Thursday, May 29, 2008

Edenton Energy Fair

The Green Energy Fair for the Town of Edenton and Chowan County is Saturday, May 31st. This coastal community is located on the Albemarle Sound in Northeastern North Carolina. The event is hosted by the Chowan/Edenton Environmental Group. They want to help residents save money and energy at home. The Green Energy Fair offers exhibits, vendor displays, free lunches, door prizes, and free energy audits. Exhibit booths are also free of charge to vendors. It will be held at the D. F. Walker Gym on North Oakum Street from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, contact Vero Brentjens at vaamb@yahoo.com. Chowan County is also rewarding its citizens with a $100 weekly prize in their recycling program. Great work, folks. Edenton is on our must-see list!

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

BYOB

Kids are learning the three R's: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Our guest contributor today is H. Sheafor, a 13-year-old Carolina home-schooler. "Did you know that making plastic bags requires the energy equivalent to 4 million barrels of oil a year? Paper bags use 14 million trees annually."

Reducing the use of these bags is a good start. Milk gallons and bottles of washing detergent are easier to carry by their own handles; no bag needed. If you do need to use paper or plastic bags, you could fold them and put them back in your car right away, for the next shopping trip. You can use them over and over again; when they are worn out, recycle them in bins at your grocery store.

Sheafor says that another solution is to make or buy reusable bags. Trader Joes, Whole Foods and Earthfare have been selling their own shopping bags. Now the major grocery chains are participating, too. Harris Teeter was the first; over a year ago, they began refunding 5 cents for each bag you brought in to reuse. Then they started selling their own large shopping bag, our favorite. Lowes now sells a bag and gives 50 green points for each bag you reuse. Food Lion and Bi-Lo offer their own grocery bags, too; all are around a dollar.

Sheafor suggests: "If you go to Reusable Bags you can find many choices.
Shop around -- find some bags that fit your needs, select the style and buy a few. Make a difference today!" We checked out Reusable Bags; they offer an interesting heavy-duty bag, made from 98% recycled plastic bottles and containers. Acme says that the fabric used to produce one bag contains about 10 recycled plastic bottles or containers. The bag has long and short handles, to carry over the shoulder or by hand, $10. Reusable Bags also carries the neat bags that invert into a small attached pouch that make it easy to stuff in a purse or pocket. Those are really useful.

Thank you for giving us more options, Miss Sheafor. Musicians are also encouraging us, creating videos like "I don't need a bag." by The Abraham Lincoln Story. Cashiers and baggers are now getting in the groove, too. We have noticed recently that they are more agreeable about it, whatever bag we use. After shopping, I hang the empty bags on the doorknob, so I am sure to take them to the car the next time I go out. So tell us how you Bring Your Own Bag (BYOB). What's your favorite way to keep your bags handy?

Monday, May 26, 2008

Land Conservation Celebration

Here's a fun event for the whole family! On Saturday, May 31, the Land Conservation Celebration will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Redlair Farm & Forest, 144 Redlair Lane, Gastonia, NC. It presents activities for young and old, hikes through pristine woods, and opportunities to see incredible natural wonders found in the Piedmont. Look for live music, local artisans, community groups, antique tractors, renewable energy displays, scavenger hunts and geo-caching. The event also offers archeology digs, hayrides, storytellers and singers, and live animals from the Schiele Museum. Kids' activities include a bouncer, arts and crafts, games, and face painting.

The celebration is brought to us by the Catawba Lands Conservancy. Their Annual Meeting will be held there at 11 a.m. This nonprofit land trust permanently protects land, water, and wildlife habitat in North Carolina's Southern Piedmont and Lower Catawba River Basin.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Feeding Families

The Fields to Families organization provides an impressive harvest for the hungry. Their volunteers have already worked to pick 10,700 pounds of food this year. In Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester Counties of South Carolina, the non-profit group coordinates these donations of fresh produce from local gardens and farms. Last year, they distributed more than 43,000 pounds of food to area agencies that help families in need.

