On My Radar 9.10.15

Upcoming September 2015 Events in New Haven (#GSCIA)

Get your Green on, New Haveners! You have no excuse for staying home with the plethora of mostly free events coming up. Some days are so event-full that it will take some planning on your part to hit them all. 

Here you go, in chronological order, starting with this Saturday. 

Saturday, September 12

8-10 am, Quinnipiac Meadows Nature Preserve

1040 Quinnipiac Avenue

HAWK WALK and TALK

Free Event. Sponsored by the New Haven Land Trust. 

According to the Land Trust, “It's a great time of year to observe hawks and other migrating birds! Bird expert and past president of the New Haven Bird Club Mike Horn will be giving a guided walk at our Quinnipiac Meadows Nature Preserve this Saturday. All are welcome (except out-of-control children). Rain or shine! If you have them, bring binoculars and see you there!”

Also this Saturday…

Saturday, September 12

GREEN EXPO (11 am -5 pm) 

CT FOLK FESTIVAL (11 am -10 pm) – 10 Years Young!

Edgerton Park, located off Whitney Avenue near the Hamden-New Haven town line. Free Admission!  The full program and list of participants is available here. 

Monday, Sept 14

7:30 PM, BAR, 254 Crown Street, New Haven

New Haven Green Drinks meets at a special day and time in order to participate in TRANSPORTATION on TAP, hosted by goNewHavengo, the group that asks you to “Think outside the car.” Eat pizza, drink beer, and learn about transportation in New Haven. Attendees must be 21 or over.

Tuesday, September 15 - Tuesday, December 1

(with a few exceptions)

5:30 - 7:30 PM

DIVERSE VOICES: Environmental Leaders on Climate Change and the Environment

Kroon Hall, 195 Prospect Street, New Haven

The public is invited and welcome to attend this series of lectures offered as FES810 at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. More here. FREE.

The event-full Saturday, September 19 kicks off with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to walk or bike across the soon to be opened new southbound Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge.

Saturday, September 19

10 am - 3 pm

GRAND OPENING CELEBRATION

on the new Southbound Q-Bridge

Access provided at the intersection of Hamilton Street and Ives Place.

Only pedestrians and bicycles will be allowed on the bridge. The event planners promise family-friendly activities, refreshments, stunning views, and great photo opportunities. More information here. 

From there it’s just a hop and a skip over to the 6th annual East Rock Festival…

Saturday, September 19

11 am - 7 pm

EAST ROCK FESTIVAL

Orange Street between Willow Street and Cottage Street

This free festival celebrates all the East Rock neighborhood has to offer with food vendors, live music, demos, kids’ activities, and information on area non-profits.

And, if you plan it right, you can quench your thirst for a good cause…

Saturday, September 19

4-7 pm

BEER and OYSTERS in the GARDEN

Fred Cervin Bioregional Garden

608 Whitney Avenue

A fundraiser for the New Haven Land Trust. Standard ticket is $30.00 in advance. Support community gardening, environmental education, and nature preserves. More information is available here. 

Friday, September 25

5:30 pm (ish) at the flagpole on the New Haven Green

CRITICAL MASS

Critical Mass is a cycling event held on the last Friday of every month. Part of the worldwide Critical Mass movement, New Haven's “Kinder and Less-Critical Mass” is a monthly celebration of bicycling. The ride is generally slow; length may vary. The size of the group can reach 200 in the summer months! 

There ought to be something in here for just about everybody. Get up. Get out. Go New Haveners, Go!

Hopeful Highlights from 2014

In anticipation of good things to come in the year ahead, I’d like to share some of the high points of 2014 from my small corner of the world.

Greater New Haven’s citizens stood up for their trees. They came out in record numbers to object to the plans of the state’s utility companies to preemptively, aggressively, trim street trees in response to power outages during 2013’s severe storms. The power companies are still trimming, but they were forced to modify their “Vegetation Management Plans.” 

A new magnolia for YHP

Despite the rainy, cold weather, 650 cyclists braved the elements on April 26 to complete one of three routes in the 6th annual Rock to Rock Earth Day Ride, raising $152,157.55 for 26 environmental groups — the most successful Rock to Rock yet! Check out this article in the New Haven Independent for more. 

Yale University began to offer long-term employees the option of planting a tree in their honor in lieu of the usual commemorative gifts. Here is a photo of a magnolia tree planted outside the Yale Health Plan by volunteers and URI staff during the Yale Day of Service on May 10.

Neighborhood Housing Services of New Haven has two rain gardens in their demo lot, constructed as part of a grant from the Greater New Haven Green Fund to divert stormwater from the city’s storm sewers. They were installed by volunteers and NHS staff under the direction of Michael Dietz, Director of U Conn College of Agriculture and Natural Resource’s NEMO Program. The June 13 installation had to be called to a halt due to torrential rain. It was finished on June 26, a real scorcher! The conditions remained harsh for new plantings during the coming weeks; here is a late summer photo. I look forward to seeing how the garden grows this spring. 

Late summer NHS raingarden

New Haven’s Beaver Ponds Park was designated an Urban Oasis. The little spruce we transplanted in the park is thriving in its new surroundings and sprouted some cones.

EcoWorks, a creative reuse center for the arts, opened as a Project Storefront In New Haven’s Mill River district. They sell materials, collected from businesses and institutions, to teachers, artists, crafters and others seeking low-cost art supplies. Check their website for hours and upcoming events and this link if you have materials to donate. 

New Haven Green Drinks had a successful year, under the leadership of an enthusiastic team of co-organizers. The group met 12 times, in 12 different locations over the past year and heard speakers on a broad range of environmental topics. The group welcomes new members, new ideas, and new venues. 

These are some of the many reasons why New Haven is a great place to live. Follow #gscia on Twitter to see what others are sharing.

On a personal note, late last January I enjoyed a long-anticipated hike to see the seals of Año Nuevo with my family. I look forward to more West Coast adventures in the years ahead.  

This fall, I became a Connecticut Certified Advanced Master Gardener and was awarded a pewter trowel pin for my hours of service. Here is a board I made along the way in fulfillment of some of my outreach hours. 

Finally, I have recently taken up knitting. You will have to check back later in 2015 to find out how that is going and exactly what I have managed to knit.

Wishing you and yours a year of peace, health, happiness...

Happy 2015!