Publication Items

Commuters who travel to work via bicycle put a dent in petroleum consumption and air pollution, and likely have a leg up on not becoming part of the obesity epidemic. Davis, CA, residents are at the head of the pack of the 375 largest US cities surveyed, with 22.1% of the city's residents commuting by bike, according to US Census Bureau statistics compiled by the League of American Bicyclists.

More access was urged for records on oil and gas leasing, government-issued permits and leases related to metal mining, grazing livestock on public lands, harvesting ocean fish, operating chemical plants, drilling for oil, logging, building roads or strip malls, coal mining, filling wetlands, and more.

Last year's grant winners have efforts under way, so reporting can focus on progress that is being made, or not. Reporting on the new winners, announced in mid-April 2011, can inform the community about what is in the works, who is in charge, and what future benchmarks can be used to see if the money is being well spent.

USDA's atlas provides data, at the county level, on scores of agricultural, demographic, and economic topics. Or on the national map, pick any given category and get an initial feel for national patterns, then click on individual counties for more detail. All data can be downloaded so you can work with it any way you want, and maps can be downloaded for your use.