Here's the latest update from Lisa Levinson on the toad migration in Upper Roxborough. She said we could post it here. If you're interested in helping you can email her at lisa@publiceyephilly.org: 

Hi Volunteers,
 
We've been "toadletting" for the past week or so. The main migration of toadlets from the Reservoir to the woods was in mid-June. We are just starting to see froglets crossing, first sightings in late June. They are bigger than the toadlets, twice the size and twice the speed!
 
On nights of heavy rain (6/17-20), we set up the barricades and counted hundreds of toadlets per night. Most traveled on Eva Street (near the Church), at the intersection of Port Royal & Hagy's Mill, and along Summit Street. Since then, we have not seen such numbers. Volunteers counted/moved approximately 100 toadlets across Summit Street per night between 10pm-12am. We estimate that thousands of toadlets crossed a couple weeks ago and hundreds continue to cross per night. Special thanks to the volunteers who helped!
 
Now we're observing toadlets (and now froglets) crossing late in the evening, 10pm-12am. There aren't many cars on Summit at this time, but we still see casualties. Without our help, we estimate that half die and half cross. Volunteers will be there on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, but we need help on other days. If you're available, meet at the intersection of Summit and Lare Street (near Ridge) between 9:30-10pm. Remember to wear light/reflective clothes and bring a flashlight and small dixie cup (great toad transporter). Please count the toads you cross and email the final count to me. We're not sure how long this will continue, perhaps another week or so.
 
Thanks so much for your continued support! We will assign nights to volunteers in the future to streamline this process. Here's a clip from a TV interview about the toadlet migration.

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The ancient amphitheater in Orange was impressive. A visit to the mental asylum in Aix-en-Provence where Vincent van Gogh flourished as a painter was revelatory. Still, half the snapshots I came back with from a week in Southern France were of cars!

What caught this Gizmo Guy's eye were vehicles from Renault, Citroen, Peugeot, Fiat, Honda, Alfa Romeo and Ford that aren't currently available in the U.S., but in some instances may be soon. All won my heart with their stylish looks, ultra-compact dimensions and environmentally considerate, modern mechanics. You can read the in-paper version of this column here.

SMALL IS BETTER: Long used to high fuel prices, narrow streets and tight parking spots, most Europeans have always steered toward smaller cars.

Now there's added incentive. In both France and Great Britain, a so-called "Green Tax" system divides the universe of cars into five types, determined by the amount of carbon dioxide the vehicles throw off.

Buy an ultra-small, efficient vehicle and you will be rewarded with a rebate of up to 1,000 Euros (about $1,400). At the other extreme, you'll be slapped with a penalty tax as high as 2,600 Euros for indulging in a gas-guzzling Toyota Land Cruiser or other clunky "4x4" (aka SUV), which the mayors of Paris and London have threatened to ban from their fair cities.

France also offers trade-in bonuses for clunkers more than 15 years old and a rebate of up to 5,000 Euros for electric vehicles. The annual tax that drivers fork over also is weighted by their vehicle's size/pollution output.

TRUTH AND CONSEQUENCES: So what's been the impact of this tax structure? For the first time in 50-plus years, reported French car magazine Argus, the average car sold in France in 2008 was smaller, lighter, more fuel efficient and less expensive than the typical transporter purchased the year before!

There's clearly a lesson to learn here, though getting U.S. legislators to enact similar regulations - even with a graduated roll out - won't be easy. But just our rising cost of fuel - again looming around $3 despite the recession - may be enough to get American car buyers thinking small and efficient.

»  More Tiny cars saving the planet... but not here

Photo illustration.

Q&A with ECA

Q: Can you please explain what is in the Waxman-Markey Bill?

A: The Waxman-Markey Bill, officially known as the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) or H.R 2454, colloquially known as “cap and trade,” is actually so much more than that. The house is set to vote on the bill today, and if it passes it will be the first legislation of its kind in the U.S.

