Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country
Founded 05-05-05
April 17, 2008 issue
Earth Day Is Here…What Are You Doing To Celebrate?
Become a Green Business? Wear Blue? Recycle? Turn Off The Lights?
Story by Sam Calhoun
Go ahead; come give your Mother Earth a hug.
You have plenty of options for celebrating Earth Day on Tuesday, April 22. If you own a business, you can adopt a green business plan. Individuals can wear blue to signify a vote for no coal, or recycle, or turn off the lights on Monday. In light of the world debate over global warming, and going green becoming an international phenomenon, Earth Day is a great day to get on board with some solutions and to increase your awareness of the issues.
Watauga County Green Business Plan Arrives
“The Green Business Plan is here,” said Rob Holton, member of the Watauga County Economic Development Commission.
Timed to arrive just before Earth Day 2008, the Green Business Plan is a product of the Watauga County Economic Development Commission and the ASU Energy Center, in partnership with Caldwell Community College, the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce and the Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce. The Green Business Plan is a process for defining and recognizing green businesses in Watauga County.
“Basically, it’s a new certification program and we are already starting to certify some businesses,” said Holton. “Its aim is to have businesses go green in Watauga County.”
The program is simple. A business owner can click to www.greenbusinessplan.com, fill out the certification form, and then work with David Ponder of the ASU Energy Center—the Green Business Plan’s graduate assistant—and a independent third party to receive a 1-star, 3-star or 5-star rating. Once a business is rated, it receives a window decal noting its rating and a website linked to www.greenbusinessplan.com that includes the business’s score, three or four best practices and a link to the business’s main website.
Holton, the creator of the program, believes the Green Business Plan will allow newcomers to the area to easily identify green businesses, and businesses can use their participation as a marketing tool.
The format of the Green Business Plan website is only temporary, said Holton. In the coming months the site will include many more pages explaining the certification process, as well as comments from local businesses on how to become green.
Holton and the Watauga County Economic Development Commission devised the program more than a year ago after becoming inspired by the Mast General Store’s initiative to buy carbon credits from NC Green Power.
“I’ve always been involved in recycling, taking care of the environment and I love the outdoors,” said Holton, former chair of the Watauga County Economic Development Commission. “The Mast General Store triggered the idea and I thought, ‘What could we be doing to support green business with a market-driven approach?’ Many people were interested and I’ve been very pleased with the support. It’s a good fit for the area.
With marketing support from the Watauga County Tourism Development Authority, the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce and the Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce, six businesses in Watauga County are already certified, according to Ponder, and more will come online soon. A formal announcement of the Green Business Plan mission will come in mid-June, said Holton.
“The goal was to have a certain amount of businesses certified by Earth Day,” said Holton.
Developed through focus groups set up and facilitated by Ponder, the Green Business Plan now has standards for all kinds of businesses, from restaurants to lodgings to offices to retail.
“I’ve been helping with the program’s development and I’ve facilitated stakeholder meetings [for the last year] to develop certification standards for Watauga County,” said Ponder. “I basically helped craft the structure of this program.”
Caldwell Community College is arranging a hybrid course to parallel the program. Holton said the course may be available by fall to teach business owners how they can become a green business. Participants will meet in the classroom at the beginning and end of the semester and take the rest of the classes online.
Business owners interested in the Green Business Plan can click to www.greenbusinessplan.com, download the certification form, fill it out and then return it to the ASU Energy Center. Once you’ve completed and sent the application, call Ponder at 828-262-7515 to discuss the next steps.
Recycling 101—A Refresher Course in the Basics
In honor of Earth Day, the Natural Resources Defense Council is providing consumers with a refresher course on the basics of recycling. As one of the most feel-good and useful environmental practices around, recycling protects habitat and biodiversity, and saves energy, water and resources, such as trees and metal ores. Recycling also cuts global warming pollution from manufacturing, landfilling and incinerating.
The Natural Resources Defense Council is taking the traditional recycling thinking a step further by explaining that truly successful recycling involves minimizing waste along the entire life cycle of a product, from acquiring raw materials to manufacturing, using and disposing of a product. Most environmental impacts associated with the products consumers buy occur before they open the package, so buying products made from recycled materials is just as important as sorting waste into the right bins.
