I am an avid reader who wants to learn more about local environmental issues and read inspirational stories that will help motivate me to get more involved.  Can you recommend some good books to help get me started?

Eager to Learn in Pelham Parkway

Dear Ready to Read,

That is great! There are several inspiring and exciting books to recommend.

Let’s start with the one that should be on everyone’s must read list:  Silent Spring by Rachel Carson.  Silent Spring is required reading for most environmental majors in college and for a very good reason.  This book will motivate you to jump out of your reading chair and start to make a difference.  Another motivational book is The RIVERKEEPERS: Two Activists Fight to Reclaim Our Environment as a Basic Human Right by John Cronin and Robert Kennedy which is a more recent inspirational story about how two people fought to save the Hudson River.

Here are a few recommendations of books that focus on environmental issues facing New York City:

• Liquid Assets: A History of New York City’s Water System by Diane Galusha

• Bronx Ecology: Blueprint For A New Environmentalism by Allen Hershkowitz and Maya Lin

• Water for Gotham: A History by Gerard T. Koeppel

• Water-Works: The Architecture and Engineering of the New York City Water Supply by Kevin Bone, Gina Pollara, and Gerard Koeppel

• A Natural History of New York City by John Kieran (As a side note– there is a trail in Van Cortlandt Park named after this author)

• Wild Nights: Nature Returns to the City by Anne Matthews

• New York City Trees: A Field Guide for the Metropolitan Area by Edward Sibley Barnard (A side note: use this field guide to go and see some of these beautiful trees which will motivate anyone)

Here are a few recommendations of children’s books:

• The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
• The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks by Joanne Cole
• Where Does the Garbage Go? By Paul Showers
• Stellaluna by Janell Cannon
• Waylon’s Wandering Waterdrop by John L. Turner

Happy Reading!!!

Ivy

Dear Ivy,

I’ve heard that there are plans for blasting at Jerome Park Reservoir, even though the DEP originally promised that there wouldn’t be. Is this true? What is being done to stop this?

~A Concerned Resident from Scott Tower

Dear Concerned Resident from Scott Tower:

BCEQ has been at the forefront advocating for Jerome Park Reservoir, Van Cortlandt Park and the surrounding communities. We recently decided to take DEP to court to stop the blasting at the Reservoir. Below is information about the court case.

FACT: The 2004 Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS) stated on page 184 of Section 8.2, submitted as one of the Exhibits: “There would be no surface drilling or blasting in relation to work at the Reservoir.”

FACT: June and July 2008, the DEP announced that they would like to blast at the Jerome Park Reservoir (JPR), and may start as early as August 1, 2008. They compared blasting with drilling even though neither of these alternatives were approved in the FSEIS.

Complaintants: BCEQ is a borough wide environmental organization formed in 1971, and the Fort Independence Park Neighborhood Association (FIPNA) is a local neighborhood organization whose members primarily live in or around the JPR; both organizations have been engaged in the effort to protect and preserve community life and minimize disruption around JPR for several years. BCEQ President Ira Charles Levenberg and FIPNA President Philip McDonnell signed, as did local Assembly Member Jeffrey Dinowitz and Council Member G. Oliver Koppell. Damian McShane and Father Richard Gorman are the Chairpersons of Community Boards 8 and 12 respectively –each of whom passed resolutions requesting the submission of an EIS by the DEP before blasting at Jerome Park Reservoir begins. Anthony Perez Cassino is the former Chairperson of Community Board 8 and Saul Scheinbach is the Environmental Committee Chairperson of CB8. Frances Al Chapman heads up the Kingsbridge Heights Neighborhood Improvement Association; and Lynn Schwarz is VP of FIPNA. Mario Benitez, Michael Gary, and Morris Palevsky live in Amalgamated Houses. Sonia Lappin from Scott Tower and Carolyn Smith from Tracey Towers live just one small block away from the potential site where the DEP plans to blast.

THE BRONX COUNCIL FOR ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY (BCEQ), et. al v. THE NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION (DEP), et. al, (Index # 260287 of 2008) will be heard on September 3, 2008.

Check for updates at www.bceq.org.

~ Ivy

Dear In Need of Swim:

When New York City closes public beaches, they are doing it for your own health and safety — trust me it’s not because they want you to sweat off those few extra pounds. Most beach closing and advisories are the result of bacteriological contamination. Where does this bacteria come from? The biggest threat to our waterways is the City’s combined sewer and stormwater system where heavy rainfalls overwhelm the sewage plants and cause untreated sewage and stormwater to flow directly into our waterways. It only takes one-tenth of an inch of rain to cause this to happen. Do you want to swim alongside untreated sewage? Probably not, that’s why City Officials will sometimes see it fit to close beaches for health concerns.

The city tests most beaches for bacteria once a week and uses the results to determine if they are safe for swimming. According to a report from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which oversees bacteria testing in the city’s waterways, the city did not close any beaches due to water quality in 2007. However, it did issue 24 wet weather advisories which are pre-emptive warnings to the public to avoid the water after heavy rainfalls.

The city is working on making our beaches safer. Part of Bloomberg’s PlaNYC 2030 plan requires that 90 percent of the city waterways be clean enough for recreation use by 2030, and even though many BCEQers think it is not fast enough, it is a step in the right direction. As BCEQ modeled on the rooftop at St. Simon Stock, the city is working on increasing the number of green roofs and porous pavement through the five boroughs to help capture runoff in the sewers, or even before.

What can you do to help keep our beaches open on hot summer days? First you need to remember that whatever is discharged into the street or on the ground flows to a storm drain and eventually makes its way to the ocean. Therefore, next time you finish that candy bar make sure that wrapper ends up in a garbage can. Otherwise, next time you are swimming at Orchard Beach you may see it floating beside you. While you are at the beach help keep them clean by picking-up after yourself. It will take all New Yorkers working together to ensure that are waterways are safe for swimming and that are beaches are clean so that our families can continue to ensure the luxury of taking a dip at a local beach.

Ivy