Thank you to Rachel Branch, producer of the television show Solutions Rising for including a “BEAT” series for people to learn more about the fracked gas pipelines proposed to bring gas from the fracking fields of Pennsylvania across New York, Massachusetts, and New England.
Why We Need a Carbon Tax,
And Why It Won’t Be Enough
Putting a price on carbon is an idea whose time has come, with even Big Oil signaling it may drop its long-standing opposition to a carbon tax. But the question is, has it come too late? It feels as if we may be getting close, or at least closer, as a nation to putting some kind of price on global warming pollution. Bernie Sanders campaigned all year on a straight-up carbon tax, and though Hillary Clinton hasn’t signed on to that, her team on the Democratic Party platform committee did agree to compromise language calling for pricing carbon and methane to reflect their “negative externalities.” (Full disclosure: serving as a Sanders representative on the platform committee, I put forward the tax resolution on his behalf, and, after it failed, put forward the language on carbon pricing.) We’re no longer talking about cutting emissions one or two percent a year; now, with the poles actually melting, coral reefs literally dying in a matter of weeks, and temperatures shattering new records every month, we need to do everything. By Bill McKibbon, Opinion/Environment 360, September 12, 2016. [text-blocks id=”26627″ slug=”click-headline-read”]
Jobs
MassLIFT-AmeriCorps Member Positions
MassLIFT-AmeriCorps Operations & Communications Coordinator, full-time staff position, available Sept/Oct
Experienced Solar Technician – Berkshire Photovoltaic Services – Adams, MA
Research Scientist – SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry – Albany, NY
Weekend Visitors Services Staff – Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary, Lenox, MA
Spreading: More of Berkshire County in
‘moderate drought’
By Colin A Young, State House News Service
The Berkshire Eagle
September 8, 2016
Restaurants in Worcester and Holden can no longer serve tap water to diners unless specifically asked to do so, a result of the central Massachusetts communities ratcheting up water use restrictions in the face of a deepening drought.
The Worcester Department of Public Works and Parks on Thursday moved the city to a “Stage 3 Drought Emergency” and implemented additional water use restrictions “in order to assure the long term availability of water to meet the critical health, safety and economic needs of the city,” DPWP Commissioner Paul Moosey wrote to City Manager Ed Augustus.
The reservoir system that Worcester, Holden, Paxton and parts of West Boylston rely on for drinking water was 55.1 percent full as of Sept. 1, Moosey wrote, and the Sept. 1 average is 81.7 percent full.
Residents in those communities are as of Thursday also banned from all outdoor watering, except for using a watering can to water plants by hand, and are prohibited from using water to wash cars, clean driveways, decks, sidewalks or filling swimming pools, the city said.
More than two months since Massachusetts’ official drought declaration, the task force charged with guiding the state’s response on Thursday recommended the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs boost its conservation efforts in two parts of the state due to worsening conditions and a forecast for more dry weather.
The Drought Management Task Force recommended that EEA Secretary Matthew Beaton move the southeastern part of the state from the “watch” category into the “warning” category, and shift Cape Cod and the islands from “advisory” to “watch.” The task force recommended keeping the other regions of the state in their current categories.
Massachusetts has been under its own official drought declaration since July 1 and the arid conditions have been blamed for contributing to wild fires, an outbreak of gypsy moths, higher rates of ant infestation, smaller than usual apples, loss of crops, and an elevated population of mosquitoes able to carry West Nile virus.
“I don’t care what part of the state you’re from, we are at an unprecedented level of drought for Massachusetts,” Beaton said. “Every corner of the state is feeling it at some level, some more than others.”
Some advocates from watershed groups said the state is not moving quickly enough to address the problems posed by the drought and to push water conservation messages.
“What’s very frustrating about this discussion in general is our streams are really dry all over the state of Mass. and have been since July. For us, this really feels like we’re already in an emergency from the point of view of rivers,” Julia Blatt, executive director of the Massachusetts Rivers Alliance, said. “There isn’t really much we can do about the weather but what we can do is change our non-essential water use. But until there is an emergency declared by the state, there doesn’t seem to be much difference between advisory and warning.”
Beaton is expected to act on the task force’s recommendations by Monday, though the recommendations are not binding.
