Green Scene

(AP) – A Colorado scientist is one of 10 winners of the Heinz Award, which this year recognized those whose work benefited the environment.

Joan Kleypas of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., was recognized for research on the impacts of climate change on coral reefs.

Teresa Heinz told The Associated Press that the awards recognized innovative approaches to serious topics for a reason.

The Pittsburgh-based Heinz Family Foundation has presented the awards since 1994 in memory of Sen. John Heinz III. The awards will be presented at a private ceremony in November in Washington, D.C. Each prize this year is worth $100,000.

The City of Colorado Springs Metro Rides group is offering a free Schoolpool service that can help with transportation needs, this coming school year.

The Metro Rides’ program provides a free carpool matching service for parents. To sign up, just fill out a Schoolpool application by clicking here.

You’ll receive a list of parents in your neighborhood with children who attend the same school You can then contact each other to start a carpool. You can also contact Metro Rides at 385-7433, option 2, to receive an application by mail.

A free class about how to make non-toxic household cleaners will be held Tuesday, May 24, 12:00 noon and again at 5:30pm at the Pueblo City-County Health Department, 101 W. 9th Street.

PuebloCAREs (Community Action for a Renewed Environment) is hosting this class. They say almost every home contains some form of hazardous chemicals found in the kitchen, bathroom, garden or garage.

In the class they’ll cover how to minimize hazardous chemical use at home, create your own effective household cleaners from common household ingredients, save money by making your own cleaners.

If you attend the class,you’ll get to make and take home a free sample cleaner plus receive many great healthy cleaner recipes.

Space is limited; register by calling PuebloCAREs at (719) 252-6258.

The Pueblo City-County Health Department is hosting a free class for businesses to better understand commercial recycling options in the Pueblo area.

The free class will be held on Thursday, May 26 from 10:00am-noon at the Pueblo City-County Health Department,101 W. 9th Street on the third floor. Attendees will learn about reuse options for businesses and recycling items from batteries and plastic to paint and fluorescent bulbs. All businesses will receive a free recycling kit for 4-foot and 8-foot fluorescent bulbs.

For more information and to RSVP, call the Recycle Hotline, 719-583-4924.

The Incline Task Force has come up with a final plan for the popular trail. It’s currently illegal to hike the Incline but they say their plan will change that.

They’ve come up with rules that include dawn to dusk hours and making the Incline uphill access only, with the way down being down Barr Trail. They’ve also outlined improvements like paving the Barr Trail parking lot and moving the trailhead for the incline to the Cog Railway parking lot. Hoping that plan will make it easier to park in the area.

It will be a lot of work but the task force is hoping incline users will step up donate their time and money, “Were looking for some really talented, dedicated, energetic people to make this truly happen,” says Task Force member Sarah Tresouthick.

Right now they have about 20 volunteers signed up but say they need a lot more and will take as many as they can get.

The Incline Task Force’s plan still has to be adopted by the three owners of the Incline; Colorado Springs Utilities, the Cog Railway and the Forest Service. City councils in both Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs also have to approve it.

To hear more on the final plan for the Incline there’s a meeting this Thursday from 5:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m. at Manitou Springs City Hall.

For more on joining the Incline Friends group, click here.

To see the story that aired on News First 5, click here.

From News First 5:

A newly discovered type of oil-eating microbe suddenly is flourishing in the Gulf of Mexico and gobbling up the BP spill at a much faster rate than expected, scientists reported Tuesday.

Scientists discovered the new microbe while studying the underwater dispersion of millions of gallons of oil spilled since the explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig.

Also, the microbe works without significantly depleting oxygen in the water, researchers reported in the online journal Sciencexpress.

“Our findings … suggest that a great potential for intrinsic bioremediation of oil plumes exists in the deep-sea,” lead researcher Terry Hazen, a microbial ecologist at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in Berkeley, California, said in a statement.

The data is also the first ever on microbial activity from a deep-water dispersed oil plume, Hazen said.

Environmentalists have raised fears about the giant oil spill and the underwater plume of dispersed oil, particularly its potential effects on sea life. A report just last week described a 22-mile-long underwater mist of tiny oil droplets.

“Our findings show that the influx of oil profoundly altered the microbial community by significantly stimulating deep-sea” cold temperature bacteria that are closely related to known petroleum-degrading microbes, Hazen reported.

Their findings are based on more than 200 samples collected from 17 deep-water sites between May 25 and June 2. They found that the dominant microbe in the oil plume is a new species, closely related to members of Oceanospirillales.

This microbe thrives in cold water, with temperatures in the deep recorded at 41 degrees Fahrenheit.

