CT Green Scene

Ride with Common Ground

 

• The Ride starts from Common Ground, at 358 Springside Avenue in New Haven. Check out the schedule below for more details about how to get there.
• Helmets are required. Wear one! A limited number of helmets will be available on site, provided by the City of New Haven and Yale-New Haven Hospital.
• Bring a water bottle. To save resources, we will not be giving them away this year.
• Breakfast at Common Ground and snacks along our route are free to registered riders. At East Rock, you will have the opportunity to buy lunch from a bunch of great local vendors -- with proceeds going to the 14 Rock to Rock partner organizations!
• Be safe! Follow the rules of the road. Pay attention to ride guides and police.
• If you are riding with children, stick with them! You are responsible for supervising them during the ride.
• Get out on your bike at least once before Saturday, to check your breaks, shifting, etc.

Here's the plan. Keep checking back for all the latest news and excitement!

8:45 - Optional ride departs from East Rock. An informal group sets off from the corner of Orange and Cold Spring, heading for the event start at Common Ground.

8:45 - Optional ride departs from Yale Campus. An informal group sets off from the corner of Hillhouse and Grove, heading for the event start at Common Ground.

9:00-10:30 - Registration, breakfast, and entertainment at Common Ground High School. Eat a tasty farm breakfast, hear live music, and pick up your fancy t-shirt before hitting the road. Day-of registration will be available at Common Ground, but advanced registration is highly encouraged (and discounted!). Common Ground is located at 358 Springside Avenue - directions.

9:45 - Optional West Rock Summit Ride. Head up the park road to look out over all of New Haven!

10:45 - Official Ride Kick-off - 8 Mile Route. We ride at a leisurely pace across the city, kept safe by New Haven police along the way. 11:15 - Edgewood Park rest stop and activities. Travel through the park to the ranger station, where we'll be greeted with a light snack, plenty of water, and a chance to decorate your bicycle! 12:30 - Beaver Pond Park rest stop and activities. Check out one of the city's hidden parks while taking a short rest stop. Help us plant some trees and keep this park beautiful!

10:30 - Official Ride Kick-off - 25 Mile Route. Riders set off with ride guides on their way to Sleeping Giant, and then on to East Rock. This ride does not have a police escort, but will be supported by ride guides and a support vehicle. 12:00 - Sleeping Giant Rest Stop and Activities.Stop by beautiful Sleeping Giant Park, welcomed by the Sleeping Giant Park Association. 12:30 - Departing Sleeping Giant for East Rock.Travel by city streets to East Rock State Park.

 

1:30 - Arrival at East Rock Park, CELEBRATION and Lunch. You made it! Check out the Trowbridge Environmental Center, celebrate our top fundraisers and award winners, check out a mini "green expo" of local environmental organizations, and listen to more great music from CT Folk. Lunch will be available for sale from great vendors -- including the CASEUS Cheese Truck -- with part of the proceeds going to support Rock to Rock!

2:00 - Optional East Rock Summit Group Ride. Still itching for more? Head up a closed, paved park road to check out one of the best views in the city!

3:00 - Optional Group Ride back to Westville.

Wondering how you get home after Rock to Rock? You have lots of options:

1) Ride back across town, either on your own or as part of the 3:00 group ride.
2) Park a car, or arrange a pick-up, from College Woods, at the corner of Orange Street and Cold Spring Avenue.
3) Ride the CT Transit city bus. Schedules available on the CT Transit Web site. Each city bus has a rack with capacity for two bicycles.
4) Score a spot on the Common Ground school bus, heading across town starting at 2:30, with a truck for bicycles provided by New Haven parks department. Shuttle transportation will be LIMITED.

The Importance of Water

by Dr. Amy Wiesner

What’s so important about water?  You can quench your thirst from most liquids, it doesn’t have to be plain water, does it?  And you only need to drink it when you are thirsty, right?

Not quite...

Water is the second most important thing we need to live after oxygen.  Our bodies are made up of 75% water.  You can only live without water for 3 days.  Water is needed both inside and outside of the cells.  It is needed for muscle regulation, detoxification, elimination, weight control, disease prevention and anti-aging.

According to the World Health Organization, less than 1% of the world’s fresh water is easily obtainable for human use.  Only 0.007% of all the water on the earth can be used by humans.  The rest is salt water.  According to the United Nations, more than 1 billion people do not have access to clean water and 2.6 billion do not have access to adequate sanitation.  In developing countries, easy access to water is not a right that those of us in rich nations take for granted.

