SWS, WS Nursery Host GreenLife Expo, Demos, Presentations

Join Sustainable West Seattle and the West Seattle Nursery this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for the GreenLife Sustainability Expo, a major part of this year’s West Seattle Summer Fest.

We’ll have booths for sustainable local firms and local community groups committed to sustainability and for all three days of the festival, we will be hosting demonstrations and presentations on a wide-ranging set of topics including backyard chickens, solar electricity here in Seattle and helping to clean up stormwater runoff.

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Morgan Junction Festival Saturday, Music, Food & SWS

The  6th Annual Morgan Junction will take place at Morgan Junction Park and vicinity this Saturday, June 25, from 10:00 am through 7:00 pm.  Music will take place on a stage set up in the Beveridge Place parking lot and near the crawling rock in the adjacent park.

Kids activities include Bubble Man at 11:15 am, chalk drawing on the art sidewalk in front of the park all day long, face painting, and gymnastic activities supervised by Little Gym.

Booths will be set up behind Zeeks/Feedback Lounge and across the street at the Washington Federal parking lot. Among those showing at the festival are:

  • Sustainable West Seattle
  • Solar Epiphany
  • West Seattle Natural Energy
  • Solstice Park P-Patch
  • Food Bank of West Seattle
  • Animals First Foundation
  • West Seattle Be Prepared and the Block Watch Captains Network
  • South Seattle Community College
  • many, many more local vendors and service providers

Music will begin at 10:30 am and run continuously through the day, there are two music areas – the main stage in the Beveridge Place parking lot, and the Park stage in Morgan Junction Park.  Featured musicians are:

  • 10:30 – Minor Dissonance with Wordsmith Jesse – classical pop
  • 12:00 – Soda – acoustic jazz and rock
  • 12:45 – Alan Ehrlich – folk and Americana
  • 1:15  – Bahia – folk and indie rock
  • 2:00 – Moon Girl – acoustic folk and rock
  • 2:30 – Norma Beach – rock and bluesy rock
  • 3:15 – Blue Grasshoppers – folk and bluegrass
  • 3:45 – Gary Reynolds and the Brides of Obscurity – alternative and alt rock
  • 4:30 – The Tongan Choir – Tongan music
  • 5:00 – Burley Mountain – alternative and classic country
  • 5:45 – Hal Merrill – steel pedal guitar
  • 6:15 – The Offenders – 60’s through 90’s rock cover songs

Also featured is the Bite of Morgan, a taste of the food available in the Morgan Junction area.  You will need to pick up a book of tickets at the Festival Booth (in the park).

Participating restaurants:

  • Meanders
  • Kokoras Greek Grill
  • Feedback Lounge
  • Zeeks
  • Abbondanza Pizzeria
  • Domino’s Pizza
  • Pet Elements (food for your dog or cat)
  • Caffe Ladro
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Tools To Help Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle for Earth Day, Everyday

In honor of Earth Day 2011, here’s some useful tools to help you assess your carbon footprint, determine if there are ways you can cut down on energy use, help you find ways to contain storm-water runoff, and other useful items from a wide variety of organizations including King County and Seattle public utilities.

How big is your footprint and what can you do to make a difference?

You can also help reduce your use of paper and therefore save in the conversion of trees into pulp and the attendant issues associated with that process.  Here’s some ways you can reduce your use of paper.

You have a choice when it comes to how much junk mail, credit card offers, catalogs and phone books arrive at your home and workplace.

Help your recycling reduce bulk by opting-out of phone books and taking your name off catalog and junk mail distribution lists.  Here’s links to ways to do this:

Reduce, Reuse what you can, and then Recycle.  It’s pretty easy. Do you have a question about recycling, composting or reducing waste? Ask Charlie, CleenScapes online inquiry and question form.

Seattle ecycling stations are open from 8:00 am to 5:30 pm seven days a week except major holidays.

  • North Station: 1350 North 34th Street (located in the Fremont/Wallingford area at North 34th Street, near Carr Place North)
  • South Station: 8105 5th Avenue South (located south of the First Avenue South Bridge)

You can even see the waiting lines on-line at this link: http://www.seattle.gov/util/Services/Garbage/Recycling_&_Disposal_Stations/index.asp

For other recycling options in the Puget Sound area, visit the Take It Back Network.

Solar Washington Forum Focuses on Solar Hot Water

The Solar Washington November forum has been rescheduled because of snow.  The rescheduled date is Wednesday, December 1, 7:00 pm at REI.

Solar Washington, the Washington Chapter of the American Solar Energy Society, is featuring Solar Hot Water Systems for its November Membership Forum, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm, this Monday, November 22 coming Wednesday, December 1, at the Seattle REI, 222 Yale Ave N.

At the November meeting Solar Washington will be reviewing the upcoming Legislative Session, and taking nominations for the Board elections at the annual meeting in January.

Last month the Solar Washington panel presented the facts of solar rlectricity in the Northwest. Now back by popular demand is the Solar Washington integrator panel v2.0 to tackle Solar Hot Water in Washington State. Join the experts from Puget Sound Solar, NW Mechanical, and A&R Solar as they walk us through the technology.

This panel presentation and discussion will cover the history of solar hot water, how it works, and how effective it is for radiant and space heating versus solar electric. Attendees will leave with a basic understanding of the different solar hot water technologies, as well as how to calculate the energy a solar hot water system can produce and the system payback period.

For more information on Solar Washington and it’s programs,  email Solar Washington.  To learn more about membership visit the membership page on the ASES website. Please direct any membership questions to our Membership Director Brian Allen via email or at 206-973-7374.

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