Cornerstone Treecare joins fight against nitrogen pollution in Great Bay

Local arborist Micum Davis of Portsmouth has become the newest member of the New Hampshire Coastal Protection Partnership’s Board of Directors.

Founded in 2008 by a group of local experts and citizens concerned about declining water quality in the Great Bay Estuary, NH Coast is a Portsmouth-based nonprofit organization dedicated to combining sound science with education, collaboration and advocacy to protect the natural resources of the coastal watershed and effect long-term visible change.

“I was honored to be asked to join the organization,” said Davis, who has been active in the group as a donor and program sponsor for several years now.

NH Coast’s grassroots efforts to encourage Seacoast property owners to adopt estuary friendly lawn care techniques proved to be particularly appealing for Davis. Now the owner of Cornerstone Treecare, he got his start as an entrepreneur in the lawn care industry.

“I purchased a small lawn care business in 1997,” Davis recalled. “One of the things I noticed early on was there were a lot of chemicals being applied to lawns around the area. The way lawns were reacting, along with my own research, showed me that this was not benefiting lawns. In addition to upsetting soil ecosystems, these fast release fertilizers were not fully absorbing and that reality was effecting more than homeowners realized.”

“It scared me to see all that stuff being put down, running off into ecosystems, and the watershed,” he said. “From my perspective, organic offered a valuable alternative. Seeking Organic Solutions, or SOS, became my catchphrase at the time, and SOS still marks my vanity license plates.

Cameron Wake PhD. to speak in Rye about energy and climate change in NH

“Climate changes. It always has and it always will,” says Cameron Wake, an associate professor at the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space at the University of New Hampshire.

Wake will be delivering a talk on January 31st on the issues surrounding climate change, specifically as they relate to us and our future in New Hampshire. His talk will discuss new research into this field.

Many different indicators of climate change agree that the northeastern US has been warming over the last forty years. This change has had obvious impacts on both ecosystems and economic sectors.

“The decisions we make over the next decade regarding how we produce and use energy will determine the future climate of New Hampshire,” says Wake.

The extent to which we may inadvertently change the climate is scary enough. But issues of sustainable energy are directly related to our financial security as well.

“Improving our energy efficiency and developing local sources of energy can improve our economy and our energy security, and reduce our vulnerability to price spikes for oil and gas in the future,” says Wake.

The talk will be held at the Rye Library on Tuesday, January 31st, at 7:00pm, and will be free and open to the public

Landscaper Brian Wade serves on the board of directors for the 25th Annual Trans NH Bike Ride for Muscular Dystrophy

Being the owner of one of the most environmentally friendly and innovative landscaping companies in the industry would have been impressive enough. But for Brian Wade, owner of Wade Landscaping & Property Maintenance LLC, good deeds come in numbers. A sustainability pioneer committed to educating employees and the community about green issues, Wade is also a professional firefighter, and serves on the board of directors for the Annual Trans NH Bike Ride to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Wade has been a pioneer of sustainability in his field since his company's inception. Wade Landscaping uses organic hydroseeds and eschews the chemically harmful fertilizers used by most other landscaping companies. They compost clippings and recycle mulch. Their equipment uses non-toxic 2-cycle fuel, and all vehicles run on Simply Green BioFuels. The company also has an anti-idling policy which significantly reduces their carbon emissions.

Wade's endeavors to educate about sustainability are commendable as well. He has contributed to local publications including Foster's Daily Democrat and the Dover Daily News to inform individuals about steps they can take to reduce their impact on the environment. Wade keeps employees up-to-date about the products the company uses and how employees can make greener choices at home.

Sustainability isn't just about environmentalism, though. Another important part of sustainability is the work of strengthening communities and striving toward a better quality of life for all. This isn't news to Wade, who, when he isn't working toward a healthier planet or saving people from fires, finds time to serve on the board of directors for the Annual Trans NH Bike Ride, an event that raises money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

“We are a group of people who share a passion for helping those afflicted with muscular dystrophy. This ride was started over 25 years ago by a bunch of firefighters who cared and it has only grown since. This year we expect over 100 cyclists.” Wade says.

