Real Hartford

Cross-Pollination

I reviewed an environmental magazine at Undercurrents.

Can’t Get Enough

If you are craving even more photos of the flowers at Elizabeth Park, check out Heather’s blog. If only someone could invent a way to scent-blog we could capture the whole experience.

Out and About: Spring Flower Show

Thanks to Amy for the reminder that the Spring Flower Show is happening at Elizabeth Park.
Until March 20th you can go to the greenhouse between 10-2 to see and smell Spring.
I went up there today and must have chosen a good time because there were only a few other people there. Last year when I went, it was packed!
I got a bit photo-happy, since it was just so nice to be around living plants for the first time in months.

Continue reading Out and About: Spring Flower Show…

Urban Winter Wonderland

One of my favorite blogs, Urban Pantheist, shines light on the idea that a nature-lover need not feel uprooted when living in the city. Obviously, a city will have fewer trees than a forest, but the belief that cities are devoid of all life is simply wrong. There are trees, growing freely, and wildlife. For me, living in a place without nature would be the deal-breaker.

There are about 20 unusual species of trees growing in Hartford. Bushnell Park even has the offspring of an historical tree, under which I’ve eaten a few popsicles while people-watching.

The park that I live near originally had greenhouses and a deer park on the grounds. They are in the process of planning new gardens at Colt Park, which stretches from Wethersfield Avenue almost to Charter Oak Landing.

Speaking of Charter Oak Landing, I’ve seen a number of animals down there, including hawks on the trails. I’ve also seen hawks on trails heading North from Riverside Park. This shouldn’t be surprising since the Connecticut River is right there, and the wooded area surrounding it houses meals for hawks. I’ve also seen Peregrine Falcons and Bald Eagles, not to mention more common birds and animals like coyote, fox, deer, chipmunk, squirrel, raccoon, woodchuck, crow, and swan.

Even with humans getting in the way of progress, wildlife can still thrive, or at least adapt better than we can.

Still, there’s a need to clean up after ourselves. A year ago it was announced that the Hartford landfill would be closing by the end of 2008. The landfill is on Leibert Road, in the city’s north end. The hope is that increased recycling will help to make this transition easier. Right now, the City of Hartford does not accept as many recyclables as other towns do. Hebron, for example, will recycle antifreeze, motor oil, telephone books, clothes, tires, and scrap metal, which Hartford won’t even touch. Things that some other towns recycle that Hartford has not begun to: paperback books, food trays, leaves, car batteries, eyeglasses, electronics, packing “peanuts”, block styrofoam, lead acid batteries, appliances, shoes, rechargeable batteries, and oil filters. So, the technology exists for a lot more to be recycled than just newspapers, corrugated cardboard, jars, aluminum cans, and junkmail. When politicians talk about their dreams for Hartford, I’d like to hear more about composting and recycling, and reducing the amount of garbage here through encouraging restaurants to use reusable utensils.

Green Activism on New Britain Avenue

The Green Vibration, formerly known as the Alchemy Juice Bar, seems to have rediscovered their mission. Last month they opened the eco-boutique in the space that’d been used as a yoga studio. The “juice bar” is now known as the Alchemy Cafe. The menu doesn’t seem to have changed any, but what’s most noticeable is the chalkboard wall covered in what looks like someone’s (or several people’s) environmentally-friendly brainstorm for Hartford. Some of the ideas listed on the board/wall: solar powered monorail, roof gardens, and reminders to boycott Wal*Mart and Home Depot. They’re also starting a cooperative, but there is an error on the information page for that– there are several farmers’ markets in Hartford, not just the Billings Forge one. Anyway, the food buyer’s club option is an appealing way to sidestep places like Whole Foods and Wild Oats, which have what I need but charge too much for it.

Green Friday

The day after Thanksgiving when people go to shop at stores at 4 am, with no regard for the workers who have to get up and be there even earlier than that, is called Black Friday.

A week and a day after Thanksgiving this year Hartford will be having its very own Green Friday.

From 7-9 in the morning, the November Bike-to-Work (”Icebike”) will be meeting up at JoJo’s on Pratt. I don’t work downtown on Fridays, but I’ll admit that I’m tempted to get up early to ride down there before going to my other job. I don’t think I can do this with a clear conscience since it’s only about a mile trip for me.

As far as I know, there’s nothing in particular happening in the middle of the day, but maybe that is when you can familiarize yourself with the issues that the Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice is working on. If nothing else, look at the graphics on the Healthy Hartford website that provide visual explanations of the distribution of poverty in Connecticut alongside information about Hartford’s high asthma rate.

From 6-10 in the evening, the Alchemy Juice Bar will celebrate their grand opening of the Eco Boutique. We can already get some environmentally-friendlier products from Whole Foods, Wild Oats, and Rose Gourmet, but the Eco Boutique will feature items that they do not carry, like organic linens and bedding. The Alchemy Juice Bar and Eco Boutique are on New Britain Avenue near Trinity College and the new ice rink.

Hartford–Biked and Discovered

Since signing up to participate in the Discover Hartford Bicycle and Walking Tour, I’ve been biking more often, anticipating the distance of the event. I’d gone on a few trips that were roughly ten miles, and seemed to do fine.

I forced myself to finish the tour, even though I was calculating the odds as they increased, of me being hauled over the Hartford Hospital. It wasn’t just the shame of being at the end of the thousand and some odd cyclists that bothered me. It was the shame of that plus being so young. Participants were of all ages, but many were 45+, and fully kicked my ass. Continue reading Hartford–Biked and Discovered…

Anti-Sprawl in Vernon

The Vernon Planning & Zoning Commission will hold a public hearing for an application for a Home Depot at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 6, 2007 in the Senior Center auditorium, 26 Park Place, Rockville.

Diamond 67, LLC is applying for a 117,000 square foot Home Depot building with a 28,713 garden center at 117 Reservoir Road, Vernon near exit 67 off I-84.

The Home Depot application is a serious threat to Walker’s Reservoir and the Tankerhoosen watershed due to its size, amount of impervious surface and proximity to these important natural resources. The plan to use the existing septic system (the septic system previously used by New England Sportsplex) over an aquifer is also a threat.

The public will probably not have an opportunity to speak at this meeting, but please attend to show your opposition to this application.

 The area in question is near where I grew up. The area is wetlands and there is nearby forest. This part of Vernon, on the Tolland line, is one of the few areas not characterized by sprawl and strip malls. There is a Home Depot less than a ten-minute drive from this location. So far, the town of Vernon has been successful at keeping Wal-Mart out of that area.

Manufactured Landscapes

crossposted at Undercurrents

If Deliverance lost its plot, became self-consciously artsy, and declared itself apolitical, it would be called Manufactured Landscapes.

For its handful of shortcomings, Jennifer Baichwal’s film–billed first as a “documentary on the world and work of renowned artist Edward Burtynsky“–is worth a look. Continue reading Manufactured Landscapes…

Hartford Bike Tour

Occasionally, I have to indulge my inner-bad girl and do things that a really adventurous for me–emphasis on for me. I’m aware that by most people’s standards I’m cautious. Moments like this have got me to buy plane tickets to Alaska when I’d been terrified of air travel and never flown, and basically taken solo trips elsewhere to other places that seem “scary.” For me, risk is trying something that my parents had not exposed me to. There’s a lot in that category– Tai Chi, yoga, kayaking, eating artichokes. Continue reading Hartford Bike Tour…