http://sierraclub.org/sierra/2015-3-may-june/green-life/roughing-it-urban-jungle

John Muir once said, “The mountains are calling and I must go.”
But for the metropolitan adventurers among us…are rooftops close enough?
Brooklyn sculpture artist Thomas Stevenson has pioneered a new kind of “rugged” adventure in the concrete jungle of New York. Titled Bivouac NY, his project invites urban explorers to sign up for one of his fifteen hour-long, post-work rooftop camping trips.  http://sierraclub.org/sierra/2015-3-may-june/green-life/roughing-it-urban-jungle
Article courtesy of Sierraclub.org by Stephanie Steinbrecher

After decades of altrusim and hard work, a trail will run through the Santa Monica Mountains

For more than 50 years, Southern Californians have dreamed of following an uninterrupted trail among the sycamore canyons and sandstone peaks of the Santa Monica Mountains.
http://www.latimes.com/la-me-backbone-trail-20160525-snap-story.html
Article courtesy of the Los Angeles Times by Thomas Curwen

Skyscraper at Trade Center Rises From the Inside Out

If you think Santiago Calatrava’s transportation hub and shopping mall looks like a bird (or a stegosaurus), you might find 3 World Trade Center next door reminding you of an upside-down Popsicle, with the stick at the top.

Its surprising profile — which is only temporary — results from a construction technique rarely used in New York office towers. The concrete core of the 69-story skyscraper is rising ahead of the steel columns and beams around its perimeter, sometimes 20 or more floors ahead.  http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/26/nyregion/skyscraper-at-trade-center-rises-from-the-inside-out.html?&contentId=&mediaId=&referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2Fsection%2Fnyregion%3Faction%3Dclick%26pgtype%3DHomepage%26region%3DTopBar%26module%3DHPMiniNav%26contentCollection%3DN.Y.%26WT.nav%3Dpage&priority=true&action=click&contentCollection=N.Y.%20%2F%20Region&pgtype=imageslideshow&module=RelatedArticleList&region=CaptionArea&version=SlideCard-1

Article courtesy of The New York Times by Bryan Thomas

Train service suspended — again — at Metro’s Bethesda stop on Red Line

Another power outage is causing trains to “temporarily bypass” the Bethesda stop on the Red Line. It is the second time this morning that there’s been a power problem there. Bus service is being provided.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2016/05/25/trains-not-stopping-at-metros-bethesda-stop-on-red-line/
Article courtesy of The Washington Post by Dana Hedgpeth

Maryland to ask companies for $100 million tech solution to ease I-270 gridlock

Highway agencies trying to ease traffic jams usually come up with their method of choice — widen a road, expand an intersection, re-time traffic signals — and then ask companies for their best price. But Maryland’s highway agency is about to try a new approach, one that state officials believe is a first in the country.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2016/05/25/maryland-to-ask-companies-for-100-million-tech-solution-to-ease-i-270-gridlock/
Article courtesy of The Washington Post by Katherine Shaver

Portland schools tried to change how they teach climate change — and ignited a firestorm

This winter, a small group of advocates, teachers, parents and students began meeting each week at a church in Portland, Ore., to figure out how their schools could do a better job of preparing the next generation to fight climate change.
Together, they wrote a resolution that, with some changes, was unanimously adopted by the Portland Public School Board on May 17. The district, the board resolved, “will abandon the use of any adopted text material that is found to express doubt about the severity of the climate crisis or its root in human activities.”  http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-na-portland-schools-climate-change-20160524-snap-story.html
Article courtesy of Los Angeles  Times by Joy Resmovits

Rhode Island wants the X Games back

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Rhode Island wants to bring the X Games back to the state where the extreme sports competition started.
Tourism officials confirmed Friday they’ve submitted a bid to Connecticut-based sports network ESPN to host the summer games in 2017 and 2018. A decision is expected in July.  http://www.boston.com/news/sports-news/2016/05/20/rhode-island-pitches-x-games-return-roots
Article courtesy of boston.com from AP by Dylan van Dyke Brown

Why making some (or many) Boston streets car-free might not be so crazy

Some streets in Boston could become occasional car-free zones in the near future, according to a tweet sent from the City of Boston’s official handle. On Wednesday, during a live Twitter chat with Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, a question from @ConciergeBoston asked about the possibility of closing certain Boston streets during summer months. http://www.boston.com/cars/news-and-reviews/2016/05/19/why-making-some-many-boston-streets-car-free-might-not-crazy/SnGg7mqqUgG2vyAf7nh0YP/story.html
Article courtesy of boston.com by Sanjay Salomon

You can finally ride the Expo Line from L.A. to Santa Monica. Here's why the trip takes 50 minutes.

When the long-awaited Expo Line extension opens Friday at noon, passengers will ride from downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica in 50 minutes.
That's an improvement over the ugly rush-hour commutes many days on the 10 Freeway. But it's roughly as long as the trip took on the old Pacific Electric Red Cars, which operated a similar route six decades ago.   http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-expo-line-speed-snap-story.html
Article courtesy of The Los Angeles Times by Laura J. Nelson

An Old Idea,Revived: Starve Cancer to Death

In the early 20th century, the German biochemist Otto Warburg believed that tumors could be treated by disrupting their source of energy. His idea was dismissed for decades — until now.  http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/15/magazine/warburg-effect-an-old-idea-revived-starve-cancer-to-death.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=8&pgtype=sectionfront
Article courtesy of the New York Times by Sam Apple

