Blog : May 2010
BP oil spill ought to be call to arms, not an admission of defeat.
If there’s one thing more devastating, more indicative of the horror being wrought in the Gulf of Mexico than the video footage of the leak itself, or the similarly stark images of sludge-cloaked coastlines literally suffocating to death, it’s the rolling tab of the number of gallons per second being flung endlessly shoreward.
37,171,900… 37,171,911… 37,171,922.
Eleven gallons a second. And that’s BP’s estimate.
Five weeks and counting after one of the most devastating and confounding environmental disasters in world history, all parties involved – BP, the federal government, Transocean, Haliburton – are no closer to capping the well than the day Deepwater Horizon exploded, taking 11 lives and countless livelihoods along with it.
They tried filling it with cement. They tried golf balls. They tried collecting it in a giant floating box. They attempted something called “top kill”, which, ironically and sadly, was the stop-gap method we first tried and watched fail 31 years ago when a similar well – this one a mere 200 feet below the surface – erupted in the Gulf.
Now, incredibly, BP is trying to convince the feds to allow them to drill next to the existing, gushing well. The ostensible reason for such a strategy would be to relieve the pressure on the busted main, which would be achieved as soon as the new well is drilled… four to six months from now. But hey, at least we’ll be getting more oil! See, it’s not a total loss….
And yet, after all this – after tapping the brains of Nobel laureates and physicists and experts from dozens of disciplines, after throwing every kitchen sink in the Kohler factory at a disaster that in 10 years is going to make the Exxon Valdez spill seem like one of Lindsey Lohan’s late night tree runs. After all this….
37,820,422…. 37,820,434…. 37,820,446
Memorial Day Plant Sale and Green Garden Workshop - May 29th at ReStore
Habitat for Humanity's ReStore in Dover is hosting a plant sale on May 29th from 9am to 5pm to fund a duplex they are currently building in Farmington. In addition to quality, gently used building supplies, ReStore will be selling plants and hosting garden workshops. Plants bought on the 29th get you a 20% coupon off your next ReStore purchase.
The ReStore sells new and used home building materials that have been donated to the store by individuals and businesses. The items are generally sold at 30 to 80% off the original cost. Proceeds from purchases at ReStore go towards building homes for families in need.
Just in time for summer: $10 GA tanktops!
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We know it's May. We know it's not really supposed to be 90 degrees in May. But we're celebrating anyway!
Now for a limited time, we're offering our popular GA tanktops -- in both brown and green -- for just 10 bucks. Unfortunately, they're still listed at full price on our "Join" page, so if you want one, send us an email directly and we can arrange a way to get one to you.
As the summer hearts up, show your support for green businesses who are helping to make May more like.... May.
Email elizabeth@greenalliance.biz for more details.
GA advocacy gets access to NH Public TV website
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The Green Alliance blog is now available on New Hampshire Public Television's website. The decision to provide an RSS feed of our educational and engaging stories on sustainable commerce is exciting. This move enlarges the audience scope of our advocacy. Also the organization’s website establishes greater legitimacy for the work of the Green Alliance.
The Green Alliance is proud to be partnering with NHPTV. This allows us one more vehicle to spread the good word about sustainable business practices. It also helps to share our little GA secrets beyond our website. The Green Alliance is currently sponsoring NHPTV's Planet Granite series; a year long program that highlights environmental solutions across the state. Tune in Thursday at noon and Saturdays at 5 pm to catch Planet Granite.
To see the blog’s new feed, click here
Monoxitube....
Here at the GA, we try to be on our best behavior. At least on our website (anyone who has ever been in our office knows this is far from the case). We try not to post things that are too incendiary, controversial, or polarizing. We’re not in the business of shock for the sake of shock.
But when it’s shock for the sake of thought, or shock for the sake of awareness, we’re sometimes willing to take a second look and go out on a limb. When the following video was sent to us, we didn’t know what to think – or do. At first our reaction was to provide a link to the group in some obscure corner of our website, where we could avoid the flak, as it were.
But then we watched it again. A few times. And then it hit us: sometimes it’s precisely the shocking, risky things that compel one to think more critically about the issues we face, as a society and as a planet.
That being said, here is our final disclaimer: THE FOLLOWING VIDEO CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH MAY BE OFFENSIVE TO SOME VIEWERS. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED. I’ve always wanted to say that.
For more information on the Monixitube campaign, click here!
