October 2006 Green Tidings

Early wishes for a Happy Halloween! I hope you enjoy this issue of Green Tidings.

Please join us on Thursday, November 9, at 7 pm for our next Sustainable Living Talk, "Creating a Green Kitchen" by Steve Prescott, who is a cabinet builder here in Brunswick.

Read on for more news and information in this month's Green Tidings.

Best regards,
Fred Horch, Owner

P.S. If all goes to plan, next month our Green Tidings will have a new look. Same info, just dressed up a little and hopefully easier to read!

Sustainable Living Talk, "Creating a Green Kitchen"
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Join us at 7 pm on Thursday, November 9, at our new store location at 56 Maine Street in Brunswick, for November's Sustainable Living Talk, "Creating a Green Kitch". Steve Prescott of Brunswick will discuss how to create a "green" kitchen based on his experience as a cabinet builder using sustainable materials and less toxic finishes.

If you have attended past talks at The Green Store, please remember that we have moved the store! The new time and place for our Sustainable Living Talks are 7:00 pm at 56 Maine Street in Brunswick.

Welcome Jill Victor
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We are delighted to announce that Jill Victor has joined the staff here at F.W. Horch. Jill brings a wealth of retail experience as well as the hands-on perspective of someone who built her own house one rock at a time. She will be in the store Tuesday mornings, and more often between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Welcome, Jill!

"Change a Light, Change the World"
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October is Energy Awareness month. In celebration, the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) kicked off the annual "Change a Light, Change the World" campaign last week. The campaign encourages U.S. residents to replace a conventional bulb or fixture in their home or workplace with one that has earned the government's Energy Star label for energy efficiency. If every U.S. household changed a single light bulb to an Energy Star bulb, it would save enough power to light more than 2.5 million homes. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman took the "Change a Light" pledge last week, and challenged DOE's 120,000 employees to join him.

News from Energyworks
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Here's the news from Energyworks, our renewable energy partner:

"With our expansion into the Portland area and several new, big commercial projects we are not slowing down, even though it's October! We continue to install residential PV projects, despite the lack of a state rebate. Anyone who is interested in doing PV, but is waiting for the rebates, should contact the Maine State Energy Office to show your interest, as the Legislature will be making a decision about that program this Winter.

Heating season is upon us! If you've been thinking about a wood boiler give us a call. We are selling the Tarms we have in stock for 10% off. Call and ask for Pat or send him an email at pat@energyworksllc.com."

Mark your calendars now for December's Sustainable Living talk featuring Energyworks on Thursday, December 14, at 7 pm. If you're planning to go solar in 2007, don't miss this talk!

Protecting Indoor Air Quality
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With the colder weather and holidays approaching, now is the time to tackle those indoor home improvement projects. Here are some tips for protecting indoor air quality while improving your home.

* Choose paint without unnecessary toxic chemicals. We sell both AFM Safecoat and American Pride lines of paint. AFM Safecoat is best for those with chemical sensitivities. American Pride is a newer brand of Green Seal-certified zero VOC paint. American Pride (like other "green" paints recently introduced by the major paint manufacturers) has only been on the market for a few years, so it doesn't have the track record among chemically sensitive people that AFM Safecoat has. But our experience with both lines of paint has been extremely positive. We painted our store with American Pride over Safecoat Transitional Primer and were impressed with the low odor, ease of application, and great free color matching provided by the manufacturer (they can match any color from any other major brand).

* Choose natural hard wax oil instead of polyurethane. A natural hard wax such as Osmo Polyx Oil looks better, lasts longer, and can be spot repaired. Unlike a soft wax finish, a hard wax finish is more durable than polyurethane and easier to clean and maintain. Many home owners (and even professional floor finishers) don't realize that most polyurethanes are horrible for indoor air quality. Not only that, but once a polyurethane finish has cured, you can't repair it. It's extremely difficult to keep the floor clean enough to prevent scratches on poly. Once that happens, your only option is to sand down or screen the whole surface and reapply another two or three coats over the entire floor -- even if just a small section needs repair. If you are refinishing a hard wood floor, don't ruin it with polyurethane! Choose a more durable and more beautiful natural hard wax oil instead.