Fields to Families volunteers collect crops remaining in fields after they have been commercially harvested. They are gleaning at Boone Hall Farms in Mount Pleasant through the end of May. Some teens are volunteering daily to pick for the hungry. More volunteers come as groups on weekends. They always need people to pick vegetables and fruit at farms, help in farmer’s market booths, or transport produce.

"We're not a business, we're a mission," says Director Jacki Baer. Agencies that provide food to the hungry can take as much as they need of the produce. The donations are given to food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, churches, and outreach programs who distribute it through their food programs to the hungry. South Carolina has 250,000 residents at high risk of going hungry. These children, families with single mothers, and seniors live in poverty and rely on food pantries. Baer says, "The only requirement for food donations... is that there is hunger."

Check out their Spring Newsletter and volunteer opportunities at their website or call them at (843) 881-6798. Baer encourages people to plant a little extra in their gardens to donate at their farmer’s market booth or to be picked up. Let's plant a few more seeds right away.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

In Hot Water

We've found a new, comfortable way to conserve water in our area. When you turn on the hot water faucet, the water is warm immediately. A company called Today's Hot Water offers us a hot water recirculation system, already widely used in California and Colorado. The system uses a pump with a thermostatic valve. It sends the cooler water in the hot supply line back into the cold supply line, replacing it with hot water. The cold water returns for your use instead of running down the drain.

"How long do you wait for hot water? Until someone asks, people don't realize how many gallons are lost," says owner Larry Rouch. In the one-to-three minutes it takes for the shower to get warm, fresh water goes straight down the drain. An example on their site shows that in a minute and a half, almost 4 gallons are wasted. It is significant, considering how it adds up for every time we turn on the tap. The company estimates that a family of four people loses 12,000 gallons of water per year waiting for the flow to warm. As water conservation is such a big issue for us, and the prices for it go up, consider the cost of your water.

The company offers installation of the recirculation system for about $600. That seems like a big ticket price initially. However, Rouch says residential water supply in Charlotte is $1.57 per 100 cubic feet, and the sewage intake cost is $3.82 for the same water going out. At a total of $5.39/100CF for water just uselessly flowing through the pipes, it seems expensive to do without a system that could save $100-300 per year on utilities alone. When we really think about our precious water resources, it makes even more sense. Want to know more about it? Call Today's Hot Water at 704-405-2499 or 866-488-5332.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Carolina Paperboard

The fibers from the cereal box and newspaper that you put into the recycling container may come back to you as paperboard -- in a shoe box, the back of your composition book, or the tube that holds Christmas wrapping paper.

This area is home to some longtime recycling professionals. Carolina Paperboard was founded in Charlotte in 1938, and is still manufacturing 100% recycled paperboard in 2008. I toured the plant with Jennifer Woracheck, a process engineer and the Safety Coordinator. They move mountains of mixed paper, shown in the photo above. They process it in the original brick building, with the same machinery, producing around 170 tons of paperboard per day.

Carolina Paperboard is now a member of Caraustar Industries. With over 60 plants, 12 of them in the Carolinas, Caraustar is one of America's largest manufacturers of recycled paperboard and packaging solutions. Various plants produce tubes and packing cartons. Others make packaging for ink cartridges, crackers, or tissues, such as these, right.

The company is socially responsible, committed to environmentally sound practices. For twenty years, the Charlotte plant has had a closed water system; no water from the manufacturing process is discharged outdoors or into the sewage system. Carolina Paperboard has a friendly atmosphere, with low employee turnover. A highlight of my tour was this mural, left, painted on a shop wall by an employee. The map was a fitting background for the company's vision statement. We give a green thumbs up to Carolina Paperboard!

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Green Living Festival

The First Annual Green Living Festival will be held starting tomorrow, on May 16-17, at the Omar Shrine Convention Center in Mt. Pleasant, SC. You'll find environmentally friendly products and services available in the Charleston area. The Green Living Festival brings out over 60 exhibitors, demonstrations, prizes, and food. It offers information on health and wellness for people and pets. The festival will feature educational speakers and demonstrations, locally produced organic meals and beverages, and area services. The Go Green Charleston blog also offers a $2 coupon for the event. The producers plan to use recycling and other environmental practices in The Green Living Festival, hosted by the local Natural Awakenings magazine. That shows the company really is an environmentally responsible business.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Victory Gardens

Pattie Baker, of Foodshed Planet, is challenging everyone to plant a Victory Garden. Here's a one-minute video that explains the idea. Whether you have gardened before or not, we have some resources to share with you.

