Boston Gets Greener

As some of the readers may or may not know I am also an intern and writer at Blast Magazine. I penned (keyboarded?) an article for them last week that stated that Boston had been listed as one of America’s leading cities for protecting clean water and the public with green solutions by an organization called American Rivers. This is due to the purchase of various wetlands adjacent to the Charles, which helps prevent floods and water damage.

Currently, sections of a climate bill are being debated in Congress which would establish standards for dealing with natural disasters such as drought and waterborne disease. American Rivers’ report could lead to Boston becoming a national model in this area.

Northeastern University’s Libraries possess an expansive collection on works relating to environmetal sustainability. I reccommend anyone interested in this area check them out.

 

Electric vehicle charging stations

Electric Vehicle Charging Station This is a an addendum to the blog that I did on the Green Car Challenge. California has plans for the world’s first solar-powered, fast-charging, electric car charging corridor. Well done California, they seem to be moving ahead with renewable transportation, solar power and zero emissions. It seems that Solar City and Rabobank are going to be teaming up to create a carbon-free trip for those who own electric vehicles along Highway 101 from San Francisco to Los Angeles, (this is approximately 400 miles.) This means one can now commute long-distances, and use these EV (electric vehicle) charging stations like gas stations. SolarCity will build four Tesla fast-charging stations at Salinas, Atascadero, Santa Maria and Goleta. These four charging stations will provide a full charge in one-third the amount of time of other stations. The hope is that after focusing on cars produced at Telsa Motors, they plan to retrofit these to fit all electric vehicles, eventually making all the stations solar-powered. So with an eye to zero emissions, faster charging times, renewable transportation and wonderful scenery what more could one want?

Newsflash: My personal blog

Hi all inquiring minds, I just want to take this short opportunity to let readers of this blog know that I have my own personal blog, unrelated to the library or Northeastern, at http://thecollectordamong.blogspot.com. This blog is all about Movies, generally speaking. I write a lot of film criticism, though also stuff that can’t really be called film criticism, just writing about films. Those who are not very interested in Movies will probably not find anything of consistent interest, though I’d encourage Cinema Studies, Comm Studies and Journalism Majors in particular to check it out. On this blog, I have covered certain films available in Snell, such as many films in the Criterion Collection, Stan Brakahge’s Films,  W.R:Mysteries of the Organism,  as well as the magazine Sight & Sound, which can be found in Snell’s magazine section on the second floor. I also update the blog according to the errors that I find, and I try to write something new at least three times a month. Thanks, and I hope you enjoy.

Harpist Ann Hobson Pilot retires from BSO

I heard a story yesterday on NPR about the retirement of Ann Hobson Pilot, harpist at the Boston Symphony Orchestra for the past 40 years. When she was recruited by Arthur Fiedler in 1969, she was one of only four women in the BSO, and for 20 years afterwards, she was the only African American! There’s a video of her at NPR, and if you’re an NU affiliate, you can log in and listen to a little of her playing as accompanist to the flutes in Gaubert’s Divertiseement grec on the Naxos Online album “Gaubert: Works for flute”.  (Need to see about why that’s not in NuCat yet–but I found it in Nexpress, luckily!) Last night at the BSO’s Opening Night, Hobson played a piece by John Williams commissioned for the occasion of her retirement, which I’m looking forward to hearing re-broadcast on WGBH this weekend.

Brick City

I wanted to quickly post on Brick City, a five-night documentary series that started last night on the Sundance channel.  (I caught the last twenty minutes of it). I had read glowing reviews of it over the weekend, and so I’m DVR-ing the remaining four nights.  And from what I’ve seen and read, I would really recommend it. It focuses on Newark, New Jersey, and its mayor, Cory Booker, as well as a number of citizens: Jayda and Creep, a couple who are also a Blood and a Crip respectively; Ras Baraka, principal of Newark’s Central High School; and Police Director Gary McCarthy. I also tried to search for some background materials in our Library that relate to the history of Newark.  You can find (among others) mystery novels, government documents, history books, and a 2008 New Yorker piece by Peter Boyer on Cory Booker (His piece is from February 4, 2008 and is titled “The Color of Politics”).