HOW THE STATES RANK IN THE FACE OF CLIMATE CHANGE SCALE OF 1 (BEST) TO 10 (WORST)
GROUP 1
Montana
+ Adequate water
++ Temperate climate
+++ Good farmland/growing season
b.Hydrofracking in northwestern and northeastern part of state
Idaho
+ Adequate water
++ Temperate climate
+++ Good farmland/growing season
e. Moderate fault line risk
f . Some high unemployment in upper part of state
North Dakota
+ Adequate water
++ Temperate climate
+++ Good farmland/growing season
b. Hydrofracking in eastern half of state
d. Some tornado activity in southeastern part of state
South Dakota
+ Adequate water
++ Temperate climate
+++ Good farmland/growing season
b. Hydrofracking in northwestern corner of stte d. Tornado activity in eastern half of state
Oregon
+ Adequate water
++ Temperate climate
+++ Good farmland/growing season e. Fault lines
h. Possible flooding near the coast g. High foreclosure rate
Washington
+ Adequate water
++ Temperate climate
+++ Good farmland/growing season
a. Nuclear plant in southeastern WA, 20 mi. NNE of Pasco e. Fault lines
h. Possible flooding near the coast
California – Northern:
+ Adequate water
++ Temperate climate
+++ Good farmland/growing season e. Fault lines
f. Some high unemployment
h. Possible flooding near the coast
Northern Minnesota
+ Adequate water
++ Temperate climate
+++ Good farmland/growing season
Alaska — Central
+ Adequate water
++ Potential of temperate climate
+++ Good farmland
GROUP 2
Maine
+ Adequate water
++ Temperate climate
+++ Good farmland/growing season f. Some high unemployment
h. Possible flooding near the coast
Vermont
+ Adequate water
++ Temperate climate
+++ Good farmland/growing season
a. Nuclear plant in southeaster corner of the state, 5 mi. south of Brattleboro h. Possible flooding near the coast
New Hampshire
+ Adequate water
++ Temperate climate
+++ Good farmland/growing season
a. Nuclear plant 13 mi. south of Portsmouth h. Possible flooding near the coast
Alaska — Peripheral
+ Adequate water
++ Potential of temperate climate +++ Good farmland
e. Fault lines
f. unemployment
Massachusetts
+ Adequate water
++ Temperate climate
+++ Good farmland/growing season a. Nuclear plant 38 mi. SE of Boston d. Increasing tornado frequency
h. Possible coastal flooding
j. Likely to declare bankruptcy
GROUP 3
Wyoming
+ Adequate water
++ Temperate climate
+++ Good farmland/growing season
b. Hydrofracking in southwestern quarter of state
New York – Northern
+ Adequate water
+++ Good farmland/growing season b. Some high unemployment
GROUP 4
Iowa
++ Temperate climate
+++ Good farmland/growing season
a. Nuclear plant 8 mi NW of Cedar Rapids Minnesota
+ Adequate water
+++ Good farmland/growing season
a. Nuclear plant 35 mi. NW of Minneapolis d. Tornados in southern third of state
h. Flooding near the Mississippi
Wisconsin
+ Adequate water
+++ Good farmland/growing season
a. Nuclear plant 27 mi ESE of Green Bay b. Hydrofracking in eastern part of state d. Tornados throughout most of the state h. Some flooding
Rhode Island
h. Possible significant coastal flooding j. Likely to declare bankruptcy
North Carolina
++ Temperate climate
+++ Good farmland/growing season
a. Nuclear plant (2) 40 mi. south of Wilmington a. Nuclear plant 18 mi. south of Charlotte
a. Nuclear plant (2) 17 mi. north of Charlotte
c. Drought
h. Possible coastal flooding
f. Some high unemployment
GROUP 5
Texas – Northeastern
+ Adequate water
+++ Good farmland/growing season
a. Nuclear plant 40 mi SW of Ft. Worth Nebraska
+ Adequate water
++ Temperate climate
+++ Good farmland/growing season
a. Nuclear plant 22 mi S of Nebraska City
b. Hydrofracking in eastern and western part of state d. Tornados frequent throughout state
e. Fault lines
Indiana
+ Adequate water
++ Temperate climate
+++ Good farmland/growing season
b. Hydrofracking in all but the eastern border d. High tornado frequency
f. Some high unemployment
Colorado
++ Temperate climate
+++ Good farmland/growing season
b. Hydrofracking in eastern and western part of state
d. Drought – less snow in the mountains, water running out g. High foreclosure rate
GROUP 6
Arkansas
- Nuclear plant (2) 6 mi WNW of Russellville
- Some hydrodracking
- Drought in southern part of the state
- High frequency of tornados
- Fault lines
Ohio
+ Adequate water
++ Temperate climate
+++ Good farmland/growing season
a. Nuclear plant 35 mi NE of Cleveland
b. Hydrofracking in more than half of the state d. Tornado frequency
f. High unemployment
Kansas
a. Nuclear plant 3.5 mi W of Burlington b. Hydrofracking in eastern part of state c. Drought in southern part of state
d. Tornado frequency throughout state
Missouri
a. Nuclear plant 25 mi NE of Jefferson City b. Hydrofracking in the northwest
d. Tornado frequency around margin of state f. Some high unemployment
Hawaii
++ Temperate climate
+++ Good farmland/growing season c. Drought/dry conditions
e. Fault lines/Volcano
f. High unemployment
h. Likelihood of flooding
j. Likely to declare bankruptcy
GROUP 7
Virginia
++ Temperate climate
+++ Good farmland/growing season
a. Nuclear plant (2) 40 mi NW of Richmond
a. Nuclear plant (2) 17 mi NW of Newport News b. Hydrofracking along West Virginia border
h. Possible coastal flooding
South Carolina
++ Temperate climate
+++ Good farmland/growing season
a. Nuclear plant 26 mi. northwest of Columbia c. Drought
e. Fault lines
h. Possible coastal flooding
f, High unemployment
Maryland
++ Temperate climate
+++ Good farmland/growing season
a. Nuclear plant (2) 40 mi S of Annapolis c. Dry conditions
h. Possible coastal flooding
Delaware
++ Temperate climate
+++ Good farmland/growing season
a. Nuclear plant (2) 18 mi S of Wilmington b. Possible coastal flooding
c. Dry conditions
Tennessee
+ Adequate water
++ Temperate climate
+++ Good farmland/growing season
a. Nuclear plant (2) 16 mi NE of Chattanooga a. Nuclear plant 60 mi SW of Knoxville
b. Hydrofracking in eastern part of state
d. Tornados frequent throughout state
e. Fault lines
f. High unemployment
Kentucky
+ Adequate water
++ Temperate climate
+++ Good farmland/growing season
b. Hydrofrackiing in most of state
d. Tornados frequent in western part of state e. Fault lines
f. High unemployment
GROUP 8
New Jersey
+ Adequate water
++ Temperate climate
+++ Good farmland/growing season
a. Nuclear plant 9 mi W of Toms River
f. Areas of high unemployment
h. Possible coastal flooding – beach is eroding j. Likely to declare bankruptcy
Connecticut
+ Adequate water
++ Temperate climate
+++ Good farmland/growing season
a. Nuclear plant (2) 3.2 mi WSW of New London d. Tornados in eastern part of state
j. Likely to declare bankruptcy
h. Possible coastal flooding
k. Air pollution
l. High infectious disease – tick and vector-borne
Pennsylvania
+ Adequate water
++ Temperate climate
+++ Good farmland/growing season
a, Nuclear plant (2) 17 mi. W of McCandless a. Nuclear plant (2) 21 mi NW of Philadelphia a. Nuclear plant (2) 18 mi. S of Lancaster
a. Nuclear plant (2) 70 mi NE of Harrisburg
- Nuclear plant (Three Mile Island) 10 mi SE of Harrisburg
- Hydrofracking except for eastern 1/8th of the state
d. Tornado frequency in western half of state f. Many areas of high unemployment
h. Possible coastal flooding
k. Air pollution
Michigan
+ Adequate water
++ Temperate climate
+++ Good farmland/growing season
a. Nuclear plant (2) 13 mi S of Benton Harbor a. Nuclear plant 5 mi S of South Haven
b. Hydrofracking throughout the entire state d. Tornado frequency
f. Very high unemployment
g. High foreclosure rate
Illinois
+ Adequate water
++ Temperate climate
+++ Good farmland/growing season
a. Nuclear plant (2) 20 mi SSW of Joliet
a. Nuclear plant (2) 25mi SW of Joliet
a. Nuclear plant (2) 17 mi SW of Rockford
a. Nuclear plant (2) 20 mi NE of Moline
a. Nuclear plant (2) 11 mi SE of Ottawa
b. Hydrofracking in all but the Western border d. High tornado frequency
f. High unemployment
j. Likely to declare bankruptcy
k. Air pollution
West Virginia
+ Adequate water
++ Temperate climate
+++ Good farmland/growing season
b. Hydrofracking throughout entire state (also coal mining) f. Areas of high unemployment
m. Mining
Georgia
a. Nuclear plant (2) 20 mi S of Vidalia
a. Nuclear plant (2) 26 mi SE of Augusta
b. Hydrofracking in upper west corner of state c. Drought
d. Tornado frequency throughout state
g. High foreclosure rate
h. Coastal flooding
GROUP 9
Southern New York
+ Adequate water
++ Temperate climate
+++ Good farmland/growing season
a. Nuclear plant (2) 6 mi NE of Oswego
a. Nuclear plant 6 mi NE of Oswego
