Archive for the ‘Inspiration’ Category

Different Types of Tourists Converge At The Greenbrier

Wednesday, February 1st, 2012

The Greenbrier Hotel

Last weekend we visited the Greenbier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, WV to watch the Cast Iron Cookoff and attend a colloquium on culinary and cultural-heritage tourism in Appalachia.

The Greenbrier’s website describes it as an award-winning resort located in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. As a National Historic landmark, The Greenbrier Resort’s classic architecture, exquisite interior design, carefully sculpted landscape, impeccable service and outstanding amenities have hosted distinguished guests from around the world since 1778.

In my last post titled What Type Of Tourist Are You I described 3 different types of tourists and their associated impacts:

  • Touring Style– is where the word “tourism” comes from: travel­ing to tour, to see and experience a place.  It’s typical of geotourists.
  • R and R Style– for Rest and Recreation – is resort oriented tourism
  • Entertainment Style – is self-contained—theme parks, convention centers, sports arenas, amusement parks, casinos, duty-free shopping malls, and the like.

While walking around the Greenbrier and taking in the majesty of the resort I realized that I was surrounded by two very different types of tourists.

Touring Style Tourists are attracted to the Greenbrier for:

  1. History
    • Early settlers were guided to the property’s sulphur springs by Shawnee Indians.  Since 1778, people have come to the Greenbrier to “take the waters” to restore their health. The sulphur water was purported to cure everything from rheumatism to an upset stomach.
    • The resort closed during the Civil War. During that conflict, both sides occupied the grounds using the hotel either as a hospital or military headquarters.
    • Shortly after the Civil War’s end, it reopened and with the completion of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway.  White Sulphur Springs was one of the classic railroad resorts in North America for the next one hundred years.
    • In September 1942 the U.S. Army purchased The Greenbrier estate, converted the hotel into a two thousand-bed hospital and renamed the facility Ashford General Hospital. In four years 24,148 soldiers were admitted and treated, while the resort served the war effort as a surgical and rehabilitation center.
    • In the late 1950s, the U.S. government began construction of an Emergency Relocation Center-a bunker or bomb shelter-to be occupied by the U.S. Congress in case of war. The classified underground facility was built in conjunction with an above ground addition to the hotel, the West Virginia Wing, between 1959 and 1962.  Bunker tours are now available.
  2. Sustainability
    • Amtrak offers regular service to The Greenbrier from major cities, including Washington, D.C. and Chicago.
    • The Greenbrier Farm grows produce without using chemicals for the Greenbrier Restaurant Collection.
    • Events like the Cast Iron Cookoff feature local chefs using local ingredients and traditional cooking methods.
  3. Nature
    • The resort is surrounded by the Allegheny Mountains which originally attracted visitors for the clean, crisp mountain air.
  4. Lewisburg
    • Just a few miles west of the Greenbrier, Lewisburg, WV was recognized by Budget Travel as one of America’s Coolest Small Town.  Charming, authentic, locally owned and operated shops and restaurants invite exploration.

Entertainment Style Tourists also flock to the Greenbrier for:

  1. The Casino Club at The Greenbrier opened on July 2, 2010.  The 103,000 square-foot venue is filled with world-class gaming at its finest.
  2. Lavish decor courtesy of Dorothy Draper and just about any amenity you can think of greet you at every corner.  There is not shortage of opportunities to be entertained.

I was intrigued by the fact that these very different types of tourists were able to converge in a truly unique setting trying to be the best of both worlds and cater to the experiences that would entice these various travelers.  On this day it seemed to be working.

Though the casino was unappealing to me, the history, event, natural setting, and proximity to Lewisburg I found to be of great appeal.

I can only hope that those attracted to the casino walked away with an appreciation of the history, admiration of the natural beauty surrounding them, better understanding of ways to live a little greener, and possibly found their way down to Lewisburg to spread their dollars throughout the community and get a greater sense of the local flare.

See you on the trail

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Blog, Inspiration | No Comments »

What’s Your Strategy?

Thursday, April 14th, 2011

TGA’s mission is to support, promote, and demonstrate sustainable tourism in Appalachia.

A strategy is defined as “the art of devising or employing plans or stratagems toward a goal”.

When I started TGA 5 years ago I was hired to help develop the most effective strategy for sustainable tourism in West Virginia.

