Fall is here! And with it, Peace!

Last Monday, my Contemporary Green Living class participated in the International day of Peace by parading around downtown Boone celebrating peace. This was a very neat event because it really brought people together, and also promoted other ideas. Peace not only encourages unity of purpose, mind and cause, but also sustainability. By bringing individuals together over something they can agree on, we can increase our awareness of the world around us, and in turn, create a positive lifestyle to live by.

Well, the Boone Monsoon of 2009 has finally ended. After a cumulative +/- 8 Days, the rain has finally stopped and fall is bursting forth with all its might! This past weekend was parent's weekend up here at Appalachian, so they came up and we took a hike to Hebron. Unfortunately, since the Monsoon hadn't ended yet, we had to hike in the rain, and had to pass up on climbing to the top of the falls. However, the views were still great and the river was running high...(In some spots, climbing to the falls became a little tricky due to this rise!).

We then attended the football game against Samford, who was defeated 20-7....Go Mountaineers! And after the game, I did my best to pick up all of the trash in my area, recycling what little I could. One of the biggest environmental pet peeves of mine is Styrofoam. There at the game, since it was cold and wet, everyone was getting hot chocolate and coffee in these cups, and when the game was over, the trash cans were overflowing with this indestructible refuse. If only we could find a way to take old Styrofoam and recycle it into something useful...I can not count the number of times I have been traveling on a trail or paddling down a river and spotted Styrofoam wedged into places it shouldn't be. I just want to yell at all of the people getting take out boxes from the cafeteria made of Styrofoam....why can't you just put it on a tray and a reusable dish??

So, I try to compensate for that by always picking up bottles and paper along the street, to ensure its safe voyage to a nearby recycling bin. That's pretty much it for the weekend, but I will have a post coming later tonight about the event of today...

A Little Bit of Everything

This past week I spent my energy towards green activities that I could do indoors. We are in a constant cloud up here in Boone, and things aren't looking like they'll be improving anytime soon! So, wandering to the Student Union, I sought out a nice cup of coffee to clear away the fog that seeped into my mind, but not just any old cup of coffee, Shade Grown Coffee. At Crossroads, they sell Shadegrown coffee that is sold in 100% compostable cups made from recycled paper and lined with a plastic made from corn. So, after enjoying that nice cup of Guatemalan coffee, I was able to relax into the rest of the day.

The next day, I meandered on up to the Beanstalk to poke my head around, noting the Regular's coffee mugs hanging up on the ceiling, and letting Parker fill my head with that wonderful jazz. Walking on down Kingstreet, I stumbled into the Bead Box and their Grateful Grounds coffee shop where they sell FairTrade coffee. (The Mocha Java is excellent!) So, after that, I brought my cup back to recycle it properly, and noted that we now have a glass recycle bin in our dorm...as long as someone takes it to Trivette to recycle it! I then took all my recyclables to the bin, anything to keep busy on the first of many rainy days!

Today's Forecast: Rainy with a 100% chance of Gloom

Since the weather has postponed most of the outdoor events and activities for the latter part of this week, I thought I'd brainstorm a few indoor green activities to keep oneself occupied during the drizzly days of fall.

Want Extreme Makeover Home Edition to come renovate your house? Now you can do it all on your own to create a greener, safer, living environment for you and your family. One of the new hot items out on the market are the low flow energy saving toilets; because by saving water, you're saving electricity, energy, and money! Some of the models include two way handles to flush liquids down with a smaller jet of water, and solids down with a stronger burst of water. Also, don't forget the faucets and shower heads! It's documented that simply by switching to an energy saving water head, a family can save up to $300 a year!

Another way to minimize your energy consumption is by shutting off doors to rooms you don't enter frequently. This allows for a smaller area of the house to be heated/cooled quicker, rather than the entire house, therefore reducing the time your AC unit is running; and guess what, more saved money! Something we practice at my house is lowering the air temperature during the weekdays when we are not in the house. Say someone (Family I) is keeping their AC at 65 degrees in the summer, 24/7. While the family next to them (Family II) only has their air at 70 degrees while they occupy the house, mainly from 5pm-7am, weekdays. Imagine the savings, especially if Family II then raises the temperature to 75/76 when they are not home! Also, check your house for any air leaks that may let unwanted air temperatures to enter your house, every little bit counts!

