News-Record.com

Peters Creek flows fewer than a hundred feet from the entrance to Brunson Elementary School on the edge of downtown Winston-Salem, a geographic feature that would have doomed the 50-year-old school’s construction today.

“We’re real fortunate to have the creek,” said Andy Lester-Niles, an assistant principal at the school. “You get a full ecosystem with the birds, snakes, fish and turtles. It’s pretty cool and we see it all. But it is in a flood zone.”

The creek will serve as the centerpiece of an outdoor learning project spearheaded by parents Colleen Lopina and Steve Davis. They helped the school apply for a $5,000 grant from Lowe’s Home Improvement that would add raised garden beds, compost bins, an outdoor classroom and paved patio area.

“It’s really a beautiful setting in and of itself and it’s a unique urban green space in downtown Winston-Salem,” Lopina said about the school’s location.

Dozens of parents have volunteered their Saturdays over the past several weeks to upgrade picnic tables, lay out concrete pavers, and construct tables and benches for outdoor labs. Officials expect teachers to start incorporating outdoor learning into their lesson plans at the 500-student school in the fall.

Lester-Niles said he hopes the gardens will take off next school year, with so many beds crowded with young hands that teachers request a bed on every usable space on the school grounds. Lester-Niles, who commutes daily to the school by bicycle, said he hopes this project will demonstrate to district officials the school’s interest in sustainability.

“I think the outdoor classroom and garden space are part of a broader vision,” he said. “We’ve heard that we’ll get a new school in five or seven years and we would love for it to be LEED-certified and a teaching tool in and of itself.”

The Greensboro Chamber of Commerce will host an hour-long presentation called "Go Green & Save Money" at its Piedmont Triad Business Showcase on May 14. Details here.

Winston-Salem State University's first annual Generation Green Festival takes place April 20-22. The event is free and open to the public and will feature workshops, an art contest, film festival, fashion show, "Communiversity Day" and tree planting ceremony. Details here.

High Point University will also hold an event with booths and food on April 22 from 1-3 p.m. at its campus amphitheatre.

UNCG and Greensboro College info here.

Earth Share of North Carolina has launched One Environment Network, a social networking site that aims to aid environmentally-minded employees in creating green teams to promote sustainable practices in their workplaces and daily lives. Unlike programs that exist to support sustainable business practices at the management level, the network is uniquely designed to support action at the employee level, by giving employees the structure and resources to inspire co-workers to adopt small changes that make a big difference, according to a press release:

"On the OEN web site, users will be able to download a step-by-step guide for starting a workplace green team, get ideas for workplace projects such as “A Plug for the Mug” – a campaign to reduce the use of disposable cups, register their team and provide a team profile for other workplaces to view. Users can also view videos, photos and articles on how green team projects have been implemented, and participate in discussion boards to share experiences, challenges and project ideas with other green teams across the state. In addition, the site includes a continuous newsfeed of articles on sustainable practices, and an updated calendar of volunteer opportunities with environmental non-profits in North Carolina."

A speaker at a Salisbury environmental conference I attended in May 2008 made the remark that he didn't want to try to live an environmentally-friendly life only for his body to pollute the ground after his death.

That's when I first became aware of the desire among some Americans to look for alternatives to conventional funeral practices. That interest is apparently growing as evidenced by the approximate 100 people who attended a related symposium in Greensboro on Saturday.

Carol Cothern, assistant director of the Funeral Consumers Alliance of the Piedmont, said a green burials movement is afoot in North Carolina, motivated by a desire among some for a hands-on approach to death care and displeasure with chemical embalmings and funeral expenses.

Nationally, the number of providers listed with the Green Burial Council has grown from roughly a dozen to 300 over the course of a year, said Joe Sehee, executive director. That includes funeral homes, natural burial grounds, casket providers and other goods and services.

The council works to:
* Develop a certification program that is bringing about a new ethic in deathcare rooted in transparency, accountability and ecological responsibility;
* Build out an international network of "approved providers" who are committed to reducing toxins, waste, and carbon emissions that have been associated with conventional end-of-life rituals; and
*Bring conservation organizations together with cemetery operators, funeral establishments, and cremation companies to create burial programs that facilitate the restoration, acquisition and stewardship of natural areas.

