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Live Green in Plano Volunteers,
Wondering how to help your kids and grandkids develop sustainable life skills? Mark your calendar for Thursday, Sept. 15 at 7:00 p.m. and meet at Haggard Library for the beginning of this season's Learn Green 2 Live Green series: "Tree Hugging 101: Weaving green living skills into your child's day." You'll find details in the poster at the end of this newsletter.
Join the 250 volunteers who have experienced the 12 hour Live Green in Plano (LGIP) volunteer training. The next session begins Sept. 22 from 7 - 9 p.m. and continues for six consecutive Thursdays through Oct. 27. It's guaranteed to give you a new perspective and just might change your daily routine in a few ways.  Volunteer Jan Eppard writes: The LGIP program gave me a wonderful initiation into living green. I now drive a hybrid, have $50 utility bills, carpool, make my own earth-friendly cleaning products, and recycle/repurpose/compost almost everything I encounter in the course of a day. My friends are amazed at my excitement when I start talking about recycling and composting and I have converted most of them. Those who don't want to change let me have their food scraps and extra newspapers. It is almost like running a pyramid scheme, but legal! Sign up now.
Are you currently involved in greening Plano? Watch for some new opportunities this fall:
- Join networking sessions for community gardeners and those working with green teams at offices, churches, synagogues, mosques and temples.
- Adopt a Recycle Reminder sign to boost recycling in your neighborhood.
- Label storm drains. Meagan Fendley welcomes your help.
- Green an event. Kim Soto suggests: Fall Events at schools and churches are a great opportunity to encourage recycling. Contact her to find out how to host a greener event for your organization. Supplies are available to help you recycle or host a zero waste event, or we can help you set up an informational booth to inspire your community to become better recyclers.
- Host a tour, open house or program at the Environmental Education Center.
- Arrange an environmental program with your civic club or homeowner's association.
- Become a Green Ambassador on October 1 to support Plano International Festival, an award winning Zero Waste Event.
- Help with a citywide collection of reusable items at a drive-through drop off event on November 12 Texas Recycles Day Recycle Round-up.
 Together we can make Plano one of the greenest and most sustainable cities in the U. S.!
Deb Bliss
Sustainability Volunteer Coordinator
Don't miss the Texas Pure Products coupon at the end of this newsletter. Bulk compost will be on sale through August for $16/cubic yard. |
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| Vrooom -The Sound of Zero-Emission by Lucy Hao
 Recently, one of the City of Plano volunteers, Joni Strobel McClean, bought a Nissan Leaf, and brought it in for us to see. Joni learned about the car from the weekly volunteer email and, since she always wanted an electric car, set out to buy it.
The Nissan Leaf is a totally electric car that runs on 100% electricity and has zero-emissions, meaning that it essentially carbon-footprint-free. From the outside, the Leaf looks similar to any other car. Read more. |
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What's a CSA? by Aubrie Wolff, photos by Victoria Gandy  If you are one who appreciates the importance of eating locally grown organic food as often as possible, you may want to consider going beyond just frequenting your local farmer's market and venture into joining a CSA, or community supported agriculture, where you can buy directly from the farmer. Recently CSAs have gained popularity, but if you are unfamiliar with the concept, here is an overview. CSAs are set up so that consumers can purchase shares from a local farmer for the season. Memberships, depending on the farm, can be purchased as half or full shares. Each week or month, produce will either be delivered or picked up, sometimes at a designated location. Usually, it is only vegetables, but some farms offer other things like meat, eggs and dairy. One farm, Jacob's Reward Farm in Parker, TX only provides wool, so there is a variety out there. Read more. |
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Do You Know Where Your Food Comes From?
by Wendy Lovas, photos by Victoria Gandy  Do you know where your food comes from? Hint, the answer I'm looking for isn't Tom Thumb or even California. Even if we know the name of the manufacturer of our food, we have no way of knowing what really goes into it. Reading the ingredient's label sounds like a list from a chemist's lab rather than something edible. There are so many layers and processes in getting our food from "farm" to table, that it's next to impossible to know where it all came from. Well, last year, I was lucky enough to hear about Oak Ridge Valley Farm Organics and how they were transitioning from selling their produce at various local farmers markets to forming a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). Read more. |
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Air Conditioner Tuneups: Reduce Your Bills, Save Your System by Lavanya Swaminathan
The average household spends more than $2,200 a year on energy bills, with nearly half of this going to heating and cooling costs. In this present economy, any kind of savings is good for everyone. Most of our energy expense comes from electricity consumption. During summer or winter, there are several ways to avoid higher bills and stress. Moderate settings are an important way to lower bills, but maintenance, regular tune-ups and little changes in the air-conditioning system can improve your results.
Read more. |
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Ideal Savings for Churches with Ideal Impact
by Tanis Roelofs
After attending a City of Plano Faith Based Energy Savings Workshop, I was very impressed with"Ideal Impact's" presentation. This company gives free energy audits for churches in and around the Dallas Metroplex. A representative came to my church, the Reformed Church in Plano (RCP), and met with our church's Green Team. He explained thoroughly how Ideal Impact and RCP would partner together to reduce our electric bills, resulting in considerable savings for our church. Read more. |
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