Indeed, the Annual Trans NH Bike Ride to benefit the MDA was started in 1988 by a group of firefighters from Salem, NH. The first ride was undertaken in August of that year by just eight cyclists. In the years since then, the ride has grown to include about 100 riders annually. The ride traverses the state from Canada to Massachusetts, a journey of 250 miles, over three days in June. All funds raised remain in New Hampshire and support those affected by muscular dystrophy. Last year, this amount topped $125,000.000.

Living sustainably can be complex, especially for lovers of real books and mail

By Ann Stromgren, a student at Macalester College in Saint Paul, MN, spending winter break at home in Portsmouth volunteering with the Green Alliance.

The commitment to living sustainably can be a difficult one to maintain, not only because of the logistics involved. In some cases, traditions, values and personal convictions make the ideal of green living complicated to pursue. For example, it's greener to go paperless than relying on tangible documents, but any passionate lover of books—not just publications, but physical tomes—will fight any green activist who tries to pry the pages from her hand and replace them with a Kindle. For many, the digital alternatives to printed materials offer only a depressing shadow of the experience of reading.

And what of those who love hand-written mail, the kind decorated with endearing stamps, that comes in the mailbox, the kind that can be saved in a shoebox for generations? The carbon footprint of a letter, Berners-Lee informs us in his book How Bad are Bananas?, is 140g CO2E, that is, if it's written on recycled paper and recycled by the receiver. Compare that to the 4g CO2E required to send an email, and the choice seems obvious. But although the greener way to correspond is digitally, this is one sustainability choice that isn't simple for everyone.

Sarah Brown of the Green Alliance records “green tips,” which are broadcast daily on 92.5 River, a Green Alliance business partner. These tips offer listeners ideas about how individuals can decrease their footprint. Approaching the holidays, one of her suggestions was to send Holiday e-cards instead of paper cards. An innocuous enough suggestion...for anyone who doesn't think e-cards are tacky. Then Sarah received an email from Elissa Donnelly, a letter carrier who has been performing this vital but thankless job for two and a half decades. Elissa was upset that Sarah's green tip had seemed flippant toward the postal service and dismissive of letter writing as a form of communication. In addition, Elissa emphasized the personal and social value of writing real letters, cards, and thank-yous, and the detrimental effect that the wide-spread push toward digital media and communication is having on children.

There's no comparison between an online note and a real piece of mail, says Elissa, especially around the holidays. Elissa and her husband love receiving Christmas cards and dressing them up on the mantle. “You can't do that with e-cards,” Elissa says. While receiving e-mail can seem like work, even if it's personal, getting mail is always exciting. “There is nothing so wonderful than to get home from work and get a Christmas card from someone,” says Elissa. “Hopefully it has a picture of your grandchild in it, or a niece that you don't get to see, or the children from a friend from high school. People are so wrapped up in their electronics, I fear for my grandchildren. They probably will never turn a page on a book or play with a puzzle. No more toys for them, they will all be on an iPod or an iPad. They will never write with a pen or pencil...they will never write or mail a letter or send a thank you card.”

“Letter writing is really a lost art,” says Elissa. With everything becoming digital, Elissa fears that “there's going to be a lot less personal interaction” in the future. iphones aren't even made for talking, she notes, but for texting, which serves to separate people even further. Another problem with the current digitization of communication is that “kids aren't being taught handwriting.” With the prevalence of spell-check, they're not learning proper spelling, either. As someone who is meticulous with words but has grown up coddled by spell-check, I often lament my own inability to spell even words I use every day—it's embarrassing.

Although I am also a child of the digital age, I love everything about real personal mail. I love sitting down with a notebook and a pen to immerse myself in a long letter to a far-away friend, only really discovering through the process of forming the characters by hand how I feel about the events I'm relating and about the relationship that my letter will strengthen. I love choosing postcards and carefully pairing each image with each note. I love putting stamps on paper. I love the fact that it only takes a name and a couple of words and numbers for my mail to reach its recipient, something that still strikes me as quaint and improbable. I love checking the mailbox every day to be disappointed by nothing or junk mail—it's worth it for that one day when there's a card or a letter. I love unfolding the pages and working to discern the scribbles and noticing when changes in penmanship align with changes in the writer's mood. I can more than relate to Elissa Donnelly's concerns about respecting mail as a form of communication, and acknowledging the often grueling work that she and other postal workers put into transmitting my correspondence.

