Meet Local Green Peeps!

Chances are, if you are reading this, you support green causes. You go to meetings, you visit local farmers’ markets, and soon you start running into familiar faces. You know their names, but have you ever wondered what they do to be ? Well, Meet Local Green Peeps! hopes to satisfy your curiosity about area green people and what they do to be GreenAR in the Natural State. So, without further ado, let’s get started!

Vital Statistics (Name & Location): Nancy E. Landrum, Sherwood, AR

What Do You Do?: I teach strategic management and sustainable business courses at niversity of Arkansas at Little Rock. In addition, I research and publish on topics related to sustainable business (my new book has just been released! Sustainable Business: An Executive’s Primer). I have a consulting business, Sustainable Business Design, and I am working with others to launch the Sustainable Business Network of Central Arkansas. As if these ventures don’t keep me busy enough, I am the proud mother of two lovely daughters.

Steps Taken to be GreenAR: I do all I can to support the growth and development of the local sustainable business community. I am also trying to be a good role model and teach my children to make sustainable lifestyle choices and to give back to our community. For example, for my daughter’s 8th birthday, instead of additional gifts (which we don’t need), her chosen “birthday gifting project” asked for ready-made food and snack items which we delivered to a local food bank.

Hard-to-Take Steps: Reducing the impact of my daily commute and travel between meetings/appointments. I wish I could live the “slow” life, but it’s a far off vision.

Future Steps to be GreenAR: Promote wider adoption of green business practices; continue the journey toward making better lifestyle choices and teaching my children.

Favorite AR Groups: It would have to be our fledgling Sustainable Business Network of Central Arkansas. I’m quite excited at the potential and look forward to this group taking off. We expect this group to be a source of networking, education, mentoring, and promotion for sustainable and green businesses.

If You Can Do One Thing to Make the Natural State Even More Natural, What Would You Do? Improve recycling programs across the area, expand public transportation options, require sustainability education in elementary, secondary, and higher education, create more options for renewable energy… oh, wait, did you say “one”?

Know a green Arkie? Leave a comment and let me know how I can get in touch with him or her.

Register for AR Earth Institute Discussion Courses!

Register for one, two or all f the  Arkansas Earth Institute’s Change the World Discussion Courses and start to change your world today!

1) Food for Life:  Making the Connection between the Food We Eat and How It’s Produced
Tuesdays, September 8 – October 20,  9 – 10:30 a.m.

Be prepared to change the way you decide what to eat. There is a growing need to consider the larger implications of our food choices and how they can have a significant effect worldwide.

For centuries food has been used to mark the change of the seasons, to bring together a family at the end of day and as an integral part of many celebrations.  Today food is a multi-billion dollar global industry and the multitude of choices and the ways in which food impacts our lives and the environment can often be confusing.

Participants will explore questions such as  “Where is my food coming from?”;  ”What are the global implications of my food choices?” and “What are the risks and benefits associated with choices such as organic vs. conventional, carnivores vs. vegetarian and local vs. global”?  Learn how Heifer works both globally and domestically to support sustainable and just food systems with emerging farming alternatives, sustainable growing practices and the benefits of small farms and urban food production.

Be inspired to buy and prepare locally grown, seasonal foods. Course curriculum includes Arkansas Earth Institute’s Menu for the Future study guide and an optional guided tour of local farmers’ markets.

In order to reserve your space, please register in advance. To register, email: HeiferVillage-Registration@heifer.org or call: (501)907-COWS (2697). Fee: $50.  Payable by cash or check. Mail checks to Heifer Village, One World Avenue, Little Rock, AR 72202.

2) Shaping a Sustainble Society: How Lifestyle Choices Impact Our Global Systems
Tuesdays, September 8 – October 20, 5 – 7:30 p.m.

Explore the meaning of sustainability and learn steps that can be taken to move toward more ecologically sustainable lifestyles, organizations, and communities. Includes Arkansas Earth Institute’s Choices for Sustainable Living study guide.

In order to reserve your space, please register in advance. To register, email: HeiferVillage-Registration@heifer.org or call: (501)907-COWS (2697). Fee: $50. Payable by cash or check. Mail checks to Heifer Village, One World Avenue, Little Rock, AR 72202.

3) The Next Generation, Our Future: Nurturing and Caring for Our Children
Sundays, September 20 – November 1, 3 – 4 p.m.

A look at how the pervasive effects of advertising, media, and our consumer culture can influence a child’s view of the world. Participants will explore ways to create meaningful family times and healthful environments for children, foster creativity and develop a child’s connection to nature. Includes Arkansas Earth Institute’s Healthy Children – Healthy Planet study guide. Fee: $40; $30 by Monday, Sept 7.

In order to reserve your space, please register in advance. To register, email: HeiferVillage-Registration@heifer.org or call: (501)907-COWS (2697). Fee: $40; $30 by Monday, Sept 7. Payable by cash or check. Mail checks to Heifer Village, One World Avenue, Little Rock, AR 72202.

