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This website is authored by Lester Levy, Esq.
a founding member of JAMS.

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You are here: Home / Archives for environment

Leaving the EU would put our environment at risk

June 3, 2016 by Environmental ADR Editor Leave a Comment

Leaving-EU-environment-riskOn Thursday the Prime Minister will make the environmental case for Britain’s place in Europe. He is right to bring this important issue to the top of his agenda.

How nature is managed and protected affects us all, and the outcome of the EU referendum will have profound implications for the future of our countryside, wildlife, rivers and seas.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) will not be telling people how to vote, and we recognise that voters will be weighing up a range of issues when casting their votes on June 23.

But our supporters, staff and volunteers all share a concern for nature – David Cameron’s intervention should encourage everyone to put environmental considerations at the heart of the referendum debate.

The evidence shows that the EU, and the UK’s membership of it, has on balance had a positive impact on the environment in the UK, across Europe and indeed globally – from protecting forests and wildlife and preserving rare species to improving air and water quality, and cutting global emissions.

EU standards have safeguarded streams and rivers that are home to much-loved British wildlife such as water voles, kingfishers, brown trout, otters and the bittern. They have helped protect and restore precious heaths and woodlands that are essential for butterflies and bees. Read More

Read the entire article at The Telegraph.

This was originally published on The Telegraph written by David Nussbaum.

Filed Under: In the News Tagged With: Brexit, climate change, environment, EU Referendum

A Place Where Lightning Strikes Almost 300 Days a Year

June 3, 2016 by Environmental ADR Editor Leave a Comment

Venezuela-lightening-strikesThey call it “the Never-Ending Storm of Catatumbo,” or “Maracaibo’s Lighthouse.” Its lightning is so familiar, people in the state of Zulia in Venezuela even put it on their flag.

Less than half an hour after the first cloud forms, it starts to flash. It does this faster and faster — 200 flashes a minute is not uncommon. After that, the cloud becomes a giant bulb that lights up the night.

“You can read a newspaper in the middle of the night because it’s so bright,” said Jonas Pointek, a photographer who has documented the storms.

Locals in the area known as Lake Maracaibo, by the Catatumbo River in Venezuela, can expect a display of this sort during more than 80 percent of the year, mainly from April to November — an average of 297 days, to be exact, according to an analysis published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.

This was enough that NASA has declared the area the lightning capital of the world, dethroning Africa’s Congo Basin. The reason for the change: Sixteen years worth of data from the lightning sensors on a satellite allowed the team to analyze the numbers with unprecedented precision.

“Storm chasers have to drive down highways or up mountains,” said Alan Highton, of Catatumbo Camp, who has specialized in lightning tourism in the area for eight years. “But the unique thing about the Catatumbo is you can just sit there at our camp, drink a cold beer, and the storms will come to you.” He says the prettiest storms come in November, and according to the data, they peak in September. Read More

Read the entire article at The New York Times.

This was originally published on The New York Times written by Joanna Klein.

Filed Under: In the News Tagged With: climate change, environment, lightening, storm chasers

Oil company records from 1960s reveal patents to reduce CO2 emissions in cars

June 3, 2016 by Environmental ADR Editor Leave a Comment

oil-company-reduce-CO2The forerunners of ExxonMobil patented technologies for electric cars and low emissions vehicles as early as 1963 – even as the oil industry lobby tried to squash government funding for such research, according to a trove of newly discovered records.

Patent records reveal oil companies actively pursued research into technologies to cut carbon dioxide emissions that cause climate change from the 1960s – including early versions of the batteries now deployed to power electric cars such as the Tesla.

Scientists for the companies patented technologies to strip carbon dioxide out of exhaust pipes, and improve engine efficiency, as well as fuel cells. They also conducted research into countering the rise in carbon dioxide emissions – including manipulating the weather.

Esso, one of the precursors of ExxonMobil, obtained at least three fuel cell patents in the 1960s and another for a low-polluting vehicle in 1970, according to the records. Other oil companies such as Phillips and Shell also patented technologies for more efficient uses of fuel.

However, the American Petroleum Institute, the main oil lobby, opposed government funding of research into electric cars and low emissions vehicles, telling Congress in 1967: “We take exception to the basic assumption that clean air can be achieved only by finding an alternative to the internal combustion engine.” Read More

Read the entire article at The Guardian.

This article was originally published on The Guardian written by Suzanne Goldenberg.

Filed Under: In the News Tagged With: carbon dioxide, climate change, energy, environment

The Next Water Crisis Is Looming—How Can Tech Help?

April 14, 2016 by Environmental ADR Editor Leave a Comment

Next-Water-Crisis-LoomingHave you ever wondered if the water in your house is safe to drink? While many have been angered by the news that children in Flint, Michigan were exposed to abnormally high amounts of lead in their drinking water, clean water is actually a problem for millions of Americans.

Chicago is busy replacing 900 miles of hundred-year-old, potentially hazardous lead pipes, while Fresno is dealing with cancer causing chemicals in wells.

