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The wake-up calls differ for everyone. Perhaps it was last year's drought or the various contaminated food and toy scares. Or this summer's record-setting gas prices. Or the warnings by scientists that the planet's arctic glaciers are melting faster than predicted.

If you're like me, these concerns lead to at least two questions: "What can I do to protect my family and community against these threats?" And "What does that action look like?"

GoGreenTriad.com, a new News & Record Web site, and this weekly column seek to share with local people -- the "aspirationally green" and veteran environmental activists alike -- what they can do to better conserve energy and natural resources and reduce our exposure to environmental toxins.

The site and column also will describe actions businesses, grass-roots groups and government agencies are taking to transform the Triad into a leader in energy self-sufficiency, food security and environmental stewardship.

GoGreenTriad.com -- set to launch this week -- will ultimately feature local news, how-to guides, videos, a community discussion forum, calendar of events, buying guide and directory of environmental organizations.

Until then, you can check out my Green Notes blog, formerly called Greening Guilford, on news-record.com before it moves to the new Web site.

We hope these platforms will foster a comprehensive and lively discussion about how to establish and reach the goals now prominent in our national dialogue. We consider this Web site a community collaboration and encourage people to submit columns detailing their personal journeys toward a sustainable lifestyle or perspectives on energy and environmental policies.

Contact me if you are interested.

New buzzword: 'Green'

The Good Green Fun Fair at Aycock Middle School in September featured recycled art, nontoxic cleaning products and a children's play about cleaning up the world.

The Piedmont Green Gala at T.S. Designs in Burlington earlier this month showed people who attended how companies could incorporate solar and wind-generated electricity, organic gardening and graywater systems into their businesses practices.

And this week, state fairgoers will learn at a new Green N.C. exhibit about alternative fuels, water conservation and recycling.

Green, a simple word used to evoke images of plant foliage and verdant landscapes, is now a catch-all term for almost everything proposed as environmentally friendly. It's often a synonym for energy-efficient, ecologically friendly and sustainable.

These words can seem vague and intimidating, but the practices often are not: hanging clothes on a line, eating an organic tomato grown in your backyard or driving a vehicle fueled by cleaner-burning biodiesel.

Upcoming events

The Piedmont Environmental Alliance will host a free sustainable eating program at its meeting from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Thursday. The event will feature speaker Jennifer Curtis, a consultant promoting local food, and samples of local food.

The event will take place at Family Services, 1200 S. Broad St. in Winston-Salem. Visit www.peanc.org for more information.

Also on Thursday, UNCG will show "Thirst" at 6:30 p.m. at the Weatherspoon Art Museum as part of its Sustainability Film Series.

The documentary tells the stories of communities in Bolivia, India and the United States that are exploring the concept of water as shared commons versus traded commodity. Visit http://sustain.uncg.edu/ for more information.

There's still time to register for the 2008 Sustainable North Carolina Awards & Sustainable Solutions Expo at the Raleigh Convention Center Nov. 10-11.

The event will feature a trade show, sustainable business forum, dinner banquet and speaker Peter Senge, who urges corporations to assume leadership roles in defining sustainable business models.

For more information, visit www.sustainnc.org.

Morgan Glover is content manager for GoGreenTriad. com, scheduled to launch this week. You can reach her at 373-7078 or morgan.josey@ news-record.com.