1. Exhibitors – There are well over 100 exhibitors to check out, including green builders, food providers, nonprofits, transportation, and energy solutions.
2. It’s FREE – There are no doors to Marion Square, so come on down.
3. The KidZone – Inspiring our kids to be more sustainable is an important part of the solution, and there will be plenty of cool activities in the KidZone.
4. Live Music – Check out headliner Jesse Colin Young on the main stage, which is sponsored by the fabulous Coastal Conservation League.
5. Speaker Tent – The learning never stops, so check out the speaker tent for a wide array of sustainability-focused presentations.
6. Nonprofit Education Tent – Come check out all the local dogooders (including us!) that are making a difference in our community.
7. Sustainable Seafood Cooking Contest – Watch as local chefs are challenged to create tasty meals using local and sustainable ingredients that you get to sample.
8. Inspiration – Sometimes it feels like you’re the only one trying to make a difference. It’s not true, and the Green Fair will inspire you to continue your efforts.
9. You Can Meet Us – OK, maybe not a can’t miss reason, but we can’t wait to meet YOU!

The Charleston Green Fair kicks off at noon on Sunday, September 27.

Earth Day is also a birthday for us (we launched on Earth Day 2007), and these last two years have been a blast! We hope you keep reading the site, contributing to discussions, and helping us help you make Charleston a greener place.

Let’s keep going green Charleston!

Please support the SC Aquarium and the many programs it provides to our community. We are lucky to have them and their mission in our lives! (thanks Chloe!)

When I visit places like San Francisco, Portland, Vancouver, and Montreal, I always notice how progressive the airports and hotels seem (I’ve blogged about this here and here). The hotels I stay in always have programs promoting the reuse of towels, recycling bins rooms, and CFLs in all the lights.

That got me thinking about Charleston’s hotels, and what sustainable practices they are using. I decided to call around and ask the major Charleston hotels five simple questions – the results are in the Hotel Scorecard below.

I asked the hotels if they were doing these five simple things…things that cost relatively little money. Sure it would be nice if hotels were using solar energy, collecting rainwater, and composting, but those things are difficult and expensive to implement. I wanted to see if Charleston hotels were doing any of these simple things, because I see other hotels doing them when I travel.

As you can see, the Charleston hotels aren’t doing much at all. I gotta hand it to the Francis Marion Hotel and Embassy Suites for at least using CFLs and encouraging the reuse of towels, but there’s room for improvement across the board. I mean, two of these hotel chains have web pages bragging about their sustainability efforts (see below). I’d like to see the rest of the hotels adopt a couple of these practices, even if it’s just to save money instead of the planet – I’ll take it.

I’d also like to note that the Hampton Inn and Holiday Inn refused to participate in my survey, citing corporate regulations on discussing these things (OK?) If you have connections at any of these hotels, please pass along this information and ask that they green up their hotels. Look for this report to come out again in one year with updated scores.

What do you all think about this?  Should hotels green up their practices, or is it our responsibility when we travel to do it ourselves?

Let the Hotels Know What You Think

Help us tell these hotels that Charleston deserves greener digs, and that they should be doing a better job as hosts to thousands of tourists each year. Two of these hotels have sustainability sections on their websites talking about all the amazing things they are doing – we call that greenwashing, and it’s not enough. Let them know what you think:

Embassy Suites: phone | email | website | sustainability
Charleston Marriott: phone | email | website | sustainability
Charleston Place Hotel: phone | email | website
Francis Marion Hotel: phone | email | website
The Mills House: phone | email | website
The Market Pavilion: phone | email | website

Here are a six new additions to the Guide:

• EcoBilt - sustainable constuction and retrofitting
• Charleston Green Taxi - local hybrid cab service
• MaidPure - an organic cleaning company
• Green.SC - green portal for South Carolina
• Uniserv - a naturl take on facilities maintenance
• Greenframe Charleston - green building construction

Please support these local businesses. Happy greening everyone!

Lately we’ve had local food on the brain, so I was able to add  Legare Farms, Jeremiah Farm and Blue Dog Farms to the guide. If you’re trying to make some changes to your home or office, we’ve added Carolina’s Eco-Unit and SolarTEK Energy of Charleston. Learn to cook slow and natural at Slow Food Charleston, or hire Green Irene to help make your home as green as it can be. We’ve also added MESSA, the C of C’s environmental graduate program that has been doing amazing work locally.

We also want to give a shout out to TheDigitel, the local news site that is pure Charleston. If you like to consume your daily news online, live or die by your smart phone, and appreciate smart enthusiastic reporting, TheDigitel is the local news source you’ve been looking for. And don’t forget, gobbling your news up digitally saves trees! We’re proud to be a bronze sponsor this week…thanks Ken!

How else are you greening up this year? Let us know in our new poll (over to the right), or share something in the comments. We’re looking at green options for some home improvements this year, but have already kicked off the new year by greening up our new baby.

Feel free to participate in the holiday poll if you missed it – the more data we have the better!

The great minds over at Lowcountry Environmental Education Programs (LEEP) have begun offering a great way to go green AND support the local eco-community: The Lowcountry Green Scene Coupon Book. The book contains valuable coupons for local-area green businesses, which is a great way for you to make a difference locally. Also, all of these businesses dontated their discounts to the environmental programs that LEEP offers to our community…so this is a clear Win Win! Be sure to check it out!

Soyful Candle Company — Great paraffin-free local candles.
Why Go Eco? — Green consulting for businesses.
Carolina Commuter — Find local travel alternatives.
SC Green — Great new nonprofit with huge potential!
Medicine Wheel — Sustainable design with personal attention