Boston Bruins to Receive Merit Award from EPA

Direct from the Boston Bruins website, yesterday's honor of merit from the EPA as a team committed to bettering the environment truly is a wonderful achievement for the team. There are few events that I go to where I see, what appears to be, so much waste and to know that the Bruins are taking steps to help local people in need makes me so overjoyed to be a fan!

Here is the full text from the article (to read online please follow the link above):

BOSTON, MA – On Wednesday, May 11 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will award the Boston Bruins with the Environmental Merit Award during a special ceremony in Boston’s Faneuil Hall beginning at 1:00 p.m. The Environmental Merit Award honors individuals and groups who have shown particular ingenuity and commitment in their efforts to preserve the region's environment. Boston Bruins Foundation Director of Development Bob Sweeney will be accepting the award on behalf of the Bruins organization.

At the start of the 2010 -11 season, the Bruins joined the NHL’s green initiative and partnered with Rock and Wrap It Up! to help fight hunger throughout the United States and Canada. The Boston Bruins committed to work with Rock and Wrap it Up! to pack up all prepared but unsold concession food and give it to local shelters and places in need citywide. To date, the Bruins have donated 4,950 meals and 6,950 pounds of food to the Boston Rescue Mission. Including TD Garden’s contributions, a cumulative total of 15.5 tons of food has been donated to the Boston Rescue Mission.

The Rock and Wrap it Up! project was founded by Syd Mandelbaum, a forensic scientist who in 1991 combined his love of music with a passion for wiping out hunger by redistributing leftover food from rock concerts. The program now works with more than 150 bands, 200 schools and universities and 50 sports franchises. It has collected more than 100 million pounds of food to feed more than 200 million people.

19 environmental awards will be given to Massachusetts environmental groups, individuals, businesses, non-profit and government agencies in Boston’s Faneuil Hall as the EPA presents its annual Environmental Merit Awards for 2011.

The Merit Awards recognize valuable contributions to environmental awareness and problem solving and are a unique way that EPA can recognize individuals and groups that are making significant impacts on environmental quality in distinct ways.

For more informaton on any of the groups mentioned please visit their websites:

EPA
Boston Bruins
NHL
Rock and Wrap It Up!

Ice and Dice Casino Night Fundraiser for Boston Bruins Foundation

Last night my aunt, her friend, and myself, all headed to Kowloon Chinese restaurant in Saugus, Massachusetts for the third annual Ice & Dice Casino Night. Tickets were only $30 and I knew the proceeds were going to a super worthy cause -- The Boston Bruins Foundation.

The Foundation is a not for profit that provides grant monies in the realms of athletic, academic, health and community outreach to various area children’s charities. For example, they have donated to The Children’s Room, a Youth All-City Choir, The Mayors Cup Roller Hockey program and Boston Partners in Education among many, many others.

Last night there were casino tables with all kinds of games but we stuck to a game with dice (it had an hourglass type cage with dice inside it that spun and you bet on numbers) and blackjack (my personal favorite). Bruins alumni, friends, family and many others were present to celebrate the evening for a great cause.

The night began with everyone receiving $1000 worth of chips and then at the end of the night the three people with the most chips won some pretty cool prizes, like a stick signed by the whole team. Then on the way out the ladies (and some of the men grabbed for their own ladies!) were rewarded by some nail polish (5 bottles!) donated by ProStrong.

Because gambling for cash is not legal in Massachusetts all the money was fun money but in order to raise even more, there were a few items in a live auction as well as a slew of silent auction items. Our friend even won one of the bids!

All proceeds from last night’s festivities went to further support the Foundation's Pan-Mass Challenge Bike Team's 2010 donation to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. I don’t know the final tally but at one point our emcee for the evening, Bob Sweeney, Bruins alum and the Foundation’s Director of Development, told us they were in the neighborhood of $50,000 in total. Outstanding!

It was a really fun night and although I’m not much into gambling, the “fun money” atmosphere kept the mood light. Thinking about where the proceeds would be donated made me so happy to have been a part of it all. Thanks Bruins for your continued support of the youth of our fine city of Boston and thanks for a fantastic evening!

Interested in donating, volunteering or just finding out more about the Foundation? Head on over to their Donations Page for more information.

Matt Is One of the Best People I Know

He works in downtown Boston on a fairly popular street in the financial district for a mortgage company. That’s all wonderful but it isn’t what makes him great. Over the weekend he told us about a guy who is homeless that lives in the alley behind his building. Every day Matt shares one cigarette with the man and they chat about work, life and how he ended up in the situation he is in.

