Keep Earth BeautifulInternational charitable NON profit org.
We all work without a salary, donate time and money
Bi-monthly
Newsletter
# 44 January 2010Bear Springs Blossom
Nature Conservation
Our Annual meeting was on Jan. 30, 10.00am
at the Bear Springs Blossom Nature Preserve
Pipe Creek, Texas, Bandera County
Provided information: What happened last year - outlook 2010
followed by election of all board members
The future of Earth lies in our hands
|
A Word From The President: Dear members, in 2009 we provided 37 lectures on three lecture tours. Many people attended our 23 different presentations, people from over 30 countries wanted to know about Nature conservation. Citizens from Argentina, Austria, Canada, Germany, and the United States joined our group and expressed their wishes to protect Earth for the next generation. The more we are, the stronger is our voice calling for better Nature conservation. Why is Nature conservation so important? When we protect Nature, we protect all living creatures on Earth, INCLUDING all humans. This is our mission! This is what we do and we thank all of you who have helped us!! Check our 253 websites or have a look into our BSB-book or our inter-active NASA website! Bear Springs Blossom Nature Conservation - protection of life on Earth More and more people think the task of protecting the next generation = our children + grandchildren is very important. We try to reach out to everyone. We answer personal questions and give advice. Work with us and renew your connection with Nature. To learn more about our non-profit-organization, please visit www.keepbanderabeautiful.org/aboutus.html Humans have lived on Earth for a long time - BSBNCG exists to protect Humans - so we inform / educate people we protect Nature we protect our food supply we protect our drinking water we protect the air we need to breath we protect Earth ... Thank you for helping us!! The volunteers of Bear Springs Blossom Nature Conservation provide information and education. Enjoy our: email news-bits, bi monthly newsletter personal advice lectures and presentations www.keep-Earth-beautiful.org www.keepbanderabeautiful.org www.bearspringsblossom.org Raise your knowledge with our Master Conservationist Certificate Thank you for being part of our Nature Conservation group and for helping to keep Earth beautiful Peter Bonenberger |
|
In the US Swine flu H1N1 is not widespread anymore. To read more about Swine flu H1N1 please visit our *Health* website. Did someone tell you CLIMATE CHANGE is not real?  This is a chart with temperatures provided by NASA  Both organizations were NOT payed by interests groups to research these data. Do you trust scientific data from independent organizations or do you trust the numbers from researches that are paid by special interest groups that want to make huge profits (and you are paying for it)? In the moment we experience the coldest days we ever had at our Nature Preserve. Many animals and plants will be damaged. We can really see, that this little man-made temperature difference is causing our climate to unpredictable jumps, hot and cold. Nowadays weather records are broken all the time. Severe droughts, severe floods, severe frost, all that is scientific evidence of a climate change that is affecting us, our children and grandchildren. 
Be careful eating fish out of US lakes EPA study An EPA study shows concentrations of toxic chemicals in fish tissue from lakes and reservoirs in nearly all 50 U.S. states. The agency for the first time has been able to estimate the percentage of lakes and reservoirs nationwide that have fish containing potentially harmful levels of chemicals such as mercury and PCBs. Mercury concentrations in game fish exceeded the EPA’s recommended levels at 49% of lakes and reservoirs nationwide, while fish had PCB concentrations at "levels of potential concern" at 17% of lakes and reservoirs. Burning fossil fuels, primarily coal to produce electricity, accounts for nearly half of mercury air emissions caused by human activity in the U.S. Women of child-bearing age and children should follow the advice of the EPA and the Food and Drug Administration on fish consumption as it relates to mercury, according to the EPA. Results from the four-year National Study of Chemical Residues in Lake Fish Tissue show that mercury and PCBs are widely distributed in U.S. lakes and reservoirs. Details about the study and its findings are available at www.epa.gov/waterscience/fishstudy. LCRA Lower Colorado River Authority picks E.ON Climate and Renewables for major renewable expansion Power purchase agreement triples LCRA’s commitment to renewable wind power Steve Trenholm, E.ON Climate and Renewables (EC&R) North America chief executive officer, and Tom Mason, LCRA general manager, finalize an 18-year power purchase agreement for the entire output from phase two of the Papalote Creek Wind Farm, a 200-megawatt facility EC&R is building in South Texas. Today E.ON Climate & Renewables (EC&R) North America and the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) announced the signing of an 18-year power purchase agreement. Under the agreement, LCRA will purchase the entire output from phase II of EC&R’s Papalote Creek wind farm – approximately 200 megawatts (MW) of power. “We are pleased to have the Lower Colorado River Authority as a partner in the next phase of the Papalote Creek wind farm,” said Steve Trenholm, CEO, EC&R North America. “This project is expected to produce its greatest output during periods of peak usage, which is truly an exceptional benefit.” Phase II of the Papalote Creek wind farm is expected to become operational in 2010 and will consist of 87 turbines that will provide approximately 200 MW of electricity – enough energy to power more than 45,000 homes. The wind complex is located 30 miles north of Corpus Christi in San Patricio County and is EC&R’s second wind farm in South Texas. “This agreement continues the commitment to clean, wind-generated electricity that LCRA began when it participated in Texas’ first commercial wind power project in 1995,” said Tom Mason, LCRA General Manager. “We are pleased to bring more renewable power into the diverse mix of generation resources that serves our wholesale electric customers.” LCRA purchases and generates power from water, wind, coal and natural gas and sells it wholesale to more than 40 cities and electric cooperatives that serve more than 1.1 million Central Texans. The agreement with E.ON Climate & Renewables nearly triples LCRA’s current capacity for wind-generated power. Construction of the first phase of the Papalote Creek wind farm began in April of 2008. The phase was completed in November of 2009 and currently consists of 109 turbines that provide about 180 MW of power. EC&R North America also recently completed the fourth and final phase of the world’s largest wind farm in Roscoe, Texas. The wind farm touts 627 wind turbines and a total capacity of 781.5 MW. EC&R currently has an installed capacity of 1,667.5 MW in the United States. About EC&R E.ON Climate & Renewables (EC&R) is responsible for the E.ON group’s renewable energy and environmental protection activities around the world. Tapping renewable energy sources offers enormous alternatives, both from a business perspective and for the environment. E.ON Climate & Renewables will be investing €8 billion in renewable energy and environmental protection projects from 2007 - 2011 to expand the share of renewable energy in E.ON’s portfolio for the long term. E.ON has thus taken a leading role in developing renewable energy sources worldwide. For more information, please visit www.eon.com/renewables. About LCRA The Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) is a nonprofit conservation and reclamation district that provides energy, water, and community services to Texans. Created by the Texas Legislature in 1934, LCRA has no taxing authority and operates solely on utility revenues and service fees. LCRA supplies electricity to more than 1.1 million Texans through 43 wholesale customers. LCRA also provides many other services in the region. These services include managing floods, protecting the quality of the lower Colorado River and its tributaries, providing parks and recreational facilities, offering economic development assistance, operating water and wastewater utilities, and providing soil, energy, and water conservation programs. For more information, visit http://www.lcra.org/. See the January 29, 2010 press release on our LCRA web page. Teachers got updated information on Recycling: "Recycling Starts with You!" A new version of this informative educational program is being distributed to 100,000 teachers and classrooms around the country. The program, created by the American Forest & Paper Association and Scholastic, includes math, science and language arts lessons about paper recycling for grades three through six. The new information is available at: www.keepbanderabeautiful.org/recycling www.scholastic.com/recycling www.paperrecycles.org along with guides, statistics and interactive features for educators and students. Recycling reduces air pollution. Recycling reduces water contamination. Recycling helps to make products cheaper. Recycling reduces the amount of natural resources, so our children and grandchildren will have some left. State governments are increasing energy efficiency and try to reduce associated greenhouse gas emissions despite the sluggish economy. The economic downturn did not reduce the state-level efforts, some states even strengthened their efforts. Energy efficiency remains the cheapest, cleanest and quickest of all energy resources. Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons wants to eliminate landfills in the state and instead recycle as much waste as possible and use the rest to generate energy. "There have been huge leaps in recycling technology," said Gibbons, a Republican. "We can conserve natural resources, create clean energy and create jobs by looking at landfills not as places where we bury our trash, but as places where recycling and energy recovery begin." Gibbons said he plans to propose legislation that would reward the waste industry for superior performance in recycling and energy recovery. The measure also will include various incentives, including tax abatements, to encourage businesses to locate in Nevada and use recycled materials in their operations. He also plans to develop plans for offering low-cost financing to help businesses build waste recovery facilities. Gibbons said current recycling and renewable energy technology should allow solid waste companies to divert at least 75% of the waste that currently ends up in Nevada landfills. He cited San Jose, Calif., which boasts a high diversion rate, as a role model for Nevada. "Mandated waste recovery can be a significant part of diversifying our economy and provide much needed jobs," Gibbons said. Gibbons pledged that he would not allow Nevada to become the "landfill of the West," and said he has been in contact with Waste Management Inc. and Republic Services Inc. officials, about increasing efforts to reduce landfill waste. "I am pleased that they understand the need to do a better job of protecting our environment, and that they have agreed to work with us for the benefit of Nevada," Gibbons said. |
|
Sustainable cities
Look deep, deep into Nature Albert Einstein Thank you for helping us! |
Why should humans live in Harmony with Nature?