When I committed myself to this end and started grad school back in 2002 The United Nations General Assembly had declared 2002 as The International Year of Ecotourism to offer an opportunity to review ecotourism experiences worldwide, in order to consolidate tools and institutional frameworks that ensure its sustainable development in the future, maximize the economic, environmental and social benefits from ecotourism, and avoid its past shortcomings and negative impacts.

Well, I can’t say that actually happened as they planned and since then a number of strategies and buzzwords have appeared from green travel to sustainable tourism to responsible travel to geotourism.  Not to mention the proliferation of certification programs that have been created of varying scope, complexity, and cost.

It’s really quite confusing oftentimes for me as a “professional” in the field, not to mention the responsible traveler who simply wants to do the right thing when they’re traveling and readily find the information they’re looking for from a credible source.

We here in West Virginia have tried to sift through all of this and done quite a bit of head scratching.  We’re putting together a multi-faceted approach that I’m pretty excited about.  Here’s a summary of our plan of attack.

Destination Stewardship

The West Virginia Sustainable Tourism Advisory Council is collaborating with the National Geographic Society to use their Geotourism platform to educate destination leadership on the Geotourism Principles.

NGS says “If communities in attrac­tive locations do not control their own tourism development, chances are that somebody else will.  Making a town or region an attractive, sus­tainable destination is a complex business involving local government, civic organizations, private businesses, as well as external organizations.

In geotourism, “more” is not always better; high quality is bet­ter. Beneficial tourists create more revenue and appreciate the distinc­tiveness of place, supporting local character and pride. Geotourism is about making each place better in its own way.

Adopting a geotourism strategy does not instantly turn a place into a geotourism destination. Doing so requires four parallel types of activity: defining, sustaining, developing, and marketing geo­tourism assets.”

We are encouraging destination leadership to create a tourism management strategy under the following categories to serve as a regional roadmap for stewardship.

  • Aesthetics
  • Environment
  • Interpretation/Tourist Education
  • Tourism Management
  • Community Interaction

The WVSTAC will help destinations along the way with guidance, assessments, and focus group planning sessions.  WVSTAC includes representatives from niche tourism initiatives such as cultural heritage tourism, culinary tourism, arts, green, etc.  We hope the Geotourism initiative can serve as an umbrella for these niches to give them additional support, recognition, and promotion.

Authentic Travel Experiences

We plan to begin developing an online Geotourism Website in 2011 to allow local residents to highlight the sites, attractions, businesses, or activities that are somehow distinctive to West Virginia.

A local dish, a vista or building with a historic story to tell, a traditional event, a place where you can see a rare bird, a local type of craft or clothing—these are all geotourism assets.  West Virginia has stories to tell, many of them unrealized and under-appreciated.  Geotourism thrives on such distinc­tiveness:  What makes West Virginia unique?

When tourists visit West Virginia, they need to have an interesting, enjoyable time exploring and learning about this amazing place. Their interest creates an opportunity for community entrepreneurs and organizations to share existing or potential assets that reflect and further develop the character of the place.

NGS and the WVSTAC will work with regional destination leadership to help them understand how to engage stakeholders in the Website nomination process and how to gain maximum benefit from the Website.

You Can’t Manage What You Don’t Measure

With many states developing their own version of a green travel certification program, most of them checklist based (check off current green actions or activities, earn the minimum number of points, and you’re in) it would seem redundant to create yet another one, yet we felt there was a need to create a program driven by a recognized benchmarking system.

TGA partnered with E3Check, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, and the West Virginia Division of Tourism to develop a benchmarking system for West Virginia travel and tourism organizations.  itravelgreen® is currently in pilot phase in West Virginia.

itravelgreen® uses the enviroIndex™ Sustainability Rating System to assess, on a numerical scale, the relative impacts of key economic, environmental, and social performance indicators.

The enviroIndex™ Sustainability Rating System uses two types of performance indicators:

1)    Measures – An organization’s sustainability levels by using direct Measures of its current impact on energy, water, and waste; and,

2)    Inventories – How well an organization is operated and maintained to ensure long-term sustainability through using Inventories of actions and facilities related to communication, energy saving, water saving, waste reduction, local involvement, purchasing, transportation, natural environment, and built environment.

Look for a revamped website and additional marketing features coming out soon as pilot participants complete the itravelgreen® enviroIndex™ Sustainability Registration Form and Rating Tool.

Go, Do, Share

As John Muir put it -

“Go! Drop it and Go! Go to the beauty of life that is free and open to everyone.  Go and just be there in it, as a part of it… Breathe Life deeply. Live!”

