GEN Green Initiative: Glastonbury CT Apple Fest

Glastonbury’s Oct 2009 Apple Fest will be Greener Than Ever! 

Green Education Network is helping inject the Fest with a happy dose of “Green”. Together with sponsors we’re giving away 100 FREE PRIZES!      

Nonbiodegradable plastic kitchen waste and trash bags, like plastic shopping bags, persist in the environment for 500 to 1000 years or more, killing sea turtles and fish who mistake them for food, adding to landfills, and littering landscapes for hundreds of generations.  

To increase awareness of part of the solution to this problem — new BIODEGRADABLE Recycled-plastic Kitchen Waste and Trash Bags from Perf Go Green — on June 27 we buried pairs of biodegradable and nonbiodegradable bags in the same soil the Town of Glastonbury makes available to residents. On Saturday Oct 17 we’re going to dig them up before a live audience to compare evidence of decomposition!  It will be GROUND BAG DAY © in Glastonbury, and biodegradables are just one of the good-news stories we’ll be telling at the Fest. Among them are Town of Glastonbury “Clean Energy” and “Glastonbury Grown” Programs. In July we were the featured guest on a national  radio program with millions of listeners, and among the things we’ll talk about are Ground Bag Day at the Fest!

Our purpose is to model — in our own local community — a happy way to increase awareness of SOLUTIONS to problems that are without precedent in scope and consequence in all of mankind’s history. The threat of global warming, the steady depletion of natural resources, the relentless destruction of natural beauty and wildlife habitat — all of these are the domain of Green Education Network.    

The HAPPY Mission of Green Education network is to empower teachers, students and parents to SAVE PLANET EARTH’S CLIMATE, RESOURCES AND LIFE, and there’s no part of the planet more precious than where we ourselves live. GEN’s CEO Gregory Hilbert is a Glastonbury resident!

GEN has taken a Glastonbury Chamber of Commerce Membership and will have a booth at the October Apple Fest. The Fest draws 25,000 visitors.

GEN itself will be providing OVER 50 prizes ranging from a Digital Video Camera & Planet Earth Car Magnets to 1-carat semiprecious stones. And see all the Prizes donated by Sponsors below! No-Purchase-Necessary Drawing Rules will be posted on this page.

Fest registrants will also be eligible for a GEN drawing for a Video Camera and other prizes at the end of the 2009-2010 school year. Click Here for  Separate Rules for that national drawing.  

All These Sponsors Have Contributed Drawing Prizes! 

Whole Foods Market is such an exemplary Green citizen both locally and nationally that they’ve won the Leading Honorary Sponsorship of GEN’s Go Green Apple Fest Initiative, and a headquarters invitation to an Honorary presence on GEN’s website home page. See why for yourself at http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/. Glastonbury’s store is in the Apple Fest neighborhood, and we look forward to announcing the winner of their contribution to our Fest Drawing!

Highland Park Market just off Hebron Ave & Manchester Rd is where you find us about 3 times a week, and not just because it’s close by, keeps extra check-outs manned so there’s never a long line, and has what we want as to groceries, bakery, deli, meats and seafood. We’ve been regulars for over 3 years – we swear to this — every clerk smiles at every customer every time, and every bagger politely asks if you need help getting your purchases to your car. This friendly, superior service runs deep: when we told Glastonbury Store Manager Skip Moreau (above right) about Perf Go Green biodegradable kitchen waste bags, he didn’t just pay lip service to a good thing, he commited to display and offer them in the store!  The President of Highland Park Market, which has stores throughout the Harford metro area, is Tim Devanney. Mr Devanney, we applaud what your efforts have wrought!  

