New Haven Independent

Over in Fair Haven Thursday Mayor DeStefano honored Elm City Cycling and Svigals + Partners, LLP, respectively, outside the Martinez School on James Street, which had been designed by Svigals.

First, DeStefano honored Elm City Cycling for its grassroots efforts “to educate the New Haven community about the benefits of cycling for recreational means but more importantly as an alternate and more environmentally friendly method of transportation,” according to the official press release. He didn’t actually say that at the ceremony, but the cyclists knew he appreciated their efforts. He held up the plaque that will be affixed to a bike rack in front of City Hall, which all agreed was a most fitting honor.

ECC member Bruce Crowder (pictured at left of the ECC members at the ceremony, with yours truly scooting into the photo to represent the female half of the New Haven cycling world) was quoted in the press release, “We are thrilled that the city recognizes the impact that safe cycling can have on the well-being of our community. As transportation accounts for more than one quarter of all energy used in the U.S., it is crucial that we continue to make room for clean, affordable alternatives to motor vehicles. We can think of no better choice than the bicycle, which was invented right here in New Haven in 1866. We look forward to continued support in working to enable more people to bicycle more safely.” He didn’t actually say that at the ceremony either, but it’s all true. The cyclists just said, “Thanks for the honor.”

Svigals was honored for its design of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Commercial Interiors green lab renovation at the Yale School of Medicine - the first of its kind in the nation. Svigals architect Jay Brotman explained after the ceremony that LEED certification usually applies to office buildings or schools. “We had to be very creative to meet the LEED requirements for a lab,” he said. LEED-certified buildings create a healthy environment, reduce energy requirements, and use recycled materials and in turn recycle waste materials. That’s Brotman in the photo with the mayor, in front of the tree to be planted in honor of Svigals’ environmental leadership.

On the Green, Solar Youth was running an energy efficiency relay race to reduce global warming. Three teams of kids from the Neighborhood Steward Teams, representing many city schools, competed to hang t-shirts on a clothes line (saving energy over using a dryer), change an incandescent light bulb to a compact fluorescent one, and plug various small appliances into a power strip and then switch it off (to avoid energy drain when appliances are still plugged into the wall, even if they’re turned off). For the last race, participants in each group had to line themselves up on either side of a rope, with a “driver” and race down a part of the Green and back as a “bus” (more energy-efficient than each one driving in a separate car).

Click on the play arrow to watch the race.

Of about ten kids who were asked if they would hang clothes on a line instead of just throwing them in the dryer if they had a choice, about half said they would, “‘cause you could die of the hotness,” of global warming, said Juan Figueroa. Click here to listen to more of his youthful wisdom. Jose Davila (pictured to Juan’s right in photo) agreed. They’re both students at Fair Haven Middle School.

Another global warming event, called “Lobsters and Lyme Disease,” was drawing crowds at the Peabody Museum. David Heiser, director of education at the museum, explained the title. “This event grew out of two different professional development programs, working with different sets of teachers — training one set to create curriculum about the lobster die-off in Long Island Sound in 1999 and another set of teachers working on West Nile virus and Lyme disease. They’re both related to global changes that we’ve been seeing in the past few decades.” Click here for more.

Heiser said the museum had been able to offer free admission on Thursday. By 1 p.m. he estimated 800 adults and kids had already walked through the door.

Mikayla Davis, 5 (pictured at the top of this story), seemed fascinated by the larval stage of mosquitoes swimming in a beaker.

A few tables down, a woman from the Sound School held up one of the lobsters that didn’t die.

In the next room, volunteer Bob Lanzi (pictured) was explaining to interested kids (below) and adults how a windmill works. “If you change the angle of the blades,” he said, “it presents a different surface area to the wind, so the more surface area you have, the faster the wind will push it.”

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