The original Victory Gardens were introduced in the United States to ensure an adequate food supply for civilians and troops during the world wars. Government agencies, civilian organizations, and popular media produced colorful posters and articles in newspapers and magazines to help get the word out. In gardens of all shapes and sizes, millions of people grew food for the folks at home. This trailer park garden of the early 1940's, left, comes from the Smithsonian's American History Museum.

In post-war prosperity there seemed to be plenty of produce to go around. But in 1975, in response to the oil crisis, the Public Broadcasting System began a television series called The Victory Garden, about gardening and other outdoor activities. It has continued for over three decades and now has an online presence. In addition to a large bank of resources, this site contains a question and answer department.

There are some great gardeners in the Carolinas. At right is a living salad bar, part of a victory garden in Mt. Pleasant, SC. We can see why the owners don't spend much money on salads. Beth Molaro, a gardener and blogger of Asheville, NC, is a staunch supporter of urban gardening. In An Urban Plot, she gives a history of victory gardening as well as links to valuable resources.

Farmtopia, a mini-farm near Asheville, is combatting high food prices with a victory garden. They show how to make planter boxes, left, according to the instructions at No-Dig Vegetable Garden. No digging? that's a fine idea. The site has a wealth of information; it might be the place to get started on a great garden!

Monday, May 12, 2008

Green Drinks Carolinas

Meet in a relaxed environment, and chat over drinks? The Green Drinks association offers a welcome to those who are 'eco-conscious and eco-curious' as well as environmentalists. You can make new connections over a beer or a coffee. These informal sessions have a lively mixture of people from natural and green organizations, academia, government and business. The events are simple and unstructured. At the meetings people have found employment, made friends, and developed new ideas. Green Drinks is an organic, self-organizing network; each city hosts their own version. Carolina groups are in Asheville, Charlotte, Greenville, the Raleigh and Durham Triangle area, and Winston-Salem, NC; and Beaufort, Charleston, Columbia, SC.

Asheville meets every Friday night from 6:30 p.m. at BoBo Gallery, 22 N. Lexington Avenue, Asheville, NC; 828-254-3426.

Green Drinks Charlotte meets on May 13th from 5:30 p.m. until about 8:30 p.m. The location is the newly remodeled brewery (formerly South End) called Woods on South, 2100 South Blvd. Charlotte, NC. They have people ranging from architects to builders, scientists, organic farmers and more. The meetings are once a month, on the second Tuesday of every month. Contact Richard Lloyd-Roberts at richard@divsix.com, www.divsix.com/Subscribe/, or call 704-754-8880.

Join the eco-minded, eco-professionals, and eco-curious of Greater Greenville, NC, on Thursday, June 5, for a casual monthly gathering. Blow off steam after work, meet friends, make connections and share information that will make Greenville and our world a better place to live. They meet at the upstairs bar at Ham's, 701 Evans Street, Greenville, NC.

In Raleigh and Durham, every other month the Triangle Emerging Green Builders hold Green Drinks in the Triangle. They go to Chapel Hill and Cary also, rotating locations to reach as many people as possible. Everyone's welcome, bring a friend, and come meet others interested in 'green!' They start each evening off with a short presentation on a local green issue, with informal discussion & drinks to follow. Comments, questions, and recommendations for locations and speakers can be emailed to trianglechaperegb@gmail.com.

