Sunday, March 16, 2014

On My Radar 3.16.14

Recent News. Happenings. Discoveries…Here are some of the items on my radar.


SEISMOLOGICAL NEWS:
Earthquakes in the Midwest, where they have been uncommon until recently, have fueled concerns that fracking is to blame

NEWS from NEW HAVEN:
Tree lovers spoke and Connecticut’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) listened. Hundreds turned out at the Technical Meeting and Public Info Session hosted by PURA at the Hamden Middle School on March 6. PURA has asked UI and CL&P, the state’s two utility companies, to voluntarily “scale back” their aggressive tree trimming plans while PURA considers the case further. This is good news, but only a temporary halt. Those who would like to register their thoughts on the utilities’ new “Vegetation Management Plans” can still email  comments to: pura.executivesecretary@ct.gov. Don’t delay. PURA expects to make a preliminary ruling in early April.

The Rock to Rock Earth Day Ride, a fundraiser for environmental causes in New Haven, is less than two months away. The snow should be gone by then, and organizers are urging all past and future riders to commit — now! Join a team and start collecting pledges!


FOOD NEWS
We celebrated Pi Day on Friday with a homemade root vegetable pie. It may not look like much, but it was really good. We ate over half for dinner. Pi (and pie) lovers are super excited about next year’s Pi Day. Take one look at this graphic and you will see why.

The recently published book The Meat Racket: The Secret Takeover of America’s Food Business, by Christopher Leonard received quite a bit of press coverage last week, including an op-ed piece by Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times. Here is an excerpt from the description of the book on the Amazon site: “The American supermarket seems to represent the best in America: abundance, freedom, choice. But that turns out to be an illusion. The rotisserie chicken, the pepperoni, the cordon bleu, the frozen pot pie, and the bacon virtually all come from four companies…In The Meat Racket, investigative reporter Christopher Leonard delivers the first-ever account of how a handful of companies have seized the nation’s meat supply. He shows how they built a system that puts farmers on the edge of bankruptcy, charges high prices to consumers, and returns the industry to the shape it had in the 1900s before the meat monopolists were broken up… We know that it takes big companies to bring meat to the American table. What The Meat Racket shows is that this industrial system is rigged against all of us. In that sense, Leonard has exposed our heartland’s biggest scandal.”


St. Patrick’s Day is Tomorrow. Yearning to serve some green food to celebrate? Here is a link to Martha Stewart’s 28 Kale Healthy Recipes. 



Special thanks to Dan, Don, Kevin, and Pam for their contributions to this edition of On My Radar. I couldn't do it without you.


UPCOMING EVENTS:
March 19th
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Chipotle, 900 Chapel Street, New Haven
New Haven Green Drinks 
Chris Schweitzer (New Haven/León Sister City Project) and 
Joel Tolman (Common Ground High School) will speak on 
the Rock to Rock Earth Day Ride

Chipotle will donate half of all sales, including Margaritas and beer purchases, between 5 pm and 9 pm to support Rock to Rock.

1 comment:

  1. Nick Kristoff's op-ed is proof that buying local meat and fish at farmers' markets is the way to go! Also, I checked out Martha Stewart's recipes and wait till you see the blood orange recipes! I think the beet, orange, and fennel salad looks great and the blood orange cheesecake may be at my Easter dinner in April.

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