Ky. American Water, Greensource among winners of state environmental awards

The Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection honored the six recipients of its 2013 Environmental Excellence Awards during an awards luncheon at the Governor’s Conference on Energy and the Environment at the Lexington Convention Center in Lexington. Three are from Lexington, two from Louisville and one from Bowling Green.

The recipients are:

 

KY EXCEL Champion Award: Kentucky American Water – Lexington
Kentucky American Water was the first utility to join KY EXCEL as a master member and has been involved in numerous environmental projects, such as environmental education, Trout in the Classroom, Reforest the Bluegrass, rain gardens, stream bank restorations, Adopt-a-Highway, recycling, stormwater mitigation and more.

 

Community Environmental Luminary Award: Bluegrass Greensource – Lexington
The organization provides environmental outreach to 18 counties, and organized 3,000 environmental presentations with approximately 80,000 student interactions. Outreach educators mentored more than 2,500 school administrators and teachers, taking them to coal mines and solar farms to help them teach about energy. They have demonstrated testing water quality of streams; conducted waste analyses, saving a school system $50,000 in waste hauling costs; and assisted in removing 150,000 bags of trash from roads and streams.

 

Resource Caretaker Award: University of Louisville – Louisville
The university created a strategic plan to focus on creative and responsible stewardship. This commitment led to reclaiming more than 200 acres in grayfield/brownfield areas around the Belknap Campus, resulting in being awarded the national Phoenix Award for brownfield reclamation. The university reduced energy consumption by $4.6 million annually, constructed or renovated six major capital projects at the LEED Gold or Silver levels and partnered with local food vendors and producers to utilize local food sources.

 

Environmental Pacesetter Award for an Individual/Organization: Chris Tyler – Lexington
As a member of the Kentucky Chapter of the United States Green Building Council, Chris Tyler has served as the Advocacy Chair, Green Schools Chair and board chair. His leadership in these roles demonstrated his effectiveness, commitment to and passion for the organization’s mission. During Chris’s chairmanship and leadership, the chapter was successful in establishing the first bipartisan Green Schools Caucus in Kentucky, providing the opportunity to educate legislators, school boards, PTA groups and others about the importance of green schools for children.

 

Environmental Pacesetter Award for a Small Business: Pull-A-Part – Louisville
Pull-A-Part has transformed what was once perceived as the junkyard into a sustainable recycling business. The company has made exceptional commitments to resource conservation, waste reduction and pollution prevention, working to set the standard of excellence in handling and recycling of end-of-life vehicles. To protect the environment, Pull-A-Part utilizes proper materials’ management, minimizing solid waste by removing and recycling all fluids and other potential contaminants, maximizing reuse of all possible parts and materials and maximizing recycling of the rest of the vehicle to decrease the residue disposed of by the automobile shredder.

 

Environmental Pacesetter Award for a Medium to Large Business: SCA Americas – Bowling Green
SCA Americas-Bowling Green has awarded environmental education grants to schools and implemented a zero landfill program, which diverted more than 7 million pounds of waste materials from local landfills in 2012. SCA team members participated in several community events, such as county parks trash pick-up days, tree plantings and partnering with Western Kentucky University on providing more than 1,000 sustainable tailgating kits at a football game.

 

From Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection

This article appeared in KY Forward on September 19, 2013.

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Bluegrass Greensource Ambassador Program

Volunteer Photo

Bluegrass Greensource Ambassador Program

Do you have skills that aren’t being utilized?  Do you enjoy meeting new people?  Are you itching to share a craft?   Volunteering is an excellent way to utilize your skills, crafty or otherwise, while meeting new people!

Why Volunteer?

There are many benefits to volunteering with Bluegrass Greensource:

  • Build your skills and your resume
  • Develop a career network
  • Enhance your education
  • Learn job skills
  • Be a part of your community
  • Create positive change in your community
  • Learn about Lexington

A Bluegrass Greensource Ambassador represents our outreach and education programs. Some possible volunteer opportunities may include community fairs and festivals, neighborhood events, farmers markets, watershed festivals, etc.  Other volunteer opportunities may include serving on our zero-waste team or helping to plan and participate in litter cleanups.

Nonprofit organizations can be the driving force behind social change. Everything from local, grassroots activism to international politics requires the efforts of nonprofit organizations. And nonprofits can’t function without the energy and input of volunteers like you.  Create a positive change in our community, volunteer with Bluegrass Greensource today!

For more information contact: Pattie Stivender – pattie@bgGreensource.org

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Upcoming workshops will teach homeowners about benefits of rain gardens

Bluegrass Greensource will host rain garden workshops this fall in Jessamine, Scott and Bourbon counties. Each workshop is free and open to the public, thanks to the generous support of a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under §319(h) of the Clean Water Act. Dates of the workshops are:

Sept. 28 Springhouse Gardens, Nicholasville

Oct. 12 Scott County Extension Office, Georgetown

Oct. 19 2013 Bourbon County Library, Paris

“Bluegrass Greensource is so excited to host these rain garden workshops in Central Kentucky,” said Kara Sayles, rain garden project coordinator, “and we are also offering a limited number of $250 grants to eligible residents for constructing their own rain garden.”
 

