Green Eye View

Earth Hour was observed worldwide at various locations.  How did it play out in New England?  What was the reaction locally?

Well, I did find that many government offices, businesses, and individuals pledged to observe it and participate in shutting off their lights for one hour on March 27th, 2010 starting at 8:30pm local time.  The NH and Maine State Houses were among them (see http://www.myearthhour.org/community/states/new-hampshire and http://www.myearthhour.org/news/article/03/26/2010/maine-state-house-going-green).  Towns like New London and businesses like Starwood Hotels also participated locally (see http://www.nl-nh.com/ and http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100325/GJBUSINESS_01/703259795/-1/FOSNEWS)

According to the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF), turning your lights out means you support climate change.  I found this isn’t necessarily true.   For example, one can be interested in conserving resources without subscribing to the idea anthropogenic (caused or produced by humans)  global warming.  There is a whole spectrum of conservationists and any combination of reasons why a person wants to conserve and to what degree.  I hope that naysayers realize that and understand that you can participate in conservation purely to save money, if that is your motivation, or you can do it to save the animals, the atmosphere, the future, etc.

In the spirit of good journalism, I will briefly mention a negative reaction to Earth Hour.  The NH Insider had an opposing view that people should leave their lights on to celebrate Human Achievement.  This was an interesting reaction because there are places where people cannot choose how they use their resources.  Everyone has a different point of view on why they should or should not participate in Earth Hour and I welcome them all and encourage peaceful debate.

In general, I am very grateful to have a designated time and date to have the lights turned out for an hour.  I believe in conserving energy and as an amateur astronomer, I think people in cities can benefit from seeing the night sky (many for the first time!).   Here are a couple of examples of astronomers taking advantage of the dark skies: In San Francisco, In Toronto.

If you would like to comment on whether your town or you as an individual participated or did not participate, I’d be interested in hearing from you!  Did it bother you that the lights were out or were you glad and why?

Whaleback Property Fundraising

This is an update to a previous post: Hopeful Conservation Land Purchase

I’m happy to say it’s almost the end of March and they are at $600,000 to make the purchase!  Looks like they made it!  Great Job!

More information at: http://www2.beaverbrook.org/Whaleback-Property.html

Last week, I wrote about the NH Town Meetings and this week, I’d like to share some results.  I may edit this blog post as the results trickle in.

Hopkington/Webster:

“Webster will likely start sending its trash to the North Country after residents voted yesterday to pull out of the Concord Regional Solid Waste/Resource Recovery Cooperative.The town meeting approved terms reached for Webster and Hopkinton to withdraw as members of the cooperative as of March 31, though their waste still can be handled by the group through April 30.Hopkinton also voted yesterday to withdraw from the cooperative. Hopkinton and Webster share a transfer station.” Read more in Concord Monitor

Londonderry:

“Article No. 15 Appropriation of Land Use Change Taxes to the Conservation Fund and General fund. (By Petition) 80% to General Fund, 20% to Conservation, now 100% to conservation Failed”

Hollis: Voted not to allow mulch and compost to be sold and stored at private businesses (Amendment 6). Read more at Hollis/Brookline Journal. Also…

“In another warrant article, voters said “yes” to cleaning up the weeds that cover Flints Pond, using $106,000 kept in a capital reserve fund for that purpose.  Budget Committee Chairman Christopher Hyde gave a detailed presentation about the shallow pond’s many problems – how it has been damaged by septic systems, dug wells, water fowl and poor outflow.  The plan to use some hydro raking, herbicides and divers to pluck new growth “is not a viable, sustainable plan,” he said, because the pond is too shallow, weeds will grow back and there will be “constant, expensive maintenance.” The town Conservation Commission also does not support the plan, but three representatives from the state Department of Environmental Services spoke in favor, saying hydro raking will remove floating islands of native plants and herbicides will reduce the milfoil.  “We want to give people access to the pond,” said Jody Connor of the DES. “It’s a public water body.”  Residents approved it with a show of cards.” Read more in Nashua Telegraph

