Do these look like weeds? Native plants can create a beautiful landscape that's more eco-friendly than grass. (Ron Frazier / Flickr)

You know how when Taylor Swift or the Grateful Dead, U2 or K-Pop sensations BTS sell out Soldier Field, they always seem to add another date? And then that show sells out too, so maybe they add a third? And thats not even enough to meet demand?

Thats what it feels like to be Sarah Michehl.

If the name doesnt ring a bell, thats because Michehl isnt a rock star. Shes a community engagement specialist with theLand Conservancy of McHenry County, a nonprofit land trust organization. Its a business-card mouthful that essentially means Michehl teaches people about nature.

In April, with in-person instruction on hold during Illinois stay-at-home order, Michehl came up with an idea for a free onlinehow-to webinar for people interested in converting their lawn to prairie plantings. She had to cap registration at 100, because of her Zoom license, but didnt think that would be a problem.

Well, that first session quickly reached capacity, with people signing up from as far away as Kansas and Ohio, so she scheduled a second, which promptly filled up, then a third, and a fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh.

I just kept adding, said Michehl, who now has webinars booked into July. This is the busiest Ive ever been in my job.

Michehl said she suspects the unexpected flood of interest has something to do with the coronavirus and people being stuck at home.

People are getting intimately acquainted with their property, she said. Maybe something good can come out of this pandemic.

Prairie smoke, a lower-growing native plant. (Krista Lundgren, USFWS / Flickr)

The lawn-to-prairie movement has been steadily growing in recent years as people have become more knowledgeable about the way local ecosystems work.

EntomologistDoug Tallamy, one of the leading proponents of native plants, explained the interconnectedness of plants and pollinators in a recentinterview withSmithsonianmagazine: Ninety percent of the insects that eat plants can develop and reproduce only on the plants with which they share an evolutionary history.

The plight of the monarch butterfly, the caterpillars of which are totally dependent on milkweed for food, brought global attention to the decimation of native habitats and really opened the door for natives resurgence, Michehl said.

People are ready to hear this message, she said.

Swapping out turf for natives turns whats essentially a food desert for insects into a buffet that can support a diverse array of bees, butterflies and other tiny but vital creatures. Native plants also have far deeper roots than grass, meaning they absorb more stormwater and are more resistant to drought.

Because 85% of land east of the Mississippi River is privately owned be it utility rights of way, school properties, farms or residential areas Michehl said educating the public about steps that individuals and private entities can take is crucial to creating eco-friendly habitat.

We cant leave it up to state DNRs (Departments of Natural Resources) or forest preserves to make the difference, she said, because their footprint is comparatively small.

Lawns, on the other hand, cover 40 million acres in the U.S., according to anoft-cited research articlepublished inEnvironmental Management.

Thats where the impact is going to be made, said Michehl.

Referencing Tallamys latest work, Natures Best Hope, Michehl said, If everybody could cut down their amount of lawn by half and turn it into native plants, we could have a homegrown national park of eco-beneficial land.

Blazing star, a native plant. (USFWS Midwest Region / Flickr)

Whats good for the planet isnt necessarily great for relationships between neighbors, though. Prairie lovers often find themselves at odds with adjacent property owners, the most common complaint being that the native plants look like weeds.

Thats where Michehl and her webinar come in.

Natives do not have to equal messy, untidy and uncared for, she said, nor should prairies low-maintenance reputation be misconstrued as no maintenance.

The key, Michehl said, is for prairie fans to be good ambassadors of natives by choosing the appropriate plants and managing them.

Youve got to be smart, she said. Show how beautiful sustainability can be.

One option is to choose a quality seed mix of lower-growing plants none of that meadow in a can stuff, she said such as columbine, wild geranium and Jacobs ladder (to name a shade-loving trio). Another is to consider judicious use of sedges and grasses (grasses not grass its a key distinction), which are important to landscape design from both an ecological and aesthetic perspective, Michehl said.

They shoot up right away, are great for weed suppression, hold soil in place and provide winter interest when all the flowers are gone, she said.

And dont skimp on research, Michehl added.

Natives arent interchangeable, and each plants characteristics should be taken into account before purchasing seeds or seedlings, she said. Some plants are extremely aggressive, for example, and should only be considered by people who have acres and acres of land.

Theres an amazing book, Invasive Plants of the Upper Midwest. Thats my bible, said Michehl. Its an amazing resource for when youre wondering, Why is this thing even here? and how to control it.

Thats just a hint of the content Michehl has incorporated into her webinar, including lessons learned from mistakes shes made at her own Crystal Lake home.

Her first attempt at smothering the grass in her back yard a non-herbicidal way of killing grass to prep an area for prairie seeding was a hot mess, Michehl said.

But even with mistakes, I have a thing of beauty, she said.

Notably, Michehl has received zero pushback from neighbors.

In fact, the one time she got tagged in one of those nosy neighborhood Facebook groups, it was by someone who wanted to copy her prairie conversion.

On second thought, maybe she is a rock star.

Contact Patty Wetli:@pattywetli| (773) 509-5623 |[emailprotected]

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Go Figure, But a 'Convert Your Lawn to Prairie' Webinar is the Hottest Ticket in Town - WTTW News

I am not certain about you and your family, but the nine weeks of quarantine has commenced a hankering within me to go shopping.

Not to a mall. Not to Walmart. (Price Chopper is my favorite local place to shop because I always seem to find someone I know with whom I may chat in the social distancing style.)

But what I REALLY crave is a trip to a flower nursery where I can meander amongst a vast array of kaleidoscopic flowers and bushes and trees. I would spend a Stimulus Checks worth of money to plant plants throughout our yard.

Unfortunately, our check has still not arrived, so my trip to a nursery will be placed on the back burner, and new plants are not on the list of essentials right now.

~~~

I have planted seeds in all my gardens zinnias, marigolds, sunflowers. Some I have labeled with seed packet markers and others with little sticks poked in the ground.

Well, some of the papers have blown away. My noble garden creatures, two cats and three dogs who wander the gardens with me as I plant, have rubbed onto or walked over or have laid upon my little stick markers.

Now I am unsure what is planted where, and what in the world did I actually plant.

I started with great intentions. I told myself to create a pictorial guide at the beginning of my garden adventures this spring. It was short lived. That is when chaotic seeding began.

Last night, as I carried around half full packages of seeds, sprinkling here, sprinkling there, my husband said, You are planting things all over the place and you wont remember where anything is.

Probably and for sure. Chaotic seeding may be the new look of the future.

I can think of myself like the female version of Johnny Appleseed, only not with apples but with flower seeds. My name could be ummmmm Bethy Flick-a-seed. It has a nice ring to it.

