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 A "Take Charge of Your Future" resource fair taking place this month in Greensboro aims to "help you figure out where you want to go with your life, and how you can be part of creating a greener, healthier, safer planet and community for all of us." Details here. 

It turns out the best places in North Carolina to shop for sustainably-sourced seafood are Whole Foods and Target, according to a scorecard released today by Greenpeace that compares the seafood sourcing practices of 20 major grocers.

Several of the companies evaluated have stores in North Carolina, but only Whole Foods (No. 3) and Target (No. 4) ranked in the Top 5. Charlotte-based Harris Teeter followed at No. 6. (Keep in mind that many companies with N.C. stores were not included in this report, such as Earth Fare or Lowes Foods.)

The organization defines sustainable seafood practices as those that don't exploit endangered, vulnerable and/or protected species, or species with poor stock status; don't cause habitat destruction and/or lead to ecosystem alterations; don't cause negative impacts on other, non-target species; aren't unregulated, unreported, illegal or managed poorly, and don't cause negative impacts on local, fishing dependent communities.

From the press release: 

"Of the 20 largest retailers in North America, nine remain that have made no visible effort to increase the sustainability of their seafood operations and continue to ignore scientific warnings about the crisis facing global fisheries and the marine environment.... Despite the progress of many companies, all continue to stock “red list” seafood like orange roughy, swordfish, or Chilean sea bass – some of the world’s most critically imperiled species. None of the companies featured in the report guarantee that they won’t sell seafood from fisheries that are harming sea turtles, dolphins, seals, sea lions, or other marine mammals."

Here is the entire ranking:

1. Wegmans

2. Ahold USA (Stop & Shop, Giant)

3. Whole Foods

4. Target

5. Safeway (Dominicks, Genuardi's, Pavilions, Randall's, Von's)

6. Harris Teeter

7. Walmart

8. Delhaize (Bloom, Food Lion, Hannaford Bros., Sweetbay)

9. Kroger (Baker's, City Market, Dillon's, Fred Meyer, Fry’s, King Soopers, Ralph's, Smith's, Quality Food Center - QFC)

10. Costco

11. Aldi

12. A&P (Food Emporium, Pathmark, Super Fresh, Waldbaum's)

13. Supervalu (Acme, Albertson's, Bristol Farms, Jewel-Osco, Save-A-Lot, Shaw's)

14. Giant Eagle

15. Publix

16. Winn-Dixie

17. Trader Joe’s

18. Meijer

19. Price Chopper

20. H.E. Butt (H.E.B., Central Market)

Following is what Greenpeace had to say about Harris Teeter, which is based in North Carolina: 

"Harris Teeter’s stated goal is “to offer top quality seafood while being cognizant of the sustainability of supply, environmental impact on marine life and other species as well as social and economic impacts.” Yet, Harris Teeter continues to sell a large number of red list species such as Chilean sea bass and orange roughy. Due to a lack of improvement in its seafood sustainability performance, Harris Teeter has slipped toward the middle of the pack in the Carting Away the Oceans rankings as other companies outpace Harris Teeter in their sustainability efforts.

"Greenpeace encourages Harris Teeter to rejoin industry leaders by taking some significant steps toward a more sustainable seafood operation, especially by strengthening its overall sustainable seafood policy and removing key items from its inventory."

By the way, the Environmental Defense Fund and the Blue Ocean Institute provide shopping guides on healthy and sustainably-raised seafood.

Well-heeled home buyers looking for a green residence are invited to a July 20 lot draw at Kensington Place, an Oak Ridge development that is supposed to be the Triad's first green certified neighborhood, according to a press release by Leap Realty in Winston-Salem. The K2 Homes development will feature Energy Star® certified homes, sidewalks, streetlights, streams and walking trails.

The lot draw will be held at Magnolia Manner in Colfax on July 20 at 4:30 p.m. The public is invited to the lot draw event, which will feature presentations by the green partners that are working in partnership with Leap Realty and K2 Homes to develop Kensington Place.

“Although the lots are sited for optimum environmental benefit and construction will meet at least Energy Star® certification, the homes at Kensington Place will look much like other typical homes in Guilford County,” said Sarah Olson, of Leap Realty. “Above all, the development is on a beautiful piece of land and will feature a number of open areas for walking, playing and neighborhood gatherings.”

