Sierra Club Dinner Features Local Naturalist Richard Bonnett

The 9th Annual Sierra Club Vegetarian Dinner will be held on Saturday, September 27, 2008 at Haags Hotel in Shartlesville, PA.  Dinner is at 6:30PM, our program starts at 8PM.  As usual the Sierra Club has a fantastic program lined up - one that will appeal to the whole family!

Program:  What We Miss by the Side of the Trail with Richard Bonnet
We all like to enjoy the woods but it’s amazing how much we miss.  This program shows how much is going on around us as we pass by on a hike.  We will try to recapture our youthful ability to explore our surroundings.  This program is a showcase for the biggest, smallest, strangest and most fascinating characters of our local flora and fauna.
About our Speaker: Richard Bonnett is an avid backpacker, canoeist, photographer, and conservationist.  His passion for the wild has taken him all over the country..  He is currently President of the The Mengel Natural History Society.  In addition, he devotes countless hours to conservation projects including the US Fish and Wildlife Services North American Amphibian Monitoring Program, the PA Fish and Boat Commission Timber Rattlesnake Assessment Project, and he’s an official Bog Turtle surveyor.

For complete details and registration form click here (pdf)

Summer 2008: WALKBIKEBERKS!!!!!

As we drive past the gas stations and see the prices for gasoline rising feeling overwhelms us. What can we do to keep from paying such high of it and want to make a difference but can’t afford a new hybrid car or work or school, you will not be the only one... Meet a new non-profit organization helping local individuals and communities promote alternative methods you can visit the group’s website http://walkbikeberks.blogspot.com/

June, 2008: Berks County Air Monitoring Network

Now Berks County residents have access to currentair quality data from two monitoring locations in Berks; Reading and Kutztown, PA. The Pennsylvania Institute for Children’s Environmental Health (PICEH) has created an Air Monitoring Network as part of their website which allows residents access to daily readings of particulate matter and ozone for the two locations. This also includes archives of previous recordings, trend graphs and weather data. The Institute was created by the Kuztown University Foundation. The organization operates as its own entity and has a board of directors. The Institute’s mission statement includes: “to protect children from environmental harm via education, outreach and education.”

For more information on the Institute and upcoming events, please visit the website at www.piceh.org. Institute has a lecture series starting in the Fall of 2008 and details are available on the website.

May, 2008 HELP PERMANENTLY PROTECT THE ARTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE
We need to urge our congresspersons to pass, in the House, HR39, the
Udall-Eisenhower Arctic Wilderness Act; and in the Senate, S2316, The Bill to Permanently Protect the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge as Wilderness. Contact your congress person and tell them to support these bills!
According to the Department of Energy, oil from the Artic National Wildlife Refuge would reduce our
import dependence by only two percent in twenty years. Writing about the Arctic Refuge feels like déjà vu all
over again. So why is there a renewed cry by Big Oil to drill? And when will Congress get moving on real
solutions to our high gas prices, our dependence on oil, and global warming? Drilling for oil in this special place
still makes no sense. When oil production will be at its peak (around 2030), the savings at the pump would
only be about two cents a gallon.

The Arctic’s coastal plain is needed as habitat for 180 species of birds, 120,000 caribou, a large
population of polar bears, and a remaining herd of musk oxen among other animals. Many of these species are
already threatened by global warming and we need to permanently protect this area.
Harriet Rauenzahn, kojak1415@verizon.net, 610 478-7663 -- Information is from www.alaskawild.org

Dec. 2007 - Try something new this holiday season! Instead of cutting down a tree to decorate in your house, why not purchase a “live” tree. After the holiday season you can plant the tree in your backyard and give a gift to Mother Nature. Trees provide habitats (homes) for all sorts of species, including birds, squirrels, and insects. And if you like to decorate your house with twinkling lights, put the lights on a timer to save energy. Have a Happy & Green Holiday! As always thanks for your continued support and we look forward to seeing everyone in 2008!

Learn about other ways to go green this holiday season from Co-op America

Dec. 07 - Oppose the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture's (PDA) recent enactment of the rule that will prohibit dairy farmers from advertising on their labels that their products were produced without the use of artificial hormones, antibiotics, and/or pesticides.  Take Action

Dec 07 - Kutztown Area Communities for Appropriate Development Report - Something to Celebrate by Daree Sicher
Happy days to all as we announce that Maxatawny and the Kutztown area shall remain Walmart-free! After 1 ½ years of battling to preserve our community and quality of place from a proposed 200,000 square foot Walmmall, with 2,900 car parking, we have finally received all the proper paperwork that this project is dead! It’s been a battle indeed – 8 months of public hearings plus thousands of dollars and hours spent provinhow detrimental this project would be for the community. Still, Maxatanwy twp supervisors unanimously approved the zoning change for the 67 acre property on Rt. 222, east of Kutztown, PA with 99 conditions thatthe developer, the Gambone group, would have to meet in order to install the mall. Although the developer stated that they were not interested in the property because of the 99 conditions, they did not withdrawl their offer in writing and we (the community, represented by Attorney Robert Grim and his clients) filed an appeal that we disagreed with the vote of the township. In a bizarre twist, Maxatawny twp filed against our appeal. Long story short – we finally have in writing that Gambone no longer wants the property and Maxatawny twp dropping their fight against the community! We the people did it – made our voices heard and gathered oresources to fight for our hometown. A sigh of relief and raise a glass! Check in with our website at www.kacad.com or phone me directly at 610-823-8258 to get involved in what happens next for our community. Let this wonderful victory remind us all that we are worth fighting for!

Sept 07 - CONGRATS TO TOM POWER FOR WINNING THE KITTATINNY GROUP HEROF THE YEAR AWARD! Tom Power has been a member of the Kittatinny GroupExecutive Committee; he has served as the group’s Conservation Chair, and he is a former member of the Berks County Environmental Advisory Council. Tom has been a long-time environmental activist and the group wishes to thank Tom and honor him for his years of service.