CLEAR April 2009

clear@lists.cheatlakeclear.org

1 participants
3 discussions

A lake story for Earth Day....
by Duane330＠aol.com 22 Apr '09

22 Apr '09

Note: "We drink lake water here." Can you find this quote? WHEN THOREAU VISITED OUR NEIGHBORHOOD - David Mraz, East Calhoun News (1994) How few men venture out beyond the last Familiar mark upon the well-known trail! And he who has the courage to go past This sign that cannot in his mission fail. He will have left at least one mark behind To guide some other brave exploring mind. --from "Me Path of Life" by Charles H. Meiers, published in the Hampton Columbian Magazine, January 1912 In 1861, writer and naturalist Henry David Thoreau made a journey to Minnesota, It was his longest trip outside Massachusetts. At the urging of his doctor, Thoreau came to our state for a cure of his illness, tuberculosis. In the 1860s, it was a commonly held belief that Minnesota's fresh air could cure tuberculosis. Of his 33 days in Minnesota, the author of Walden spent nine of them in the Lake Calhoun area. Thoreau's traveling companion was a 17-year old naturalist by the name of Horace Mann, Jr. Mann was the son of the famed teacher and educator. Their stay in the Lake Calhoun area was at Mrs. Hamilton's boarding house. In his journal, Thoreau left some notes, mostly focusing on plants and animals. Young Horace Mann wrote more than a dozen letters back to his mother in Massachusetts. This is what he wrote about his experiences . Lake Calhoun Minn. Friday June 7, 1861 Dear Mother, You see by the date of this letter that we are staying at a house on the edge of Lake Calhoun. It is a beautiful sheet of water, perhaps a mile and a half or three quarters the longest way and nearly a mile the other way in breadth; it has an outlet by which it empties itself into Lake Harriet, which lies a little ways to the SE of here, and that again into the Minnehaha and goes over the falls. We are staying at the house of a Mrs. Hamilton, a widow, and one of the first settlers near this lake. The house is surrounded with very thick woods which is full of great big mosquitoes (sic), so when you walk in them, particularly near twilight, they swarm around you in such a cloud that you can hardly see through them. There are also a great many pigeons in the woods, back of the house, (though I should hardly know them from a mosquito here by size) which are breeding, and 1 found the nest of one this afternoon which had but one egg in it which I took. The lake is full of fishes a-rid we have them at every meal almost. I went into St. Anthony this morning where I put some birds and clams in alcohol and got some blotting paper to press flowers with and I have just been putting some away to press under the bed post. The trees around here are not very large ones, and the fires seem to have run through the woods all around here and killed a great many of the trees. The "oak openings" on the prairies consist of small oaks -cattered around at some distance (I to 10 rods) from one another and where the fire has not run for several years the hazel bushes spring up; also little oaks and aspens, and after a little longer basswood trees ... It is pretty wann weather here all the time now. We had a thunder storm last night but I did not know it till I got up this morning. W. Thoreau and I went in sw g this afternoon and then we went to walk and we came to a pond hole near some woods which was full of shells and frogs... Mr. Thoreau continues to get better and I am very well of course. We drink lake water here. I will write more before I send this letter, so Good Night, Your loving son Horace Mann >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The Thoreau party later returned to Walden's Pond. A year later, on May 6, 1862, Henry David Thoreau died of tuberculosis at age 44. He left our neighborhood a spiritual gift, the poem, 'A Different Drummer," which he wrote earlier in his career, but which could be describing our neighborhood: "Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed, and in such desperate enterprises? "If a man not keep pace, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. "Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." - Henry David Thoreau >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> More information about Thoreau and Mann's travels is in Thoreau's Minnesota Journey: Thoreau's Notes on the Journey West, or The Letters of Horace Mann Jr., edited by Walter Harding, Thoreau Society Booklet #16, 1962. Thoreau's Minnesota Diary June 5 - Lake Calhoun. Hear s@pe, loon and orchard oriole. June 6 - Young eagle eating blue jay over an island in Minnetonka Lake. Alum root in bloom at last, June 7 - Lake Calhoun area. Hoary puccoon in flower. The prevailing goldenrod on these prairies is the Solidago rigida (stiff goldenrod), judging from the rudimentary leaf and withered stem and head. June 11 - Lake Calhoun. Loons said to nest on old muskrat houses. Found a cluster of wild crabapple trees. **************Big savings on Dell XPS Laptops and Desktops! (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1220433404x1201394533/aol?redir=htt… eclick.net%2Fclk%3B214133109%3B36002181%3Bk)

