Two ospreys are being tracked by satellite as they leave their winter homes and head for Southeastern Massachusetts.
(Sam Greenwood/Getty Images/File 2007)
The Green Blog
Excerpts from the Globe’s environmental blog.
Turn out the lights
One year ago this month, thousands of cities and millions of individuals turned off their lights for one hour to show support for action to forestall climate change. The fourth annual Earth Hour, a global event created by the World Wildlife Fund, will be held Saturday at 8:30 p.m. This event is not only a symbolic act to demonstrate the urgency of climate change, but is intended to prompt action and advocacy beyond Earth Hour. As of last week, 92 countries and regions had pledged to participate this year.In Boston, Mayor Thomas M. Menino has invited residents to participate. Earth Hour ties in to the Lights Out Boston program, in which building managers can voluntarily commit themselves to turning off nonessential lighting between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. until May 31. To find other Earth Hour initiatives, check the Boston Earth Hour Facebook page.
ANDREA RUEDY TRIMBLE
The great osprey race
For the first time, satellite technology is allowing the public to follow two adult Westport ospreys as they leave their winter homes in Cuba and along the Venezuela-Colombia border and head to Southeastern Massachusetts.Hudson, a 13-year-old osprey that summers on the west branch of the Westport River, left South America March 9 and was just below Jacksonville, Fla., as of Tuesday.
Ozzie, an osprey that winters along the south coast of Cuba, is still soaking up the sun there. Ozzie summers on the east branch of the river.
You can follow their trips north at www.westportosprey.org. The maps are updated every three days.
Westport is home to one of the more significant osprey breeding populations in North America, thanks in large part to Gil and Jo Fernandez, who, over 40 years, installed nearly 100 breeding platforms in the Westport River and on Allens Pond. Since 2002, Mass Audubon’s Allens Pond Wildlife Sanctuary and the Westport River Watershed Alliance have worked to maintain the platforms and monitor the breeding activity of about 80 pairs of osprey.
BETH DALEY
Edible reading
The latest edition of Edible Boston magazine has arrived. If you haven’t seen this gorgeous quarterly magazine, or one of its sister publications, pick one up at one of the restaurants and stores that stock copies for free.We’re lucky enough to have six of the 60-plus Edible Communities magazines in our area: Edible Boston, Edible Cape Cod, Edible Pioneer Valley, Edible South Shore, Edible Vineyard, and Edible Rhody.
The magazines’ philosophy is summed up by a quote from Thomas Merton that Edible Boston publisher and editor Ilene Bezahler ended her editor’s letter with:
“From the moment you put a piece of bread in your mouth you are part of a world. Who grew the wheat? Who made the bread? Where did it come from? You are in a relationship with all who brought it to the table. We are least separate and most in common when we eat and drink.’’
DARA OLMSTEAD 
© Copyright 2010 Globe Newspaper Company.
