Asheville Green Drinks

#377 September 7th, 2011 Potluck at Ashevillage Institute

jmalki — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 00:22:39 +0000

Janell Kapoor is hosting Asheville Green Drinks as a potluck on Wednesday September 7th at the The Ashevillage Institute’s demonstration site (80 Buchanan Ave, Asheville NC 28801 — DONT KNOCK – GO AROUND BACK). The Ashevillage Institute is a nonprofit community education organization dedicated to sustainable solutions in action. Their permaculture development sits next to the heart of downtown Asheville and demonstrates natural building and permaculture techniques.

MARK TIMES:

5:30pm — A one-hour tour of their facilities is being offered for a $10 donation. Please RSVP at info (at) ashevillage (dot) org.
6:30pm — The potluck is free. Bring a dish to share –> local, organic, home-grown, wild and/or fermented, yummy, nourishing deliciousness.

We look forward to seeing everyone then!
MARK DIFFERENT LOCATION: Ashevillage Institute Residence 80 Buchanan Ave, Asheville NC 28801 (directions)

#371 July 27, 2011 Land of Sky Regional Council

jmalki — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 17:56:51 +0000

Hear about the development of a regional sustainability plan in a presentation by Carrie Runser-Turner, director of the Livable Communities Initiative at the Land of Sky Regional Council. Land of Sky received a $1.3 million federal grant to work with local governments in Madison, Buncombe, Henderson, Transylvania, and Haywood Counties to develop a plan to make the region more livable and more sustainable. There are opportunities for everyone to be involved in working groups that will develop the plan. Come see how you can get involved. www.LandofSky.org

#372 August 3, 2011 LinkingWaters and Southside Permaculture

jmalki — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 20:25:48 +0000

LinkingWaters is an innovative, whole-systems approach to reclaiming urban water for creating green jobs, growing food in urban neighborhoods and protecting the French Broad River. Tonight we share a vision in action presented by Michelle Smith who will review the principals of permaculture design and community cooperation that became a the seed of a privately owned community garden. With help from regional experts, Michelle has created a perennial food forest at her downtown Asheville home. Organic to this project is the protection and restoration of Nasty Branch, the urban stream that runs through Southside a historic African-American neighborhood. The state of this stream led her to develop the LinkingWaters project with her friend, Sherry Ingram and RiverLink.

Michelle is an urban sustainability and permaculture enthusiast whose early commitment to social justice and the environment wound its way into a career in non-profit development. Now, in addition to her vocation as an Interfaith Minister and Life-Cycle Celebrant she helps “social profit” businesses and organizations build enthusiasm, systems and support for meaningful solutions in this historic moment of opportunity.

www.facebook.com/themichellesmith

www.twitter.com/themichellesmith

MARK TIMES: Socializing at 5:30 PM and Programming Starts at 6:00 PM .
LOCATION: Posana Cafe 1 Biltmore Avenue, Asheville, NC 28801 (directions)

#373 August 10, 2011 Conservation Pros

jmalki — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 19:56:44 +0000

Carl Donovan from ConservationPros.com discusses the interior ecology of WNC homes – with a focus on health and mold. Asheville is a temperate rain forest which means we’re particularly susceptible to molds and fungi. They are, after all, the truest natives of our region. Molds and various fungi (including those that make bread, cheese and penicillin) are everywhere around our homes. So why, all of a sudden, is mold in the home such a hot topic? Why have they become such a risk factor in our homes? Is it all hype or should we be better informed? Carl Donovan, of ConservationPros.com, aims to clarify the subject for you, separating the mold-facts from the mold-fiction.

MARK TIMES: Socializing at 5:30 PM and Programming Starts at 6:00 PM .
LOCATION: Posana Cafe 1 Biltmore Avenue, Asheville, NC 28801 (directions)

ABOUT CARL

Carl Donovan, Founder and Managing Member, HHP, GPA, ASHRAE, BA, RW

Born into a “real estate and rocket science family”, Carl’s carpenter’s-apprenticeship was complete by age eleven, when he fell through a roof during a shingling job.

Carl got his “MBA” before age ten, selling hand-made trinkets to tourists on the streets of the French Quarter in New Orleans. Though he went on to take a Bachelor’s Degree in art from Eckerd College in St Petersburg, Florida, Carl was never able to get far from the “trades” and has spent the bulk of his adult life renovating and remodeling houses.

In 2005, Carl developed the idea that would become Conservation Pros. The concept was a simple one; retrofit the existing housing and light commercial stock with a focus on Comfort, Durability, Safety and Energy-Efficiency.

He set about learning everything there was to know about energy efficiency in houses and light commercial structures as he began employing what he was learning in traditional renovation work.

In April of 2007, Conservation Pros, LLC was officially formed. Every year since has produced triple-digit growth. More importantly, in those years, Conservation Pros has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 700 metric tons, and saved North Carolina’s residents nearly $90,000 in annual energy costs.

Carl lives in Asheville with his wife, Samantha and their two sons Dexter and Lucas. Visit www.ConservationPros.com for more info!

