Public Lecture by Dr. Vandana Shiva

Moravian College will be hosting Dr. Vandana Shiva on Tuesday, October 12th at 7:30 in Prosser Auditorium. Shiva’s educational history and awards are numerous, but suffice it to say that she’s a world-renowned activist for environmental issues, especially those centering around climate change and the developing world.

I had the privilege of seeing Dr. Shiva speak a few times at last year’s Conference of the Parties on climate change and, while the conference overall was a massive letdown, Shiva was one of the more interesting highlights of the trip. She’s can be very radical in her approach at times so it will be interesting to see what she discusses at this event.

Here’s a facebook event page for the lecture and Shiva’s wiki.

As far as getting there, Prosser Auditorium is located in the Haupert Union Building(HUB) just off of Main St. in Bethlehem.

Address to get there: 1200 Main St. Bethlehem, PA 18018.

Local Opinions on Marcellus Shale

Did you get a chance to open the Opinion section of the Morning Call today? If so, then you know that it was dominated by thoughts on the drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale and other areas of the Delaware River and Lehigh River watersheds.

On the Sounding Board, today’s question was: “Should regulations come down on the side of “gas rush” economic progress, or should the moratorium be continued until the state has new laws and regulations to make drilling environmentally sound?” Surprisingly, all of the responses came down on the side of waiting longer to draft better regulations — but that’s where the agreements ended. Read the full answers at the Morning Call online.

The issue of Marcellus Shale is sure to be brought up over the next year and during the upcoming election cycle. What are your thoughts on this?

Longer Commutes Due to Recession?

Think your daily commute is bad? Wait until you hear this.

A recent story on MSNBC reports that more and more Americans are being forced to drive longer distances for work because of the recession. Many individuals have taken jobs that are far away from their homes in order to care for their families and finances.

The story discusses Joshua Cassidy who works in Maryland and has a three-hour round-trip daily commute — which is still shorter than his actual eight-hour commute to see his family in West Virginia every other weekend.

The article describes why some people have to choose such long commutes:

These days, it is the tight job market that is turning some workers into supercommuters as they accept a job far from home because it’s better than no job at all.

Although it is too early to get hard statistics on how many people are making that trade, there is anecdotal evidence that the nation’s high unemployment rate is forcing people to lengthen the commute time that they consider acceptable, says transportation consultant and commuting expert Alan Pisarksi.

The weak housing market, which has left many Americans owing more to the bank than their house is worth, has likely exacerbated the problem because people can’t simply sell their house and go to where the jobs are.

“People are frozen in place,” Pisarski said.

I cannot imagine having to drive a three-hour daily commute — but it seems that, in our tough times, some may not have a choice in this.

Thoughts?

RenewLV Brown-Bag: Bicycling in the Lehigh Valley, May 21

RenewLV’s next brown-bag session will be held on Friday, May 21st, 12:00 to 1:30 p.m. in the Community Room of Allentown Center Square, 15 North 7th Street, Allentown (near the corner of 7th and Hamilton). The brown-bag series aims to provide an informal setting in which community members can learn about issues related to urban development and revitalization; smart growth; and regional collaboration. A key goal of this series is to highlight the Lehigh Valley’s progress on these efforts.

The topic for this brown-bag session is Bicycling in the Lehigh Valley. Leaders from regional bicycling groups will discuss the opportunities and challenges that face the bicycling community in the Lehigh Valley. The session will include brief presentations from panelists, followed by plenty of time for discussion.

Our confirmed panel for this session is:

• Steve Schmitt, Coalition for Appropriate Transportation (CAT)
• John Schubert, Pennsylvania Pedalcycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee
• John Sharpe, Bike Allentown

I hope you’ll bring a lunch (perhaps from one of the downtown dining establishments) and join us on the 21st. RenewLV will be recording this session and making it available to listen on our website. Check out past brown-bag session recordings on RenewLV’s Multimedia page.

If you would like additional information, or have any questions about the event, feel free to contact Beata Bujalska at bbujalska@renewlv.org or 484.893.1062

Happy Earth Day in the Lehigh Valley

Hope many of you took a LANTA bus today or biked to work (or, at least, considered it).

In case you are looking for a great way to celebrate Earth Day 2010 in the Lehigh Valley, the Wildlands Conservancy is organizing the Great Lehigh Valley Clean-Up at five different locations this Saturday, April 24. The five locations are: Pool Wildlife Sanctuary (Emmaus), Canal Park (Allentown), Sand Island (Bethlehem), Freemansburg Island, or Hugh Moore Park (Easton).

The event starts at 9 a.m. and should be over around noon. Be sure to bring a pair of work gloves and to wear appropriate clothing and sturdy shoes or boots.

This project is organized in conjunction with the Great American Clean-Up of Pennsylvania. Sign up here for the event.

For more information, please contact Elizabeth McKinney, Development Manager, at 610.965.4397, ext. 126 or emckinney@wildlandspa.org.

For 35 years, the Wildlands Conservancy has served its mission to “preserve, protect, restore, and enhance the land, water, ecological, and recreational resources of the Lehigh Valley and the Lehigh River valley” and to “foster responsible stewardship of our resources through education of our youth and by raising the environmental awareness of the general public.”

Happy Earth Day, Lehigh Valley.

PennFuture Breakfast Meeting: January 14 in Allentown

Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future (PennFuture) is holding a breakfast event on clean-energy policy in the Commonwealth, the morning of January 14, 2010. Here are the details:

PennFuture would like to invite you to a breakfast meeting at the Allentown Brew Works on January 14, 2010 from 8:00 – 10:00 a.m. to discuss proposed state legislation aimed at promoting economic growth in the clean energy sector.

Specifically, the meetings will provide an opportunity to learn more about legislation being considered in Harrisburg – House Bill 80 – which increases and lengthens the mandates for the purchase of renewable energy like wind and solar here in the Keystone State. This legislation, an expansion of our successful 2004 renewable energy standard, will help to significantly grow the clean energy sector, create green jobs and attract new investment into the region.

Speakers will explore the economic growth potential that policies such as the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard of 2004 have already had, and what improvements to that law can have for both existing and emerging businesses.  Pennsylvania is among the nation’s leaders for green job creation, and passage of HB80 is likely to result in tremendous potential for local business growth, additional green job creation, and increased investment in the state.

Hear from:

• Jan Jarrett- President & CEO, PennFuture
• Joy Bergey- Federal Policy Manager, PennFuture
• John Hanger- Secretary, PA Department of Environmental Protection (invited)
• Governor Ed Rendell (invited)

Space is limited.

Register today to attend this breakfast and find out how you can take action to assist in the passage of this important piece of legislation.

For additional information, contact Christine Knapp, PennFuture, at knapp@pennfuture.org.