Be an AmeriCorps Volunteer & Help Make Houses More Energy Efficient!

Come join the William J. Clinton Foundation and the State of Arkansas by serving in their innovative residential energy efficiency retrofit program in Little Rock!!

In addition to creating unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions, families living in high-energy-use homes are forced to spend more on utility bills, often diverting resources from basic living expenses. HEAL AR is designed to decrease the cost of utilities for Low to Moderate Income (LMI) people by providing residential energy efficient audits. Once audits are performed, AmeriCorps members in service will retrofit the homes to be more energy efficient.

In addition to receiving AmeriCorps basic training, you will learn–(both on the job and in the classroom) basic building science; skills and theory of energy efficient retrofits and operation of specialized equipment (blower doors, duct blasters, etc.). Project specific training will satisfy all OSHA, EPA and HUD requirements for health (Lead, asbestos, mold and combustion), job site (personal protective equipment, stairways and ladders, scaffolds, fall protection, electrical and fire prevention), and tool safety. Additionally, Standard First Aid and CPR training will be provided, along with applicable “green” training/certifications throughout the project year. HEAL AR will promote a diverse work environment for all of its members.

For the HEAL AR project, your living allowance is $950 per month. In addition, HEAL AR AmeriCorps members may be eligible to receive health insurance, and members who complete a full-time term of service will receive an AmeriCorps Education Award currently valued at $4,725. The education award may be used to pay for schools you currently attend, as well as past loans or future enrollment. Additionally, if you currently have student loans, you may qualify for postponement, or forbearance, of the repayment of your student loans during your term of service.

To apply, go to www.americorps.gov, click on ‘Advanced Opportunity Search’ and search for HEAL AR under ‘Program Name’. If you have any questions, please contact Tammy Agard at tammy@healar.org or Johnnie LaCaze at johnnie@healar.org. Deadline for applications is December 18, 2009.

Thursday To-Do: U.S. Green Building Council Residential Green Discussion Group

Interested in building or renovating your home using green design and materials? Then, join this new discussion group hosted by the U.S. Green Building Council – Arkansas Chapter, tomorrow between noon to 1 p.m. at the Arkansas Studies Institute in downtown Little Rock.

The USGBC Residential Green Discussion Group meets on the 4th Thursday of each month. No reservation necessary for this free event. Bring your own lunch. For more information, contact Anncha Briggs at anncha1@aol.com.

Thursday To-Do: U.S. Green Building Council – Central Branch Monthly Meeting

The U.S. Green Building Council – Central Branch will hold its monthly meeting, today between 11″30 a.m. – 1 p.m. at the Next Level Event (1400 W. Markham) in Little Rock. Dr. Nick Brown, Executive Assistant for Sustainability and Adjunct Professor for Geosciences, University of Arkansas, will give a presentation, “Carbon Emissions Management: LEED and Beyond It.”

Carbon emissions reduction, mitigation, displacement and offset are integral to successful 21st century design and management. Means for approaching zero emissions design will be discussed, along with a discussion about the strengths and weaknesses of LEED in achieving these goals.

Members $18, Guests $20. For more information, contact Linda Smith at usgbcar@yahoo.com.

Saturday To-Do: Used Plant Sale

For great bargains on used plants, visit Plant Services in North Little Rock this Saturday, between 9 a.m. to noon. I have bought several gently used plants for amazing prices. Can’t make it this Saturday? Don’t worry. Plant Services has a used plant sale every second Saturday of the month.

For more information about Plant Services and its used plant sale, visit their website, http://www.plantservices.info.

Saturday To-Do: U of A ASLA Fall Plant Sale

The University of Arkansas’ chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) will have a plant sale this Saturday, October 1 from 8 a.m.-12 p.m. at the Fayetteville Farmers’ Market. ASLA uses the proceeds to fund community service projects. It helps educate the public during the sale about the ecological value of native and locally grown plants.