Greenhouse Neutral Foundation Chairman & Author Bob Williamson. Chairman of the Greenhouse Neutral Foundation, Bob is the author of ZERO Greenhouse Emissions, which has readers worldwide. A respected environmentalist with many national and international awards (Western Australian Environment Award 2004; Resource & Waste Management Award 2004; PACIA National Environment Award 2005; Finalist, UNA World Environment Award for Best Specific Environmental Initiative 2005; Finalist, Prime Ministers Award for Environmentalist of the Year 2005; Finalist, Australian Museum Eureka Prize for Leadership 2005;  Finalist, PACIA Sustainability Award 2006; Winner, Global Environment Award for Plastic Recycling 2006 Atlanta Georgia), Bob is graciously supporting our Initiative as an Honorary International Sponsor and is donating inscribed copies of his book! Click here for a link to the GNF website and more about ZERO Greenhouse Emissions.      

Rose’s Berry Farm LLC  The Rose Family has been farming at 295 Matson Hill Rd in South Glastonbury  for 100 years, and produces the finest berries in Connecticut! Pick your own strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and apples, visit the farm store for homemade pies, muffins, jams, and fresh fruit, or relax on their deck overlooking the summer fields while they serve you a hearty Sunday breakfast, or savor autumn picking your own pumpkins and  Rose’s pasteurized apple cider.  Sandi Rose has generously answered  our “Please, more apples!” plea for our exhibit, and a berry wonderful prize in our Apple Fest drawing! In the meantime, we can’t wait for berry-picking time! Visit rosesberryfarm.com for info!     

Scott’s Orchard & Nursery on New London Turnpike is a wonderful place reflecting the good-natured attention to customer wants and needs of owners Woody and Joann Scott, and reflecting their family values and green values. We can personally attest to the quality of their trees, plants and even their garden soil! They have a Victory Garden display, and Victory Gardens and Community Gardens are something GEN wants foster. Scott’s will be GEN’s primary source of apples for use at the Apple Fest. We’ll be giving Glastonbury’s orchards more visibility at the Fest — with a big aerial photo courtesy of Suzanne Beauchamp of CT Prudential Realty — showing their locations, including nearby Scott’s!

Bicycles East, like Whole Foods Market, is an exemplary citizen of our community and our planet! Happiness with the bikes my wife and I bought there last year — and their donation of a $30 Gift Certificate for our Green-the-Fest drawing — are least of it! Click here to see on the Bicycles East website the tip of the iceberg of all Deb & Steve Dauphinais do for Glastonbury and Earth, and don’t miss the Greenhouse Gas Reduction calculator to see what biking instead of driving does for both! As the Advocacy Chair of the Central Connecticut Bicycle Alliance, Deb has worked with state agencies and legislators to obtain the passage of laws that promote bicycle safety and access. Deb serves on the Board of Glastonbury Bikeways to make Glastonbury a more bicycle-friendly community, chairs “Share the Road”, and helped to author Glastonbury’s Master Bicycle Plan. Deb, pls let us know when you post info about your Bike to the Fest initiative so we can post a link to it here!  

Melzen’s Farm Supply on Oak Street is a destination whether you work a farm, tend land and horses, raise livestock as a hobby, or tend an acre or two with a pond and wildlife in your spare time or feed birds in your backyard or pets inside. Not just for products, but expert advice. Get directions at melzenfarmsupply.com, and use them! PS: President Ken Melzen is an Audubon enthusiast, is an Organica® dealer who understands environmental needs, and generously donated a $50 gift certificate for our Apple Fest drawing! Thank you Ken!

CT Environmental Headlines  is published online by Chris Zurcher (click here to visit), and is CT’s leading source of sustainable development and other environment-related news. It’s “must” reading for environmental policy-makers, professionals and leaders statewide. GEN is grateful to have CT Environmental Headlines support as the first HONORARY SPONSOR of our unfolding Green-the-Fest Initiative. GEN supports Chris because of the quality and value of the service CT Environmental Headlines provides, and because it helps concerns like GEN connect to others in its home state who are contributing solutions to unsustainable practices.

