by | May 1, 2023 9:02 am | Comments (1)
Thomas Breen photos
Larry and Taylor King, ready to ride, even in the rain.
Staying not-dry-at-all on Valley St.
A cold spring morning downpour couldn’t keep father-son cycling duo Larry and Taylor King from riding for a good cause — to raise money to help keep their home city green, sure, but also to spend some quality family time outdoors and on two wheels, rain or shine.
by | Apr 28, 2023 5:05 pm | Comments (1)
Nora Grace-Flood photo
Jemar, Jessica Marie, and Jebrell, the children of late teacher Marites Siervo, water a tree planted in their mom's memory.
Riverside Academy senior Davon Hardgrove shoveled dirt over the roots of a Zelkova tree planted in memory of a late principal who led his school through tough times — and pledged to continue her legacy of community service throughout his own life.
by | Apr 28, 2023 8:42 am | Comments (18)
Paul Bass Photo
De Anda: Regeneration nation.
Joshua De Anda knelt to pull weeds amid a forest of oak trees — that towered, for now, barely above his knees.
In the process he has been helping his city and his country figure out how to enable the “king of trees” to thrive again and truly tower in its indigenous habitats.
by | Apr 26, 2023 8:53 am | Comments (3)
Brian Slattery Photo
At the 2019 ride.
Fifteen years later, it’s fair to say that “Rock to Rock” is a New Haven institution, along with the movements that birthed it.
by | Apr 18, 2023 4:30 pm | Comments (4)
(l-r)Edward Dunar, Lee Osorio, Molly Johnson, Steve Winter, Chris Schweitzer
Imagine this: a completely electrified municipal vehicular fleet – all 600 cars and trucks; replacement of hugely polluting oil burners with high efficiency heat pumps in many of the poor homes that most need low cost and healthier energy; and the green day when composting kitchen scraps will be as routine and revenue-producing as recycling.
by | Apr 17, 2023 8:34 pm | Comments (12)
Paul Bass Photo
URI's Micael Freiburger and EMERGE's Michael Byrd set tree into its new home Monday afternoon.
Gov. Ned Lamont watched a linden tree take root on Asylum Street, and promised to help New Haven plant more shade in its heat-hampered “environmental injustice neighborhoods.”
by | Apr 13, 2023 3:10 pm | Comments (4)
Allan Appel photo
Albertus students, faculty planting pillars of faith Thursday.
A day of working in a garden — weeding and putting in kale and asparagus and bounty that will all be given away to food pantries and nonprofits — doesn’t usually begin with an assembly of 120 people and a reading from Paul’s letter to the Philippians in the New Testament, followed by a prayer.
It does, however, if the green acre in question happens to be the garden at Albertus Magnus, a Catholic college in the Dominican tradition, where service and community are pillars of the faith of equal importance with the two others, study and prayer.
Continue reading ‘On Service Day, Albertus Tends Its Garden’
by | Apr 12, 2023 11:22 am | Comments (11)
Allan Appel photo
Gardeners Savage and Youngblood: 117 veggie varieties ready.
Gather New Haven’s chief farmer and Newhallville native Jonathon Savage is going to be planting pink and blue oyster mushrooms for the first time this year — because people love them, because they’re very good for you, and because he likes to learn to grow new crops.
Along with them there will be the usual three varieties of kale and kohlrabi; multiple scallion, tomato, and pepper varieties, to say nothing of the crimson red okra alongside the traditional green, plus basil in five varieties — count ‘em — Genovese, cinnamon, lemon, Thai, and sweet.
by | Apr 5, 2023 8:56 am | Comments (3)
Allan Appel photo
Anastasia Saez digging in with Denyia Miller and Mary Ann Moran.
Anastasia Saez had indeed planted a potato before, but it was only a virtual one in the kids’ video game Minecraft.
On a sunny Tuesday morning not only did Mary Ann Moran help her plant the real thing, she learned how to deploy a nifty bulber to make a hole for it in the soil; she added bone meal for plant growth; she deftly handled a soil-aerating worm – absolutely without exclaiming “yuck” – and even helped spread straw across the new potato beds to keep the sun from creating a chemical that might damage the growing plants.
by | Apr 4, 2023 5:17 pm | Comments (18)
Paul Bass Photo
The big reveal: U.S. Reps. Rosa DeLauro and Jim Himes with owner Bruce Becker at plaque unveiling.
It’s now official: Long Wharf’s new boutique hotel is really, really, really, really (and maybe five more reallys) green.
by | Apr 3, 2023 11:33 am | Comments (36)
Paul Bass photo
Ready for departure for a larger airport?
“No to Tweed expansion; yes to EIS.”
“How does destroying the Cove make New Haven a better place?”
“Stop paving our wetlands.”
“This is all greed.”
That panoply of protest signs in the lobby of East Haven High School’s auditorium offered a harbinger for the direction of the public meeting to come regarding the proposed expansion of Tweed New Haven Airport.
Continue reading ‘Enviro Review Contested At Turbulent Tweed Talk’
by | Apr 3, 2023 9:00 am | Comments (2)
Allan Appel photo
Maria Tupper, leeks, and dibble on Whitney Ave.