"There's all kinds of ways to get green-washed and what we're trying to do is allow customers to distinguish one shade of green from another," he said.

Many options exist for “greening” a funeral service. They include opting for a wood over metal casket, using dry ice instead of embalming for preservation of the body, and burial in a cemetery that does not require the use of cement vaults.

By law, funeral homes cannot charge a separate handling fee for families that provide their own casket. Also, North Carolina does not require bodies to be discharged from hospitals or nursing homes to funeral home employees. Neither does the state require embalming, which is the process of temporarily preserving a body through formaldehyde and other toxic chemicals.

The state lacks natural burial grounds, with only Chapel Hill and Asheville having sites approved by the Green Burial Council. Families in the Triad without access to a green burial ground can cremate the body or have it buried on private land as long as it meets municipal or county ordinances.

With home-based death care, families need to plan ahead of time in order to overcome several logistical challenges, such as processing the death certificate and picking up the body from a hospital morgue.

But this approach can have many advantages to conventional arrangements, says Sandy LaGrega, a member of Crossings Care chapter in Greensboro. It:

• Helps with the grieving process and empowers family members and friends to get involved;
• Respects the individuality of each family;
• Is more environmentally-friendly because it doesn’t use embalming or dispose of bodily fluids into city sewer systems; and
• Is less expensive than conventional funerals because most of the arrangements are handled by volunteers.

I'll be writing more about this for goGreenTriad.com and the newspaper, so stay tuned.

Update (April 10): CERT has made available the PowerPoint presentations from the conference on its Web site.

I attended a conference at N.C. A&T last Thursday that sought to answer questions about how the national transition away from fossil fuels will impact low-income communities. Two of the questions floating out there were: How will low-income residents in this region benefit from the national push to make buildings more energy efficient? And, What kind of "green jobs" can they take advantage of?

The university's Center for Energy Research and Technology (CERT) hosted the conference in partnership with the American Association for Blacks in Energy. I've been told that copies of the presentations and a video of the event will be posted on the center's Web site.

I attended the first half of the conference so I can speak for now only about what I heard during the keynote presentation and two panel discussions; I invite other attendees to chime in. What I heard was speakers who were more comfortable explaining how the low-income could get their home weatherized than how they will get jobs.

First, weatherization. North Carolina will receive about $208 million in weatherization funds under the federal stimulus plan, with $132 million going to the Weatherization Assistance Program and the rest going to the state energy office. Households with an income within 200 percent of the poverty line will be eligible for the funds. That income limit equates to about $44,000 for a family of four.

You can find here analyses done for the Weatherization Assistance Program on what it will take to weatherize an anticipated one million homes nationally per year. Zack Hamlett of the N.C. Office of Economic Opportunity, which administers the program here, told me on Friday that he has until May 12 to submit a hiring plan to the U.S. Department of Energy. The department also needs to decide how address multi-family housing, which it has not focused on weatherizing in the past, he said.

By the way, residents in Guilford, Forsyth, Rockingham and Randolph counties would contact Regional Consolidated Services Inc. at 629-5141 to apply for weatherization services.

Now, the interesting thing about the weatherization program is that it at least gives you a working definition of the word "low-income." For the government's purposes, it's households with an income at or lower than 200 percent of the federal poverty line. That's a wide net, because it can include, in reality, a middle class family with a working father and stay-at-home mother, as well as a disabled or elderly person receiving Social Security benefits.

That's not the case with the green jobs movement and I did not hear "low-income" defined for the purposes of the CERT conference last week. Are we talking a broke college graduate looking for a job? A underemployed father with only a high school degree? Or a repentant former convict who hasn't had a job in five years?

The distinction is important because many green jobs proponents have pushed for green jobs as a way to provide good-paying and steady employment for people in poor, minority communities who do not have the money, time (because of life circumstances) or aptitude for four-year college degrees.

Now, President Obama didn't advocate for economic stimulus as a means to address solely unemployment/underemployment among the country's poor. However, faculty at CERT and AABE sought to speak to specific stakeholder groups -- namely, the black and low-income populations.