Sunday cheese tastings at Beltane Farm in May

Taste the First Cheeses of Spring!

The winter is over, the ice on the pond has melted and the baby goats are born and the new milk is especially sweet! Come sample a selection of the first goat milk cheeses of the season in our seasonal tasting room at the farm. Enjoy some punch and meet the new baby goats! Every Sunday during May. 11:00 to 3:00 pm.

May 1
May 8
May 15
May 29

Beltane Farm, 59 Taylor Bridge Rd. Lebanon, Connecticut  860. 887. 4709

Several local wineries within proximity – Direction to them available at the farm on Sundays. Also available – A full array of Artisan Goat Milk Soaps from Oak Leaf Dairy of Lebanon.

Raw Milk- Beltane Farm is producing raw milk again this year! Available in quarts or half gallons.

Visit their web site at www.beltanefarm.com

The Plastic Purge

By Brittany Shutts
   
In light of this past Friday’s Earth Day, one of the most significant things you can do for the planet is to cut the excess plastic out of your life. It is detrimental to the health of humans and wildlife and piles up in U.S. landfills and oceans. Several companies are making a forward-thinking effort to cut back on plastic usage. They are eliminating packaging overkill and even replacing plastics with innovative biodegradable materials. (See last week’s Operation Trashdown for links to reduce, reuse, and recycle!)
   
Companies like Ford are investing in a groundbreaking alternative to plastic that comes from a surprising source: mushrooms. The material was designed by Ecovative and has been used since 2007. It is formed by growing mushrooms in agricultural by-products like corn, oat, or seed husks, producing a waterproof and fireproof mushroom foam solid that is completely biodegradable. Ford has plans to use the foam to eventually replace petroleum-based plastics in the bumper, side doors, and dashboard. Polymers made from mushrooms are also being used to form a new packing material to replace Styrofoam, which takes up a quarter of U.S. landfills.

Operation Trashdown

by Ilene Moyher

In honor of Earth Day April 22, 2011, let’s embrace "Operation Trashdown" as a way to help create a cleaner earth. Everyone can help by adopting the ‘less trash’ mindset in their shopping and daily routines. Three basics are:

• Reuse or recycle more than you throw away
• Consider product packaging – amount of packaging and whether it’s made of recycled or recyclable materials
• When buying, make choices based on where items will end up (in a landfill? recycled? a treasured keepsake? long usage life?)

Did you know that 38 billion water bottles end up in landfills every year, enough to circle the earth 150 times, and each bottle takes hundreds of years to decompose!  Most towns and venues offer recycling for these, so it’s an easy way to make a difference. Better yet, use your own bottle and water and save money, too. You can find this fun fact on the Today Show with Kathie Lee & Hoda. Click the link to see the segment for more ways to easily become greener.

East Coast Greenway in Connecticut

Check out this clip courtesy of Steve Mitchell from the East Coast Greenway via YouTube. Biking from Maine to Florida just got a whole lot easier.

Haiti Onward: Q&A with Heather Burns

by Brittany Shutts
   
The earthquake that devastated Haiti in January, 2010 resulted in a complicated set of challenges for a country already suffering from economic and political instability. Heather Burns, founder of the GreenScene blogs and a Connecticut resident, recognized a unique opportunity to apply sustainable solutions on a local level. Haiti Onward applies a similar approach to the GreenScene blogs, catalyzing a “collaboration based on principles and place,” but on a grander scale. Haiti Onward brings together 15 organizations and local stakeholders to efficiently resolve many of Haiti’s economic, environmental, and social challenges.
   
The initiative was recently nominated as a semi-finalist in the Buckminster Fuller Challenge for contributing a local solution to a global problem that can be replicated in other communities.

I spoke with her at length about the project.

Tunxis Hosts Earthstock Celebration

The community is invited to Earthstock Connecticut, an eco-friendly “green” celebration, on Sunday, May 1, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the courtyard at Tunxis Community College in Farmington.  Admission is free. Rain date is May 8.

The event features close to 70 eco-minded vendors and exhibitors, music, food and family activities.

