Protect Honeybeees- Greenpeace

This week, beekeepers across the country are waking their hives from winter hibernation to pollinate blooming almond orchards in California. But many honeybees won’t buzz back to life at all.

A deadly bee illness called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is sweeping across the US. Just last winter CCD wiped out almost a third of the nation’s hives.

We don’t know all the factors that cause CCD, but we do know one guilty party: A class of pesticides — known as neonicotinoids — that studies have shown to weaken, disorient and kill honeybees.

Despite the evidence, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) just last year approved a new Dow pesticide called sulfoxaflor, which its own research showed was “highly toxic” to bees. To save the honeybee, the EPA needs to step up. And fast.

Demand that the EPA take its first big step towards saving the bee populations that we all depend on. Tell the agency to ban sulfoxaflor — the newest bee-killing pesticide to hit the market.

Because over 115,000 people like you demanded action last year, the EPA made bee health a higher priority — adding warning labels on neonic pesticides and even funding new research about their effects this month.

But this progress isn’t enough to save the bees. The agency still hasn’t reversed approval of neonic pesticides. Even poisoning events like the deaths of over 25,000 bumble bees in an Oregon parking lot after pesticide exposure aren’t holding the EPA’s attention.

That’s why beekeepers, farmers and environmental groups have joined together to file a legal brief against the newly approved pesticide sulfoxaflor — a chemical the EPA’s own studies admits are essentially bee poison.¹ We need public pressure to ensure the EPA takes this legal action seriously and moves faster to protect bees.

Tell the EPA to withdraw its approval of the pesticide sulfoxaflor, which its own reports call “highly toxic” to bees.

Convincing the EPA to change course is far from impossible.

After millions of Greenpeace supporters and others spoke for the bees in Europe, the European Union has suspended the use of neonics. And four state legislatures — Alaska, Maine, New Jersey and Vermont — are looking to do the same. Around the world, governments are realizing that trying to solve all agricultural problems with chemical additives is simply reckless.

Together we can ensure not only that bees are safe, but that our agriculture supports nature, rather than manipulates and destroys it.

To read more visit: http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/

Article written by  Mark Floegel
Greenpeace Senior Investigator and Beekeeper

This Picture says it all from CatskillCitizens.org

Key Marcellus study didn't test waste, researcher says

January 6, 2014

Key Marcellus study didn't test waste, researcher says

A state-sponsored study meant to examine potential pollution from the boom in natural gas drilling never actually tested key wastes from the Marcellus Shale formation, according to a West Virginia University researcher who led the effort.

By Ken Ward Jr.

The Charleston Gazette

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A state-sponsored study meant to examine potential pollution from the boom in natural gas drilling never actually tested key wastes from the Marcellus Shale formation, according to a West Virginia University researcher who led the effort.
Teams performing the legislatively mandated review examined only materials from the vertical portion of wells, not from the horizontal drilling at those same sites, which would have included Marcellus Shale mud and drill cuttings.
The omission is important because researchers believe material from the Marcellus Shale is generally more radioactive, and citizen groups are expressing growing concern about the risks of handling and disposal of radioactive drilling wastes.
And, the report's major weakness is being highlighted just as the Legislature returns to Charleston for its 2014 session, after hearing throughout the year about studies finding flaws in Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's drilling bill that passed in 2011.
Researchers noted the lack of Marcellus data in a 141-page report last February, and the state Department of Environmental Protection mentioned it in a summary prepared for lawmakers by agency officials.
But the issue had not received much public attention until a legislative briefing during an interim committee meeting held late Sunday afternoon.
"We can't dismiss the potential risks," Paul Ziemkiewicz, director of WVU's Water Research Institute, which coordinated the study, told lawmakers. "We just haven't characterized it."
In a presentation to committee members, Ziemkiewicz said that the DEP had initially arranged for researchers to obtain Marcellus drilling mud from a Stone Energy site in August 2012. When researchers tried to take samples on three different dates, they were told each time that "drilling malfunctions" made it impossible for them to do so.
DEP officials identified a second sampling site operated by Chesapeake Energy, the presentation said. Poor weather related to Superstorm Sandy stopped the drilling there prior to reaching to Marcellus, the presentation said.
"The company indicated it would notify WVDEP and WVU when drilling resumed," the presentation said. "However, when WVDEP followed up with the company after Hurricane Sandy, the agency and WVU were notified that the horizontal leg was completed and no samples were available."
The presentation said that by then, it was early November, and the DEP "had no readily available site and the time required to analyze the samples was between 6 and 8 weeks."
"So, no other sites were selected by WVDEP for solid sampling since it would delay submission of the final report beyond the end of December 2012 -- the point necessary in order to provide recommendations to the Legislature," the presentation said.
Ziemkiewicz recommended that additional work be done to sample drilling mud from the Marcellus formation. He said the data are needed to ensure that drilling wastes are being sent to appropriate types of disposal facilities and being handled properly.
"This stuff isn't just dirt that you can apply somewhere," Ziemkiewicz said in a Monday interview. "You can't go around with the assumption that this stuff is innocuous."
Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kw...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1702.


This article was excerpted from http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201401060099?page=2&build=cache

Pinecone Bird Feeder - Ladybird johnson wildflower center

Grandiflora

Looking for a way to connect your kids or grandkids with nature? We have ideas here.

