Go up to Tufts and check out the view from the library roof

Yeah, I only bring up oceans because OP specifically mentions them as the reason plastic production is bad in their letter.

Re. plastic foam, it's interesting: because it's so light, I'm guessing relatively little material is used in manufacturing what feels like so much wasted stuff. It's difficult for me at least to trust my intuitions about what policies are good for the environment: see the recent study showing that disposable K-cups use less energy than making coffee from scratch.

Dw I call it the campanile in the proper company (and I say cal instead of Berkeley too)

I think if you write to her office for anything, you get subscribed. But you can sign up here https://katherineclark.house.gov/signup

Prospect Hill monument above Union Sq in Somerville is what you are looking for

For sure. This is very much the "electric car" problem. Electric cars are terrible for the environment, but electric cars are still a good thing because we need to push for renewable energies. It's more about framing and making sure you know what issue you are addressing. In this case, it's about reducing plastic waste, especially microplastics in our water and plastic in the ocean. While paper bags don't necessarily help the forests, they do reduce microplastics

Who in the hell went to Berkeley and calls it Sather Tower, it is and always will be the Campanille

While I 100% support all waste-reduction incentives, what's interesting is that our instincts may actually often be backwards when it comes to plastics.

Take single-use plastic bags. If you have an organic cotton bag, it would need to be re-used hundreds of times to have the same carbon impact as a single-use plastic bag, and thousands of times to have the same water impact as that plastic bag. (Source 1, Source 2)

If, like me, you have 5-10 reusable bags, you need to use them tens of thousands of times to offset the emissions and water impacts they had, compared with if you had used single-use plastic bags the whole time.

And paper bags, from that source, would have to be reused 40 times, which is unlikely ever to happen.

(Note, my take-away from that study is not to not use my reusable bags, but to make sure I use them as many times as possibly possible. But also, if I forget my bag, I should use single-use plastic rather than paper (bad) or buying yet another bag (much worse).)

Our instincts usually come from a "visible trash" perspective, we assume that what we see littering is the worse thing. But actually from a climate change and water freshness perspective, this is not always correct. (And, interestingly, studies have shown that all plastic bags make up less than 1% of litter.)

I'm not sure the point I'm trying to make: initiatives to stop trash and waste are definitely good. But that our good intentions aren't always correct when it comes to plastics, so we should try to look at the available research, and let that guide our decisions, more than our gut instincts.

I have not received these emails. Where are they going out to, and what do they say?

https://theoceancleanup.com/sources/

Mostly developing countries, China, and India.

But that's only for the oceans. The US puts its plastic waste in landfills instead. And yes, large-scale uses like shipping material is far more than what you use as an individual. Any time I get a pallet of something at work, I have to throw out so much plastic foam. At least we're the end consumer and not repacking it with new material to be shipped out again.

Tower on top of Big Blue or Skyline trail at The Fells.

Good letter

Longfellow Bridge as well.

But what is congress supposed to do about the Philippines? There is no reason we should say "those guys are worse so we don't need to do anything". Microplastics are everywhere, and companies like Amazon generates billions of tons of plastic every year, most of it single use. It's certainly going to help the planet much more to hold Amazon accountable than for you to stop using a plastic straw

Parking garages. There are a couple in Cambridge by the Charles

Bunker Hill monument (still can go up I think?)

Almost no plastic waste in the oceans is actually from the US, right? I believe the Phillipines are the biggest contributor. I don't know if e.g. Amazon's operations are the right target here either.

BU Bridge has a great view, especially around sunset.

The views from the Charles River are pretty nice. Too cold this time of year, and the opposite of high but you can rent a kayak fire a reasonable amount in the summer.

Mount Auburn Cemetery tower, top of Prospect Hill, or top of Blue Hills (not really Cambridge/Camberville) but Boston area)

The view from the roof of Tisch Library on the Tufts Campus is very nice since the campus is on a hill!

I don't know about buildings, but there is a nice view of Boston from the highest point in Mount Auburn Cemetery and good views including Cambridge from Prospect Hill near Union Square, Somerville.

Bartley's is way overpriced but definitely not low quality. I love those rich people burgers.

True about the area though. Toscano is olive garden at twice the price without the breadsticks. Santouka's ramen is abysmal.

Waypoint is an amazing restaurant!

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