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...

Eighty-five cities worldwide have been analyzed by Nestpick for how they will experience climate change in the coming decades. The company specializes in international apartment rentals so it's very smart of them to "keep a close eye on trends and developments in the most popular cities around the world," adding that "how climate change will shape our planet both in the coming years and the distant future is at the forefront of many of our minds." In America, Nestpick analyzed Boston, Chicago, New Orleans, New York, Baltimore, Seattle, Jacksonville, Cincinatti, Washington D.C., Nashville, San Francisco, Atlanta, Miami, Denver, San Diego, Los Angeles, Houston, Las Vegas Philadelphia, and Orlando. Of these cities, the highest temperature rise by 2050 will occur in Philly, at an estimate of 5.78 degrees Fahrenheit. But other cities are set to spike including Chitown at 5.60 degrees and New York at 5.31. Nestpick tapped excellent sources to conduct their rese...

"You Can Save The Earth - An Adult Coloring Book for Environmental Awareness, Conservation, and Sustainability " is a different kind of read. That's because it's also an adult coloring book with messages both poetic and simple enough for children to understand. So share it with them and you'll see their eyes light up - not only when they color the stunning drawings of wildlife and fauna, but when you explain the messages. From our limited resources and need to use less, to the reality that greenhouse gases are burning through the atmosphere so fast that if we don't do something, our grandchildren will not enjoy the same world. What's unique about this book is that it not only instructs, not only offers pages to color, but offers prompts to make one think. For example, under "Choose to Reduce", the author quotes Pope John Paul II: "The earth will not continue to offer its harvest, except with faithful stewardship. We cannot say we love...

The following article was published on Examiner.com May 9, 2013. It has been lightly edited. The pummeling Long Island Sound suffered from Tropical Storm Irene and Superstorm Sandy showed us here in Connecticut that climate change is not some far-off intangible. And more recently, the flip from 60 degree day in New York to a biting snowstorm the next just last week should be a climate denier's wakeup call. Of course, not everyone has rallied around the climate change camp (Fox News). Yale Climate Project released in 2013 an extensive study in accessible PDF form that shows how climate change advocates are far more firmly entrenched in their beliefs than are doubters. The study,  "Climate Change in the American Mind: Americans' Global Warming Beliefs and Attitudes in April 2013"  is a good read for anyone who doubts the science (or anyone who doesn't). Yale scientists and students have nicely illustrated their points, which include: • A majority of Americans ...