This has nothing to do with St. Patrick’s Day or Leprechauns !  Green Drinks of Pensacola is a new chapter of an organization that has been around since the 1980s. It is one of about 400 chapters world wide. Green Drinks is an informal gathering of Eco-friendly people who enjoy coming together and exchanging thoughts and ideas and gathering new information about anything green. There is no formal format. Everything is casual and unstructured, generally located in a local bar or restaurant with a cash bar.

Pensacola’s chapter was organized by two local businesses, EcoLogical Realty and Fields Of Green, a business directory for green products and services.  The gathering will be held on the first Wednesday of every month from 5PM to 7PM, at Lili Marlene’s ,located in Seville Quarter, a popular watering hole for many locals. The first Pensacola Green Drinks gathering is planned for March 3rd.  I will be there, to check out the organic wine if nothing else!

To learn more about Green Drinks and how you can start your own chapter, check out their site at

http://www.greendrinks.org/

Recently , in Pensacola, Florida, a team of professionals announced their plans to undertake the seemingly difficult task of designing and building a home that will not only be certified Green by the Florida Green Building Coalition and the National Association of Home Builders, but will also be "affordable". To top it all off, it will be marketed by the Eco-minded group, Ecological Realty.

The team consists of Designer, Jim Bozeman, of "Today’s Homes", Builder, Tomas Ondra,  NAHB certifying agent, Larry Hunter,  FGBC certifying agent Pam Kirk and Real Estate professionals, Trish Sarfert and Jake Hesse of EcoLogical Realty.

The final touches and adjustments are being made to the plans to assure that the home  will meet all of the criteria for both certification programs. It will be the NAHB’s first home to be certified green in Pensacola.

The team is working closely together and scrutinizing the plans and specification from every angle. The Designer, who is also a certifying agent for the FGBC, wants to be sure the floor plan not only meets all the requirements for Green certification, but also contains all of the elements of a Universal Design as well. The builder is developing his "pre-game" plan with the certifying agents to be sure that everything will be documented properly and that every possible point earned will be accounted for. EcoLogical Realty is providing valuable information concerning the local housing market to insure that the final plans include features that their buyers are looking for and that the price will be competitive and affordable.

Tall order?  You bet it is!  Land costs for individual homes can be a deal breaker sometimes. But the team is hopeful. They want to teach the public that having "green features" in a home does not make it a "Green Certified" home.  A green home is much more than just having Energy Star appliances or a Geothermal heat pump. These features alone do not make a "Green Certified" home, although they certainly are great features and do score points! A true "Green" home starts with the selection of your lot and its proximity to existing infrastructure or its "walk ability" in order to reduce the need for cars and fuel. It is about using low VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) materials for a healthier home, zero landscaping using native plants that require little or no water and less maintenance, and these are just a few things certifying agents look for. In short, having a green certified home is having a home that is located in a neighborhood that scores high in "walk ability", has been constructed with healthy and sustainable materials in a manner that made minimal impact on the earth and that resulted in an energy efficient, low maintenance home. Healthy, Safe, easy to maintain and energy efficient….. all that AND, now we add Affordable!

I will be blogging on this project if you care to follow along. The actual ground breaking is about a week away, so stay tuned!

Yet another thing to worry about. Should I buy a real tree or an artificial tree? Nine years ago, I bought a Grapevine tree. I think it was one of my best purchases ever. It stands only 6 feet tall and is 3 feet in diameter at its base. It fits nicely in almost every corner of the house. I have it wrapped in small, white, energy efficient LEDs. They use about 90% less energy per string. Then I decorate it for Christmas as well as Mardi Gras, Birthdays, Halloween, you name it. Talk about recycling and reusing! Beside the approximate $10 per foot I have saved for the past nine years, I have saved nine trees!  Did you know that the average conifer tree can absorb an estimated ton of carbon over a period of 60 years? Regardless of this, over 28 million real trees will be sold in the U.S. in 2008.

Is the answer to buy an artificial tree?  You tell me. According to statistics almost 9 million artificial trees are imported from china each year. Talk about fuel and shipping costs! Not to mention that ,on average, each of these 9 million artificial trees contains about 7 pounds of PVC (polyvinyl chloride).  This means that a consumer would have to reuse this type of artificial tree for 20 years, at least, to have a lower carbon footprint than a real tree. Food for thought, right? Well, Before you go running out for your real tree, be aware that unless you buy one from a seller of organic, pesticide-free trees near you, you will more than likely be paying for fuel and other shipping costs as well as the  6 pounds of pesticides sprayed on each acre of Christmas trees every year.

The best idea idea yet…..rent a tree that can be replanted after Christmas! Cities that I know of that do this are Portland, Oregon,  San Diego and San Francisco. At the very least, if you are not interested in the grapevine tree, take your tree to a recycling center, after the holidays, where it can be turned into compost or mulch. FYI, did you know that moderate arts and crafts while standing, such as decorating a Christmas tree burns about 238 calories per hour?  So between Composting (see "I’m dreaming of a Green Christmas) at 396 calories and decorating your Christmas tree, you have burned a whopping 634 calories!  Yet another reason to be jolly!

