8.19.2010 - Space LLC Green Building Tour
Where: SPACE Architecture + Design
4168 Manchester Avenue
St. Louis, MO 63110
When: Thursday August 19th
Tours - 5:30 - 7:00 pm
Socializing - 7:00 - 9:00 pm at Atomic Cowboy
An Evening of Energy Efficiency, Urban Renewal, and ROI Blended in One Refreshing Design Cocktail!
SPACE Architecture + Design used approximately $52,000 in local and federal incentives to improve the efficiency of their new 7,500 sq ft studio in St. Louis' resurgent Grove District. The studio's innovative systemic design includes a heating/cooling system that utilizes 15 geothermal wells buried 200' below the parking lot, a rooftop solar array, cooling fins, desiccant wheel and radiant flooring. The heating and cooling system and other efficiency enhancements translate to 51% less energy use than a similar sized facility built at the City baseline and approximately 50-75% monthly energy consumption savings potential. The system will pay for itself in six years.
What does efficiency look like? Does it pay?
See for yourself and learn more about how effective policy shapes programs like those that helped to make the new SPACE studio a reality- and how Missouri can do more.
Meet the Renew Missouri clean energy crew - Erin, PJ, and Jason - and our Clean Water team - Caroline and Lorin.
Taste wines from sunny Spain and Argentina poured by Randall's Wines and Spirits.
Park on Manchester Avenue or in the SPACE parking lot. (Head's up: Parking by permit only along the majority of Kentucky Avenue.)
7.21.10 - Art & Ecology
Where: Schlafly Bottleworks
7260 Southwest Ave. (at Manchester)
Maplewood, MO 63143
(314) 241- BEER (2337)
When: Wednesday July 21st, 6:30 to 9pm (panel 7pm)
The ability to see beauty is key to appreciating a thing, be it a painting or a forest. Art has the special ability to engender an intuitive appreciation of the environment, address core values, advocate political action, and broaden intellectual understanding. Join us as we explore the relationship between art and environmental action!
Notes
Four panelists joined us for a discussion on Art & Ecology:
Louis Lankford
Endowed professor in Art Education at UMSLLouis provided us with an overview of ways in which arts educators are working to integrate sustainability into school art programs. Hopefully he will provide a few examples of what an "eco-artist" is and how art can serve as a means to developing future generations of eco-literate citizens.
Brea McAnally
Photographer & program director for the Luminary Center for the ArtsBrea is an artist herself, and in addition to working as a photographer, she co-founded the Luminary Center for the Arts. Many of us South City residents are curious about the Kingshighway establishment, and how the Luminary can assist local artists. She'll told us a little more about the organization, and also more about their upcoming event, the FORM Contemporary Design Show. The event is an annual contemporary furniture, functional object and architectural design show in Saint Louis and looks like a good time.
B.J. Vogt
Independent artist and adjunct lecturer at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual ArtBJ is a local artist exploring the fields of physical science, anthropology, and culture jamming in an effort to understand the dynamic forces that shape our mental & physical landscapes. He often creates 'natural' environments or settings using mass produced or easily replicated 'man-made' materials. He brought a few visuals for us, and let us know where he's currently exhibiting, including the 2010 Open Studios Tour.
Steven Boody
Landscape architect and co-founder of Public Art &Practice, LLCSteve Boody has a background in landscape architecture and public administration, and co-founded Public Art & Practice, LLC in 2004 with artist Diane Boody. They currently spend a great deal of time developing & implementing public art master plans and individual public art projects. His projects have included 1) the First National Bank of Omaha's sculpture park, which has won multiple prestigious awards and 2) closer to home, the installation of Sculptor Blair Buswell's impressive larger-than-life-size monument is a portrait of San Carlos Borromeo near the City of St. Charles' historic main street.
Questions Asked of the Panelists
- What exactly is a "salmon ladder"?
- What are your thoughts on our CityGarden here in St. Louis?
