At the 2009 N.C. State Fair, I had the completely, unabashed, enchanting pleasure during the Deep-Fried Tweetup to meet Steve Trash, who needs our vote for President Obama’s Green Job Czar.

Steve Trash is my new Enviro-hero in addition to being a comedian and magician.  Yes, an Eco-minded Magician and Comedian, but Steve is no joke (though he is a complete kook!).

I have wondered about illusionists and magic since I was a mere child, always fascinated with David Copperfield and, in more recent years, Chris Angel.  All I can help but wonder is, are these guys for real?

I saw Chris Angel take a woman and her friends right off the sidewalk, take her necklace (an heirloom from her Grandma), take a hammer to it and break it up (putting the woman in tears), place the fragments in her hand and tell her to squeeze it really tight, and when she opened her hand, she seemed genuinely shocked to pull it out in absolutely perfect condition.

I thought… wow.  I wish I were that chic.  I want to have the experience personally so I know I am stumped as to the magic.

Enter Steve Trash at the Deep-Fried Tweetup at the N.C. State Fair.

He had a few cube-shaped sponges, about two inches cubed.  He placed one in my hand, another woman had one, and Steve had one.

I kind of rolled the sponge around and looked at it, just checking it out.  Just a little squooshy sponge, you know.  He told me to squeeze it really tightly in my fist.  I obliged happily, even noticing that a smidge of it was peeking out between my pinky and palm, and I poked it back in.

The other woman, Linda, also squeezed hers, and Steve squeezed his tight.  I watched this happen.

Then, Linda opened her hand… her sponge still stood sweetly in her hand.

Steve opened his hand (by the way, never moved his hands around, no sleeves, etc… trust me, I was watching for that); no sponge.  Then Steve told me to open my hand.

“I can’t!” I replied.  He assured me I can, to which I replied, “No, I can’t!  I’m scared!”

The little child in me was desperate to find both his sponge and mine, shockingly together in my hand.  The adult me prayed I would find only one sponge, joyfully sitting open in my palm, and the world could continue to make sense.

I held my breath and pried my fingers open, and…

I literally screamed!  Then I continued to squeal and nervously giggle.  I began to jump up and down!  Both sponges were in my hand.  I felt as if I had somehow blacked out and it had been planted.  That is the only scenario where these things happen without any knowledge or recollection, right?!

Steve laughed and said this is why he does magic:  magic makes people happy!

Are you curious why I tell you about Steve Trash, the magician?

All of his props are previous trash and recycled goods.  Things he finds, sometimes not even knowing what they previously were used for (”What is that?  A googles lens?  I toy submarine window?  I don’t know.”), and finds ways to incorporate them into his act.

Plus, he uses magic as a fun way to teach kids, and apparently the kids inside of us adults, about recycling and eco-responsibility!

I just adore Steve Trash, and if you want to know more about him, you can check out this awesome article on him, as well as his website.  Cool as he is, it should be no shock he is also on Twitter, Facebook, other Facebook, and Vimeo (think YouTube).

Steve, you have my vote!  I am writing President Obama now!

Sustainably yours,  Ashley Sue

Welcome to the 2009 North Carolina State Fair, with a new Deep Fried theme (yum) and the second annual Green NC exhibit!

In eight days, Raleigh will host the Deep Fried State Fair.  I personally love the tasty, indulgent, artery-clogging, sizzling hot fun of this year’s theme.  Frankly, they found a way to make our deep-fried Southern reputation and make it kinda hip (instead of the hokey themes of years past).

OurHashtag even got the NC State Fair into super-hip mode by getting an NC State Fair Deep-Fried Tweetup rocking on October 22nd.  I expect to see you there.  Really, can you pass this up?  Western NC needs to make the trip to meet and greet with other Tweeple from across the state.  This will be an awesome Tweetup experience!  Get your free ticket here!

I actually found the Green NC information while surfing the N.C. Deep Fried State Fair on MySpace blog.  There I learned about the Confessions from the Green NC Exhibit and am excited to see how it grows this year.  Check out the official Green NC Exhibit website for a preview of what we will see.  On top of great exhibitors, we can expect an increased recycling effort, care to storm water, and LED lights to green up our fair.

For the full up-to-date NC State Fair info, check their deep fried blog, Facebook page, YouTube, and Twitter.

