Who would have thought that Wearing Blue would turn out to be such a huge national event?  The interest in today’s Wear Blue for Oceans events is proliferating like so many amphipods. There are 13 “formal” events including the CLF and Ocean River Institute event in Cambridge. I’ll be with a hundred or so blue attired folks at Lafayette Park (in front of the White House) in Washington, DC. The public interest is coming from all over the country in about as many ways as people can express their love and desire for a healthy living ocean. One of my fave’s is the Beach Chair Scientist’s rendition of ”Love me Blue.” Meanwhile, friend and colleague Sarah Chasis of NRDC has this to say in the HuffingtonPost. And, the Wear Blue Facebook friends group is now over 1500 and Sherman’s Lagoon is Wearing Blue in about 200 papers nation-wide. This all came about in the last six weeks, which, I think, we can all admit is a pretty awesome effort.

What’s all the excitement about? The Obama Administration is leading on a issue that should have been addressed about, let’s say, 100 years ago by developing the country’s first ever national policy for how we protect and manage our coasts, oceans and Great Lakes. It is about time we address the stunning impacts of polluting, developing, overfishing, and drilling of our oceans in a more comprehensive fashion and stop pretending that the piecemeal approach is workable. The foundation of a strong National Ocean Policy needs to be the protection, restoration and maintenance of ocean and coastal ecosystems. We need real habitat protection for those special places in New England’s oceans. We need to give declining ocean wildlife species a better leg to stand on so they aren’t just treated as an afterthought. We are moving ahead in Massachusetts with better planning, ecosystem protection and facilitating clean, renewable energy. We can do that in the other coastal states. Wear your blue today, show you care and don’t stop there. Help use this opportunity of a lifetime to create the change we need for the next 100 years.

Happy Blue Year! With all the great progress we are making CLF is expecting 2010 to be one of the best years for America’s oceans and coasts yet. Earlier this week we declared a pretty major victory in Massachusetts with the completion of the much anticipated Mass Ocean Plan.  Not to be outdone, President Obama’s hardworking Ocean Policy Task Force is driving towards the finish line on the nation’s first ever comprehensive policy for oceans, coasts and Great Lakes. Part of the effort is to include a vital framework for coastal and marine spatial planning so we can finally stop managing our oceans with a single issue by issue approach. Poor management leads to more environmental impacts whether the cause is overfishing, drilling for oil, pollution or badly planned coastal development. 

One of the most stylish things you can do to kick off the Happy Blue Year is to be a part of Wear Blue for Oceans Day on next Wednesday, Jan. 13. Wear Blue Day is a fun way to show the Obama administration that we want a strong national ocean policy and they need to deliver on the full promise of protecting and restoring our oceans and coasts. You can join in a Wear Blue event like the CLF/Ocean River Institute event in Cambridge, Mass., you and some friends can Share Blue by creating your own event or you can join the fun by sending in a photo or video of You in Blue to the Wear Blue website. CLF and our colleagues will make sure that President Obama’s staff see the full spread.

Wear Blue on Wednesday, January 13th and show some love for New England’s oceans and coasts.

Yesterday the Commonwealth of Massachusetts released the final management for all of the state’s ocean waters. Despite centuries of land use planning experience in the US, this is the first time in history that a state has developed such a comprehensive approach to planning uses of the ocean. This is a true victory for our oceans and all who use them. Much congratulations to Gov. Patrick and the hard working people in the Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs who were working on the details through the holidays. Read the joint release CLF and Mass Audubon issued yesterday.

What does it mean for the economy? A study by the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management estimates the annual output of the state’s marine economy at $14.8 billion a year. The results of better planning will help facilitate more responsible use and enable a serious leap to development of clean, renewable energy that will add to the economy. For me, I like that we have a state plan that protects special places and ocean wildlife habitat (about two-thirds of the state’s waters are protected in one way or another) so that we can continue to enjoy the waters, beaches and bays for a few more generations. Let it be an example to all other states!

News flash:  The Vermont legislative committee reviewing the Douglas Administration’s 11th-hour proposal to open state parks, forests, and wildlife management and natural areas to ATV use voted unanimously to object to the rule.  The bi-partisan vote 7-0 signals major legislative concern about the policy change the agency is proposing–currently state lands are closed to ATVs except to enable handicap access in limited circumstances–and the manner in which the agency tried to make this change.

