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Free parking is so 20th century For half a century, our government has been building more and wider roads, subsidizing the manufacture of cars, and has created more and more space for parking those cars at curbside and in municipal parking lots. Today there are almost four parking spaces for every car in the U.S. – put them altogether and you’d have a parking lot the size of Connecticut. According to Professor David Shoup in “The High Cost of Free Parking,” 99 percent of those spaces are “free.” Or are they?. . .read more Previous Articles
Littman: Plastic bottle recycling at Newton South. . .(Not!)? For a Girl Scout Gold Award project, I conducted a survey at my high school, Newton South, about students’ plastic bottle recycling habits and their use of tap and bottled water. I had been distressed by the number of students I observed throwing away plastic bottles in trash cans, rather than in recycling bins. Among other things, I wanted to know how often students recycle plastic bottles at school, and the difficulties they experience when recycling. I hoped to use the data to educate the school community about the importance of recycling; inform school groups working on improving recycling about the impediments to recycling at the school; and help them develop a more effective recycling program. . .read more The "Walking School Bus": taking the next step In Lecco, northern Italy, public school personnel are assigned to assist school children in a daily "piedibus". In Newton we call it a "walking school bus". Children are given
incentives to participate, with fare cards that are punched each day and prizes awarded for participation. The routes have names; a favorite route in Lecco, through the local cemetery, is called
the "mortobus". It's fun, it is significantly reducing the number of short car trips in the town, and it reinforces the children's environmental ethic. . .read
more It's WAR - on Plant Invaders Garlic mustard, a leading plant invader, is now in your backyard, along your favorite walks, virtually everywhere in Newton! The problem will get worse and worse if we do not act. It's time for a declaration of war! Garlic mustard is only one of several plant invaders we need to tackle. The Newton Conservators Spring Walks schedule (below) includes invasives' removal sessions at various Newton parks and conservation areas. We are continuing and expanding the efforts of a group of people who have been working for a decade to control these pests at Dolan Pond and parts of the Charles River walkway. There is also much you can do about this problem in your own backyard and neighborhood. . .read more Emerging Diseases Epidemics associated with emerging infectious diseases are occurring in historically unprecedented numbers, according to the World Health Organization. An emerging disease is one that suddenly appears in humans, such as AIDS, Ebola and Hanta virus. Also in this category are existing diseases, like West Nile virus and cholera, which suddenly increase or move into new geographic areas. Although some emerging diseases are caused by genetic changes in pathogens, often related to antibiotic drug resistance, most emerging infectious diseases originate in animals and spread to humans. . .read more Getting People to use bicycle paths Last December, in a program at the Newton Free Library, Northeastern University Professor Peter Furst described how his students were helping Boston set up a network of bicycle paths in the city. In his introductory remarks Professor Furth presented a graph that showed that there is a very strong relationship between “stress” and the number of people who use bicycle paths. Most bicyclists feel stress when sharing a road with automobile traffic, even if they are in a marked lane. They also feel stress when a family member, especially a child or teenager, is sharing a road with auto traffic. The easiest way to avoid this stress is to avoid the situation – that is, not to bicycle – which is the solution most people choose. A bicycle program should be judged by its success in attracting people who are not athletic, who do not identify themselves as “bicyclists” and are not “brave”. . .read more Saving Newton's trees Walk down most any street in Newton, and you will see trees, many of them large and lovely. Thirty-three thousand of those trees are on public land, most on the sidewalk berms. Today, there are many empty spots where there were once street trees. In the last 10 years 5,535 trees---including 950 in the past year -- have been removed because they were dead or hazardous. These trees are often in poor condition due to age, storm damage, disease and injury, compounded by insufficient pruning. This work is done by the forestry department; the staff has shrunk over a period of 20 years from 20 to 2; today most of the tree removal is done by outside contractors, and about 60% of the operating budget is spent on tree removal. . .read more New solution for waste woes You're at the check-out line. The shopper in front of you has mounded her cart with cheap disposables. You think, "I wouldn't pay for that junk." But you are paying for it. Within
days most of the items in that cart may be out at the curb, awaiting garbage collection and disposal supported by your tax dollars. . .read more Newton Composts Curbside recycling of paper, cans, and bottles has become a routine environmental practice for Newton residents. More recently, environmentally-concerned residents have been encouraged to practice composting, which allows for the reuse of food scraps, lawn waste, and other surplus materials. . .read more Dark Skies and Green Lights in Newton If the night skies seem darker lately, one reason might be the Dark Sky Ordinance passed by the City of Newton in 2006. This ordinance requires that all licensing applications
for outdoor lighting projects receive "dark sky approval" by the City. The ordinance was prompted by increasing concerns about light pollution, which obscures our view of the universe,
