The Sustainability Institute has been chosen as the Whole Foods Market 5% nonprofit recipient for Tuesday, March 31st. The Whole Foods 5% Day project is part of the company’s community giving program, and does a great job supporting local nonprofits around the country. If you want to support The Sustainability Instititute, be sure to stop [...]

What do The Charleston Battery, Lowcountry Local First, and Nikki Seibert have in common? They are the visionary eco-focused local superstars being honored at the 4th Annual Sustainable Community Awards. The Sustainability Institute is throwing a huge shindig down at the South Carolina Aquarium tonight, at $35 will get you in the door. This is [...]

Have you noticed the new captions in the produce department of Harris Teeter? Cute handwritten bubble signs announcing, “locally grown.” No kidding. Cabbages, collards, mustard greens, peaches, grape tomatoes, and others display their hometown pride. It is reassuring that a regional, but large, grocery store is utilizing the farms here in the Carolinas. The shipping [...]

I just got back from the Fossil Fools Day demonstration downtown, and I have to say that I was stoked at the amount of attention the Alliance for Planet Earth (C of C’s student-run environmental group) was able to bring to this issue. The TV stations and newspapers were all there, and heard about how [...]

Our children are inheriting a planet that is warming. Educating our children about climate change can be daunting, as it can be an overwhelming topic. I do not want to frighten my boys, nor leave them with a sense of hopelessness. It requires careful consideration, but I believe the earlier they know about our planet’s [...]

Last week, Melanie sent me a link to Santee Cooper Green, the state-owned energy company‘s environmental portal. They generate and provide electricity to Berkeley, Georgetown, and Horry county residents, as well as 20 electric co-ops around the state. In fact, they provide the juice to 41% of South Carolina – a statistic that makes anything [...]

Chad was suffering from a drippy cold, and came home with two boxes of Kleenex. I’m pretty sure I made an audible gasp when I saw those cute designer boxes, but I said nothing to Chad. He had a bad cold after all. I mean, have you ever seen his nose? I used a few [...]

Driving all around town shopping for holiday gifts is a resource hog – too much time, too much gas, too much hassle. That’s why I’ve turned to Amazon.com year after year to help reduce my trips into the seasonal chaos. And while this is a welcome convenience, all those boxes do generate a mountain of [...]

I think the retailers at the Mount Pleasant Town Center are trying to create a micro-climate out on the sidewalks – a land where it’s always cool and dry, and energy is generated via the swiping of credit cards. This phenomenon of keeping doors open to attract shoppers is hideous, and flat out embarrassing in [...]

One week after I discovered that Limited Brands management was asking store employees to leave the doors open, nothing has changed. I walked by the stores on an 85° evening, and the doors were wide open again (see new photos), allowing energy-intensive cold air to spill out onto the sidewalk. When I spoke to the [...]

I’m a Disney geek. To me, one of the many benefits of living in the Charleston area is the relatively close proximity to Walt Disney World. Only a six hour drive (in the Prius!) and we’re practically in the Magic Kingdom. We try to make it down annually, if the budget allows, and we avoid [...]

I’m in some sort of green-shock after walking by a couple of Mount Pleasant Town Center stores this weekend whose doors were wide open. It was hot, and Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works were the only stores brazen enough to coax foot traffic off the sidewalk with energy-guzzling cold air. This marketing tactic [...]