parking

On National Park(ing) Day parking spots around the country are turned into temporary parks. It's a creative way to draw attention to the need for more public parks in urban areas. National Park(ing) Day is Sept. 19, 2008. www.tpl.org/parkingday

Americans devote lots of space to parking spaces - a growing land-use trend that plays a role in heating up urban areas and adding to water pollution, according to a recent study. Purdue University researchers surveyed the total area devoted to parking in a midsize Midwestern county and found that parking spaces outnumbered resident drivers 3-to-1 and outnumbered resident families 11-to-1. The researchers found the total parking area to be larger than 1,000 football fields, or covering more than two square miles.