~~~

My yard is acquiring many areas of little white clovers. I love them like I admire their predecessor, the dandelions. Both plants are living havens of hope for honey bees.

Having clover in your yard is a wonder with reverence. Really!!! It is! I promise you!!!

Clover is a member of the pea family like alfalfa, green beans, soybeans, honey locust trees, mimosa trees and over 20,000 other species of plants. All are good for adding nutrients to the soil.

I had no intention to write about clovers necessity. I accidentally fell into it last night while my husband and I sat on our yard swing gazing out at our imperfect lawnery (a Beth Conner made-up word meaning the yard or lawn area around a home).

We were looking at our thickets of clover in front of us. I mentioned how the bees would be happy and how my big tortoise would have loved eating them.

I read an article today by Melissa Sharpova, a landscape and design expert as well as a botanist.

She says, Clover in your yard will fix the atmospheric nitrogen into a soil fertilizer, with the root nodules and colonies of symbiotic bacteria. Rather fancy terms meaning that clover has the ability to bring up and pull together trace minerals to make your lawn better.

This sounds good to me. When the clover decomposes, the minerals it creates will provide the lawn and soil with a more disease-free area requiring less fertilizer and weed-killer.

This is not only great for the grass but also the streams and lakes. With less nutrient soil run-off, the waterways will be much better.

Have you ever noticed the lakes around golf courses and heavily fertilized fields having the pond scum, or in real terms, filamentous algae? It normally means the pond is out of balance from too many synthetic nutrients placed on the surrounding field or grass.

About 60 years ago, it became the perspective of the Lawn Masters to declare war and annihilate all broadleaf plants in a yard...good or bad. People were told, and believed, a perfect lawn was of necessity. AH, this is where the integrity of clover comes in.

Clover is GOOD! It is not the enemy!

If you have a clover-filled lawn, it will crowd out the broadleaf weeds you dont want. The bees will adore you and produce clover honey a much wanted variety of honey lovers.

Also remember that clover stays green all summer long.

Clover also allows for hours of fun searching for a four-leafed one that I am sure your children will delight in finding. It means faith, hope, love and luck.

Dont tell them, but the chances of finding a four-leafer is 10,000 to 1.

Five-leafed clovers are out there too, but the chances of discovering it is one million to one.

Hey give clover a chipper chance.

Beth Conner is a Miami County resident, teacher and outdoor enthusiast.

Link:
Sharing thoughts on shopping, clover and chaotic seeding - Miami County Republic

Mount Prospect has yet to see the completion of the flood relief project at Burning Bush Trails Park. But Public Works Director Sean Dorsey told the village board this week that the detention facility was pressed into premature service during Sunday's heavy rain.

As a result, many homes in the neighborhood were spared from flooding.

Dorsey said public works officials initially didn't want to disturb the site, which is mostly complete and is at the proper grade.

But seeing that the manhole near Park Drive and Tano Lane had reached maximum level readings at about 6:45 p.m., public works decided to open a bulkhead, an inflatable bladder that blocks a pipe. This provided an avenue for the stormwater into the detention pond.

"None of the grass seeding is in, so we didn't want to fill it with water and have all the dirt wash off. But given the intensity of the storm and the potential for damage, we elected to pull the bulkhead and have the detention pond take on water," Dorsey said.

By 7:20 p.m., the water level in the manhole dropped, and extensive street flooding was avoided.

A grateful Trustee William Grossi, who lives near Burning Bush Trails Park, thanked Dorsey, telling him, "I think you saved quite a few homes," particular on the lower section of Park Drive.

Dorsey said the Des Plaines River at the gauge just north of Euclid Avenue crested at 19.77 feet, short of the record of 20.9 feet at that location in 2013.

The amount of rainfall for the month was 8.25 inches, a new record for May, set last year at 8.24 inches.

Dorsey said the village received 220 requests for service between 6 and 8 p.m. Sunday night. Some were related to storm sewers, and others for private property drainage issues and sanitary sewer backups.

Most of the complaints, 155 total, were about street flooding.

Almost all the issues, he said, were resolved that night.

Read more:
Mount Prospect's Burning Bush detention area put to the test early - Chicago Daily Herald

Ernest Brayshaw.

A Richmond pensioner has been praised for clearly an overgrown embankment in his spare time.

Ernest Brayshaw, 71, has been spending three hours a day clearing weeds and tidying up the bank in the towns Gallowgate, near the police, fire and ambulance stations.

He said: I have a part-time job so have a lot of spare time on my hands.

One day when I was fed up so I decided to do some voluntary work on Barrack Hill.

I go there for three hours a day cutting all the brambles out and grass seeding, and putting plastic steps into work from because its so steep.

The public have stopped and talked to me and praised my efforts. The police have said the same and given me chocolates and said how much they appreciate my efforts.

Mr Brayshaw has so far planted wildflowers and montbretia.

He added: I have other ideas of plants to add a bit of colour to the embankment.

Richmond district and county councillor Stuart Parsons praised the efforts of Mr Brayshaw.

He said: Hes done a brilliant job as it was a very untidy area.

Yet again theres another example of during these difficult times people still finding a way to contribute to the environment and the town without endangering themselves.

Cllr Parsons added: The excuse we always got for why it was so untidy was that they wanted it to go back to nature which is often a local authority way of saying we cant be bothered.

Read the original:
Pensioner volunteers to tidy overgrown Richmond embankment - Richmondshire Today

Analysis of the Global Indoor Farming Technology Market

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Assessing the Fallout From the Coronavirus Pandemic Indoor Farming Technology Market Size Includes Dynamics, Products, Application, Forecast Report...

An expanded market requirement of solar water heater is for the most part determined by growing awareness about different cost and the environment associated recipients of solar energy since it is green, free of cost, as well as renewal source of energy. In addition, the several backings from United Nations (UN) and government to emerging economies are driving the worldwide market for the solar water heater.

The proficiency level of the solar water heater shifts from a climatic area to another climatic area in view of the power of daylight. The constraint of solar water heater in cold climatic region and winters is one of the prominent constraints of the overall market. With customers preferring high-effectiveness and tankless water heater design, the makers of water heater are concentrating on upgrading their products to keep up their status in the worldwide water heater market. A tankless water heater provides space-sparing advantages and is exceedingly proficient.

