Green Tips: New Freedom Laser

By Jim Cavan

This week's Green Tips come from New Freedom Laser, a Kittery, Maine, practice that specializes in laser hair removal and skin rejuvenation.

May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month. Check out these green-focused tips to help you protect your skin.

1. Be sure to apply sunscreen 20 minutes before prolonged sun exposure. It takes a while for most lotions to kick in, so don't let your first application go to waste.

2. Avoid fragrant products. Under federal law, makers of skin products don't have to disclose the chemicals that give certain skin-care products their fragrance. When choosing skin care products, make sure you know what's in them.

3. You are what you eat. Reducing your intake of foods high in sugar and saturated fats and avoiding artificial ingredients can help your skin avoid reactivity and inflammation.

4. Make sure "natural" is really "natural."

5. Your skin is your largest organ, so treat it well with all-natural sunscreen alternatives.

For details about New Freedom Laser, visit www.newfreedomlaser.com. For more green tips, visit www.greenalliance.biz or at the Green Alliance blog at seacoastonline.com.

Save Money While Battling Climate Change With Green Alliance

According to a release by 350.org, a global movement to solve the climate crisis, earth's atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have reached an alarming level. On May 9th, for the first time ever, the carbon dioxide counter on the side of Mauna Loa, the most important scientific instrument on earth, recorded a daily average of above 400 parts per million. To those who are unaware of the significance of ppm numbers, let's put it this way--it’s been several million years since CO2 reached these levels in the atmosphere.

350.org was started five years ago, as a movement to try and get our carbon dioxide levels down from 390 ppm (what our level was then) to what scientists identified as the safe upper limit of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere: 350 parts per million. 

While 350.org does have good news -- just an hour after the news from Mauna Loa, the trustees of a fifth U.S. college had voted to divest their fossil fuel stocks, hard on the heels of 11 cities who’d done likewise the week before -- it is clear that the carbon in the air keeps rising, and with it the temperature, and the devastation.

News such as this shows that help is still needed in the climate change battle.  Coming together to reduce our resource use, break our fossil fuel addiction, and support sustainable initiatives is more important now than ever before.  

Here at Green Alliance, we believe that even the simple things--such as shopping local, choosing green products, and investing in sustainable options--are all ways to join the cause.  Joining the Green Alliance as a member is an easy way to get this started.  Not only does a GA membership make it easy to find those locally owned, truly sustainable businesses around the Seacoast, it also gives you a Green Card, with which you get discounts at every one of those over 110 businesses. 

The GA business model basically allows people to save money by going green--what could be easier than that?

To become a GA member and start saving, please visit www.greenalliance.biz/join!

To make a donation with 350.org's initiative to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, check out act.350.org/donate/400_ppm.

GUEST BLOG: RGGI will let the region thrive

From The Portsmouth Herald

By Chris Meyer

Back in 2008, one year into the Great Recession, I started a brand-new business.

Crazy?

Just the opposite.

My company, Yankee Thermal Imaging, makes money by helping New Englanders save money on energy. We test buildings with cutting-edge technology that zeroes in on leaks, and then send crews to fix the problems. We've helped scores of families and more than a dozen municipalities save what will likely turn out to be tens of thousands of dollars in energy waste.

The economic downturn raised a lot of awareness about energy costs, and how much thriftier we can be with the right up-front investments. Even as it ebbs, I doubt Americans are likely to turn back. It's not just that we're saving money, we're also helping clean our air and water, and strengthening our nation by reducing our dependence on foreign oil.

All this also helps explain why I support the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, RGGI, the pioneering pact that joins New Hampshire and eight other states in a smarter regional energy strategy. In the next few weeks, our lawmakers will vote on whether to stay in the 3-year-old project. I hope they understand how much RGGI has been strengthening the state economy — and not just clean-energy businesses like mine. The pact provides major incentives for firms to improve their efficiency, which saves money for other efforts, like hiring and investing, which make our economy grow.

Chinburg Properties Introduces New Brand and Website

The companies formerly known as Chinburg Builders and Great Mills Management have announced their launching of a new brand—Chinburg Properties—and a new website, www.chinburg.com. The brand Chinburg Properties has created a new image with the tagline Develop.Build.Manage, which the company says better reflects its areas of expertise.

Chinburg Properties was founded in 1987 from a single-family home building. Over the past 25 years, the company has expanded to include development of award-winning residential subdivisions, multi-family properties, mixed-use developments and conversion of historic Mills that are all built to Energy Star standards.

An example of Chinburg’s commitment to green building is its Laurel Court subdivision in Portsmouth, built in 2012. From a state-of-the-art solar hot water system to super-tight insulation to energy efficient lighting, Laurel Court’s eco-friendly features are as impressive as they are wallet-friendly in terms of short and long term energy cost savings—the average energy savings being $1200 per home per year.

Chinburg Properties’ flexible model doesn’t restrict its green building capabilities to residential homes, but in fact builds a range of facilities including commercial, medical, student housing and restaurant buildings with the same standards.

