Preserving the lands of the wealthy

A stretch of New York’s Hudson Valley is known for its old wealth, stately mansions–and encroaching new wealth and development.

In the words of the National Park Service, “For nearly two centuries, this place has been home to socially prominent New Yorkers.

It still is, and increasingly so. Median household income of $71,508 in 2008-12 is up by 34.70 percent since 2000.

Those pressures make it imperative to preserve what can be preserved of the land and the culture.

Green versus green and energy dilemmas

No alternative energy source is without its environmental costs. But as demand for power continues and as existing fossil-fuel and nuclear plants age, the truth is that the Great Lakes states need to aggressively explore alternatives.

Why Small Parks Matter

Ask natural scientists why small parks matter and you’ll hear about habitats, biodiversity, carbon sequestration and buffer zones between developments. Ask the same question to social scientists and you’ll hear about maintaining human connections with nature, centers of community concern, neighborhood identity and healthy outdoor activities. Small parks can even serve a public policy purpose as a political rallying point. That happened last year in Turkey when government plans to develop 9-acre Taksim Gezi Park — one of Istanbul’s smallest parks and among the few remaining green spaces in the city’s BeyoÄŸlu district— triggered sit-ins and national demonstrations. From a humanist as well as scientific perspective, poet-environmental activist Wendell Berry has written that we need not cherish just the great public wildernesses” but small ones as well.

What’s on your bookshelf?

By Eric Freedman

The more things don’t change…

I’ve been perusing the shelves of the Knight Center’s conference room library, getting rid of–recycling–outdated books to make room for new ones. These, published from the early 1980s through the mid-1990s, are just a sampling of our castaways:

“Footprints on the Planet: A Search for an Environmental Ethic” by Robert Cahn
“Public Policy for Chemicals: National & International Issues” by Sam Gusman, Konrad von Moltke, Francis Irwin & Cynthia Whitehead
“Fear at Work: Job Blackmail, Labor & the Environment” by Richard Kazis and Richard Grossman
“Radiation & Human Health” by John Gofman
“Renewable Energy: The Power to Choose” by Daniel Deudney & Christopher Flavin
“Environmental Regulation and Economic Efficiency” by the Congressional Budget Office
“Crossroads: Environmental Priorities for the Future” by Peter Borelli
“International Environmental Policy: Emergence & Dimensions” by Lynton Caldwell
“Global Warning: The Economic Stakes” by William Cline
“How Many Americans? Population, Immigration & the Environment by Leon Bouvier & Lindsey Grant

Although their content may be stale–often by decades–what struck me was how the same issues remain prominently in today’s headlines: Alternative energy. Population. Climate change.