As we are all quite aware, the holidays are not creeping up on us. They are coming at us full speed ahead and before we know it, our families will be gathering around the table for the yearly dysfunction that we all love to dread.

That being said, for the next few weeks we will be offering ideas for you to Go Green for the holiday season. If you have any suggestions and would like to contribute or be interviewed, please contact us. whosGREENsboro@gmail.com

• Look for locally made gifts - many gifts in today's marketplace come from halfway around the world, and the impact of transportation contributes significantly to greenhouse emissions and global warming. Greensboro is chock full of local artisans and creative folks who would love to keep the love here in our city. This is how these folks make their living. In today's economy, it makes perfect sense to help out our follow residents.

• Choose gifts made from recycled sources - many individuals and small businesses have developed great products using recycled materials. Supporting these businesses helps reduce the waste stream while promoting the concept of making best use of available materials.

• Give 'battery-free' gifts - About 40% of all battery sales occur during the holiday season. Discarded batteries are an environmental hazard. Even rechargeable batteries find their way into the waste stream eventually. That's a heap of batteries!!

• Re-gift the unwanted gifts- what else are you going to do with those candles and lion head fountains??? In today's "Green" world, re-gifting is a no-brainer!!! Just make sure you dont re-gift the "gifter"

Later this week we will offer suggestions on lead free toys for the kids. Thanks for reading this blog and please pass us around and share with your social networks!!!!

We are back from an unexpected and unintended hiatus. We will be updating blog again and doling out informative tidbits of "green" info for our fine citizens of Greensboro beginning this week. If you know of any business or individual that would be worthy of highlighting on our blog...someone who is making a concerted effort to keep our city environmentally friendly...please let us know. We will be happy to roll out the camera's and audio equipment to feature them on our blog.

Our email address is whosGREENsboro@gmail.com

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We are happy to report that we have our first segment of our interview that Dr. Ghasem Shahbazi, the Director of Biological Engineering Program at NC A&T University was kind enough to do.

We really appreciate him taking time to talk to us and sharing is wealth of knowledge. There is some really compelling information and hope that you take time to watch.

Segment 2 will be up and running this weekend.

We have another busy week next week. We will divulge our exciting line-up tomorrow.

Remember, this is a grassroots blog and the way we succeed is by you putting our name out there. Hopefully, by offering compelling material, it will give you incentive to share this site with your friends.

Thank you!

We are still editing the video of Dr. Shahbazi...look for that to be up this weekend sometime. don't forget that tomorrow we talk to Billy Jones at Salvage America who has some really good information on America's newest green product being launched in Greensboro.

Also, next Tuesday morning we'll be talking with Joel Landau, who is partly responsible for the formation Greensboro's Community Sustainability Council (CSC), on which he served as Co-Chair. He is also the Manager of Deep Roots Market. We will be talking about The Eat Local Challenge proposed at last nights city council meeting.

Thanks for stopping by the blog! We hope you find it informative.

Thursday is the big Dump the Pump Nationwide celebration. We are all encouraged to take public transportation of some sort to help cut back emissions waste. PART is doing its...well, its part to make it easy for us. You can go to PART and print out passes to ride for free all day Thursday.

We just may plan an adventure aboard PART for a day.

Here is Brooke Kochanski, The Director of Communications and Media Coordinator for PART

We are really excited about a couple of things we are doing this week. Check back through the week as we interview some folks who are making a difference in the way we live.


First, we will talk with Dr. Shahbazi who is the Professor, Director of Bio Environmental Engineering at NC A&T University. We will be talking about what exactly bio energy and bio mass are, and how they affect us. We will have video footage of this later in the week.
Second, we told you about National Dump the Pump Day and we will be discussing what our area transportation systems are doing to help you not drive for the day. We will have a phone interview with a Brooke Kochanski , the Media Director from PART.


Finally, Thursday we will be venturing out to Salvage America to talk to Billy Jones who has some really good information on America's newest green product being launched in
Greensboro. Ever wonder where to bring those old batteries, cardboard and paper products, wood- pallets, scrap lumber, tree brush, plastics- HDPE, PVC, Stretch wraps, Shrink wraps, Hard plastics, styrofoam, concrete, Brick, Block, or Dirt? We have found the place for all of those items.

Have a great week and keep checking in for video and audio footage.

We hopped on over to the City of Greensboro's website and there was an interesting link that we hope everyone will take a moment to check out. Click HERE. This is a survey in which we can tell them what we would like to see in a new City Manager.

Obviously, we would love to see an eco-friendly City Manager take the seat. One who is willing to make our infrastructure one that is stepping outside the norm and creating and executing cutting edge ways to be "green".

The limits are what we set on ourselves. Some ideas:

• the city using energy-saving light bulbs in all of their buildings
• solar-powered panels on local bus stops to transform Greensboro roads into "Climate Streets" piloting clean technology.
• power hookups around the city to recharge electric cars
• focus on cutting Greensboro's emissions
• see about the Department of Public Works expanding the number of hybrid vehicles in its fleet and train workers to change driving habits so they conserve fuel.
• Bring in more LEED certified businesses

These are just some ideas. If you have any, please send us an email and we will happily post them here on our site.

