Sunday, July 22, 2007
Green Stuff
This thread is for posts that are about positive actions we can take to help the environment. What organic farming measures do we have in the county? What construction has been done in a green way? What grocery stores are offering naturally grown products? Lots of people here care about the environment, and many are taking actions to make their personal lives considerate of sustainable practices. I know there are small farms here that offer eggs from free range chickens, baskets of produce in a coop way, and hormone-free, antibiotic free beef. Post any information you have about places to buy organic food (not WalMart organic -- real organic, the word's been co-opted). If you know of anyone who has used energy-efficient practices in building, tell us about it. Post about positive actions people have taken in this area. Post about incentives that are offered for people to do these things.
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15 comments:
Great idea, Alice!
Polyface Farm is fabulous. I highly suggest going to one of his lectures and reading his books for anyone interested in farming methods. The farm is also a wonderful source for meats, eggs and the like. Check it out here...
http://polyfacefarms.com/
While raw milk cannot be purchased in VA (something I would love to see changed...it's a long drive to PA to get it and I love supporting local farms), you can buy into a cow co-op at Hedgebrook farm. Check it out here...
http://www.hedgebrook.com/
I hope others post local sources too!
I know I love to sometimes smoke some green stuff...100 organic too!
In downtown Luray, on Main Street, across from the Luray Fitness Center, there is Apple Cottage. Apple Cottage has loads of pure organic foods, herbs of many types, essential oils, and bulk grains of many hard to get types. I make my own cleaning products because I'm very allergic, and I use the essential oils for that. Also, I make face creams and bath oils. There is an amazing array of types of hard to get organic foods in that store.
Alice
July 23 Monday night at 7pm in luray's town office there is going to be a planning commission mtg. ,to here comments on constucting a facility on stonybrook lane for Shenandoahs waste services, they recycle waste from emco ,premdor and other facility's this is a win win situation this will also help the county landfills longevity, also supply about 80 descent paying jobs ,plus help generate some money for the county lord knows we need it, anyone who cares about the enviroment,and the situation page county is in I would urge them to be at this mtg. and support this company's effort.
Jim, the county planning commission has scheduled a meeting at the same time and date. I've heard about Salyard's business. It sounds like exactly the kind of thing this county needs. I'll have to miss the town meeting, as I feel it is important to go to the county one. Maybe when the schedule changes in August this conflict won't arise. The county is going to talk about lights on cell phone towers. At the work session, the question came up: can we put a light on the cell phone tower that is at Page County High school, because the helicopters land there in emergencies and it's a hazard to have an unlighted cell tower.
This brought up the question of why we have an ordinance that says you can't put lights on cell phone towers. Which continued into a question of how high cell phone towers should be.
I don't want to turn my head and find out we just enacted a new ordinance that said cell phone towers can't be high enough to provide cell phone service.
Jim, post what happens at the Town meeting for us, and I'll post the county meeting.
Alice
Did you read the recent article in the Daily News Record, in the Agriculture section, where an organic farm, it may have been in Rappahannock County, used hay for mulch and contaminated many of their vegetable plants? This just raises the question as to how well is the organic farming managed and regulated. When you buy organic, you absolutely want it to be organic food.
That's a really tricky issue, Anon. There's a real problem with the regulation, too. The FDA isn't very good at regulating, whether it's due to understaffing or policy attitudes that don't actually believe in natural farming methods. Usually, when people think of organic farming, they mean "purely natural, with no chemicals used and no unnatural methods such as genetic engineering." But the rules set up by the FDA to call something organic don't really follow that thinking. So you can end up with industrial farming that is labeled "organic" but small farms that actually do use natural methods not being able to follow all of the rules and the processes that are required by the FDA, and not being allowed to call themselves organic. It's amazing how complicated this issue has become.
Specific rules governing tower lighting issues may be found on the FCC's web site (fcc.gov) and I have attached here a link to the Code Section which speaks to this subject. Basically, the Commission requires acceptable lighting of all towers over 200 feet in height above ground level. Mid-point lighting may also be required in certain instances. Lighting may be achieved with either of two methods (1) a white/strobe light (which is what we have in place in Luray at the WRAA-AM site, 1057 U.S. Highway 211 West) with varying degrees of intensity for daytime and nighttime visibility, and (2) a red, flashing light at night on towers with seven (7) corresponding white and red alternating bands on the full length of the tower. See
http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_06/47cfr17_06.html
then go to Section 17.21 for more info.
