Environment & Sustainability

Coverage of green innovations, and climate and environment issues and developments, especially those told by local voices and that offer solutions for community concerns.

Help on the way for area gardeners

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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May 6, 2010

Gardening is about to get easier. Fair Food Matters, a Kalamazoo-area nonprofit organization that supports and promotes local food, has launched a new program to help area gardeners. As interest in community gardens, school gardens and backyard gardens has picked up around Kalamazoo so has the demand for information. The Garden Network will offer gardening information, resources and networking opportunities to anybody who grows vegetables, fruits or herbs throughout the region. Shelly Claflin has been hired to coordinate the program for 2010. As program coordinator, Claflin will also connect gardeners with one another through an online discussion group and Facebook page. She will offer advice on how to find plants, equipment and other garden necessities. Claflin will conduct educational workshops and help coordinate the 2010 Kalamazoo Community Garden Tour. She also will help make sure excess produce is delivered to regional food banks. Claflin is a seasoned gardener and community organizer, and has coordinated garden projects in the Vine and Oakwood neighborhoods of Kalamazoo. She also has experience in the hospitality industry, as well as in nonprofit program management, event creation and fund development. Claflin earned a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences in Cultural Anthropology from Western Michigan University. The Garden Network program is free of charge and available to all gardeners in Kalamazoo County. For more information, please contact the Garden Network. Writer: Kathy Jennings Scource: Paul A. Stermer, Executive Director, Fair Food Matters

Latest in Environment & Sustainability

A harvest of sunshine

By Stacie Carlson

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Environment & Sustainability

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April 29, 2010

A solar array surrounded by corn and soy bean fields is an experiment on a grand scale for Connor Field and his father, Sam. Writer Stacie Carlson talks to them about what their learning about creating solar power from their massive do-it-yourself project.

Federal funds will pay for Kal-Haven Trail $1.2 million face-lift

By Newsroom

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Environment & Sustainability

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April 29, 2010

The resurfacing of the eastern half of the Kal-Haven Trail will begin this month, the Kalamazoo Gazette reports.The portion to be resurfaced reaches from the 10th Street trailhead in Kalamazoo County to the west village limits of Bloomingdale in Van Buren County. Excerpt:Most of the funds for the $1.2 million project were obtained by the road commission through the federal stimulus package.Battle Creek-based contractor Hoffman Brothers will resurface the limestone and asphalt as well as mark the pavement.The work is scheduled to be completed by Aug. 31.The surface of the 34-mile-long trail is about 20 years old.Hoffman plans to resurface the trail in one-mile sections and will set up detours to keep the trail open during the construction project. Riders are encouraged to check in with trail staff at the various trail heads for up-to-date project information.For information on the number of riders who use the trail, read the entire story.Source: Kalamazoo Gazette

New business will set up and install wind turbines

By Newsroom

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Environment & Sustainability

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April 29, 2010

Michiana Wind Systems launched in April as a complement to the owners existing business, Ferguson Michiana Inc., reports the Herald-Palladium.The company does directional drilling, cable and duct construction and aerial and underground cable installation, primarily for AT&T. So getting into the business of selling and instaling wind turbines was a good fit for Dave Ferguson, who owns Ferguson Michiana with his brother, Jim. Office manager Tracy Galbreath co-owns the wind business with Dave Ferguson.Excerpt:"We researched for about a year and found this would be a good complement to Ferguson Michiana," Dave Ferguson said."We already have the equipment to do it. We learned by doing. The first one is a demonstration unit that serves this property. Our own employees installed it."Ferguson and Galbreath said they hope to add to the current Ferguson Michiana workforce of 35 as they get wind turbine customers."It seems to be sort of a hot market. There are a few wind turbines around, but we believe this is the first wind turbine business in Berrien County," Ferguson said.The owners divide the market into three categories: Small wind -- enough energy for an individual residence, farm or small business; community -- bigger towers serving 25 to 50 houses or a larger business; and big wind -- a power company that decides part of its power will come from wind. Ferguson expects their biggest market to be country homes and small businesses.For information on what the company expects from its first wind turbine now that the blades are spinning, read the entire story.Source: Herald-Palladium

Hydroponics retailer invites community to grand opening

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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April 29, 2010

