Vineyard Conservation Almanac

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In This Issue:

Local News:
Moshup Trail Legal Victory

Feature:
It's Official - The Era of Cheap Oil Is Over: Energy Department Changes Tune on Peak Oil

Calendar:
Garden Club Meeting;
Bike/Pedestrian Committee Meeting;
Opportunity for Public Input: Wind Siting;
More...

Announcement:
Attention Edgartown voters;
MVC bill due, special town meeting called;
Defends the MVC

MVC Update:
MVC Releases Study of Extensions to Island Bike Paths

Recycle Update:
Recycle Abandoned Fishing Gear

Climate Change Update:
Will Big Ag plow under Waxman-Markey?;
CHINA AND U.S. SEEK A TRUCE ON GREENHOUSE GASES

Wildlife Update:
‘The End of the Line’ is a compelling indictment of industrial fishing’

Wind Update:
Guard proposes Cape wind farm;
Not so windy: Research suggests winds dying down

June 15

A grant from the Massachusetts Environmental Trust (MET) has allowed VCS to inform Vineyarders about water quality issues on Martha’s Vineyard over the past year. MET has funded radio and newspaper outreach pieces, educational brochures, two water quality videos, and this summer it will support a critical forum on the state of our island ponds. MET relies on revenue from some 50,000 generous drivers to voluntarily purchase special environmental license plates to fund its grant program , but unfortunately purchases are down. Please consider ordering an environmental license plate for only $20 per year from http://www.masslandandwater.info/reserve.html and help continue this very valuable program.

LOCAL NEWS

Moshup Trail Legal Victory
By Brendan O'Neill, Executive Director of VCS

Environmental legal defense is a necessary part of the Vineyard Conservation Society’s mission. For more than a decade, VCS has fought to defend the wild moorlands of Moshup Trail against developers intent on building a subdivision access road through this fragile and rare resource. That case is moving forward in the Massachusetts Land Court. (to donate to the VCS legal defense fund and protect special places like Moshup Trail visit us online at www.vineyardconservation.org)

Go to Land Conservation section for the rest of the article.

Feature

It's Official - The Era of Cheap Oil Is Over: Energy Department Changes Tune on Peak Oil
Thursday 11 June 2009
By, Michael T. Klare

Every summer, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the U.S. Department of Energy issues its International Energy Outlook (IEO) - a jam-packed compendium of data and analysis on the evolving world energy equation. For those with the background to interpret its key statistical findings, the release of the IEO can provide a unique opportunity to gauge important shifts in global energy trends, much as reports of routine Communist Party functions in the party journal Pravda once provided America's Kremlin watchers with insights into changes in the Soviet Union's top leadership circle.

http://www.truthout.org/061109R

National Grid will pay you to haul away old fridges, freezers
Older refrigerators - and most extra units in homes are old - can use more than three times the energy of models sold after 2001. The US Environmental Protection Agency estimates there are about 23 million secondary freezers or refrigerators operating in the country. Now, as part of an energy efficiency effort by National Grid, someone will come to Massachusetts and Rhode Island customers' homes and take extra refrigerators and freezers away - and hand you $30 for the privilege. A new JACO Environmental recycling facility in Franklin will recycle about 95 percent of the material in the units and safely dispose of any chemicals and ozone-depleting substances in them.The EPA estimates removing a secondary refrigerator can save a household over $100 a year. Add to that, of course, the benefit from reducing greenhouse gases and the permanent removal of toxins in the appliances. Up to two working freezers or refrigerators in a household are eligible. National Grid customers should call 1-877-545-4113 or go to www.coolturnin.com.

Calendar

Garden Club Meeting

Tues, June 16, Garden Club Meeting 1 pm, Old Mill, West Tisbury. Inspiring table settings with Robin Murphy. $5 non-member fee. 508-693-5334.

Bike/Pedestrian Committee Meeting

Tues, June 16, Bike/Pedestrian Committee Meeting 5 pm, M.V. Commission, Oak Bluffs. 508-693-3453; mvcommission.org.

