Greener Habits for Raleigh

Holiday Wrap-up Recycling Program

2007-12-27T09:08:00.000-08:00

December 26, 2007 - January 13, 2008

Wake County citizens can recycle a variety of celebration waste
during the annual Holiday Wrap Up Recycling Event

Use the convenience centers listed below for holiday recycling items from December 26 until January 13:

Convenience Center #1 – 1050 Old Stage Road in Garner
Convenience Center #2 – 6000 Old Smithfield Road in Apex
Convenience Center #4 – 3600 Yates Mill Pond Road in South Raleigh
Convenience Center #7 – 9008 Deponie Drive in North Raleigh
Convenience Center #11 – 5051 Wendell Boulevard between Wendell and Zebulon

Please note that Convenience Centers are open daily from 7 am until 7 pm and will be closed one-half day on Christmas Eve and all day for Christmas.

The County's program will accept the following materials:

Christmas trees (remove ornaments, lights and tinsel)
Corrugated cardboard
Chip board (paper roll tubes, cereal boxes, etc.)
Glossy magazines/catalogs
Greeting cards
SBS board (shirt boxes, etc.)
Wrapping paper (no bows or foil)

2007-10-15T17:11:00.001-07:00

We have home-made rain barrels for sale, just in time for the upcoming showers and elevated water restrictions. These are 55 gallon plastic drums that stored car wax in their previous life. In this life, they have been well rinsed and affixed with a spigot and screen top. We offer these to anyone interested at $50 each. First come, first serve, we have limited supply at this point, but will continue to make them to meet the drought demands.

2007-10-15T07:01:00.001-07:00

What is this world coming to. I saw this aberration in the Lowe's parking lot. This is someone's leisurely vehicle. Believe it folks, it is a recreational SEMI! Watch out for your children.

Marbles Success

2007-10-02T16:58:00.000-07:00

Greener Habits for Raleigh has two donor marbles up at Marbles Kids Museum! We will be having a craft night to finish up the canopies on Thursday October 11 at Marianne's house. Please come help if you haven't had a chance yet.

read the article

Same-Day Registration now in NC!

2007-09-30T15:18:00.000-07:00

If you have not registered yet don't worry you
still can and vote in the October 9th elections!

Feds Give Approval post by Democracy-NC.org

For a list of City Council candidates WRAL.com
came up with a nice list equipped with info --
October 9 General Election

Raleigh is getting cooler!

2007-09-17T19:37:00.000-07:00

Raleigh has decided to become cool by going "green." In August Raleigh committed to the Cool Cities campaign. By increasing recycling efforts and expanding gasoline-alternative vehicles the city will begin to reduce their carbon footprint. Congratulations to the N.C. Sierra Club for working with the city to make Raleigh a better place to live.

Raleigh called cool in fight against warming

Raleigh Cool Cities Event Wrap Up

Running The Numbers: An American Self-Portrait

2007-09-17T05:47:00.000-07:00

This new series looks at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. Each image portrays a specific quantity of something: fifteen million sheets of office paper (five minutes of paper use); 106,000 aluminum cans (thirty seconds of can consumption) and so on. My hope is that images representing these quantities might have a different effect than the raw numbers alone, such as we find daily in articles and books. Statistics can feel abstract and anesthetizing, making it difficult to connect with and make meaning of 3.6 million SUV sales in one year, for example, or 2.3 million Americans in prison, or 426,000 cell phones retired every day. This project visually examines these vast and bizarre measures of our society, in large intricately detailed prints assembled from thousands of smaller photographs. My underlying desire is to affirm and sanctify the crucial role of the individual in a society that is increasingly enormous, incomprehensible, and overwhelming.
My only caveat about this series is that the prints must be seen in person to be experienced the way they are intended. As with any large artwork, their scale carries a vital part of their substance which is lost in these little web images. Hopefully the JPEGs displayed here might be enough to arouse your curiosity to attend an exhibition, or to arrange one if you are in a position to do so. The series is a work in progress, and new images will be posted as they are completed, so please stay tuned.

~chris jordan, Seattle, 2007

Greener Habits Treehouse Helpers

2007-09-12T11:17:00.001-07:00

Anyone interested in getting involved in a major art project with us? Playspace and Exploris will be reopening on September 29 as a new exciting children's museum, and the bulk of what they are doing is with community volunteer labor. Our design firm is working on this project, and we have designed the new "Young Explorer's" gallery. As an insider on this project I have bartered free art and labor from our organization in exchange for recognition, publicity, exhibit space, and some cool stuff from Senegal. This is our opportunity to incorporate our ideals of reuse into a public functioning art peice, and to get our name out as do-gooders in the community. Anyone interested in getting involved with this project, please email us at greenerhabitsforraleigh@gmail.com and we will give you the scoop. And don't forget to check out the transitioning site for the new children's museum at www.coming929.com

Darcey's Great Ideas

2007-09-04T13:36:00.000-07:00

Now for something really inspiring – 13-year-old Darcey Youngs is starting a neighborhood compost project in her North Raleigh neighborhood. We made fliers that she is going to post around the neighborhood, asking her neighbors to save their scraps for her compost. She is going to make her rounds on Sundays to pick up the collected compost and pile them in the bin she made herself.

