New York-Seit Yakers, treasurer of a New York cooperative with almost 1,500 units and colleagues, should do with gas leaks. This can mean that the gas is switched off in a whole constructing in order that the residents can use a stove for months until expensive repairs are carried out on gas pipes.

So Yaker was the whole lot when he learned from a Berkeley, California Startup called Kupfer That was the production of an electrical stove and an oven that would simply be connected to a daily socket. The electrical standard electrical induction stove with 4 burners runs with 120 volts, which suggests that no licensed electrician in $ 240 volts, which require many electrical stoves, should pay hundreds of dollars.

Relatives: Cooking with a gas stove is like life with a smoker, Stanford Study states

“In terms of” is that the fitting way? “It is a child's play,” said Yaker and demonstrated a liter of water that cooked in about two minutes. His apartment is filled with books, many about energy and climate change, and energy efficiency was also a motivation.

Then there are the health advantages of cooking with electricity. Gas herds that use 47 million Americans fill pollutants reminiscent of nitrogen dioxide, which was related to asthma and cancer -related benzene.

“You would not be over the barbecue of a car in the exhaust of this car. And yet almost 50 million households are above a gas stove and breathe in the same pollutants in their houses, ”said Rob Jackson, environmental scientist at Stanford University and a senior creator a few study of pollution from gas.

“I had a gas stove until I started this research line. To observe how the pollutant levels almost every time I switched on a burner or switched on my oven, was enough to get myself into an electric stove to switch.

Induction stoves are also a way to fix the considerable amount of climate change that comes from buildings – emissions from cooking, heating and cooling of living rooms and hot water.

At gas stoves, about half of the heat of the flame escapes into the room. Electrical herd compared to up to 80% can be efficient. Of these, induction stoves with efficiency of up to 90% are partly because they only heat where the surface contacts the pot.

The stove contains an intelligent battery, which means that it can charge when the electric rates are low so that people can cook without causing electrical loads with peak values.

The new copper stoves are not cheap. Early users rely on government incentives to cover the costs. When Yaker, who worked as a teacher and was a saver, bought his bought, it was 6,000 US dollars and a tax credit for Clean -Energy devices to $ 4,200.

Relatives: The surprising force for climate progress: California restaurants

The manufacturer now has an agreement with the New York City Housing Authority to buy 10,000 ovens at a maximum price of 3,200 US dollars each, which is due to arrive in 2026.

Eden Housing in Martinez, California, one of his 32-apartment buildings with copper stoves with state and local programs. The affordable apartment group plans to buy more.

“It's pretty cool, it looks good and it's easy to clean,” said Jolene Cardoza about the new device. The asthma of her adult daughter was irritated by her old gas stove when she came to bake, and she is glad that the copper does not release any pollutants.

Other tenants found the transition to induction boiling.

“I don't really like my food in the oven,” said Monica Moore, who notices a difference in the texture of her corn bread. She is impressed by how quickly water cooks, but misses cooking with a flame and said it was a problem to switch off her pans with those that are compatible with induction stoves.

However, the change is important for Jackson.

“I think to bring the gas into our houses and electrify our houses is one of the best things that we can control individually to reduce our personal greenhouse gas emissions. I think of cars and houses as the two places to reduce our greenhouse gas footprint, ”said Jackson.

___

Associated Press's climate and environmental protection receives financial support from several private foundations. AP is solely answerable for all content. Find APS Standards For working with philanthropias, an inventory of supporters and financed coverage areas at Ap.org.

Originally published: February 28, 2025 at 10:09 a.m. PST

By Phil Galwitz, Kff Health News

Just a few years ago, children with type -1 diabetes reported several times a day of the college nurse to stab a finger to ascertain whether their blood sugar was dangerously high or low.

The introduction of the continual glucose monitor (CGM) made this unnecessary. The small device, which is often attached to the arm, has a sensor under the skin that sends measured values ​​to an app on a telephone or one other wireless device. The app shows the blood sugar level at a look and it sounds alarm once you move from a standard area.

Too high blood sugar may very well be utilized by a dose of insulin-supplied by injection or touching a button on an insulin pump to ward off potentially life-threatening complications, including the lack of consciousness, while a sip of juice can fix the blood sugar, which is simply too low, problems equivalent to dizziness and Prevent seizures.

Schools across the country say that teachers within the classroom hearken to CGM alarms from the scholars' phones. Nevertheless, many parents say that there isn’t a guarantee that a teacher will hear an alarm in a busy classroom and that it falls to be sure that you contact your child.

