Planet in Peril: Every Lapse Adds To The Crisis

Act Locally. But Act!

5/14/13 -- STOP the Town of North Hempstead (NY) Plan to Kill up to 600 Geese!

The Town of North Hempstead (LI) recent contract with a federal wildlife-killing agency to round up and kill up to 600 Canada Geese in this area, recently revealed by Newsday, drew speakers from all across the region to a Town Board meeting Tuesday night 5/14/13.
SEE North Hempstead Geese Page Here
Town Supervisor Jon Kaiman and Council Member Angelo Ferraro promised to revisit the contract in light of the impassioned and authoritative testimony from wildlife advocates including Edita Birnkrant of Friends of of Animals, John DiLeonardo of Long Island Orchestrating for Nature (LION), the leaders of Stars on the Forest animal rehab center in Riverhead, several attorneys working on related issues, and many impassioned citizens including blogger Anthony Worgul of Massapequa.
But the officials made no promises, and refused to schedule a special meeting or give a deadline for their reconsideration, despite the fast-approaching time-window for the killing to take place when the geese are molting.
Our Strategy
LION is designated by GoosewatchNYC as the local organizer. They are Here. But we will also work either with them and in parallel.
We will ask for a public meeting with Jon Kaiman by Wednesday 5/22/13 at 10 AM to determine the progress of the official review of the goose-killing contract. If you wish to be included in the public meeting please send an email to rbrummel@att.net. See our flier and please distribute it Here
We will continue to update this issue here. Please have anyone interested in joining a mailing list send me their email address and/or their phone number. You should also contact LION at (516) 592-3722, and see GoosewatchNYC.com. Thanks. Richard Brummel

4/26/13 -- Stop Mineola (NY) from Cutting Down These Trees
The Village of Mineola, led by Mayor Scott Strauss, plans -- without telling anyone -- to destroy these eight healthy Sycamore trees (below) at Roslyn Road between Jerome and Jefferson Avenues. Certified arborist Richard Oberlander says there is NO JUSTIFICATION for removing these beautiful and iconic trees. Call the Village and tell them to STOP -- (516) 746-0750, Options #2, then #1. Join organizer Richard Brummel in protesting at the site, call (516) 669-1741. Attend the next Mineola village trustees meeting, May 1st at 6:30 PM at village hall. Help protect our environment and help preserve our wildlife's habitat.
UPDATE 5/1/13
Mineola and LIPA began cutting down the trees Tuesday morning 4/30/13. About five are now gone. we have appealed to outside public officials to pressure LIPA or Nassau County (which owns the road) to intervene. We appeared, along with arborist Richard Oberlander and local resident Laura Reil to appeal to the Village Board at their meeting Wednesday evening, to no avail. We had already submitted a quickly-gathered petition of three-dozen nearby residents who asked for a hearing at least before cutting down the landmark-trees Here, and a letter from Richard Oberlander, a highly experienced certified-arborist attesting to the apparent structural integrity of the trees Here. The Village Mayor, Scott Strauss, said there was an arborist opinion from LIPA, but when asked for a copy he claimed the opinion was only verbal and could not be provided. We distributed this flier describing a pattern of environmental failings in the Village with respect to trees Here. We now ask for ANY assistance in preserving the few remaining trees as of Thursday morning, 5/2/13. At very least please call Mineola at (516) 746-0750, press Option 2, Option 5.

3/24/13 -- Legal Effort to Stop Over-development and Habitat-destruction:
We Take Village of East Hills to Court Over Recent Building Approvals Click Here UPDATE 4/26/13 -- We filed extensive legal research confirming our right to sue and the rightness of our issues in response to the Village's surprising, vicious, ad hominem assault on us in their "Motion to Dismiss". The Court refuses to fast-track the decision and says we will need to wait about 60 days, despite the nature of the "Article 78" proceeding. Documents wil be posted here shortly.

Scenes from the Climate Change rally in Washington February 17, 2013. A massive, extraordinary effort by wonderful people to persuade President Obama to begin fighting Climate Change by refusing to approve the Canadian Tar Sands development pipeline, the Keystone XL pipeline. “Twenty years from now on President’s Day, people will want to know what the president did in the face of rising sea levels, record droughts and furious storms brought on by climate disruption,” the website 350.org quoted Michael Brune, Executive Director of the Sierra Club. Visit 350.org for more information. More original photos soon.

Massive, Approx. 125-year Old Tree in Mineola, NY, STILL at Risk of Developer's Saw (photo below)

Feb 10, 2013 -- We submitted a petition with 168 signatures we collected throughout the community of Mineola, 70% Village residents and others working or shopping there, to the Village Board last Wednesday, Feb. 6, urging them to take action to protect this massive Red Oak tree that an arborist proclaimed a very special specimen, unusual to find throughout the entire North Shore. He estimated it is 125 years old.

