Small Australian Town Stands Up for the Tap

July 16, 2009
BUNDANOON JOURNAL
Small Australian Town Stands Up for the Tap

By MERAIAH FOLEY
BUNDANOON, Australia — When the residents here voted this month to stop selling bottled water in town, they never expected to be thrust into the global spotlight.

With a nearly unanimous show of hands at a community meeting, the people in this small tourist town touched off a worldwide debate about the social and environmental effects of bottled water that has put the beverage industry on the defensive.

State and local officials across the United States have been phasing out the use of bottled water at government workplaces in recent years, citing a variety of concerns, including the energy used to make and transport the bottles and an erosion of public trust in municipal water supplies. But as far as campaigners are aware, Bundanoon is the first town in the world to stop all sales of bottled water.

Set in the cool highlands southwest of Sydney, Bundanoon is a sleepy town of tidy gardens and quaint cottages surrounded by the weekend estates of wealthy urbanites. It is the sort of place where strangers strike up conversations on park benches along the picturesque main street and townsfolk leave fresh flowers on the local war memorial.

According to Huw Kingston, the owner of Ye Olde Bicycle Shoppe and a leader of the “Bundy on Tap” campaign, the ban did not begin as an environmental crusade. It started when a bottling company sought permission to extract millions of liters of water from the local aquifer.

At first, residents were upset at the prospect of tanker trucks rumbling through their quiet streets. But as opposition grew, Mr. Kingston said many residents began to question the idea of trucking water about 100 miles north to a bottling plant in Sydney, only to transport it somewhere else — possibly even back to Bundanoon — for sale.

“We became aware, as a community, of what the bottled-water industry was all about,” Mr. Kingston said. “So the idea was floated that if we don’t want an extraction plant in our town, maybe we shouldn’t be selling the end product at all.”

A dozen or so activists got together and called a community meeting. Of the 356 residents who turned out to vote on the ban by a show of hands, only one objected.

The ban is entirely voluntary. But with the support of the public, the town’s six food retailers have agreed to pull bottled water from their shelves starting in September. They plan to recoup their losses by selling inexpensive, reusable bottles that can be filled at drinking fountains and filtered water dispensers to be placed around town.

Some of the town’s 2,500 residents say they support the plan because they worry about the effects of chemicals in plastic bottles; some view it as a positive demonstration against the water plant.

Others, however, are skeptical that the local council could afford to maintain the new drinking fountains, while still others worry about the health implications of leaving only sweetened alternatives on refrigerator shelves.

“I don’t see why water should be picked on,” said Trevor Fenton, a retired Bundanoon resident. “What I’d like is to see them get rid of all the soft drinks, but they’d never do that.”

Environmentalists have been gaining traction in the fight against bottled water. In addition to the new restrictions by state and local governments in the United States, many high-profile restaurateurs have also begun replacing fancy imported water with tap water. Recently, a United States Congressional committee debated whether to step up regulation on the bottled-water industry after reviewing two new studies that questioned whether bottled water was any safer than that from a tap.

The attention has irked the industry, which is worth around $60 billion a year worldwide and about $400 million a year in Australia. Industry groups say it is unfair to single out bottled water when many other consumer goods — like disposable diapers and imported produce, cheese and wine — have an equal or greater impact on the environment.

In Australia, most bottled water is produced domestically, in recyclable bottles that make up a very small proportion of landfill waste, according to Geoff Parker, the chief executive of the Australasian Bottled Water Institute.

“We need to keep the product in perspective,” Mr. Parker said. “There are tens of thousands of products in the fast-moving consumer goods sector, and we would suggest that there are a vast number that would have a larger carbon footprint than bottled water.”

The issue has touched a nerve. The day of the Bundanoon vote, the state government in New South Wales announced that it would stop buying bottled water, prompting the federal environment minister to urge other states to follow suit. The moves set off a flurry of newspaper editorials over the weekend and set the lines ablaze on talk radio shows across Australia.

The shopkeepers of Bundanoon say they have been amused by all the attention the ban has brought their way, and have even been offered a supply of specially branded reusable water bottles from a major European supplier.

Outside his newspaper and magazine store, Peter Stewart said the extra focus on Bundanoon was worth the $1,200 a year he expected to lose on bottled-water sales.

“That a group of people can get together over a few months and make headlines all over the world, it’s just amazing,” he said. “There’s a lot of pride in town.”

Sustainable Jersey Announcement

Need Help Navigating Sustainable Jersey?

Is your town registered or thinking about registering for Sustainable Jersey?
Checkout the "Getting Started" guide
attached here and online at http://www.sustainablejersey.com/editor/doc/act61tb1sa6.pdf
for concise directions to help you navigate the registration and certification process.





