This year’s Geography Awareness Week theme–The Adventure in Your Community–promotes the idea that the geographic perspective is an important way to understand every community, no matter what size, or how long or briefly one has been a part of it.

National Geographic and partners invite families, teachers and students to visit GeographyAwarenessWeek.org to begin completing geographic missions and earning rewards. A wealth of valuable resources, including printable posters, mission booklets and an organizing toolkit are available for teachers, parents and students on the Geography Awareness Week website.

Local Williamsburg-Yorktown Daily blogger, Desiree Parker, affectionately known as the ECOfreak, reminded me that there is still time to add a little green to your Halloween plans.  Here are some tips to make your Halloween festivities a little easier on the environment . . .

• Reusable trick-or-treat bags. Deck out your ghosts and goblins with the traditional plastic pumpkin bucket that can be reused for years, or opt for a reusable tote.  Make it a craft project to give it some Halloween flair, or just use one you keep in the car for shopping.
• Costume swaps. I’ve seen my neighbors’ children change their minds three times this month about their costume plans, but now we’re getting down to the wire.  Gather your friends and neighbors and all of your old costumes for a swap meet.  You may find the perfect costume and you will definitely save money!
• Hand out loose candy. Get rid of those individual treat bags for handing out candy.  Just grab a handful and give to each monster or fairy princess who visits.
• Creative costumes. Thrift stores and consignment shops may have just the thing to turn you into a Hollywood starlet, superhero, mobster, mermaid or zombie.  You could even donate some items while you are there and help a worthy cause.

All of these tips reduce waste that would otherwise go to the landfill, saving disposal space and taxpayer dollars.  And that’s another way to put more green in your Halloween!  For more great green tips and information on green-happenings in Hampton Roads, visit www.askHRgreen.org today!

A recycling space-saver for your next BBQ

A colleague showed me this clever device she had won as a door prize at a recent conference of recycling folks.  It’s called a flings^TM bin and it is a recycling receptacle.   I got so excited, I immediately made her open it so we could ponder the potential of this latest widget to encourage recycling.

The flings^TM bin is a pop-up recycling station.  Sounds good in theory, right?!  But it is merely a temporary recycling center.

You still have to dump the container into your official recycling bin because you can’t recycle the flings^TM bin.  You can put it in the trash–it claims to be biodegradable–but only after you empty it.  Kind of seems like double work to me.  The rigid sides look like mini-blind slats which, if I recall, are NOT biodegradable.  So my excitement waned.  But if you need smaller, temporary containers for your next party, tailgate or BBQ, the flings^TM bin may be the space saver you’ve been looking for.

Join the conversation and let us know about your favorite gizmo to make greening Hampton Roads a bit easier!

Green Education Foundation (GEF) and Gardener’s Supply Company have teamed up to offer an exciting funding opportunity for established youth garden projects nationwide! The Green Thumb Challenge Grant is designed to support the continued sustainability of an exceptional youth garden program that has demonstrated success, and has impacted the lives of kids and their community.  The grant calls on schools and youth groups to submit chronicles of their garden projects in a race to win the $5,000 prize. Green Thumb Challenge participants should submit a completed Grant Application and Contest Disclaimer along with at least one of the following, or a combination:

• An overview describing your garden project
• One video – up to ten minutes long
• A digital portfolio – comprising up to ten photos with captions
• Scanned artwork with descriptions

Check out last year’s winner, Closer To Earth, a non-profit which engages at-risk youth in organic gardening.

To apply to be the next Green Thumb Challenge Grant winner, send GEF your materials by September 30th, 2011.
Happy gardening and good luck!!

If you’re a hardcore locavore like me, you’ll be thrilled to see area restaurants embracing the freshest local produce in their menus this week for Farm to Feast Week!  While many of the participating restaurants pride themselves on using as many local ingredients as possible year ’round, sometimes it is a good idea to remind Hampton Roads that we have bountiful, thriving agriculture right here.  Check out the Buy Fresh Buy Local website to see which restaurants are participating this year.  If your favorite isn’t on the list, see if you can’t persuade them to join in the epicurian excitement next time.

Eating local not only supports small local farms, but it also reduces your carbon footprint, improves the quality of your diet and is an all around greener alternative than processed and packaged foods.

To take home more local flavor and make your own locavore feast at home, visit the askHRgreen.org events calendar for a Farmers’ Market near you.  Most localities have markets every week through Labor Day and then more randomly for seasonal produce.  So celebrate Hampton Roads Farm to Feast Week and gobble up your inner green!