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| This week in conservation June 4 - 10, 2007 |
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| Calendar | |||||||||||
| Island Plan's Energy and Waste Work Group | |||||||||||
 Wed, June 6, 2007, 5 pmMVC building in Oak Bluffs Members of the Island Plan's Energy and Waste Work Group, are invited to participate in the meeting. The Energy/Waste Core group will present its findings and proposals and would like your feedback. |
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| Skunk Lecture | |||||||||||
 Wed, June 6, 2007, 5:30 - 6:30 pm Chilmark Library, Beetlebung Corner, South Rd. Friends of Chilmark Library present Luanne Johnson: new research on behavior and habits. Free. 508-645-3360. |
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| Farm Days at Island Alpaca Farm | |||||||||||
 Thurs, June 7- 10, 2007, 11 am – 5 pm1 Head of the Pond Road, off of Edgartown Vineyard Haven Rd, Oak Bluffs. Walk through the farm to explore the world of the alpaca, and learn more about their behavior, natural habitat and the alpaca as a livestock investment. Watch a video presentation and visit the farm store, featuring yarn made from the Island Alpaca. Fun for all ages. Donations welcomed. www.islandalpaca.com, 508-693-5554 for directions and information. |
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| Coral Reef Presentation | |||||||||||
| Thurs, June 7, 2007, 6:30 pm Oak Bluffs library, School St. Photos and discussion with Michael Wooley. Free. 508-693-9433. |
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| Marine Fossil Mania | |||||||||||
 Sat, June 9, 2007, 1:00 – 2:30 pmFelix Neck Sanctuary. Come join us for an afternoon of ancient fun! In conjunction with the Marine Paleobiological Research Institute, we will be delving 400 million years into the past. Get your hands dirty and get a hold on history. We will be washing and sorting sea floor fossils found in Ontario, Canada. Find out how these historical fossils relate to the organisms you can find in the waters around Martha’s Vineyard today. Members Adult $8 and Children $6 Nonmembers Adult $10, Children $8 Pre-registration Required: 508 627-4850. |
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| BIRD WALKS, Every Saturday | |||||||||||
 Sat, June 9, 2007, 2007, 8:00 - 11:00 am Meet at the Regional High School Parking lot by the Athletic fields May 19 - Oct. 6, 2007. Contact Leader: Robert Culbert, Featuring Bird Identification, Ecology and Behavior. $10 per person. For more information call 508-693-4908 or email rculbert@gis.net. |
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| Native Plant Nursery Day | |||||||||||
 Sat. June 9, 2007The 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 |
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| Gardening Class | |||||||||||
| Sun, June 10, 2007, 1 - 3 pm Native Earth Teaching Farm, 94 North Rd., Chilmark. Rebecca Gilbert, planting vegetable seedlings. $15 per class; $200 season. 508-645-3304. |
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| Sustainable Book Club Update | |||||||||||
| In June Reading Laurie Lisle’s Four Tenths of an Acre |
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| Climate Change Update | |||||||||||
| Victim of Climate Change, a Town Seeks a Lifeline |
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| Waste Update | |||||||||||
| Commercial vessels retain right to dump sewage in open ocean |
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| Sustainability Update | |||||||||||
| Food miles don't go the distance |
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| Wind Update | |||||||||||
| Developer gets approval for turbine towers: Fairhaven voters OK 25-year lease with Plymouth company |
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Spring is a usually a wonderful time of the year on the Martha’s Vineyard. Last spring, however, was compromised by unwanted visitors -- hordes of caterpillars, their webs, fecal rain, and incessant munching -- that turned a pleasant walk into something, well, not so pleasant. As a result spring 2006 was a very busy one at the Polly Hill Arboretum. Everyone wanted to know: What should we do about the caterpillars? What does it mean for the trees? In anticipation the Arboretum scheduled two educational events: a lecture open to the public at the Agricultural Society in January 2006, and a workshop held on the grounds of the Arboretum in May. UMASS extension agent and entomologist, Bob Childs, described the various moth species now present on the island and options for their control.
BERLIN, May 29 (Reuters) - Climate change is a global problem that requires unity and "multilateral" agreements if it is to be defeated, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Tuesday German Chancellor Angela Merkel is hosting a Group of Eight (G8) summit in the Baltic resort of Heiligendamm next week, but has so far failed to convince U.S. President George W. Bush to sign up to firm targets to combat global warming.
NEWTOK, Alaska — The sturdy little Cessnas land whenever the fog lifts, delivering children’s bicycles, boxes of bullets, outboard motors and cans of dried oats. And then, with a rumble down a gravel strip, the planes are gone, the outside world recedes and this subarctic outpost steels itself once again to face the frontier of climate change. 
Many Cape communities are preparing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to keep the nitrogen, bacteria and other septic system contaminants from polluting coastal waters. But a few miles offshore, the old saying is "the solution to pollution is dilution" as minimally treated, and untreated, sewage is routinely discharged by ferries, whale watch vessels, and commercial fishing boats.
The environmental impact of food, writes Gareth Edwards-Jones in this week's Green Room, is more than about how many miles it has traveled to get to your plate. We are all used to buying goods that originate from abroad, be they toys from China, cars from Germany or clothes from India. We don't hear too much about the environmental impacts of such imports, but we do hear a lot about food which is produced overseas. 
A renewable energy project developer from Plymouth has received the green light from the town of Fairhaven to move forward with plans to erect two nearly 400-foot wind turbine towers on municipal property near the town’s sewage treatment plant.