Beckett & Associates Veterinary Services, LLC  Beckett and Associates on Main Street are well known to many in the Glastonbury community, in part because they treat dogs and cats, of course, but also horses, llamas, sheep, goats, a few pot-bellied pigs and several dairy and beef herds. Beyond that, the practice enables and sponsors Pet Angels, a free service that reaches out to animal lovers with pet rescue and adoption services and pet-care guidance. Learn more: http://www.petangels.org/index.php. What’s more, the practice reduces its carbon footprint via a 50-panel solar array, to our knowledge the largest in Glastonbury. Why? See Chip Beckett’s comment about energy toward the bottom of the page. For those reasons and more, we are delighted to welcome Beckett & Associates to Green-the-Fest sponsorship, and appreciate the donation of two (!) twenty-dollar gift certificates for pet grooming service!

Shaklee’s Bob Johnson  Longtime Glastonbury resident Bob Johnson is a Shaklee Independent Distributor and Gold Ambassador.  To our great delight Bob sought us out when he saw our “Thank You Sponsors” ad in the Glastonbury Citizen, and wrote: “Shaklee is the largest and oldest natural nutrition company in the United States with a major thrust in the area of Environmental preservation and growth.  Shaklee has partnered with 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Recipient Wangari Maathai to plant 1,000,000 trees.  Also, Shaklee was the first company in the world to obtain Climate Neutral Certification and totally offset its carbon emissions. Shaklee participated in the very first ever Earth Day celebration and I have shared the Shaklee story for several years at The Audubon Earth Day event here in Glastonbury.” Bob  (www.shaklee.net/bob_johnson )is contributing a prize to our Apple Fest initiative, and toward the bottom of the page we’ve posted two books Bob recommends, both of which have a connection to Shaklee and are available in GEN’s Green eMall Bookstore. We’re delighted to have Bob join us!

Minnechaug Golf Course features plush fairways, smooth and challenging greens, and one of the most exciting attractions in all of golf, an ISLAND green.  And yet Minnechaug is close by, just past Hebron Ave off Manchester Rd.  Glastonbury residents enjoy a special discount, and so do Seniors 60+ and Jrs under 17! Golf pro John Dipollina heads the teaching program at Minnechaug, and aims to please. We’re grateful to Minnechaug for the eye-pleasing green it adds to Glastonbury, and for its generous prize donation of a round of nine free holes FOR A PARTY OF FOUR!

The Spa at Shampoo One is where we go for hair-dressing, hair cuts, grooming and pampering. Owner Marthe LeFebvre’s entire staff is great — we know because we routinely walk in without an appointment and are always happy with whomever is available. Marthe is generously preparing a Gift Basket AND Gift Certificate for the Apple Fest Drawing! Stop in to see all that Shampoo One offers, on Main Street on the Glastonbury-East Hartford town line.   

Angelo’s Italian Restaurant is close to the Apple Fest also, set back a bit at 2705 Main, and if you’ve overlooked it, you’ve been missing authentic Italian cooking and service better than anything on Franklin Avenue’s Little Italy! The atmosphere and decor is refreshingly stimulating, and a pianist plays requests. Better yet there’s a genuine Mama Mia Lazaridis who treats you like visiting family from Italy, and son and daughter Anna (photo at right) build on the family tradition! Angelo’s has donated a $35 Gift Certificate, so come prepared for a wonderful meal! 

Hair Academy on Main  Marita Occhineri learned of our Initiative from building-neighbor and Sponsor Marthe LeFebvre of The Spa at Shampoo One,and took her own initiative to join us as a Sponsor! Marita had just returned from an International Styling conference that stressed rising demand for organics. We enjoyed meeting her husband Peter (Peter, it was Pearl Jam!), a gifted guitar maker, and mother and son at the Academy’s formal ribbon-cutting opening. Thank you Marita for your creative “apple” prize!

Jalisco’s Mexican Grill & Cantina. Glastonbury is lucky to have it! On New London Turnpike across from Webster’s Bank, Jalisco’s offers authentic Mexican, happy service, happy atmosphere, affordable prices! Family and friends work hard, and they post photos of patrons on the wall. When I asked about a prize donation for GEN’s Green Initiative, they insisted on giving me a $25 gift certificate on the spot, without further explanation of GEN’s plans. They treated me not as a nuisance trying to fast-talk them out of profit, but as a good customer trying to do something good for the planet we share, and someone they could trust as they would a friend. If you like Mexican, you’ll become a regular, and that’s a promise. And they’re in the Apple Fest neighborhood, ask for directions!   

