At the of today's Daily News editorial, The Return of Muddy Waters, the paper calls for its readers to take action. Did you agree? Great. Take action. Here. Obviously, Clean Water Action agrees.

Here's an excerpt from the editorial in case you haven't read it yet:

The Clean Water Act was designed to cover all the nation's water.

This is the only interpretation that makes sense - that is, if you're not a polluter. You can't really protect "navigable waters" if you can dump poisons into their tributaries.

Rep. Vitali put out this press release for a forum on natural gas drilling that he's hosting in nearby Media. I'm on the panel and so is Sharon Ward (who many of us know). Rep. Vitali is rightly trying to educate his constituents about what may well be the most serious environmental issue to hit our state since coal.

If any YPP'ers can join us, it would be great to see you there.

HARRISBURG, Dec. 30 - State Rep. Greg Vitali, D-Delaware, will host an informational meeting on Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 19 in the large auditorium at Delaware County Community
College, 901 S. Media Line Road, Media.

"The purpose of this meeting is to educate the public and policy makers about the environmental and fiscal issues surrounding Marcellus Shale gas extraction. This will be an issue of increasing importance in the upcoming decade," Vitali said.

Just a quick reminder that these short winter days and long winter nights are a good time to think about planning and planting your own vegetable garden.

By growing your own, you'll save money, have less concern about chemical use and health issues, likely improve your landscape, and reduce energy consumption shipping food stuffs to you.

You'll save the most money if you start plants from seed, which means getting going in February and March, so you can plant outside in April and May.

I've been happy with Vermont based company Gardeners Supply (http://gardeners.com/) for many years for supplies, equipment and advice.

As for seeds (and more advice), local company Burpee (http://www.burpee.com) has been in the business for well over a century, and some friends recently introduced us to Seed Savers Exchange (http://www.seedsavers.org) which specializes in collecting and propagating unique heirloom vegetables, herbs and plants (more than 13,000 different varieties!).

Right behind Norma Fiorentino's house, they have been drilling for natural gas. Some of the gas is coming from under Norma's property, so she gets a little money for it (not all that much so far, though). She also got a present on New Year's Day. Her water well exploded all over her yard. Now she can't drink the water from her tap anymore and she's worried that her kitchen might blow up.

Good times, right? And when the checks stop coming, the gas won't stop. It will still be there in the water table. Totally ruined. Won't that be great when she her or her heirs try to sell her land?

Clean Water Action is meeting with people and talking to them about their experience living nearby or around natural gas drilling rigs.

So what can you do? Watch this video, then I have two quick things for you after the jump.

On Tuesday the US Senate Environment and Public Works committee started hearings about the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act.

To kick off the festivities the Sierra Club gathered with citizens at 17th and Arch (EPA Mid-Atlantic Office) to Rally in Support of the EPA and the Clean Air Act. Speakers included Dennis Winters (Chair of the PA Chapter of the Sierra Club), Joe Minott (Executive Director of the Clean Air Council), Pam Johnson (member of SEIU 32BJ), Bill Walsh (District Director for Congressman Sestak) and Jason Brady (Sierra Club) who read statements from Congressman Brady and Senator Specter.

Horrified by mountain top removal? Then come watch "Coal Country".

The film gives you a dramatic look into modern coal mining and the impact on communities in Appalachia. You will get to know working coal miners along with activists who are battling coal companies.

This will also be a great opportunity to talk with the filmmakers and learn about the people in the communities being affected by the coal extraction and use in Appalachia.
 
WHEN: Thursday, October 29th
TIME: 7:30pm
WHERE: Bryn Mawr Film Institute, 824 W. Lancaster Ave, Bryn Mawr, PA
COST: Free
RSVP: http://action.sierraclub.org/BrynMawrCoal

Sponsored by the Southeastern Group of the Sierra Club

Questions call 215-508-3310

From Clean Water Action

As if I wasn't already excited enough about this Friday's 13th Annual Clean Water Action Party on Boathouse Row, we have something new on offer this year. Environmentally inspired artwork. I have to confess, I'm blown away by what's been offered.

I met Dave Holley at InLiquid's Art for the Cash Poor this summer and started talking to him about the work of Clean Water. He got really excited, so when I told him that I was looking to spotlight an artist's work as it relates to water, he said he was in.

