Connecticut Green Living

Twenty-seventeen is upon us. A year that sounds lucky, but is destined to be fraught with environmental challenges under a Trump administration. All the more reason for individuals to do their part for the planet. Thanks to Recyclebank , Connecticut Green Living has some white-hot tips for you eco-conscious, planet-loving humans: 1. Be wise when getting rid of your Christmas tree. ********If your plastic tree is beyond being “spruced” up, it unfortunately cannot be recycled, says Recyclebank. But, if your old plastic tree is still in good shape, consider donating it to a local homeless shelter or other community organization. For real trees, many cities have drop-off locations and/or curbside pickup programs, and they’ll “recycle” them for you by turning them into mulch, and other purposes. 2. Find a new use for old or broken ornaments. Amidst overexcited children, unstable branches, and worn out ornament boxes, there are myriad ways for ornaments to crack and crumble (like t...

Today, on the first anniversary of the historic climate change accord signed by nearly 200 nations, the Paris Agreement, social media brand GOOD is continuing the conversation. Through its Earth to Dinner , the clarion call is for the public to reach out to friends and even strangers and discuss climate change more deeply by sharing a meal. To prod this, participants can download the ETD toolkit, designed by Michael Hebb, founder of Death Over Dinner . A mix of environmental leaders, celebrities, and chefs are hosting dinners from Iceland to Chile to North Carolina. Those who sit down and discuss the Paris accord with friends and family tonight are urged to connect socially with the organizers. Tweet #EarthToDinner and share your photos and experiences in real time. Hebb told Connecticut Green Living that they will be geolocating the participants through the hashtags on Twitter and Instagram, as well as through Facebook posts. "The number we had on the board was 500 (dinn...

Environment New York, part of the national federation Environment America, said in a press release today, Nov. 9, that they have joined other environmental groups in reacting to the 2016 election outcomes. Heather Leibowitz, Director of Environment New York, issued the following statement in response to the 2016 election results: “This isn’t the outcome we had hoped for. At a time when sea levels are rising, temperature records are being smashed and extreme weather events threaten Americans across the country, we need to rapidly shift to 100 percent renewable energy and away from dirty fossil fuels. At a time when children are being poisoned by lead in their drinking water, and sewage and manure pollute our rivers, we need to strengthen our clean water protections and invest in clean water infrastructure. So we were dismayed to hear President-elect Trump deny climate science, vow to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement and dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency during...

For those of us who realize climate change is the top issue facing the world, this election did not go in our favor. Donald Trump has scoffed about climate change and dismissed Obama's activism on the matter, whether it's the Paris Agreement, negotiated by nearly 200 countries and enacted just this Nov. 4, or favoring fossil fuel sources like coal instead of alternative energy. Now that the dye has been cast, green-minded Americans have no choice but to press the president-elect on moving toward a clean energy future. The Paris Agreement, which spun out of last year's Conference of the Parties, has been enacted - but countries are still able to pull out, should they wish to. Right now, COP22 is happening in Marrakesh, where world leaders and activists from around the world have convened. Last year, Trump dismissed the event, and in May the BBC reported that Trump would cancel the Paris climate accord. The world is getting warmer, as Democrats' chances of making chan...

This article originally appeared on Examiner.com, March 26, 2016. March 2,2017 update: Catch the film on Netflix. "What excited me so much about solar is that here is something we can all access and it’s a disruptive technology. Our electric grid was one of the biggest engineering achievements of the last century – and you put a lowly solar panel on your house and you've disrupted that." - Shalini Kantayya Filmmaker Shalini Kantayya has more accolades than a summer movie premiere has papparazi - from finishing in the top 10 out of 12,000 in FOX's "On the Lot" filmmaking competition produced by Steven Spielberg to being a TED and Sundance Fellow. Of course, this analogy only works until you realize that soon, this talented thirtysomething Hartford native will be bombarded by the press and she'll have as many shutterbugs in her face as she has plaques on the wall. The buzz is simple: this is a young filmmaker who gets what needs to be done. We nee...

Connecticut consistently ranks as one of the nation's most educated states. From Yalies to proud UConn alums, we've an embarrassment of intellectuals here. So why is the state so dumb when it comes to tapping public transportation? Although Hartford ranks pretty decently -- in 2010 an estimated 21.1 percent of its residents regularly chose public transportation -- the state pales overall. On the same annual ranking, a city that has no excuse not to be on the bus or the train, a dismal 13.3 percent were onboard. In 2012, the U.S. Department of Transportation reported that over 78 percent of our residents drive alone in their cars to work. This examiner wholly believes that the greatest impediment to getting more folks to share a ride, or get on the bus or train is reversing a stigma. Being a bus rider is even fodder for comic effect in movies. Women walking to the bus in the 'burbs sometimes get propositioned as ladies of the evening! It's the bus, people, not a meth d...

