Environmental Film Festival – Planet in Focus in Toronto

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Toronto Environmental Film Festival - Planet In Focus

The 12th Annual Planet in Focus Environmental Film Festival kicks off in Toronto on October 12 with the green carpet premiere for the very entertaining Revenge of the Electric Car (follow-up to Who Killed the Electric Car?), and will close on October 16 with the Ryan Reynolds-narrated film The Whale.

Featuring five days of galas, film screenings, workshops and more, Planet In Focus will once again shine a spotlight on provocative subjects ranging from rising sea levels, slash-and-burn agriculture, the globalized food trade, desertification, glacial recession and how the generation of coal and nuclear energy are transforming global land and seascapes.

In 2006, thousands of new electric cars were purposely destroyed by the same car companies that built them. Today, less than five years later, the electric car is back… with a vengeance. In the highly entertaining documentary REVENGE OF THE ELECTRIC CAR <--link for trailer, director Chris Paine (Who Killed the Electric Car?) gets extraordinary access behind the closed doors of Nissan, GM, and the Silicon Valley start-up Tesla Motors to chronicle the story of the global resurgence of electric cars.

THE WHALE, executive produced by Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johannson and narrated by Ryan Reynolds, tells the true story of Luna, a baby orca who gets separated from his family and starts to make friends with humans on the rugged West Coast of Vancouver Island. The
film is produced and shot by Suzanne Chisholm.

“I am delighted to have these two powerful films bookend our festival,” says Sarah Margolius, Executive Director of Planet in Focus. “They embody the often contradictory forces at play in debates about the state of our planet. One is a provocative documentary about the quest to develop a zero emission automobile, which will help to end our society’s reliance on fossil fuels, and the other is a majestic personal tale of how a lone, lost baby whale reveals the difficulties of wildlife protection in the face of shrinking natural habitats. There is truly something for everyone at this year’s festival.”

This year, Planet in Focus will shine a spotlight on the theme of landscapes, looking at contemporary film- and videomakers who are challenging and redefining our changing perceptions of landscape.

The full program for the festival is available here.

The Real Costs of the BP Oil Spill

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BP Oil Spill - Cleaning Birds
Some rights reserved by IBRRC

The terrible oil spill off the Gulf coast caused by faulty equipment used by BP had many ramifications. One of the worst oil spills in recent history, the toll of life, both human and animal a like, was devastating. The apparent negligence has caused many of us to close our garage doors each day and drive past BP oil stations, in favor of a different, more appealing choice. Natural landscapes were marred – perhaps forever. The loss of flora and fauna is immeasurable. Many people even had to leave their homes, and some even found themselves out of jobs.

As this crisis continued to unfold, it became more and more apparent that it could have, in fact, have been prevented. In the months that have passed, a number of lawsuits have been brought against BP for a variety of different grievances. It seems that now BP will have to pay, literally, for their negligence. Investigations into BP prompted by this accident found that this horrible tragedy could have been avoided, a number of times over, with normal, best practice behaviors; meaning that the loss of life, natural habitats, and livelihoods were completely preventable.

A lawsuit against ExxonMobil was, in the end, successfully mitigated for the most part, however it caused such a great deal of negative publicity that it appears that BP wishes to avoid this public relations nightmare. It appears that BP wants to settle their lawsuits for a hefty sum of upwards of $30 billion dollars to keep itself from being mired in court for countless decades to come. Much of the settlement money will go to the fishermen who’s livelihood was dashed when the spill occurred, as well as to the families who’s homes and property were destroyed in this devastating event.

Though it does nothing to change or remove the damage caused by negligence and avoidable mistakes, it is a small victory on the part of those who’s lives were inadvertently turned upside down by virtue of where they live. Companies live and die by that proverbial bottom line and this lawsuit hits BP “right where it counts”, in the bottom line. Even for a company such as BP, $30 billion dollars is quite a hunk of change. This will hopefully send a message to other oil companies that if any problems arise from the use of their processes, they will be held liable.

Chris Keenan is a green and general blog writer. He writes for many sites including Precision Garage Door. Chris also maintains a personal house and garden blog.

Green Your Back To School Routine

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Green Your Back To School Routine

With all the craze involved in getting back to school…be it elementary school, middle school, high school, or college, it never hurts to take a different approach with the new school year. Greening your back to school routine is simple and can save you some money too. Let’s go over some tips that will help benefit the environment and your wallet:

Walk or ride your bike to school.
Not only will this option of transportation save you on the costs of operating an automobile, but it will also benefit your health.