The sky was overcast and the temperature already dipping into the high 40s, but the chill didn’t stop Maria Tupper and her volunteer gardening friends from using a cool new dibble to put in cold-resistant leeks.
Continue reading ‘Whitney Gardeners Dig In On Leek Landfall’
by | Mar 27, 2023 2:25 pm | Comments (3)
Maya McFadden photos
Clemente sixth-grader Luis with oily oyster science experiment.
With science fair judge Robin Querker.
Will oysters survive if submerged in motor oil?
Roberto Clemente sixth-grader Luis set out to answer that question — as he crafted a locally relevant science fair project focused on environmental harms to New Haven bivalves.
by | Mar 27, 2023 8:46 am | Comments (3)
Addy Reyes Ramos Photo
A sample of Tierra Soap Co.'s offerings.
For some, a bar of soap is a common household item that helps them get their body clean. For Tierra Soap Co., a bar of soap has become a fusion of art, wellness, and culture as well as a way to connect to earth, nature, and community.
by | Mar 23, 2023 2:00 pm | Comments (6)
Avports image
Rendering of expanded Tweed airport.
Tweed supporters, critics, and innocent bystanders have 15 extra days to weigh in on the potential environmental impacts of a larger regional airport, now that the federal government has lengthened the public comment period for the airport’s draft Environmental Assessment (EA).
Continue reading ‘Public Comment Period Extended For Tweed Environmental Assessment’
by | Mar 21, 2023 12:40 pm | Comments (1)
Nora Grace-Flood file photo
Grant application OK'd for more recycling.
Local legislators gave a green light for greener waste management, and another green light for affordable housing.
by | Mar 10, 2023 12:34 pm | Comments (1)
(Opinion) From a “key” supermarket renaming to a history-making lemonade contract, from tree-massacre and parking-vs-patio showdowns to a $4 million composting quest, this week’s news put the food chain front and center in New Haven.
Will rubber soles gum up the works?
by | Mar 10, 2023 12:18 pm | Comments (14)
Contributed photo
No trees, more reckless driving? A flipped car last summer on tree-less spot of Dayton Street.
Neighbors of Dayton Street’s endangered maples are taking a final stand to save them.
by | Mar 8, 2023 11:32 am | Comments (15)
Nora Grace-Flood file photo
More $ sought for more recycling (in the blue toters).
Regionalized composting, recycling bin chips, and refuse savvy students could all lie in New Haven’s future — if the city gets requested dollars and support needed to amp up sustainable waste management education and practices.
by | Feb 28, 2023 9:13 am | Comments (12)
Thomas Breen photo
Tuesday morning on Lawrence St.
Roughly five inches of snow fell on New Haven Monday night and Tuesday morning, and 130 cars were ticketed thanks to the now-lifted overnight parking ban.
Continue reading ‘5 Inches Of Snow Fall; Parking Ban Lifted; 130 Cars Ticketed’
by | Feb 24, 2023 12:31 pm | Comments (4)
Thomas Breen photos
Cross football captain Giovanni Melendez (right) with fellow student-athletes at Friday's presser.
Wilbur Cross athletic fields and track, now under construction.
Wilbur Cross student-athletes like football captain Giovanni Melendez looked forward to firmer synthetic-turf footing and a home-field setting to be proud of next season — at a press conference marking $4.35 million in mostly state-funded renovations to the East Rock school’s athletic complex.
Continue reading ‘Wilbur Cross Celebrates $4.35M Sports Complex Overhaul’
by | Feb 24, 2023 8:45 am | Comments (23)
Nora Grace-Flood photos
Each of Tweed's lots was bursting with cars on a Thursday morning when this reporter visited the scene.
One of who knows how many lawn signs on a Morris Cove home protesting Tweed expansion.
Tweed New Haven Airport is growing 34 more parking spaces to better accommodate the flood of cars consistently competing for spots on site — as environmentalists and neighbors continue to fight expansion of the regional airport located along a wetlands-filled Morris Cove property.
by | Feb 16, 2023 3:29 pm | Comments (5)
Abiba Biao photo
At the "Cocoa, Cards & Climate Action" outside City Hall.
Young climate activists gathered at City Hall to deliver love letters to the planet — and to press city government to up its care for the environment.
by | Feb 14, 2023 8:46 am | Comments (8)
Thomas Breen file photo
Yale scientists have issued a report that indicates the white substance shown here, and allegedly from New Haven's past, is something called "snow."
Note: Here at the Independent we don’t often publish news stories from the future, but we have made an exception today, as this one in the New York Times, dated February 2033, deals with a crucial topic.
by | Feb 13, 2023 11:02 am | Comments (10)
Thomas Breen photo
9 years going strong: Peelin' & wheelin' on Mechanic Street.
Thomas Breen file photo
Domingo Medina picked up a green plastic bucket waiting for him on a Mechanic Street front porch, measured its weight, and dumped its wealth of food scraps into one of his four bike-towed containers.
Piled before him was so much more than just a colorful array of eggshells, lemon peels, onion skins, and hunks of bread. In that same pile lay the ingredients for a cleaner environment, healthier soils, and “greener” jobs.
“It’s a wonderful sight to see,” Medina said.