The Mystery of the Grouper Moon

For the full press release go here

Melvin Wylie

“The Mystery of the Grouper Moon” Documentary to Premier in Grand Cayman

"The Mystery of the Grouper Moon" Documentary to Premier in Grand Cayman 45-Minute Film Promotes Protection of the Endangered Nassau Grouper   GEORGE TOWN, GRAND CAYMAN—SEPTEMBER 1, 2011— Marine artist and conservationist Dr. Guy Harvey and award-winning filmmaker George Schellenger have a strong message in their new collaboration "The Mystery of the Grouper Moon"— convince Cayman government officials to extend a ban on fishing at spawning aggregations for the endangered Nassau Grouper. Shot entirely in the Cayman Islands and supported by REEF (Reef Environmental Education Foundation) and the Cayman Islands Department of Environment, the 45-minute documentary is scheduled to premier on September 13^th at the Harquail Theatre in Grand Cayman.  Two showings are planned, with the first starting at 6:30 p.m. and again at 8:30 p.m. The general public is invited. Dr. Harvey, a resident of Grand Cayman, will be distributing "Protect Nassau Grouper" posters to those in attendance as well as to students on subsequent school visits in October. At stake in this effort by Dr. Harvey and other leading marine scientists is the protection of one of the last-known intact spawning areas for the Nassau Grouper in the world.  An eight year ban on fishing at these spawning aggregations, mandated in 2003 by the CI Marine Conservation Board, is due to expire in December of this year. "The Nassau groupers in the Cayman Islands used to congregate over the full moon in January and February at eight specific sites," said Dr. Harvey. "Local fishermen have known about these sites for years, but recently, overfishing at these sites has led to the rapid decline in this species. Today, one active site remains in west end of Little Cayman." Dr. Harvey said that thanks to the ban at this site and other locations, colonies are beginning to grow again, thus helping the Nassau Grouper populations to recover. "Part of our awareness effort is to enlist the support of residents, especially school age children, to send e-mails to the Hon. Mark Scotland, The Minister of Environment, to express their wishes to see the extension on the protection of the grouper holes," added Dr. Harvey. To preview the film, please go to http://www.guyharvey.com/home.php?id=5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NE0gqs98UQc&feature=player_embedded For more information on the Nassau Grouper, please go to www.reef.org/programs/grouper_moon   About the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation www.guyharveyoceanfoundation.org The Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation funds inspired scientific research and innovative educational programs to encourage conservation and best management practices for sustainable marine environments. The GHOF will help ensure that future generations will enjoy and benefit from a naturally balanced ocean ecosystem where fish and other marine wildlife flourish.

Melvin Wylie

U.S. District Court: NOAA Fisheries Service Failed to Protect Columbia-Snake River Salmon

PORTLAND, Ore. - U.S. District Court Judge James Redden ruled today that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Service failed for the third time in ten years to produce a legal and scientifically adequate plan to protect imperiled Columbia-Snake River salmon from extinction. The harm to these species has been largely caused by operation of the federal dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers. Today's court action is a watershed moment for fishing and conservation groups, the state of Oregon, the Nez Perce Tribe, and the Spokane Tribe, all of which opposed the federal biological opinion, or BiOp, in court. In deciding the case, the court wrote, "The history of the Federal Defendant's lack of, or at best, marginal compliance with the procedural and substantive requirements of the ESA...has been laid out in prior Opinions and Orders in this case and is repeated here only where relevant." The court went on call the federal defendants' plan "neither a reasonable, nor a prudent, course of action." "Today is a victory for the nation," said Trip Van Noppen, President of Earthjustice, the public interest law firm that represented fishing and conservation groups in the case. "But the work has only just begun. In the wake of the worst recession the nation has experienced since the Great Depression, there's a simple path forward that would create thousands of jobs for a small investment. Taking out the four dams that strangle the lower Snake River would bring millions of dollars from restored salmon runs to communities from coastal California to Alaska and inland to Idaho. Let's reject the path that continues wasting money on failed salmon technical fixes and embrace a solution that could set an example for the rest of the nation." This is the third time Judge Redden has found a BiOp for the Columbia-Snake Basin inadequate and illegal. Today, salmon populations are critically low, lingering near just 1 percent of their historic levels. In finding the current plan's heavy reliance on unidentified and uncertain habitat actions illegal, the court wrote: "Coupled with the significant uncertainty surrounding the reliability of NOAA Fisheries' habitat methodologies, the evidence that habitat actions are falling behind schedule, and that benefits are not accruing as promised, NOAA Fisheries' approach to these issues is neither cautious nor rational." "The judge's decision is a victory for wildlife, taxpayers, and the fishing industry," said John Kostyack, Executive Director, Wildlife Conservation and Global Warming, National Wildlife Federation. "Protecting Columbia-Snake River salmon protects fishing jobs, saves taxpayers billions of dollars, and helps preserve the outdoor heritage of the Northwest." Among those hit hardest by the Columbia-Snake salmon crisis are commercial, sport, recreational and tribal fishermen. Repeated fishery closures and cutbacks in recent years have harmed river and coastal family businesses and livelihoods, and fishing groups have been at the forefront of this legal battle for decades. "Now is the time for the Obama Administration to walk the talk on real salmon solutions," said Zeke Grader, Executive Director of Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations (PCFFA). "As this ruling highlights, the federal government has spent nearly 20 years spending enormous sums of money foolishly by doing all the wrong stuff. Facing the problem squarely, including potential removal of the four fish-killing dams on the lower Snake River, will create many thousands more jobs, revive the fishing industry, save billions of dollars for taxpayers, and lead in the development of clean, renewable, more efficient energy. What we need most now is for this Administration to lead us to those solutions, not just bury its head in the sand in denial as has so often happened in the past." Endangered Snake River salmon and steelhead tackle a migration like no other salmon on earth. Some swim more than 900 miles and climb almost 7,000 feet to reach their spawning grounds — scaling eight dams along the way. In addition to the amazing journey these fish make, their likelihood of surviving the coming changes from global warming makes their protection and restoration all the more urgent, and makes the BiOp's failure to adequately address climate change all the more distressing. "We applaud the court for keeping a solid eye on the science and the law," said Sierra Club Executive Director, Michael Brune. "The cool, high elevation wilderness watersheds of Central Idaho, Southeast Washington, and Northeast Oregon are a virtual Noah's Ark for salmon and steelhead in a climate changing world." Save Our Wild Salmon is a nationwide coalition of conservation organizations, river groups, fishing associations, businesses, and taxpayer and clean energy advocates working collectively to restore abundant, sustainable wild salmon to the rivers, streams and oceans of the Western salmon states.