Parents say that college nurses or administrative staff should monitor CGM apps from a distance and be sure that that somebody draws attention even when a student is outside the classroom.

However, many colleges have opposed, and cited lack of staff and concerns concerning the reliability of the Internet and the technical problems with the devices. About a 3rd of the faculties Do you might have no full -time medical nurseAccording to a survey 2021 of the National Association of School Nurses, other employees may be trained to watch CGMS.

The care of kids with type -1 diabetes is nothing latest for schools. There was no alarm in front of CGMS that signaled an issue; Instead, it was caught with a time-consuming finger prick test or when the issue was advanced and the kid showed symptoms of complications.

In view of the spread of insulin pumps, many children can react to problems themselves and reduce the necessity for schools to supply injections.

Parents say that they don’t ask the faculties to constantly monitor their child's readings, but to be certain that an adult at school checks the kid to react appropriately.

“People on [school] District does not understand the disease and they do not understand the urgency, ”said Julie Calidonio from Lutz, Florida.

Calidonio's son Luke, 12, uses a CGM, but received little support from his school, she said. The trust in the school staff to hear the alarms led to fell, in which nobody intervened nearby when his blood sugar fell to critical level.

“Why this technology is presupposed to prevent damage and we don’t react to it,” she said.

In September, Calidonio submitted a complaint to the US Ministry of Justice against the district and said that his inability to monitor the devices violates the law on Americans with disabilities, which means that schools have to make accommodations for pupils with diabetes. She is still waiting for a decision.

The complaint is about four years after the US public prosecutor's office had found that the monitoring of school employees was a “appropriate accommodation” as part of the ADA. This determination was made after four students had submitted complaints against four school districts in Connecticut.

“We fought this fight and won this fight,” said Jonathan Chappell, one of two lawyers who submitted the symptoms in Connecticut. However, the decision has not yet affected the students outside the state, he said.

Chappell and Bonnie Roswig, a lawyer and director of the non -profit project for children's rights rights for children, have both heard of the parents in 40 countries who have difficulty monitoring their children's CGMS from a distance. Parents in 10 countries submitted similar symptoms, they said.

CGMS are used today by most of the estimated 300,000 people in the USA with type -1 diabetes under the age of 20, say health experts. It is also known as a juvenile diabetes. It is an autoimmune disease that typically diagnosed in early childhood and treated with the daily insulin to regulate blood sugar. It affects About 1 out of 400 people According to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

(CGMS are also used For people with type -2 -diabetes, another disease that is bound to risk factors such as nutrition and movement, which affects tens of millions of people -including a growing number of children, although this is usually only diagnosed in early teenagers. Most people with type -2 diabetes do not occupy an insulin.)

Students with diabetes or another illness or disability usually have a health plan developed by their doctor who works with a school -based plan to receive the support you need. The necessary accommodations for school visit, e.g. B. a child to eat in class or ensure that the employees are trained to check the blood sugar or shoot insulin.

In children with type -1 -diabetes, the plan usually includes monitoring CGMS several times a day and the reaction to alarms, said Roswig.

Lynn Nelson, elected President of the National Association of School Nurses, said that when doctors and parents need their CGM monitoring for a school observed from a distance, the school according to the ADA is obliged to meet this need. “It is legally mandatory and the correct one.”

Nelson, who also heads school sister programs in the state of Washington, said schools often have to reconcile the needs of the students with sufficient administrative staff.

“There are real challenges for the workforce, but that implies that schools must deal with every thing for a single student,” she said.

Henry Rodriguez, a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of South Florida and spokesman for the American Diabetes Association, said that remote monitoring could be a challenge for schools. While they are committed to giving every child what it takes to manage their diabetes at school, schools can be limited by a lack of support staff, including nurses.

The association updated its guidelines for CGMS last year and explained: “School districts should remove obstacles to distant monitoring by school nurses or the trained school staff if that is medically mandatory for the scholar.”

In San Diego, Taylor Inman said a pediatric pulmonologist, said her daughter Ruby, 8, had received little help from her public school after she was diagnosed with type -1 diabetes and began to use a CGM.

She said warnings from Ruby's phone were often unusual outside of the classroom, and she could not always reach someone at school to ensure that Ruby reacted when her blood sugar level moved into the abnormal reach.

“We kept asking the college to follow my daughter's CGM, and so they were told that they weren’t allowed to,” she said.