Two Village Trustees, Messrs. Werther and Pereira, said after the meeting they supported a Proclamation to try to protect the tree, and Mayor Scott Strauss said the issue remains under consideration. The next meetings of the Village Board are Feb 13 and Feb 20. We need more Mineola residents to speak up. If you wish to help please call me or email me -- Richard Brummel (516) 669-1741, rbrummel AT att DOT net.

This tree could face the same fate as countless others across our North Shore communities and be cut down by a profit-oriented developer, since it sits behind a foreclosed, boarded-up home, seemingly ready for demolition. The difference is that an environmental activist (me) saw the house and investigated, brought an tree expert into the picture, alerted the media and residents, and appealed to the powers that be. So far the public sentiment and media attention in The Mineola-American, Mineola Patch, and The Williston Times has not tipped the balance of standard "property rights" and "free market" arguments versus the interest of environmental and community preservation.

But we hope what seemed to be a strong consensus in Mineola in favor of protecting this tree -- and possibly other trees -- from elective destruction will make itself clearer before it's too late. Please help if you can! You can collect names on the petition etc. See contact info above. Thank you.

Massive 125-year-old tree in Mineola, NY, at risk of destruction by property-developer. See Text Above. (1/13/13)

Photo-Investigation of Tree-Falls in Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy, symptom of Global Warming, calls us to be more vigilant protecting the environment, and to question the hyped hysterical cash-based official responses. Localities like the Village of East Hills (where I live) are in panic mode and illegal tree cutting was rampant after the storm. The official response was largely non-existent, if not actually supportive based on an improperly declared "state of emergency". Now East Hills, and possibly other areas, want to suspend their tree protection completely. But we have documented that despite the power of that storm, few houses struck by trees were in any real danger Click Here, and our photo-investigation of fallen trees the day after the storm shows many if not most in East Hills had decayed trunks that could have been discovered by routine maintenance inspections, including core-sampling Click Here. Help!! Help organize Green Civic Associations: See our flyer Click Here

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East Hills Updates, 2/10/13:

More Tree Destructions. Ignoring and sidestepping the village Tree Protection laws, the Architectural Review Board (ARB) continues to unjustifiably and improperly permit developers to destroy East Hills' trees and tree-canopy. Despite our testimony, achieved after demanding the village disclose relevant files prior to the ARB meetings, and based on visits to the sites and conversations with neighbors, the ARB again on Monday 2/4/13 allowed developers at 31 Pinewood Drive, 27 Midwood Cross, and 205 Elm Drive to cut down trees as follows: 3 trees 10 to 12 inches in diameter, up to nine trees including ones 24, 48, and inches in diameter (and some unknown), and Oak, Beech, and Cherry trees 14 to 24 inches in diameter, respectively. We plan to file an appeal on this and other decisions Monday.

A massive nearly clear-cutting of about a dozen large trees was proposed for 70 Oak Drive in Country Estates, but it appears that after we publicized the story and went door-to-door speaking to neighbors, some behind the scenes pressure led the home-builder to reduce the number. He submitted a vague email to the village with little of the proper documentation, and seemed to tell the ARB in January that he "tried" to save some trees but the excavation destroyed them. This "accidental damage story is a construction-syndrome about which we have already demanded village action but which continues evidently unabated and unaddressed). The ARB was highly sympathetic in October to the Builder's request, but it seems delayed as of 2/4/13.

We viewed the trees prior to the Hurricane; not all were massive, but all, with the undergrowth, constitute a small "old-growth" habitat for animals. At least one neighbor was vehemently opposed, calling the proposal "murder". Her letter appeared in The Roslyn News Click Here.

Help us promote green policies AND clean government in East Hills, see our Informational Flier and Photo: Click here.

Note that in October we requested that residents be allowed to inspect trees proposed for destruction, particularly on large properties where developers plan to clear-cut deep into the property,prior to ARB hearings on the permits, in order to properly participate in the dialogue. But surprisingly our request was not even formally replied to. The ARB chairman simply told us after one meeting: the law can't permit it; but that turns law on its head -- law is designed to promote due process, not prevent it. See our letter.Click Here. Update -- All these applications were rubber-stamped by the ARB recently and we are in a court battle to stop them, see above. Judges refused emergency injunctions, so it appears the builders may proceed before the court acts. PLEASE HELP -- call (516) 669-1741.

East Hills Topics

East Hills Main Page Click Here.
OVERVIEW: Two years of fighting East Hills environmental offenses, in photos and reporting Click Here.
FALSIFIED RECORD: Nassau DA investigates East Hills posting of falsified hearing-transcript Click Here.
TREE MASSACRE: East Hills abruptly destroys apparently healthy trees -- including a 50-inch Oak -- at Village Park Click Here.
MEDIA COVERAGE: The Roslyn News features our petition to stop East Hills ecological degradation Click Here. Online article Click Here.

Regional Environmental Topics
LIPA BUTCHERS: Tree Destruction on Long Island Click here.
ADIRONDACKS: Fighting off Reckless New Development in the Age of Global Warming Click Here.
DEATH ON OUR ROADS -- ROADKILL: Shame!!! Rampant Death and Suffering Ignored and Trivialized Click Here.

