CITY HALL — When the Exposition Light Rail rolls into Santa Monica in the next six to eight years, the Downtown terminal is expected to swarm with several hundred passengers with each inbound train, squeezing an already impacted area.
Dear EarthTalk I want to start an organic vegetable garden in my yard and I would like to know how to combine crops to make better use of time and space.
NOMA — Like many residents concerned about the cost of installing solar panels on their roofs, Ann Giagni wasn’t sure the investment would be worth it.
Dear EarthTalk There’s a lot of talk today about solar and wind power, but what about biomass? How big a role might this renewable energy source play in our future? Couldn’t everyday people burn their own lawn and leaf clippings to generate power? Deborah Welch Niagara Falls, NY The oldest and most
Dear EarthTalk If you have an electric or plug-in hybrid car, you’re paying for electricity rather than gasoline all or most of the time. How does that cost compare to a gas-powered car’s cost-per-mile? And since the electricity may be generated from some other polluting source, does it really work
CITY HALL — One by one they spoke of a community unified through its racial and socio-economic diversity, yet physically divided decades ago with the construction of a large arterial known as the I-10 Freeway.
Dear EarthTalk I don’t eat meat, for a variety of ethical and environmental reasons, and I’d rather not feed it to my cat, either. Do cats have to be carnivores? John McManus Needham, MA Unlike dogs and other omnivores, cats are true (so-called “obligate”) carnivores: They meet their nutritional nee
Dear EarthTalk, I’m a musician and am curious about what the guitar industry is doing to ensure that the wood it uses is not destroying forests. Chris Wiedemann Ronkonkoma, NY Though it has not received a lot of press to date, the industry is on the case — in part for the sake of its own survival, a
CITY HALL — There should be no shortage of candidates for the City Council to consider next week as it looks to replace its late colleague Herb Katz, who died last month after a long battle with cancer.
Dear EarthTalk: Don’t all these huge snow and ice storms across the country mean that the globe isn’t really warming? I’ve never seen such a winter! — Mark Franklin, Helena, MT On the surface it certainly can appear that way.
CITY HALL — A controversial senior group housing project in an upscale part of town cleared another hurdle on Tuesday when an appeal filed by neighbors was turned down.
Dear EarthTalk What is the so-called “smart grid” I’ve been hearing about, and how can it save energy and money? Larry Burger Litchfield, CT America’s electricity grid is built upon what many consider to be an antiquated principle: Make large amounts of electricity and have it always available to en
