CT Green Scene

Flea Markets: A Green Bargain

by Simone Pipek

Simone Pipek is a native of Cologne, Germany. She has worked with numerous German women’s magazines, including the German edition of Elle magazine. At the tender age of 29 she made the move to New York where she has been living for the past 10 years. She has worked on a number of writing projects since then in both German and English. She also writes on a regular basis as a New York correspondent for the German blog, Die Frohe Botschafterin. She grew up with a green consciousness. Caring for the environment is not only a trend for her, but a lifestyle. In her opinion, knowledge is power. So being educated is key to protect the earth. She is very happy about all the new bike paths the city has to offer.
 

If you are a little like me, and I hope you are, you love bargain hunting. These days, we all have to stretch the dollar. But shopping at big department stores is usually not the answer. Their merchandise, often manufactured without a hint of fair trade, carries a hefty carbon footprint and a veneer of toxic paint.

Better--and much more fun--alternatives are flea markets, antique stores, and last but not least, Craigslist.com. For me, it’s the thrill of the chase for the ultimate piece of wall hanging, the dresser that just needs a little love, or the floor lamp that only requires a new shade to come to life again. Priceless. Or, at the very least, easy on the budget.

There’s something else that makes it all worthwhile. Discovering that very special item, I am automatically being told a story. Those pieces lived a life before they met me, and in my fantasy I can draw pictures of the former life and think of many different tales this night table or vase might be able to narrate. I just have to listen closely when I touch and smell it for the first time.

And the best part is, I am buying something that has already been built. I’m not responsible for diminishing any further resources by my purchase. While it might be second hand, it’s new to me. The literal translation for used, or second hand, furniture in German is “Zweite Hand.” And that expression hits the mark.

The Collinsville Baking Company: Just...Go.

by James Simpkins

Three years of my life have been spent mixing, shaping, and baking bread. The four ingredients common to leavened breads—flour, salt, yeast and water—have near-sacred qualities to me, and the quirky, often- fervent types of people who create it hold a special place in my heart.  Artisan bakers, like great bread, are hard to find, and to be treasured when you do. In the tiny town of Pine Meadow (just “up river” from the old locale) along Route 44, you can find both.

No, ironically enough, the Collinsville Baking Company is not located in Collinsville.Quick story: I first became acquainted with the Collinsville Baking Company when my wife and I found out that we would be moving to Canton from Boston. I started looking for work and discovered that CBC (still at old location) was looking for a baker. I spoke with Gail on the phone, emailed my resume and went in a worked for a night to try things out (a common practice in cooking/baking known as a stage). I loved their products and was appreciative of the rare mixture of passion and ability that was so evident in how Gail worked. I did not end up working there (I cost a lot), but I had found the best bread between the Farmington River Valley and New York City. ANYwho…back to the current CBC...

Live Green—Win Green

Earlier this month, West Hartford’s Conard High School won the praise—and the People’s Choice Award—from Connecticut Light & Power for their video and essay submitted to the Live Green—Win Green contest. The contest is meant to be a venue for students to explore sustainable and environmental projects that could create revenue for their school. Students were also encouraged to think of ways their school could be greener in the future.   

Bridgeport Looking At Green Jobs

While the economy still leaves a little bit to be desired, things are starting to look up. And, the green industry is right there keeping up with the Joneses. In two years, 350 Bridgeport residents are expected to be trained for jobs geared toward the environment. It is hoped that this will bring employment to an area that really needs it, Connecticut Post reports.

Green-Up kicks off in Bridgeport
Connecticut Post
By Rob Varnon, STAFF WRITER
Published: 09:13 p.m., Monday, January 25, 2010

The WorkPlace Inc. has $4 million and 24 months to get green jobs for 350 Bridgeport residents living in neighborhoods that have been hardest hit by the recession.

"The green revolution is here in the nick of time," Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch said during a meeting to kick off the Green-Up Bridgeport program.

Finch introduced the program, which The WorkPlace will run, and explained the need for it to 33 people attending the first organizational meeting at the City Hall Annex.

Funded through a competitive federal grant won by The WorkPlace, the region'a work-force development board, the program will have to educate and train at least 500 residents in basic jobs skills that can be used to do work that is environmentally friendly. Then, within two years, at least 350 graduates of the program must have landed jobs and 275 of them must be employed for a minimum of 180 days.

To read more, click here.

For previous articles on this site about green jobs, click here.

Green Wherever You Go

by Eileen Weber

Last week, my husband and I flew down to Florida with the kids. We were helping my father-in-law move to an assisted living facility. Along the way, I found little pockets of environmental friendliness popping up in unexpected places.

