Don't Miss the Boat of Isle of Shoals Steamship Company's New Website!

The new and improved Isles of Shoals Steamship Company website is officially up and running! Faster and more efficient than ever, this new website features some great new tools that can help you stay connected with everything going on at the ISSCo. Keep up to date with the new interactive calendar as well as new website videos and share with your friends using the new social media options!

Speaking of ISSCo events, don’t forget the upcoming Cinco de Mayo upcoming "Party Ship" cruise. Party the night away with some amazing people, groovy music, and drinks. Did I add that a portion of all ticket sales helps the Make-A-Wish Foundation too? For more info and tickets checkout the event page!

Green Earth Baby Works Expands to Portland!

Attention Maine residents: New Hampshire’s one and only diaper service, Green Earth Baby Works of Epping, NH, has recently announced its expansion into the Portland area of Maine, allowing all growing families in the area to breathe a sigh of relief.

GEBW’s unique service provides weekly delivery and pick-up of reusable diapers. It is specifically designed for growing green families who don’t want to use those environmentally hazardous disposable diapers, but also don’t have time to keep washing loads of disposable diapers—all for just $25 a week.

Since 2009, the New Hampshire-based business has expanded into the surrounding states of Maine and Massachusetts to satisfy demand while promoting green parenting. While before, GEBW’s services could only reach the few southern towns of York, Elliot, and Kittery, Maine, it now has the resources to serve the area of Portland, Maine as well!

Kim Leo, founder and president of GEBW, started the business in 2009 after living the reality of being the “green” mom of two children. While she hated the idea of disposable diapers and resolved to use reusable cloth diapers, she still constantly had problems finding green baby products and information in her area.

After accumulating a whole room of products and even more expertise in the matter, she decided to start Green Earth Baby Works to help other new parents in her community find greener ways to raise their families.

GEBW also has its own store in Epping, NH, where families can learn more about green baby products and purchase their own cloth diapers along with a wide variety of green baby products including wraps and carriers, laundry products, clothing items, accessories, and more!

To learn more about Green Earth Baby Works, please visit www.greenearthbabyworks.com.

Green Card holders: Use your Green Card to save 10% on a year's service with GEBW, and get the 13th month FREE! Also, save 10% on all products and accessories!

Local green economy on the rise in spite of economic challenges

What is it about a place that makes you proud to call it home? For most, local pride is rarely found in chain restaurants, franchised merchants or corporate superstores, but rather instilled by the characteristically charming businesses and landmarks that reflect the locale in its own right.

Even before the 2008-marked start of the national recession, economic hardship persisted for local businesses in competition with larger companies that prioritized profit above all other business strategies, including the ethical and sustainable approaches that many small, local businesses were founded upon. It seems obvious to point out the imbalance with pitting corporations that maximize profit by any means necessary against those that practice environmental responsibility and social integrity every step of the way. Yet without change, “business as usual” continues to favor power and profit at the loss of stable local economies.

For Seacoast New Hampshire, change began in 2009 with the start of the Green Alliance. A small business itself, founded by Kittery native Sarah Brown, the Green Alliance was established with the mission to grow businesses that are not only local but also those that strive to redefine industry standards to include environmental accountability, social equality and community involvement.

Four years later, the Green Alliance proudly partners with more than 115 businesses that demonstrate social and environmental sustainability. Through a unique journalistic-style approach to marketing, the GA provides information on local businesses while keeping the community abreast with the latest environmental news and events. Each partnering business of the Green Alliance also undergoes a comprehensive sustainability certification to make company practices and initiatives transparent to consumers.

The Children's Museum of New Hampshire Consignment Sale

It’s never too early to start teaching our children about green ideas. That is why the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire has an event this weekend to do just that—all while getting some spring shopping done! April 26th and 27th, a Consignment Sale will be held at the Dover Elks Lodge at 282 Durham Road, Dover, NH. The sale will last from 9:00am to 8:00pm on Friday, and from 9:00am to 1:00pm on Saturday.

This sale is also sponsored by none other than Green Alliance and GA partners Acorn School, Seacoast Volkswagon, and Little Tree Education! Green Earth Baby Works, another proud GA partner and the only re-usable diaper service in New Hampshire, will also be at the sale offering green baby clothing items and products!

For those who are unfamiliar, a consignment sale is where people sell gently used clothing and other items at a reduced rate. Sales such as this not only help people clean out their closets and buy quality items for cheap, but also promote sustainability by reducing the demand for new clothes to be manufactured.

The Children’s Museum Consignment Sale this weekend plans to offer gently used, good quality children’s clothes, baby clothes and gear, toys, shoes, sports equipment, nursery furniture and décor, music and videos, costumes and books. All proceeds from the event will benefit the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire.

Looking to consign? Consignors earn 60% of all revenue made from their sold items. It is a great opportunity to clean out your kids’ closets, all while recycling and supporting a great cause.

Consignors, along with Presale Passholders, also get the chance to check out the sale before the public at the Private Presale from 5-8 pm on Thursday, April 25th.

For more information on the sale, or to register as a consignor or Presale Passholder, click here!

Volkswagen Turbo Jetta Hybrid Leaves Competition in the Dust

GREENLAND, N.H. — Debi Altberg wasn’t searching for a hybrid when she recently visited Seacoast Volkswagen intending to buy a second VW, but when the decision came down to which vehicle had the best fuel economy and highest miles per gallon, Altberg was sold on the new turbocharged VW Jetta Hybrid.

