The PEA Pod, August 2011

From the Board of Directors

Everyone is talking about the heat – it’s just unbearable. I find myself really looking forward to fall, to cool autumn mornings and crisp fresh-picked apples, to leaves turning and the sound of marching bands practicing in the distance. It’s my favorite time of year.  Many people find that spring is their favorite season – a time of growth and renewal.  For me, that time is fall.  It’s the time when my working life slows. As the days grow shorter, I give myself permission to go inside and spend some time reflecting, nesting, and planning for the seasons ahead.

The PEA Annual Meeting is held each fall. The Annual Meeting is a time when the membership of PEA comes together to celebrate our successes from the past year and to prepare for what lies ahead. This year, we will look back on what has been the most transformative year in the history of PEA.  We welcomed, and then said goodbye to, our first Executive Director. We moved the Earth Day Fair to our largest venue yet, the Dixie Classic Fairgrounds. We hired a consultant to guide our board in a reorganization and re-evaluation of the organization’s mission and goals. I am very much looking forward to sharing with our community the results of that hard work.

During the coming months, PEA will be building community and inspiring action, motivating people to make real and committed changes in how they live. The cumulative effect will be a community of engaged and passionate people, sharing with one another their enthusiasm for making the place where we all live cleaner, healthier, and, most importantly, sustainable. 

Terri LeGrand, Chair, Board of Directors

Save the Date - Our Annual Meeting: November 10, 2011

Please mark your calendar and plan to join us for an exciting Annual Meeting and silent auction on Thursday, November 10 at 6:30 pm at Temple Emanuel  in Winston-Salem.  Details coming soon. 

Piedmont Environmental Alliance is Seeking Nominations for a Two Year Term Beginning November, 2011.

If you want to be a part of PEA's mission to inspire people to make choices that protect and restore the environment, please submit your name, contact information (including organization/company and title) and reason(s) why you want to be a leader with PEA to Gail Williams, PEA Nominations Committee Chair, at therapeutiks@triad.rr.com. Self-nominations are encouraged.  Deadline for nominations is August 31st. Someone from the Nominations Committee will contact those interested with details upon receipt of nominee submission.

Get Involved!  Volunteer Opportunities

Piedmont Environmental Alliance is looking for individuals who care for the environment and want to make a difference in their community.  We are seeking volunteers to serve on various committees, led by PEA Board members, to further environmental sustainability in the Triad.  The committees include Finance, Programming, Marketing & Communication, and Strategic Planning.  PEA is also seeking volunteers to be on the Piedmont Earth Day Fair Planning Committee. Please contact Amy Oves at aoves@peaNC.org if you are interested in volunteering or have any questions.  

Join the Planning for the Big Moving Planet Event - Meeting - Thursday, August 4, at 7:00pm,Temple Emanuel

This September 24th, people and organizations all around the world are joining together for Moving Planet--a worldwide rally to celebrate clean air improvements already made, and to promote more solutions to the climate crisis. Come on bike, on skates, on a board, or just on foot. Bring your kids, organization, church, corporate, civic or other group banner to highlight your organization's commitment to clean air.  It's going to be huge!  Individuals and organizations of all kinds are invited to join in the planning for our local 350.org event.  The next meeting will be held at Temple Emanuel at 201 Oakwood Drive, Winston-Salem on Thursday, August 4 at 7 pm in the library of the Education Building. Contact Gayle Tuch at ggtuch@yahoo.com or 336-766-2767 for more information.
 
For more information on the movement, visit http://www.350.org/.  The PEA website at peaNC.org will publish more details as they become available.

 

Why get a home energy audit?
By Adrienne Bashista

When Piedmont Environmental Alliance asked me to write an article explaining why its members should get a home energy audit I had a simple answer ready: the reason to get a home energy audit is because the single most impactful thing that an American homeowner can do to cut down on energy consumption is to weatherize his or her home.