While the presenters provided some good context, few explicitly answered the question of what green jobs might be available in North Carolina and who would likely benefit. Paul Quinlan of the N.C. Sustainable Energy Association said that over the short term, laid off construction workers who can quickly retrain to weatherize homes, can expect work funded through the federal stimulus funds. A long term trend would be the companies hiring people to install solar panels, design high performance buildings, and build components for alternative energy systems, such as wind turbines. Unclear is what work would be available to people without a related degree or experience.

"There's incredibly high expectations for green jobs this year," Quinlan said at the conference. "It's not going to be as visible so people will be disappointed because the expectations were so high."

It's starting to seem like anybody who tries to get in on this work as a fresh start will be competing against an existing workforce. For proof, take a look at this workforce analysis done for the federal Weatherization Assistance Program regarding how many workers are needed to weatherize one million homes nationally over the next two to 10 years. The report maintains that government agencies are likely to hire people with previous experience as it takes an average of eight months, for example, to train an energy auditor.

From the report:

"It takes approximately two to four months to train a crew to perform Weatherization services with a proficiency that guarantees the savings and return on investment. It takes approximately six to eight months to train an energy auditor for assessment accuracy and two to four months to train a quality control inspector to conduct required oversight. It will be critical to utilize the existing energy professionals from other statewide or national projects to supplement the hiring of staff to perform work in the field."

The report doesn't specify who will pay for the training. So should individuals expect they will need to go to school for some type of training or intern with an experienced person before they even get hired for some full time work? Will government agencies be able weatherize a record number of homes within the given timeline while still producing quality work? And what if Congress does not reauthorize funds past the first two years?

How closely are you following the federal stimulus as it relates to the energy measures and job creation? What are you still confused about? Do you you have confidence that the funding will create lasting jobs, particularly as it relates to low-income populations?

The downtown artist collaborative will start its second season gardening in a South Elm Street alley this weekend. Check out an interactive piece Margaret Baxter did on the garden last year.

From a newsletter:

"URBAN GREEN VOLUNTEERS: Join us in making a vertical community garden! We garden on (sic) saturdays from 1pm - 5pm and on other specified weekdays. this (sic) saturday is the first volunteer meet up! Email us at urbangreen@elsewhereelsewhere.org to sign up to get on the volunteer list, or just stop into the museum. We need gardeners, and carpenters, and designers, and painters, and sculptors, and people who have access to lots of plants, and green thumbs ad infinitum....

Ron and Anita Shaver of Browns Summit will offer tours of their passive solar home next weekend to raise funds for their church, Unity in Greensboro. The event will feature classes on passive solar gain for students, members of the church selling jewelry and other items, and displays of electric-powered vehicles.

The house includes:
- Pre-cast Superior Walls Concrete walls (10 7/8'' upon completion of drywall)
- 6-inch acid-stained concrete floors which contains radiant floor heat
- Cream-colored metal roof with radiant barrier underneath
- Five solar tubes, five clerestory windows
- Fiberglass-framed double-paned windows

Find out more about the event here.

Anita Shaver says her family has lived in the $165,000 house for four years and built it while living in a 700-square-foot mobile home. Shaver said her average electricity bill in the mobile home was $160 a month, compared to a first month's bill of $60 in the new passive solar 1,674-square-foot home.

"Our mission is to show people you don't have to be rich to live a green lifestyle," said Anita Shaver, who is a stay-at-home mother.

(photo of family by Nancy Sidelinger)

I'm betting that funerals and cemeteries are not the first things that pop into people's minds when they decide to adopt environmentally-friendly lifestyles. But interest is building in the concept of "green burials" as evidenced by this symposium taking place in Greensboro next month.

The symposium at FaithAction International House will provide information on family-coordinated funerals and natural alternatives to modern burials. One of the speakers at an environmental conference I attended last year made the point that he didn't want to try to live a sustainable life and then have his embalmed body leaching poisonous chemicals into the ground.

Symposium workshops include:

* Funeral Myths and Consumer Rights and Options by presenter Carol Cothern, of Funeral Consumers Alliance of the Piedmont: Did you know that North Carolina law never requires embalming? That sealed metal caskets actually contribute to putrefaction? That you can serve as your own funeral director? In this workshop, a dozen myths related to funerals will be exploded. In the process, participants will gain valuable knowledge about their rights and
options as funeral consumers.

