News (834)
Children categories
ES! Initiatives (74)
EarthSolidarity!™ Initiatives are endeavors to which anyone can contribute in deed as well as in spirit, that
- minimize waste and environmental impacts
- increase community resilience
- respect and protect ecosystem processes and all forms of life
- contribute to good living conditions for everyone around the globe
- affirm and celebrate our interdependence and interrelatedness in the Web of Life!
Tracking Decarbonization in the Southeast: 2021 Report
Apr 21 1–2 p.m. EDT
Heather Pohan & Maggie Shober, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
Webinar - Free and open to the public - more details and RSVP
“Tracking Decarbonization in the Southeast: Generation and CO2 Emissions,” a report developed by the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, examines the role electric utilities have played in decarbonizing the power supply over the last decade. The report examines power sector carbon dioxide emissions throughout the Southeast, home to some of the biggest utility systems in the nation.
Knoxville solar home project groundbreaking
Apr 22 1 p.m. EDT
Socially Equal Energy Efficient Development (SEEED)
In-person event with virtual participation option
SEEED is building a completely solar-powered, energy efficient home, including battery backup, and will sell it at an affordable price to a low-income family. The groundbreaking will take place in the Lonsdale neighborhood, and will also be live streamed through Facebook. If you attend in-person, please wear a mask and practice social distancing in line with guidance from the CDC.
Electric Vehicle Virtual Ride & Drive with race car driver Leilani Münter
Apr 24 1-2 p.m. EDT
Natural Resources Defense Council and Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
Zoom Webinar - Free and open to the public - RSVP
Leilani will take us through the paces in her electric car and explain why she’s an advocate for electric transportation powered by clean energy. Following the virtual ride, Leilani will answer live questions posed by viewers. Make sure to register to hold your reservation.
Getting closer to catastrophic tipping points
CBS News: Eye on Earth
This outstanding video summary by meteorologist and climate specialist Jeff Berardelli explains why scientists fear further deforestation of the Amazon or collapse of Antarctic ice shelves would wreak ultimate havoc in coastal areas around the world.
“How has the river helped you during this time of isolation?”
Apr 29 submission deadline
Voices of the River Contest
Show Us What the River Means to You!
RiverLink
Details, Contest Guidelines and Submission Form
2020 Winners video
Smokies rangers and Gatlinburg cops are cracking down on litter sources
Written by Thomas Fraser
Put a lid on it: Rangers, cops targeting unsecured garbage loads to reduce roadside litter
Great Smoky Mountains National Park rangers and the Gatlinburg Police Department made 37 traffic stops targeting insufficiently contained garbage during an enforcement campaign on the Spur on March 28 and March 29.
Unsecured trash and debris blowing from vehicles is a major source of litter along the Spur, which is used by 10 million vehicles per year and is the most heavily traveled — and heavily littered — roadway in the national park.
Rangers and police officers issued 25 verbal warnings and 13 citations during the anti-litter patrols, according to a press release from the national park.
Officials said garbage hauled from rental properties and homes often blows out of trucks and other vehicles and is a major source of litter along the busy road, which runs five miles between Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg.
“With increasing visitation trends and more use of park roads for business and recreation, we need everyone to do their part to keep our roads litter free,” Great Smoky Mountains National Park Superintendent Cassius Cash said in a park press release announcing the targeted patrols. “To protect our scenic values and wildlife, it is vital that we prevent trash from ever being discarded in a national park.”
Law enforcement ensured the motorists hauling trash "were complying with Tennessee State Code 39-14-507, which states that any motor vehicle that transports litter, or any material likely to be blown off, is required to have the material either in an enclosed space or fully covered by a tarp," according to the park service.
The amount of litter that has accompanied increased visitation is not just a national park concern.
“The city of Gatlinburg is very concerned about the litter issues in the area and is willing to work with the national park and coordinate efforts, such as this targeted enforcement event,” said Gatlinburg City Manager Cindy Cameron Ogle in the combined release. “Together we can all make a difference to help keep our area beautiful for everyone to enjoy.”
Rangers and Gatlinburg police plan more such litter enforcement patrols throughout the year.
Health officials: Knoxville air quality on sustained upswing
WBIR: Knoxville air quality data indicates sustained improvements
The Knox County Health Department reports that fine particles declined by half between 2007 and 2018. Ozone levels also remained below national standards during that period. The combined pollution reductions — achieved through tighter emissions standards on power plants and vehicles — have resulted in the cleanest air in Knox County since 1999, according to the Health Department.
Here’s a link to the full 2019 Knox County Community Health Assessment.
