OntheWilderSide

Long Island Climate Solutions Network

Presents:

Energy, Faith Communities, & Action Networks

Tuesday, April 1, 2008– 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm.

Speakers: Beth Fiteni (Neighborhood Network)
& Gordian Raacke (RELI).

W. Islip Public Library

Beth Fiteni will discuss her work with the Long Island Interfaith Environment Network. LIIEN is multi-faith. Representatives from Long Island congregations come together to hear about clean energy incentive programs, financing for projects, and ways to reduce their “environmental footprint.”

Gordian Raacke will discuss RELI’s Long Island Climate Action Network. LICAN offers speakers, speaker training and support for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in your home, at work, and in your community! Going on a low-carbon diet can be a lot of fun and yields results!!! LICAN draws on the nationally recognized work of work of David Gershon and his “Low Carbon Diet.”

The Library is located at 3 Higbie Lane, West Islip , NY 11795 , (631)661-7080
http://www.wipublib.org/libinfo.htm

1. Tuesday, April 1, 2008. – LICSN – 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. Energy, Faith Communities, & Action Networks. Speakers: Beth Fiteni and Gordian Raacke. W. Islip Public Library
2. Reports Indicate Strange, Contagious Disease Striking School Photocopy Machines, Causing Global Warming. Check it out at http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/03/copy-machine-school.php
3. April 10. 7 pm. Energy Independence Day with Bill Lauto. Green Living Seminar at the Melville Branch of the Half Hollow Hills Library, 510 Sweet Hollow Road . Sponsored by Starflower Experiences.
4. April 14. 7 pm. “The Greening of the East End .” Join elected officials and local advocates to discuss strategies to green the East End . Rogers Memorial Library, Southampton Village , Morris Meeting Room. call 283-0774 x 523 to RSVP. Sponsored by GAIN and RELI.
5. Green Drinks. Tuesday April 8th from 6 to 9 PM at 75 Main Restaurant on Main Street in Southampton Village . More information is available at www.ligreen.com/greendrinks
6. Wednesday April 16th, 2008 from 10-1pm at the Neighborhood Network offices/Molloy College Suffolk Center in Farmingdale, the Long Island Interfaith Environment Network (LIIEN) will be having an event called “Energy Efficiency for Religious Congregations.” This is a respectfully multi-faith group, which will come together to hear about clean energy incentive programs, financing for projects, and inspiration from other places of worship in the region who have taken successful action to reduce their “environmental footprint.” This is the second event of its kind, and last year’s was a great success. Contact Beth Fiteni Neighborhood Network for more information.
7. May 5 & 6, 2008. Climate Change and Land Use Conference: Global warming impacts on land use planning and project approvals. Tarrytown , NY . INTENDED AUDIENCE: Attorneys, local government officials, planners, engineers, consultants and developers. ABOUT THE CONFERENCE: For this first-of-its kind conference, we have assembled experts from early adopter jurisdictions from across the nation to provide insights on successful regulatory programs, the appropriate scope of local review, and the best way for developers to respond to concerns leading to these new regulations. REGISTRATION: Register here or call 1-800-854-8009; or email registrar@lawseminars.com
8. Tuesday, May 6, 2008. – LICSN – 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. The Great Turning Video Presentation by David Korten & Discussion W. Islip Public Library

News

1. http://www.greenjobsconference.org/site/c.rvI3IiNWJqE/b.3820537/ Website for the Good Jobs, Green Jobs Conference that was held earlier this month in Pittsburgh , PA. Strategic partnership between the US Steelworkers and the Sierra Club.
2. Finance and Coal: Recently three of the nation’s largest investment banks – Citi, JP Morgan Chase and Morgan Stanley – announced that they will begin using new environmental principles when considering loans for proposed coal-fired power plants. The banks aren’t yet saying “no” to new coal power, but for the first time, some leading financial institutions are saying it’s time to at least examine the global warming implications of their investments. This is good news and a move in the right direction: there are over 100 coal plants proposed in 40 states right now, many of which will require loans from banks like these. We need to encourage the banks to continue to take bold steps for the climate and urge other investment banks and government lending agencies to adopt similar measures. Please click here to add your voice: http://www.climateprotect.org/bankpetition
3. Currently the Town of Huntington ‘s legal department is reviewing the US Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement (that IS the basis of the Cool Cities Initiative) and we are shooting for a big signing event sometime in late May. The Town of Huntington has joined ICELI, so they have the ICLEI software program, designed to track and assist in lowering their carbon footprint. By signing the Mayor’s Agreement, they set meaningful goals for reducing their carbon dioxide emissions, and the community supporters will be watching to ensure that they carry out their goals!