We try to Drop it and Go as often as possible, hope you enjoy reading about our Appalachian adventures via Twitter, Facebook or on the TGA blog, and invite you to share some of yours.

What do you think of this strategy?  Make sense?  Any suggestions?

See you on the trail.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Blog, Inspiration, why Appalachia | No Comments »

Are You Aware?

Friday, January 7th, 2011

This past year I’ve had the pleasure of working for Bridgemont Community and Technical College as an adjunct faculty member to facilitate the Riverside Sustainability Awareness Program.  The training was designed with inspiration from the “7 Fronts of Sustainability” created by Ray Anderson, former CEO of Interface, Inc.

We offer the training to businesses and communities throughout West Virginia in an attempt to help people understand what sustainability is, why it’s important, and opportunities for people, profit, and planet they can embrace.

It’s exciting to see people from all walks of life talk about how their personal life and work do and don’t incorporate aspects of sustainability.  By the end of the training they walk away with at least one thing they’ll do differently usually with very little effort or change of lifestyle.

The training is interactive with facilitated discussions, videos, and group activities.  In the beginning of the training we talk about what sustainability is and why we need to embrace it and apply it to our lives.  The second half of the training focuses on opportunities.  The nine opportunities are defined as:

  1. Eliminate Waste
  2. Go Non-Toxic
  3. Fight Global Weirding
  4. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Redesign
  5. Make Transportation Efficient
  6. Get Healthy
  7. Add Value
  8. Engage Others
  9. Challenge the Future

These opportunities integrate sustainability messages from a variety of well know experts on the subject.  Participants are left with a challenge to apply the opportunities in their workplace, at home, and in their community.

Interested in bringing a training to your business or community?  Sign up for a training on the West Virginia Sustainable Communities website or e-mail Matt Earnest at Bridgemont Community and Technical College’s Office of Workforce development – mearnest@bridgemont.edu.

We’re off to Parkersburg, WV on January 28th for our next training.  Maybe I’ll see you there or at another training somewhere else in West Virginia in 2011.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Blog, Inspiration | No Comments »

A Little Appalachian Engineering

Wednesday, November 24th, 2010

For the past few years late fall weather has inspired me to build things.  When the fall whitewater releases come to an end in late October and the temperatures hover in the 50′s and 60′s I love to put my quasi-carpentry skills to work and attempt to create additional habitat for me and my family.

My work is never perfect, and sometimes it’s really bad.  I remember when I first came to West Virginia about 15 years ago and asked a fellow river guide how he got a hot tub up a steep bank in his back yard to a beautiful rock landing.  His response was “a little Appalachian engineering”.  Basically he just figured it out using what resources he had available and some creativity and innovation.

I think this speaks to the creativity and innovation of Appalachian’s.  From back to the days when Native Americans roamed these hills and valleys to the first settlers to today Appalachian’s they’ve been using creativity and innovation to sustain and preserve the culture and traditions unique to these mountains.

To me, a little Appalachian engineering correlates with sustainable design.  Each project is unique to its site and interaction with the natural environment and its inhabitants.  Combining creativity and innovation with the principles of sustainable design can lead to unique spaces that are very pleasant to be in.

I look for Appalachian engineering in places I visit.  Here’s a few examples from places I’ve been that have inspired me:

  • Opossum Creek Retreat outside of Fayetteville, WV uses local wood and other aspects of sustainable design to make unique cabins thoughtfully nestled into the Appalachian forest.
  • Natural Seasons Bed and Breakfast has a green roof and uses recycled materials among other aspects of sustainable design and is right in the middle of town on Center Avenue in Weston, WV.
  • Mountain Morning Log Homes dismantled log cabins (some of them antebellum) and rebuilt them to provide a unique guest experience near Berkeley Springs, WV.

Me, I just like to experiment and challenge myself.  I love the camaraderie of working with experienced carpenters and my 3 yr. old son loves to mimic what we do. I find it often frustrating to the point where I have to curse and drink to keep it together, but very rewarding when it works out.

Two years ago I built a shed, last year an office and playhouse and this year working on a sunroom.  So far they’re all standing and no leaks.

How about you?  Apply a little Appalachian engineering to your projects?  Visited anyone who has?

Tags: ,
Posted in Blog, Inspiration | No Comments »

Can You Love A Van?