a. Nuclear plant 20 mi NE of Rochester
a. Nuclear plant 24 mi N of New York City
b. Hydrofracking throughout all except northern NY
d. Some tornado frequency in southeastern portion of NY e. Fault lines
h. Likelihood of coastal flooding
k. Air pollution
Most of Texas
a. Nuclear plant (2) 90 mi SW of Houston
b. Hydrofracking throughout the state
c. Extreme drought
d. Tornados frequent in northern and eastern part of TX i. High temperatures
Utah
b. Hydrofracking in eastern part of state c. Drought
e. Fault lines
i. High temperatures
Alabama
a. Nuclear plant (3) 32 mi W of Huntsville a. Nuclear plant (2) 18 mi SE of Dothan
b. Hydrofracking in northern half of state c. Severe drought in southern half of state d. Tornados frequent throughout state
f. High unemployment
h. Coastal flooding
i. High temperatures
k. Coast destroyed from BP Gulf oil spill
Nevada
c. Drought
e. Fault lines
f. High unemployment in the southern part of the state i. High temperatures
Oklahoma
b. Some hydrofracking
c. Extreme drought
i. High temperatures New Mexico
b. Hydrofracking in northwestern and southeastern parts of state c. Drought
e. Fault lines
i. High temperatures
GROUP 10
Lousiana
a. Nuclear plant 24 mi NNW of Baton Rouge
a. Nuclear plant 24 mi W of New Orleans
b. Hydrofracking in northern half of state
c. Severe drought
d. Tornados frequent in northern half of state
h. Coastal flooding
I. High temperatures
j. Likely to declare bankruptcy
k. Air pollution/coastal pollution from BP Gulf oil spill
Arizona
a. Nuclear plant (3) 50 mi W of Phoenix c. Drought
e. Fault lines
f. High unemployment
i. High temperatures
Mississippi
a. Nuclear plant 20 mi S of Vicksburg
b. Hydrofracking in southern and northeastern parts of state c. Severe drought in southern part of state
d. Tornados frequent throughout state
f. High unemployment
h. Coastal flooding
i. High temperatures
k. Air pollution/coastal pollution from BP Gulf oil spill
Florida
a. Nuclear plant (2) 20 mi S of Miami
a. Nuclear plant (2) 10 mi SE of Ft. Pierce
a. Nuclear plant 80 mi N of Tampa
c. Severe drought throughout the state
d. Tornados in southwestern part of state
f. High unemployment
g. High foreclosure rate
h. Coastal flooding
i. High temperataures
k. Western coast damaged from BP gulf oil spill
Southern Calfornia
a. Nuclear plant (2) 12 mi WSW of San Louis Obispo a. Nuclear plant (2) 45 mi SE of Long Beach
c. Drought
e. Fault lines
f. High unemployment
h. Coastal flooding
g. High foreclosure rates
OTHER COUNTRIES AND REGIONS WITH A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
BEST – GREEN
FINLAND
SWEDEN
NORWAY
DENMARK
ICELAND
NEW ZEALAND
NORTHERN CANADA
SOUTHERN TIP OF SOUTH AMERICA SCOTLAND
GOOD – YELLOW
EASTERN AND CENTRAL CANADA GERMANY
SWITZERLAND
POLAND
COSTA RICA BOLIVIA
SURINAME
CHILE
ARGENTINA
PERU
URUGUAY
BRAZIL
NORTHERN CHINA TIBETAN PLATEAU CENTRAL RUSSIA CENTRAL AUSTRALIA
FAIR – ORANGE
AUSTRALIA
WESTERN EUROPE
REST OF UK
SOUTHWESTERN SOUTH KOREA CENTRAL SOUTH CHINA SOUTHWESTERN AFRICA
WORST – RED
MOST REMAINING COUNTRIES HAVE EXTREME BARRIERS TO SUSTAINABILITY
Brooklyn Bridge Park Receives Solar Powered Charging Station to Power Electric Vehicles
March 15, 2011 / Beautiful Earth Group
For immediate release: March 15, 2011
Contact: Amanda Cleary, acleary@beautifulearthgroup.com, 718-488-8426
BROOKLYN BRIDGE PARK RECEIVES SOLAR-POWERED CHARGING STATION TO POWER ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Beautiful Earth Group’s charging station is first of its kind in New York City
BROOKLYN, NY – Brooklyn Bridge Park and Beautiful Earth Group (BE), a Brooklyn-based renewable energy company, announced today the arrival of a state-of-the-art solar-powered electric vehicle charging station to Brooklyn Bridge Park – a world-class 85-acre sustainable waterfront park with iconic views of the New York Harbor and Manhattan skyline.
Designed and built by BE, the station is the first solar-powered charging station in New York City and one of only a few in the world. Brooklyn Bridge Park will use the donated station to charge its electric service vehicles (EVs) using only the power of the sun. This project greatly enhances the Park’s already impressive sustainability efforts, which include the reuse of materials from demolished buildings, use of native plant species, reintroduction of marine habitats and management of rainwater and runoff.
Using solar power to operate its EVs will yield significant cost savings for Brooklyn Bridge Park – more than $200,000 in gasoline costs, and tens of thousands of dollars in electricity costs, over the 25-year lifetime of the project. More than 530 tons of CO2 would have been emitted during this period had the Park chosen to use traditional service vehicles.
“On behalf of Brooklyn Bridge Park, I thank Beautiful Earth for the gift of this pioneering solar-powered charging station for the park’s fleet of electric vehicles,” said President of Brooklyn Bridge Park Regina Myer. “Brooklyn Bridge Park is New York’s premiere sustainably-built and operated public park and the charging station furthers our mission to honor the environment and conserve resources. We are thrilled to partner with one of Brooklyn’s most innovative technology companies and to help demonstrate the future of renewable energy.”
“There are ambitious emissions reductions goals in PlaNYC, our long-term vision for a greener, greater New York,” said David Bragdon, Director of the Mayor Bloomberg’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability. “The Beautiful Earth charging station at Brooklyn Bridge Park and other steps we have taken to green our fleet of vehicles will help us meet our goal and set an example for the thousands of visitors that will enter the park and see the charging station.”
Constructed with two upcycled, decommissioned steel shipping containers stacked on top of each other, BE’s charging station is off-grid, entirely powered by 24 photovoltaic panels on the roof, which catch the sun’s rays throughout the day and store them as electricity in battery packs for 24/7, on-demand use. With production of 5.6 kilowatts, the station also stores enough energy to power a small home and can charge five electric service vehicles and a full-size electric car as they come and go.
“We are honored to contribute to the sustainability of this 21st century park, one in which an underused stretch of waterfront has been majestically transformed and opened to the public in an environmentally-sensitive way,” said Beautiful Earth Group President and CEO Lex Heslin. “We look forward to a long, fruitful and emissions- free collaboration.”
BE originally operated its solar-powered EV charging station on an industrial lot in Red Hook before donating it to Brooklyn Bridge Park. To build the station, BE purchased photovoltaic panels made at a Sharp Electronics plant in Tennessee; a racking system from Unirac in New Mexico; recycled containers from a local New York vendor; batteries, which are 97 percent recyclable, from the Trojan Battery Company in Georgia; inverters from OutBack Power Systems in Washington; and the solar array’s frame from U.S. Fence Systems in Brooklyn.
An additional benefit of the charging station is that it is modular – it can be deconstructed, moved and reassembled in less than a day – and it serves as a model for other parks and small businesses looking to use clean energy for their vehicles. The charging station is scheduled to become part of a larger New York Center for Sustainable Energy that will be built and unveiled in the Park this spring.
BE supports the use of electric vehicles as a crucial step toward long-term sustainability in transportation and as an innovative solution that will contribute to New York’s PlaNYC initiative, which seeks a 30 percent reduction in the City’s carbon emissions by 2030.
BE broke ground in December 2010 on two 19 MW photovoltaic (PV) electricity generating plants in Southern California. With a total project cost of approximately $170 million, BE’s Del Sur I and II projects located in Lancaster, CA will supply electricity to over 8,000 homes in the area. BE is also investing extensively in EV charging stations and other “cleantech” projects and services throughout the United States and Asia. The company has plans to develop an Asian headquarters (HQ), most likely in Japan, to serve its submarkets and the growing demand in that region, as well as its partners and affiliates, such as Beautiful China GroupTM.