Localities may impose additional requirements above and beyond the FCC mandates but can NOT accept less.
Regarding the tower at Page County High School, it is owned by Shentel and serves primarily as a cell phone tower. Since it is under 200 feet in height, the owner has the option of lighting it or not. However, if the local governing body requires it to be lighted, compliance would most likely take place.
J.D. Cave, GM
Easy Radio, Inc.
WMXH-FM/WRAA-AM, Luray
July 23 Monday night I went to the town of Luray's planning commission mtg., there was a lot of support for the special use permit regarding Shenandoah Waste services, it was unanimously approved by the commission, and goes onto the town council for approval, I urge anyone who can go to go and support this venture. Look in the Page News and courier for date and time of mtg.
That sounds like a great business. I wish we could get more like that. This is the same business that the county planning commission forced to shut down for three or four months because they were located in the "wrong" place, right? We're lucky the company survived that and agreed to stay here.
Last night the county planning commission approved the lighting of the cell tower at Page County High School. This was a safety issue because the Pegasus helicopter uses that as a landing site. The issue was that the county has passed an ordinance that says cell towers CAN NOT be lighted, if they are under 200 feet high. So in order to light that tower for safety, Shentel had to ask for a special use permit.
The reason the county passed the "no lighting" ordinance is for "light pollution in the scenery."
So if a cell tower is 199 feet high, it needs to go before the planning commission and ask for special permission to be lighted to keep airplanes from hitting it.
Usually airplanes don't hit it unless it is in the path of the landing approach, but the problem that is arising is that we have a lot of helicopter landings now, and the helicopters land in 64 different potential landing sites in the county. This is the emergency helicopter.
Mr. Newton (Planning Commissioner) suggested that the solution to this problem might be to require the cell towers to be LOWER, rather than to light them, because the light is offensive in the scenery. Look for this to be a topic that is brought up at a future commission meeting.
Alice
PCW,
I would like to put in a plug for the county environmental services office. My guess is that Chris Anderson could use a little help to multiply her office's reach. If you think you might be interested you might want to give her a call and see if there is anything you might be able to do to help her. The number is (540) 743-4808.
FYI
Joining The Green Team
http://www.dnronline.com/news_details.php?AID=11390&CHID=1
Getting Help
www.dcr.virginia.gov.
Joy, I think the first link is no longer there, but the second link, to Virginia's Department of Conservation and Resources, has loads of important information. One I liked is the Stewardship Virginia project
http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/stewardship/svresourceguide.htm
This is a resource guide you can download that gives you ideas you can use in your own home, that will help you make YOUR place a more environmentally conscious area.
It has ideas on how to create a buffer around your land to protect waterways, how to handle invasive weeds, and other ideas about helping the environment that you can enact yourself.
Another thing it does is tell you how to get a Stewardship Virginia project going in the community. Volunteers work on the project, and the state will add it to their website, and also give thank you certificates signed by the governor to the volunteers.
This is the kind of environmentalism I personally support and would be involved in. I think people do care, do want their homes to be environmentally conscious, and will take voluntary measures when they can.
There is a lot of information on the DCR website about quality issues for the environment, and I strongly support people learning more about it and getting involved.
Alice
I know we are not allowed to question the environmental impact of the chicken houses out here, but I have been very concerned about both the content and effect of the litter spread on the land in terms of the possible toxicity of the grass / hay grown on that land, the effect on animals who eat the hay, and those who subsequently eat them, and especially how this practice might affect the water table. Any thoughts?
I think the chicken sold in the U.S. is toxic stuff. I'd pay three times more for chicken grown "organically". If we want "new business" in the county, why can't we have new, bio-friendly, organic, free range chicken farms? I think there are more and more people who would buy from them, if someone were to really focus on getting the business model for them together. We have people here who could do it, if there were a culture and a focus on it.
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