That’s Arbor Day here in North Carolina. 

Of course trees keep the air and water clean, provide shade, save energy, reduce carbon dioxide and look good. Trees also filter rainfall and reduce the amount of sediment and other pollutants entering waterways and drinking water sources. 

Some tips from the Forest Division:

• Consider planting native trees. Native plants typically require less maintenance because they are suited to the local soils and climate.
• Remember to plant trees in an appropriate and safe location. Before you plant a tree, know what it looks like at maturity and its site requirements such as height, crown spread and proximity to electrical wires and buildings.
• When planting a tree, the available planting space above and below ground is crucial to its survival.

The N.C. Division of Forest Resources has about 50 different native North Carolina tree species.

This year, the agency collected the largest amount of seeds in its nursery program’s history with 77,265 pounds of seeds and 1,183 bushels of walnuts collected.

You can order seedlings through the N.C. Division of Forest Resources online at http://dfr.nc.gov, by phone at (888) NC-TREES, at any division office, or from one of the agency’s free catalogs. The catalogs can be found at a county ranger’s office.

The division also will be celebrating with the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources at N.C. State University at the university’s Arbor Day Celebration from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. March 27 on the Raleigh campus. Events include a tree seedling give-away, a plant adoption center for youth as well as presentations from faculty and graduate students.

During the celebration at N.C. State University, this year’s 2010 N.C. Arbor Day Poster contest winner Adrian Dailey, a fifth grader from Village Christian Academy in Fayetteville, will receive a framed copy of her poster depicting this year’s theme “Trees are Terrific…and Energy Wise.” She also will receive a $250 savings bond donated by the N.C. Forestry Association. Her teacher, Julia Aber, will receive a framed copy of the poster and a $200 check from Duke Energy. The prizes will be awarded at noon. All the poster contest entries will be on display. For a schedule, please visit http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/forestry/arborday. 

The official North Carolina Arbor Day is celebrated on the first Friday after March 15. National Arbor Day is on the last Friday in April. Municipalities may celebrate Arbor Day at different times, depending on the best time of the year to plant trees in that area.

To find out more about the benefits of trees, visit The International Society of Arboriculture Web site at www.treesaregood.com, or contact Leslie Moorman, the state’s Urban Forestry Program coordinator, at (919) 857-4842. For information on indigenous plants and trees, check out N.C. State University’s Web page “Going Native” at http://www.ncsu.edu/goingnative/index.html.

According to the organizers, the group will plant 250 trees in partnership with the city’s NeighborWoods program, whose goal is to plant 2,000 trees annually. Volunteers for the Spring Planting will assist with planting street trees in the adjoining neighborhoods opposite the Boys Club on Raleigh Boulevard and the neighborhood west of N State street near St. Augustine’s College.

The group will gather behind the Boys Club at Milburnie and Raleigh Boulevard. Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker will speak at 9:30 while doughnuts and juice are served. Break-dancers, a graffiti wall, and SPCA animals will also take part in the festivities. After the tree planting, 42nd Street Oyster Bar in Raleigh will provide barbecue sandwiches and side dishes.

Volunteers are advised to wear colorful, old clothes and gloves, and bring their own shovels and rakes if possible. Parking will be available at the Mary Phillips High School, 1023 Milburnie Road, around the corner from the Boys Club. Volunteers are also asked to bring completed Release From Liability forms, which are available at http://www.treesacrossraleigh.org/volunteer.htm.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — When Robert Smith attends the local Green Drinks gatherings he’s there to meet and greet like-minded folks, a community as he calls them.

“It’s very important to form a community,” Smith, who sells solar electric power systems for Sun Power Systems, said as he mingled at last month’s Green Drinks meeting at Krankies Coffee in downtown Winston-Salem. “One of the things we hope to accomplish here is to educate the public about the necessity for sustainability.”

The group meets the fourth Tuesday of every month at various venues in Winston-Salem, mostly downtown. The local Green Drinks is part of an international network that started in 1989 in a pub called the Slug and Lettuce in northern London. Sarah Olson, who co-owns Leap Realty with her husband, Jon, started Winston-Salem Green Drinks in early 2008. At the time, there were more than 400 cities throughout the world with these gatherings.

“Basically, you pick a place and pick a time, invite some people and watch it grow,” Sarah Olson said. The local group started with six members and is up to about 400.

An average of 20 people show up on slow nights, but generally there are about 60 members at each gathering. There’s usually a sponsor for each meeting.

Last month, it was the Yadkin Riverkeeper, which advocates for the protection of the Yadkin River, celebrating the opening of a new office on Patterson Avenue near Krankies. It was Green Drinks’ biggest gathering – about 250 people.

