Community Gardens

Gardens just make people happy and community gardens are popping up everywhere. Since the idea of prepping and turning your own soil can seem daunting, especially to urban dwellers and suburbanites, it’s a nice way to share the work load. Not only do you share the weeding and watering, you also share the fun part…harvesting!





Highland Community Victory Garden in Raleigh, North Carolina is not only serving those who directly care for the garden but excess produce is donated to “Plant a Row for the Hungry”. This allows families access to fresh produce who might otherwise go without.



Cullen Whitley is the Garden Coordinator and both his BIG heart and Masters in Horticulture help get the job done.


If you’re in the Raleigh area and interested in joining the Highlands work, it only takes $10 and a commitment of 10 hours. Though Cullen assured me that while no one is turned away because of money, everyone gets their hands dirty! Not in the Raleigh area, no worries, Find a community garden near you

TEO learns how to start a business

Join me on the journey of discovering just how to take that idea and start a business! Read my guest blog post at The Entrepreneur School and watch as I learn from the best. FB users be sure to LIKE IT.

Michelle Obama - Let's Move Campaign

Alpharetta, GA welcomes Michelle Obama on the 1st anniversary of the Let's Move Campaign, a national initiative to fight childhood obesity which has tripled in the last 30 years. The First Lady spoke at Northpoint Community Church and reminded us of the chronic health problems related to obesity; heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, and asthma.

She's right, we didn't get here overnight. Thirty years ago life was much different. Everybody led a more active lifestyle. Personally as a kid, I remember walking at least a 1/2 mile to the bus stop everyday. TV watching was minimal and deliberate-you watched it for a certain show and didn't sit channel surfing. Fast food was considered a treat (gag, imagine that) and only enjoyed on the rare occasion and of course, there were no computers, IPads, or electronic games to keep us physically still and mindlessly unengaged from reality hours on end. Now, put three five pound bags of sugar on the counter. That's how much more sugar we each eat a year than we did in 1970. Thus you have the recipe that helped get America's health where it is.

The good news, kids are sponges and learn by example. Every parent out there has the responsibility to model good behavior. Don't nag, or preach simply make wiser choices yourself starting at the grocery store, cook one more meal a week than you have been, and even if exercising is a simple walk around the block to get started-go for it! Video of Let's Move Speech in Atlanta.

For more on Michelle Obama's visit to Atlanta. Full details on Let's Move Campaign.

In Egypt, TeleFood aids families in small farming communities to cultivate their own sources of food. They do this without the use of pesticides and each agriculture project is designed to be sustained by the local community within 12 months with a budget of less than $10,000. The goal behind each TeleFood project is to give women and children in particular access to better nutrition, as well as, a source of income. Worldwide TeleFood projects.

Recycle to win $5,000!

Kids in 5th-9th grade, listen up! You have the opportunity to win $5,000 for yourself and your teacher (no splitting). Blue Man Group challenges you to create an original instrument from everyday objects around the house or even outside. What a great time to discover what else can be done with those cans and bottles sitting in the recycling bin before they head off for re-purposing. The deadline is February 15, 2011 so go make some music and some money. Click here for videos of what's been done before. FULL Details.
Video below from Blue Man Group Site:

Fox 5 Road Warrior

Fox 5's Stacey Elgin, The Road Warrior, was at Bread Beckers in Woodstock yesterday. She asked The Everyday Organic how changing to whole grains has made a difference. Check out the video!
click on the segment with the photo of slices of bread-4 segments total at Bread Beckers

Jay Shafer's Tumbleweed Houses

It used to be bigger was better. Now Hummers are bummers and McMansions are so yesterday. Smart cars reveal your eco-IQ and living with less is more.

"Less" is certainly relative. Meet a man who not only lives in a smaller house, some would say it resembles their kids' tree house. He's lived there for 10 years, seems happy, and has made a living designing small houses. He's not the only one who thinks less is more.

It's mid summer in the deep South and the AC is running non-stop to keep the house at a modest 78. The thought of a $8/month electric bill is a fantasy for sure. However for Jay Shafer of Tumbleweed, it's reality. Take the home tour.

Biogas Project in Ukraine

For those of you who think all this alternative energy talk is a bunch of…poop, listen to what’s being done with all that poop. It’s being turned into energy. That’s right. GE has launched another, as in it’s already being done elsewhere, biogas project in the Ukraine.

The Ukranian Milk Company Ltd. has been putting the dung of their 4,000 cows to good use. The first biogas cogeneration plant (where electric power and thermal energy are produced simultaneously) in their country has been in successful operation for nine months now.

This provides an alternative disposal option for the milk company and alternative energy for the country; reducing CO2 emissions by an estimated 18,000 metric tons annually according to GE.

Read pg 7 of this article and you’ll find that’s equivalent to taking 17,000 cars off the road. That figure is based on each car being driven 10,000 miles a year. I’m a mom in suburban Atlanta so let’s up that figure to at least 20,000 miles/ year. So it would be more like the equivalent of taking 8,500 cars off the road. Granted, those cars are actually still on the road but it does illustrate the “power” of each decision. Not to mention, what else would they do with all that poop?

Other GE biogas projects are in:
China
Pakistan
Wisconsin, U.S.A

For the load on how all this works, visit GE.

Hyrdoelectricity in Turkey

The United States isn’t the only nation with controversy over what’s best for the environment. Hydroelectric power from the Tigris River in Turkey; sounds harmless enough. But is it?

The Hürriyet Daily News reported this week that only 1 of the 34 completed cases brought to court were not ruled against. Most projects were canceled all together. Why? Environmental concerns. In the past, construction of these power plants has left the land and the fishing industry damaged. The only firm ruled in favor of was one which promises to up its environmental standards. photo by AA


Though 31 more cases are still in progress, Andritz Hydro, and Austria-based firm says all requirements for their contract have been met. Despite some typical and confusing back and forth sited in the article on Hydroworld.com, it seems as if the project may continue with Andritz adding: "Together with ... the hydropower plant, modern waste water treatment plants will be built for three cities, the drinking water supply will be enhanced, and bridges and roads will be built."

It will take seven years to complete the project. The goal: another step in helping Turkey generate 30% of it electricity from renewable energy by 2023.

Empire State Building Goes Green

In an effort to become certifiably green, The Empire State Building is replacing every one of its 6,514 windows. Each one is double-hung and dual-paned which means you’re talkin’ 26,056 panes of glass.

Who’s the lucky contractor? Serious Materials from Sunnyvale, California.

Each pane is retrofit and has a film within the panes of glass to improve energy efficiency. All of this work is being done overnight so there’s no interruption to all those busy New Yorkers as they work away by day.

According to USA Today, the $13.3 million spent on windows is projected to cut their energy consumption by 38% and yield savings of $4.4 million a year. The Environmental Protection Agency's "Energy Star" program has given the Empire State Building a score of 90 out of 100. Pretty good for an 80 year old 102 story building!

Panama City Beach since oil spill

In June tar balls started washing up on the shore in Panama City Beach, Florida. This is the furthest east the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill could be seen thus far. Recently my sister traveled to Panama City Beach and has these photos to report.

Tar balls were found on some beaches. Despite the flattened shape of these in the photo, they do wash up in the form of a ball. Boys will be boys or should I say, men will be men.

Two miles south, however, my sister saw no evidence thus far. According to Govmonitor.com (a public news and information source), 90% of Florida's beaches remain unimpacted. Let's keep our fingers crossed. The Florida Govenor is calling a special session this month to discuss the banning of offshore drilling. For you techies, visit this interactive map for the latest visuals on the oil spill and how wind and water currents are effecting it.