UL and the Muppets Team Up to Help Make the Holiday Season Safe and Bright

National Campaign Encourages Families to Commit a Minute to Safety NORTHBROOK, Ill. - Every minute, 17 children visit the ER due to unintentional injuries, a startling number that equates to an estimated 9.2 million injuries a year. Household injuries are especially top of mind during the hectic months of November and December, with an estimated 230 people in the United States visiting emergency rooms each day as a result of holiday-related injuries. In response to these alarming statistics, UL, a global safety organization, is working with stars of Disney's The Muppets, including Kermit the Frog, Swedish Chef, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his assistant Beaker, on a national campaign - Commit a Minute to Safety. The campaign's goal is to raise awareness of the importance of holiday safety and make sure parents know valuable holiday safety information - water your tree daily, never leave a lit candle unattended, turn pot handles in while cooking, and always look for the UL Mark. Beginning today, UL is asking families to take time out of their busy schedules to ensure they are making safety a priority this holiday season. To illustrate the simple steps families can take to dramatically cut the risk of injuries, UL, with the help of The Muppets characters Kermit the Frog, Swedish Chef, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his assistant Beaker, is launching a series of online safety videos and a national public service announcement (PSA) that provides families with vital safety tips to ensure a safe and bright holiday season. The first video focuses on the importance of fire safety and can be viewed at www.SafetyAtHome.com. "The holidays are a happy time and we want to help keep them that way. Commit a Minute to Safety shows folks how easy it is to keep their home and family safe," said Kermit the Frog, who adds an additional holiday safety tip of his own: "Never mix mistletoe and romantic pigs. Trust me on this." In addition to The Muppets holiday safety videos and PSA, UL has revamped its website and is offering downloadable holiday safety content such as the Safety Time learning and activity book for children. UL will also be updating its SafetyAtHome Facebook and Twitter pages with news about upcoming events including UL's presenting sponsorship of the City of Chicago Tree Lighting and the National Tree Lighting in Washington, D.C. "During the holidays, UL reminds families to look for the UL Mark on decorations, lights and electronics," said John Drengenberg, Consumer Safety Director at UL. "When you see the UL Mark, you can rest assured that the highest safety standards have been met." UL independent engineers and scientists perform thousands of rigorous tests on products such as holiday lights, electric decorations and artificial trees. This year, UL offers the following safety guidelines to show how safety can take as little as one minute and help families identify and prevent hazards that too often result in accidents or tragedy.

• WATER YOUR TREE DAILY: Dry trees pose a substantial fire risk. After bringing your tree home, make a fresh cut at the base of the trunk before putting it in a sturdy stand. Be sure to water it daily. Additionally, know your tree's expiration date. After about four weeks, the tree will stop absorbing water and dry out, and should be properly discarded or recycled.
• CHECK YOUR LIGHTS, CHECK THEM TWICE: Inspect all of your electric lights and decorations for damage or wear. Cracked sockets, frayed or bare wires and loose connections may pose a fire or shock hazard.
• DECORATE WITH A SAFE EYE: Cords should not be run under carpets or tacked up with metal nails or staples. Small decorations can be a choking hazard for small children or pets and should be kept out of reach.
• BE FLAME AWARE: Always blow out unattended candles and keep flammable materials "three feet from the heat" of lit candles or fireplaces.
• INDOOR OR OUTDOOR? LOOK FOR THE UL MARK: Indoor-use-only light strings are marked with UL's green holographic label. Indoor-or outdoor-use light strings are marked with UL's red holographic label. Only use light strings and other electrical decorations that bear the UL Mark near the plug, signifying that safety standards have been met.

  To learn more about UL's Commit a Minute to Safety holiday campaign and for valuable safety information for keeping your home safe and bright this holiday season, please visit www.SafetyAtHome.com.