For more information, contact Shelley Green, Executive Director, Arkansas Earth Institute, at shelley@arkansasearth.org or (501)213-5388.

Pics from Hot Springs E-Day

Eddy manning GreenAR by the Day booth at the Hot Springs E-Day.

An attendee holds a baby raccoon. Tommy Young, a federally licensed wildlife rescuer, holds Otto the Baby Otter in the background. I plan to visit Tommy very soon, so stay tuned for his story!

Briana Johnson Moore, the woman behind the Nest Handmade Soap as well as my soapmaking mentor.

Arkansas Earth Institute shares a table with Lisa James of the Golden Muses. Lisa makes recycled paper journals and sells them through Etsy. I plan to interview her shortly, so stay tuned for her story as well!

Karen Holcomb of the Spa City Co-op talks to people.

A display hive at the booth for Greater Hot Springs Beekeepers' Association.

Hot Springs E-Day was fun for everybody including kids!

Twike, a zero emissions vehicle, made an appearance at the festival.

Michelle Sestili and Courtney Butler, two of many brains behind the Hot Springs E-Day. You guys ROCK!!!

Hot Springs E-Day was AWESOME!!! Gorgeous weather, great booths, and wonderful people!

Adam Roberts, another brain behind the Hot Springs E-Day, cleans up after the festival. Thanks, Adam, for all that you did!

Spot on Green: Terra Tots

Terra Tots provides a wide variety of cloth diapers.

No more cloth pins to fasten diapers!

Wash cloth diapers with laundry detergent free of additives such as Charlie's Soap.

Terra Tots sells organic and natural baby clothes...

All natural rubber pacifiers...

Kleen Kanteen sippy cups for babies...

Sustainably harvested wooden toys...

You can buy used cloth diapers at Terra Tots.

During our recent trip to Fayetteville, Eddy and I visited Terra Tots Natural Parenting. We first learned about Terra Tots when I interviewed Matt Petty. Since Eddy and I don’t have kids, and we know absolutely nothing about natural parenting, we decided to ask Terra Tots’ owner, Bernice Hembree. Bernice opened Terra Tots in 2007 after she became frustrated while looking for a local source for the new, more convenient types of cloth diapers that have become available in recent years. She ended up ordering them online, but she thought, “Wouldn’t it be great if there is a store where you could see the diapers and buy them locally?” Voilà, Terra Tots was born.

The only store of its kind in Arkansas, Terra Tots sells natural and organic baby items. The store opened on the Fayetteville square in November 2007. Terra Tots’ success led Bernice to open a second location in Bentonville earlier this year.

Terra Tots provides a wide variety of cloth diaper lines including Mother Ease, Swaddlebees, BumGenius, Stacinator wools, and the locally produced Cotton Candy brand.  It also carries stylish baby slings and carriers such as Moby wraps and the locally produced Silk River sling.

Confused about cloth diapers?  Terra Tots offers monthly workshops to help its customers become familiar with the concept of cloth diapering. Did you know that most disposable diapers had been bleached during their manufacturing, thus they contain dioxin? Dioxin is a deadly byproduct poison that is created when the materials used to make diapers are whitened with chlorine. Direct links have been associated between dioxin exposure and cancer, birth defects, and reproductive disorders. According to Bernice, all but two brands of disposable diapers sold in the U.S. contain dioxin. Scary, isn’t it?

Cloth diapers will help prevent your baby from coming into contact with dioxin. In addition, cloth diapers help you save money. Bernice recommends that you buy about 2 dozen of cloth diapers to raise a child. That amounts to anywhere between $250-500. In comparison, disposable diapers add up to a whopping $2,000 in the first 2 years! According to Bernice, if you breatfeed and cloth diaper your child, you would save about $4,000 in the first 2 years. And the best part? Once you invest in cloth diapers, you get to keep using them for any child after the first one, saving you additional $2,000 per child.

Bernice says that cloth diapers also help babies to start potty training much faster than disposable diapers. Since disposable diapers are SO absorbent, babies stay in diapers much longer than their cloth counterparts.

Terra Tots also sells:

• All natural rubber pacifiers
• Sustainably-made wooden PLAN toys and ImagiPlay wooden puzzles — both of which are preservative & chemical free
• Stainless steel sippies and beverage containers by Klean Kanteen
• Organic clothing for babies and parents
• Vegan baby shoes because most leather shoes are treated with formaldehyde
• Organic skin care products for babies and parents
• Laundry detergent free of additives, such as fragrance, dye, bleach, optical brighteners, or softeners

Terra Tots is located on 21 West Mountain in Fayetteville and 118 West Central in Bentonville. Hours are 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., Tuesday-Saturday, and 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Saturday at the Fayetteville location and 10 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., Thursday & Friday, and 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Saturday at the Bentonville location.

For more information, visit Terra Tots website at www.terra-tots.com.