Seafood is getting increasing scrutiny these days, and it's not reassuring.

Researchers with the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future found that testing of imported seafood by the U S. Food and Drug Administration isn't good enough to say it's safe or to identify whether there are any health risks to consumers.  That's a big deal, because about 85 percent of seafood consumed in the United States comes from other countries.

Based on a review of government data, David Love and others at the center found that the FDA only tests about 2 percent of all seafood imported into the US.  The European Union, by comparison checks 50 percent; Japan 18 percent and Canada 15 percent.

One reason to test: farmed fish and shellfish, a growing share of all seafood, may contain residues of veterinary drugs. Those drugs, given to prevent and treat diseases in the fish, could be harmful to humans at high enough concentrations, or they could cause other unintended consequences, such as antibiotic resistance.

The study found that inspectors detected more drug residues in imported seafood the more they inspected. Drugs showed up more often in Asian farm-raised shrimp and prawns, catfish, crab, tilapia and Chilean salmon than in other seafood products,  according to researchers. Imports from Vietnam had the greatest number of veterinary drug violations among exporting countries, they noted.

The US and the other countries tested all have set limits on the acceptable levels of drug residues in seafood.  But the US, besides checking a smaller percentage of its seafood imports, also tests for fewer different drugs than the EU, Japan and Canada, researchers point out.

In the end, the researchers concluded that the amount of data publicly available from the FDA isn't sufficient to tell whether consumers face any health risks from eating imported seafood.  FDA records, for instance, don't show when fish pass inspection or whether the samples tested were chosen at random or targeted for some reason.

(2007 Baltimore Sun file photo)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 8:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Baltimore's "virtual supermarket," an 18-month old experiment in fighting urban food deserts, has captured some national attention.  Now it only has to catch on better here.

Baltimarket, as it's known, is one of six sustainability programs around the country that are going to be recognized next month at a National League of Cities gathering in Phoenix, Az.  All are examples of "creative collaboration, increased efficiency and enhanced quality of life for residents."

For many city residents, it's not that easy to get fresh fruit and vegetables, because there aren't any supermarkets in their neighborhoods. The corner markets and convenience stores that are nearby just don't carry many perishable items like that. 

Residents lacking cars often took the bus to a grocery store, then had to pay $10 to $15 for a cab ride home with their purchases, according to Laura Fox, coordinator for the online market program with the city health department.

So in March 2010, the city started offering residents of two neighborhoods without many food choices the chance to order groceries and have them delivered to a central location.  The first sites for the experiment were the Orleans Street and Washington Village library branches of the Enoch Pratt Free Library.  Fox said Santoni's supermarket, which already offers online grocery shopping, agreed to participate and waive its delivery fee.

Continue reading "City's "virtual supermarket" gets national recognition " »

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The 2nd annual Charm City Garden Tour rolls out Saturday, Aug. 13, offering a chance to see some of Baltimore's lushest community gardens and sample some locally sourced refreshments at a post-tour garden party.

The tour begins and ends at the Whitelock Community Farm, which figured prominently in a recent Baltimore Sun story I wrote about the greening of Reservoir Hill. The farm is at 940 Whitelock Street, and the tour runs from 2 p.m to 5 p.m., with the garden party from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.  Stick around, and you can catch the open-air movie showing at Reservoir Hill's German Park at 8:30 p.m.

The event is sponsored by Community Greening Resource Network, the UME Baltimore City Master Gardeners and Parks & People Foundation.

A bus tour already is sold out, but space is still available for a bicycle tour covering the same route, which makes stops at gardens in Mount Washington and Park Heights as well as Reservoir Hill. The cost is $15 a head, and cyclists are required to bring their own bike and strongly encouraged to wear helmets.  To reserve a spot, email charmcitygardentour@gmail.com or call 410-448-5663 ext 128.

(Newington Avenue in Reservoir Hill. Baltimore Sun photo by Gabe Dinsmoor)

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How convenient is it to go green? Ask Royal Farms, the Baltimore-based convenience store chain.

The comany's 5,000-square-foot store in Dover, PA is the first Royal Farms to earn LEED certification, the vanguard of a corporate pledge to certify all of their eligible stores under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program sponsored by the U.S. Green Building Council. Company officials celebrated the certification earlier this week.