- Community artist and activist Milenko Matanovic, founder of the Pomegranate Center in Washington says that it is the job of the artist to "turn the sword," to turn ugliness and fragmentation into beauty and meaning. This has deep implications for the environmental movement as we struggle with some of the ugliness - habitat loss, climate change, etc. How do you see yourselves changing ugliness in to beauty in your own work? Have you seen examples in your professional career?
- Describe the art scene in St. Louis. Is it conducive to environmental inclinations? How progressive would you say it is, compared to other cities?
- An article in last week's issue of Newsweek reported that according to one respected study, the "CQ" (creativity score equivalent to IQ) of American children was declining. Do you think art has the ability to inspire creativity in the American populace? Can artists be counted on as problem-solvers for crises faced in today's culture?
6.22.10 - Garden Tour: Bowood Farms
Where: Bowood Farms
4605 Olive Street (in the CWE) ( directions)
Saint Louis, Missouri 63108
(314) 454-6868
When: Tuesday June 22nd, 6:00 to 8:30pm
Join us for a happy hour at Cafe Osage, the elegant green restaurant attached to the city's coolest nursery and garden center Bowood Farms, followed by a personal tour of the restaurant's kitchen garden, now blooming on a former vacant lot across the street, at 7:00 p.m.
$3 suggested donation.
5.19.10 - StL Green Drinks 5th Anniversary
Where: The Green Center
8025 Blackberry Ave. ( directions)
St Louis, MO 63130
(314) 725-8314
When: Wednesday May 19th, 6:30 to 9pm
St.Louis Green Drinks invites you to help celebrate our 5th year of connecting St. Louisans who care about the earth with each other and the environment!
The Green Center is an arts and environmental education organization dedicated to helping people understand the natural world through hands-on experiences, restoring native habitats, and encouraging artistic expression inspired by nature. If you haven't been there yet, now's your chance to discover one of the area's great green resources!
$5 at the door includes drinks and snacks and live music featuring guitarist Gen Obata.
5.12.10 - Sustainable Food Movement
(International Green Drinks)
Where: Live webcast
When: Wednesday May 12th, 7pm and 8:30pm EDT
Tune in May 12th between 7pm and 8:30pm EDT for a live webcast forum organized by New York's Hudson Valley Green Drinks. The Sustainable Food Movement – which is not limited to the Hudson Valley.
At 7:40pm, the presentation will begin and will include a State of Local Food address by the President of Glynwood and the event will be moderated by Diane Hatz of The Meatrix and Sustainable Table fame.
Local Food Heroes
In conjunction with this international Green Drinks focus, St. Louis Green Drinks would like to recognize our own local food heroes.
Patrick Horrine
http://www.tgmarket.orgCo-founder of Tower Grove Farmers Market in 2006, and Local Harvest Grocery, Local Harvest Café and this year, Downtown STL Farmers Market. Along with his business partner Maddie Earnst and their spouses, families and friends, this group of dynamos is steadily transforming the face of food in St. Louis.
Randy A. Wood
www.sappingtonfarmersmkt.comRandy Wood is one of 6 farmer-owners of Sappington Farmer's Market and a co-owner of Floating Farms (www.floating-farms.com), a hydroponic greenhouse and soon-to-be aquaponic fish farm. As business manager of Farm To Family Naturally, he helps coordinate local food for two Missouri Foundation for Health grants: one with Saint Louis University to provide local products to the Maplewood Richmond Heights School District and another to provide local and healthier choice to local daycare centers in conjunction with Child Day Care Associates of Missouri.
Randy is also on the steering committee for the St Louis Food Policy Council, which will help establish food policy for the greater St Louis area, is one of the original 5 founding members of the East Saint Louis Farmers Market COOP, and is currently working to establish a food producers' coop in Texas county to help rural growers market their products in urban areas.
"We are just in the final stage of trying to pass state legislation that will facilitate the use of local farm raised food into state schools and institutions under State House Bill HB-1833," he notes.