Zoe Hanes, the president of the Yadkin Riverkeeper organization, said that Green Drinks is a great opportunity for people with similar interests to network and find common interests.

“You just never know who you’re going to run into,” Hanes said.

There is no sponsor this month, but representatives of Piedmont Environmental Alliance will be at the Green Drinks meeting next Tuesday at Finnegan’s Wake on Trade Street.

They will talk about their plans for the Earth Day Fair on April 17 at Wake Forest University. Green Drinks is mostly for people working on or studying environmental issues, but anyone can attend the meetings.

Gail Williams of Winston-Salem has attended the meetings for about a year. She is a licensed massage and bodywork therapist and an advocate for toxic-free personal-care products.

She said she has also taken classes on photovoltaics, a solar technology, at N.C. State University.

“I’ve been an advocate of solar energy, and I’m just thrilled there is an outlet for green issues in this town,” she said.

Smeeta Souza-Roy of Winston-Salem attended the meeting for the first time last month with her husband, Himanshu Gopalan, a professor at Winston-Salem State University, who started going to the meetings last fall.

Gopalan said he is working with about 22 WSSU faculty members to start environmental studies at the school. His wife said that it was important for her to be at the gathering to meet people who think the way she does about, for example, renewable energy.

“It’s taking care of the Earth,” Souza-Roy said. “It’s the only Earth we’ve got.”

Backed by achievements in energy, transportation and academic programs, NC State’s balanced approach to sustainability helped garner the No. 4 ranking.

NC State’s alternative transportation options are specifically lauded. These include free commuting options like the “GoPass” that is available to all faculty, staff and students for use on the regional bus system, as well as “WolfWheels,” a bicycle-rental program launching March 29.

“WolfWheels is an excellent example of what can happen when students and staff work together to create smart solutions for some of our most challenging issues,” says Charlie Leffler, NC State vice chancellor for finance and business. “The program will provide our campus with a commuting option that is both healthy for the user and low-impact on the environment.”

NC State also scored high for infrastructure improvements, such as the work to retrofit Cates Steam Plant into a co-generation facility. The combined heat and power plant is expected to provide 11 megawatts of power and reduce NC State’s greenhouse gases by roughly 13 percent.
Other recent improvements, such as retrofitting Bragaw Residence Hall into the largest residence hall in the country with LED lighting, highlight NC State’s green commitment.

NC State’s comprehensive approach to sustainability also includes diverse course offerings, such as the interdisciplinary agroecology minor and environmental policy offerings.

Find out on this nifty recycling Web site: http://1800recycling.com/.

This 450-foot section of trail is in the middle of the recently completed 2-mile stretch of the White Oak Creek Greenway between NC Highway 55 and Green Level Church Road. It is anticipated to reopen in January 2012. While the trail is closed, there will be no detours or alternate connections between the two ends of the trail. All other parts of the White Oak Creek Greenway will remain open.

“Citizens using White Oak Creek Greenway should be advised that it does extend under Highway 55 via a pedestrian tunnel and continue east for another 1.8 miles, connecting to White Oak Park and Davis Drive Park,” said Doug McRainey, Town of Cary Parks Planning Manager. “In addition, we are also proud to offer citizens 23 public parks and 50 miles of other greenways and trails to enjoy while this part of White Oak Creek Greenway is closed.”

The White Oak Creek Greenway originates in Bond Park and will eventually connect to the American Tobacco Trail. The 2.2-mile section west of Highway 55 to Green Level Church Road was completed in 2008. The crossing for the White Oak Creek Greenway is one of five crossings included in the construction of the Triangle Expressway. Other greenways that will safely cross the Expressway in the future include: Batchelor Branch, Panther Creek, Morris Brant and Nancy Branch Greenways.

Direct questions about the Western Wake Freeway segment of the Triangle Expressway to Raleigh Durham Roadbuilders at comments@westernwakeinfo.com or (919) 369-5100.

To help share information relevant to Cary citizens regarding the Triangle Expressway construction project, the Town of Cary has also established a special Triangle Expressway page at www.townofcary.org.

Application Form

The Chatham County Board of Commissioners finished forming the board March 1 to advise county commissioners on green building and sustainable energy policies and procedures and increase public awareness those opportunities.

“The creation of this advisory board is an important step in positioning Chatham County to attract high quality green-collar jobs and industries,” said Chatham County Commissioner Tom Vanderbeck, who will serve as liaison to the board.