1 0

SB-461 does not protect WV streams
by duane330＠aol.com 08 Apr '09

08 Apr '09

West Virginia Environmental Council Action Alert April 8, 2009 WVEC Alerts Archive Bad Bill Passes out of committee – goes to House Floor – please help! SB 461 – (Selenium bill) Passed out of the House Judiciary Committee today! It now will move to the House floor for the full body to vote for or against. Please contact your representatives in the House of Delegates. Anyone and everyone! Tell them to vote against this awful piece of legislation. SB 461 is a terrible bill that gives the coal industry a more than two-year extension to comply with water quality standards for the toxic selenium they discharge from their mining operations. Capitol Phone: 1 877-565-3447 – you can leave a message for any member of the House of Delegates. Capitol web-site: www.legis.state.wv.us - find your Delegate(s) and leave message there. Talking Points / Facts: This is a change in water quality standards. The federal Clean Water Act, administered by the EPA, requires public notice and a 45-day comment period for any change proposed to a state’s water quality standards. West Virginia regulations also require public notice and a 45-day comment period for any change proposed to a state’s water quality standards. The water quality standard change proposed in SB 461 did not have public notice, did not have a 45-day public comment period, did not go through the Legislature’s regular rule-making20process, and was never considered by the Joint Legislative Rule-Making Review Committee. The extension proposed in SB 461 will NOT be approved by EPA. Randy Huffman, Secretary of the WV Department of Environmental Protection, has stated publicly that he opposes SB 461 and expects the coal industry “to meet the deadline of April 2010.” Selenium is a naturally occurring mineral element that is found is many rocks and soils. In very tiny amounts, it is an antioxidant and is needed for good health. But in only slightly greater amounts, selenium is highly toxic. In humans, it can cause hair loss, nail brittleness and neurological problems such as numbness. In aquatic life, very small amounts of selenium have been found to cause reproductive failure.” In 2003 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists found “troubling” amounts of selenium in fish downstream from mountaintop removal mine sites. Dennis Lemly, the nation’s foremost authority on selenium, has warned that pollution from a Magnum coal operation in West Virginia is dangerously poisoning Mud River fish, leaving some with serious deformities. Fish samples taken by state officials showed some specimens with two eyes on one side of the head, and others with curved spines, according to Lemly’s report.

1 0

HR 1682. Cap and Dividend Bill now in US Congress
by duane330＠aol.com 08 Apr '09

08 Apr '09

The climate answer: cut carbon, get money, save Earth To:? MVCAC & CLEAR.?? From:? Mike Tidwell, USCEC.??? Date:? April 7, 2009 Congressman Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, one of the highest ranking members of the U.S. House of Representatives, introduced the Cap and Dividend Act of 2009 on April 1st. Read more about H.R. 1682 here.?The proposal will help solve the climate crisis, help our economy grow and help working families prosper. It is simple, transparent and fair. Contact your local Congressional representative to ask him or her?to sign on as a co-sponsor of this important piece of legislation. Take action>> Climate leader Bill McKibben supports this bill: "Simplicity is its own virtue sometimes, and this is one of them. Van Hollen's bill sets out a straightforward mechanism for reducing carbon in the atmosphere in a way that will actually be popular with voters. It's the most innovative, yet obvious, piece of climate legislation in the 20 years I've been following this battle." Van Hollen, Co-Chair of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus, explained his initiative in this way: "The strength of cap and dividend lies in its simplicity and durability. All permits are sold at auction, and all proceeds are given back to the American people. As the price of energy rises, the monthly dividends will keep American consumers whole. "At its core, any successful climate change bill cannot just reduce carbon emissions. It must attract and retain the long-term, popular support of the American people. I believe the cap and dividend approach offers the best chance to get the job done." The legislation will cut carbon pollution to 10% below 1990 levels by 2020, the strongest?target proposed in federal legislation so far (although CCAN believes that target should be strengthened). It auctions 100% of the carbon permits--instead of giving them away to large polluters--and allows for no potentially complex "carbon offsets" of any kind. It will spur economic investment and innovation and create millions of jobs in clean energy. It returns every penny of higher carbon prices to citizens on a monthly, per capita basis. Every American, every month, will receive an "Energy Security Dividend." This is the kind of bill we need to break through the political logjam on Capitol Hill. Please contact your Congressperson now. ? See Also:? http://www.capanddividend.org/ Sincerely, Mike Tidwell Director, USCEC

1 0

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

CLEAR April 2009