Buy Local

This week in Charleston was Buy Local, Be Local week, November 30th- December 6th. Some of the events included "Eat Local Night", "Holiday Stroll", and "Buy Local, Be Local Bash". The campaign is a grassroots campaign designed to educate residents the think more local when they make purchases. There are a lot of opportunities around Charleston to buy local and support the local businesses that keep the community unique. The campaign wants to increase market share to independent, locally owned businesses by increasing awareness about the benefits of choosing local. The campaign has made it easier to identify the local businesses with the Lowcountry Local First logo window decal.

Lowcountry Local First "is committed to building a network of small businesses that allows all business owners to participate on the same level. Retail, manufacturing and agricultural businesses will unite with the same mission - to promote and preserve their local economy through the promotion of their goods and services."

The Green Roof Wave has hit Charleston!

GRO (Green Roof Outfitters) is based in the Charleston area and services any and all who are interested in green roofing. There are many locations throughout the U.S. but it is nice to know that we have one right here in Charleston as well! Through this company even a Wal Mart in America now has a green roof! GRO provides the following services to its customers: consultation on scope of green roof project, provide cost estimation, propagation of vegetated modules, delivery to site (if needed), installation (if needed), 1 year warranty & maintenance included, and an ongoing maintenance plan (if needed). The GRO Modular green roof system can assist a building in achieving over 50% of the points needed to attain LEED Certification! The LEED Credits associated with GRO include sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy &atmosphere, materials & resources, and innovation & design process. They are even helping to organize an environmentally friendly 5K race in Mt. Pleasant! The race is called Catch the Leprechaun 5K and it takes place at 6:30pm on Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at the Memorial Waterfront Park. There will be Irish music, a great post race party, a pot of gold for the winners and there will even be a Leprechaun, and if you finish before the Leprechaun you win a prize! Be sure to check out GRO and the race details at www.greenroofoutfitters.com.

"Buy American"

After watching the “Story of Stuff” video and reading the Cradle to Cradle book, I was interested in learning more about how buying “stuff” impacts our environment and our economy. I found a very interesting article about the stimulus bill and new clean technology. With the downturn in our economy the government passed a stimulus bill to encourage people to buy more, which would boost our economy. What many people do not know is that in that stimulus bill was a “Buy American” regulation. This regulation states that everything must be bought in America using the stimulus money. While buying locally does help the environment and economy, the “Buy American” regulation has some very bad consequences for the implementation and progression of “energy-saving building technology.” Not only are companies not able to produce energy-efficient technologies (due to the fact that most circuits and parts are built overseas), but also it is possible for trade partners to retaliate and “90% of the world's consumers live outside of the United States, which remains one of the world's three largest exporter.” While the environmental benefits of a “Buy American” regulation are obvious, the fact that it takes away from advances in clean technologies and causes economic problems shows that the “Buy American” plan is not working. Instead of a large corporate “Buy American” regulation, the government should take this opportunity to help local governments provide information about buying locally in their communities, which would be more beneficial.

For more information visit the web site: http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2009/11/11/buy-american-bad-america

Eco-Unit Army

Right here is Charleston is the Eco-Unit Army, a home improvement green business. They go around advertising their service of refurnishing homes to virtually cut down utility costs up to 40%. That should be enough to capture someone right there, but what they do is even more fascinating. They do projects such as window coating, green fiber insulation and rain water collection systems on new and old houses. The workers are highly skilled in working on old houses to keep the antique culture of Charleston while making them energy star "green" certified.

They also know how to market themselves well which I feel like is a huge issue in the green industry. They know that stating that their service will give your house a competitive advantage will draw people in. Last year at the green fair my sorority participated in marketing their service to the public, we had over 200 people sign up for more information and so far they have improved homes in the entire Charleston area including Isle of Palms. Marketing their product to the right target market in the most appealing way makes a huge difference and the fact that they have an advantage with knowledge of the historic houses sets them apart from the rest.

http://www.eco-unit.org/index.htm

Buying Local

I've been a strong supporter of buying local for a long time. It's not only the right thing to do generally (help your neighbors) and economically (keeps money flowing through the local economy, which will eventually come back to you in some way) but also environmentally. Whenever we buy something it has to be transported from its source. For many products that means traveling over oceans. All that travel of course burns fuel. The Buy Local movement has been picking up here in Charleston and ended up in the paper yesterday. If you are a local business, be sure to join Lowcountry Local First. They are a great organization (we do have a lot of those around here). The major project they have going on now is the 10% shift, which is discussed in the article and on their website.