See you at the NC State Fair and Deep Fried Tweetup…

And will cover the Green Efforts!

Sustainably yours, Ashley Sue

People who care for the natural environment tend to embrace or reject many labels.  Greenies.  Environmentalists.  Conservationists.  Conservatives.  Liberals.  Hunters.  Vegetarians.  Gas guzzler.  Clean coal.  Wasteful.  Shop-a-holic.  Hybrid.  Republicans.  Just kidding about that last one, by the way, and feeding on the stereotype of a Treehugger.

Environmentalists are blamed by some for hating.  A lot.

Seriously, Google “Environmentalists hate”, which I did to see what kinds of words would pop up.  ”Solar”, “Grass”,  ”America”, “blacks”, “minorities”, “the poor”, and “humans” all make the list of who and what environmentalists seek to destroy.

Googling “anti-green” yielded interesting results, too.  As it turns out, a slew of webpages devoted either  to railing the environmental movement due to people feeling annoyed by “greenie” superiority complexes or to proving the environmental movement theories as we know it to be wrong.  A couple were just humor blogs… and some, I frankly could not tell how serious they were.  Just look here, here, here and here for a few examples of these sites.

My biggest issue, however, are those that are sustainability and conservation-minded basing each other.  The ends do not justify the means for many, and the semantics over how to achieve a healthy ecosystem create confusion, misunderstandings, and blatant failure of communication.

After all, when is the last time you heard a “vegetarian” speak nicely of a “hunter”, or vice versa?

I attended the Dixie Deer Classic ~ a hunting type of convention at the N.C. State Fairgrounds in Raleigh a couple weekends ago.  I brought a video camera because I wanted to ask some hunters to share their visions of conservation and environmentalism for my blog.

I realized, however, being approached by a vegetarian “greenie” with a video camera may be a little threatening and questionable.  So instead, I simply opted for conversation.

As it turns out, I spoke at great length with the Wake County Wildlife Club, and learned a lot.  I will be sharing, shortly, more regarding that conversation, some of the inspirations I gained from that weekend, and questions that arose for me.

Thus, I bring you a Green Grounded featurette ~ “Face of Sustainability”.  Starting this week, I will occasionally chronicle one person, one every day normal person, who in lengths great, small, or controversial, are environmentalists.

I look forward to bringing you this segment, and if you are in the Asheville or Raleigh area and would like to share your views, feel free to contact me.

Until then…

Sustainably yours,

Ashley Sue

Every time I go to Facebook, I see my Lil Green Patch, the application that lets you send cute cartoon plants to your other “Greenies” Facebook friends, and in return, the application sponsor contributes money to help save a rainforest.  To date, I have saved 27 square feet of Costa Rican rainforest.  Just by wasting an extra three minutes a week.  Additionally, the application operators claim that the donation made in November 2008 saved over 96 million square feet of rainforest.

Could we actually be helping save rainforest by piddling energy into an application that is likely working to soak up marketing information about each of us?  Or is this yet another greenwash?

According to the “Lil Green Patch” FAQ section:

The developers of (Lil) Green Patch are using sponsorship revenue from advertisers to make donations to the Nature Conservancy’s Adopt an Acre program. Adopt an Acre is a program that provides critical funds for rainforest protection and restoration. You can visit the following site to learn more about this program: 

       http://www.nature.org/joinanddonate/adoptanacre/about/

So, somehow, someway, supposedly, advertisers are paying the Nature Conservancy for the ability to surf through our Facebook page via our Lil Green Patch.  I guess that is better than surfing the web with no gain.

Soulseeking talks about Lil Green Patch’s racial discrimination and Facebook’s social contributions, which I had to admit, is more in depth than I bothered to think (white man’s burden: ignorance to the obvious preferential treatment).  Blogger Chris Holt covers the application from the gamer’s perspective (and the “manly gardener” perspective too)… which I would have never thought of Lil Green Patch as gaming… shows how much “gaming” I do.

Ultimately, I don’t know.  I guess it is a waste of a few minutes a week, but I figure if I am going to waste three more minutes on Facebook, it is nice to think it goes to help something worthy.

If you are interested in other potentially altruistic Facebook applications, Treehugger covers your Greening the World, one Facebook account at a time needs.