Currently, Chinburg is building new homes in Portsmouth, Londonderry, Greenland, Exeter, Manchester and Barrington, NH and in Kittery, Maine. In addition, it is leasing brand new apartments at the Cocheco Mills in Dover, NH that will be ready for occupancy July 1—all of which to have excellent energy efficiency features.

Chinburg Properties also manages over 400 mill apartments in Exeter, Newmarket, Portsmouth, and Somersworth, as well as over 750,000 sq. ft. of commercial space, ranging in size from 150 – 20,000 sq. ft.

Chinburg Properties’ new brand and website are sure to raise the bar when it comes to new development standards and widely expand knowledge of green building around the Seacoast.

In the midst of climate change and resource scarcity, green development is more important now than ever before—and Chinburg Properties has the ability to lead our community in the right direction.

To learn more about Chinburg Properties, please visit www.chinburg.com.

Remember: Green Card holders receive $250 toward any of Chinburg's green upgrade options, including flooring, lighting, low or no-VOC paints, Richlite or concrete countertops, or an on-demand hot water system!

EZ touts new line of sleek electric bikes

The growing appeal of electric bicycles isn’t difficult to grasp: As many Americans continue to feel the effects of unstable gas prices, having a more efficient secondary or tertiary transportation alternative can go a long way in easing pocketbook strain.

But for as effective and efficient as many electric bikes are, they continue to harbor – fair or not – something of an aesthetic stigma.

“The way a lot of models are built, you can kind of tell they’re electric,” says Teresa Hemenway, co-owner of the Exeter-based EZ Bikes and Scooters. “Now, for some people, the functionality is all that matters. But younger people are always looking for something with style.”

Just last week, EZ introduced two new lines of electric bikes – The Neo Race, manufactured by E Motion; and the Outlaw SS – made to be as eye-poppingly hip as they are fuel-efficient.

Hemenway said that the Bikes – one of which, the Outlaw SS, is made in the United States – are more reasonably priced than many of their competitors.

Designed to compliment traditional road racing bikes, the Neo Race offers what Hemenway calls a “purist appeal.”

“It’s a great way for traditional riders who want to cover the same distance in a shorter period, or for people who want to better keep up with a partner who is used to covering longer distances,” she said. “So you have the look and feel of a road bike, but with that extra boost when you need it.”

Contrastingly, the Outlaw SS is designed to embody the look and feel of a rugged off-road bike, with a sturdy frame and knobby tires to help ease the impact of tough trails.

Oh yeah, and they top out at 28 miles an hour, too.

Pocos, Two Ceres want you to Hit the Decks

You'd be hard-pressed to find a more quintessential Portsmouth tradition than the annual opening of the city's waterfront decks. Every spring, locals and early tourists alike flock to the quaint row of bars and restaurants lining the Piscataqua, welcoming summer more than a month ahead of the season's official arrival. 

Now in its third year, Hit the Decks will formally take place this Friday, May 10th. According to the Portsmouth Herald, more than 85 businesses are expected to celebrate with discounts, specials, and other promotional fodder throughout the weekend. 

Of course, we here at the GA can't help but be biased to our two waterfront Business Partners: Pocos Bow Street Cantina, and sister restaurant Two Ceres Street.

Pocos in particular will be pulling out all the usual spots -- a Sam Adams Summer Launch Party from 3pm to 5pm complete with giveaways and a live broadcast from WHEB. 

Remember, GA members who show their Green Card will receive 10% off all food and drinks (including alcohol) at both Pocos and Two Ceres -- all day, every day. 

While rain showers are expected intermittently throughout the day on Saturday, temperatures are still expected to be in the 70s. Besides, since when has a little bad whether kept New Englanders from having fun?

See you down at the decks!

Cast Off With the Thomas Laighton for Fun, Festivities and Exploration

PORTSMOUTH — Among the most enduring signs that summer lies just around the corner is the sight of the M/V Thomas Laighton plying its way around Portsmouth Harbor. And while residents and visitors alike associate the vessel with fun and exploration, the Thomas Laighton is also an exemplar of environmentalism in action.

The Thomas Laighton is the cruise ship of the Isle of Shoals Steamship Company, an iconic Seacoast institution. Having been in Portsmouth since 1962, the ISSCo. is truly part of the community. Originally founded as Viking Cruises by Arnold Whittaker, the Steamship Company is still in the family, having been passed along first to Bob, Arnold’s son and most recently, in 1999, to Arnold’s daughter-in-law, Robin Whittaker.

The company offers a variety of tours to New Hampshire’s historic Isles of Shoals and throughout Portsmouth Harbor and the Greater Piscataqua Region, and is thoroughly committed to preserving the amazing history and heritage of the Seacoast.

Beyond those iconic tours, 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. The company anticipates offering three or four “party cruises” a week this summer.

Running mostly private events for the month of the May, ISSCo. offered its first public cruises on May, for a Cinco de Mayo event with a DJ, proceeds going to the Make A Wish Foundation, and, as part of Pro Portsmouth, on May 5, ISSCo. hosted a Children’s Day an event it does every year.