A former contractor, Karl has been living on the streets for a while now. After very tough times in the market forced him out of his union job, he was unable to maintain paying his bills and sadly ended up where he is.

According to Matt though this has not done anything to damage the guy’s disposition! He is always ready to share a laugh, a smile and directions with lost tourists.

Now Matt, is the kind of guy who just loves the world, will talk to anyone and it is like his mission in life to bring a smile to everyone else’s face! He and Karl struck up conversations months ago but I just found out about him this past weekend when Matt started pulling a whole bunch of clothes together.

I asked if he was getting rid of stuff for Goodwill and he said no, that he was putting a bag of stuff together because Karl had indicated that if Matt was ever planning to get rid of stuff he would be more than willing to take it off his hands, seeing as though they are about the same size.

Tears almost sprung to my eyes. How sweet is that! I have a sneaking suspicion he will do the same come the fall and donate a bunch of warmer clothes to him.

We were talking this morning about the spelling of Karl’s name (which sadly he’s not sure is a C or a K so I’m taking liberties here admittedly) and if Matt happened to know how long he had been homeless when something he said struck a chord.

“Its kind of sad that people like him are just ignored and feared.”

My response was to say that people are just people and that everyone has something in their life, whether they put it right out there or not is inconsequential, we all have issues it is just that some of us are better able to hide them from the rest of the world.

Then Matt said something that really hit home. He indicated that most people are just one bad month away from being in the exact same place as Karl. Sadly, it could not be truer. As a guy who works directly with the financial information of hundreds of people on a weekly basis, no one knows better than Matt how serious that statement really is.

Because we happen to be so fortunate in our lives that we have clothes that fit us, a roof to sleep under and shower to get clean in, it is important that we do whatever we can to help those who are not as well off. Matt started his mission with nothing more than a full bag of clean clothes he was tired of wearing and it has already made a difference in Karl’s life. He wants to do more good deeds and random acts of kindness now!

How can we join him?

The Boston Marathon and EcoEtsy Earth Day Auction

Good morning and happy Monday to all of you! Here in Massachusetts it is Patriots Day, technically a holiday for us which commemorates the beginning of the Revolutionary War and it is also the day to get out and watch the running of the Boston Marathon (or the 11:05 AM Red Sox game if you are so lucky!).

This year is the 114th running of the race which draws all sorts of folks out of the woodwork to show their stuff by completing the 26.2 mile journey that not only includes dodging Boston’s infamous potholes, but the challenging and “chops-proving” Heartbreak Hill -- a half mile uphill stretch of the course that falls within the last five miles, when runners are already exhausted and reserves are depleted.

Many runners give up at this point, but for those who don’t the final few miles will be the most gratifying as the finish line comes into sight and they can say they have not only competed in, but completed, one of the longest and oldest running races in the history of, well, history!

All of us here in the city are keeping our fingers crossed that the spewing ash out of the volcano in Iceland subsided long enough that the thousands of European entrants were able to make it over to our city to compete today. Good luck to all the runners and for everyone who has a day off I hope you enjoy the sunshine and spring temperatures!

Those of us who don’t pound the pavement, should head over to the EcoEtsy Handmade for Earth Day Auction and bid on one of the fifty three amazing items up for bid!

There are six categories to choose from -- Baby, Home, Fashion, Jewelry, Paper Goods and Health and Beauty and all of the items are beautiful! The proceeds will be donated to the World Wildlife Fund, a cause very near and dear to our hearts here at GLR (and the sponsors of Earth Hour!).

To check out the EcoEtsy Auction, just head on over to the website and start perusing the many fine selections that could be yours! Bidding ends on May 2 so bid early and often!

Have a fantastic Patriots Day everyone!!

Fairway Independent Mortgage in Boston Goes Green

Most of you have heard Matt’s name in and around these parts for the better part of fifteen months now so I suppose it is high time I formerly introduce him to everyone. Matt is a senior level guru of all things mortgage business. A few months ago he was hired to work at the Boston branch of the national company Fairway Independent Mortgage.

When he came home during his first week and explained that their office was attempting to go almost completely paperless, not only was I shocked but greatly encouraged! I knew it was time to talk to some of the people in the know so I was put in touch with a couple of lovely ladies at Fairway who went way above and beyond to get me the most up to date information on the Green efforts of the Boston branch.

After reading through this article I found there was nothing more to add so I am reprinting here in its entirety. Huge thanks to Beth and Lisa for your quick turn around and amazing job on this!

