SustainAbility Campaign

On The Brink!

2009-09-29T10:03:00.000-07:00

According to the Millenium Ecosystem Assessment(MA)over the past 50 years, humans have changed ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in any comparable period of time in human history, largely to meet rapidly growing demands for food, fresh water, timber, fiber, and fuel. This has resulted in a substantial and largely irreversible loss in the diversity of life on Earth.

The changes that have been made to ecosystems have contributed to substantial net gains in human well-being and economic development, but these gains have been achieved at growing costs in the form of the degradation of many ecosystem services, increased risks of nonlinear changes, and the exacerbation of poverty for some groups of people. These problems, unless addressed, will substantially diminish the benefits that future generations obtain from ecosystems.

The degradation of ecosystem services could grow significantly worse during the first half of this century and is a barrier to achieving the ISC Sustainable Community Development goals.

The challenge of reversing the degradation of ecosystems while meeting increasing demands for their services can be partially met under some scenarios that the MA has considered, but these involve significant changes in policies, institutions, and practices that are not currently under way. Many options exist to conserve or enhance specific ecosystem services in ways that reduce negative trade-offs or that provide positive synergies with other ecosystem services.

First ISC Chartered University

2009-06-14T11:29:00.000-07:00

Urbana University, Ohio - Founded in 1850, with the ground work for its creation being laid in part by John Chapman, who is better known as Johnny "Appleseed" was the second institution in Ohio to admit women and the first nontraditional degree completion program of its kind in Ohio. The liberal arts University became the first (and at present the only) University to become a Charter Member of the International Sustainability Council. To see a copy of the Urbana University Sustainability Charter visit:

http://www.thesustainabilitycouncil.org/charters/Urbana.pdf

Steve Jones, President of the University and an ISC Council member has reported that several Charter related projects are already underway on the 128 acre campus, including a habitat restoration project, a full campus energy audit and several other initiatives that will be reported on in future posts on this blog.

Take a virtual visit to Urbana University by visiting:

http://www.urbana.edu/index.php

The International Sustainability Council

2009-03-15T10:12:00.000-07:00

The ISC http://thesustainabilitycouncil.org/ is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing understanding of the relationships among environmental, social and economic systems for the mutual benefit of people and the environment today and for future generations. In a nutshell that means that the ISC advocates sustainable development that is based in the ISC Principles of Sustainability and we will accomplish this through the Sustainability Campaign.

This will be achieved by forging partnerships with governmental agencies, universities, businesses and not-for-profit organizations that will result in the development of an accepted set of Principles of Sustainability. In addition activities supported will be continuing research, education and the production of various forms of educational and literary works that will be used as the basis of the creation of sustainable demonstration projects that are connected to the various aspects of sustainable community planning, development and management.

Mission Statement

Promote the ISC Principles of Sustainability as an advocate for Sustainable Development. To serve as a clearing house of research and information connected to sustainability and to create partnerships between universities, businesses, governmental agencies and not-for-profit organizations and to serve as a catalyst for moving toward a more sustainable society.

Vision Statement

We visualize a more sustainable society and Planet Earth that will result from a coordinated approach to creating positive partnerships with others who embrace the ISC Principles of Sustainability and take actions that are based in improving the quality of life, the quality of the environment in ways that make economic sense.

DOE & HUD Team Up to Support Weatherization

2009-03-06T14:16:00.000-08:00

DOE and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced last week a major partnership designed to streamline and coordinate federal weatherization efforts. DOE and HUD have created a high-level interagency task force to leverage roughly $16 billion in funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to spur growth in the home energy efficiency industry in the United States. HUD's funding includes $4.5 billion to renovate and upgrade public and tribal housing and $250 million for energy retrofits of privately owned, federally assisted housing, while DOE's funding includes $5 billion for weatherization assistance; $3.2 billion for new block grants that states, local governments, and tribal governments can use to retrofit homes; $3.1 billion for the State Energy Program; and more.
The new interagency task force will coordinate the expenditure of the new funds in local communities and will develop guidelines and specifications for retrofitting public housing and privately owned, federally subsidized rental properties. The task force will also evaluate home energy disclosure and audit standards and develop new financing tools for home energy efficiency efforts. In addition, the task force will lead a government-wide effort to develop a common baseline for measuring home energy use and documenting gains from energy efficiency improvements. See the DOE press release.