Melvin Wylie

Cushman & Wakefield Strike LEED Gold at 2001 K Street in Washington, DC

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Spitzer Enterprises along with managing agent, Cushman & Wakefield, Inc., a global commercial real estate brokerage and management firm, aligned with CQI Associates, LLC, a Columbia, Maryland-based energy and environmental management consulting firm, to earn LEED Gold, established by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for 2001 K Street, NW in Washington, DC. The management team and tenants celebrated with a special certification presentation by the USGBC on Thursday, July 21. "Cushman & Wakefield has been a long-time advocate for high-performing, green buildings, and has once again demonstrated its commitment to transforming its building portfolio," said Jeff Kuziemko, manager of LEED Operations, USGBC, who presented the LEED plaque. "Greening our existing buildings helps save money and energy, creates healthier places to live, work and learn - all while addressing our single greatest opportunity to help solve the climate change equation." Obtaining a LEED certification is no small feat. In the DC area, the nation's top green building market, many are striving for this achievement. There are roughly 200 LEED certified projects in DC alone. Accounting for 39% of the certified square footage of LEED projects across the world, existing buildings are outpacing the number of LEED-certified new construction projects on a square foot basis, signaling a market transformation. LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance identifies and rewards current best practices and provides an outline for buildings to use less energy, water and natural resources; improve the indoor environments; and uncover operating inefficiencies. "We were delighted to partner with Cushman & Wakefield on this LEED Gold certification project and help to further advance its global leadership and commitment to green design and operations in commercial real estate. Based on a study of ten LEED certified projects we have completed, we learned that the average building costs are now 18% lower than they originally were and the initial investments are paying back in two and a half years. The buildings are much better for the tenants, people are healthier and the sick leave rate has dropped 33%," said CQI Associates Principal, Richard Anderson. "LEED certification of an existing building requires owner, management, staff and tenant commitment to the changes to meet sustainable and lasting green building criteria. A limited number of existing buildings have sought this certification and those who achieve it fall into a very unique group." To learn more about this project, read the full press release at usgbc.org. About Cushman & Wakefield, Inc. Cushman & Wakefield operates nearly 100 owned and alliance offices in the United States with access to more than 15,000 employees globally. With a history of commercial real estate leadership that spans 90 years, Cushman & Wakefield's brokerage and services professionals are the most trusted in the industry, typically involved in the largest, most complex assignments from New York to San Diego and in major business centers everywhere in between. About CQI Associates, LLC CQI Associates, LLC is a leader in energy and environmental consulting. The firm offers services that allow clients to increase profitability by minimizing operating costs. From small businesses to national accounts such as Northrop Grumman, Fuji, and AutoNation, CQI Associates provides custom-tailored services to suit each company's unique needs. To learn more about CQI Associates, please visit www.cqiassociates.com

Melvin Wylie

Researchers Provide Detailed Picture of Ice Loss Following the Collapse of Antarctic Ice Shelves