Though this vote presents a major potential obstacle to the Agency’s plan to open state lands to this high-risk, high-impact activity, I’ve written before on this blog about how the Agency could still choose to move forward despite the objection.  For the full story read my “Riding Roughshod Part 2” post or check out the press clips collected on CLF’s web site.

For now, the legislature has done the right thing by erecting a roadblock.  But Republican Governor Jim Douglas isn’t running for re-election.  ATVers have been a loyal constituency for this governor and he’ll stop at nothing to repay that loyalty, the rule of law and public opinion be-damned.  Whether the Douglas Administration and the leaders at ANR decide to ride roughshod over the Committee objection remains to be seen. 

CLF is working hard to protect Vermont's sensitive public lands from this kind of abuse

For those of us concerned about negative impacts of ATV use in Vermont including but not limited to:

•  increased air, noise, and water pollution
•  threats to wildlife (both game species and rare, threatened and endangered species) and wildlife habitat
• the spread of invasive plants as the forest is disturbed to cut new trails
• added public safety risks
• conflicts between motorized and nonmotorized users
• rampant and destructive illegal off-trail riding
• overburdening of a state agency that has been devastated by budget cuts and cannot fulfill all of its basic land management dutie even without the added responsibility of montioring construction, maintenance, and enforcement around a new motorized trail network

now is the time to ask the full legislature to make a stand on this important issue.  For more information on how you can help, please contact CLF’s Vermont office!

If you’re like me, you’re genuinely afraid of the global-warming future we’re facing if humankind doesn’t get serious about reducing greenhouse gas emissions A WHOLE LOT AND REAL FAST.

Like Al Gore and spiritual leaders from many faiths, you and me understand that global warming is a moral issue.  We also understand that unchecked global warming will wreak (and is wreaking) havoc with almost all facets of our economy ranging from food supply to the insurance industry (and we’ve already seen with AIG how human decisions affecting the insurance industry ripple throughout the entire economy).  If all that wasn’t bad enough, scientists have also predicted that continued rises in greenhouse gas emissions will deepen (and in some cases already is deepening) other existing ecological crises like water pollution,  ocean acidification, and species extinction.

So like me, I am sure you want to do every thing you can in your personal life and your civic life as a voter in the U.S.–the second largest overall greenhouse gas polluter in the world–to shrink the world’s carbon footprint.  You’ve done all the easy stuff–tires are pumped up, light bulbs are switched.  And you’ve done the smart thing by joining CLF, supporting our work on climate change solutions like energy efficiency, renewable energy, clean cars, and public transportation.

Now there’s another thing you can do to reduce greenhouse gas pollution.  It’s something many of us have been meaning to do for years: LOSE WEIGHT.

That’s right, by finally shedding our unwanted pounds we could be contributing to carbon emissions cuts too.  According to the International Journal of Epidemiology, 2009, the world could save 1.1 Billion Tonnes in carbon emissions from transportation sources and from industrial food-production if a population of 1 Billion people went from being obese to being lean.  The study authors reason that the more weight a car or plane has to carry, the more fossil fuel it has to burn to get us where we are going.  In addition, the authors indicate that obese people need more food energy to make it through the day.  That’s more food we have to grow and transport to market referred to by one author as “the oil we eat.”

1.1 billion tonnes of carbon emissions is nothing to scoff at.  According to an EPA website: “[C]arbon dioxide emissions from oil combustion jumped 1.1 billion metric tons between 1960 and 2001, accounting for 40% of the total increase in U.S. carbon emissions. The transportation sector primarily drove this increase. Carbon dioxide emissions from coal also climbed 1.1 billion metric tons between 1960 and 2001, accounting for another 40% of the total increase in U.S. carbon emissions. Increased electricity generation from coal-fired power plants primarily fueled this rapid growth.”

The Journal of Epidemiology study thus provides us with yet another compelling reason to reform our big industrial food complex and the bad eating habits it’s fostered in America and other wealthy nations.  As Michael Pollan has observed : “Cheap food is going to be popular as long as the social and environmental costs of that food are charged to the future.”  Now we’ve got even more evidence that increased global warming pollution is among the many social and environmental costs we are charging to the future by fattening ourselves up.

This gives a whole new meaning to the term “Low carbon diet.”

Could a little paint and elbow grease fix this baby right up and get it ready for the coast of Florida?