* Natural Burial and Caring for the Body at Home by presenter Sandra Crater LaGrega, Crossings, of Caring for Our Own at Death: This workshop will introduce participants to why natural, at-home after-death and home funeral care is worthwhile and what it involves. Participants will learn some of the noninvasive skills involved in caring for the body of a loved one in the home. They will also receive a bibliography and resource list pertaining to home
funerals.

* Muslim‐Jewish Funeral Practices and How Shared Death‐Care Concerns Are Sparking Interfaith Collaboration by presenters Ahmad‐Rufai Abdullah and David Zabarsky, of Raleigh:
This workshop will explore Muslim and Jewish burial practices and how their common death care concerns are sparking interfaith collaboration.... A need for religious accommodation and less government regulatory intrusion on these religious funeral rituals in the U.S. have brought the Muslims and Jews on a common course of actions and advocacy on behalf of the Muslim and Jewish dead and their families.

A group of Greensboro residents interested in cohousing communities is meeting monthly to learn what it takes to start a development in the city.

Mitch Mitcham, a 62-year-old land surveyor and civil engineer, said he has been interested in the concept for the past two years and would like to help build energy-efficient "intentional communities" in the city or county, particularly for retiring Baby Boomers.

"I would like this year to be the year we do a community in Greensboro," said Mitcham, who also serves on the board of the Greensboro Housing Coalition.

Intentional communities can take different forms, but they basically provide housing for a group of people, with shared facilities and gardening space. The whole idea is to reduce living expenses and energy use and enable closer relationships and interdependencies among residents than typically exist in conventional American neighborhoods. North Carolina has several developments, especially in the Asheville area, including Earthhaven EcoVillage, Union Acres, Eno Commons, Arcadia Cohousing and Blue Heron Farm.

More general information can be found here and here

The Triad Intentional Communities Network (TICN) in Greensboro has been meeting since last summer and typically features a different speaker on the second Thursday of the month.

The March 12 speaker is Jonathan Peterson from Democracy NC. He will speak on helping the group organize to change attitudes and policies to make the city more friendly to the formation of intentional communities and green lifestyles. On April 9, UNCG professor Charlie Headington will speak about sustainability and permaculture.

Both meetings begin at 5:30 p.m. for newcomers with the program from 6-7:30 at the fellowship hall of the Presbyterian Church of the Covenant, 501 S. Mendenhall St.

For more information, contact coordinator Carolyn Biggerstaff at 292-2770 or euphie@bellsouth.net.

I just got word that another Greensboro couple is "greening" their home, this time in downtown. Brent and Dianne Ziegler, recent Columbus, Ohio, transplants, have purchased the two-story building at 526 South Elm St., with the intention of obtaining Platinum LEED certification for the 5,000 sq. ft. site, according to a press release by Downtown Greensboro Inc.

The couple plans on living in the 2,500 sq. ft. upstairs loft and leasing the street-level space for a commercial user.

A second couple pursuing LEED certification are the owners of the Greenspiration home in northwest Greensboro. The Habitat for Humanity has also built green homes for lower income residents, although I don't know if they pursued LEED certification. But these examples prove that green building is becoming more accessible to residents with different housing situations. I haven't heard, however, of a case where a local landlord has done this with rental homes or an apartment complex. Let me know if you know of anyone.

Anyway, back to the Zieglers. The couple is filing the project as a Core and Shell Project in order to qualify for the certification. This covers base building elements such as structure, envelope and the HVAC system and is designed to allow future tenants to capitalize on strategies implemented by the designer.

Plans include:

· No VOC materials

· Energy efficient heating and cooling to include radiant heating system

· All energy star appliances

· Solar hot water heating with energy efficient back-up water heating

· Low-flow plumbing fixtures and rain water collection

· Maximizing insulation

· LED lighting

· Upfitting for future photovoltarics and green roof

· Recycled materials, including glass cement for countertops

· Restored wood flooring

Demolition is currently underway on the project with a team comprised of several professionals: architect, Thomas Moreau, AIA, President of tma architect; local construction company, Lomax Construction; MEP: Rehab ENGINEERING, P.C.; and green Consultancy of ihGREEN. Highpoint has a commercial recycling center for construction materials that was also used during the demolition as well.

