Planet in Peril will highlight selected issues its author encounters on a grass-roots level that are connected to the larger issues of environmental calamity now facing the human race and all other species on the planet.

      Initially we are posting information on environmental issues related to New York's Adirondack Park, because we have recently gained an awareness of various threats and regulatory problems not widely known.

      Future posts will address certain issues of the suburban environment on Long Island, NY with which we have become acquainted through first-hand experience.

      Some local environmental-type issues we have encountered are the delusional and legally deficient permission given a local firehouse to re-build at several multiples of size and capacity in a residential area HERE, the cancer-like growth of traffic and noise on a local secondary road, Glen Cove Rd. HERE, and the appalling reality of overdevelopment and loss of old growth hardwoods in established suburban developments like Roslyn HERE. The common denominator is bad local government, whether village or town, abetted by lax or missing state oversight, and neglect of quality of life and environmental issues in the public discourse. That includes the generally hamstrung local newspapers.

      Intermittently driving through various major highways around NY we became aware of the uncontrolled scandal of Roadkill and began taking photos and sympathetically removing animal remains. (1) Photos HERE and (2) HERE The state has many options in law and policy to reduce this tragedy, and we urge you to help lobby by contacting your state legislators and local media with these and other ideas:

• Make it illegal to deliberately strike an animal;
• Require payment of a wildlife fee in the event of a collision;
• Require motorists to report all incidents to police, thereby tracking this tragic issue and also deterring deliberate or consistently reckless behavior;
• Require and enforce slower speeds in deer zones and sensitive areas, at night, and by trucks at all hours;
• Reduce the speed limits in the Adirondack Park and Catskill Park and adequately enforce these laws; and
• Re-engineer highways and reduce dependence on vehicular traffic.

Richard Brummel, NY   email richard [at.] planet-in-peril [dot.] org   Feb. 4, 2012