It seems that the House took the idea of a cap and trade bill and used it as an opportunity to stuff every possible clean energy project into one place. As a result this mammoth bill includes almost every element of energy policy—the good and the bad. The part that has been most talked about is the “cap and trade” element. Basically, certain high emission industries like electricity generation would become subject to regulations on how much carbon they emit. The emission levels would be capped with the ultimate goal to get below 2005 carbon levels. The main idea is that entities that emit a lot of carbon will have to pay for it through permits, or “carbon credits”. If they end up with more credits than they need through efforts like conservation, then they can sell them to another company who needs more credits. If they emit more than they are permitted, they pay a hefty fine, so it is in their best interest to either cut emissions or buy enough credits.

The credits themselves will be both given away (85%) and auctioned off (15%). As the program progresses, those numbers will gradually invert so that the majority of credits are being auctioned. Some credits will be given to regulated industries to get them started, while others will be given to non-regulated industries with stipulations that revenue from their sale be applied to energy efficiency projects, renewable energy, transportation planning, clean car projects and transmission projects—basically initiatives that will save money for consumers.

Revenue from auctioned credits will go to mitigating climate change in any number of ways ranging from offsets to low and moderate income families to helping other nations adopt climate change strategies.

This legislation establishes a national Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), which requires specific percentages of U.S power generation to come from renewable sources. Many states already have RPS laws that are more stringent than the one in the Waxman-Markey bill, so environmentalists say that the targets of 6% by 2012 and 20% by 2020 fall much too short of the kind of strong standards that we need.

The bill also makes a substantial investment in energy technologies like renewable energy, carbon capture and sequestration, electric vehicles and general research and development. It creates a new entity called the Clean Energy Deployment Administration that will be separate from the existing Energy Department and is meant to provide loans and help spur investment.

»  More What's really in that climate bill?

For anyone up north of town who uses the distance from Center City as an excuse to avoid coming into town for 'Green' gatherings, now there's one right up in Yardley. Just got a press release from Gail McMaster of Greeniac Life, who explained what an all-encompassing event this is going to be. Lots of info that will be useful to people who are just getting into this now. You may even see a Dumpster Diver or two if you know where to look. Here's the release:

BUCKS COUNTY'S GREAT GREEN EXPO

Saturday, JUNE 27th, 10 am - 3 pm

Masonic Hall - 1661 Edgewood Rd., Yardley, Pa 19067

Join over 45 Energy and Solar experts who volunteer to teach residents tips on how everyone can reduce their energy use tonight....before rates go up!  It's a Free community effort with a lot of heart, so if you're free, email: gmcm@greeniaclife.com.

You can meet the Experts and learn to save energy!   Fun, Exciting Demonstrations by Energy Auditors, Solar Manufacturers, Solar Installer Trainers, Energy Auditors, Passive House Builders, Recycling Artists, Smart Energy Metering, Green Job Trainers, Blower Doors, Infrared, Solar Products, Green Workforce Development, Keystone Help Low Interest Loan Program, Energy Star! Learn how to find and seal Building Air Leak & Insulation Methods, Solar Installation Training Programs * Energy Auditor Training Programs * Sustainable Advisor Program
Save Energy….Save Money....before the rates go up!! This expo demonstrates people caring about people who like to know.  www.greeniaclife.com    gmcm@greeniaclife.com

You may recall the media furor a few months back over the migrating toads of Upper Roxborough, who heed the annual spring mating call to return to the old reservoir on Port Royal Avenue to mate in the wetlands that have sprung up there. Until a group of volunteers began monitoring the busy roads around the reservoir this year, many toads (and frogs as well) never made it to their rendezvous.

The adult critters have already straggled back to the surrounding woodlands where they live. Now the baby toads - toadlets! - are hip-hopping their way out of the reservoir, too. Tiny as fingernails, they are awfully hard to spot on the roadway, let alone drive around. But some volunteers are out again, guarding the little ones. And next year the effort will be as well-organized as the earlier toad migration was.

Speaking of which, if you want to volunteer or just learn more about this curious natural phenomenon in our own city, contact Lisa Levinson of Public Eye: Artists for Animals, www.PublicEyePhilly.org, 215-620-2130.

The Blau-Thompson rowhouse, outfitted with energy-efficient accoutrements. (Photo form BluPath Design Web site)

Yesterday the new Green Jobs Philly News came out, offering its usual overstuffed cornucopia of green opportunities and communications attempting to connect people with information and jobs. But what if you're already on the job, in business and trying to get greener?

