WESLEY C. SKILES

Memorial Celebration and Service Wednesday, July 28, 2010 at Ginnie Springs

The memorial service will begin at 6:00 pm followed by a celebration of Wes’s life. Ginnie Springs will be open to our guests all afternoon. The celebration will last into the evening. You may want to bring the beverage of your choice and a picnic supper or food to share.

The family requests that in lieu of flowers donations be made in Wes’s name to the Alachua Conservation Trust: alachuaconservationtrust.org

via Karst Productions Home Page

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Riley recently co-directed the First Annual Gainesville Environmental Film and Arts Festival, which was in collaboration with GoGreenNation.org. She admits she was so overwhelmed with festival-related tasks that promoting her site fell by the wayside. But the festival embodied the greater mission of GoGreenNation.org: to build a community of concerned citizens with a heart and a sharp, informed mind for all things green.

via Kennedy: Ride-Along: GoGreenNation.org.

It was great to see so many Green Drinkers at the party… Janet Davies brought a green flag that she suggested we take on as our mascot – from now on, look for the green flag to find our meetings.

Thanks, too, to Melanie Martin, who told us about her and husband Haskell’s company, Moksa Organics, which produces organic soaps and bodycare products. Melanie recognized Robbie Blake, her childhood music teacher, who has joined us as development director for our Environmental Film Festival.

Karen Arrington brought us up to speed on hair collections for the Gulf Oil Spill and several others made announcements about sustainable projects happening around Alachua County. We’ve posted details at www.GoGreenNation.org, our local and national resource site for building sustainable communities.

If you’d like to host a Green Drinks meeting or a fund raiser for the Environmental Film Festival, please let us know: Trish@gogreennation.org. We’re actively seeking sponsors for both events!

Many thanks to all our supporters,
Best,
Trish*

“Whether you call it biomass or simply chopping down trees, it’s still deforestation,” said Franz A. Matzner, climate legislative director for the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington, which supports the sensible use of biomass power. “Burning trees for energy is an age-old practice that we know can cause some pretty bad effects if we don’t get our heads around doing it the right way.”

http://nyti.ms/cqWZSP

The Downtown Farmer’s Garden’s purpose is to provide food and inspire citizens to substitute purely ornamental plants with an edible landscapes. …growing more fruits and vegetables locally reduces energy consumption and increases the area’s self sufficiency. Growing food is a critical part of building a resource efficient Alachua County.

via Details Alachua County Florida -.

I hope all have enjoyed a relaxing Independence Day weekend, and I know we’ve all been thinking about the state of our nation and our real need for independence from fossil fuels, especially thanks to the BP debacle in our Gulf. This disaster is just the sort of catalyst that we’re all interested in maximizing because it sends the message we’ve already understood to millions of people who previously weren’t catching… Now, although it’s hard not to feel utter despair, we need more than ever to join forces and help the rest of our community and the world gain an understanding of the importance of finding more sustainable ways to live.

We’ll talk about the possibilities for the future at our next Green Drinks Gainesville meeting, 6-8 p.m. July 7 at the Town of Tioga Meeting Hall, 205 S.W. 131st Street. Luis Diaz, Development Director of Town of Tioga, has arranged for dinners and drinks to be available for us to order from Blue Highway, and he will tell us about the sustainability initiatives he and his family have initiated at Tioga. He’ll also provide a tour of the town after the meeting. (Head west on Newberry/University past I-75 until you see Tioga on the left.)

We’ll also hope to hear from Blue Highway about their sustainable business efforts, and Melanie Martin, Founder of mōksa organics, will tell us about her and her husband Haskell’s local organic soap and body care business.

I’m hoping that Karen Arrington will bring us up to date on the collection and deployment of hair booms in the Gulf… and let you know how you can help.

If you’ve got a sustainable business or project happening, please feel free to bring your news to the meeting to share, as well.

Thanks to Kickin’ Devil Cafe for hosting our last meeting, and to Pete Colverson of Pandion Systems for bringing us information about cutting our own carbon footprints. I heard some interesting feedback from members who said they were saving water with buckets in the shower and cutting electricity by foregoing air conditioning – these are great tips and I’m glad that our Green Drinkers are already doing so much to conserve our resources. I think that our group can really help our community by spreading the word about these ideas and techniques, and I hope that we continue to encourage our neighbors to find more ways to cut back on our fuel usage, water usage, waste output and exposure to petrochemicals.

Julie Garrett suggested we all ride our bikes to future Green Drinks meetings, but Tioga is too far out of town for me to ride… So let’s carpool – please call your friends and suggest riding to the meeting together to help reduce our collective fuel usage and emissions.

Thanks to all and I look forward to seeing you on Wednesday evening!

Best,
trish*
–
Trish Riley
Director: Gainesville Environmental Film and Arts Festival
Publisher, www.GoGreenNation.org

Learn more about the multiple pathways to “Green” certification, including LEED, Energy Star, FL Water Star, FL Green Building Coalition, and more. Featuring a wide cross-section of green building experts from a variety of organizations.

Continuing Education credits are being sought for LEED APs who attend this session. Continental breakfast and lunch will be provided.

Kanapaha Botanical Gardens

4700 SW 58th Drive, Gainesville, FL

Wednesday, July 14, 9:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Registration: $125

Register online at www.usgbcheartfl.org

Ocean Diving: Stepping into Another World

Freelance writer Trish Riley steps into the adventuresome waters of ocean diving, giving us a newcomer’s perspective on the sport.

via Subaru Drive Magazine.

“The contamination issues associated with the Koppers Superfund Site are very complex. They include the deep-soil groundwater threat, the widespread surface soils contamination, the contaminated stormwater runoff into Springstead Creek, and the contamination of off-site surface soils from fugitive dust…

The current situation is the result of gross environmental irresponsibility over a period of almost 100 years by a multibillion-dollar international conglomerate with little regard for consequences. I just can’t help but think that we deserve something better than the “cover up” solution that appears to be what we will be seeing in the EPA’s Final Proposed Plan soon to be released.”

Read More: The contamination issues associated with the Koppers Superfund Site are very complex | Gainesville.com.

For more info call Karen Chadwick at 386-983-1256.
Brown Pelican, Fulton Harbour, Fulton, Texas  Source=http://www.naturespicsonline.com/ Date= August 22, 2006,