MAKING THEIR CASE: Members of the Coalition of Alabama Students for the Environment (CASE) at the University of Alabama (UA) announced a drive to boycott UA services should the school allow some land it owns near Cordova to be leased for the proposed Shepherd Bend coal strip mine. The group made the announcement during a press conference held on the UA campus in Tuscaloosa Monday, November 15. The university has leased its land to coal companies in the past and, in fact, has an active mine, the Haley-Brothers University Pit in Marion County, according to CASE. According to Elyse Peters, a University sophomore and member of the UA Environmental Council, “President Witt alleged the University has ‘managed . . . 30,000 acres . . . in a good, social and environmental, manner,’ but how much faith can we have in those words with an active strip mine already on UA property?” CASE announced a pledge drive to start a student boycott of UA services should the administration approve the use of its land for the mine. “We’re here to tell the administration not to stake its pride to something as clearly damaging as the proposed mine at Shepherd Bend,” Peters said. For more information, visit www.casealabama.lifeyo.com. AM
TAKE UP THY BURRITO AND WALK: Birmingham civic group Catalyst and the Freshwater Land Trust (FWLT) will host the next installment of Green Third Thursday, which will focus on the FWLT’s Our One Mile greenways project. The FWLT wants public input at meetings like this one regarding the best places to establish these greenways. The event will take place at Arlington Home and Gardens, 331 Cotton Avenue, on Thursday, November 18, from 5:30-7 p.m. Our One Mile is funded by the Jefferson County Health Action Partnership, which received federal funding this spring to combat obesity and improve tobacco cessation efforts in the county. Our One Mile, it is hoped, will improve the community’s health by creating a comprehensive greenway master plan, including numerous trails. This would make it easier for residents to walk and bike. For more, visit www.freshwaterlandtrust.org/ our-one-mile. JC
MAKE MINE SUSTAINABLE: The Alabama Sustainable Agriculture Network (ASAN) will present its annual Alabama Food and Farm Forum, which brings together people who grow or seek to promote good local food in the state, at Wallace State Community College in Selma, December 2-4. ASAN is a network of farmers, consumers and agriculture-related organizations that seek to promote sustainable agriculture. The Forum will include local farm tours, workshops, speakers and sessions regarding community wealth creation, farm and food policy, energy and sustainable farming innovations. There will also be a film screening. The All-Alabama Dinner-Fest on Friday, December 3, will feature civil rights pioneer Amelia Boynton Robinson. For details, including information about costs, registration and a limited number of scholarships, call (205) 789-5934 or visit www.asanonline.org. JC
HALLOWEEN AIN’T OVER: The eco-group Environment America last week offered their list of the “Top Ten Frightening Facts about Alabama’s Rivers” (playing, somewhat belatedly, a Halloween riff). “Industrial waste, reckless strip mining and city pollution are all haunting the health of Alabama’s rivers,” according to Heather Emmert, the group’s organizer in this region, in a news release. Among the 10 frightening facts is the presence of numerous animal feeding lots in the state that produce millions of tons of animal waste. If that waste is not properly disposed of, according to the release, it ends up in our waterways. The group also states that 61 percent of streams in Alabama are at risk of losing their federal Clean Water Act protections because of some recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions. Another scary fact—over 2.5 million Alabamians get their drinking water from sources fed by streams that may no longer be protected by the Clean Water Act. But wait, there’s more—the Black Warrior River watershed has over 50 abandoned underground mines designated as acid-mine drainage sites. Some tributaries of the river are, the release says, biologically dead because of toxic materials leached into the water by strip mining. Don’t miss the other six pieces of depressing news. To read the report, go to www.environmentamerica.org/clean-water/top-ten-frightening-factsabout-alabama-rivers . JC
GOING EPIC: If you’re looking for an epic adventure, look no further than Oak Mountain State Park. The International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA) recently assigned the Red Trail at Oak Mountain State Park EPIC status, meaning that it is “a compelling ride of 25 miles or more.” The announcement was made at a recent dedication ceremony for a new section of Lake Trail, which includes a 65-foot bridge spanning the spillway dam at Double Oak Lake. According to Mark Easterwood, Alabama State Parks Director, “We are… grateful to the IMBA for giving us EPIC status and look forward to showing riders from across the country what our trails have to offer.” For more information, visit www.outdooralabama.com. AM
BEAK JOBS: In what might be a sign of environmental decline, the beaks of Alaskan birds have started to deform at an alarming rate over the last decade, according to a report at www.wired.com. One in 16 crows and black-capped chickadees now suffer from avian keratin disorder, which causes their beaks to grow irregularly. The sudden preponderance in the population of birds is 10 times its normal rate. However, the truly unusual thing about the outbreak is that no one is quite sure where it came from. Heavy metal and toxins in the local environment have been known to cause localized outbreaks in the past, but the birds affected in Alaska are extremely spread out, living in different habitats and consuming different foods. While the explanation is still hazy, there is certainly something rotten in the state of Alaska. AM
NOT QUITE ESA: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) recently released its Candidate Notice of Review, a yearly appraisal of the current status of plants and animals considered candidates for protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Candidate species are plants and animals for which the Service has enough information on their status and the threats they face to propose them as threatened or endangered, but do not because of higher priority listing actions. Although candidate species do not receive protection under the Endangered Species Act, the Service works to conserve them all the same. Five new species have been added to this list, and four have been given a change in priority, one higher and three lower, while only one species has been removed from the list. In all, 251 species are now recognized by the FWS as candidates for protection under the ESA. According to acting FWS director Rowan Gould in a news release, “We will continue working to reduce the number of candidate species by developing conservation agreements that reduce or eliminate the threats they face and by listing species that warrant protection under the ESA as soon as possible.” For more information, visit www.fws.com. AM
Jesse Chambers is a Birmingham Weekly contributing editor, and Andy McWhorter is a Birmingham Weekly intern. Send your comments to jesse@bhamweekly.com or editor@bhamweekly.com.
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