If you're a contractor, realtor, architect or other professional who's finding clients asking for greener alternatives, how do you advise them? How do you become something of an expert on green housing, energy and approaches in a hurry? Laura Blau and Paul Thompson, two architects behind BluPath Design, have the answer in the form of three linked courses at the Community College of Philadelphia this summer. presented via their educational sister firm GreenSteps.

Starting on July 15 you can get the lowdown on site and water issues, the various forms of green energy, and materials & indoor air quality so you'll know what you're talking about. These aren't technical courses - even if you're a DIY homeowner you'll probably learn a bit that will be useful in your 'green' remodeling.

"Everyone gets a buzz on about 'green'," says Laura Blau, "but they don't always have enough information." She points out that there's no universal rating system for how green different materials, properties or approaches are, and in the absence of that, you need to understand the criteria to even ask the right questions.

"There are all kinds of shades of green," she says. "People need to be aware. We're all on a big learning curve, and the market is trying to keep pace with it. Everyone wants a piece of 'green.' Now weeds are coming up and you're trying to tell the weeds from the flowers."

That's why the curriculum spends a good amount of time on greenwashing, the practice of making a negligible change that a company can spin into positive "sustainable" PR. She cites the move by Clorox to remove some ammonia and bleach and add citrus to create new "green" versions of their products. "Great," says Blau, " but some of the base that remains is the most toxic chemicals out there. If you want a truly green cleaning solution, make your own - or get it from Sun and Earth, which is local, which makes it even greener."

Balancing different criteria is not always easy, which is why the course goes into detail with the different criteria involved, says Blau. "You might have to choose between a cherry floor from local cherry, or a sustainably harvested Brazilian cherry, versus bamboo, which is rapidly renewable, and you want to have a sense of what makes each green as well as what's not so green about it."

Though Blau and Thompson have applied their principles to their own residence, which stands out with its solar-collector-festooned roof, she cautions that not all the solutions presented are so sexy. "You have to look at the specifics of your building to get the right solution. I've had people who want to go solar and their house is in a wooded lot - 'well, we'll just cut these trees down,' they say. Instead I ask, how well insulated is your home? There's little point in collecting solar energy if you're just going to waste it as you would any other kind."

»  More Cool school: Know your shades of green

Joel Salatin, a 52-year-old Virginia farmer, shown in "Food, Inc."

On Monday the Daily News YO! Features cover story is about "Food, Inc.", the movie by Robert Kenner that attempts to "pull back the curtain" from modern-day industrial agriculture and show Americans where their food comes from.

The article chronicles some of the brick walls and smokescreens Kenner encountered in trying to get and share basic info about the sources of our food, something more people are paying attention to - or trying to, anyway - all the time. "The system is broken" is Kenner's pithy summary of the situation, and he goes so far as to compare our food production system to our failed credit system, calling both fundamentally unsustainable.

The sometimes disturbing truth about what goes on in the production of especially animal-based foods "violated this myth that's being propagated: that our food comes from a small farm," Kenner says. And while it's true that myth is being pushed, there's a corrolary: That if we just got rid of "factory farming," the system would be fine, wholesome and healthful.

However, as former farmer/ranchers such as Howard Lyman (who, along with Oprah Winfrey, was sued by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association for suggesting on her show that Mad Cow would be discovered in US herds) and Harold Brown have made clear from their own testimony, having small, family farms handle and process animals is hardly a viable solution: For one thing, the sheer volume of meat and dairy now consumed by Americans is impossible to generate by those methods, and even if it were, most of us would refuse to pay what it would cost. Additionally, organizations such as Humane Myth are pulling the proverbial curtain even further back, showing that many of the abuses, cruelties and injustices consumers find so distasteful in "factory farming" are actually rooted in the fundamental process of breeding, feeding and killing animals.

