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Category Archives: Backyards
The New and Enhanced Office of Sustainability
The Howard County Council recently passed a bill introduced by the Kittleman administration to upgrade and enhance the seven year old Office of Environmental Sustainability (OES). The vote was unanimous. This is the result of a thorough assessment of the effectiveness of the OES over the past seven years during Ken Ulman’s Democratic administration and the important role it will play in Allan Kittleman’s Republican administration. It is a clear sign that (more…)
More Ways to Enjoy Winter
When we actually have a winter, instead of getting cabin fever, I like to get outside and embrace the weather. After all, many people live in more northern climates and they seem to do just fine. In fact, I think that is the answer. If you are used to cold weather and lots of snow, you learn how to enjoy it. That certainly was the case on my winter travels this year to Colorado and Maine.
I spent two weeks in Boulder in December. The first week was (more…)
How Do Communities Benefit from a Local Food Movement?
What do you do when suburbanites realize that the farms they have been displacing can provide them with fresh and nutritious food if there was a financial incentive for them to stop growing corn and meet the growing demand for local vegetables, fruit, and meat? You bring the players together.
Over the past year a Food Council has been meeting here in Howard County to determine (more…)
Saving Nature in Urban Areas – guest post by Karin DeLaitsch
I’m always interested in seeking new places to visit. For me, new surroundings stimulate new ideas to bring home. This year’s travels were no exception. Each contained a populated urban area with a distinctly different approach to connecting people with nature and that got me thinking…
My winter get-away led me to the southwestern region of the US where it’s a short drive to escape the populous Phoenix metro area and relax in the vast expanse of the Sonoran desert. Whether hiking or biking, one can still find solitude to quietly observe a large variety of flora and fauna in an undisturbed setting. A fantastic means to let nature stimulate a personal sense of well-being.
In spring, I ventured to Spain’s Andalusia region to breathe in the temperate Mediterranean climate. I immediately fell in love with the relaxing, social atmosphere created by neighborhood plazas where residents on foot gathered daily (and I mean, daily) to converse among immaculate gardens and fountains surrounded by trees. Cities like Seville have created a wonderful way to weave human-nature connectivity into an urban way of life. (more…)
Defeating the Frederick Incinerator – Guest post by Don West
![incinerator2large[1]](https://savingtheplaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/incinerator2large1.jpg)
The (Frederick) Board of County Commissioners struck down plans Thursday for a regional waste-to-energy incinerator … by canceling the contract and related permits.“ Frederick News Post Friday, November 21, 2014
How on earth did we get to this point, when as recently as April 2014, both Carroll and Frederick Counties were under contract to build this 1500 ton per day incinerator and all the necessary permits had been issued?
Many people worked (more…)
A Call to Action – Some easy first steps
I am regularly asked about concrete steps that we can all take to help save the places we love. I have offered strategies for a specific campaign in one of the early blog posts. But there are things we can all do that will help each of our favorite places, the whole country, and planet. Here are a few of the steps to take. If we all did them it would make a difference. So let’s start in our backyards and then make the effort to encourage others to take these steps as well. (more…)
Sounds of our Special Places – guest post by Kathy Bell Tillman
![artmax_1294[1]](https://savingtheplaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/artmax_12941.jpg)
Recently, The Sun magazine had an interview with Bernie Krause, who has spent years recording the collective sounds of nonhuman living things (called biophony) and nonbiological natural sounds of the earth processes such as waterfalls and cracking ice (called geophony) in places all around the world. Krause challenges us to be present in nature by actively listening to the sounds around us as we venture out in the natural world.
I live near Lake Elkhorn in Columbia, Maryland, and I take daily walks around the lake. Since reading the Krause interview, I have been (more…)
Managing our Backyards – A guest post by Ann Coren
Lifting off for my vacation I flew over the Chesapeake Bay. We’d had another rainstorm. The brown sediment washing into the Bay, covering marshes and oyster beds, was obvious from the air. The satellite views that NASA has been showing us, I now saw for myself. Since the 1970’s, suburbanization with its impervious roofs, driveways, and lawns has significantly contributed to the dying of our beloved Bay. As my plane landed in Miami for my transfer flight I saw the same thing, miles of high-rise hotels and brown sediment stretching into the ocean. People were swimming, oblivious to the habitat degradation caused by the impervious surfaces of the hotels and roads because they had never seen it when it was pristine, clear, and full of life.
My second flight, south from Miami, flew over (more…)
Could Your Water Supply Be Cut off?
The loss of our water supply is not just a risk in dry areas where there is a very limited supply of water and water must be rationed during droughts (e.g., in California today). Losing access to potable water can happen anywhere. Last winter 300,000 residents of Charleston, West Virginia were told not to drink or bathe in their water. This past summer 400,000 Toledo, OH residents were told the same thing about their water coming from Lake Erie (http://www.weather.com/health/what-you-need-know-about-microcystin-toledos-water-toxin-20140804). The irony of course is that there was plenty of water in these moist areas of the country. Water quantity is not the problem in the East. Water quality is.
The WV problem was the result of a 5000 gallon chemical spill (more…)
Saving The Places 