Taking a Pass on Wasting Paper

When it comes to industries traditionally burdened with mounds of paper, few come close to the mortgage industry. The amount of written client communication and required documentation for processing a mortgage can be cumbersome. From loan origination through post-closing, the mortgage industry has historically depended on paper: copies of pay stubs, bank statements and insurance policies right through to the actual delivery of loan documents. According to Xerox Corporation, “in any given year, the industry generates more than six billion new pages of paper – equivalent to a paper stack over 370 miles high.” Perhaps this is the reason closing a home loan is often referred to as “passing papers.”

Trends are shifting, however. The Boston office of Fairway Independent Mortgage Company has invested in a leaner, greener way to run its office. Branch Manager David Lazowski has put systems in place to dramatically reduce the amount of paper used in the process of obtaining a home loan.

“There’s simple technology now available that allows us to electronically scan, safely transmit and save the documentation we need to process a loan,” says Lazowski. “Not only does it give us the opportunity to operate in a way that is more thoughtful of our use of natural resources, it saves money, time and physical space, and provides for improved workflow.” In addition to the environmental impact and cost savings of using less paper, fewer printer cartridges are necessary; mailing costs and related fuel consumption are also reduced.

The system is called Encompass 360, an internal imaging and document capture system, part of the loan origination software used by Fairway Independent’s Boston office. It allows documents to be sent to the borrower and faxed back directly to the company’s computer system. They are then easily saved in a client’s electronic folder and safely emailed to the underwriter. The only documents that are printed are those needing an original signature as required by law.

Matthew Shon, Fairway’s Senior Processing Lead, says that the company’s use of paper is reduced by about 80% overall. “Traditionally, a loan file might contain an average of 500 printed pages; we can get that down to about 100. Some of those printed pages we are required to shred, so we send them to a company that recycles the paper – two containers of shredded paper, and we’ve saved a tree.”

Why is this so important?

Trees absorb carbon in the atmosphere, yet cutting down trees contributes to carbon emissions as a result both of the machinery used in the process and the work of transporting them to a paper mill. Making paper at that mill consumes even more carbon, and then the paper is transported again, using more carbon-based fuel.

And consider this: the cost savings to a company by using fewer consumable products like paper, printer ink and electricity can be substantial. The savings generated from producing less waste can help a company to be more competitive.

So get started now. Print less. Recycle more. Turn over that note paper and write on the other side. We can all be inspired to take a pass on wasting paper, and find ourselves making a difference in the world.

About the Boston branch of Fairway Independent Mortgage

Located in heart of downtown, the Boston branch of Fairway Independent Mortgage provides financial solutions for professionals, their clients, individuals and families to assist in accomplishing their goals. The corporate umbrella that is Fairway Independent Mortgage provides the Boston branch with the systems and the culture to service their clients with the best and most current financial tools available. The company is a unique blend of personalized care and attention with the know-how and support of a larger, well established company

Not only is the company culture Green, but the mindset of employees within the corporation is one of care and compassion. Matt has truly discovered a home with these folks and since they are such an innovator in the industry, he can go to work every day knowing his Greenie wife will not cringe when he comes home!

Keep spreading the word Fairway that trees don’t have to suffer for a mortgage anymore. Hooray for saving trees, hooray for innovation!

Oxfam Is A Renowned Organization Partnered with Great Music

Recently while attending a concert for one of my favorite performers, Jason Mraz, I came across a gal hanging out at a very small round table with no one around talking to her. The bright lime color sprinkled about the area she was in attracted my attention immediately so I figured why not go and see what she was up to.

That was the moment I met Clara Herrero, an Outreach Training Program Assistant with Oxfam America. Clara is a volunteer based out of the Boston branch of Oxfam and she was totally excited to chat with my Mom and me about exactly what they were doing there and why.

Turns out this organization has been around since the first European activists took action against Famine back in 1942. The organization grew, expanded, began a United States branch in 1970 in Washington DC which relocated to Boston in 1973. Fast for a World Harvest is a campaign that began in 1974 and to this day is still one of the largest anti hunger campaigns in the United States and it helped to spawn Oxfam America; a separate entity from the originating organization in Great Brittan.

The focus of the mission of the organization as a whole is to battle against poverty and injustice toward all humans and they have grown to house locations in over 100 countries worldwide.

Oxfam has partnered with a slew of musicians such as Crowded House, O.A.R., Mraz, Coldplay and R.E.M. (among many others) to promote the campaign Rock the World. The organization volunteers reach out to concert goers to spread the word and I for one was so excited to have been able to chat with Clara! She provided me with information on what they are doing to help women specifically as well as how the poorest countries are the most at risk from climate change.

