The environmental story I wrote is something that is very dear to me. I interned with the Sierra Club of Ohio briefly and when I heard Mayor Murray speak at the Rotary Club meeting last Thursday about how Greencastle was using LED stoplights, I came up with the idea for the How Green is Greencastle story. What I found while conducting interviews with Shannon Norman and Dr. Everett was that there was incredibly too much information to be included into one story. Thus, I've decided to write a blog with additional information, links, and my opinions on things.

To begin, people need to understand that these initiatives and programs are imperative to the future. I chose to focus the story on the impact of wasted money because it is more important to most than telling them about declining air quality, melting glaciers and all that we hear and read in the media lately. The programs are readily available and can be enacted by anyone at any time. As I mentioned in the story, these programs generally do cost money, but the Putnam County Community Donation gives out money for such things. There are also governmental grants available for building retrofits. If the programs don't exist, we can start them. It would also be good to suggest to Mayor Murray to look into the Mayors Environmental Agreement.

It is easy to feel overwhelmed by all the information coming at us regarding this. Basically some may feel their way of life is being challenged and that isn't the case. Even small changes such as using CFL light bulbs (which is going to be mandated by the Federal Government soon) or low VOC paint to improve indoor air quality end up making a large difference. We are at the point where the days of thinking recycling programs such as those that can be found outside all Greencastle Community Schools for paper (the bright bins outside all the schools is for paper recycling, when the company comes to collect the paper, they pay that school for however much paper is collected, a great way to recycle and support the individual schools) are for granola eating people from Portland. The curbside service offered in Greencastle is also great. It is included in the trash pickup, the bins are free and can be found at City Hall. A county wide recycling program has not yet been devised though.

Another thing to consider is that poor quality of air causes people to go to the doctor, thus prompting a drain on healthcare. Those of us who are Environmental crusaders are no out to steal anyone's freedom, so the idea "whatever you're for, I'm against" needs to be tossed in the recycling bin. The imaginary political line on environmentalism should also be thrown there since this affects us all, no matter if you are republican or democrat, rich or poor, or whatever other black/white argument can be raised.

A great deal of these ideas came from my discussion with Dr. Everett, who is a wonderful source for anyone interested in making a change but doesn't know how to go about it. She also says that sustainability can create jobs. This is a great thing in the time of economic uncertainty, soaring unemployment, and a dire environmental situation. Why not create jobs and save the environment in one brave, erudite move?

I will add links now for people to consider looking at if they are interested. Any questions please feel free to ask as well. kcrafton@bannergraphic.com.

http://prindleinstitute.depauw.edu/locat...

DePauw facilities director, Ted Fares tedfares@depauw.edu, would be glad to talk about all of the specific measures he's taking with buildings at Depauw.

http://www.depauw.edu/univ/sustain/docum...

Whether for this story or the next, you should definitely get in touch with Stacie Stoffregen (sstoffregen@greencastle.k12.in.us) from Greencastle Middle School. They are planning a *big* community event much like the one we had in January. Here's the event page http://www.depauw.edu/univ/sustain/ftn/i... for what Depauw did.

Here's the national site: http://www.focusthenation.org/focus2008.....

These came directly from an email Dr. Everett sent me.

I also need to mention that Greencastle does have a watershed program in place called MS4 that has to do with drainage water. It goes through a natural filtration system of native plants before being distributed into the tributaries. You can recognize these by the fish on the particular drain.