From the outside, the Dover store, pictured above, doesn't appear any different than a traditional building.  Yet for what Royal Farms' consultant described as a "nominal" cost, the Dover store's designed and built to achieve 21 percent energy savings and use 42 percent less water, among other advantages. Any extra costs to go green were primarily for obtaining the LEED rating and should be easily made up by the operational savings, says Neal Fiorelli, managing partner of Lorax Partnerships of Columbia, the chain's consultant. 

Royal Farms says it has 20 stores that have applied for LEED certification, including a store on Charles Street in Baltimore expected to open later this year. Meanwhile, visitors to the Dover, PA store can pick up a brochure and maybe even get a quick tour to learn about its green features.

(Photo provided by Lorax Partnerships)  

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Looking for some colorful and environmentally friendly plants for your garden or lawn? Now there's a handy online guide to native plants in the Chesapeake Bay region.

With the Native Plant Center, you can search for native plants by name, type, sun exposure, soil texture and moisture - even look for native plants that match the characteristics of popular non-native plants.  The site also features a "geo-locator" so you can identify what plants are suited to your particular location.

Replacing portions of your lawn with native plants suited to local conditions helps local water quality and the bay by reducing the need for fertilizers and pesticides, which can wash into nearby storm drains and streams when it rains. They also cut down on the need for watering.

The online uses the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's native plant database, which is associated with its print publication, Native Plants for Wildlife Habitat and Conservation Landscaping: Chesapeake Bay Watershed.  Other partners in the online portal are the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay and Image Matters, a software consulting firm based in Leesburg, VA.  

(Photo: Asclepias tuberosa, or butterflyweed.  U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service) 

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Homeowners, if you've ever thought about ditching your messy, polluting gasoline-powered lawnmower, here's your chance: Swap it for a cleaner, deeply discounted new battery-powered job.

On Saturday (6/11), consumers can turn in their old gas-powered mowers for a marked-down rechargeable Black & Decker mower.  Buyers get 31 percent off the $379 sticker price for an 18-inch, 36-volt model and 33 percent off the $429 ticket for one with a 19-inch blade and a removable battery.

The swap will take place from noon to 4 p.m. at Cardinal Shehan School, 5407 Loch Raven Boulevard. But don't procrastinate - only 200 mowers will be on hand to sell.

Why go to the trouble? Because more than 17 million gallons of gas get spilled each year nationwide refueling lawn and garden equipment. Some of that winds up in the nearest water way, and some gets into the air, adding to our region's choking summer smog.  Even the gas that gets in the tank pollutes: a single 3.5-horsepower gas mower emits as much smog-forming exhaust as a new car driven 340 miles.

And if you let the mulching mower mulch and leave off bagging the grass clippings, you can have a healthy lawn without needing to fertilize as much - another help for stressed local streams and the Chesapeake Bay. That's why the city of Baltimore and the local watershed group Blue Water Baltimore have teamed up to co-sponsor B&D's mower swap. For more, go here.

(Old mowers being turned in for new electric ones. 2010 Baltimore Sun photo by Kim Hairston)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 8:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Students at the University of Maryland have jumped on a nationwide bandwagon to ban bottled water sales on campus, it seems.

The Washington Post reports that student government groups on the College Park campus have yielded to the pressure and now serve tapwater in pitchers at their meetings and events.    Other schools around the country also are cutting out on the bottled beverage. According to the Post, Goucher College in Baltimore apparently has gone halfway, removing bottles from dining halls and other campus eateries while still offering them at the bookstore and in vending machines.

The rap against bottled water is waste - that Americans are burning up resources and generating mountains of plastic debris for a drink they could easily get from a faucet or fountain somewhere. Of course, the bottles can be recycled, but many aren't, and there's still the energy consumed producing and transporting them.

But some are suggesting it's not an open-and-shut case.  Bottled water helps fight obesity, some say, by offering youthful consumers a more healthful choice than sugar-laden soft drinks in vending machines and at snack bars. That's certainly how the International Bottled Water Association sees it, with a spokesman calling its members' beverage "a healthy, legal product."

There's also the convenience factor - could it be there aren't as many water fountains as there used to be?  And some activists worry that making a fuss about bottled water could alienate the public and lose goodwill for action on other environmental issues arguably of greater importance.

What's your take? Time to dump the throwaway drinks, or is this a diversion from bigger problems? Do you drink bottled water, or carry your own?

(Bottled water on sale in Florida supermarket.  Photo by Tina Russell, Orlando Sentinel)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 4:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)
        

It's that time of year again.  The 8th annual Baltimore Green Week begins April 16 and runs through the 23rd.