Opportunity for Public Input: Wind Siting

Wed, June 17, Opportunity for Public Input: Wind Siting, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Admiral’s Hall,101 Academy Drive, Bourne, MA , 6:00 p.m. The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and Department of Energy Resources (DOER) will host two public listening sessions focused on the development of wind power on state-owned lands. Leading the meetings will be DCR Commissioner Rick Sullivan, DOER Commissioner Philip Giudice, and state legislators. Members of the public will have the opportunity to submit testimony during these meetings.

Toddler Time

Wed, June 17, Toddler Time is from 10 a.m. to noon at Native Earth Teaching Farm, 94 North Road in Chilmark, with animal visits and farm crafts. Weather permitting. For details, call 508-645-3304 or see nativeearthteachingfarm.org.

Restoration with Diane Murphy

Wed, June 17, Restoration with Diane Murphy, at the Chilmark Public Library, 5:30 PM. Sponsored by the Menemsha Fisheries Development Fund and the Friends of the Chilmark Public Library. Murphy, a fisheries and aquaculture specialist, will speak about the positive effects of shellfish on water quality and clarity and her group’s experiences with restoring oyster populations in the region over the past six years using a technique called remote setting. Working jointly for Barnstable County Cooperative Extension and Woods Hole Sea Grant, Murphy has been involved for the past 10 years in the Marine Program on diverse projects ranging from bay scallop enhancement to oyster remote set.

Kayak Tour

Fri, June 19, Kayak Tour 10 am-12 noon, Felix Neck, Edgartown. Guided tour of Sengekontacket Pond; for ages 11 and up. $35; $28 members. Also June 26. Pre-register: 508-627-4850.

Sassafras Solstice Weekend for Adults

Fri, June 19, Sassafras Solstice Weekend for Adults begins at 4 p.m. today, and runs through 2 p.m. on Sunday at Sassafras in Aquinnah. Bring your tent for a weekend of living close to the earth with like-minded others. Experience a different way of looking at the world and yourself. Program includes primitive skills, timelessness, a sweat lodge ceremony and a healthy dose of fun. For details or to sign up, call 508-645-2008, or visit www.sassafrasmvy.org.

Gardening Lecture Series

Sat, June 20, Gardening Lecture Series 11 am-12 noon, Vineyard Gardens, West Tisbury. Shade gardens/ground covers with Kathy James. Free gardening camp for children 6+. Weekly. 508-693-8511.

Guided Birding Tours with Robert Culbert

Sat, June 13, Guided Birding Tours with Robert Culbert, every Saturday from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Carpool from the high school faculty parking lot to visit birding hotspots and find the birds you want to see. Cost is $30 per person to learn about bird identification, ecology and behavior. For more details, call 508-693-4908.

Aquinnah Cultural Center

Sat, June 20, Aquinnah Cultural Center, Season Opening 11 am, Ceremony with Black Brook singers; tours; photographs from Peabody Essex Museum. Suggested donation: $7 adults; $4 children. 508-645-7900; ACC@wampanoagtribe.net.

Summer Solstice Celebration

Sat, June 20, Summer Solstice Celebration 3-7 pm, Polly Hill Arboretum, West Tisbury. 5th annual: music, puppets, stories, scavenger hunt, food, tours. Shuttle from Ag Hall. Free. 508-693-9436.

Announcement

Attention Edgartown voters

Some public officials in Edgartown are discussing the option of voting Edgartown out of the MVC’s jurisdiction. Please plan on attending the special town meeting on June 18th at 7PM at the Old Whaling Church. The warrant articles are discussed below in the MV Times article-

MVC bill due, special town meeting called
By Steve Myrick
Published: June 11, 2009

Edgartown voters will convene for a special town meeting next Thursday so the town can tie up some loose ends, most notably the town's share of the Martha's Vineyard Commission (MVC) budget. Voters will be asked to transfer $274,000 from Edgartown's free cash account to pay the MVC assessment.

http://www.mvtimes.com/marthas-vineyard/
news/2009/06/11/marthas-vineyard-commission-bill.php

Defends the MVC
by James Athearn
Edgartown
Letter to the Editor

Following is the text of a letter I've sent to the Edgartown selectmen:

As your appointed representative to the Martha's Vineyard Commission, it is my duty to respond the statements made by Arthur Smadbeck [the Edgartown selectman] as reported by the Vineyard Gazette on Friday, June 5. My experience with the commission over the last eight and a half years has given me a perspective that I feel is important to share with you now.

http://www.mvtimes.com/marthas-vineyard/
news/2009/06/11/letters-to-the-editor.php?page=1

MVC Update

MVC Releases Study of Extensions to Island Bike Paths
June 9, 2009

The Martha’s Vineyard Commission has released the final report of a study examining potential routes to fill in the missing segments of the Down-Island network of shared use paths (SUPs), also known as bike paths.

