Wilderness Conservation Cooperation

Mexico, Canada and ths US sign on to work together to protect wilderness

It shouldn't be news, but it is. Mexico, Canada and the US just signed the first ever agreement to work together to protect wilderness in North America. The "Memo of Understanding" (MOU) signed at the WILD 09 Conference last week in Merida,Mexico is the first trilateral continental vision of wilderness protection--the first time that all three countries have formally agreed to cooperate on wilderness conservation.

In a speech given by Mexican President Calderon, he said, "This agreement will facilitate the sharing of successful experiences, monitoring, and training of human resources, as well as the financing of projects that will protect and recover wilderness areas." After flying home from Los Angeles on Friday and marveling out the plane window at how completely jam packed the landscape is with humans and concrete as far as the eye can see, I hope it will include provisions for wildlife corridors throughout the continent. It looks like it does (access the document here). It also addresses ecosystems and natural resources that defy political boundaries, while encouraging cooperative research. It promises to consider and respects indigenous customs and conservation strategies, national environmental policy,  and prioritize species survival. It recognizes the importance of wilderness conservation in mitigating and monitoring and surviving climate change.

What it means on the ground: stay tuned and we'll see if it's just government fluff or if it will inspire substantive change.

-Berne Broudy

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Monday, November 09, 2009 in: News and Events, Environment and Green Living
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Green Gear: P3 International Kill A Watt EZ

A meter that calculates how much energy your electronics use each day

During the energy audit and renovations that I recently did at my home, I was trying to figure out how to drop my energy usage. Wash clothes and myself less, turn off lights, shower at night when the solar panels have heated my water and lay off the dishwasher were all obvious suggestions. But what I really wondered about was how much juice my computers, hard drives and related electronics were costing me and the planet. I'm good about slicking off the light switch. But those are the things that I often forget to turn off.


After chatting about this with my electrician, he showed up at my house one day with the Kill A Watt EZ, a consumer power meter. You plug any 110 volt device with a cord into the meter, and it actually tells you exactly how much energy any appliance you plug it into is using, as well as what it's costing you per year (it allows you to enter the rate your electric utility is charging you).

I followed the straightforward instructions to set up the unit (took less than a minute) and then plugged in my laptop (a MacBook Pro). It's costing me about $3 per month to run it. My all in one HP printer: cost $1.19/month. My desktop plus eight bay external hard drives are costing me $7.80 per month when they are on. Guess that's the power strip I really need to turn off.I am curious to note how much electricity they use when they are off.
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Monday, November 09, 2009 in: Environment and Green Living, Gear
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Green Gear: Mountain Hardwear rEva

A laptop travel case made from backpack leftovers .

Protect your computer and the environment at the same time with Mountain Hardwear's rEva.

When the padding for backpack shoulder straps, hipbelts and backpanels gets punched out of oversized slabs of EVA foam, even if the patterns are strategically placed for maximum efficiency and minimum waste, there are leftovers. Those leftovers normally get trucked off to a landfill where they are often burned. Mountain Hardwear is now reclaiming that waste. The company now has the waste gathered up from the factory floor and chopped into vaguely uniform pieces. They won't tell us what they do next--the next step is proprietary -- but it looks like they suck all the air out of the pieces somehow vacuum packing them into a "remolded" panel with a texture like a bunch of different kinds of dried beans mixed up inside. The remanufactured EVA is dense and protective, perfect for stashing a computer inside. Mountain Hardwear says the tech will soon appear in their backpacks, but we haven't seen it yet. Read Full Story...

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Monday, November 09, 2009 in: Environment and Green Living
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Gear Spotlight: Spenco Earthbound Insoles

Spenco's first try at green is supportive and 55% recycled/renewable

Designed for hiking, walking, running and other sports where shock absorption and arch and heel support are key, Spenco's Earthbound delivers. They're supportive, and my fee felt better at the end of a long day than in the insoles that came with my boots. I've worn the Spencos for about a month mostly hiking and walking, and I forget they're there--a good thing in an insole. That's because my feet don't hurt, and my bad ankle is less wobbly--the insoles are doing their job.

The Earthbound's stability cradle is 100% recycled nylon with excellent arch support for a low to medium arch, and heel cup that's deep enough to be stable without putting your heel too high or too low. A layer of 65% recycled EVA foam is blended with 35% natural cork for extra cushioning from toe to heel. And a forefoot crash pad adds shock absorption under the ball of foot to help beat soreness from foot strike and push off. The top of the insole is cloth, made with 40 percent recycled polyester fabric; it's not too slipper--not too sticky. Read Full Story...

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Friday, October 30, 2009 in: News and Events, Environment and Green Living
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The Cash-Free Economist

How one man, schooled in economics, lives off the grid and without opening his wallet.

