The Green Project

The Green Project's Green Thumb

Any of you who have been to The Green Project know that our railroad track backyard could be a tad more beautiful. But we at The Green Project have been doing our little bit to spruce up the area. If you take a stroll down St. Claude Avenue, you will now notice the addition of some lovely trees and shrubs all the way to St. Ferdinand Street, thanks to Jamie's and so many others hard work and the generous donation from Harold's Plants.

Want to roll up your sleeves and dig in the dirt with us? If we aren't extending the beautification project down the street, we can always use a hand maintaining what we have already started. So shoot us an email (info@thegreenproject.org) and together we can bring back some plants to St. Claude.

Help The Green Project Win $25,000 With Chase Community Giving

             

Chase Bank is holding a competition to award a total of $5,000,000 to nonprofits across the country in $25,000 sums. Over 500,000 charities are in the running, and The Green Project is one of them! What is the competition? The nonprofits that receive the most votes from their online community receive a check from Chase Community Giving.The first round of voting ends December 11, 2009, so vote now!

How can you help us? If you have a facebook account, follow these simple steps:

1. Become a fan of Chase Community Giving. (You can remove this from your profile after you vote.)
   
2. On Chase Community Giving's page, click on the tab that says Chase Giving.
   
3. Search for The Green Project and cast a vote for us.

By voting for The Green Project, you can help us secure funding to expand the environmental and community programs that you use and enjoy. Thanks for your help!

When you become a fan of Chase Community Giving, consider become a fan of The Green Project to keep up-to-date with environmental and creative happenings at The Green Project and in the New Orleans community.

Apply to Salvations 2010 Today!

Entry spots to participate in The Green Project's Salvations 2009 furniture competition are quickly filling up. There are only 50 spots available, so whether you are a professional, student, or hobbyist, submit your application today!

For those of you who haven't kept up-to-date with your furniture competitions, The Green Project hosts an annual furniture competition in which 90% of the materials incorporated into the piece must be salvaged. Creatively weaving in metals, ceramics, and glass, participants enter their beautiful yet functional furniture pieces to be judged in one of four categories by a stellar line-up of furniture experts and enthusiasts. All pieces will be prominently displayed at Canal Place from February 21 to March 19, 2010 and participants will be eligible to win up to $1,000 for their creation. All furniture pieces are auctioned off to benefit The Green Project.

Looking for a bit more information about Salvations 2010? Check out the rules and entry form on our website!

  

DRAW-A-THON 2009

                    

Sharpen those pencils, mix those paints, and get ready for Draw-A-Thon 2009, hosted by Press Street, Recycle for the Arts, and The Green Project. On November 21st (bright and early at 6:30am) Draw-A-Thon will kick of their 24 hour program with free pancakes (and coffee!) and amazing drawing workshops. Workshops welcome folks of all ages and art materials will be provided free of cost.

What's on the docket for this 24 hours of drawing fun?

• A “Drawing Room” with every surface covered in paper to encourage boundless creativity
• Courtney Egan and Kourtney Keller’s popular Drawing On Film
• Speed gesture drawing with drill sergeant Gary Oaks
• Micro-Comix with Caeser Meadows
• Drawing Walk with Marcus Brown and Nathan Weidenhaft
• Gina Philips will lead Drawing With A Sewing Machine (which will culminate in a large-scale drawn quilt)
• The St. Claude Arts District will contribute an on-going still-life activity
• Artists Ron Bechet, Brad Benischeck, Kenny Harrison, Malcolm McClay, Laura Richens, Meagan Roniger and Elizabeth Underwood and many otherswill captain other fascinating drawing projects

Make sure not to miss the amazing Draw-A-Tron 3000's, a curious automated drawing machine, designed this year by nationally renowned artist Jeff Becker.

So make sure you stretch out those fingers (and any other digits you plan on drawing with) and head on over to the The Green Project join Draw-A-Thon 2009.

Leaky Toilet?

So a week or two ago, The Green Project was suffering form a persistent leaky toilet. While our case was perhaps more severe (as I realized while mopping the floor), I began to wonder just how many toilets are actually functioning as they should. As a household necessity that we use multiple times per day, parts are bound to wear out, right? A leaky toilet can not only dramatically affect your water bill, but it is a huge waste of water. According to the California Urban Water Conservation Council, a leaky toilet can use a startling 200 gallons of water per day. So what can you do to make sure that your toilet is as efficient as possible? Take a look at this video which not only suggest a simple experiment you can do with food coloring to find out if there is a leak, but also a few easy solutions to help you stop wasting that water.

Fix That Leaky Toilet, Be More Green

More Green Projectivities this November!

               

What better way to kick off your weekend than to take in one of The Green Project's Saturday morning Projectivities! Every Saturday, The Green Project hosts practical and creative workshops focusing on reclaimed materials. We have a stellar line up for this month, and we can't wait to share them with you!

• November 6, 10am-12pm: Fixin' Bikes with R.U.B.A.R.B
• • Learn how to repair those busted tires with the help from the friendly folks at Rusted Up Beyond All Repair Bikes.

• November 14, 2009, 10am-12pm: Let There Be Lamp Light
• • Join Abe Geasland to learn the ins and outs of lamp wiring and how to transform your everyday objects into creative lighting fixtures.

