Mountie Judy Walsh-Mellett discusses her approaches to back-yard garden and composting.
You may have noticed some shiny new red bikes at the Park and Ride on Perry and 35th Street. That is one of the first five Capital Bikeshare Stations in Prince George’s County. It opened on May 18th and should be the first of three stations in Mount Rainier.
Capital Bikeshare, CaBi for short, allows you to rent bikes for short trips as long as you are headed somewhere in the DC area with a CaBi station. CaBi is a great way to try out biking in the city, an affordable way to commute, and good exercise. Some employers even offer commuting benefits for CaBi users.
So you wanna ride – what do you do?
- Join online at bit.ly/mrgt-cabi or buy a short-term pass at a kiosk.
- Find a bike nearby, and get a ride code or use your bike key to unlock it.
- Take as many short trips as you want while your pass or membership is active.
- Return your bike at any station and make sure it is locked up.
Some nearby CaBi stations you may want to head to:
- Brookland Metro Station
- Rhode Island Ave. Metro Station
- Downtown Hyattsville
- Woodbridge Library
- The Arboretum
- Any other station mapped here – http://bit.ly/mrgt-cabi-map
- And … in the future, the two stations planned for Kaywood and PG Pool
Get your ride on Mounties!
Mounties! Whether you have a dog or a cat, or both it is important to dispose of your pet waste properly. We wanted to share a few pointers for you.
Let’s start with man’s best friend. Why should you pick up after your dog? Obviously it is gross and noone wants to step in a pile of dog poop when they are running to catch the 83 or headed down to the Glut. Even if you’re a dog owner hanging out at the new Mount Rainier Dog Park (Eastern & Rhode Island – open from dawn to dusk) you wouldn’t want it sitting around.
But you might be thinking that you can leave it in your yard or up in Barnard Hard Park and since no one is going to step in it it will just fertilize the grass naturally. Well it actually won’t – it can even poison the grass due to its acidity. It also can carry diseases that can remain in the soil and harm other dogs or even people (http://bit.ly/mrgt-cdc). And when it rains it finds its way into our water systems and enough of it can make rivers and lakes poisonous to swim and fish in (http://bit.ly/mrgt-epa-dp). Don’t leave that dog poop around!
But what about our furry feline friends? Like dog excrement, cat feces can carry diseases that are harmful to humans. One in particular, Toxoplasma, cannot be eliminated through sewage treatment and can be particularly bad for pregnant women and persons with immune system problems (http://bit.ly/mrgt-sc-cp). Don’t flush that cat poop!
So what does one do? Simply put your dog and cat waste into the trash.
Learn how one family farms on in a small suburb of Washington, DC.
In 2017 the Green Team conducted an internal survey to ensure we were heading in the direction the Team as a whole felt was appropriate. Here is a link to the report.
On August 5, 2016 a representative from the Mt Rainier Green Team conducted a walkthrough of Mt Rainier City hall in order to find ways to improve the sustainability of City Hall operations. Here is a link to the report – City Hall Sustainability Walkthrough Recommendations.
Nick Ryugo (Chesapeake Conservation Corps/Sustainable Maryland) worked with The Green Team to examine the Government of the City of Mount Rainier’s carbon footprint. This was the second assessment of the city’s municipal carbon footprint. You can read the report here – Carbon Footprint Report