I had no idea what impressive work I was in for.

Dave got to work and became inspired by Hiroshige's famous "The Great Wave Off Kanagawa." Using a method that very much squares with the type of issues Clean Water espouses, he found a used sail to work on and began applying recycled magazine and other images to it, using the colors in what he found and painting over the top. Creating this amazing painting/sculpture that will debut this Friday at the Annual Auction. So you should come. You should see the whole piece. The image above is just a detail. You know you want to see it all at once. So RSVP now.

More details about the event in the jump!

Hi YPP,

I hope you enjoy my new interview focusing on some really important and creative organizing -- a good example of the poor organizing transnationally and drawing connections between different communities. If you like the interview, please help spread the word. Permission is granted to reprint as long as UpsideDownWorld.org is cited as the original source.

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1908/1/

Appalachia and Colombia: The People Behind the Coal

--An interview with Aviva Chomsky

By Hans Bennett

When they drill, who pays the bill?
Pass the gas tax for protection of our land, water, wildlife and communities.

Join us for a Webinar on
May 11 at 7 pm or May 13 at noon

Space is limited.

Reserve your place for the webinar on Monday, May 11 at 7 p.m. at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/792895858

Reserve your place for the webinar on Wednesday, May 13 at Noon at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/468557187

The proposed natural gas severance tax could provide 100s of millions of dollars to land, water and wildlife conservation and to local communities. Over the next two months the Governor and legislature will be considering enactment of this tax. This webinar will provide participants with the information they need to work to boost conservation funding and reinvest in Pennsylvania’s natural resources.

As I ride the R2 into Temple U. from Delaware County, the sight of trash pokes me in my eyeballs like a bunch of rusty rods discarded a decade ago on the side of the track. Whether it's a goldmine of Goodyears, or a Sealy store's worth of mattresses, the reality is this trash needs to be picked up. These tracks serve Amtrak and the R1 Airport line, as well as my beloved R2, so plenty of tourists get a not-so flattering first peak at our city. I'm looking to write an article about this squalor, and would love to find sources who are knowledgeable and supporters who would be willing to join me in my quest to get this trash removed.

Times are tough and the economy is hurting. Areas of our state, such as the northern and central parts, have been suffering a longterm economic malaise. In recent years, technology and commodity prices have harmoniously met to create would could be a gigantic economic boon for our state: natural gas.

It turns out that Pennsylvania is sitting on some gigantic reserves in natural gas trapped inside a huge geological system known as The Marcellus Shale. Shale gas has been too expensive and too difficult to tap profitably for years. That seems to be changing, unfortunately, harvesting that gas could be devastating for our streams, rivers and air quality.

I'm not using the word devastating lightly. To get it, companies will have to tear down a lot of trees, run thousands and thousands of diesel trucks, use millions of gallons of water, polluting it horribly and leave mountains of petroleum products sitting and fuming in the sun for who knows how long. It won't be pretty.

Recently, organizations under the umbrella of the Campaign for Clean Water wrote to the Action Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection about this issue in hopes that they could find a way for us to harvest the resource right. These are just a few of the problems we could see in our first look at the issue.

PENNSYLVANIA CAMPAIGN FOR CLEAN WATER
215-545-0250

December 18, 2008

John Hanger
Acting Secretary
Department of Environmental Protection
Rachel Carson State Office Building
Harrisburg, PA 17105

Dear Secretary Hanger:

Thank you for convening the briefing for the environmental community by DEP officials, the Susquehanna & Delaware River Basin Commissions on October 9th. We appreciated the opportunity to hear what the agencies are doing to address the challenges presented by the many new gas drilling projects proposed and underway in the Marcellus shale fields.

We understand that natural gas drilling could potentially be a major new source of revenue and business development in Pennsylvania. At the same time, however, the undersigned organizations are concerned that this drilling must be done in a manner that does not damage our state’s natural resources, particularly our water resources and the plants and animals that they support. If the rush to drill is allowed to go forward without adequate permit conditions and oversight, it could irreparably and unnecessarily harm habitat and water sources, de-watering streams, damaging water and air quality, fragmenting forests and impacting threatened and endangered species in some of the most pristine parts of our state.

