Buckeye Forest Council announces...

Our good friend Barbara Lund, Save Our Shawnee Forest, has scheduled three hikes in the Woodland Altars forest which will be held Sundays – March 22nd, 29, and April 5th from 1:00 – 4:00 rain or shine. Woodland Altars is located at 33200 Ohio Route 41 north of Peebles in Adams County, Ohio. Participants should meet at the lodge parking area and wear appropriate footgear and clothing.
Come early and view maps and photographs.

Hike leaders include:
March 22nd – Paul Knoop
March 29th – Martin McAllister
April 5th - Brian Truitt

There are five major loop hiking trails, four through hilly forestland and one in a large prairie. The trails vary from ½ to 1 ½ miles in length and are easy to moderate difficulty. Depending on weather and trail conditions part or all of one loop will be covered on each hike.

About recent logging at the Woodland Altars, in a February 12 letter to the editor in The People’s Defender Paul Knoop wrote “…over the years I have observed numerous Boy Scout camps and other outdoor education facilities cut their large, old trees. Formerly these cut areas were dark and green and cool and lush with beech ferns, club mosses and the song of deep woodland birds. Now, after cutting, these areas are a tangle of Multiflora rose, scattered small trees and scars from the logging operation. In almost every case the money derived from the harvest was a short-term fix and the affected agency regretted the loss of their best trees. It must be remembered that once 100-year-old trees are cut it takes a full human lifetime to replace them. Several generations of children (and adults) will not see the big trees ever again.

I also want to dispel the myth that the forest will deteriorate unless it is managed by humans. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Forests left to their own devices will do perfectly well just as they did prior to humans arriving on the scene. Forests in wilderness areas, state parks and preserves and other "no cut" areas continue to be healthy and viable.”

Toledo will support Earth Hour 2009

CITY OF TOLEDO ANNOUNCES IT WILL SUPPORT WORLD WILDLIFE FUND'S EARTH HOUR 2009

Joins Tens of Millions in Turning Off Lights for Largest Climate Event in History

The City of Toledo announced today it will officially support Earth Hour 2009, a global climate event led by the World Wildlife Fund. More than 240 cities around the world have already committed to go dark for one hour on March 28, 2009 at 8:30 p.m., as tens of millions of people from all corners of the world unite in a call for global action on climate change.

Today, Mayor Finkbeiner released the following statement - "Toledo is known all over the world as one of the leading producers of clean, green, renewable alternative energies, and our participation in Earth Hour reflects our commitment to energy efficiency and natural resource conservation. We are proud and honored to be part of this international effort to raise awareness about climate change."

From Amman to Warsaw, city skylines will go dark for one hour as individuals, businesses, government buildings, schools and major landmarks turn off non-essential lighting in what will be the largest climate event in history. The list of participating cities in the US includes Atlanta, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami and Nashville with more signing up every day.

"World Wildlife Fund is pleased that Toledo is taking part in Earth Hour 2009. As lights go out in cities around the U.S. and the world on March 28th, Earth Hour will provide world leaders with an unmistakable mandate to take action," said WWF President and CEO Carter Roberts. "The climate crisis threatens the ability of our planet to support its inhabitants. We want the world to know that Americans care about saving the planet and stand united in seeking to find solutions to climate change."

During Earth Hour 2008, more than 50 million people in 400 cities on all seven continents turned off their lights as major icons also went dark, including the Sydney Opera House, the Coliseum in Rome, Stockholm's Royal Castle, the Empire State Building and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Google turned its homepage black for an entire day in tribute.

The City of Toledo is asking all citizens, businesses, and organizations to turn off all non-essential lighting for one hour on March 28, 2009 between 8:30 - 9:30 PM. The City of Toledo also encourages citizens and businesses to commit to actions they can take in the coming year to reduce their carbon footprints and conserve energy.

The re-awakening begins...

I've started out with a new template, changed the links around a bit and now I'm working towards adding the content that will focus on Toledo with some other interesting tid bits now and then. There are so many releases that I get that at times are not politically related but that might be of interest that I plan to list those here.

This is also a place for me to focus on some of the things that matter to me, like 1Matters and some of the other community things that I get involved with. Take now as an example, a few of us are working on the concept of a street paper with the goal of getting some of our local homeless involved in the writing of the paper as well as giving them a chance to sell the paper. Other cities have been successful in this type of a endeavor.

Perhaps time to re-awaken

I'm still debating what I can do with this blog, I'd like to re-awaken it in a bit of a different format than the political version, with a focus on local community events, but unfortunately I haven't found the time to start.

So, perhaps I need to either do it or forget it..