Melvin Wylie

Death Valley Wilderness Protected by Creative Corporate Merger

CARBONDALE, Colo. - The Wilderness Land Trust recently completed a complex corporate merger resulting in the donation of a 2,450-acre property in the Death Valley Wilderness Study Area to the Bureau of Land Management. The donation was made possible through a grant from the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation's Preserving Wild California Program and will help clear the way for the designation of the Death Valley Wilderness Area with the proposed passage of Senator Dianne Feinstein's sponsored Desert Protection Act. "This is one more step to protect California's pristine desert, another private donation to our great public lands. I want to thank the Kerckhoff family, The Resources Legacy Fund Foundation and the Wilderness Land Trust for their generosity. This donation falls within the boundaries of land to be permanently preserved by my California Desert Protection Act, which is currently pending before the Energy and Natural Resources Committee," Senator Feinstein said. The property was the sole asset of the Avawatz Salt and Gypsum Company formed by one of Los Angeles most active founding families in 1912. When the Kerckhoff family moved to Los Angeles in the late 1800s, there was no shortage of wilderness and natural resources in California, and the family took advantage of those natural resources to help form the Pacific Light and Power Company, the Kerckhoff-Cuzner Lumber Company, and participate in the development of Beverly Hills. Los Angeles was going through a building boom in 1912, and the Kerckhoff family and a group of investors thought they had the critical property to serve that growth. Kerckhoff and his investors were attracted to the gypsum as the prime ingredient in cement and wall plaster. Kerckhoff sold stock to investors who believed in his ability to bring gypsum out of the remote Avawatz Mountains to the bungalows of Los Angeles and Pasadena. A key component to the plan was the formation of the Amargosa Railway Company which planned to build a rail line over the sixteen miles from the mine to the main railroad line for delivery to Los Angeles. The corporation spent large sums on engineering reports, soil samples, surveys, and the railroad. But then World War I began in 1914 and made it difficult for the company to secure financing for its ambitious plans. Without the completion of the crucial railroad, the activity of the corporation was put on hold, and it remained mostly stagnant for the next one hundred years. While the family-maintained records of the Avawatz Salt and Gypsum Company are extensive, a visitor today to the Death Valley Wilderness Study Area would be hard pressed to differentiate the Avawatz property from the surrounding wilderness. It is harsh country, a baked landscape of craggy peaks, weathered into rock skeletons guarding the salt and gypsum flats. The Avawatz Salt and Gypsum Company filed mineral claims and made some minor scars on the landscape, but the magnificent desert has outlasted those brief human efforts, enduring as it changes on a timeline that humans can't comprehend. "This area's vast, rugged terrain is not only home to two protected species, the desert tortoise and the desert big horn sheep, but its remote rugged mountains and canyons offer outstanding opportunities for backpacking, hiking, and solitude," said Monica Argandona of the California Wilderness Coalition. "We are very grateful to the Wilderness Land Trust and the Kerckhoff family for this land donation. Their work, along with Senator Feinstein's legislation, ensures that this area will not be mined or developed ever again." The Wilderness Land Trust specializes in these types of acquisitions in wilderness where, as the 1964 Wilderness Act states, "Man himself is a visitor who does not remain." The Trust approached the heirs of the Kerckhoff family about purchasing the Avawatz property to add to the Death Valley Wilderness Study Area, but the family was adamant that they would only sell the Avawatz Salt and Gypsum Company rather than the land separately. This request presented a complex problem for The Wilderness Land Trust: how to purchase a company in which so many of the shareholders were deceased or unable to be located because of the long passage of time. The solution involved creating a new company called Avawatz Acquisition Corporation and then merging the two companies so the Trust could work with the majority of shareholders still living. "The Trust never intended to purchase a corporation," said Reid Haughey, President, "But the flexibility to structure the deal to meet the family's wishes shows the Trust's determination to protect wilderness. We saw this property as a once in a generation opportunity to secure the Death Valley and Avawatz Mountains Wilderness Areas, and we are very thankful to the family for choosing conservation rather than exploring other development options. We know the corporation has been in the family for close to one hundred years, and we believe this solution is a perfect legacy to the family's history in southern California." With the corporate transaction completed, the Trust, as the main shareholder of the new corporation, directed the corporation to donate the property to the Bureau of Land Management for an addition to the Death Valley Wilderness Study Area. "This is a spectacular piece of land with incredible vistas and lush riparian areas," said Roxie Trost, manager of the Bureau of Land Management's Barstow Field Office. "This donation includes historic mining areas and Sheep Creek Springs, which supports a population of endemic toads and is used by Bighorn Sheep. We are thrilled to add this donation to the public lands for the enjoyment of future generations." Visitors to the potential new wilderness areas will now be able to access the Avawatz property and not worry about private property signs or potential energy development. A hundred years from now future generations may look back on 2011, like we now look back at 1912. It's hard to know what the population of Los Angeles will be or what resources will be critical to the year 2111 economy, but we now know that the Death Valley Wilderness will be preserved, outlasting us all in its mystery and natural grace. The Wilderness Land Trust The Wilderness Land Trust is a small, highly specialized nonprofit organization established to buy and protect wilderness land. Since it was founded in 1992, the non-profit organization has preserved more than 344 parcels comprising of more than 31,000 acres of wilderness inholdings in 76 designated and proposed wilderness areas. The Wilderness Land Trust, a 501 (c)(3) organization, has offices in California, Colorado and Washington State. For more information visit our website www.wildernesslandtrust.org. The Wilderness Land Trust is a 1% for the Planet Non-Profit Partner. Visit www.onepercentfortheplanet.org for more information.