PLAN B 3.0 — MOBILIZING TO SAVE CIVILIZATION By Tim Montague. Have you ever wondered what it would actually take to transform our global economy into a much cleaner, greener and hopefully sustainable machine? Well, Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute has done the math and his new book, Plan B 3.0 — Mobilizing to Save Civilization is the result. Whatever your interest — addressing the needs of low-income people, improving human health, restoring ecosystems, fighting global warming, or reducing industrial contamination of our air, land and water — Plan B 3.0 will be a fountain of ideas and inspiration for your work.

5. New York City Job opening – http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/greendreamjobs.display/id/3044855
6. **** What is LI Green? **** LI Green is a newly formed not for profit organization that seeks to improve community conditions on Long Island through green energy economic development programs targeting the increase of energy efficiency, renewables and reduction of pollution. We are achieving this by going directly into Long Island communities and enacting change on large scale. At the same time educational programs are being created to build the skilled labor force necessary to meet this need. LI Green has projects operating at this time in Plainview , Baldwin, Stony Brook, Huntington and in the Hamptons with other communities planned. LI Green’s program targets making improvements in all LI residential structures to save energy and reduce pollution. Utilizing state of the art Home Performance Methodologies we can reduce energy consumption at least 25% in virtually every home in LI for an average investment of less than $5000 per home. LI Green is affiliated with the Advanced Energy Research Center at Stony Brook University and is housed in the Nassau Hall Technology Incubator on the Stony Brook Campus. Learn more about LI Green at www.ligreen.com .
7. New Report: Climate Change Threatens Transportation Havoc. By Randolph E. Schmid, AP, March 12, 2008. “Weather extremes brought on by global warming threatens increased havoc for all major forms of transportation in coming years, according to a report released Tuesday by the U.S. National Research Council. The report [free registration for PDF of 235 pp report] said the threat to road, rail, sea and air services will come from rising sea levels, increased rainfall and surges from more intense storms as a result of the global rise in temperature. Complicating matters, people continue to move into coastal areas, creating the need for more roads and services in the most vulnerable regions, the report noted… The report cites five major areas of growing threat: 1) More heat waves that will require load limits at hot-weather or high-altitude airports and cause thermal expansion of bridge joints as well as rail track deformities. 2) Rising sea levels and storm surges flooding coastal roadways, forcing evacuations, inundating airports and rail lines, flooding tunnels and eroding bridge bases. 3) More rainstorms, delaying air and ground traffic, flooding tunnels and railways, and eroding road, bridge and pipeline supports. 4) More frequent strong hurricanes, disrupting air and shipping service, blowing debris onto roads and damaging buildings. 5) Rising Arctic temperatures that will thaw permafrost, causing road, railway and airport runway subsidence and potential pipeline failures.”
8. Bus Ridership Surges. By Anne Paine, Nashville Tennessean, March 12, 2008. “Bus ridership in Nashville has jumped 45 percent in six years, and it is projected to keep growing. The change comes amid rising gas prices and traffic congestion, expanding public transit offerings and concerns about global warming… The trend in the popularity of mass transit is seen nationally, too, with public transportation use up 35 percent since 1995, according to the American Public Transportation Association.”
9. Growing Sustainable Biofuels: Common Sense on Biofuels – Part 1 Posted by Patrick Mazza on 03 March 08, 02:36 PM By Patrick Mazza Biofuels received a fresh surge of bad publicity with recent publication of two studies in Science that looked at the greenhouse gas releases caused by land use changes connected to biofuels production. The studies make complex and nuanced statements that were predictably mangled by the press, with headlines easily interpreted as a general condemnation of biofuels. Typical was the New York Times, “Biofuels Deemed a Greenhouse Threat,” The studies were creating new uncertainties even as Read more ð
10. San Francisco One Step Closer to Nation’s Greenest Building Code. By Cecilia Vega, San Francisco Chronicle, March 20, 2008. “San Francisco moved a step closer Wednesday to imposing the country’s most stringent green building codes, regulations that would require new large commercial buildings and residential high-rises to contain such environmentally friendly features as solar power, nontoxic paints and plumbing fixtures that decrease water usage. City officials estimate that by 2012, the new green building codes could reduce CO2 emissions by 60,000 tons and save 220,000 megawatt-hours of power and 100 million gallons of drinking water. The Building Inspection Commission… voted unanimously Wednesday to send the green building standards to the Board of Supervisors. If the supervisors approve the regulations, Mayor Gavin Newsom, who last year convened a task force to study and develop the proposals, has promised to sign them into law… While local builders initially would see the overall cost of their projects increase by as much as 5 percent as a result… they nonetheless applauded the stricter codes.”
