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Green Tip of the Week
A leaking toilet can waste 200 gallons of water a day without making a
sound. Check for leaks by adding food coloring to the toilet tank. If
color appears in the bowl without flushing, there is a leak.
--From The Island Blue Pages.
Conservation Calendar
Bird Walk
Tuesdays, 8 to 10 am, Chilmark
Join Susan Whiting, co-author of Vineyard Birds, at the Chilmark
Community Center for a morning bird walk. $10 for non-members, see CCC website for more information.
Grandparent's Day at Native Earth
Wednesday, Aug 8, 9 am to noon, Chilmark.
Grandparents, grandchildren and well-behaved parents invited to visit
the farm to see ducks, goats and pigs, and learn about agriculture and
land conservation. Free. Hosted in conjunction with Sheriff's Meadow
Foundation. For more info, call 508-693-5207.
Chappy Farmer's Market
Wednesday, Aug 8, 4:30 to 5:30 pm, Chappy Community Center.
Local farmers and craft people sell their wares on the porch - fresh produce, art work, jewelry, etc. For more info, call 508-627-8222.
Introduction to Bogs
Wednesday, Aug 8, 9 am to 3 pm and Thursday, Aug 9, 9 am to noon, at the Polly Hill Arboretum.
Join Sheriff's Meadow and Land Bank staff on an exploration of our
island’s local bog communities. Learn about the physical and chemical
characteristics that comprise bogs and the unique plant communities that
inhabit them. The two-day course includes a half-day class and then
outdoor bog exploration. $90 for the public, $70 for PHA members, $50
for Island conservation professionals.
Seashore Discovery
Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. at Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary in Edgartown.
Meet creatures of the sea including crabs, whelks and scallops. Cost is
$9 or $6 for Mass Audubon members; free for kids under three.
Sengekontacket Nature Program
Saturday, August 11 (also Sat. the 18th), 9:30 to 10:30 am, Oak Bluffs.
Join a Felix Neck naturalist for a free program at Sengekontacket. For
ages 14 and under, accompanied by parent. Meet at the Little Bridge, on
pond side. Sponsored by Friends of Sengekontacket. For more info, call
508-627-4850.
West Tisbury Farmer's Market
Wednesdays and Saturdays, 9:00 to noon at the Grange Hall, West Tisbury.
Fresh picked produce from local farms, flowers, delicious baked goods
and prepared foods from Island kitchens and more. For more info, see new website.
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Monday, August 6, 2012
Local News
Art to Benefit Endangered Lands and Water
Svalbard #30, pastel drawing by Zaria Foreman (click for full-size)
Sunday, August 12, from 5 to 7 pm, the Gay Head Gallery holds its second
annual benefit for VCS with a public reception and opening of the new
exhibit, "Endangered Lands and Water: The Intrinsic Value of Wild
Nature." A portion of art sales will go directly to VCS’ Moshup Trail Project.
In addition to premiering the latest work by renowned artists, the
reception will provide an opportunity to learn more about the unique and
globally rare habitat of the Moshup Trail area. VCS Board member and
wildlife biologist Luanne Johnson will offer some thoughts on this and
the broader ecological meaning of the show’s theme.
A diverse group show representing a range of media (including
photographs, oil paintings, pastels and drawings, wampum, metal and
glass) will be the backdrop for raising awareness and supporting the
protection of endangered habitat in Aquinnah, on Martha's Vineyard, and
beyond our shores. Several artists, including photographer Barbara
Norfleet and painter Linda Thompson, will talk briefly about how their
art is inspired by "Wild Nature." The show will also feature a number of
artists and works new to the Gallery, including Barbara Norfleet’s
"Manscape with Beast," a series of richly quirky cibachromes
of native vineyard wildlife, Walter Rabetz’ photography "Stereo-Fauna,"
images of animals he sees as marginalized by living in unnatural  environments,
and Zaria Forman’s exquisitely rendered drawings and pastels of sea and
sky (pictured above), as well as work by Vineyard artists including Liz
Taft, Joan Lelacheur, Barney Zeitz, and Julia Purinton (seen at right).
The Gay Head Gallery is open 12-6 and by appointment, closed Tuesday and
Wednesday. Please park at the Aquinnah Town Hall and stroll down to the
Gallery, or park with all four tires behind the white line along State
Road. For more information, please call Megan Ottens-Sargent at the
Gallery at 508-645-2776.
Warmer Waters No Friend to Shellfish
Shellfish sit at the nexus of a tangled set of environmental issues, to
which climate change belongs, both directly and indirectly. Warming
waters, eroding shorelines, and new invasive species all touch on the
ecology (and economy) of shellfish; however, the closely-related sister
issue to climate change – ocean acidification – looms larger than any
other. In the fifth part
of her series on how climate change impacts the Vineyard, Liz Durkee
takes a close look at these quiet, but tremendously important little
animals.
Other News
Climate Skeptic Accidentally Reinvents Wheel: New Wheels Prove Hugely Popular!
The very close fit between surface temperatures and the concentration of carbon dioxide, as calculated by the BEST team.
The new release from the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature (BEST)
project has created a huge buzz in the science pages of the mainstream
press for peculiar reasons: it is a study that is relatively unexciting
scientifically yet potentially very important politically. Accomplished
physicist, noted contrarian, masterful self-aggrandizer, and recently
converted climate skeptic Richard Muller presents – in the N.Y. Times,
of all places, rather than a science journal – his recent conclusion,
based on the BEST team’s reanalysis of tremendous numbers of global
temperature records, that climate change is in fact real and largely the
result of human activity. It is primarily the perceived motivations and
preconceived notions of Muller himself (and the other members of the
team) that make this ho-hum conclusion notable. For the more suspicious
among us, there is also the fact that the BEST project is largely funded
by the Koch Foundation, one of the largest financial supporters of climate disinformation in the world.
(story continued at VCS site, 2nd column) |