• November 21, 2009, 10am-12pm: Bookshelves from Savaged Materials
• • Gather exciting ideas for Salvations Furniture Competition or simply provide a means to organize your books with the help of Tim Dean from the Habitat Restore (and Green Project emeritus). Learn how to fasten bookshelves from doors, shutters, and other reclaimed materials.

All workshops are $5 and are free for TGP members. Want a wee bit more information or have a great idea of a workshops? Contact Erin at egenrich@thegreenproject.org.

NOLA Recycles 2010 Launches Its Campaign

NOLA Recycles 2010 formally launched its campaign last Monday to a packed and eager room at The Bridge Lounge. The Campaign issued a six pointed statement to be adopted by mayoral and city council candidates as they run for office. While the campaign hopes to convince candidates to support a comprehensive waste and recycling management program, they are preparing to initiate grassroots efforts to ask those "tough questions" of candidates to focus the City's attention of this important issue.

NOLA Recycles 2010's Mayoral Candidate Statement on Recycling recommends:

1. Resume curbside recycling
2. Prevent illegal dumping
3. Provide a safe disposal option for household hazardous waste
4. Require the recycling of construction and demolition waste in city projects
5. Charge the Department of Sanitation with the promotion and expansion of recycling
6. Begin a recycling program and recycled products purchasing policy in City Hall

While we all miss those blue bins and want to bring them back, the other points of the statement are vital to public health initiatives in New Orleans. As a result of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans placed 35 years worth of materials into landfills, often located near our poorest neighborhoods. In an effort to deal with all of the flood related debris, the Department of Environmental Quality lifted restrictions regarding the regulation of C&D materials in landfills to include asbestos containing materials and other hazardous construction materials that would have previously been disposed of more carefully. New Orleans has additionally long suffered from no comprehensive household hazardous waste disposal system, and these pollutants continue to leach into to our drinking water and our environment.

The Green Project is trying to do our small part in minimizing the environmental impact of the construction and rebuilding in New Orleans, but, ultimately our lumberyard, warehouse, recycling drop-off, and paint recycling center are making just a small dent. Not only do we need candidates to adopt a recycling policy, but we also need them to implement it.

Show Us Your Reuse Talents!

Many of you wander down our aisles, have a spark of inspiration as you happen upon the perfect material, and leave us at The Green Project wondering what you are up to...

Here is your chance to show us! The Green Project is creating an online space to display photos of creative reuse projects, whether it ended up on canvass or the ceiling of your house. By photographing your projects, The Green Project hopes to increase the awareness of how reclaimed materials can be transformed with a little creativity and elbow grease. At the moment, we are collecting photos and uploading them to our Facebook page (which you should check out), but soon we will be linking them to our website with the creator's contact information (great exposure!).

Have you just finished a project with materials from The Green Project, and do you want to share it with us? Contact Beth at communication@thegreenproject.org to schedule a time to photography your work or if you have any questions. In the mean time, check out the photos of projects already on The Green Project Facebook page.

       

Window Shutter Planter by Gina Papapanagiotou

Ceiling by Kurt D. Buchert, founder and CEO of GREENBEAN Insulation LLC

Mirror by David Bergeron (www.bergeronwoodworks.net)

 

A Few Tips on How To Weatherize Your Home

The Green Project just hosted a fabulous Projectivity on how to install and weatherize your doors last Saturday. But, if you missed it, here's another synopsis about how to go about it.

LA Green Corps in conjuncture with The Alliance for Affordable Energy have made a quick and easy introduction on how to weatherize your home. Our homes our filled with cracks and holes through which our heating and air conditioning escape. This is particularly true in older Louisiana homes which were built to "breath" as a way to deal with the heat and humidity before the advent of air conditioning. By sealing up these cracks, we can save money on our electricity and gas bills while conserving our resources. 

So check out this video on Youtube and get started on weatherizing your home.

Louisiana Green Corps: How To Weatherize Your Home

 

The Green Project Participates with the Louisiana Social Innovators Institute

The Green Project was selected to participated in the new Louisiana Social Innovators Institute held by the Lieutenant Governor's Office of Social Entrepreneurship. In 2006, the Office of Social Entrepreneurship was founded to acknowledge the many social problems that had manifested themselves both before and after Katrina and to support the growing number of nonprofit organizations that sought to creatively solve these problems.  In an effort to help launch nonprofits with innovative social ideas, The Office of Social Entrepreneurship selected 12 organizations to participate in their six month business training program to expand their proposals. In recognition of this program, Lieutenant Governor Landrieu stated: “In these difficult economic times, when budgets are strained and social challenges are mounting, there is growing recognition that social innovation and entrepreneurship must be a significant part of the solution. We have to spend smarter and invest in what works to solve society's problems." The Social Innovators Institute is innovative in itself as the first of its kind in the nation. However, with the support of the Obama Administration, similar institutes will soon appear in other states.

So what is The Green Project working on with the Social Innovators Institute? We are developing a plan to expand Second Line Recycle Paint. As the only recycled paint center in the entire Gulf South, the demand for our paint far exceeds what we can actually supply. Keep posted on our future plans as we work to expand our paint disposal and recycling services.In the mean time, take a look at the article about the Louisiana Office of Social Entrepreneurship and the Social Innovators Institute recently published in the Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal.

Louisiana is First State in the Nation to launch an Institute to Incubate Innovative Social Programs