Big South Fork of Cumberland River rises to highest level in 80 years
Independent Herald: Big South Fork sets record flow and depth rates
Switch off your lights for Earth Hour
Mar 27 8:30–9:30 p.m. local time
Take part with your family in Earth Hour 2021
It is a symbol of unity. It is a symbol of hope. It is a symbol of power in collective action for nature.
Earth Hour international partnership
Take part in the Earth Hour Virtual Spotlight: Coming to a small screen near you
Step 1: Follow
Make sure you're following at least one of the Earth Hour social pages and turn on notifications:
Step 2: Watch
On March 27 - the night of Earth Hour - we'll be posting a must-watch video on all our pages.
We can't tell you what the video will be about just yet...but we can promise that it'll make you see our planet and the issues we face in a new light.
Step 3: Share
Share the video far and wide, it's that simple! Share it to your Stories or to your wall, re-Tweet it, send it via DM or Messenger, @tag/mention friends in the comments - the choice is yours. Whether you share it with one person, ten people, or a hundred - remember, it all adds up!
Use the hashtag #EarthHour when you can!
Smokies bear vs. hog viral video: Yep. That’s about right.
Written by Thomas FraserSmokies biologist: Bear vs. hog video highlights nature taking its course
High-elevation trail plan proposed near Sylva
WLOS: Mountain property owners wary of trail network between Sylva and Cherokee
Proponents of a proposal to build a high-elevation 35-mile multi-use trail system in Jackson County said it could further fuel growth in the area’s outdoor-recreation industry.
Some people who already own homes and property in the area abutting, for instance, Pinnacle Park in Sylva, fear an influx of strangers who would jam roads trying to access public lands owned by Sylva and Cherokee. Shocker.
The Nantahala Area Southern Offroad Bicycle Association is putting together a concept plan. The group says it would be the highest (3,500 feet) such trail network in the eastern United States.
Bradford pears suck, and a South Carolina county is offering a bounty, dead or alive
WBIR: County bounty offered to rein in common nonnative landscaping trees
Confession: Your friendly neighborhood Hellbender Press editor bought a house for his family that featured rows of well-established Bradford pear trees. While they are not my favorite, are distinctly alien and should be made to leave this world, they provide an effective privacy screen. I’m sure many of you are in the same boat: Why eliminate healthy trees and expose your property? Let ’em ultimately die and rot, I guess. And plant natives elsewhere. WBIR also has suggestions for natives to replace Bradford pears.
Maybe we’ll figure it out, but in the meantime here’s a story about a South Carolina county offering a bounty on Bradfords.
Interestingly, WBIR has posted numerous, unflattering stories about Bradford pears over the last couple of years. Seems they have an editorial grudge. Good. Keep rolling with it.
Opponents race to stop proposed motorsports track in Oak Ridge
KNOX NEWS: Does a motorsports park make sense for Oak Ridge?
A Knoxville real estate developer and some officials maintain a motorsports park at the Horizon Center industrial park would create jobs, tax revenues and a destination for private high-performance vehicle enthusiasts in the region. Opponents lament possible noise and light pollution and the loss and fragmentation of healthy, diverse hardwood forest and open space set aside decades ago by DOE as an environmental preserve.
The municipal approval process has moved forward since this video was made, but here is a comprehensive argument from those who oppose the Oak Ridge motorsports park and would rather preserve the popular recreational and natural site on the far west end of Oak Ridge.
Being fire: Volunteers help preserve a classic East Tennessee cedar barren
Written by Thomas Fraser
A volunteer removes invasive plants from an Oak Ridge cedar barren as part of a Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning effort to keep the barren in its natural prarie state. Anna Lawrence/Hellbender Press
Volunteers play the part of fire to maintain the native grasses and wildflowers at an Oak Ridge cedar barren
OAK RIDGE — It’s called a barren, but it’s not barren at all. It’s actually a natural Tennessee prairie, full of intricate, interlocking natural parts, from rocks and soil to plants and insects and animals.
There’s lots of life in these small remaining unique collections of grasses and conifers that are typically known, semi-colloquially, as cedar barrens.
Many of these “barrens” have been buried beneath illegal dumping or asphalt, but remnants they are still tucked away here and there, including a small barren in Oak Ridge owned by the city and recognized by the state as a small natural area.
First Native American named to lead Department of the Interior
NYT: Interior Secretary first Native American to hold vital post
The Senate on March 16 confirmed the first Native American director of the U.S. Department of the Interior, Democratic U.S. Rep. Deb Haaland of New Mexico.
“… her new position is particularly redolent of history because the department she now leads has spent much of its history abusing or neglecting America’s Indigenous people.
“Beyond the Interior Department’s responsibility for the well-being of the nation’s 1.9 million Native people, it oversees about 500 million acres of public land, federal waters off the United States coastline, a huge system of dams and reservoirs across the Western United States and the protection of thousands of endangered species.”
