Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist

Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Md Troopers Assoc #20 & Westminster Md Fire Dept Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Showing posts with label Environmentalism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Environmentalism. Show all posts

Monday, July 09, 2018

Your carefree beach days are numbered



Your carefree beach days are numbered BY MIYOKO SAKASHITA, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 07/04/18 


[…] 

There’s a pretty good chance you’ll encounter plastic litter or plastic pellets on the beach — junk that’s adding to the growing mass of plastic pollution in our oceans. And unfortunately the sunscreen you’re slathering on your body might contain two common chemicals, oxybenzone and octinoxate, that kill coral reefs.
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Wednesday, May 27, 2015

News from The Hill: Obama asserts power over small waterways By Timothy Cama

News from The Hill

Obama asserts power over small waterways

By Timothy Cama

The Obama administration asserted its authority Wednesday over the nation's small waterways like streams and wetlands, moving forward on one of the most controversial pollution rules of recent years.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers said they are making final their proposed waters of the United States rule, which Republicans and many businesses have long panned as a massive federal overreach that would put the EPA in charge of ditches, puddles and wet areas.


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Thursday, August 29, 2013

Federal judge rejects Perdue bid to recoup legal fees from Waterkeeper Alliance

Waterkeeper Alliance suit cost $3 million

Aug. 27, 2013 Written by Jeff Montgomery The News Journal


In a case closely watched by citizen advocacy and farm groups, a federal judge on Tuesday rejected a farm industry bid to collect $3 million in legal fees from a group that sued Perdue Farms and a family farm in 2010 over Pocomoke River water pollution.

U.S. District Court Judge William M. Nickerson tossed out the Waterkeeper Alliance’s Clean Water Act case last year, concluding in an opinion that the action was flawed and “not pursued or litigated as well as it could have been.”

“It is most unfortunate that so much time and so many resources were expended on this action that accomplished so little,” Nickerson wrote,adding later: “That, however, is not the same as concluding that the underlying claim was ‘frivolous, unreasonable or without foundation,’ or ever clearly became so.”


The Waterkeeper Alliance sued Perdue and the Alan and Kristin Hudson Farm near Berlin, Md., using a provision of the Clean Water Act to seek enforcement for what the group viewed as uncontrolled releases of poultry wastes... http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20130828/NEWS/308280047/Federal-judge-rejects-Perdue-bid-recoup-legal-fees?utm_source=Chesapeake+Bay+News&utm_campaign=800ca8d743-Chesapeake_Bay_News4_23_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_71ced15df1-800ca8d743-61679805
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Monday, May 27, 2013

The Spiritual Practice of Shredding Stuff by Kevin E. Dayhoff May 15, 2013

The Spiritual Practice of Shredding Stuff by Kevin E. Dayhoff May 15, 2013

Last month my wife and I left our house in the wee-hours of the morning and joined other households in Carroll County for the shared experience of putting box after box of old documents in a large ravenous shredder-truck which devoured the paper voraciously.

It was quite a liberating experience. Of course, there was a certain irony in the ritualistic-feeding of the paper-eating monster truck sponsored by the Carroll County Office of Recycling.

The vast majority of my papers to be recycled are from the 40 or so years I served on local, county or state boards, committees or commissions – for many years, as an elected official – all of which were accompanied by bringing home boxes of papers, documents and records. It was only fitting and proper that I ‘give’ the papers back to the county.

The further irony is that many of those 40+-years were served on various committees and commissions which focused on the environment, municipal solid waste, agriculture, forestry, water and wastewater treatment – and recycling.

I, for one, am quite thankful for the shredding service. The recycling office reported that we were one of 316 other households that made the trek to the county maintenance facility.

The paper shredder in my office only allows me to feed it up to 16 pages at a time. At that rate, it would take me about two hours to shred one box full of papers. The county shredding service saved me days of mind-numbing work.

As I discussed in my column in TheTentacle.com on June 20 last year, “Fighting the ‘Stuff Monster,” goals are simply tools to focus one’s energy in positive directions. These goals can change as one’s priorities change and new ones are added, and others dropped.

One of the several priorities I have established in recent years is to greatly simplify my life and cut-out as much of the clutter as possible… Please read more here: http://www.thetentacle.com/ShowArticle.cfm?mydocid=5780

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Eagle Archives: Standard, aka junk, mail goes back to 19th century http://tinyurl.com/oye7pyo





The nation's first countywide free rural postal delivery service got off to a shaky and contested start Dec. 20, 1896, in Carroll County.

According to multiple media accounts, including the Baltimore Sun, "One of the first pick-ups postal clerk Edwin Shriver had on the inaugural day of Carroll County's Rural Free Delivery service was a greased pig…"

"I'm sure he (the customer) did it as a joke," said Shriver. "But I slapped a 42-cent stamp on its rump and delivered it. That pig squealed the whole way."