Heather’s is one of several fine jewelers in Glastonbury, and it’s where my wife and I always go when we want to feel like royalty or treasured old friends just for browsing or asking the favor of repairing a Movado bought elsewhere, at a TIMEX price. Sean & Heather Soltanapanah are guiding GEN in the purchase of precious and semi-precious stones to be used as prizes in GEN Special Projects about extraction of such resources as oil, coal, diamonds, emeralds.  Among GEN’s Apple Fest drawing prizes are a 2.6-carat Peridot, and four 35% Heather’s Discount Cards good through 2010!   

Ming Bao Restaurant on Hebron Avenue next to VNA takes Chinese to  a level you have to taste to appreciate, dining in or taking out. Jimmy Wang and family pour on the flavor and plenty of free friendly smiles. Jimmy has provided a $20 GC for the Apple Fest even though we’ve never paid more for than $15 for the wonderful meals for two we’ve had there, and we’re regulars! 

A Cardinal House is a classic bed and breakfast where you can also have a lovely and memorable gathering indoors or out in a green and flowered garden. And what sets it further apart is the kind, gentle warmth of the LePore family who run this Main Street gem. 

Katz Ace Hardware on Main Street is a Glastonbury icon with a well deserved reputation for friendly personal service by generations of owners and truly helpful staff. That explains why it’s one of the largest Scotts dealers in the U.S. Owner Bob Krieger is maintaining traditions, and has donated a Gift Certificate for the drawing!

J. Gilbert’s  on Glastonbury Blvd has given Glastonbury a classy but-not-haughty restaurant with great, smiling service, outstanding food, a lounge area that’s alive and friendly, and a comfortable dining atmosphere comforted by a glowing fireplace. Manager John Domizio has donated a $20 Gift Certificate for a lucky Apple Fest drawing winner! We hope it’s a teacher or parent! 

Barnes & Noble is no stranger to Glastonbury’s avid readers, and certainly not us. GEN is donating a Gift Card on its behalf. We want the local winner to buy a book on GEN’s recommended reading list.  

Perf Go Green is the company that invented biodegradable plastic wastebasket and trash bags, which GEN is going to bury alongside regular plastic bags in June, and dig up before a live audience at the Apple Fest to show the biodegradables will already be decomposing while the regular plastic bags will not. The biodegradables are available at Highland Park Market and in GEN’s Green eMall, and Perf Go Green has been awarded the Green Education Network Seal of Approval! 

Vegware US Newington Environmental Quality Commission Chairman Mark Pappa introduced us to Jon Tufano of CT-based Vegware, whose products include bio-degradable knives, forks and spoons as well as compostable plates,  bowls, take-out boxes and hot drink cups with an eco-friendly corn starch rather than plastic lining. We are thrilled to welcome yet another environmental solutions leader to Green-the-Apple-Fest Sponsorship. Vegware is donating a Picnic-Party Package to our drawing, and CEO Bob Bond advises Vegware itself plans to exhibit at the Fest, and — click here for more – has been awarded the Green Education Network Seal of Approval!

Mark Pappa of CT Financial and Jackson Hewitt. Mark is also the Chairman of Newington’s Environmental Commission, whose Earth Day GEN co-sponsored. Mark has been very supportive of GEN, and does an excellent job of doing far more than preparing tax returns! More about Mark and Newington below, GEN was happy to support Newington’s Earth Day Program and High School Environment Club. We hope to see it replicated in Glastonbury! In the meantime, Mark and Julie Butryman, please click here and download the PDF.

