Air
Air is one of the essentials for life, but pollution turns it into a threat to health and life. Air pollution is implicated in causing and exacerbating a variety of health problems, including asthma, heart disease, and birth defects. When people take unnecessary car trips, leave lights on, or set the thermostat too low in the summer or too high in the winter, they waste energy and create unnecessary air pollution which is a serious problem here in the Lehigh Valley.
The Alliance, the Bethlehem Partnership for a Healthy Community, Clean Water Action, and St. Luke’s Community Health Department, are working together to increase awareness of asthma and reduce Diesel pollution and ground-level ozone. More… →
Sustainability & Public Health
Let’s look at sustainability in terms of how our practices affect human health, both immediately and over the long term. Whether we call them health problems or environmental problems, though, the prescription for corrective actions is almost identical. The health lens is … more
Marcellus Shale – Background
Info from Wikipedia: The Marcellus Formation is a black shale formation found throughout the Allegheny Plateau, running across the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions of New York, in northern and western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, through western Maryland, and throughout most of West Virginia extending across the state line into extreme western Virginia. The Marcellus bedrock … more
Impacts of drilling in Marcellus Shale
In this section, we focus on the environmental impacts of drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale formations using the fracking or fracturing method (some background info is given on the Marcellus Shale page). Thoughts about use of the resultant … more
Childhood asthma is a serious problem in Lehigh Valley
For years the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has listed both Lehigh and Northampton counties among the worst in the U.S. for air quality, and one of the worst pollutants comes from Diesel engines: Both counties are among the worst 2 … more
CFLs and Mercury
A CFL contains a small amount of mercury, so it is important to be extremely careful if one breaks! Follow these instructions. It’s important to note that the amount of mercury in a CFL is far less than what would … more
If a CFL Breaks
Overall, using fluorescent lamps, including CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Lamps), reduce power consumption and the amount of mercury released from power plants. [See 'Mercury & CFLs'.] Even so, each CFL contains a small amount of mercury, so if it breaks, you … more
Marcellus Gas Leases in our State Forests
On Dec 2, 2009, FORESTcoalition@aol.com wrote: The Marcellus gas industry could be the economic salvation of rural Pennsylvania. It could sustain the economy of those townships for years to come. Although the Bureau of Forestry (BOF) conducted a large gas lease … more
The Drive-in Utopia is Closed
By Dennis R. Lieb — Is the planet trying to tell us something? Over the past two centuries it has given up its resources to us; at first freely, then more begrudgingly, and lately with great resistance and negative side … more
Working for a Sustainable Williams Township
By Alisa Baratta, Kathy Lilley, and Jennifer Petrozzo — The small, rural community of Williams Township has a 35-year history of residents fighting the corporate interests of a local landfill. Community members have been responsible for documenting and calling attention to … more
Green Buildings are Sustainable, High Performance Buildings
An ideal Green Building disturbs its environment as little as possible during construction and operation. Green Buildings use less energy and significantly less water resources to operate. Their roof and pavement runoff water is man-aged to reduce the impact on … more