A Perfect Move reflects on year of growth, giving

The Holiday Season offers many an opportunity to reflect on the past year – its lessons learned and disappointments, fond memories and accomplishments.

For businesses, the exercise is much the same. And if your business is really lucky – like A Perfect Move – you can count in your favor far more of the last two than the first.

Last Tuesday, the Kittery-based moving company hosted a year-end wrap-up event at their headquarters just south of Route 1.

Joined by a group of senior health care providers – with whom they’ve helped host similar events in the past – A Perfect Move gave all in attendance the opportunity for a 60-second “year in review,” either as a speech or by way of PowerPoint presentation.

There was just one, small catch: Each company had to pay for its 60-second spotlight with canned and boxed goods , which were given to the Footprints Food Pantry.

For Genevieve Benton – who along with daughter Erin and son James own and operate APM – the event marked the end of a busy year for the three-year-old company.

“Our goal was to illustrate what a group of people with good hearts and a desire to do good, could put their hands together and do something great,” said Benton. “We felt like we ended the year on a strong, positive note.”

Of course, APM took time to highlight their own accomplishments for 2011 – a year which saw the company move their headquarters from York to their much more visible Kittery locale – by way of a multi-slide PowerPoint presentation, complete with photos.

Just weeks after opening their new home’s doors, APM launched Gentiques, a non-profit repurposing store which donates 100% of its profits – earned through selling furniture and other materials donated by customers and other community members – to various local charities.

Take advantage of Monday Madness at Shawnee Peak!

It's the Monday after Christmas, and chances are many of us woke up with the familiar realzation that maybe we didn't really need that last chocolate pretzel or slive of apple pie a la' mode. 

What better way to burn off those Yuletide calories than hitting the slopes at Shawnee Peak! Today, from 4pm until close, the famed ski mountain -- located in Bridgton, Maine -- is offering lift tickets for just $16!

While Seacoast residents might have woken up to a light dusting on their porches or cars, over the past four days Shawnee Peak received seven inches of natural snow. Combine that with the resort's state-of-the-art, high efficiency snow-making equipment -- which recycles water from nearby Moose Pond -- and you got yourself a great day for skiing!

So head on down to Shawnee Peak, and be sure to check out the great additional discounts to be had by Green Alliance members!

To learn more about Shawnee Peak and to see their complete winter vacation schedule, click here!

Won't you be our Santa?

We at the Green Alliance want a Christmas present from you. You heard us; we're asking you for a specific gift that will only take a minute, and that benefits everyone.

We want you to purchase a Green Alliance membership. Right now. We've spent all year being nice (not naughty) to our community, as we've connected citizens and green businesses in an attempt to bolster the local economy, create jobs, and protect the environment. We've partnered with non-profits like NH Coast and the Northeast Organic Farming Association to protect our ecosystem and support local agriculture. We've given away lift tickets to Shawnee Peak, passes to the Squam Lakes Natural Science Center, gondola rides at Wildcat Mountain, and countless gift certificates for use at our Business Partner locations. Now we asking for something from you, our readers:join the Green Alliance, renew your membership, or purchase a gift membership if you're already a member.  

Because without Green Cardholders paying their annual dues, our model doesn't work the way it was designed. No more discounts at local green businesses; no more free, fun events; and no more promotion of the businesses that are doing the right things for their communities, and the environment. We may as well just declare, "it's every man for himself". 

It's in your hands. Give us your support - the best Christmas present of all - and everybody wins. You could even give us a fabulous Christmas gift by purchasing a Sustaining Membership, or becoming a Green Alliance Benefactor. That will earn you a big kiss under the mistletoe! (optional)

So merry Christmas and happy hannukah from all of us at the Green Alliance! For those of you who already support us, our deepest thanks. For everyone else, we're asking you to demonstrate your support by joining our growing, and very special community.