Special thanks to the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce for generously hosting Green Mondays. Presented this season thanks to the generosity of Progress Energy.
Through its Green Mondays series, the Blue Ridge Sustainability Institute shares information, solicits new ideas, and develops consensus in pursuit of sustainable community and economic development. Read More
Sept 13, 2010
Presented by the Blue Ridge Sustainability Institute with support from the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce and a generous grant from Progress Energy.
What can wind energy generating technology provide for this region? What obstacles are preventing wind energy generation for being accepted in WNC? Can responsible actions be taken to increase the utilization of wind as a source of renewable energy?
This program will address these questions beginning with short presentations from experts in the field followed by an organized discussion with community members in the audience. Issues to be addressed include: the creation of responsible wind policy on state and county levels, the technical feasibility of wind generation as a renewable energy source for this region, the economic implications of wind turbines both industrial and residential scale, among others.
May 24, 2010
Presented by the Blue Ridge Sustainability Institute with support from the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce and a generous grant from Progress Energy.
Russ Martin, former Mayor for the City of Asheville.
Anthony Brenner, founder, Push Designs. Push intends to build the healthiest homes possible, and their designs rely on the principles of research. Currently Push is in the finishing stages of the very first home in North America built with Industrial Hemp and Pure Panel.
David Madera, co-founder of Hemp Technologies LLC in Asheville, NC, which builds and distributes Tracical ® Hemcrete ® from Limetechnology UK Ltd. With two Hemcrete houses complete in the USA, Hemp Technologies has five more houses slated for construction this year and two more proposed.
David Mosrie, a veteran of the sustainable building industry, works as a builder, designer, consultant, and broker. He is the published author of several articles, including one in the April 2010 edition of Environmental Design and Construction.
Clark Snell, Managing Director, The Nauhaus Institute (NHI), a not-for-profit research organization that develops, shares, and popularizes affordable carbon neutral building and living solutions. Clark is the author of two books on alternatives to conventional construction, The Good House Book and Building Green.
Green Monday 15 Audio
Click to play or right-click to download.
Videographer/Editor: Peter Brezny of PurpleCat Networks
April 19, 2010
The Blue Ridge Sustainability Institute, in sponsorship with the City of Asheville and Buncombe County, announces this special “Town Hall” BRSI Green Monday. The purpose is to educate and gain community views about a financing option that Harvard Business Review has called one of the “Breakthrough Ideas for 2010.” Read More
March 22, 2010
Can you imagine Asheville with 15-minute transit service on major corridors, where your kids could independently visit their friends? Do you want to bike or walk on a Greenway to work each day? Do you need sidewalks to connect your neighborhood with local businesses?
February 22, 2010
What choices should we be making now in order to diminish the impact of development on the natural world? Better yet, from a more positive point of view, what are the opportunities for designing the built environment so that it encourages human interaction, improves productivity and conserves natural resources? Read More
January 11, 2010
What are the opportunities for sustainable bioenergy in Western North Carolina? How do we integrate environmental, economic, and social sustainability into the biofuels supply chain? Read More
December 14, 2009
Concern about climate and related environmental change tends to focus on the impact on the natural environment, exemplified by effects on plant life, and on the built environment, exemplified by coastal flooding and attendant loss of property. But these changes can also have a profound effect on human health. Increases in air pollution—particularly of ozone and aerosols—have a demonstrable, significant impact on respiratory health, even though the consequences of aerosols are only now being researched and understood. Addressing public health in the context of climate and environmental change is especially important in Western North Carolina, with its higher than average incidence of asthma and other respiratory disease in children as well as adults. Read More
“Sustainability” is a large concept, often difficult to grasp. Measuring it–knowing how sustainable our region is and whether or not its sustainability is improving–may be even harder to figure out. Lots of data is available, and still more can be gathered, but what data speaks to sustainability, how can we organize it in order to learn what we need to do now, and how can we afford to maintain and update this information?
The Blue Ridge Sustainability Institute has launched the Sustainability Indicators Project (SIP) in order to determine the best answers to questions of data availability and suitability, and to forge collaborations with other institutions in the region already engaged in parallel and overlapping efforts.
Entrepreneurs in Western North Carolina recognize that opportunities for a vibrant Green Economy are growing day by day. But in order for the region to harness the potential economic impact of these entrepreneurs, there is an immediate demand for comprehensive information about the region’s relevant assets. Though many assume this information is readily available, it’s not. Existing data neglects important elements, covers too few counties, and in most instances needs to be updated.
The primary goal of the Green Economy Asset Mapping Project (AMP) is to understand Western North Carolina’s Green Economy as a system of assets and shared knowledge. This system includes entrepreneurs and their supply chains, nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, civic leaders, workforce development and economic development organizations, and assets in the built and natural environment. AMP will provide a full understanding of our region’s asset base, lay the foundation for strategic planning and implementation, deepen understanding of key regional systems and linkages, and catalyze partnerships.
Local involvement is the core of AMP. The Blue Ridge Sustainability Institute will provide necessary tools and resources, but the information will be gathered in 30 counties of Western North Carolina by teams of concerned citizens, who will hand off their results to other teams of concerned citizens, who will turn that knowledge into plans for action.
The promise of AMP is the creation of new jobs that protect the integrity of Western North Carolina’s environment, a national ecological resource.
November 9, 2009
Scientists at the National Climatic Data Center have projected a high probability of a return to drought conditions for our region. In addition, they have stated that future rainfall is more apt to occur in high volumes but in limited areas. The combination of those factors, plus ongoing development practices that favor rapid channeling of rainwater off of residential and commercial property, would lead to further reduction in groundwater supplies as well as increase erosion, the #1 source of NC water pollution. Read More
