It might be cold today but spring is officially here and it’s Easter weekend. We might try dying some eggs for fun using alternative, natural agents like coffee and tumeric. If all else fails, it’ll be a fun experiment to do with the girls. Also, if you’re still looking for Easter basket ideas, Hannah offers some low waste yet kid-approved options. Regardless, the weather will be nice so I hope you get outside. I’m always itching to get onto the trails this time of year, but was cautioned that we should refrain due to mud and route preservation. Do you follow that practice? It’s so hard to stay away! In the meantime, let’s see what’s happening in eco-news. I’m especially excited about an infrastructure announcement that the Biden administration made this week.
First, let’s get the negative out of the way…
Most couples may have to use assisted reproduction by 2045. The professor of environmental medicine explains how chemicals in plastics are causing our fertility to decline – and what we can do about it
We’re drowning in single-use plastics. A problem this big requires large-scale action. The numbers are massive: 100 billion plastic bags are used in the U.S. each year, with just 1% recycled. Add that to 100 million plastic utensils a day and 120 billion disposable cups per year and the scale of the problem starts to come into focus even before you talk about straws and takeout containers and plastic bottles and so many other single-use plastics we wouldn’t need to use if only they weren’t so inescapable.
On a more positive note…
Annual Recycling Conference via the Northeast Resource Recovery Association. It’s a new year, and NRRA’s annual recycling conference will be held virtually over two mornings: Monday, May 10th and Tuesday, May 11th from 8:00 am-noon. We are inviting solid waste and recycling operators and supervisors, department of public works staff, town administrators, select board members, recycling committee members, government officials, legislators, school teachers, administrators and students, and residents interested in recycling and waste reduction to join us.
Amtrak wish list includes passenger rail to Concord. Passenger rail up to Concord is part of a wish-list map of new and improved routes issued by Amtrak in response to President Biden’s proposed infrastructure plan. The map, titled “A vision to grow rail service across America,” includes new service from Boston through Manchester to Concord, as well as “enhanced services” along the Acela line that runs up the Atlantic coast from Boston into Maine and the north-south line from Springfield, Mass., up the west bank of the Connecticut River to Burlington, Vt. Yes yes yes! Let’s do this. I would LOVE a train into Boston for so many reasons. I hope this plan comes into fruition within the next few years.
And now here’s a recap of other topics Hannah and I discussed this week on GreenLifeNH!
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