Test Prep and FUN! The innovative online game that CT kids love to play (even though it improves their scores on Connecticut Mastery tests) is the creation of Annabelle Howard, President of Test, Prep & FUN, Inc. GEN had the honor of donating a Wireless Mini Laptop for the winner of TPF’s Spring Contest, and Annabelle has generously reciprocated with a very special prize: the first Glastonbury School Principal or District Administrator to say to Gregory Hilbert at the GEN Apple Fest booth “I claim the Test Prep and FUN Prize” wins a FREE CLASSROOM SUBSCRIPTION to TPF for up to 25 students. This “Claim It” Prize is WORTH $250! Click here to visit TPF

Suzanne Beauchamp is the real estate agent who found our “Green Acre” Glastonbury home and became a friend whose greeting cards triggered fond memories. We met Suzanne’s mom, worked with husband Al for our mortgage, and talked about our children. Suzanne is donating an aerial view of Glastonbury enlarged to poster size for our Apple Fest booth. We want to point out Glastonbury’s APPLE ORCHARDS, parks and green spaces! Thank you Suzanne and Prudential CT Realty, we appreciate your enthusiasm and your offer to help in our booth in October. We’re glad to have you join us!  

Blockbuster is the beneficiary of our purchase of movie passes for prizes. We hope winners see An Inconvenient Truth or Disney’s Earth!

Staples has a good Environmental action record nationally, ranking in the top 25 of EPA’s cooperating major corporations, so GEN bought Flash Drive prizes from them for the Apple Fest Go Green drawing.                                                                                                                        The Teacher-Parent Store has joined our team of Green-the-Fest sponsors with enthusiasm, donating the prize of a Butterfly Garden we wish WE were eligible to win! Thank you Jan Lawrence, we look forward to future collaborations. We appreciate your offer to post a link to GEN from one of your websites, and we’ll be sure inquirers at the GEN Green-the-Fest booth know where they can get Butterfly Gardens and a wide range of earth and life science products and more, right next door to the Apple Fest grounds and Whole Foods Market!

 Glastonbury Home Depot. We bought a small Gift Card as one of GEN’s donated prizes for the Apple Fest drawing, out of appreciation for Home Depot’s Eco Options program, which includes recycling of CFLs at all Home Depot stores nationwide.

Healthtrax Fitness and Wellness at the ECHN Glastonbury Wellness Center is community minded, and Site Director Joyce Hyde was quick to see the connection between Wellness, healthy Glastonbury and Global environments, and our Green-the-Fest Initiative. Thank you Joyce for an attentive listening in the midst of a busy day. No wonder all of the exercising members we saw looked healthy AND happy! Joyce, we hope your generous prize donation of a Month of free Family Membership worth $150 is won by a family with many members! 

100 PERCENT MARTIAL ARTS One of the nation’s best Martial Arts Schools (aka “Karate”) is right here in Glastonbury next to Panneras! My own son is on its Demo and Leader teams. Mike Ferreira’s program has a competition team that wins national events, and UConn Basketball has selected his Demo team for the half-time event 4 times! Mike has donated a free lesson for an unlimited number of kids, perfect because all ages and abilities can participate and benefit. See the programs at http://www.100percentmartialarts.com

Brian Ambrose Photography became a  sponsor just in time for our group photo session with Representative Kehoe and Councilman Beckett (more below) Brian has a well-earned reputation for exceptional photography — see for yourself: http://www.brianambrosephoto.com . Brian is pleased to join the growing list of supporters of our Green-the-Fest Initiative. Welcome Brian, and thank you!

Emmy Lou’s, Ltd is Glastonbury’s Christmas Shop, and the lucky winner of Emmy Lou’s Gift Certificate donation to the Green-the-Fest drawing will know she’s in for a treat the instant she sees the seasonally-decorated historic home of its location just off the corner of Main and Hebron Ave. She’ll know it again from the fragrances that greet her upon entering. It’s a gift shop for all seasons and occasions, and botanical silk florals are a speciality in the midst of one lovely thing after another in every charming room!

Signal Graphics is just a hop and skip from Emmy Lou’s on Hebron Ave, and offers a high level of personal service that translates to another form of great first impressions, whether you need Offset or Digital Printing, Graphic Design, Finishing, Posters, Promotional Items, or Mailing services.  Click here to get acquainted via the Signal Graphics website, and we say thank you Signal Graphics for your community-supportive donation of something we need printed (on recycled paper of course) to help Green the Fest!