Various Government Schemes and Programs to Boost the Solar Water Heater Market

Governments in various nations are likewise boosting the utilization of natural resources of energy, hence fuelling the requirement forsolar water heaters market.The aspect that affects the solar category is the high price of ownership from the structured market in addition to inferior quality from the un-structured market which in turn heightens the upkeep cost. With innovations going in the industry will offer the bunch of products that will be able to cater to the needs of the customers. Energy effective hybrid water heaters are additionally being produced on a vast scale by makers.

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Smart water heaters are likewise picking up status in the worldwide market for water heaters. These are outfitted with regulating and communication systems which could be carried off with the assistance of a mobile application or cell phones or even smart assistants, for example, thermostats. The majority of smart electric heaters are environment-friendly integrated with low power utilization measures. The electric water heaters are the leading market since it goes with lower maintenance and low ownership cost, thus it moreover dominates the global market in the approaching years. On the other hand, the business is moreover profited from, growing customers capability to pay for new water heaters along with the rise in the disposable income.

Launching of green building standards and regulations to hold back greenhouse gas emissions are considered to positively influence the business setting. Technological innovation in voided tube collector figure is expected to diminish the cost as well as enhance the effectiveness of the solar thermal system would additionally further the demand for the product.

Refurbish of social housing schemes for lower income groups is indicated to fuel the Brazil market for the solar water heater. During August 2016, the United Nation relaunched the Minha Vida, Minha Casa, a social housing scheme for lower-income families which assigned installing of solar water heaters in new buildings.China is considered to be the biggest market for the solar water heater (SWH) capturing all over half of the overall market. It is trailed by Australia, Japan and India. The Asia Pacific market has the fastest developing business sector inferable from the regions vast capability of solar power generation. In the course of recent years both China and India are contributing intensely to the advancement of solar power based appliances and solar power generation.

Chinas Himin Solar had witnessed a lucrative market a decade ago as the worlds biggest solar water-heating company. However owing to a shift in customer preference, the sales are plummeting at present. The company reflects as an exemplar of how big Chinese groups can scramble to accommodate to their quick-shifting domestic market. A few prominent market players functioning in the Asia Pacific market for solar water heater are Genersys, EMMVEE Solar Systems, Phoneix Solar System, Nuetech Solar System, GE Co., Siemens AG, Rheem Manufacturing Co., Heat Transfer Products Inc., in addition to Rinnai Corp.

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Solar Water Heater Market to Record a Robust Growth Rate for the COVID-19 Period 2026 - Cole of Duty

Global Solar Water Heater Market is estimated to surpass US$ XX Bn mark in 2019 and reach US$ XX Bn by 2026, at a CAGR of XX% during the forecast period 2019-2026 globally.

This can be attributed to increasing energy prices, growing global population, and rising demand for energy-efficient water heaters. Strict government regulations to curb greenhouse gases emissions, along with growing demand for water heating systems especially in colder regions, is predicted to augment adoption of these systems and boost industry growth.

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Demand for efficient water heaters is expected to witness rapid growth every year, along with increasing measures to control energy consumption owing to the fast depletion of non-renewable resources. This is expected to augment market growth over the forecast period. These systems are reasonably priced to cater to a wider spectrum of consumers based on their economic condition. Increasing ecological awareness in developed as well as developing regions is also expected to result in industry growth. Growing demand for eco-friendly, dependable, and affordable technologies to heat water, especially in residential and industrial sectors, is anticipated to drive industry growth. The systems capability to function at lower costs, 30% to 40% lower in winters and up to 75% lower in summer, is expected to spur their adoption over other products currently available in the Solar Water Heater Market.

The report study has analyzed revenue impact of covid-19 pandemic on the sales revenue of market leaders, market followers and disrupters in the report and same is reflected in our analysis.

The Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has introduced regulatory standards to effectively assess the quality of solar water heaters manufactured. It also aims to implement several technical and financial plans to protect consumers against substandard products that can be potentially dangerous to use. These trends have augmented industry growth in the U.S. over the past decade and are expected to continue over the forecast period.Thermosyphon systems had the highest market share in 2017 and expected to grow at the highest CAGR over the forecast period. It accounts for the largest share of the solar water heaters market by volume as well as revenue. This is primarily owing to affordable pricing and convenient installation and usage of the product. Thermosyphons are preferred with liquid-based, preferably water-based, solar water heating systems.

The Asia Pacific is predicted to lead the global industry, in terms of revenue, over the forecast period. High growth rate, coupled with positive economic performance, is predicted to propel China over the next decade, as large investments in research and development are expected to augment growth. The country is introducing extensive changes to its energy policy and shifting its dependence from fossil fuels to renewable fuels in a bid to curb pollution and maintain ecological balance.

Maximize Market Research has comprehensively analyzed the Solar Water Heater Market emphasizing each segment keeping global and regional dynamics in perspective. The driving forces, as well as considerable restraints, have been explained in depth to attain a balanced scenario. The report classifies Solar Water Heater Market into various segments such as Technology, Applications, Systems and Regions providing the thorough understanding of the Solar Water Heater Ecosystem. Importantly, the report delivers forecasts of the market, giving an insight into the future opportunities that exist in the Solar Water Heater Market.

The objective of the report is to present comprehensive Global Solar Water Heater Market including all the stakeholders of the industry. The past and current status of the industry with forecasted market size and trends are presented in the report with analysis of complicated data in simple language. The report covers all the aspects of industry with dedicated study of key players that includes market leaders, followers and new entrants by region. PORTER, SVOR, PESTEL analysis with the potential impact of micro-economic factors by region on the market have been presented in the report. External as well as internal factors that are supposed to affect the business positively or negatively have been analyzed, which will give clear futuristic view of the industry to the decision makers.

The report also helps in understanding Global Solar Water Heater Market North America for Asia Pacific dynamics, structure by analyzing the market segments, and project the Global Solar Water Heater Market North America for Asia Pacific size. Clear representation of competitive analysis of key players by type, price, financial position, product portfolio, growth strategies, and regional presence in the Global Solar Water Heater Market North America for Asia Pacific make the report investors guide.