The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates US water infrastructure is nearing the end of its useful life and will need to be replaced, probably costing around a trillion dollars. And the Environmental Protection Agency estimates 16% of water is lost every year through old systems and that over the next 20 years water system upgrades will be a $200 billion market.

And of course, clean water is not only a US problem. Far from it.

Over 663 million people lack access to clean water worldwide. According to the World Health Organization, 1.6 million people die every year from diarrheal diseases due to a lack of access to clean water and basic sanitation. Ninety percent of those who die are children under five, the majority living in developing countries.

Water is not only essential for sanitation, drinking, and cooking but necessary for agriculture, industrial activities, recreation and healthy environmental ecosystems.

As the world’s population continues to grow and urbanize, and as the climate changes, the International Food Research Institute predicts that by 2050 more than 4.8 billion people and half the world’s global grain production will be at risk due to water stress.

Where access to this most valuable of resources is contested, conflict ensues. From Syria and Iraq to Peru and the Ukraine, water continues to play a pivotal and increasing role in conflict, and water-related conflicts have significantly escalated since the turn of the millennium.

The irony about the global water challenge is that we live on a planet awash in water, yet we can only utilize a tiny fraction of it in the form of accessible fresh water.

That’s where we believe new technology and innovation can help. Read More

Read the entire article at SingularityHub.

This was originally published on SingularityHub written by Darlene Damm and Nicholas Hann.

Filed Under: In the News Tagged With: environment, EPA, global water challenge, technology, water contamintation

Apple ‘Renews’ its environmental push

March 28, 2016 by Environmental ADR Editor Leave a Comment

Apple 'Renews' its environmental push

Apple ‘Renews’ its environmental push

Apple is ramping up its environmental push, including the creation of a robot that disassembles your old iPhone for easier reuse.

Two years ago, the tech giant said it wanted to be 100 percent energy-renewable in its worldwide operations. Currently, 93 percent of its facilities run on renewable energy, said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives. Jackson, who headed up the Environmental Protection Agency from 2009 to 2013, spoke Monday at the start of a product event at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California.

To get to this point, Jackson said the company built a 40-megawatt solar farm in China and built solar arrays in Singapore.

“Just like everything we do at Apple, when we think about the environment, we think about innovation,” Jackson said, ultimately plugging Apple Renew, a program where you can recycle devices for free in store or via the mail. “We want to change the world for the better. We think there’s no better challenge in the world than our changing climate.”

“We put an incredible amount of money into designing the best products in the world,” she added. We “put that same amount of energy into thinking about what to do when they can no longer be used.”

Jackson also introduced a robot named “Liam” who deconstructs old iPhones so parts can be repurposed. The company showed a short video of Liam taking apart an iPhone, from its display to the camera. The robot helps Apple separate silver, gold and platinum materials to either be recycled or discarded. Apple touts that Liam “can take apart 1.2 million iPhones a year.”

“There’s no other machine in the world that can do what Liam can do,” Jackson said. It “will help us make even bigger strides in the area of reuse and recycling.”

Read this entire article at cnet.

This was originally published on cnet written by Terry Colllins.

Filed Under: In the News Tagged With: Apple, Apple phones, eco-friendly, environment, recycling, renewable energy

How protecting the environment changes human nature

March 11, 2016 by Environmental ADR Editor Leave a Comment

protecting the environment changes human natureEstablishing nature preserves and other types of protected areas is one of the most common conservation strategies — and its benefit to the environment is clear. What’s less obvious, though, is how these protected areas affect the human communities nearby.

It’s an important question to consider, not only from a social standpoint, but from a conservation perspective as well: If a local community reacts negatively to the establishment of a preserve — which changes the ways in which they’re permitted to interact with the environment — it may be less likely that the protections will last or be successful in the long run.

Until now, it’s an issue that’s been poorly investigated. But a new study, published Friday in the journal Science Advances, may open the door to a new vein of research aimed at fostering greater understanding of the potential of protected areas for both environmental and human well-being. The study finds that protected areas may actually change the social structure of their associated human communities, inciting both higher degrees of cooperation and competition among community members — but with a net outcome that, in the right circumstances, can give a boost to overall social cohesion.

“This creative study provides some of the first experimental evidence showing that both negative and positive interactions can intensify after a cooperatively based human network is formed,” said Brian Silliman, a professor of marine conservation biology at Duke University (who was not involved with the new study) by email.

The new study, led by researcher Xavier Basurto, focuses on the social effects of marine protected areas off the coast of Baja California, Mexico.

“A lot of work has been done on the biological effects of marine protected areas, and much less work has been done trying to understand the effects that they have in fishing communities, or in the communities on the coastline that are influenced by marine protected areas,” said Basurto, an assistant professor of sustainability science at Duke University. Read More

Read the entire article at The Washington Post.

This was originally published in The Washington Post written by Chelsea Harvey.

