In an age where Eco friendliness is being embraced by the mainstream, and our national market forecast remains bleak, businesses continue to find new ways to push the envelope with the almighty advertising dollar (even though comedy and sex do soften the blow).

Mobile billboards started appearing in the mid to early 90s in larger cities (we have even passed a roving IKEA bedroom set on the highway before), but the trend seemed to have skipped over Charlottesville, until a few nTelos examples were spotted in the past weeks.

In opposition to arguments over fuel use, & increased eye & road pollution, companies have started turning increasingly towards outdoor advertisements, where station changing and Tivo concerns are alleviated.  Larger locales have additionally seen an upswing in on-sidewalk posters, and projection ads shown on buildings after dark.  Locally, however, Albemarle county previously filed charges against Tom Slonaker, the Forest Lakes Arby’s franchise owner, for improperly parked advertising vehicles, displaying ads in his windows, and affixing flags to light posts outside of his establishment.

A few locales have managed to ban nuisances of this type, while others have had enforced bans marked unconstitutional.  What do you think?  Merely a nuisance, or are you green enough to be concerned?  Whatever the case may be, the first time one of these gets stuck under the railroad bridge on the corner, please snap a pic for posterity.

Charlottesville & Albemarle have received top honors in the ‘Go Green Challenge’, a competition hosted by the Virginia Municipal League, designed to recognize areas which implement green practices.

Local governments earned ‘green points’ by instituting various policies and actions, covering everything from green buildings, energy efficiency, to land use innovation. »Read More

The Alliance for Community Choice in Transportation sponsored a bike ride across Charlottesville  to raise awareness about alternative, greener modes of transportation.  Despite the poor representation of only 15 people, I know plenty of you bike to work, take public transportation or carpool.  Now that gas prices have come way down from their astronomical highs, I wonder if people still have the same desire to do all those greener transportation things.

Oh and make sure you check out the ACCT blog, they have lots of cool stuff on there.

[via NBC29]

The Miller Center, UVa’s “Center for Public Policy,” made a big deal about a report it just released which studied public perceptions of climate change. Most Virginians think climate change is happening, but less than half of those who think it is happening believe that it’s a human cause.

It seems that Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth has done its job by convincing Virginians that global warming is pretty much going to kill us all.  Despite the criticism to the movie and all the other doomsday news, climate change is something that has become somewhat of a cultural phobia to the good or bad, I have no clue. I digress.

The study’s findings were part of a national effort to study public perception on the topic. Specifically, in Virginia the study found some very interesting things.  The results are after the break:

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Did you know the United States represents 5% of the world’s population, but consumes 26% of the energy? That’s one of the many issues that were discussed during the Notre Dame Forum on Sustainable Energy on Sept. 24.   Notre Dame brought together a diverse group of experts to discuss the technological, environmental, economic, political and social justice challenges at the heart of the sustainability issue.

One interesting issue discussed was the importance of educating individuals about their own lifestyle and how much emissions are related to the way they live. Cal Berkley has a calculator available here.  Calculate and report back!

What Can You Do?

Over the next year, you can get involved in the sustainability conversation online, in your local communities.
[pic from Jenny Downing] [article submitted by a Villain!]

Nicola’s Veggies is this tiny door in the wall veggie restaurant located on 110 2nd St. NW (the north side of 2nd street on the Downtown Mall).  When I say “door in the wall”, I literally mean it.  Nicola’s interior space must not occupy more than 35 square feet.  You order through a screen window next to the door, and someone inside, most likely a nice woman named Kimberly will scramble away making your lunch a hopefully green experience.  And she really does scramble, but it must be ridiculously hard working in that tiny space, so if it takes 5 min to build you a great salad, please don’t give her any crap.

Their size does not detract from the food quality.It is owned by the same owners as Marco and Luca.  I have had the exquisite pleasure of ordering lunch from them since they opened, and every time its delicious.  Now I have to warn you, if you don’t like vegetables, like really hate them, then you might not like this.  Nicola’s offers you a veggie overload.

WTF is Raw Food?

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Uncus posted an article yesterday about the things cville is doing to be and not be green.  I was surprised to find out they placed the “localvore” trend in the anti-green habits of the city (the cite UVa research…didn’t see that one coming), and that they missed out on the Eco Dry Cleaners habit of distributing glossy stock spam across town.  Asides from their bullet points, what else are we and are we not doing green in town?

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Mark Bittman writes for the New York Times and is a big proponent of changing the way people think about food, by explaining that there are many things wrong with the overproduction and overconsumption of beef and junk food, from not just a personal health perspective, but from an global health perspective as well.

He makes an interesting point in “Re-Thinking the Meat Guzzler:”

But consider: an estimated 30 percent of the earth’s ice-free land is directly or indirectly involved in livestock production, according to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization, which also estimates that livestock production generates nearly a fifth of the world’s greenhouse gases — more than transportation.

Vegetarians, you have to watch the video that I’ve included in this post, so you can tell your “meat guzzling” friends that you are greener than them. Everyone else, watch the video because it’s very interesting to think about how your consumption of mass produced meat impacts not just animal feelings, but also the environment.

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I wouldn’t normally stick an advertisement on a post like this, but this is just hilarious. I ganked it from Uncus propaganda. Does anyone know these people? How long do the goats have to be in your yard?

Today begins Charlottesville 2nd Annual Bike Week. This event is brought to you by The Alliance for Community Choice in Transportation. The idea behind this event is the promotion of physical activity and environmentally friendly transportation.

At noon Charlottesville’s Mayor, Dave Norris, former Mayor and current Council member, David Brown, and ACCT Executive Director, Zachary Shahan, will receive an award from Bill Nesper, the Director of the Bicycle Friendly Community program at City Hall. This will kick-off Bike Week events beginning May 12th through May 18th.

Check out ACCT’s web site for more information on all this week’s biking activities!!!