September 9th, 2008

The Shape of Things to Come

To those loyal visitors who have continued to check back and use this site over the past year, despite the lack of updates: thank you. The site will live again. Your unwaivering support and dedication to the green movement continues to inspire me, and I want to work on creating the best possible environment--no pun intended--for you to come, explore, and get informed about green things in Kansas City. When the fates finally allow it, I will transform this site and you will see a new, uplifted face greeting you when you visit. Executing that plan, if it can even be called a plan at this point, may be difficult and time-consuming, particularly since this isn't my full-time job, but if you remain loyal, you will see the changes happen. I hope you like them. Thanks again, and stay green.

Bobby

December 18th, 2007 

Get your (Green) Drink On

This month, Green Drinks KC is at McCoy's in Westport, featuring guest speaker Dennis Murphy.  Murphy is the Chief Environmental Officer for Kansas City, and travels the country giving talks about environmental issues.  It's all happening this Thursday, December 20th.  It starts at 6:30pm and keeps going 'til the drinks stop flowing! (Or until 9pm, whichever comes first.)  Dennis Murphy's talk will be from 7pm-8pm.

-Bobby

December 13th, 2007

Energy Efficiency Forum 2: The Return

Many of you attended the Energy Efficiency Forum held in September.  Well if you've been wondering when you'd get a chance to do it again, your wait is over.  December 13th (tonight), 17th & 19th, Sierra Club, Concerned Citizens of Platte County, KCP&L et al. will host a follow up forum, answering questions and facilitating a discussion about possible energy legislation for Missouri and Kansas.

RSVP required to KCP&L eesummit@kcpl.com (deadline was the 11th, but you might go ahead and try anyway)
Contact Melissa Hope, melissa.hope@sierraclub.org, 816.806.6965 if you plan to attend.

Oct-oh-wait-No-it's-vember-already 8th, 2007

Rumors of Our Death Have Been Mildly Exaggerated

Yes, I'm still around.  I've just been working on getting my life arranged, you know how it is.  It's kind of like a house; after a while, if you're not the fastidious type by nature, things tend to get a bit cluttered and you have to go around and put things in their place again.  (If only Merry Maids offered mental health services.  Oh well.)

Anyway, I wanted to post this update I got from Beau over at Green Drinks KC.  He sent out an email to say that this month GDKC will be partnering with the Conscious Evolution and Actions of Awareness Groups for the 'Midtown Conspiracy' at the Uptown Theatre.  (Why isn't it the 'Uptown Conspiracy,' then?  Maybe they should've met at the Midland instead.)  It's all going down Thursday, Nov. 15th at 6:30pm.  There's going to be discussion, food, and fun.  'Green chef' Heidi Van Pelt will be there to talk about green issues, and you can hear from other people and groups to find out just what is 'conspiring' in KC. 

Beau also noted that, although nothing appears to be finalized yet, he's hoping for another 'green' event in November, this one to be themed around the winter holiday (you know the one, that big one that everyone always talks about).  John Kurmann, author and community activist--and all around good guy--will be there talking about 'how to be green without being a grinch'.  Prepare for discussions not just about eco-friendly things, but about how consumerism doesn't--and can't--make us happy.  (Hmm, what an ironic topic given the season.  I wonder if he noticed that.)  Don't forget to bring your own stories and green holiday ideas with you.  As soon as I get a definite date for this event, I'll be sure to post it here. 

That's all for now.  Remember, blue and yellow together make green.  But they  sell green paint, too, so why waste?

Bobby

September 9,2007

Update Grab Bag

Fancy yourself a blogger?  Seventh Generation wants you.  They are asking for submissions for their guest blogger column at the Inspired Protagonist. All you have to do is email your blog entry and a brief bio to responsibility@seventhgeneration.com and your thoughts just might make the cut.  It doesn't have to be about any topic in particular (though I would assume they're looking for something related to being green).  Just write what's on your mind and send it on over.  It could be your big break.  Next thing you know, Random House will be sending you an advance for your first novel.  Check out www.inspiredprotagonist.com for more.