Acid Rain Harms Streams in Western Adirondacks

2009-01-02T10:05:00.001-08:00

A new scientific study of streams in the western region of the Adirondack Mountains has found that two-thirds of them have been harmed by acid rain produced by the burning of fossil fuels. This equates to 450 miles of acidified streams. The western Adirondacks receive some of the highest levels of acidic deposition in the United States
This study is the first-ever regional assessment of Adirondack streams since the early 1980s and the only assessment conducted in the United States to characterize episodic acidification on a regional level. For this study, 200 headwater streams were sampled in five surveys conducted from 2003 to 2005.
Streams are more acidic than lakes because of the water they receive from shallow rivulets, which often cannot neutralize acids. In addition, streams cannot dilute periodic acid deposits with less-acidic water the way that lakes can. Streams also are more directly affected than lakes by nearby vegetation and soil processes.
The study, conducted jointly by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), the Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation, and the University of Texas at Arlington, also showed the negative effects of acidic episodes on aquatic insects. Findings confirm that healthy macroinvertebrate communities are not likely to be found in headwater streams of the western Adirondack Mountains, where acidic deposition has resulted in long-term chronic and/or episodic stream acidification. Generally, species richness decreases, with certain acid-sensitive species replaced by more tolerant species.

Results from the 2003-2005 Western Adirondack Stream Survey

Habitat for Cerulean Warbler Conserved In Ozarks

2008-12-28T08:37:00.000-08:00

A coalition including American Bird Conservancy, the state of Missouri, The Nature Conservancy, and the Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation has protected 80 acres containing important floodplain habitat in the watershed of the Current River, one of North America’s most biologically diverse streams. The parcel links together federal and state protected lands and provides breeding habitat for the Cerulean Warbler, whose population is declining throughout its range.

Approximately 37 acres of the tract are in riparian flood plain and have been identified as Cerulean Warbler breeding habitat. American Bird Conservancy committed $35,000 to the purchase price of the tract because it is in an area of the Ozarks where there are high densities of Cerulean Warbler in the floodplain forests of the Jack’s Fork and Current River.

“While the Horse Creek tract was cleared a few decades ago, it has transitioned back into a mature bottomland forest with characteristics that Cerulean Warblers prefer: well-developed canopy layers and canopy gaps where tall trees, like sycamores or cottonwoods, emerge above the tops of other trees,” said Dr. Jane Fitzgerald, Central Hardwoods Joint Venture coordinator for American Bird Conservancy.

She also added that by protecting this property, it would prevent the land from being cleared, which allows Brown-headed Cowbirds to increase. The Cowbirds is a brood parasite that can impact the Cerulean Warbler population, which has declined by approximately 70% since the mid-1960s.

Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation committed $55,500 through the Stream Stewardship Trust Fund. “MCHF through its Stream Stewardship Trust Fund was eager to help protect the Horse Creek Tract. This property was important for us because it closed a three-sided inholding on public land, contained a high-quality aquatic resource that was vulnerable to adverse private development, and occurs in a Conservation Opportunity Area as identified by the Missouri Department of Conservation,” said Rick Thom, executive director of the Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation.

In addition to preserving excellent habitat for declining bird species, this land acquisition preserves three springs and over half a mile of Horse Creek, a beautiful Ozark stream. While assessing the property, biologists discovered a healthy blooming population of the rare Tall larkspur growing along the creek banks. This handsome wildflower is a popular nectar source for Ruby-throated Hummingbirds.

This acquisition is part of American Bird Conservancy’s Cerulean Warbler conservation program that is restoring and protecting breeding habitat, reducing threats, and developing and providing habitat management recommendations for landowners to optimize conditions for Cerulean Warblers and associated forest species. The project has protected lands for the Cerulean Warbler and critically endangered birds in Latin America, including the creation of the first Cerulean Warbler Reserve in Colombia, protecting 252 acres of wintering habitat.

“This land purchase is the first acquisition in the United States by American Bird Conservancy, and the first in the Central Hardwoods Bird Conservation Region specifically to protect habitat for a high-priority terrestrial bird species,” said Jane Fitzgerald. “This year, American Bird Conservancy also helped reforest abandoned mine lands in Ohio and Virginia as part of the Appalachian Regional Restoration Initiative to support populations of declining bird species including the Wood Thrush, Cerulean, Blue-winged, and Hooded Warblers.

American Bird Conservancy (ABC) works to conserve native wild birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. ABC acts to safeguard the rarest bird species, restore habitats, and reduce threats, while building capacity in the conservation movement. ABC is a 501(c)(3) membership organization that is consistently awarded a top, four-star rating by the independent group, Charity Navigator.

EPA Recognizes Water Efficiency Leaders

2008-12-18T09:27:00.000-08:00

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently recognized a collection of utilities, individuals, corporations, NGOs, and government for their contributions in reducing, reusing and recycling water through leadership, innovation, and water saved.

The top Water Efficiency Leaders in each category:

Pinellas County Utilities - the most water-efficient utilities per capita at 89 gallons per person per day (gpd), versus the national average of 100 gpd.

PepsiCo - for improving water efficiency across its brands and being on target to reduce water consumption per unit of production by 20 percent by 2015.