Perkins Lawn Mower offers cleaner, greener electric mowing options
By Jim Cavan
Ten years ago, when electric lawn mowers were first put to market en masse, very few retailers offered the cleaner, greener option.
Now, a decade later, electric lawn mowers have become more reliable, more versitile, and – perhaps most importantly – more affordable. But while the popularity may have grown and the technology improved, one thing hasn’t: Then as now, Exeter’s Perkins Lawnmower is proud to offer the latest in green mowing options.
Perkins, a third-generation, Exeter-based family purveyor of lawn equipment and maintenance services, is a business that has literally grown with the technology. They started back in the early 50s selling and servicing reel push mowers – the old-school workhorses you’d expect to see on the Flintstones and which, sadly, have been relegated to collecting dust in barns and basements.
Even their logo harkens to this sense of history and change, depicting the profile of a five-blade reel mower along with the company name.
As gas-powered options exploded onto the scene in the 60s, Perkins expanded their business along with the changing technology, which began to include a versatile range of both push and riding mowers.
Then came the advent of the electric mower in the late 90s. And while Perkins was more than happy to offer the gas-free options, co-owner Keith Perkins claims the fervor for cleaner, greener mowers took another decade to truly accelerate.
“When Toro first came out with their battery option 10 years ago, they were really early to the market, and the demand just wasn’t there,” explains Perkins. “A lot of companies had options out there that they took off the shelves, but the last three or four years the demand has been getting very high, and these options are becoming more and more popular.”
Currently Perkins offers a few different kinds of electric options. There’s the Country Home Products Neuton push mower, which is battery operated and electric. Perkins has been offering this model since it came out nearly a decade ago, and it has quickly grown to become one of their most popular lines.
Zev Yoga to offer free classes, new teachers for first weeks in June
By Jim Cavan
Ever since opening his Market Square studio on New Year’s Day 2009, Jonas “Zev” Amberger has been a one-man yoga machine.
With dozens of students flocking to the studio’s spacious, wooden-floored 2nd story studio every day, being the only instructor – while an oft-rewarding challenge – can also exhausting.
Luckily for Zev, help is on the way: he’s spent the last sixteen months training a new crew of seven teachers to help take the pressure off his ever-growing business. To celebrate, Zev Yoga will be offering free drop-in classes from June 1st through the 11th.
While the specific schedule has yet to be hashed out, Zev contends that there will be plenty of day and evening classes available.
Amberger, who aside from some guest teachers has been the studio’s sole instructor since it opened its doors in early 2009, must feel pretty confident about the abilities of his disciples: he’s actually leaving town and heading out to Seattle for the first part of June, leaving the studio exclusively in the hands of the newly-minted instructors.
“Most of them have been studying with me for a while, and some for as long as ten years,” explains Zev. “But the philosophy of the teacher training was to help them discovery their own unique voice and their own unique way of facilitating the teaching of a yoga class. So I wasn’t aiming for a set structure of how they would teach; I wanted their personalities to infuse the class.”
Newmarket Dental Leads the Way for Other Green Dentists
By Barona DiNapoli
It was about a year ago when Dr. Nate Swanson of Newmarket Dental first bravely set foot into the world of green dentistry.
He was timid at first; unsure of what was even available to dentists looking to become more environmentally friendly. However, since these days of cautions exploration, Dr. Swanson has become pioneer for local green dentists.
A little over a year ago, Swanson joined the Green Alliance, a Seacoast-based “green business union” and individual discount co-op, in an effort to promote and bolster his in-house sustainability efforts.
Then this past January, Dr. Swanson attended an annual conference in Boston for the Eco Dental Association (EDA). The conference focused on green dental trends and was attended by almost 80 dentists from the New England area.
“It’s great to discover there are other people working on the issue who can guide and encourage me on the journey!” said Swanson.
New Hampshire's 8th Annual Bike / Walk to Work Day slated for tomorrow
For the Seacoast's eighth annual Bike/Walk to Work Day, on May 21, 2010, Seacoast residents will have more chances than ever to join the healthy, carbon-reducing fun. For 2010, Bike/Walk to Work Day falls under the auspices of Green Commute week, extending the celebration to those who carpool or take public transportation in addition to walkers and cyclists. Register On-Line Free by clicking here!!
SABR is sponsoring 8 "alternative commuter" breakfasts in communities all around the Seacoast tomorrow. Commuters who leave their cars at home that day can enjoy free breakfast and coffee in any of these locations between 7 - 10 AM!
