Newsletters

January 2009 - Winter

WELCOME TO GREEN FUTURES !
JANUARY, 2009

A man has to live with himself, and he should see to it that he always has good company. 
   ~Charles Evans Hughes

When you choose the lesser of two evil, always remember that it is still an evil. 
    ~Max Lerner
 

Special place in Hell –

If it doesn’t already exist, then we strongly recommend, to those in charge, the creation of a special place in Hell for a select group of former public environmental officials and regulators that sell the knowledge gained in public sector employment to unscrupulous corporations and scurrilous developers after leaving their regulatory agency jobs and setting off on their own, intent on selling-out the environment they used to protect, to make the big bucks.
Unfortunately for us and our shared environment, there are all too many environmental administrators, attorneys, analysts, scientists, etc. that do just that. Self interest and greed trumps the common good.
We are following, very closely, the involvement of a former U. S. Environmental Protection Agency official and former Massachusetts state environmental regulator now working to circumvent or eliminate environmental orders and mandates found annoying by Dominion’s Brayton Point Power Station. His company has also worked to facilitate the ill-conceived Hess/Weaver’s Cove proposal to ram LNG supertankers over twenty miles inland, up a narrow and heavily populated waterway, to a giant LNG storage tank, of untested design, that will be located in a residential neighborhood.
As we gather more information, we will present it here. Stay tuned.
 

What’s my connection to mountain top removal? –

As most of you know, New England has some of the oldest and filthiest coal-fired power plants. The environmental consequences of burning dirty coal are not felt only in New England.
Check out the plight of tiny Bob White, West Virginia and find out your connection to mountain top removal at www.ilovemountains.org.

”Almost heaven, West Virginia
Blue ridge mountains
Shenandoah river -
Life is old there
Older than the trees
Younger than the mountains
Growin like a breeze”
Take Me Home, Country Roads” – Bill Danoff, Taffy Nivert, John Denver
 

Embracing Winter –

We’ve all been experiencing quite the winter here in south coastal Massachusetts. We’ve had snow cover since before Christmas and January temperatures are ending up 4.2 degrees below normal.
Some winters we never get enough snow to break out the snowshoes or cross-country skis. Not this year!
While out and about on area conservation lands we’ve encountered many others also enjoying winter activites. Skiing, skating, hiking, ice fishing, snowmobiling, birding, outdoor photography, snow tracking …or just exploring a natural area one hasn’t been to before.
Ice fisher-folk are usually a particularly friendly bunch. Some of us recently spent an afternoon ski-touring area lakes and pounds to see what was being caught through the ice. It was also interesting identifying tracks left by coyotes, fishers, foxes, deer, and other animals that walked the shores and crossed the ponds during the previous night.
If you want to skate or walk on the frozen surface of area lakes and ponds make sure there is sufficient ice thickness. A shout-out from shore to fishermen on the ice will usually result in them telling you the thickness of the ice they had to cut through to reach liquid water.


Here’s an ice strength table adapted from Massachusetts Division of Fish and Wildlife information:


Ice Thickness Table
(clear, blue, lake ice)
 
3" Group, in single file
5" Group (6-8 people) together
7½" Passenger car (2 ton gross)
8" Light truck (2½ ton gross)
10" Medium truck (3½ ton gross)
12" Heavy truck (7 to 8 ton gross)
15" 10 tons

Days are getting longer, winter will be leaving. Check out our Calendar for late winter activities.
 

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