Howard Taras, the medical consultant of the San Diego Unified School District, said in a memo from 2020 to school nurses, if a student doctor recommends remote monitoring, this should be done by her parents or the office of the doctor's office.

CGM alarms can “be annoying for the training of the scholar, for classmates and employees with other tasks,” wrote Taras.

“Alarms are closely monitored, even those that appear outside the classroom,” said Susan Barndollar, executive director of the district of nursing and wellness. Trained adults, including teachers and helpers, listen to the alarms in class, during the break, in fitness studies or during an excursion, she said.

She said the problem with remote monitoring was that employees of the school office who carry out the surveillance may not know where the student quickly takes care of them.

Last year, Inman said that they paid 20,000 US dollars for a diabetes support dog, which was trained for the detection of high or low blood sugar, and later transferred Ruby to a private school that follows their CGM from afar.

“Her blood sugar is best checked, and he or she is not any longer afraid and stressed and may consider learning,” she said. “She likes to go to highschool and thrives.”

Some schools have changed their guidelines. For more than a year, several parents used the public schools of Loudoun County in North Virginia so that school medical sisters follow CGM warnings from their own wireless devices.

The District Board approved the change that came into force in August and concerns about 100 of the more than 80,000 students in the district.

Previously, Lauren Valentine had notifications from 8-year-old son Leo CGM and calls the school that he visits in Loudoun County without knowing whether someone took measures. Valentine said that the school nurse is now pursuing Leo's blood sugar from an iPad in the clinic.

“It takes responsibility from my son and the pressure from the teacher,” she said. “And we calm down that the nurses in the college clinic know what happens.”

Originally published: January 31, 2025 at 11:50 a.m. PST

The closer the presidential election gets, the more intense the race becomes – including on social media. Although Meta reported In 2022, Americans have already begun to appreciate that only about 3% of content on Facebook is political prepare for it for a flood of political news, ads, AI deepfakes and arguments of their feeds over the subsequent few weeks.

Elections are stressfuland they have an inclination to worsening Americans’ negative mental health symptoms. For some people, social media can increase the impact political stress aspects.

Despite the tensions arising in users' digital feeds, an upcoming election doesn't mean people need to avoid social media entirely. If used correctly, social media can still be successful necessary source of political information and an exit too express opinions. I studied How people navigate social media during elections, and I would like to share three strategies to provide help to prepare your accounts for this election season so you may stay connected to the things that matter without drowning in partisan back-and-forth.

1. Check your feeds

While elections might be stressful, in addition they offer a probability to take ownership of the content you eat online – or, as digital culture expert Jessa Lingel says, “Be your personal algorithm.” Before November, take the time to review your social media ecosystem by considering the accounts you follow and the settings you could have set.

Social media platforms and their algorithms have raised widespread concerns about their role in political polarization, as they permit people to isolate themselves in echo chambers that reinforce their very own views. People with different political opinions can find yourself there significantly different material on their social media feeds.

While research suggests that echo chamber experiences are possible generally limited to very partisan peopleIt's price taking a critical have a look at your feeds. Consider diversifying the content you see on social media, reminiscent of following people whose life experiences differ from your personal.

On the opposite hand, take a breather before unfollowing people you disagree with during tense moments. Although it might be unpleasant to come across political disagreements online, studies show that intentionally hiding these opinions might be quite unpleasant contribute to polarization.

Research has shown that individuals who see more political news on social media may achieve this more prone to develop into politically lively offline.

However, behind the scenes, platforms are taking steps to limit users' exposure to political content. For example, Meta recently implemented features that limit the quantity of political content users see Facebook, Instagram and threads. The setting has been activated because the starting of the 12 months by default. Now is a great time to double-check that your account settings reflect the content and ad personalization settings that work best for you. If you want, you may re-enable political content using the settings available through Content Settings Facebook And Instagram.

2. Remain skeptical and practice keeping your distance

Misinformation on social media continues to be a persistent problem during elections. This 12 months, AI-generated images pose a specific threat to misinformation, especially when shared by others the presidential candidates himself.

The News Literacy Project has arrange a 2024 Election Misinformation Dashboard Das has already compiled over 600 examples of inaccurate viral content related to this election, including misleading memes, doctored photos and videos, and quotes taken out of context.

Platforms reminiscent of TikTok, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram have also taken measures to make sure this AI-generated images are labeled on their pages. These methods that discover AI through Scan image metadata and seek for hidden watermarksare still recent and it’s unclear how well they work.