In the summer, another way to reduce your bill is to leave the windows of your house open at night, allowing the cool air to blow through, and shutting the windows during the day, trapping the cooler air in. This what I'm doing in the dorm room; even if I'm not directly paying for the energy bill of my residence hall, I still like to live up to the growing green standards of the Twenty-First Century.

Finally, I want to discuss the poster child of energy savings, the Compact Fluorescent Light Bulb.

These have become more and more popular as the Green Revolution has swelled with each coming year. Wal Mart who originally refused to sell the bulbs, now has an entire row of light bulbs, just devoted to the CFLs! In my room, my lamp has a CFL in it, as well as my roommate's. All the lamps in my home have them, and millions of Americans are now starting to make the switch. Like all green products, the bulbs can be a bit pricey, but just think int he long term: Would you rather buy one CFL that will last for 7+ years, or would you like to buy a regular bulb almost every year? It's decisions like these that can be made not just on rainy days, but any day of the year! So I encourage you to start making the switch to green products, renewable energy, and sustainable development; because we want this planet, our only planet, to last another 4.5 billion years!

Sustainability Plan

Personal Sustainability Plan
· Over the course of the semester, I will minimize my usage of cardboard cups, and instead use the glass cups provided by the cafeteria.
· I will also become more selective in the products I purchase at local stores. In Earth Fare, I might look for brands of food advertising their commitment to sustainability, such as Back to Nature, which prints on 100% recycled paperboard and utilizes inks made from vegetables.
· I am also conscious of the energy my residence hall puts out, so to reduce the cost/electricity usage, I leave the window open at night, allowing the cool air to come in, so that the AC unit stays dormant.
· Other purchases besides food are important to monitor as well; for instance, stores such as the Salvation Army, Goodwill, and Habitat for Humanity provide items of clothing, furniture, and housewares that are fully functional, and at a good price. By circulating these “Trash-to-Treasure” finds, not only does an individual save money on normally expensive articles, but they save extra packaging of goods and the items themselves that could have been sent to a landfill instead.
· When spring rolls around, I will find a plot of land to farm and grow my own herbs, vegetables, and fruits, so that gas and labor spent on harvesting and importing other fruit will be diminished.
· And most importantly, I will promote these habits throughout the community by example and education, so that others can lead a sustainable lifestyle, and through working together, we can make this world a better place to live.

Labor Day Weekend

For Labor Day, after a four hour drive due to misguided thinking, I was finally able to spend time with my family and relax. On saturday, I spent the day making paper with my mom. That was a blast because I'm making a black waffle clock, based on my metal detecting finds, for my dorm room. It should be nice and dry by fall break, so I'm excited to finish that!

On Sunday, I went with my parents to the Apple Festival in Hendersonville, NC. There, we got to see a great Jazz ensemble of retirees, and we also met up with my aunt and uncle from Spartanburg, SC. The air was filled with the smell of apple fritters and and spiced apple slushes as we paroosed the streets of Hendersonville. I found an apple baking dish that I really liked, from one of the historic makers of North Carolina potters. What you do to prepare the apple is to core it, and place it on the spindle in the middle of the bowl. Then, you can add whatever you want to the dish: cinnamon, nutmeg, honey, butter, brown sugar, blueberries, filo dough, the possibilities are endless! Then, after this step, you bake it in the oven. So, as you can tell, I'm really excited about making something in this dish.

On Labor Day, we went hiking at Black Balsam to pick blueberries. That was amazing like always! Venturing away from the well picked beaten path, we discovered a wonderful patch, or group of patches, that were unpicked, and just waiting for our eager fingers to pick the juicy berries. After spending a good while picking, we got around 1 1/2 gallons, all told. Hiking out, we got to see nature's bounty flourish right in front of our eyes because of a burst of rain. This was a beautiful way to end my weekend break from the hustle and bustle of college life, and nature did a wonderful way of sending me off: