Friday, 15 Aug 2003

When the Lights Go Down in the City

Blackout Hits Northeast, Temporarily Slows Your Favorite Enviro Mag

And folks thought the blaster worm was bad. Shortly after 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon, a problem in the electricity grid caused massive power outages on the Eastern Seaboard. The cause remains a mystery, but the effect was clear -- a blackout stretching from New York City north to Toronto and west to Detroit. The outage left some 50 million people without power: no lights, no computers, no Internet, no air-conditioning, no trains, no traffic signals, no elevators. Alas, Grist was not immune; due to technological difficulties related to the power outage, the Daily Grist appears in a much abbreviated form today. We encourage everyone to read the related articles below and then go home early today and dream about a diversified, renewably powered energy system.

Sprawl of the Wild

John Mauro Has More Than Birds on the Brain at Audubon Society

If you think the Audubon Society is just a haven for fusty bird lovers, think again. Take John Mauro, smart growth director for Pilchuck Audubon Society in Everett, Wash. Smart growth director? That's right -- because one big threat to our avian friends is habitat loss fueled by development and ever-expanding sprawl. When Mauro, this week's Grist diarist, isn't forging coalitions to build more livable, walk-able, close-knit communities, he's likely to be found on his bike, pedaling more than 60 miles a day to and from work so as not to contribute to pollution problems and traffic tangles. Follow Mauro through a week of bikes, birds, and building bridges, only on the Grist Magazine website.