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Electric cars not so eco-friendly: Green groups

A latest report has claimed that an increase in electric cars is likely to lead to more electricity production from coal, gas and nuclear plants, without necessarily reducing oil demand for conventional cars
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“We need smart electric vehicles that interact with smart electricity grids so cars can charge up on green power. Dump electric vehicles plugged into a dump electricity grid would only add demand for coal and nuclear power and drive us away from a sustainable energy future,” said Greenpeace’s Franziska Achterberg.

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A Troubling Transportation Number for the Obama Administration

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The second not-so-great transportation number, $53 million, reflects the total spending on pollution-reducing transit grants that the White House included in its budget proposal for fiscal year 2011.

The administration hopes to steer nearly 10 times that amount, or nearly $530 million, to its new three-agency partnership for sustainable communities. Still, the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) pulled out the $53 million number today to note that the White House had proposed $22 million more for the same type of transit grants last year (and ended up spending $100 million).

From the EESI's budget statement (emphasis theirs):

A focus on livability is expected to have benefits for air quality, public health, energy savings, and greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction. The rest of the proposed budget, however, represents very little change in how these issues and public goals are addressed. A special fund to help reduce GHG emissions within FTA, in fact, saw a significant decrease from $75 million to $53 million.

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The Fitzgerald at UB Midtown to Become Baltimore's Largest LEED(R) Certified Residential Development

GREENBELT, Md., Feb. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- The Bozzuto Group today announced The Fitzgerald at UB Midtown is on track to become the most sizeable LEED certified apartment community in the Baltimore area.

The development, comprised of 275 apartments, 24,000 square feet of street-level retail and a 1,245 space parking garage, is registered with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and is being constructed to attain LEED certification. The Fitzgerald garage opened on January 11th, residential leasing will commence in March, and retail will begin to deliver in early summer.

"As a longtime multifamily developer, we have for many years believed that growth can be both economically and environmentally sound," said Tom Bozzuto, CEO of The Bozzuto Group. "We believe The Fitzgerald takes that notion to the next level."

To achieve LEED certification, The Fitzgerald's sustainability strategy includes implementing a number of environmentally-conscious design features, construction tactics, water efficiency technologies and air quality practices.

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From Mowing to Growing

From Mowing to Growing is not meant to transform each lawn into a garden, but to open us up to the possibilities of self-sustenance, organic growth, and perpetual change. In particular, we seek specific technical, urbanistic, and architectural strategies not simply for the food production required to feed the cities and suburbs, but the possibilities of diet, agriculture, and retrofitted facilities that could achieve that level within the constraints of the local climate.

Citing the work of Fritz Haeg, the competition brief points out that "North Americans devote 40,000 square miles to lawns," more than is used "for wheat, corn, or tobacco." Further, U.S. residents "spend $750 million dollars a year on grass seed alone while only 2% of America’s food is locally grown." So, the competition asks:

How can we break the American love affair with the suburban lawn?
Can green houses be incorporated in skyscrapers?
What are the urban design strategies for food production in cities?
Can food grow on rooftops, parking lots, building facades?
What is required to remove foreclosure signs on lawns and convert them to gardens?

Prizes go as high as $10,000, and judges include Cameron Sinclair and Kate Stohr of Architecture For Humanity, vertical agriculturalist (agriverticality?) Dickson Despommier, and many more. Register by March 31, with submissions due before April 30.

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Battling Obesity in America

190 Million Americans are Obese or Overweight. Childhood Obesity has Tripled in the last 30 Years
imageClick to play video

(CBS)  In its "Where America Stands" series, CBS News is looking at a broad spectrum of issues facing this country in the new decade.

The evidence of an epidemic is everywhere.

Two-thirds, more than 190 million Americans are overweight or obese.

Obesity-related diseases are a $147 billion dollar medical burden every year.

Childhood obesity has tripled in the last thirty years.

CBS Reports: Where America Stands
Calculate your Body Mass Index (BMI)
Tell Us What You Think Send us an email.

As CBS News correspondent Seth Doane reports, this could be the first generation since the Civil War to have a shortened life expectancy.

The Problem

To gauge the problem, a team of doctors and cardiologists from Houston's Memorial Hermann Hospital set up a MASH unit of sorts in a middle school gym, where they run a battery of tests on 97 seemingly healthy children.

But the results reveal an alarming reality here: three out of every four children are either overweight or obese.

Heart Screening for all Sixth Graders?

That means about seventy of the children are on a high-risk trajectory for coronary artery disease by their 30's and 40's.

Doctor Joshua Samuels treats kids with blood pressure levels of an unhealthy adult. Back at his clinic, 11-year-old Wesley Randall has dangerously high blood pressure, and is 60 pounds overweight.

"I just eat," Wesley said, "to solve my problems."

Where America Stood, 50 Years Ago

"A few years down the road these are the people who are going to be flooding into our hospitals and emergency rooms," said Dr. Samuels.

Fifteen-year-old Emily Allen is trying to avoid just that. "What I look like now, she said, "it upsets me."

The Hudson, Michigan teen was healthy at age five. But by age ten, she could no longer fit into kids clothing. She became obese.

"I just feel guilty," she said, "that I couldn't change earlier."

On doctor's orders, Emily joined a weight loss program called "m-power" at the University of Michigan. She's already lost 26 pounds, thanks, in part, to support from other teens.

Other teens, like Amber Bell, who is in an even scarier life or death struggle. She's shed 50 pounds, but still weighs nearly 400 lbs.

"What made you say, 'I'm going to make a change here,'" Doane asked.

"I didn't want my parents to feel like I was a failure and I wanted to have friends," Amber replied.

