Category Archives: Environment

Image

A New Champion Tree Recognized In The City of Clayton

Photo by MDC Staff, courtesy Missouri Department of Conservation.

The State Champion Tree Program, administered by the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC), recently certified an Ohio buckeye (Aesculus glabra) tree located in the City of Clayton. The program recognizes Missouri’s largest native trees by species.

The new champion in the contest for the Show-Me-State’s finest trees is an excellent specimen. The tree resides on private land and measures 153 inches in circumference at 4.5 feet off the ground, 81 feet tall and has a whopping spread of 56 feet.

See more from the MDC notification below.

Continue reading

Image

Society of Environmental Journalism’s Peter Dykstra Talks About Love Canal, West Lake Landfill & More

Photo courtesy Peter Dykstra.

Peter Dykstra is an award-winning environmental journalist with diverse and collective knowledge of the issues confronting the environment, the industry that reports on the environment, and the policies that affect the environment.

The former board member of the Society of Environmental Journalist talks with Don Corrigan about the origins of the journalism organization, activism, the current political climate.

Dykstra also offers insight into efforts by local community members working to protect themselves and their children from environmental hazards, like the West Lake and Bridgeton landfills here in St. Louis. One example described is the story of Lois Gibbs, a house wife and mother in Love Canal, located near Niagara Falls in upstate New York. In the late 1970s, she started a movement to protect her family and local community from health issues caused from a nearby toxic waste dump.

Dykstra spent nearly two decades at CNN as an executive producer for science, environment, weather, and technology. His career history also includes being the national media director for Greenpeace where he set up their U.S. media operations and a past deputy director at The Pew Charitable Trusts. He is also currently active with environmental organizations and news outlets, such as Environmental Health News.

Continue reading below to hear the informative interview with Peter Dykstra.

Continue reading

Image

A Frustrated Community Looks To City Officials For Answers About Recent Historic Flooding

South County Times

An over capacity crowd filled Fenton City Hall to find out what, if anything, is being planned to help reduce the continued severe flooding events. Two 500 year floods have devastated residents and business owners in the local area recently. Both flooding events happened within 18 months of each other.

Continue reading

Image

Trash Hauling With Don Corrigan

In July of 1980, Don Corrigan decided to profile the local sanitation engineers and give readers a look at their daily dirty jobs. The best way to do this? With a little immersion journalism. Want to know what it was like dumping waste in a landfill in the 1980s?

The adventure you are about to read is a tale of rotten watermelons, sweltering heat, exhausting work and trashy jokes. Don’t worry, even the faint of heart should read this story!

Continue reading

Image

Controvesy Stirring At Creve Coeur Lake Memorial Park

Concerned organizations have partnered together to oppose the Legacy Ice Foundation indoor hockey facility in Creve Coeur Lake Memorial Park. The group includes organizations, such as The American Institute of Architects St. Louis Chapter, the Open Space Council, the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, the Sierra Club, the Greenway Network, the St. Louis Audubon Society and the St. Louis Chapter of the Green Building Council.

Here are a few points the groups have identified as an issue of concern to the proposed Legacy Ice Foundation indoor hockey facility in Creve Coeur Lake Memorial County Park in St. Louis County.

Continue reading

Image

Many Local Communities Moving Forward With The Paris Climate Accord

“I believe the President hurt our country and the world by withdrawing from the Paris Agreement,” said University City Mayor Shelley Welsch. Photo credit: West End Word.

“Since we won’t act globally, then it’s time for us to act locally.” That’s the mantra for area residents who do not believe opening old coal mines is the answer to job growth – or the way to address the global warming crisis.

Not long after our President nixed America’s lead role in the global Paris Agreement for combating climate change, my work computer lit up with emails like a Christmas tree – full of LEDs. The messages were about enlisting local mayors to take up the challenge of sensible environmental and sustainable energy policies.

Continue reading

Image

Vandalism Couldn’t Keep Him Down: Smokey Bear Returns To Rockwoods Reservation In Wildwood

Photo by MDC Staff, courtesy Missouri Department of Conservation.

Smokey Bear returned home to Rockwoods Reservation in Wildwood recently. His homecoming is thanks to a partnership between the Missouri Department of Conservation’s (MDC) and the Metro West Fire Protection District of St. Louis County.

Smokey’s Journey…

In August 2015, Smokey Bear was stolen from his post along Route 109 in an apparent act of vandalism.  Part of the mascot turned up about a week later in a local junkyard, but there was not enough left to put back up.

According to MDC Forestry District Supervisor Gus Raeker, the facility received a number of calls expressing concern over the disappearance of the local icon.

Continue reading

Image

Flooding Issues Take Center Stage At City of Fenton Meeting

The Fenton Board of Aldermen heard concerns from the residents and business owners about the recent flooding at its meeting on June 8. Historic flooding has plagued the area for the second time in less than 18 months. Comments ranged from the issues of floodplain development to the Valley Park levee.

Listen below to hear first-hand the comments from the residents and business owners about their concerns and anxiety about the continued flooding.

Image

Perfect Storm: Climate Change, Commercial Development, and Floodplains

Photo by Ursula Ruhl, South County Times

“How high’s the water, mama?” Johnny Cash sang in 1974. The  scary answer: “Five feet and risin.’”

The late, great Cash should have seen our flooding Meramec River, between Kirkwood and Fenton, earlier this month. He could have easily sang, “43 feet and risin.’”

Continue reading

Image

ST. Louis Community College Receives Environmental Job Training Grant

St. Louis Community College (STLCC) received $200,000 in grant funding from the Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training program. The grant funding will offer program enrollees the skills needed to work in the environmental industry.

Continue reading