A little over three years later, Charles Emory Smith, the 39th postmaster general of the United States and a journalist by trade, visited Westminster on April 30, 1900.



If Smith were to come back today, he would find the current state of affairs of the Postal Service look more like that haze produced by the forest fire.
These days, the future beautiful vista at the post office is less than clear, if my last visit there is any indication.

After I opened my box, I let out a squeal much like that of that greased pig in December of 1896. I quickly realized that I had once again fallen prey to the modern scourge upon the postal system that has significantly impacted our lives today, junk mail, or as it is politely referred to by the postal system, "standard mail."


Don't complain about the flood of unsolicited mail. "The Postal Service is hoping to deliver even more," according to an article in the New York Times last September.

"Faced with multibillion-dollar losses and significant declines in first-class mail, the post office is cutting deals with businesses and direct mail marketers to increase the number of sales pitches they send by standard mail…"

Now isn't that just special … Unbelievable… http://tinyurl.com/oye7pyo


See also:

Kevin Dayhoff - The Tentacle: Fighting the “Stuff Monster”




There comes a time in a person’s life when one needs to get a fresh supply of trash bags, buy a new heavy-duty paper shredder, back the pick-up truck to the basement door, get out the large party-size coffee maker, and clear the clutter.


For me, periodically fighting the “Stuff Monster” has been a survival tool – or I would have been the tragic-lead character in a serial reality horror show on hoarding a long time ago.

Yet, in my personal journey of a life-long struggle with the “Stuff Monster,” the deck has always been stacked against me.

For, you see, my situation has been exacerbated by the fact that I have been self-employed all my life. Many colleagues have been able to fight the “Stuff Monster” much more easily because all the filing cabinets full of papers and pallets of boxes in records storage, has been the responsibility of their respective employers.

Well, with me – since the late 1960s – I’ve been my own employer and keeping records, documents and stuff has always been my responsibility.

And, of course, for the last 35 or so years, in addition to art and farming, I have continuously served on any number of local, county or state boards, committees or commissions – and for many years, as an elected official – all of which was accompanied by my bringing home papers, documents and records by the wheelbarrow load.

[….]


I am trying to go as paperless as possible.

My paperless initiative is in part, because technology has advanced to the point that I can now handle many office and administrative functions more efficiently - without paper.

However, my reasons for going as paperless as possible are in part, as a matter of practicality. Above and beyond the fact that we travel a lot and are simply not at home to get hardcopy paper-mail at our post office box; at my advanced age, handling mountains of paper day-in and day-out has not gotten any easier.

Curiously, after almost 40-years of office administration, if you hand me a piece of paper, in several hours, I have no clue as to where it is. However, I always seem to be able to find electronic paperwork… Caroline will tell you that I have come to like reading online so much that I scan-in letters and writing-newspaper-research materials just so that I can read it on the computer…

Moreover, a large part of my decision to go paperless is a product of my environmental activism, which in part springs forth from faith beliefs…

Whatever - - I am a geek and although a few electrons may be inconvenienced; paperless is far more efficient…

That said, LOL – the initiative sure has had some interesting moments – and a few profound failures; however, it has been for the most part, quite successful…



Kevin E. Dayhoff June 20, 2012 The Tentacle http://www.thetentacle.com/author.cfm?MyAuthor=41 The mindless meanderings of a mad writer. Click here for a larger image: http://twitpic.com/hnwxx
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Kevin Dayhoff is an artist - and a columnist for:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoffTwitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff
Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ = www.newbedfordherald.net

Tumblr: Kevin Dayhoff Banana Stems www.kevindayhoff.tumblr.com/
Smurfs: http://babylonfluckjudd.blogspot.com/
Google profile: https://profiles.google.com/kevindayhoff/

E-mail: kevindayhoff(at)gmail.com
My http://www.explorecarroll.com/ columns appear in the copy of the Baltimore Sunday Sun that is distributed in Carroll County: https://subscribe.baltsun.com/Circulation/
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Sunday, May 26, 2013

Eagle Archives: Standard, aka junk, mail goes back to 19th century http://tinyurl.com/oye7pyo

Eagle Archives: Standard, aka junk, mail goes back to 19th century http://tinyurl.com/oye7pyo



The nation's first countywide free rural postal delivery service got off to a shaky and contested start Dec. 20, 1896, in Carroll County.

According to multiple media accounts, including the Baltimore Sun, "One of the first pick-ups postal clerk Edwin Shriver had on the inaugural day of Carroll County's Rural Free Delivery service was a greased pig…"

"I'm sure he (the customer) did it as a joke," said Shriver. "But I slapped a 42-cent stamp on its rump and delivered it. That pig squealed the whole way."