Better Know a Lowcountry Green Business - Southeast BioDiesel

Southeast BioDiesel, sebd.biz, is a relatively new company to the area, launching in 2006 by Jim Thompson and Dean Schmelter. They are up in the Noisette area in North Charleston. You won't find their product widely available however, local retailers haven't bought into the idea...yet. There is one gas station in North Charleston, but I don't recall which one. Local shrimpers have been using their product and I understand that they really like how clean it burns compared to the noxious exhaust from petro-diesel.

Besides being a "clean tech" industry, what makes them green? Unlike many other biodiesel producers that use soybeans, SEBD uses rendered poultry fat - a waste product. On top of that their plant was built with plenty of environmental benefits - for example: a lot of reused/repurposed materials including the buidling itself and wise use/reuse of water and rain leading to having no sewege. In fact, the plant is really cool to check out. They seem to like giving tours (I've taken the tour twice), so get in touch with them if you want to see it. I should mention that I know so much about SEBD because Jim and Dean have been kind enough to speak to and work with my students on several occasions - they are true friends of the College.

New Feature - Real Charleston Green Businesses

Over the past year I've come to know many green businesses in the area, and new ones keep popping up on my radar daily. In the past I've mentioned them here and there in posts, but now in the tradition of Stephen Colbert's "Better Know a District/Lobbyist" I will begin a new feature in which I will devote a weekly post entirely to one company. I'll begin with the companies that I know best or are "hot" right now for one reason or another. If you have a company and you would like me to feature it just let me know about it.

Alternative "How to Get Here" Directions

Most businesses have a page on their website with basic directions on how to get to their location. This is obviously beneficial for any business that wants to ensure customers can find their business easily. Of course people can just use Google maps or Mapquest or the like to find the location, but often times they are not detailed enough. So the extra bit of local knowledge on the businesses' website can help ensure customers don't get lost, give up, get frustrated and/or go somewhere else.

Of course one problem with these maps is that they are geared towards driving. So what is a customer or an employee that wants to walk, bike or take the bus supposed to do? An article I read this morning talked about some map websites working to add these options. The difficulty is that it takes local knowledge to develop them - road maps don't usually detail sidewalks, bike trails, bus routes, etc. This means that it's going to take time to develop. With Charleston being a smaller city it will likely be low on the list of cities to be bike/bus mapped. So it would be worthwhile for local businesses to provide this information on their websites. Even if they don't know the best bike or walking routes themselves, there are plenty of resources to help figure it out. CARTA provides good details on their website for figuring out bus routes. Figuring out walking routes might involve taking a walk and/or being observant of the sidewalks, paths and trails nearby. And there are cycling clubs that would probably help with figuring out bike routes. And of course if there are customers or employees already walking, biking or taking the bus it is rather simple to just ask them how they get there.

526 Extension Alternative

We were at the Charleston Green Drinks event last week where we saw a presentation by the Coastal Conservation League on an alternative to the 526 extension. I thought what they presented was a great example of the need to provide an alternative to the undesirable action. They clearly understood that 526 was intended to solve a problem, but that it was an inefficient solution - not just undesirable environmentally. If we're going to convince businesses and governments not to do thing that destroy the environment we have to have better alternatives for them to consider.

Do check out the website and see the designs they have. They are very aesthetically pleasing. But more importantly and more relevant to this blog, is that I think the redesign, particularly the one for Savannah Highway, would be good for business. The redesign would create back roads off of Savannah Highway to allow local residents to get to and from local businesses without ever having to enter Savannah Highway. That should improve traffic flow to these business and thus would hopefully improve patronage of them.