Nature-Deficit Disorder
by John Berge

This is not a book review, because I haven't read the book yet, but it is a call to action by all you Sierrans, based on a book title and some reviews of that book which I have read. The book is "Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder" by Richard Louv (Algonquin Books, 2005).

How many of us can trace our interest in protecting and exploring our natural environment and our membership in the Sierra Club to walking, playing and exploring the woods, fields or other "natural" areas around our home or where we took family vacations. For me, it was the University of Wisconsin Arboretum which was literally my backyard. For others, it may have been a nature center, a cottage on a lake, an unused farm field or woodlot, or a nearby wetland. Whatever or wherever it was, it successfully inoculated you against "Nature-Deficit Disorder".

Nature-deficit disorder is not an official medical condition, but a description of the human toll when children are cut off from nature. In his book, Louv describes the dire effects of separation from the natural world, including a diminished use of the senses, attention problems, and increased emotional and physical diseases. In a 1991 study, it was discovered that children are allowed to roam only one-ninth of the distance that they were permitted only 20 years ago.

So what does this mean to the Sierra Club? It probably means fewer members in the future, fewer acres of land protected and fewer people advocating for the environment. But more importantly, what does it mean to Sierrans in the Southeast Gateway Group? It means that I call on each and every one of us to find a child and take him or her (and their family if you can) into the closest thing to a natural area you can find. Introduce them to the wonders of nature. You need not have all the answers, just help that child to ask the questions and seek to find the answers for themselves...to see with awe the natural world around us. Trips to Chiwaukee Prairie, the Pringle Nature Center, Colonial Park, the Lake Michigan shoreline, the Ice Age Trail, Bigfoot State Park or any one of the many semi-natural areas in our three counties may prevent a serious case of nature-deficit disorder. Their future is up to you. Please let me know at (bergejw@wi.net) how your preventative medicine works out. Help stamp out Nature-Deficit Disorder.


Calendar:

October 1: Party on the Pavement in front of the Sustainable Racine office in downtown Racine. We will have a table for distributing literature, selling calendars and photographs and talking to the public. We will need volunteers to help; call Melissa Warner at (262) 639-0918 to volunteer or for more information.

October 6: Conservation Committee Meeting at Berge's house, 1529 Crabapple Drive, Racine, at 7:00 p.m. Contact John at (262) 633-8455 with any questions, items for the agenda, directions or other information.

October 7-9: Autumn Assembly hosted by the Great Waters Group at the Urban Ecology Center in Milwaukee. Plan to attend as much as you are able. See "The Muir View" for additional information and registration form.

October 13: Southeast Gateway Group Executive Committee Meeting at Olympia Brown Unitarian Universalist Church, 625 College Ave., Racine at 7:00 p.m.

October 15: Third Saturday Hike and Lunch: Bristol Woods County Park, a/k/a Pringle Nature Center, in Kenosha County on CTH MB, south of CTH C. Meet at the Nature Center Parking lot at 10:00 a.m. to hike, followed by lunch at a local restaurant. Contact Dana Huck for more information (and for car pooling from the Racine area) at (262) 639-0465.

October 20: RENEW Wisconsin will discuss the status and issues raised by the Forward Wind project near the Horicon Marsh. The program will start at 7:00 p.m. at the Kenosha Public Museum, on the lakefront in Kenosha. We will meet for dinner prior to our meeting at 5:30 p.m. at the Villa D'Carlo Restaurant, 5140 6th Ave., Kenosha.

October 22: Make a Difference Day. Our projects will include removing invasive species in Colonial Park and the Pringle Nature Center beginning at 9:00 a.m. Call John Berge at (262) 633-8455 or Barry Thomas (262) 859-2960 for additional information.

October 23: Sunday Hike: Our last Ice Age Trail hike of the season will be in the Lake LaGrange area. Learn with us about this unique area where Ole Oleson, a Norwegian immigrant, built his family home in 1846. From Racine take Highway 12 past LaGrange. Turn north on Duffin Rd. Park at the Oleson Cabin trailhead. Meet at 10:00 a.m. Pack a lunch--we'll eat on the trail. To sign up or for carpooling information call Nancy (262) 639-5639

November 1: Southeast Sierran Deadline. Send articles, etc., electronically by using the information on the back page, or send by mail to: Gary Zumach, 2548 Pinehurst Ave., Racine, WI 53403.

November 3: Conservation Committee Meeting at Berge’s house, 1529 Crabapple Drive, Racine, at 7:00 p.m. Contact John at (262) 633-8455 with any questions, items for the agenda, directions or other information.

November 10: Southeast Gateway Group Executive Committee Meeting at Olympia Brown Unitarian Universalist Church, 625 College Ave., Racine at 7:00 p.m.

November 17, Thursday: Tour the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute. See below for complete information.

