And Now a Word from Our Environment (Lenny Librizzi)

The overarching theme to our discussions today and in the future is Climate Change or the Climate Crisis or as I think about it Climate Chaos. This Climate Chaos affects all aspects of our lives, with  Energy in all its forms being the most critical. We use energy for manufacturing, transportation, heating and cooling and growing food. At this point in time, most of this energy comes from fossil fuels. The era of coal has ended.  While we may never completely eliminate oil and gas, fossil fuel is clearly on its way to being replaced by renewable energy.

As part of an ongoing series of podcasts covering the history of community gardens in New York City I interviewed Ena McPherson. Ena is a community gardener/ activist in Bedford Stuyvesant in Brooklyn. This is the first part of our chat where Ena talks about her early influences and how she became involved in community gardening and activism to preserve gardens in her community.

Community Gardening Part 1

A lot happens during a 31 year career working with community gardeners. A lot goes into the making of a community garden assistance organization and the folks who work there. In this episode Lenny Librizzi and Gerard Lordahl tell stories that highlight their careers and important moments in the history of community gardens during the years they worked together from 1986 to 2017. Many other people played important roles in creating, maintaining and saving the community gardens. The 15,000 to 20,000 community gardeners were and continue to be an inspiration for all the gardeners have done for New York City.

Some of the groups mentioned:

GrowNYC

Green Guerillas

GreenThumb

ACGA

Brooklyn Queens Land Trust

Bronx Land Trust

Manhattan Land Trust

Brooklyn Alliance of Neighborhood Gardens

New York Restoration Project

Community Gardening Blog

In the United States and Canada over 80% of people live in urban areas. Globally the urban population is 55% and rising. Many ideas about community development and urban planning were tested in the 1970's and 80's. How can these schemes and technologies in the urban planner's toolbox help create liveable cities. This is the second part and conclusion of an interview I had with Sean Cosgrove, Principal Planner with Ecologics Design in Toronto, Canada. https://www.ecologicsdesign.biz/

Oil, Gas and What is fracking? It's Hydro Fracturing.

Every New Years Day for the past 31 years, Staten Island Environmentalists have gathered at Great Kills Park, part of Gateway National Recreation Area to take a mile and a half beach walk. This tradition has become a way to review the past year's environmental highlights and to inform each other about upcoming issues affecting our environment. Also it is a great opportunity to see friends. I took the walk miked up and did a bit of narration. You will hear that, along with the sound of the wind, ocean and my fellow walkers. 

This episode covers environmental news items about:

The River North development

https://newyorkyimby.com/2021/02/compass-announces-sale-of-major-mixed-use-development-site-in-st-george-in-staten-island.html

https://www.silive.com/news/2020/10/750-unit-high-rise-apartment-towers-with-affordable-housing-proposed-for-st-george.html?outputType=amp

https://www.silive.com/news/2021/02/second-high-rise-project-proposed-for-st-george.html?outputType=amp

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Amazon's contribution to air pollution and traffic congestion

https://usa.streetsblog.org/2021/02/05/a-look-back-at-bezos-bloody-polluting-legacy-on-u-s-roadways/

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Graniteville Wetlands

https://atlantic2.sierraclub.org/content/staten-island-wetlands-danger

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GroundHog Day

https://nypost.com/2021/02/02/viewers-fume-over-pre-recorded-staten-island-groundhog-day-event/

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George Washington Carver, Environmentalist

https://grist.org/fix/george-washington-carver-environmental-legacy/?

There is so much about offshore oil drilling that is threatening to our environment. Potentially many accidents waiting to happen.

This podcast continues in the third and final part of my interview With Ena Mcpherson. In the next episode Ena tells us about her work with young people to create a new garden and the struggle to preserve it. 

Rain is one of those things that you can’t live with it and can’t live without it. We have many words to describe rain. Listen to find out more about our word from our environment -Rain.

Listen to the sounds of Spring Peepers and learn about this interesting small frog found in Eastern United States.

A summary of environmental news and events from Staten Island, New York City and New York State. The events took place in January 2021, including a New Year's Day Beach Walk that is also the subject of this podcast. https://anchor.fm/ecobytes/episodes/New-Years-Day-Beach-Walk-2021-eovo75

This podcast is a rebroadcast of a radio show that originally aired on March 27th, 2020 called Eco-Logic with Ken Gale and Donna Stein and their guest, biologist and author, Abby Hafer.

Our word today is Coronavirus. This invisible killer has taken over our lives and in just a few months has had a profound effect on our environment.

And now a word from our environment.

A few of the negative consequences of fracking.

One alternative to fossil fuels is wind energy. How and where will it work and jobs, jobs jobs.

I report on my visit to the Heavenly Harvest Community Garden and this unique garden and community gardeners, many who are cancer survivors.

A new ruling will protect the drinking water for 15 million people in 4 states as the Governors of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware voted to ban fracking in the Delaware River Basin.  

The good news is that the economics of energy has made solar and wind cost competitive. It looks like fracking won't have to be banned. Fracking is expensive and investors are looking more to alternatives.