For one, we flew on Continental Airlines out of Newark, NJ. The moment we walked into the terminal, there was no way to miss the colossally huge banner promoting Eco-Skies, the airline’s green initiative. Continental has increased their recycling program, offered a carbon offset program in conjunction with Sustainable Travel International (STI), a non-profit organization that promotes environmental conservation, and they have been working on using biofuel since last year to decrease carbon emissions.

Bicycle Friendly

by Eileen Weber

Here’s an interesting fact for you, courtesy of the League of American Bicyclists: There are currently no bicycle friendly communities in Connecticut. Despite the fact that the state’s carbon reduction plan includes bicycles as a mode of transportation, the state doesn’t support it with funding or education. And even if they did, the state would still be lacking in bicycle friendliness. We need more bike paths, bike racks, and pedestrian crosswalks.

Even worse, Connecticut’s bicycle ranking is 44 out of the 50 states. We’re even lowest in New England. For Bicycle Friendly Communities (BFCs), Maine ranks in the top five of all the states coming in at number three. New Hampshire comes in at number eight while Massachusetts, Vermont, and Rhode Island are ranked at 19, 21, and 35, respectively.

Two towns are trying to change that statistic: Simsbury and Fairfield. In Simsbury, they have already applied to the League of American Bicyclists to be registered as a BFC. Representatives from the league visited the area last week to assess the community’s ability to become more bicycle friendly.

“It makes sense for Simsbury as we also have ‘Rails to Trails’ here and the East Coast Greenway,” said Paul Mikkelson, an avid cyclist and committee head for Simsbury, as quoted in a December 24, 2009 article in The Simsbury News.

A Blogger For Any Diet

by James Simpkins

Last week I wrote about a pizza place in Avon and no one said a word. Over the holidays I penned two articles expressing my displeasure about shopping at Discount Food Outlet in Canton; and readers are still writing in droves to expressing their displeasure about my perspective, even attacking me personally. More than one comment suggested that I leave town since I didn’t like it. I was both confronted and amused by such responses. The confrontation part is obvious, I hope—no one likes being openly despised, especially by people they are unacquainted with. Unfortunately, humans seem all too willing to express malice towards those people with opinions that do not match their own (see our current political climate). In my mind, this is akin to hating the guy next to you because you don’t like the color of his tie. Ties, like opinions can, and do, get changed. The life that wears that tie or has that opinion, however, is no less precious, and we are all hard-wired to preserve it. Fortunately that is not all us humans are born with. Laughter, they say, is the best medicine.

In another sense, I was very much amused by all the uproar realizing people’s anger was not because of an unpopular stance on abortion or gay marriage, but a grocery store. Now that is funny!!! I had no idea that people were so attached to where they bought their food. Shame on me, though, as food is always chock-full of intimate meaning for people. Lesson learned.

In the wake of the fallout from the DFO articles, this week allow me to offer a more personal piece that I hope will establish a context for what I write, and why I write it; a kind of road map to my inner gastronome.

The first item on the colloquial menu is the term “connoisseur”; this is what I consider myself in the food arena. Think of it as the “who does this guy think he is?” part of my writing. The second proffering is the usefulness of critique and analysis. While criticism nearly always gets a bad rap, I think we need critics and critical understandings of any subject, food included. As subjectivity is common to all of us, being critical can actually help us appreciate even our least favorite ideas by allowing us to see there is always another side to any story. But first, the connoisseur…

Here Comes The Sun: Rebates Offered To Buyers Of Solar Heaters

By THERESA SULLIVAN BARGER Special to The Courant

January 15, 2010

Could saving money get you into hot water?

Actually, yes. Under a new federal program, the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund is offering immediate rebates to homeowners, businesses and organizations that purchase solar-powered hot water heaters when they work with an approved contractor.

The way the program works, homeowners and businesses gather cost estimates from the list of eligible contractors, who evaluate how much energy is generated from sunlight at the home or business during the winter months.

Using a solar path finder, the contractor measures the shading and enters the information into a computer program to determine how much energy (in BTUs) the solar thermal hot water heater is likely to get from the sun, says Stephen Wierzbicki, president of Nutmeg Mechanical Services in Manchester, one of the approved contractors.

The more energy generated by the sun, the bigger the rebate.

While the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund website says rebates could be as much as $4,800 for a large house, Wierzbicki says most homes his company has measured don't have optimal solar conditions, so the rebate typically is closer to about $3,000.

Most of his customers pay about $11,000 to $12,000 after the rebate, he said. After-rebate prices for the solar thermal hot water heater and its installation vary, depending on the size of the water heater and how much solar energy each house generates. Homeowners don't have to wait for the rebate; the installer charges the after-rebate price.

