More than 100 dead common loons, red-breasted mergansers, ring-billed gulls, herring gulls, great black-backed gulls, horned grebes, long-tailed ducks, greater scaups, double-crested cormorants and white-winged scoters have washed up on the shores of the Great Lakes in the past week – apparently because of some bad shellfish and fish.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation says the waterfowl most likely consumed the quagga mussel and a fish called the Round Goby during migration breaks. In the past, those creatures, non-native ones, have sickened other birds with botulism. The mussel and the goby consume a lot of contaminants that they then pass on to others who eat them.

Chevy Chase and environmental education? Well, the two actually go together. Jayni, his wife, and Chase founded The Center for Environmental Education Online, an Internet resource for educators and students.

This past weekend, the Bedford couple took part in the 3rd Annual Sustainability Expo in Garrison, sponsored by the Hudson Highlands Land Trust and the Teatown Lake Reservation. The Chases spoke about the importance of sustainability education for adults and children. Topics on their Web site include green living, energy conservation and global climate change.

“He and his wife are really committed,” said Andy Chmar, HHLT’s executive director. “They are a great team.”

According to this post from Andrew Revkin’s Dot Earth blog at the NY Times (He’s a Garrison resident), Chevy played the joker to his straight-wife.

Also at the expo was Altren Consulting and Contracting from Ulster County. The company designs and constructs renewable energy systems for homes, businesses and municipalities throughout the Hudson Valley. Such systems can be huge money-savers for homeowners, its president said. President Charles Lazin said solar panels are not the only option for harnessing the sun’s energy, but that solar thermal and geothermal systems can be more efficient and offer a bigger economic benefit.

(Photo credit: Rudolf Van Dommele/Altren. From left to right: Chris Davis, president, Hudson Highlands Land Trust; Jayni Chase; Chevy Chase; Andrew Chmar, Executive Director, Hudson Highlands Land Trust.)

Looking for a perfect gift for Christmas of Hanukkah? How about a front-loading washing machine? A membership to a food co-op? A wheatgrass basket?

Citizens Campaign for the Environment has released its fifth annual guide to gifts that are easy on the ecology. They stress local products, organic foods and other such items.

It includes many items you’d expect: stationery and journals made from recycled materials, for instance.

And some you may not have thought of, including pens made of recycled materials.

Here’s an example: One suggested stocking stuffer is a tire gauge. It may not be on the top of many gift lists (at least not yet), but CCE points out that properly inflated tires last longer and increase the mileage you get from an increasingly exorbitant gallon of gas.

For the full list, click here.

And for more on the CCE’s thoughts, I’ll copy the group’s press release here:

Shop Green, Think Globally, Buy Locally
ECO-SAVVY HOLIDAY GIFTS IDEAS

Lower Hudson Valley Holiday Gift Ideas Provided on CCE Website
www.citizenscampaign.org/holidaygifts

White Plains, NY— Citizens Campaign for the Environment (CCE) announces its fifth annual guide of ecologically-friendly holiday gift ideas.  CCE’s holiday gift guide grows every year, reflecting the increasing diversity for environmentally conscious products. The holiday season is an excellent time to be eco-savvy by choosing gifts for your friends and family that also benefit the earth.  Help spread environmental awareness and start the New Year off green by being inspired by CCE’s 2007 Holiday Gift Guide available at www.citizenscampaign/holidaygifts.

“Being an eco-savvy shopper not only allows the public to avoid toxic toys for the holidays but also allows the public to use our spending dollars to protect our planet and our health. Demand for organic and natural products has dramatically increased over the last few years and this has resulted in a wide variety of great gift choices,� said Adrienne Esposito, CCE Executive Director. “CCE has put together this list to help the consumer with some great choices for gifts that acturally protect the health of our planet and the public.

Shop Green, Think Globally, Buy Locally, is the guiding theme of the 2007 CCE Holiday Gift Ideas Guide.  The Holiday Gift Guide emphasizes choosing environmentally beneficial gifts from local stores and supporting local products.  Avoid crowded malls by supporting quaint used book stores, organic restaurants, natural nail salons and beauty stores, as well as arts & crafts stores offering Fair Trade and local artisan’s products.

Inspired by each CCE regional office, the Green Holiday Gift idea is divided by region: Central New York, Western New York, Long Island, White Plains, and Connecticut. CCE staff members have visited each location and used each gift recommended on our list.