Molly Rockamann
www.earthdancefarms.orgFounder of Earthdance, a nonprofit farmer training center whose mission is to preserve Missouri's oldest organic farm--Miller Farm in Ferguson—while fostering a new generation of organic farmers.
Molly and her crew train 12 apprentices, aka Freshman Farmies, for 10 hours a week. Their time at the farm includes field work, guest speakers, field trips to nearby farms, and staffing the local farmers market. The group's head educator, Molly is a graduate of the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems at University of California Santa Cruz and a Ferguson native.
Healthy Eating with Local Produce (HELP)
healthyeatingwithlocalproduce.blogspot.comThey buy up surplus from local farmers during the summer and process it to be used by the Maplewood Richmond Heights School District during the school year.
Old Northside Grocery Coop
www.onsl.orgBuying local and supplying produce to a food insecure area.
4.14.10 - Making Solar Electricity Affordable
Where: Schlafly Bottleworks
7260 Southwest Ave. (at Manchester)
Maplewood, MO 63143
(314) 241- BEER (2337)
When: Wednesday April 14th, 6:30 to 9pm
Solar electricity has never been more affordable. Prices of PV modules have fallen dramatically in the past year. and Missouri's initiated a generous rebate program in 2010. These factors, combined with a 30% Federal Tax Credits have slashed costs by over 50%. 2010 is renewable energy's day in the sun!
St. Louis Green Drinks welcomes author and solar expert, Dan Chiras, Ph.D., Executive Director of The Evergreen Institute in Gerald, MO. Dan will discuss the highly favorable economics of solar electricity as well as the basics of solar energy -- how solar modules work, the types of systems, and common misunderstandings. Find out what it costs to install a PV system on your home or business and what factors go into the decision to go solar. Dan is author of numerous books on renewable energy, including Power from the Sun, Power from the Wind, and The Homeowner's Guide to Renewable Energy.
Suggested donation: $3
3.24.10 - Eco Trivia Night
Where: Schlafly Bottleworks
7260 Southwest Ave. (at Manchester)
Maplewood, MO 63143
(314) 241- BEER (2337)
When: Wednesday March 24th, 6:30 to 9pm
How Green is Your Brain? Come play Eco Trivia and find out. We'll tease your memory with questions both serious and silly, from the obscure to the absurd! Tables of Four will compete to win drinks, appetizers and cool gifts. Plus, we'll have a Special Prize for the Best (weirdest, coolest, wackiest) Green Table Name!! Round up your friends or come alone and join an impromptu team. Either way, join us for St. Louis' Green Drinks' Second Annual Eco-Trivia night at Schlafly Bottleworks. Tickets are $5 each for this special evening and the opportunity to win great prizes!
Tickets: $5 per person
Please remember, that as this event is being held at a restaurant and bar, please DO NOT BRING any food or beverages to this Trivia Night. Thank you for understanding and supporting Green Drinks' generous patron Schlafly Bottleworks
2.10.10 - Green Business Spotlight
Where: Schlafly Bottleworks
7260 Southwest Ave. (at Manchester)
Maplewood, MO 63143
(314) 241- BEER (2337)
When: Wednesday February 10th, 6:30 to 9pm
"Green" can mean a lot of things, from preserving the planet to the color of money. February's Green Drinks shines a spotlight on local entrepreneurs and businesses who are attempting to merge the two and build a future economy of ecology. From architects and energy auditors to organic, local and alternative retailers—find out who is doing what and why.
If you are interested in the future of green jobs, in starting a green business yourself, or in learning who the socially and environmentally responsible businesses are in St. Louis, please join us for an informative and inspiring evening!
Doors open at 6:30, discussion begins at 7:00.
Suggested donation: $3
January 2010 - Winter Break, Happy New Year
There will be no Green Drinks this month. Check out our upcoming topics, details TBA.
- February 10 - Green Business Spotlight at Schlafly Bottleworks
- March 24 - Green Trivia Night at Schlafly Bottleworks
- April 14 - Socializing & Networking at Schlafly Bottleworks