Linguistic Underpinnings

1. Socialize healthcare in a city. Show the US it can be done! Start small and grow out… cities with shrinking populations might give this a shot. (eh hem… Pittsburgh!)

2.  Be the first city to build a Vertical Garden!

3. Be the first to place oxygen-rich plants in public schools (like Kamal Meattle did in Delhi buildings) and study the affects.

4. Build fountains that serve as sources for drinking water. Serbia did it… we can do it too! It creates an instant social space and sense of security and well being in the community.

5. Legalize street vending or make it easier to get a vending liscense. This easy entry into business will make room for small time entripenuers to get their foot in the door. It can also add free security to city streets, act as quick solution to workers on lunch break looking for a meal or a coffee, and add extra flavor to other wise monotone sections of cityscape.

6. Be the first city to paint all the rooftops white! Save on energy and become a green tourism location!

7. Make more streets walking streets. It’s something that is so rare in the US, as most cities are tripping over themselves to clear the way for cars. Imagine the downtown of any US cities with more open air restaurants and a safe place to walk and relax? Imagine Times Square without cars! Put the walking streets right in there with the public drinking fountains.

8. Include safe bike lanes in city planning. As cities in the US fret over obesity related health issues and pollution from cars, issues with congestion and traffic, “ye olde bicycle” remains a viable solution all around. Bikes put more eyes on the streets (safer streets) takes cars off the road, provide a means of free transport and exercise, and hey-–it’s fun!

9.  Add Green roofs to any building!

10.  Encourage dynamic educational and artistic programming in communities of all sizes.

I recently went walking with a friend in search of morels. No morels, but I did find a plant I’d never seen before and picked a flower and leaf to take home for identification. To my dismay, the description and image of the plant I identified as a large-flowered trillum was accompanied by the suggestion:

“Trillium should never be picked!”

The plant shoots up three leaves which are apparently crucial to it’s sunlight supply. Trillium are illegal to pick in some states ( though not Pennsylvania), and are also said to be frequently troubled by deer grazing- interesting because the area I found it in is overpopulated by deer, but there seemed to be several thriving patches of the plant.

None the less I have to issue my formal apology: Sorry botanists everywhere- sorry Trillium- my bad.

I wasn’t sure if it was possible but I guess an Eco-Friendly war is on the minds of others too.

Blackberries, Ipod generations, the new but now old computer- Americans today apparently are using more and getting rid of more electronic devices than ever before. You didn’t have to tell me that. After a friend gave me their 3 year “old” ipod last year and a parts store could make hide nor hare of what the alien device I had handed them was as I searched for a power cable, the truth of the matter crept a little closer to home. It’s simply harder to stay hip than it used to be and that means our not so hip gadgets will be hitting the curb quicker than Angelina Jolie adopts babies. Where is all of this stuff going to go?

The bad news: In 2005 the EPA estimated there was 2.2 million tons of e-waste that missed the recycling loop, inserting a significant amount of cadmium, lead and mercury into our environment.

The good news: There are a number of groups setting up e-recycling programs such as the Bryant Park Project, E-Cycling Central (which can direct you to specific sorts of recycling programs in your own state), and the somewhat-good-ole EPA who can tell us where we can take our TV and shove it……into a recycling bin.

Some say the import and ranching of the “swamp rat” or nutria from S. America began as early as the 1890s. A more colorful story credits their import to the founder of Tabasco sauce, E.A. McIlhenny who in 1938 imported the nutria to farm for its pelt. A hurricane hit McIlhenny farm in the 1940s and herds of Nutria escaped into the country sides. At the same time the popularity of swamp rat pelts took a dive..surprise. The Nutria passed through several dispersing stages of popularity-being promoted for it’s fur and later as “weed control” and ultimately released into the wild when they were no longer profitable to feed.

The Nutria is credited with a significant destruction of marsh and wetlands in Louisiana and the American South.

An image of the Nutria and it’s “work” are below. It looks like a beaver minus the cute flat tail.

Read more about the Nutria’s impact at:

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/pubs/fsheet_faq_notice/fs_wsnutria.html

What are you Tyco fox? 

“There’s a strange, seemingly hairless creature hunting in the area around the Tyco Corporation’s woodsy headquarters outside Raleigh, North Carolina. It is so unusual that every time its spotted, the Tyco employees flock to windows to see it. Speculation on what the long-necked animal ranges from a doq with mange to a mythical Mexican chupacabra.

Photos of the animal were sent to experts at the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission who determed that the animal is most likely a red fox that has a rare genetic condition in which it lacks the outer layer of its coat. Such red foxes are called ‘Sampson foxes’. Unlike normal red foxes that are nocturnal hunters, Sampson foxes may be more active during the warmer hours of the day since their thin coat lacks the insulation power that might make nighttime hunting appealing.”

More info found in the National Geographic News:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/03/0321_060321_tyco_fox.html

Here’s a bit of plant and region (PA) related inquiry…

Plant related…where are we? What do the growing zones on the back of seed packages mean? We’re in 5a and 6b….
 

Hardiness zone map:

http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html

Farmer’s alamanac shizzle which is deliciously in between fact and hear-say:

http://www.farmersalmanac.com/home_garden/gardening

They have a blog you can subscribe to which will tell you the kind of shit I really want to know about, like how far a jackrabbit can jump and which days you should REALLY be chopping wood and baking on ..WTF?

http://www.farmersalmanac.com/best_days/month

Who knew we needed to think more about which days we are castrating animals on? This whole site indulges my interests far too much..if you look on the weather link, there’s a little “game” where you can find out what the weather was like in your area (enter zip code) as far back as 1945…

Here also, is a park I have heard of and finally looked up. Perhaps the destination of future dreamy camping trips? It’s a “dark sky” preserve- good for star gazing…

http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/parks/cherrysprings.aspx

I have been thinking about privialge, wealth, behavior, and reasoning based on these things. I dredged up a little economic overview of Appalachia,  which we are a part of here in the lovely Pittsy-burghy.

http://www.arc.gov/index.do?nodeId=26