Atlanta’s going green!
May 27, 2009
Hey Atlanta, are you interested in participating in your green economy but don’t know where to start? Why not take a class or workshop at the Atlanta Green Expo this weekend to learn more on how YOU can go green!
The Atlanta Green Expo will be held this Saturday, May 30th, 2009 and Sunday, May 31st, 2009 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia. The expo’s mission is to educate individuals, communities, businesses and policy makers on sustainable living through efficient, renewable energy, and the conservation of water and land resources.
The event will be held 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days, and it’s only $5 for adults (free for children).
Check out the classes and workshops being offered! You can’t afford to miss this:
Greening Your Home and Garden:
This track will include workshops that provide products, services and expertise that would be of interest by individuals for use in their homes and gardens. From solar panels and recycled glass countertops for your home to workshops on starting vegetable gardens in your back yard, this track will include a wealth of information for homeowners.
You’ll also learn how to make your yards into more sustainable and fruitful environments. The Atlanta Green Expo will show you how to create beautiful yards and gardens, done in ways that are environmentally friendly. Topics will include composting, conserving water, natural pest abatement and much, much more.
Green Building and Sustainable Development:
Architects, Developers, Builders, City Planners – this is your area! Here you will find seminars dedicated to illustrating the bottom line benefits of “going green” in your planning and development. Working with members of the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), this Track will present the latest trends and available products to help you design and build more LEED certified projects.
Energy, Conservation & Recycling:
The focus of this track is on alternative energy, conservation efforts, and the concept of “refuse, reduce, reuse and recycle”. Attendees can see for themselves the products, services and practices that can help them save energy, conserve resources and save money as well. Energy use is one of the areas with the greatest potential to improve one’s ecological footprint. The main goal for the Atlanta Green Expo classes and workshops is to help us learn how we can start making better choices, by using less energy, moving towards the use of renewable energy sources like solar and wind power, and reducing the environmental impacts to our air, water, and land from many of our current practices.
Food & Agriculture:
What’s better – locally grown or organic foods? What are C.S.A.’s? What’s all this talk about “Permaculture”? Come find out about these issues, the state of American agriculture and food production, and how you can help to make it better. A healthy, sustainable lifestyle is driven by choices about food. Making such choices involves answering questions about how our food is grown and how that growing process affects the environment, as well as who grows our food and how far our food travels. The Atlanta Green Expo classes and workshops will offer insights into the importance of how our food choices affect our health, and of discovering ways of raising foods that are less costly to the environment.
Sustainability Education:
What principles should we follow as we make dozens of small decisions each day to reduce our environmental impact? The Atlanta Green Expo seeks to empower families, businesses and communities toward the long-term ideal of sustainability. In addition to having a hands on, educational “Green Kids Zone”, this track consists mostly of Workshops and Seminars in topics ranging from reducing your Carbon Footprint to the importance of Socially Responsible Investing. Here the Expo classes and workshops will illustrate ways in which we can make our lives and our communities more sustainable.
Transportation:
Transportation is one of our society’s largest contributors to local air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as the problems associated with our country’s “addiction to oil”. The Atlanta Green Expo classes will highlight more sustainable options in transportation, and encourage us to find alternate ways to get around instead of continuing to rely on our personal, carbon-based vehicles. Bio-diesel, ethanol and electric vehicles are new technologies that are available today. And there are many under-used, yet “green” methods of transportation that need to be re-emphasized, such as car-pooling, public transit and riding bicycles more often.
Community Action & Involvement:
Come and find out how you can get involved with organizations that promote sustainable practices that affect our community. We will have representatives from religious communities, government, activist and non-profit organizations offering many ways to get involved and to help make a difference! The Atlanta Green Expo is also hoping to work with Habitat for Humanity to build a net-zero, green home which will be available for tours before it is given to a deserving family in the community.
Green Lifestyles:
Being green isn’t just about alternative energy and recycling. It’s about adopting and living a life that is in balance with nature. The Atlanta Green Expo seminars will focus on helping you find products, services and practices which will promote ways in which you and your family can live healthier, happier and more sustainable lives.
Visit the official website for more event details, and don’t forget to spread the word about this interactive, informative and inspiring event! Green Buzz depends upon people like YOU sharing the green news in your community!