11. Indigenous People Have Much to Teach About Low-Tech Coping. Independent Online, March 17, 2008. ” Honduras ‘ Quezungal farmers have an age-old trick to protect their crops from hurricanes — planting them under trees whose roots would anchor the soil, thereby holding the crops steady. Not just these farmers, but many indigenous people around the world are sitting on a treasure trove of traditional knowledge that could be mined as the world seeks adaptation strategies to deal with climate change, the International Union for Conservation of Nature said on Monday… ‘They are not just victims, because of their long dependence on nature they’ve developed strategies to cope with climate change and extreme natural events which still have as much relevance today as they did hundreds of years ago,’ said IUCN Director General Julia Marton-Lefevre. However, these populations are also the most vulnerable to climate change, and are seeing effects of climatic changes rendering unreliable the knowledge they have accumulated about the world… Urging more involvement of indigenous people in the climate change dialogue, McNeely said, ‘The people who are hardly being mentioned are the ones most likely to be heavily impacted’… In December, a group of indigenous people protested outside a [the climate] conference in Bali , Indonesia , saying that they have been excluded from key talks on the issue.”
12. McKibben Launches New Campaign. By Judy Fahys, Salt Lake Tribune, March 9, 2008. “Bill McKibben calls 350 the number that might define our future. When carbon dioxide exceeds 350 parts-per-million saturation in the atmosphere, then Earth’s climate may well be too unbalanced to continue sustaining life as we know it, says the renowned writer and activist. It’s also the focus of McKibben’s latest campaign to motivate people against climate change. He launched it Saturday [speaking at the University of Utah, Stegner Center] in Salt Lake City, with a campaign Web site at www.350.org. Someone in the last panel asked, ‘Do we need to go out into the streets?’The answer is ‘yes’… visibly, publicly, angrily, noisily.'”
13. Which Bulbs Will Light the Way? By Nancy Davis Kho, STChronicle, February 20, 2008. “With lighting in the spotlight, here’s a rundown on your energy-efficiency choices: Fluorescents… compact fluorescents… Halogens… Light-emitting diodes… Dimmers and sensors… Other options” Check the rundown for each and the resources listed at end of article.
14. Going Green for 80 Cents a Day in Australia. By Marian Wilkinson, Sydney Morning Herald, February 15, 2008. “For the cost of a daily local phone call, Australians could cut their greenhouse gas emissions to the same ambitious levels now being considered by the most advanced European countries, an economic study has found. The report by the management consultants McKinsey and Company, advisers to some of the world’s biggest corporations and institutions, says that by 2020 Australia could cut its greenhouse emissions to 30 per cent below 1990 levels for a cost of less than 80 cents a day for each household — or $290 per year. Over the same period household income is expected to rise by more than $20,000 per year. The cuts could be made without a big technological breakthrough or dramatic lifestyle changes, the report finds, and by 2030, emissions could be slashed up to 60 per cent. ‘This is not daydreaming. This is a fact-based analysis aimed at setting the goal posts,’ one of the report’s authors, Stephan Gorner, told the Herald. The report, An Australian Cost Curve for Greenhouse Gas Reduction [PDF, 28 pp], pre-empts the Federal Government’s own studies on the cost of cutting greenhouse gases by Ross Garnaut and the Treasury. Professor Garnaut is not due to release a draft of his report until June and yesterday the Treasurer, Wayne Swan, said his department’s modelling would not be available until then.”
15. YouTube Video Series Leads Global Warming Discussion. By Holly Van Woerkom, BYU Newsnet, February 19, 2008. “Exploding balloons and test tubes? Check. Average-looking guy with a funny hat? Check. Low-tech filming techniques? Check. These elements included in the… video How It All Ends [10 min] may have contributed to its extreme popularity among YouTube viewers. But unlike other YouTube sensations, which are typically anything but thought provoking, this is a video with a cause – its creator hopes to change public opinion on global climate change. Oregon high school teacher Greg Craven’s quest to spark discussion about global climate change began in August 2007, when he posted a video on YouTube.com called The Most Terrifying Video You’ll Ever See [9 1/2 sec] which quickly gained more than 3 million hits in its first six months. After thousands of comments and criticisms from viewers, Craven created the equally successful How It All Ends, part of a 44-part, six hour expansion pack, which he says ‘answers every single objection or question to my argument that I’ve come across to date.'”

 

Filed under: events, Global Warming, Long Island Politics, More Events Calendars, News Tagged: | beth fiteni, Climate Solutions, gordian raacke