Here, and in 9 other battleground states nearly 1,600 have signed up to volunteer in the critical 96 hours before the election.

We're putting out names down for the last 96 hours because we worry this race could be much closer than the polls predict.

Will all of the hard work and long hours be enough?

With your help, it will be.

Click here to Volunteer in the final 96 hours

Here are a couple of reasons why we shouldn't take anything for granted.

* Record turnouts are expected on Election Day, but it's unclear if polling places are ready for the deluge of new voters. With long waits and new voting technology in several states, polls can't predict how voters will react.

For the many YPP readers interested in planning and sustainability issues and urban development: Alex Steffen at WorldChanging has a terrific essay on city redevelopment titled "My Other Car is a Bright Green City." It's fairly long for a blog post, but well worth reading, as it summarizes a lot of the current thinking about green tech, density planning, and cities over the past couple of years. (See also David Owen's "Green Manhattan [PDF]," etc.)

A brief summary of Steffen:

1) Since most of the energy consumed and CO2 produced happens in the home, we should focus on how people live and work rather than (solely) the gas efficiency of the car they use to get there.

2) We need to act fast, not just because our lifestyles are out of control, but that the rest of the world emulates us.

3) This doesn't mean cars aren't important, just that tailpipes and MPG matters less than the enviro (and social!) costs of roads and infrastructure, commuting, etc.

4) If we want to turn this around, we have to promote and build denser housing developments and leverage existing high-density neighborhoods (i.e. cities and inner-ring suburbs.

5) We can do this faster and achieve higher energy gains than we can turn around the existing automotive fleet.

6) Goodies! Bike shares, transit-oriented development, New Urbanist neighborhoods. A green-city-geek's geekstuff.

Over the past 18 months RecycleNOW Philadelphia has been hard at work collecting over 12,000 signatures, lobbying for public hearings, and making sure our next mayor will implement a dependable weekly curbside recycling program for everyone in the city. Now we need your help...

Come out for an afternoon of Philly's best local bands playing to support the future of recycling in Philadelphia!

Rock & RecycleNOW
Saturday, September 29, 2007
3pm to 7pm
Whole Foods Roof
10th and South Streets

Featuring Live Performances by:
• The Capitol Years
• The Swimmers
• The Adam Monaco Band
• Adam and Dave's Bloodline
• Sarsaparilla
• Tough Guys Take Over

Tickets are $15 and available at www.cleanair.org

Win great prizes from PhillyCarShare, Sun and Earth, Starbucks, The Philadelphia Eagles and more...

For more info contact Katie Edwards at kedwards@cleanair.org or 215.567.4004 ext. 107

This is not going to save the world, but it is a small step that we should all applaud:

On Thursday, DiCicco and Kenney will introduce a bill that would ban regular plastic bags at supermarkets and pharmacies in favor of recyclable paper bags or new compostable plastic bags. And Kenney plans to introduce a companion bill that would ban polystyrene foam, commonly known as Styrofoam.

DiCicco said his legislation is modeled on a similar effort earlier this year in San Francisco.

"You walk into the store and buy a tube of toothpaste. It's in a box and they grab plastic bags and put it in them," DiCicco said. "There's no control on the number of bags they give you. The clerks don't pay attention to it. We're in a throwaway society for the last 40 years, and that's one of our problems. Packaging has gotten out of hand."

When I was in Germany last month, basically sequestered away, one of the only things to do was to walk over to the WalMart like supermarket (high entertainment!). I would peruse all the beer I couldn't drink, the chocolate I couldn't eat, and then settle on some delicious diet coke, go to pay, and despite my hands being full, I would rarely get a shopping bag from the checkout person. I could never figure out, nor ask, why the ladies couldn't just give me an effin bag. Then, finally, I realized that they were keeping them behind the counter because they charged you for each bag that you used.

It made sense- even if they were not costing out every externality- the store(s) were helping people remember that there are a lot of costs to using disposable bags. As Diccicco said, we are a throwaway society, and in a time of the coming global warming crisis, this is a small and smart step we can take to do out part in Philly.

Now, if we could only recycle....