environment

Centre County’s Recycling and Refuse Authority’s Miscellaneous Plastics Drop Off Program is making some changes in the type of plastics it can accept.

“We can’t take black plastic anymore, no cups, no solo cups anymore,” said Amy Schirf, education coordinator for the Recycling and Refuse Authority. “The other thing that was big was packaging. If you would open up a toothbrush and there was like that plastic packaging that goes around it – we used to take that, but we can’t take that anymore either.”

Both candidates for Ward 1 of the Ferguson Township Board of Supervisors say they believe it’s important to balance economic development and environmental preservation. But they disagree on what to do about a new development planned in the township.

A student housing complex named “The Cottages” is being planned on Whitehall Road and Blue Course Drive. The Toll Brothers developers want to buy the land from Penn State. But they need the go-ahead from the Ferguson Township Board of Supervisors to start building.

On a green patch of land on University Drive, there are several stakes and flags marking the ground. The executive director of the State College Community Land Trust Ron Quinn, along with Green Build  committee chair Peg Hambrick, are surveying the empty lot owned by their organization.

The Green Build project is uncharted territory for the Land Trust. Usually, it purchases houses and sells them at a lower cost to buyers who would otherwise be priced out of the State College borough.

Dave Yoxtheimer, a hydro geologist at the Penn State Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research, walks through a seemingly unremarkable tract of land. It’s near Blue Course Drive and Whitehall Road, in State College’s Ferguson Township. Although it seems barren to the naked eye, the land serves an important purpose for the town’s water.

Many people are concerned with the environmental impacts of Marcellus Shale Drilling. A group of high school teachers from State College are learning how to keep an eye on the quality of local rivers and streams so they can teach the skill to their students.

Recently, a group of earth science teachers from State College Area High School splashed through Black Moshannon Creek. Some wore waders, others just rolled up their pants to wade through the clear, rushing water.

Many of us talk to our houseplants, or play music for them.  But what if the plants could play music for us?  Actually, they can, thanks to a gadget called the “MIDI Sprout.”

Sam Cusumano, an audio engineer and experimental sound artists from Philadelphia, is the creator of that device. He paid a recent visit to Schlow Library in State College, and stopped by WPSU’s studios to talk about the MIDI sprout, and show us how it works.  We brought a big leafy plant to the studio for the demonstration.