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The Scope of the Report:

Global Solar Water Heater Market By Technology:

Evacuated Tube Collector Flat Plate Collector Unglazed Water CollectorGlobal Solar Water Heater Market By Application:

Residential Commercial IndustrialGlobal Solar Water Heater Market By System:

Thermosyphon PumpedGlobal Solar Water Heater Market By Geography:

North America Europe Asia Pacific Middle East & Africa Latin AmericaKey Players inGlobal Solar Water Heater Market:

Azure Power India Central Electronics Chemtrols Solar Emmvee Solar Systems Euro Multivision Indosolar Jupiter Solar Power Lanco Solar Private Mahindra Solar One Moser Baer Photovoltaic Photon Energy Systems PLG Power Surana Ventures Tata Power Solar Systems Vikram Solar Websol Energy System XL Energy SunTank A.O. Smith Alternate Energy Technologies Rheem manufacturing Viessmann Wagner Solar Bradford White EMMVEE

MAJOR TOC OF THE REPORT

Chapter One: Solar Water Heater Market Overview

Chapter Two: Manufacturers Profiles

Chapter Three: Global Solar Water Heater Market Competition, by Players

Chapter Four: Global Solar Water Heater Market Size by Regions

Chapter Five: North America Solar Water Heater Revenue by Countries

Chapter Six: Europe Solar Water Heater Revenue by Countries

Chapter Seven: Asia-Pacific Solar Water Heater Revenue by Countries

Chapter Eight: South America Solar Water Heater Revenue by Countries

Chapter Nine: Middle East and Africa Revenue Solar Water Heater by Countries

Chapter Ten: Global Solar Water Heater Market Segment by Type

Chapter Eleven: Global Solar Water Heater Market Segment by Application

Chapter Twelve: Global Solar Water Heater Market Size Forecast (2019-2026)

Browse Full Report with Facts and Figures of Solar Water Heater Market Report at:https://www.maximizemarketresearch.com/market-report/solar-water-heater-market/11436/

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Global Solar Water Heater Market Analysis and Forecast (2019-2026) by Technology, by Applications,... - Azizsalon News

With COVID-19 on the wane locally and more resources in place to handle it, the Capital Region has been cleared to begin reopening its economy starting Wednesday.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the decision at his daily briefing Tuesday. The move puts the eight-county region in Phase 1 of reopening, allowing careful restart of businesses that have the least potential for spread of the virus: construction, agriculture, forestry, pickup/dropoff retail, manufacturing and wholesale trade.

At intervals of at least two weeks, other business sectors will be allowed to reopen in Phases 2, 3 and 4. The businesses in each successive phase are deemed less essential to the economy and more conducive to spread of disease. If infection activity picks up, the reopening will be slowed or halted.

The state measures a regions readiness to reopen withseven metrics that show the level of COVID-19 illnessin the region and the ability of that region to respond to the pandemic.

The Capital Region had met six of the seven metrics but was stuck for a while on the last metric: Hiring and training enough contact tracers to identify everyone who has been in sustained close contact with newly diagnosed COVID-positive people. Once identified, these potentially infected people can be tested and/or quarantined.

Cuomo said Tuesday this has happened: Capital Region, which has met many of the health metrics, has to get their tracers up and running. We've been working with them to do that. They need 383 tracers, they found 430 working together so that's great news.

Cuomo shut down substantial portions of the state's economy in March to slow the spread of the virus, which in mid-April peaked at nearly 800 dead and nearly 19,000 hospitalized in a single day. The greatest impact was in New York City and its immediate suburbs, all of which still fall short of the metrics they must meet to reopen.

The shutdown has not been complete, however. Construction work has continued on certain projects deemed essential to health or safety, manufacturing of essential items has continued, and retail sale of vital itemssuch as foodhas continued.

Capital Region business leaders Tuesday welcomed the first stages of reopening, but cautioned that normalcy is still a long way off, and that it may not resemble the pre-pandemic normal.

The shutdown has been very hard on businesses, especially small businesses, and theyre excited at the prospect of restarting, said Todd Shimkus, president of the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce.

Hes not aware of any local businesses that have closed their doors permanently, but added that the rest of 2020 may be a harder test than the previous ten weeks: Starting up is one thing, surviving for the rest of the year is another.

The partnership the chamber and five other Saratoga County business/economic development agencies haveformed has been closely focused on keeping businesses afloat, Shimkus said, but theres another part of the puzzle that they cant control the public.

As the weather warms and the pandemic eases its grip on New York, the chamber is hearing from businesses that customers are walking in without masks and not staying six feet apart.

"I think a key part of this is employers are going to develop plans and employees are going to implement them but were going to need consumers to do what they need to do, Shimkus said.

People also need to be patient, he added. Its a new world for businesses.

I think the challenge going back is were not going back to business as usual, said Mark Eagan, president of the Capital Region Chamber.

The way around this, he said, will be to take things step by step.

Businesses in Phase 1 have had a few weeks to get ready, he noted. Businesses in subsequent phases will have at least two weeks to get ready as well.

Still, a lot of people are raring to go.

When this whole pandemic started the business community was really supportive. But with the progress in recent weeks people have been chomping at the bit, Eagan said.

A large Saratoga County homebuilder said Tuesday it will have supplies dropped at its construction sites starting Wednesday and hopes to get back to work Friday.

Certainly were all excited to move in the direction of resuming some sense of normality, Belmonte Builders President Peter Belmonte said. The company has been studyingeverything the state publishes about safe operation so it can get back to building and keep its employees safe.

Some parts of the project require people to work less than six feet apart, such as installing a hot water heater.

There are stages of the house, Belmonte said. Bringing in mirrors its a dangerous item and it takes a couple of people to handle it properly.

Other things, roofing, framing? They guys are usually spread out.

Sheetrock is awkward. It really ebbs and flows.

The physical work is perhaps the least challenging part. Harder is getting the people to do it there are only so many subcontractors, and every builder is going to want them on-site as soon as possible.

Then theres a little thing called the economy.

Right now, customers and prospective customers fall into three categories, Belmonte said: Those whove already signed the paperwork and are gung ho about moving into their new house once its complete; those whove spent the last 10 weeks cooped up in their current house and are now determined to live somewhere better; and those too worried about their financial future to consider a half-million-dollar new house.

Business by far is not dead but time will tell, Belmonte said. Were all on pins and needles.

His company started 2020 with a healthy backlog of orders for the construction season. Delivering them wont be a problem; its making sales this year for the 2021 construction season that worries him.

The Capital Region is defined as Albany, Columbia, Greene, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Warren and Washington counties.

The neighboring Mohawk Valley region which includes Fulton, Montgomery and Schoharie counties was cleared to reopen last week.

With the Capital Region greenlighted, seven of the 10 regions in the state have been cleared to reopen. The three regions remaining on shutdown orders are the ones where most of the states infections and deaths have occurred: New York City, Long Island and the Hudson Valley.

While COVID hospitalizations and deaths continue their slow decline statewide, the situation is far from over: There were 105 deaths recorded Monday, 1,474 new positive tests and 5,818 people hospitalized statewide.