In addition to their official website these folks are all over social media:

They have a blog
Facebook page
MySpace account
Follow them on Twitter
Watch their videos on YouTube
Check out photos on Flickr

For those of you who will be heading out to a concert this summer please look for the Oxfam table and chat with the very friendly volunteers about their mission and goals. Then when you get back home, I strongly encourage everyone to check them out in one or all of the above locations. Why not consider donating time or money to this worthwhile organization today?

The Grownup Noise - Re-Fried and Back on the Road

The Grownup Noise is a Boston band which happens to care so much about the planet that last year before their summer musical expedition they converted an old van to run on veggie oil and used it exclusively to tour all the way to California and back. The tour in the van was a rousing success so they are packing up for a repeat this summer, starting this Friday (dates at the end of the interview).

I recently touched base with Adam (or as some might call him, ‘Mr. Press’) and he was anxious to share where The Grownup Noise is now, with relation to the band, the van and their music, since we spoke last summer.

For those who have not read the full story, I highly recommend checking out all of the following links before diving into this interview:

Touring with a Side of Fries: Part I - The Band Gets a Van
Kicking Off the Veggie Van Tour in Boston
Touring with a Side of Fries: Part II - Hitting the Road

I think the first most important question everyone is dying to know the answer to is - have you named the van yet?

Yes we have, although she kinda came named. It’s an old 1988 E-350 and it was converted into a luxury conversion van. The company that converted it kinda named it as it says on the side of the van “Lorain Motor Coach”. I’m not sure if that’s the name of the company or not, but that’s her name, Lorain.

Have you taken her around town since last summer's tour?

Yes, as much as I can. She’s only really good for trips over forty-five minutes though as it takes ten minutes just to heat up, so we use the van for all the regional dates -- Northampton, Portland, ME, Albany, etc.

I’m actually typing this in the van as we drive back from the Cape, and are running on veggie oil.

What is the most common reaction or question you are still getting from fans and bystanders?

I think that a lot of people have at least heard of the concept by now, as alternative fuels got so much press last summer as the prices inched towards five dollars a gallon. It seemed like everywhere you went you couldn’t escape an article on alternative fuels.
It’s kinda sad in some ways that alternative fuels get such lower press when gas is affordable.

Most people either don’t quite understand what I am talking about when I explain it, or they understand mechanics and don’t believe me. My new roommate is a diesel mechanic and he didn’t believe me when I first explained what kind of van I had. Now he is a total believer and can’t understand why this isn’t talked about amongst mechanics more. He is also the sole reason that our van currently works and we owe him everything!

How has the band evolved since last summer? Talk to us about your members and what has gone on there.

Well, the band is doing well and musically I feel like we have evolved a good deal, and in a really good and natural way. Paul’s song writing continues to change and amaze me. Before he would write new songs and we would spend forever arranging them only to get really bored with them or feel like they didn’t represent or sound like what we heard in our heads. I think that everyone in the band has heard what we could sound like for a while now and we are finally realizing this. I feel like we are much happier with our songs now, and they will have a much longer shelf life and be something that we will want to play for a while.

As far as band members go, we have changed some drummers. Absolutely no bad stories or anything, and everyone has become a member of the extended band family, it’s just that life gets in the way sometimes, and playing in an original band is one of the largest time commitments and serious relationships you can engage in.

The drummer we did our last summer tour with, Attis, got an offer from his first band, Eli “Paperboy” Reid to go and tour Europe with him during November, and Attis would have been a fool not to jump at that. Then Eli just blew up, got signed to Virgin Records, and Attis is busier than ever. We go to his shows with him though and catch up as much as we can. Then we started playing with Aine, but she had to go back to Japan for the summer, and hopefully we’ll start playing with her again in the fall.

For the tour we’re playing with our original drummer Kyle, who now lives in LA, but wanted to take a break from the city and hit the road with us for a month. At this rate we’ll hopefully have drummers in ever city and we’ll just have a huge extended drummer family!

For those who did not hear about your infamous route 93 breakdown, are you willing to talk about it? Did it change your mind about driving a 20+-year-old van?

More than willing! We had one of our belts break, which then took out another. Because of that we lost all power and our breaks…yikes! So, I’m probably always way too paranoid about weird van sounds and such but she actually does really well most of the time. Although she is old she only has 13,000 miles on her and the older couple that I bought it from really babied it. I have been assured by my roomie mechanic that most diesels last forever.

Like I mentioned, my roommate is a lifesaver and fixed the belts for us, as well as replacing most of the parts on the van in anticipation of the tour.

As sketchy as all of our touring vehicles have been we have never missed a show on tour, and the show we missed because of the belt was our first in ever in our four years.

Are you going back to any cities you toured through last summer and if so do you expect to find their grease is still free for the taking?

