Connecticut Green Living

As I write, I'm in a cool room in Windsor Locks, Connecticut , enjoying the way my skin feels after walking to the hotel from the restaurant next door. Just a few minutes in this weather made me dizzy, and tomorrow and Wednesday will be worse. For those of us who take public transportation, extreme heat and humidity is dangerous. I spoke to Dr. Kenneth Gillingham , Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Yale School of the Environment, about why this "heat spell" is threatening. We also spoke last April about our state's "green" rating (#9). "My primary concern about the heat is for low-income people who don't have access to adequate cooling. This will be exacerbated in the upcoming years," he wrote in an e-mail. I had asked him if our current presidential administration is having an adverse bearing on climate change. He said, "A presidential administration can affect your carbon footprint by influencing the carbon intensity of ele...

There are creeps then there are plant creeps. A plant creep wants to upset the environment, ultimately usurpring economic stability on a region. Lawn Love has come out with a list showing we are ranked fourth for invasive plants. The top five in order are California, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and North Carolina. (Note: our geographical proximity to New York and Massachussetts obviously means greater overlap in areas such as northwestern and southeastern Connecticut .) The breakdown is as follows: No. 4: Connecticut | Overall score: 65.87 Number of Invasive Plant Species ( National Invasive Species Information Center ): 47 | Rank: 10 Number of Invasive Plant Species Reported ( University of Georgia ): 702 | Rank: 18 Percentage of Sunshine: 58% | Rank: 29 Average Monthly Inches of Precipitation : 3.6 | Rank: 17 National Association of Exotic Pest Plant Councils Membership: 0 (No) | Rank: 1 UConn has put out a helpful list of reported invasive plants. Listed by common nam...

Yesterday I began this list from the bottom up. Today I'll roundout my top 10 eco-friendly staples. #5 #1 Cafe Bustelo This supertasty espresso coffee in bold yellow and red foil bags is addictive. And at a modest price (as cheap as $4 at Walmart) it won't break the bank. Do not buy the Kpods (the opposite of eco-friendly) but brew it yourself in either a single Melita #4 filter over a Fino Coffee-Brewing filter cone or in your coffeemaker of choice. You are supporting an original concept, a homespun business from Harlem with its tentacles and heart in Latin America, South America and Cuba. #4 Kiss my Face Triple Action toothpaste with tea tree oil & aloe A recent discovery, I am in love with the fresh, naturally minty sensation after brushing. Cursed with teeth like an eighteenth-century British Low Life, I will take all the enticement I can get to BRUSH. Its tube touts "100% vegan, triclosan and SLS free, BPA free, no artificial colors or flavors. Buy it at Elm ...

California has long been touted as the most progressive state, but arguably it is also the greenest . It is therefore not surprising that a startup from Santa Cruz has developed a solution to all that coffee-making waste. Steeped Coffee is aptly named. According to the company release, "Brewed similar to tea, Steeped Coffee’s nitro sealed Steeped Bags, along with their guilt-free packaging made using renewable and compostable materials, achieve the unthinkable: freshly ground specialty coffee in a single-serving." When I lived in London , I had a kettle in my room to make my own coffee. It was common there to make single-serve coffee. When I saw these little bags, it reminded me of that. Then when I tore open the first bag, called "DRIFTWOOD", I was hooked. The intoxicating aroma rivals any other including fresh beans in the grinder. I DO think one needs to steep the maximum amount of time if he wants a stronger brew. I am used to two or three cups of piping hot...

I am not a scientist or even an expert on the effects of preservatives called parabens on the human body, but increasingly I have become worried about all the deoderant I use. My late mother rarely broke a sweat, but I did not inherit that gene. Perhaps due to a slight thyroid disorder (still indeterminate) coupled with being slightly overweight, I have a harder time staying as sweet-smelling as a lady should. That said, I have resisted so-called 'natural' deoderants. I tried one from Whole Foods, maybe it was Tom's (a perfectly good brand), but it did not do the trick. I jumped ship and returned to my Suave roll-ons. In London, where I attended grad school, I became addicted to the spray version of Suave (I do not think it's as dangerous as the old-school aerosol varieties). However, as a green living writer I began to realize I was a hypocrite, and I did not like how this smelled one bit. Problem solved, more or less: CRYSTAL Mineral Deodorants are paraben-free and ...

Earlier today, Apr. 25, the National Audubon Society released a press release regarding President Trump's impending signing of an order to review the Antiquities Act. The Antiquities Act was enacted by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906, and was intended to allow the president to set aside public natural areas as park and conservation land. The Bears Ears National Monument , established last December by President Obama, is threatened by this signing. It sits on 1.35 million acres of federal land in southeastern Utah , a state whose tourism industry has benefitted by promoting its Arches, Bryce Canyon, Zion, and Capitol Reef parks. Bears Ears is so named for its pair of mesas, a hallmark in this part of the country, where rugged red geography dazzles at every turn. According to Audubon, "reversing monument designations is a dangerous game." And they go on to say: “Blowing up more than 100 years of bipartisan tradition to rob our kids of their natural legacy is s...

WalletHub, a personal finance website, has lauded our state with green praise once again. We've ranked fifth in the union overall for environmental practices, even tops for water quality. Analysts culled data on everything from rate of waste recycling to soil, air, and water quality. While we weren't high on every criterion, our overall rating was superb. Rankings in order were: #1 Vermont, #2 Massachusetts , #3 Oregon, #4 Washington, and #5 the Nutmeg State . The worst rating on the green scale was Wyoming. I got a chance to send some questions to one of their analysts, Jill Gonzalez. Following is a transcript of that discussion: Jill, explain to me, please, what methods you all used to determine these scores and can you quantify them? We compared the states across three quantifiable categories: 1. Environmental Quality, 2. Eco-Friendly Behaviors and 3. Climate-Change Contributions. These categories were evaluated using 20 relevant key metrics. We then calculated the o...

A four-part documentary series called "The Crowd & The Cloud", showcasing the power of "Citizen Science in the Digital Age", airs this month on public television and is available online. Hosted by former NASA chief scientist Waleed Abdalati, now director of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado, Boulder, the series shows how citizens can cull data to augment the work of professional scientists. Everyday people can and are acting in ways leaders cannot - a timely message during a time of political upheaval on the scientific and environmental front. Whether one's concerned with Alzheimer's, fracking, weather, climate change, or epidemics like Zika, the documentary shows how citizens using smartphones and computers are harnessing the power of the digital age. Not only that, through mobile and other technologies people are helping scientists do their jobs. In the documentary trailer Abdala...

Hartford--Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy's office announced today that applications for the latest round of grants under the Connecticut Brownfield Remediation program will be accepted through May 16 of this year. The dictionary defines a brownfield as "a former industrial or commercial site where future use is affected by real or perceived environmental contamination." The Environmental Protection Agency has operated its Brownfield Program to help tribes, states, and other communities restore brownfield properties since 1995. The release reads in part that in this, the eleventh round of competitive grant funding under which Connecticut partners with local municipalities and economic development agencies, "blighted properties" are being put back to use: "Under this round, a total of $4 million will be earmarked for remediation projects and $1 million will be reserved for assessment projects." “We have made brownfield remediation and redevel...

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...

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 ...