Green Drinks Winston-Salem meets on the last Wednesday of each month. You don't need to be in an environmentally-aware business to come. Caring for all things green is a plus. It's informal, so just relax and mingle among those with common interests. Each month is sponsored by a local business or group. Sponsors provide finger foods and in return receive recognition on the website, and community postings. Bring your cards and bring a friend! The next gathering is Wednesday, May 28th, starting at 5:30 p.m. at Krankies Coffee, 211 E. Third Street, Downtown Winston. Subscribe to e-vites by emailing: sarah@leaprealty.net or call 336-403-8840.

In South Carolina, Beaufort Green Drinks meets every fourth Wednesday of the month from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. Enjoy happy hour specials at Brewer’s Brewing Company located at 2121 Boundary Street in Jean Ribault Plaza. To subscribe to the electronic invite list for GreenDrinks Beaufort, email them at greendrinksbeaufort@gmail.com.

Green Drinks Charleston is a dynamic group of individuals and organizations from around the Lowcountry who meet up once a month to enjoy cocktails, lively discussions, new friends, and good times. Known locally as Charleston's Green Happy Hour, the group meets at The Trusted Palate, 563 King Street in Downtown Charleston. The meetings are usually the 2nd Wednesday of the month. "Since 2007, our Green Drinks meetings have drawn in more new guests than we could have ever expected, including students, new business owners, scientists, municipal officials, retailers, architects, college professors, and other interesting folks. Won't you come and join us, too?"

Columbia asks people to join them for the next Green Happy Hour, on Tuesday, May 20th, 5:30 p.m.; at Icy's, 7167 Two Notch Road, Columbia, SC. Come along and bring a friend. Add yourself to the email list; send an 'add me' to Kevin at greendrinkscolumbia@yahoo.com. Cheers!

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Happy Mother's Day


More Astronaut Views of our Mother Earth.

Friday, May 9, 2008

Biofuel Options

Mark Englander, of Charlotte Energy Solutions, drives a car fueled only with waste vegetable oil (WVO). “There are 35 to 40 others in our area who use it. They locate and collect their own waste oil from restaurants.”

Using WVO in your diesel vehicle requires a modification to your engine. The conversion kit costs $600 and up, Englander says, but it will pay for itself in around 4 months of driving without traditional fuel. The Veggie Oil Mercedes at left, offered on eBay, is ready to go. For information about trying WVO in your diesel car or truck, contact Englander or check out Charlotte’s co-op, Metrolina Biofuels.

Biodiesel, the other alternative diesel fuel, can be used without car modification. It is produced by chemically treating WVO, fat or other vegetable oil. You can purchase biodiesel at Metrolina’s pump.

Want to learn more about biofuels? Metrolina Biofuels partners with Central Piedmont Community College for workshops and classes. Such classes may eventually be part of a technical degree program. This quarter CPCC offers a technical course called Environmental Biodiesel at their main campus. The class will meet once a week from May 14 to July 16. Registration continues until the first day of class. For information and registration call 704-330-4223, or contact Program Chair Terrence Fagan, 704-330-6204.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

In The Mailbox

We are paying almost all our bills online or through automatic withdrawal, but we're still recycling lots of junk mail. Here are some helpers to reduce it and simplify our lives. It will save our time while saving millions of trees and tons of paper.

Catalog Choice is a great help for getting off catalog lists. You can "Browse" through their extensive list of catalogs, recognize the ones you receive, and decline them. You can even check a button to let them know that you are declining the print catalog because you prefer to order from them online (which we usually do). I also found a new online catalog to view there.

The Junk Mail Reduction Campaign also has handy sample letters to help get rid of everything else. Be sure to check out their links, including the Direct Marketing Association program. That process doesn't have a great interface, but it helps to get off lists for "pre-approved" credit card and insurance offers. It is really nice to check your mailbox and find only mail that you want to get.

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Baby Hugs

A Carolina mother wanted to outfit her kids with clothing that is healthy for them and for the environment, too. "I wondered what more I could be doing to make a positive impact on our environment and to be a messenger for change," said Missy Willis. So she designed a line of onesies with eco-friendly messages. They are made from organic cotton, water-based inks, and use recycled packaging for shipping. The Terra Tees garments are completely made in the United States, and even the cotton comes from a family farm. What a great way to snuggle up a little sweetie!