Early on in the demolition process they reached out to a friend and local remodeling contractor, Todd Rotruck, who specializes in historic home renovation in the downtown area. He was able to reuse many of the items upstairs, including the cabinets, railings, and moldings. The historic building built in 1925 offers many other outstanding features like the exposed brick walls, original wood floors, loft-like high ceilings upstairs, large windows and the great location. The building even has a vintage mural advertising 5¢ cigars on an interior wall that once served as an exterior wall.

The couple found that the most surprising part of the process was the pricing of materials:

Dianne Ziegler said: “The materials have been reasonably priced thus far which was a pleasant surprise. However, what surprised me the most was the variation in all industry-related individual’s prices involved in the project. We received quotes that were on different ends of the spectrum. Due to the LEED and sustainable building practices being new to Greensboro, individuals/companies are still figuring out how to price projects.”

The couple is the process of forming a website at greener-alternatives.com which will display the phases of the project and products being used along with other information useful to those who may be looking to start their own green project.

People interested in purchasing or selling green cleaning products in the area can attend a networking event with Shaklee on Monday at the downtown Marriott from 7-9 p.m. Chairman and CEO Roger Barnett will speak. For more information, contact Beverly Willingham at 288-5143.

Almost monthly I find another group or network of people who are interested in environmental issues in the Triad and North Carolina.

Last night, I met members of the "Triad Tree Huggers Meetup Group" at a "Future of Food" film showing. This group started around the same time as Green Drinks Greensboro (which I heard had about 100 people at its January meeting). So, another group to add to the Green Groups listing on goGreenTriad.com. Any others missing from the list?

If you want to connect with greenies on a global scale, check out Wiser Earth. North Carolina representation is unsurprisingly concentrated in the Triad, Triangle, Asheville and Charlotte areas.

People give different names to the era they hope humans will soon transition into: The Great Turning. The Era of Sustainability.

Thomas Berry, cultural historian and Greensboro native, envisioned an "Ecozoic Era," one in which humans live in a mutually beneficial relationship will all communities of life on the planet. It is his definition that Greensboro couple Nelson and Elaine Stover are using to educate people through classes and a "Universe Story" walk on their property.

I find eco-spirituality a fascinating aspect of the global sustainability movement. All over the world, people are calling for the reinvention of human beings and society while imagining how those societies would work. One component of that is changing how we perceive God, a higher being, or the purpose of the universe. Thomas Berry has offered one view. So have others, such as eco-philosopher Joanna Macy.

But if you want to learn more about Berry's ideas and how to translate that into practice, the Stovers can help. Nelson will be giving 30-minute presentations at various places during the year and the couple will offer a weekend workshop called "Our Great Work: Toward a New Earth Resolve" in March.

From the flier:

"This 2-day course allows participants to live for two days in a new context thereby: 1. Communicating the urgency of The Great Work in the 21st century; 2. Awakening participants to the vision of a time when humans live in a mutually enhancing relationship with the entire community of life systems; 3. Modeling and eliciting holistic involvement in the Earth community; 4. Inspiring a spirituality that discovers awe and beauty in the natural world; and 5. Instilling in participants a realistic hope for coming generations."

Find more information here or contact the Stovers at stovern@bellsouth.net.

At least that many people showed up tonight at Studio B to hear what Brian Higgins had to say about his Sustainable Greensboro idea. Find background here.

I saw a lot of the movers and shakers of the city's environmental movement there as well as many people I've never met. Time will tell if the energy and interest displayed at the meeting will translate into a board of directors and $100,000 seed money for the new organization.

Early in the meeting, Higgins asked the crowd to name cities they consider "green" or "sustainable." They shouted Portland, Seattle, San Francisco and Chicago in response.

Higgins said: "I've lived in Portland. I've lived in Seattle and California. I've lived in places where people sort of take this thing for granted.... There's no reason why Greensboro, given some time, can't be mentioned in the same breath."