That’s right. Insulation, weatherstripping, and caulking the heck out of any leaks in your home impacts your carbon footprint more than anything else you can do in your life (as per the Encyclopedia of the Earth - http://www.eoearth.org/). More than eating organic and local, more than switching conventional light bulbs to CFLs or LEDs (a great idea, by the way, which will more than pay for itself over time), and more than buying a hybrid vehicle. That’s right. I  said it: weatherizing your home is a bigger deal and has greater impact than driving a Prius, and at less than a tenth of the price.

  • Fact: the biggest contributor to the average American’s carbon footprint (the amount of greenhouse gases an individual will use over his/her lifetime) is heating or cooling that person’s home.
  • Next fact: By cutting the amount of energy it takes to heat a person’s home, one can snip a significant portion of one’s carbon footprint.
  • Final fact: the most cost-effective way to cut down on the heating and cooling of a home is to weatherize that home so it’s as tight as it can be. The best way to form a plan of action for weatherizing? A home energy audit.
  • Alternative energy sources are wonderful, but they’re expensive and the return on the investment pays out over many, many years. The return on the investment for an energy audit and weatherization? 2-3 years, on average.
Read more

Call for Used Environmental Sustainability Books, Brochure Racks, etc.

The Winston-Salem Sustainability Resource Center is a new nonprofit organization working in collaboration with the City and the local higher academic institutions. Its mission is to promote sustainability in the community through research, education, and community service. The Resource Center will provide information about technologies and practices to make homes and businesses more sustainable.

The Sierra Club has offered to help establish a library of books, pamphlets, documents and other media in the Resource Center. How-to books, environmental history or future directions books, and technical documents on greening of buildings, neighborhoods, and cities. In addition, they are looking for a few literature racks similar to those found in libraries and roadside rest stops. These will be available to local environmental groups for their information and meeting notices.

Send your donations to Shawn Handy, Resource Center Vice President, Bryce A. Stuart Municipal Building, Suite 560, 100 East First Street, Winston-Salem, NC, 27101. If the center cannot use your material, it will be donated to the County Library or other nonprofit organizations for their needs. The Resource Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization so these are tax deductible donations. Include your contact information if you would like a receipt.

 

Business Spotlight-Trillium Creative-Remembering the Heart

Regardless of how long a business has been operating, what is often more interesting is how the business got started and why. There is always a story to tell and often people forget to tell their stories when creating their branding and marketing messaging. Trillium Creative, Inc. has been “expressing the heart” of what people do since 1993. Like the beautiful wildflower that has three petals, three sepals and three leaves, Trillium Creative, Inc. has over three decades of word crafting experience to share.

What many people do not know is that this business was born out of a need to survive after the proprietor, Terry Rader, was laid off during the Gulf War as people were cutting their advertising budgets.  Terry often went to nature for answers and one weekend while conceptualizing a name for her business that was calling to be started, she came across the lovely wildflower, Trillium. There are more than four hundred species of Trillium and they are one of the first wildflowers to bloom each spring. They do best to live in the wild and if they are not picked, they will last forever on their own (they reseed themselves). Red Trillium (Trillium erectum) is also known as “Birthroot”, so appropriate for a new beginning, and Trillium Creative, Inc. was created.   

Trillium Creative, Inc. thrives on reconnecting people to the reason they are doing what they do for a living. Sometimes they have to recreate themselves in order to grow. Either way, the marketing messaging becomes an easy task once the business owner is in touch with remembering the heart of what they do for a living. Trillium Creative, Inc. specializes in the up-front, big-picture business to business thinking with an assessment of your needs (immediate and long-term), a custom Creative Rationale roadmap, development of your mission statements (public and private), strategic branding concepts, web content copy, copywriting for e-newsletters, press releases, ads, brochures, etc. Learn more at http://www.terryrader.com. Trillium Creative offers 10% off of first creative consultation, Creative Rationale development or copywriting project (up to a maximum of $100 discounted) for PEA members.

Welcome our New Business Member

Piedmont eCycling   If it plugs in or has a battery, Piedmont eCycling can take care of your electronic waste properly while you profit in the process.