CT Green Scene

WalkCT Family Ramble - Town of Berlin Spring 2014 Hiking Series: Beckley Quarry

Who: Jointly sponsored by the WalkCT program (of the Connecticut Forest & Park Association) and Town of Berlin Conservation Commission

What: Come along on a series of family-friendly rambles through the woods in centrally-located Berlin, CT. 

We will explore the conservation areas that the town is working to preserve for their natural beauty, ecology, and outdoor-recreational value. The Town of Berlin’s open spaces boast a system of trails connected to, and running along, sections of the CFPA Blue-Blazed Metacomet Trail, part of the New England National Scenic Trail.

This hike will feature an easy stroll along a wide, level path that runs parallel to the Mattabesset River in the northeast corner of the town. While exploring the edges of the trail in late June we should expect to find some interesting early-summer wildflowers.

These rambles are for adventurous explorers of all ages—babies in backpack carriers or slings are welcome. Please come prepared with clothing appropriate for the conditions and please bring along water and snack foods for your family. Tools for getting closer to the action (binoculars, hand lens), capturing the moment (cameras, video recorders), or making notes and sketches (field notebooks, pencils) can be helpful, but please leave rock hammers, "bug catchers," sample containers, and your pets at home.

When: Saturday, June 28, 2014 - 10:00am - 12:00pm

Where: Beckley Quarry (Kensington/Berlin, CT)

Meet at the trailhead at the end of the unmarked gravel drive at 540 Wethersfield Road, Berlin, CT. Please carefully parallel park on the left side of the driveway to allow access for nearby residents and local farmers. Pre-registration is recommended. To learn more and sign-up for the hike, please contact your American Red Cross First Aid/CPR-trained, Connecticut Forest & Park Association-WalkCT Family Guide volunteer via email at [email protected].

may 13th - Essex Land Trust Presents “Our Changing Landscape: the past, present and future of Connecticut’s forests and fields”

Who: The Essex Land Trust and Robert Rocks

What: Robert Rocks will present on the historical evolution of our landscapes from forests to field, and back to forests. He will speak about the great die-offs of elm/chestnuts/hemlocks, and help us envision how climate change, invasive species, and land use practices will determine our forests of the future.

When: May 13th at 7 p.m.

Where: The Essex Library

For more information on this event click here.

 

May 13th - Where the Wild foods are!

Who: The Rockfall Foundation

Featuring:

BUN LAI, world renowned chef, national James Beard Award semi-finalist and proprietor of New Haven, CT’s Miya’s Sushi, serving innovative sushi from sustainable and locally obtained and foraged flora and fauna, including invasive species.

JOE ROMAN, conservation biologist, researcher and educator, award-winning author, and founder/editor ‘n’ chef of the courageous culinary website, Eat the Invaders: Fighting Invasive Species, One Bite at a Time.

What: An eclectic evening of conversation, master chef demonstration and adventurous eating to benefit The Rockfall Foundation’s environmental education grants

When: Tuesday, May 13th 6-9 p.m.

Where: Chapman Hall - Middlesex Community College

For more background on Bun and Joe:  click here . 

Donation per guest: $50.    Table (6 guests): $300

To make your reservation online: click here.

To download a mail-in reservation form: click here.

TODAY - Celebrate Earth Day at Audubon Greenwich with Congressman Jim Himes

 

 

 

 

Who: Audubon Connecticut & Connecticut Green Building Council

Congressman Jim Himes
CT Fourth District

Bert Hunter
Chief Financial Officer
Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority (CEFIA)

Mark Robbins
Energy Committee Chair and Board Member
Connecticut Green Building Council (CTGBC)

Stewart J. Hudson
Executive Director
Audubon Connecticut

What: Looking for solutions to the climate crisis?  Join us for an exciting discussion of the issues and solutions to carbon pollution that save money and help save the planet, including one of the most important breakthroughs in green building design and operation—a new approach to financing clean energy investments through state and federal green banks.

When: TODAY ~ Tuesday, April 22nd ~ 2:00 pm

Where: Audubon Greenwich Kimberlin Center 613 Riversville Road, Greenwich, CT

Celebrate Earth Day with a Guided Trail Walk after the event!

Refreshments Will Be Served

Breaking the Law with Recycling

By Anne Staley

Recycling is a state law in Connecticut. Everyone – from individuals to institutions – is required by law to separate their recyclables from regular trash. But instead of looking on the state as the enforcer, we need to consider it our partner helping us achieve our recycling goals and stay on the right side of the law. 