It is just not enough to hope that the platforms' systems protect users. You should view information concerning the election with skepticism, especially if it triggers an emotional response in you.

Studies prove this Fake news tends to trigger more negative emotionslike anger, sadness and disgust, as real news.

Disturbing news makes people wish to take motion.

A study found that individuals had stronger emotional reactions to fake news headlines expressed greater intentions People who comment, share, or like articles than those that weren’t emotionally moved to reply. Pay attention to your emotional reactions to the headlines and pictures you encounter on social media and take time to step back, process and process Verify the knowledge against sources you realize to be reliable before sharing.

3. Create protected havens for social media

Especially in elections, the ideals of “good citizenship“Putting pressure on people to stay awake up to now on the most recent political news. Social media can provide countless election updates, but simply because the knowledge is widely available doesn't mean you could have to continually engage with it. It's possible to remain informed while staying connected to the fun elements of social media, even when the election is on everyone's lips.

Different platforms can serve various political functionswhich could include helping you with this Set boundaries around political information. Just as you select to take a break from stressful circumstances by taking a walk or calling a friend, you might also select to make use of some social media spaces primarily to calm down while still engaging with political details about others.

This may mean joining a brand new platform or creating an alternate account on a platform you already use. While people are likely to Reach out to X, Reddit, TikTok and Facebook For politics, you might decide to curate a couple of accounts with less deal with political content, for times while you need a break.

No matter the way you prepare your social media feeds for the election, do not forget that feelings of stress surrounding the election are normal. Many elements of elections can spiral uncontrolled, but taking control of your social media feeds means that you can manage your political information weight-reduction plan for the higher.

Offshore winds have the potential to offer coasts with massive, constant supplies of fresh electricityAccording to a study, wind farms directly off the coast 11 times the anticipated global electricity demand in 2040.

The east coast of the USA is a really perfect location to make use of this energy, but there’s an issue: the electricity from the offshore wind farms should be transported to the cities and communities that need it.

Although everyone wants a reliable power supply for his or her homes and businesses, few support the development of the transmission lines needed to offer it. This has at all times been an issue, each within the USA And internationalbut it surely is becoming an excellent greater challenge as countries Speed ​​towards CO2-neutral energy systems that uses more electricity.

The U.S. Department of Energy and 10 states within the Northeast States Collaborative on Interregional Transmission are working on a potentially groundbreaking solution: plans for a Offshore power grid.

The heart of this network can be the primary transmission lines off the east coast, from North Carolina to Maine, where dozens of offshore wind projects are already being planned.

The plans envisage that the project will generate not less than 85 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2050 – almost as much as US goal of 110 GW installed wind power by mid-century, enough to power 40 million homes, and greater than the 0.2 GW today. The Northeast States Collaborative formalized its goals in July 2024 through a multistate Memorandum of Understanding.

Current research from the Energy Authoritythe research company Brattle And other groups points out that an offshore electricity grid could mitigate the primary challenges of constructing recent onshore transmission lines and reduce the prices of offshore wind energy.

Cost reduction can be welcome news – costs for offshore wind projects increased as much as 50 % from 2021 to 2023. While a number of the underlying causes have subsided, like inflation And Disruptions in the worldwide supply chain, Interest rates remain highand the industry remains to be trying to realize a foothold within the US

What is an offshore power grid?

Today’s offshore wind projects use a Point-to-point or radial designwherein each offshore wind farm is individually connected to the onshore power grid.

This method works when there are few projects in a region, but it surely quickly becomes dearer as a result of cabling and other infrastructure. The lines also disrupt populations and marine life. And it requires more costly grid upgrades on land.

Many of those costs will be avoided through coordinated offshore transmission, with what the Department of Energy “mesh” or “backbone” designs.

Instead of individual connections to the mainland, many offshore wind farms can be connected to a typical transmission line that will be linked to the mainland grid via strategically placed “interconnection points.” This way, the electricity generated by an offshore wind farm might be transmitted to wherever it’s most needed on the east coast.

Even higher, electricity generated on land is also transported via these shared lines to bring energy to where it is required. This could improve the resilience of the electricity grids and reduce the necessity for brand spanking new transmission lines over land, which have to this point notoriously difficult to acquire approval forespecially on the East Coast.

