Wed, May 7, Martha’s Vineyard Water Alliance meeting, MV Commission, OB 12:30 Members of Oakson, Inc. company will be making a presentation on Perc-Rite Drip Dispersal for On-Site Wastewater Disposal.

Discussion May 27, 7 p.m. at the Edgartown Public Library

Please join this island-wide book group, reading and discussing books that examine our relationship with nature. The group is sponsored by all six island libraries, Felix Neck Sanctuary, Bunch of Grapes Bookstore, The Island Grown Initiative and The Vineyard Conservation Society. Newcomers always welcome.

The highest priority “promising initiative” of the Island Plan Water Resource Work Group, and a general priority for the plan, was to undertake a wastewater management study. The MVC acted on this recommendation earlier this year by putting together funding and carrying out a request for proposals. A selection committee chose engineering firm Wright Pierce from among five proposals, and the study will begin in the next few weeks.

The aim is to work with Island stakeholders in order to make preliminary identification and evaluation of potentially viable methods to address both Title 5 requirements as well as the nitrogen-loading reductions that are expected to be necessary as a result of the Mass Estuaries Project Study.

See the Wastewater section for the rest of the article

The three new work groups that started this winter are moving ahead with drafting emerging directions and promising initiatives for discussion this summer with the wider community.

• The Built Environment Work Group is focusing on four subtopics: historic resources, community character, opportunity areas, and green building
• The Transportation Work Group has identified a wide range of topics to address, to complement the Regional Transportation Plan.
• The Social Environment Work Group is working on Human Services, Education, Recreation, and Arts & Culture.

In addition to the new work groups, several of last year’s work groups are further advancing their efforts.

Go to Island Plan section for the rest of the update

Factory farming takes a big, hidden toll on human health and the environment, is undermining rural America's economic stability and fails to provide the humane treatment of livestock increasingly demanded by American consumers, concludes an independent, 2 1/2 -year analysis that calls for major changes in the way corporate agriculture produces meat, milk and eggs.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/
content/article/2008/04/29/AR2008042902602_pf.html

Rebates announced for solar water heaters

A local home has become the first to receive a rebate for a solar water heater as part of a Cape Light Compact pilot program.

Compact officials will announce the program today at the AmeriCorps Cape Cod Bourne House at 50 Dr. Julius Kelly Lane, according to Kevin Galligan, the Compact's energy efficiency program manager.

The system at the AmeriCorps home was installed as a test case and has shown substantial savings and reliability, Galligan said. Tours of the AmeriCorps system will be given today from 1 to 2 p.m.

Rebates will be made available as part of the pilot program for up to 19 families who participate in a home energy audit from May 1 through Nov. 30.

http://capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/
article?AID=/20080501/NEWS/805010315/-1/NEWS01

Scientists are preparing for a live online dissection of this rarely seen 495kg colossal squid at the Museum of New Zealand.

Technicians at the Museum of New Zealand today started defrosting a rare colossal squid for a scientific examination on Wednesday.

They first removed the specimen - caught in February 2007 in Antarctic waters - from the freezer on Sunday, but realised it would thaw quicker than expected because it was encased in relatively little ice.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/
story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10506755

Why bother? That really is the big question facing us as individuals hoping to do something about climate change, and it’s not an easy one to answer. I don’t know about you, but for me the most upsetting moment in “An Inconvenient Truth” came long after Al Gore scared the hell out of me, constructing an utterly convincing case that the very survival of life on earth as we know it is threatened by climate change. No, the really dark moment came during the closing credits, when we are asked to . . . change our light bulbs. That’s when it got really depressing. The immense disproportion between the magnitude of the problem Gore had described and the puniness of what he was asking us to do about it was enough to sink your heart.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/magazine/
20wwln-lede-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

NStar customers willing to pay a premium will soon be able to power their homes with environmentally friendly wind power.

The state Department of Public Utilities Wednesday approved a program that allows customers to buy half or all of their electricity from wind farms in Maine and upstate New York. Customers who opt for the green power can pay an additional $4.25 a month to buy half their electricity from wind farms or $7.25 for all of it, NStar said.

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/
2008/05/02/nstar_to_offer_wind_energy___for_a_price/