I've not seen a bear in the Adirondacks in years. I'm sure they are out there but I've just not run into them.
Heading out for a week of December camping next week? In a tent? In the Finger Lakes? Yeah, I’m thinking about it. We might finally get a snow free, sunny week. Been waiting for one for weeks. It would quite the adventure. I still haven’t finalized my plans though.
![Untitled [Expires February 24 2025]](https://andyarthur.org//data/photo_017047_large.jpg)
"So, forget about deadlines. The simple truth is that stopping climate change gets harder if we leave it later.
It’s like putting off paying your credit card bill. The interest just keeps mounting and the total bill gets ever worse. There is no cutoff point, except bankruptcy – which is best avoided.
Climate change is our bill coming due, and we would do better to pay up now before the interest starts spiking. "
Pennsylvania has the most charming little towns, maybe because they are so backwards. I am sure if a town like Wellsboro existed in New York, the state would have shown up with buckets of money to “tear out those polluting, old fashioned gas lights in favor of modern LED technology.”
Modernity has it’s benefits, but even our state has started to learn that urban renewal often leaves spaces cold and undesirable. The newest of technology might have impressive “environmental performance” but it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s green or a good place to live.
Of course the biggest joke of it all is, now after the state has spent millions bulldozing downtowns, they’re spending millions to install quaint-styled park benches and decorative old-fashioned looking light fixtures (using LEDs, of course).
There are few downtowns left in New York that haven’t seen the aggressive hand of urban renewal, followed by the state trying to undo the damage from all the buildings they bulldozed and replaced with “modern structures”.
I am actually surprised more quaint down towns don't use gas street lights. It's rather expensive and inefficient compared to incandescent light, but it's so charming.
The gas lamps burn day and night in Wellsboro, as they don't have automatic lighters but the they turn the gas down to a low setting in the day time. If a gas light goes out, they have to be manually re-lit by a borough worker. They do however make gas lights that have automatic ignition but it requires the lights to be re-wired for gas and power, as they didn't have electricity when they were first installed.