Higgins is not wasting any time. He said he hopes to have three to five board members by mid-February and an organizational identity by early summer. He intends for the organization to be membership-based as well as possibly drawing upon grants, donations, and service fees.

Mark Raines and Trish Holder, owners of the "Greenspiration Home" in Northwest Greensboro, will host a free lunch on Friday with local homebuilders to demonstrate energy efficient and enviromentally-friendly features of the house they are building. The meeting will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

According to the press release:

Several vendors will be present to discuss the products used in this LEED® registered home, including the manufacturer of the geothermal system, the solar tube lighting, and the whole house ventilation system. Energy efficient lighting, insulation, and a unique hot water system selected to minimize water waste are also on the agenda....

"Lots of people say they are interested in green building. This is a chance for builders to come face to face with suppliers in a unique home setting and talk about things like cost, comfort, and practicality. And they can talk to us – the owners! Our goal throughout this project was to be candid about what worked and what did not. We want builders to learn from our mistakes!” said Trish Holder.

Contact Trish Holder at mail@trishholder.com or 668-9264 for details.

Update: The award will actually go to the Northwest High School band that participated in the contest and will receive $1,000 from Harris Teeter, according to a booster parent.

Northwest Guilford High School will apparently get some nice green moolah for participating in Harris Teeter's first annual "We Think Green" contest. The grocery store company will give a check for an as yet unannounced amount to the school at a ceremony on Friday, according to a Thursday press release.

From the release:

"Harris Teeter has a responsibility to act as a good corporate citizen and has instituted multiple recycling programs into its day to day operations. The company thinks it is important to also educate shoppers about what they can do to help ensure a sustainable future. Through Harris Teeter’s Together in Education program, the company launched We Think Green to teach students the benefits of recycling and provide schools with yet another opportunity to earn cash.

During the We Think Green contest, nine schools – a first, second and third place winner from each Harris Teeter region – will be presented with a check for collecting plastic bags for recycling. In Harris Teeter’s Central Region, Northwest Guilford High School won first place, collecting 3,876 pounds of plastic bags during the month-long contest!

Harris Teeter is concerned about the environment and believes that by working together, we can all help achieve an environmentally friendly future. We hope media will join us for the check presentation."

Congratulations to Northwest.

The N.C. State Fair is calling its latest eco-friendly endeavor "Funnel Cakes for Fuel." That is, processing the thousands of gallons of vegetable oil used to deep fry everything from corn dogs to candy bars into biodiesel.

The N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services expects to collect about 8,000 gallons of used oil this month and process it at its 18 agricultural research stations. The fuel will be used in department tractor-trailers that deliver food to North Carolina schools.

In addition, the fair will add a new exhibit called Green NC that will highlight alternative fuels, renewable energy sources, locally grown foods, recycling, water conservation, etc. Another overdue move: four recycling stations on the fairgrounds that will accept plastic bottles and aluminum cans.

The Aycock neighborhood in Greensboro will sponsor a "Good Green Fun Fair" on Saturday at Aycock Middle School to show families how to incorporate green and healthy practices into their lives. The fair will take place from 2-4:30 p.m. and will be paid for with part of a $3,000 Building Stronger Neighborhoods Grant the neighborhood received.

Booths will include: Recycled Art, Make Your Own Pottery (North Carolina clay), Green Cleaning, and organic Vegetables and Fruit seedlings booth where fairgoers can take home their own organic seedling.

Prizes will be awarded for the Litter Pick-Up Contest, where Guilford County Schools students can collect litter from their neighborhoods, parks, etc. and bring their litter-bags to the fair for green-inspired team prizes.

Children will also perform “An Earthy Story”, an original play with music performed by students ages 5 to 13, about the cleaning of the world. For more information, or how to participate, contact Zora Medor, event producer at 273-8724 or zoramed@yahoo.com.

Residents can now access green living tips through the Guilford County government Web site. The rationale:

"Worldwide, the headlines feature soaring energy costs, the effect of greenhouse gases and the depletion and pollution of our natural resources. These global issues parallel local concerns about water resources, gasoline prices and air quality. Use these weekly "Green Tips" to learn how we in Guilford County can impact these issues, and what we can do to become more sustainable and make a positive difference in our community."