The coordinated offshore transfer was part early US discussions on the planning and development of offshore wind turbines. In the late 2000s, when Google and partners initially proposed The Atlantic Wind Connection, an offshore transmission projectthe advantages of each offshore renewables and the energy system as a complete were fascinating. At that point, the United States had just one large-scale offshore wind project within the pipeline, and it ultimately failed.

Today, the United States 53 GW offshore wind projects planned or developed. energy Researchers, We consider Coordinated offshore transmission is significant for the success of the industry on a big scale.

Offshore grid could get monetary savings and reduce environmental impact

By allowing energy from offshore wind farms and onshore generators to be transported to more places, coordinated transmission can improve grid reliability and be certain that energy gets to where it is required most, reducing the necessity for dearer and infrequently more environmentally damaging power plants.

A 2024 Report from the National Renewable Energy Lab found that the advantages of a coordinated design outweigh the prices almost thrice in comparison with an ordinary point-to-point design.

Studies from Europe, the UK And Brattle have pointed to other advantages, including reducing planet-warming CO2 emissions, reducing the variety of Beach crossings by a 3rd and the required kilometers of transmission cables by 35 to 60 percent.

In the United States, offshore transmission lines would run almost exclusively through federal waters, which might avoid most of the conflicts related to onshore projects, although challenges would still arise.

Challenges and next steps

Building an offshore grid would require some vital changes.

First, government incentives have to be modified. The government investment tax allowance for offshore wind, which covers not less than 30% of the initial capital costs of a project, doesn’t currently help with financing coordinated gear designs.

Second, the needs of all parties should be taken under consideration from the outset of the planning process. While the general advantages of coordinated gear designs exceed the full costsWho gets the advantages and who bears the prices is significant. For example, dearer electricity producers could earn less, and a few Communities feel threatened by offshore development.

Third, higher coordination between all parties is required to route electricity to and from the regional grids. The recent Order 1920which requires electricity suppliers to plan their future needs may function a blueprint, but it surely doesn’t apply to interregional projects, corresponding to an offshore transmission network connecting over a dozen countries in three regions.

The United States reached a significant milestone in March 2024 with the completion of South Fork Wind, the country's largest wind farm. first large-scale wind farmbringing the U.S. offshore wind capability to just about 200 megawatts. Eight more projects are under construction or approved for construction. Once accomplished, they might increase installed capability to over 13 gigawattsin regards to the same as three dozen coal-fired power plants.

An offshore transmission grid could support the expansion of offshore wind energy and meet the energy needs of the East Coast for generations.

This article was updated on 31 July 2024 to make clear that the States have formalised the Memorandum of Understanding.

The pandemic has exposed cracks within the local food system which have festered for years as inequality grew in Silicon Valley.

In 2021, Santa Clara County responded by approving the Food Systems Work Plan Report: a technique to construct a stronger food economy within the region, address food insecurity, and improve agricultural opportunities for local farmers, amongst other goals.

In December 2023, the county hired Cayce Hill as its first food systems manager to oversee the growing volume of labor. Before coming to the county, Hill was executive director of Veggielution – an East San Jose nonprofit that operates an urban farm at Emma Prusch Farm Park.

Q: What does a food systems manager do?

A: My primary role is to deal with gaps, discover opportunities, and improve coordination across the statewide food system. More specifically, it’s about providing leadership and implementing the goals of the Santa Clara County Work Plan. This work plan is the North Star of the county, it’s my North Star. At the moment there may be a number of listening and a number of learning, eager about how I’ll implement the goals of the work plan.

Q: What is a food system?

A: We can consider food systems as every thing involved within the production, aggregation, distribution, retailing, and ultimately at the top of its life – hopefully straight back into production – food. It is determined by how we grow our food, how and where we collect it, who grows the food, who cooks it, where we buy it and what we do with all of the food produced that we unfortunately find yourself not eating. Many people consider the food system as “farm to table.” It involves a farm and if we're lucky we all know the farmer who grew it, we buy it and cook it or eat it in a restaurant. When we expect beyond that, we also think in regards to the food that’s passed on to others locally through a charitable food response.

I hope that in my role I’ll really find a way to take a much wider take a look at food systems that isn't nearly who grew it, cooked it or served it, but reasonably whether those people can afford to live here. Can they breathe clean air here, can they find quality jobs here that support their family and a dignified life here? There are many examples of how these issues are literally being addressed in and by our county, which is why I’m more than happy to be here. It's very complex. Raising awareness of what a food system is and the role all of us play in our food system might be the largest and largest challenge I actually have on this recent role.