An individual region could well backslide because of a single infection cluster.

Central New York, for example, has seen its hospital census climb 15 of the last 18 days, from 31 to 77. So far, the rate of increase has not been rapid enough to disqualify it on the first of the seven metrics new hospitalizations.

In the Capital Region, 113 COVID patients were hospitalized Monday, 21 in intensive care units. Three deaths were recorded, one each in Albany, Columbia and Schenectady counties. The Schenectady County death was the first reported there since May 2.

Also Tuesday, Cuomo announced a few other tentative steps toward normalcy: Local governments will be allowed to authorize gatherings of up to 10 people for Memorial Day observances and visitors will be allowed to see patients in a handful of hospitals as part of a two-week pilot project.

The visitors will facetime limitations, must wear personal protective equipment and must pass symptom screening. The only Capital Region hospital participating is Albany Medical Center; the next nearesthospital is Bassett Medical Center in Cooperstown.

Gov. Cuomo shut down much of the states economy in March to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hes allowing it to reopen regionally in four phases based on the decline of sickness and death in a given region, as well as thatregions ability to respond to the virus.

The Capital Region was cleared to open starting Wednesday.

By self-certifying that they have detailed plans in place to keep workers, workplaces and customers safe from the virus, Phase 1 businesses can now begin to reopen. These are:

Construction, agriculture, forestry, retail (pickup or dropoff only), manufacturing and wholesale trade.

Each subsequent phase will start at least two weeks after the preceding phase, and may be delayed in a given region if that areasees too much of an uptick in sickness.

Phase 2 is: Administrative support, professional services, real estate and retail.

Phase 3 is: Restaurants and food services.

Phase 4 is: Arts, education, entertainment and recreation.

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Capital Region to start Phase 1 COVID-19 reopening Wednesday - The Daily Gazette

REOPENING. Mall goers observe physical distancing while queuing at a mall at North Edsa in Quezon City. Photo by Darren Langit/Rappler

MANILA, Philippines The easing of quarantine restrictions means that more industries are allowed to resume full or partial operations.

Fears that a second wave of infection may occur have, however, also been raised as other nations relax lockdowns. The World Health Organization (WHO) warned these countries to boost public health responses and ensure proper case identification and contact tracing to avoid a major second wave.

As of Wednesday, May 20, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the Philippines has risen to 13,221, with a death toll of 842.

To minimize the risks of infection due to the increased number of people in workplaces, government agencies have released guidelines for businesses to follow before and when they reopen their workplaces.

International institutions have also made checklists of what business owners and workers need to know about mitigating the coronavirus threat in their establishments.

What should employers consider before reopening workplaces?

The WHO and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States advise executives to conduct workplace risk assessment and draw up control plans in consultation with employees.

Work-related exposure depends on the likelihood of close contact or frequent contact with suspected coronavirus carriers, as well as contact with contaminated surfaces and objects.

Business operation decisions must also be based on the status of disease transmission in the community as well as the employer's readiness to protect employees and customers. Executives must then monitor the cases in their community and work out policies in the event that infection occurs in the company.

What should be done before reopening a workspace?

According to the CDC, if building operations have been stopped or reduced, reductions in normal water use may cause hazards for occupants who will return to work. Microbial hazards that should be addressed before reopening are mold and Legionella, which causes Legionnaires' disease.

Moisture from leaks or condensation from roofs, windows, or pipes, or even from floods, may cause mold to grow. Before resuming operations, buildings should be checked for mold and excess moisture. This could be done by trained industrial hygienists. If dampness or mold is detected, the water entry source must first be addressed, then clean-up and remediation must be conducted.

Heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems in the building that have been inactive for a prolonged period must be operated for at least 48 to 72 hours before the staff returns. This "flush out" process must be continued until no odors are detected.

As for Legionella, stagnant or standing water in a plumbing system may be the cause for its growth and spread. To reduce this risk, managers must determine if draining the water heater is recommended after a prolonged period of disuse. Higher temperatures may also reduce the risk of Legionella growth.

Hot and cold water must also be flushed through all points of use like showers and sink faucets so that the water inside building piping may be replaced with fresh water. Decorative water features, like fountains, must also be cleaned. Safety equipment like fire sprinkler systems, eyewash stations, and safety showers must also be regularly flushed, cleaned, and disinfected.

How should returning workers be screened?

Based on the guidelines of the Philippine Department of Health (DOH), returning employees must be screened for COVID-19 symptoms, including fever, cough, colds, and other respiratory symptoms. They must be checked for any relevant travel history or exposure within the last 14 days.

Exposure means that these events happened two days prior or within 14 days from the onset of symptoms for a confirmed or probable case: face-to-face contact with a confirmed case for over 15 minutes and within one meter, direct physical contact with a confirmed case, and direct care for a probable or confirmed COVID-19 patient without using personal protective equipment (PPE).

Symptomatic employees with travel or exposure history on the date of work resumption should not be allowed to physically come back to work.

Symptomatic employees with travel or exposure history within the last 14 days before work resumption should present a certificate of quarantine completion issued by the step-down care facility or local health office.

Asymptomatic employees within the last 14 days before work resumption may be cleared to return to work.

What safeguards must be in place when operations resume?

Apart from mitigating work-related exposure risks to COVID-19, employers must also implement measures to provide support to employees. These standards should be planned out and ready for implementation before work resumes.

The following measures were recommended by the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the DOH, WHO, and CDC:

Engineering and administrative controls

Health checkups

Promotion of physical and mental resilience

Hygiene promotion

Environmental cleaning and disinfection

Physical distancing

What costs should employers cover?

The expenses to acquire and implement prevention and control measures should be shouldered by the employer. According to DOLE's advisory, these include the following:

Meanwhile, for construction project contracts and security, janitorial, and other services, these prevention and control measures will be provided by the principals or clients of the construction or service contractor.

If returning employees will be tested, how should it be conducted?

Testing returning workers is the prerogative of the employer. If an employer decides to conduct testing, the DOH recommends testing a representative sample of those who have physically returned to work and have a high risk of contracting COVID-19 due to their line of work, such as frontliners.

Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing for these personnel may be conducted to look for evidence of asymptomatic transmitters.

Those who test positive should be isolated and referred for appropriate management. Close contacts will also be isolated and tested. Those who test negative may continue working under the minimum preventive measures.

If an employee initially tested negative but developed symptoms over time, he or she must be tested again. In the event of testing positive, close contacts should be isolated and tested.

Employers must then report results to the DOH.

Meanwhile, testing representative samples using rapid antibody tests may be conducted up to every 14 days.