This fall, ASLA has the following:

• Paperbark Maple – $15
• Japanese Maple – $5
• Shantung Maple – $8
• Bottlebrush Buckeye – $5
• Pawpaw – $8
• Butterfly Bush – $10
• Beautyberry – $10
• Carolina Allspice – $8
• Katsura Tree – $15
• Desert Willow – $5
• White Fringe Tree – $10
• Chitalpa – $5
• Yellowwood – $5
• American Smoketree – $8
• Witch Alder – $10
• Chinese Coffee Tree – $8
• Silverbell – $8
• Virginia Sweetspire – $5
• Star Magnolia – $5
• Blackgum – $5
• Sourwood – $15
• Persian Ironwood – $8
• Mock Orange – $5
• Swamp White Oak – $5
• Japanese Apricot – $10
• Chestnut Oak – $15
• Salvia – $10
• Fragrant Snowbell – $15
• Leyland Cypress – $5

For more information, contact Billy Fleming at (479)414-1367 or wflemin@uark.edu.

Weekend To-Do: Little Rock Sustainability Summit

The first annual Little Rock Sustainability Summit, a free and open to the public event on Friday, September 25th and Saturday, September 26th, 2009, will take place at the Statehouse Convention Center in downtown Little Rock. Friday’s sessions are scheduled from 1-5 p.m, with the Exhibitor Hall open from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Saturday’s sessions starts at 9 a.m. and concludes at 3 p.m., with the Little Rock Green Drinks Happy Hour capping off the Summit from 3:30-5:30 p.m.

The purpose of the Summit is to encourage and educate city leaders and citizens from both big and small cities across Arkansas to take action to sustain our communities, our economy and our environment.

This Summit hopes to provide a variety of informative sessions about how to initiate and encourage sustainability actions. These include: recycling, land use/planning, green building, energy efficiency, water quality, green economy, transportation, faith, food, etc. These sessions will offer a variety of local and national speakers and provide concurrent sessions for any level of understanding, and some will be interactive, like a LEED certified building tour on Friday.

For more information, please contact John McClure at LRSustainabilitySummit@gmail.com or (501)993-7502.

Guest Post: Eddy Moore – Faster Dry with Laundry Spinner

An online store called the Laundry Alternative sells a spin-based clothes dryer that cuts clothes drying time and energy use by about half.

It works like a salad spinner for clothes.  Drop in about 1/3 of a load for two minutes and the spinner revs up much faster than your usual washing machine spin cycle.  Out comes about 1.5 quarts of water that was left in your clothes (unless you already have a high-speed horizontal washer).  Then, you can either hang your clothes or toss them in a regular dryer.

The spin dryer uses only as much energy as fifteen seconds of a regular dryer, but extracts about half the water.  That means your clothes don’t erode into lint as fast either.  It is especially great for slow-drying items like jeans and towels.

Cost is about $120, which is reportedly paid back in under two years from energy savings, if you normally use a dryer instead of hang-drying.  Yes, a clothes line is better for the planet, but sometimes you want speed.

Note from Nao: I love our laundry spinner. We hang dry our clothes most of the time, but our spinner comes in very handy on rainy days when we can’t hang our clothes outside. It also comes in handy when we need to quickly dry large items such as bed sheets and blankets. After the spinner spins out the water left in our clothes, I use it to water my flower beds. It’s a win-win!

Guest Post: Eddy Moore – Build a Bamboo Clothes Drying Rack!

There is a lot of bamboo out there. I am not saying it is a weed because some people think it is a wonderful thing. But, if you want something rigid enough to make a clothes rack, there are people everywhere who are trying to get at least some of it out of their yard.

We hang small clothes on folding indoor racks (we move them out into the sun if the weather is good). But for sheets and towels, your neighbor’s extra bamboo makes a great, light, mobile rack.

Here is my design (send us yours!). Make two tripods, each with three long, thick poles. I use a wide drill bit (maybe ½ inch or bigger) and either join the tops of the tripods with a thinner bamboo stick or use twine to join them.

The tripods will still be unstable, so drill holes about a foot from the bottom, and pin them apart with small bamboo rods. You can use twine to tighten the bottom of the tripod together. Now they are rigid, but light enough to carry around the yard.

