MCV Earth Day a Big Hit!

Thanks to all of you who made it out to celebrate Earth Day yesterday at VCU MCV campus! The event was a huge success with a large turnout and plenty of enthusiasm in the air. Our plant give-away (thanks to Stranges Garden Center) was a big hit, and we were able to give out 200 plants to encourage people to garden at home. There was a huge variety in the amount of plants that Stranges was able to donate, so that we were able to cater to people who would be growing their vegetable in the garden, or in a container. Goes to show that you don't need much room to have a garden - even apartment dwellers can try it!

The Farm 2 Family bus was there with it's pet chickens, and live jazz music was on the stage. Many a person was walking away with their new veggie plants, a scene described by one person as a walking garden. MCV Green Unity had a great response for signing up for their email contact list, encompassing between 250-300 people! If only 1 in 10 people choose to become active in sustainable activities with this club in the Fall, I'd say we're off to a great start!

Bayscaping at VCU this Saturday!

This Saturday, April 24, 2010, volunteer gardeners like you will be completing the first of three projects designed to improve water quality of the James River and Chesapeak Bay in Richmond, Virginia. Every time it rains in Richmond, VA (and many other cities worldwide) the storm water treatment system is overwhelmed, discarding untreated waste water into nearby rivers, lakes, and bays. This means that every cigarette butt, every piece of litter, all of the oil slick and asphalt chemicals, and all the pesticides and fertilizers used in yards citywide are being dumped into the James River and Chesapeake Bay.

Bayscaping (Chesapeake Bay + Landscaping) helps reduce, slow, and treat storm water run-off being discarded into local waterways. The idea is to replace select areas of turf, ivy, cement, asphalt, etc. with native plants, which are able to absorb a significant amount of the runoff, reduce the flow rate of waste water, and filter the waste water before the water makes it into the storm drains. Native plants are adapted to their specific climate and environment, making them tolerant to the water conditions or droughts of the local area. Besides less watering, they require less maintenance, little to no fertilizer, and little to no pesticides, making them an ideal choice for economical and chemical-free landscaping.

You can be a volunteer gardener at VCU! Come out for an hour or two, or stay the whole day.

Day: Saturday, April 17, 2010
Time: 9:00am - 3:00pm
Location: Trani Life Science Building
Street: 1000 W. Cary St.
City/Town: Richmond, VA

MCV Green Unity Makes It's Debut

Tomorrow, April 21st from 11AM-3PM is the 1st annual Earth Day celebration on MCV campus at VCU, and I hope you will all come by to say hello! My friends and colleagues Jia, Leyla, and I will have a table at the event promoting the new MCV chapter of Green Unity, a student sustainability club. We are looking for students, staff, faculty, and community members who want to improve sustainability practices at VCU and the community to put their thoughts and ideas of a sustainable future into action. Whether you have been a long time environmental advocate, or are new to sustainability, MCV Green Unity is the place for us to dream and scheme together to make our world a little better one step at a time. We are giving out one free vegetable plant: tomato, pepper, or cucumber, to the first 200 individuals to sign up for our email list and fill out a bicycle survey.

Special thanks to Strange's Garden Centers for their generous donation of vegetable plants!!!

We will also be doing free face painting for anyone who signs up and fills out a survey. You can also enter for the chance to win one of four Green Unity T-shirts, made of recycled cotton!

MCV Green Unity wants to follow in the footsteps of the Monroe Park campus club, and take on exciting projects like Bayscaping (more on this later), rain gardens. green roofs, and increasing access to recycling on campus. We also hope to partner with the other club to establish a Green Mile between the two campuses, which would be a trash-free corridor with a bike path and Bayscaping. Email me or ask me in person about the Green Mile project to learn more! Have a great idea of your own? Now's the time to put it into action by joining Green Unity.

Monroe Park Celebrates Earth Day with Style

Come out for the huge Earth Day celebration that VCU Monroe Park campus is holding this Wednesday, April 21, 2010. There will be free food. Live music. An Eco-chic fashion show. Free games and prizes. And of course, many educational vendors. Come on, how many reasons do you need to go to one event anyways? The real question is, why would you NOT want to go? Earth week at VCU kicks off with a free movie screening (with free snacks!) of the movie Food Fight, a documentary about local, sustainable and organic food. Don't forget to visit MCV campus' Earth Day event on Thursday, April 22nd too. I'll see YOU at Earth Day!