Hazen suggested that the bacteria may have adapted over time due to periodic leaks and natural seeps of oil in the Gulf.

Scientists also had been concerned that oil-eating activity by microbes would consume large amounts of oxygen in the water and create a “dead zone” dangerous to other life. The new study found that oxygen saturation outside the oil plume was 67 percent while within the plume it was 59 percent.

“The low concentrations of iron in seawater may have prevented oxygen concentrations dropping more precipitously from biodegradation demand on the petroleum, since many hydrocarbon-degrading enzymes have iron as a component,” Hazen said. “There’s not enough iron to form more of these enzymes, which would degrade the carbon faster but also consume more oxygen.”

The research was supported by an existing grant with the Energy Biosciences Institute, a partnership led by the U.C. Berkeley and the University of Illinois that is funded by a $500 million, 10-year grant from BP. Other support came from the U.S. Department of Energy and the University of Oklahoma Research Foundation.

Sciencexpress is the online edition of the journal Science.

The Pikes Peak EcoFestival is coming up on Saturday Aug. 28^th in Colorado Springs. Those who get to the festival by either foot, bike, unicycle…or another way that is “human powered”…will be rewarded with a coupon for a free pint of beer from Bristol Brewing Company. VIP valet bike parking will be available for those who specifically arrive by bike.

The EcoFestival includes eco-conscious exhibitors, live music, family activities, workshops, a beer garden, local food, an eco-auto display, single-stream recycling and more.

The event  is the 28^th from 10-4. It’s $4 per person,  and the money benefits the Rock Ledge Ranch Foundation. It will be held at the Rock Ledge Ranch Historic Site, at the east entrance of Garden of the Gods.

Click here for more info.

Have you heard of this product by Kleenex? They are trying to sell disposable hand towels on the basis that a disposible towel ensures clean hands every time.

 This product bothers me for many reasons but the first, and probably most obvious has to be, that the product is disposable. I don’t see ANY logic in switching from something reusable, to one that is more wasteful. You can wash a reusable hand towel IF it gets so dirty, that it will make your hands more dirty by using it. Plus, your hands should be clean when going to dry them, so how dirty can the towel really be?

The CDC does recommend to use a single-use towel or air dryer, if available. But the CDC is interested in stopping the spread of pandemics in PUBLIC places. Their recommendations do not address the towels that you use at home to dry hands that have been washed and are clean!

This is the statement from Kimberly-Clark, the company that makes Kleenex, “”Kimberly-Clark has long recognized the importance of corporate responsibility and integrated the concept of sustainability in our business practices.” They go on to say, “”At Kimberly-Clark, we take concern for the environment and conservation of natural resources seriously,”  but then they go on to say, “because of the superior softness consumers expect from KLEENEX® Brand, KLEENEX® Brand Hand Towels are made with 100 percent virgin fiber.” Vigin fiber meaning not recycled or sustainable. I appreciate that they SAY they are making efforts to be a eco-concious company, but actions speak louder than words, and Kleenex Disposable Hand Towels are not earth friendly.

The company does say that a fraction of every box of hand towels sold will go to a conservation group to benefit the Brazilian rain forest. That’s all fine but if consumers really want to help the rain forest, don’t buy these towels and just donate the money you would’ve spent.

In an era of sustainability and trying to do things to help our planet. I can only see this disposable hand towel concept doing harm, and I hope it doesn’t catch on.

Thoughts?

A woman in Pueblo is using a natural building method to build a one of a kind chicken coop. All of the materials are recycled and local, and so far the whole thing has cost just over $100.

Maya Avina and some helpful friends have spent most of the summer building the coop. It’s being made using a method called cob, which involves mixing sand, clay and hay. The cob is then rolled out and weaved into the frame to make a solid structure. The building method itself is better for the environment and all of the materials to make the chicken coop are local.

“All the main timbers supporting the corners and the roof are from fire mitigation, the sand is from a local landscape supplier and the straw is from a local feed store,” explains Avina.

The clay they are using is actually beng reused from CSU Pueblo’s pottery department, “They had a big pile where students would just throw their clay after they make pots and have scraps left,”
says Avina.

The structure is almost complete and so far Avina has spent just $112, but it doesn’t have a roof yet.

When complete, Avina says her coop will be able to hold around 25 chickens, but she wants to start slow, with maybe just seven or eight.

For more on cob building, and how to do it, click here.

Went to drop off my recyclables at the Pueblo West Wal-Mart and it was really windy…when I finished emptying my aluminum cans out of the plastic bag the wind whipped it out of my hand. Luckily I was able to chase it down and found it in a field caught on a bush! Now it will happily be recycled instead of being a piece of litter