The weeklong series of events, lectures and volunteer opportunities leading up to Earth Day is focused on sustainable living. It kicks off with Ecofest, an outdoor festival from noon to 5 p.m. April 16 in Druid Hill Park.

Yoga classes, bike rides around the reservoir and flower arranging lessons are among the activities offered by local producers and organizations. There'll also be food and activities for kids.

Ecofest and Green Week are put on by Baltimore Green Works.  For more, go here.

(Photo courtesy Baltimore Green Works)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Solar panels work best when pointed at the sun, but that orb shifts its location in the sky as the world turns. With the state's help, a Columbia-based firm has come up with a sun "tracking" device that it contends will boost the power solar panels can produce by as much as 30 percent.

Advanced Technology & Research Corp. is making what it calls a Solar Pole Tracker.  It uses a GPS-based controller to follow the sun across the sky, so that solar panels can maximize the energy they absorb.  The company hopes to market the devices for mounting on utility or light poles "in parking lots at shopping malls, business parks, train stations and park-and-rides."

The technology company -- perhaps not coincidentally located on Eli Whitney Drive in Howard County -- received a $1.1 million grant last year from the Maryland Energy Administration to produce 1,200 of its trackers. by March 2012. The state's "clean energy" economic development initiative is underwritten with federal economic stimulus funds.

ATR says it's now seeking government agencies or private businesses to try out its devices.  The gadgets cost $700 to $1760 each, it seems, but the company contends they should pay for themselves in five years' time, with income from renewable energy credits and selling power back to the electric grid.  They also could garner a little extra revenue as mini-billboards, the company points out, with advertising mounted on them, as the above image depicts.

Time will tell if they catch on. Meanwhile, the company says it's working on other solar-tracking devices, a DIY version for homeowners, and one that would be used to mount solar panels on giant industrial wind turbines.  (CORRECTION 2/17 - the solar panel tracker would go on smaller wind turbines, as seen in photo above of one placed on Tilghman Island on the Eastern Shore.) The firm says it's already made one sale, for a solar-powered electric vehicle charging station to be installed in Bethesda this spring.

(Image courtesy ATR)

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In a bid to make Bmore greener, the city is expanding its tryout of locally produced, cleaner-burning biofuels to heat municipal buildings.

The Board of Estimates has approved an agreement to spend up to $1.3 million over the next year to test 440,000 gallons of vegetable-based fuel in the boilers of three city facilities - the Back River wastewater treatment plant, Eastern health center and the Pimlico fire and training complex.  The fuel is to be supplied by New Generation Biofuels, which has a production plant in South Baltimore. 

"Today, Baltimore took a great step twoards becoming a more energy efficient and sustainable city," Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said in a press release announcing the deal.

The city's been testing biofuel from New Generation for the past year, and found it burned much more cleanly than heating oil.   Ted Atwood, director of the city Department of General Services, said the alternative fuel produced far less air pollutiion  - no sulfur or particulate emissions, and greatly reduced nitrogen oxide emissions - an important consideration in a metropolitan area that still suffers bouts of unhealthful smog every spring and summer.

The biofuel, made from vegetable and soybean oil, is no more expensive than heating oil, according to Michael P. Cook, energy chief for the city's general services department.  The biofuel provides just 70 percent of the heat value when burned as does fuel oil, but it's also priced 30 percent less.

Continue reading "City warms to cleaner heating fuel" »

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Here's another reason to think twice about all the candy handed out and consumed around Halloween.  Not just that it's unhealthy to eat too many sweets, but some chocolate is bad for its producers as well.  Turns out a lot of the cocoa that goes into our chocolate comes from farms where children are forced to work. 

Although many chocolate companies pledged nearly a decade ago to end abusive farming practices in West Africa, source of 70 percent of the world's cocoa, a recent report by Tulane University’s Payson Center for International Development says problems continue.  The practices are spotlighted in a new documentary, "The Dark Side of Chocolate."

So while most of the little bananas and goblins going door-to-door this weekend will gladly take whatever treats are offered, there'll be some out there handing back treats of their own.  They'll be giving the homes they visit "fair trade" chocolate, meant to raise public awareness of the forced child labor and environmental degradation that is reportedly widespread in cocoa farming.

Under pressure from activists, chocolate manufacturer Green & Black’s, which is owned by Cadbury, and ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s pledged this year to achieve Fair Trade certification for all their products worldwide.  Cadbury and Nestle have obtained Fair Trade status for some of their products abroad. 