Also, next week we have a really interesting interview slated for Tuesday morning. We will be talking with Dr. Ghasem Shahbazi who is a PH. D Director of the Biological Engineering Program at NC A&T University. We will be discussing biofuels, bioproducts, biomass, and renewable energy. It should be a great learning experience.

We will also let you know about national Dump the Pump Day and what our local transportation systems are doing to celebrate!! We will divulge tomorrow!

whosGREENsbor@gmail.com

Well, we did have the opportunity to talk with George Scheer, the Collabrative Director of Elsewhere - The Living Museum this week. It was a very good interview, but due to some technical snafu's, the video did not turn out to be usable. Bummer. We will say this. If you have not had the opportunity to go to Elsewhere on Elm St. in Downtown Greensboro, you really are missing out. The museum features all items that George's grandmother owned. Nothing is for sale. It's all about reusing the items that are in the space to form living art. Really an amazing concept. Urban Green got involved about a year ago, and the are doing some really neat things in the back alley. Every Saturday from 1-4 is Little Green Thumbs where you can bring your little ones and help plant flowers and veggies.
Go check them out this weekend! Tell them you read about it on our blog!!!!

These artists are doing the right things for our community!!

So, we decided to head downtown to Elsewhere to check out Urban Green. If you have children, this is an amazing concept. Actually, the whole concept of Elsewhere is fantastic. We will be interviewing George Scheer who is the Collaborative Director for Elsewhere Artists Collaborative this week. Look for video of the interview and footage of the space up on Friday. In the meantime here are some pics of the first Urban Green. It's amazing what you can plant flowers and veggies in!!!!

While the site has not yet been "officially" published yet, we are getting great response from some pretty big community leaders. Next week we hope to unveil a pretty big interview that we will be conducting.


In the meantime, check out UrbanGreen at Elsewhere on Elm St. this weekend.

• Bloom Under the Moon Garden Opening Celebration is tonight starting at 8pm
• Little Green Thumbs sustainable toy workshop, urban petting zoo, and plant planting will be tomorrow from 1pm-4pm. (you can garden with them every Saturday from 1pm-4pm)

Good stuff happening right here in our city!!!

Hi and thank you for checking out the whosGREENsboro blog. This is a new blog and our purpose is to share which companies in our city are doing all the right things for our environment.

There are 9 Criteria that are measured for ranking a city "Green". You can read the information below or click here

Transit: What options do you have?

Leadership in affordable and convenient public transit will pay dividends for a city, having positive impacts on childhood asthma rates, traffic congestion and associated stress, fuel consumption, and greenhouse gases.

Energy Use: How sustainable are your energy options? Does your city have a co-generation plan? Wind or solar sources?

With the multi-trillion-dollar global energy prize going to the new technologies of wind, wave, solar, geothermal, and other renewables, this is a very exciting area of sustainability.

Water Quality and Usage: Does your water come from a renewable source and can you drink it?

Fluoride, heavy metals, bacteria … it’s enough to drive you to drink. We’re seeing the results of 100 years of industrial and agricultural practices, and the residues of those practices in our water table, rivers, and lakes.

Air Quality: How well can you breathe?

Cities like Chicago still struggle to control the belching smokestacks of the nearby industrial centers. Coal-fired power plants — with their outputs of mercury and CO2, among other nasties — still produce 53 percent of the nation’s power. Cars, trucks, ships, and trains … the means with which we move our food, goods, materials, and people are at the root of dirty air.

Green Building: How many green real estate projects are planned or built in your city?

These construction projects cost 10 to 15 percent more than conventional development, but with their lower energy usage, reduced water consumption, and daylighting and airflow that provide for greater health and well-being of occupants, it’s a great investment with a three-year payback cycle. When you add in leadership from government agencies for green-lighting building permits and saved fees, it’s easy to see why places like Atlanta and Portland are teeming with LEED-certified projects.

Traffic Congestion: How much bumper-to-bumper action is in your town?

Road rage, wasted time, needless expense on fuel, vehicle trips, and road maintenance: none is routinely measured when a city is evaluating congestion projects. Citizens must take responsibility here and reduce the time they spend in cars.

Land Use: Do you have access to parks? Does development happen on untrammeled land or in “recycled” places?

It’s not surprising that green cities should have lots of green space - an urban forest acts as a natural air filter, and the closer you are to nature, the less you have to drive or take other transportation to get to it. But a sustainable city should also be thinking about growth boundaries, trying to concentrate development, compact infrastructure, complete urban infill projects — in other words, building in those forgotten or dilapidated pockets inside city limits.

Housing Availability and Affordability: Can your grandkids live there, too?

Most people don’t realize that affordable housing is a tenet of green cities, but think about it: Sustainability implies activity today is still plausible in the next generations. Diversity, a hallmark of a thriving city center, is being squashed in great cities like San Francisco, where sky-high housing prices are creating a deeply segregated population based on economic means. Your grandkids should be able to afford to live in your neighborhood, too, and live close to jobs, services, green space (which many people want these days, causing prices to soar) - all that requires a mix of housing types and prices.

Government initiatives: What are your leaders doing to make sure your city becomes a greener, healthier, happier place?
It’s all about leadership. We need our leaders to step up and show strength in putting together long-term plans that favor sustainable development. We also need citizen leadership to rally communities and foster greater teamwork in the march toward the future. Together, we can change how and where we live.

And where does Greensboro rank??? We don't. At least in the Top 50.