September Newsletter
Welcome New Members:
Sassy Tassel, The Idea Zoo, Cycle Circle, Foods From Afar,
Little Farm Hands, Musser Refrigeration, Abundant Earth Co-op
Our first Annual Members Picnic!
Date: September 7 from 2pm - 6pm
Location: Schroeder Gardens 346 Walnut Hill Rd. Millersville, PA 17551
What to bring: A pot-luck dish to share, place-settings, the kids, friends, and family, chairs, beverages, games, what ever else you would like to bring along.
We'll provide some live music by Fiddling Neal Pressley, some of the finest local brews, opportunities to network and tour the tree nursery.
Directions: Schroeder Gardens is located 1 mile outside of Millersville University. Going through the University you'll take George St to Frederick St., take a right on Frederick at the library. Head past House of Pizza on your right and over the hill past Goodwill at Homefields on your left. At the bottom of the hill turn left on Sun Ln. Sun Ln. turns into Walnut Hill Rd. You'll follow the twists and turns of Walnut Hill Rd. for about 1 mile. Schroeder Gardens will be on the right hand side of the road, a large sign will let you know you have arrived.
Someone (most likely Fritz) will be there to show you where to park !
Susquehanna Sustainable Business Network Green & Solar Home Tour
Date: Saturday, October 4, 2008, 1-4pm
Location: Lancaster & York Counties
Tour Presented by: Susquehanna Sustainable Business Network
Tour Description: Find out how your home or business can become more energy efficient, healthier and environmentally-friendly. Participants on this self-guided tour will visit homes with solar electric and solar hot water, advanced rainwater harvesting, living roofs, wind turbines, high-efficiency stoves, the latest green building technologies and low impact gardens. Home & business owners will demonstrate how their technologies & conservation techniques work, what they cost, and why they may be a good choice for you. Pre-registration instructions, maps and specific information on each tour location is available at www.susquehannasbn.org. Feel free to bring a sack lunch.
Tour Fee: Free
Instructions for taking this tour: Please see website www.susquehannasbn.org
For More Information Contact: Karen Sattler, 1.877.500.6552, info@susquehannasbn.org
YORK COUNTY
Woolen Mill Fan Company
290 Woolen Mill Road, New Park, PA 17352
A sustainable business and home featuring solar and wind power! Open from
1-4pm with tours at 1pm and at 2:30pm.
Features: Two 3kw solar panel (Sharp) systems, Xantrex inverters, 1.8kw skystream wind turbine (Southwest Wind), 48 vacuum tube solar hot water system (Sunda), air compressing windmill, bio-diesel oil press, outdoor wood/corn furnace.
Come sample ice cream generated from a historic windmill!
LANCASTER COUNTY
Lancaster County Career & Technology Center (LCCTC)
Mount Joy Campus, PA
A new 2,500 square foot home built by senior high school trade students with a focus on green building. It represents the latest research in advanced building practices and performance models. Self-guided tour anytime from 1-4pm with education stations and opportunities for asking questions.
Features: geothermal ground source heat pump, rainwater harvesting, solar hot water, energy efficient framing, energy efficient lighting, appliances and windows. Tour goers will learn what makes a house “green” from the inside out.
Semi-detatched home
1721 Windsor Ave., Lancaster, PA 17601
A sustainable home using permaculture principles! Open from 1-4pm.
Features: 500 gal. rainwater collection used for watering plants. Small earthroof on shed. No grass to mow; only raised beds for food and perennial plants. Small hoop house 8X12, used for growing greens through part of the winter. On demand water heater. High-efficiency heat stove. Mostly 5 (five) watt cold cathode lightbulbs throughout the house.
****If you have a green or solar home or business and would like to be on the tour, please contact the ssbn! Participants receive a complimentary one-year membership in the American Solar Energy Society, which includes a subscription to Solar Today Magazine. Also, if you are an ssbn member and would like to put your business cards or promotional materials on display during the tour, please bring them to the Member Picnic and give them to Karen Sattler.
LIVE Green Rain Barrel Demonstration-
see attachment
Peachy Green News
Job opportunity for a retail position on Tue and Th from 2 - 5 p.m. Contact Rachelle at 299-0203 or peachygreen1@yahoo.com.
Also, Rachelle, owner of Peachy Green, is being arrested for the Muscular Dystrophy campaign! If you want to help post bail contact her using above information!