We always try to book our tours so that we hit most of the same cities, so we can continue to build upon previous tours. Last year I was able to keep a detailed log of every restaurant that we went to that was friendly and gave us grease, so I’m really hoping that pays off this year.

I think that things are actually going to be 100% easier this time, but that’s not necessarily a good thing. Because fuel prices dropped so much there isn’t the same intensity that existed last summer, when grease was so valuable. There was money to be paid turning it into bio-diesel and there were a ton of start up companies that were paying restaurants for it, so that make our case tough.

I feel like a lot of those companies have gone out of business though as the price has dropped and the profit isn’t the same. For example, as I mentioned I am writing this as driving back from the Cape. We just stopped and got some Thai food and I noticed two full containers of grease on the restaurant’s back porch. I inquired and the cook was very excited to give them to me, he said that somebody came every week to collect his grease last summer, but that stopped suddenly when the price of gas dropped and he hasn’t been able to find anyone since. He even has a grease barrel that the guy dropped off and now the company has disappeared.

This is good for bands but not good for the immediate future of the green economy. That’s a much longer discussion though...

Talk to us about your Boston band grease collective -- Grease for the Arts. How did that get started? Who else is actively involved? Is it still going strong?

It’s definitely not an official organization quite yet. Again, a lot of that is because of the economy and at the time we were preparing ourselves to have to fight for grease in Boston and to fend off both the rendering companies and the environmental startups, which are never as environmental as, they seem (again, another long conversation).

But I digress… Here’s a quick explanation of why we were putting our collective together and why we thought it was very urgent at the time of last fall.

I could write a book on the politics of grease collection, but here is a quick history of grease collection in the US. This is a fascinating world to me, and have educated myself the best I can, but if this sounds boring please skip ahead to our shameless tour kick off show plug, ha!

Basically used veggie oil is big business and it’s actually traded on the commodities markets under “yellow grease”. For many years rendering companies collected it, and sold it to other companies, many of whom would boil it down and turn it into dog and cat food, or other random things.

There were the occasional environmental folks and bands that would collect veggie oil too, but we were small guys to the rendering companies and they mostly left us alone. Because every restaurant needed to have their grease disposed of, and since it was worth money but not that much, rendering companies actually charged them a monthly fee for pick up and then made money off selling the grease too. This is still the case in some places (mostly the mid-west).

Then as the price of gas rose, veggie oil became very valuable as you can make bio-diesel from used veggie oil (although we run on straight waste oil, as our van is converted to do such). Environmental start-ups popped up all over the place offering to pay restaurants to take their grease, as they would then covert it into bio-diesel that they could sell for 4 dollars a gallon. A battle ensued between [those who] render and environmental companies for a bit; both were even hiring private detectives in some parts of the country to prosecute anyone that would take their grease.

Now, it’s good on a lot of levels that Environmental Grease collection companies started popping up, but they often were nowhere near Boston and would drive to the city in large vetches that were not converted. So, they were using fossil fuels to pick up bio fuels from far away…[doesn’t it make] more sense to just keep them in the community?

This was when we realized that the local users and bands were being squeezed out, as we couldn’t offer to pay for it. So, we wanted to start a collective and sell it to a few local businesses as something that they could be a part of that would give back to the community. Some of the other people involved even talked [to] the folks who got the tax credit for the movie industry in MA, as we were thinking that would be a good thing to offer restaurants that donated us their grease.

What has been the most successful strategy though has been just educating local businesses that are involved with both the local music scene, and the communities that [they] are located in, that they are making a choice with how they want to dispose of their waste oil. We have been fortunate to find several that are more interested in supporting locals than a few bucks from sketchy companies. And, as I mentioned, things have gotten easier as the price of gas has dropped.

Right now the collective is just a bunch of musicians and bands that tour on grease, and we just share some resources and help each other out if we need some. I’m lucky to have found a large organization that uses a lot of grease that is totally excited about what we are doing. In the future, and especially if the price goes back up, we talked about having it be more of a membership organization. That would involve us collecting the grease and [then] others who use grease, but who didn’t want to have the hassle of collecting it, could just join. The focus will always be to keep it in the community and to cut back on fossil fuel use.

Where can we find more information on the band, your tour dates, or listen to some of your music?

Well, you can always find us on our website where we have tour dates and you can sign up for the mailing list.
The Grownup Noise

Of course we are also on MySpace.

And Facebook.

And Twitter.


So where and when does this summer's tour kick off?

I’m glad you asked….