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(CBS)
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STUDY: OBESITY RISE HURTS MORE THAN SMOKING

-> According to a Jan. 5th WebMD article, "TAmerica's obesity epidemic now poses an equal or greater threat to health-related quality of life than smoking, according to a new study. Researchers say that as obesity in America has risen dramatically in recent years -- and smoking rates have declined -- the contribution of obesity to the burden of disease and shortening of life has increased while smoking's role has decreased."

"The study showed that from 1993 to 2008, the proportion of smokers among U.S. adults declined by 18.5% while the proportion of obese adults increased 85%. Using information from nationwide annual health-related quality-of-life surveys conducted during the same time period, researchers calculated the Quality-Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) lost due to these two major health risk factors..."

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Future Harvest

Find your local sources for steaks, ground beef, leg of lamb, sausage, bacon, eggs, smoked hams, roasting chickens, handmade cheeses, goats-milk fudge, cheese-stuffed pasta, Thanksgiving turkeys, Christmas geese, and more-all fresh from the pasture! This directory lists grass-based farms in Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia that sell their products directly to consumers

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10 Leading Causes of Death, United States 2006, All Races, Both Sexes

Directly and indirectly, dependence on the motor vehicle is the leading cause of preventable death.
Motor vehicle fatalities (significant part of the blue boxes) and heart disease (major contributing factor is the lack of exercise) are at (or next to) the top of the list for all ages.

 

Age Groups

          image
Rank
image
image 1
image
Congenital
Anomalies
5,819
Unintentional
Injury
1,610 		Unintentional
Injury
1,044 		Unintentional
Injury
1,214 		Unintentional
Injury
16,229 		Unintentional
Injury
14,954 		Unintentional
Injury
17,534
Malignant
Neoplasms
50,334
Malignant
Neoplasms
101,454
Heart
Disease
510,542
Heart
Disease
631,636
image
image 2
image
Short
Gestation
4,841
Congenital
Anomalies
515
Malignant
Neoplasms
459
Malignant
Neoplasms
448
Homicide
5,717 		Suicide
4,985
Malignant
Neoplasms
13,917
Heart
Disease
38,095
Heart
Disease
65,477
Malignant
Neoplasms
387,515
Malignant
Neoplasms
559,888
image
image 3
image
SIDS
2,323
Malignant
Neoplasms
377
Congenital
Anomalies
182
Homicide
241 		Suicide
4,189 		Homicide
4,725
Heart
Disease
12,339
Unintentional
Injury
19,675
Chronic Low.
Respiratory
Disease
12,375
Cerebro-
vascular
117,010
Cerebro-
vascular
137,119
image
image 4
image
Maternal
Pregnancy
Comp.
1,683
Homicide
366 		Homicide
149 		Suicide
216
Malignant
Neoplasms
1,644
Malignant
Neoplasms
3,656
Suicide
6,591
Liver
Disease
7,712
Unintentional
Injury
11,446
Chronic Low.
Respiratory
Disease
106,845
Chronic Low.
Respiratory
Disease
124,583
image
image 5
image
Unintentional
Injury
1,147
Heart
Disease
161
Heart
Disease
90
Heart
Disease
163
Heart
Disease
1,076
Heart
Disease
3,307
HIV
4,010
Suicide
7,426
Diabetes
Mellitus
11,432
Alzheimer's
Disease
71,660
Unintentional
Injury
121,599
image
image 6
image
Placenta
Cord
Membranes
1,140
Influenza
& Pneumonia
125
Chronic Low.
Respiratory
Disease
52
Congenital
Anomalies
162
Congenital
Anomalies
460
HIV
1,182
Homicide
3,020
Cerebro-
vascular
6,341
Cerebro-
vascular
10,518
Diabetes
Mellitus
52,351
Diabetes
Mellitus
72,449
image
image 7
image
Respiratory
Distress
825
Septicemia
88
Cerebro-
vascular
45
Chronic Low.
Respiratory
Disease
63
Cerebro-
vascular
210
Diabetes
Mellitus
673
Liver
Disease
2,551
Diabetes
Mellitus
5,692
Liver
Disease
7,217
Influenza
& Pneumonia
49,346
Alzheimer's
Disease
72,432
image
image 8
image
Bacterial
Sepsis
807
Perinatal
Period
65
Influenza
& Pneumonia
40
Cerebro-
vascular
50
HIV
206
Cerebro-
vascular
527
Cerebro-
vascular
2,221
HIV
4,377
Suicide
4,583
Nephritis
37,377
Influenza
& Pneumonia
56,326
image
image 9
image
Neonatal
Hemorrhage
618
Benign
Neoplasms
60
Septicemia
40
Septicemia
44
Influenza
& Pneumonia
184
Congenital
Anomalies
437
Diabetes
Mellitus
2,094
Chronic Low.
Respiratory
Disease
3,924
Nephritis
4,368
Unintentional
Injury
36,689
Nephritis
45,344
image
image 10
image
Circulatory
System
Disease
543
Cerebro-
vascular
54
Benign
Neoplasms
38
Benign
Neoplasms
38
Complicated
Pregnancy
179
Influenza
& Pneumonia
335
Septicemia
870
Viral
Hepatitis
2,911
Septicemia
4,032
Septicemia
26,201
Septicemia
34,234

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Waterkeepers move on MDE

The Maryland Waterkeepers have petitioned the EPA to pull Maryland’s authority to administer the Clean Water Act. This move is primarily about the NPDES discharge permits for industrial operations and other point sources. The second major action against Maryland in a year, this points out that the environmental and development (what’s left of it in this economy) communities have something in common: Frustration with the Maryland Department of the Environment. Hate to say it, as we certainly have friends at MDE – but maybe it is time for some real culture change…

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