Click here to read the full article from the Courant.

Event: The Geo-engineering "Fix" for Climate Change

Sunday, January 24, 2010 - 2:00 PM
Greenwich Library - 101 West Putnam Avenue
Contact:  Pauline Cantwell - 203-637-0632 (h) - 203-249-3069 (cell)

The public is invited to a presentation on "The Technical Fix for Climate Change" at 2:00 PM Sunday, January 24, 2010, at the Greenwich Library.  Pauline Cantwell, of Old Greenwich, will be speaking and facilitating a discussion on geoengineering solutions to combat global warming.

It is highly likely that the increasingly bizarre weather is a result of the geo-engineering solutions begun in the early 1990s designed to "cool the planet."  Scientists, the military, governments, corporations, and private citizens are openly going forward with plans to radically terraform the entire planet.

We will be discussing the unintended consequences of  these projects.  Are you noticing differences in your gardens?  Are you concerned about the vast number of trees that are dying?  Are you concerned about health issues (asthma, vitamin D deficiencies, etc.)?  Creating a cloud cover to increase the reflectivity of the planet is the most highly favored method for reducing global warming. 

The Navy and NASA launched a rocket from Wallop Island off the Virginia coast September 19, 2009, to spread aluminum oxide at the edge of space in order to create a cloud over the Eastern seaboard and then perturb it with electromagnetic pulses from H.A.A.R.P. and other facilities. Citizens saw this go over Greenwich.  This project was openly reported on Twitter.

Come learn some of the causes of  the increase of molds, the presence of black powdery substance on your patios, and the increase of environment-related illnesses such as asthma. It is of critical importance that citizens be adequately informed about projects that have serious unintended consequences.

For further information, please contact Pauline Cantwell at 203-637-0632.

Check out Ms. Cantwell's website http://aworldalert.com  for recent postings on climate change issues.

Fruit At Your Fingertips

by Eileen Weber

It’s hard to think about picking fresh fruit when it’s below freezing. And when places like Plant City, Florida have to huddle up to keep their strawberries warm because of the recent cold snap, the idea of wandering aimlessly through a local orchard to pick a fresh snack seems like nothing more than a daydream.

But that didn’t stop Kaytea Petro, Co-Founder of Neighborhood Fruit, LLC. Established in the spring of 2009, the San Francisco-based company developed a web site to help people find local orchards and backyards to pick fresh fruit.

On their web site, people offer excess produce from their yards while others search for what to pick. The site also features an interactive map of over 10,000 fruit-bearing trees growing in parks and along roadways. The point: Why waste the fruit?

Petro and her business partner, Oriana Sarac, have now developed an iPhone application to find the nearest bountiful tree. Sarac says the application "unlocks this hidden urban bounty and makes it accessible on the go."

A "Hot Heaven" - Still Better Than the Alternative

by James Simpkins

I eat a fair amount of pizza throughout the year and lately have been bored to tears with the options that we have around the Canton area. ABC in Collinsville is the closest option but it is too expensive for average pie. Luna Pizza in Avon is delicious, but after a time variety becomes necessity, even if you’ve found a good thing (arguments like this do not work for marriages or employment, ps). My inability to thoroughly enjoy “za” so far this winter made me particularly excited to find Hot Heaven Pizzeria in Avon this past week.

Located at 33 East Main Street (Rt. 44) in Old Avon Village on the north side of the road just west of Carmen Anthony’s Fish House, Hot Heaven is owned by the husband-wife team of Alicia and Mark Soukup and has been in operation for the last two years. I was a little surprised that I had not heard of them since I have been avidly eating in the area for coming on three years, but Alicia wasn’t: “We hear that a lot”, she said, both of us agreeing that it was unfortunate. Honestly, it is. You want to find this place if for nothing else than the most important part of any pizza—the crust. Hot Heaven’s is fantastic.

Green Cars

Electric cars used to be nothing more than science fiction. But for car manufacturers, it's the next step. Green technology is taking hold of an industry that plays a big part in climate change. More than a few people think it's about time. See the excerpt below from this morning's New York Times:

A Future That Doesn't Guzzle
By Bill Vlasic and Nick Bunkley
Published January 11, 2010

"The world’s automakers unveiled a number of hybrid gas-electric and battery-powered models, several of which might not be available for years to come.

It is a telling sign of how much emphasis that car companies are placing on the electrification of vehicles — even though consumers have yet to show widespread interest in alternatives to gas engines.

'Green technologies are the master key to the future of the automobile,' said Thomas Weber, the head of research and development at Mercedes-Benz, which plans to deliver the first 200 of its B-Class F-Cell electric cars to customers in the United States and Europe this year."