IgM negative, IgG negative, or IgG positive employees may continue to work. If an employee tests IgM positive but IgG negative on the first test, he or she should be isolated for 14 days and be tested again on the 14th day.

If the results are the same, quarantine will be extended by 7-day increments with repeat testing. If the results remain IgM positive but IgG negative for two consecutive retesting after the first 14-day quarantine period, an employee may be false-positive and must confer with infectious disease specialists.

Employers must submit the results of the rapid antibody tests to hrtucovid19results@gmail.com using the format at https://bit.ly/RDTReportingForm. Rappler.com

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Things to know before resuming business operations - Rappler

There was a time when Br. Jaazeal Jakosalem had little success when he asked bishops in the Philippines to join campaigns against mining or coal-fired power plants endangering communities as well as the land.

It wasn't that the bishops were ignoring the issues facing the environment they'd written a half-dozen statements on the topic since the late 1980s. They just weren't as visible in the struggle to do something about them, said Jakosalem, a lifelong environmental activist and a member of the Order of Augustinian Recollects.

Br. Jaazeal Jakosalem, aka Brother Tagoy, joins a direct action against a coal plant in Toledo City, Cebu, Philippines. (Provided photo)

The Philippines is one of the world's front lines on climate change. Last week, Typhoon Vongfong slammed into the Eastern Samar province, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people in a region that seven years earlier was decimated by Typhoon Haiyan. Climate scientists expect such tropical storms to become more powerful and more frequent as global temperatures rise.

Things have changed in the post-Laudato Si' world.

Today, the Catholic Church of the Philippines is seen as one of the leaders in answering the call that Pope Francis issued to the entire world in his 2015 social encyclical, "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home."

Since the encyclical's release, Jakosalem, better known as Brother Tagoy, says more bishops have joined him and other religious in speaking out against the construction of new coal-fired power plants and the damaging effects of mining on both communities and the land. Last July, the Philippine bishops conference issued a pastoral letter on the "climate emergency," calling the full church on the islands to an ecological conversion and to "activate climate action on behalf of the voiceless people and the planet."

"They are emboldened to act more for the caring of our environment," Jakosalem told EarthBeat in a phone interview.

Five years after the publication of Laudato Si', you can easily find such examples across the world of individual Catholics, parishes and institutions responding to the pope's own repeated appeal for ecological conversion with prayer and reflection over the encyclical but also with concrete actions in living it out.

Even with those examples, the consensus among Catholic ecological leaders is those responses have been not nearly as widespread as Francis sought with his universal call "for a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet." Count the pope among them.

'When we pass that 1.5 degrees threshold, climate change will move into all of our living rooms.'

Veerabhadran Ramanathan

"Sadly, the urgency of this ecological conversion seems not to have been grasped by international politics, where the response to the problems raised by global issues such as climate change remains very weak and a source of grave concern," Francis said in January in remarks to the Vatican diplomatic corps.

The call for increasingly urgent action from a historically slow-moving institution is driven by awareness of the numerous crises facing the planet.

The coronavirus pandemic struck at the start of a decade that climate scientists say is critical to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Doing so would prevent the most severe consequences of climate change, which threatens to exacerbate poverty, hunger, lack of water access, and migration, all impacting first and fiercest the world's already most vulnerable communities.

Already, global temperatures have risen 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) since the late 1800s. The planet is on pace to warm another 2 degrees C by the end of the century, and to reach the critical 1.5-degree mark as soon as 2030. Roughly 20% of the planet already has, according to a Pulitzer-winning report by The Washington Post.

Veerabhadran Ramanathan speaks on solutions to climate change during a 2018 lecture at Villanova University in Philadelphia. (CNS/Courtesy of Villanova University/Paul Crane)

"When we pass that 1.5 degrees threshold, climate change will move into all of our living rooms," said Veerabhadran Ramanathan, a climate scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego and member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. "You don't have to turn on TV to find out about climate change."

The pandemic has some worried it may slow momentum for addressing climate change. But there is also optimism up to the highest levels of the Catholic Church that how the world responds, economically and otherwise, just may be the multitrillion-dollar stimulus needed to jumpstart the globe to match societal actions with the urgency of the science.

And perhaps Laudato Si' can play a part.

"Laudato Si' has an immense amount of wisdom to charter that path and just aid us in that journey," said Toms Insua, co-founder and executive director of the Global Catholic Climate Movement.

Responding on a global scale

Some of the biggest impacts from Laudato Si' so far are found in what's formed from it.

Take the Global Catholic Climate Movement.

When it launched in January 2015 during Francis' papal trip to the Philippines where he visited communities devastated by Typhoon Haiyan it had 19 members, a mix of church development agencies, religious orders and Catholic environmental groups. In five years, it has grown to more than 900 organizations, representing every continent and more than 50 countries.

'We feel included in this call of Laudato Si'.'

Domenica Reyes

The movement, often called GCCM by members, has spearheaded some of the more prominent response to living out Laudato Si', and all at a global scale. Months after forming, it generated 900,000 signatures onto a Catholic Climate Petition delivered to world leaders at the COP 21 climate summit in Paris. It has trained more than 2,800 Laudato Si' Animators, who are tasked with doing just as their name implies in their local communities. Another 5,000 are in training now.

Each Lent, GCCM has organized creation-centered programs. Through its divest-invest campaign, it has played a leading role in facilitating more than 180 Catholic institutions to publicly declare they will cease investments in the fossil fuel industry.

At World Youth Day 2019 in Panama, GCCM formed a youth branch called Laudato Si' Generation. The group, now at 1,200 members worldwide, has brought a faith-based presence to the youth climate strikes.

Domenica Reyes, co-chair of Laudato Si' Generation, said young Catholics see in Laudato Si' a symbiosis between their faith and their concern for the environment. It's become "a spark," she added, empowering them to get involved and to press their politicians and priests alike to make environmental issues a priority.

"We feel included in this call of Laudato Si'," she said.

Members of Laudato Si' Generation pose with Cardinal Luis Tagle, then archbishop of Manila, Philippines, during World Youth Day in Panama City in 2019. Second from left is Domenica Reyes, co-chair of Laudato Si' Generation, and in center is Toms Insua, executive director of Global Catholic Climate Movement. (Global Catholic Climate Movement)

One of the biggest initiatives around the encyclica to date has been the Sowing Hope for the Planet project, a campaign orchestrated by the International Union of Superios General, an umbrella grou representing 2,000 women religious congregations. A network of 980 contacts share information and resources with their congregations to promote Laudato Si', and in particular its message of answering both "the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor." Sowing Hope for the Planet, for which GCCM is a collaborator, has seen Catholic sisters in the U.S. and Ghana have partnered in a plastic recycling program that reduces waste and provides jobs. The Servants of the Holy Spirit Sisters worked with other nongovernmental organizations to stop mining in Timor West.