The county’s economic development strategic plan includes energy conservation, alternative energy and green technology services as one of seven industry “clusters” that the Chatham County Economic Development Corporation has targeted for economic growth through retention, growth, and attraction of jobs in this area.

GBASE will have eleven voting members with diverse backgrounds, experience, education, training, or interest in green building and sustainable energy. Advisory board members will serve staggered, four-year terms, with approximately half of the members appointed every two years.

A selection committee will review all applications and formal appointments will be approved by the Board of Commissioners. The advisory board is expected to hold its first meeting in June 2010.

Students who complete the programs are awarded certificates demonstrating proficiency in the following areas:

●    Smart Home Technology: The “smart” home includes devices
that automate lighting and manage energy consumption. In this program, students will learn to install energy-efficient lighting, temperature, and water systems and to perform post-installation service and maintenance.
●    Home Analyst for Safety and Energy Savings: The Home Analyst
program provides the skills to evaluate energy usage through a complete home audit, and to make recommendations to homeowners about how to achieve greater energy efficiency.

The new programs, which begin March 29 at Wake Tech’s Plastics Technology Center in Zebulon, are supported by a $20,000 grant from the North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund. They expand Wake Tech’s existing green technology offerings, which include programs in alternative fuels, hybrid vehicle technologies, and green building fundamentals.

Unemployed and under-employed workers, including former tobacco farmers and other displaced agriculture workers, may qualify for free tuition by completing a Career Readiness assessment. For more information, visit http://greenjobs.waketech.edu.

Currently Site 14, which is located in the New Hill historic district, is the preferred location for the Western Wake Regional Wastewater Management Facility, causing great concern among New Hill residents and their supporters.  The Environmental Justice Summit will focus on the history and legacy of environmental racism in North Carolina, and on environmental consequences that Site 14 will place on the New Hill community.

New Hill is a rural, majority-minority community in Western Wake County, located near the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant.  Since 2005 residents have been opposing efforts by the Western Wake Partners (an organization comprised of the towns of Apex, Cary, Holly Springs and Morrisville) to place a wastewater treatment plant in middle of their community.

Speakers at the summit will include Gary Grant, Director of the NC Environmental Justice Network, attorney Chris Brook of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, Dr. Steve Wing, a UNC Chapel Hill researcher and epidemiologist, Reverend James Clanton of the First Baptist Church New Hill, and Paul Barth, President of the New Hill Community Association.

Time: 8:30 AM -12:00 PM
Where: First Baptist Church New Hill 3016 New Hill Holleman Road
New Hill, NC 27562

North Carolinians may soon be thanking pigs for powering their light bulbs.

The state’s electric utilities are looking for business partners that will convert swine waste into electricity. They’ll pay more than they spend, themselves, to generate power from coal, natural gas or nuclear fuel. But the cost will hardly be recognizable on utility bills.

Duke Energy residential customers are expected to pay 16 cents more each month.

North Carolina is on the verge of realizing some of the benefits of 2007 legislation that aims to reduce the burning of fossil fuels in power plants. The legislation requires the state’s utilities, over the coming decade, to hit benchmarks for the use of a number of alternative fuels. One is swine waste, and the utilities must produce .07 percent of their electricity from it next year. That share rises to .14 percent in 2015 and .20 percent in 2018.

According to a report on the Carolina Journalism Network, an online publication at UNC Chapel Hill, the utilities hope farmers will put swine waste into bioreactors and convert it to a biofuel and organic fertilizer. The biofuel will produce electricity, and the fertilizer can be used or sold.
If the whole process works, everyone wins. The swine waste now stored in lagoons, which is an environmental disaster waiting to happen, will be put to a good use producing clean electricity. The air around farms will not smell as bad because the lagoons will be capped. And farmers should generate new cash from the sale of both electricity and fertilizer.

There’s even a possibility that such processes will increase the number of hogs that any individual farmer can raise.

The primary beneficiary will be North Carolina’s environment. As swine waste sits in lagoons, it releases climate-changing gases. And, as hurricanes approach our coast every fall, the threat of a catastrophic lagoon spill only increases. In heavy rains, lagoons have burst in the past, dumping their waste into rivers and streams.

The 2007 law was a major step forward for North Carolina. Although similar legislation had passed in other parts of the country, this act was the first of its kind in the Southeast.
The utilities aren’t exactly sure of what they will get in their search for bids. But there’s a very good chance that the swine waste-to-fuel industry, which for so long has been a distant promise, is ready to get started.

It may be years before a significant amount of electricity is generated in this fashion. But we’re on our way. And, considering the number of hogs in this state, there’s almost no limit to the potential here.