To read more of the article, click here.

Image courtesy of The New York Times.

Green Skiing

For all those ski bums out there, here's something to consider: Some ski resorts are more environmentally friendly than others. It's not whether they use CFLs in their lighting fixtures or waterless toilets. It's not their fabulous recycling program, either. It's how they construct their runs--are they graded or cleared? That makes all the difference. See the excerpt below from this morning's New York Times:

Not All Ski Slopes Are Environmentally Equal, Study Concludes
by Sindya Bhanoo
Published January 11, 2010

"Ski resorts are not as fun for the environment as they are for skiers. The damage to forested hills caused by the construction of ski slopes is obvious. Trees are cut down, ground is cleared, and the resulting slopes are maintained as the foundation for a yearly carpet of snow.

Some ski slopes, however, are more environmentally friendly than others, according to a new study. Cleared ski runs, where trees and other tall, woody plants are cut down to open skiing pathways, cause less damage to the natural ecosystem than graded ski runs, which are bulldozed, leaving little or no vegetation or shrubs.

'Cleared slopes are actually more like forests than graded slopes,' said Jennifer W. Burt, the lead author of the study, published in last month’s issue of Ecological Applications. 'This was an unexpected result of our research,' said Dr. Burt, who studied ski slope construction as part of her doctoral research. On cleared runs, seed banks are left intact, and small shrubs remain undamaged. Also left intact are the top layers of the soil, which support plant growth and more robust and diverse vegetation, which in turn support wildlife.

Machine-graded runs, on the other hand, remove topsoil and vegetation, significantly damaging the ecosystem."

To read more of the article, click here.
To read a previous article on this site about green ski resorts in the Northeast, click here.

Image courtesy of The New York Times.

Being Thrifty: The Ultimate Green?

by Jessica Levinson
 
Last week, I wrote about the cost of high tech solar gadgets. To a large extent, being on the latest green tech edge can be a very expensive proposition. As the economy seems to be slowly climbing out of its bottomless hole, it may be wise to be a thrifty spender. That doesn’t mean bum-rush through the doors at Wal-Mart. But, it does mean spending on items that are worthwhile and will last a long time.

This is where thrifty meets green! Perhaps the best way to be green is to explore slightly used or unwanted products instead of running out and buying the latest and greatest green thing. What a great way to recycle! So why not just buy something that has already been put into the world but someone else didn’t want?

We don’t usually think that something in an environmentally friendly recycled package can also be a pollution contributor. Whether it’s big or it’s small, each product has its own carbon footprint. Buying post-consumer goods actually means there is no carbon footprint to you.

CIA Sharing Environmental Data

The CIA is using satellite intelligence to discern the extent of climate change. There are friends and foes of this issue. When this kind of technology is at their fingertips, why not get a little help from the federal government? On the other hand, others argue with war in the Middle East and terrorists setting themselves on fire on Christmas Day, the CIA may have better things to do with their time. Below is an excerpt from The New York Times.

CIA Is Sharing Data With Climate Scientists
by William J. Broad
Published January 4, 2010

"The nation’s top scientists and spies are collaborating on an effort to use the federal government’s intelligence assets — including spy satellites and other classified sensors — to assess the hidden complexities of environmental change. They seek insights from natural phenomena like clouds and glaciers, deserts and tropical forests.

The collaboration restarts an effort the Bush administration shut down and has the strong backing of the director of the Central Intelligence Agency. In the last year, as part of the effort, the collaborators have scrutinized images of Arctic sea ice from reconnaissance satellites in an effort to distinguish things like summer melts from climate trends, and they have had images of the ice pack declassified to speed the scientific analysis."

To read more, click here.

Image courtesy of The New York Times.

The EPA’s Chemicals of Concern

by Eileen Weber

Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its “Most Wanted” list of chemicals. With phthalates topping out over short-chain chlorinated paraffins, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and perfluorinated chemicals, including PFOA, the EPA is zeroing in on chemicals that not only pose a cancer risk but can also affect brain function.

According to a press release from the organization, Administrator Lisa P. Jackson reinforced the EPA’s commitment to chemical management. “The American people are understandably concerned about the chemicals making their way into our products, our environment and our bodies,” Jackson was quoted as saying. “We will continue to use our authority under existing law to protect Americans from exposure to harmful chemicals and to highlight chemicals we believe warrant concern.”

Jackson continued by saying the national chemical management laws are pitifully outdated. Unchanged since the Toxic Substance Control Act in 1976, there has not only been a lack of initiative in managing the chemicals but there has been an increase in the number of chemicals available in products currently on the market. In 1976, there were 60,000 chemicals on the market. Today, there are 80,000.