Even from an ecological standpoint there's cognitive dissonance: While concentration of food animals produces a more concentrated waste that can do serious harm to the environment more quickly, the scientists who authored the 2006 report Livestock's Long Shadow (the one that showed animal foods to be responsible for more greenhouse gases than cars) actually suggested more, not less, concentration of animals purely as a measure to reduce overall greenhouse gases.

So it looks like consumers who care about the wider world their are caught between a rock and a hard place. Is there any way that we can, you know, work it out? Maybe we should ask Paul McCartney.

Q&A with ECA

Q: Will the State’s budget crisis affect any of the new energy programs that you have been writing about on this blog so far this year?

A. Yes. In fact, the Keystone HELP program, which offers a low interest loan or rebate to help homeowners afford energy efficiency improvements to their homes, is in danger of being cut as I write. This is the first and only attempt by Pennsylvania to offer financial incentives that support efficiency home improvements and it is a good program. The Keystone HELP Loan was lauded as one of the nation’s most successful state sponsored energy efficiency programs and a model for a national program at a recent Department of Energy meeting in D.C. It has various tiers that correspond to several different interest rates and most importantly it requires that the building industry complete training in efficiency before they participate as contractors in the program. Not only does Keystone HELP make big projects affordable to homeowners, but it also makes a concerted effort to increase the competencies of contractors in this state, a huge bonus. But now, with difficult budget decisions looming, all these positive steps toward greater energy independence, lower energy bills, and fewer emissions are in jeopardy.

The thing that baffles us most about this is that there is almost no political issue hotter right now than “going green” -- President Obama made sure of that. Since his inauguration, the President has made it clear that energy is one of the most important issues on his agenda and he has acted on his words by increasing funding for weatherization and significantly beefing up the federal tax credits for energy efficient home improvements. For a while there, most other politicians followed his lead and no one wanted to be “anti-weatherization.” I mean, come on, how can anyone argue against something that makes so much sense -- weatherization reduces the consumer’s energy bills, creates jobs, increase energy independence, and shrinks carbon footprints. How could anyone NOT want to support something that makes so much sense in economically troubled times? Not to be cynical, but is this a case where politicians say one thing and do another -- i.e. applaud energy efficiency while refusing to fund the only financial tool available to the average person? Maybe they assume that no one cares to really look at that budget after all.We say, prove them wrong, and let our representatives know just how unhappy we are that after so much waiting for real change on energy issues, they are going to backpedal at the 11th hour. Pennsylvanians need to demand that the state government continue to fund the Keystone HELP program.

Read more Energy Advice columns from ECA here.

With the announcement of Greenworks Philadelphia, Mark Alan Hughes exiting the Mayor's Office of Sustainability in triumph, it would seem that Philadelphia is well on its way to the stated goal of "Greenest City in America."

But the question Earth to Philly asked back in March still pertains: Lots of cities, if not all of them, want to be the "greenest in America" - what do we think gives ours the edge?

There's a move right now to ban plastic bags from supermarkets, which E2P will cover in further detail when the smoke clears. Instead, though, our ace in the hole could be that our mayor is someone who has been pushing universal recycling since the 20th century. And Mayor Nutter has stood firm in stepping up curbside collection in the face of painful budget cuts. But in this area, we're still left in the dustbin by San Francisco.

Already the city with the highest recycling rate in the nation, yesterday S.F. pushed the envelope further by making recycling - and composting! - mandatory and punishable by fines: $100 a pop for residents and most small businesses, all the way up to $500 for others. The ordinance will take effect this fall.

Here at Earth to Philly, we're all for exploring new ways to get people into the mindset that recycling should be automatic. But it's not just municipal jealousy to say this seems a little much. People joke about "the recycling police," but this would make that a wacky reality.

At the very least it would probably have been a better idea to phase the law in, starting with larger businesses, where a massive amount of waste occurs daily, and whose employees are likely to be city residents. After six to nine months of corporate consciousness-raising (and high-profile publicity when fines must be assessed), individuals would be better primed to get with the proverbial program.

As it is, with the problem of enforcing this on a per-house basis, there's a real chance for a backlash. That would be bad for San Francisco - and good for Philly! But only in the short term, because it would be bad for the planet, and as that recycling icon reminds us, what goes around comes around. So come on, West Coast, and get it right!