Now to turn your tripods into a rack. Put another long bamboo rod across the top of the two tripods. That is your main drying pole, for big things like sheets, because it is high off the ground.

Lower on each tripod, drill other holes and pass a loop of twine through each one. You can hang several more poles through these loops, increasing the capacity of your rack.

It disassembles easily and is light to move around to follow the sun. The rods will crack after a year, but still be good for at least two years. Don’t worry, there is more bamboo out there.

Thursday To-Do: U.S. Green Building Council Residential Green Discussion Group

Interested in building or renovating your home using green design and materials? Then, join this new discussion group hosted by the U.S. Green Building Council – Arkansas Chapter, tomorrow between noon to 1 p.m. at the Arkansas Studies Institute in downtown Little Rock. This month’s topic is water conservation.

The USGBC Residential Green Discussion Group meets on the 4th Thursday of each month. No reservation necessary for this free event. Bring your own lunch. For more information, contact Anncha Briggs at anncha1@aol.com.

Hang Dry Clothes & Save Money!

My favorite clothes drying rack.

Everytime I go back to Japan, one of the first things I notice is that almost everyone dries clothes outside. It doesn’t matter if you live in a house or in an apartment in a high rise building. You dry your clothes outside. In fact, when my family moved to the United States, we didn’t know that many communities had a rule against drying clothes outside. So, we did what we normally did in Japan and hung our clothes outside. Our neighbor was quick to point out that it was against the rule. I remember my family being completely taken aback by such an odd rule in the Land of Free.

Nowadays, I live in a house in an eco-friendly neighborhood. I hang dry most of my clothes, rain or shine. I use several drying racks, including a homemade bamboo one, to dry my clothes.  I absolutely love the drying rack pictured above. It can hang little pieces of clothing such as socks and underwear, and it’s mobile. I can move it outside or inside. I love it!

What I love about drying clothes outside is how the clothes smell when I bring them in. I also love how it helps me save money by not using my dryer. Wanna dry clothes outside but don’t like the rough feel of hang-dried clothes? Put them in the dryer for about five minutes, and voilà, they become oh so soft.

So, save money and the environment! Hang dry your clothes!

P.S. Stay tuned for more posts about greening your laundry, including one on how to build a bamboo clothes drying rack!

Saturday To-Do: Organic Dog Grand Opening @ The Green Corner Store

Organic Dog is a new business that sells natural dog products. It will host a grand opening this Saturday, September 19, between 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., at the Green Corner Store (1423-D South Main) in downtown Little Rock. Register to win a gift basket and sample biscuits made from organic and locally grown ingredients. Free bandanas to the first 25 dogs to bring their human!

For more information, contact Juli Brandenberger at (501) 350-3064 or organicdog@hotmail.com.

Friday To-Do: Repower America Made in America Town Hall Event in Fayetteville

Come join the state’s political, corporate and institutional leaders to discuss their clean energy and sustainability intiatives! Repower America and the University of Arkansas Associated Student Government will host Made in America Town Hall Event, today between 3-8:30 pm at between U of A Law School Auditorium. The panelists include:

• Steve Walker – Director of Development, Phoenix Renewable Energy
• Kevin Igli – Senior Vice President and Chief Environmental, Health, and Safety Officer, Tyson Foods
• Nicholas Brown – Executive Assistant for Sustainability, University of Arkansas
• John Coleman – Sustainability Coordinator, City of Fayetteville
• Abel Tomlinson – 2008 Congressional Candidate and University of Arkansas graduate student
• Christopher Charlton – Wind Specialist, Greenway Renewable Energy

The Forum begins at 6:30 p.m. in the Law School Auditorium, but come out to the Union Mall at 3 p.m. and listen to some free music courtesy of Opal Fly! Local advocacy and community interest groups will have tables at the Union Mall from 3-6 p.m., so meet concerned students and citizens while you listen to Opal Fly.

For more information, contact Billy Fleming at (479)414-1367 or wflemin@uark.edu.