December eNewsletter

This newsletter is a personal favorite. Lots of great green goodies included as well as links to eco wrapping and shopping.

Give it a read!

Volunteer This Holiday Season

'Tis the season for gift giving...why not give a little more this year. Donate your time, a monetary gift, or another useful item to a needy foundation. With wallets tighter than ever, our worthy non-profits are needing some extra hands and help.

A mom contacted the store last week because her daughter wanted to support CHKD. She had made those fun bird feeders from pine cones, peanut butter, and seeds and asked me to sell them in the store. Of course, I did. What a great idea to get kids involved and donate a little much needed cash-ola.

Or, just donate your time. Check out www.volunteerhr.org to see a schedule of events for local charities or maybe check with some of the local groups you work with or have admired in the past. I'm sure they could use a helping hand.

Thrive Magazine

Hey Thrive Fans,

I must say that I was stoked to learn that Thrive, a magazine dedicated to healthy, sustainable living, had arrived earlier this year. Gina, the publisher, is a fantastic person and I wished her nothing but success in her journey to bring a greenie rag to Hampton Roads' more than 1.6 million residents. In true green form, Gina will be converting Thrive to online reading and paid print/mailed issues at the beginning of 2010 which I think is an excellent option. Let's face it, web reading is the way to go. In a moment's notice, a new hot story could be posted a kick-butt product reviewed and so on.

Anyway, the reason for the rambling is to encourage all of the local greenies (and beyond) to sign up for Thrive's e-subscription. Don't worry, it's totally free!

Here's the link to sign up for the paperless Thrive.

September Newsletter

Check out the September Green Alternatives Newsletter -- HERE!!

Blue Goes Green

ODU is going green! I met with the Associate Director of Environmental Health & Safety, Doug Alexander, earlier today and learned a lot about what the university is doing to green things up around campus.

This blog post is an appendix to the article posted on 24 Seven Cities.

• Many of the cleaning products are Green Seal certified.
• Much of the lighting has retrofitted to maximize efficiency.
• ODU was the first state school to build a LEED certified structure.
• Recycling has more than doubled in the past two years from 500 thousand pounds to more than 1 million pounds.
• The school started Donate It, Don't Dump It which is kind of like a huge swapping party for students.
• All new structures on campus meet LEED Silver status.
• 50% of all construction waste is diverted from the landfills and recycled.
• Two electric trucks were acquired for the grounds department.
• Rain water is harvested in two cisterns and used for lawn projects.
• A new bike rental program is available for students and for those with bikes, a maintenance crew is available to help fix busted rides.
• The university has developed an Environmental Advisory Committee to stay abreast of new greenie movements.
• ODU has two Adopt-A-Streams on the Elizabeth & Lafayette Rivers.
• A graduate student on campus is working on a Greenhouse Gas Inventory for the school.
• A central chiller plant was installed which reduces energy consumption.
• B10 biodiesel is used for all diesel vehicles on campus.
• ODU Dining Services eliminated the use of trays in the cafeteria which reduced the amount of waste.
• There are two rain gardens on campus.
• A nutrient management plan is in place which eliminates the need for fertilizer on many of the school's grounds.
• There's a green roof on part of the BAL building.
• Tree clippings are taken to the Norfolk Zoo to feed some of the animals.
• The Education Dept developed an Environmental Curriculum which rolled out in the Norfolk Elementary School System.
• ODU is a Model Level (highest rank) for the River Stars Program.

I received more tid-bits on the greening of ODU and the list could go on and on. You're awesome ODU!