Kensington Place is certified under the National Association of Home Builders’ “Green Building Standard” for site design and development. Most lots at Kensington Place feature passive solar design opportunities and all are graded with utilities in place. Lots at Kensington Place range from $67,800 to $71,800. Home prices are estimated to begin at approximately $300,000.

Olson said that grading is complete and that the homes will be ready to begin construction immediately following lot purchases.

For more information, contact Leap Realty at 608-2599 or info@leaprealty.net.

DIRECTIONS TO KENSINGTON PLACE (FROM GREENSBORO): Take Hwy 150 West toward Kernersville. Turn right on Pepper Road, left on Grove Park (Pepper Ridge) and drive straight into Kensington Place.

I frequently get notices from Triad companies and entrepreneurs of their efforts to incorporate more sustainable or environmentally responsible business practices. I seldom have time to formally write about them, but  it occurred to me that some of my readers would like to know this information as a way of keeping track of the sustainability/green movement here. So I've decided to summarize these efforts in an occasional blog post.

The first one follows: 

* The Cleveland County plant of Lexington-based Cunningham Brick Co. recently became the first brick plant in the United States to earn a third-party certification of the pre-consumer recycle waste contents of its products. The National Research Brick Center at Clemson University is the only organization in the country to do this certification and the university maintains that 90 percent of brick makers in North America are members of the center. Cunningham's products contain 7 percent to 85 percent certified recycle content.

* UNIFI of Greensboro announced today that it has expanded its REPREVE recycled fabric line to include fiber made from 100 percent post-consumer PET bottles.

* Furnitureland South, of Jamestown, officially opened a green furniture gallery in High Point on Saturday. The opening of the "Eco-Link" followed the company's decision to join the Sustainable Furnishings Council. Many of the manufacturers showcased in the Eco-Link are members of the SFC.

"The Eco-Link links us to the earth and to our vendors who are embracing sustainable manufacturing processes," said Jason Harris, Executive Vice President of Furnitureland South, according to a press release. “This is a first step for our organization to publicly recognize that our earth needs a movement of people to save it for future generations. Our industry can have a huge impact on a problem that is not going away. We just want to do our part."

* Carol and Bill Rawleigh, of Julian, have started a business building and selling The Garden Hive, an easy to manage honeybee hive, for both urban and country gardeners. Find out more about The Garden Hive here.

Update: One entrepreneur who aims to make the Triad greener is 17-year-old Ryan Tury, a rising senior at Northwest Guilford High School. With the help of his stepfather, Randy Orloff, Tury is installing rain barrels as a summer job. Ryan is in the photo standing by a rain barrel that his family installed several years ago. You can reach Ryan at 545-3155 or greenguy@ymail.com if you are interested.
 

Greensboro's Housing and Community Development Department is awaiting final approval from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on the use of $510,817 in federal stimulus funds. These funds would be used primarily for creating temporary jobs and rehabilitating buildings to reduce energy costs among the city's low-income.

City Council approved a list of eight projects on June 2. I summarize six of those projects below, and you can view the full application here.

• $23,000 would be spent on installing new thermal windows at the Beloved Community Center's homeless hospitality house. This project is expected to take two to three months and create five temporary jobs.
• $78,000 would be spent by Housing Greensboro to weatherize 12 houses owned by low-income residents over a 12 month period. This amount would be matched by $182,000 in separate funding.
• $136,165 would be spent to weatherize 108 rental units at JT Hairston Memorial Apartments. This project is estimated to take three months and employ six people.
• $50,000 will be added to a separate $113,000 to weatherize six rental units, taking six months and creating just over one full-time equivalent position.
• Enpulse would receive $104,371 to install programmable thermostats and CFL bulbs in 150 homes, creating five jobs.
• $38,100 would be spent creating a walking trail for a low income neighborhood; six part-time jobs would be created, with teenagers being taught landscaping and grounds maintenance.

Keep in mind that these funds are separate from the roughly $2.5 million Greensboro is expected to get in energy efficiency and conservation block grants from the Department of Energy. The city Community Sustainability Council will help determine how that money gets spent. The advisory group has so far approved one set of recommendations and plans to hold a public input meeting this summer before submitting a final strategic plan to DOE.

 So I won't be posting this week. 

Jobs in North Carolina’s clean energy economy grew more than twice as fast as overall jobs between 1998 and 2007, according to a green jobs report released today by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

The center performed a 2007 head count of clean energy companies and positions across the country; North Carolina's green jobs grew 15.3 percent to 16,997 in 2007, compared to 6.4 percent for all jobs. This number contrasts sharply with the 6,500 survey-based green jobs estimate performed by the N.C. Sustainable Energy Association last year.