Pinecone Bird Feeder

Winter is approaching, and food for birds often becomes scarce. You may already have regional native plants in your garden that offer sustenance to birds in winter. Teach a child about wildlife by helping attract these winter visitors to your yard with a pinecone bird feeder. You will need: pine cones, peanut butter, craft sticks, birdseed, plate, ribbon and scissors.

1. To make a pinecone bird feeder, use a craft stick to liberally apply peanut butter to the pinecones.
2. Roll your sticky creation in a pan of birdseed and gently shake off excess seed.
3. Tie a festive ribbon tightly around the base of each pinecone and measure your ribbon to hang in a place that will be far enough away from pesky squirrels.
4. Don't forget to hang your pinecone birdfeeder in a place where you can enjoy watching and recording visits of these holiday visitors.
5. Remember: For every pound of peanut butter you can make 10 pinecone birdfeeders!
6. Any extra feeders may be wrapped in wax paper and stored in the freezer.

developed by Stephen Brueggerhoff

"higher learning"- from the ladybird johnson wildflower center

Higher Learning

Wildflower Center ecologists envision a more sustainable university campus

As consultants to the university’s master planning process, Wildflower Center ecologists are recommending replacing non-native lawn with HABITURF®, a mix of native turfgrass that demands less water and fewer resources than traditional lawn. This small installation of HABITURF is already in place on campus.

College towns have a lot to offer: arts, entertainment and — more often these days — cutting-edge landscape practices. The University of Texas at Austin is among a growing list of universities rethinking landscape planning and management to address realities such as water scarcity and wildlife habitat decline. Working with landscape architecture firm Sasaki Associates Inc., ecologists and environmental designers from the Wildflower Center’s Ecosystem Design Group are helping the university create a landscape master plan for its new medical district that will open in 2016 as well as for the existing campus.

TOP: Conducting an ecological site assessment informed Center ecologists of existing erosion. Improving stormwater management practices would help prevent erosion and its effect on nearby Waller Creek. BOTTOM: An expanse of St. Augustine lawn at the University of Texas at Austin campus.

Center ecologists have made a name for themselves by helping put ecological function on par with design aesthetic at high-profile sites such as San Antonio’s Mission Reach and the George W. Bush Presidential Library in Dallas. At the university, they are facing new challenges — and opportunities — given the project’s urban setting and the expectations that come with a college campus.
University landscapes – that is – are expected to meet the needs of student life and typically there is a certain design aesthetic in mind, says environmental designer Michelle Bright. "We wanted to show that it’s possible to meet those objectives as well as help the site function better from an ecological standpoint."
The team started with an ecological site assessment. A typical master plan assessment, Bright explained, records a park bench here, a garbage can over there. Center ecologists looked at the campus through a new lens, making note of invasive species, existing native plants such as Texas’ legendary live oak trees as well as non-natives such as thirsty St. Augustine turfgrass. They took soil samples that helped determine the soil health on the site and assessed drainage conditions – critical because of the campus’ location near the city’s Waller Creek.
"This process challenged us as ecologists because usually we are evaluating sites that are not ecologically pristine — but closer to that state than could ever be true of an urban college campus," says Bright. "What’s exciting is that there are a lot of opportunities available to improve landscape health on campus with measures that make a difference to the surrounding environment."
For example, Bright and the team will recommend managing stormwater that falls onsite in such a way that it does not pollute nearby Waller Creek. They will also suggest appropriate native plants that are more resilient than existing plants.

The university has definitely set off on the right foot by implementing native plants and trees and landscape approaches such as those seen here, designed by Ten Eyck Landscape Architects.

“Being able to maintain a landscape when water restrictions are in place is a real concern — and challenge — for a large, urban campus. Asking planners to consider what plants will hold up – be resilient – in the face of water scarcity is something that is both practical and good for ecological function," says Bright. Center ecologists are recommending that HABITURF^® — a lawn mix of drought-tolerant, regionally appropriate turfgrass species developed from the Center’s award-winning research — replace St. Augustine as lawn where possible. They also suggest adding some native prairie plants such as buffalograss and sideoats grama — for ecological health and aesthetics in parkland areas.

Check out those bluebonnets! This photograph from 1904 shows an entirely different campus than the one we know today. In place of lawn is a field of bluebonnets — a source of beauty and resource for pollinators. Prints and Photographs Collection, di_04396, The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.

Doing so might help the campus resemble its historic state, according to Bright. Photographs from the 1900’s prove students of that day saw a whole lot more of native Texas on campus than do students today. "I found great photos of campus from the early 1900’s at the Briscoe Center for American History that show how wildflowers once bloomed alongside native grasses in place of the current acres of non-native lawn."
Another measure Bright and others from the Center’s team are proud of is how they’ll establish a survey for use by the landscape maintenance staff at UT. The survey will ask staff to rank plants by how much maintenance and water they have found they need. The hope is to answer which native and appropriate non-native species take less irrigation. “When water restrictions demand that potable water be cut off for plantings, staff will know how to respond,” says Bright.
She explains the project as a way to get intimate with the ecological setting in the urban environment. Bright says, "We are not attempting to restore the landscape here to its historical precedent, but generate ecological function and build ecological resilience into the university grounds for the benefit of the campus community."
By Christina Kosta Procopiou

Photographs by Michelle Bright