* Choose better insulation. Fiberglass insulation is a disaster for indoor air quality. First, some brands contain formaldehyde, a known carcinogen. Avoid anything that contains formaldehyde. It's added to products to inhibit mold and mildew, but there are better ways to inhibit fungal growth that don't pose a cancer hazard to humans. Second, all fiberglass releases tiny shards of glass that are incredibly irritating to your skin, mucus linings and lungs. The industry claims that these tiny shards, after you inhale them, simply dissolve into your blood stream with no side effects. If you believe that, I'd like to introduce you to a friend's aunt who put her arm through a glass window fifty years ago and still finds tiny pieces poking out of her skin every so often. Third, fiberglass often doesn't even work effectively because it doesn't block air currents. Better products to use for insulation include blown-in cellulose, cotton batts and radiant barriers. We sell Ultratouch cotton batts made from denim scraps. We also sell Econo-E radiant barrier insulation. Drop by the store and we'd be happy to show you how these products used together can safely insulate your home or office.

What's Happening in the Local Environmental Scene
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Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick is hosting a Cornerstones of Science Brown Bag Lunch Series from 12:15 to 1:15 pm on Wednesdays from September 20 through November 15. Join distinguished professors, scientists, and educators in facilitated discussions of Jonathan Weiner’s Pulitzer Prize winning, The Beak of the Finch, over lunch on nine consecutive Wednesdays. Attend one or all of the sessions. Copies of The Beak of the Finch are available at the Curtis Library and through interlibrary loan. The group meets from 12:15 to 1:15 PM in the Morrell Meeting Room.

Discussion schedule and facilitators:
Sept. 20: Chapters 1 & 2, Barry Logan, Ph.D., Professor of Plant Physiological Ecology, Bowdoin College
Sept. 27: Chapters 3, 4 & 5, Michael Palopoli, Ph.D., Professor of Evolution, Bowdoin College
Oct. 4: Chapters 6 & 7, Don Hudson, Ph.D., President, The Chewonki Foundation
Oct. 11: Chapters 8, 9 & 10, Nat Wheelwright, Ph.D., Professor of Behavioral Ecology & Ornithology, Bowdoin College
Oct. 18: Chapters 11 & 12, Lesley Brown, Laboratory Instructor in Evolution & Marine Biology, Bowdoin College
Oct. 25: Chapters 13 & 14, Jon Allen, Ph.D., Visiting Professor of Marine Biology & Ecology, Bowdoin College
Nov. 1: Chapters 15, 16 & 17, John Lichter, Ph.D., Professor of Community & Ecosystem Ecology, Bowdoin College
Nov. 8: Chapters 18 & 19, Willard Morgan, Director of the Maine Coast Semester, The Chewonki Foundation
Nov 15: Chapter 20 & Epilogue, Olaf Ellers, Ph.D., Research Associate in Biomechanics, Bowdoin College

Friends of Merrymeeting Bay talk, "Reclaiming the Water Commons from Private Takings: Asserting Public Trust & Ownership" by Jim Olson. 7:00 pm on November 8 in the Beam Classroom, Visual Arts Center, Bowdoin College.

The sludge issue is before the people of Brunswick as a referendum question. Sludge (also called biosolids) is the residue from municipal waste water treatment plants. Currently, sludge can be applied as a fertilizer to town-owned properties situated above the aquifer supplying all of the drinking water for Brunswick. Along with prohibiting certain kinds of pesticides from being applied, the proposed ordinance would prohibit fertilizers derived from sludge from being applied to town properties. The full text of the proposed Brunswick Community Health and Land Care Ordinance is available online at

http://www.brunswickme.org/clerk/images/petitionforcommunityhealth.pdf

Don't forget to vote on Tuesday, November 7!