Ethical Expeditions and Trail Explorers  Among the good people doing good things afar who’ve shown appreciation for our efforts are Brent Loken and Sheryl Gruber at Ethical Expeditions, to whom we have granted our Seal of Approval and who may pass our way in Sept. Another is Doug (aka outfitters@trailexplorers.com) who has also won GEN’s Seal of Approval and kindly sent us a stack of rain-proof mini notebooks to give to serious hikers, campers and expeditioners . If you’re one, visit http://www.trailexplorers.com, and if you want more than an educational expedition, one that prepares you for environmental leadership, see http://www.greeneducationnetwork.com/article/gen-supports-ethical-expeditions-to-borneo-and-zambia

People’s United Bank is new to Glastonbury, and just steps away from the Fest and several other Green the Fest sponsors: Whole Foods, The Teacher Parent Store, Jalisco’s, 100 Per Cent Martial Arts, Betty Lou’s, Angelo’s, Heather’s Jewelry, and Signal Graphics. We had the pleasure of meeting several People’s execs at a Test Prep and Fun celebration in June (Test Prep and Fun is yet another sponsor), and greatly appreciate the Glastonbury branch donation of a $25 Savings bond to our prize drawing pool!

 

Green-the-Fest enthusiasts greatly appreciate the time State Representative Tom Kehoe and City Councilman Stewart “Chip” Beckett gave to meet representatives of our growing team and to join our first group photo* the night before Earth Day at Whole Foods Market, in the midst of…APPLES! Lots of APPLES!!

Representative Kehoe (above right) has an excellent environmental record as a legislator, serves on the State Legislature’s Environment Committee, and among other things successfully championed funding for CT bike trails, including Glastonbury’s. That Councilman Beckett (right) respects natural environments is evident when you see the grounds of his Veterinary practice, and learn he has a 50-panel solar array!  *(We wish to emphasize that no endorsement of GEN or any particular viewpoint was requested or is implied by Representative Kehoe and Councilman Beckett meeting with a group of Glastonbury citizens. We represented to them that we seek to benefit the Chamber’s Apple Fest and the entire Glastonbury community, most especially the Environmental Education program and Environmental Awareness Clubs of its Schools, and the Glastonbury Audubon Center.)

With so many wonderful sponsors joining us to call attention to environmental solutions, we’re pleased to report: 

The Apple Fest Will Be Greener Than Ever! 

K12 T-Shirts at http://k12tshirts.com is an increasingly popular source of custom T shirts for teams, events and causes for the simple reason that they offer high quality at the lowest price we’ve yet to find in the U.S.! Company President Mark Garrett jumped at the chance to donate a custom GEN T-shirt in support of Green the Fest and the student Environmental Clubs of Glastonbury’s schools. He liked what we were doing!

Above right Sponsor-Photographer Brian Ambrose looking photogenic at Whole Foods  

 

 

 

We are yet hopeful of supporting the Glastonbury High School and Smith Middle School Environmental Awareness Clubs – and the Environmental Science program as a whole, in keeping with Green Education Network’s Mission. We obtained Superintendent Bookman’s blessing, made our interest known to principals, assistant principals, and club teachers throughout the spring and to GHS Environmental Science teachers on June 4. Our goal is this:  Environmental Clubs at Smith and GHS that, unlike 2008-2009, remain active for more than a few months of the school-year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’d love to collaborate to conduct an All-Schools-and-Whole-Town BAN THE PENNY! Fun and Fundraiser. Click here to see what on earth we’re talking about!        

 

 

 

 

CLICK HERE FOR AN IDEA FOR a PRE-FEST ACTIVITY or  NEXT YEAR’s EARTH DAY

Green Education Network helped sponsor Newington’s Earth Day Clean-up hosted by Newington’s Environmental Commission. It was organized by Commission Chairman Mark Pappa and Newington High School Environmental Club Adviser and Science Teacher Julie Butryman. Newington Kiwanis supported. We’d be happy to help Glastonbury’s Clubs and Civic Groups spruce up for the Fest, or Earth Day 2010 or both! 

