carbon
Local Events Worth Noting
1) Leave your car at home and reap the benefits with Go Green Streets
2) Join your community to help weatherize a neighbor’s house
(yours could be next)
3) Jump on the bus and visit the Red Fire Farm Tomato Festival
4) Expose your kid to gardening at the Growing Center Playgroup
5) Put on your best bamboo shirt and attend the Boston Vegitarian Society Dinner
1) GO GREEN STREETS
Leave your car at home on August 29! WEAR GREEN and COMMUTE GREEN (walk, bike, bus, carpool)! Check out our website for this month’s raffle items (including a $15 gift certificate at Harvest Coop) and discounts at other local businesses for those who participate! www.GoGreenStreets.org for more info or to sign up your company or school!
2) WEATHERIZATION BARN-RAISING
At the home of Steve Miller and Sally Benbasset
Sunday, August 10 3:00–6:00pm
92-96 Henry Street, Cambridge
If the federal government won’t cut carbon, let’s do it ourselves!
- Help to weatherize a neighbor’s home (a skill you can take back to your own home), while you party with neighbors.
- Learn how to install pipe insulation, a programmable thermostat and more.
- Meet the brand-new CEO of Cambridge Energy Alliance in his first public appearance. Ask him about the direction of the Energy Alliance while drinking lime rickeys!
- Enjoy live music and pizza.
A group of Cambridge-area residents has come together to form an Energy Co-op. Our goal is to work together to make our neighborhoods more energy efficient. We are also exploring possibilities for district energy systems in which neighbors share renewable local energy.
We’re looking for the next home to weatherize. You supply the materials and pizza. We do the work. Come talk to us about it.
For more information contact Steve Morr-Wineman at swineman@gis.net.
3) RED FIRE FARM TOMATO FESTIVAL
TOMATO FESTIVAL – Red Fire Farm has been putting on a tomato tasting for eight years now, and it’s grown into a huge event on the farm with three live bands, four chefs, crafters, local producers with samples, food vendors, 75 tomato varieties to taste and lots more going on. A highly recommended time to visit the farm!
Saturday, August 23rd, 12-5pm
Barn Contradance (with some of the members of Wild Asparagus, I hear!) 7:30-10:30pm
Check out the Tomato Festival page of the website for more details.
4) GROWING CENTER PLAYGROUP
Every Friday through August 29 (except July 4); 10 am-noon
Play! Play! Play!…at our drop-in playgroup. For children age 0-5 years of age and their caretakers. For more information, contact Aileen Bellwood at 617-623-0097 or growingcenter@aol.com
5) BOSTON VEGETARIAN SOCIETY DINNER
Join the Boston Vegetarian Society at Veggie Planet for a delicious four-course vegan dinner among friends new and old.
MONDAY, AUGUST 4, 2008
Veggie Planet, 47 Palmer Street in Club Passim
Harvard Square, Cambridge
6:40 PM – Arrive, check-in, socialize
7:00 PM – Chef Amy Swanson introduces the menu
7:10 PM – Dinner begins
RESERVATIONS REQUIRED.
Please email Info@BostonVeg.org and give name(s).
“Plethora of Zucchini” MENU – using the freshest locally grown ingredients available.
- Salad of Zucchini and Yellow Squash Ribbons with a Fresh Herb Vinaigrette
- Chilled Zucchini Soup topped with Fried Basil Leaves
- Entrée of Baked Stuffed Zucchini with a White Bean, Local Bread and Herb Filling accompanied by a Farm Fresh Tomato Ragu
- Dessert of Chocolate Zucchini Cake and a Special Non-Zucchini Surprise
No animal ingredients
$25 includes tax and beverage. Service is extra. Pay on site after the meal. Cash or check (made out to Veggie Planet) only; No credit cards.
Meet others in BVS – never hesitate to arrive alone to a BVS dinner!
Love all the great things happening in our area!
I lost 5,000 pounds!
Yes, it’s true. The office at D2E went on the Low Carbon Diet and I have lost 5,000 carbon pounds since we started this exploration. Since I never shy away from a challenge, I have set my goals on loosing another 5,000 pounds between now and June. (After a networking event I sat down at the bar to do my homework. Luckily this diet does not deprive me of wine.)
What are carbon pounds you ask?
This nifty workbook takes you through action items that shrink your carbon footprint. You calculate for your whole household – which means my footprint is significantly larger now that I am married. I went from being equal to a European citizen, taking public transportation and abiding by my good eco-habits, to being a typical American. I have my work cut out for me.
For those interested in learning about actions items they can take and working on it together as a team, this workbook is great. We did it together at the office and it did help to hear other stories, share tips and hold each other accountable.
Samples of some habits I picked up:
- Yes, we changed our light bulbs. It is one of the easier tasks, and it must be done.
- Shorter showers. This one is very difficult for me, as my apartment is old and cold.
- Turn down the heat. Keep the temperature low when not at home and at night while sleeping.
- Cold water for cleaning clothes.
- Eating lower on the food chain. More veggies and bugs! (Okay, I have not yet bitten into a bug, but I can’t wait to see David Gracer grill up some insects Friday night at D2E.)
Future goals
- I will compost! I am looking forward to learning about my composting options at D2E. The Alternative Energy store should have some information.
- Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) – I am going to sign up for a CSA this year, and I am very excited about it. Harvest Coop will be at D2E and they are a convenient drop-off, so I’m hoping they can help me choose the right one for me.
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D2Eets on Twitter
- Sorry for last tweet! Wrong account! For haiti updates follow @andreadatkinson
- On the plane to port au prince. From what it looks like more than half full of volunteers #haiti
- Thank you all for a FABULOUS event! Keep following us for more info on #green living in #Boston and beyond and keep going green!
- RT @realfoodmedia: New post: down:2:earth, Boston’s Sustainable Living Expo http://bit.ly/cHjm6V
