Staunton Green 2020

For your enjoyment, we’re doing a brief re-cap on this week’s switchgrass event. Our guests were kind enough to share their presentation slides.

Bobby Whitescarver, District Conservationist from Headwaters Soil and Water Conservation kicked things off with this presentation. In it,

Slides 4-7 – you’ll see photos of switchgrass, a warm season grass (wsg), grown on local farms.

Slide 8 – switchgrass being burned and used as a heat source

Slide 9 – here, heating a chicken coop

Slide 10 – This 60-foot border will be planted with switchgrass for wildlife benefits. (For quail and other endangered Virginia birds.)

Slide 11 – Indian grass (native and beautiful)

Slide 12 – A controlled burn – used every few years to reinvigorate switchgrass production.

What stands out for you from his presentation?

As the election time draws closer there is a lot of discussion about the “green economy”.  (Here’s our growing list of Staunton’s green businesses – let us know if you know of another to add!)

The National Governor’s Association Center for Best Practices released a study about the emerging green economy in each state.

For your convenience Virginia’s profile is available below.

Virginia: Profile of the Green Economy

Which environmental issues are the most important to you this coming election?

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We want to highlight Staunton and immediate area companies who are “green” businesses, or who provide “green” products or services for inclusion on this website. Who is part of our local green economy? We want to know and recognize you.

Want to be listed? Please send your name, business name, product(s)/service(s)/certification(s), address, website, and contact details.

Send all materials with the email subject: “2020 Green Economy Listing” to this author @gmail.com.

Green. Its one of the most common terms in circulation today. We hear “green” all the time now. When anything “green” comes up, its meant to cover an amazingly wide range of products, services, ideas and behaviors.

Who knows what it means after a while?

Yet the promise surrounding “going green” generates so much hope that its no surprise to hear everyone from eager students to farmers to formerly skeptical lawmakers to corporate mavens, all touting the benefits of going green.

That enthusiasm is great, to a degree. But just slapping a “we’re green” slogan on what we do in our recycling efforts and other green behaviors is no longer enough. The task now requires us to build a credible green economy built on clean energy and new jobs. Where hope meets practicality green visions become grounded in viable solutions. And practical solutions are exactly what a sputtering economy and a slew of displaced workers need most right now.

That’s why one of my favorite websites is Sustainable South Bronx. This environmental justice and economic development group offers one of the brightest indications that when it comes to crafting an even better society and economy, we’re all in it together. They believe that we can solve many problems with one simple solution: going greenforall.

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