deFORESTation

About fifteen years ago, The Forest Diner gave me my first job. I was a waitress. Dolly* taught me how to use the milkshake machine. I quickly learned which regulars needed cream for their coffee and which would be asking for a slice of pie as well. If my dad didn't stop in and leave me an $18.00 tip on a $2.00 coffee, I averaged about $15 a shift (including the usual $2.50 hourly waitress rate). It wasn't much, but it was just what a teenager of my trouble-making capacity needed.

A few years ago, I watched the Double TT Diner open up (another) franchise location right next door to "the diner." Not too long after, I saw Dolly working at that new Double TT. This weekend, I read this article in The Baltimore Sun about the development plans for the 5-acre property and am just plain disappointed. Larry Carson reports:

"... A coalition of developers, lawyers and landowners wants to remake the 5-acre commercial property into an urbanized mixed-use center with retail space and offices under perhaps 30 residential units in two- and three-level "Main Street"-style buildings.

A new home would be built to accommodate Edgar Weal, who lives on the property, above a new ice cream store on the first floor, close to where the stand is now.The rest of the complex would be a series of low buildings snaking through the hilly site joined by a bridge arch and marked by a tall clock tower. Roughly where the diner is now, the buildings would be three stories facing east, and two stories facing west, Oh said.

Parking for the upper-level apartments would be in the rear, off Frederick Road. Only westbound traffic could turn into that lot and exiting vehicles would only turn right.Another entrance would be off U.S. 40, though more narrow than the current access, with a third access point from the Double-T Diner next door. The current motel, diner and two homes facing Frederick Road would be demolished. The new buildings would include about 50,000 to 60,000 square feet.

To be built, the group would need to persuade the zoning board to rezone an adjacent 1-acre parcel just east of the motel from residential to commercial, get County Council approval of two zoning regulation amendments, and work out a way to guarantee the 30 residential apartments, which the developers said are needed both for the architectural design of the complex, and also to make it work economically... "

Read the full article here.

I'm all for the idea of making new development as green as possible - but there just isn't really a reason for new development in this location except, well: $$$. Howard County is already one of the wealthiest counties in the nation, with stellar school districts and a host of strip malls and McMansions. There are tons of restaurants and every store you could ever need on Route 40 already - not to mention in nearby Columbia. I'm just saying... can't we preserve this one lovely little diner and the history it holds? Does anyone really need a new clock tower?

If you're a local and find this Forest Green development as unnecessary as I do, I'll see you at the informational meeting this Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at the Miller Library/Senior Center on Frederick Road - assuming that hasn't been replaced with multi-use buildings by then. Ugh.

*Note: I feel terrible about this, but I can't recall if her name is Dolly or Darlene or something else with a D - so I went with Dolly. If anyone knows, please feel free to comment.

Global Releaf

My mom introduced me to Pearlstone Jewelry and their "Plant a Tree" partnership with AmericanForests.org and I'm lovin' it.

The bracelets are handmade with natural stones, reclaimed bone, crystal, glass and the official charm in Woodstock, NY and a tree is planted for every purchase. Since 2007 they have planted more than 9,000 trees.

Learn more and help the organization reach 10,000 by 2010 here.

Save the Rain Forest

Paying landowners to protect the rain forests isn't a new idea. It's also not guaranteed to be as successful as we may hope because, unfortunately, local and global economic forces driving deforestation are often far more lucrative. The NY Times reports on recent efforts in Brazil:

Deforestation, a critical contributor to climate change, effectively accounts for 20 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions and 70 percent of the emissions in Brazil. Halting new deforestation, experts say, is as powerful a way to combat warming as closing the world’s coal plants.

But until now, there has been no financial reward for keeping forest standing. Which is why a growing number of scientists, politicians and environmentalists argue that cash payments — like that offered to Mr. Marcolini — are the only way to end tropical forest destruction and provide a game-changing strategy in efforts to limit global warming.

Unlike high-tech solutions like capturing and sequestering carbon dioxide or making “green” fuel from algae, preserving a forest yields a strikingly simple environmental payback: a landowner reduces his property’s emissions to zero.

Are you ready for some mind-blowing statistics? (Keep in mind, the Amazon accounts for about 17% of the world's forested area and deforestation and forest degradation make make up the second largest overall contributor to global warming) At the current deforestation rate, the Amazon is losing nearly 5 million acres per year. Since 1970, about 230,000 square miles have been lost. It is predicted that at the current rate, the Amazon will be cut in half by 2030. Do you know what the land sans trees is being used for? Cattle. In 2004, Brazil surpassed the United States as the largest meat exporter and has maintained approximately a 25% market share since.

I'm just saying... Who knows if paying the land owners will help. I bet a decreasing demand for meat would though. Bottom line: Saving the rain forest (or rainforest - it was one word in 1989) is one of our biggest challenges.

Talk about sacrifice...

Protests by indigenous Amazonian people in Peru, that resulted in at least 34 deaths, seem to have had some success as the government is considering repealing the land laws and the region may be spared from the "deforestation and degradation that inevitably accompanies gas, oil and cattle ventures." Read more in Treehugger. Courageous, passionate people. You'd think this would be headline news...