Wild Waters

SOS: Rt. 53

2009-01-15T21:10:00.006-06:00

Lake County's Public Works and Transportation Committee yesterday decided that we should waste more time and energy stopping the Rt. 53 extension from bulldozing the heart of the county. A full turnout of environmental leaders urged them to stay focused on more realistic transportation solutions. But Talbett, Maine and Carter, egged on by Schmidt, joined Stolman and O'Kelly to spurn our pleas. Thanks to newcomers Bush and Wilke for opposing unleashing this controversy on the public one more time, and to Carey and Carlson for their calls for more courageous leadership.

Our local officials seem to think that voters will forgive them for ignoring environmental solutions, and playing politics with transportation. But Obama can't launch a green economy if our elected local officials continue to resort to 40 year old, inefficient, polluting boondoggles in the 21st century. We need local change for our environment>>.

Meet The Press

2008-08-31T16:42:00.010-05:00

Somebody tell Tom Brokaw that there is no "Arctic National Wildlife Reserve." That term, which he has used repeatedly, describes a store of something to be used later. In Alaska, the public lands where the caribou calve, home to the Gwich'in people, are officially named the "Arctic National Wildlife Refuge." The word "refuge," in contrast to the word "reserve," aptly describes a land crucially relied upon by living things for their survival.

Mr. Brokaw's verbal slip betrays his disregard for these lands, and Maria Bartiromo's dismissal of the 2,000 acre oil extraction footprint there reveals their ignorance. The true impact of oil industry activities will spread out across the coastal plain.

Brokaw and Bartiromo should refrain from oil industry propaganda, and get the facts right before presuming to decide this issue for the American people. Considering the relentless oil industry ads aired by NBC during Meet The Press>>, which paint oil drilling as environmentally benign, it appears that Mr. Brokaw's professional integrity has been bought.

2008-05-17T10:04:00.003-05:00

So the Bush administration has just listed the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. They apparently had no intention of listing the bear (and have listed fewer species than any presidential administration ever) and were taken to court a few years ago by environmental groups. Enviros won the case, but, again, Bush had no intention of putting the polar bear on any list.

Finally, the green groups went back to court and the judge gave Bush till last week to do the listing. So at the 11th hour, the polar bear was listed--sort of. Apparently, Bush (as usual) thinks he can rewrite any law he doesn't like. In this case, he and his henchman, Dirk Kempthorn, say that the ESA protection doesn't include any protection that might reduce global warming or stop oil drilling, whether that helps the polar bear to survive or not.

Time for a new president.

2008-05-05T22:26:00.015-05:00

I just read an interview about the polar bear and global warming in Newsweek>> Interviewed was Dr. Kenneth Green from the American Enterprise Institute, typically an anti-regulatory, anti-environmental “think tank.” This was interesting to get an idea of how the brown team will argue against global warming initiatives. Of course, the arguments are much weaker, and the speaker much less assured, than the old days, but here is the essence of the new bullet points:

Global warming is possible, but the arguments are not yet convincing.
Maybe there is warming, but it's not man-made.
The warming has already gone so far that we can't do anything about it anyway.
Even if we wanted to do something about it, China, India and Russia won't go along so it's a losing battle.
If warming is not man-made, then the Endangered Species Act shouldn't apply.
If the polar bear is listed as endangered, then we can't exploit the arctic and can never get oil from ANWR.

Good to understand the other side.

Victory for Forest Preserves!

2008-04-20T21:07:00.005-05:00

Last week, the Chicago 2016 Olympic organizers finally decided against bulldozing Lake County FP's for the proposed 2016 Olympic equestrian events. Originally, they had somehow decided to put the events, expected to draw hundreds of thousands of people, into the County's Lakewood FP. Why they would choose to develop a passive natural area for this is unknown, especially when there are a number of well developed, internationally recognized equestrian facilities in Chicagoland. Luckily there was an uproar from many, a nesting pair of sandhill cranes, and probably too much trouble for a Chicago group competing with many high powered cities around the globe. Finally, Tempel Farms, home of the Tempel Lipizzans in Wadsworth, was chosen. About time.

Sinking Lake Michigan

2008-04-20T13:22:00.003-05:00

Lake County's growing western suburbs want to lay claim to Lake Michigan's waters - which have dropped in recent years. This has inspired a needed public campaign to conserve water. With warmer climate on the way, we question whether more extractions are the answer. See a video, and more information at: W&Water>>

Don't Mow the Swales

2008-04-03T12:39:00.017-05:00

Is stormwater polluting your stream? During the rains on Monday, water ran off the roof and parking lots where I work. It gathered in the swales, and drained through grates and culverts to a huge detention pond. But because the swales, the pond and its banks were mowed and eroding, little of the pollution was filtered out. Ask your village and SMC>> to train lawn and landscaping companies to follow the management plans for the stormwater facilities where they work.

Run-off

2008-03-31T00:17:00.009-05:00

Before we plowed the prairie and drained the wetlands, most rain in our area was absorbed or evaporated where it landed. If it seeped into a stream, it was clear and clean. Does your stream look like that? Find out a new way to improve our waters in issue 59 of the W&W News.