(Visit our website store at www.fieldsofgreendirectory.com for more information on grapevine trees)

…Or are you having nightmares of a "Lean" Christmas? Has the thought of too much "Spending" got you down? Too much food, wrapping paper everywhere……the guilt of chopping down a tree……Do I sound like the Grinch? Well, if you are like me, you need to take your mind off the over indulgences and onto some of the positives of the season.

Tis the Season alright! Tis the season to Compost!  If you haven’t started your compost pile, now is the perfect time. Leaves are falling everywhere, and kitchen scraps abound from all the yummy goodies being made around this time of year. It doesn’t take much to build a compost pile. Just Remember 1part green to 3parts brown. Green = kitchen scraps ( fruit, veggie and grain type scraps please, eggshells, coffee grinds and the filter), fresh grass or plant trimmings, weeds or the remains of your summer garden. Brown = soft dead leaves,  small twigs, straw, hay, shredded paper or crumpled cardboard. It is not necessary to confine all this in a bin, but there are several good reasons to have one. Keeping things neat and tidy in a small yard is one good reason! Keep adding to your pile, Green and Brown as needed. Keep moist and stir! Sounds like a recipe! OK, I have to admit, I am a beginner myself. I have been adding to my pile for about 6 months now. I must recommend a great book: COMPOST by Ken Thompson. It tells you everything you need to know to be successful at composting in a very easy to understand format. You can find this book in our store along with many other interesting books on green living.  You can visit our website at www.fieldsofgreendirectory.com . After a big holiday food fest, I gather up all my scraps, jog out to the bin and throw it on top. Then I take my trusty pitch fork and work it in, like folding in the ingredients in a cake batter. If the weather is dry, I give it a little sprinkle of water. FYI, did you now that composting burns approximately 396 calories per hour! As I walk briskly back to the house, I feel much better knowing that I have not only burned a few calories and made room for desert, but I have done my part in keeping tons of household garbage out of our landfills.

School Lunches - To Buy or Not To Buy - Most of us with kids have, at least once, visited their school at lunch time. I know I have. Besides the bad acoustics and the torture of sitting in the "wee" people chairs, what comes to my mind is the terrible waste of food. Did you know that in a year’s time, even the smallest of schools can produce more than a ton of food waste?  I have observed entire trays of food being tossed in the garbage after being carefully stirred about to hide the uneaten corn beneath the half eaten slice of cheese pizza next to the barely touched canned peaches…..the sugar cookie was gone……probably traded off for some more desirable sweet treat brought from home by a classmate. Brown Bagging it doesn’t help much if the food and the bag, along with the plastic utensils, disposable cartons and containers, paper napkins and plates and , let’s not forget those plastic sandwich bags, end up in the trash. So what is a parent to do? Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! Here are some suggestions for creating a waste-free lunch room.

1. Reduce – Pack only what you know your child will eat. Sit down with your child and make a list of foods that are acceptable to both of you for lunches and snacks. This not only saves time in the morning, but money and nerves as well!
2. Reuse - Use a reusable lunch box. There are many on the market these days, but my personal favorite is one called the Laptop Lunch box. It is BPA and lead free. You can check it out at http://www.laptoplunches.com/
3. Reuse – A reusable thermos is a wonderful thing! Fill it with your favorite beverage, hot soup or stew or slide a slice of hot pizza in for a real surprise!
4. Reuse – Pack a cloth napkin. You might consider putting your child’s name on this. I’m guessing it will end up in the trash a few times before they adjust to this luxury!
5. Reuse – Use reusable containers. Keep those plastic bags out of the landfills. It can take up to 20 years for those things to go away!
6. Recycle – Ask your school to start a recycling program if they don’t already have one.

For more information and great ideas on waste-free lunches, check out http://wastefreelunches.org/ . If you have any ideas on Greening up our kid’s lunches, we’d love to hear from you.

WELCOME TO OUR BLOG!

There is no doubt that the Green Living Movement has finally made itself known.  It has quietly lurked in the background for decades, but has just recently worked its way to the front page. And true to tradition, Green means GO!  Green is in the news, on the web, in book stores, ads and on  billboards.  Green is everywhere, covering every field in life. And there are many FIELDS OF GREEN (Thus, our name!).   Green may not be your favorite color, but it is rapidly becoming a favorite way of life for many. It is because of this rapid movement that we have created this blog. There is so much information , new technology,  new products and services, innovative  ideas and strong opinions, that it can be mind boggling. We wanted no man left behind!

It is our goal to promote "Green" awareness and provide a comfortable and friendly place where anyone and everyone can come to learn or to teach others about Green Living . We want you to share your ideas,experiences and opinions. We encourage you to ask questions about Green Living or any Environmental issue that is of importance to you. If you have the answer, we hope you will share it.  This blog is all about helping each other to help the Earth.

We welcome you here and look forward to all of the valuable learning experiences, and possibly friendships, that lie ahead.

Sincerely,

Pam Kirk, President/Founder

Fields Of Green,LLC