Green & Environmental - Articles, Content and Blogs
Annual Wildflower Walk - May 7
Spring wildflowers don't last long! Come explore the abundant wildflowers of these amazing mountians with some of the best botanists around. FREE event. Read more...
Fun in the Mountains this Spring & Summer
Laughing Waters Retreat Center, one of the area's newest sustainable and holistic retreat centers, has a full calendar of affordable and interesting offerings that will entice people into the beauty of the mountains this season. Read more...
Asheville Middle School Eighth Graders Put on FLOW 5K to Benefit RiverLink
On March 6th at Carrier Park, the Asheville Middle School eighth-graders will be putting on their second AMS FLOW (For the Love of Water) 5K race to benefit RiverLink. FLOW is an integrated unit of study designed for the eighth grade students focusing on the importance of water. The essential questions posed to students include, what is the water cycle and how does it work, how are people and water connected, and who owns water? Read more...
Chamber Announces 'We're For Business' Awards Recipients
On Tuesday, February 23, over 300 members of the Asheville business community gathered with the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce to recognize eight local businesses at the fourth annual We're For Business Awards presented by SunTrust bank at the Crowne Plaza Tennis and Golf Resort. Read more...
Asheville Middle School Students Brave the Cold to Learn About Stream Monitoring
Asheville Middle School's RiverCorps teamed up with RiverLink to do some stream-quality monitoring this week. AMS teacher, Jessica Carson, brought her students out to Carrier Park on Thursday afternoon to collect macro-invertebrates with the RiverLink education team. Stream-bottom macro-invertebrates (small animals that live in water at least part of their lives) are good indicators of a stream's quality because of their tolerance, or lack thereof, to pollution. Read more...
Enjoy Some Wine, Have a Good Time, Benefit RiverLink
WineStyles is a fantastic wine store in Gerber Village whose mission is to bring world class wines to wine lovers at affordable prices. Wine experts work diligently to carefully select unique labels (many exclusive to WineStyles) and they specialize in hard-to-find wines from large and small vineyards. Read more...
Volunteers Help RiverLink With Stream Restoration
On a stream that had no name and flowed right through a public park in West Asheville, RiverLink has raised both awareness and funds to name the creek officially through USGS mapping Services. RiverLink has also worked to restore its vitality using grant funds to hire technical expertise and recruit volunteers. Read more...
RiverLink Events
Upcoming RiverLink Events. Read more...
Asheville's Climate Services Community Will Be on Display at National Conference in Atlanta
Asheville's growing climate services community will be on display in Atlanta on January 18-21 when the Economic Development Coalition for Asheville-Buncombe County (EDC) partners with the Centers for Environmental and Climatic Interaction (CECI) to host an exhibit. Read more...
Spicer Easement Permanently Conserves Fairview Land
The Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy (CMLC), a non-profit local land trust, has partnered with Mrs. Alma Spicer of Brevard and her family to permanently conserve 161 acres of their 238-acre property on Garren Creek Road in Fairview. The Buncombe County Commissioners and their Land Conservation Advisory Board (BCLCAB) provided the grant that made the conservation easement project possible. Read more...
The Nauhaus Group - Asheville Update Episode 5
This week I visit the Nauhaus with Zane Adams, the Director of Marketing for the Nauhaus Group. The Nauhaus Group is striving to build green homes that achieve a carbon neutral or carbon negative effect on the environment. Read more...
Make green your way, during the holidays with RiverLink!
RiverLink is partnering with Greenraising this holiday season for a two-week holiday web drive. Greenraising is an earth-friendly fundraising site where you can stock up on gifts for the whole family, while benefiting the environment! From December 3rd to the 15th, RiverLink will receive 40% from every purchase made when you select RiverLink as your affiliate. Read more...
Green Living at Asheville's Grove Park Inn
A couple weeks ago I attended the fall conference of the Carolinas Healthcare and Public Relations Society at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC. For those of you who have never been to the Grove Park Inn, it is spectacular. It's the kind of majestic inn where you'd expect to find Teddy Roosevelt vacationing. The lobby has these huge fireplaces on either end and the views of the mountains are spectacular. So, it probably shouldn't have surprised me on my recent visit when I learned about the Inn's green program. Read more...
Sediment Runoff Causes Fish Kill on Little Ivy Creek
Monday's rain turned the Little Ivy Creek a familiar color, brown. Taylor Barnhill has noticed the river brown after each rain storm this summer, but this time a host of dead fish washed up along the stream bank next to his property. The mud runoff was so great the fish could no longer breath in the water. What was once a thriving hatchery supported trout stream appears to have lost many smaller fish. The dead fish, including small mouth bass and northern brook trout, are a harsh reminder of the devastating impacts of having too much mud or sediment in our streams. Read more...
