What Would You Ban in Back Bay?

A number of surrounding communities have deep-sixed some interesting items and activities over the past year, but should the neighborhood join the banning bandwagon?

Concord’s so-called bottle ban became a bylaw earlier this month, Brookline recently banned plastic bags and Styrofoam cups, and Arlington’s Town Meeting this fall upheld a seasonal leaf blower ban. Meanwhile, home-cooked foods have been forced out of many schools, an ostensible attempt to protect against allergies and childhood obesity. Back Bay hasn’t exactly hopped on this banning bandwagon, but should it? Is there an activity or item you would want to see banned out of environmental, health or quality-of-life concerns? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Letter to the Editor: Think Outside the Bottle for Earth Day

Sarah-Beth Chester, owner of 7ate9 Bakery, talks about the environmental impacts of bottled water.

As a small business owner serving the Back Bay community, protecting the environment where we live and work is important to me. That's why 7ate9 Bakery took Corporate Accountability International's “Think Outside the Bottle” pledge to be a bottled water free establishment. Bottled water’s environmental impact is significant when one considers that we all have a low-impact alternative: the tap. Ounce for ounce, it takes nearly 2,000 times the energy to produce and distribute bottled water than it does for tap water.  Even industry studies admit the tap has a smaller energy footprint than bottled water. Bottled water corporations have long tried to convince us that the only safe water comes in a bottle. But the truth is that public water is …

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Emerson Ends Bottled Water On Campus

The College is installing new "hydration stations." No word yet on how or if these will differ from the water coolers and drinking fountains that are already present in the halls and offices of the College.