If you've ever visited FuD, the raw/vegan restaurant sneaking its way into Kansas City over the past few months, then you know how good the food there is and you'd probably like to know that it's chaning locations.  Up until now, it's been popping up on weekends at the back of Bad Seed, a small market in the Crossroads District.  Not anymore.  Apparently they're working on securing a new space of their own in that area, and in the meantime can be found temporarily in Westport.  (I'm not sure why they've moved, but my hope is that they've become so popular that Bad Seed couldn't accomodate anymore.)  Want to find out where they are now?  Call 816-569-0265 or email tuneyourfork@gmail.com.

Finally, a few calendar reminders: 

Tomorrow night, Tuesday the 11th, is GreenAcres Market's weekly "Local's Night," where you can go and meet local food growers and sellers.  Check it out!

This coming Saturday, the 15th, venture over to Columbia, MO for the Sustainable Living Fair.  It will feature a plethora of booths and displays, including alternative transportation, solar power, vegetarian cooking, etc.  Gates open at 10:00 am and the fair runs until 6 pm. 

Or, if food is more your speed, take the kids to Eden Alley for some veggie grub.  It's VegKC's "Veggie Kids Play Date" at 11 am. 

Sunday the 16th, join the Concerned Citizens of Platte County at their monthly meeting.  This month, there's food involved, as the meeting is taking place at the Power Plant Restaurant in Parkville.  Visit the calendar (located on our forum) or check out www.ccpcmo.org for details.

Or, also on Sunday, you can get lazy with the folks from VegKC at their next "Lazy Activist" meeting.  It starts at 6:30pm at Eden Alley.

Also, make your travel plans now because Saturday the 22nd you'll want to head over to beautiful Rocheport, MO (about 20 min shy of Columbia) for the Sustainable Living Expo (different from the Sustainable Living Fair, mind you).  Speaking personally, Rocheport (and specifically the "Les Bourgeois Winery", who is hosting the event) is a frequent destination for my wife and I when we want to "get away."  The landscape is beautiful, the atmosphere is serene, and the quaint town of Rocheport just makes you feel like a human being again.  Bonus points for the fact that the Katy Trail comes right through town, which is great for dusting off your alternative transportation vehicle of choice.  I'd have to say that if I were going to pick a tiny town to grow old in around here, Rocheport would be at the top of my list.  But enough editorializing from me.  Go out and see what great things are going to be at the Sustainable Living Expo. 

August 31,2007

Lazy activists, unite!  Again.

VegKC has posted yet another "Lazy Activist" meeting, this one happening September 16th at, you guessed it, Eden Alley.  In case you aren't clear on what it is, these gatherings are intended to be a low-key but useful way to spend your time, eating good food and chatting with good people, all the while doing good works in the name of vegetarianism.  If that sounds like your kind of scene, you can sign up at vegetarian.meetup.com/14.  I'm sure they'd love to have you. 

August 29,2007

Thanks!

A big thank you to everyone who came out to the advanced screening of "The 11th Hour" tonight.  Remember to check out my review and comments on Kansas City Live on Friday morning.  If you were at the screening and heard my comments afterward, and you'd like a list of the books and other things I recommended, keep reading:

• "The Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices" - This book is by a couple of gentlemen with the Union of Concerned Scientists.  It's not a book of lists or tips on how to save on your electric bill or get more mileage out of your car.  Instead, it's a short but dense examination of the choices we as a society make on an individual basis, and how we can make better choices. 
• "Ishmael," by Daniel Quinn - In my opinon, this book should be required reading in every grade school, high school, and college across the nation.  Short of that happening, I certainly recommend it as required reading for anyone interested in changing the world.  It's not an "environmentalism book," per se, but a book that touches on several issues directly related to our impact on the environment.  Read this with an open mind and an earnest desire to save the world, and I guarantee it will move you.
• Greenability Magazine - A local magazine that deals with living green in Kansas City.  It features articles and other resources delivered right to your door every month, all in a glossy and impressive magazine.
• Meetup.com - This is a great place to meet up (obviously) with people in your area who share a passion for...whatever!  Visit the site and do a search for environmentalism or sustainability and you'll find a few groups, like Green Drinks KC, regularly gathering in the Kansas City area.  
• For more resources and ways to get involved, check out the Links page.  

