When:
Saturday, May 10, from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.,
Where:
250 Fresh Pond Parkway, Cambridge (rain or shine).

It's FREE!

Events for all ages

Activities will include walks for kids, a senior walk, nature and water facility tours, tree planting demonstration, bike rides, mini bike tune-ups, an interactive literacy display, dog licensing, ecology tours, energy conservation and recycling education, and a variety of other interactive events and information booths, etc.

About Fresh Pond

Fresh Pond Reservation, Cambridge’s largest public open space, was designed in 1897 by brothers John Charles Olmstead and Frederic Law Olmstead Jr.

Other famous Olmsted Brothers landscape architectural projects included the U.S. Capitol and White House Grounds, Acadia National Park, New York City's Central Park, and the entire park system in Boston. read more...

Quick, where can you get good stuff FREE?

At the end-of-the-year FreeMeet at MIT hosted by Students for Global Sustainability:

When: Friday May 9th
From 10:00-6:00
Where: At the MIT Student Center (W20-491)
See map at
http://whereis.mit.edu/map-jpg?selection=W20&Buildings=go

Everyone is welcome, and you don't need to bring stuff to take stuff!

Reduce waste, reduce consumption

Take some time in the next day or so to go through your “stuff” and see what you don't use. Someone else can give a second life to things that are still usable, wearable, readable, playable, etc. But please use common sense; don't bring animals, open food, dangerous items, broken stuff, junk, etc.

Instead of contributing to a landfill (bad), bring your stuff to the FreeMeet (good) and save someone the trouble of buying what you can provide for free! read more...

Mine did!

New water and sewer rates started April 1 so if you own a home in Cambridge, your water bill could have jumped as much as $58!

Blame it on a sewage increase by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority.

The annual water bill for single-family homes could increase by about $29, according to city officials. The bill for two-family homeowners could increase by $40 and three-family homeowners can expect to pay up to $58 more.

That’s a 3.9 percent increase!

This year, Cambridge was hit with a sewage cost increase of 8.8%, the largest in the metro area. The average MWRA increase for other cities and tows was about 4.8%, according to Louis DePasquale, assistant city manager for fiscal affairs.

Where’s it going?

City Manager Bob Healy said it will cover salary and benefit increases for Water Department employees and also increased operating costs at the city’s water plant.

Unlike many communities, the MWRA does not supply fresh tap water to city residents. The city has its own Water Department and uses Fresh Pond and other water sources. read more...

According to a joint study by Prevention magazine and the American Podiatric Medical Association, more Cambridge residents walk to work than in any other city in the US.

Cambridge also has more parks per square mile than any other city! Our famous historic squares (Central, Kendall, Harvard, Porter, Inman, Lechmere) and our (debatable) traffic calming program (designed for pedestrians rather than motorists) contributed to this.

This year Prevention and the APMA evaluated more than 500 U.S. cities on 14 walking criteria, including the percentage of adults who walk to work, number of parks per square mile, use of mass transit, and percentage of adults who walk for fitness.

This year they also named the best walking city in each state's ten most populated cities.

Prevention and the APMA measure the walkability of America’s cities each year.

Walking is the most popular form of exercise; 87.5 percent of Americans walk for fitness.

New York was ranked second, and Ann Arbor, Michigan third. (The worst were Oklahoma City, North Las Vegas, and Gadsden, AL.)

10 Best U.S. Walking Cities of 2008
1. Cambridge, MA
2. New York, N.Y. read more...

It's a win-win-win-win!

If you live in Cambridge, then you can participate in the Energy Smackdown™ Contest.

What’s the Energy Smackdown™ Contest?

It’s an innovative community outreach program to increase energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions. Households, organizations, and individuals compete on teams to lower their own energy consumption as well as energy consumption in the community. This is the second season of Energy Smackdown™.

Just for participating you’ll get:

• a comprehensive home energy evaluation,
• free advice from energy experts,
• the opportunity to save on utility and travel bills,
• and win prizes from local businesses.

How does the Energy Smackdown work?

Teams of ten households from Cambridge, Arlington, and Medford will compete to see which community can make the biggest energy reduction over twelve months.

Two households from each town will be filmed for the Energy Smackdown™ television series. To be considered for filming, contact: info@energysmackdown.com read more...