#374 August 17, 2011 Blue Ridge BioFuels

jmalki — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 20:38:48 +0000

Melita and Woody from Blue Ridge BioFuels to discuss the concept of “From Field to the Fryer to the Fuel tank” and a new Cooking Oil Recycling Program of Buncombe County in collaboration with MSD and Green Opportunities among other things.

MARK TIMES: Socializing at 5:30 PM and Programming Starts at 6:00 PM .
LOCATION: Posana Cafe 1 Biltmore Avenue, Asheville, NC 28801 (directions)

ABOUT BLUE RIDGE BIOFUELS

Blue Ridge Biofuels is a worker-owned business committed to building the local alternative energy economy by producing affordable clean fuels for the community of Western North Carolina through sustainable business practices that offer opportunities for community development, local jobs, and biofuel education. Their mission includes:

Produce sustainable biodiesel from regional resources
Provide biodiesel distribution to the WNC region and statewide
Create jobs in the biofuels and related industries
Install multiple biodiesel fueling outlets throughout WNC
Offer regional expertise on biodiesel and other biofuels
Stimulate public, fleet, and municipal awareness and use of biofuels
Conduct research on new biofuels technology and markets

Learn more at: http://www.blueridgebiofuels.com/

#375 August 24, 2011 Save the Rain with Paul

jmalki — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 20:44:12 +0000

Paul Van Heden is a marketing consultant turned rainbarrel-maker. His decorated barrels are a big hit among local gardeners.

Paul will discuss what he’s learned about water catchment and running a small business that’s focuses on making sustainable choices easy for customers.

MARK TIMES: Socializing at 5:30 PM and Programming Starts at 6:00 PM .
LOCATION: Posana Cafe 1 Biltmore Avenue, Asheville, NC 28801 (directions)

Please visit http://www.blissfulrainbarrel.com/ for more information.

#376 August, 31 2011 350 & The Youth Climate Movement

jmalki — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 21:10:33 +0000

Asheville Green Drinks on Wed, Aug. 29th, formerly slotted as being on “United Nations 2.0″ has been changed to a panel on 350 and the Youth Climate Movement.

Panelists include
• Ellie Johnston, formerly of Great Barrington, MA, newly moved back to Asheville, NC where she will talk about Sustainus, the global youth climate movement, and the upcoming “Rio Plus 20″ Earth Summit

• Kendall Hale & Avram Friedman, returned from the Tar Sands civil disobedience action in Washington, DC

• Representatives from the Moving Planet actions in Asheville- the Burton St Ag Fair, The WNC Alliance workshop on how citizens can get involved with transit, & the UNCA clean energy fair

MARK TIMES: Socializing at 5:30 PM and Programming Starts at 6:00 PM .
LOCATION: Posana Cafe 1 Biltmore Avenue, Asheville, NC 28801 (directions)

#377 September 7, 2011 Freeskool

jmalki — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 21:42:24 +0000

David “Clover”will be sharing the wonder and excitement of Freeskool and how it builds resiliency, community, sustainability. Want to teach something? New submissions for new classes in September are available. New facilitators, new classes and students are being sought. Learn about this social capital school and how you can get involved.

MARK TIMES: Socializing at 5:30 PM and Programming Starts at 6:00 PM .
LOCATION: Posana Cafe 1 Biltmore Avenue, Asheville, NC 28801 (directions)

Freeskool Asheville is now using a Facebook group to organize events. It is a temporary solution until this website’s bugs are fixed. Please go to Facebook and search “Freeskool Asheville.”

Freeskool Asheville is an interactive, decentralized model for learning-without the limitations of hierarchy. It is an attempt to “de-school” ourselves and to learn from one another the skills necessary to transform society and better our lives.

In addition to discussions, events, and classes, Freeskool Asheville has a strong focus on skills. It’s a skillsharing network aimed to generalize skills and confidence. We seek to provide an environment that inspires individuals and facilitates the exchanging of tools they need to create their lives on their own terms. We aim to offer a network that supports peoples capacity to live more autonomously and build communities that are not limited by the constrains of outside (or inside) institutions. We wish to share skills, not just to survive within the institutional framework imposed but to thrive without and beyond it.

Freeskool Asheville is now using a Facebook group to organize events. It is a temporary solution until this website’s bugs are fixed. Please go to Facebook and search “Freeskool Asheville.”

Who is Freeskool?

Freeskool is a completely grassroots effort, a group of folks who decided to act collectively and autonomously to create a skill-sharing network, a school without institutional control. It is our intent to instill bottom-up organizing within the freeskool, so that it is self sustaining in and of itself. It is an opportunity for you to learn from others and share what you know, to help create self-reliance, vital communities, and beauty in the world. If you are willing to learn, teach, or help organize Freeskool, then the short answer is you.

We are all students and we are all teachers.

Are there other Freeskools?

A lot of inspiration to create Freeskool Asheville came from the Santa Cruz Freeskool.

