HRGREEN Campaign News
Issue No. 2                                                                                                                         JUNE 2011
  

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Welcome to the HR Green

Campaign Newsletter

 

Here's where you'll find all the latest news about the HR Green initiative-an exciting regional awareness campaign set to launch in the summer of 2011. The campaign, and this newsletter, are sponsored by 16 Hampton Roads cities and counties, working together with the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission. Please join our mailing list to receive news and updates, and watch our HR Green brand grow! Info at www.HRGreenBlog.com 

 

HR Green Website SampleComing Soon! HR Green Website

 

Residing on a test site at an undisclosed URL is the new HR Green website. Following months of fact-finding, research, focus group studies and development, the site is slated for a soft launch in mid-June. When the go-button is pressed, no one will be more pleased than Julia B. Hillegass, public information and community affairs administrator for the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission (HRPDC).   

 

"The site is exactly where we want it to be, as we test all the bells and whistles and navigate among the many places it will take us," she said.  

 

Since last July, Hillegass, and members of the HR Green executive committee have met regularly with Cahoon & Cross Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations to plan for an important HRPDC initiative- consolidating its HR Clean, HR Fog, HR Storm and HR Wet brands under one regional umbrella campaign called HR Green.  

 

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HR Green with FOX-43HR Green Celebrates Earth Day Week with FOX-43


How did you celebrate Earth Day Week? Five HR Green committee members marked the occasion by making special appearances on FOX-43's "The Hampton Roads Show," April 18-22. Promoting the HR Green campaign, the blog and timely environmental topics, Julia B. Hillegass (HRPDC), Harry Kenyon (Norfolk Department of Public Utilities), Tiffany Wright (Virginia Beach Department of Public Utilities), John Deuel (Keep Norfolk Beautiful) and Fleta Jackson (Norfolk Environmental Storm Water Management) provided viewers with plenty of great reasons to cut the fat, reach for the tap, bag the plastic and be storm drain smart! In addition to the featured interview segments, the promotion included 100,000 banner impressions that appeared on WAVY.com, FOX-43's sister station. To see the individual interviews, click on the committee member's name above.  

 

Native Plants

Spring is a Great Time to
"Plant More Plants"  

 

Using native plants in your landscaping and incorporating ground cover on slopes and stream banks are easy ways to prevent storm water runoff-and keep harmful pollutants out of the storm drain. Just when residents' thoughts turned to spring yard work, HR Green extended its participation in the "Plant More Plants" media campaign in Hampton Roads. Developed by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, the campaign concluded at the end of April. From May 9-30, additional television spots appeared on WHRO-TV, and online banner ads ran on Pilotonline and DailyPress.com. Ready to do a little digging of your own? Get started! It's still prime planting season in Virginia. For info, visit www.plantmoreplants.com  

 

Reach for the Tap

Radio Audiences Encouraged
to Reach for the Tap
 

 

"Tap into clean, safe tap water" was the message of last month's HR Green radio campaign to promote the quality and value of the region's tap water. Thirty-second ads extolling the benefits of tap water to refresh, clean, prevent fires and run businesses were broadcast on WPTE-FM, 94.9 The Point; WUSH-FM, 106.1; WVKL-FM, 95.7; and WWDE-FM, "2WD" 101.3. 

 

 

Storm DrainEducating Residents to be
Storm Drain Smart

   

Do you know the difference between your sanitary sewage drain and your storm drain? To show Hampton Roads residents the difference-and to keep harmful pollutants away from curbside storm drains-HR Green launched a television and online media campaign, May 16 through June 3, on WAVY-TV, WTKR-TV, WVEC-TV and on Pilotonline and DailyPress.com. Featuring the tag line, "Waste on the ground is waste in our water," the 30-second television ads showed images of water from your indoor pipes going to a treatment facility, while grass clippings, leaves and water from washing your car run off directly to the storm drain and natural waterways. Coupled with online banner ads touting similar messaging, the campaign went a long way toward educating residents to be storm drain smart!

 

Katherine Jackson

ODU Service-learning Project Educates Students-and Teacher

 

Earlier this year, select Old Dominion University (ODU) students immersed themselves in regional environmental topics as part of a pilot program with the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission's HR Green initiative. Katherine Jackson, a senior lecturer in the English Department at ODU's Virginia Beach campus, conducted a service- learning project related to HR Green for her advanced composition class earlier this spring.  Service-learning projects give students the opportunity to put the critical thinking and writing skills they learn in the classroom to use in the community. As  the semester unfolded, Jackson's students, most of whom are future elementary education teachers, developed lesson plans, wrote mini-grant proposals, penned research articles and wrote letters to the editor-with a focus on service-learning and such HR Green topics as recycling, efficient water use, storm water awareness and proper ways to dispose of fats, oils and grease. Jackson described the outcomes as "awesome" when HR Green Campaign Update caught up with her this month.

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About the HRPDC

 

The HRPDC provides assistance on local and regional issues pertaining to economics, physical and environmental planning, emergency management and transportation. The Commission represents more than 1.6 million people who live in the cities of Chesapeake, Franklin, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Poquoson, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Virginia Beach and Williamsburg, and the counties of Gloucester, Isle of Wight, James City, Southampton, Surry and York. For information and updates on the HR Green campaign, visit www.HRGreenblog.com.

In This Issue
Coming Soon! HR Green Website
HR Green Celebrates Earth Day Week with FOX-43
Spring is a Great Time to "Plant More Plants"
Radio Audiences Encouraged to Reach for the Tap
Educating Residents to be Storm Drain Smart
ODU Service Learning Project Educates Students-and Teacher
Plastic Bag Forgiveness Day, June 25, Offers Second Chance to Recycle
Blog Check!

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Plastic Bag Forgiveness 

 

 

 

Plastic Bag Forgiveness Day, June 25, Offers Second Chance to Recycle

   

Guilty of throwing your plastic shopping bags out with the trash? Relax. HR Green is offering residents a second chance to do right by the environment when it hosts "Plastic Bag Forgiveness Day," Saturday, June 25 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Peninsula Town Center in Hampton and Walmart at 7350 Tidewater Drive in Norfolk.  

 

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Blog Check!      

Blog Check!  

   

Looking for news about special recycling programs, local environmental events or simple green practices you can implement at home, work and play? Don't forget to check the online journal www.HRGreenblog.com.  

Developed by the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission as an interim resource for the HR Green regional awareness campaign, the site features news and views written by team of local experts who work in the region's municipal utility and environmental divisions. The blog will soon be transitioning to the new HR Green website. So watch us grow! We're at www.HRGreenblog.com!