More...
Tennessee journalists wary of amendments to public meeting laws
ETSPJ: Hold up on Covid-era meeting law changes to ensure public accommodation
Hellbender Press takes a fundamentalist attitude when it comes to the First Amendment and unimpeded public access to information from the government and its decision-making processes. The East Tennessee Society of Professional Journalists released a statement March 12 regarding public access problems with an otherwise reasonable amendment to the state open-meetings laws. The amendments were introduced at the request of the Knox County Commission, according to ETSPJ.
Here is the press release from ETSPJ in its entirety:
“The East Tennessee Society of Professional Journalists opposes a bill sponsored by two Knoxville lawmakers, Rep. David Wright and Sen. Richard Briggs, that would create yet another exemption to the state Open Meetings Act.
The bill, apparently introduced at the request of the Knox County Commission, would allow almost half the members of a county legislative body to participate in meetings by telephone or other electronic means. For Knox County, this would mean four of the nine commissioners; for Davidson Metro Council with 40 members, 19 of them could conceivably participate by telephone.
The rationale for the bill is laudable in that so long as a quorum is physically present in a single location, it permits an otherwise absent member to attend and represent constituents. Acceptable reasons for absence are family or medical emergencies, military service or out-of- the-county work.
Its shortcoming, however, is the total lack of public accommodation. As currently drafted, this bill would be an exception to a section of Tennessee law that permits such electronic participation so long as all conversation is audible to the public, each member can simultaneously hear and speak to each other during the meeting and all votes are taken by roll call.”
The requirements in the existing Tennessee law are similar to those in the governor’s emergency executive order for public meetings during the pandemic, but the Briggs-Wright bill would incorporate the convenience of the pandemic order for government officials without any of the public safeguards.
Tennessee school boards received an exemption in 2012 for electronic participation, but whether by happenstance or by local rule, the Knox County School Board has never had more than one member participate electronically at the same time. So, the public has not faced the obstacle of determining who is speaking or how members participating by telephone voted.
The exemption to existing law for school boards may have begun a slippery slope for multiple state governing bodies to carve out a permanent exemption in the state Open Meetings Act.
ETSPJ asks that lawmakers Briggs and Wright withdraw their bill or else amend it so that it incorporates public accommodations similar to those in the existing state law and the governor’s executive order for meetings during the pandemic.
Indigenous people could provide a path to global land and water preservation
NYT: Global effort under way to protect 30 percent of the world’s remaining natural areas
The “30x30” plan, led by Britain, Costa Rica and France, aims to preserve at least 30 percent of the Earth’s remaining natural terrestrial and aquatic habitats. A convention of dozens of nations in China later this year will outline and streamline possible methods to meet this goal. Some countries want to increase the goal to 50 percent.
One good reference point may be the lands controlled by indigenous people, who, research shows, do a remarkably good job of maintaining biodiversity in the native habitats in which they live. Their careful methods of resource extraction provide economic benefits while preserving the natural integrity of their native lands.
The U.S. is the only country aside from the Vatican to not agree to the convention’s goal, though President Joe Biden has floated a similar plan to preserve 30 percent of the country’s remaining natural areas.
NC authorities mulling relaxed regulations on Pigeon River pollutants
Knox News: Sam Venable: Now is not the time to backslide on Pigeon River health
Good piece here on a renewed threat to the Pigeon River, which threads from North Carolina into Tennessee. Your friendly neighborhood Hellbender Press editor was a raft guide there for a while — people loved to be on that river, and it is a true environmental and economic success story.
But after years of environmental improvements to the river and accompanying economic gains, the state of North Carolina is considering relaxing standards for a nearby paper mill’s pollutants.
The state is considering loosening the discharge standards for the paper mill’s current owner. A public hearing on the matter is set for April 14.
Knoxville Urban Wilderness poised for expansion
Compass: Urban Wilderness could expand with city/bike club deal
UPDATE: This resolution was passed March 9 by City Council.
Our friends at Compass report that Knoxville City Council will consider a memorandum of understanding tonight with the Appalachian Mountain Bike Club to expand the William Hastie Natural Area by 28 acres.
The club and city would split the purchase price of the property off Margaret Road, and the club would maintain planned bike trails, according to Compass.
Compass is a subscription-only news site, but you should subscribe anyway, so check it out.
A Resolution authorizing the Mayor to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Appalachian Mountain Bike Club providing that the City pay an amount not to exceed $100,000.00 toward the purchase of 28 acres of property to expand the William Hastie Natural Area in the Urban Wilderness, and expressing appreciation for the donation of property to the City. (Requested by Administration).
Hellbender Press will let you know how the vote went.