Melvin Wylie

Donna Morton with First Power on TEDx

Earlier in the year I had the opportunity to interview Donna Morton who is the CEO and co-founder of First Power on the 19th Episode of GreenNews4U. Recently she was a speaker at TEDx were she talked about the end of poverty and climate change through %100 renewable energy. I highly recommend watching this video. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.  

Melvin Wylie

Consumers win the Right to Know About Their Food

State of Ohio dropping regulation in face of organic community pressure The State of Ohio today agreed that it will no longer pursue regulations limiting labeling on organic dairy products. Ohio had attempted to prohibit statements on labels which informed consumers that organic dairy products are produced without antibiotics, pesticides or synthetic hormones. After the Organic Trade Association (OTA) sued the State of Ohio, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with consumers' right to know and gutted the Ohio rule, finding that it was unconstitutional. Ohio has now agreed to abandon the rule rather than trying to revive it, recognizing that the First Amendment allows organic dairy products to proudly state that they are produced in accordance with the organic standards, without the use of synthetic growth hormones, pesticides, or antibiotics. "This is significant for all of us who support what the organic foods are about, and for consumers who carefully read food labels to find out what's in their food and how it's produced," said Christine Bushway, Executive Director and CEO for OTA. "The Sixth Circuit opinion made it clear that states cannot unduly restrict organic labels or consumers' right to know how their food is produced, and the State of Ohio's actions today make it clear that the fight to keep labels accurate by OTA, its members, farmers, and consumers was worth it." In 2008, the State of Ohio issued an emergency regulation that restricted the free speech rights of organic and conventional farmers and marketers of milk within the State of Ohio. The regulation illegally restricted the right of farmers and marketers to state that some dairy products are produced without the use of synthetic and artificial ingredients. OTA and its members, including Horizon Organic®, Organic Valley®, and Stonyfield Farm®, appealed a lower court decision that upheld the rule in question to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. In 2010, the Sixth Circuit reversed the lower court decision, agreeing that consumers have a right to know how their dairy products are produced. Critical to the decision was the Court's reliance on an amicus brief filed by The Center for Food Safety and other organizations to rule that milk produced with synthetic hormones is different than milk produced without it (as all organic milk is). "Ohio's abandonment of this misguided rule is a victory for consumers, farmers and manufacturers alike," said Bushway, adding, "The organic label is a federally regulated program that provides consumers with the knowledge that their food is produced without the use of antibiotics, pesticides or added growth hormones. Consumers have the right to make informed choices about the foods they eat, and farmers and manufacturers can continue to communicate truthfully with consumers." OTA was represented by Randy Sunshine of Liner Grode Stein Yankelevitz Sunshine Regensteif & Taylor LLP. OTA looks forward to continuing the fight for transparency in labeling as part of the Just Label It: We Have a Right to Know initiative that kicked off earlier this month. This initiative is driven by a coalition of more than 400 businesses and organizations interested in seeing genetically engineered (GE) foods labeled as such. With increasing consumer interest in health and food safety, people want to know more than ever about what is in their food and how it was produced. The campaign has submitted a petition to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with the goal of inspiring consumers to contact FDA to show their support of mandatory labeling of GE foods. Consumers can visit www.justlabelit.org to submit support of labeling to FDA.