“We were looking at the regular Jetta,” Altberg says, “but the hybrid stood out because of its great gas mileage.” The Jetta Hybrid get’s an impressive 48 highway mpg and 42 city mpg.

Don Turbide, Seacoast Volkswagen’s business developer manager, acknowledges the stigma associated with hybrids, saying that “most hybrids are pretty boring when you come down to it, and they aren’t as fuel efficient or nice driving as advertised. But the VW Jetta Hybrid is different.”

Unlike most hybrids, the Jetta Hybrid is turbocharged, producing 170 horsepower and 184 feet per pounds of torque accompanied by a smooth and balanced drive.

Altberg, whose other car is a VW TDI, really enjoys Volkswagens for their great performance and reliability, so she was “pleasantly surprised that VW had a hybrid and that it was such a nice car.”

Turbide points out that even though Volkswagen is still new to the hybrid world — its first hybrid being the 2011 Touareg Hybrid SUV — it has always been an environmentally conscience corporation. “VW has been designing cars for awhile with materials that are recyclable, and they were a leader in this.”

Besides the green aspects of the cars themselves, the Seacoast Volkswagen dealership itself is incredibly sustainable. The dealership is home to LED lighting, solar panels and its own personal wind turbine.

The company as a whole also has sustainability on its agenda, committing to plans that will cut its overall carbon emissions by 30 percent in 2015 compared to 2006 levels. It also has committed to making every new generation of a given car line 10 to 15 percent more efficient than the car it replaces.

Volkswagen proves that drivers need not lose anything to gain sustainability.

“Most people purchase VWs for their performance, and even though the VW Jetta Hybrid is a hybrid, it stays true to Volkswagen’s high performance commitment,” Altberg says.

Seacoast Volkswagen is a proud business partner of the Green Alliance, a union of local sustainable businesses promoting environmentally sound business practices and a green co-op offering discounted green products and services to its members. Now through the end of April, Green Card holders save 15 percent on all parts, accessories and service.
Plus, they get $1,000 under invoice on any new TDI Green Diesel or Hybrid Volkswagen. Furthermore, save $45 on a $300 repair or $120 on an $800 repair.

For more information about Seacoast Volkswagen, visit www.seacoastvw.com. And for the Green Alliance, visit www.greenalliance.biz.

Green Collar Careers: Revolution Energy Founder Clay Mitchell

An Arizona native and lawyer by training, Clay Mitchell, 44, launched Revolution Energy in 2008 aspirating to change how large-scale alternative energy products are managed. As a result, Revolution offers innovative financial packages that help reduce the up-front investment costs of alternative energy systems.

The financing model, at least on its face, gave its competitors an infectious case of “why didn't I think of that?” Instead of being hassled with having to shell out 100 percent of the cost for a state-of-the-art solar array up front, now businesses and other entities can “go green” and only have to worry about paying the monthly bill. The whole arrangement – called a Power-Purchase Agreement – makes what was once a Holy Grail status of luxury, for only the most economically blessed clients, accessible to anyone.

"It's funny, we get this question all the time when we talk to people about what we do,” Mitchell says. “They say, 'Why isn't everyone doing this?' And our only real answer is, ‘We don't know!' It’s truly baffling.”

In late 2009, Revolution directed its expertise to help finance and install one of the state's largest solar array systems at Exeter High School, a system that also hosts one of the first micro-turbine installations in the state, which also uses a Capstone unit (a brand of turbine). Since then, Revolution has tackled a number of similar projects in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Also in 2009, Revolution was awarded a stipend through Green Launching Pad, a grant consortium that includes UNH, the state of New Hampshire, and the New Hampshire Climate Change Action Plan.

Sagamore Offers Community Family-Friendly Golf on Eco-Friendly Greens

Traditionally the province of private country clubs, golf has seemed inaccessible to the uninitiated, an activity only people with money can afford to play. But a Seacoast community golf course — with emphasis on the word “community” — belies the notion that golf is exclusive, offering instead a family-friendly activity that is affordable and fun.

And beyond allowing anyone to participate in what was once an exclusive sport, this venue stands at the vanguard of a green revolution, initiating several sustainable practices that other courses now emulate.

Sagamore-Hampton Golf Club, 101 North Road, North Hampton, N.H., and Sagamore Golf Center, the golf course’s companion driving range, 22 North Road, North Hampton, focus on accessibility. You don’t have to be a member to play. In fact, Sagamore doesn’t have memberships. It’s strictly a daily-fee golf course.

“It’s a public course,” notes Morgan Crowley, of Sagamore. “If you’re wearing jeans and a T-shirt you can still come and play 18 holes here and feel welcome, versus a private course where you’d have a lot more restrictions and you would not necessarily be able to play.”

And beginners are welcome. The driving range can be used for players at all levels to practice and improve their swing, with a teaching pro, Laura Shanahan Roe, available to provide lessons, and the public golf course offers many specials and a welcoming feel to all who want to play a round.
“We do have a lot of great deals for families,” Crowley says, “and families do come and play. Today, a father and son are playing together on a beautiful day, taking advantage of the junior ‘Pay your age’ rate. There are a lot of different ways to save, so it’s really affordable for people who want to play the game of golf but don’t want it to break the bank.”