Photo Investigation: LIPA Tree Butchery

View the ecologically criminal tree-destruction committed by LIPA,
the LI Power Authority, throughout western Nassau County including East Hills, Mineola, Herricks, etc.
Click here.

"Topping is perhaps the most harmful tree pruning practice known" (International Society of Arboriculture, Click here.)

"'Topping' is not an approved tree maintenance practice....[T]opping is harmful to trees" (New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC)), Click here.)

ADIRONDACKS UNDER ASSAULT

January 13, 2013 --

Adirondack News: We continue to follow the David and Goliath struggle launched by Protect the Adirondacks! and the Sierra Club to legally challenge the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) for approving a horrible MEGA-RESORT in the MIDDLE of the Adirondack Park. The latest news we learned is that a court date may arrive in the spring, while currently the environmentalists are piling on preliminary legal investigations to uncover illicit contacts between the developers and state officials who were sitting in judgement on the merits of the project. For current information visit the Protect the Adirondacks website Click Here. See the Protect the Adirondacks original Press Release


This is an issue we have fought hard, spending time trying to rally students upstate and in nearby Vermont. We also protested in chilly weather outside the Adirondack Park Agency headquartes in Ray Brook, NY (west of Lake Placid) during the final days of the decision process. (Our ski-masked photo circulated widely upstate.) While the state recently agreed to protect another large 70,000 acre part of the Adirondack Park, environmentalists argue that all of the Park remains under siege from potential development and the type of unreasonably hostile human-activity this Mega-resort project would create -- traffic, noise, lights, destroyed habitat, water pollution, etc. The evidence of this over-development is readily apparent. It is important to note that these forests are unusually healthy (though not completely so) as forests throughout the US and the World are ravaged by fire, drought, flooding etc. We must therefore work esecially to protect them, as they are that much more precious as Global Warming progresses. As we have told the APA, "The party's over." We must now emphasize preservation, not destruction.

We must press media like The New York Times and WNYC radio to cover it and alert progressives downstate.

See our Adirondacks pages Here.

Please write Governor Cuomo -- tell him the APA is way off-base -- Here.
Please contact your local media, and local state legislators. Thank you!


      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 posted information on environmental issues related to New York's Adirondack Park, because in 2010 we had gained an awareness of various threats and regulatory problems not widely known. (In 2012 they remain largely ignored outside upstate environmental circles!)

      Later topics included certain issues of the suburban environment on Long Island, NY with which we became acquainted through first-hand experience.

      Some local environmental slash Land Use issues we encountered were the delusional and legally deficient permission given a local firehouse in 2011 to re-build at several multiples of size and capacity in a residential area HERE; also, the cancer-like growth of traffic and noise on a local secondary road, Glen Cove Road, spanning Mineola, Carle Place, Old Westbury, Hills, Greenvale, Glen Head and Glen Cove, HERE; the appalling reality of overdevelopment and loss of old growth hardwoods in established suburban developments like East Hills, Roslyn Heights, unincoprtaed North Hepstead, etc. 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 empathetically removing animal remains. (1) Photos HERE and (2) HERE The state has many good options in law, policy and administrative practice to reduce this tragedy, so 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.
     Looking at these animals one knows they did not deserve to suffer the terror and pain in their death. Anyone who drives through areas containing wildlife -- whether suburban squirrels, opposums and raccooons, or rural deer, foxes, turtles etc. -- knows most of these animals try VERY hard to cross streets without encountering cars; they KNOW cars are dangerous. But when speed and lights confuse them, or they are pregnant or just waking in spring, they are unable to react and lose their lives brutally. They are not stupid; they are our neighbors and deserve our active protection. Note: All the animals pictured here were removed from the road and placed in a sheltered nearby resting place.

      We previously engaged in activism with respect to urban planning and preservation issues in two upstate NY communities, Potsdam and Massena, and we may integrate some of those materials here as well.

      Ultimately we subscribe to the dire warnings of organizations such as Earth Policy Institute in Washington DC (earth-policy.org) regarding climate change, overpopulation, degradation of natural and open-space resources, poverty and inequality, and other issues of global environmental importance.

      This website is an effort to influence local and regional policy issues that feed into the larger problems faced by the global environment -- and the grassroots constituency, a "silent majority" that is affected by them and can possibly be activated by their immediacy to take up larger issues.

      We remain however extremely pessimistic whether change of the magnitude necessary can occur without basic transformation of values and systems that govern human society, especially market-driven consumption.      

Link to Blue Planet: "Imperative to Act" A 2012 UN paper by global environmental
laureates James Hansen, Amory Lovins, Gro Harlem Brundtland, and others.

Link to Global Environmental News

Richard Brummel, East Hills, N.Y.   email Richard [at] planet-in-peril [dot] org
CALL ME -- (516) 669-1741   March 24, 2013