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Vertical Gardens

Thursday, November 10th, 2011

Beautiful

Vertical gardens bring lush, verdant life to even the coldest and barest of surfaces, both indoors and out. These ‘living walls’ are a big part of the future of green design and technology – they increase interior humidity, purify the air and provide a much-needed touch of nature in spare, angular urban spaces like airports, museums and shopping centers. From skyscraper farms to vertical parks, here are 15green buildings with stunning vertical greenery, from 6-story elevator shafts to subterranean restaurants. – WebEcoist

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Earth Friendly Houston

Friday, October 21st, 2011

There’s a lot going on in Houston to make our city “greener”! And below we’ve included just a few examples!

Rain Barrel/Compost Bin One Day Sale

On Saturday, October 22, 2011, from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., Houstonians can buy rain barrels for $55 (a $120 value) and compost machines for $45 (a $100 value) on a first come, first served basis at Minute Maid Park, Parking Lot “C” corner of Texas and St. Emanuel, Houston 77003. Parking is free.

Rain barrels are used to collect and contain groundwater from rooftops, which can be used for watering gardens and lawns. Rainwater conserves water, improves air quality and saves money. Compost bins are used to store and assist the decomposition of various materials to be used to fertilize garden soil. Composting enriches soil, deters erosion and contaminated soil, prevents pollution and saves money.

For more information on the rain barrels and compost bins available see http://www.norsemanplastics.com/products/norseman_rainbarrel_npl_315.html and http://earthmachine.com/. To learn more about Green Houston see http://www.greenhoustontx.gov/.

Food Day Houston

Food Day Houston, Wednesday, October 26, 2011, will showcase local healthy, sustainable food initiatives in a fun and educational celebration at the City Hall Farmers Market, just outside of City Hall, 901 Bagby, Houston 77002.

At 11 a.m., Recipe for Success Foundation will host a Local Food Throwdown featuring celebrity chefs from the Recipe for Success Chefs Advisory Board. At noon, Urban Harvest will host a Lunch-In, a large community lunch. Bring your food to the Reflection Pond to participate or buy your lunch at the Farmers Market from one of the 35 local vendors who participate weekly at the market. The event will take place rain or shine. At 1 p.m., the City of Houston will host a Food Day Town Hall meeting just below City Hall steps, featuring a panel discussion focused on inspiring ideas and solutions to advance the local food movement.

Food Day Houston is organized by The City of Houston, Recipe for Success Foundation, Houston Food Bank and Urban Harvest. To find a list of Food Day events going on throughout Texas, visit http://www.greenhoustontx.gov/, http://www.urbanharvest.org/ or visit the Food Day Texas page on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Food-Day-Texas/233595083357005.

Permanent Electronic Recyling

The City of Houston’s Solid Waste Management Department and CompuCycle have partnered to provide a permanent electronics recycling drop-off site for Houstonians to recycle their electronics responsibly at the CompuCycle building located at 7700 Kempwood, Houston, 77055. The partnership also provides monthly one-day collection events on Saturdays at three neighborhood City of Houston recycling centers.

Recycling electronics keeps potentially harmful materials, such as mercury, cadmium, lead and cathode ray tubes out of the waste stream and the environment.

Permanent drop-off site:
The permanent location is 7700 Kempwood, Houston 77055 in the Spring Branch area. It is open Monday – Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Once a month drop-off sites:
The monthly Saturday electronics recycling will be held 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the:
- Kingwood Metro Transit Center (1st Saturday of the month), 3210 West Lake Houston Parkway, Houston 77339
- Ellington/Clear Lake Neighborhood Recycling Center (2nd Saturday of the month), Highway 3 @ Brantley Road, Houston 77037
- Center Street Recycling Center (3rd Saturday of the month), 3602 Center Street, Houston 77007

Electronic Items accepted:
Personal computers, servers, keyboards, mice, laptops, game consoles, monitors, small kitchen appliances, memory chips, hubs and routers, printers, copiers, scanners, fax machines, projectors, rechargeable batteries, cable boxes, car batteries, telephones, cell phones, PDAs (personal digital assistants), tape drives, hard drives, cords, cables and cameras.

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