Beautiful Earth Group (BE; www.beautifulearthgroup.com), a Brooklyn-based sustainable energy company founded in 2008, develops, owns and operates utility-scale solar power and wind power generating facilities, as well as EV charging infrastructure. BE invests exclusively in non-carbon emitting electricity generation and seeks to promote long-term green solutions towards a goal of sustainability.
Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation, known as Brooklyn Bridge Park, is the not-for-profit entity responsible for the planning, construction, maintenance and operation of Brooklyn Bridge Park, an 85-acre sustainable waterfront park stretching 1.3 miles along Brooklyn’s East River shoreline.
Brooklyn Bridge Park is one of the nine waterfront destinations that comprise NYHarborWay, an initiative of the Bloomberg Administration to make the New York Harbor a major recreational destination for New Yorkers and visitors. Spearheaded by NYC & Company, the initiative eventually will connect the nine major waterfront points of interest by ferry or bike greenways. In addition, NYHarborWay will develop a cohesive programming, marketing and communications platform which will drive visitation to the nine waterfront sites. In addition to Brooklyn Bridge Park, the destinations are Governors Island, Hudson River Park, The Battery, Ellis Island, Liberty Island, Atlantic Basin, East River Esplanade and Liberty State Park.
Connecticut Passes America’s First Full ‘Green Bank,’ Proving Clean Energy is a Bipartisan Issue
By Stephen Lacey on Jun 9, 2011 at 10:02 am
Clean energy advocates have been pushing the U.S. Congress to pass the Clean Energy Development Administration (CEDA). CEDA would act as a “green bank” to help provide financing for clean energy companies that may face barriers in funding innovative technologies or first-of-a-kind projects. This program would be instrumental in helping drive down the cost of technologies and the cost of financing — all while driving up the value for American consumers and businesses.
CAP’s Bracken Hendricks and Lisbeth Kaufman report on Connecticut’s effort to lead the way on clean energy financing.
This week, Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy signed into law the nation’s largest “Green Bank” program. (AP Photo/Fred Beckham)
While Gov. Christie works to dismantle clean energy in New Jersey, his neighbor, Connecticut Gov. Malloy just signed a major energy law comprising a broad-based clean energy and economic development program. The Law, SB1243, passed unanimously with bi-partisan support, will reform Connecticut’s energy system to cut costs for consumers and transition to cleaner energy. With a 36-0 vote in the Senate and a 139-8 vote in the House, Gov. Malloy and the Connecticut Legislators demonstrated that clean energy can gain solid bi-partisan support:
House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero Jr., R-Norwalk, said in a partisan year, the energy bill “was a refreshing respite. It was a classic example of what you can do when you sit down with people on all sides of an issue.”
The law will combine the former Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) with the former Public Utility Control to create a Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) that will oversee the energy system reform. DEEP will be run by the current DEP commissioner, Dan Esty, who is also an environmental Professor, Lawyer and Policy maker from Yale, and author of the prize-winning book “Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage. ” Esty, who spoke about the need for comprehensive energy policy at a CAP-hosted conference in November, was a major architect of the bill.
One of the Republican legislators’ most favored provisions in the law is the Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority (CEFIA), the nation’s first full-scale Green Bank. The proposal comes with a low price tag for taxpayers because it repurposes an existing fund within the state, with which the CEFIA will leverage much larger amounts of private capital. It will take over the current Clean Energy Fund to drive investment and get major new clean energy projects built in Connecticut.
The CEFIA is essentially a state version of the Energy Independence Trust (EIT), which the Center for American Progress first proposed last year with the Coalition for Green Capital in a paper Cutting the Cost of Clean Energy.
The CEFIA is a huge step forward for Connecticut, but it is also an important example for the nation by demonstrating how to cut the cost of investment in renewables and energy efficiency. By providing low-cost financing specifically for clean energy projects, the CEFIA will incentivize new job creating investments in projects, even as it lowers the price of clean and sustainable electricity. By helping bring the industry to scale, and drive new technology “down the cost curve,” Connecticut is helping consumers everywhere.
As more renewable energy is deployed and new energy efficient products come to market, companies will
take advantage of economies of scale to decrease the costs of building projects, reaping real benefits for consumers. The CEFIA can serve as a prototype for other State Green Banks, and for federal policy like the Clean Energy Deployment Administration proposed in the Senate to commercialize new technologies and the Energy Independence Trust which will help those technologies reach the market at scale.
Though the U.S. invented and improved many of the clean energy technologies used today, in recent years we have fallen behind in the clean energy race. It’s not that clean energy is scarce, expensive, or bad for business, as opponents would have you believe. Rather, a lack of comprehensive energy policy combined with outdated subsidies for fossil fuels, has created an unfriendly investment environment for clean energy.
The U.S. needs smart policies, like Connecticut’s new Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority, to harness our clean energy potential and further drive down the price of clean energy. Gov. Malloy and the bi- partisan work of the Connecticut legislature have made a major advance in U.S. clean energy policy. The Center for American Progress salutes their leadership. Other states would do well to follow their example.
— Bracken Hendricks and Lisbeth Kaufman
June 9, 2011
Hi All,
The Hell’s Kitchen Farm Project is breaking ground on a rooftop farm and we need you to make this grassroot project possible! On Thursday, June 16th from 9am to 3pm we will be creating a bucket brigade of volunteers to get the soil to the roof! Our rooftop farm will provide much-needed fresh produce to food pantry customers in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood while also educating community members on urban agriculture and nutrition. This project is only possible with the work of volunteers! We will have a fun, strenuous day of volunteering and learning! Come prepared for a workout and dress appropriately for the weather! We recommend bringing work gloves, sunscreen, and water if you can (we will have some water on site). Lunch provided. Come to Metro Baptist Church, 410 West 40th Street at 9am! The church is located between 9th and 10th Avenues. We are conveniently located off the A/C/E trains at 42nd Street-Port Authority and within walking distance of the 1/2/3/N/Q/R/7 trains at 42nd Street-Times Square.
Those interested in volunteering should RSVP to Anthony Reuter at hellskitchenfarmproject@gmail.com (walk up volunteers still welcome!)
Anthony Reuter
Coordinator
Hell’s Kitchen Farm Project
(716) 759-HKFP hellskitchenfarmproject@gmail.com.
If you have any questions about this volunteer effort, please do not hesitate to contact me: Betty Mackintosh
212-243-2786
Massive Solar Flare Misses Earth, but Are We Ready for the Big One?
June 8, 2011 06:15pm EST
Although yesterday’s solar flare won’t seriously harm the Earth, the potential for an extreme event is on the rise. Is the world prepared?
By Peter Pachal
The Sun roared out a huge solar flare yesterday. NASA caught it on film, ranking the spectacular blast as a Class-M flare, just one spot below the the most disruptive type of flare, X. Even so, NASA says it will give Earth a mere “glancing blow,” and the National Weather Service expects it will cause only minor disruptions to satellites and power grids.
It could have been much worse. For centuries, solar flares have been responsible for a multitude of earth-bound calamities, from blackouts to disrupted communications to strange lights in the sky. In 1859, the biggest flare on record hit, creating auroras worldwide and interrupting telegraph service for weeks. Considering today’s connected world—and our reliance on satellites—a major solar storm could be disastrous.
The sun is entering a particularly active time, says NASA, and big flares like the one from yesterday will likely be common during the next few years, with solar activity expected to peak around 2013. Most solar flares will only cause minor problems with satellites and power grids, but there’s always a chance that a monster like the one from 1859 could hit.
“The worst-case scenario is an extreme event,” says Michael Hesse, chief of NASA’s Space Weather Laboratory at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. “If it were to happen and we don’t take any precautions, it would probably knock out our power grid for an extended period of time and destroy a sizable fraction of our satellite infrastructure.”
“This is not something we expect to happen tomorrow,” he cautions. “But it’s like the impact of a hurricane on a specific location. You don’t expect it to happen tomorrow, but you might want to think about if it were to happen.”
Anatomy of a Solar Flare
It helps to understand just what a solar flare is, and how it affects technology. The initial burst from the surface of the sun sends out massive amounts of electromagnetic radiation, particularly x-rays. These travel toward the earth at the speed of light and can cause some problems with communication, but they’re typically temporary and not that serious.
Depending on where the eruption is located on the sun, the flare also creates a huge amount of high-energy particles, which can achieve energies in the order of hundreds of millions of electron volts. That’s enough to be “very hazardous to spacecraft,” says Michael Hesse.
But that’s not the worst of it. A solar flare can also shoot out what’s called a “corona mass ejection,” a stream of particles that moves much slower than the speed of light but still with enough force to cause serious damage. Typically, this mass hits the earth about one to three days after the initial flare. How fast it gets here depends on the magnitude of the burst, and the faster it goes, the greater the danger. However, not all ejections actually hit the earth. Hesse estimates about one in ten flare ejections impact the earth. The ejection from yesterday’s flare will apparently miss.
