Welcome to Going Green! This blog was formerly Alliance Library System’s Going Green for Libraries blog. Unfortunately, due to budget cuts and staff lay offs, ALS core services have been drastically reduced. Therefore, May 28th will be my last day as an ALS employee. I will try to keep updating the blog as I find new green information. It contains lots of useful information for not only libraries, but for EVERYONE that wants to make their life a little greener. The downloadables, posts, and resources will remain, but future information may not necessarily be directed at libraries. I hope members still find it useful.
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Today’s Going Green Workshop: Green Programming has been archived and is now available for anyone to view: http://als.acrobat.com/p85359677/
Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions regarding this program. This will unfortunately be our last Going Green program due to the changes in staffing and core services at Alliance. For more information please see: http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com/article.cfm?id=1356 Instead of continuing this as an Alliance Library System blog, I will be able to take this over as my own personal blog. I will be leaving everything intact, and I hope I will be able to update it in the future. Future posts may not be geared directly toward libraries, but they will still focus on making your life a little greener. I will continue to focus on green resources, activities, and ideas that will apply to everyone. All current posts and materials that are geared toward libraries will remain. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have a suggestion for a post. Depending on my employment status and career path, I might not have as much time to keep keep the blog updated, so every little bit helps! Thank you everyone for reading, and I hope you continue to find this blog useful!
On May 24th, Alliance will be hosting our next Going Green Workshop on Green Programming. This will be a fun workshop, exploring fun activities for all ages. We will take a tour of some websites and talk about crafts, games, green holidays, booklists, and more! This workshop will take place in Adobe Connect. For more information or to register, please see L2. There will be handouts available as well as the link to enter our Adobe Connect room early next week. Please feel free to contact me at sbaschieri@alliancelibrarysystem.com if you have any comments, concerns, suggestions, or questions! I hope to see lots of people there!
DoYourPart.com is a great website with videos, newsletters, and syndicated columns filled with easy, affordable, and practical ways you can make every day a little greener. The Do Your Part team’s goal is to provide everyday green living ideas to busy moms, dads, and kids. Here you will find tips for your home, green giveaways, ways to get involved, and much more! There are even daily “Green Dish” videos so you’re sure to always find something new. There are so many green resources for around the yard, food and entertaining, green cleaning, head to toe, in your home, kids, pets, and saving money and resources, that you are practically guaranteed to find something useful. Most of the ideas you will find on DoYourPart.com will actually save you money and make your environment healthier and more eco-friendly. No matter what type of environmental tip you are looking for, you’re sure to find it here!
Since our most recent Green Workshop focused on Green Buildings, this article couldn’t have come at a better time. Each year, Technology Review selects the ten most important emerging technologies. One of those trends is green concrete. I was not aware that the process of making cement for concrete generates a lot of carbon dioxide, but conventional cement is the world’s third-largest industrial contributor of CO2, mainly due to the high-temperature kilns required to make traditional cement pastes. According to this article, “The 2.8 billion metric tons of cement produced worldwide in 2009 contributed about 5 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions.” Several start up companies are trying to reduce the cement’s carbon footprint. One of these companies, London-based startup Novacem, is trying to eliminate those emissions with a cement that absorbs more carbon dioxide than is released during its manufacture. It locks away as much as 100 kilograms of the greenhouse gas per ton. It is certainly an interesting idea and a trend worth watching!
For more information:
This morning was the first workshop in our Going Green series on Green Buildings. The program covered LEED Certification, reasons to go green, things you can do to make your library a little greener, and took a glimpse at the future of green buildings and sustainability. If you would like to view the recording of this workshop, it is available through the following URL: http://als.acrobat.com/p76009787/ The workshop was held in Adobe Connect, so you do not need to install any plug-ins to view the archive. The next workshop in this series will be held on May 24th at 10am and will cover green programming ideas. This workshop will give you ideas to entertain patrons of all ages. From crafts to booklists to online activities, this workshop will take a tour of websites that make going green fun! For more information or to register, please see L2.
ALS will be hosting the first workshop in the Going Green Series: Green Buildings on Monday, April 26 that 10am. This program will give you a variety of ideas to make your library a little greener. The online workshop is open to anyone. Everyone is welcome to attend!
The workshop will give you ideas to assist you in meeting the 2011”Going Green” Per Capita Grant requirement once it becomes available. Some suggestions will take very little time and effort, while others will require some planning and budgeting. You will also get a glimpse into the future of green libraries as we discuss topics like LEED Certification and sustainable development. The content is designed to appeal to libraries of all types and sizes. For more information on the workshop, to register, or to get connected to the program, please see L2.
American Libraries has a great Green Your Library blog, and last Tuesday’s posts featured a fun green crossword puzzle. It is a great activity to use with your students or patrons for Earth Day! You can go to the blog and download the puzzle as a Word Document. If you want to be green, you can play online! Once you are finished, or if you get stumped, the answers are posted here. The puzzle is a great educational tool. I must admit, I was stumped by several answers! Good luck and have fun!
Since Spring is officially here, it is a perfect time to surround yourself with flowers. If you are looking for a pretty, new, environmentally friendly vase, here are two great ideas.
Make a Stenciled Flower Vase from Recycled Materials. It is easy and all you need is an empty water bottle, scrap fabric, a brush, paint, scissors, needle and thread, permanent marker, and clear adhesive paper. You can probably decorate the fabric in other ways, or you may even want to use construction paper instead. Depending on the audience, this concept can be applied to all ages and skill levels.
If you don’t want to use fabric and paint, you might want to try this idea from Wikihow. Make a vase out of a plastic bottle with just scissors and some careful folding. The end result is a pretty vase that looks like crystal. It is unbreakable and can even be recycled later. I would love to try this one.
If you do try either of these projects, or any other craft idea, I would love to see pictures!
Today was the kickoff workshop to Alliance Library System’s Going Green series. It focused on general ways to make your library a little greener. Upcoming workshops in this series will cover Green Buildings, Green Programming and Activities, and Green Financial Resources. If you would like to view the archive of today’s program, you may access it through the following URL: http://als.acrobat.com/p29545894/
All resources, links, and tips mentioned in this program are found on this blog! If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for future workshops, please don’t hesitate to contact me at sbaschieri@alliancelibrarysystem.com. The next workshop on Green Buildings will be held online on April 26th at 10:00am. If you would like more information or to register, please see L2.
There is a new Green Booklist added to the Downloadables section of this blog. The Reduce, Recycle, Reuse, Read list was sent out by Cathy Hochadel through the YALSA-BK list serve and is a compilation of titles that addresses many aspects of “Going Green.” There are fiction titles with brief summaries as well as non-fiction titles. You may download the PDF from the Downloadables Tab at the top of this blog, or by clicking here. You will also find many great books for children of all ages at http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6673571.html