Take a school bus or public transportation instead of driving.
Taking public transportation to school reduces auto congestion and thereby keeps pollution to the environment at a minimum.

If there is no way of getting to school without a car, try carpooling and splitting gas costs.
Not everyone has the ability to ride a bike or take public transportation to school. Not to worry, take turns carpooling with your neighbors or friends to reduce your gasoline usage.

Try to make last years supplies last into this year.
If you have leftover pens, paper, or binders from last year, be sure to utilize those before you buy more. Also, ask friends or neighbors who may have leftover supplies to donate you.

Utilize a reusable bottle for water rather than store bought bottled water.
We all need to drink water. But instead of buying cases of bottled water, just get a reusable bottle and fill with tap or filtered water.

Use tupperware or a lunch box instead of paper bags for food time.
If you are making your own lunches to save on your wallet, be sure make use of reusable containers such as lunch boxes or tupperware instead of buying and using paper lunch bags.

Don’t forget to turn your computer off.
When you are not at home, be sure you turn off your computer to save on energy costs.

Buy used textbooks.
Buying used textbooks from craigslist or anywhere online will save you a ton of money off the high sticker price of new school books. Using older editions of the same book will still get you through your classes. Sometimes only a few pages are updated which the publishers use to slap on a new edition and charge full prices to unsuspecting students.

Amtrak Breaks Record With 30 Million Passengers

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amtrak cascades
Amtrak Cascades – Portland, Ore. – The Environmental Blog

Ridership projections show a new all-time record will be set. Amtrak is projecting that for the first time ever its annual ridership will exceed 30 million passengers and in the process set a new all-time record when the current fiscal year ends Sept. 30.

Basic Amtrak Facts

  • During FY 2010 (Oct. 2009-Sept. 2010), Amtrak® welcomed aboard more than 28.7 million passengers, the largest annual total in Amtrak’s history. An average of more than 78,000 passengers rides more than 300 Amtrak trains per day.
  • Amtrak operates a nationwide rail network, serving more than 500 destinations in 46 states and three Canadian provinces on more than 21,200 miles of routes, with more than 20,000 employees. It is the nation’s only high speed intercity passenger rail provider, operating nearly 60% of its trains at top speeds in excess of 90 mph/145 kph.
  • In FY 2010, Amtrak earned approximately $2.51 billion in revenue and incurred approximately $3.74 billion in expense. No country in the world operates a passenger rail system without some form of public support for capital costs and/or operating expenses. In 2009, the most recent year for which data for other railroads is available, Amtrak’s farebox recovery (percentage of operating costs covered by revenues generated by passenger fares) was the highest reported for any U.S. passenger railroad.
  • In 2010, an average of more than 862,000 people every weekday depended on commuter rail services that used Amtrak-owned infrastructure, dispatching, shared operations, or rode commuter trains operated by Amtrak under contracts with local or regional agencies.
  • Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor (NEC) is the busiest railroad in North America, with more than 2,200 trains operating over some portion of the Washington-Boston route each day. More than a quarter of a million riders use the NEC on every weekday, generating more than 4.9 million daily passenger miles.
  • If included among U.S. airlines in 2008, Amtrak would rank 8th in the number of passengers served. On average, there are nearly twice as many passengers on an Amtrak train than there are on a domestic airline flight.
  • The Boston-New York-Washington portion of the Northeast Corridor carried 10,375,209 passengers in FY 2010 on Acela Express, Regional Service or other trains. Three other corridors had ridership that topped one million or more: Pacific Surfliner Service (San Diego-Los Angeles-San Luis Obispo, 2,613,604), Capitol Corridor Service (San Jose-Oakland-Sacramento-Auburn, 1,580,619) and the Keystone Corridor Service (Harrisburg-Philadelphia-New York City, 1,296,838).
  • Five other corridors had ridership in excess of a half-million passengers:
    • Empire Service (New York-Albany-Niagara Falls): 981,241
    • San Joaquin service (Oakland-Sacramento-Bakersfield): 977,834
    • Amtrak Cascades service (Eugene-Portland-Seattle-Vancouver, B.C.): 836,499
    • Hiawatha Service (Chicago-Milwaukee): 783,060
    • Lincoln Service (Chicago-St. Louis): 572,424

“We are having a very strong year because people around the country are choosing the convenience, efficiency and hassle-free environment of Amtrak to meet their travel needs,” said President and CEO Joe Boardman. “Amtrak has wisely invested the federal funding we have received to improve infrastructure and equipment. Continued investment in Amtrak and passenger rail will support the further growth of this increasingly vital transportation option.”