November 19, Saturday: Third Saturday Hike and Lunch: Kettle Moraine State Forest Southern Unit, Nordic Ski and Hiking Trails in Walworth County. Meet at the parking area on the East side of CTH H about 1.5 mi. north of US Hwy 12 at 10:00 a.m. to hike, followed by lunch at LaGrange. Contact Dana Huck for more information (and for car pooling from the Racine area) at (262) 639-0465.

December 1: Conservation Committee Meeting at Berge's house, 1529 Crabapple Drive, Racine, at 7:00 p.m. Contact John at (262) 633-8455 with any questions, items for the agenda, directions or other information.

Program Notes...
by Juanita Patterson, Group Program Chair

We have an interesting list of programs scheduled for the coming year. At the current time, the Kenosha Public Museum is the best facility we have access to for speakers with an audio-visual presentation, so these programs will be held there. At the current time, this policy should not increase the number of programs we hold there, but the way they have fallen on the calendar this year will take them out of the every-other-month location format we have been following recently. Also, our November program is in East Troy, which is a bit farther for most of our regular attendees to drive to.

I took the liberty of scheduling both the dinner and the program for a 1/2 hour later than usual, to give everyone a fair chance to get there after work. All programs will be held on the third Thursday of the month, and will be published in the Southeast Sierran. So do remember to check the calendar for the time and location of each program.

It has become a tradition for us to take our speaker out to dinner before the program. This gives us a chance to treat the speaker, and also gives us the opportunity to get to know and talk casually with the speaker a bit. These dinners have been very interesting in the past, and have become almost a part of the program that you shouldn’t miss. Everyone interested is invited to participate. The Sierra Club pays for the speaker’s dinner, and everyone else pays for their own.

October's program will be on the status and issues raised by the Forward Wind project near the Horicon Marsh. This will be presented by RENEW Wisconsin, an independent nonprofit group advocating for renewable energy. They have a web site, www.renewwisconsin.org .

November’s program will be a fairly dramatic departure from our normal meeting. The tour of the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute should be most interesting.

December will be our traditional Holiday Potluck at Messiah Lutheran Church, 3015 Pritchard Dr., Racine.

January and February will be a two-part series on water quality in Lake Michigan, presented by researchers from the Great Lakes WATER Institute, at UW-Milwaukee. Both programs will be held at the Kenosha Public Museum. Sewage overflows into Lake Michigan have become an important issue lately. Our January speaker will be Dr. Sandra McLellan, who works on the health aspects of sewage overflows, and how sewage and other factors affect pathogens in the lake.

Another aspect of water quality involves the presence of medications in our lakes. These drugs are designed to affect the body of a living organism—us. The drugs get flushed out of our bodies in our urine, and are released into the sewer system and into the environment largely unaltered. We know pretty much what each one does on its own in our bodies, but what do they do when they are in the environment freely interacting with each other? How long does it take for them to break down? What happens to organisms that come in contact with these compounds, including us, like in our drinking water? These are questions researchers have only recently begun looking at. One such researcher is Dr. Rebecca Klaper, our February speaker. She has been investigating the effects of common drugs, such as pain relievers, anti-depressants, and lipid regulators, on lake fish and invertebrates.

March's program is as yet unconfirmed.

In April we would like to be at Pringle Nature Center for a workshop on invasive species.

Every effort is being made to schedule programs on current topics that will be of interest to our members. Our Group encompasses three counties (Racine, Kenosha, and Walworth.) It is most difficult to serve everyone equally in such a district. In order to help me better serve your needs, I would like to know what you think. Are the times and locations of the meetings OK for you? Do you know of a good place to hold a program that you would like us to investigate? Do you have an idea or a question that you would like investigated that would make a good program? Do you have some expertise in an area of environmental concern that you would be willing to share with us for a future program? Any ideas, comments or suggestions can be emailed to me, at jjp72696@aol.com .

Thanks! Your feedback will be appreciated.


Michael Fields Agricultural Institute Tour: November 17

Mr. Matt Zoschke will give us a tour of the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute at 7:30 p.m., to be followed by a presentation on Organic Agriculture in Wisconsin, with a focus on what is happening locally in Southeastern Wisconsin.

We will meet for dinner at 6:00 p.m. prior to the tour at Roma’s Ristorante & Lounge, N8416 County Rd. ES, East Troy, WI, (262) 642-5353. Michael Fields Agricultural Institute is located at W2493 Cty. Rd. ES, East Troy, WI.

Directions to the restaurant: Approaching from Highway 20, turn north on ES. The restaurant is about 1/4 mile north on the right. Directions to Michael Fields from the restaurant: Turn left onto ES, and continue on ES through East Troy. Go 1/2 way around the town square and turn right to stay on ES (W. Main St.) Follow the signs for ES. Continue on Walworth County ES until you come to Townline Rd. You will see Prairie View School on the corner on your right. Turn left onto Townline. The driveway for the Institute is just a few yards down on your left.