So, this brilliant idea is all hers, but I thought it would be a great one for us to borrow. I have a template for anyone to use for their own fliers. The only thing that would need to change is the personal info.

I will be posting the template in the coming days. Keep a lookout for it!

Marianne's Mural Won a Spot on a Raleigh Bus

2007-08-30T12:11:00.001-07:00

How to make your own tee-bags

2007-08-29T17:55:00.000-07:00

Chapel Hill Steps Ahead In Eco-Buildings

2007-08-16T02:51:00.000-07:00

The triangle will be host to the first “Cradle-to-Cradle” apartment complex, according to Elizabeth Redmond at GreenOptions ( an online community devoted to raising awareness of environmental progress and whatnot across the country). GreenBridge is planned around the premise of renewable resources/material. The concept of cradle-to-cradle contrasts that of cradle-to-grave which encompasses the current ethos of using and disposing of materials and resources in the life-span of a facility. Cradle-to-cradle, asides from sounding a bit like a new Steven Segal movie, is the concept of perpetual re-use of waste products. Or as they put it:

The inspiration behind Greenbridge Developments lies in the approach articulated by William McDonough and Michael Braungart in their 2002 book, Cradle to Cradle. Contrary to cradle-to-grave patterns that make, take, and waste-cradle-to-cradle harnesses the earth's interdependent systems to nourish one process with the "waste" from another, and rely on an eternally renewing flow of resources.

Wonderful…however don’t get too excited.

The units start at $300,000 and work their way up to an easy $1million. I’ve already ordered 3 actually. While still a better idea than having rich folks living in energy consuming villas somewhere else…far, far away from their inner-city brethren… I think that this sort of initiative might be better directed at those who stand to benefit the most from lower utility bills and enhanced aesthetics, mainly those who can’t fathom affording 1 million bux for an apartment that can power a lightbulb from urine. (I'm kidding, I don't know if it can do that)

In either case I believe it is a start, regardless of who it benefits, and Raleigh would do well to embrace such initiatives as examples of how a little design savvy, environmental concern, and a dash of capitalism could help transform the capital city for the better. Those are my thoughts however.

GHFR Local Foods Potluck

2007-08-12T12:13:00.000-07:00

GHFR Potluck Photo Set on Flickr

Raleigh as the next Cool City

2007-08-01T14:47:00.000-07:00

Below is a letter from Julie Woosley, TTA marketing coordinator, addressing Raleigh's potential to be a Sierra Club Cool City. Can anyone attend the city council meeting August 7th?

Hi all,

I went to a great Sierra Club event last night with ~70 people plus some elected officials. The purpose of the meeting was for fun (free beer!) and to encourage Raleigh to join Cool Cities, which is a way for cities to reduce greenhouse gases despite the feds' refusal to address the issue. This would put us in line with the Kyoto Protocol despite the country never signing it. Here's more info about Cool Cities: http://www.coolcities.us/

Nine NC cities have signed so far, but not Raleigh or any others in Wake Co. Please go to the Sierra Club website and send an email to the Raleigh City Council and ask
them to sign! Go to http://ncsierra.sierraclubaction.org/alertlist.asp and click
on "Help Make Raleigh a Cool City". The City Council is discussing this issue next Tuesday, August 7 at their 1:00 pm meeting, so any message you can send before then (or you could show up at the meeting!) will encourage them to sign.

As supporters of bike and pedestrian issues, I think it's obvious that a signed agreement to reduce carbon dioxide would probably result in increased funding to alternative transportation facilities – i.e., bike paths, bike lanes, public transit, sidewalks and crosswalks. So please check it out! And send this on to others in Raleigh or Wake Co. who may be interested. Perhaps Cary and other cities will follow suit.

Thanks!
Julie Woosley

Putting more of Raleigh on the map

2007-07-19T05:13:00.001-07:00

Have you seen Sundance Channel's new green forum? It's called Eco-mmunity and it has a searchable map that points out local businesses with green practices. Clearly this hasn't really caught on in the Raleigh area- there are about 6 stars on our local map, two of which are Whole Foods- but it could be a good reference eventually. It fits in nicely with the GHFR idea of supporting local green business. Now they just need to sign up...

The site also provides email, green advice, a directory of green blogs, and even a little green quiz that separates the champions from the coffeecups.

Daniel Mathewson

2007-07-09T20:07:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Marianne for spotting this guy and this story in the Indy:

"He's a metal sculptor with a keen
appreciation for junk and all its potential."

Daniel Mathewson has a keen appreciation
for junk and all its potential. Leigh Emery

2007-07-02T20:00:00.000-07:00

Found the post below on City Farmer TV --

Apartment Community Garden

Not far from our garden is a new and unusual community garden. Next to a tall apartment building, residents have been given permission to dig up part of the building’s landscape and plant veggies.