Sunday, October 3rd, 2010

I remember this conversation between my wife and I -

We’ve got a second kid on the way. We need a van. Oh, minivans, they’re so middle-aged, conservative, boring, soccer mom-ish. And we’re not that, we can’t be that, not yet, can we? We need a cool vehicle that we can camp in and take us to those unexplored corners of Appalachia.

Then my wife saw the ad for a ’93 Volkswagen Eurovan Weekender (the model with the pop-up table and pop-top). Perfect, that’s us, it’s unique, groovy, perfect for camping with 2 kids, and only $6800, what a deal! A little bit of rust and a few quirks but we gotta have it.

A trip to Chicago, down to the beach, a few camping trips. For about a year it did us pretty well with just a few minor repairs. We got to sleep with the kids in the pop-top, cook dinners on the back hatch, stop at rest areas and grab lunch out of the cooler instead of being stuck at interstate exit’s surrounded by fast food and chain crap. And we loved cruising around in our Eurovan.  People looked at us – some pointed, some smiled, some sighed.

Then one day we were driving along and could see some black clouds off in the distance. We eventually caught up with one of those clouds and couldn’t shake it. It seemed to drop tentacles out of the sky and latch on like a Portuguese Man-Of-War.  A number of people said “Volkswagen’s are cool and groovy, but you better be prepared to fix it”.  Ahhh, whatever.

Here’s a quick chronology of some interesting and some quite aggravating moments in the life of our ’93 VW Eurovan.

  • I go to warm it up in the winter of ’08 at my dad’s house and the oil cooler blows spewing oil everywhere (I know, bad for environment, but we cleaned it up and disposed of properly).  A quick tow and a new oil cooler and we’re on our way.
  • Same trip, on the way back to WV we’re passing Cumberland, MD on I-68 and she starts sputtering then shuts down.  I wrote a whole other post on that experience (Blowing A Gasket – Serendipitously).  It was quite an experience, one I will never forget and turned out to be quite enlightening.
  • Several months later the instrument cluster starts freakin’ out so no gauges.  After some searching I find a used cluster.
  • Ignition switch gets stuck.  Flathead screwdriver becomes the new key.
  • Loud boom, that’s not good, no gears.  Transmission is gone.
  • Take a chance on a used transmission
  • Used transmission is installed, off to body shop to patch the rust before rear window falls out, patched and painted, looks great.
  • Get about 200 miles out of used transmission, loud noise, that’s not good, no gears, used transmission is shot.
  • Bite the bullet, off to AAMCO for transmission rebuild
  • Several months later pick it up with rebuilt transmission
  • Get about 200 miles and transmission mount breaks cracking transmission case, back to AAMCO to remove entire transmission and replace mount.

AAA, how may we help you? Hi, this is Doug. Oh, hey Doug where are you at this time?

Driving down the road last week Abby said, “hey Dad, that’s mile marker 63, I remember when we had our picnic there on the side of the road and then got to ride in that big truck and hear words you said we shouldn’t say.”

So, I ask you – Can a van have a soul? I believe our van told us we needed to spend a couple of days in Cumberland, MD.  Susan doesn’t.  How long do we keep it on life support before we pull the plug? I think the kids might disown me if we got rid of it, needless to say they’re as attached to the van as they are to our 9 mo. old puppy that just ate another pair of my shoes.  Fortunately they’re too young to understand that any college savings are being spent on van repairs.

The way I see it there’s two choices here:

a) The destination is the destination (also known as “the Mark Arbogast let’s get practical viewpoint”).  Sell the Eurovan and buy a Honda Odyssey so we can get from point a to point b without event, instance, unpredictability.

b) The journey is the destination (also know as “whatever Dad”).  If the journey were practical, planned-out to the tee, uneventful, and standardized it would be stale and boring. I still have faith that the tentacles are loosing their grip and the pain is abating and our Eurovan will be back on the trail soon.

Can the unexpected and unplanned reward us in ways we could have never imagined and provide us with those amazing experiences that are the essence of life and make for incredible stories?  To me, that’s what traveling is.  An opportunity to explore and learn about geography, ecology, cultures, and history.