If a corona ejection is powerful enough, and the earth is in its path, look out. Satellites are the most threatened, for obvious reasons, and a serious flare could damage or even destroy them, Hesse says. For regular people, that could mean no GPS, no satellite TV or radio, and disrupted communications for anything that relies on satellites as part of its network. The consequences to businesses can be even more severe, as satellites and GPS are intertwined with many other industries. For example, companies use GPS to time-stamp financial transactions.
“Satellites can get irradiated,” Hesse explains. “Radiation levels in the magnetosphere can increase substantially, and that can be harmful to satellites. GPS can be substantially affected. Devices will lose lock.”
The interaction between the corona ejection and the earth’s atmosphere and magnetic field is how solar flares affect the power grid. When those particles hit the ionosphere, they create a voltage between the atmosphere and the earth. As a result, power systems that use the earth as a grounding voltage (read: all of them) no longer work properly, which can disrupt power delivery to large areas.
Earth’s atmosphere and magnetic field shield the surface from any direct effects of a solar flare. Generally, terrestrial communication such as cell-phone networks (2G, 3G, and 4G), TV and radio broadcasting, and Wi-Fi aren’t affected much by solar storms, if at all. However, if the power grid goes down for extended periods, so too will wireless networks and cell-phone towers. And good luck switching on your TV or radio.
Preparing for the Worst
So how can we prepare for the very real possibility of “the big one”—a colossal solar storm hitting the earth in the next few years? Satellite owners (including the government) can do two things: first, they can harden their birds to be resistant to radiation, which can be expensive. Second, when data suggests a solar flare is about to strike, they can switch off as many systems as possible on the satellites, since typically they’re more likely to fail when energized.
Power plants have a much more troublesome dilemma in the event of a major storm. Faced with a potentially massive blackout that could last for days or weeks, they may need to contemplate a rolling, controlled blackout for the duration of a massive solar flare.
“A controlled blackout is much better than a power outage that takes weeks or months,” says Hesse. “If you know in advance, you can bring down the load. In the extreme case, it may be the lesser evil. Of course, a decision like that has to based on very, very solid evidence.”
The key to having that evidence is refined science in predicting solar flares. While progress is being made, Hesse says predictive models for space weather aren’t anywhere near the accuracy of those used for the terrestrial variety.
“I think the National Weather Service does a good job forecasting weather. Space weather is not a mature science. We actually have many things that we don’t really understand properly. We’re doing a pretty good job, but we need to do more to be able to really say with confidence, ‘Tomorrow at this time, it would be a good idea if this satellite system were turned off.'”
Solar Flare Sparks Biggest Eruption Ever Seen on Sun
Enormous ejection of particles into space shocks scientists Dave Mosher
National Geographic News
Published June 8, 2011
A mushroom of cooled plasma popped like a pimple and rained onto the surface of the sun yesterday—shooting perhaps the largest amount of solar material into space ever seen, scientists say.
The solar flare—an unusually bright spot on the sun—wasn’t surprising as a “moderate” event. Space observatories in the past year recorded about 70 such solar flares, each roughly ten times weaker than “extreme” flares, of which only two have occurred since 2007.
Instead, what shocked scientists was the unusual amount of material that lofted up, expanded, and fell back down over roughly half the surface area of the sun. The event’s simultaneous launch of particles into space is called a coronal mass ejection (CME).
“This totally caught us by surprise. There wasn’t much going on with this spot, but as it came from behind the sun, all of the sudden there was a flare and huge ejection of particles,” said astrophysicist Phillip Chamberlin of NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), one of several spacecraft that recorded the event.
“We’ve never seen a CME this enormous.” Solar Flares May Threaten Power Grids
Chamberlin said it will take some time to calculate the energy and mass of electrons and protons blasted into space. But he noted the volume occupied a space hundreds of times bigger than a single Earth.
The ejection of particles burst from the right limb of the sun and sprayed into space, so the blast will miss Earth—though the explosion may brighten auroras near Earth’s poles, Chamberlin said.
But he warned space-weather experts are concerned about future solar events.
The sun’s 11-year cycle of activity, driven by tangled surface magnetic fields, will hit its maximum in late 2013 or early 2014. Magnetic messiness will peak around that time and prompt nasty solar storms.
“We’ll probably see [extreme] flares every couple of months instead of years,” Chamberlin said.
If one of these powerful flares—and its coronal mass ejection—faces Earth, the particles will pound satellite components with charged particles, short some out, and potentially cripple them.
On the planet’s surface, extra currents of solar particles drive extra electric current through power lines and heat them up. A solar storm in 1859, for example, caused telegraph lines to burst into flames. Power companies distribute loads to avoid such a disaster, but energetic solar storms could still blow transformers and lead to power outages, especially during heat waves like the one sweeping the eastern U.S. this week.
“Despite great countermeasures, the power grid is still vulnerable. We could be in for some serious problems,” Chamberlin said.
Iceland Lake Disappearing Into New Crack in Earth
Bijal P. Trivedi
for National Geographic Today October 1, 2001
Icelanders are accustomed to their land being stretched, split, and torn by violent earthquakes and haphazardly rebuilt by exploding volcanoes. But everyone was surprised when a large lake began to disappear into a long fissure created by one of last summer’s earthquakes.
The draining lake is an oddity even by Icelandic standards, and has lured hordes of curious onlookers to it barren shores.
“If you put your ear to the ground, you can hear the lake draining,” said geologist Amy Clifton of the Nordic Volcanological Institute in Reykjavik, Iceland. “It sounds like water going down the sink.”
Last year, during a leisurely Sunday drive, a geologist noticed a large gash in the landscape about 20 kilometers (13 miles) from Reykjavik and reported it to Clifton. When she arrived she found a fissure—about a foot wide and 400 meters (1,280 feet) long—that led directly into Lake Kleifarvatn and disappeared beneath the water.
Lake Kleifarvatn, which measured about six kilometers (3.7 miles) long and 2.3 kilometers (1.4 miles) wide last year, has shrunk dramatically. Now it is only 3.5 kilometers long and roughly 1.8 kilometers wide, said Clifton.
Kleifarvatn is draining at about one centimeter (one-third of an inch) a day, according to Clifton. “You can almost see the lake level drop,” she said.
Summerhouses that were once mere steps from waterfront are now more than a kilometer away from the water’s edge. The placid waters have dropped more than four meters in the last year. In their place is a barren lake bed speckled with sulphur-rimmed thermal springs that spit boiling water and mud.
Clifton spends much of her time mapping and measuring “rips, gashes, and holes” in the Icelandic landscape. Describing herself as a “walking pencil,” because her treks are all mapped by global positioning system (GPS) technology, she investigates open cracks, torn vegetation, rock falls, sinkholes, and other disturbances and tries to determine what caused them.
But what phenomenon created the large fissure at Lake Kleifarvatn is an enigma. “I couldn’t find an earthquake in our database that was big enough to cause such a huge rupture in the surface,” said Clifton.
She and some of her colleagues think a “quiet earthquake” may be responsible. Explaining such a scenario, Clifton said the water may have “lubricated the fault lines, allowing them to slide quietly and slowly, preventing the shock waves that would normally accompany an earthquake.”
The earthquake thought to be responsible for the fissure at Lake Kleifarvatn occurred last year on June 17, about 80 kilometers (49 miles) east in the South Icelandic seismic zone. “No one ever expected earthquakes in this region to affect the surface in the Reykjanes Peninsula, where Lake Kleifarvatn is located,” said Clifton.
Clifton hopes to eventually understand the relationship between the movement of faults deep within Earth and their surface effects in the region. Such knowledge is important for mapping areas that may be subject to future hazards, especially in regions where the population is growing.
Giant crack in Africa formed in just days
22:17 04 November 2009 by MacGregor Campbell
A crack in the Earth’s crust – which could be the forerunner to a new ocean – ripped open in just days in 2005, a new study suggests. The opening, located in the Afar region of Ethiopia, presents a unique opportunity for geologists to study how mid-ocean ridges form.
The crack is the surface component of a continental rift forming as the Arabian and African plates drift away from one another. It began to open up in September 2005, when a volcano at the northern end of the rift, called Dabbahu, erupted.
The magma inside the volcano did not reach the surface and erupt as a fountain of lava – instead, it was diverted into the continental rift underground. The magma cooled into a wedge-shaped “dike” that was then uplifted, rupturing the surface and creating a 500-metre-long, 60-metre-deep crack.
Using sensor data collected by universities in the region, researchers led by Atalay Ayele of Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia reconstructed the sequence of seismic events that led to the crack’s formation. They found that a 60-kilometre-long, 8-metre-wide dike of solidified magma formed in the rift, causing the crack, in a matter of days.
