Today's local edition of the New York Times, Metro section, features an article on freecycling: One Sock, With Holes? I'll Take It. I recently signed up for the freecycling list myself, after reading about it on Worldchanging.
Now, what to cast off?
Several NYT stories today touch on facets of urban development, sustainability, alternative electrics, nature, laced with a heady whiff of corporate crime:
Jets Campaign for a Manhattan Stadium: NYC's Olympics 2012 bid, in part, fuels this idea to erect a major sports arena on Manhattan's west side. To counter community opposition, the Jets have partnered with local unions, agreeing to unionized staffing at high-end restaurants within the proposed complex.
The neighborhood that would be obliterated to make way for this project is a delicate, worn-down lattice of old brick buildings, warehouses, and parking lots. Some of the buildings have been renovated for new businesses and residences in recent years. They are human scale, elegant bridges between New York's past and present.
The Garbage and the Governor: Enron in Impeachment Inquiry: "Billed in 2001 as an energy trade by the trash authority, because it involved electricity generated by burning trash, the deal has since been characterized by Attorney General Richard Blumenthal as an illegal, unsecured loan to a company desperate for cash. Residents in 70 towns and cities served by the authority, representing 30 percent of the state's population, are now paying higher bills to make up for the loss."
Plus: Before a Fuel-Cell Deal, Enron Lobbyists Met With Rowland
Bitter Division for Sierra Club on Immigration: Land has carrying capacity. But ignoring the social context of an environmental issue is, well, wrong-headed.
A hopeful article in the Science section: Wolves Come Back (on Their Terms)
My favorite article of the day didn't make it online: Yesterday afternoon, police confiscated a caiman and a python from a man out for a stroll with these, his pets, in Central Park (he was allowed to keep his cockatoo). Exotic illegal pet stories are becoming a staple of NYC news, what with last fall's spectacular tiger recovery in Harlem, and six monkeys being found in Washington Heights last week.
I think the real story here is how marvelously prepared and sympathetic New York police and animal control seem to be towards these creatures. Writer Sabrina Tavernise quotes Michael Pastore of NYC Animal Care and Control in today's article: "There's a myriad of problems with these animals. They don't make great pets. A caiman belongs in a swamp in Central America and the python should be clinging to a tree somewhere."
Posted by Emily at March 16, 2004 11:01 AM