“Supporting Hudson Valley businesses and products is a win-win for the environment and the community.  By shopping locally, shoppers not only keep their dollars in the community but they are also actively fighting global warming pollution by reducing their carbon footprint,� said Emmett Pepper, CCE Hudson Valley Program Director.  “With so many environmentally-friendly companies in the area, consumers can use their purchasing power to protect the environment, support the local economy and reduce their carbon footprint,� Pepper continued.

Supporting local businesses and products this holiday season and purchasing gifts that do not degrade our environment is a terrific way to contribute to your community while helping to protect the health of our planet.  By choosing gifts that have traveled the least, individual decisions can reduce global warming pollution—or carbon footprint—by reducing fossil fuel emissions associated with product manufacturing and shipping.  Additionally, local business owners are important local employers and are invested in the community.

“Consumers vote everyday with their dollars. Cast your vote for the environment and local economy by giving locally-produced environmentally sensitive gifts and supporting local retailers this holiday season,� concluded Dereth Glance, CCE Executive Program Director. 

Visit www.citizenscampaign.org/holidaygifts to view the environmentally-friendly gift ideas.  CCE welcomes your own ideas too!  Send them to us at: whiteplains@citizenscampaign.org

Citizens Campaign for the Environment is an 80,000-member, not-for-profit, non-partisan advocacy organization working for the protection of public health and the natural environment.  For more information, please visit www.citizenscampaign.org

The world received a new tree this past weekend, a sugar maple in memory of Patterson resident and activist Thomas Keasbey. A World War II veteran, community activist and environmental advocate, Keasbey passed away in August. He was 86.

The tree was planted near Patterson’s Little Red Schoolhouse, which Keasbey, as president of the Patterson Historical Society, helped save from demolition in the mid-1980s.

The tree also sits steps from the Great Swamp, one of the state’s largest freshwater wetlands. Keasbey and Edie, his wife, were instrumental in forming Friends of the Great Swamp to protect this resource.

The New York Botanical Garden received a $572,000 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to launch “Tree-BOL,� a project to DNA barcode all 100,000 species of trees in the world.

Coordination of the various parties working on the project will be managed by the Botanical Garden, and will culminate in an international symposium in 2010 on the topic of “Plant DNA Barcoding.�

Trees make up about 25 percent of all plants, according to the Botanical Garden. They were selected for this project due to their value as sources of fuel, fiber, food, flowers and medicine; as well as their ecological value as carbon sinks, producers of nearly half the oxygen needed for life on Earth, and their ability to influenc weather patterns through transpiration and gas exchange.

Work is expected to begin in early 2008, and the first phase will target the barcoding of all the trees of Europe, half of the trees of North America, and all threatened and endangered trees protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

We’ve stepped in a lot of goose poop in Rockland over the years. The situation brought the addition of water fountains and dogs at local parks to chase the Canada geese away, the practice of egg addling to reduce the numbers born, and the posting of signs to urge the public to stop feeding the birds.

The problem, of course, is that there’s no reason for the geese to move on since they’ve got great ponds, parks, golf courses and lawns around here for food sources.

Despite all the efforts, state experts say geese remain a problem in our area.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation will hold two workshops as the agency tries to find solutions.

The first takes place from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday in the Cliff House at Bear Mountain State Park.

The second takes place from 9 a.m. to noon at Norrie Point Environmental Center in Staatsburg, in Dutchess County.

Information will be offered on the natural history of Canada geese, regulations, examples of successful programs, and working collaboratively to achieve results.

The workshops are free, but registration is required. E-mail Emilie Hauser at eehauser@gw.dec.state.ny.us or call 845-889-4745, ext 112.

Those yellow-traffic-hazard signs warning drivers about a deer crossing – you know, the ones showing a graceful, leaping deer – might not cut it near Yellowstone National Park. Drivers there may need something denoting a moose in labor. I’ll leave the artist’s rendering for that sign to others.

Another $8 million for the cleanup of Davids Island off New Rochelle has passed the House of Representatives in the 2007-08 Defense bill.

U.S. Rep. Nita Lowey, D-Harrison put the money in the bill, along with almost $7.5 million for other area projects. If it passes the Senate and Pres. Bush (either by his agreement or veto override, as happened today with the $23 billion water resources bill) it will push the total Lowey has secured for the Davids Island cleanup past $26 million.

New Rochelle owns the island in Long Island Sound.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is using the money to clean up the 78-acre island in Long Island Sound.

Three local environmental advocacy groups have hailed Congress’ first-ever override of a Bush veto – all in the name of protecting water resources. Read more of this entry »

Almost 700 acres of farmland that drains into the Hudson River will be protected from becoming a subdivision or other non-agricultural use, Scenic Hudson announced today. Read the release posted below. Read more of this entry »