Franciscan Sr. Sheila Kinsey, coordinator of Sowing Hope and UISG executive co-secretary of the justice, peace and integrity of creation commission, said the encyclical is clear, inspiring and practical. Now it's up to the wider church to pursue the systematic change it says is necessary.

"We must make a clear connection between our spiritual values and our daily actions," she said.

GCCM also played a role in the creation of the Laudato Si' Action Platform, announced at the start of Laudato Si' Week (May 16-24) by the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. The platform invites Catholic institutions to commit to "total sustainability" within a seven-year period through an integral ecological approach.

The goals are an invitation, not a mandate. The dicastery hopes that ground-up approach will yield a "critical mass" sweeping through the church that so far has yet to fully materialize.

"If I'm totally honest, it still often feels like we're at the very beginning," said Lorna Gold.

Gold has had a unique vantage point to the response to Laudato Si'. Until recently, she worked with Trocaire, the Irish Catholic development agency, and served on the Irish bishops' Laudato Si' Working Group. She is a GCCM board member. She has also been active in the climate strikes and is the author of Climate Generation: Awakening to Our Children's Future.

Asked to grade the global church's implementation so far, Insua responded, "It's low. A low grade." But that grade is a mixed bag, he said, with Amazonian countries and the Philippines at the high end, and the United States and Europe on the lower side.

"Encyclicals take time to sink in. A lot of time," Insua said. "But that's the problem with this encyclical, is that it doesn't allow for a lot of time to be taking on."

Along with the action platform, expected to launch in early 2021, the Vatican has introduced other prompts to spur action throughout the church.

Francis has recommended care for our common home be added to both the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Following other Christian denominations, he added a World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation (Sept. 1) to the liturgical calendar, and invited Catholics to celebrate the Season of Creation throughout September to Oct. 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi.

The Vatican delegation has been active at the United Nations climate summits, with the encyclical viewed as a factor in reaching the Paris Agreement.

Back home, the Vatican has hosted numerous conferences of scientists, economists and world leaders. The past two years, it held meetings with top oil executives and investment firms, where Francis called for "a radical energy transition" to stave off "a climate emergency." The 2019 session resulted in nearly all participants signing a declaration in favor of a price on carbon emissions and increased transparency from energy companies.

Pope Francis speaks to executives of leading energy, petroleum and natural gas companies, leaders in investment firms and climate scientists during a meeting at the Vatican June 14, 2019. (CNS/Vatican Media)

Insua singled out the Season of Creation as perhaps the most significant church response to the encyclical in the past five years. He said it gives Catholics and parishes not just a day but an entire month each year to plan programs reflecting on their place within their environment and how to preserve it.

"In a lot of people's minds, slowly but steadily, September is that time of the year," he said.

The difference leadership makes

The Season of Creation wasn't so new to Philippine Catholics. By 2003, Catholics there had begun celebrating in September its own creation time.

In many ways, the encyclical has reinforced throughout the archipelago ecological ministries in place for decades and has energized more to take part.

Jakosalem, 47, said Laudato Si' has been an affirmation of their work by placing creation care squarely in the framework of church teaching. Likewise, it's bolstered more bishops and priests to take prophetic stands against extractive industries without worrying what the financial repercussions to the church may be.

"We feel secured because of this document," he said.

In September, the Philippine bishops pledged to divest from fossil fuels. Their climate emergency pastoral called each diocese to establish ecology desks to spearhead programs pressing for a swift and just transition to clean energy, organizing to pass and implement environmental protection laws, and critically, integrating Laudato Si' and creation care more fully into church teaching in parishes, schools and seminaries.

Archbishop Jos Palma of Cebu, Philippines, speaks during an event for the Break Free from Coal campaign. (Jaazeal Jakosalem)

Archbishop Jos Palma of Cebu was instrumental in the campaign to block a new coal plant on the island. The four bishops of Negros Island have been active in efforts to block new coal-fired power plants. In both cases, the projects were not approved.

"This is something, huh?" Jakosalem said.

Like the Philippines, the bishops in Ireland established a Laudato Si' working group early on. Gold, one of its members, said it played a major role in bringing regular proposals to the bishops' conference and ultimately making Laudato Si' a higher priority on their agenda.

One result was the Irish bishops' decision to divest from fossil fuels, announced in August 2018 ahead of Francis' visit as part of the World Meeting of Families. Individual dioceses and religious orders have followed suit. Trocaire played a critical role in the Irish government's own decision to divest. The Irish bishops have also committed to the Season of Creation.

Gold said one ongoing priority is making Laudato Si' part of the formation of clergy and church leadership. Trocaire found some success through trips, at home or overseas, to witness climate injustices up close. Bringing priests and bishops more on board doesn't mean they do all the work, she added, but they are uniquely positioned to deliver the message and set in motion wider action in conserving God's creation.

"To reach a certain scale it really has to be about working alongside and working with the bishops' conference," Gold said.

What difference leadership can make is evident in the Amazon.

Indigenous people are seen on the banks of the Xingu River during a media event in Brazil's Xingu Indigenous Park Jan. 15, 2020. (CNS/Reuters/Ricardo Moraes)

Over the course of two years, bishops through the Pan-Amazon Ecclesial Network conducted 260 listening sessions across the nine Amazon countries on the threats facing one of the world's most biodiverse and critical ecosystems. All that culminated in October with the Vatican's special Synod of Bishops for the Amazon, what many viewed as the first major application of Laudato Si'.

The vast majority of participants hailed from the Amazon Basin, and included bishops, priests, religious and indigenous leaders. The synod turned the global church's attention to the multiple crises like deforestation, mining, biodiversity loss and land disputes facing the Amazon, a key region in mitigating climate change. Raging fires in the rainforest in the preceding months highlighted the situation.

The synod's final document and Francis' own reflection, Querida Amazonia, positioned the church shoulder to shoulder with indigenous communities in defense of their rights and protecting the rainforest against destructive, unrestrained industrial development.

In the final document, the participants identified climate change as "above all" the great threat to life in the region. They proposed a definition of ecological sin and called on all Christians to defend human rights in the Amazon as "a requirement of faith." They recommended creating environmental awareness training programs and special ministers, and for the church in the Amazon to support and join divestment campaigns of industries causing socio-ecological damage.