Francestown: Streetlights were approved and they say they will be different from the originals…I hope fully-shielded to prevent light pollution which affects sleep cycles and energy efficiency. Read more at the Ledger Transcript

Hancock: Less money for the Conservation Commission due to rescinding a 2004 vote that put money into a fund from Land Use Change Taxes.  Read more at the Ledger Transcript

I will try to get details of the other town meetings mentioned in the previous post.  Certainly, I welcome your comments if you have more information on your town/city meeting conservation topics.

March is town meeting month in NH.  Here are some of the items up for decision:

Brookline: The [Brookline] School District is also hoping to save money through a lighting conservation project funded by federal stimulus money and Public Service of New Hampshire. The project promises to save the district up to $30,000 a year on electric bills. — Click to read article in Nashua Telegraph

Hollis: For roughly two decades, the town has eyed a cleanup of Flints Pond, a 49-acre body of water located north of the Nashua River not far from Route 130 and bordered by Flints Brook, Crestwood Drive and Nartoff Road.  Indeed, last year, town officials said it would take at least a year for them to make a decision, based on concerns ranging from cost and liability to environmental impact.  The Conservation Commission isn’t supporting the article, Chairman Tom Dufresne said, because the cleanup proposal doesn’t address the issue of prevention.  “It would need to be cleaned out every several years,” Dufresne said. “It’s throwing good money after bad.”  Meanwhile, the Flint Pond Improvement Association has launched a public information campaign on its Web site, www.flintspond.org.  The group maintains that the cleanup would benefit not only residents living near the pond, but also anyone inside or outside town looking for a place to go boating or fishing.  There is a state boat launch on the pond.  Presently, the pond is plagued with milfoil, an invasive weed affecting many bodies of water across the region and state. — Click to read more in Hollis/Brookline Journal

Deering: As town meetings approach, it’s sludge slinging season again. Some longtime vocal opponents to the use of biosolids -treated sewage sludge – are once again expressing concern about the practice, including in a Feb. 22 letter to the Monitor, “Deering, Belmont should ban sludge.”  It’s easy to raise concerns. Sewage is not something we like to think about. The fact that it is converted into useful products – reclaimed water that flows into rivers and biosolids that are used on land – can easily be made to sound scary.  But careful consideration of the topic leads most people to agree with the findings of the National Academy of Sciences, the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, university researchers across the continent, the state Department of Environmental Services and every other state environmental agency, that biosolids use on soils, in accordance with regulations, presents negligible risk. — Clicke to read more in Concord Monitor (and a second article)

Merrimack: First, a note of recognition with the Merrimack Valley School District, which for four years has heated its high and middle schools with a wood-burning plant that was built specifically to heat the schools.  They had previously been heated by electricity, which made financial sense when they were built in the 1960s but not anymore, so when a major school renovation was okayed in 2006, they decided to built the associated wood-burning plant.  It was the first school system entirely in the state to do this – not counting the cross-state-border Hanover district – but the idea has been embraced since by districts covering Winnisquam, Pembroke and possibly Plymouth, which is voting on it at a town meeting.  — Click to read more in Concord Monitor

Hopkington and Webster: Hopkinton and Webster residents will be asked to foot the bill for a $350,000 community well after arsenic, lead and other toxic compounds have poisoned the water supply near their shared transfer station.  “The (Department of Environmental Services) is convinced that it is contamination from our landfill,” Clough said. “It is no longer debatable.” — Click here to read more in Concord Monitor

New London and Sunapee: Residents in New London and Sunapee will decide next month [March] whether to borrow $8 million to pay for upgrades to the Sunapee Wastewater Treatment Plant.  The plant, which was built in 1974 with a 20-year life expectancy, uses inefficient and deteriorating equipment, and “there have been some compliance discharge-permit violations,” said Neil Cheseldine, project manager at engineering firm Wright-Pierce, at a public hearing in New London last night.  “It’s hard to operate that plant successfully as it sits,” Cheseldine said. “It’ll get harder.” — Click here to read more in Concord Monitor

Please comment if I missed any other environment-related items up for vote!