Want to Buy a Self-Driving Car? Big-Rig Trucks May Come First

SAN FRANCISCO — Imagine you are driving on a highway late at night when a big-rig truck closes in behind you. You relax because it is keeping a safe distance and seems to be obeying the speed limit. Now imagine that truck is driving itself. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/17/technology/want-to-buy-a-self-driving-car-trucks-may-come-first.html?mabReward=A4&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&region=CColumn&module=Recommendation&src=rechp&WT.nav=RecEngine&_r=0
Article courtesy of The New York Times by John Markoff

Dr. Catlin Powers, Eco-Engineer

I went into the Himalayas as an undergraduate to study climate change. Local people asked why my team was in the region, so I struggled to find the words "climate change" in Tibetan. Finally, I came up with "we are studying smoke in the sky." Everyone burst out laughing: "What a ridiculous thing to do. The sky is blue, but there's all this smoke in our homes." They brought me inside, and the air was thick and yellow, just searing to breathe. The air-quality monitors attached to my jacket indicated that the air was 10 times worse than what I'd recently measured in Beijing.
http://sierraclub.org/sierra/2016-3-may-june/faces-clean-energy/dr-catlin-powers-eco-engineer?suppress=true&utm_source=greenlife&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter
Article courtesy of Sierraclub.com by Erik Hoffner

Rare 2,000-Year-Old Coin Found by Hiker in Israel

A gold coin dating from the Roman Empire has been found at an archaeological site near the sea of Galilee.  http://www.nbcnews.com/video/rare-2-000-year-old-coin-found-by-hiker-in-israel-644794947868
Video courtesy of NBC News

Did climate change cause these ancient civilizations to collapse?

“Droughts didn't always impact societies in the past,” says archaeologist Kyle Bocinsky, one of the authors of the study. “There were plenty of times in which the Pueblo people did just fine in the face of pretty dramatic climate downturns. But we also found that a combination of social organization, inequality and climate change did prompt revolutions in Pueblo society, and not just once, but four times in the Pueblo past between 8500 and 1400.”  http://www.globalpost.com/article/6764863/2016/04/24/did-climate-change-cause-these-ancient-civilizations-collapse
Article courtesy of the Global Post by Elizabeth Stockman and Alexa Lim

Baltimore Student Leader Receives Goldman Environmental Prize

On Monday, Watford will receive the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize for her successful grassroots effort to stall the construction of what would have been the nation’s largest trash incinerator in the Curtis Bay neighborhood of southern Baltimore.

In 2012, the then-17-year-old Watson first learned that the developer Energy Answers had secured legal approval to build a solid-waste-to-energy power plant—PR speak for a trash incinerator—one mile from her high school. “When the incinerator was proposed, it was proposed as the solution to both the energy crisis and the waste crisis,” Watford told Sierra in a recent interview. “It sounded like a wonderful solution, but it's not—it was a false alternative.”  http://sierraclub.org/sierra/2016-2-march-april/green-life/baltimore-student-leader-receives-goldman-environmental-prize

Article courtesy of Sierraclub.org by Catherine Schuknecht

MassDOT announced the first activation of the Commonwealth’s Real-Time Traffic Information System (Go-Time) set to expand statewide by the end of the year.

Three new Real-Time Traffic displays were launched in the area of Rt. 140 in Taunton. These displays include travel times from Rt. 140 to Interstate 195, Rt. 140 to Interstate 195, and Rt. 140 to Rt. 6. The signs will provide drivers with information about how long their commute will be and will assist drivers in making informed travel decisions.  http://blog.mass.gov/transportation/massdot-highway/massdot-launches-go-time-real-time-traffic-information/
Article courtesy of MassDot by Klark Jessen

MBTA: Worcester-Boston Nonstop Service Begins May 23

For the first time ever, the MBTA will offer nonstop service between Worcester and Boston in less than an hour. The HeartToHub will operate twice daily—morning and evening—every weekday starting May 23, 2016.  http://blog.mass.gov/transportation/mbta/mbta-worcester-boston-nonstop-service-begins-may-23-2/
Article courtesy of MassDOT by Klark Jessen

Solar plane takes off from California for Arizona

In this April 23, 2016 file photo, Solar Impulse 2 flies over the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco at the end of its journey from Hawaii, part of its attempt to circumnavigate the globe. The next leg of the solar-powered around-the-world flight is scheduled to start from Mountain View, Calif., Monday, May 2, 2016, at 5 a.m. PDT, bound for Phoenix.  http://www.sfchronicle.com/news/science/article/Solar-plane-prepares-to-leave-California-for-7387227.php
Article courtesy of The San Francisco Chronicle

Another study says warming may be worse than experts think

WASHINGTON (AP) — Most computer simulations of climate change are underestimating by at least one degree how warm the world will get this century, a new study suggests.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/Another-study-says-warming-may-be-worse-than-7234552.php
Article courtesy of San Francisco News -Associated Press by Seth Borenstein

Stethoscope pill developed by MIT and Mass General researchers picks up invention award

A swallowable, pill-sized stethoscope developed by researchers at MIT and Mass General to monitor your body’s vital signs, has won one of Popular Science’s 2016 Invention Awards.  http://www.boston.com/news/science/2016/04/30/stethoscope-pill-developed-by-mit-and-mass-general-researchers-picks-up-invention-award
Article courtesy of The Boston Globe by Dialynn Dwyer

Boston’s free sunscreen program is expanding nationally

The program that brought free sunscreen to Boston last year is back. But this year, 11 other states will get in on the sun protection action.
Starting in May, the Melanoma Foundation of New England will issue free sunscreen dispensers to 54 locations across 12 states, for a total of 190 dispensers. Massachusetts alone will get 29.
http://www.boston.com/news/health/2016/04/30/bostons-free-sunscreen-program-expanding-nationally
Article courtesy of the Boston Globe by Dialynn Dwyer