Sustainably yours,

Ashley Sue

In case you are not attending what may be one of the most environmentally-unfriendly Super Bowl parties you know, like I will, you may be wondering how a Super Bowl party can be green and eco-friendly.  At least greener than the disposable plates, cups, lack of recycling, and meat-oriented everything that normally goes with these events.

In fact, if you are lucky enough to be hosting your own shindig, and you are curious in this short notice how to make your party have more splash with your friends but less impact with the environment, I have rounded up some great links to check out for your pursuit:

Lighter Footstep advises you on grilling (oh, tasty!). 

Green Diva Mom writer shares a full-out healthy menu plan.

Trey of Earth911 has got the eight best tips, from menu, to toilets, to gambling, and souvenirs.

Last year, I posted these tips on buying bulk, beer, and links I liked.

The NFL consistently works to progress their sustainability initiatives and reduce their environmental impact.  The NFL as an organization and the Tampa Bay Super Bowl are only a small part of the picture:  we fans are accountable for our impact, and it adds up.

We are not pushing to provide only organic, fair-trade, and locally-grown foods, or to use solar power to fuel your party, because as great as those choices are, many of us and our friends are just “getting our feet wet” with being more environmentally-friendly (if they care at all).  So do what you can, and be proud of that.

So, in whatever effort you can, make that difference, and go have fun!  

Sustainably Steelers,

Ashley Sue

The debates rage on for all the reasons to commute in town on bicycles (and motorcycles), as well as why they should stay off the road.  We all know bicycling reduces pollution, slows our dependency on oil, and keeps us much healthier.  Regardless of the benefits, here is a list of the reasons I won’t ride a bike on main roads ~ even to work, which is a straight four-mile ride on a main road in Raleigh.

1.  Frankly, I’m scared.  Drivers are crazy and dangerous around here.  Many of them seem to hate each other, the stoplights, the medians, pedestrians, and even themselves.  Everyone, it seems, is on a personal path to self-destruction and general public annihilation along the way to their jobs.

1b.  The Triangle is NOT very bicycle or pedestrian friendly.  The Triangle has almost no bike lanes navigating the city.  Further, even where bike lanes exist (for instance, the beautiful stretch of Ridge Road in Raleigh near Wholefoods), I see drivers most frequently use it as a passing-on-the-right-side trick to avoid pausing for cars that are turning left into driveways.

1c.  I also fear how much drivers forget to look out for people on bikes and motorcycles.  Seriously.  If the vehicle driver doesn’t check their blind spot or even see the car in the intersection, how are they going to pay enough attention for someone on a two-wheeled vehicle?

1d.  Many vehicle drivers are hostile toward bicycle and motorcycle riders.  I have been on a local bicycle listserv where I have heard many horror stories from bicyclers who have had people throw objects at them from vehicles and been jeered at for taking up road space ~ a general “you deserve it if you get hit because you’re asking for it” commentary.  I’ve even heard one of my friends say a motorcycler should get hit because he changed into her lane (and for the record, he used his motorcycle signal, a hand signal, and changed lanes at least four car-lengths ahead of us).

1e.  Couple all of the above list with this new text-while-I’m-driving phenomenon…  Bah!  All the trimmings for a tragedy.

2.  Law-abiding bicyclists must ride on the road and follow the rules of the NCDOT.  But, just like with vehicle drivers, many bicyclists do not follow NC vehicle laws.

2b.  Instead of riding on the road, many ride on sidewalks, as Marc says they should.  I disagree… the law is that bicyclers should ride on the road… granted, sidewalks are less dangerous for bicyclers to ride on, but what happens when you ride your bicycle and encounter those moms strolling their children in those SUV-version strollers?  Or several bicyclers come at each other on the same sidewalk?  Or the track team is jogging along the sidewalk?  This can be impending doom for everyone involved as well.

2c.  Some bicyclers feel that because they are small and on an open vehicle that they are not on a vehicle at all… hence feeling like it is OK to ignore stop signs, or shooting through red lights and crosswalks after a quick glance to the left and right.  (By the way, if you are a bicycler and do that, you only perpetuate drivers’ philosophy that you’re asking for whatever perile you put yourself in.)

Ultimately, I have no conclusion here.  Bicyclers, bikers, and drivers have some tensions that need worked out.  While I am not one for general conformity, however, I do think if we could all stay calm and pay attention to (not to mention follow) the rules of the road, we could all find order in our local transportation infrastructure.  This, in turn, could make us a more bike-friendly society, which would only benefit us all.