And, as always, if you've got a book or website to recommend, use the Contact page to let us know!  It's liable to end up on the site for the rest of the world (okay, the rest of the city) to see.  You'll be a hero. 

Until next time, stay green.  And as Daniel Quinn might say, be a leaver, not a taker.

-Bobby

August 28,2007

Third time's the charm, right?

For the third time in the last nine or so months, I'll be making an appearance on Kansas City Live.  If you missed the first two outings, fear not, odds are you know someone who has them recorded.  (Just kidding, but you can check out the articles section to read up on what I talked about.)  This next appearance will be happening this coming Friday, August 31, and I'll be giving a little rundown of the new film "The 11th Hour."  I plan to talk a little about the film itself, and hopefully hit on some of the points it brings up about our footprint on the world and what we can do to decrease it.  The show starts at 10 a.m. on KSHB, Channel 41 (13 on Time-Warner Cable).   Visit the forum or send an email with your thoughts during and after the interview.  I'd love to know how my hair looked.

In other news, you may have noticed that the Business Directory is sort of unhelpful at the moment.  I'm in the process of updating it to make it more user-friendly (unfortunately it still won't be searchable, but you have Microsoft to thank for that).  If you're on the mailing list, I'll be sure to shoot you an email when it's ready again.  And if you're not on the mailing list...sign up!  The box is right at the top of this page. 

In the meantime...check out the contest page.  You won't be disappointed.

-Bobby

August 27, 2007

Another Veg-event, and a new place to throw stuff away...

September 8th, VegKC's monthly meetup will be held at Matsu Japanese restaurant (next to Jerusalem Cafe in Westport).  Visit our calendar for the 4-1-1, and be sure to check out all their other fun meetings.  A VegKC meeting is a great place to meet some green, sustainably-minded food-lovers.

Also, on September 18th a brand new recycling center will open up in Overland Park.  It will be located down at 11921 Hardy, right behind the fire station between Antioch and Metcalf.  Reportedly, this center (a joint effort by the city and Bridging the Gap) "expands recycling services to Overland Park residents by accepting a wider range of materials than had previously been accepted."

If you've got some plastic or glass you've been holding on to and you live in the OP area, get on down there come September 18th and toss that trash!

August 24, 2007

New Veg-event...

VegKC has added a new event to their calendar (and, consequently, we've added it to ours).  Come out to Eden Alley on September 15th for their new "Veggie Kids Play Date."  If you're a parent who's trying to eat more consciously, bring the little tykes and meet some other grown ups who are in the same veggie boat as you!  And if you don't have kids but still want to enjoy the food, I'm sure they'll be happy to have you there, too.  (They're pretty swell people.) 

August 21, 2007

It's time you made friends with your grocer.

This is Tuesday, which means that tonight at 4pm GreenAcres Market is hosting it's weekly "Locals Night," where you can come and visit with local food producers and find out what they do, how they do it, and whether or not they are as tall as you had always pictured them.  There's a location a the new Briarcliff Village just north of the Missouri river on 169, or, if it suits you, Wichita.

July 31, 2007

Set TiVo's to 'Green'!

Don't miss it:  Thursday, August 2nd, KCPT presents "The Heat is On: The Warming of KC" at 7:30pm.  Scientists, business leaders, citizens and policy makers will evaluate the metro's response to global warming and take a critical look at some of the solutions being considered. Guests will include Dennis Murphey (KCMO), Phelps Murdoch (Bridging the Gap), Pete Levi (KC Chamber of Commerce), Jim Twigg (Overland Park), Susan Brown (CCPC), Frank Drinkwine (Sierra Club), Bill Riggins (KCP&L), Dennis Patton (K-State), Dr. Jimmy Adegoke (UMKC), Dr. David Braaten (KU), and Lynn Hinkle (10,000 Rain Gardens). Hosted by Nick Haines.

