A rubbish life for LA marathon recycler - Yahoo! News

A rubbish life for LA marathon recycler - Yahoo! News: "'I'm eating fresher food, I'm saving money, helping the local economy, supporting farmers instead of corporations. For me that's worth it. It's just thinking about doing the right thing,' he says."

Green living!

Dogwood Alliance - Fast Food Giant Yum! Releases Corporate Social Responsibility Report

Dogwood Alliance - Fast Food Giant Yum! Releases Corporate Social Responsibility Report

Hooray - Yum Brands, parent company of KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut, has released a corporate social responsibility report. Good on them for acknowledging they have a social responsibility. And kudos to the Dogwood alliance for their efforts in bringing attention to your responsible use of the endangered southern forests.

However, the folks at Dogwood alliance say the report doesn't address the issues of buying sustainable paper for packaging. Read Yum brands CR report for yourself here.

In a perfect world, the paper that covers your Taco Bell burrito or Pizza Hut pizza would come from existing plantations -- not endangered( and beautiful) forests. The Dogwood alliance makes it very clear for Yum brands. Just follow the five steps:

Yum! Brands can show leadership in the fast food sector by adopting a sustainable paper purchasing policy committing to:
• Increase and maximizing the use of PCR content.
• End sourcing from endangered forests
• End sourcing from forests converted to plantations…
• Increase packaging efficiency and reduction
• Source paper from sustainably managed forests like those certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)

Check out the link above to see what you can do.

Update -
So, after do downloading CR report, I did a search for the word paper. I found thatthey are including moving to a paperless training system as a environmentally friendly policy. that's cool. My job is paperless training systems -- e-learning, training websites, and computer-based training. They also go on to list examples of using recycled packaging materials. That's great!
"We are working with our suppliers and
UFPC to increase recycled content
in our packaging. "

I think that's a victory. But, it doesn't go far enough. The Dogwood alliance agrees. We want Yum Brands to use FSC sourced paper. And not just "work with suppliers" - demand, require, pressure, help, cajole suppliers to increase recycled material and use sustainable forestry practice.

So, a good day but a little short.

Fw: News and Events from Cape Fear River Watch

News from Cape Fear River Watch

December 12, 2008

Big Fish, Big Event, Big Thanks

Congratulations to everybody involved with last weekend's 1^st Ever Annual Cape Fear River Watch Invitational Striper Tournament and Gala Kick-Off Banquet and Auction (1EACFRWISTAGKOB). It was a Very Big Success (VBS). Special thanks to all of the volunteers who worked so hard to make the event a VBS. Special congratulations go to the fishermen and captains who caught (and released) more than 70 Striped Bass on Saturday. More than 40 of those stripers were measured and tagged before releasing and will provide important data when/if they are caught again in the future. Pictures are available. Enjoy your moment of fame; planning for the 2009 Event (the 2EACFRWISTAGKOB) begins shortly.

Time To Get Dirty

Now that everybody has been well fed (thanks Hieronymus!) and entertained and educated and picked up some killer bargains at the auction, it's time to get back to the day to day work of keeping the Cape Fear River clean. We need volunteers to come out tomorrow (Saturday, December 13^th) to help clean up a length of the river's Burnt Mill Creek tributary. As usual CFRW provides tools, bags, gloves, and bottled water. Volunteers should present themselves (attired in clothes that can get a little dirty) and a positive attitude. Meet at CFRW's Environmental Education Center (617 Surry St., Wilmington) at 9:00 to carpool/caravan to the dirty place. 3 or 4 hours later you'll be tired and grubby and filled with an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. If the River could talk, it would thank you.

Don't Forget About Titan, They Haven't Forgotten About You

Titan Cement has been quiet lately about their efforts to build a gigantic Cement Kiln and associated open pit limestone quarry on the banks of the Northeast Cape Fear River and pristine Island Creek. Despite the much hyped "years long regulatory process" this doesn't mean they've been inactive. Word on the grapevine is that they've been pushing the North Carolina Department of Air Quality to issue a draft air permit as soon as possible (before the EPA's new mercury regulations are issued in March.)

The good folks of Stoptitan.org are encouraging all concerned residents to write to NCDAQ to urge them to delay issuing any permit before adequate state and federal regulations are in effect. Contact names and addresses as well as a sample letter are available at the stoptitan website. So, as you're addressing your Christmas cards (or other generic holiday greetings), why not send a nice note to Keith Overcash at NCDAQ? I'm sure he'd like to hear from you.

