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?
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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!!!
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No, that’s not Crabtree Falls. But seriously, recently in my hunt to find a cheap way to make a rain barrel, I made an astonishing discovery…but more on that in a bit. It all begins one hungover Saturday when I was at the Farmer’s Market, and was very impressed at the number of people that were taking interest in the guys that were selling rain barrels for the low low price of around $100. Which, to their credit, is actually a VERY reasonable price. But I wanted cheaper. Like…the price of a couple of beers cheaper. And with us living a such a drought-likely area, having a rain barrel seems like a logical thing to do.
So I thought to me-self: who in town would have a heapum big load of plastic barrels? My brain eventually landed on the Coca-Cola bottling plant (which, as it turns out is only corporate offices). I gave them a ring, and I was connected to Marilyn, a lovely lady who informed me that the Jefferson Soil and Water Conservation people had contacted her about this earlier in the day. Long story short, she’s been trying to get this program running for a while now; a program where the Coke offices here will have the 55-gal syrup drums shipped down to Charlottesville from Baltimore, and given away for free(!) to interested parties. She told me that she is building up ammo to present this to her higher-ups, and is looking for support. Our support.
If this is something that you either support or would like to have at your own shack, please contact Marilyn at marilynpbartoes@cokecce.com
After you have your barrel, you’ll need about $15 in supplies, and you’re off. Off to water your pansies, Koi garden, or mud wrestling pit.
Directions after the break
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In case you didn’t know what you should be doing this week, you should be participating in Charlottesville’s own Earth Week. Sponsored and promoted by a local group known as Earth Week Online, the event, scheduled around the 3rd week in April (i.e. now), is about creating awareness around being green on a local level. The events during the following week are meant to build awareness for an internationally recognized, Earth Day on April 22nd.
Started in 1970, Earth Day has grown substantially. Today, through the Earth Day Network, over 15,000 organizations in over 174 countries participate in growing the environmental movement and promoting a vision for a sustainable and healthy planet.
Earth Day’s formal mission is to:
broaden the environmental movement worldwide and to educate and mobilize people, governments, and corporations to take responsibility for a clean and healthy environment
So, we challenge you, cVillains, to do something for Earth Day and tell us what you are doing so we can all get involved. How are you going to mobilize your workplace, your friends and Charlottesville to make the world we live in a better place?
More Resources:
For an interview with the leaders of Charlottesville’s Earth Week, go to Charlottesville Podcasting!
A list of events from Charlottesville’s Earth Week group is after the break:
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It’s not every day that a Charlottesvillain gets a 6 page feature article in Vanity Fair.
I haven’t heard of William McDonough until I read this article in Vanity Fair. He has an office in Charlottesville and he’s pretty much a baller. He brings a philosophy and vision for modern design and architecture. The front of his site reads:
I believe we can accomplish great and profitable things within a new conceptual framework—one that values our legacy, honors diversity, and feeds ecosystems and societies . . . It is time for designs that are creative, abundant, prosperous, and intelligent from the start.
But, in a nutshell McDonogh’s thinking a can be thought of a as mission to bring our consumption habits back to a natural life cycle. I don’t think I can really do a better job than the Vanity Fair article or the video below, but this guy is pretty amazing.
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One of UVA’s engineering brains is working on a thesis to discuss what she calls “food miles,” or the distance it takes food to travel before it has been consumed. Lauren Doucette says the “average grocery store carrot has traveled 1,600 miles before it is eaten.”
She must love food, because she plans to analyze the relative energy consumption of The Charlottesville City Market and compare it to other sources of food. She calculates all the energy associated with travel and technology of the 90 vendors at the Market.
She explains:
Through my energy calculations, I found that the amount of energy it takes to transport goods to and from the Charlottesville City Market for one day is about 13,000 kilowatt-hours. This is about how much energy the average household uses in one year
She hopes to help the community understand how to make the Market more efficient.
P.S. The Market opens in 4 weeks, first thing in April!
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