SuperCute! » Sustainability

And in the Good News Department…

Becky — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:23:58 +0000

Atlanta’s Brown Middle School teamed up with Trees Atlanta and Atlanta Audubon to launch a pilot environmental education partnership. I just love seeing kids learning good habits. I feel like this sort of thing helps shape environmentally responsible grownups! You can read all about the program over at my post on Ecolocalizer!

<3,
Becky

Go Green With a Moss Lawn

Becky — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 20:39:14 +0000

[Creative Commons photo by Timo Newton-Syms]

Dave has been wanting to replace the dirt and weeds out back with a moss lawn for a while, and I finally got around to reading up on them. I knew that traditional lawns were pretty wasteful, but WOW. Check it:

The EPA says that about 15% of the average American family’s water use goes to maintaining their lawn. That’s around 60 gallons of water per day. On top of all that water, Americans dump 67 million pounds of pesticides onto their lawns each year. Read all about how to get a moss lawn going and more on their benefits over on my post at Ecolocalizer!

<3,
Becky

Ten Holiday Uses for Wine Corks

Becky — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 15:12:30 +0000

[Image via Re-Nest]

We’ve written about recycling those wine corks before, so you can imagine my delight when Re-Nest posted this awesome round-up of 10 projects for reusing those corks I’ve been saving! I especially love the idea of wrapping them in twine as a gift adornment!

<3,
Becky

Good News Monday from Twilight Earth

Becky — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 19:22:21 +0000

[Creative Commons photo by Jeff Turner]

I discovered the awesome Twilight Earth not too terribly long ago and frankly fell in love. Today, they rolled out a new series called Good News Monday. Each Monday, they’re going to focus only on good green news. Hurrah! What better way to keep thinking positive, right?

<3,
Becky

Upcycled Shrinky Dinks

Becky — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:34:38 +0000

[photo by SEWphisticate used with permission]

When my friend Genevieve from SEWphisticate wrote about turning #6 plastic into shrinky dinks, I couldn’t resist covering it for Crafting a Green World! I really want to give this a try with the food containers from the Dekalb Farmers Market. I love their prepared food area but hate accumulating all of those plastic containers!

<3,
Becky

Hate Something, Change Something

Becky — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:17:03 +0000

Check out this awesome video, with vocals by Garrison Keillor. It’s a call for clean diesel engines, but I think the message can apply to pretty much anything.

I just love the idea of channeling negative energy towards positive change!

[via Treehugger]

<3,
Becky

Marketing Global Warming

Becky — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:06:27 +0000

George Marshall discusses how treating global warming as a strictly environmental issue allows government and industry to treat it as “not my problem.” Video after the jump!

[via Treehugger]

Cool Local September Events

Becky — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 16:28:29 +0000

So there are two really cool events coming up in Atlanta this month that I wanted to post about. Both are sustainable-living themed and look like they’re going to be a lot of fun!

Sustainable Living Roadshow – Sept 20-21
The Sustainable Living Roadshow is touring the country in biofuelled vehicles spreading the word about green living. They’re hitting Emory University on the 20th and 21st! I’m a little worried that I won’t be able to make this one, since the 20th is the Strut AND the Munny show at MINT Gallery. If I can move at all on Sunday, though, I want to go check it out!

Farmers Market Bike Rally – September 27
September is Local Food Month, and three Atlanta markets are teaming up for a bike rally to showcase the goodness of local food! The rally starts and ends at the Green Market in Piedmont Park and hits two other markets along the way. There’s even music and a picnic lunch afterward!

<3,
Becky

politics of food

Lorigami — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 02:48:44 +0000

Today on the radio I happened to catch a snippet of someone talking about the Slow Food movement, in which they were criticizing the concept as elitist. I hear this an awful lot when people talk about organics, the 100-mile diet, ethically-produced animal products and the slow food movement, and I have to admit that it both bothers and puzzles me. The speaker, who’s name I was unable to catch, was bringing up as an example the fact that when politicians want to appeal to the common man, they often position themselves in some fast food chain restaurant, probably with a Whopper and plate of fries in front of them. Fast food, prepared food, factory farmed meat and potatoes, standardized foods… those are the foods of the “True American”. What happened to the “Victory Garden”, and how crazy is it that in just a couple generations we’ve gone from patriotism = self sufficiency to patriotism = buy everything you need from some corporation!?!
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Embarrassing as it is to admit, I started gardening during the sick years, when I had no income, but a lot of time and land galore. We were beyond broke and had so many dinners centered around figs, blackberries and tomatoes that my husband is still suspicious of anything in a canning jar. To hear that growing and eating your own is considered elitist just leaves me speechless.

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There is a lot more I want to say on this subject, but it will have to wait for another post. I need a day or two to collect my thoughts on this matter, right now I’m having a hard time reconciling the happy meal with true happiness.

xoxo,
Lori

This is the Thing!

Becky — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:25:37 +0000

There was a post on No Impact Man today that made me a little misty-eyed. His pops sent him a picture of the solar panels that he and his mom had installed in the back yard. Their inspiration for this move was Colin’s No Impact project! I love seeing folks inspired by other folks. It’s a nice reminder that just changing our own habits can make a difference.

<3,
Becky