According to a July 7th Joplin Globe article, "The city has received a grant geared toward getting more kids to walk or ride a bicycle to school. The Highway Safety Division of the Missouri Department of Transportation announced that Carl Junction was awarded an $18,000 grant. The city will conduct a study on establishing pedestrian routes around the city leading to the school's campus on Pennell Street, between Roney and Broadway streets. 'When we are finished with the study, we will give the results to city council and the (Carl Junction R-1) Board of Education,' said Steve Lawver, the city's community economic development director. 'They will look at what changes need to be made.' Currently, about 10-15 percent of students walk or ride a bicycle to school, Assistant Superintendent David Stephens said. He said that number is probably lower than other districts, since the district's schools are located on the same campus.<< MORE >>

According to a July 9th Star article, "A new tool to measure the impact of bad air on public health, which Ottawa wants to roll out across the country, will help Canadians hold governments and businesses accountable when it comes to air pollution, says federal Environment Minister John Baird. The new Air Quality Health Index, launched in Toronto today as an 18-month pilot project similar to those in British Columbia and Nova Scotia, will advise city residents on health risks associated with the level of local air pollution. 'The more information we can give to Canadians, the more choices they will have about how to live their lives,' Baird said in French. 'But it also gives them the chance to ask their government and industries to make better choices.' The Conservative government says it will put $30 million over four years towards establishing the new national index and expanding the air quality forecast program to support it.<< MORE >>

According to a July 10th World Changing article, "Across the world, Barcelona is widely recognized as a best practice example for city planning and management, urban solutions, environmental programs, preservation/growth of green areas, transportation and regeneration. This model has repeatedly received different international awards and has been replicated in different cities. Throughout this article, which will be published in two parts, we will look at the different tools, models and ideas that have made Barcelona one of the European cities with the best quality of life, and a place where living green is convenient to citizens.<< MORE >>

According to a July 11th Free Times article, "Bobby Breitenstein is hoping to create one new job. He and Julie Hutchison run the Phoenix Coffee Shop in Lakewood with community and sustainability in mind -- recycling, using fairly traded coffees, giving away nitrogen-rich, spent coffee grounds for compost -- and their customers have responded in kind. The sidewalk in front of their Detroit Avenue shop is often crowded with bicycles.<< MORE >>

Our first order of business was getting to Garfield, then getting coffee. The Volvo did the first part; a trip to Dunkin Donuts took care of the second. The first school wasn't too hard to find as Garfield is a town of about 30,000 people, all within the compact dimension of 2.2 miles square. Naturally, the dorks we are, all Sharon and I saw was potential for mode substitution. << MORE >>