Some parts of the state saw near-normal levels of rainfall during August and streamflows began to rebound in central and western Massachusetts, according to Jonathan Yeo from DCR’s Office of Water Resources.
“Generally though, it was not good. It did not get us out of the drought at all and things worsened in the eastern part of the state,” he said.
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How can we better value water as global shortages start to threaten economies?
By Katherine Purvis
The Guardian
September 13, 2016
is essential for life, whether to irrigate crops, to manufacture goods, or for drinking, washing and cleaning. But the intensification of climate change, a growing population and increasing demands from cities, agriculture and industry – coupled with poor water governance – is driving acute water shortages around the world.
The World Bank predicts that by 2050 this scarcity will deliver a significant hit to the economies of Africa, central Asia and the Middle East, taking double digits off their GDP.
To address these challenges and ensure that every person, country and business has enough, it is essential to determine the true value of water throughout the supply chain. But how?
This was the question debated during a panel discussion, hosted by the Guardian and supported by SABMiller, at the World Water Week conference in Stockholm, Sweden, which was organised in association with the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI).
Lack of awareness
The panel was unanimous that water is not valued in the way it should be. Lack of awareness was suggested as a likely cause.
“In places where farmers have been hit by drought to the point that it’s impacted their livelihoods, water has become a valued resource,” said Paul Reig, senior associate of the Water Programme and Business Centre at the World Resources Institute. “It is places that haven’t suffered this kind of impact that lack awareness.”
Reig has been working with Valuing Nature, a sustainability consultancy, to understand the value of water in terms of the cost of delivering it in socially, environmentally and economically beneficial ways. “We think that by understanding the total cost, it could inform the level of investment needed to reach those conditions, as well as the largest impacts that are impeding their achievement,” he said.
Blued Trees Symphony Grows
The Blued Trees Symphony launched on the Summer Solstice, June 21, 2015, with an overture in Peekskill, New York. It is now installed in many miles of proposed pipeline expansions, and each 1/3 measure of those miles has been copyrighted for protection. Variations of each movement are based on an iterative score created for the overture. All installations are created at the invitation of landowners. The overture was accompanied by an international Greek Chorus at a total of twenty sites internationally. Individual trees were painted and musical variations of the score were performed to echo the theme of connectivity to all life. The score is simultaneously spatial and acoustic and will conclude with a coda, a final movement that recapitulates and resolves previous themes, on the American presidential Election day, November, 2016.
The Peekskill site was chosen because the pipelines would be 105 feet from the infrastructure of the failing Indian Point nuclear facility, 30 miles from New York City. The score corresponds to a pattern that prevents the movement of heavy machinery. The paint for each vertical sine wave is a casein slurry of non-toxic Ultramarine blue and buttermilk that grows moss (based on a Japanese gardening technique).
The project continues to grow with the following upcoming dates:
Lecture November 3rd, 5:30-7:30 PM at George Mason University, Fairfax, VA at the invitation of Changwoo Ahn, director, EcoScience+Art. The Blued Trees Symphonyproject’s formal and legal strategies to combat gas pipeline corporations that contribute toclimate disruption will be presented in a special talk with musical excerpts based on the transposition of painted tree-notes.
Opening November 11 at The Perspective Gallery, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA curated by Robin Boucher. Starting on the US Presidential Election Day, the installation, performance and talk events will contribute towards establishing standing for the whole symphony. This location has had many Blued Trees installed to contest pipelines. The Coda events will give the local community legal instruments to contest eminent domain takings by natural gas corporations.
November 17- 20, 2016 panel presentation for the American Studies Association (ASA) Conference: Home/Not Home: Centering American Studies Where We Are, Denver, Colorado.
2016- 2017 at the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT) Art Gallery, Daejeon, South Korea, curated by Yu Hyun-Ju on the occasion of opening the first art gallery for KRICT. Workshops and installations about installing the Blued Trees Symphonywork across the globe, including Europe and centering on Korea, for the Carbon Art Project.
Why We Need a Carbon Tax,
And Why It Won’t Be Enough
By Bill McKibbon
Yale Environment 360
September 12, 2016
It feels as if we may be getting close, or at least closer, as a nation to putting some kind of price on global warming pollution.
Bernie Sanders campaigned all year on a straight-up carbon tax, and though Hillary Clinton hasn’t signed on to that, her team on the Democratic Party platform committee did agree to compromise language calling for pricing carbon and methane to reflect their “negative externalities.” (Full disclosure: serving as a Sanders representative on the platform committee, I put forward the tax resolution on his behalf, and, after it failed, put forward the language on carbon pricing.)
Meanwhile, Exxon — weighed down by investigative journalists showing it lied through its corporate teeth for decades about climate change — seems to be putting at least a little lobbying muscle behind its long-standing theoretical call for a carbon price. It’s true that the House Republican caucus voted unanimously (with one abstention) against a carbon tax, but since a great many of them are in essence employees of the fossil fuel industry that stance could shift quickly. Pressured by the Paris agreement, the American Petroleum Institute, which is the polite way of saying Big Oil, has recently formed a “task force” to “revisit the industry’s long-held opposition to taxing greenhouse gas emissions.” Meanwhile, devoted activists from the Citizens Climate Lobby have been working steadily to erode opposition among individual Republican officeholders, a noble, if so far quixotic, task.
Oh, and the Trump candidacy just might be Titanic enough to return control of the U.S. Senate to Team Democrat, whose likely captain — majority-leader-in waiting Chuck Schumer — has begun making serious noises about carbon pricing as a revenue source for a strapped government.
There is a very real sense in which this is good news. I’ve been arguing for a price on carbon since, oh, 1989, when I wrote the first book for a general audience on what we then called the greenhouse effect. I would estimate that I’ve said in roughly 3,000 speeches some variant of the line that “it makes no sense that the fossil fuel industry is allowed to put out their waste for free, using the atmosphere as an open sewer.” And indeed it does make no sense — it’s only the historical accident that we never knew CO2 was dangerous that’s left us with this perverse arrangement where, unlike every other form of waste, it carries no cost and hence no incentive to avoid its production.
Carbon should not flow unpriced into the atmosphere, any more than you should be allowed to toss your garbage in the street.
The minute, in the late 1980s, that we started to understand the risk is the same minute that economists left, right, and center began recommending a price on carbon as the most efficient way to help us out of our predicament.
To understand why, listen to Charlie Komanoff, energy wonk extraordinaire and head of the Carbon Tax Center, testifying before the Senate in 2014:
The U.S. energy system is so diverse, our economic system so decentralized, and our species so varied and innovating that no subsidies regime, no matter how enlightened, and no system of rules and regulations, no matter how well-intentioned, can elicit the billions of carbon-reducing decisions and behaviors that a swift full-scale transition from carbon fuels requires. At the same time, nearly all of those decisions and behaviors share a common, crucial element: they are affected, and even shaped, by the relative prices of available or emerging energy sources, systems, and choices.
Jobs
MassLIFT-AmeriCorps Member Positions
MassLIFT-AmeriCorps was established in 2010 by Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust as a collaboration of regional conservation organizations seeking to engage with more people and do more community conservation projects. The mission of the Massachusetts Land Initiative for Tomorrow (MassLIFT-AmeriCorps) is to strengthen and grow the land conservation movement by developing the next generation of land trust leaders and mobilizing them in every MA community. Our vision is one where the benefits of land conservation reach every community and are meaningful for all people.
This year, 36 MassLIFT-AmeriCorps members will serve at 21 different host sites (including urban conservation and community gardening/food systems non-profits) across Massachusetts as Land Stewardship Coordinator, Regional Conservation Coordinator, Youth Education Coordinator, or Community Engagement Coordinator. Members create and accomplish projects that increase their host site’s capacity, educate people in environmental stewardship, engage people in volunteerism, and include new constituencies. Specific activities vary by host site.
People of color strongly encouraged to apply. AmeriCorps programs provide equal service opportunities. MassLIFT works to ensure a diverse and inclusive climate without regard to any particular status. We encourage applications from individuals with disabilities and will provide reasonable accommodations for interviews and service upon request. The program runs 8/29/16 – 7/28/17. More info at masslift.org.