A little over three years later, Charles Emory Smith, the 39th postmaster general of the United States and a journalist by trade, visited Westminster on April 30, 1900.



If Smith were to come back today, he would find the current state of affairs of the Postal Service look more like that haze produced by the forest fire.
These days, the future beautiful vista at the post office is less than clear, if my last visit there is any indication.

After I opened my box, I let out a squeal much like that of that greased pig in December of 1896. I quickly realized that I had once again fallen prey to the modern scourge upon the postal system that has significantly impacted our lives today, junk mail, or as it is politely referred to by the postal system, "standard mail."


Don't complain about the flood of unsolicited mail. "The Postal Service is hoping to deliver even more," according to an article in the New York Times last September.

"Faced with multibillion-dollar losses and significant declines in first-class mail, the post office is cutting deals with businesses and direct mail marketers to increase the number of sales pitches they send by standard mail…"

Now isn't that just special … Unbelievable… http://tinyurl.com/oye7pyo


See also:

Kevin Dayhoff - The Tentacle: Fighting the “Stuff Monster”




There comes a time in a person’s life when one needs to get a fresh supply of trash bags, buy a new heavy-duty paper shredder, back the pick-up truck to the basement door, get out the large party-size coffee maker, and clear the clutter.


For me, periodically fighting the “Stuff Monster” has been a survival tool – or I would have been the tragic-lead character in a serial reality horror show on hoarding a long time ago.

Yet, in my personal journey of a life-long struggle with the “Stuff Monster,” the deck has always been stacked against me.

For, you see, my situation has been exacerbated by the fact that I have been self-employed all my life. Many colleagues have been able to fight the “Stuff Monster” much more easily because all the filing cabinets full of papers and pallets of boxes in records storage, has been the responsibility of their respective employers.

Well, with me – since the late 1960s – I’ve been my own employer and keeping records, documents and stuff has always been my responsibility.

And, of course, for the last 35 or so years, in addition to art and farming, I have continuously served on any number of local, county or state boards, committees or commissions – and for many years, as an elected official – all of which was accompanied by my bringing home papers, documents and records by the wheelbarrow load.

[….]


I am trying to go as paperless as possible.

My paperless initiative is in part, because technology has advanced to the point that I can now handle many office and administrative functions more efficiently - without paper.

However, my reasons for going as paperless as possible are in part, as a matter of practicality. Above and beyond the fact that we travel a lot and are simply not at home to get hardcopy paper-mail at our post office box; at my advanced age, handling mountains of paper day-in and day-out has not gotten any easier.

Curiously, after almost 40-years of office administration, if you hand me a piece of paper, in several hours, I have no clue as to where it is. However, I always seem to be able to find electronic paperwork… Caroline will tell you that I have come to like reading online so much that I scan-in letters and writing-newspaper-research materials just so that I can read it on the computer…

Moreover, a large part of my decision to go paperless is a product of my environmental activism, which in part springs forth from faith beliefs…

Whatever - - I am a geek and although a few electrons may be inconvenienced; paperless is far more efficient…

That said, LOL – the initiative sure has had some interesting moments – and a few profound failures; however, it has been for the most part, quite successful…



Kevin E. Dayhoff June 20, 2012 The Tentacle http://www.thetentacle.com/author.cfm?MyAuthor=41 The mindless meanderings of a mad writer. Click here for a larger image: http://twitpic.com/hnwxx
*****

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Kevin Dayhoff - The Tentacle: Fighting the “Stuff Monster”



There comes a time in a person’s life when one needs to get a fresh supply of trash bags, buy a new heavy-duty paper shredder, back the pick-up truck to the basement door, get out the large party-size coffee maker, and clear the clutter.


For me, periodically fighting the “Stuff Monster” has been a survival tool – or I would have been the tragic-lead character in a serial reality horror show on hoarding a long time ago.

Yet, in my personal journey of a life-long struggle with the “Stuff Monster,” the deck has always been stacked against me.

For, you see, my situation has been exacerbated by the fact that I have been self-employed all my life. Many colleagues have been able to fight the “Stuff Monster” much more easily because all the filing cabinets full of papers and pallets of boxes in records storage, has been the responsibility of their respective employers.

Well, with me – since the late 1960s – I’ve been my own employer and keeping records, documents and stuff has always been my responsibility.

And, of course, for the last 35 or so years, in addition to art and farming, I have continuously served on any number of local, county or state boards, committees or commissions – and for many years, as an elected official – all of which was accompanied by my bringing home papers, documents and records by the wheelbarrow load.

[….]