Other announcements of interest

(Please contact these organizations directly,
if you have questions about these events/ happenings)




Information Workshop on the
Local Government Greenhouse Gas Reduction Grant Program

On Thursday, July 23, 2009, the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) will be holding an Information Workshop on the Local Government Greenhouse Gas Reduction Grant Program. For information on this new grant program, please visit the web page at: http://www.nj.gov/dep/opsc/ghggrant.html

Workshop Details:

Date: Thursday, July 23, 2009
Time: 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Location: Public Hearing Room, NJDEP Headquarters
401 E. State Street,
Trenton, NJ 08625

The workshop will provide an overview of the grant program including local government eligibility, a description of all the types of projects eligible for the grant, funding levels, and the application process.

Seating is limited to 150 people. Preference will be given to eligible entities and their representatives. Only local government agencies are eligible to apply for funding under this Grant Program. A local government agency must be:

* a contracting unit under the Local Public Contacts Law
(N.J.S.A. 40A:11-2(1)) , i.e., municipality, county or local authority;
* a board of education under the Public School Contracts Law
(N.J.S.A. 18A:18A-2a); or
* a county college under the County College Contracts Law
(N.J.S.A. 18A:64A-25.2b).

This event is FREE; however, registration is mandatory to attend. To register for the event, please send your contact information, including name, address, phone number, email address and name of the local government agency you are representing to ghggrantsregistration@dep.state.nj.us.

Please note that on July 20, 2009 a similar workshop has been organized ONLY on the Land Use Planning and Transportation eligible related projects. The July 20th workshop is FULL. More information on this workshop can be found at: http://www.njfuture.org/Media/Docs/July%2020,%202009%20dep%20workshop.pdf

Global Warming by the Numbers

Global Warming by the Numbers

Friday the 13th just got a little scarier. Here are 13 facts about the realities of global warming. Even Jason would be scared.

The numbers speak for themselves -- we must make 2009 the showdown year for global warming action. There is no time to lose.

You can help by spreading the word any way you can -- through email, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, whatever works for you.
Take Action
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35%

Increase in the global carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels since the Kyoto Protocol was signed in 1992.
388.57 ppm

Average concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in May 2008, a record high.
541 – 970 ppm

The projected concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by 2100 under a business as usual scenario where we don't dramatically reduce global warming emissions.
260 – 280 ppm

Average concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere before industrial emissions.
50 – 200 years

Length of time carbon dioxide stays in the earth's atmosphere before it is absorbed into carbon sinks.
1000 years

Length of time changes in the earth's surface temperature, rainfall, and sea level will remain even after carbon dioxide emissions are completely stopped.
34%

Percentage that 2008's Arctic seasonal sea ice melt outpaced normal levels.
70%

Increase in the rate of Greenland's ice melt over the last five years.
1.7 days

Number of days earlier seasons are coming than 50 years ago.
1.5 million

Number of acres of forests in Colorado destroyed by the pine beetle, which is better able to survive warmer winters and is wrecking havoc in America's western forests.
$427 million

Amount spent by the oil and coal industries in the first six months of 2008 in political contributions, lobbying expenditures and advertising to oppose climate action.
0

Number of global warming bills passed by the Senate.
0

Number of global warming bills passed by the House.

Sources:

* NOAA CO2 Trends
* IPCC Third Assessment Report
* Carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere
* Atmosphere, Climate & Environment Information Programme
* ESRL News: New Study Shows Climate Change Largely Irreversible
* Arctic Sea Ice News & Analysis
* An Accurate Picture Of Ice Loss In Greenland
* Pine Beetles: Worse Than You Thought
* Early seasons : article : Nature Reports Climate Change
* Hill Heat : Oil and Coal Industries Spending Two Million Dollars a Day to Shape Political Debate

mercury-absorbent container lining for broken CFLs

PROVIDENCE, R.I., June 27 (UPI) -- Brown University researchers in
Rhode Island said they've discovered a material that can be used to
absorb mercury from compact fluorescent lamps.

A team led by engineering Professor Robert Hurt has used the
nanomaterial to create a mercury-absorbent container lining for broken
CFLs, the university said Friday in a release.

CFLs contain 3 milligrams to 5 milligrams of mercury, which can be
released as vapor when a bulb is broken.

The mercury-capturing lining can be attached to the inside of
store-bought CFL packaging that can be placed over the area where a
bulb has been broken.

The researchers also created a lining for plastic bags that soaks up
the mercury left over from the CFL shards that are thrown away. The
packaging and lined plastic bags can be safely discarded and recycled,
the report said.

"It's a complete management system to deal with a bulb broken in the
home," said Hurt, director of Brown's Institute for Molecular and
Nanoscale Innovation.

The 2008 Tahoe Hybrid is available with better fuel economy then any of his competitors.(

The Hybrid taken to its logical extreme.

