Green Goodness: a Grounded Look at Being Green

From my inbox to you:

Swap-O-Rama Rama! at the CCB Plaza, July 18, 6 - 9pm  Featuring The Scrap Exchange, the Scene of the Crime Rovers, and the Triangle Sound Painting OrchestraThe Scrap Exchange will produce an outdoor Swap-O-Rama Rama including a giant clothing swap and DIY stations for altering clothes. We will also provide a hands-on Make-N-Take with materials for participants to make birthday hats. FREE EVENT

Happy swapping ~ Ashley Sue

Welcome to The Carbon-Free Home, where you can recycle your water and end your home’s dependence on oil, all while composting your own poo!

On May 31st, this Saturday, at Common Ground Green Building Center and Kitchen Design (326 W Geer St), the Durham authors will be signing their newly published book, The Carbon-Free Home.  The book is their lessons learned from their own purchase and renovation of their 1930s Durham residence. 

If you can’t make this Saturday’s signing, check them out again at The Regulator Bookstore on Durham’s 9th Street on June 6th at 7 pm.

Here’s a bit about the authors, Stephen and Rebekah Hren, according to Chelsea-Green publishing:

Stephen and Rebekah Hren live in Durham, North Carolina, where they are both actively involved with renewable energy, natural building, and edible urban gardening. Rebekah works with Honey Electric Solar, Inc., as a professional designer/installer of photovoltaic systems and domestic solar hot-water systems. Stephen is a professional restoration carpenter, focusing on antebellum houses. He teaches natural-building classes and workshops at the local community college, and in any spare time works with Bountiful Backyards, an edible-landscaping cooperative.

I generally steer clear of global warming arguments… so why am I promoting this?

Obviously, besides the cool factor of a Durham couple being so environmentally passionate that they sought out to accomplish the house and the book, I love Common Ground. Forget Home Crappot and go here, the BEST home improvement store in the Triangle ~ seriously! Plus, using recycled products and energy efficient products, not to mention sustainable flooring and cabinet options, all equal a healthier home. A home free of toxic fumes and residual poisons. THAT is really important to me no matter what your stance on greenhouse gases.

So check out this local couple and absorb the awesome mission they took on.  Get to your locally-owned bookstore, buy The Carbon-Free Home, and get to the book signing!  Then get your booty cooking on oil-independence!

Sustainably yours, Ashley Sue

I visited Twig this week, a unique store here in the Triangle (Chapel Hill) that sells sustainability, community and eco-awareness at sustainable prices, and this weekend (May 17) they are partnering with local non-profits, but more on that later.

I loved talking with the staff. The owner shared that everything in the store has a story, and the staff will enthusiastically share the stories with you.

Some items are practical, like the smart strips that reduce phantom power usage in your home, the LED lightbulbs that will one day replace CFLs, the Envirosax for fun and stylish shopping, stainless steel water bottles and Dynamo rechargeable radio and flashlights.

Some items are beautiful, such as the garden tools, the Bambu kitchenware, the Reinbarnation pieces by Roger Dinger, a Chatham County Artist, and the salt rock lamps from the Himalayans that help reduce allergies.

Some items are child friendly, like the cooperative games (lets play together, not against each other), organic and locally-made baby clothing and USA-made wooden toys.

Some of the toys (like the cars in the slideshow below) are for the kid in ALL of us… or the jewelry, which is fun, sustainably made and sophisticated.

Mainly, I walked away KNOWING that Shawn Slome (the owner) and his staff know that sustainability is not a catch phrase du jour. It isn’t about carrying all “organic”, or all “local” goods. It isn’t about novelty. And it certainly isn’t about being a crunchy granola or extravagantly priced. Sustainability is about supporting your local community through a harmony of ideals. That’s pretty amazing.

Check out the invitation to you all from the owner:

Dear Friends and Associates:

I would like to invite you to a Fundraising Festival “Twig” is launching on Saturday, May 17 to benefit local non-profits. For those of you who don’t already know, Twig is the Triangle’s new eco-friendly shop focusing entirely on sustainable, organic and fair trade products.

The Festival is a celebration of our community and particularly of the many organizations that work to protect our environment, nurture our children and make our community a safe place for everyone to thrive.

The event will take place at Twig from 8am to 8pm:
Village Plaza (next to Whole Foods)
99 S. Elliott Rd. • Chapel Hill 27514
(919) 929-8944

Most of our non-profits will be on hand with information tables so you can stop by and say howdy. Twig will donate to our partners 20% of the revenue generated from the event.

We will have live music for most of the day, several door prizes and some tasty snacks provided by Whole Foods.The list of participating non–profits:

Eno River Association NC
Museum of Life and Science
Haw River Assembly
NC Audubon Society
Piedmont Wildlife Center
Triangle Land Conservancy
Toxic Free NC
NC Community Shares
Rainbow Soccer
Bonjour Africa
The Abundance Foundation
American Civil Liberties Union
Orange County Rape Crisis Center
PTA of Chapel Hill
Emerson Waldorf School

I hope you can join us in the fun and make some connections with those that contribute so much to our quality of lives. I would appreciate it if you can help spread the word about this special day.

My advice… check out Twig this weekend. You will LOVE it. Trust me.

Sustainably yours, Ashley Sue

So, as I mentioned previously (April 19th), Marc and I attended the Raleigh Planet Earth Celebration for Earth Day after I got home from Herbfest.