MassLIFT-AmeriCorps Operations & Communications Coordinator, full-time staff position, available Sept/Oct
MassLIFT-AmeriCorps was established in 2010 by Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust as a collaboration of regional conservation organizations seeking to engage with more people and do more community conservation projects. The mission of the Massachusetts Land Initiative for Tomorrow (MassLIFT-AmeriCorps) is to strengthen and grow the land conservation movement by developing the next generation of land trust leaders and mobilizing them in every MA community. Our vision is one where the benefits of land conservation reach every community and are meaningful for all people.
The Operations and Communications Coordinator (OCC) supports the MassLIFT-AmeriCorps program vision on a statewide scale. Reporting to the MassLIFT Program Director, the OCC manages member recruitment and onboarding, communications and marketing, and day-to-day administration of program operations.
We’re aiming to fill this position in September/October 2016. MassLIFT-AmeriCorps may spin off as a separate nonprofit between Fall 2016 and Summer 2017, in which case program headquarters would likely move to Lowell, MA. Applicants should be prepared and willing to relocate to be able to work out of a Lowell office. View the complete position description and application instructions at masslift.org.
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Experienced Solar Technician
About Berkshire Photovoltaic Services (BPVS)
Since 1985 our mission has been to install safe, efficient & durable PV systems. We are looking for an Experienced Solar Technician to join our team! BPVS is fully licensed (MA HIC 131996) and insured for commercial, institutional and residential PV systems. All of our installations are fully permitted and approved. BPVS has helped pave the way for PV acceptance by installing the first solar electric systems in over 90 jurisdictions and several utility territories. Office Phone: 413-743-0152.
Job Duties
PV installation tasks
Qualifications
At least 2 Years working in solar field
10 Hour OSHA Card
Drivers license (with a clean record)
Plus but not required:
CSL
NABCEP Certified
Experience working with AutoCAD
Send resume & cover letter to Becca Martin at Becca@bpvs.com
Rebecca Martin
BPVS (Berkshire Photovoltaic Services)
46 Howland Ave
Adams, MA 01220
Tel: 413.743.0152
Fax: 413.743.4827
www.bpvs.com
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Research Scientist – SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry – Albany, NY
Category: Research Foundation
Department: EFB
Locations: Albany, NY
Posted: Jun 27, ’16
Type: Full-time
About College of Environmental Science and Forestry: Founded in 1911, the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) is the nation’s oldest and most respected school dedicated to the study of the environment, developing renewable technologies and building a sustainable future. The ESF main campus is in Syracuse, NY and has regional campuses throughout Central New York and the Adirondack Park. ESF consistently earns high rankings in US News and World Report, Forbes, Peterson’s Guide, The Washington Monthly, Princeton Review and other national college guidebooks.
Job Description:
Title: Research Scientist
Department: Environmental and Forest Biology
Salary: $50,000 minimum
Duration: Through March 2018, with likely continuation through March 2023
Location: Albany, NY (New York State DEC Headquarters)
Brief Description of Duties: This position will work closely with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Bureau of Wildlife (BOW) staff and will function as the BOW’s Data Scientist. This position will assist the Game Management Section with annual monitoring efforts by maintaining current systems in antiquated database software (i.e., Visual FoxPro and Turbo Pascal) while simultaneously working to upgrade the programs in a modern data analysis language (i.e., R or Python) and database platforms (e.g., Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, sqllite, or MS Access). The position will seek opportunities to streamline and automate the workflow and data flow involved in annually recurring surveys conducted by the Game Management and Wildlife Diversity Sections.
The Research Scientist also serves as a consultant to BOW staff throughout the state and research collaborators, providing direct support with statistical analyses, guidance on sampling designs, evaluation of project proposals to ensure statistical validity, assistance with preparation and review of technical reports and manuscripts, and response to data requests from staff and the public.
Primary responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
Oversee annually recurring deer harvest estimation. This is a major project and involves validation of all input data sources (e.g., harvest reports from hunters, biological data from field checked deer, etc.), statistical analyses (descriptive and inferential), development of summary tables, and appending estimates to several long-term databases and spreadsheets.