‘Stunning’ ferocity
Similar dikes in Iceland are typically around 10 kilometres long and 1 metre wide and can take years to form. The new study shows the formation of dikes can occur in larger segments – and over much shorter periods of time – than previously thought.
“The ferocity of what we saw during this episode stunned everyone,” says Cynthia Ebinger, a team member at the University of Rochester in New York.
While the Mount Dabbahu rift is still hundreds of kilometres inland, Ebinger says it could continue to widen and lengthen. “As the plates keep spreading apart, it will end up looking like the Red Sea,” she says.
New ocean
Eventually it could reach the east coast of Ethiopia and fill up with seawater. “At some point, if that spreading and rifting continues, then that area will be flooded,” says Ken Macdonald, a marine geophysicist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who was not involved with the study.
Ebinger says this won’t happen any time soon – it would take around 4 million years for the crack to reach the size of the Red Sea. Other areas in the Afar region are below sea level, however, and could see flooding before that if similar rifting occurs near the coastal volcanoes to the north and east that form a natural levee against the sea.
Macdonald says the process of continental plates spreading apart and filling in with magma is analogous to what happens on the deep seafloor at mid-ocean ridges, which are difficult to study because they lie a few kilometres under water. “This is very exciting in terms of its implications for the deep ocean and how mid- ocean ridges work,” he told New Scientist.
Journal reference: Geophysical Research Letters (doi:10.1029/2009GL039605)
Tropical regions to get even hotter summers within 20 years ‘due to global warming’… and it’s here to stay
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:34 PM on 7th June 2011
• North America, southern Europe and China all likely to undergo extreme temperature shifts within 60 years
Tropical regions in Africa, Asia and South America could see ‘the permanent emergence of unprecedented summer heat’ in the next 20 years, scientists have warned.
The tropics and much of the Northern Hemisphere are likely to experience an irreversible rise in summer temperatures if greenhouse gas emissions continue at their present rate, a study claims.
Researchers at Stanford University said North America – including the U.S. – southern Europe and China are likely to undergo extreme summer temperature shifts within 60 years.
This dramatic change could have severe consequences for human health, agricultural production and ecosystem productivity.
Lead author Noah Diffenbaugh said: ‘According to our projections, large areas of the globe are likely to warm up so quickly that, by the middle of this century, even the coolest summers will be hotter than the hottest summers of the past 50 years.’
He added: ‘When scientists talk about global warming causing more heat waves, people often ask if that means that the hottest temperatures will become “the new normal”.
‘That got us thinking – at what point can we expect the coolest seasonal temperatures to always be hotter than the historically highest temperatures for that season?’
To determine the seasonal impact of global warming during the coming decades, Dr Diffenbaugh and co-author Martin Scherer analysed more than 50 climate model experiments.
Among these were computer simulations of the 21st century when global greenhouse gas concentrations are expected to increase, and simulations of the 20th century that accurately ‘predicted’ Earth’s climate during the last 50 years.
Their analysis revealed that many parts of the planet could experience a permanent spike in seasonal temperatures within 60 years.
Dr Diffenbaugh said: ‘We also analysed historical data from weather stations around the world to see if the projected emergence of unprecedented heat had already begun.
‘It turns out that when we look back in time using temperature records, we find that this extreme heat emergence is occurring now, and that climate models represent the historical patterns remarkably well.’
According to both the climate model analysis and the historical weather data, the tropics are heating up the fastest.
The scientists found that the most immediate increase in extreme seasonal heat occurs in the tropics, with up
to 70 per cent of seasons from 2010 to 2039 exceeding the late-20th century maximum.
Tropical regions may see the most dramatic changes first, but wide swathes of North America, China and Mediterranean Europe are also likely to enter into a new heat regime by 2070, according to the study.
As an example of the severe consequences of such a drastic change, Dr Diffenbaugh pointed to record heat waves in Europe in 2003 that killed 40,000 people.
He also cited studies showing that projected increases in summer temperatures in the Midwestern U.S. could reduce the harvest of staples, such as corn and soy beans, by more than 30 per cent.
Dr Diffenbaugh was surprised to see how quickly the new, potentially destructive heat regimes are likely to emerge, given that the study was based on a relatively moderate forecast of greenhouse gas emissions in the 21st century.
The results will be published in the journal Climatic Change.
Scientists say global warming behind recent extreme weather
By RENEE SCHOOF | McClatchy-Tribune
Published: May 26, 2011
WASHINGTON —
The deadliest tornadoes in decades. Severe flooding on the Mississippi River. Drought in Texas, and heavy rains in Tennessee.
What’s up with the weather?
Scientists say there are connections between many of the severe weather events of the past month and global warming.
“Basically, as we warm the world up, the atmosphere can hold more moisture in it,” said Anne Jefferson, an assistant professor in the geography and Earth science department at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte.
“Weather patterns that used to be limited to the South move farther north now,” she said. “Both of those things together will increase the frequency with which we see these big rainstorms, and those are likely to increase flooding in the future.”
Flooding on the Mississippi has become more frequent and more extensive since about 1950, Jefferson said. This year’s huge flood was created by snowmelt and rain-on-snow in the upper Mississippi River basin, and very intense rain in its middle regions.
“Climatically we have a higher frequency of rain-on-snow events, a real recipe for flooding,” she said. “Also you’re getting more warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico farther north up the Mississippi. It’s both a warming and, more so, the fact that the weather patterns have changed and are projected to continue to change, so the precipitation patterns are changing.”
Scientists say these changes are part of the general shift in the world’s climate known as global warming — primarily the result of billions of tons of heat-trapping gases released into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels, as well as deforestation.
A report by the National Academy of Sciences on managing climate risks put it this way: “Climate change is occurring, is very likely caused primarily by the emission of greenhouse gases from human activities, and poses significant risks for a range of human and natural systems.”
Scientists have observed increases in heavy downpours, rising temperatures, longer growing seasons and earlier snowmelts. They predict that rainfall will become more concentrated in heavy downpours, with longer dry periods in between. Dry places are expected to get drier, while rainy places get wetter.
The study of long-term statistical trends shows an increase in heat waves and heavy rainfalls, said Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist at Texas Tech University.
Kevin Trenberth, a senior scientist in the climate analysis section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, said that when warmth and moisture at the surface builds up, one atmospheric response is to transport it upward, a process known as convection. That’s what causes intense thunderstorms, tropical storms and hurricanes, he said.
The main driver of super-cell thunderstorms — those with deep rotating updrafts — is warm, moist air near
the surface, he said. “In terms of climate change, the main sources of warm, moist air in the regions that have been hit are out of the Gulf of Mexico or out of the tropical Atlantic. This sets the stage for the atmosphere becoming very unstable.”
What happened in the case of the three big tornado outbreaks in April and May was that normal weather systems tapped into the moisture out of the Gulf and became massive super-cell thunderstorms that set the stage for very large tornadoes, Trenberth said.
Tornadoes also depend on wind shear, a weather component that normally occurs at this time of year, he added.
Jeff Masters, a meteorologist and co-founder of the website Weather Underground, writing on his WunderBlog on Tuesday, said that this year’s violent tornado season is “either a fluke, the start of a new trend, or an early warning symptom that the climate is growing unstable and is transitioning to a new, higher energy state with the potential to create unprecedented weather and climate events.
“All are reasonable explanations, but we don’t have a long enough history of good tornado data to judge which is most likely to be correct.”
Over the past 50 years, the average U.S. temperature has risen more than 2 degrees Fahrenheit, precipitation has increased an average of 5 percent, and many types of extreme weather events have increased in frequency and intensity. With hurricanes, only the intensity rose.