Music, food and a host of opportunities to learn about green businesses will be part of the May 1 grand opening of Horizen Hydroponics. The Kalamazoo store is at 4646 W. Main St., on the northeast corner of West Main and Drake in the Westwood Plaza. The store opened in February and now plans to celebrate it. "We've received a warm welcome from Kalamazoo," says Bridgette Ujlaky, co-owner with her husband John, of Horizen Hydroponics. "We've found it to be a very good fit. The community is very forward thinking and people are very interested in gardening." The decision to open a store in the Kalamazoo market came as the couple, which has an established store in Grand Rapids, realized an increasing number of their customers were coming north to check out their business. The Ujlakys specialize in hydroponic, organic, indoor and year-round gardening supplies. Hydroponics, which means "water works," is the process of growing plants in water, gravel or sand, but without soil. Their stores carry lighting, nutrients and other items to help gardeners succeed. Horizen Hydroponics has been in business for eight years in Grand Rapids and online. Bridget Ujlaky estimates that about 70 percent of its business comes from the brick-and-mortar stores, while 30 percent is done online. The company employs eight, including two at the Kalamazoo store. And the zen in the name Horizen Hydroponics is fully intentional. The company's motto is "tranquility through gardening." The grand opening ceremony will feature live music by local bands, local food, and eco-friendly vendors such as Flowerfield Enterprises, Natural Health Center, Emerald Car Cleaners and others. The May 1 event starts at noon and goes until 5 p.m. Ujlaky says the business will donate proceeds from organic vegetable and herb seedlings sold that day to Fair Food Matters, advocates for local food production and consumption. Store hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, and noon to 5 p.m. on Saturday. More information is available at Horizen Hydroponics' website or by calling 269-567-3333. Writer: Kathy Jennings Source: Bridgette Ujlaky

Vicksburg couple makes largest ever donation of Michigan agricultural property for conservation

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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April 29, 2010

The large-tract housing developers encroaching on agricultural property outside Vicksburg won't be allowed to build on 906 acres owned by Robert and Regina Richardson. Property that has been in the family for seven generations will be preserved as farmland through a donation to the State of Michigan. To date, it is the largest donation of prime farmland development rights to the state.The donation, made through the state's permanent conservation easement program, keeps property from being used for residential development.The program allows the development rights for the property to go to the State of Michigan. In return, farmers get local and federal tax breaks. The land can be written off as a charitable donation to lower federal taxes. And local taxes go down because they are based on the property being used as farmland. Taxes are higher on land that can be developed as subdivisions or for other residential uses.To develop the property for residential use would require going to court to overturn the easement, says Elizabeth Juris, of the Michigan Department of Agriculture.The Richardson's farm is about 2.5 miles outside the Village of Vicksburg, where people are buying up 40 acre pieces of property and putting a house in the middle of it, Juris says. The state program is designed to head off such practices.The Richardson's 906 acres is 80 percent farmland used for wheat, soybeans and corn planted in rotation. The remaining 20 percent is wooded property along the Portage River and Portage Creek. The State of Michigan will publicly thank the Richardsons for their donation in a special ceremony April 30 at the farm, 16611 S. 24th St. Vicksburg.Writer: Kathy JenningsSource: Elizabeth Juris, Michigan Department of Agriculture

Three Kalamazoo-area companies team up to compost cups

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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April 29, 2010

Three Kalamazoo-area companies have cups in common.Kalamazoo-based Fabri-Kal makes the cups, Bell's Eccentric Cafe serves up its brew in them, and Mulder's Landscape Supplies, Inc., mulches them after they have been used.Greenware, made by Fabri-Kal, are the cups. The cold drink cups and lids are made entirely from plants -- not petroleum. The resources used in the polymer that goes into the cups can be replenished naturally within one year. Made from a biopolymer, the Greenware product line is 100 percent compostable in municipal or industrial facilities.Greenware products require a specific temperature and level of humidity to compost correctly, which is why they are certified by the Biodegradable Plastics Institute, and meet international standards for composting.Since Southwest Michigan does not have a composting facility operated by a municipality the three companies teamed up to make sure the cups would be properly returned to the earth. Fabri-Kal's Vice President of Marketing John Kittredge calls this the cradle-to-cradle approach and says such local efforts are "smart, simple and truly beneficial economically, socially and environmentally." Mulder's handles the composting of leaves and yard waste for the city of Kalamazoo and has the capability to compost the Greenware cups alongside other natural waste."The Greenware cups are amazing to work with because they are 100 percent compostable," says Art Mulder, president and owner of the landscape supplies company. "We mix them in our leaf compost, and the compost in turn is sold and used in gardens throughout the Kalamazoo area."Bell's Eccentric Cafe has reduced its trash output 80 percent by volume, just by diverting their Greenware cups from landfill, says Evan Meffert, Sustainability Coordinator at Bell's Brewery.Writer: Kathy JenningsSource: Kate Kirkpatrick, Fabri-Kal