July 27, 2007

Are you Lazy?  Perfect!

Don't miss VegKC's next "Lazy Activists" meeting, August 9th at Eden Alley.  It starts at 6:30.  For more details, visit the calendar or VegKC's site. 

July 26, 2007

HRES HREMINDER

Just in case any of you wanted to go, don't forget that the Heartland Renewable Energy Society is hosting their quarterly meeting tonight at the Antioch Library, 8700 Shawnee Mission Pkwy, in Merriam, KS.  If you intend to attend, RSVP here.  (First you'll have to sign up for the Meetup group, which is completely free and never a bad idea.) The party starts at 6:30pm.  Bring yourself and an open mind.   

C'mon, get involved! 

July 25, 2007

Orange You Glad I Didn't Say Red?

The Mid-America Regional Council has issues an Orange Ozone Alert today.  The good news is that it's not a Red Alert, but that's about it.  Basically, it has to do with a combination of factors including the temperature and the amount of nasty pollutants in the air.  So what does an Ozone Alert mean to you?  According to MARC:

Ozone Alert days are days when ozone concentrations are expected to reach unhealthy levels. Since more than half of the emissions that form ground level ozone come from everyday people doing everyday things, YOU have the power to reduce ozone pollution.

On an Ozone Alert day:

Cut back on or reschedule strenuous outside activities. Stay indoors in a well-ventilated or air-conditioned building. If you must be active outdoors, try to schedule activity before 11:00 a.m. or after 8:00 p.m.

Drive less. Combine errands and put off less-necessary trips for a cooler day, carpool, or use public transit. Better yet, take a leisurely walk or bike ride, preferably early in the morning or later in the evening.

Avoid fueling. Simply filling your vehicle with gasoline can lead to pollution as fumes escape and tiny drips and spills occur, and gas vapors react with heat and sunlight to form ozone. If you must fill your tank, do so after dusk. And be sure to avoid “topping off” your tank.

Mow later. Lawn and garden equipment is responsible for an estimated 9 percent of the Kansas City area’s ozone-forming emissions. Postpone yard work that involves power equipment until the Ozone Alert is over.

Taking action on Ozone Alert days will help protect your family's health and help reduce peaks in ozone concentrations.

July 17, 2007

Fish List

This is cool: The current issue of The Green Guide has in it a little pull-out "Smart Shopper's" card (a regular feature), this month featuring Fish Picks.  It's a list of a massive number of different fish species, categorized by how much mercury (that's bad) they contain--as well as how much each species is fished.  For instance, Atlantic Croaker is okay to eat because it's both low in mercury and it is not over-fished or destructively farmed.  Conversely, Sea Turtles are on the "no" list.  Think that's obvious?  So is Orange Roughy and wild-caught Catfish.  Oops. 

You can see the whole, enlightening list here.  There's also a PDF version to download, and for those of you with web-access on your cell phones, a way to get it on the go.

Bobby

July 16, 2007

Food, Film, and Foot-Powered Goodness!

BBQ, Beer & Brats - Join VegKC for their monthly potluck event.  It will be July 28th at Steve Tarver's house in Overland Park.  You need to email info@vegKansasCity.com for directions.  Visit the event page on the BGC calendar, located, as always over on the sorely-underpopulated forum. 

Showing of "Crude Impact" - Got a notice from Kelly over at ReEnergizeKC that they and a bundle of other groups are sponsoring a showing of the award-winning documentary "Crude Impact" on August 16th.  Visit the calendar for the 4-1-1. (That's slang for "information," for all you squares out there.)

