·:[ Environmental News Bits ]:·
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In late September, 2008, the State of Connecticut launched a website that encourages its citizens, businesses, and schools to do “OneThing” each day to reduce their energy use. The OneThing site allows users to choose actions and view the effect on their own carbon footprint as well as the combined statewide impact of other OneThing participants.

The site includes a carbon footprint calculator and a pledge tool that calculates dollar, kilowatt-hour, and carbon dioxide savings from OneThing actions. Users can establish their own personal account to track and report their savings, and businesses and schools can make pledges to take specific actions.

A message on the site from Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell explains that OneThing builds on the momentum that can be achieved if everyone in the state takes one small step, every day. “If each of the state’s 3.5 million residents do OneThing a day, every day, for a year that would be more than 1.2 billion OneThings — more than enough to make a real difference on issues such as consumption, conservation, and the use of clean and renewable energy.”

The Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford hosted a three-day OneThing Expo on October 10-12, 2008 to celebrate energy conservation and highlight the many OneThings that schools, businesses, and residents can do to save energy and protect the environment.

For more information, visit the OneThing website at http://www.onethingct.com.

EPA’s Aging Initiative, Generations United, and the Rachel Carson Council, Inc. are pleased to announce the winners of this year’s Rachel Carson “A Sense of Wonder” Intergenerational Essay, Photography, and Poetry Contest.

The contest was designed to increase environmental stewardship and public awareness of environmental issues. This year, the theme is commemorating the 100th anniversary of environmentalist Rachel Carson’s life. The contest’s intergenerational approach reflects Carson’s efforts through her writings to have adults share with children a sense of wonder about nature and help them discover its joys. All teams included both a person under age 18 and a person 50 years of age or older.

More than 140 individuals submitted entries to the Rachel Carson contest. Participants came from all over the US and the world and included intergenerational teams of families, neighbors, friends, and senior centers. Finalists in each category were selected by an intergenerational team of judges. Winners were then selected by public voting on the Aging Initiative website. More than 1,500 individuals cast their votes for their favorite entries.

The categories are Photography, Essay, Poetry and Mixed (Photo, Essay and Poetry).

Read the full story from Associated Construction Publications.

The use of garden roof systems is relatively new in the U.S. However, as energy costs rise and environmental awareness increases, the idea of vegetative roofing is poised to become much more common place. In fact, a number of major cities and large property owners are already looking at these ecological roofing solutions. According to Brad Rowe, a Michigan State University horticulture professor and chairperson of the Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC) Research Committee, the garden roofing industry is growing rapidly. The area covered by garden roofs increased 80 percent between 2005 and 2006 in the United States.

Read the full story in Water & Wastewater News.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Water has released a new guide that will help municipal and utility owners and operators, engineers, local decision makers, and state permit writers and regulators plan cost-effective nutrient removal projects for municipal wastewater treatment facilities.

Download the publication:

• Volume 1
• Volume 2

Read the full story in Water & Wastewater News.

Ten popular U.S. bottled water brands contain mixtures of 38 different pollutants, including bacteria, fertilizer, Tylenol, and industrial chemicals, some at levels no better than tap water, according to laboratory tests recently conducted by Environmental Working Group (EWG).

Read the full story in Water & Wastewater News.

On Oct. 20, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the 2008 National winners of the Clean Water Act Recognition Awards during the Water Environment Federation’s Technical Exposition and Conference (WEFTEC), in Chicago, Ill. This is the 23rd year of the program and the 22nd year EPA recognized municipalities and industries for outstanding and creative technological achievements in wastewater treatment and pollution abatement programs.

Via Docuticker.

Changes in the Earth’s Climate Could Spell Higher Costs for States
Source: National Council of State Legislatures

While the debate rages on about how to protect the planet, the changing climate may threaten some states’ economies.

The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) and the Center for Integrative Environmental Research (CIER) at the University of Maryland have worked together to develop State Economic and Environmental Costs of Climate Change reports. Four additional state economic and environmental costs of Climate Change Reports are being released for North Carolina, Tennessee, North Dakota and Pennsylvania. Each report summarize the climatic changes affecting each states, the potential fiscal impact, and the affect of any future climate changes. The findings for Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey and Ohio were released during an Energy Conference at NCSL’s Legislative Summit in New Orleans.

States are taking the lead to implement policies that address climate change and environmental sustainability. The federal government is likely to enact climate legislation within the next few years. States that create energy policies now may be a step ahead when Congress passes its first greenhouse gas reduction law.

+ Full Report (PDF; 99 KB)

Read the full story at BuildingGreen.com.

What was supposed to be a new minimum, code-enforceable standard for green buildings now faces an uncertain future. In a move that came as a surprise to its partners, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) has disbanded the committee that has been developing “Proposed Standard 189: Standard for the Design of High-Performance Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings.”