Food Fight Movie Screening
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Rodneys, Shafer Dining Court
VCU Monroe Park Campus

VCU Monroe Park Campus Earth Day
11:00 am - 6:00 pm
Wednesday April 21, 2010
Compass Point & Shafer Dining Area

Eco-Fashion Show: Re-fashioning the Future!
12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Wednesday April 21, 2010
Compass Plaza, Shafer Dining Court

Why Everyone Should Garden

Have you every tasted garden-fresh food? Did you notice that the taste bears almost no resemblance to store-bought varieties? Peppers from the garden seem to be an entirely new and different vegetable. They are crisp, sweet, and so packed with flavor you wonder that one vegetable can contain it all.

Everyone can garden at home. A garden need not be large, complicated, or a lot of work. A garden can be a single potted tomato plant, a window box, a window farm (more on this in a future post) a few peppers on a balcony, or a small plot of land in your yard. Gardening doesn't have to cost a lot of money - you can get many materials for free or cheaply on craigslist, at thrift stores, or from a local garden club.

The trick is to start small and do your research. By starting a small garden and adding to it gradually, you can learn to take good care of the few plants you have now without getting overwhelmed. You don't need to buy fancy books to learn gardening either. There are many gardening books available at thrift stores and used book stores, or you can take advantage of the huge wealth of information on the internet, on websites like Garden Guides. Many garden clubs, like Tricycle Gardens, offer free or low cost workshops to help you get started. Learn which plants grow well in your area, and in the space and lighting you have available. Vegetables generally need 5+ hours of direct sunlight a day, but if you are growing indoors you can supplement this with fluorescent lights.

Gardening is a relaxing and rewarding hobby, and can be great exercise too. Growing vegetables and herbs can save you money, and can allow you to try different varieties that would otherwise be too costly or simply unavailable in your supermarket. If you grow organically you can have fresh food free of pesticides, preservatives, and artificial appearance enhancers, such as wax on apples. So why not give gardening a try this Spring? Because who wouldn't want their very own produce stand in their own backyard?

Effects of Global Change on Human Health

Nationally renowned speaker, Dr. Ricky Sinha will speak at Earth Day at Virginia Commonwealth University on MCV campus, April 21st at 4PM in Sanger Hall 1-044. His presentation, Effects of Global Change on Human Health, will be followed by a reception celebrating Earth Day.

Dr. Parikhit (Ricky) Sinha is a Technical Associate at O'Brien & Gere where he leads the greenhouse gas (GHG) program and GHG projects for industrial and institutional clients, development of baseline carbon footprints, estimation of project-specific GHG emission reductions, and forecasting of future GHG emissions from the operation of new facilities.

As a former study director at the National Research Council’s Board of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, Dr. Sinha has led studies relating the science of climate change to federal policies for carbon mitigation and management. He has served as a member of the Pennsylvania Climate Change Roadmap Working Group and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Carbon Management Advisory Group.

Dr. Sinha has authored numerous technical papers in the areas of climate change policy, air pollution, environmental statistics, and risk assessment. He is a board member and former chair of the Delaware Valley Chapter of the Air and Waste Management Association. He has a Ph.D. in atmospheric sciences from the University of Washington, Seattle, and a B.A. in environmental engineering from Harvard University.

First Annual MCV Earth Day

MCV campus at Virginia Commonwealth University has been a little behind Monroe Park campus in terms of sustainability. And with one sustainability coordinator and a small group of dedicated staff spread between the two campuses it's no wonder! But all of this is beginning to change, and the first annual Earth Day at MCV campus is a sign of these positive times we live in.

MCV Campus Earth Day
11AM - 3PM
Thursday April 22, 2010
Kontos Medical Sciences Plaza
(outside Medical Sciences and Egyptian buildings)

Part of the Year of the Environment initiative, MCV Earth Day will feature live music, free food, prizes, and about 15 exhibitors including Dominion Power, William Byrd House Market, Farm to Family, 2nd Solutions, VCU Physical Plant, VCU Student Government Association, VCU Parking and Transportation, and many more.

You will also have an opportunity to meet me, your favorite blogger, at an exhibit advertising the new MCV chapter of the student sustainability club, Green Unity!