For questions about the Atlanta Green Expo, call 904.236.9966 or email info@globalgreenup.com.
eat . live . think green
Green jobs in red hot markets
May 14, 2009
Interested in learning from leading experts on how to find a green job, propel your career, and participate in the next wave of economic opportunities for your business, organization, or government agency?
If you answered YES, then get your green tush over to Green Cities™ Florida, May 20-21 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando.
Designed as a non-traditional conference, Green Cities™ Florida will equip business, government and YOU with practical steps, relevant case studies, workshops and strategic plans for getting started on a green plan of action. The green economy is growing and transforming every part of the marketplace!
“The Apollo Alliance estimates that an ambitious $500 billion in federal spending over 10 years would create over 5 million jobs. This includes a broad range of activities such as building efficiency, renewable energy investments, smart growth, advanced grid technology, research and development initiatives and a ‘cap and invest’ program to reduce climate change pollution.” ~Jerome Ringo, President, Apollo Alliance
Hear more from Ringo on Wednesday, May 20th in his session entitled The Color of Green: The Next Inconvenient Truth
Here are a few more examples of the exciting & informative presentations that will transform the way you think, live, manage business and govern in Florida:
- What Makes a Business Green? to be presented by Alisa Gravitz, Director of Green America. Learn how a business, agency, or organization grows greener. Ms. Gravitz shares how to implement authentic sustainable practices and policies into your work from the perspective of businesses who have been walking the green path for the last 25 years. Mark your calendar to attend this session on Wednesday, May 20th!
- A Growing and Nurturing Your Local Green Economy workshop will be held on Thursday, May 21st, by Mary Anne Bowie, Founder, Sarasota Green Marketplace, where participants will learn how the Sarasota Green Connection Economic Development Model has evolved over a six year period and is replicable in other communities. Results include green building products retail store, local directory of 250 businesses that sell eco-friendly products and services, a 4,000 person community network, six years of monthly eco-forums and a grow the green economy focused non profit.
- Also on Thursday, May 21st, meet Robert Van der Like with The Cadmus Group who will conduct a workshop on Greening America’s Schools, New & Existing, through LEED. Van der Like currently manages the US Green Building Council’s pilot project for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) in existing schools.
To learn more about the Green Cities™ Florida expert speakers and presentations, click here.
With the conference less than a week away, there is no time to waste. REGISTER now! Conference passes start at just $99.
For more conference information, visit the official website or call 1-800-408-0002.
Joseph Malki, the visionary founder of Green Cities, is currently traveling throughout Florida on a Green Cities Florida “Listening Tour.” He is meeting with business and NGO leaders and calling on governments to identify priorities in building Florida’s ‘green’ economy, and explaining how they can benefit from Florida’s market transformation to sustainability.
Malki met with Marc Mondell, Director of the Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability for the City of Ocala, Florida last week to discuss Ocala’s sustainability initiatives.
Like most cities, Mondell’s team is looking into sustainable incentives from the federal stimulus program. Ocala is also developing a long term strategic sustainable plan for their green trajectory.
Ocala is small city going green with a new green building project with a very interesting new tenant. The federal government is delivering $958,300 to the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, Inc., Pensacola, Florida, to renovate a building in downtown Ocala, Florida to establish a Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) Institute research/innovation center to serve the Central Florida region. IHMC is on the cutting edge of new developments in the artificial intelligence, robotics, human-machine interaction, cognitive psychology, and computer science fields. At IHMC, scientists and engineers are rethinking the relationship between humans and machines while at the same time bringing new jobs and investment to revitalize the Central Florida region. The recipient intends to pursue LEED Gold Certification standards as well. This project will create over 100 jobs and generate $2.5 million in private investment.
Members of Ocala city staff are considering attending Green Cities Florida and seeking continuing education credits from the AIA, APA, USGBC, and the Florida Green Building Association.
To follow Malki’s blog during the Green Cities Florida “Listening Tour”, go to http://greencitiesblog.com/.
Malki will be among the expert speakers May 19-21,2009 at Green Cities Florida in Orlando. For the full list of speakers, visit http://greencities.com/usa/florida/orlando/2009/speakers.
Green Buzz 