GREENBELT, Md. - An international team of researchers has combined data from multiple sources to provide the clearest account yet of how much glacial ice surges into the sea following the collapse of Antarctic ice shelves. The work by researchers at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), the Laboratoire d'Etudes en Geophysique et Oceanographie Spatiales, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique at the University of Toulouse, France, and the University of Colorado's National Snow and Ice Data Center, Boulder, Colo. details recent ice losses while promising to sharpen future predictions of further ice loss and sea level rise likely to result from ongoing changes along the Antarctic Peninsula. "Not only do you get an initial loss of glacial ice when adjacent ice shelves collapse, but you get continued ice losses for many years — even decades — to come," says Christopher Shuman, a researcher at UMBC's Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology (JCET) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Shuman is lead author of the study published online July 25 in the Journal of Glaciology. "This further demonstrates how important ice shelves are to Antarctic glaciers." An ice shelf is a thick floating tongue of ice, fed by a tributary glacier, extending into the sea off a land mass. Previous research showed that the recent collapse of several ice shelves in Antarctica led to acceleration of the glaciers that feed into them. Combining satellite data from NASA and the French space agency CNES, along with measurements collected during aircraft missions similar to ongoing NASA IceBridge flights, Shuman, Etienne Berthier of the University of Toulouse and Ted Scambos of the University of Colorado produced detailed ice loss maps from 2001 to 2009 for the main tributary glaciers of the Larsen A and B ice shelves, which collapsed in 1995 and 2002, respectively. "The approach we took drew on the strengths of each data source to produce the most complete picture yet of how these glaciers are changing," Berthier said, noting that the study relied on easy access to remote sensing information provided by NASA and CNES. The team used data from NASA sources including the MODerate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments and the Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat). The analysis reveals rapid elevation decreases of more than 500 feet for some glaciers, and it puts the total ice loss from 2001 to 2006 squarely between the widely varying and less certain estimates produced using an approach that relies on assumptions about a glacier's mass budget. The authors' analysis shows ice loss in the study area of at least 11.2 gigatons per year from 2001 to 2006. Their ongoing work shows ice loss from 2006 to 2010 was almost as large, averaging 10.2 gigatons per year. "This study shows where the tracking of sea level rise is heading," Scambos said. "We're showing that glacier changes can start fast, with a single climate or ocean 'bang,' but they have a long persistence." An animation showing ice edge changes for the Larsen B ice shelf and its adjacent tributary glaciers can be viewed at http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?3803. For more information and images, please visit: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/larsen-collapse.html

Melvin Wylie

Mexico City Reduces GHG Emissions by 5.7 Million Metric Tonnes

MEXICO CITY - Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have been reduced by an accumulated 5.7 million metric tonnes (mt) in Mexico City since it began implementing its Green Plan in 2008, the Mexico City government has announced. The reduction represents 82% of Mexico City's overall target of reducing GHG emissions by 7 million mt of CO2eq, which was established by the Green Plan. Marcelo Ebrard, Mayor of Mexico City, said the city will realize the full target of 7 million mt on schedule next year. "Over the past four years, we have made significant progress toward becoming one of the world's most sustainable cities by promoting environmental stewardship not only in our government operations but also by encouraging widespread business and citizen participation," Mayor Ebrard said. Mexico City's Green Plan is one of the most comprehensive in the world. It includes initiatives and investments in transportation, energy and water conservation, solid waste management, air quality, reforestation and climate adaptation. The transport sector, which accounts for 44% of total GHG emissions in Mexico City, was responsible for an accumulated reduction of 4.8 million mt of CO2eq. Mayor Ebrard cited a 350% expansion of the Metrobus system, replacement of 84,000 high-emission microbuses and taxis, development of Zero Emissions Corridors, development of the Ecobibi bicycle sharing network and construction of a new Metro subway line as contributing factors. Martha Delgado, Minister of the Environment, said reforestation efforts and prevention of forest fires contributed to a GHG reduction of 607,846 mt, while improvements in energy conservation contributed 183,425 mt of CO2eq. Separation of organic and non-organic solid waste contributed to a reduction of 127,175 mt of CO2 and methane. In December, Mexico City is scheduled to close Bordo Poniente, one of the world's largest solid waste facilities, which by itself is responsible for 16% of the metropolitan area's GHG emissions. Mayor Ebrard is also serving as chair of the World Mayors Council on Climate. In this capacity, he hosted mayors from around the world last November to sign the Mexico City Pact, a voluntary agreement among cities to cooperate and report their climate efforts. To date, nearly 200 cities around the world have signed the agreement.

Melvin Wylie

Ohio Distributor of Budweiser Charged With Polluting Surface Runoff

Teamsters File Charges against Heidelberg Distributing for Dumping Contaminates into Storm Water Drain DAYTON, Ohio - On July 22, 2011 the Teamsters Local 957 filed a complaint with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency today charging Heidelberg Distributing, an Ohio distributor of Anheuser-Busch's Budweiser, with dumping contaminated water into a storm water drain on the company's property. The complaint was filed after several Budweiser delivery drivers objected to the practice in a questionnaire completed last week regarding problematic business practices at the company. Heidelberg distributes Budweiser, Samuel Adams, and Monster Energy Drink products in Dayton. "We have an obligation to make sure our employers are responsible stewards of the environment and are not engaging in practices that violate environmental regulations," said Varney Richmond, President of Teamsters Local 957. "We believe that corporate citizens such as Anheuser-Busch also have a responsibility to the community to ensure that the companies they hire to distribute their products are not hurting the environment or violating the letter or spirit of state or federal environmental laws."

Melvin Wylie