Environment
WIPP: Safe Havens Increases Underground Safety
Safe havens provide life-saving shelter for underground workers in the event of an emergency. Courtesy photoWIPP News:
The WIPP site has made significant safety improvements. Recently, eight underground safe havens (or refuge chambers) were delivered to the site and will be downloaded into the WIPP underground prior to the restart of waste disposal operations.
The safe havens are about 28 feet long, 8 feet wide and 7.25 feet high and weigh approximately 19,000 pounds.
Each unit is equipped to house 20 people for at
Public Invited To Trails Webinar Thursday
COMMUNITY News:
All interested community members are invited to “The Role of Trails in Healthy Community Design” – a live webinar from American Trails 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 3 at the Los Alamos Nature Center, 2600 Canyon Road.
The webinar will begin promptly at 11 a.m. and attendance is free.
American Trails is a national trails education and advocacy non-profit. The webinar presenter will be Mark Fenton, a transportation, planning, and public health consultant, author, PBS television host,
Read More Local To Global: How Los Alamos County’s Good Government Helps Mitigate Climate Disruption
By JODY BENSONLos Alamo Sierra Club
The United Nations initiated their Climate Talks in Paris Monday despite the Daesh/ISIS attack Nov. 13.
The refusal to postpone the international meeting accentuates the fact that the world thinks the climate issue is at least as important (or even perhaps what exacerbates) terrorism. Most leaders recognize climate as the most critical concern humans will confront into the next century. Actually, these leaders recognize that this is the most critical issue for humans right now.
We in Los Alamos know first hand about how climate change has disrupted Read More
Udall Statement On New Mexico Unit Agreement
U.S. Sen. Tom UdallSENATE News:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement Monday, Nov. 23, on the Secretary of the Interior’s decision to further evaluate the impacts and costs of any potential New Mexico Unit Agreement to the Central Arizona Project:
“Today’s decision means the Interior Department will move forward with a legally required process to establish a framework for federal participation to study the environmental cost of diverting water from
SFI Seminar: ‘Garden – As Symbolic Link Between City And Nature’ 3:30 p.m. Today
Curtis Carter, Marquette UniversitySFI News:
Santa Fe Institute (SFI) seminar “Garden: As Symbolic Link Between City And Nature” is set for 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 1, at Noyce Conference Room in Santa Fe.
Abstract: My topic for discussion will address a particular issue: the role of garden as a symbolic link between nature and urban environments. Garden is one of the elements that significantly enhances the aesthetics of a city environment. Yet this element has received relatively little attention in philosophical aesthetic theory.
This
Smart Grid Demonstration Project Update Dec. 2
SIERRA CLUB News:Was yours one of the households that participated in the photovoltaic/micro-grid project? Would you like to see the date and discuss the future of possible projects?
Los Alamos Department of Public Utilities Manager Tim Glasco will discuss the U.S.-Japan Demonstration Smart Grid Project that was undertaken in Los Alamos.
Project partners included Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the DPU.
Through the construction of a micro-grid on North and
Udall, Heinrich Welcome Passage Of New Law To Foster Innovation, Increase Competitiveness Of U.S. Space Industry
U.S. Sen. Tom Udall
U.S. SENATE News:
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich praised passage of the U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act to modernize commercial space regulations and encourage competitiveness in the industry.
Udall and Heinrich are longtime champions of modernizing U.S. policies governing commercial spaceflight. The bill, which President Obama signed last week, provides an essential legal framework that will enable New Mexico’s commercial spaceflight industry to grow in the years ahead.
U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich
The new law will Read More
Prescribed Burns On Santa Fe National’s Forest Jemez And Cuba Ranger Districts During December
SFNF News:SANTA FE ― Fire managers on the Santa Fe National Forest are planning to conduct three pile burns on the Jemez and Cuba Ranger Districts sometime between Nov. 30 and Dec. 30.
That window is dependent on the amount of snowfall on the ground as well as other favorable conditions, including fuel moisture levels, air quality and weather forecasts, and may be extended into 2016.
Once ignitions begin, they are expected to last two to three days.
The planned prescribed burns will treat:
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486 acres in Joaquin Canyon eight miles
Learn About Longest-Running Citizen Science Project In The World 7 p.m. Tuesday At Nature Center
Mouser Williams. Photo by Minesh Bacrania
PEEC News:
Local wildlife photographer, birder and occasional electrical engineer Mouser Williams will give a presentation at the Los Alamos Nature Center at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 1 about the National Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count program.
The talk will cover the historical origins of the bird count, how it has grown in the last 116 years, and how scientists take advantage of such a rich database of bird population data. The Christmas Bird Count is coming to Los Alamos for the first time since 1953, and Dr. Williams will explain how our Read More