The 2008 Tahoe Hybrid is available with better fuel economy then any of his competitors.(1) So why mess with a good thing? To make it better, of course. Seems the Green Car Journal agrees — they've named the 2008 Chevy Tahoe Hybrid(2) the Green Car of the Year®.(3)

America's first full-size hybrid SUV(4) is available in two- or four-wheel drive and provides the power and capability you expect from a utility vehicle while delivering efficiency you never imagined. Its hybrid propulsion system is designed to operate in three ways: electric power, engine power, or any combination of electric and engine power. When you need the extra muscle of Tahoe's Vortec V8, it kicks in seamlessly. When you need to conserve, two small and lightweight 60 kW motors get the job done.

And here's the big finish: When you pair the two-mode technology with our Active Fuel Management system, the Tahoe Hybrid offers up to 50% better city fuel economy over the non-hybrid Tahoe.(5) That's one hardworking hybrid.

Climate change could cost N.J. billions

Climate change could cost N.J. billions

By Cynthia Henry

Inquirer Staff Writer
Climate change will wallop New Jersey by 2100, endangering lives and causing tens of billions of dollars in losses, according to a recent report issued by the University of Maryland.

The study, part of a project that looked at eight states, was prepared for the National Conference of State Legislators. It follows an international shift toward research on the economic consequence of climate change and adaptation policies rather than how to prevent the change.

"If there's a bottom line in this research, it's that delaying action carries a significant cost," said Matthias Ruth, director of the university's Center for Integrative Environmental Research and the study's author.

If global warming continues unabated, the report predicts:

New Jersey's coast, including Atlantic City, will flood every one to two years, potentially endangering 60 percent of the state's population and threatening $106 billion in real estate.

Heavily paved Camden will broil in summer, driving up heat-related deaths 55 percent by 2020.

Lacking cold winters, Jersey orchards will stop bearing apples and berries.

Native birch, beech and maple trees will disappear from the state's forests.

Low-lying access roads could flood, cutting off ports and jeopardizing $100 million in commercial fishing and $42 billion in manufacturing.

"New Jersey will experience among the hardest hits" in the nation, said Ruth, whose organization also researched the economic effect of global warming on Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada and Ohio. Four more case studies are due out in the fall.

In the last century, New Jersey has experienced rising temperatures, increased precipitation, more frequent severe weather, and a sea level rising at nearly twice the average rate worldwide, according to the report, made public on July 23.

If climate change progresses unchecked, the study predicted, an estimated 1 percent to 3 percent of the state's 210-mile shoreline will be inundated by 2100.

As conditions worsen, tourists will stay away, resulting in an economic loss of more than $3.7 billion a year as early as 2017, researchers concluded. Also lost would be 40,000 jobs.

Addressing beach erosion would cost $6 billion over the next 50 years, the report said. Ruth dismissed measures such as beach replenishment as Band-Aids.

"Minor adjustments here or there ain't going to cut it," he said. "This is a wound that's about to break open."

Ruth said states should serve as public policy laboratories providing lessons to the federal government. California, Maryland and Massachusetts are leading the way.

He predicted larger and more frequent storms and hurricanes, and floods that roads, bridges and homes could not withstand.

By 2050, catastrophic storms "will occur once every 30 years or once every 40 years, but we're still designing as if they occur every 100 years," Ruth said.

New Jersey has been "relatively aggressive" in its policies to address global warming, said Judi Greenwald, director of innovative solutions at the Pew Center for Global Climate Change in Washington.

It is a member of the multistate Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a market-based program to reduce power-plant emissions, Greenwald said. It also has a renewable portfolio standard to encourage production of cleaner electricity and a "clean-car" program to reduce vehicle emissions.

Last year, Gov. Corzine signed a law to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050.

"But everybody has to do more," Greenwald said. "The climate is more vulnerable than we thought. We're seeing changes faster than we expected to see them."

Ruth said he sympathized with area farmers who see some benefit to global warming. But he predicted that gains resulting from one decade of longer growing seasons would be offset by the end of the century by continually rising temperatures, pests and diseases.

Dairy cows would suffer from heat stress, according to the report, and apples and berries would fail to develop properly.

Camden's summer temperatures are now 7 to 10 degrees higher than those of nearby suburbs. Over time, Camden and other cities would become dangerously hot, especially for those with respiratory and other diseases.

Ruth recommends incorporating more green space into urban planning.

"Historically, when we looked at the climate change challenge, we asked how much it was going to cost to cut carbon emissions, totaled the expenses, and threw up our hands at the expense; so we didn't do anything," Ruth said. "This study shows there is a cost to inaction."

To read "Economic Impacts of Climate Change on New Jersey," go to http://tinyurl.com/654722
Contact staff writer Cynthia Henry at 856-779-3970 or chenry@phillynews.com.

"The Art of Recycling" & Energy Diet Fair

"The Art of Recycling" & Energy Diet Fair June 21, 2008. 12:00 noon to 4:00 PM. Essex Green, West Orange, NJ