News on the “North End Peninsula”
Back in 2004, The Jonah Center for Earth and Art adopted the North End Peninsula, site of the city’s recycling center and closed landfill as a location ripe for dramatic transformation. At the confluence of the Coginchaug and Mattabesset Rivers, the 100 foot landfill offers spectacular views over the surrounding “Floating Meadows,” wildlife viewing (especially hawks) and many other resources for education on the environment and renewable energy. Many students from Wesleyan and nearby high schools have toured the North End Peninsula as part of their academic programs.
On November 13, 2008, the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund will decide whether to grant a $100,000 non-recourse loan to support the Jonah Center’s Landfill Gas to Energy Project. We are hopeful that test wells will soon be installed to collect methane to determine the amount and quality of the methane emerging from the old “dump.”
A Video Tour of the Landfill
In May 2008, Wesleyan students Eric Bissell, Lesley Chapman, Zev Frank, and Amanda Herrera made a video tour of the landfill as part of the “Feet to the Fire” program. View it here.
2 comments:
Thank you for the aerial photo of the landfill, the far north end, and the confluence of the rivers. This is a great area that we can make more useful and beautiful.
I also appreciate the link to the video, and encourage Eye readers to have a look at it. The video is sad and moving, in that it reveals the neglect of the landfill site by the City of Middletown, and by extension, neglect by all of us here. Particularly disturbing to me was the information that the landfill is not properly capped, and therefore rain water seeps into it and carries away unknown contaminants. The City must address this problem.
Wouldn't it be great to turn this into a park? Imagine people enjoying the views over the floodplains and forests around the dump. Near where I grew up, one community has successfully turned a landfill into a city park. Have a look:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Trashmore
Thank you for your comment and the link about Mount Trashmore park -- it's an interesting idea.
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