Extreme Weather
Environment Gail Gentes Environment Gail Gentes

Extreme Weather

It is almost impossible to read or listen to the news without hearing about lives being disrupted and homes and businesses being destroyed by extreme weather events.     Whatever one’s thoughts are about Climate Change there is no doubt that there is an increasing amount of extreme weather.  Recently I heard an amazing statistic:  In the last 20 years there have been 8 or 9 FEMA incidents in the Hanover area (FEMA is the Federal agency charged with responding to natural disasters), while in the prior 50 years there had been only 3.

Read More
The Mighty Oak
Environment Judith Pettingell Environment Judith Pettingell

The Mighty Oak

How prescient William Davies’ 1913 poem, "The Old Oak Tree," is when we look at the climate of our earth today! William Davies’ poem’s first stanza reads:

I sit beneath your leaves, old oak,

you mighty one of all the trees;

And his last stanza reads:

To lie by day in thy green shade,

and in thy hollow rest at night;

and through the open doorway see

The stars turn over leaves of light.

The “mighty” oak has in fact become one of the biggest heroes of today’s positive climate change strategies.

Read More
Decarbonizing Concrete
Environment Sustainable Hanover Environment Sustainable Hanover

Decarbonizing Concrete

Most people don’t realize that concrete accounts for 7 percent of all greenhouse emissions.  It does so in two ways.  First, the chemical transformation of limestone into cement, the main ingredient in most concrete, emits carbon dioxide.  Second, this chemical process requires a very hot kiln, almost always using fuel that emits carbon dioxide. This is bad news given how widely concrete is used in our buildings and infrastructure.  The good news is there are a growing number of ways to significantly reduce its carbon emissions and even use new mixtures of concrete to store carbon removed from the atmosphere. 

Read More