The human population is growing fast -
faster than food production / supply
Water contamination makes many humans sick!
|
The United States could cut greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of France’s total annual emissions by getting Americans to make simple lifestyle changes, like regularly maintaining their cars or insulating their attics, a study showed. If U.S. households took 17 easy-to-implement actions—like switching to a fuel-efficient vehicle, drying laundry on a clothesline instead of in a dryer, or turning down the thermostat—carbon emissions could be cut by 123 metric tons a year by the 10th year, the study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found. “This amounts to 7.4 percent of total national emissions—an amount slightly larger than the total national emissions of France,” showed the study led by Thomas Dietz of Michigan State University’s department of sociology and environmental science and policy. “It is greater than reducing to zero all emissions in the United States from the petroleum-refining, iron and steel, and aluminum industries, each of which is among the largest emitters in the industrial sector,” the study said. But the lifestyle changes come with a much smaller price tag and no great change to the way Americans live. At present, U.S. direct household energy use accounts for 38 percent of the country’s carbon emissions, or 626 million metric tons of carbon—a whopping eight percent of global emissions “and larger than the emissions of any entire country except China.” To quickly bring down those numbers, the researchers suggested greater focus on consumer behavioral changes and less on efforts to develop new technologies and put in place so-called cap and trade regimes. The researchers grouped 17 actions Americans could take to reduce carbon emissions into five groups: weatherization, switching to more efficient equipment, maintaining equipment, adjusting appliance setting—such as the temperature on water heaters—and modifying daily personal use. The action with the greatest potential to reduce U.S. carbon emissions was the switch to a fuel-efficient vehicle. That alone would, according to the study’s model, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by just over five percent by year 10, or by more than 31 million metric tons. Weatherizing homes by improving attic insulation, sealing or replacing drafty windows and doors, could cut carbon emissions by 21 million metric tons. Installing energy-efficient appliances to replace those that have reached the end of their useful life would save nearly 12 million metric tons of carbon emissions. Even seemingly minor steps like not speeding away from a stop sign when driving, regularly maintaining one’s car, or turning down the heating at home in the winter to 68 degrees F (20 degrees C), could save between four and eight million metric tons in carbon emissions. In Europe these lifestyle tweaks and positive results were practiced for decades. Similar percentage reductions are possible in Canada and Australia, which have carbon profiles comparable to that of the United States. The study listed carbon emission reducing household actions: • Weatherization • Carpooling and trip-chaining • Driving behavior • Line drying • Thermostat setbacks • HVAC [Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning] equipment • Low-flow showerheads • Efficient water heaters • Water heater temperature • Efficient appliances • Low rolling resistance tires • Fuel-efficient vehicle • Change HVAC air filters • Tune up AC • Routine auto maintenance • Laundry temperature • Standby electricity |
Peter Bonenberger, POB 63295, Pipe Creek
TX 78063
president + volunteer of BSBNCG
Send me an email
Peter@keepEarthbeautiful.org
|
A big THANK YOU to our Land Stewards John R. & Helen Peterson - Bandera, TX and Robert & Lynne House - Union, KY and Jack A. Nickel - NASA - TX and Karen & Bob Taylor - NASA, TX  BSBNCG's Vice President, Land Steward and Master Conservationist Bob Taylor - more about him on his website riparian retirement. and our Supporters Ann Edge - Bandera, TX Bandera Electric Coop - Bandera Lynne Sims - Kerrville - TX Erhard & Inge Gold - Germany Rob & Diane Platt - Bandera Pam & Robert Schindler - Canton, GA Hilda Lucci - Buenos Aires All have invested in the future! They know, that it is better and cheaper to act now, than later face the consequences! |
Madrones are rare trees in the
Texas Hill County - blooming in early Spring
Read more about them on our
website "Madrones"
We thank all members who help us
to conserve Nature, secure our water supply
and give us the opportunity to
inform, to help and to educate people!