We’re playing a tour kick off show at The Middle East Upstairs on Friday, July 24th

The show starts at 9pm and we’re on at around 10:30. We are playing with some other awesome bands including local favorites, Brendan Boogie and the Best Intentions, the amazing Winterpills (from Northampton), and Varsity Drag. It is Varsity Drag’s CD release and they include original members of the Lemonheads. Very exciting!

From there we leave for the first tour date, Columbus Ohio on Mon. the 27th. We then start working our way over to the west coast. We’re playing 20+ dates and hitting almost every major (and non-major) city, so check out tour dates and if you have friends that really like things that smell like slightly burnt French Fries and Pad Thai, send them our way! We’re very nice and love to give tours of the van too. All of our current tour dates and a ton of info are up on both our website and MySpace.

Tour Dates as of this interview include:

July 24th Boston -- The Middle East Upstairs
July 27th Columbus, OH -- Rumba Café
July 28th Athens, OH -- Casa Cantina
July 29th Chicago -- Darkroom
August 3rd Minneapolis -- Acadia Café
August 5th Billings, MT -- Off the Leaf
August 6th Spokane, WA -- Caterina Winery
August 7th Portland, OR -- Red Room
August 8th Seattle, WA -- Comet Tavern (4pm early show)
August 8th Tacoma, WA -- Doyle’s Public House (late show)
August 10th Santa Cruz, CA -- The Crow’s Nest
August 11th San Fran, CA -- Hotel Utah
August 12th Sacramento, CA -- Marlyin’s on K
August 16th San Diego -- Brick by Brick
August 18th Los Angeles -- Spaceland
August 19th Tucson, AZ -- Club Congress
August 20th Santa Fe, NM -- The Cowgirl
August 21st Albuquerque, NM -- Atomic Cantina
August 24th Denver, CO -- The Hi-Dive
August 26th Nashville, TN -- Springwater Supperclub
August 28th Asheville, NC -- Bobo Gallery
August 29th Washington, DC -- Red and Black Bar
August 30th NYC -- Rockwood Music Hall

The Grownup Noise is Paul Hansen (lead vocal, guitar), Katie Franich (cello), Kyle Crane (drums) and Adam Sankowski (bass).

[Jenn’s side note: I have seen these guys play and they are awesome! Last summer when I interviewed Adam (as found in the links above -- read them) I went to their show simply to get one of those van tours and chat all things grease. By the end of the night I was a fan of their van and their music! Get out and see them, seriously, you will not be disappointed.]

Boston Water to Receive a Green Upgrade

According to boston.com, water and sewer pipes in our New England state are about to get a big boost. Turns out, Massachusetts is slated to become the proud recipient of $185 million dollars in federal stimulus money and they are planning to use it to update and upgrade long suffering water and sewer infrastructures throughout the state. These are projects that are ready to go right now (about 127 of them in fact) and the designation of funds is going to help create jobs not only in the standard sense but also there is stipulation that 20% of the funds must go toward Green infrastructure projects!

For the complete article please check out Monday’s The Green Blog on boston.com.

Photo taken by Jenn Shon September 2007

The Waterless Eagle

Yesterday my Aunt sent me an article from the Boston Globe about street sweeping in the city of Boston. The title of the article was related to the future of street sweeping and I was immediately curious if this wasteful yet somewhat necessary institution was about to be disbanded due to the recent economic downturn. Instead I was pleasantly surprised to read about a newly unveiled, waterless street sweeper proposed to the city of Boston called the Waterless Eagle.

The Waterless Eagle uses forceful suction and brushes to intake all the dirt and grime, as opposed to simply pushing it forward until it reaches a low point to fall into as a standard sweeper does. In a city demonstration the Eagle managed to suck up dirt that a standard sweeper missed and left the asphalt shiny clean. City officials were certainly impressed but there is one great downfall to the Eagle, the price tag. At $235,000 per unit, to replace all seven city machines during a time of proposed budgetary cuts would be a hit of over $1.6 million so there would need to be some very strong reasoning behind the change other than pretty roads.

During my research I discovered that street sweepers can have a tank with up to 420 gallons of water and as the article states, the seven trucks in operation in the city of Boston (not to mention all the privately owned trucks operating around town) are capable of using over 800 gallons of water per day, each. That is a hefty number especially when considering sweepers are out from spring to fall. In addition to the wasteful aspect of the machines, all that water has to go somewhere. As the machine sprays at the curb the large rotating brushes literally sweep away the dirt, grime and trash leaving this water free to run right into neighboring streams or sewers. Let us not forget all that rock salt or sand that was used over the winter that is now headed straight downstream, compromising waterways and nature in the process.

