Edition 3 (10-05-09)

THE GREEN SCENE: Edition 3
The Green Scene is Wesleyan's new environmental newsletter. Look to us for weekly updates on relevant news, lectures, conferences, meetings, and other interesting little environmental tidbits.
*If you have anything you would like included, please submit it to weseon@gmail.com each week by Monday afternoon*

Events/Lectures:
~Free Canoe or Kayak Trip
-Saturday, October 10th
-Rain Date: Monday, October 12th , 9am – Noon ish (2-3 hour trip)
-Must provide your own canoe or kayak and your own personal floatation device.
-Bring a snack and drink
-Instructor: Jim Sipperly 343.8085x 147 or 860.334.7073
-Directions to launch site: Route 9 to Exit 19 (route 372 West Street). Turn West onto West Street and left onto Route 3 at stop light before Stop and Shop. Launch is 1⁄4 mile on the left behind Dunkin’ Donuts. Look for pink and blue flagging.

~"Down to Earth" ART EXHIBIT
When: Exhibit opened October 3rd.
Where: ecoartspace in NYC
What: If any of you are in the NYC area this weekend, ecoartspace is opening a new project room exhibit, including documentation of the Down to Earth exhibition in Philadelphia and additional artists projects related to food, farming and agriculture. ecoartspace.org
~Trail Maintenance Work Day
-The WesCFPA is hosting a trail maintenance work day this coming Saturday, October 10. The trip will be leaving around 10 and returning around 3. Email wescfpa@gmail.com if you're interested in coming!

~Poetry Event: "Hurricane Season Connecticut"
When: Wednesday, October 7th 2009 at 7 p.m. (opening reception 6 p.m.)
Where: Trinity on Main - 69 Main St., New Britain, CT 06051
Cost: $15- 25 sliding scale
What: Opening Reception: featuring music, art and photography by local artists, local organizations about environmental solutions, and refreshments. Maurice Robertson and Zoraida Lopez will be exhibiting photography. Margaux Hayes will be performing and Dana Rondel will be reading.
Alixa and Naima, the Brooklyn-based, internationally- acclaimed performance duo Climbing PoeTree, are on tour with a transformative two-woman show that seeks not to captivate audiences, but to liberate them. Through a tapestry of spoken-word poetry, film, dance, shadow art, and a sound collage of personal testimonies, Hurricane Season connects the issues that surfaced in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to the "unnatural disasters" unfolding nationwide and worldwide on a daily basis. Unflinching and uplifting, raw and deeply moving Hurricane Season takes audiences on voyages of unthinkable tragedy and undeniable promise from the eye of a systemic storm.

Group Meeting Times for the Week:
-WesRUM: Monday, October 12th at 9 p.m. in Woodhead Lounge (t-shirt project)
-Compost: Tuesday, October 6th at 9 p.m. in Usdan ground level (Call Emilie with questions 207.577.2488)
-Green Fee: Sunday, October 11th at 1 p.m. at Earth House
-Farm Meeting: Tuesday, October 6th at 8 p.m. at 190 High Street
-Dining Committee: Thursday, October 8th at 9 p.m. in Usdan around the black couches
-350: Monday, October 12th at 9 p.m. at Earth House
-Farmer's Market: Monday, October 12th at 5:30 p.m. in PAC 104

FYI:
~Ideal Bite
--For fun, daily updates on how to live more sustainably, sign up for Ideal Bite at http://idealbite.com/

~NY Times: E.P.A. Moves to Curtail Greenhouse Gas Emissions
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/01/science/earth/01epa.html?_r=1&emc=eta1
Unwilling to wait for Congress to act, the Obama administration announced on Wednesday that it was moving forward on new rules to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from hundreds of power plants and large industrial facilities.

Environmentalists Ask ‘Is Biomass Green Enough?’ Nancy Cohen, WNPR: 09/02/2009
http://www.cpbn.org/program/northeast-environmental-hub/episode/environmentalists-ask-%E2%80%98-biomass-green-enough%E2%80%99
The debate ramps up as the number of biomass proposals grows

Provocative New Study Warns of Crossing Planetary Boundaries
http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2192
The Earth has nine biophysical thresholds beyond which it cannot be pushed without disastrous consequences, the authors of a new paper in the journal Nature report. Ominously, these scientists say, we have already moved past three of these tipping points.
Yale Environment 360

The textbook economics of cap-and-trade
Paul Krugman, NY Times
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/the-textbook-economics-of-cap-and-trade/
I realized, after the last post, that it might be useful to write down just what the Econ 101 version of cap and trade looks like; as it happens, this also helps explain the intellectual sins of Glenn Beck and Martin Feldstein.

Action On Campus!
~Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act of 2009
-Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA) just introduced their clean energy and climate bill: the "Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act of 2009."
-Call Senators Kerry and Boxer to tell them we need steep cuts in global warming pollution and provisions that crack down on old, dirty coal power plants.
-Click here for call information


Outside Opportunities:
~Earth Aid University Organizing Fellowship
-To empower students to work on the front lines in the fight against climate change in their communities, and in the process, we're providing training on a variety of topics, from community organizing to event planning and more.
-For students interested in issues of energy and environment, Earth Aid's cutting-edge measurement technology, vision of sustainability, and commitment to metrics-based organizing will provide a valuable and rewarding experience.
-The deadline to apply is Friday, October 2, and we're accepting applications online at: http://www.earthaid.net/action_center/university_fellows

Job Announcements:
~None known at this time