Mo' Money, MO Bikes - The Missouri Bicycle Federation (or MoBikeFed, squares) reported that Senator Kit Bond has earmarked a whopping $750,000 to go towards the retrofit of the Heart of America bridge that will create a barrier-separated crossing for bicyclists and pedestrians to cross from North Kansas City to downtown.  Whether that figure impresses you or not, rejoice in the fact that there is something being done about the severe lack of bicycle-support in this city.  Now if we could start improving support for other alternative forms of transportation, we'd really be getting somewhere (no pun intended). 

On a related note, MoBikeFed has just opened up a store online to sell a variety of branded moychendise.  Buy a shirt or a mug or a tote, and help support a positive voice for change in the community.  You can visit their store here.

Bobby

July 11, 2007

New Event Added.

July 19th- Green Drinks KC will be having a meetup from 6:30pm to 9:00pm at the Bulldog Cafe downtown.  Great food and great atmosphere already make it a favorite destination of mine, and when Green Drinks is there, with Marty Kraft as this month's guest speaker, it should be that much better.  Kraft has been involved in many green projects, including the Heartland All-Species Project, so come out, have a drink, and hear what he has to say. 

Find this and other upcoming events on the calendar located on the Big Green City forum.

July 09, 2007

Lots of Updates

Added to the Calendar:

July 14th- VegKC's regular meetup will be at Nigat Ethiopian Restaurant this month.  Even if you're not a vegetarian, come out and meet some cool people, and try some food that you've probably never had before. (They say it's a lot like Indian - yum!) Looking forward to seeing you there.

July 20th- Veg*nism meetup at Bad Seed for FuD!  Please come out and support not only the vegan/vegetarian lifestyle, but more importantly this wonderful little shop in the heart of the crossroads area call Bad Seed.  It's run by a friend of ours who has her own farm here in town and sells her delicious produce there.  On Fridays she opens up the back of the store for a new raw/vegetarian-cuisine restaurant called FuD (pronounced "food"), that serves scrumptious and unusual dishes.  The atmosphere is terrific, especially if you like to make friends.  Seat yourself at one of the handful of tables that will no doubt already be partially occupied by other enthusiastic diners, who will be glad to have you join them for a meal and a visit.  It's fun, I promise.

July 12th- VegKC's regular "Lazy Activists" meeting is going to be held at Eden Alley (a usual hangout for this group). What exactly is a 'lazy activist?' Are you wondering if you might be one?  Well according to the organizer:

"These meetings are specifically designed for those who want to
be a part of the activist community but want to do it in a non-
confrontational way that simple, quick, easy, and fun.

If that sounds like you, or someone you'd like to be, check out the next meeting.  I've met some of the VegKC people.  They are very laid-back, easy-going, and friendly.  If you are a first time visitor, you're bound to feel welcome.

July 20th thru 22nd- thegreenshow.com is a sort of convention featuring green businesses and organizations (and no doubt lots of printed cozies and plastic bags).  It will feature guest speakers, including one of the most famous green-lebrities, Ed Begley, Jr!  I only recently found out about this event but I'm very excited and hope to make some great contacts, learn some valuable tips, and collect some great overly-designed ballpoint pens!

August 2nd- KCPT will air "The Heat is On: The Warming of KC," hosted by Nick Haines.  "Scientists, business leaders, citizens and policy makers evaluate the metro's response to global warming and take a critical look at some of the solutions being considered."  Note that this is a local feature, and so it should be very important for all Kansas Citians to watch. 

August 9th- "The Burning Question: Solving Our Energy Problem" is a community discussion forum that will be taking place this day at 6pm at the Johnson County Central Library.  As you may know, Big Green City is big on community involvement, and few things better exemplify that notion than a community discussion forum.  Talk, listen, learn, and network.  It could be a very enlightening experience, and we could all use a little enlightening.

September 16th- Visit and get involved with the Concerned Citizens of Platte County at their next meeting on this day.  Location and guest speaker are TBA right now, but we'll be sure to keep you updated.

For all these and other events coming up in and around the KC area, visit the calendar located over at the Big Green City forum.