The Eagle runs on a powerful John Deere motor and can travel as fast as highway speed which means increased efficiency in the time it takes to complete an entire neighborhood. The hopper will hold up to four and a half cubic yards of waste and can sweep a swath of up to ten feet. The hopper and sweep path are comparable to that of a standard sweeper but the most excellent feature of all is the optional fuel systems. The Eagle can be fitted to run on either compressed natural gas (CNG) or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) meaning an immediate savings of fuel cost and emissions city wide.

I am hopeful that the city of Boston will see the benefit of such an efficient and Green machine and invest in at least one for this year as a test run toward greening up the city. Once they find the benefits of such technological advances far outweigh the cost it will only be a matter of time before residents start seeing big white trucks sucking up our grunge as opposed to the well used, once loved, yet completely outdated dirt stained yellow machines of yesterday.

The Lights on Our Tree Shine Bright…Green

When the people of Halifax, Nova Scotia began gifting spruce trees to the city of Boston back in 1940, as a thanks for the help provided to them after a 1917 explosion killed over 1,700, it is safe to assume they were not thinking of saving energy in 2008 but this year Mayor Menino and the Park’s Department both have a green twinkle in their eye as the holiday tree will be illuminated by energy efficient LEDs instead of standard incandescent bulbs. This change is part of an effort to provide at least twenty percent more eco-friendly holiday decorations in the city; Frog Pond and the Parkman Bandstand will also be shrouded in a crisp blue-white glow this season.

This is the first year Boston will green up their holidays. Mary Hines, spokeswoman for the Park’s Department, is confident that most people will not be able to tell the difference and will be pleased with the change; presumably since it will likely save the city some of that other type of green. With approximately 8,000 LED diodes, there will be plenty of light to shine bright and once the season is over, the city will do a comparison to determine the level of electric energy we managed to save this year.

For those in the Boston area, the lighting ceremony begins tonight, Thursday December 4, at six o’clock and will be accompanied by a small fireworks display to give a little extra sparkle to the forty six foot tall spruce gifted by Clemantsvale residents Craig and Marina Cook who were grateful to be able to be a part of such a long standing tradition. When Boston discovers the beauty in energy saving, old traditions will meet with new as efficient LED bulbs twinkle on the tree every season to come.

Growing Up Green - From Portland to Boston

While chatting with Bridgete recently she suggested that since she was raised in Portland, Oregon it might be nice to do a feature on how she grew up in such an eco-conscious state and what her comparative impressions are of Boston, Massachusetts now that she is living here. One might think it would be difficult for a city such as Boston to achieve the distinctive title of Greenest City but in truth it would not be all that tough, it would just require a firm dedication to create a better environment by all the residents. After reading her interview everyone will want to start making strides to green up their own cities and snatch that title away from Portland!


Where did you reside prior to moving to Boston?

Portland, OR, aka the Number 1 greenest city in the US.

What is it about Oregon's environmental efforts that most inspire you?

Honestly, it's that everyone recycles. It's such a simple thing with such a huge impact. And everywhere you go, it's clear that the whole state has figured that out. You don't have to harass your school or your employer to have recycle bins - they're just already there. And the same goes for getting recycling pick-up in your area - it just comes with the trash pick-up, no questions asked. It's so great to see an entire community step up and at least do that one thing for the environment, even if some individuals don't do anything else.

Do you remember taking part in environmental practices when you were a kid? How old were you in your furthest back memories?

Earth Day was this huge thing at my elementary school. I don't even remember what we did, but we had a whole day of environmental activities. I think one year we planted trees...in first grade, maybe. Also while I was in elementary school, I remember sorting through the recycling with my mom every week -- this was in the early days when you had to separate everything -- cans, plastic, paper, glass -- and put all the different types into separate paper bags and put the bags in the yellow bins for the curb. And we had to take off the labels from soup cans and stuff, as well as the bottoms, and smash them flat before those could go out. To make the sorting easier we ended up getting separate bins for inside the house where we'd put the cans, already unlabeled and smashed, and then a bin for plastic. Glass we'd just set aside since we didn't usually have much glass, and the newspapers went in a pile and then were easily slid into the bag when the time came. I think all this started when I was about six or seven. I'm leaning towards six...

Tell me a little about what it was like to grow up in such a progressively green environment.

It's not even something I really thought about, it was all second nature. Words like greenhouse gases and biodegradable are part of everyday language there. And there are so many things that I didn't even realize were great until I left. For one, the city has a fabulous public transportation system -- when you take into account the entire system, buses and trains and all of it, it's apparently the best in the country -- and people use it. I didn't even learn to drive until I was 19 and that was only because I was a bit outside the city for school and wanted to be able to go home more often. I have several friends who didn't have their licenses until their early 20s because they stayed in the city. When you consider the fact that Portland is a Western city where everything is more spread out, that really says something about how functional the transportation system is there.