The Pre-Feasibility Study of the Extension of the Martha’s Vineyard Network of Shared-Use Paths (SUP) is the first step in achieving two objectives:

Completing a seamless SUP network linking the Down-Island towns, as well as the State Forest, and
Providing bicycle links from the SUP network into the Down-Island town centers.

Go to the MVC section for the rest of the study

Recycle Update

Recycle Abandoned Fishing Gear
By MARK MITCHELL
June 05, 2009

I am writing to discuss the slew of negative health effects the recent clean up of 10,000 pounds of abandoned fishing debris on Cape Cod will have on residents of both Connecticut and the Cape. It may seem ironic that cleaning up debris would be harmful to the environment, but the manner in which this trash is being disposed of will be detrimental to the surrounding communities.

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/
pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090605/OPINION/906050334

Climate Change Update

Will Big Ag plow under Waxman-Markey?
10 Jun 2009
by Tom Philpott

As the Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill moves forward in the House, Big Ag interest groups are circling their plows and sharpening their pitchforks. Some of the largest corporations in the agribusiness sector—including the GMO-and-herbicide giant Monsanto—are pushing to control how agriculture would fit into the bill’s cap-and-trade scheme.

http://www.grist.org/article/2009-06-10-big-ag-waxman-markey

CHINA AND U.S. SEEK A TRUCE ON GREENHOUSE GASES
By JOHN M. BRODER and JONATHAN ANSFIELD
June 7, 2009

WASHINGTON — For months the United States and China, by far the world’s two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, have been warily circling each other in hopes of breaking a long impasse on global warming policy.

They are, as President Obama’s chief climate negotiator puts it, “the two gorillas in the room,” and if they do not reach some sort of truce, there is no chance of forging a meaningful international treaty in Copenhagen later this year to restrict emissions.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/08/
world/08treaty.html?_r=1&hpw

Wildlife Update

‘The End of the Line’ is a compelling indictment of industrial fishing’
Jun 8, 2009
by Sara Barz

If scientists are correct, 2048 will be a terrible year for sushi restaurants. And diners selling tuna melts, too.

The End of the Line isn’t going to make you feel so good about hitting the neighborhood sushi bar.In fact, if I had any money to invest in a seafood venture, Carl Safina’s suggestion to “consider the jellyfishburger” may be the best advice. By mid-century, jellyfish may be the only “fish” left to catch.

Though it lacks the starpower of a certain former vice president, The End of the Line does for the fish what Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth did for the climate: scare the pants off the viewer. The documentary deftly makes the case that industrial exploitation of the world’s fish stocks will result in the end of seafood by 2048, if not sooner, and that some species may already be in collapse.

http://www.grist.org/article/
2009-06-08-end-of-the-line-movie-fishing/

Wind Update

Guard proposes Cape wind farm
By Vivian Nereim
Globe Correspondent / June 12, 2009

Project could be the state's largest

The Massachusetts National Guard said yesterday that it has proposed building a wind farm on the Massachusetts Military Reservation that would become the state's largest source of wind energy.

As the first of many steps toward building up to 17 wind turbines on the 22,000-acre facility on Cape Cod, the Guard filed a site plan for review with the Federal Aviation Administration and Air Force Space Command.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/
articles/2009/06/12/national_guard_proposes_wind_farm_on_cape/

Not so windy: Research suggests winds dying down
Jun 10, 2009
By SETH BORENSTEIN
AP Science Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The wind, a favorite power source of the green energy movement, seems to be dying down across the United States. And the cause, ironically, may be global warming - the very problem wind power seeks to address.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/
US_SCI_DIMINISHING_WINDS?SITE=MAHYC
&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-06-10-07-30-31

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