A fun way to learn how to manage your wildlife refuge is to take part in the Invasive Plants / Native Planting Workshop and Native Plant Sale on Saturday, April 20 (rain date April 27), from 9 a.m. to noon at the Saul Wildlife Sanctuary, behind the Old Mill in Rose Valley. This is a hands-on learning and volunteer service opportunity where you can learn about nonnative invasive plants, help to eradicate them, and plant native species in an important wildlife sanctuary. How-to guides from the Natural Lands Trust will be available for free.
You may not realize it, but you are the proprietor of a wildlife refuge. Just look out to your back yard and there you will see a habitat of insects, other animals, and plants that depends on you more than you may think. In fact, today the majority of land in this country is in private hands, and official wildlife sanctuaries by themselves cannot adequately support the nation’s wildlife.
A fun way to learn how to manage your wildlife refuge is to take part in the Invasive Plants / Native Planting Workshop and Native Plant Sale on Saturday, April 20 (rain date April 27), from 9 a.m. to noon at the Saul Wildlife Sanctuary, behind the Old Mill in Rose Valley. This is a hands-on learning and volunteer service opportunity where you can learn about nonnative invasive plants, help to eradicate them, and plant native species in an important wildlife sanctuary. How-to guides from the Natural Lands Trust will be available for free. Profiles in Green: Scott Sampson, Green Home Visionary By Beth Murray Most people want to prevent green things from growing in their bathroom crevices, but Scott Sampson is trying to find just the right moss to thrive there. Scott, a LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) architect who moved to Swarthmore last year with his wife, Curtiss Hannum, and their 22-month-old son, Luke, is interested in the relationship between plants and people. “Plants want the carbon dioxide we let off,” he says. “They want to be with us.” The moss Scott is growing – on a small dessert plate – was taken from a rock in Crum Creek. “It was already coming loose from the rock,” Scott promises. He is looking for the best species of moss to cover one wall of the first-floor bathroom of his home at the corner of Dartmouth and Amherst – the Detweiler house, as many in Swarthmore know it. Scott envisions the moss absorbing the room’s excess moisture and giving off oxygen. “What a great way to start the day,” he predicts. Profiles in Green: David Director, Watt Whacker How I cut my energy costs more than half — without giving up anything! Remember back in the spring of 2008, as world oil prices were exploding? Did you have visions of hundred-dollar bills going up in smoke? I did, and decided then I was not going to let it happen to me. So began my mission: I took a good hard look at the costs to heat my house as well as the cost of its overall operation. This is what I found, and how I reduced my family’s household energy consumption by more than half without sacrificing our lifestyle or comfort. Thus far, our annual savings are more than $3,000 and continue to rise. Profiles in Green: Virginia Thompson
While many folks were taking interesting, exotic, or leisurely vacations this summer, our household was taking steps to save on energy costs and making our home more comfortable throughout the year. For nearly two months this summer, numerous passers-by inquired about the dumpster in our driveway. Our answer, “putting in insulation and installing new doors,” was brought to us by a federal grant program that anyone in southeastern Pennsylvania can use. by Amy Strachan These days, if you look around and listen closely, you may find some chickens roaming around your neighbors’ backyards. The practice of raising and keeping chickens to produce pastured and grass-fed eggs for the family table is a growing lifestyle choice and is not unique to Swarthmore and its surrounding environs. Once a niche practice relegated to farms (or at least those with some acres of land), backyard chickens can now be found throughout suburbia and in urban settings. Moreover, a quick survey of the eggs carried by local chain grocery stores and small grocery cooperatives suggests a growing number of people willing to spend more than $5.00 per dozen for pastured, grass-fed eggs. One has to wonder what is behind the demand for these eggs, particularly given the time, energy and cost associated with producing pastured eggs vis a vis eggs produced by intensive farming techniques. Profiles in Green: Jane Billings, Air Conditioning Rebel by Allison Nicole Shultes The steady hum of central air conditioning could be heard from Jane Billings’ back porch as temperatures climbed into the high 90s, but the sound didn’t come from her home. A resident of Swarthmore since 1988, Jane refuses to install central air, raising three children without the luxury.
Profiles in Green: Billy Hodges, Waste-Free Tailgater
By Allison Nicole Shultes Sons of Benjamin West, a support group of the Philadelphia Union and amateur soccer leagues in the area, and spinoff of The Sons of Ben (Franklin) in Philadelphia, boosted more than just soccer this season. Their newly adopted waste-free tailgating initiative, spearheaded by member Billy Hodges, cut their opening game tailgate’s garbage output at PPL Park in Chester from seven or eight bags to less than one. At an event attracting roughly 150 community members, this impressive cut in trash is a victory for greener partying. Profiles in Green: Allison Karpyn “Growing Good Eaters” Growing A Garden AND Good Eaters With spring in the air, many people are starting to think about their gardens. I, for one, have begun replacing dead branches and leaves with new soil and seeds in hopes that the warm weather will bring some early spring greens my way. My kids love the garden. My 3-year-old takes great joy in planting the seeds and watching them grow and my 8-year-old has taken to cultivating a plot of her own. The reality, though, is that many children don’t have the chance to experience how a vegetable emerges from a seed and are unfamiliar with the bounty that comes from dirty hands. I know this fact firsthand from my work studying the impacts of nutrition education and policy initiatives at The Food Trust. Based in Philadelphia, the agency works to bring gardens to schools and educate the next generation about the food system. Gardens are one piece of the puzzle to encourage children to love wholesome food. Those of us who work in gardens have become believers in the power they have to change perspectives on food. And I didn’t just make that all that up – research to date supports gardens as effective nutrition education. Profiles in Green: Louis Boxer, Geothermal Enthusiast by Margaret Murray Louis Boxer is expecting big financial payback from the geothermal system he installed in his five- bedroom Wallingford home this past October. “But saving money wasn’t the only reason for us to go geothermal,” Boxer said. “We were interested in stewardship; we felt it was important to be environmentally conscious. Geothermal energy made perfect sense.” Boxer, an anesthesiologist, has been interested in geothermal energy ever since he heard about it from friends who installed a system in their Chester County home. “Our winter heating bills were running in the $250 to $420 per month range.” Boxer wanted to do better. “Our gas bill for December was $52. We’re thrilled. We like the idea that we’ve reduced our family’s carbon footprint significantly by cutting our natural gas bill by 75%.” Profiles in Green: Beth Murray, Social Marketing Maven by Reisa Mukamal Beth Murray participated in last summer’s workshops on energy savings offered by aFewSteps.org, a volunteer organization whose mission is to raise awareness of energy use in the four communities of Nether Providence, Rose Valley, Rutledge, and Swarthmore. Though the workshops were edifying and appreciated, Murray observed, “We were preaching to the choir.” As one of the founders of aFewSteps.org, she thought long and hard about the challenge of reaching a wider audience. And then she hit on it: instead of holding workshops, how about throwing parties? The approaching winter holidays afforded a great opportunity. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, American households generate 25% more waste in the period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s–about one million extra tons of trash per week. Parties that give guests an opportunity to share ideas about making the holiday season “greener” could have an impact. Murray held a meeting with potential hosts she knew enjoyed entertaining. “The meeting allayed my fears,” said Susan Brake, one of the attendees. “I didn’t want to be too prescriptive to others, especially since I have been a ‘slow adopter’ on environmental issues. But I saw that the parties were actually facilitated working sessions for brainstorming. I thought, ‘I could host something like this.’” |
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