Local Stock Exchange for the Local Economy
How do you support local businesses and create a more sustainable local economy? The answer from the U.S. to the rest of the world is, "You create a stock market, of course." That's the answer in Karachi, Bombay, Bermuda, Budapest, Bangladesh, and Buenos Aires. But not in the United States. At least, not yet.
An F&M professor working in partnership with the Susquehanna Sustainable Business Network has received a grant from the state to assess the prospects for a sustainable Lancaster stock market. The competitive Keystone Innovation Grant will support a feasibility study by W. Trexler Proffitt Jr, an Assistant Professor of Organization Studies in Franklin & Marshall College's Department of Business, Organizations, and Society (see www.innovationtransfernetwor.org the grant funder). Proffitt is working in partnership with the Susquehanna Sustainable Business Network, a non-profit business association which helps connect forward-looking businesses in the local community to advance social, environmental, and financial objectives (see web site at http://www.susquehannasbn.org/). The stock exchange project evaluates the feasibility of a multi-county stock exchange based in Lancaster that will connect investors and businesses in a seven-county region bounded by Berks county in the east to Cumberland in the west. "The relevant region will include several counties in order to provide enough capital and funded firms for the exchange to operate efficiently. Seven seems ideal, but we'll evaluate for existing economic ties among them."
Lancaster already has a long tradition of public markets exemplified by the historical downtown Central Market, the former Southern Market, and newer Eastern Market. It also supports a vibrant business community exemplified by the SSBN, a strong Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a strong "buy fresh, buy local" movement, and the financial, legal, and accounting infrastructure to support a stock market. "Lancaster and the surrounding counties constitute a much bigger local economy than many places around the world that already have their own stock exchanges. It's appropriate to consider whether we could benefit from one here too."
From Proffitt's perspective, "sustainability" in a stock market has a double meaning. Narrowly, an exchange would enhance environmental sustainability by giving local firms an alternative source of capital for "green" projects--these are pollution or energy reducing projects that are hard to finance form cash flow or from bank loans. Adopting sustainable business practices is a hot trend among large businesses and confers important branding and strategic differentiation benefits in today's marketplace. For example, global giant Wal-Mart recently declared its goal of becoming the greenest business in the world. In this competitive landscape, small businesses need every advantage if they will adapt to this greening trend.
Second, and more important to every small business and employee, a stock market will help foster a more sustainable local economy, one that provides entrepreneurs with funding alternatives and choices and citizens with secure, high-quality jobs. In today's economy, there is a massive gap in funding between one's credit card limit and a commercial bank loan of $5 million. A local exchange would help fill this gap, keep investment capital local, and enhance regional independence from the global and national market variation.
Of course, there's the community connection factor as well--there's nothing like being able to see your investments in action to decide whether to buy or sell the stock.
Mother Earth Harvest Fair: A Celebration of Sustainable Living
at Spoutwood Farm Sunday, October 5, 2008
http://www.spoutwood.com
Spoutwood Farm Center, Inc., a community-supported agriculture and sustainability-education farm [501(c)(3) nonprofit] located in Glen Rock, in southern York County, PA, is pleased to announce its Fourth Annual Mother Earth Harvest Fair. Combining the charm of an old-fashioned country fair, timeless traditional arts and crafts, and cutting-edge advances in green building and renewable energy, the MEHF is a celebration and showcase of healthy, sustainable, and balanced living in the Chesapeake bioregion. Areas of focus will include:
Green Building, Alternative Energy, the Sustainable Household, Food and Farming, Nature and the Environment, Health and Healing, BALLEs, Sustainable Communities, Wisdom Traditions, and much more.
Farmers Market with produce and products from local farms.
A Children’s Village with crafts and fun for our younger guests.
Farm animals and wildlife
Food and drink vendors galore
Music, storytelling, and dramatic presentations.
This year we are especially pleased and honored to announce special concert appearances by Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Adrienne Young and her band, Little Sadie http://www.adrienneyoung.com
We are also pleased and excited to welcome as Keynote Speaker organic entrepreneur Judy Wicks of the White Dog Café in Philadelphia, Founder of the Greater Philadelphia Sustainable Business Network and the Business Alliances for Local Living Economies (BALLE) concept.
Think Local First!
The ssbn launced it's Think Local First campaign this past July, and we now have a website dedicated solely to this initiative! Please visit www.thinklocalsusquehanna.com, and check in this fall for our Holiday Shopping event!