Q: How do you interact with local businesses and nonprofits?

A: Local nonprofits and native businesses are vital partners of Santa Clara County. I feel mostly because they’ve such a deep understanding and are so near the needs of the community and know rather more directly what the community is striving for and what the community needs. Santa Clara County partners with nonprofits and native businesses every step of the best way. I’d say that without the partnerships of local nonprofits and businesses, there isn’t a doubt we couldn’t be as effective.

A very good example is our Good Food Purchasing Program. Three county hospitals – St. Louise, O'Connor and Valley Medical – have all enrolled within the Good Food Purchasing Program, supported by our public health and procurement team. Essentially, it gives us as a big institution the chance to essentially align our purchases with values ​​that actually matter, like local economies, environmental sustainability, animal welfare and nutrition, and a valued workforce. This article in regards to the local economy is specifically about connecting with local farmers, local vendors and native producers to bring these products on to hospital patients.

Q: What are the largest challenges in your recent role?

A: We take into consideration food systems too often, and that’s rightly a giant a part of food systems work, but we expect of it primarily as a direct emergency or charitable response with food, to get it to as many individuals as possible as quickly as possible place. That will at all times be the main focus, but I feel the challenge and opportunity before us is to essentially take into consideration what will not be working in our food system and is causing a number of people to feel insecure.

Hunger is a system of poverty. As we take into consideration food systems now, I feel our challenge, and I feel we’ll rise to it, is to totally understand how food systems relate to housing affordability, our environmental sustainability, and the best way we buy goods inside the circle. That connectivity, I feel, hasn't been discussed in a protracted time, and that, frankly, has really contributed to the vulnerability of our food system. Not just in our district, but throughout the country. Those disproportionately affected by the pandemic suffered from the vulnerability of our food system. In my opinion, the largest challenge is to higher connect this work and to seek out the interface between this work and other areas of impact.

CAYCE HILL PROFILE

Company: Santa Clara County

Role: Food Systems Manager

Age: 49

Place of birth: Austin, TX

Current City: San Jose

Education: Bachelor of Science from Trinity University and Master of Public Administration from NYU Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service

FIVE FACTS ABOUT CAYCE HILL

1. I actually have a rescue duck at home named Olive.
2. This is my first job in local government.
3. I attended culinary school in Japan.
4. I've never met a vegetable I didn't like, except cooked carrots.
5. I'm really good at memorizing song lyrics and hanging Christmas tree lights.

The Northeast Corridor is America's busiest railroad. Every day has its own features Carrying 800,000 passengers to Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington and points in between.

The Northeast Corridor can also be a reputation for the place these trains serve: the coastal plain, which stretches from Virginia to Massachusetts, where over 17% of the country's population lives lives on lower than 2% of its land. People from the Northeast travel through the corridor and live there too.

Like “Rust Belt,” “Deep South,” “Silicon Valley,” and “Appalachia,” “Corridor” has change into shorthand for what many individuals consider the Northeast's defining characteristics: its energetic pace of life, its high average income, and its… liberal politics. In 1961, Republican Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona wished that somebody “sawed off the east coast and let it float out to sea.” In 2016, the conservative FH Buckley denigrated “lawyers, academics, trust fund babies and high-tech workers, bundled in the Acela corridor.”

As a Linguistics and literature scholarI'm excited about what words can teach us about places. My recent book “The Northeast Corridor“shows how America's most important railroad has shaped the cultural identity and national reputation of the Northeast for nearly 200 years. In my opinion, this connection between transit and territory will only strengthen new federal investments in passenger transport, more people from the northeast are interested in the trains.

Makes a terrific chain

The first American railroads were stubs—iron-clad curiosities that carried marble, granite, and coal in the course of the winter months when the canals froze over. It wasn't until 1830 that the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad opened the country's first public passenger line.

A railway craze ensued. Within a number of years, trains crisscrossed the East Coast. A brand new magazine, The Railway Journalpredicted that the railroads would at some point form a “great chain, which in our time will extend along the Atlantic coast, bringing its capitals into a rapid, constant, and mutually beneficial relationship.”

The Boston & Providence Railroad forged a link on this chain in New England. The Philadelphia & Trenton threw one other in Pennsylvania, and the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore scored a 3rd through Delaware and Maryland. Named after the cities they connected, these helped transform a set of competing ports right into a cohesive economic entity.