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Richard Webber, owner of Spring House Gardens, plants his own rain garden.

Only residents in Jessamine, Scott and Bourbon counties are eligible to apply for these grants.

A rain garden is a garden with a shallow depression which is strategically located on a property to capture stormwater runoff from impervious surfaces, such as rooftops, patios and driveways, before it enters the storm water system. The soil and plant roots use natural processes to improve water quality by filtering pollutants, the overall amount of stormwater runoff is reduced, and the groundwater supply is recharged.

The workshops are designed to educate homeowners about the benefits of installing a rain garden and improving water quality, and the best management practices for stormwater. Participants will learn how to determine the right location, how to build and maintain a rain garden, and what types of plants are most successful and environmentally beneficial. Additionally, the participants will have the opportunity to take part in planting native plants in a rain garden near the workshop.

“We are proud to educate Kentucky homeowners on the numerous benefits of rain gardens and to demonstrate that they’re a tool that virtually anyone can use to manage their property’s runoff,” Sayles said. Space is limited for workshops, so interested participants must register at Greensource’s website.

Plans are in the works to offer additional rain garden workshops next fall in Woodford, Clark and Madison Counties.

This work was funded in part by a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under §319(h) of the Clean Water Act. Bluegrass Greensource (formerly Bluegrasss PRIDE) is an environmental non-profit organization that offers resources and educational information to foster positive environmental change in their communities. Founded in 2001, Greensource provides outreach to schools, community groups, businesses, local government and the citizens in Central Kentucky.

This article appeared in KY Forward on September 12, 2013.

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The Three R’s come in handy when decluttering your home, life

In the past 10 years I have lived in three apartments and two houses. With each move more unused items were packed away and place in a storage building until that elusive “someday when I have time” comes along. To further add to this mountain of boxes, I retired from the public school system in the spring of 2004 and resigned from the Kentucky Career and Technical College System in 2007.

When I made my last move in January of last year, I was determined to downsize and properly discard all the unneeded and unwanted things that I had accumulated during my lifetime. The first time I opened my garage door and was faced with the enormity of the task, I was truly afraid my new neighbors would feel they had a hoarder in their midst. Where do I start?

As an avid recycler, I was determined to apply the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle mantra that I have taught for years. So I tackled my task one box at a time, sorting things into the following categories: things that had sentimental value, things I would use, things that could be used by someone else, things that could be recycled, things that could be repaired, and trash.

The easiest category was things I would use. My rule was if it had not been used or missed in more than two years I probably would not use it in the future. Any item that fit into this category was recategorized as reusable or recyclable.

The things with sentimental value belonged mostly to my two sons who are now adults. The first time one said, “Just throw it away.” I was devastated. Needless to say those items were neatly packed away and placed in a closet.

One of the best things about downsizing is getting rid of things that may have become clutter to you, but are much needed by someone else. Unwanted furniture was given to family members to help make new beginnings. Unused latex-based paint was given to the Habitat ReStore, and unwanted clothing and household items were donated to Goodwill.

Being a teacher for over 30 years, I had amassed a lifetime’s collection of paper. Cleaning out filing cabinets I was able to take a 6-foot-high stack of paper printed on one side to my office. We will be using it in our printers and copy machines for many months. Even the storage boxes and bubble wrap were given to friends and family to use for their own moves.

Surprisingly the smallest categories were trash and recyclables. After reusing old boxes, donating appliances, and repurposing collections of tools, the majority of trash consisted on items damaged beyond repair – old clothes that had been attacked by hungry bugs over years of storage, items suffering from water damage, etc.

The recycling was mainly broken glass (thanks to multiple moves), lots of shredded paper and a mountain of Diet Pepsi cans.

Opening that same garage door today everything has a place and purpose. I even have room left for my car and my treadmill – one item in desperate need of reuse. Having completed my task, I no longer think of the process as just moving or downsizing. It turned out to be a fun trip down memory lane.

Maxine-RudderMaxine Rudder currently serves as the deputy director for Bluegrass Greensource. She graduated from Eastern Kentucky University with a master’s in education and a Rank I in supervision and secondary principalship. She spent 28 years in public education as both a teacher and administrator. Rudder is involved with the Kentucky Green and Healthy Schools Program, Kentucky Environmental Literacy Plan Alliance, Fayette County Public School Sustainability Council, Kentucky River Water Trail Alliance, USGBC Green Schools Advocacy Team and Kentucky Association for Environmental Education.

This article appeared in KY Forward on September 3, 2013.

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