 2012, was reported out of the Environmental Conservation Committee today.
"For the sake of our environment's safety and the integrity of our drinking water, I think it is appropriate and responsible for the state to take additional time to thoroughly study all the data that is available and forthcoming about hydrofracking before approving any additional permits," said Silver (D-Manhattan).
Under the bill (A.7400, Sweeney), no permits would be issued for new wells that use the hydrofracking process to extract natural gas or oil until June 2012. The moratorium called for in the measure will provide the legislature with additional time to review the Draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement, which the Department of Environmental Conservation is currently preparing.
Health and environmental concerns have been raised by communities across the nation where hydrofracking has been used to retrieve natural gas and oil. Reports of water contamination, habitat destruction and chemical spills have occurred in states that have permitted hyrdrofracking, including Ohio, Pennsylvania, Colorado and others. The Environmental Protection Agency, at the direction of Congress, is studying hydrofracking and is expected to release its report at the end of 2012.
"This legislation ensures that we do not embrace this drilling technology without examining all the risks. During our lifetime we have seen many environmental disasters that could have been avoided had all the facts been known before approvals were given. It's important that we in New York State get our policy on hydrofracking right, the first time," said Sweeney (D-Lindenhurst).
"There are too many unknowns about what kind of impact hydrofracking has on the environment. To be anything but cautious on this matter would be reckless and a threat to our environment and the health of New Yorkers," said Silver, who noted he expects the Assembly to approve the bill during this legislative session.

"Fracked" - The Music Video

2011-05-25T07:16:00.002-04:00

Like the funk?

Fracked: The Movie

2011-05-19T06:06:00.004-04:00

Gasland has already made a huge splash in the United States, by showing some of the problems with unconventional natural gas extraction. Another film has gotten into the mix, Fracked, which recently played to small audiences in Pennsylvania.

You can watch a trailer and excerpt here.

FRACK! The Movie Trailer from Frack The Movie on Vimeo.

Susquehanna named "Most Endangered River"

2011-05-18T11:07:00.004-04:00

This week American Rivers named the Susquehanna River the most endangered river in the United States. Why? Massive unconventional gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale. It seems there is no end to bad news in Pennsylvania on gas extraction.

They report:

“Natural gas drilling poses one of the greatest risks our nation’s rivers have faced in decades,” says Andrew Fahlund, senior vice president for conservation at American Rivers. “Without strong regulations, public health and drinking water will be threatened by the toxic, cancer-causing pollution that results from hydraulic fracturing.”

“The Susquehanna is one of the most ancient rivers on Earth. In its current state, it is a far cry from the pristine and primeval watershed that existed only a few centuries ago. The threat posed by the natural gas industry and horizontal hydrofracturing will eclipse the environmental legacy of the lumber and coal-mining industries combined, and as a long-time advocate for the protection of the Susquehanna, I believe we must call for an immediate moratorium on all water withdrawals and all natural gas drilling until the technology and legislation catches up with the desire and need to exploit these fossil-fuel resources,” said Don Williams, Susquehanna River Sentinel.

"Recent problems caused by poorly-regulated gas drilling in Pennsylvania include: ground water pollution in Susquehanna County resulting in loss of a community's drinking water, a blowout in Bradford County that went uncontrolled, allowing toxic fracking chemicals to flow into the Susquehanna, deadly accidents at a gas well site as well as chemical spills, explosions and fires. We call on the Susquehanna River Basin Commission to immediately impose a moratorium on any new drilling in the Susquehanna River Basin, as was done by the Delaware River Basin Commission,” said Jeff Schmidt, Director of the Sierra Club Pennsylvania Chapter. "Until Pennsylvania, the SRBC and the federal government adopt new laws and regulations to fully protect public health and the environment from the dangers of Marcellus Shale gas drilling, no new drilling should be allowed,” Schmidt continued.

Don Williams, who writes at the Susquehanna River Sentinel, was on our show last year. He has long been skeptical of the gas industry and its impact on the Susquehanna, a river has called "a crown jewel." In a recent post, he lamented the Susquehanna River Basin Commission's response to the "Most Endangered" label which it sees as a way of raising awareness but not necessarily scientifically accurate nor enabling better regulation of the river.

Specifically, they respond, "Many in the public who oppose or are very wary of this practice believe the overriding concern relates to the potential impacts to water quality, which falls outside of SRBC’s regulatory responsibilities."

Williams sees things differently. Citing eight instances of water quality in the SRBC's compact, he writes the compact "appears to give the SRBC - at minimum - the opportunity to expand its authority if deemed necessary. I, for one, think it's long overdue."

In our search to understand what should be done with the gas boom, we are going to be exploring what stakeholders across the spectrum think regulation should be.

America's Rivers advocate the following four measures.

A moratorium on hydraulic fracturing along the Susquehanna until better protections are in place;
Analysis by the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) of impacts to clean water, and issuance and enforcement of proper regulations.
Removal by Congress of loopholes that have helped the natural gas industry bypass major environmental regulations.
Passage by Congress of the FRAC Act of 2011, which calls for regulation of fracking by the Environmental Protection Agency and requires disclosure of the chemicals used in the procedure. The legislation would also repeal a provision added to the Energy Policy Act of 2005 that exempts the natural gas industry from complying with the Safe Drinking Water Act.

What do you think regulations should be?