Amtrak is basing its projection of more than 30 million passengers on strong June ridership numbers and expected ticket sales for July, August and September. June 2011 was the best June on record with more than 2.6 million passengers for the month and marked 20 consecutive months of year-over-year ridership growth, a streak that began in November 2009.

This strong performance is part of a long-term trend that has seen Amtrak set annual ridership records in seven of the last eight fiscal years, including more than 28.7 million passengers in FY 2010.

Comparing the first nine months of FY 2011 (October – June) to the same time period in FY 2010, national Amtrak ridership is up 6.4 percent so far this fiscal year and all three major business lines are showing gains: the Northeast Corridor up 5.6 percent, state-supported and other short distance corridors up 7.8 percent, and long-distance trains up 3.9 percent.

Amtrak Cascades in the Pacific Northwest operates three daily round trips between Portland and Seattle; one daily round trip between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C., and one between Portland and Vancouver, B.C.; and two daily round trips between Eugene and Seattle, via Portland. Amtrak Cascades achieved significant ridership growth in the second quarter of 2011, carrying nearly three quarters of a million people and breaking the record reached in 2010.

Factors contributing to the continuing success of Amtrak include high gasoline prices, continued growth in business travel on the high-speed Acela Express trains with free Wi-Fi service, the increased appeal and popularity of rail travel, and effective marketing campaigns.

Ross Island Sand and Gravel – Environmental Cleanup?

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Ross Island Sand and Gravel
Ross Island Sand and Gravel – The Environmental Blog

Ross Island Sand and Gravel is a major supplier of aggregate in the Portland area. Dictionary.com’s definition for aggregate is any of various loose, particulate materials, as sand, gravel, or pebbles, added to a cementing agent to make concrete, plaster, etc. From the 1920s until the summer of 2001, the company mined and processed sand and gravel from the Willamette River at the site on Ross Island. To meet site reclamation requirements, Ross Island Sand and Gravel began importing fill material in the early 1980s. Some of the material the company obtained from Port of Portland shipyards was determined to be unsuitable for unconfined open water disposal due to the presence of contaminants.

This material was placed lawfully in depressions within the lagoon and covered with clean material creating confined aquatic disposal sites. In 1999, Ross Island Sand and Gravel and DEQ determined that mining activities had extended into one of the capped areas resulting in a breach of a confined cell. Between 1999 and 2002, Ross Island Sand and Gravel and the Port of Portland conducted environmental investigations at the site which identified the following contamination as potentially posing unacceptable risk to human health and the environment:

  • Elevated concentrations of zinc and arsenic in surface soil samples collected in the vicinity of the processing plant.
  • Polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, also known as PAHs, detected in surface soil immediately adjacent to the southern portion of the lagoon at concentrations that could pose a threat to fish and wildlife within the lagoon if soil erodes into the lagoon.
  • Contaminated material removed from lagoon disposal cell 5 during mining activities.
  • PAHs detected at levels slightly exceeding EPA ambient water quality criteria in a grab groundwater sample collected adjacent to the southern portion of the lagoon.
  • Elevated concentrations of PAHs, metals, and polychlorinated biphenyls, also known as PCBs, detected in a limited number of surface sediment samples collected from the southern portion of the lagoon where reclamation filling has occurred and in the vicinity of the recapped breach area.
  • Elevated pH detected at several locations along the southern shoreline of the lagoon assumed to result be from concrete waste fill.
  • Highly contaminated material present in the five confined disposal cells for material dredged from Port of Portland facilities.

The following is what Ross Island Sand and Gravel has done to address the environmental issues over the years:

  • In summer 2000, closed the eastern portion of the settling pond containing contaminated material mined from confined aquatic disposal cell 5 and covered it with clean sediments dredged from the western portion of the settling pond.
  • In June and July 2007, removed approximately 900 cubic yards of soil contaminated with metals from the processing plant area; placed the soil in a prepared cell located within the capped former settling pond; and capped the cell with clean soil.
  • In summer and fall 2007, installed a variety of erosion control measures in the southern shoreline areas immediately adjacent to the lagoon. Measures included: installing drainage berms, stabilizing slopes, and covering with clean fill.
  • In May 2007, sampled groundwater in the southern shoreline area. Contaminant concentrations did not exceed conservative screening levels and DEQ determined no further action for groundwater was necessary.
  • Between 2001 and 2010, placed approximately 2,400,000 tons of fill in the lagoon achieving a minimum three-foot cap of clean material over contaminated sediment and further stabilizing slopes adjacent to the southern bench area.