Whether you choose to travel practically or impractically, whether the destination or the journey is the destination, I hope you travel to explore and learn, consider the impact of your travels, and seek responsible travel options that suit your style.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

Tags: , ,
Posted in Blog, Inspiration | 7 Comments »

From Fiji to Appalachia – Bringing It Back Home

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

by Kristina Sandi

meeting with rural villagers

In order to complete the final 3 credits I needed to graduate from WVU and receive my Ecotourism Certificate I had to spend 2 ½ weeks of my precious summer studying sustainable tourism development.  I spent those 2 ½ weeks living on a tropical island in Fiji … I know, college is such a drag – who said learning can’t be fun?

Over the course of eighteen days we got to experience Fiji and had a blast!  I know, who wouldn’t have a blast on a tropical island.  We had fun and learned a great deal through these experiences.  I met with resort and adventure-travel operators, talked with tourism students from the University of the South Pacific, and stayed overnight in rural villages to learn about the challenges and successes associated with ecotourism in Fiji.

I could see the wheels turning in some of the other students brains about how they could get a job experiencing and developing ecotourism in places like this.  I was thinking about how what I saw, heard, and did could be applied in West Virginia.

Fiji and Appalachia couldn’t be farther apart geographically. When you look up at the stars at night in Fiji, you see a completely different set of constellations than the one’s you see here in West Virginia. These two places are literally on the opposite sides of the world and it seems that the thick forests and rolling hills of West Virginia would have nothing in common with the white sand beaches of the Fijian islands. In reality, the similarities are striking.

Both Fiji and West Virginia have a population that is predominately rural, and when I entered some of the remote mountain villages in Fiji I couldn’t help but see them as an exaggerated version of an Appalachian community where family is at the core of all values. The traditional arts and crafts that are integral to Fijian society reminded me of the wonderful craftsmanship I have found all over West Virginia. I found a people that like Appalachians, have a history of living off a wild and often difficult terrain and thus have developed deep understandings of the natural wonders around them.

Most importantly, I noticed that the majority of Fijians displayed the same warmth and hospitable nature you can find all over Appalachia.

Schoolchildren welcomed us to their village with a song and dance

Just like West Virginia, the country of Fiji has struggled with distributing the wealth from their main industries to their rural sectors. Fijians and Appalachians have come up against the same globalizing forces which make it difficult to make a living in traditional rural occupations such as agricultural and forestry. Tourism, the cornerstone of Fiji’s economy, occurs primarily in island groups and major urban areas so the country has experienced a mass migration of rural dwellers who have moved to the city to make a living. Appalachia has seen the same population migration to urban areas over the past 50 years, as employment in natural-resource dependent industries continues to drop.

In the late 1990’s, the government of Fiji began turning toward sustainable tourism as a way to promote rural economic development. In 1999, the country’s Ministry of Tourism created a National Ecotourism Policy which called for an emphasis on cultural and village-based tourism, and for the integration of traditional arts and crafts into the tourism industry. Above all it demonstrated the need to further the development of tourism in a manner that respects the environment and social traditions of those who are visited, while improving the welfare of the local people.

Since the introduction of the National Ecotourism Policy in Fiji, it seems that rural and village life has been improving. During my village visits, I was able to sit down and talk to a group of Fijians about how they feel tourism has impacted them. Though I was expecting them to complain of disrespectful visitors or display some sort of resentment toward foreign tourists, I was surprised to find neither problem. Almost all of the people I talked to told me they had benefited financially whether it was from selling produce or jewelry or by working as some type of adventure guide. I did not sense any animosity toward travelers, and in fact most Fijians seemed to genuinely enjoy foreign visitors. It appears that Fiji’s ecotourism policies have truly created a happier lifestyle for its rural dwellers.

A typical rural village in the mountains of Fiji

Through my studies and research of Appalachia, I have learned that rural poverty in the United States is one of the most difficult social problems facing legislators today. West Virginia is the second most rural state in the nation, and among the most economically depressed. If we can gather the support necessary to create a comprehensive sustainable tourism policy like Fiji’s, maybe we can use tourism to uplift our rural communities both culturally and economically.

Though my trip to Fiji was undeniably beautiful, I realized that you don’t have to travel to a remote tropical island to enjoy things like majestic mountains and beautiful waterfalls, and you don’t have to leave the country to have an enriching cultural experience. We have all of those things and more here in Appalachia. I believe that if tourism is developed in West Virginia in a sustainable manner, we can have an industry that is just as successful as Fiji’s in stimulating all sectors of the economy and preserving natural and cultural resources.