Melvin Wylie

Fracking Litigation Conference in Dallas Dec. 13

DALLAS, TX - Responding to the controversy and need for clear legal perspectives around "hydraulic fracturing," commonly called "fracking," HB Litigation Conferences will hold its second conference on the subject in Dallas on Dec. 13, 2011, HB CEO Tom Hagy has announced. A panel of experts, including plaintiff and defense attorneys, will join chairs Marc Bern of Napoli Bern Ripka LLP and Joshua Becker of Alston & Bird LLP to discuss a variety of topics relating to hydraulic fracturing litigation. "The increased use of fracking to extract natural gas from underground rock formations raises environmental and legal challenges and will be the topic of discussion by attorneys, professors and scientists at this program," Hagy said. HB's first program, held in Philadelphia, drew more than 100 attendees. The "Gas Drilling Operations Conference" will be held Dec. 13, 2011 at the Cityplace Conference and Event Center in Dallas. The event is fully accredited for CLE. Experts include: John Imse, RG, Principal, Environ International Corp.; Gary Brown, PE, RT Environmental Services, Inc.; and Phillip Watters, P.E., Kleran Purcell, P.E. and John Orr, CPCU, all of Rimkus Consulting, Inc. Litigators include: Adam Orford of Marten Law; Keith Hall of Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann; Hope Friewald of Dechert; Corey Zurbuch of Thomas Genshaft; William Jackson of Jackson Gilmour & Dobbs.; Beverlee Silva of Alston & Bird; Allen Stewart of Allen Stewart; Jennifer Quinn-Barabanov of Steptoe & Johnson; Richard Faulk of Gerdere Wynne Sewell; John Nevius of Anderson Kill & Olick; and Steven Pate of Fulbright & Jaworski. Topics include: the fracking process; the role of government; shale gas plays; land valuations; health and environmental risks; remediation; case intake; discovery; damages; examining contamination and injury cases; insurance coverage implications, plus a mock session illustrating what can go right and wrong for landowners, drillers and brokers. Discounts are available for groups and based on need. Some sponsorship opportunities are still available. Press passes are available upon request. For more information call Brownie Bokelman at (484) 324-2755, x212 or email her at Brownie.Bokelman@litigationconferences.com. See the latest agenda at www.LitigationConferences.com. HB Litigation Conferences is a nationwide provider of continuing legal education for plaintiff, defense and in-house counsel, focusing on emerging issues in mass torts and insurance. HB is an independent provider of legal education, formerly operating as Mealey's Conferences. It is not funded or affiliated with any organization.

