Living Sustainably: Five Good Reasons to Borrow a Home Energy Monitoring Kit

LIVING SUSTAINABLY:  Five Good Reasons to Borrow a Home Energy Monitoring Kit By Ashley Kimble, Holland Board of Public Works Do you know how much the electricity is costing you for that second refrigerator in the basement that you use once a year for the Thanksgiving turkey? Or the hidden cost of the incandescent lightbulb you can’t seem to part with just because it …

Living Sustainably: Earth Hour-Little Things CAN Change the World

LIVING SUSTAINABLY:   Earth Hour-Little Things CAN Change the World By Carolyn Ulstad, Holland Sustainability Committee When I first heard about Earth Hour happening in cities like Paris, Singapore, Dubai and New York, I couldn’t help but start dreaming up what it could be like to bring it here to Holland. For some background, Earth Hour started in 2007 …

Living Sustainably: Hope Student Finding Sustainability in an Iceland Eco-village

LIVING SUSTAINABLY:  Finding Sustainability in an Iceland Eco-village By Alex Webb, Hope College student During the fall semester of 2016, I traveled to Iceland through a study abroad program that revolved teaching “Sustainability Through Community,” a concept I was not aware of before this three-month excursion. This idea was one in which I found the most practical …

Living Sustainably: 10 Ways to Live a More Nature-Rich Life

Living Sustainably:  10 Ways to Live a More Nature-Rich Life By Jane Naber and Hamilton STREAM school students   Being nature rich is more than going green; it’s about going outside regularly and finding value in doing any activity in nature.  It means letting a connection to nature enrich you, your family, and your community. …

February 2017 Sustainability News

February 27, 2017 – HOPE COLLEGE STUDENT’S RESEARCH ADDS FUEL TO FAST-FOOD DEBATE: Margaret Dickinson, spent two years at Hope testing hundreds of fast-food wrappers from several states in order to detect per- and polyfluoro alkyl substances (PFAS) in the packaging. Human-made with long environmental lifetimes, PFAS is toxic to humans and animals, and its bioaccumulation is troubling …

Living Sustainably: How Are We Creating a Sustainable Community?

LIVING SUSTAINABLY:  How Are We Creating a Sustainable Community? By Brett Little and Michelle Gibbs Great things are happening in Holland, and we want you to join in! Many people are working hard to help Holland become a vibrant, world-class community, but for that to happen, it takes all of us working together and addressing all …

Living Sustainably: Pop Quiz: Do You Know Your Home Place? – AND FULL ANSWERS

LIVING SUSTAINABLY Pop Quiz: Do You Know Your Home Place? By Steve Bouma-Prediger How well do you know your place – your geophysical place, your neighborhood, your home? If we don’t know our home place well, then we won’t know how to responsibly care for it. Or, lacking the love born of knowledge, we might not …

Living Sustainably: Know your Landscape for Environmental Engagement

LIVING SUSTAINABLY:  Know your Landscape for Environmental Engagement By Ken Freestone, GreenMichigan.org Did you know that there are more than 33 different environmental projects currently underway in the greater West Michigan region? And did you know there are more than 65 groups working on solid waste, green infrastructure, water, energy, dunes/land, food waste, environmental economics and more? Just …

Living Sustainably: Working on Lake Mac’s Reputation

LIVING SUSTAINABLY:  Working on Lake Mac’s Reputation By Dan Callam, Macatawa Greenway Manager Just how healthy – or unhealthy – is Lake Macatawa?  Does it deserve its murky reputation? Grand Valley State University’s Annis Water Resources Institute has produced its annual monitoring dashboard for Lake Macatawa. The report summarizes sampling on Lake Macatawa during 2016.  The …

January 2017 Sustainability News

January 30, 2017 – Living Sustainably: We can see more stars in Holland January 30, 2017 – Why 98% of Companies Do Not Achieve Their Sustainability Goals January 30, 2017 – BP Advocates for Putting a Price on Carbon January 30, 2017 – How to Reduce Corporate Food Waste? There’s an Online Hub for That January 27, 2017 – Affordable …