CRAFTS AND HOBBIES
Baked goods (cupcakes, cookies, pies, cakes) Basket weaving
Balloon animals
Banner making
Beadwork
Bee keeping
Bookbinding
Cabinetmaking
Candle making
Canning
Carpentry
Calligraphy
Canvas work
Card making
Ceramics
Chip carving
Collage
Corn dolly making
Cross stitch
Crocheting
Curve stitching
Decoupage
Decorative painting
Doll clothes making
Doll making
Doll house construction
Doll house furnishing
Embroidery
Embroidered pet ID collars Embossing
Egg decorating
Etching
Fabric crafts
Felting
Floral design
Fretwork
Gift baskets
Glassblowing
Holiday-themed cards and other items Iris folding
Jewelry making
Knitting
Lace-making
Lapidary (working with stones)
Lucet (technique for making cord) Macrame
Marbling
Metalworking
Millinary
Miniatures
Mosiacs
Needlework
Origami
Parchment craft
Patchwork
Paper filigree
Paper making
Paper modeling
Papier mache
Pioneering (building rustic structures by lashing together poles and spars) Polymer clay sculpting
Pop-up book making
Pottery
Pressed flower craft
Printmaking
Purse making
Quilting
Ribbon embroidery
Rug making
Rubber stamp making
Scrapbooking
Sculpture
Shoemaking
Sewing
Silversmithing
Spinning
Soap making
Stained glass making
Straw marquetry (making sculptures out of or decorating with straw) String art
Tapestry weaving
Tatting
T-shirt art
Toy making
Weaving
Wood burning
Wood crafts
Wood turning
Woodworking
ECO-VILLAGES IN THE UNITES STATES
ARIZONA
Douglas – Sacred Garden Sanctuary: http://sacredgardensanctuary.org/
Mayer – Arcosanti: http://www.arcosanti.org/
Mesa – The Grove: http://www.hostinghelps.com/thewiccangrove/index.html Phoenix – Phoenix Cooperative Exchange: no website. Email: brianm9943@aol.com Prescott – Manzanita Village: http://www.manzanitavillage.com/
Sedona – Aquarian Concepts Community: http://www.aquarianconcepts.com/ Tumacacori – Global Community Communications Alliance: http://www.globalcommunitycommunicationsalliance.org/
Tubac – Global Community Communications Alliance: http://www.gccalliance.org/
CALIFORNIA
Cantil – The Cell Habitat: mailto:rick@advancedlearningacademy.org
Kenwood – Eden Project: http://www.edenvillage.net/
Los Angeles – Los Angeles Eco-Village: http://www.ic.org/laev
Nevada City – Nevada City Ecovillage: no website. Email: info@ecovillager.com Oakland – 611 Ecovillage: http://www.611ecovillage.com/
Oxnard – Project Sunstone: http://www.projectsunstone.com/
San Diego – San Diego Ecovillage: http://www.sandiegoecovillage.com/
San Mateo – San Mateo Ecovillage: http://www.greensolutions.org/smcc.htm Sebastopol – Green Valley Village: http://www.greenvalleyvillage.com/
Soquel – The Happy Brigade Community: http://www.happybrigade.com/ Sonoma – Rancho Estrella: http://www.rustlingridge.com/
COLORADO
Boulder – Prairie Sage: http://www.frontrangeecotown.com/
Boulder – Hummingbird Ranch: http://www.globalfamily.net/website/60-hummingbird.html Boulder – Gaia University: mailto :info@gaiauniversity.org
Moffat – EarthArt Village: http://www.earthart.org/
Paoria –Eden Ranch Community: http://www.edenranch.com/
San Luis – Colorado Ecovillage: http://coloradoecovillage.com/
Weston: –Earth Mountain Education Farm: http://earthmountainfarm.org/index.htmn
CONNECTICUT
Terra Nostra – Middletown: mailto:crazeway@yahoo.com
GEORGIA
Atlanta – Big Island Cohousing and Ecovillage: http://www.geocities.com/noahglassman/ Hiawassee – Enota Mountain Ecovillage: http://www.enota.org%20&%20www.enota.com/ Jeffersonville – Yonders Farm: http://yondersfarm.net/
HAWAII
Hana – Olahomua: mailto:olahonua@maui.net
IOWA
Fairfield– Abundance Ecovillage: http://www.abundance-ecovillage.com/
KENTUCKY
Berea –Berea College Ecovillage: http://www.berea.edu/sens/ecovillage/ ECO-VILLAGES IN THE UNITES STATES
MAINE
Perry – Peskotomuhkati Nation: mailto:peskotomuhkati@gmail.com
MARYLAND
Freeland – Heathcote Community: http://www.heathcote.org/
MASSACHUSETTS
Petersham– Earthlands: http://www.tiac.com/users/elandspc/ Jamaica Plain– Heartbeat Collective: mailto:orionk@gmail.com Colrain– Katywil: http://www.katywil.com/
Newburyport– Odonata Ecovillage: http://odonatavillage.org/ Berlin– Sawyer Hill Ecovillage: http://www.sawyerhill.org/ Shutesbury– Sirius Community: http://www.siriuscommunity.org/
MICHIGAN
Detroit–Ecovillage Detroit: http://www.adamah.org/ecovillage/ecovillage.html Ann Arbor– Hei Wa House: http://www.ic.org/heiwa/
Nazareth – Manitou Arbor Ecovillage: http://www.manitouarbor.org/
Flint– Michigan Ecovillage: http://www.michiganecovillage.com/
MISSISSIPPI
Oxford– Upland Hills Learning Community: http://uplandhills.org/
MINNESOTA
Fridley – Island Park Sustainable Community: http://www.islandparkmn.com/
MISSOURI
Cabool – Solaris Valhalla CSA Farm and Education Center: http://www.svfarm.org/
Caulfield – Ravenwood Eco-village: mailto:Ravenleigh1952@yahoo.com
Rutledge – Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage – http://www.dancingrabbit.org/
Tecumseh – East Wind Community: http://www.eastwind.org/
Zanoni – Heartwood Hamlet: http://www.ruralize.com/heartwoodhamlet.html
MONTANA
Corvalis – Western Cultural Heritage Village: http://www.wchi.net/
Potomac –Sundog Ecovillage: http://sundogecovillage.org/
NEW MEXICO
Las Vegas – Bodhi Farms: http://www.bodhifarms.com/
Ojo Caliente – Broken Earth Tribal Pueblo: http://www.brokenearth.org/ecovillage Santa Fe – Ecoversity: http://www.ecoversity.org/
Santa Fe – Pinon Ecovillage: http://www.pinon-ecovillage.org/
Silver City – Southwest Sufi Community: mailto:rabiya@zianet.com
NEW YORK
Bradford – Stuberdorf Solar Village: http://www.stuberdorfsolarvillage.com/
Greenfield Park – Point of Infinity: http://www.newagepointofinfinity.com/
Ithaca – Aurora Dwelling Circle: http://newearthliving.net/
Ithaca – Ecovillage at Ithaca: http://www.ecovillage.ithaca.ny.us/
Ithaca – White Hawk Ecovillage: http://www.whitehawk.org/ ECO-VILLAGES IN THE UNITES STATES
NORTH CAROLINA
Black Mountain – Earthaven Ecovillage: http://earthaven.org/
Gerton – Hickory Nut Forest Eco-Community: http://www.hickorynutforest.com/ Mill Spring – Zendik Farm: http://www.zendik.org/
OHIO
Akron – The NEOhaus Ecovillage: http://www.theneohaus.com/ Cleveland – Cleveland Ecovillage: http://www.detroitshoreway.org/
OREGON
Cottage Grove – Cerro Gordo: http://www.pdss.com/cg/Cerro_Gordo.html Deadwood – Alpha Farm: http://www.pioneer.net/~alpha/
Dexter – Lost Valley Educational Center: http://www.lostvalley.org/
Eastern Oregon – Oregon Working Group for an Eastern Oregon Ecovillage: http://www.geocities.com/oregonworkinggroup
PENNSYLVANIA
Cashtown – Hundredfold Farm: http//www.hundredfoldfarm.org
Philadelphia – Green Village Philadelphia: http://www.greenvillagephiladelphia.org/ West Grove – Three Groves Ecovillage: http://www.threegrovesecovillage.org/ Winfield – Eco Community Farm: mailto:pjc@dejazzd.com
SOUTH CAROLINA
Salem – Nature’s Spirit: http://www.naturesspirit.org/
TENNESSEE
Arlington – Elfentree: mailto:elfentree@aol.com
Jefferson City – NuTribe Ecovillage: mailto:watalu.eyaani@gmail.com Liberty – Sun Valley Community: mailto:sunvalley@dekalb.net
Summertown – The Farm: http://www.thefarm.org/
Washburn – Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center: http://www.narrowridge.org/ Whitwell – Moonshadow: mailto:mediarights@bledsoe.net
TEXAS
Austin – Oak Village Commons: http://www.oakhillcohousing.org/
Laredo – La Flor del Agua: http://www.laflordelagua.com/
Rusk – Dancing Bear Ecovillage: mailto:dancingbearecovillage@yahoo.com
VERMONT
Brandon – Neshobe Farm: http://www.neshobefarm.com/
VIRGINIA
Arlington – Gesundheit Institute: http://www.patchadams.org/
Buena Vista – Living Earth Ecovillage: http://www.livingearthecovillage.com/
Floyd – Abundant Dawn Community: http://www.abundantdawn.org/
Lynchburg – Claytor Nature Study Center: http://www.lynchburg.edu/claytor
Mineral – Acorn Community: http://www.ic.org/acorn/
WASHINGTON
Arlington – Jordan Village: http://www.jordanvillage.net/
Bainbridge Island – Sacred Groves: http://www.sacredgroves.com/
Bellingham – Friends of the Trees Society: http://www.friendsofthetrees.net/ Bellingham – MoonShire: mailto:benems@hotmail.com
Bothell – Clearwater Commons: http://www.clearwatercommons.com/
Elk – Dapala Farm: http://directory.ic.org/records/?action=view&page=view&re Hoodsport – Mountain Treehouse Ecovillage: mailto:eric.nemo@gmail.com
Monroe – Alderleaf Farm and Wilderness College: http://www.wildernesscollege.com/ Port Townsend – Port Townsend Ecovillage: http://www.ptecovillage.org/
WISCONSIN
La Farge – Dreamtime Village: http://www.dreamtimevillage.org/
RESOURCES FOR LIVING A SUSTAINABLE LIFE
Below are some further resources for additional reading and information to assist you in living a more sustainable life.
