Planetwalker, Dr. John Francis, will be speaking on Wednesday evening at the Cambridge Forum:

3 Church Street in Harvard Square
May 14 at 7:30 PM.

Come and hear this amazing man’s presentation followed by book signing.

What is a PlanetWalker?

Dr. John Francis founded Planetwalk in 1982 when he began his walking and sailing pilgrimage around the world. In the ensuing 26 years, he has covered the U.S. and South America (including Venezuela, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina), and the Caribbean and Cuba.

He recently started a walk to study organic agriculture and sustainable development in Cuba, and is developing Planetlines, an environmental education curriculum for high school, college, and civic organizations based on his walking pilgrimage. read more...

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...