Sat. June 9, 2007
The Nature Conservancy
Interested in native plants and habitat restoration on the Vineyard? Join The Nature Conservancy (TNC) at its Hoft Farm preserve, 74 Lambert’s Cove Road, West Tisbury, from 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. for the first of the year’s volunteer work days to support Vineyard wildflower populations. (Rain date June 10.) Call 508-693-6287 with questions

Two Conversations with Brendan O’Neill, Executive Director of the Vineyard Conservation Society, on Thursday May 31, at 8 PM, Channel 13

A unique opportunity working with large scale spatial data bases in a high end computing environment

The Woods Hole Research Center has a Research Assistant position open with responsibilities in GIS, remote sensing and statistical modeling, in particular, but not exclusively, for the two-year production phase of a “National Biomass and Carbon Dataset for the Year 2000 (NBCD 2000).” http://whrc.org/pressroom/press_releases/PR-2007-04-30-NBCD.htm)

To apply, EMAIL cover letter, curriculum vitae, and contact information for three references to jobsearch@whrc.org.
Application deadline: June 15, 2007
For more information see http://whrc.org/about_us/jobs.htm

GOAL (What We Want to Achieve Long-Term)
Maximize opportunities to produce energy from renewable energy sources to meet the island's energy needs.

Narrative
In the face of rising energy costs, potential future energy shortages and environmental issues such as Climate Change, producing as much energy as we can locally will help insulate our economy from an uncertain energy future and help us do our part to lessen the effects of Climate Change for future island generations.

CURRENT STATUS (Where We Are Now):
Currently, less than 1% of the island's energy is supplied from renewable sources.

Go to Island Plan section for the rest of the Working Document for Discussion.

When the topic of waste and recyclables comes up, one of the most often asked questions is; are we really recycling here on Martha’s Vineyard? VCS has received calls from members and a West Tisbury newsletter has reported observations of recyclables being mixed with the trash. Although confusion does exist due to the different methods of handling recyclables at our transfer stations, the answer to that question is a clear and definite yes.

Go to the Recycle section for the rest of the article

View the list of 116 species of birds we spotted on the icky weather first Bird-a-thon. It was fun, come join us next year.

Go to the Wildlife section to see the list of birds.

Here are some pesticide-free ways to deal with slugs:

• Eliminate, as much as possible, the places where slugs can hide near your garden during the heat of the day. These places include boards, stones, debris, and weeds. Check for slugs hiding in nearby ground cover and on the underside of decks.
• Slug traps are easy to build and are also widely available for purchase.
• Handpicking slugs can be very effective. Take a flashlight into the garden after dark and pick slugs. You can drop them in a bucket of soapy water.
• Copper barriers are often used to protect raised beds.
• Many gardeners successfully use domestic ducks, geese or chickens to keep slug numbers down.
• Do not use slug baits that contain metaldehyde ("Meta")!

For more details about slug control, including comments on iron phosphate slug baits, read NCAP's article: Ugh! Slugs!

Any world map shows that the earth's surface is about 75 percent ocean. But it's easy to forget that the seas are, on average, 2 1/2 miles deep. On land, animals live on the ground or within about 200 feet of it. In the ocean, animals live at the surface, or at the bottom of the deepest trenches, 6 1/2 miles down. Multiplied out, that means 99 percent of the space inhabitable by the earth's animals exists in the oceans. That's worth repeating.

http://www.boston.com/ae/books/
articles/2007/05/20/
fathoms_deep_a_diverse_endangered_world/

People need to understand and know that crude oil, natural gas and coal are non-renewable fuels. By definition they cannot be renewed. The United States and the world will run out of these fuels. It is just a matter of time.

CRUDE OIL REALITY CHECK

1. 1. The United States crude oil tank (crude oil reserves) is running on empty. The United States has only 2 percent of the world’s remaining crude oil reserves.

Go to Energy section for the rest of the article

The Global Warming 101 Expedition draws to a close in grand fashion, but that is just the beginning of our work. Over 1000 people gathered on the sea ice to welcome the team to their final destination, and home of our Inuit partners, Lukie, Theo and Simon. Fire engine sirens wailed as the dog teams drew near, with hand shakes and hugs of congratulations for all.

http://www.globalwarming101.com/
content/view/877/88889044/