The town’s valuable open space, learning how to compost, or showing off a hat made of recycled materials, there will be no shortage of ways to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day in Greenwich.

My service as chairman of the General Assembly’s Environment Committee provides a great opportunity to improve the quality of our lives. The work of the Environment Committee in the current legislative session has just ended with some good results.

The Rockfall Foundation will recognize the outstanding volunteer service of four Middlesex County residents at its 75th Anniversary dinner celebration, “75 Years Green.. and Growing,” to benefit the Green Grants Program at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, May 6, 2010, at the RiverHouse at Goodspeed Station in Haddam, Connecticut. Katchen Coley, Raul de Brigard, Jeanne C. Dilworth
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The third planet. The blue planet. Our Earth. On Thursday, we celebrate Earth Day to promote awareness and appreciation of our environment. In our Last Green Valley, we celebrate a special environment. Our forests produce enough oxygen for 8.3 million people each year. The region remains 78 percent forest and farmland, and creates the third
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MADISON — The Trust for Public Land must raise $650,000 in the next three weeks, or the Griswold Airport purchase may not go forward.

Sherman First Selectman Andrea O’Connor said her town’s proposed $12,414,432 budget for the fiscal year starting in July would boost taxes by 3 percent, partly because of the financing for capital projects, including a renovated fire house, a proposed library expansion, the reconstruction of a bridge and the purchase of open space. via Sherman Board
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Danbury is buying the Farrington land along Mill Plain Road in Danbury. Its 192 acres of open land along Mill Plain Road, west of the plaza with Starbucks.  The purchase will cost the city $1.6 million, with the money coming from the city’s $6.6 million open space fund. Read  Danbury to preserve ‘entryway into the city’
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Gov. M Jodi Rell has announced that funds are available to assist cities and towns and land conservation organizations with the purchase and preservation of open space lands through the state’s Open Space and Watershed Land Acquisition program. The deadline for applications is Monday, May 3, 2010. Be sure to use the application dated January,
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Legislative Office Building, Hartford, March 22, 2010 — The Legislature’s Environment Committee at the urging of Committee Co-Chair Senator Edward Meyer (D-12th District) voted unanimously on Friday to approve Bill No. 5417. The bill provides substantial improvements in the process and oversight for identifying and acquiring land to meet the State’s open space goals. Connecticut
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In a city with a reputation for concern about the environment and preserving open space, a proposed community garden is drawing hostility and opposition from nearby residents. What gives? And in one of Connecticut’s most urban cities, Bridgeport, which already has 20 such farming outposts, proponents of a new community garden at a North End
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Below is a summary of the 14 workshops currently scheduled for the two afternoon break out sessions for our upcoming Smart Growth Conference on March 18.  You will have your choice of attending one workshop during each session.  There may be some unforeseen changes and/or adjustments to the workshops over the next ten days but
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Someone sent an e-mail to the environmental community yesterday stating that Bill 5124, An Act Limiting the Idling of Motor Vehicles, never made it out of the Environment Committee. This sounded like very bad news to me, who believes that air quality is one of the most important issues facing us, along with water quality
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The DEP is celebrating the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, in part, with web pages that offer a comprehensive listing of Earth Day activities around the state. Visitors are also encouraged to look at the timeline showing Connecticut’s top 40 environmental accomplishments in the past 40 years and our schedule of events at the State
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I’m not sure what prompted this editorial that gives a run down on Claire Bennitt’s resume and concludes: “Although Bennitt has retired, her work lives on at the authority, which protects and provides water to 15 south-central Connecticut towns as well as communities in the lower Naugatuck Valley.” The editorial begins like this: “There is
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HARD TIMES: COMMUNITY SELF-RELIANCE ::: The 4th Open Space Community Think Tank Building & Housing, sponsored by Transition Greater New Haven, Saturday, March 27, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Common Ground High School, New Haven. We are in a time of TRANSITION “When the rug is pulled out from under our feet, how do we
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Brooklyn, Conn. — The newly formed Agriculture Commission wants to devote a portion of the municipal budget to establish an open space fund. It has been brainstorming ways to promote open space and farming and came up with the idea of adding $1 per person in the budget toward a designated fund for open space.
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Gail Rigney, the town’s parks and recreation director and a member of the Conservation Commission, suggests a small project that won’t cost the town a lot and will benefit the people – for example, conserving the woods as open space and creating a small public access park for bird-watching, fishing and picnics. via Preston takes
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Return of Great Park Pursuit for 5th Consecutive Year Environmental programming at State Capitol on April 22 The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Amey Marrella and U.S. EPA-New England Administrator Curt Spalding today announced the opening of registration for the Great Park Pursuit and plans for Connecticut’s celebration of the 40th Earth Day.

Climate change threatens to further imperil hundreds of species of migratory birds, already under stress from habitat loss, invasive species and other environmental threats, a new report released today by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar concludes. The Connecticut chapter of the National Audubon Society pointed out in a statement released today that the report
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The first in the series of interactive public workshops regarding the town’s Plan of Conservation and Development recently asked residents what was most important to save and protect. Was it historical structures, natural resources, open space, none of the above, or all three? The next meeting in the series, to be held at 7:30 p.m.
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