• They're considering an environmental justice law in Cincinnati - it would be the first in the nation.
  "Already supported by five council members, a majority, the ordinance would require some proposed projects in Cincinnati's poorest neighborhoods to undergo an extra review - in addition to the usual zoning, building and health approvals - to determine whether they would have an adverse impact on the neighborhood or on residents' health. It lists many health issues as being made worse by pollution. Among them: asthma, heart disease and cancer."


• A major study by, among others, the Pew Charitable Trust, says factory farming is a bad idea. and the extragood news is that Congress plans to act on it.
  "In the end, however, even industry representatives on the panel agreed to such controversial recommendations as a ban on the nontherapeutic use of antibiotics in farm animals -- a huge hit against veterinary pharmaceutical companies -- a phaseout of all intensive confinement systems that prevent the free movement of farm animals, and more vigorous enforcement of antitrust laws in the increasingly consolidated agricultural arena."


• And farther away - it's not a new development, but i hadn't heard of it before:
  "With a trend of decentralizing reforms underway, municipalities are expected to function more based on resident self-governance, in which citizens voluntarily participate in settling local issues, in order to realize a unique, autonomous community. Deciding on how to protect the local environment and pass it on to the next generation is an issue that requires democratic consensus building and decision-making through proper information disclosure and the participation of citizens -- not something that local governments can unilaterally decide on their own.
  
  Since the Devolution of Power Law came into force in Japan in 2000, an increasing number of local governments have adopted innovative sets of ordinances on environmental conservation and community development, and citizens have been participating in their formulation."
  that's from the current Japan for Sustainability newsletter, which isn't yet on the web.

There's little crowd of birds pecking around in the side yard and i really wish i knew what they were!
They're mid-sized, black to brown, speckled with white on top and with a touch of iridescence. Their beaks are long and bright yellow, and their legs also seem relatively long and bright pink. Any ideas? There were 25 or so, pecking through the grass.

Oooh! And now there's a little brown one with a dandelion-yellow cap and chin! The similar-sized but yellow-less one must be the female.
Two pairs! and...there they go! My but this is distracting!

Good grief! Now there's a little troop of salmon-bodied ones with brown wings. They're not sticking around, though.