Ross Island Sand and Gravel prepared a long-term monitoring/maintenance and contingency plan for the site addressing each aspect of the cleanup. In addition to regular monitoring and maintaining of the cleanup components, Ross Island will inspect caps and stormwater controls after any extreme events including: seismic events of magnitude six or greater, rainfall exceeding 3.4 inches or greater in a 24-hour period, and Willamette River levels of 18 feet or greater.

Based on evaluation of the actions described above, DEQ has determined that no further action, aside from monitoring, is required at the Ross Island Sand and Gravel site and that Ross Island Sand and Gravel has completed its obligations under DEQ Consent Order No. WMCVC-NWR-99-09.

If you believe that Ross Island Sand and Gravel has done a good job of protecting the environment with their normal business practices then forget about ever reading this post. However, if you feel that they could do a better job of protecting the Willamette River than simply monitoring, let your voice be heard by submitting a comment to the DEQ before September 30th @ 5:00pm, 2011.

Project Manager: Jennifer Sutter
Phone: 503-229-6148
E-mail: Jennifer Sutter (sutter.jennifer@deq.state.or.us)

Bike Parking vs. Car Parking

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bike parking vs car parking
Photo by Steve Allen – The Environmental Blog

Some people may baulk at the thought of giving up car parking spaces for bike parking, but that’s exactly what some businesses and city’s are implementing. From New York City to Philadelphia to Portland. The great thing about promoting bicycle use among other things are reduced auto congestion and increased health benefits. However, the downside to increased bike usage is the lack of proper bike parking in downtown cities. A lack of bike parking can lead bicyclists to seemingly park their bikes anywhere, like on the parking sign shown above or on trees and such.

In New York, they’ve gone a step further to add bike parking by retrofitting old parking meters into bike parking. It saves cities the trouble of digging the poles out of the foundation, and gives bikers a much-needed place to lock up. According to Transportation Alternatives, there’s only one bike rack for every 31 cyclists in New York City.

parking meter bike rack

Formerly a parking meter, now a bike rack on Columbus Avenue (photo by Kate Hinds) - transportationnation.org

The ongoing discussion among Portland officials is where to put in more bike parking. An obvious idea is to remove some car parking in certain areas of the city where bike traffic is high. However, it seems that Portland is hesitant to pursue this option in a big and useful way. An ambitious plan to increase Portlander’s commuting by bike to 25% from the current 7%-9% will require the city to accommodate more and more bike parking facilities at the expense of some auto parking spaces.

According to bicyclinginfo.org the following is a breakdown of costs for bike vs car parking:

Cost to purchase and install bike racks: $150 to $300 each (parks two bikes)
Cost to purchase and install bike lockers: $1000 to $4000 each (parks two bikes)
Cost to provide car parking space: $2200 surface lot, $12,500 garage
Number of bike spaces in one car space: 10–12

Do you feel there is a need to increase bike parking in your city? Car parking? It always seems to me that there is never enough parking either way. I suppose the idea is to strike the right balance depending on historical use vs projected use of transportation modes.

Revolt Battery Tech Settles in Portland

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revolt zinc flow air battery

ReVolt, a battery technology company, which has developed a rechargeable Zinc-Air battery system, announced that it will complete its new R&D and head office facility on the 27th September 2011. Revolt was recruited to Portland back in 2009 by the Portland Development Commission, a Portland agency who’s mission is to promote economic development in targeted industry clusters such as clean tech and advanced manufacturing. ReVolt managers chose Portland for their U.S. headquarters, saying they would ultimately hire about 250 people. Last year, Revolt received a $5 million US government stimulus grant that was targeted to aid cutting-edge research projects with the potential to dramatically transform how we use energy.

The new facility, in Portland’s Airport Way Urban Renewal Area, is already in operation and will be used for development of the company’s Zinc Flow Air Battery (ZFAB) for electric vehicles and energy storage applications. This new class of rechargeable battery system combines key innovations from the fields of fuel cells and metal-air batteries. The technology has the potential to provide a battery system with three times the energy density of today’s technologies at approximately half the cost and with lower environmental impact.

