Buffalo To Reduce Lake Erie Pollution With Grant from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded the City of Buffalo, NY, a $500,000 grant from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) that will be used in conjunction with another $500,000 in funding from Empire State Development to provide green infrastructure in an effort to minimize polluting stormwater runoff into Lake Erie.

Space view of the Great Lakes.

Empire State Development is New York State’s chief economic development agency that works to promote the growth of the state economy through loans, grants, tax credits, and other forms of financial assistance to projects and initiatives that will create business growth and job creation.

A major focus of this project will be building a green infrastructure along a one-mile stretch of Buffalo’s Niagara Street that’s part of the Great Lakes Seaway Trail and National Scenic Byway. This area currently accumulates untreated stormwater that drains directly into the Black Rock Navigation Channel and the Niagara River.

Northern waterfront of the Niagara River. Photo from Wikimedia.org.

The EPA says the project will include the installation of porous asphalt, stormwater planters, rain gardens, and the reduction of impervious pavements. The new project is expected to capture stormwater from about 15 acres along Niagara Street and result in the reduction of about 5 million gallons of stormwater runoff per year.

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Buffet Foundation Donates $23.7 Million to Combat Rhino Pouching in South African National Park

While pouching has always been a problem on the African continent, over the last several years, the decimation of rhino populations in South Africa’s Kruger National Park has accelerated at a frightening rate, and conservation groups as well as investment institutions are stepping up efforts to help.

Protecting the African rhino. Photo courtesy of South Africa’s Kruger National Park.

SANParks (the South African National Parks system) reported last year a total of 1,004 rhinos were pouched in country, up from 668 pouched in 2012, and 448 pouched in 2011.

The rampant pouching is increasing, and the latest report from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) found that, “This year alone, 172 rhinos have been poached since January with 113 of those occurring in the Kruger National Park.”

To add to the significance, “Kruger is currently home to over 40 percent of the world’s remaining 22,000 rhinos, the largest single population of rhinos in the world,” says SANParks.

In response to the worsening situation, authorities have continued stepping up their prevention efforts. SANParks reported that last year, the number of people arrested for rhino poaching-related offenses climbed to 343, with 133 of them in the Krugar National Park. Since the beginning of 2014, six alleged poachers have been arrested.

SANParks says that Kruger’s poaching problem is fueled mainly by illicit criminal networks in Mozambique, South Africa, and East Asia, but evidence suggests that armed groups elsewhere in Africa derive significant funding from poaching activities.”

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EPA Sued Over Pesticide In Pet Flea Collars Feared To Cause Neurological Damage In Kids

Image courtesy of veterinary.answers.com.

The Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC) has filed a lawsuit this month against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency because the agency has failed, after years of petitions from the group, to remove two pesticides from pet flea collars – propoxur and tetrachlorvinphos (TCVP).  They are known to cause neurological and other problems in small animals, and are considered possible and probable human carcinogens.

Miriam Rotkin-Ellman, a scientist with the NRDC’s health and environment program, expressed on her blog that while the EPA has made progress in that while “most neurotoxic pesticides have been banned or severely restricted for use in the home, propoxur and TCVP in flea collars have been overlooked and continue to pose a serious health threat.

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Green Global Coalition Ties Two Schools For 2013 “Greenest School On Earth” Award

The Global Coalition For Green Schools has announced a tie of two winning schools – the Sing Yin Secondary School in Hong Kong, China, and the Waterbank School at Uaso Nyiro Primary in Laikipia, Kenya – for the 2013 Greenest School on Earth Award.

The coalition is an initiative of the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council, and the award was announced at the World Green Building Council Annual Congress.

The Sing Yin Secondary School in Hong Kong, China.

The Center for Green Schools said that the award’s goal is to “highlight a K-12 school that exemplifies how sustainability can be integrally woven into the infrastructure, culture, and curriculum of a school.”

The schools submitted for the award were evaluated for criteria, including: the efficient use of resources and reduced environmental impact; the enhanced quality of health and learning for students, teachers, and staff; and the emphasis on sustainability and resource-conservation education.

Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO, and founding chair of the U.S. Green Building Council, said during the announcement that the aim of the award is “to showcase a school’s commitment to sustainability.

“But when we sat down to review this year’s submissions, we felt that we had two schools whose environmental efforts, though very different, were extraordinary in both execution and achievement.”

The two winning schools were each awarded $5,000 to put toward a new or ongoing sustainability project.

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NYC Progressing In Retrofit Project To Replace 250,000 Conventional Street Lights With LEDs

Picking up the torch from the Bloomberg administration, New York City is proceeding with plans to retrofit the city’s 250,000 standard street lights with energy efficient LEDs (light-emitting diodes) by 2017.

Upcoming work will involve replacing about 24,400 lights along all major corridors including as the Belt Parkway, Grand Central Parkway, Cross Bronx Expressway, and other highways.

New York City replacing conventional necklace lighting on bridges with LEDs. Photo courtesy of the G4 Report: Your Guide to LED Lighting.

This will be included in the first phase of a three phase plan to replace the city’s standard “cobra head” high pressure sodium street lights across the five boroughs.

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