Now, activists are pressing the Hershey Co. to become the first U.S.-based company to get certification that its chocolate products are made under Fair Trade practices. 

The Pennsylvania-based chocolate maker recently issued its first corporate social responsiblity report and said it was working with others in the industry through the World Cocoa Foundation to improve conditions for cocoa farming families.  The company also has an organic chocolate brand, Dagoba.  But activists fault it for not committing to the independent Fair Trade certification process to ensure its cocoa and other ingredients come without environmental or social downsides.

For more on the Reverse Trick or Treating campaign organized by Global Exchange, go here.

(Reverse trick-or-treating 2008, photos courtesy Global Exchange)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 9:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

It may be soggy now, but by Saturday it's supposed to be sunny and suitably fall-like for Farm Fest, a celebration of Maryland's agrarian heritage, with a farmer's market featuring local foods and beverages, games for kids and live music.

The afternoon event is a fund-raiser for 1000 Friends of Maryland, to underwrite the anti-sprawl group's "Keep Farmers Farming" campaign.  Tickets are $25 per person in advance, $35 at the door.  It's from noon to 5 p.m. at Prigel Family Creamery in Glen Arm.

For info, directions or tickets, go here. 

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 8:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

If you're not a football addict, or can squeeze it in around game time, Baltimore's merging watershed groups are offering residents a chance Sunday to help restore the harbor by buyng - and planting - native trees, shrubs and plants.

The Baltimore Water Alliance, the working name the groups have adopted for now, is having a sale at the Herring Run Nursery, 6131 Hillen Road, 21239, from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday (9/26).  There'll be more than 100 different native trees, shrubs and plants to choose from, plus some perennials.  If you can't make it this weekend, there'll also be sales Oct. 9 and 24.

Proceeds help underwrite the operations of the new alliance, which brings together the Herring Run, Jones Falls and Gwynns Falls watershed associations, plus the Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper.  Coupons worth $10 to $25 discounts on trees available.  For information on stock and coupons, go here.

(Black-eyed susan, 2009 Baltimore Sun photo by Karl Merton Ferron)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Buy local, Chesapeake Bay, Events, News, Urban Issues
        

A tidbit of good news, for a change. Word comes that nearly 40 hospitals and other health-care facilities in Maryland and the District of Columbia bought - and served - at least one food from a local farmer during this summer's "Buy Local Challenge." 

The challenge is a statewide campaign launched by the Southern Maryland Agricultural Development Commission to promote local produce and food.   There were 38 hospitals buying local during the weeklong drive July 17-25, up from 27 that took part when the first challenge was held last summer.  Thanks to  Maryland Hospitals for a Healthy Environment for the info.

Wonder if they served apples like those pictured here from the farmers' market under the Jones Falls Expressway?  I don't know that this is going to make me want to have lunch at the nearest hospital cafeteria, but I'll bet the local growers appreciate the business.  Now to get hospitals to buy local all summer long, if not year-round.

(1999 Baltimore Sun photo by Algerina Perna)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 9:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Buy local, Food
        

Three companies and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation have teamed up to offer mid-Atlantic natural gas consumers a way to offset the climate impacts of their energy use while reducing truck traffic and also helping the bay.

The effort, dubbed CleanSteps Carbon Offsets, offers offsets to new and renewing natural gas customers of Washington Gas Energy Services.  The venture, involving Washington Gas Energy Services, Arkansas-based freight shipping firm J.B. Hunt, and Sterling Planet, a Georgia-based clean energy company.

Under the deal announced this morning (Sept. 13) at the bay foundation's Annapolis headquarters, all WGES residential and small business gas customers automatically get 5 percent offsets when they sign up or renew. But they'll also have the option of purchasing up to 100 percent offsets - something that WGES President Harry Warrent estimates would cost $12 per month for the average residential household.

The carbon offsets are to come from "clean air projects that result in greenhouse gas reductions, as well as other local and regional benefits," according to a news release.  Initially, though, the offsets will come via J.B. Hunt. Senior vice president Gary Whicker said the company would switch shipments from tractor-trailers to rail, which he said would reduce the amount of energy consumed and greenhouse gases released for ever ton shipped that way.

As WGES customers get enrolled in the new offset program, the Washington-based energy company and Sterling Planet will contribute to a new Carbon Reduction Fund, which would be managed and used by the bay foundation to plant trees along water ways and help farmers reduce runoff of fertilizer into the bay.  Those contributions are expected to grow to $200,000 a year.