March 9th and 10th town meeting times that I could find posted on the web:

• Southern NH – http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/town-meetings-2010/

Manchester, NH: The Log Home Show held at the Radisson in Manchester is one of our favorite home shows.  We have owned a log home for 10 years and love it.  This year the show shared some green concepts that made it very worthwhile to visit.  Our favorite builder Bob Tortorice, Building Alternatives, winner of HBRANH Builder of the Year 2009 and HBRANH 2009 Most Energy Efficient Design all three categories, gold/silver/bronze, now offers energy auditing services.  We jumped at the chance to hire him and have this done at our home for many reasons, such as understanding how tight our home is, where improvements or repairs can be made to save energy, what options there are to enhance our good energy practices.

Hybrid PV Thermal Roofing System

They taught us about a few new products that we are very interested in. Dawn Solar provides a new roofing system that can generate energy AND hot water while looking like normal metal roofing.  We aren’t looking to replace our roof anytime soon but we are looking at using it for a 3 season porch we might put in.  The concept is just so fresh and practical!  We’ll price it out and do a separate blog post on the findings.

We also learned about a product that eliminates the need for laundry detergent and hot water by treating the water with silver ions.  I haven’t reviewed this yet, so I’m not endorsing it, but it bears looking into since I have sensitive skin and have to buy hypoallergenic detergents and skin products all the time.  It’s called LaundryPure by Ecoquest.

Solar Store in Hollis

Did you know there was a Solar Store in Hollis?  Yes, it’s tucked back from the road in the Post Office building.  It’s called Nashua Energy Options, LLC.  While doing a web search on the name, I found there is a recent Hollis Brookline Journal article: http://www.cabinet.com/hollisbrooklinejournal/hollisnews/587296-308/nashua-energy-options-opening-in-hollis.html. Also, the Nashua Telegraph mentioned an event I’m sorry I missed: http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/595766-196/energy-company-to-host-hot-water-day.html.

I haven’t had the opportunity to visit it yet, because it’s hours of operation haven’t jived with my availability.  But I do intend to visit.  If you drop in, please let me know what you find inside.  I’m interested in residential solar products of all shapes and sizes and I hope that is what this store has to offer.

PS: There are other Solar Stores…see http://www.usasolarstore.com/solar/?page_id=9#New%20Hampshire and http://www.nhsolarstores.com/.

Whaleback Property may be largest land purchase in 35 years.

Hollis, NH:  I happened to pass this sign on my way through Hollis the other day and was curious what the Whaleback property was.

This website explains it very well: http://www2.beaverbrook.org/Whaleback-Property.html . In my opinion, the purchase of contiguous land for conservation is worthwhile.  I’m just not sure how  they can raise $200K by the end of March.  It’s possible that the land is at an all-time low price if the land market is mirroring the housing market.  It would make this purchase even more important to the taxpayers and donors since they would be getting more for their money.  Unfortunately, times are lean and digging deep into pockets for charity could be difficult.  Not to mention there is competition from fundraisers like Haiti relief.  But to end on a good note, charity starts at home, so those in Hollis and surrounding towns should consider this carefully if you are in favor of conservation!

I’m very excited about this blog because it is the first blog I’ve created that will hopefully be useful and productive in promoting conservation.  My goal is to be a portal to all the great resources and current news in New England about conservation and energy news.  I try to dip my toe in the stream of information and share what I’ve learned.  My posts will seek to provide unique content whenever possible, but don’t be surprised if you see lots of commentary about other web sites and new articles.  I welcome your conversation and comments.  You can reach me via twitter, via comments on this blog or via email greeneyeview [at] charter.net.