Celebrating Bethlehem's Southside Culture
Southsider is highlighting some of our favorite arts and cultural events and programming in our 2024 best of summer series. For us, “Insidious Plastics” at The Nurture Nature Center makes the cut as it provided the community the opportunity to learn about their impact on the environment with a beautiful and informative arts-infused exhibition. Just…
Throughout Bethlehem, the story of the collaboration between activists and developer John Noble to save a chimney swift migration habitat has spread. Southsider has previously published articles that feature details about these incredible birds and the project to help them flourish. In this third panel about the Save Our Swifts initiative, panelists explored more broadly…
This featured photo, “Down ‘n’ Out” by Nicholas A. Tonelli is licensed by CC. BY 2.0. “When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.” ~Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac The forests surrounding the Lehigh Valley are home to many species of wildlife…
These days, chimneys tend to be a part of a home we don’t think much about. Chimneys are simply decorative, rather than functional and necessary parts of the home. But chimneys are actually a fundamental habitat for another creature that they weren’t originally designed for. Chimneys are a central part of the larger ecosystem for…
The Lehigh Valley Sierra Club’s recent meeting was a workshop-style dialogue for Sierra Club members to consider equity in the outdoors. The discussion was premised around the question of who feels safe or unsafe in outdoor spaces and doing outdoor activities. The main goal for the meeting was to investigate how the mainstream environmentalist community…
The swirling hurricane of thousands of tiny black birds plunging into the Masonic Temple chimney at the gateway to the southside of Bethlehem is certainly a beautiful and haunting sight to see. It is also a reminder of the ways that nature all around us has adapted to the structures we build for our own…
The City of Bethlehem and consultant WSP are actively constructing the Bethlehem Climate Action Plan (CAP), and currently are seeking community feedback about their proposal. On October 7th, 2020, the City hosted the second community-wide webinar during the design process. The October CAP community meeting presented the progress for the design of the CAP based…