The Case to Reface
Thinking of remodeling your Kitchen? Find out about low cost alternatives, not only saving money, but time. Have your new kitchen installed in days, not weeks. Read more...
Terra Summer, offered by the Terra School
Terra Summer, a one-of-the-kind interdisciplinary experience for middle-school students that uses the magical world of food-from growing to cooking to eating-to teach children elements of a rigorous academic curriculum while exploring local and global social, environmental, and economic issues. Read more...
Multimodal Transportation Speech At The Wedge
I'm having monthly public gatherings at The Wedge Brewery in the River Arts District. Our first was on May 14th and the next one is June 11th. We served up some excellent black bean burgers for everyone and had a fantastic time. This video is of my address to the crowd. Read more...
Mountain Green Conference
Warren Wilson, is hosting the third annual 'Mountain Green Conference' on June 24, 2009. This year's theme centers on Green Tourism. Read more...
Green Opportunities
If you work with teens or know someone who does, please turn them on to this excellent organization, Green Opportunities. GO 'is dedicated to building a strong and just green economy in Western NC from the bottom-up through green-collar job training, community education, and green microenterprises.' Read more...
Strive Not To Drive - Day Four - A Multimodal Future
This post is a sort of transcript from the speech I gave tonight at The Wedge. It was the first of four public events there. We served up 98 black bean burgers and had a great time. The next one is June 11th. I'm running for Asheville City Council because I want to help make Asheville more affordable and more sustainable. By working together, we can create a city that works for more of us. Focusing on our common goals will move us a lot further than focusing on those things that divide us. Read more...
RiverLink and NOC Whitewater Film Fest
RiverLink and the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC) Outpost on the Nolichucky River are hosting a white water film festival to showcase the adventure whitewater films from professional kayakers and filmmakers at Rapid Transit Video. Additional clips about the Nolichucky River and global water quality issues will also be shown. Read more...
RiverLink Volunteer Info Session May 13
Come learn how you can make a difference in making the French Broad River watershed a healthier place to live, work and play at our next Volunteer Information Session on Wednesday May 13th at 10am and 5pm at our offices. Take this opportunity to learn what we do at RiverLink and how you can help us. Read more...
Moving Asheville Into a Green Paradigm
On this Earth Day, I'm going to highlight some of the aspects of my City Council campaign that speak directly to addressing global climate change here in Asheville. We can't wait for someone else to solve the problems in our community. We must work together and move our city into a green paradigm that elevates our economy, respects our environment, and lifts up our neighborhoods. Read more...
Asheville Greenworks Invites You To The Orange Peel
Earth Day Asheville, a concert event presented by Clear Channel Radio and Greenlife Grocery, will be a music and dance party for everyone to celebrate our clean and green future in support of Asheville GreenWorks, the local Keep America Beautiful affiliate. The concert, which will raise funds for earth-friendly projects, is scheduled for April 22 from 7:00 - 11:00 pm at the Orange Peel. Read more...
French Broad River Cleanup and Concert April 25 in Brevard, NC
RiverLink and Duck Pond Pottery of Brevard, NC will host a stream cleanup of the French Broad River where it flows along Greenville Highway (Hwy 276) just a few miles outside of Brevard. We will leave from Hap Simpson Riverfront Park and go out in canoes to remove trash from the river. Following the cleanup, join us for a potluck and evening of local music and art through the Duck Pond at Dusk summer concert series. Read more...
Earth Week Commences
Lots of earthy goodness going on this week all over the globe. Take the time now to listen to the opening Plenary Session of the 2008 Aspen Environment Forum, [where] speakers Majora Carter and Josh Dorfman share big ideas about modern society and its relationship to the environment. Read more...
Paddlin the Nolichucky
Paddlin the Nolichucky is a two week monitoring, education, and outreach trip, starting on the North Toe River in Spruce Pine, NC and finishing at the mouth of French Broad River, 140 miles down stream. This paddling trip is design to monitor the water quality of the river, but to also educate the public about the challenges facing the river and highlight the river as a world class recreation destination. Read more...
Don't throw away that used tea bag!
Love Green Tea? You will appreciate it even more when you find out what you can do with the bag. AFTER you enjoy the tea! Who knew? I sure didn't! It even got rid of sour milk smell in my car from my 5 year old! Read more...
WHAT IS 'GREEN'?
The term Green can be confusing. It means different things to different people. For some Green evokes images of hippies, free love, and tree huggers. For others it means organic, self sufficient, and natural. It becomes even more confusing when you research the word green in the dictionary. Read more...