Melvin Wylie

Gardner Mountain Conserved, Lyman's Scenic Backdrop

More than 1,000 acres protect bat habitat, working forest LYMAN, N.H. - Critically important bat habitat and a significant portion of Gardner Ridge, the scenic backdrop for New Hampshire's Town of Lyman, have been conserved, Ammonoosuc Conservation Trust and The Trust for Public Land announced. The conservation of 1,081 acres on Gardner Mountain includes an easement, supports timber management, protects important habitat, and guarantees public access, while restricting development not related to agriculture or forestry. This property has been operated as a commercial forest for more than 200 years and the current owner, the Merrill Family Trust, wished to see the property conserved rather than developed. In 2004 a wind farm development along Gardner Ridge was proposed and rejected by Lyman voters. A conservation project was then proposed for a new town forest for Lyman, but residents voted down a bond for the purchase of the property in March of 2009. Ammonoosuc Conservation Trust (ACT), the North Country's land conservancy, and The Trust for Public Land (TPL), a national conservation organization, pursued an alternative conservation strategy, conserving the land with an easement but keeping it in private ownership. After three years working with ACT and TPL the land has now been sold to a new owner, who will operate it as a commercial working forest subject to the conservation easement. Continued forestry will be done on a sustainable basis and will continue to support New Hampshire's rural economies. ACT will manage the easement. "Land protection projects often take a lot of time and work, as this one did," said ACT Executive Director Rebecca Brown. "I'm sure we all wish John Merrill had lived to see this happen. It's a great tribute to him and his family, and a tremendous gift to people everywhere who care about seeing our landscape conserved for future generations." "Gardner Mountain is a remarkable Lyman landmark worthy of protection," said J.T. Horn, project manager for The Trust for Public Land. "Our sincere thanks to the Merrill Family, New Hampshire's LCHIP fund, our other funding partners, and the Ammonoosuc Conservation Trust for seeing this project through to the end." Gardner Mountain includes some of the most important wildlife habitat in New Hampshire. Paddock Mine, an abandoned copper mine on the property, is one of the largest bat hibernacula in New Hampshire. Bats are under severe stress from a new and mysterious disease known as White Nose Syndrome, which is causing high mortality rates among several common species of bats. New Hampshire Fish and Game and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service believe that conservation of the Paddock Mine hibernacula is a critical part of the response to White Nose Syndrome in New Hampshire. "We appreciate the work that The Trust for Public Land and ACT have done in protecting this land," said Emily Brunkhurst, wildlife biologist for the NH Fish and Game Department. "Conserving this hibernacula provides a safe wintering habitat for bats who survive white-nose syndrome and their offspring. As you enjoy this newly conserved land, please help save our bats by staying out of the mine to allow them to hibernate without disturbance." Lyman is a rural community that set goals to maintain its heritage of agriculture, forestry, and open recreational access. The property contains a significant portion of the Gardner Ridge, Lyman's scenic backdrop with western views from the church and fields in the center of the Town. The property will also remain open to pedestrian access for hiking, cross-country skiing and hunting. Visitors will be able to enjoy the dramatic views from the property toward Mount Moosilauke and the Kinsman Ridge in the White Mountain National Forest. Funding for the $600,000 project came from the New Hampshire Land and Community Heritage Investment Program (LCHIP), Open Space Institute - Saving New England Wildlife Fund, New Hampshire Charitable Foundation - Upper Connecticut River Mitigation and Enhancement Fund, the McIninch Foundation, Fields Pond Foundation, the Byrne Foundation, New Hampshire Fish and Game Department through the Landowner Incentive Program, and many private individuals.

Melvin Wylie

Pew Calls for Extra Resources to Protect Penguin Food

Actors Damon and Pitt Give Tiny Krill Big Exposure in New "Happy Feet" Sequel WASHINGTON, D.C. - Tiny krill are about to take centre stage at the 30th Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) meeting, where governments will consider greater protection for the shrimplike crustaceans that are the building blocks of the Antarctic food chain. The attention these little animals receive will be amplified in mid-November, when the sequel to the film "Happy Feet" opens, with Matt Damon and Brad Pitt playing krill characters. Krill, a largely unknown but critical ocean species, are the primary food source for penguins, whales, and seals in the Southern Ocean. However, demand for these animals as feed for industrially farmed fish and to produce high-value oils used in nutritional supplements is triggering an expansion of the fishery beyond a level that its population can sustain. Left unchecked, krill fishing in certain areas could outpace efforts to protect the well-known species that depend on it. "It is perfect timing that two of Hollywood's biggest names are portraying the smallest actors in one of the world's most pristine ocean ecosystems," says Gerald Leape, a senior officer at the Pew Environment Group. "Existing efforts to regulate krill catch must be sustained and enforced, so that animals such as penguins and seals are not competing against industrial fishing vessels just to survive." In the past decade, fleets from more countries have begun to fish for krill. Some have adopted fishing technologies and methods that allow them to catch and process this species continuously, resulting in much higher catches. These operations, combined with accelerating loss of the sea ice that provides essential habitat for krill, threaten to deplete stocks in key feeding areas for penguins, seals, and whales. From 24 October - 4 November 2011, CCAMLR, a regional fisheries management organization whose mandate is to conserve the marine life of the Southern Ocean, is meeting in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Its 25 member governments include the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, the European Union, China, South Korea, Russia, Ukraine, Norway, and Japan. The Pew Environment Group is asking CCAMLR delegates at this month's meeting to:

• Require observers on all krill-fishing vessels.
• Set up a dedicated fund to monitor populations of krill predators.
• Maintain smaller sub-area divisions of the ocean to manage krill, in order to prevent local depletions that will harm animals such as penguins.

Melvin Wylie