Birding At Greenfield Lake

It's migratory waterfowl season again and the trees, water and skies at Greenfield Lake are brim full of birds. Now is the perfect time to take a birding cruise on the lake with CFRW Naturalist and Avian Biologist Joe Abbate. Tours are by reservation (minimum of 4 persons) and last 90 minutes aboard CFRW's silent and graceful electric launch (known variously as the Gator Belle, El Legardo, Dickson's Boat, or Big Green, depending on what entry people think won the naming contest.) Contact Joe to arrange a tour at 910-762-5606 or by e-mail at joe@cfrw.us. Bring your binoculars, cameras, bird guides and a notebook and be ready to add to your life list of bird species. $15/person

---

UNC Press - Looking for Longleaf: The Fall and Rise of an American Forest, by Lawrence S. Earley. Author Q&A.

UNC Press - Looking for Longleaf: The Fall and Rise of an American Forest, by Lawrence S. Earley. Author Q&A.: "Looking for Longleaf
The Fall and Rise of an American Forest

by Lawrence S. Earley"

Sorry I haven't written in so long!

But I had to write about a fantastic presentation by Larry Earley given at the Cape Fear Museum on Tuesday night as a part of their Community Conversation lecture series. He had a very informative slideshow and talk about the nature of the Longleaf Pine forest and conservation efforts.

He hasn't made the presentation available on the internets but he has written a book about the subject and gave an interview to the UNC Press- (linked above)

If you are concerned about loss of these forests with their historic, cultural, and ecological significance, please check out the link. Also, the dogwood alliance is actively involved in petitioning corporate consumers of paper products (fast food chains in particular currently) to stop buying paper sourced from these precious forests. You can find out more about the Dogwood Alliance here - http://www.dogwoodalliance.org

Project H Design � About

This link I found on Inhabitat - the green design blog. It reminded me of Full Belly Project. So, I posted it here. :)

Project H Design � About: "Product design initiatives for Humanity, Habitats, Health, and Happiness.

Project H Design is a charitable organization that supports, inspires, and delivers life-improving humanitarian product design solutions to global communities in need. We champion industrial design as a tool to address social issues, a vehicle for global life improvement, and a catalyst for individual and community empowerment."

UNCW: CAIC - Student Government

UNCW: CAIC - Student Government:

"'The Conservationist's most important task, if we are to save the earth, is to educate.'
-Peter Scott, founder of World Wildlife Federation



Awareness of sustainable living is changing the way we go about our daily activities. The Student Government Association of UNCW is hosting a conference for students from all across the state in an effort to encourage discussion on the topic. The inaugural Carolina Collegiate Conference on Sustainability will focus on ways for students to help their campuses and communities become more sustainable for future generations.



To be a part of the change, join us on Saturday, April 5, 2008."

Check out the link for more information on this event on the UNCW campus.

myabodo : see your world change

myabodo : see your world change

What is it? It's an interactive graphic that allows you change the choices around your home. -Like driving a hybrid car or drying clothes outside.

Why it's important? I think it's a very clear visual way to see the effects of our lifestyle / home choices.

check it out!

WWW.BIKEWILMINGTON.COM

Well, it's getting warm out and, having a free afternoon, I decided to leave the truck and take the bike to meet friends at India Mahal for lunch. It's the first time I tried to communte from my new place on Military Cutoff.

I took the short section of Wrightsville to Hooker and then through the endangered long leaf pine forests of UNCW. As I rode I thought of Anchorage and the wonderful bike paths... then I remembered seeing some construction along Eastwood drive on my drive to work. Hmmm - could this be the extension of the bike trail?

WWW.BIKEWILMINGTON.COM

I found this website for the Wilmington Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, MPO for short. From the website:

What is the MPO?
The Wilmington Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (WMPO) is the regional transportation planning organization which is made up of elected officials from each of the Wilmington area's local governments as well as the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT).

The WMPO facilitates the cooperative, comprehensive and continuing transportation planning process that serves as the basis for the expenditure of all federal transportation funds in the area for streets, highways, bridges, public transit, and bicycle and pedestrian facilities.

Every urban area with at least 50,000 people in the United States is required to have a similar organization. There are 17 MPOs in the state of North Carolina.

That's pretty cool. And the site has some great maps and etc. So I wonder when I can ride that path to work?

Rick Dove at the Feb. CFRW 1st Saturday

Feburary First Saturday Meeting at the Cape Fear RiverWatch HQ - Downtown Wilmington, NC

Doug Springer and Joe Abbate kick off the meeting with announcements. Everyone is happy because we had plenty of pancakes

Dixon, Rick and Doug were glad to see so many people supporting the RiverWatch and RiverKeeper organizations.