Check out these six tips from the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Shop Smart
Purchase paper and other products for your home and office that are made with post-consumer recycled content and packaged in recyclable materials. Buy in bulk when you can to reduce the amount of packaging that gets thrown away.
Convenience Is Key
Put collection bins in various places around your home and office to make recycling convenient. Use different bins that follow your city's recycling policies, so you don't have to separate it later.
Don’t Forget To Reuse
Paper, plastic, glass and cans aren't the only items that should be diverted from incinerators and landfills. Reduce the environmental impacts of organic waste by composting food scraps and by leaving short grass clippings on lawns to decompose. Donate old clothing to homeless shelters, thrift stores, animal shelters and other community organizations. Take advantage of manufacturer take-back programs for unwanted electronics.
Make Waste An Endangered Species
Bring your own reusable bags to local stores. Keep a ceramic mug for water or coffee at work rather than using disposable paper or plastic foam cups. Most cities in the United States have clean, drinkable water, so use tap water and refillable water bottles instead of buying bottled water.
Talk To Your Local Government and Businesses
Encourage local officials to consider incentives and more ambitious recycling initiatives. Give positive feedback to store managers and manufacturers who are making good environmental choices.
Take Your Good Habits On The Road
Recycling policies can vary from city to city and from state to state. A plastic container you recycle at home might be garbage-bound in another community. Or something you can't recycle at home might be recyclable in your school or workplace. When traveling away from home, learn the local rules—from the city's website or by reading signs—and follow them.
Earth Day Celebration at Green Mother Goods April 22
Green Mother Goods, located at 116 West King Street in Boone, will join people all over the world in celebrating the 38th annual Earth Day on Tuesday, April 22. From 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., the theme will be green as patrons enjoy refreshments, arts and crafts and eco-friendly games. Planting seeds is also on the activity list.
“Have fun and learn how to make greener, earth-friendlier choices every day for your home and family,” said Debi Golembieski, co-owner of Green Mother Goods.
In addition to games and refreshments, the Elkland Art Center’s Gypsy Puppet Caravan will take over at 4:00 p.m. with their Trash Puppets that will be “talkin’ about trash,” according to Golembieski. After the show, from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., puppeteers host a workshop on transforming trash into art. The puppets will perform a second show at 5:45 p.m.
Green Mother Goods is donating a portion of Earth Day’s proceeds to the Elkland Art Center, in support of their educational recycling puppet show.
For more information, call 828-262-3525
Wear Blue On Earth Day
In honor of Earth Day, Architecture 2030—a nonprofit, nonpartisan and independent international organization established in response to the global-warming crisis by architect Edward Mazria in 2002—has started the BYOBlue initiative. BYOBlue is asking that everyone across the world wear blue on Earth Day 2008 to signify a vote for no coal.
BYOBlue takes the thinking a step further on Tuesday, April 22, when it asks all American citizens to pick up the phone and call the U.S. Congress at 202-224-3121 to ask for an immediate moratorium on coal and bringing a halt to the construction of any new conventional coal-fired power plants. Through the event, BYOBlue hopes to generate more than 1 million phone calls to the U.S. Congress.
For more information, click to byoblue.org.
Two Recycling Centers at Land Harbor to Open on Earth Day
In honor of Earth Day on Tuesday, April 22, Linville Land Harbor will unveil two recycling centers for Land Harbor residents. The recycling centers will accept clear, brown and green glass; steel and aluminum cans; newspaper; plastic bottles and plastic containers.
For more information, call 828-733-3282.
Mary’s Montessori School Hosts Three Days of Earth Day Activities
Three days of Earth Day events are scheduled for Mary’s Montessori School in Boone.
On Friday, April 18, Mary’s School will celebrate the Canadian Earth Day holiday of Turn Out the Lights Day. On Friday, Mary’s School will use no conventional lights, instead using lanterns and candles for light.
On Monday, April 21, Mary’s School will host a Zero Trash Lunch Day, where all children are encouraged to pack their lunch in reusable containers and use silverware and cloth napkins provided by the school.
On Earth Day on Tuesday, April 22, Mary’s School will host a Recycle Day, where all students are encouraged to bring in glass, aluminum and plastic recycling to have it weighed and brought to the recycling center.
For more information, click to www.marysmontessori.com.