Despite their rapid growth, each railroad company remained its own fiefdom, burdened with its own government mandates, financial constraints, and technological limitations. A prewar train ride from Baltimore to New York would have required several transfers and two ferry rides and would have taken many of the day.

The “great chain” took modern form within the late nineteenth century, when corporate consolidations created two resourceful supertransportation corporations: the New Haven and Pennsylvania Railroads. Technological advances made it possible to construct recent bridges, dams and terminals. With the opening of 1 Tunnel under the Hudson River from New Jersey to Manhattan in New York City in 1910 and a Bridge over Hell Gate Strait Between the New York boroughs of Queens and the Bronx in 1917, trains were in a position to run uninterrupted between New England and the Chesapeake region.

Connecting an enormous city

For the people of the Northeast, the railway became a lifestyle. During his time on the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, within the Nineteen Thirties and Forties, physicist Albert Einstein enjoyed watching trains clatter through Princeton Junction.

Composer George Gershwin, traveling by train from New York to Boston, claimed: “On the train, with its steely rhythms and rattling bangs, I suddenly heard the complete structure of 'Rhapsody' – and even saw it on paper.” [in Blue]' From start to complete.”

Her fellow travelers included luminaries corresponding to Poet Marianne Moore, Jazz composer and pianist Duke Ellington And Orchestra conductor Leopold Stokowskitogether with countless peculiar drivers whose lives spanned the complete region.

In 1961 French-Ukrainian geographer Jean Gottmann called the Northeast a “recent order within the organization of inhabited space.” Gottmann noted that, unlike European nations that developed around dominant capitals such as London and Rome, the United States emerged from a “polynuclear” fusion of cities and suburbs, which he called a “megalopolis.”

The relative proximity of major cities created a “tidal flow of commuting” between them, which Gottman experienced firsthand as he rode the train between academic appointments in Baltimore, Princeton, and Manhattan.

One of Gottman's supporters, Rhode Island Senator Claiborne Pell, envisioned the Northeast in 1962 as “an extended metropolitan industrial complex.” A frequent traveler, Pell believed that trains played a necessary role within the region's interconnected economy.

Amtrak takes over

As railroads lost passengers to cars, buses and airplanes within the Sixties, Pell called on President John F. Kennedy to create a government agency to operate passenger trains for the general public good. He called the tracks between Boston and Washington a “passage for gigantic waves of movement along our northeast coast“ – or “corridor” for brief.

The name stuck. If Amtrak took over US intercity passenger rail transport In 1971, the preferred trains were on the Northeast Corridor – including the fashionable, if breakdown-prone Metrolinerswhich carried business class passengers between New York and Washington at speeds of over 100 miles per hour.

By 1978, the Northeast accounted for greater than half of Amtrak's ridership. The region's railroad revival convinced Congress to spend money $1.75 billion within the Eighties as a part of the Northeast Corridor Improvement Project, a multi-year project to modernize the road, renovate stations and reduce schedules.

In 2000, Amtrak introduced the Acela Express, a sleek and expensive train dubbed the first U.S. high-speed passenger rail service. Acela became synonymous with its well-heeled customers, but rarely reached its top speed of 150 miles per hour on the corridors Curvy and congested tracks.

The train still became an emblem of the Northeast. Experts called the presidential nomination contests held on the identical day in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland the “This elementary school“Conservatives railed against it.”Acela Corridor” mindsets.

Today, President Joe Biden — a longtime corridor commuter — is proposing a “second great railway revolution,” with Billions of dollars in funding to strengthen and expand the Amtrak network.

High-speed rail projects in California, Nevada And Texas, meanwhile, promise to bring world-class service to the West and South. Construction has begun on Brightline West High-speed connection from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. What these ventures will do with their regions stays unclear. But if the Northeast Corridor is any indication, recent passenger trains will redefine each working lives and the cultural perceptions of those that use them.

This article has been updated to reflect that the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey will not be affiliated with Princeton University.

A salve for America Loneliness epidemic could exist right in front of his houses.

Front gardens are an integral a part of many American neighborhoods. Lush plantings, porches, or ornaments can attract the eye of passersby and spark conversation. Other lawns say “stay away,” whether through imposing fences or ominous signs.

But to what extent do gardens function windows into the individuals who take care of them—and their attitudes toward their home, their neighborhood, and their city?

In our study Looking at nearly 1,000 front yards in Buffalo's Elmwood Village neighborhood, we found that the more vibrant and open the front yard, the happier and more connected residents are.