From the CFRW website:

Rick has been monitoring and documenting hog pollution and its effects on North
Carolina's Rivers for 14 years - from the ground, on the water and in the air.
No one is better qualified to speak about the devastating environmental problems
associated with industrial hog production.

His talk was inspirational and enlightening. He spoke about industrial hog farms and the chronic evironmental violations they commit against our community. Find out more about him at http://www.riverlaw.us/ and see a video of one of his talks in Alabama

Rick is championing a new program to monitor the hog industry pollution in Eastern North Carolina. This program is looking for volunteers to document the pollution by photographing violations (like illegeal spraying of lagoon waste) from airplanes and water sampling. Please be in touch with the Cape Fear RiverWatch at http://www.cfrw.us for more information.

Links:
Smithfield Foods on WikiPedia
The Meatrix - cartoon depictions of industrial food

Cape Fear Green Building Alliance

The first meeting of the Cape Fear Green Building Alliance in 2008. Resea Willis spoke about a group she started in Brunswick County called Brunswick Housing Opportunities (BHO). She did her part during the meeting by mezmorizing the audience with a presentation style that was clear and engaging. Her purpose was to educate stakeholders about the housing crisis for working people - where those who work in the community can't live in the community due to high housing costs; and the systems / attitudes / concepts that perpetuate and inflame this crisis.

CFGBA meetings are held in downtown Wilmington, North Carolina at "The Balcony", Front & Dock St, above Roudabush Cafe. There was quite a turn out of more than 40 people, I would say.

Resea Willis dazzled with style and substance. Telling stories that clearly outlined the housing shortage and the challenges to finding a solution.

After the presentation, a good discussion formed around planned communities and what makes a good sustainable community - and how to make it happen. Good working communities were mentioned that are established in Western North Carolina.

The board of CFGBA with Alan Held and the speaker from Brunswick Housing Opportunities, Rissa Willis .

Full Belly Project

The Full Belly Project in Wilmington North Carolina

The Full Belly Project is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to
empowering people in developing countries with the ability to achieve
independent and sustainable economies by facilitating the design and
distribution of appropriate technologies.

read more about Full Belly at there website - http://www.fullbellyproject.org


Three people standing around and one doing work! Ha! ... Actually, I made them stop working and pose for the picture. The full belly workshop is like Santa's workshop - I've never seen so much action going on.

My Friend, Evie, with the Full Belly organizer and universal nut sheller, Jock Brandis. The shellers are being designed, built and tested here in Wilmington, so that plans can be shared with low-tech communities around the world.

The energy of the place is reflected in this photo. With vision and hard work, sparks fly.

Helping hands are what make it happen.

Wanna get involved with this group? Check out their Website!

Cape Fear RiverWatch Jan. First Saturday part 2

After the meeting, of course, there were lots of good conversations.

Dr. Huber discussed topics concerning inquiry education and his RiverRun data visualization tools.

Ruth from the Dogwood Alliance (http://www.dogwoodalliance.org/) discussed a campaign for our wonderful forests.

Dr. Cahoon and Alan talked about Cape Fear water quality and river ecology.

Be sure to check out the CFRW calendar for more events like this.

First Saturday at RiverWatch part 1

Cape Fear RiverWatch presented The first Saturday meetings started in 2008 with Dr. Larry Cahoon and Rich Huber from UNCW. These two professors presented an environmental seminar on Riverrun Technology. Riverrun is an interactive web based data tool used to visualize water quality data for the Cape Fear River.

Alan Held enjoying blueberry pancakes. That's right. BLUEBERRY PANCAKES!

I figure there were at least 30 people there.

The 'Talk' centered around the RiverRun project build by Dr. Huber and Cahoon. It's a 'Data visualization tool' that displays the data collected from the river over time in a format that allows users to answer questions about water quality. It's an excellent decision making tool for policy makers and learning tool for students.

See part two for the 'after party'

green building means common sense

Common sense plays a big role in regards to green building. For instance choosing products that can be renewed, use less energy to produce and ship, and have less impact on the planet.
The second part to this equation is to use these products to build a structure that requires
less energy to operate. Existing structures can also be adapted to become more energy efficient.

There is a payoff by going green. A building will be more affordable to operate and be more environmentally friendly.

I am here to help if you want to start today making your home a smarter place to live.

Alan Held Wilmington N.C.

Hello Green World

This is the first of many posts about creating a healthy environment in your home in and around the Cape Fear region of Eastern North Carolina.

It's an exciting time. There are many challenges to face and obstacles to overcome. We can do it with friendship and cooperation.