Mon, June 30, Kayak Quest of Sengekontacket, a self-guided tour with kayaks, paddles, lifejackets and Quest materials included. Reserve a time with Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary in Edgartown at 508-627-4850. Cost is $40, $30 for Mass Audubon members

The Conservation Almanac is participating in a series entitled, “Be Prepared!” which will provide practical and helpful information on how each of us can adapt to the likely changes to come. This is part of a broader initiative in which VCS is partnering with colleagues at The Nature Conservancy to highlight the importance of thinking now about local adaptation to the likely impacts of global warming.

1. Identifies potential natural hazard threats to your community (such as areas likely to suffer flooding or erosion) through a risk analysis.
2. Determines likely impacts of those hazards.
3. Sets mitigation goals.
4. Determines, prioritizes, and implements strategies to lessen the impacts of these hazards on your community.

NOTE: If your community doesn't have an approved multi-hazard mitigation plan, it will not be eligible for federal post-disaster mitigation grants.

There is a Vineyard pre-disaster mitigation funding plan being worked on currently. We will have more on that in the following weeks.

August 14, 7 p.m.
The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan. Vineyard Haven Library.
National Book Award winner. From Publishers Weekly: Egan tells an extraordinary tale in this visceral account of how America's great, grassy plains turned to dust, and how the ferocious plains winds stirred up an endless series of "black blizzards" that were like a biblical plague.

WASHINGTON - Faced with global warming, plants are heading for the hills. A study of 171 forest species in Western Europe shows that most of them are shifting their favored locations to higher, cooler spots.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/
washington/articles/2008/06/27/
global_warming_study_says_plants_face_uphill_fight/

Valcent Tech, is growing algae for multiple biofuel purposes. Pay particular attention to the last statement of this video.

http://www.valcent.net/i/misc/
Vertigro/index.html

WASHINGTON (AP) — World energy demand will grow 50 percent over the next two decades, oil prices could rise to $186 a barrel and coal will remain the biggest source of electricity despite its effect on global warming, government experts predict.

http://ap.google.com/article/
ALeqM5gUMV8UJoaN5q_kTW2qE60EkyYQZQD91H98CG4

This question has become more complex than I ever imagined. I always believed that if something was brown and printed with some frilly eco-logo, that it surely was friendly to the environment. Actually, it didn’t even have to be natural. Just green. The color that is. Yes, I am a bit ashamed to admit that packaging a product in green colored packaging gave me some reassurance that whoever lived behind the image of whatever product it was, had my best interest at heart. Not just mine but that of the whole of humanity as well. Boy was I in for an education.

Go to the Sustainable section for the rest of the article

For the next few weeks we will be displaying some very powerful art pieces. The work is done by Seattle artist, Chris Jordan. Here is part of his artist statement:

Running the Numbers
An American Self-Portrait
Running the Numbers looks at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. Each image portrays a specific quantity of something: This project visually examines these vast and bizarre measures of our society; in large intricately detailed prints assembled from thousands of smaller photographs. Employing themes such as the near versus the far, and the one versus the many, I hope to raise some questions about the role of the individual in a society that is increasingly enormous, incomprehensible, and overwhelming.

Jet Trails, 2007
60x96"
Depicts 11,000 jet trails, equal to the number of commercial flights in the US every eight hours.