I've decided to start this diary to document my growing interest in environmental issues and perhaps even discuss where I stand on these issues. I hope to use current news sources as well as information that I've gleamed from my studies to present my own viewpoint. Not just another environmental diary because this is something I really want to do.
I'd like to start with a bit of background information on how I became interested in the environment.
When I was in the 4th or 5th grade, we talked about the environment in one of my science classes. The teacher didn't go too into depth on anything but there was discussion of composting and as a result, I convinced my father to set up a compost pile in our backyard. 18 years later, that very same compost pile still sits there and it has yielded rich soil that my father has used for his tomato and other small crops that he grows.
There was discussion about global warming as well but I don't remember exactly when I first heard the term (possibly as early as 1995?). I didn't really think much about the environment and I focused mainly on computer science. I think the biggest turning point came for me in 2006 when I grew incredibly bored with computer science and started taking a stronger interest in recycling at my job at the time. They started up a "green team" and the company was hard at work to try and reduce their carbon footprint through recycling and reducing the amount of material that they used. This, plus Al Gore's book, "An Inconvenient Truth" are what started to push me on a path towards environmentalism. I finished up my studies at the Community College of Vermont and just last fall, I registered at the University of Vermont in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. Since then, I have been taking courses that not only fascinate me, but have helped me gain a greater understanding of local and international environmental issues.
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Now, here's a local issue that concerns me: State environmental lab could be closed. According to this article, the Douglas administration has proposed to shut down the state environmental laboratory as part of next year's budget cuts. Some of the work the state does would be discontinued and rest would be sent to private labs, most likely out of state.
I feel that this is a horrible move. Despite the size of the lab (6 employees), it is critical that the state monitor the environment. According to Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Laura Pelosi,
shutting the lab down would save $700,000 next year, the same amount the department has been asked to cut from its budget as the state faces a $201 million budget gap. The department is also targeted for up to 25 job cuts.
Is it really worth it in a time of environmental turmoil to shut down a lab and cut up to 25 jobs just to save a measly $700,000? Governor Scissorhands knows how to keep those scissors of his busy by cutting the "fat" out of the wrong departments. Hey Jim, how about them jobs? It's more like "Jim = Job cuts for all Vermonters".
This lab is critical to the state of Vermont because it does routine and emergency testing of water, soil and air. For example, after a train wreck in Middlebury in 2007, the lab was able to provide immediate test results for gas contamination in the Otter Creek. Analyst Walter Zorn contends that private labs could not offer the same turnaround rate as the state lab. Pelosi has stated that the state may have to pay more money to private labs to get faster results.
To me, it sounds like this will end up costing the state of Vermont more money in the long run and that keeping the state lab open would be more cost effective in the long run. There are certainly other ways to save money and environmental monitoring should not be eliminated in favor of saving money. For far too long, people have put the needs of the economy ahead of the environment and often with dire consequences.
I will write more diaries focusing on environmental issues, mainly in the state of Vermont for now.