Cultivate a way of place

Our study of front yards is an element of a bigger investigation into how American neighborhoods are making a stronger “feeling for the place“, which refers back to the feeling of connection and belonging to 1's home, neighborhood and city.

For a long time, psychological, geographical and design research has linked a way of place happier neighborhood residents And stronger bonds amongst neighbors.

We decided to concentrate on Buffalo's Elmwood Village for this particular study. Of course, there was also the convenience factor – we’re each professors on the University at Buffalo. But in 2007, Elmwood Village was also named by the American Planning Association as one among the “10 Great Neighborhoods in America.”

We desired to know what sets Elmwood Village apart.

Located north of downtown Buffalo, this leafy neighborhood is known for its park paths designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstedwho also helped plan New York Central Park and Boston's Emerald necklace.

Elmwood Avenue is the neighborhood's business center and is surrounded by a dense mixture of single- and multi-family homes. In previous research We've already shown that the residents of Elmwood Village have a powerful sense of place. They particularly appreciated the realm's parks and huge, historic homes built along tree-lined streets.

But we desired to know whether residents could also strengthen their very own sense of place from their homes, especially the parts which might be visible to all passersby.

On the dear meters in front of the home, the residents can display their values ​​and interests, be it garden gnomes, Little Free Librarieselaborate gardens, sporting loyalties and political loyalties.

While hanging out or working of their gardens, residents can chat easily with neighbors; In fact, a study found this greater than 3 out of 4 New neighborhood contacts are made out of the front yard.

They are like bridges to the remaining of the neighborhood, where each resident can determine how much they need to precise themselves to their neighbors and passersby. At the identical time, front gardens may also be used to demarcate the home, block the view or make access tougher with fences, hedges and warnings.

Living within the front yards of Elmwood Village

In fall 2022, we commissioned a team of 17 environmental design students on the University at Buffalo to look at how residents designed 984 front yards along 25 blocks in Elmwood Village.

A pilot study showed which items they may reliably measure: flags, expressive signs, flower pots, landscaping, toys and games, seats, porches, fences and hedges, and welcoming or unwelcoming signs. We ultimately were unable to reliably track lawn care or home maintenance because each researcher had different opinions on the measures. (Unfortunately, Garden Gnomes and Little Free Libraries were too rare on this area to accommodate them.)

We then compared data from the scholars' fieldwork with responses from surveys we conducted asking residents about their attachment to their home, their neighbors, and their neighborhood. whether or not they felt their neighborhood had a powerful identity; and in the event that they felt like they may connect with nature.

The results proved to be remarkably consistent. Whether they proudly displayed Buffalo Bills flags or just had just a few flower pots on their porch, residents who expressed themselves with items in front of their home reported feeling a greater sense of place.

Those with obstacles comparable to fences and hedges correlated with a lower sense of place. Interestingly, this wasn't the case with unwelcome signs like “No Trespassing” or “Smile, you're on camera.”

Even items so simple as toys or plastic play equipment left within the front yard looked as if it would promote a way of place. To us, this says just a few things: homeowners are confident that their property won't be stolen, and oldsters don't seem too fearful about letting their kids play outside with neighborhood friends.

This is consistent with our strongest finding: Elements that facilitate socializing – a lawn chair, a porch, a bench – significantly enhanced residents' sense of place across all dimensions and scales, be it the view of their home, their street, or their neighborhood.

Build higher neighborhoods

Our study finally confirms the opinion of urbanists Decades-old claim that vibrant front gardens create higher neighborhoods.

And it seems that even places with small or no front yards can get in on the motion.

A study from Rotterdam, Netherlands, found that despite having little to no space in front of their densely packed urban homes, port city residents still embellished their sidewalks with seats, planters, and knick-knacks to precise themselves. These small gestures strengthened community ties and made residents happier.

We consider the outcomes of our study should function a delicate reminder to architects, planners and developers that when designing homes and neighborhoods, they need to create spaces for the exchange of values ​​and conversations in front of homes – to prioritize porches over parking spaces, and canvases for self-expression somewhat than saving space or money. While American designers and builders are under enormous pressure create more living spaceit’s best to not forget that only residents could make it a house.

People have a tremendous ability to shape their surroundings to suit their needs – just take a look at what the residents of Rotterdam were capable of do.

However, the residents of Elmwood Village already know this. They are busy organizing your next porchfestthe annual Front Yard Arts and Music Festival, cementing the neighborhood's popularity as one among America's best places to live.