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VOLUME II, Issue 10
http://www.GreenForNewEngland.org

MAY 16, 2001
            1 – Green Thumb, City-Style
            2 – Season of Congestion
            3 – Shout it Out
            4 – Thanks, But No Thanks
            5 – Biodiversity Days
            6 – Spring Fling 2001 

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1 – Green Thumb, City-Style
Even in if you live in the city, you can still enjoy your own homegrown, organic tomatoes this fall.  Let the Boston Building Materials Co-op and Resource Center show you how to garden in the city!  Sign up for their workshop on June 2 from 10:00 AM – noon and you will be treated to an on-site lecture about sun orientation, soil, raised beds, compost, installing plants, and organic gardening. The class will take place in the instructor’s own backyard vegetable garden.  Students will be invited for follow-up visits to the garden in July, August, and September to discuss each month’s gardening challenges and chores.  As a bonus, participants will also pay a visit to perennial and shrub plantings.  To register or get info about other BMRC programs, call (617) 442-2262 or visit www.bbmc.org. 

2 – Season of Congestion
For allergy sufferers, spring is a blur of sneezing and stuffy noses.  Summer brings with it an ailment for everyone: traffic congestion.  It is hard to enjoy the “great outdoors” if you can’t even get there because of backed up highways.  The Conservation Law Foundation last week released a report by the Surface Transportation Policy Project (STPP) showing that attempts to solve traffic congestion problems by building more roads have proven, nationwide, to be an exercise in futility.  On average, municipalities that built the most new roads were no less congested than those that built fewer or no new roads.  In New Hampshire, the CLF office is working to increase transportation alternatives for the heavily traveled areas, including the I-93 section from Manchester to the Massachusetts border.  CLF has urged the NH Department of Transportation to restore passenger rail service to ease the congestion along this commuter corridor.  According to CLF, NH residents are recognizing the importance of a multi-modal transportation system, including more effective connections with Manchester Airport and expanded bus service.  For more information of what CLF is working on in your state, visit www.clf.org.     

3 – Shout it Out
It may be great for stains, but a lot more than Shout is needed to clean up Massachusetts’ largest polluting power plants.  Clean Water Action and MassPIRG recently released “Room to Breathe,” a report providing compelling evidence that the swift cleanup of the state's oldest and dirtiest coal and oil-fired power plants will not jeopardize electric system reliability or result in power shortages. The report analyzes the reserve electric generation capacity in the state and contends that pending Department of Environmental Protection regulations would not undermine the state's electricity reliability.  To learn why power plant pollution is such a critical issue, check out the coalition’s “Death, Disease & Dirty Power” report that outlines the detrimental health impacts of these dirty plants.  Both reports, as well as additional information, can be found by visiting www.cleanwateraction.org or www.pirg.org/masspirg.

4 – Thanks, But No Thanks
That is what Gerard and Pauline Raboin recently said to future development when they sold the development rights to their 390-acre farm to the Vermont Land Trust.  The farm, which maintains an organic, closed herd of cows for the purpose of selling certified organic milk, abuts the Missisquoi River for more than half a mile.  As part of the conservation easement, the Raboins will permit pedestrian public access along both banks of the Missisquoi River, popular for canoeists and fishermen, as it passes through their farm. The Raboin farm is also adjacent to Brown's Ledges, a Natural Heritage Site owned and managed by The Nature Conservancy. The resulting block of conserved land is close to 500 acres.  For more information on the conservation efforts of the Vermont Land Trust, visit www.vlt.org.

5 – Biodiversity Days
Are you looking for a great way to familiarize yourself with the flora and fauna of your Connecticut River community?  On June 8-10, join the Connecticut River Watershed Council and several other organizations that are participating in Massachusetts’ Biodiversity Days Program, with a focus on the Connecticut River and its tributaries: the Chicopee, Deerfield, Westfield and Farmington Rivers.  Biodiversity Days 2001 is a challenge to citizens to familiarize themselves with the wealth of animal and plant species with which we share our communities and to identify at least 200 species in backyards and the broader community. Participants will find, inventory, and learn about the species of flora and fauna in their hometowns.  This is the first-ever inventory of this magnitude, and the resulting information will aid in the protection of the watershed.  For more information contact CRWC at (413) 529-9500 or crwc@crocker.com.

6 – Spring Fling 2001
What happened to spring?  Winter seemed to jump right into summer this year, but you can still get in your dose of “spring cleaning.”  Join hundreds of neighbors and friends on Saturday May 19th at 9am at Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative to assist in cleaning vacant lots, whacking weeds, picking up litter, installing benches and flower box planters, and sprucing up gardens.  Tools will be provided and can be picked up at DSNI offices at 504 Dudley Street in Roxbury, MA.  At 1:00pm the clean-up will be followed by a celebration of volunteers’ efforts with a barbecue, games, and music in a nearby park.  For more information call Nicole or Trish at 617-442-9670 or e-mail at urbanvillage@dsni.org.

Welcome Aboard!
Peter Twombly recently joined the Environmental Federation of New England as Director of New Corporate Partnerships.  Peter will be working full-time to develop new workplace giving partnerships with area firms.  To contact him e-mail Peter@GreenForNewEngland.org or call 617-542-3363.  Peter brings to the Federation over ten years of professional business development, marketing and e-commerce/internet experience.  Most recently, as Vice President of Business Development for TrueAdvantage, Inc., Peter was responsible for securing over 100 synergistic business partnerships and revenue generating alliances, making TrueAdvantage one of the largest B2B destination/network sites on the Internet.  In his spare time, he enjoys sailing, surfing and being a new dad. 

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