Nationally, jobs in the clean energy economy grew at a rate of 9.1 percent while total jobs grew by only 3.7 percent, between 1998 and 2007.

The center defined green jobs as those supplying products and services generated by the clean energy economy, not the companies using these products and services to make themselves “greener." The jobs fell into the following catergories:  (1) Clean Energy; (2) Energy Efficiency; (3) Environmentally Friendly Production; (4) Conservation and Pollution Mitigation; and (5) Training and Support.

Update: Julie Robinson, communications director for the N.C. Sustainable Energy Association, added this note: 

"I wanted to provide more information to explain the difference between these two "green jobs" reports. NCSEA's 2008 Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Industry Census captured the number of green jobs related directly to the renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors only, which totaled just over 6,400 as of last summer. At first glance, it appears as though the report conducted by Pew Charitable Trusts looked at a much broader category of jobs (and sectors) in the "clean energy" industry, thus you can't compare NCSEA's findings to that of Pew."

Update: Additional green jobs reports were released last week.

The Board of Trustees for Alamance Community College approved on Monday an “Alternative Energy Technology” program that would begin this fall and train students in the concepts of environmental sustainability, renewable energy, and wind-solar-hydro power systems. This program still has to be approved by the State Board of Community Colleges. (Read some background on the state community college system's Code Green Initiative.)

According to a press release, the certificate program would require students to complete 12 to 18 credit hours and possibly include the following courses: 

• Photovoltaic Systems Technology: Understanding systems that convert solar energy into electricity;
• Wind & Hydro Power Systems: Understanding the technologies associated with converting wind and water into a viable energy source
• Thermal Systems: Understanding forced convection, heat flow and exchange, elements of thermal system design and maintenance.
• Intro to Sustainability: Maximizing renewable energy resources and reduction of environmental impacts.

Discussions are underway with several UNC campuses to identify courses that can transfer into existing university energy-related programs. Short-term certificate programs in these courses are also being developed.

Dr. Barry Weinberg, the college's executive vice president, also announced that ACC will install a field of solar panels that would produce energy and serve as hands-on learning for the green program.
 

I reported on William McDonough of "cradle to cradle" fame and his visit to Chapel Hill in April (scroll down on the Green Notes blog to the April 6 entry). You can now watch a video of his lecture at UNC Chapel Hill.

 I've been waiting for something like this to pop up. I just got an e-mail about a new initiative to create an alternative currency for Greensboro. A meeting will take place June 15 at the Greensboro HIVE for those interested. Local author and activist Signe Waller Foxworth is working on this and an event listing is on the HIVE's Web site.  

From the e-mail sent this week to residents and businesses: 

"During the past few years we have been able to see the economy drifting downward, and Greensboro has not been able to avoid the ramifications of the economic shift. Many people are struggling from pay check to pay check to survive; many other people are past that point. It is at such a critical point for Greensboro that as a community we try and come together to find a means to strengthen ourselves, and help support everyone.
A group of people have been working together on an initiative we think can help Greensboro called the Greensboro Currency Project. We are proposing to create a supplementary currency for Greensboro, which would help keep the transfer of money entirely local.

By having a local currency in Greensboro we foresee the following:
· Strengthen the local economy by supporting local businesses, and keeping the supplementary currency within Greensboro
· Strengthen community relations in general
· Provide opportunities for people who are economically disadvantaged
· Give people the opportunity to be intentional with their money and where it goes
· Help people, and the community, to become more economically self-reliant
· Work towards increasing the overall quality of life for the people of Greensboro

It is with all of these reasons, and more, that we feel that establishing a local supplementary currency in Greensboro would truly benefit everyone involved. There have been countless other communities that have adopted a supplementary currency such as Ithaca, NY, Great Barrington, MA, and Pittsboro, NC. With these cities and towns as models of running the process we would like to establish a local form of currency in Greensboro.
We want the Greensboro Currency Project to be based in this community, so we will combine the Greensboro feedback with other successful models. We invite community members who are interested, to come to a discussion on June 15th at 7 pm at The Hive, located at 1214 Grove Street. If you are interested but can’t attend the meeting, please contact the Greensboro Currency Project at greensborocurrencyproject@gmail.com. We are excited about this project which will benefit the Greensboro Community in many ways."