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| This week in conservation October 5-11, 2009 |
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| Down By The Shore | ||||||||||||
 Mon. Oct 5, Down By The Shore: an outdoor nature program for adults and children begins at 10 a.m at Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary in Edgartown. Also on Wednesday and Thursday. Cost is $9, $6 for Mass Audubon members. Children under 3 free. For details call 508-627-4850. |
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| Island Grown Schools Community Meeting | ||||||||||||
 Mon, Oct 5, Island Grown Schools Community Meeting is from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Island Co-Housing Common House in West Tisbury. Connect with our school working groups and make plans for the coming year. Spread the word and bring a friend. Refreshments will be provided, and all are welcome. |
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| Tuesday After School at the Farm Institute | ||||||||||||
 Tues, Oct 6, Tuesday After School at the Farm Institute: Hands-on learning about our food systems, sustainable agriculture and taking care of the land for ages six and up is from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the Farm Institute in Katama. Cost is $15 per session, $120 for the season. Register on-line at farminstitute.org or call 508-627-7007, extension 104. |
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| Toddler Time | ||||||||||||
 Wed, Oct 7, 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. The farm is also open for tours Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For details, call 508-645-3304 or see nativeearthteachingfarm.org. |
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| Martha's Vineyard Water Alliance Meeting | ||||||||||||
 Wed, Oct 7, Martha's Vineyard Water Alliance Meeting, MV Commission, OB, 12:30 PM All welcome |
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| Farmers-in-Training at the Farm Institute | ||||||||||||
| Thurs, Oct 8, Farmers-in-Training at the Farm Institute, for young people ages 11 and up with prior experience at the Farm is from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the Farm Institute in Katama. Cost is $15 per session, $120 for the season. Register on-line at farminstitute.org or call 508-627-7007, extension 104. |
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| Save The Date | 350.org A Movement To Raise Climate Change Awareness | |||||||||||
 October 24th Sign up now Scientists warn that a failure to stabilize atmospheric carbon dioxide levels in the range of 350 parts-per-million will result in climate disaster… Dear World— This is an invitation to build a movement—to take one day and use it to stop the climate crisis.We are a group of people from around the planet—young and old, scientists and writers and activists—who have one thing in common. We know the most important number on earth: 350. And we know how to use that number to finally get global action on the worst crisis humans have ever faced. But we can only do it if you help.So here’s the plan. On October 24, we need you to organize an action in the place where you live, something that will make that most important number visible to everyone. People in more than 1000 communities around the globe have already announced plans—At each event, people will gather for a big group photo that somehow depicts 350--and upload that photo to the web 350.org. As actions take place around the world, we'll link all the pictures together electronically via the web--by the end of the day, we'll have a powerful visual petition linking together the entire planet that we can deliver to the media and world leaders. http://www.350.org/ |
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| Announcement | Fueling on Lake St. Landing Dock in Lake Tashmoo | |||||||||||
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| MV Commission Update | Commission Votes for DCPC |
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| Wildlife Update | Does Film Solve Honey Bee Mystery? | |||||||||||
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| Sustainable Update | From Turbines and Straw, Danish Self-Sufficiency |
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 SAMSO, Denmark — The people of this Danish island have seen the future, and it is dim and smells vaguely of straw. With no traffic lights on the island and few street lights, driving its roads on a cloudless night is like piercing a black cloud. There is one movie theater, few cars and even fewer buses, except for summer, when thousands of tourists multiply the population. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/30/ world/europe/30samso.html?ref=world |
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| COULD FOOD SHORTAGES BRING DOWN CIVILIZATION? |
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| “In early 2008, Saudi Arabia announced that, after being self-sufficient in wheat for over 20 years, the non-replenishable aquifer it had been pumping for irrigation was largely depleted,” writes Lester R. Brown in his new book, Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization (W.W. Norton & Company). “In response, officials said they would reduce their wheat harvest by one eighth each year until production would cease entirely in 2016. The Saudis then plan to use their oil wealth to import virtually all the grain consumed by their Canada-sized population of nearly 30 million people,” notes Brown, President and Founder of the Earth Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based independent environmental research organization. http://www.earth-policy.org/index.php?/books/pb4/pb4pr |
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| Climate Change Update | G20 cans fossil-fuel subsidies, but fails to make other climate-conserving moves |
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 G20, your resolution sounds terrific On Friday afternoon, President Barack Obama formally announced that the world’s 20 major developed and developing nations had agreed to gradually eliminate fossil-fuel subsidies. It was the only climate-specific policy directive to come out of the Group of 20 (G20) Summit in Pittsburgh, and it fell far short in the view of climate activists, who were hoping for a firm proposal on “climate finance”—G20 aid to poor nations for help in adapting to and mitigating climate change. http://www.grist.org/article/ 2009-09-25-g20-pledges-to-phase-out-fossil-fuel-subsidies/ |
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| Wind Update | Floating turbines open wind potential |
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 In the scramble to harness ocean wind power, floating turbine technology may be the holy grail.Turbines that can be floated into position and anchored in deeper water are the solution to much of the politics that confronts shallow-water projects, according to proponents of the concept. http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/ pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090927/NEWS/909270334/-1/NEWS01 |
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| Energy Update | Saving energy may generate billions, study says |
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 What does energy efficiency do for you? According to a report from researchers at the nonprofit advocacy group Environment Northeast, all the money that government agencies, utility companies, and others are spending on efficiency programs not only saves energy, it pumps cash back into the economy - from $6 to $8.50 for every $1 spent. http://www.boston.com/business/articles/ 2009/10/02/saving_energy_may_generate_billions_study_says/ |
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| Alternative Energy Projects Stumble on a Need for Water |
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| AMARGOSA VALLEY, Nev. — In a rural corner of Nevada reeling from the recession, a bit of salvation seemed to arrive last year. A German developer, Solar Millennium, announced plans to build two large solar farms here that would harness the sun to generate electricity, creating hundreds of jobs. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/30/ business/energy-environment/30water.html?_r=1&ref=science |
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The Vineyard Conservation Almanac will be sent to you from a new email address: almanac@vineyardconservation.org 
A preliminary discussion about the possibility of transporting trash and recyclables by rail took place between an Island group and CSX and Cape Rail representatives in New Bedford last Thursday. 
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Proposed regulations would require power plants, factories and refineries to reduce greenhouse gases by installing the best available technology and improving energy efficiency whenever a facility is significantly changed or built. 
Tisbury residents and people with moorings on the lake. 
The Martha’s Vineyard Commission last night imposed a moratorium on large-scale wind generation in waters within three miles of the Island. 
(Sept. 29) – In recent years, scientists have been grappling with a biological mystery: the death of honey bees throughout the world. Now a new film proposes a culprit, reports The Independent.According to 'Vanishing of the Bees,' which will be released in Britain next month, the latest generation of pesticides is at fault.