Now that I’m working with Doug I’m excited about what’s happening here including the formation of the West Virginia Sustainable Tourism Advisory Council and the development of a Sustainability Rating System.  I’m hopeful one day West Virginia will rank right up there with Fiji and other international hotspots as a model of sustainable tourism development.  I’m excited to be a part of this movement.

Fiji is an amazing place.  If you ever get a chance to go I’m sure you’ll be as fascinated as I was.

If you’ve ever been to either place please weigh in on this one and let me know what you think.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Blog, Inspiration | No Comments »

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

Monday, August 2nd, 2010

non-toxic, all natural wood sealant

What to do, where to go, how to do it, gotta feed the kids, finish my blog, clean the house, cut the grass, …..

We make decisions every day.  Some are easy and some aren’t.

Fortunately the supply of green products and services is growing so making decisions that are good for the environment and us is getting easier.  Just wanted to share a few decisions I’ve made recently that I feel good about.

recycled 2x4's, cedar bark siding, no VOC paint, etc.

  • local wood – I buy most all the wood I use to build things from Grafton Hardwoods.  It’s about the same price as the lumber you buy at Lowe’s and comes from local forests sustainably harvested.  And, you never know what you’ll find like cedar bark siding for the shed and playhouse.
  • push reel lawn mower – yeah, it’s a little more work for the legs and shoulders but no noise, no fumes, no gas or oil, and little maintenance.  For a small yard I think it’s the way to go.
  • No VOC paint – you can buy it at Lowe’s and Home Depot now.
  • Boiled Linseed Oil to seal interior wood – it’s non-toxic, all natural, and provides a nice look.
  • Recycled bricks – often old chimneys are torn down and you can find someone selling them.  Makes a nice hearth for a woodstove or outdoor patio.
  • Recycled wood – look for someone tearing down a house or other structure and ask if you can salvage some 2×4′s.  You might have to do some de-nailing but it will save you $$ and keep them out of the landfill.  I found some for my shed and playhouse.
  • grow you herbs on top of your shed.  If you add some extra support and a flat roof you can throw some soil up there and grow your herbs.  Take advantage of the roof space and keep them away from the pets.
  • work the farmers market into your routine every week.  Nothing like some fresh fruit and produce from local farmers.

fresh fruit and veg. from Fayette County farmers

good exercise, no noise, no fumes

mint, parsley, basil, etc.

Tags: ,
Posted in Blog, Inspiration | No Comments »

What Sustains You?

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

the thrill of the ride

Here’s me:

  • A bike ride
  • kayaking
  • playing with my kids
  • a quiet dinner with my wife
  • seeing accomplishments from a long day of hard work
  • a good cup of coffee
  • a cold beer
  • getting to explore something or somewhere new
  • feeling the sun
  • taking a deep breath

All this talk about sustainable development, sustainable tourism, sustainable living, green travel can get a bit overwhelming and downright confusing at times.  I sat down to think about it and thought, isn’t the question really what sustains us as individuals and isn’t it different for everyone?

Apart from the necessities of food, water, oxygen, and shelter, what are some things that help to sustain you from day to day and keep you going on to the challenge and brilliance of the next day?

I constantly grapple with the challenge of doing what I do, what sustains me, while understanding the impact of my actions and trying to reduce them.  I’m proud to be an American but understand that we have 4% of the world’s population and use 25% of its resources.  That troubles me.

The Haudenosaunee, the oldest living participatory democracy on Earth,  put it this way – “In every deliberation we must consider the impact on the seventh generation”.

I like the way Thomas Friedman put it in  Hot, Flat, and Crowded:

“Ethics are norms, values, beliefs, habits, and attitudes that are embraced voluntarily – that we as a society impose on ourselves.  An ethic of conservation would embrace several norms, beginning with “a sense of responsibility, a sense of stewardship, for the natural world.”  “An ethic of conservation is an ethic of restraint that says we have a  responsibility to preserve the earth’s resources and natural wonders in and of themselves, because they constitute the very web of life on which all living creatures on this planet depend.”

“An ethic of conservation has to include a spirit of trusteeship.  Stewardship involves responsibility for the natural world.  It is born of wonder and awe for the diversity of life and the majesty of nature.  Trusteeship involves responsibility for future generations, for those who will inhabit the place after our time.  It is a form of solidarity with our children and grandchildren.  An ethic of conservation requires both stewardship and trusteeship – habits of restraint that express respect for the earth that we inhabit, and respect for future generations.”

Can we align what we value, what keeps us going from day to day, with a spirit of conservation, trusteeship, stewardship, admiration, and appreciation?