Pope Francis attends a prayer service at the start of the first session Synod of Bishops for the Amazon at the Vatican Oct. 7, 2019. (CNS/Vatican Media)

Reyes, the Laudato Si' Generation co-chair based in Ecuador, said one of the biggest contributions of the encyclical, reinforced by Querida Amazonia, is in the awareness it's raised on how everything is connected. That protecting the Amazon doesn't matter just for people living there, but for the future of the entire world.

"That Amazon is not only a matter of the Ecuadorian or Brazil church, but it's a matter of the universal church," she said.

US response 'still a work in progress'

In the United States, the prevailing sense among Catholics working on environmental issues is Laudato Si' has not been made a main priority.

Outgoing president Cardinal Daniel DiNardo made waves at the November meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, when he described the sense among bishops about global warming as important but not urgent.

Juniors and seniors from environmental science classes at Elizabeth Seton High School, a girls school in Bladensburg, Maryland, stand with their climate change signs along Constitution Avenue in Washington Sept. 20, 2019, as they prepare to join a march with thousands of others to the front of the U.S. Capitol. (CNS/Carol Zimmermann)

The comment was widely seen as at odds not only with the science but with the pope. Within the encyclical's introductory appeal alone, Francis stated the urgency three times and more than a dozen in total, including the "urgent need" to develop emissions-reducing policies "in the next few years." He has repeated that urgent message in nearly every speech on the topic since.

During an online roundtable May 20, three U.S. bishops acknowledged uneven response so far. "It's still a work in progress," conceded Archbishop Paul Coakley, chair of the bishops' Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development.

San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy, a leading U.S. voice on the encyclical, said that while it's been well-received by scientists and the young, he worries the church has yet to reach the intensity that climate change requires.

"We don't have 40 years left on the climate question," McElroy said in response to comments from Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Robert Barron that past encyclicals took decades to be put in practice.

Last summer, the Catholic Climate Covenant held the first of three biennial conferences at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, aimed at ramping up implementation in the U.S. church.

In an op-ed last month, Dan Misleh, Covenant executive director, reflected on progress at the five-year mark: "If I'm honest, not nearly to the degree I would have hoped nor commensurate with the scope of the challenge we are facing."

Franciscan Sr. Joan Brown is among the many who point to a lack of leadership.

Women religious congregations like hers have long been at the forefront of environmental action. Universities and schools have increasingly emphasized sustainability in recent decades. But for the church to take the next big leap will require the ecological conversion taking root with more priests and bishops, said Brown, who is executive director of New Mexico Interfaith Power & Light.

A first step, she suggested, is viewing climate change through integral ecology, that issues related to the environment, poverty, inequality, immigration and life are all interrelated.

A line of protesters Aug. 18, 2015, blocks the main gate at the Crestwood Midstream Partners gas storage facility on the shores of Seneca Lake in Reading, New York. Eighteen people were arrested while reading Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si'. (CNS/Dennis Sadowski)

A first step, she suggested, is viewing climate change through integral ecology, that issues related to the environment, poverty, inequality, immigration and life are all interrelated.

"There has to be some deep-seeded shifts in the church for us to really grapple with this largest ethical and moral concern of our time," Brown said. "And the longer it takes us, the more we run into greater storms, greater need for emergency relief."

In speaking at churches, the climate scientist Ramanathan said he's surprised by the number of Catholics who haven't read Laudato Si' or aren't aware of it. Educating more people about the text what he calls "a singular iconic document" that spells out the human tragedy of climate change and the climate science is essential, he said, to garnering wider support for the solutions, stressing "there is still time for solving the problems."

Laudato Si' "is a powerful tool that Pope Francis has put in our hands and we have to use it," Ramanathan said.

'Let's face it, the most convincing way that the document will be put into practice is if people can see a direct impact on their own lives.'

Archbishop Wilton Gregory

Within the U.S. bishops' conference, policy work has been a major focus, said environmental policy consultant Ricardo Simmonds. The conference has issued dozens of statements citing Laudato Si' during the Obama administration in support of environmental measures and during the Trump years opposing rollbacks and deregulation.

Simmonds agrees that there's much more that can be done, but from his view he sees a lot happening already. The U.S. bishops were official partners for the Vatican's Laudato Si' Week and produced resources for parishes and priests. Later this summer, the conference plans to start its own Laudato Si' advocates program geared toward young Catholics.

So far, the bishops' conference hasn't discussed establishing a Laudato Si' commission like those in other countries, Simmonds said. At the Creighton conference, McElroy suggested the idea as a way to make climate change "a central priority" in the U.S. church.

Washington Archbishop Wilton Gregory at the Oct. 17, 2019, blessing of solar panels that are being leased to produce renewable energy for Washington residents (CNS/Catholic Standard/Andrew Biraj)

Washington Archbishop Wilton Gregory, seen as another Laudato Si' leader, told EarthBeat he would support forming a working group, but that it may be more effective at a regional level "because the environment, while it belongs to all of us, manifests itself with great regional diversity," he said in a phone interview.

While archbishop of Atlanta, Gregory commissioned a Laudato Si' Action Plan to bring the text to life across all church levels. The plan has become a blueprint for other dioceses, and he has asked the D.C. archdiocese's care for creation committee to devise its own version. In April, Catholic Charities of Washington Archdiocese completed construction of a 2-megawatt solar array the largest solar installation in the District.

The solar project was facilitated by Catholic Energies, a program of Catholic Climate Covenant. Since it formed in fall 2017, it has completed 10 projects in five states, with another 12 set for construction this year. Together, they will generate 10 megawatts of solar energy annually,the equivalent of removing 5 million pounds of carbon emissions from the atmosphere.

The adoption of solar by parishes and dioceses has been one of the most visible responses to Laudato Si' in the U.S., with the dioceses of Monterey and San Diego in California leading the pack. The Diocese of Richmond, Virginia, has seven parishes signed up with Catholic Energies and is looking to develop a 5-7 megawatt array at a retreat center.

Apart from energy projects, the Cincinnati Archdiocese has a creation care task force, while the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, formed a network linking its parish green teams. In 2017, the statewide Diocese of Burlington, Vermont, celebrated a Year of Creation. Last year, the California bishops issued a pastoral statement responding to Laudato Si' and outlining specific steps to implement it locally. A now-permanent creation care committee will guide its rollout. A similar statement was issued by the Minnesota Catholic Conference.

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Five years ago, Pope Francis asked us to care for Earth. Have we listened? - National Catholic Reporter