“Portland is on a technology roll,” said Mayor Sam Adams. “ReVolt’s commitment to innovation and job creation for our talented workforce advances our mission to become a global leader in clean technology. We welcome ReVolt as a vital addition to Portland’s bright, collaborative, exciting business community.”

Mayor Sam Adams has also been quoted “As a company on the cutting edge of the electric-vehicle industry, ReVolt is bringing to Portland its commitment to innovation and Portland is one step further down the road to being America’s EV hub.”

“New technologies like ReVolt’s battery and energy storage are critical to our clean energy future,” said Governor Kitzhaber. “I am thrilled Revolt has invested in Oregon and is part of our state’s growing clean economy sector.”

“We are delighted to have this opportunity to thank all those who have helped us in our move to Portland,” said James P. McDougall, CEO of ReVolt Technology Group. “Everyone involved has worked very hard to realize the completion of this new R&D center and the team we have recruited here in Portland is already making great strides in the development of our technology. Portland and Oregon provide us with a great base for the development of our business here in the US and we are looking forward to a long and happy association with the city and state.”

About ReVolt Technology

ReVolt Technology is developing a Zinc-Air battery technology that will transform the global market for stored energy solutions. ReVolt’s technology performance attributes provide the highest-energy density (up to 3 times that of Lithium Ion), low-cost, safe and green. These attributes pose both a disruptive influence on the competitive landscape and significant step-change in performance for some consumer electronics, electric vehicles and grid-based alternative energy storage solutions.

Presentation on Marine Zoning in Saint Kitts and Nevis by Vera Agostini and Shawn Margles of The Nature Conservancy

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Date: 
Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Presentation on Marine Zoning in Saint Kitts and Nevis by Vera Agostini and Shawn Margles of The Nature Conservancy (October 26 at 2 pm EDT/11 am PDT/6 pm GMT).Intense usage of coastal areas is threatening the biological diversity of marine habitats and the ecosystem services they provide. Marine zoning, one of the possible outcomes of a marine spatial planning process, has emerged recently as an approach to address these issues. The case for marine zoning is particularly strong in the Caribbean, but there are few examples to date of comprehensive marine zoning for tropical island nations. This webinar will present a project that initiated a marine spatial planning process and developed a draft marine zoning design for the small island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis in the Eastern Caribbean. St. Kitts and Nevis was chosen as the project site because it met a set of selection criteria, including that its government was aware of marine zoning as a useful management approach and was interested in applying it in their country. The project lay the groundwork for future implementation of marine zoning in St. Kitts and Nevis by assisting in the development of a draft marine zoning design using the tool MarZone and providing a set of tools that could inform this and other management efforts. Learn more http://conserveonline.org/workspaces/ecbiotaproject/documents/1a.-st.-kitts-and-nevis-marine-zoning-technical. Register for this webinar at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/697057040.

Presentation on Building Capacity for Coastal Conservation Planning in Georgia by Ian Varley and Patrick Crist of NatureServe

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Date: 
Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Presentation on Building Capacity for Coastal Conservation Planning in Georgia by Ian Varley and Patrick Crist of NatureServe (November 9 at 3 pm EST/Noon PST/8 pm GMT). Coastal Georgia (U.S.) is under intense development pressure and faces increased threats through global climate change. Although the state's coastal habitats are in a relatively natural condition compared to other East Coast states, without immediate action these stressors are likely to cause irreparable loss of significant ecosystem processes and wildlife habitat that have supported Georgia's coastal communities for centuries. This project utilized a variety of EBM tools to assess current and future threats to biodiversity throughout the 11-county coastal region and in-depth in two pilot counties and also developed conservation priorities. MaxEnt was used to develop predicted species distribution models, and Circuitscape was used to model connectivity among species’ populations. We constructed scenarios using NatureServe Vista to express threats from land use, infrastructure, management practices, and sea level rise over multiple timeframes to identify ecosystems, habitats, and species under greatest threat. We then utilized Marxan to create conservation scenarios. State, regional and local organizations were provided the conservation database,methods, decision support tools, and training in the use of the system to continue the adaptive planning and implementation process. Learn more at http://www.accg.org/content.asp?contentid=1534. Register for this webinar at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/891517889.