Can we travel to explore new lands and cultures and in so doing share, promote, and instill an ethic of conservation on ourselves and these places?

I think we can.

Tell me, what sustains you?

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Blog, Inspiration | No Comments »

Why Billboards Aren’t Green

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

I know, a sign about no signs. Ironic, but it makes perfect sense!

The Blue Ridge Mountains, and the Smokies, and here in the central Appalachians where I live… they all have billboards.  Not very green.  Actually, in my opinion, about as un-green as it gets.

I hate ‘em.  Here’s why:

  1. They’re big
  2. They’re ugly
  3. They typically hide a beautiful swath of Appalachian forest that I’d rather be looking at
  4. They’re a distraction to drivers.  We have enough distractions with screaming kids, smart phones, food, and drink
  5. You never find the green attractions on billboards (and you shouldn’t, but that’s another story).
  6. A GPS or smart phone can quickly and easily get you to attractions/facilities/services and find greener options pretty much anywhere.
  7. Neon billboards? Come on.  If stars could talk, I know they’re pissed.
  8. Two words: gentlemen’s club.  ‘Nuff said.
  9. Because change is inevitable, ugliness is not.  Just ask Scenic America.
  10. Do you think John Denver thought of billboards when he wrote “Take me Home Country Roads”?  I don’t think so.

The county I live in, Fayette County, WV, has county wide zoning ordinances that restrict the use of billboards.  You’ll only find a few small ones I wish we could get rid of.

In August of 2007 billboards over 32 sq. ft. were banned along the entire length of the Washington Heritage Trail in Morgan County, WV.

There’s strict control of billboards along National Scenic Byways.  Scenic Quality is the heightened visual experience derived from the view of natural and man made elements of the visual environment of the scenic byway corridor. The characteristics of the landscape are strikingly distinct and offer a pleasing and most memorable visual experience.

My favorite byway in West Virginia is the Highland Scenic Highway.

Vermont – Removed all billboards in the 1970s
Hawaii – Removed all billboards in the 1920s
Maine – Removed all billboards in the ’70s and early ’80s
Alaska – State referendum passed in 1998 prohibits billboards

These states weren’t afraid to take a stand and enact policies that preserve their scenic beauty and attract the green traveler

The New York Times has a series titled “Driven to Distraction” about the dangerous distraction digital billboards pose.

I’m not alone on this one.  People like Ted Riehle felt this way 40 years ago and did something about it.  If it bothers you too make your voice heard.  Tell the destinations you visit to limit or restrict billboards and support those that do.

If that doesn’t work maybe the stars will start standing up for themselves and send a meteor shower to knock out all those obnoxious lights otherwise it’s going to get harder and harder to teach our kids about constellations.  Fortunately they’re not that ubiquitous, yet.

You with me on this one?

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Blog, Inspiration | 3 Comments »

Do Your Travels Inspire You?

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

TGA's office

Marmoleum, Poplar siding, recycled wood, composting bins, scabs.

Let me explain…

Do you get inspired when you travel?  Can we experience new places and cultures, seek adventure, engage in exploration, and either actively or passively be inspired to live better, more responsibly, or is traveling just about sun and sand?

I was inspired

  • I visited Opossum Creek Retreat and experienced the utilization of local wood, milled on-site, and hand crafted into beautiful cabins.  Last spring I built an office using entirely local wood from a small local mill.
  • I visited the CCI Center in Pittsburgh.  A year later we bought a house and installed Marmoleum flooring.
  • At an intentional community in North Carolina I experienced construction using recycled pallets and realized how many pallets get thrown away each year.  I came home, found a bunch of pallets about to be tossed, and built a compost bin out of them.
  • Natural Season Bed and Breakfast grows their veggies on their roof.  I installed a green roof on my trash shed to grow herbs and am working on one for my office.

My family travels to have fun, explore new lands, meet new people, and challenge ourselves.  Sometimes passively and sometimes actively we’ve learned about innovative and very simple and routine techniques to live responsibly.

I’ll never forget meeting the owner of a cabin we stayed in and while listening to his philosophy on conservation and the trials and tribulations it took him to create his place I noticed the scabs on his knuckles.

I went home and got to work.  We shared the same philosophy but I didn’t have scabs.  I had work to do.  I was inspired.  I got to work the next day.

Do your travels inspire you?

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Blog, Inspiration | 2 Comments »