Any feedback on the dangers you face as a bicycler or motorcycler… or on why you take issue with bicycles on the roadway?

Until I live somewhere more bicycle-friendly, Marc and I will keep our bicycles to trails, parks, and parking lots (…or relegated on our porch).

Sustainably yours, Ashley Sue

For those of you who have not heard, Green Grounded and team are relocating to Asheville, NC.

This move has been nine years in the making, and once upon a day, I would have easily thought Asheville was too full of self-righteous granola types to want to move there.  I may be veg, and I may be a creative thinker, but I do not subscribe to the “damn the man”, “can I bum a cigarette?”, “wanna puff?” philosophy that I too-easily pegged as “the Asheville scene”.

Granted, we have no plans set, no date readied, nothing concrete.  But Asheville looks to be our Forever Home, and I am so very excited!

Capturing the beauty of Asheville, blogger John Morris has an amazing blog called “Goodnight, Asheville!”, from which this photo has been borrowed:

The last couple years, however, upon visiting family and friends who live there, Marc and I have seen very different sides of Asheville than my original misconceptions.

Asheville is full of diverse opportunities, creative people, extraordinary nature, fresh green-collar opportunities, and the splendor of, what I feel, is humanity.  Despite hearing how much more Raleigh and The Triangle can offer, you cannot deny what is right for you when you realize it. And it seems everyone who knows us says it just “feels right” too. The stars have aligned!
 

Since our time here in The Triangle is limited (as opposed to the “indefinite” quality I feared to be stuck in), I picked up two six packs of NC-brewed bottles to celebrate my state and our homes, past, present and future:  Angry Angel Kolsch to say goodbye to Raleigh, and Highland Gaelic Ale (and a 32 oz. bottle of French Broad Wee-Heavy-Er Ale) to say hello to our future in Asheville.

And so our time in Raleigh is ticking away…

This amazing photo is also by John, from another of his blogs, ”Goodnight, Raleigh!” 

No moving date is specified, but I am looking for an inspirational career in Asheville as we speak.  I do love Durham, but I do not love the Triangle… and our future, we agree, lies in Asheville.

So, Asheville, here we come!

Sustainably yours, Ashley Sue

The wildfire last week had Raleigh (and other parts of the state) looking like Houston in the late 1980s.  My girlfriend from the VA beach area said it covered them last week as well.

The smoke lifted by Friday, but in case you missed it, were out of town, or just want to know what Raleigh could look like if we don’t pursue alternative fuels, here are some pics from last week as well as a rockstar live stream (live at the time) from my pal Wayne Sutton on his way into the station that day.  (more…)

I’m guessing unless you’ve sat in your home the last day, you’ve also inhaled the warm smolder lingering in the air.

Both Durham and Raleigh are feeling the effects of the 42,000 acre wildfire burning in Eastern NC.  Which is a huge ordeal, and with rain levels lower than average, the fire could continue burning and smoldering for months. 

I ponder what further consequences this fire has.  What else is burning besides the soil and trees?  What toxins are becoming a further aspect of our atmosphere?  How many animals will lose their homes, forcing them to evacuate into unsafe territories, like our sprawling road system?  How many animals will lose their lives, and how will that affect the balance of our local ecosystem?

I remain positive, however, that no human injuries have been reported, and that this was caused by nature (lightning), thus stopping me from feeling angry at someone who threw out a cigarette or was irresponsibly burning leaves or garbage, or even worse, simply wanted to be an arsonist.  Just keep the firefighters in mind as they continue to fight this mess.

As for the current haze and stench, it should lift from the Triangle in time for the weekend… so long as wind patterns don’t bring it back again, I suppose. 

Until it lifts, avoid spending time outdoors or performing vigorous activity outdoors if you have any allergy and respiratory sensitivities.

Sustainably yours, Ashley Sue

Kiddies, it is again time to pull that bike out and get to Wooly the Bull in downtown Durham by 530 tomorrow night (first Thursday) for Critical Mass.

I can think of few better ways to engage in your community, engage your physical health and start the habit of biking where you can.

Check out this great youtube clip of one of last year’s Critical Mass rides in Durham.  This is awesome!

Sustainably yours,  Ashley Sue
BTW, This post was pre-produced due to the fact Green Grounded is vacationing a la mountain hiking this week.