 ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCATE LOOKS TO FORGE NEW LINKS Aims to Connect Activists, Researchers, Others By DAVID FUNKHOUSER Brendan Hanrahan explores the Connecticut outdoors and writes about it,and now his passion for the environment has taken him into cyberspace. Hanrahan wants to establish an online network to help people working on issues such as land use and conservation. He hopes the effort will provide the spark for much greater change. "I believe there's a groundswell underway in Connecticut," Hanrahan said. "If you look at the things going on in local communities, more and more people are becoming engaged in environmental management and education." Hanrahan has started a website at http://www.ctearthnet.org. He estimates there are about 300 community-based environmental initiatives in Connecticut, from town land trusts to broader efforts led by national groups. "It's the right idea at the right time," said Michael J. Donoghue, Director of the Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven, where more than 60 scientists, teachers, local activists and others gathered last week to hear Hanrahan pitch his idea. "There's a growing awareness and concern about environmental issues," Donoghue said. "We need to be able to communicate with one another and find out whats going on, [and] provide a way for people to intersect." James "Gus" Speth, dean of the Yale School of Forestry and a leading environmentalist, agreed: "I like Brendan's concept because it brings together many communities of environmental concern that normally do not interact very much." Speth has been critical of the U.S. government and other nations for a lack of effort in combating global warming, among other issues. "Cities and towns are whats driving environmental progress today," he said. "Sprawling development has brought vast changes to Connecticut, and the pace of change seems to be happening very quickly and almost beyond our control," Hanrahan said. "We've got to do something to make informed decisions about the state were going to leave our children and grandchildren." "Community groups often plow the same ground doing research and developing resources. They are stymied by a lack of funds, staff and time and political clout," Hanrahan said. "The network could make it easier for groups to find what they need and band together to achieve greater influence over government policy." "It's something thats long been needed," said Herb Gram of Madison, who is active in Citizens for a Clean Hammonasset and Stop Griswold Over-Development. "I hope it goes somewhere." Hanrahan has set up a nonprofit organization and said he will seek funding from sources as yet untapped by local environmental groups. Hanrahan, 50, and his wife have published a series of guidebooks from their Wilton home, where they live with their twin 8-year-old boys. He earned a degree in English and ecology from Reed College in Portland, Ore., and worked as a free-lance journalist for many years. Hanrahan would like to see the network serve as a model that could spread quickly to other states. "Maybe in 10 or 15 years, we can make real progress," he said. |