Below, the county's new logo. Residents can also review and comment on the county's new "Green Guilford" draft plan.

From organizer Brian Higgins:

"In just the third month of Green Drinks we've managed to grow from around 30 attendees to around 65 and the email list from around 30 to 150.... One of my goals in putting this together is to simply get people together to talk - share ideas, knowledge, make connections both social and professional, and to have a good time doing so."

Various dates: Greensboro Community Television, Cable Channel 8, will air a 90 minute presentation about peak oil given in July by Peter Kauber of Guilford Solar Communities at the following times: Sunday, Aug. 17 at 6:00 p.m.; Friday, Aug. 29 at noon; and Monday, Sept. 1 at midnight.

Aug. 20: Greensboro Green Drinks (5:30-7:30 p.m. at Natty Greene's)

Sept. 20: A "Growing a Just, Green Economy" conference will take place in Durham on the campus of North Carolina Central University. Early registration fee is $20.

Keynote speakers include environmental justice activist, Majora Carter, founder of Sustainable South Bronx, and minister, community activist and State President of the NAACP the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II. The day-long event will also feature panels and workshops covering policy, business development, job assessment, education and training, and resource security.

Sept. 25: “No Child Left Inside” talk and book signing, starting at 5 p.m. at Greensboro Montessori School, 2856 Horse Pen Creek Road. Call 668-0119 for more information.

According to the school: Author Richard Louv, whose award-winning book "Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder" has sparked an international movement to reunite children and nature, will bring his message to Greensboro at a public lecture and book signing at the school.  The free event, which will be held (appropriately) outside, will begin with an array of family-friendly activities; Louv will speak at 7. 

Louv’s visit to Greensboro will be the centerpiece of a community-wide celebration of national "Take a Child Outside Week," September 24-30 that will include everything from a night hike at the library’s Kathleen Clay Edwards Family Branch to a workshop on wilderness skills at Bur-Mil Park. 

Sept. 29: Starting on this day, UNCG will host a "Sustainability" book club. To register, call Barry Miller at 256-0112 or go here.    

Other events here and here.

About 40 people showed up for Greensboro's first Green Drinks socializing event at Natty Greene's on Wednesday, a pretty strong turnout for the first meeting. Participants included folks from the building industry, the city of Greensboro, Elsewhere Artist Collective and local colleges and neighborhoods (I even met a recent Guilford College graduate who was looking for a job). Very cool indeed.

Brian Higgins, who just moved to Greensboro with his wife from Seattle in February, is responsible for getting Green Drinks going.

He said he was going to the one in Winston-Salem but realized it would be better to get one going here than commute. Now it's established that there is a legitimate interest in green living here; now it's up to Green Drinks to be a tool for positive and progressive change in the city. Can you drink to that?

Yay! I've been waiting for this to happen. Green Drinks, a social networking opportunity for those interested in green living and sustainability, is finally coming to this city. Winston-Salem has had one for a while but I could never justify driving 30 minutes out of my way in rush hour just to chit chat.

But then I got this message, and my toes curled because I realized I could easily swing by after work:

When:   June 18th, 5:30pm
Where:  Natty Greene's Brewing Company, 2nd Floor
Why:      See below...

What is Green Drinks Greensboro? It's a social hour.  It's a networking event.  It's unwinding with friends.  It's a time and place where it's okay to be green and to find out what others in your city are doing to be green, work green, play green, or live green.  And it happens all over the country and the world in over 300 cities.  Proving that it's never too late to join the green movement, Green Drinks Greensboro will begin meeting every third Wednesday of the month on the 2nd floor of Natty Greene's Brewing Company (345 S. Elm St.) starting on June 18th from 5:30 until 7:30(ish).

Green Drinks Greensboro invites all those who care about the environment, teach about and learn about the environment, work in an environment-related field, have interest in the environment, environmental products, sustainable building, environmental protection, eating local, ecological design, alternative energy…you get the idea.  There will be no agenda and there are no dues. From time-to-time we will allow a few minutes for short presentations. To get on our e-mail list, simply send an email to greendrinksgso@gmail.com and we will keep you posted on our events.  See you there!