A special
THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP
Luitgard Cornelison, Bandera FM donor
Bill Cornelison donor
Marky & Bob Mander Pipe Creek donor
Rob & Judy McCorkle, Kerrville donor
Ben and Minifred Aoueille, SA FM donor
Bexar Audubon Group, San Antonio donor
Harry Noyes & Maria Falcon San Antonio donor
Bertha Connally, San Antonio donor
Jon Sells, Schertz donor
Bandera Bank - Bandera donor
Marianne + Buddy Sandidge - Bandera donor
John Michon, Ingram donor
Peggy Tobin - Bandera donor
Medina Rose Garden Club - Medina donor
Elinor Vandergriff - Medina donor
Bill & AnnGay Bishop Pipe Creek donor
David Demers Pipe Creek donor
Dorothy Reeh Pipe Creek donor
Esther Benedict + Norma Anderson Pipe Creek donor
Carol Gage Pipe Creek donor
Bob and Barbara Brischetto - Lakehills donor
All of us are volunteers, working without salary,
helping to secure the future for our children and grandchildren
THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP
Mark and Joni Taylor, Castroville donor
Michael and Debbie White, Helotes donor
Bill & Kathy Ward Boerne donor
Ralph & Barbara Hover Lakehills donor
Melissa MacDougall, Valley Spring donor
John Smith, Valley Spring donor
Randy and Dolly Brewer - California donor
Arnold Prima + Joseph Yakaitis - Washington donor
Heidi & Cliff Grant - Austin donor
Members from Canada
Don Redwood, MB, Canada
Ed & Norma Silva-White, BC, Canada
Members from South America
Hilda & Christine Lucci - Buenos Aires, Argentina
Brigitte & Antonio Mendes SP, Brazil
Ulla & Klaus Ruediger - SP, Brazil
Members from Europe
Erhard und Inge Gold Germany
Wolfgang Hatz Germany
Martina Brugger Germany
Maria und Rudolf Hertel Germany
Irene + Norbert + Armin Hertel Germany
P. + G. + Mathias Rodorff Germany
Volker und Sigrid Klingler Germany
Hans + Rita + Jan Boehringer Germany
Werner & Helga & Wolfgang Liedel Germany
Hermann, Gitti, Christoph Durchschein Germany
Dr. Wolfgang + Gabriele Hepperle Germany
Werner + Liesi Pawlitza Germany
Tobias Neffle Germany
Hubert Berchtold Germany
Gertraud Durchschein Germany
Hermann Seidel Germany
Kurt + Sonja Strecker Germany
Irmlind und Paul Altenbach, Dornach Switzerland
Franz & Andrea Klemm - Oesterreich
Philipp & Florian Klemm - Oesterreich
Unsere Informationen gibt es auch in Deutsch
Auf unserer Hauptseite die deutsche Flagge anklicken
und auf den Link "Vereinszeitung" klicken
Trails
at Bear Springs Blossom
Click on the thumbnails to get a bigger picture
 |
This is Bear Springs Blossom Main Trail, easy to walk - with many places to rest and enjoy Nature |
 |
Upper part of our Big Rock Trail - parts are steep |
 |
Chrysactinia mexicana - Damianita strongly scented shrub - blooms June to October |
 |
Golden Cheeked Warbler an endangered bird protected at Bear Springs Blossom Nature Preserve To get more information visit our website "Golden Cheeked Warbler" |
 |
Great-View-Trail, a wonderful trail, but you should be fit to walk it - Come and walk with us |
 |
Chainsaw Valley Trail, some people gave their blood while working on it .. |
 |
Black Willow Trail - just a start |
 |
The upper part of our Golden cheeked Warbler habitat - Hill Top Trail See a map of Texas where the Golden Cheeked Warbler lives on our website |
 |
The lower part of our Golden Cheeked Warbler habitats |
 |
A Robin praising Nature |
 |
The home of the Madrones is the TX Hill Country - you can see over 300 at Bear Springs Blossom Nature Preserve - more information on our website "Madrone" |
 |
Every rain changes our Creek Bed Trail The creek bed was built by the Pipe Creek a long time ago |
 |
View up to parkbench at Big Rock Trail - more information on our website "BSB-trails" |
 |
Nature .. protected forever ... |
| CLICK HERE | To go to the wildflower photos |
| CLICK HERE | To go to KeepEarthbeautiful |
B ear S prings B lossom N ature C onservation G roup Inc .
点击对于短的信
息在中国 Sprechen Sie Deutsch? 
¿usted habla español? 
   Use these links to visit our websites: Education                      Global Issues                Pollution     Save Earth        Write us, ask your questions by email! We are an international non profit group. Members from North + South America, from Canada and Europe support our mission. 
Quizzes     Renewable Energy Solar power          Help us to protect Nature! |
  WHY Join us? Better in-depth knowledge helps YOU to preserve and not destroy Earth - as we know it - A good environmental education helps You to understand and to deal with coming changes and challenges! Put the amount in here for a donation or your yearly dues to our charitable international non profit organization 501(c)(3) *tax-deductible* Support Earth Support Your Education 
    Bandera Texas      Nature Trails TX Hill Country         Nature Conservation            Photos Bear Springs Blossom Nature Preserve Wildflowers animals Nature Preserve  Make a difference! Together we can make a mark on our generation that cannot be erased! See how BSBNCG members make a difference Virtual Nature Center Bexar Audubon San Antonio Bear Springs Blossom Nature Conservation is proud to have Medina Garden Club + Bexar Audubon Group as members.  Join Us and protect your family! |
Bear Springs Blossom Nature Education Newsletter
|