I am trying to go as paperless as possible.

My paperless initiative is in part, because technology has advanced to the point that I can now handle many office and administrative functions more efficiently - without paper.

However, my reasons for going as paperless as possible are in part, as a matter of practicality. Above and beyond the fact that we travel a lot and are simply not at home to get hardcopy paper-mail at our post office box; at my advanced age, handling mountains of paper day-in and day-out has not gotten any easier.

Curiously, after almost 40-years of office administration, if you hand me a piece of paper, in several hours, I have no clue as to where it is. However, I always seem to be able to find electronic paperwork… Caroline will tell you that I have come to like reading online so much that I scan-in letters and writing-newspaper-research materials just so that I can read it on the computer…

Moreover, a large part of my decision to go paperless is a product of my environmental activism, which in part springs forth from faith beliefs…

Whatever - - I am a geek and although a few electrons may be inconvenienced; paperless is far more efficient…

That said, LOL – the initiative sure has had some interesting moments – and a few profound failures; however, it has been for the most part, quite successful…


Kevin E. Dayhoff June 20, 2012 The Tentacle http://www.thetentacle.com/author.cfm?MyAuthor=41 The mindless meanderings of a mad writer. Click here for a larger image: http://twitpic.com/hnwxx
*****

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Farm pollution lawsuit spurs public relations battle

Farm pollution lawsuit spurs public relations battle


Poultry industry, environmental groups fund lawyers for national bellwether



By Timothy B. Wheeler, The Baltimore Sun

March 19, 2012

With a catch in her throat, Kristin Hudson talks in a video posted online about her young daughter asking if "they" will take away her daddy's farm.

The video, featured on SaveFarmFamilies.org rallied farmers and others across the country to the side of an Eastern Shore farm couple fighting an environmental group's lawsuit alleging that the farm polluted a Chesapeake Bay tributary.

The Web-based organization has raised more than $200,000 to date from Perdue Farms, agricultural groups and other farmers to help Alan and Kristin Hudson pay legal bills in the 2-year-old case, according to one of the group's leaders. Meanwhile, two Maryland foundations with environmental agendas have poured a comparable amount into supporting the suit filed by the Waterkeepers Alliance… http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/green/bs-gr-chicken-farmer-campaign-20120319,0,1037150,full.story


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Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Quote of the day Don Surber



Quote of the day

January 17, 2012 by Don Surber

As Mom likes to say, you tell them, I stutter.

From Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper:

It’s one thing in terms of whether Canadians, you know, want jobs, to what degree Canadians want environmental protection. These are all valid questions.

But just because certain people in the United States would like to see Canada be one giant national park for the northern half of North America, I don’t think that’s part of what our review process is all about.

Canada’s message: Keep your Do-Nothing Movement on your side of the border, America.

And Stephen Harper is right. There is no Keystone Pipeline controversy. New York City, Washington D.C. and every other liberal enclave in this nation relies on pipelines to get its fuel. It is beyond hypocrisy to oppose this pipeline.

Opposing progress is avarice and intellectual dishonesty.

Bobby Kennedy’s clan — among others — profits from its opposition to the oil and natural gas industry. Kerry Kennedy, ex-wife of Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo, benefits from peddling her political connections like her granddad used his political connections to protect his bootlegging business nearly a century ago.



Friday, January 06, 2012

Save Farm Families Fundraiser planned for the Hudson Family on February 18, 2012


Save Farm Families Fundraiser planned for the Hudson Family on February 18, 2012

When: Saturday, February 18, 2012
Time: 3:00pm until 8:00pm

At Queen Anne's County 4-H Park; Centreville, MD

The Hudson Family of Berlin, Maryland is being sued by the New York based Waterkeeper Alliance. They operate a poultry and beef farm in Worcester County, Maryland. 100% of the funds raised will go to help the Hudson family pay their legal bills. This event is sponsored by the Caroline, Cecil, Kent, Queen Anne's and Talbot County Farm Bureaus.


Our goal is simple: Stand up and protect struggling farm families from bankruptcy triggered by extremist groups and their lawsuits.

For more than two centuries, family farms have been critical to the Maryland economy and the state’s way of life. Many of us are the sons and daughters of men and women who farmed, fished and raised their families in every corner of the Free State.

The Maryland Family Farmers Legal Defense Fund, Inc. was created to help Alan and Kristin Hudson, who run a family farm located near Maryland’s Eastern Shore, pay their mounting legal bills and to call attention to the threat that radical groups like the Waterkeeper Alliance pose to every family farm in America. Unless we stop them in the courtroom, Maryland’s largest industry, responsible for 14 percent of the state’s workforce, could disappear forever.


[20120218 Save Farm Families Fundraiser]
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