Some of the highlights include performances on a solar powered stage by Boxx of Roxx, The Green Jazz Band, and John Mayock and The Homesteaders. Participants can also take part in drumming circles by Power of the Drum and Garden of Beats, face painting, hula hoop dancing, rides on the Roaming Railroad’s electric engine train, and greetings with costumed characters. Other highlights include a guided tour by a nationally board certified herbalist who will identify edible and medicinal weeds, a demonstration of a VW Golf TDI that runs on vegetable oil, and child identification and fingerprinting.

Vendors will sell items such as jewelry, crafts, candles, apparel, handbags, soap, honey, all natural cleaning products, and more. A portion of proceeds from these sales will be donated to the Tunxis Community College Sustainable Energy Fund.

For a complete list of vendors, demonstrations and a schedule of performances and activities, visit www.earthstockconnecticut.com. Tunxis and CT Environmental Headlines are sponsors of the event.

Earthstock Connecticut is one of a series of events at Tunxis Community College celebrating 40 years of education in the Farmington Valley and beyond. The College first opened for classes in October 1970 and currently offers over 60 associate’s degrees and certificates, providing critical thinking and problem-solving skills that prepare students for transfer to bachelor’s degree programs and employment in areas with industry need. For more on 40th anniversary events at Tunxis, visit tunxis.commnet.edu/40th.

Are There Long Term Health Effects from Cell Phone Radiation?

by Dr. Amy Wiesner

The effects of cell phone radiation on the human body is an important discussion.  We are surrounded by electromagnetic fields, or EMFs, in today’s fast-paced society.  From cell phones to microwaves to electricity itself, everything we use on a continuous, daily basis emits radiation.  The question is, are we in danger?

So far, according to the National Cancer Institute, research has shown that the energy from radiofrequencies (RF) emitted by cell phones is inconclusive on causing cancer.  However, that does not mean that there are not concerns in the following areas: the effects of RFs on children and pregnant women and their unborn children; nor non-cancer causing effects of RFs.

Avoiding GMOs

by Brittany Shutts

Alfalfa in animal feed, super salmon, and non-browning “arctic” apples have all recently joined the list of genetically modified foods to watch out for. Whereas in the EU a great deal of skepticism towards GMOs has resulted in product labeling and bans, the US has little regulation and few long-term studies. Thirteen years of genetically modified foods in US markets have proved that there are more risks than benefits.
   
A genetically modified organism, or GMO, is created by placing the genes of bacteria, viruses, and animals into plants – and recently salmon – so that they become resistant to herbicides or pests. The most significant GM foods are soybeans, corn, canola, and cotton. It is difficult to avoid GM soy and corn because they appear in so many packaged foods.

Check out these events in April

April 15-17: Connecticut River Costal Conservation District 20^th Annual Tree Seedling and Shrub Sale
Location: Old Saybrook Shopping Center

The Connecticut River Costal Conservation District will hold its 20^th Annual Tree Seedling and Shrub Sale. It’s never too early to think of spring planting! Orders must be received by March 25. Visit the website and see the order form.

April 16: Eco Home Tour in Branford
Location: Branford, CT

Sponsored in conjunction with the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund. Savor spring at this Short Beach 2000 square foot home built for $170 per square foot! Using passive solar design, solar electricity, and hot water, this wonderful home epitomized tight construction, respect for the unique site, rainwater flush toilets, passive ventilation, and salvaged wood. This is a Pace Star house!

GMO Lecture in Fairfield and Greenwich

Wholesome Food Where There is None

by Eileen Weber

Wholesome Wave is at it again. With a $600,000 grant from Kaiser Permanente, they will be expanding their farmers’ market programs to eight new locations worldwide. The funding will primarily support its Double Value Coupon Program (DVCP). That program has been a major step in bringing fresh, local produce to the very people who need it most. Perhaps it goes without saying, but it’s always healthier to get your tomatoes fresh-picked from the vine than to convince yourself they can be found in a can of Chef Boyardee.

“We at Wholesome Wave are so grateful for Kaiser Permanente’s support, which is allowing us to take these next, vitally important steps towards increasing the accessibility of nutritious foods throughout America’s food-insecure communities,” said Michel Nischan, president and founder, Wholesome Wave in a recent press release. “Wholesome Wave and Kaiser Permanente have a shared mission of building a healthier future, and this generous partnership will allow Wholesome Wave to nourish neighborhoods across America.”