In the history of the outdoors there is a litany of individuals who have survived on their surroundings–be it by choice or by circumstance. There are those who shun civilization and head off to the woods; there are those who get lost and find themselves scrounging for food and shelter; and there are those who seek to limit their carbon footprint to the minimum.

And then there's Mark Boyle. Read Full Story...

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Thursday, October 29, 2009 in:
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Adirondack Voters Asked to Approve Illegal Power Line

It's already built in Forever Wild Land, but is a potentially life-saving power line worth the cost of cutting through pristine wilderness?

On Tuesday, residents of New York's Adirondacks will be asked to vote "yea" on the construction of a power line. The reality: It's needed--Tupper Lake has had recent power outages for more than 24 hours, which could endanger lives in winter. The catch: It's already been built, right through the middle of the hallowed and forever-wild Forest Preserve.

According to Adirondack Explorer, if the proposal is approved, New York will trade National Grid a six-acre, two-mile strip along Route 56 where the line was built last year for a forty-three-acre parcel along the South Branch of the Grass River.

It's the lesser of two evils. In the trade, the power line goes through land that was supposed to be forever wild, but in exchange the state gets a larger parcel of land in ancient boreal forest with endangered spruce grouse habitat. The line, had it gone through the boreal forest, would have crossed ninety-five streams and wetlands, according to the Adirondack Council.

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Thursday, October 29, 2009 in: News and Events, Environment and Green Living
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Don't Toss Your Tubes

Turn your retired bike tubes into usable straps.

Sometimes simple ideas are the best, and IT Clips has a good one. Millions of bicycle inner tubes end up in the landfill each year. In an effort to give them a second life, the company was born. IT Clips are plastic threadable locking buckles designed to accommodate a retired road or mountain bike inner tube. The buckles clip together so you can use the tube as an adjustable loop, and they come with hooks that thread around the clips turning the whole thing into a true bungie/tie down. So far they seem strong: i used mine to strap down as much lumber as would fit on the roof of my Subaru, and hung bikes with them from the rafters in my garage for storage. Read Full Story...

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Wednesday, October 21, 2009 in: News and Events, Environment and Green Living
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Bioneers 2009: Earth Is Alive!

Bioneers speakers share plans to keep it that way

Dateline: Monday afternoon, Planet Earth
Climate change deniers might be an endangered species: At Bioneers, the big buzz was that most of humanity recognizes that we've created a really, really big mess on the planet. Annie Leonard, a Bioneers plenary speaker and creator of The Story of Stuff, cites the fact that 70 percent of the American population sympathizes with climate change.  That's far more than supported popular social causes of the past like the Civil Rights movement, women’s suffrage, or abolishing slavery.   But Leonard stressed that we cannot wait for 100 percent of the population to get it. The time to act is now, and she stresses that we have the numbers to invoke change. The big question posed by Leonard is “are we going to change by design or default?” 


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Monday, October 19, 2009 in: News and Events, Environment and Green Living
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Dam Down

The Rogue River flows again

On Friday, crews removed a temporary dam on the Rogue River east of Grants Pass. It had been holding the river back while the 88-year old Savage Rapids Dam was removed so that the Rogue could flow freely again. For 88 years the dam was used to divert water for irrigation. That part wasn't a problem. What was: it also blocked the river for recreation. And it blocked more than 58,000 salmon and steelhead from reaching their spawning grounds each year--many dying instead, in some cases from raised water temperatures in tributaries with reduced flow and resulting higher water temps.

The take down was celebrated on Saturday by a 80 drift boaters, rafters and kayakers who floated through the site of the old dam celebrating NGO WaterWatch's persistence. WaterWatch began the battle to take the dam down in 1988. According to the Associated Press (AP), it wasn't until 2001, when the Grants Pass Irrigation District had lost every lawsuit and spent more than $1 million on legal fees, that it agreed to remove the dam. The irrigation solution: pumps will redirect water as needed. Read Full Story...

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Monday, October 12, 2009 in: News and Events, Environment and Green Living
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Get Your Hands Dirty for a Cause

volunteer time is like gold when it comes to conservation

On Saturday, I co-hosted a trail day with Climbing Resource Advocacy Group Vermont (Crag-VT), a non-profit that recently got money from Conservation Alliance, Access Fund and others to permanently conserve a popular climbing cliff in Vermont and to protect recreation rights on that land.

Saturday, fifty six volunteers, some climbers, some who had never climbed, some volunteers from other non-profits, carried pick axes, rock bars, shovels, work gloves, food and water into the property, set up a basecamp and got to work. According to Travis Peckham, CRAG-VT's president, "It was CRAG-VT’s largest and most successful trail event to date and the amount of work that was accomplished was astounding! The trail repairs and improvements made were long overdue and the new 300-foot stone staircase up the scree field to the center of the cliff is a work of art that would have inspired the Inca!" Read Full Story...

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Monday, September 28, 2009 in: News and Events, Environment and Green Living
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