GENERAL BACKGROUND & INSPIRATIONAL
Abram, David. The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More Than Human World. 1996
Archer, David. The Long Thaw: How Humans are Changing the Next 100,000 Years of Earth’s Climate. 2008
Berry, Thomas. The Dream of the Earth. 2006
Jensen, Derrick. Listening to the Land: Conversations about Nature, Culture and Eros. 2008
Kempf, Herve. How the Rich are Destroying the Earth. 2009
Lappe, Frances Moore. Getting a Grip; Clarity, Creating and Courage in a World Gone Mad. 2008.
Hawkens, Paul. Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Social Movement in History is Restoring Grace, Justice and Beauty to the World. 2008
Hawkens, Paul and Lovins, Amory. Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution. 2008 McDonough, William. Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things. 2006
McKibben, Bill. Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future. 2007. McKibben, Bill. The End of Nature. 2006/
Meadows, Donella. Thinking in Systems: A Primer. 2009
Nestle, Marion. What to Eat. 2007
Null, Gary. Living in the Moment: Prescription for the Soul. 2008
Roszak, Theodore. The Voice of the Earth: An Exploration of Ecopsychology. 2001
Lovelock, James. The Vanishing Face of Gaia: A Final Warning. 2009
Lovelock, James. Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth. 2000
Speth, James Gustave. The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability. 2008
BEEKEEPING
Benjamin, Alison. Keeping Bees and Making Honey. 2008
Conrad, Ross. Natural Beekeeping: Organic Approaches to Modern Apiculture. 2007
Flottum, Kim & Blackiston, Howland. Beekeeping for Dummies. 2009
Flottum, Kim. The Backyard Beekeeper: An Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Keeping Bees in Your Yard and Garden. 2005
COMMUNITY & NEIGHBORHOOD
Gershon, David. Livable Neighborhood: A Program to Make Life Better on the Street Where You Live. 2009 Henderson, Elizabeth. Sharing the Harvest: A Citizen’s Guide to Community Supported Agriculture. 2008.
Holmgren, David (founder of Permaculture), Future Scenarios: How Communities Can Adapt to Peak Oil and Climate Change. 2009
Hopkins, Alix. Groundswell: Stories of Saving Places, Finding Community. 2008. Jackson, Hildur. Ecovillage Living: Restoring the Earth and Her People. 1998.
ENERGY
Bowman, Ron. The Green Guide to Power: Thinking Outside the Grid. 2008.
Gipe, Paul. Wind Energy Basics: A Guide to Home and Community Scale Wind-Energy Systems. 2009 Davidson, Joel. The New Solar Electric Home: The Complete Guide to Photovoltaics for Your Home. 2009
GARDENING
Bell, Graham. The Permaculture Way: Practical Steps to Create a Self-Sustaining World. 2007
Coleman, Eliot, The Winter Harvest Handbook, 2009
Coleman, Eliot, New Organic Grower, 1989
Flores, Heather. Food Not Lawns: How to Turn Your Yeard into a Garden and Your Neighborhood into a Community. 2008.
Hall, Jenny. Growing Green: Animal-Free Organic Techniques. 2007
Hart, Robert. Forest Gardening: Cultivating an Edible Landscape. 2008
Hemenway, Taby. Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Homescale Permaculture. 2009
Jacke, Dave. Edible Forest Gardens: Ecological Vision and Theory for Temperate Climate Permaculture. 2007
Jacke, Dave. Edible Forest Gardens, Volume 2: Ecological Design and Practice for Temperate Climate Permaculture. 2008
Kourik, Ro bert. Drip Irrigation for Every Landscape and All Climates. 2009
Laughton, Rebecca. Surviving and Thriving On the Land: How to Use Your Time and Energy to Run a Successful Smallholding. 2009
Logsdon, Gene. Smale-Scale Grain Raising: An Organic Guide to Growing, Processing and Using Nutritious Whole Grains for Home Gardeners and Local Farmers., 2009
Otto, Stella. The Backyard Orchardist: A Complete Guide to Growing Fruit Trees in the Home Garden. 2007
Poisson, Leandre. Solar Gardening: Growing Vegetables Year-Round the American Intensive Way. 2007
Ruppenthal, RJ. Fresh Food From Small Spaces: The Square-Inch Gardener’s Guide to Year-Round Growing, Fermenting and Sprouting. 2009
Scott, Nicky. Composting: An Easy Household Guide.
Toensmeier, Eric. Perennial Vegetables: A Gardener’s Guide to Over 100 Delicious and Easy to Grow Edibles. 2008. Tozer, Frank. The Organic Gardener’s Handbook. 2008
Tozer, Frank. The Vegetable Growers Handbook. 2008
Warren, Piers. How to Store Your Garden Produce. 2008
GREEN PRODUCTS
Seireeni, Richard. The Gort Cloud: The Invisible Force Powering Today’s Most Viable Green Brands. 2008
SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS & INVESTMENT
Clift, Jan. Greening Your Office: From Cupboard to Corporation. 2007.
Esty, Daniel. Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environemental Stragegy to Innovate, Create, Value and Build Competitive Advantage. 2009
Henderson, Hazel. Ethical Markets: Growing the Green Economy. 2008.
Makower, Joel. Strategies for the Green Economy: Opportunities and Challenges in the New World of Business. 2008
Melaver, Martin. Living Above the Store: Building a Business that Creates Value, Inspires Change and Restores Land and Community. 2009
Tasch, Woody. Slow Money: Investing as if Food, Farms and Fertility Mattered. 2009
SUSTAINABLE LIVING
Barnes, Peter. Climate Solutions: A Citizen’s Guide to What Works, What Doesn’t and Why. 2008.
Clift, Jon, Climate Change: Simple Things You Can Do to Make a Difference, 2009
Gershon, David. Green Living Handbook: A 6-Step Program to Create an Environmentally Sustainable Lifestyle. 2009
Greer, Beth. Super Natural Home: Improve Your Health, Home and Planet One Room at a Time. 2009.
Hren, Stephen and Rebekah. The Carbon Free Home: Thirty Six Remodeling Projects to Help Kick the Fossil-Fuel Habit. 2008
Nabhan, Gary. Renewing America’s Food Traditions: Saving and Savoring the Continent’s Most Endangered Foods. 2008.
Pollard, David. Find the Sweet Spot: The Natural Entrepreneur’s Guide to Responsible, Sustainable, Joyful Work. 2009
Scott, Nicky. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: An Easy Household Guide. 2006
Stein, Matthew. When Technology Fails: A Manual for Self-Reliance, Sustainability, and Surviving the Long Emergency. 2008.
Stoner, Tom and Rapp, Carolyn. Open Spaces, Sacred Places: Stories of How Nature Heals and Unifies. 2009
TOXIC ENVIRONMENT
Baker, Nena. The Body Toxic: How the Hazardous Chemistry of Everyday Things Threatens Our Health and Well- Being. 2008
Blanc, Paul. How Everyday Products Make People Sick: Toxins at Home and in the Workplace. 2007
Davis, Devra. The Secret of the War on Cancer. 2008.
Shabecoff, Philip. Poisoned Profits: The Toxic Assault on Our Children. 2008
Shapiro, Mark. Exposed: Toxic Chemistry in Everyday Products and What’s at Stake for American Power. 2009
Smith, Jeffrey. Seeds of Deception: Exposing Industry and Government Lies about the Safety of the Genetically Engineered Foods You’re Eating. 2007
Smith, Jeffrey. Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods. 2008. Thomas, Patricia. What’s In This Stuff?: The Hidden Toxins in Everyday Products. 2008
URBAN LIVING
Jones, Van. The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems. 2008.
Wiland, Harry and Bell, Dale. Edens Lost and Found: How Ordinary Citizens are Restoring Our Great American Cities. 2008.
VEGAN & VEGETARIAN LIFESTYLE
Masson, Jeffrey. The Face on Your Plate: The Truth About Food. 2009 Myers, Adrian. Organic Futures: A Case for Organic Gardening. 2008.
Null, Gary. Food Mood Connection: Nutritional & Environmental Approaches to Mental Health and Physical Well- Being. 2008
Pirello, Christina. This Crazy Vegan Life: A Prescription for an Endangered Species. 2008
Pollan, Michael. In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto. 2009
Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. 2007.