Acequia - which has sustained measured reductions of irrigation water across its 70 commercial property clients by 54 percent since 2002.

Commissioner Robert J. Hunter - who helped Atlanta’s 50 largest water customers cut their water consumption by 45 percent and promoted water saving options and high efficiency toilet rebate programs to users and plumbers.

Homewise, Inc. - an NGO that as of May ‘08 had helped 595 households reduce water use by an estimated 64 percent via a mix of consumer information, on-site homeowner installation assistance, marketing, and consumer lending.

The Orange County Water District - for its system of replenishing groundwater can generate enough water to meet the needs of 500,000 people.

Invasive Species

2008-12-16T10:52:00.000-08:00

According to the Ecological Society of America, http://www.esa.org invasive species often succeed in new environments because they can out compete native species within an area for some resource, such as food, mates or habitat. What’s less clear is exactly what gives them this edge over local species that should be experts at living in their home territory.

A study by Joshua King and Walter Tschinkel published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences investigates just what gives a common southern pest, the invasive fire ant, the ability to muscle out local ants seemingly everywhere there’s a human disturbance. Notorious for their huge nests (as many as 100,000 ants per colony on average), aggressive swarming behavior and painful stings, these red ants have become a major menace in the U.S., Australia, the Philippines, China and Taiwan.

Because the ants are usually found in highly disturbed areas, such as roadsides, parking lots, strip malls and subdivisions, the authors wondered if the ants’ success depends on their environment. The authors compared the success of native ant populations in areas that were recently disturbed by humans to natural areas where fire ants were introduced.

Somewhat surprisingly, the fire ants by themselves had less of a negative effect on native ant populations than simple plowing. The ecologists suggest that fire ants may not be so much an invasive species but a “disturbance specialist,” with the ability to capitalize on an open niche when they see one – a description that might fit other invasive species as well.

Alaska Sustainability Blog

2008-12-07T17:06:00.000-08:00

December 7, 2008 - Fairbanks, Alaska

The School of Natural Reources and Agriculture has many research and education programs that are connected with the Sustainability Campaign. The have now created a Sustainability Blog, which is a great portal to ongoing projects within the University as well as providing links to other information connected with living and lifestyles in the near Arctic.

Check it out: http://snras.blogspot.com/

Green Roof In The Winter

2008-11-19T14:30:00.000-08:00

A Green Roof seems to be all the rage these days. But, did you ever wonder how a Green Roof might make out during the cold winter months?

What better place to take a look at that topic than Fairbanks, Alaska. The University of Alaska, Fairbanks based Cold Climate Housing Research Center has constructed and is monitoring a Green Roof on their facility.

Take a read through their report on how their Green Roof made out in the seriously sub zero temperatures of Fairbanks:

http://www.cchrc.org/App_Content/files/snapshot07-10grh.pdf

Energy Star Dishwashers

2008-11-17T08:48:00.000-08:00

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced more stringent energy efficiency and water use criteria for dishwashers carrying the ENERGY STAR® label. This is the first time that ENERGY STAR criteria have addressed water use for dishwashers. The change could save American families more than $25 million in energy and water bills in the first 6 months the criteria are in effect.

The criteria will go into effect in two phases. The first set of criteria will apply on August 11, 2009, and the second will apply on July 1, 2011. DOE estimates that by 2012, the new guidelines will save Americans 671 billion Btu and 1.13 billion gallons of water per year. With the new water saving requirement, consumers using ENERGY STAR dishwashers will save more than a gallon of water with each dishwashing cycle. Manufacturers are also eligible to receive tax credits for the production of dishwashers that meet the new ENERGY STAR dishwasher criteria under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.

In the first phase, ENERGY STAR qualified dishwashers will be required to be at least 48% more efficient than federal energy efficiency standards require, saving the nation over 71 million kWh of energy and more than 500 million gallons of water per year. Stricter federal energy efficiency standards take effect January 1, 2010. In the second phase, ENERGY STAR qualified dishwashers must be at least 13.5% more efficient than the 2010 federal energy efficiency standards, saving the Nation over 95 million kWh of energy and more than 830 million gallons of water per year. The ENERGY STAR criteria for dishwashers were last modified on January 1, 2007.

