Live Green in Plano Volunteers, 
Plano staff and volunteers are thrilled Keep Texas Beautiful chose Jinx Smith as Texas Volunteer of the Year! A woodworking hobby led Smith to an interest in volunteering at Plano's Household Chemical Reuse Center. Over the past five years, he has contributed 1,008 volunteer hours across the City of Plano's Live Green in Plano (LGIP) programs. As a certified Master Composter and LGIP Volunteer, he continues to learn and support those programs as a host, training assistant, tour guide and instructor.
Involved in every aspect of Plano's environmental education and community outreach, his name quickly becomes familiar to new volunteers in training. Smith is involved in planning events, guiding the direction of the volunteer program through monthly advisory board meetings, constructing program props and materials, supporting the community garden with composting materials and construction projects, hosting public programs, and staffing the Household Chemical Reuse Center on a weekly basis. It's a consensus: we are lucky he chose to give Plano his time, talent and energy!
Are you planning to volunteer at Learn2LiveGreen ? You'll find inspiration, innovation and ideas you can take home. Volunteer recruitment closes Friday, April 6 - please, sign up now, and invite your family, friends and colleagues to join you.
Thank you to our newsletter contributors this month: Tanis Roelofs, Greg Sidon, Richard A. Solomon and Kathy Stanford.
Deb Bliss
Sustainability Volunteer Coordinator
972.769.4313 |
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No Traffic Woes Where DART Goes
by Richard A. Solomon
Like vast numbers of North Texans, I love my car, but I hate our metroplex traffic.
So a year ago, when my work as a public relations and advertising consultant started taking me outside Plano - to Uptown and downtown Dallas and to the heart of Fort Worth - I decided to stop banging my head against the wall, actually against THE ROADS, which were usually Central Expressway, city streets and the occasional tollway, turnpike and interstate.
Instead, I hopped a train; and, a bus; and a 100 year-old streetcar!
As a result, I'm happier, more relaxed and less stressed. Given the cost of gasoline, maintenance, parking and tolls - I'm not only doing something green for the environment by helping our air quality and saving fuel, but I'm pocketing more green.
Read more. |
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Living With Solar Power
by Kathy Stanford
Earth Day 2012 will be the second anniversary of our solar panel and solar attic fan installation. We didn't plan to get them installed on Earth Day, that's just when it was scheduled. 
We have 12 solar panels, all facing south on the front of our home. They're made by Enphase Energy. We can go online and see how much power each one produces and the number of kilowatt hours produced over time. In fact if you go to enphase.com and click on the Login icon, there is a link to view customer installations. If you click on the map, you can see ours in Celina, TX under "Mazanec Residence.".
On sunny days, even while operating our air conditioning or heat, the refrigerator AND the washing machine simultaneously, we often push power back onto the grid. Grayson Collin Electric credits our monthly bill for the amount of power we send back to the grid. Our monthly bills are roughly 30 percent lower each month with solar panels, and a little less when there's lots of cloudy weather.
Read more. |
Widening the Community
by Deb Bliss
Gardeners are among the most generous and down to earth folks I've ever met - and community gardeners hold a very special spot in my heart. Not only are they willing to work together, mentor, problem-solve and innovate, but the results of their work is selflessly shared with people in need and rarely ever meet face-to-face.
Community gardens are popping up across the Metroplex. There are bumps along the way in establishing a productive garden, which is the reason Erin Hoffer and I decided to gather these folks together to share their collective wisdom and support.
Our first Dallas-Fort Worth Community Garden Lunch 'n' Learn was held last year at the Environmental Education Center. Meagan Fendley provided information about managing gardens in drought, and Plano Community Gardeners led a tour of their fertile garden site. We had a tasty potluck meal. (Did I also mention vegetable gardeners are great cooks?) We shared successes and challenges.
Read more. |
Book Review: Losing Our Cool
Stan Cox, author
In Losing Our Cool, Stan Cox shows indoor climate control is colliding with an out-of-control outdoor climate. Air conditioning (AC) is approaching 20 percent of year-round electricity consumption in the United States (US), the highest percentage in history. Reporting from some of the world's hot zones, Cox documents the surprising ways in which air-conditioning changes human experience. Though
it may save lives, the AC may be altering the body's sensitivity to heat; rates of infection, allergy, asthma and obesity; and, even our sex lives.
Some interesting facts Cox states in his book are as follows:
- The US uses as much electricity for air conditioning as is currently consumed by all 930 million residents of the continent of Africa.
- AC is responsible for a quantity of carbon dioxide equivalent to every household driving a car an average of 7,000 miles a year.
- Fifty percent of American's electricity comes from coal fired plants.
Read more. |
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Tanis Roelofs: Community Activist Green to the Core 
You might encounter Tanis Roelofs labeling storm drains on your street, talking with people in the grocery store about reusable bags, or chatting with a local business manager about how to reduce the cigarette litter in front of his/her storefront.
But, you still wouldn't realize just how green Roelofs is every day and in every way. After retiring as a teacher for Wilson Middle School, she continues to co-sponsor the environmental club. She has contributed nearly 500 hours to Live Green in Plano (LGIP) programs, then in her spare time, founded a Green Team at the Reformed Church of Plano with LGIP volunteers Marcia and Bruce Fallis.
Read how this team saves their church $600 - $800/month. |
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