- * Downtown Portsmouth at Popovers Restaurant in Market Square
- * Pease Tradeport at Manchester Square
- * Stratham Industrial Park at Timberland
- * Exeter at the Bandstand
- * Dover at City Hall
- * North Hampton at Gus' International Bike Shop
- * Durham at the Whittemore Center
- * Lee at Stevens Field
All aboard the Thomas Laighton for the GA Greener Shoals Cruise!
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Summer is finally -- and mercifully -- upon us. And just in time for the sunshine, beach trips and walks along the docks, the GA is throwing a celebratory bash to help ring in our second year of helping the Seacoast go green and save green!
On June 17th, one of our newest Business Partners, Isles of Shoals Steamship Company, along with 92.5 The River, will play host to a night of drinks, music, and good green company aboard the famed Thomas Laighton party cruise ship.
The ship boards at 7:30pm, leaves shore at 8, and will cruise until 10pm. All the while, an as-yet-unnamed band, brought to you by The River, will be there to keep everyone dancing.
The party is open to the public (click here to purchase tickets), FREE for Green Card holders (PLEASE RSVP with name and card number to sarah@greenalliance.biz), and will provide a great way to meet local green entrepreneurs! If you're not a GA member, you can buy a Green Card and ticket to board the cruise for $20!
(Please note: when you purchase your tickets and Green Card through Isles of Shoals Steamship Company, you will receive an email ticket confirmation from Isles of Shoals. Please bring that ticket confirmation on the night of the cruise, where you will exchange it for a Green Card.)
Don't miss this summer's premier green event! For more info email info@greenalliance.biz
Green Card holders RSVP to sarah@greenalliance.biz
Guest Blog: Five things to know about Concord Green Commute Week
CONCORD, N.H. -- Concord Area Transit trolleys will be free to ride all day Tuesday as part of the Green Commute Week events here this week. Buses will also be free to ride with a donation of a non-perishable item on Tuesday.
The CAT bus and trolley promotion is one of a full slate of hidden gems that are part of the promotions, activities and themed events throughout Green Commute Week in the Central New Hampshire region being organized by the Program for Alternative Transportation and Health (PATH).
Green Commute Week is May 17-21 and concludes with the Second Annual Concord Bike Swap on May 22-23. For more details on locations and times of events, go to the PATH website at www.path-nh.org.
Green Commute Week kicks off Monday morning at 7 a.m. with a free breakfast event in front of the Statehouse open to everyone. Concord City Councilor Rob Werner will be presenting the Green Commute Week Mayoral Proclamation and issuing the Commute Green Challenge at 7:30 a.m. The event concludes at 9 a.m.
Green Commute Week is part of Commute Green 2010, a six-week statewide promotion encouraging people to stop driving by themselves and to give bicycling, walking, carpooling and using transit to get to and from where they need to go.
Commute Green 2010 is organized by the NH Department of Transportation and Bike-Walk Alliance. Events began on Saturday (May 15) and will go until June 25.
People who use "green" transportation six times or more for any trip during Commute Green 2010 will be eligible to win an overnight stay at the Omni Mount Washington Resort. To qualify, participants should go to the Commute Green 2010 page on the Bike-Walk Alliance of NH website and begin logging their commutes. The website is www.bwanh.org.
People in the Central New Hampshire region are encouraged to fill out the free registration survey for PATH to become eligible for monthly prizes and our Emergency Ride Home benefit.
GA BPs help put finishing touches on Great Bay Kids’ Company for United Way Day of Caring
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On Wednesday, volunteers from a number of local businesses gathered at the brand new Great Bay Kids’ Company (GBKC) for the United Way Day of Caring, in an effort to put some final touches on the newly-minted non-profit child care center.
GBKC, which broke ground at Pease International Tradeport in June 2009 and opened officially in late January, required a few safety and storage adjustments in order to comply with state licensing. Among other landscaping projects, teams stationed indoors installed extensive shelving for the kitchen pantry, as well as bracing dozens of small bookshelves to prevent them from tipping over.
Many of the volunteers were members of the Green Alliance, a local “green business union” and individual discount co-op. Spearheaded by Business Partner Mike Grecco of Affordable Weatherization Solutions, the Green Alliance team included helping hands from sectors as varying as tee shirt retailers and electricians.