Protecting Groundwater
by Lila Berge

Groundwater was the subject of our September general meeting in Kenosha, but as usual, only a small percentage of our membership was in attendance at that meeting. There is a lot we should know about groundwater in Wisconsin. The following basic information was taken from the August 1999 issue of the Department of Natural Resources Magazine as updated in August 2005 on the DNR web site.

It wasn't until May 1984 that Wisconsin’s groundwater protection law, Chapter 160 of the State Statutes, was enacted. That seems like a rather late date for an environmentally progressive state to get around to protecting such an important resource, but even so, it was the most complete regulatory groundwater program in the country. It set numerical standards which all state agencies are required to meet and enforce.

The primary responsibility for enforcement is the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). They regulate farm and industrial sewage or wastewater systems, landfills, and mining. Public drinking water systems and private well drilling must meet standards set by the DNR. Brownfield reclamation and responses to hazardous spills come under DNR supervision. Permits and site plans for CAFOs (Confined animal feeding operations or "factory farms") are the DNR's responsibility, although the state legislature creates the laws that set standards and empower or restrict the DNR in these responsibilities. The DNR also provides educational programs and materials relating to groundwater.

The Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey maps and makes technical studies of hydrology, soils and geological formations used for determining how susceptible areas of the state are for groundwater contamination. They supply counties and regional planners with information on which to base land use plans and wellhead locations.

The Department of Health and Family Services holds public meetings on water contamination problems, investigates health concerns, inspects water supplies at restaurants, hotels, motels and campgrounds and recommends health-based standards to the DNR. They can recommend enforcement when they find violations.

The Department of Commerce inspects and keeps records on underground storage tanks (e.g. at gas stations), enforces septic tank regulations and educates the public about them. They approve home water treatment devices and are involved in the brownfield grant program.

The Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) regulates pesticide use, cleanup and storage. They issue licenses for pesticide appliers and grants for Agricultural Clean Sweep programs. County governments issue permits and inspect septic systems and with DATCP set standards for manure storage pits.

The University of Wisconsin and the various county extension offices provide public education, research and outreach on groundwater pollution issues to farmers, school children, public officials and interested citizens. The extension offices and local health departments test private wells for a fee.

The State Laboratory of Hygiene (where I once worked) analyzes water samples and minnows for PCBs. They do research on virus and pathogen sources and occurrences in groundwater and assess the impact of landfills on groundwater.

Finally, it is your responsibility to protect groundwaters by:
- properly using and disposing of household chemicals,
- maintaining your wells and septic systems (if you have them),
- being active in issues of land use in your community,
- reporting illegal practices, abandoned vehicles or waste sites, and
- participating in community recycling and household hazardous waste collections.


Mercury Poisoning Wildlife & Us
by Lila Berge

We all are aware of the government’s restrictions on eating fish because of the presence of mercury in most if not all species. But now, 71 scientists in Canada and New England have found alarming evidence of mercury in the blood samples taken from songbirds. Their study was published in the April, 2005, issue of Ecotoxicology. The presence of mercury in fish-eating birds like eagles, loons and cormorants is not surprising, but these new findings mean that mercury must also be present in insects along contaminated rivers and wetlands.

The scientists identified nine "hot spots" from the New York Adirondacks and Quebec to Nova Scotia, Maine and Massachusetts where mercury levels are high in the songbirds. Seven of these "hot spots" are located far from local coal-fired power plants, but within the plume of air pollution coming from midwestern power plants. Smokestack mercury falls in highest concentrations on mountaintops, trapped by clouds and fog. Scientists do not know how inorganic mercury is transformed into toxic methylmercury in the mountains, but acid rain may be involved. Acid rain also strips calcium from the mountain environment. Added to the loss of habitat, this creates a triple threat to birds.

Mercury is a neurotoxin the concentration of which builds up as it passes from microorganisms on up the foodchain to small creatures, birds and humans. It poses an especially strong threat to the young. By damaging the brain and central nervous system, motor skills and learning ability are affected. A report in Environmental Health Perspectives stated that exposure to mercury before birth has lowered intelligence in children, costing the U.S. economy $8.7 billion a year. Other studies link high mercury levels to increased risk of heart attacks and infertility in men.

The Bush administration knows that coal-fired power plants are major source of man-made mercury pollution. However, they have weakened mercury emission standards for these power plants, instead of tightening standards. Instituting a mercury pollution trading plan will delay reducing mercury pollution for at least a decade. By weakening the standards, they are dumbing down our children and killing wildlife. Wisconsin has joined nine other states in lawsuits charging the new rules violate the Clean Air Act, which requires the EPA to set the most stringent attainable standards for toxic pollutants.

The Third National Report on Human Exposures to Environmental Chemicals, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed that lead in children 1 to 5 years old fell from 2.23 to 1.70 micrograms per deciliter of blood in the two most recent studies, but there was no significant decline in mercury levels in children in the same period, despite all the warnings.