And, to truly make this a fun event for all, please forward this message on to others who would enjoy this event.  You can search www.greendrinks.org to see what other groups around the world are doing.

This Saturday, from 10-11:30 a.m.: Guilford Solar Communities will feature passive solar design.

Where:  Barn Kitchen Meeting Room, Guilford County Agricultural Center,
             3309 Burlington Rd., Greensboro, NC 27405. (Nearest cross
             street is Huffine Mill Road.)

Description:  This month’s presentation will be about Passive Solar Design. Passive Solar is the system of making use of the sun’s energy without mechanical devices.  It’s a system that was already used by the native Indians, but was “forgotten” in the modern world due to the availability of air-conditioners and heaters.  Passive solar principles are now slowly making a comeback in buildings in the U.S.
 
Presenter:  Michiel VanderSommen.  For more information, contact Michiel directly, at 558-4405.

Also on Saturday, from 2-4 p.m.: “Take Action Tour” on climate change at the Museum of Natural Science in downtown Raleigh. Will include the following topics: setting a reduction goal for carbon dioxide emissions, adapting to climate change, clean cars, and ways you can make a difference. Please RSVP. Click here for more information.

On July 31: Greening Your Events & Parties (from Piedmont Environmental Alliance). Planning a wedding, conference, race or festival?  Or, maybe just a backyard BBQ?  Events and parties typically generate a lot of waste.  Learn how to make your events eco-friendly, perhaps even zero waste.  Reduce, reuse, recycle, compost – we will provide lots of suggestions, alternatives and local sources for greening your event. Join the alliance on Thursday night, July 31st, for its quarterly Environmental Exchange.  More details in the coming weeks. 

In the news: Ten Thousand Villages, with local stores in Greensboro and Winston-Salem, was recognized this month as one of the "World's Most Ethical Companies" by The Ethisphere Institute and Forbes Magazine.

The Elsewhere Artist Collaborative in downtown Greensboro hosts "Green Dialogues," an eight-part series of North Carolina-based eco-thinkers presenting DIY environmental projects for urban living. They take place every other Saturday through September.

The group has started a hanging garden system in the back alley of the collective. Charlie Headington of UNCG will speak Saturday at 2 p.m. of living vertically in the city. Sounds interesting. 

I oscillate between striving for simplicity and security, flexibility and permanency. For more than a year my husband and I have been trying to decide whether to continue renting in Greensboro or make the commitment and try homeownership again.

But the beacon toward homeownership burns brightly when I see the work going on with these urban homesteaders in Pasadena, Calif. They show what is possible when you stop complaining about politicians and corporations and start making changes in your own life. This family's personal efforts to produce more of their own food and become energy independent has turned into a formal non-profit educational tool and a revolution. I want to join in.

Check out this video about the Homegrown Revolution:

I believe this spirit is catching on in Greensboro. Yesterday, I spoke to two Glenwood residents, one a teacher who has a community garden plot and is starting a garden in her backyard; the other who intends to microfarm in a neighbor's yard. I myself have a garden plot and some herbs growing for the first time on my apartment patio.

What if one out of every 10 homeowners in Greensboro had a 2008 version of a Victory Garden? What if apartment complexes provided space for residents to develop their green thumbs? Imagine the possibilities for both income generation, self-sufficiency and better health.

One might scoff at this idea and say, "Hey, it's just easier to buy one's food at a supermarket. If everyone gardened at home, imagine the possibilities for businesses to close and people to lose their jobs!"

My response is people are already losing their jobs due to global wage arbitrage and the consolidation of corporations. I believe that food reliant on fossil fuels for production and transportation is a system that is under stress now and people need an alternative.

I also believe that if you both provide the infrastructure and education on how to microfarm, more people will do it. It may take time, but it will happen. For example, as an apartment dweller I started gardening when a community garden opened up in Glenwood. The infrastructure provided an outlet for me to exercise my interest. It's kind of like the argument that people don't bike in Greensboro so why pay to expand bike lanes. Well, it's hard for people to bike with no lanes! Chicken and egg.