ENERGY STAR is a joint DOE and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) program, formed in 1992 as a voluntary, market-based partnership that seeks to reduce air pollution through increased energy efficiency. DOE and EPA work to offer businesses and consumers energy efficient solutions to save energy and money, while also helping to protect our environment. More than 9,000 organizations have joined ENERGY STAR as partners committed to improving the energy efficiency of products, homes, and businesses. The ENERGY STAR label appears on more than 40 kinds of consumer products. To learn more about ENERGY STAR, and to view the revised program requirements, visit the ENERGY STAR Web site

Missouri Renewable Energy Requirement

2008-11-13T16:16:00.000-08:00

Missouri voters have approved a measure that will require the state's investor-owned utilities to draw on renewable energy for 15% of their electricity supply by 2021. The Missouri Clean Energy Initiative, or Proposition C, passed easily, garnering approval from 66% of the state's voters and passing in every county but one. The statutory ballot measure defines renewable energy as wind power, solar thermal power, solar photovoltaic power, small hydropower, a variety of biomass energy sources, and fuel cells powered by hydrogen from renewable energy sources, but it also allows the Missouri Department of Natural Resources to designate new renewable energy sources. The measure requires at least 2% of the requirement to be met with solar energy, and it requires the utilities to offer their retail customers rebates of $2 per watt for customer-owned solar power systems, up to a limit of $50,000. The ballot measure also allows utilities to buy their renewable power from out of state and to meet up to 100% of the requirement through the purchase of renewable energy credits (RECs), which can be bought from renewable energy facilities throughout the country. However, utilities cannot meet the requirements through the voluntary purchase of renewable energy by their customers, an approach known as "green pricing." Utilities that fall short of the requirement have to pay twice the going rate of the RECs needed for compliance, and the state will use that money to buy RECs and to support renewable energy and energy efficiency requirements. And to limit the impact of the measure on consumers, the cost impact of complying with the renewable energy requirement is capped at a 1% cost increase. The renewable requirement starts at 2% of sales in 2011 and gradually ratchets up to the 15% requirement by 2021. According to the Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy (DSIRE), 28 states and the District of Columbia now have a mandatory requirement for renewable energy use.

Reduce the Impact of Climate Change

2008-11-10T08:27:00.000-08:00

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released a report that can help reduce the potential impact of climate change on estuaries, forests, wetlands, coral reefs, and other sensitive ecosystems. The report, entitled Preliminary Review of Adaptation Options for Climate-Sensitive Ecosystems and Resources, identifies strategies to protect the environment as these changes occur.
“People always say ‘Don’t just tell us what will happen – tell us what we can do about it,’” said Dr. George Gray, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Research and Development. “By using the strategies outlined in this document, we can help managers protect our parks, rivers, and forests from possible future impacts of a changing climate.”
To develop this assessment, scientists studied national parks, national forests, national wildlife refuges, wild and scenic rivers, national estuaries, and marine protected areas – all protected by the federal government. The report takes a unique approach by using the management goals set for each protected area to understand what strategies will increase the resilience of each ecosystem – in other words, increase the amount of change or disturbance that an ecosystem can absorb before it shifts to a different ecosystem. Using these strategies, managers can maintain the original goals set for these ecosystems under changing climatic conditions. The strategies will be useful to federal agencies and can also be broadly applied to lands and waters managed by other government or nongovernmental organizations.
The report finds that climate change can increase the impact of traditional stressors (such as pollution or habitat destruction) on ecosystems, and that many existing best management practices to reduce these stressors can also be applied to reduce the impacts of climate change. For example, current efforts to reverse habitat destruction by restoring vegetation along streams also increase ecosystem resilience to climate change impacts, such as greater amounts of pollutants and sediments from more intense rainfall. Our country’s ability to adapt to climate change will depend on a variety of factors including recognizing the barriers to implementing new strategies, expanding collaboration among ecosystem managers, creatively re-examining program goals and authorities, and being flexible in setting priorities and managing for change.
The peer-reviewed report provides the best-available science to date on management adaptations for ecosystems and resources. It was developed following the guidelines developed by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program.
The Global Change Research Program in EPA’s Office of Research and Development led the development of the report. It is one of 21 synthesis and assessment products commissioned by the CCSP. The CCSP was established in 2002 to provide the Nation with science-based knowledge to manage the risks and opportunities of changes in the climate and related environmental systems. The program is responsible for coordinating and integrating the research of 13 federal agencies on climate and global change.

See the EPA report: http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/cfm/recordisplay.cfm?deid=180143

Sustainable ReInvestment in America

2008-11-07T11:36:00.000-08:00

The time is past that we start re-investing in America's failing infrastructure. Not only do we see falling bridges, crumbling roads and rolling brown-outs, we are not in the least prepared to deliver the proposed new alternative sources of energy to the American public.

The International Sustainability Council (ISC) and partners are promoting sustainability as a way of life. That means personal life and business life. Sustainability must become the basis for the way that we live, work and play. The public seems ready for changes and a major shift toward more "green" or sustainable lifestyles. We must make certain that there are no road blocks between those that have the desire to move toward a more sustainable society and the ultimate goal.

Re-investing in your home, your business, or your community with a focus on becoming more efficient with the use of natural resources makes good economic, environmental and social sense. And...those are the 3 pillars of sustainability. The time to start is now!