In its first-ever endorsement, the eight-year-old U.S. Green Chamber of Commerce promotes Hillary Clinton. According to the Chamber's president Michelle Thatcher, the choice was clear even if it wasn't always easy. After all, representing businesses means representing people of various political orientations. "First and foremost, it was a hard decision because we are such a varied membership, so the biggest implication of course we want to make is to have an effect. The numbers are still so close – this is why we put this out there. We put the country even ahead of our own non-profits," says Thatcher. She says that while endorsing Clinton "wasn't on the forefront" of the Chamber's planning, it made sense from a sustainable business perspective, as well as buinesses and practices they promote. "To do otherwise would be extremely risky," she says. The Chamber's endorsement follows the lead of hundreds of nationally prominent organizat...

October is National Energy Awareness Month, and according to WalletHub, the average household spends nearly $2,000 a year on energy bills. In honor of this important month, the personal-finance website conducted what they say was "an in-depth analysis" of 2016’s most and least energy-efficient states. The top 10 most efficient states are, in order: New York, Utah, Minnesota, Vermont, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Colorado, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. The least efficient are, in order: West Virginia (#39), Kentucky, Georgia, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, and South Carolina (#48). We Nutmeggers can be proud that we ranked number 9 on the list, right behind Colorado but ahead of the Live Free or Die State. Yet, 9 isn't 1, so this reporter wanted to speak to someone at WalletHub who could explain how we could become first. Note, due to what WalletHub said were data limitations, Alaska and Hawaii were excluded from analysis....

This has been an astounding election season. At once nauseating as shocking, despicable as hilarious. Yes, if you don't have a sense of humor, your nerves and stomach won't survive this final stretch. But through it all, whatever your feelings about Hillary Clinton in particular, you must vote for her. To vote for a candidate who denies the existence of climate change is a vote for ruining the planet. Think of it: every day, Americans board planes, confident that the laws of science have allowed that plane to take off and get them safely to their destinations. And adventurous souls, from the SpaceX astronauts to National Geographic explorers to simply weekend backpackers, rely on physics, astronomy, geology and other disciplines to inform their every move. When a high school friend was killed during a rock climb of Half Dome in the '70s, it was a scientific principle that killed him, not the will of God or magic. When there is a tragic train accident, science is behind the...

EPA’s Office of Water today announced its fifth annual Campus RainWorks Challenge for undergraduate and graduate students. Campuses nationwide will participate in the challenge to divert stormwater runoff away from the built environment. The EPA notes that green infrastructure strategies "use or mimic natural processes to manage stormwater. They use vegetation, soils, and rainwater harvesting to reduce or eliminate stormwater runoff, help maintain water quality, and create healthier urban environments." So called “gray” stormwater infrastructure—which the EPA notes is catch basins, drain pipes, and ponds—moves urban stormwater away from the built environment and funnels it toward nearby waterways. The runoff carries all sorts of gunk, such as trash, bacteria, heavy metals, and other pollutants, thereby degrading water quality. The challenge will reward the winning school with prizes in two categories - one for the so-called "master plan" and another for the ...

Ah, autumn - the chill will soon be in the air (we hope) and the kiddos scampering back to class. It's the time when parents around the country push their credit limits to the max on back-to-school supplies. Yet, most don't think about the environmental impact of all that paper, not to mention the non-recyclable plastics that end up in gyres in the ocean. New York City-based Recyclebank offers some tips to change parents' and guardians' behavior when it comes to back-to-school waste: 1. Raid last year's gear. Revisit last year's inventory and start patching up old backpacks, sharpening scissors, cleaning glue bottles of any dried residue, and testing all of the writing utensils you already own so you can avoid buying new ones. 2. Host a back-to-school swap party. Last year's backpack might not be exciting for your kids, but if they're given the chance to change it up and use one that's new to them, they might be more inclined to reuse! The...

Hello, and welcome to the premier post for Connecticut Green Living. So sorry we're starting off on a miserable note, but that's the state of our warming planet. The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection as well as EPA New England have issued air quality alerts for today. Following is what the EPA stated in their press release: News Release U.S. Environmental Protection Agency New England Regional Office July 21, 2016 Contact: Emily Bender, (617) 918-1037 Poor Air Quality Expected for Coastal New England on Friday BOSTON – New England state air quality forecasters are predicting air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups, due to ground-level ozone, in much of southern New England for Friday, July 22. The areas that are predicted to exceed the Federal air quality standard for ozone on Friday are: Connecticut (excluding Litchfield County), Rhode Island, south-central and eastern Massachusetts (excluding Cape Cod and the Islands), and coastal Maine ...