Despite what you may have heard from suburbanites, Hartford is a very bike-able city.  It’s relatively small in geographic size.  Many shoulders are wide enough to provide safe bike passage.  And, Hartford even has a few bike lanes.   Plus, Connecticut in recent years passed legislation that protects bikers on the road (see also: the three foot law) and is supporting it with public displays on billboards and buses.   Read the full story

The latest in a series of battles between public health officials and Food Not Bombs happens tomorrow, August 11, at the Department of Public Health, 410 Capitol Avenue in Hartford.  Through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, members of Food Not Bombs learned that the DPH has specifically targeted Food Not Bombs chapters across the state with the aim of disrupting or stopping them completely.  Food Not Bombs is a loosely organized, national grassroots food distribution network that provides free, weekly vegetarian meals to anyone who wants to eat.  Read the full story

Interview with Jill Zorn from the Universal Healthcare Foundation of CT (healthcare4every1.org) about Sustinet which is currently being debated in Connecticut government.

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Seeing the movie Che at Real Art Ways recently brought back to my attention the issue of world statistics.  While that doesn’t sound particularly exciting, the state of Cuba at the time laid the groundwork for what became a popular uprising against the US-backed Batista regime.  Che, played by Benecio Del Toro, talks about the conditions which helped make the Cuban revolution possible in 1959 – among them were infant mortality and literacy rates.  When I was in college, I remember being shocked when I read the State of the World Atlas – a visual, statistical guide to these types of data across the globe.   The United States is far from the best in many of these categories.  This is something the powers that be ought to come to terms with, especially as they play Robin Hood in reverse.  Read the full story

Interview with Sarah Uhl, Coordinator of the Coalition for a Safe and Healthy Connecticut.  Uhl discusses the Coalition’s upcoming legislative agenda, which focuses on phasing out toxic chemicals such as Bisphenol-A (BPA) from consumer products.

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Caitlin Corner-Dolloff wants you to think outside the bottle, the water bottle, specifically those plastic ones.  Corner-Dolloff has brought the global fight against corporate water privatization to Connecticut.  She is the Field Organizer for Corporate Accountability International (CAI), a 30+ year old non-profit dedicated to fighting corporate abuse. Read the full story