Fresh AIRE

Local Green Building Events - US Botanic Gardens

I rode my bike over to the Capitol this week and stumbled across the US Botanic Garden's straw bale house and sustainability exhibit.  This outstanding exhibit showcases a wide variety of garden and home-oriented solutions for sustainable living.

As part of the One Planet-Ours! exhibition at the US Botanic Garden during the week of September 21- 27, 2008, Builders Without Border will offer a free series of presentations and a hands-on strawbale workshop in the Washington D.C. region. Download info on the presentations here.

The One Planet installation is open and free to the public until October 13, 2008 at 100 Maryland Avenue, SW at the west side of the U.S. Capitol.

Stop on down and check it out - the straw bale house was constructed using less than $625 worth of materials to create the super insulated 16x12 structure!

For more info visit the links below:

Poster

Schedule of Events

Builders Without Borders

One Planet-Ours!

Oh, to be free...CARFREE!

World Carfree Day is just around the corner...Monday, September 22nd!  It's a day where people all around the world promote all the wonderful things about going carfree, including the environmental, health, and financial benefits.  There are loads of ways to celebrate and get involved right here in Arlington.  From walkabouts to city cycling classes to free rides and other cool free stuff, going carfree is nowhere more fabulous than in Arlington!  Check out all the ongoings here. 

Bicycle dis-incentive

How silly is this?!

On a recent weekend -- when the humidity was low and the weather was GORGEOUS -- Bob and I made a trip on bicycles to Great Falls and back to Arlington.

At the entrance gate to the Great Falls park, all vehicles pay an entrance fee. Cars pay $5 each, while each bicycle pays $3. So Bob and I paid $6, but if we had driven there in a car, it would have been a dollar less. If we'd been a family of four? Fuhgeddaboutit.

Shouldn't we be incenting people to ride bikes around here? Vs. incenting us to drive.

By the way, riding in the park was very nice -- lots of trails, though some were pretty rough from  Hurricane Hanna rains, and all wonderfully shaded. Peaceful and quiet.

(Note to self: pay attention next time and be sure to read the part in the bicycle tour guidebook that says "hilly.")

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Diana Sun is Director of Communications for Arlington County, a walking commuter, bicylist, and happy resident of the urban village of Clarendon.

On a recent weekend -- when the humidity was low and the weather was GORGEOUS -- Bob and I made a trip on bicycles to Great Falls and back to Arlington.

At the entrance gate to the Great Falls park, all vehicles pay an entrance fee. Cars pay $5 each, while each bicycle pays $3. So Bob and I paid $6, but if we had driven there in a car, it would have been a dollar less. If we'd been a family of four? Fuhgeddaboutit.

Shouldn't we be incenting people to ride bikes around here? Vs. incenting us to drive.

By the way, riding in the park was very nice -- lots of trails, though some were pretty rough from  Hurricane Hanna rains, and all wonderfully shaded. Peaceful and quiet.

(Note to self: pay attention next time and be sure to read the part in the bicycle tour guidebook that says "hilly.")

---

Diana Sun is Director of Communications for Arlington County, a walking commuter, bicylist, and happy resident of the urban village of Clarendon.

The new diet pill - Live in Arlington!

It's Monday, so I won't ask or readers to think too deeply today.  A no-brainer, it will come as no suprise that the ranking of most walkable cities (link) also happens to overlay directly with the list of most fit residents in a recent city ranking below:

Source: American Fitness Index

Arlington County wallows in the simple, but wonderful joy of New Urbanism which offers unbridled opportunity at the under rated activity of walking along with copius biking and transit options.

The graph below also shows the direct correlation between walking, cycling, transit alternatives and obesity.  So, start your New Year resolution NOW to move to Arlington.  It's never been easier to loose weight, save money, and leave a lighter footprint on the environement all in one fell swoop.

Wow, that really sounded like a shamless marketing plug for Arlington.   Doh!

Source: No Impact Man

Can it all start with one paper plate?

So I was exchanging weekend updates with one of my light-green friends this morning, when she had to share a story of her environmentally-conscious efforts over the weekend.  She shared a story about having dinner at a family cookout.  At this cookout, paper plates were being used.  With this as the sole option for dinnerware, she consciously decided to share a plate with her daughter rather than use another plate.  Well, before she could recover her daughter's plate, her husband had thrown this plate in the trash.  The host told her, “don’t worry, we have plenty of plates.”  But my friend explained that she was simply trying to reduce waste with this one simple action.  The host replied, “Yeah, you’re right.  We could probably all do a little bit more.”  This simple action is really a whole lot more.  Not only did my friend think about taking action on her own, she shared this with others and made them think about their actions.  So, maybe it all really can start with one paper plate. 

She told me I would be proud of her, and boy am I!  I truly do feel like a proud mama!