There's also the recycling I talked about before. It's also kind of a status symbol to own a hybrid, and even if you don't, you get bragging rights for getting great gas mileage or rarely using your car so you only fill it every few weeks. Oh, about cars, there's a really rigorous emissions test you have to put your car through every two years to see how much nasty stuff it's putting into the air. If it doesn't pass, you can't update your registration until you fix whatever is making your car put out even more nastiness than it should.

Other things...about a month ago I learned that apparently in some cities people go grocery shopping more than once a week, but in Portland, just about everyone has their weekly shopping day. Some even have it down to every two weeks. Then there's the common practice of planning your errands so that you make a loop -- stopping at some places on your way to the farthest place, then going a different way home to stop at the other places on your way back. And finally, one of the busiest places downtown is Saturday Market, which is kind of like an ongoing fair -- it's an outdoor market that runs every Saturday and Sunday from April to December (yeah, okay, so it's not nearly as cold in Portland as it is in Boston) and people set up stands with all sorts of organic soaps and candles and such, then you have the up-cycled clothes or the stuff that's made from all-natural fabrics and organic dyes, and people who make their own jewelry by melting random bits of glass. I could go on, but I think you get the picture.

What are some eco-activities you enjoy most in your new city?

I do like that the T gets you where you want to go, even if it is a bit irregular and has a lot of random delays. But what I really love is walking. Downtown Portland is actually a pretty great walking area, but it rains so much that you don't usually want to. And then in the rest of the city everything is too spread out from that Western urban sprawl so you can't really get anywhere by just walking, even when it's actually not raining. So I really love that everything is so compact here so if I'm pretty close I don't even have to deal with the T. Unless it's mid-December and I'll freeze to death if I have to walk another block. =)

How could Massachusetts and the rest of the world take a cue from Oregon to green themselves?

Well, first for Boston: if you're going downtown, why on EARTH would you ever bring your car? Have you SEEN the traffic? Seriously. I know if you're actually driving in downtown you probably have lived here forever so you can handle it, but why would you want to when the T is so convenient? And so much better for the environment, I might add. Also, put out recycling bins for the general public, next to the trash cans on the sidewalks. And as for the rest of the world, I'd say the first step is to recycle. That's where we started, and now Portland is the greenest city in the US. We started by caring just that little bit, and then we realized how good it felt to be good to the environment, so we wanted to do more. So we did. So really. Recycle. You can invent eco-friendly cars and put up wind turbines and solar panels and everything all you want, but if you can't get your community to all pull together and do that one little thing then that good feeling isn't going to spread. People won't buy the hybrid cars if they don't care, and they won't notice that their electricity is now more green if they aren't the ones generating it, so they won't start caring. I guess that goes back to "think globally, act locally." Get your community, even just your workplace or school, to start doing just that one little thing and watch the greenness grow.

How do you take initiative to spread the word about being green?

Well, I'm working on figuring out how to get recycling pick-up for my apartment complex right now. That's kind of my priority at the moment. Right now Vanessa and I, two rather clean people, have a couple bags of recycling waiting until we have the time to go find where to drop it off. It's rather irritating to have it lying around, but I can't just throw that stuff away. It goes against my nature. I guess other than that, it's just talking to people. Telling them to shut off lights (or doing it myself, including in other people's homes). Sometimes what helps is to explain how much money you save with certain green acts, like using passive solar energy from your windows to warm up your house, and not turning the heat way up just to get it warm faster, it will do its job just fine if you set it to the temperature you want the house to be. Or in the summer, check whether you actually need to run the air-conditioning or if it's cool enough outside to just have the windows open for the night. Around here, Boston has really beautiful summer evenings, so spend the evening outside while your house cools off from the windows you opened. Especially in this economy, people like saving money, so they like to hear that being just a little more green will actually help them do that.

What is the one eco-act you do everyday that readers could also do to lessen their impact on the environment?

Okay, I'll say something besides recycling because I think you all got the point there. I make efforts to stop wasting electricity. I turn off lights when I leave the room. Same goes for the TV. And everything is off when I leave the house. Also, in the summer, I don't run the AC when I'm not home, and I try to avoid using it as much as possible even when I am home. As for heat, I at least turn it down when I leave. In the early fall/late spring I'll turn it off completely, but the general character of winter in Boston prevents me from turning that into a year-round practice. Oh, I turn down the heat when I sleep too. You actually sleep better in a slightly cold room with a nice, big, warm blanket.

Photos courtesy of Portland Ground: Pictures of Portland Oregon