We’ve had a nice talk with Sally Carbone, Director of

Glastonbury’s Audubon Center.

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE CTR’S SITE 

We can’t say too much about the programs, staff and volunteers. A true Glastonbury asset, and one we relish supporting!

We welcome messages from additional prize-donor sponsors and others supportive of GEN’s Green-the-Applefest Initiative who might have literature for the exhibit or other ways to contribute. Simply email greghilbert@greeneducationnetwork.com.

On Earth Day we reached out to Town Manager Richard Johnson, with whom we met June 3. Suffice it to say here that the Town of Glastonbury has undertaken a “greening” effort so comprehensive it surely ranks among in the upper 1% nationally. We are  informally collaborating and will distribute literature about Town of Glastonbury CLEAN ENERGY and GLASTONBURY GROWN programs at the GEN Apple Fest booth. As we said from the outset, our purpose is to benefit the whole of our community, the Chamber, the Apple Fest, Glastonbury Schools, and certainly the Town of Glastonbury. In fact, we can now say that we intend to hold the Town of Glastonbury forth as a model for other municipal governments to emulate nationwide. 

If you need to know more about Green Education Network CEO Gregory Hilbert, please click ABOUT US on the left side of the page or    CLICK HERE FOR HIGHLIGHTS OF HIS PUBLIC-SERVICE HISTORY 

 Thank you to CT Environmental Headlines for alerting your Site Visitors and email subscribers to our Green-the-Fest Initiative!

 

Greetings to Sonny Googins, now on Facebook!

  

Stewart “Chip” Beckett DVM comments about energy and the future:

“Regardless of what you think about global warming, using resources wisely is the responsible, humanitarian obligation of us all. Pollution has been discussed and lessened over the last 40 years, but we still have a ways to go. Burning fossilized plant materials is not really sustainable over the next 200 years of our country’s existence. We need to look to harness the source of all energy in the world, the sun, directly. Certainly we have to learn how to store energy for night use and transportation, and we have not yet. If we maintain that as our goal, we will eliminate (potentially) pollution that triggers asthma and other lung diseases and limiting disease and health care costs. There are many small reasons to talk about greener lifestyles, but they all come down to how do we leave the world a better place for our children and grandchildren.”

 

Thank You Yale Peabody Museum in New Haven for your summer-long SUSTAINABLE CHOICES Exhibition!  

Reproduced in the public interest from the Museum’s website: “Sustainability — usually defined as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs — is the topic of the Peabody’s next temporary exhibition, Sustainable Choices. 

Although sustainability issues are global and systemic, even simple decisions, when made day after day, can be hugely effective. One example? While most of us cannot choose how electricity is generated, we can choose daily how to bag our groceries and how to wash our clothes. We’re all familiar with “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle,” but Sustainable Choices invites visitors to “rethink” too. Think about your shirt: Is it made of cotton, wool or petroleum-based materials? Where were these materials grown or collected? Where were they assembled? How did the shirt get to the store? What will happen to it when you are done with it? Answering these questions about the life cycle of a shirt is a way to determine its environmental cost. Sustainable Choices examines the issues involving laundry, recycling, composting, light bulbs and transportation, and explains how to calculate your carbon footprint. Information about Yale’s own sustainability initiatives is also highlighted.”

American Community Gardening Association  Green Education Network is delighted to have the moral support of this wonderful non-profit organization for Green-the-Fest. GEN is offering an ACGA membership to the first school, student club, town department or commission, non-profit org, agency or church or for-profit company including apartment or condo complex or nursing home taking a first step toward a community garden in Glastonbury. Click here for ACGA info and two fun sites about gardening for students 

Sponsor Bob Johnson Recommends these two books (Click title for more) Green Goes with Everything and Unbowed

  

 

Click Here to See Photos of JUST A FEW of the PEOPLE Helping Us Green the Fest!