compromises research by astronomers, negatively affects human and animal health, and has other environmental impacts. . .read more Stormwater pollution in the Charles River: an update A walk along the Charles River is more than just a pleasant afternoon for Anna Dukhovich, Elizabeth Cooke, Maalika Banerjee and Jenny Zhao. These Newton North High School students and many other Newton residents helped the Charles River Watershed Association conduct visual shoreline surveys of the lower 45 miles of the Charles River and tributaries, including Cheesecake Brook, Sawmill Brook and South Meadow Brook. During these surveys, trained volunteers walked or canoed along the river or stream observing and recording signs of stormwater pollution, such as erosion and discolored or odorous pipe discharge. . .read more Can prairie grass save ethanol? As an alternative to gasoline and diesel, ethanol has been on a roller coaster ride over the past five years. The call to promote our own natural resources propelled ethanol ahead of other options to reduce gasoline consumption, such as hydrogen, the sun, vegetable oil and electric-powered cars. Corn-based ethanol was not only touted as more commercially viable, but also embraced as a potential boon to farmers. . .read more Small Step, or Quantum Leap Local policy changes targeted at widespread environmentally destructive activities often have a ripple effect beyond the local community. These days, information spreads very rapidly, and copycat policies are common. Bicycle-friendly programs in Bogota quickly affect policy-makers in San Francisco, Sydney and Boston. . .read more Plant hardiness zones and global warming Global warming is already here. We are experiencing prolonged droughts, flash floods and dramatically different patterns of precipitation than those we had just fifty years
ago. Many life forms are affected by these changes. Daily air temperatures now vary so widely around seasonal norms that we are putting on sweaters in August as well as in February. We
should not be surprised that temperature fluctuations have had a profound effect on plant ecology, because temperature impacts plant germination, growth patterns, colonization, planting
dates, and harvest times. . .read more Alternative Energy? Newton Needs Pedal Power Most of us are over-reliant on our cars for short trips. If you look around the world, it is obvious that almost anyone can ride a bicycle or tricycle, including people with disabilities, to do local errands. Convenient lightweight bicycle panniers convert into shopping bags and readily attach with velcro. Bicycles can even be designed to haul goods, young children and equipment; as is, bicycles are convenient and cost effective for short trips, and, of course, they obviate the need of finding a parking space. . . read more Bringing Up Baby Pottos play a very important role in the African rainforest. Everything within the ecosystem is interconnected. Pottos integrate, as do all species, into the natural environment
and provide balance. Zoo New England has been working successfully to build the captive population of pottos, because the species has been on the decline for years. According to Zoo New
England President and CEO John Linehan, "There isn't even a good handle on how many there are in the wild because pottos are so secretive." . . . read more Hi-tech can help Africa Africans, living in the poorest continent, have often not had the opportunity, or have had little reason, to utilize western technology. In colonial times, the overwhelming superiority of European weapons made resistance to European domination hopeless. But colonization did not bring benefits to the people of the colonies. Even textiles made in the colonies could not compete with lower cost goods made by British textile mills. And while Western medicines offer enormous benefits to people in Africa, their cost has typically been too high to make them accessible to most people there. Since gaining independence from colonial powers, African countries have received financial aid from foreign governments and international aid agencies, but little has filtered down to local populations. Low tech, high labor content, technology, like textile manufacture, has provided some low paying jobs, but has had little effect on the lives of most people. Only in South Africa is the economy sufficiently developed to support more sophisticated manufacturing - like automobiles. . . read more Offshore Alternate Energy Moves Forward Despite all the controversy over the past years about Cape Wind's proposal to build a wind farm in Nantucket Sound, the project is moving forward. A couple of weeks ago,
the lead federal permitting agency, the Minerals Management Service (MMS), completed the draft environmental impact statement. From now through March 20, 2008, MMS will accept written
comments on the project and during March 2008 it will hold public hearings. . . read more Reduce Carbon Emissions with Princeton Wedge Game As we try to figure out what we can do about global warming and climate change – as individuals, as companies, and as communities – the Princeton Stabilization Wedge offers a way to visually compare the impact of our choices. In fact, resources at www.princeton.edu/wedges are being used by concerned citizens from executives to high school students as a serious type of game to help think through hard choices. . . read more Levin: Ancestors and Descendents NEWTON - Just after liftoff from Logan, I reflexively glanced down at a small cemetery in East Boston. The family plot was easy to spot from the air. My grandfather purchased this tiny piece of real estate in the early 50s, about 30 years before my parents took advantage of the free rent. Suddenly it dawned on me that that historic cemetery will become an early casualty of Arctic ice melt, as it is now mere yards from the waves lapping against the shoreline. . . read more Dovekie Blows into Newtonville The exhausted Dovekie, not usually found inland, did a belly flop in the backyard of Anne Simunovik (who has a feeder and keeps count of which birds come to her feeder). . . read more A Trail Network based in Newton In Newton the framework already exists for a citywide pedestrian and bicycle trail network, although currently there are gaps between these trails. The Charles River Path, a hard surfaced multi-use path, passes through Newton, and there are suitable paths in several city parks and conservation areas. The Aqueduct Trails provide pedestrian routes from Newton Centre to Wellesley, and there are two disused railroad tracks that could link Newton trails with those of Weston, Needham and Wellesley. . . read more For older articles, please see the archives. |
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