We all must think of ourselves as model citizens of our country and our state. We pay our taxes, we follow rules, we help the community, we show up for jury duty, we never break the law…wait a minute….never break the law? Is that correct now? Before you say, “of course,” consider this: every time you fail to separate your recyclable trash from your solid municipal waste in Connecticut, you’re breaking the law! 

Connecticut may be one of the least extensive states in the country, but within its small borders rural areas and tiny towns co-exist in complete harmony with large industrial cities. It’s a state where architectural masterpieces steeped in history make a sharp contrast to modern-day urban skyscrapers. It’s a state where rolling hills, thick forests, horse farms, and white sandy beaches dot the landscape.

Recycling in Connecticut

The way solid trash is disposed in the state of Connecticut has gone an overhaul of sorts over the last couple of decades. A lot of it had to do with the closing of landfills in the late 1980s and early 1990s, many of which failed to meet the modern sanitary regulations and posed humongous health hazards.

In an effort to better manage its solid waste, the state adopted a solid waste management hierarchy that laid out first source reduction followed by recycling, composting, waste-to-energy, and finally land filling as the preferred methods to handle trash.

CT Zero Energy Challenge Winner - Preferred Builders - It All Started with Building Treehouses as a Kid

by Heather Burns

I first met Peter Fusaro, owner, Preferred Builders at a Fairfield County GreenDrinks event that I organized. As we chatted, I remember thinking that Peter wasn't your typical building guy. Unlike many, he was interested in and committed to figuring out how the built environment relates to creating sustainable and resilient communities.

Like most eco-entrepreneurs, Peter is wired to persist until he is successful. And as a winner of the CT Zero Energy Challenge, he's well on his way. The Zero Energy Challenge is Connecticut's premier competition to build homes that consume almost no energy. Homes that produce energy on-site. Homes with cleaner air. Advanced designs and integrated systems that are changing the way we think about residential construction.

 

Re:Create CT Thursday, May 4th

4 May 2013

10:00 AM-4:00 PM

Elizabeth Park

West Hartford, CT

Free And Open to the Public!

The CT Holistic Chamber of Commerce presents Re:Create CT; an up-cycle, and green living event that will take place on Saturday May 4th, from 10am-4pm in Elizabeth Park, West Hartford. It will be the destination event of the year for like-minded people, both business and consumers whose commitment and purpose is to foster a healthier community. Free to the public. It’s evident that this “going green” trend is on the rise and Connecticut seems to be taking notice. But with so many businesses and practitioners are offering alternative methods to health and wellness, they still struggle with accessibility to the masses. The CT Holistic Chamber of Commerce has created this event with a mission to change all that. Re:Create CT will have three distinct elements, all tied together by the “green” theme. An artisan marketplace will provide a fun and unique shopping experience with artists who specialize in up-cycling, re-purposing, and using eco-friendly materials. Think about those old vinyl records you have in the basement… ever think about turning them into party bowls? ........ The Opportunities are endless!!

 

A Decade of Saving Connecticut Farmland: Connecticut Farmland Trust Looks Back and to the Future

By Chris Watts

A lot's happened over the past ten years. Republicans and Democrats swapped control in Washington and in Hartford. Wars started and ended. Housing and land prices went up and then crashed back down. The stock market went for a ride up and down and is now back up. It seems things are always changing. But for the last decade, one constant has been the efforts by the Connecticut Farmland Trust to save the dwindling number of farmland acres in the State of Connecticut.

The core of what would become the Connecticut Farmland Trust (CFT) had its beginnings in 2001 when a group of concerned citizens got together, with the help of the Hartford Food System, to urge legislators to support the state’s fledgling farm preservation program. Through this effort the group discovered that while the State’s program worked well – some farms were not qualifying.

“What we found was that the state was able to preserving large tracts of land and larger farms, but smaller family farms were not qualifying under the formula,” says Gordon Gibson, an original board member of CFT and its first president. “These smaller farms are just as important and often were one of the few remaining working farms in a particular town, but there was no way to find funds to save them. Then some of us got the idea that maybe it was time for us to start our own land trust to help target these smaller parcels.”

That idea led to the incorporation of the Connecticut Farmland Trust on March 1, 2002. With just a board of directors and no permanent staff or office space, the group started to create the state’s only statewide land trust with the specific goal of saving the smaller working farms that would fall under the state’s radar.