Bay Foundation President William C. Baker called the partnership "exciting and innovative" and said it presents a way to help clean up the air and water regionally while also doing something about global climate change.  Baker predicted that projects underwritten by the fund should reduce the amount of water-fouling nitrogen getting into the bay by 40-60,000 pounds a year.  He had no comparable estimates on carbon reductions, saying "we're going to learn as we go along," but suggested they'd likely be on the order of thousands of tons a year.

For more, go here.  Or to see a streaming video of the annoucement, go here.

(2005 AP photo traffic congestion on Interstate 95 near Aberdeen)

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B'more's green scene has arrived. Grist, the cheeky online journal of environmental news and commentary, has a piece saying Charm City's become a hotbed of urban agriculture.

"Baltimore's urban agriculture movement has quietly taken off in the past couple of years, with the twin forces of sustainability and economic benefits providing the boost," Christine Chenot writes.

She ticks off a list of initiatives, several of which you may already have read about in The Sun.  There's the Virtual Supermarket project, for instance, a partnership between the city and Santoni's supermarket, in which residents without grocery stores nearby can have healthy food delivered to their neighborhood library branch, where they can pay for it with cash, credit card or food stamps.

The Grist story also spotlights Great Kids Farm, the city schools enterprise in Catonsville that teaches kids how to grow their own healthy foods.  Then there's Real Food Farm, (shown at left) the hoop-greenhouse operation at Clifton Park, and the Hamilton Crop Circle, (pictured at top) the northeast Baltimore initiative planting rooftop gardens on restaurants and stores.  And more.

Of course, teaching kids to grow and eat healthy foods is no substitute for learning to read and write.  Nor will fresh veggies alone solve the city's crime and poverty.  But advocates say they sure can't hurt, bringing people together and empowering them.  

(Baltimore Sun photos by Kim Hairston and Lloyd Fox)

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The Wednesday farmer's market returns downtown for the second year, beginning June 2.

This one is sponsored by the Maryland Departments of General Services, Health and Mental Hygiene and Agriculture, as well as state employees. And the idea was to have a market that could be reached by light rail, bus or metro, and during the week when others aren't typically open.

There are others cropping up during the week, including a market at Johns Hopkins and another in Mount Washington.

The state one will be located at 300 West Preston St. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. every Wednesday from June 2 until October.

The state reports there are now more than 90 farmers markets around Maryland with at least one in every county and Baltimore city. Here is a state directory.

Would a mid-week market be useful? Plan to go? 

Baltimore Sun file photo/Barbara Haddock Taylor

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Categories: Buy local
        

Environmental activists and those concerned about animal welfare are touting a return to pasture-based livestock farming as a more environmentally and financially sustainable alternative to the current large-scale "industrial" agribusinesses raising most of our meat these days.

On Tuesday (May 4), a former Eastern Shore chicken farmer, a rancher and two writers will be hashing out the growth and prospects of this new-old movement.  "Green Pastures, Bright Future: Taking the Meat We Eat Out of the Factory and Putting it Back on the Farm" is the longish title for the panel discussion 6 p.m. at the Pew Conference Center, 901 E. Street NW in Washington. 

The former Shore chicken farmer on the panel is Carole Morrison, who was featured in the Oscar-nominated documentary, "Food Inc."  Also on the panel is Dr. Patricia Whisnant, rancher, veterinarian and president of the American Grassfed Association.  The writers are David Kirby, author of Animal Factory, and Nicolette Hahn Niman, author of Righteous Porkchop.

The event is free and open to the public, but space is limited, so RSVPs in advance are required. To reserve a place or for more info, go to www.AnimalWelfareApproved.org

(2006 AP photo of dairy cattle grazing on organic farm in Minnesota)

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Remember Edmonston? That's the little blue-collar town in the inner suburbs of Washington doing an extreme "green" makeover of its main drag to cut down on polluted rain water washing off the pavement into the Anacostia River.

Well, Edmonston's home to some green businesses, too, it seems.  And they're having a green gift fair this month, with a special show of reclaimed and recycled craftwork on Saturday. (Dec. 19)

Community Forklift, which bills itself as a 40,000-square foot "thrift store for home improvement," takes renovation lefotvers and gently used building materials, while providing donors with a tax deduction.  Then it sells the the materials at prices up to 90 percent below what they go for at retail outlets.  (Not unlike The Loading Dock, Baltimore's longtime center for recycling building materials.)  It's been joined in a large warehouse there by businesses selling reconditioned appliances, sustainable lumber, green home and garden products, and solar technology, among others.

This Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (weather permitting), there'll be a clutch of artisans there, including a woodworker and toymaker, jewelry makers, a stained-glass artisan and a photographer who uses scrap wood to frame her work.  There'll also be Christmas ornaments made by volunteers from salvaged hardware on display and for sale (maybe even like the granite tree ornaments pictured above, as seen on the company's Web site?)

For directions and more info, go here.

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Buy local, Events, Going Green, Shopping
        

Gov. O'Malley and his family plan to cut their own locally grown Christmas tree this Saturday and the First Family is urging others to buy local this season. 

The state Department of Agriculture says the 2007 Census of Agriculture shows there are 200 tree growing farms in Maryland and 168 harvested 77,801 trees valued at $2.4 million. Those local farmers put that money back into the local economy four times, the state officials say.

They're also claiming this is the eco-friendly choice. They say growing Christmas trees stabilizes soil, protects water supplies and provides wildlife habitat, as well as creates "scenic green belts." They absorb carbon dioxide and give off oxygen. They also contain no petroleum products like artificial trees can. A tree 3" in diameter can reduce atmospheric carbon by 23 pounds and intercept 102 gallons of storm water runoff per year, state ag folks say.

I know some people think cutting down all these trees isn't so environmental. The trees can also produce waste when people chuck them out into the street after the holidays with their bells and whistles still attached. (I'll try and hunt down some ways to recycle them.) 

So, cutting your own tree a family tradition? Anyone have thoughts on local trees? Are fake trees, reused every year really so bad? And while we're on the subject of Christmas, what about all the electricity that's used to light up 34th Street?

Baltimore Sun file photo/Andre F. Chung  

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Buy local
        

Conservation and art take wing together this weekend at the 39th annual Waterfowl Festival in Easton, for a three-day extravaganza celebrating the Chesapeake Bay's wildlife and outdoors heritage.

Starting Friday, Nov. 13, there'll be antique and contemporary decoys to view (and buy), plus paintings, photos and other arts and crafts, fly-fishing and retriever dog demonstrations as well as goose- and duck-calling contests. Besides the arts and crafts, there'll be food and music, plus outdoor gear for shoppers.

The event has raised more than $5 million in donations for wildlife conservation projects. Besides the good cause, it's quite a scene. Festivities begin at 10 a.m., and admission is $10 for all three days, with kids under $12 free.

For tickets or information, go here or call 410-822-4567.

(2004 Associated Press photo)

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Buy local, Chesapeake Bay, Events, Shopping, Tips
        

Looking for craftwork with a green flavor? There's a new glass gallery opening this month in Baltimore that proclaims itself "100 percent green."

Portable Rainbows Glass Art Gallery, at 6500 Brook Avenue, will get all of its electricity from wind power, purchased through a local renewable energy brokerage, according to scupltor/owner Frances Aubrey. Aubrey says she gets her glass from an environmentally conscious Oregon source, and she volunteers her time in working to get climate-change legislation passed.

Besides its green pedigree, the gallery will be a bit different in its emphasis - featuring methods of creating glass art other than blowing, such as fusing, slumping, casting, and painting. Aubrey says she'll display and sell glasswork from several other local artists as well as her own sculptures and jewelry. Sculptures are to be priced from $300 up, and glass jewelry under $100.

Posted by Tim Wheeler at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Buy local, Events, Fashion
        

Maryland ag officials are promoting local apples in September. The state has a number of orchards where you can pick your own. And farmers' markets and grocery stores also offer the locally grown fruit. You can find a place nearby on the Maryland's Best site.

Last year, local growers produced 33 million pounds of apples with a value of $8 million, according to the Maryland Office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service. Almost every county has at least one active commerical orchard.

On the buy local theme, all Maryland school systems are also offering locally-grown products in school lunches from Sept. 14-18, during Homegrown School Lunch Week.  Some schools -- such as those in Baltimore City -- will offer local foods all years. Some of the foods include fruits, vegetables, bread, cheese and meats.

State Agriculture Secretary Buddy Hance said the school lunch program, in its second year, will help educate students about where their food comes from, how it's produced and the benefits of a healthy diet. It also is supporting local farmers, preserving open space and reducing emissions from transporting food from far away.

This site offers tips on packing a zero waste lunch year-round.

Baltimore Sun file photo from an orchard in Darlington/Colby Ware

Posted by Meredith Cohn at 2:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Buy local