Filed Under: In the News Tagged With: climate change, eco-friendly, environment, nature, nature preserves, protected areas

E-Commerce: Convenience Built on a Mountain of Cardboard

March 10, 2016 by Environmental ADR Editor Leave a Comment

Convenience Built on a Mountain of CardboardRuchit Garg, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, says that he worries that something isn’t right with his Internet shopping habit. With each new delivery to his doorstep — sometimes several in a day — he faces the source of his guilt and frustration: another cardboard box. Ruchit Garg, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, says that he worries that something isn’t right with his Internet shopping habit. With each new delivery to his doorstep — sometimes several in a day — he faces the source of his guilt and frustration: another cardboard box.

A handful of scientists and policy makers are circling the same question, grappling with the long-term environmental effect of an economy that runs increasingly on gotta-have-it-now gratification. This cycle leads consumers to expect that even their modest wants can be satisfied like urgent needs, and not always feel so great about it. The new arms race for Internet retailers is speed, making the old Federal Express commercial, “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight,” seem as quaint as delivery by horse and buggy. Amazon boasted in a news release in December about its “fastest order delivered to date” — a Miami customer’s craving for a four-pack of Starbucks vanilla frappuccino was sated in 10 minutes flat.

In 10 major regions, Google Express delivers in a little less than two hours from dozens of stores — including toys, drugs, hardware and pet supplies. Postmates, a San Francisco start-up, promises deliveries in less than an hour. It dropped off nearly one million packages in December. Read More

Read the entire article at The New York Times

This article was originally published on The New York Times written by Matt Rechtel

Filed Under: In the News Tagged With: cardboard waste, e-commerce, environment, landfills, poluutiion, sustainability

Groundwater in New York: A Threatened Resource?

March 4, 2016 by Environmental ADR Editor Leave a Comment

Groundwater in New York: threatenedNew York State residents have long enjoyed high quality, affordable potable water; the result of the State’s protected source waters and reservoirs, and robust testing and filtration programs. In fact, most New Yorkers have taken the quality of their potable water for granted. But in recent weeks two upstate New York towns – Hoosick Falls and Petersburg – have detected elevated levels of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in their drinking water supplies, leading state and federal authorities to warn residents against using tap water for human consumption.

There is no reason to believe that the elevated PFOA levels detected in the Hoosick Falls and Petersburg water supplies are indicative of a far-reaching problem with the safety of New York’s municipal water supply systems. However, given the recent tragedy in Flint, Michigan, where elevated levels of lead in the city’s water system were apparently ignored by city, state and federal regulators, and initial criticisms leveled by residents against the State for its response in Hoosick Falls, the State has sprung into action on several fronts. These actions may impact the operations of those providing private and public potable water as well as manufacturing companies throughout New York State whose operations have or may be impacting the quality of the water source.Read More

Read the entire article at Lexology.

This was orifginally published on Lexology written by Phillips Lytle LLP

 

Filed Under: In the News Tagged With: climate change, environment, Flint, ground water, New York, NYS, water contamintation

The Hidden Environmental Cost Of Almost Everything You Do Online

January 24, 2016 by Environmental ADR Editor Leave a Comment

Environmental-cost-social-media

It’s easy to understand the environmental cost of sending a letter. A tree is cut down to create the paper. A jet-fueled plane flies the envelope across the country. A postal service truck coughs out exhaust as the mail finally arrives at its destination.

Email, not so much.

“Most people literally just don’t think there’s an environmental cost,” social media researcher Danah Boyd told The Huffington Post’s Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani at the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland. “All they can think about is the silicon that goes into your device or, maybe, the lithium that goes into your battery.” [Read more…]

Filed Under: In the News Tagged With: cost efficiency, environment, green, responsibility, social media

Which State Cares Most About the Environment?

January 20, 2016 by Environmental ADR Editor Leave a Comment

Environmental AwarenessSeriously, what did we do before Google? Not only do we have information on virtually everything under, on and above the sun, but we also now have data and trends.

The folks at SaveOnEnergy have collected and mined this Google Trends Search Volume data – putting together this awesome infographic below titled  ‘Which States Care Most About The Environment?‘ which they’ve graciously shared with our readers.  Sharing is caring!

Ever wonder which U.S. state searches ‘how to recycle‘ most often? How about searching ‘how to reuse‘ most often?Well, now you have those answers!  Using Google Trends, SaveOnEnergy collected 12 months worth of commonly searched environmentally friendly phrases and terms. With that information, they were then able to gauge state-level interest in green activities such as; [Read more…]

Filed Under: In the News Tagged With: eco-friendly, energy efficient, environment, state

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About Me

lester-levy

I strongly believe in the value of mediation – said another way, environmental mediation really works. I would go even further: I believe that environmental disputes are perfectly suited to the mediation process – perhaps more so than any other area of legal practice. I have formed these views after mediating environmental cases for more than 20 years, throughout the United States, and having worked with thousands of lawyers, companies, insurance carriers, regulatory agencies and courts. My … Read more

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  • Leaving the EU would put our environment at risk

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