Robbins, John. The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life & Our World. 2001 Roberts, Paul. The End of Food. 2008
Sustainable Living
Gary Null Lecture – June 3, 2011 GREEN RESOURCES
Chelsea Green Publishing: www.chelseagreen.com
Omega Center for sustainable living, Rhinebeck, NY: www.eomega.com
Farming and Gardening
Genesis Farm, sustainable farm in New Jersey: http://www.genesisfarm.org/ Courses on Farming at Genesis Farm: http://www.genesisfarm.org/program.taf?_function=chron
General Farming: http://www.genepax.com/
Cornell Cooperative Extension: www.gardening.cornell.edu
Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association: www.biodynamics.com
Northeast Organic Farming Association: www.nofa.org
The Sustainable Vegetable Garden by John Jeavons and Carol Cox
The Resilient Gardener – Food Production and Self-Reliance in Uncertain Times by Carol Deppe
Rooftop gardening
Lufa farms: www.lufa.com
Eagle Street Rooftop Farms, Brooklyn, NY: www.rooftopfarms.org Vertical Farming: www.verticalfarms.org
Urban Agriculture News: www.urbanagriculture-news.com
Organic Seed Sources:
Seeds of Change: http://www.seedsofchange.com/
Seed Alliance: http://www.seedalliance.org/Seed_Companies_Selling_Organic_Seed/ Sustainable Seed Company: http://sustainableseedco.com/
Seed Savers: http://www.seedsavers.org/
The Transition Movement
The Transition Network: http://transitionus.org/transition-101
The Transition Handbook – From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience by Ron Hopkins The Transition Timeline by Shaun Chamberlin and Ron Hopkins
Eco-villages (Intentional Communities)
Global Village Network: http://gen.ecovillage.org/
Fellowship for Intentional Communities: http://directory.ic.org/records/ecovillages.php Ecovillage: http://www.ecovillages.com/index.php
Living Routes: Study Abroad in Eco Villages: http://www.livingroutes.org/programs/village.htm
Homesteading
http://www.homestead.org/ http://nyhomesteader.blogspot.com/ http://www.daycreek.com/dc/html/ssmenu.htm http://frugalhomesteading.com/ http://www.motherearthnews.com/Do-It-Yourself.aspx http://www.manytracks.com/homestead.htm
Living off the Grid
http://www.off-grid.net/ http://frugaldad.com/2009/04/05/living-off-the-grid/
Housing Alternatives:
Using straw bales to construct environmentally friendly houses http://greenliving.about.com/od/architecturedesign/a/Green-Building-Straw-Bale.htm www.strawbale.com
Small houses that can be constructed from a plan
http://tinygreencabins.com/
Solar Energy — How to evaluate the benefits
Important issues when evaluating solar energy for your home: http://www.submityourarticle.com/articles/Sam-Deane-4787/solar-power-52903.php http://www.howstuffworks.com/framed.htm?parent=green- home.htm&url=http://findsolar.com/
http://www.builditsolar.com/index.htm
http://www.solarhaven.org/PVSystem.htm
How to install solar panels: http://www.ehow.com/how_2153725_install-solar-electric- panels.html
A Solar Buyer’s Guide for the Home and Office by Stephen Hren and Rebecca Hren
Energy Incentives
Solar power incentive map: http://www.howstuffworks.com/framed.htm?parent=green- home.htm&url=http://findsolar.com/
Database of state incentives for renewables and efficiencies: http://www.dsireusa.org/
Wind Power
Water Pumping Windmills
Aermotor windmills: http://www.aermotorwindmill.com/ –
Backwoods Home Magazine: http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/ainsworth90.html
By Example: http://byexample.com/projects/current/submersible_well_pump/
Wind Turbines
Homebrew Wind Power by Dan Bartman and Dan Fink. Book on do it yourself wind power
Xzeres wind turbine: http://www.xzeres.com/products/xzeres110/
Course in Oregon on how to make your own wind turbine: http://www.oregonlive.com/oregon- city/index.ssf/2011/05/clackamas_community_college_offers_class_on_do-it- yourself_wind_turbines.html
Converting your car to run on water
http://www.squidoo.com/improve_the_fuel_economy_of_your_car_use_water_as_fuel http://hubpages.com/hub/how-to-improve-your-car-with-water
Slow Money Movement
http://www.slowmoney.org/ http://ecopreneurist.com/ http://theabundancefoundation.org/ http://enviroinstitute.org/
Best Green Jobs for the Next Decade
From FastCompany.com
• Farmer
• Forester
• Solar Power Installer
• Energy Efficiency Builder
• Wind Turbine Fabricator
• Conservation Biologist
• Green MBA and Entrepreneur
• Recycler
• Sustainability Systems Developer • Urban Planner From inventorspot.com
• Eco-Tourism Jobs
• Bicycle Technicians
• Organic Farming Specialist
• Wind Energy Developers
• Environmental Engineers
• Corporate Social Responsibility Professionals • iPod/iPhone Doctors
• Hydrologists
• Environment Refuse Processors
• Jobs in Green Car Manufacturing
Green Employment Websites:
Green Dream Jobs – www.sustainablebusiness.com Green Jobs Network – www.greenjobs.net
Green Building Jobs – www.greenbuildingsjobs.com Greenprofs – greenprofs.com
TOP 10 GREEN CITIES IN THE UNITED STATES
PORTLAND, OR
SAN FRANCISCO, CA BOSTON, MA OAKLAND, CA EUGENE, OR CAMBRIDGE, MA BERKELEY, CA SEATTLE, WA CHICAGO, IL AUSTIN, TX
(From Mothernaturenetwork.com)
WHERE NOT TO LIVE AS A RESULT OF CLIMATE CHANGE
COASTAL AREAS: Projected increases in sea levels around the world are predicted to devastate coastal areas. Washington DC, parts of New England, the Mid-Atlantic states and Southern Florida will be largely underwater, in addition to areas on the West Coast, such as Portland.
SOUTHWEST: Water supplies are becoming scarce and it is predicted that there will be a permanent drought in the Southwest, rendering the area uninhabitable and eliminating most agriculture. As the Colorado River recedes, there will be increasing drought in Southern California, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. Other states currently suffering the worst drought in years are Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, Southern Arizona and Northwest, West, and Southern Texas.
FAULT LINES: The entire west coast is especially vulnerable to earthquakes, as are many other parts of the United States.
NORTHWEST: Declining snowfall is reducing water supplies, while sea level rises will result in increased loss of land. Salmon and other cold water species will experience stress from rising temperatures and declining summer streams. Agriculture is already under pressure from reduced water availability.
NORTHEAST: Severe flooding due to sea level rises and heavy downpours is likely to occur more frequently. Agriculture will be adversely affected. Extreme heat and declining air quality are likely to pose health problems
SOUTHEAST: Rising sea levels and increased hurricane intensity and associated storms will be among the most serious consequences of climate change. Increased temperatures will cause heat related stresses on people, plants, and animals. Decreased availability of potable water will have a devastating effect on the ecosystems.
TOP 10 STATES MOST LIKELY TO DECLARE BANKRUPTCY
Rhode Island
Connecticut
Massachusetts
Illinois
Hawaii
New Jersey
New Hampshire
Indiana
Louisiana
Oklahoma
(From Newsweeks’dailybeast.com)
10 MOST DANGEROUS CITIES IN AMERICA
Flint, MI
Detroit, MI
St. Louis, MO
New Haven, CT
Memphis, TN
Oakland, CA
Little Rock, AR
Baltimore, MD
Rockford, IL
Stockton, CA
According to FBI crime date, 2010
TOP 10 STATES WITH THE HIGHEST FORECLOSURE RATES
Nevada
Arizona
California
Utah
Idaho
Michigan
Florida
Georgia
Colorado
Oregon
(From CNBC.com
Recommended Reading
Arendt, Hannah. Between Past and Future (Penguin Classics)
Bang, Jan Martin, Ecovillages: A Practical Guide to Sustainable Communities (New Society Pulbishers)
Barker, Allen. Science and Technology of Organic Farming (CRC Press) Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring (Houghton Mifflin)
Coleman, Eliot, The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year Round Vegetable Production Using Deep Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses (Chelsea Green)
Hawken, Paul; Lovins, Amory. Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution (Back Bay Books)
Hawken, Paul. Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming (Honore, Carl. In Praise of Slowness: Challenging the Cult of Speed (
Hopkins, Rob. The Transition Handbook: From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience (Chelsea Green)
Leafe, Diana. Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities (New Society Publishers)
Smith, Jeffrey. Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods (Chelsea Green)
Smith, Jeffrey. Seeds of Deception: Exposing Industry and Government Lies About the Safety of the Genetically Engineered Foods You’re Eating (Rodale, Maria. Organic Manifesto: How Organic Food Can Heal Our Planet, Feed the World, and Keep Us Safe (Rodale Books)
Schumacher, EF. Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered (Harper Perennial)
Tasch, Woody. Inquiries Into the Nature of Slow Money: Investing as if Food, Farms, and Fertility Mattered (Chelsea Green)
Walker, Liz. Choosing a Sustainable Future: Ideas and Inspiration from Ithaca, NY (New Society Publishers)