Miller College graduates will go out wearing green

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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April 29, 2010

When the 2010 graduating class of Miller College marches across the stage at McCamly Plaza they'll be wearing the expected black cap and gowns. But these "black" gowns are really "green." The new gowns are biodegradable and will break down in a landfill within a year. The school is using the Sustainable Element gowns sold by the Minneapolis-based Jostens for the first time this year. The product contains acetate fabric fiber made from natural wood harvested exclusively from renewable managed forests. It even comes in environmentally friendly packaging, says Jenny Andrews, marketing and communications director for Miller College.Students can go a step further and return the gowns to Josten. The company promises to put them in a landfill and spend $1 on an environmental sustainability project.Although the zippers do not biodegrade with the rest of the gown, they are made of 100-percent recycled materials. The school also will be using invitations and diplomas made from recycled paper.The school is working to take small steps toward sustainability that make sense for the small, but growing student body in Battle Creek, Andrews says.In the fall of 2009 the school counted 100 new students -- a 56-percent increase over the previous year's numbers. The school draws students from Calhoun, Barry, Branch, Eaton and Kalamazoo counties.Writer: Kathy JenningsSource: Jenny Andrews, Miller College

Business mushrooms for man with roots in Paw Paw

By Newsroom

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Environment & Sustainability

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April 22, 2010

A former Paw Paw resident has found his niche as an entrepreneur in a sustainable agriculture business, reports the Courier-Leader.Alex Velez graduated from University of California at Berkeley in May of 2009. Right away, he and his business partner, Nikhil Arora, founded a 100 percent sustainable urban mushroom farm called BTTR (Back to the Roots, pronounced better). Excerpt:"It's not work when you're loving what you're doing," said Velez, who puts in more than 100 hours working seven days per week.BTTR grows gourmet oyster mushrooms on recycled coffee grounds, an idea that percolated for Velez and Arora in an ethics class at UC Berkeley.During the lecture, they learned mushrooms grow well in hard woods and that the main component of hard woods is cellulose. Similarly, coffee has a lot of cellulose."We started brainstorming," said Velez.According to Velez, getting the business under way took about six months of research. After successfully growing their first mushroom, they didn't waste any time."We went to Whole Foods with our mushroom in a little Ace Hardware bucket," he said.The story goes on to say the natural and organic food giant quickly recognized BTTR's potential. Three weeks later Velez and Arora received an e-mail from the Whole Foods President for Northern California Floral and Produce Department. January marked BTTR's first major delivery of oyster mushrooms to Whole Foods Northern California stores — totaling 30 stores in all. The story also reports BTTR has sold 7,500 pounds of mushrooms to date. Now Whole Foods is purchasing 500 pounds per week.To find out about the celebrity chefs who are using the oyster mushrooms in their cooking read the rest of the story.Source: Courier-Leader

St. Joseph unleashes canine sculptures on the community

By Newsroom

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Economic Development

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April 22, 2010

Sculptures of cows, frogs, cars, peacocks, tigers, bears and an array of other animals and objects have been painted by artists over the years in pursuit of public art that doubles as an economic development tool. Now St. Joseph is joining in the movement with its Hot Diggity Dogs Unleashed Art In St. Joseph display May 21 to Oct. 1. The idea is to dress up the city and have fun while drawing visitors to the beach and nearby businesses. Some 34 painted pooches by local artists will be posed about the city. Writer: Kim North Shine Source: Susan Solon, Communications and Marketing, City of St. Joseph