According to Grecco, the project was especially important given the licensing requirements that needed to be met. “The level of professionalism that ended up helping out was almost overwhelming,” explains Grecco. “Not only did we get a chance to give back to a community that’s given us all so much, but we fulfilled some pretty important goals for the Kids’ Company too.”
Micum Davis, owner of Cornerstone Tree Care, echoed Grecco’s enthusiasm: “When I first got wind of the project, it seemed like a great thing to be a part of,” said Davis. “And the fact that we’re all a part of the same organization and the same community made it even more positive and fun all around.”
Isles of Shoals Steamship Co. cruises to greener shores
Originally founded in 1962 as Viking Cruises by Arnold Whitaker, the Isles of Shoals Steamship Company has since grown into one of the Seacoast’s most iconic institutions. While the company’s name and ownership may have switched hands, little else has changed: the company still offers a variety of tours to New Hampshire’s historic Isles of Shoals and throughout Portsmouth Harbor and the Greater Piscataqua Region, and it is still thoroughly committed to preserving the amazing history and heritage of the Seacoast.
The Isles of Shoals Steamship Company offers 6 kinds of tours to its historic namesake: one that includes a 45 minute guided tour around the historically important Star Island, and another which lets tourists and sightseers roam around the hallowed grounds for close to 5 hours. Beyond its iconic tours of the Isles of Shoals, Star Island, and Portsmouth Harbor, the company also charters the famous Thomas Laighton “party ship”, where during the summer hundreds pack the vessel to hear the best in local music -- everything from rock cover bands to reggae to DJs -- all while taking in the crisp evening air of summertime on the Seacoast. In fact, the company anticipates offering 3 or 4 of the “party cruises” a week this summer, in the process partnering with radio stations including The Shark, WOKQ, as well as fellow GA Business Partner 92.5 The River.The company also still offers an array of private tours for companies, family gatherings and functions, and organizations of all kinds.
While the company has always been committed to all things local -- they’ve routinely hired undergrads from UNH as interns, giving students with backgrounds in everything from business to recreation management to history real world experience -- the Isles of Shoals Steamship Company has recently become equally dedicated to greening their operations. Among other things, they’re looking closely at switching from plastic to corn-based, biodegradable cups on board the ships, as well as instituting a more effective, and cheaper, recycling program (being on state land, IOS currently has to pay another company to remove their recyclables).
Acorn Organic Salon donates hair to help quell recent oil spill
By Jim Cavan:
The recent gulf oil spill has invited no shortage of solutions. Some say cap it with a giant, four-story cone. Others say clog it with shredded tires and golf balls. Still others suggest continuing with controlled burns, setting small batches ablaze in the hopes it will ultimately disperse.
But Acorn Organic Salon in Dover is touting a far different – and far more environmentally safe – approach: hair.
Last week, owners Allie Degan and Laura McKay began making calls to salons throughout the Seacoast in an effort to collect as much hair and nylon as possible to help aid disaster relief efforts.
Why hair? The answer is actually quite simple: hair, particularly when stuffed into nylon stockings or tubes, can absorb a tremendous amount of oil.
But while similar methods have been used on a much smaller scale with noted success, the most recent spill – which may end up being the largest in history – is anything but small scale.
According to Matter of Trust, a national organization which touts similar, eco-friendly solutions to environmental disasters and relief efforts, salons in the United States produce nearly 150 tons of hair every day. While probably not enough to completely stave off the looming ecological crises in the Gulf, for Acorn’s Allie Degan it’s simply one piece of the puzzle – and a much greener and cleaner one than those currently being proposed.
“This just goes to show that hair has a lot of incredible uses,” explains Degan, whose salon offers all organic and biodegradable products. “Not only is this program a tax write-off for the businesses that participate, but you’re making great use of something that would otherwise have ended up in a landfill.”
According to Degan, before the recent oil spill, Matter of Trust was actually so inundated with hair that they were actually turning donors away. Now, just two weeks after the disaster, they’re “begging for it”.
“We’re just trying to spearhead this effort locally, because, right now, they’re desperate for hair,” says Degan.
So desperate, in fact, that Matter of Trust has stressed recently that even dog hair from pet salons would be accepted.
In an effort to streamline the process locally, Acorn volunteered as a receiving center for any donations in the area. And while boxes of hair tend to cost $25 to ship, Degan made a point to stress that such donations are tax deductible.
If you know of a salon who would be interested in helping with the gulf’s disaster relief efforts, please contact Acorn Organic salon by calling (603) 617-3830, or by emailing acornorganicsalon@gmail.com
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