Listen

HA Schult 's Trash People

2007-06-27T12:08:00.001-07:00

On converting trash into art, large scale:

German artist HA Schult took a really direct approach to reuse art in his 1996 'Trash People' installation. Granted, they're all held together with Henkel adhesives (who interestingly enough both sponsor him and use him as advertising.. read their boasting here.) These 'people' have been traveling around the world for the past 10 years, and are spending this summer in Barcelona. Schult has been compared to Christo and Jeanne-Claude- although the only really strong resemblance is scale.

Taken from his website, a little rough due to the translation from German:

"We live in the trash time: we produce trash and we become trash. Therefore HA Schult's 'Trash People' are images of ourselves.

In 1996, when HA Schult has installed one thousand life sized 'Trash People', in the Amphitheatre of Xanten, the idea was born to send them around the world.

Like the pyramids of Giza send messages to us from times past, HA Schult's 'Trash People' will travel as a 'now time expression' to the world's most important spots."

To read the whole text and see some of the places the Trash People have traveled, go here.

what ever will he do when the world runs out of trash? :)

Meals for the Homeless

2007-06-26T11:28:00.000-07:00

someone mentioned working with the food shelters in the downtown area and seeing if they were interested in sustainable living projects such as a public garden. here a list as of now,

(all in the downtown Raleigh area only) -
If there are others please list them here.

Shepherd's Table Church of the Good Shepherd
Monday–Friday: 11 a.m. – noon
121 W. Morgan St.
919-831-2010

Salvation Army
Monday–Friday: 5 - 5:30 p.m.
Saturday: 12 noon
215 S. Person Street
919-834-6733

Raleigh Rescue Mission
Sunday through Saturday: 5:20 a.m.
314 E. Hargett St.919-828-9014

First Baptist Church
Sunday: 8 – 8:30 a.m.
101 S. Wilmington Street
919-832-1649

2007-06-18T13:51:00.001-07:00

Exploring the fascinating world inside the hive:
insights into honey bees and beekeeping
Tuesday, June 19, 2007 - 7 pm (doors open at 6:30 pm)
Location: Tir Na Nog, 218 South Blount St.
Speaker: David R. Tarpy, PhD, North Carolina State University

http://www.naturalsciences.org/calendar/scicafe.html

If anyone else is going let me know, or I'll see you there.

Plastic Me This

2007-06-14T07:11:00.000-07:00

Apparently Miracle Grow is suing TerraCycle, the new fertilizer made from worm poop, which is waste made from waste. Many props for TerraCycle if they can 'fool' buyers into buying organic!

Suicide by water? Is that possible you say - Found this article while browsing on our library databases searching for more plastic hazards and to my delight the professor who wrote it archives his own work for us for free on his website: Bottled Insanity: The Problem With Fiji Water ArtVoice (etc.) 2/8/07 AV

My co-worker mentioned something she read in a book, she thinks it my have been in Dark Star Safari. The gist is, when one steps off a plane in Nairobi you smell garlic and onions; get off a plane in London and it's wet concrete; get off a plane in the US and you smell ... plastic.

And looks as though the industry is getting larger,

.... trends in the plastic bottles industry. The largest segment in the industry is polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles which are used primarily for carbonated soft drinks and single-serve bottled water. While the number of bottles used for household chemicals has gradually expanded, the amount of resin used has been very steady. Plastics Technology; May2007, Vol. 53 Issue 5, p101-101, 1p [Learn more online at http://www.ptonline.com/]

Now let us all have a drink! (from a glass that is)

GCAG: Greensboro Community Arts Collective

2007-06-13T11:01:00.000-07:00

This is a group in Greensboro that Jason and I had the opportunity to be a small part of back when we lived there. They have done some amazing things and they are a really nice group of people. We should participate in some of their events this summer because they always enjoy the help and can teach us lots.

Here is their really well-designed website (at least I think so): http://www.gcaconline.org/

Same Time, Same Place

2007-06-12T11:20:00.000-07:00

We have our next meeting scheduled for Tuesday, June 26th at Cameron Village Library upstairs meeting room. This time we have both spaces, so we can hold more people comfortably. We will have an agenda out shortly, but if anyone has topics they would like to include post them here, or send us an email.

How does your garden grow?

2007-06-10T19:40:00.000-07:00

I found the link below when searching for collaborative gardens in NC - What a beautiful project! It would nice to get involved and learn how we can do this in the Raleigh area. If anyone is interested in helping out let me know.

Making the Community Garden Grow -
Chapel Hill Herald Saturday, May 12th

Education is Key

2007-06-07T12:03:00.000-07:00

the Office of Environmental Education is the ultimate resource for generating the information needed to achieve our goals and projects. Once we narrow down our interests we can draw from EE's invaluable resources. Please take a look.

2007-06-07T09:15:00.000-07:00

Last night was great. Thank you all for coming out!
There was a lot of really good feedback and suggestions. I am going to start developing resources and look for a meeting space for next week. If anyone has any ideas let us know.

I wanted to get the slide show up just so anyone visiting can have some idea of what we referenced. At the end I mentioned'altered books' because I salvaged books from work for our first inspired art project. Please upload any photos of your finished projects.

The First Time

2007-06-03T21:55:00.000-07:00

Cameron Village Library
Wednesday, June 6, 7:00 PM