There are many others around the continent. These are a few active freeskools:

Portland Freeskool, Oregon, USA: http://portland.freeskool.org
Ithaca Freeskool, New York, USA: http://ithacafreeskool.wordpress.com/
Free Skool Santa Cruz, California, USA: http://santacruz.freeskool.org
Seattle Freeschool, Seattle, WA USA: http://www.seattlefreeschool.org/
The Freeschool Community, Olympia, WA USA: http://www.dsame.com/freeschoolcommunity/
Anarchist U, Toronto, ON, Canada: http://anarchistu.org/

#379 September 21, 2011 Moving Planet Asheville

jmalki — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 22:29:33 +0000

Moving Planet Asheville is part of a worldwide rally to demand solutions to the growing climate crisis, Asheville’s Moving Planet event takes place in three different venues to reach diverse segments of our community and to focus on how we might help move the world beyond fossil fuels. Inspired by the wave of democratic political changes occurring throughout the world, Moving Planet is a reminder that people power can turn the tide and lead to action on climate change (more info at www.350.org).

Asheville’s Moving Planet unfolds on September 24th 2011 with sponsorship from the Canary Coalition, the Sierra Club, Transition Asheville, and the WNC Alliance. The Canary Coalition will create a video-documentary of the day’s events in Asheville. The Asheville Moving Planet event begins with a brief kickoff ceremony from 3:15 to roughly 3:45 with speakers addressing how Asheville is responding to the urgency and demands of climate change. Using the parking lot of First Presbyterian Church (Lexington Ave. and Aston Street downtown), speakers include County Commissioner Holly Jones, WNC Alliance Executive Director, Julie Mayfield, President of the WNC-Central Labor Council/AFL-CIO Mark Case, among others. The Kickoff will end with a send off for an Asheville on Bikes caravan that will wend its way to two other Moving Planet venues where other aspects of climate change and our responses will be highlighted. Because Moving Planet is a day to put our demands for climate action into motion— walking, biking, skating, and public transportation—calling for the world to go beyond fossil fuels, it is fitting that the kickoff ceremony follows WNC Alliance’s Transportation Workshop (noon to 3pm at the First Presbyterian Church).

MARK TIMES: Socializing at 5:30 PM and Programming Starts at 6:00 PM .
LOCATION: Posana Cafe 1 Biltmore Avenue, Asheville, NC 28801 (directions)

Featured speaker and transportation planner Don Kostelec will explain how local and regional transportation planning work together, and how citizens can best engage in and influence the process. (The workshop costs $10; workshop plus lunch $20; to register visit www.wnca.org or email erica@wnca.org.) When Asheville on Bikes arrives at the Burton Street Agricultural Fair, Moving Planet will take the stage from 4:15 and 4:45 to highlight ways one neighborhood is reducing our city’s carbon footprint. Green Opportunities will touch on their retrofiting existing housing for energy efficiency. Appalachian Institute for Renewable Energy will address plans for a private/public partnership placing PV solar panels on the Burton Street Community Center. And Transition Asheville’s Food Action Group will emphasize how food security through local agriculture helps in many way to reduce our carbon footprint while improving health. The Fair is free and happens on the grounds of the Burton Street Community Center (134 Burton Street) in West Asheville. For further info, contact Event Coordinator Safi Mahaba, 828-301-0166 ; see also www.burtonstreet.org.

The Caravan of cyclists will move on to the UNCA campus where Active Students for Health and the Environment (ASHE) is holding the Flip the Switch concert. In between the many talented, local musicians, Flip the Switch will showcase information on local and national environmental issues in an all-day festival format. Speakers include Paul Gallimore of the Long Branch Environmental Education Center, Mary Olsen of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Ned Doyle, founder of the Southern Energy and Environmental Expo, among others. While raising awareness about current energy issues, energy conservation efforts, and efficiency practices, this concert will also include a silent action to raise money for the Southeast Student Renewable Energy Conference (November 4-6),an event on the UNCA campus to educate and empower youth climate leaders across the southeast. Flip the Switch goes from 3-11pm on the UNCA quad and is free; for a complete schedule, see http://www.moving-planet.org/events/us/asheville/999.

#378 September 14, 2011 Intl Day of Peace

jmalki — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 22:18:08 +0000

International Day of Peace

Developers of Asheville’s Second Annual International Day of Peace, Peacetown Asheville and a number of its partners and event sponsors, will speak on why a world and community at peace can only be achieved when persons in all progressive and social change work together. Conversely, those who narrow their focus to only environmental, social or economic change, may want to see the direct connection between why their goals are so hard to meet during a time that the USA continues to grow its military-industrial complex, now at nearly $5 trillion dollars spent on Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan alone.

Asheville Peacetown is a network organized to facilitate action and education for change and to facilitate initiatives using nonviolent direct action to confront and expose the social injustice and militarism at the root of all war. This network consists of individuals, groups, businesses and faith-based communities.

International Day of Peace is an annual event initiated by the United Nations in 1981. In 2002, its observation was set to take place every year on September 21, and to make it a day of ceasefire from conflicts around the globe. In Asheville, our observation will take place on Wednesday, September 21 at 4:30 PM at Pack Square Park with music, family fun and activities, national speakers, such as national interim director of Veterans for Peace Mike Ferner. More information is at peacetownasheville.org.