We hint at the next topic for discussion, Transportation. That is a complex energy issue that we will discuss in future episodes.

The first part of a conversation I had with Tony Rose. We are both members of the Staten Island Environmental Communicators. This is one of the many videos and podcasts our group is making to inform Staten Islanders and others about our environment and encourage action. Tony and I are lifelong environmentalists. We hope you enjoy and learn from this discussion and that we will have piqued your interest to learn more and to do your part to make our world a healthy place to live.

The overarching theme to our discussions today and in the future is Climate Change or the Climate Crisis or as I think about it Climate Chaos. This Climate Chaos affects all aspects of our lives, with  Energy in all its forms being the most critical. We use energy for manufacturing, transportation, heating and cooling and growing food. At this point in time, most of this energy comes from fossil fuels. The era of coal has ended.  While we may never completely eliminate oil and gas, fossil fuel is clearly on its way to being replaced by renewable energy.

In the United States and Canada over 80% of people live in urban areas. Globally the urban population is 55% and rising. What is Urban Planning and how can Urban Planners and Engineers help create a sustainable planet? In Part 1 of this conversation I had with Sean Cosgrove, Principal Planner with Ecologics Design in Toronto, Canada, https://www.ecologicsdesign.biz/ , we talk about the making of an urban planner and the issues that urban planners grapple with in the course of their work. 

This is the second part and conclusion of an interview with Jane Weissman who from 1984 to 1998 was Director of GreenThumb, NYC's municipal gardening program. Jane picks up the story of the crisis that GreenThumb as a program faced in 1995 and tells a first hand account of the threats to the gardens from Mayor Giuliani. She also discusses the ongoing efforts to preserve the gardens. 

In this episode Jane mentions these 2 volumes of stories told by the gardeners. Here are the links to the .pdf documents. City Farmers:Tales from the Field and Tales From the Field II

In this episode we learn about Battery Storage. What it is. What does it look like. Where they are being installed. What safety precautions are built in. Why are they being installed in certain locations. Will they help prevent brownouts and blackouts? Can battery storage help in the transition to clean renewable energy?

In this episode Corina Solis of New Leaf Energy mentions that there are opportunities for ratepayers to receive discounts from these projects. There is such a high demand for this and not enough projects at the moment and program is filled. But with the introduction of new projects brought on line by Corina and others, hopefully more spots will open up soon! Here is the link:

https://www.coned.com/en/save-money/rebates-incentives-tax-credits/rebates-incentives-tax-credits-for-residential-customers/income-eligible-renters-and-homeowners/save-on-your-energy-bill-with-community-solar

New Leaf Energy https://www.newleafenergy.com/

On Staten Island there is too little of the types of habitat to support the number of deer found here. As city and state officials debated what to do the numbers grew out of control.What could be done?

As part of an ongoing series of interviews with community gardeners and activists, I spoke to Ena McPherson a community gardener in Bedford Stuyvesant in Brooklyn. In this excerpt Ena tells us about Hattie Carthan who pioneered grassroots urban forestry and urban agriculture in her community. Hattie Carthan is one of the influences and inspirations for all community gardeners. Her work is even more relevant today as we learn how important a role trees play to mitigate the heat island effect in urban areas. Often trees are not planted as much in lower income and neighborhoods of color as they are in wealthier, white neighborhoods. Hattie Carthan did something about this inequity.

An interview with Jane Weissman who from 1984 to 1998 was Director of GreenThumb, NYC's municipal gardening program. We discuss how the program started and how several strong women were key players in those early years. 

News on the recently released NYC environmental justice for all report

https://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/096-21/recovery-all-us-mayor-de-blasio-launches-first-ever-nyc-environmental-justice-all-report

Where do we find shale formations where fracking can take place?  In Texas  is  found the Permian Basin, Barnett Shale, the Eagle Ford Shale, and the Haynesville-Bossier Shale.  The Marcellus Shale reaches from central New York into Ohio and south to Virginia. The Bakken Shale is in North Dakota. What can go wrong?

This recording was originally produced as a video titled The Campaign to Stop Shoreham, by Charlie Olson and myself and can be viewed at https://theenvironmenttv.com/2020/07/17/the-campaign-to-stop-shoreham-a-conversation-with-joel-kupferman-and-lenny-librizzi/

The Shoreham Nuclear Power Station is the only nuclear power plant that was completed and never produced electricity commercially. It was decommissioned in May 1995. This shutdown was due to over 20 years of many types of citizen activism and is a model for future activists.

Since the citizen actions in the 1970’s and 80’s no new nuclear power plants have been ordered by US utilities. Two major nuclear plant accidents at Chernobyl, Ukraine on April 26th, 1986 and at Fukushima, Japan on March 11th, 2011 left large areas of those countries uninhabitable.

Nuclear weapons and nuclear waste are an ongoing threat to our survival.

What do congestion pricing, bad air quality in subway stations,car only roads, scooters, e-bikes and bike share have in common. They are all part of the transportation puzzle in NYC and Staten Island. And maybe some of the answers to solving the traffic problems of the region.