Looking for the perfect holiday gift for the special do-it-yourselfer roughneck in your life? Here is a rare deal for you. Now that the Montara drilling platform in the remote Timor Sea is just a smoldering wreck its likely to be on the market soon at bargain prices. They say it couldn’t fail, but this low mileage, state-of-the-art, everything but fire-proof deep sea drill rig set the international oil cartels abuzz with its flamboyant four day blaze that rendered the quarter-billion dollar roman candle into an island of charred and twisted metal. In fact, everyone but the American media seemed to follow the story of the three month long oil spill that preceded the grand finale inferno. 

Actually, I don’t know what the future holds for the Montara rig (also referred to as “West Atlas” in some reports) but there has to be a few options that are better than spending more millions to put it back into the drilling business. How about using it as a movie set for the next dozen apocalyptic action thrillers? What about doing something useful such as recycling the rig into wind turbines? Or, is that too practical? Yeah, probably.

 Well, maybe it could be designated as a “Monument to Hubris and Stupidity” and at least pulled out of the water to rust away on shore.

When headlines in your local media regularly highlight mishaps at the old and infirm nuke plant in your neighborhood, you’d probably start to wonder whether it makes sense to keep feeding it fissile fuel for another twenty years.  That’s what we’re pondering here in Vermont, where Entergy Nuclear’s “Vermont Yankee” seems to be in the news–and lampooned in editorial cartoons–every other week.  Exhibit A:

Credit: Tim Newcomb http://www.newcombstudios.com/cartoons.html

Just two weeks ago, in a story headlined “Yankee Plant’s Reliability Questioned” Vermont Public Radio reported that Yankee’s owners failed to disclose the fact that the plant has storm drains that flow to the Connecticut River and have been contaminated with radioactive Cobalt-60.  Apparently, only “minute particles” of the raidoisotope have been found in the river sediments (thank goodness!) and the problem that led to the contamination was supposedly fixed years ago.  Nonetheless, Entergy Nuclear’s failure to tell the nuclear engineer hired by the Vermont Legislature to monitor Yankee’s operation about the problem doesn’t inspire great confidence.

Trying to keep up with all of Yankee’s well-publicized mishaps is no easy task.  Your friends at CLF have tried to make it easier for you with our new fact sheet “30 Big Mistakes (and counting): VERMONT YANKEE IS YANKING YOUR CHAIN.” You can get a copy by clicking here.

For those of you who’ve been keeping score already and who know that giving the operators of this plant another twenty years would be a big mistake on Vermont’s part, please take action!  You can tell the Vermont Public Service Board you don’t want another twenty years of having Vermont’s chain yanked by Yankee’s owners by clicking here or you can print out a copy of the “30 Big Mistakes” and send it to your Vermont state legislator.

You’re invited to Next Steps for Salem: Working Towards a Cleaner Future.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Reception: 5:30pm / Presentation: 6:15pm
Salem Visitor Center
2 New Liberty Street
Salem, MA

Salem Harbor Station is close to a tipping point. The owner, Dominion, now faces at least three major obstacles to continuing the plant’s operation:

1. ISO-NE, the system operator for the New England power grid, has recently determined that no more than two of the four units at the facility are still needed for reliability – and some key stakeholders question whether even those two units are needed.
2. The two decade-old permit required for the plant’s water cooling system is long overdue for renewal, and any new permit should require the plant to retrofit with cooling towers to minimize environmental impacts and meet the stringent demands of the Clean Water Act.
3. And this is something that you have all witnessed – the plant has continued to violate emissions standards and blanket your homes and cars and property with black soot.
4. This convergence of events offers an opportunity to move Salem and the surrounding areas beyond the era of coal by closing down this dinosaur of a plant.

You can help to push Salem Harbor Station past the tipping point and into retirement. Come hear about how the Conservation Law Foundation is working to shut down Salem Harbor Station at Next Steps for Salem: Working Towards a Cleaner Future.

With your vigilance, your voices, and your support, we can work together to provide a cleaner and safer Salem. This event is complimentary, but please RSVP to events@clf.org by October 30th.

Conservation Law Foundation invites you to follow us on Twitter. We’ll keep you updated with current events, breaking news, announcements, blog posts and action alerts. Click here to follow us!

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Thank you for being an active participant in this exciting movement!