Since 1978, when Connecticut began its Farmland Preservation Program, the state has purchased the development rights on 280 farms, which means that farmers can continue to farm the land or sell it someday, but never for development.

Why does New York Governor-Elect Andrew Cuomo want to shut down Indian Point nuclear power plant? He claims it is unsafe, a target for terrorists, and that replacement power can be found without short-or-long-term consequences. Gwyneth Cravens and Dan Yurman report from the Idaho Samizdat blog via The Energy Collective.

Dominion has restored power to the Unit 2 reactor at Millstone Power Station after shutting it down to replace a leaky valve.

Environmentalists are uniting in opposition against GE’s latest cleanup proposals for the Housatonic River — to create three PCB dumping sites in South County.

The EPA has released draft voluntary guidelines to help communities protect the health of students and staff from environmental threats when selecting new locations for schools, which, historically, have been located in areas with the most air pollution — next to major roadways.

Connecticut’s environmental watchdog panel says the state does not know how much open space or wildlife habitat it has and is relying on outdated data to make critical decisions about preservation or development. Christine Woodside reports for the The Connecticut Mirror.

The Augusta Simon Homestead, circa 1860, named for the artist who painted under the name of Grandma Moses has been certified LEED Gold under the Green Business League assessment and Green Home Certitifion Program. The home is rich in history from tales for helping people during the Civil war, like old rooms in the basement
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CTLCV has received a three-year grant of $150,000 from Newman’s Own Foundation in support of the CTLCVEF Transportation Program and Kirsten Griebel has joined the organization as program director.

Government leaders from Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas have started their own coalition to harness private investment in their fight against global warming. The nonprofit organization, called R20, was launched Tuesday at the conclusion of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s third and final climate summit in California.

Even with Connecticut facing a multibillion-dollar deficit next year, it’s in the state’s best interest to borrow $80 million to buy more new train cars for Metro-North, according to Gov. M. Jodi Rell.

Are wind turbines really that noisy? I’ve been at the base of the one at Phoenix Press in New Haven and can’t hear a thing, and it has always been spinning when I’ve been there.

To help bring new farmers to the fields, CT NOFA is launching its New Connecticut Farmer program, supported in part by a USDA Beginning Farmer grant in collaboration with NOFA NY and other NOFA chapters. Read more about this initiative from Bill Deusing inside.

The Simsbury Recycling Committee presented this year’s annual Recycling Awards to the Simsbury High School Environmental Club and its faculty adviser Robert Avery, and to the Lichtenberger family at the Nov. 8 Board of Selectmen meeting. Mr. Avery and the Environmental Club work to expand recycling at Simsbury High School, participate in town clean up
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The debate over the proposed Hartford-New Britain busway intensified Friday following remarks by Mayor Timothy Stewart and Jack Miller, president of Central Connecticut State University Thursday evening. The project had its impetus in a 2001 regional transportation study that identified long-term benefits of a busway that would reduce traffic volume in central Connecticut. via Busway
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The Eleanor Buck Wolf Nature Center received a Thundercloud Purple Leaf Plum Tree for winning a Water Conservation Award from the Wethersfield Green Summit Committee. The committee sponsored a “Conservation Challenge” to encourage residents, businesses, churches, schools, and municipal buildings to conserve water and electricity. The Nature Center conserved the most water compared to the
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The heat radiating off roadways has long been a factor in explaining why city temperatures are often considerably warmer than nearby suburban or rural areas.

A team of engineering researchers from the University of Rhode Island is examining methods of harvesting that solar energy to melt ice, power streetlights, illuminate signs, heat buildings and potentially use it for many other purposes.

The Third Annual Fairfield County Green Coast Award winners were announced at an event that took place at the Stamford Marriott Hotel & Spa and kicked off The Annual Green Faire Business to Business Expo and Green Drinks Reception.

Cornwall is the first town in Connecticut and one of only three communities on the Eastern Seaboard to earn Green Power Community (GPC) designation. GPCs are towns, cities, counties or Native American tribes in which the local government, businesses, and residents col­lectively buy green power in amounts that meet or exceed the EPA’s Green Power
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LVI Services, the environmental contractor performing the project for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, recently led reporters and officials onto the beach to watch a house being torn down. Some 37 cottages will be removed from the 37-acre beach. The number is not clear because some have been destroyed in a series of fires.
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November 15 was America Recycles Day, which was created in 1997 by the Stamford, Connecticut-based environmental group Keep America Beautiful. It is the only nationally recognized day dedicated to the promotion of recycling programs in the United States.