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When green is bad
By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
This summer as I flew over Minneapolis, I looked down fondly at the chain of lakes that beautifies this tidy, progressive city. My second hometown.
I noticed the surrounding land was lush and green. And so were many of the lakes. Wait a minute: The lakes themselves were more green than blue, ringed in pea-soup of algae that was closing in fast on the open water at the middle. This algae-green, sickly green mess set off alarm bells.
I suspected that all those lake-dwellers residing on their hard-fought real estate were sullying the waters by collectively dumping tons of fertilizer on their neat green lawns, which created a super-rich, even toxic runoff. This was hugely ironic, because these striving homeowners had moved there so they could boat, swim and engage in the state sport, fishing fer walleye. Yet their pursuit of the picture-perfect lake house retreat was poisoning the natural environment.
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Tags: · algae blooms, BarbaraKesslerBlog, fertilizer runoff, lakes, Midwest, Midwest lakes, Minneapolis, Minnesota, nitrogen and phosphorus runoff, Wisconsin
The scoop on poop: Dairy operations power themselves
By Shermakaye Bass
Green Right Now
Okay, here’s the poop on cow power: Dairy farmers from Wisconsin to Vermont are learning that they – and their bovine partners – can produce more than milk and manure. By converting the methane from cow patties  into electricity, rural farms can provide their community with power – and in the process, eliminate the odors associated with dairy farming.
“The neighbors like it,” quips Steve Costello of the Central Vermont Public Service (CVPS)’s Cow Power program, which supplies 4,000 customers with the help of 6,000 cows. “You can have a barbecue on the Fourth of July without worrying the dairy farm next door is going spread some manure and wipe everyone out!”
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Tags: · biogas, biogas from manure, cow power, Cow Power program, Crave farms, Dairy, dairy farms, digester, Electricity, Farming, Farmstead Classics cheeses, livestock waste, manure, manure digesters, manure fertilizer, manure recapture, Recycle & Reuse, Vermont, Wisconsin
Governors agree to keep Midwestern High Speed Rail plan on track
From Green Right Now Reports:
Eight Midwestern states have agreed to work toward the common goal of developing high speed rail in the Midwest, and hope to access $8 billion in earmarked federal dollars to fund the new services.
Governors from those states — Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin — signed an agreement on Monday, saying they support each other in seeking federal dollars to build a high speed rail network. The hub of the network would be in the Windy City, and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley along with five of the governors attended the Midwest High Speed Rail Summit to solidify the agreement.
Chicago already serves as a hub for Amtrak and many freight lines. The new plan would bring high speed rail into the mix, which advocates say could transform and green transportation in the the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes regions.
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Tags: · Association of American Railroads, Chicago, greener travel, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Midwest High Speed Rail Association, Midwest High SPeed Rail Summit, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin
Midwest governors want more wind energy, wind jobs and a Smart Grid
By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
Wind energy officials, manufacturers and providers have gathered in the Windy City this week for WINDPOWER 2009, a conference expected to draw some 18,000 people.
Kicking it off on Tuesday, four governors from the Midwest along with the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission appeared at a news conference.
The presence of so much executive clout demonstrated just how important wind has become, rising from a small player on the energy scene merely a few years ago to becoming a leader in the movement for low-carbon, job-creating clean energy solutions.
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Tags: · clean energy, Governors, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, smart grid, WINDPOWER 2009, Wisconsin
Top 10 reasons to shop at a farmer’s market
By Christopher Peake
Green Right Now
It’s already mid-March and that means the snows will melt and if the ground’s not too saturated farmers will soon be planting seeds for the food that will feed us this year.
 Since time immemorial farmer’s markets have been with us: farmers harvest, bakers bake, dairy farmers milk their cows and they all meet at a central location where there’s lots of foot traffic … and they sell. The common theme: the food is fresh.
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Tags: · California, Dairy, farmer's markets, food miles, gardening, gourmet food, Local Food, meat, New Hampshire, Oregon, Organic Food, plants, Produce, sustainable agriculture, Texas, Wisconsin
NRDC issues list of Filthy 15 states to bear the brunt of future coal waste
By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
Seeking to show that proposed new U.S. coal plants would exact a high environmental toll even beyond their carbon air pollution, the Natural Resources Defense Council issued a list today of the states that would bear the greatest burden from coal waste.
Texas, with eight proposed plants, topped the NRDC’s “Filthy 15″ list. It was followed by South Dakota, Florida, Nevada and Montana, Illinois, South Carolina, Ohio, Wyoming, Michigan, Kentucky, Missouri , Wisconsin, Georgia and West Virginia.
Those states have 54 proposed coal plants awaiting permitting. Across the nation, there are 80 proposed plants that would dump an estimated 18 million tons of dangerous coal combustion waste annually into various dump sites, largely unmonitored by the federal government.
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Tags: · Carbon Emissions, coal ash, Coal Power, coal waste, Filthy 15 list, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky Missouri, Michigan, Montana, Natural Resources Defense Council, Nevada, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming
NRDC’s ‘Filthy 15′ future producing coal states
Here is the Natural Resources Defense Council’s list of the 15 states that would be the biggest polluters — the “Filthy 15” — based on their total of 54 planned coal plants that create nearly 14 million tons of dangerous waste (state; number of proposed plants; estimated coal ash waste in tons):
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Tags: · Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Natural Resources Defense Council, Nevada, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming
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