I also previously mentioned that Herbfest was actually awesome while Raleigh’s huge hoopla was… well, less than awesome.  And that’s being nice.  Unless you are under the age of 12.  Or you happen to have children under the age of 12.  Then, and only then, you may have found Raleigh’s event worth going to.

I nearly decided to scrap the video from the Raleigh event, but I might as well share my highlights from the event.  See for yourself and let me know if I’m overreacting.

Regardless, I think from here on out, I’ll go to Durham’s Earth Day Celebration.  It was only supposed to be from 12 - 6 pm, and I hear that they were having to FORCE people to leave at 7 pm!  Raleigh, on the otherhand, promised Rockstar fun for everyone from 11 - 7, and by 530, it was nothing but sloppy seconds.

As a seasoned manager once said, it’s better to under-promise and over-deliver than to promise the world and disappoint.  Take note of that, Raleigh.  I *won’t* be giving you a second shot next year, no matter whether my fave band is supposed to play or not (since you have them play at 4 pm!).

Planning a wedding can be difficult, but if you want to be a bit more eco-friendly and have a “green” wedding, your headache in finetuning the details may just be starting.

The Green Life has a whole slew of tips for your big day…  Some suggestions are reasonable, and some are a bit too… er… “granola” for me. 

Cheers to choosing locally grown, organic flowers for your day, and everyone can find beautiful vintage jewelry for the day, but I’m not down with lab-created diamonds (though that’s better than conflict diamonds, no doubt), and I think wooden wedding rings are a complete joke (aren’t the rings symbolizing “forever”?).

Hemp wedding dresses or borrowing a friend’s dress is lousy (sorry, just not my thing), and in all honestly, not many guests are going to understand (or bother) to Read the rest of this entry »

I just stumbled (twittered, actually) onto the coolest website called Green Mom Finds.  I had as much fun finding this as when I found Raise A Green Dog!  Just like Raise a Green Dog, Green Mom Finds is a really grounded way to get info on healthy living, fun finds, eco-responsible shopping, and just in general living fun! 

It is not just for families… being human is the only characteristic you need to dig this site.  Actually, even Johann and the other pooches will love the push for pesticide free lawns!

Love it, definitely going on my blogroll… check it out!

Further, Living Green in a Red State is not as in-depth as Green Mom Finds, BUT this one is a one-woman show, chock full of great personal insight as to cleaning products, diapers… or even being “diaper free” (well worth the read for all moms and upcoming moms!).  She’s another on my blogroll who can def tell you about greening the family…

So check out all three (Finds, Dog and State) and get a jump on the Rockstar easy ways to get healthier, for you, your fam and your environment!

WholeFoods on Wade Avenue in Raleigh is my favorite WholeFoods, and unfortunately, I’ll not be able to attend this, but for Earth Day, WholeFoods (Raleigh) is having a ROCKSTAR Fashion Show with Celebrity Judge (drumroll!) ~ our own (NBC 17) Tica Lema!!

Get there, get pictures, and you can guestblog it here if you want! 

From my inbox to you:

Tuesday, April 22 at 6:00 pm Whole Foods Market in Raleigh will hold a fashion Read the rest of this entry »

From Durham to Raleigh to Pittsboro to Chapel Hill to Clayton to Wake Forest, the entire Triangle is getting down and getting dirty to celebrate Mother Earth this Saturday (April 19th).  Here are some of the Rockstar events going on THIS weekend, as well as which ones you are apt to see me! Read the rest of this entry »

The Durham Chamber of Commerce “Professional Women’s Network” is giving you Durham gals an opportunity to “recycle” your business clothing and accessories at their Spring Fling this Thursday evening at The Hill House.

So, all the while mingling and networking with Durham business women, you can know that you are helping green the world by reusing your unwanted clothing.  This process also gives local women a hand in dressing for success so that they, too, can make their dreams come true, find financial independence and acquire the business and networking skills that we all too often take for granted.

From my inbox to you:

The Professional Women’s Network, a program of the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce, will sponsor its annual Spring Fling networking reception on Thursday, April 10, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Hill House in

Promoting financial independence, engaging with the community and reusing your great quality professional clothing… waste-free sustainability is such a beautiful thing. 

After having quite a debate in a recent post (see comments) about the importance of third-party testing of products, we can all conclude that companies must be accountable for their products and actions. 

Green Daily (a while back) shared The Six Sins of Greenwashing… and in my opinion, it works two ways.  The comments section is pretty alive with one poster on a more than self-righteous ground, feeling that if you don’t move into use only a bus, stop buying anything at all and make your own food, cleaner and clothing, then you can’t make a difference.  She says some relevant stuff but then follows it by saying that only a select few actually care about the environment. 

That, to me, is greenwashing ~ the type that SCARES off people from making any difference in altering things along the way in their everyday lives; the type that teaches people that no matter what they do, they are irrelevant in the big picture ~ unless they foresake everything they know, as they have known it. 

I, inspired by those that lead in this movement of social and environmental responsibility, believe that positive encouragement leads to great change.  On the flip, gloom and doom motivates very few.

Mark Twain said (and I’m not the only one who LOVES this quote): 

Keep away from those who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you believe that you too can become great.

The sin she (the aforementioned commenter) commits is as bad as driving a 1985 Suburban and throwing your cigarette butts and Mickey D wrappers out of your window ~ she implies ‘You are not good enough and your difference Read the rest of this entry »