Oversee data validation and analysis of annual data collection from a variety of wildlife observation surveys (e.g., bow hunter sighting log, big game hunter survey, grouse and turkey hunter logs, drumming surveys, incidental sightings) to monitor relative abundance of deer, bear, moose, turkey, selected furbearers, and other game and non-game wildlife species statewide. Evaluate and refine as appropriate.
Provide technical guidance on data management systems, maintain and update computer programs used to analyze survey data, and help identify and correct sources of errors that occur in telephone, internet and scannable form reporting systems.
Provide statistical expertise and consultation for design and analysis of wildlife population research, user surveys, and monitoring programs and evaluate those surveys and programs after implementation.
Provide user-friendly reports and data queries from the above surveys as needed for public information or management purposes.
Assist BOW biologists in the preparation of peer-reviewed manuscripts and technical reports.
Train and supervise support staff to assist with data quality assurance and validation procedures.
Travel around New York State as needed to meet with and make presentations to regional staff, other professionals, and wildlife management stakeholders.
Requirements:
Required Qualifications:
Bachelor’s Degree and two years of professional research experience, OR a Master’s Degree and one year of professional research experience, in biometrics, biostatistics, data sciences, wildlife population ecology or related field.
Expertise MS Access and with one or more statistical programming language such as R, Python, and/or SAS.
Strong interpersonal skills, including ability to establish and maintain satisfactory working relationships and collaborate with diverse personalities on project teams.
Preferred Qualifications:
Master’s Degree and two years of professional research experience, OR a PhD, in biometrics, biostatistics, data sciences, wildlife population ecology or related field.
Proficient with a version control system for software development (e.g., Git, Subversion, etc.)
Familiarity with Turbo Pascal and/or MS Visual FoxPro
Proficient at writing custom functions and/or packages in R and/or Python
Strong familiarity with relational databases and proficient using SQL
Experience developing dashboards such as RShiny Flex Dashboards, ArcGIS Dashboard for Operations, Rbokeh, Python bokeh, etc.
Proficiency with likelihood-based and Bayesian inference.
Experience working closely with state or federal wildlife agency staff.
Advanced user of ArcGIS for Desktop.
Additional Information: In accordance with the “Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act” institutions of higher education are required to prepare an annual report containing information on campus security policies and campus statistics. This report includes statistics for the previous three years concerning reported crimes that occurred on-campus; in certain off-campus buildings or property owned or controlled by SUNY-ESF; and on property within, or immediately adjacent to and accessible from the campus. The report also includes institutional policies concerning campus security, such as policies concerning sexual assault, and other matters. You can obtain a printed copy of this report by contacting SUNY-ESF University Police at 315-470-6667 or by accessing the following web site: http://www.esf.edu/univpolice/crimereports/
As an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action employer, the Research Foundation will not discriminate in its employment practices due to an applicant’s race, color, religion, sex, national origin and veteran or disability status.
Application Instructions:
Date to Be Filled: August 1, 2016 or as soon as possible thereafter.
Application Deadline: Although the college will accept applications until the position is filled, interested candidates should submit their materials by July 15, 2016 to ensure optimal consideration.
Application Procedure: Employment application must be submitted on-line. Be sure to include contact information for a minimum of 3 references in your resume/CV.
APPLY HERE.
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Weekend Visitor Services Staff
Responsible for staffing the admissions office, Sundays, 10am – 4pm and some Monday holidays, greeting visitors, answering telephones, selling books, gifts, and bird feeders, processing registrations for programs, events and camp and generally representing Pleasant Valley and Mass Audubon to the public.
If you are looking for a part time position, have a love of nature, and enjoy sharing that enthusiasm with our visitors, this is a great opportunity for you. This is a year round position, however seasonal applicants will also be considered.
Qualifications
- Friendliness, tact, dependability, enthusiasm and a desire to work with people.
- Ability to deal with the varied pace of a public attraction necessary (there can be over 400 visitors on a busy day).
- Experience with handling money, using a cash register and credit card machine.
- Ability to take responsibility for office without additional staff.
- Customer service experience preferred.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office and the ability to learn basic computer programs.
- An interest in natural history is helpful, natural history background a plus.
- Must pass a background records check (CORI and SORI).
Compensation and Benefits – Rate of pay $10-$11.00/hr
How to Apply
Please email your resume and cover letter to:
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