Those in and around CT: Sustainable Living Fair at UCONN!

Sustainable Living Book Fair & Conference,
UConn Co-op
April 22, 23, 24,
2075 Hillside Road, Storrs, CT. 860-486-5027.

What is it like to live off the grid? Is geothermal heating and cooling
practical for Connecticut residents? How can you eat what's in season
and reduce your reliance on foods that have been transported great
distances? Get the answers to these questions and more at the second
annual Sustainable Living Book Fair and Conference at the UConn Co-op
and on the University of Connecticut campus April 22, 23, and 24.
We all know that we should be living more lightly on the earth so that
there are resources enough for the next generations. We know we should
do our part to ward against global warming. But it is hard to know on a
personal level what you can do and what, with others in your community
you can do together. We've invited experts on a range of topics to speak,
we will be showing films, and we will have displays and lots of books on
everything from solar energy to organic growing to the Local First
Movement. We will be looking at the philosophical and most importantly,
the practical. Attendees will go home with information they can put to
use right away.
Here is a look at what we have scheduled. We have a few more speakers
to confirm, so check back in a few days.

Sunday, April 22, Noon to 6:00 pm.
Earth Day
Noon - FOR KIDS -The Cat In the Hat Visits
Fifty years ago, Dr. Seuss published The Cat in the Hat which has been a
favorite of children ever since. In 1971, Seuss published his most
controversial book, The Lorax that many readers interpreted as his attack
on corporate greed and a strong defense of the environment. The book
has been challenged and banned, loved by children, taught in schools, and
has inspired environmental work and tree planting in the decades since it
first appeared.
Inspired by Dr. Seuss and The Lorax ourselves, we have invited the Cat In
the Hat to appear here in person. We will read The Cat in the Hat and The
Lorax and we'll plant trees that you can take home.
1:00 pm What's Toxic What's Not: Know Your Risk-Safeguard
Your Home
Dr. Gary Ginsberg and Brian Toal, M.S.P.H., authors of What's Toxic What's
Not, will talk about the potentially harmful toxins in our homes and
workplaces. Dr. Gary Ginsberg is the senior toxicologist at the
Connecticut Dept of Public Health. He holds faculty appointments at Yale
and the University of Connecticut Medical Schools. He has published
extensively on children's risks and is a member of several National
Academy of Science panels. He received his Ph.D. in toxicology from the
University of Connecticut and his B.S. in Pharmacy from the University of
Buffalo. Brian Toal, M.S.P.H., supervises the Environmental and
Occupational Health Assessment Program in the Connecticut Department
of Health, where he works closely with the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention in preventing community exposures to toxics. This
is an important topic for all of us.
2:00 pm Andrew Sholdudko, singer, songwriter
UConn student Andrew Sholdudko will perform his lively, take-care-of-the
environment song, "Need Your Help" which he composed for UConn's
Environmental Expressions. In the song, Sholdudko begins, "Can't you all
hear what the siren meant. Gotta start saving the environment. Do a little
bit, every little bit that you can. Cuz we're cutting down on the human
lifespan." Andrew will also perform a few other tunes for us.
3:00 pm Living Off the Grid
Baron Wormser, author of The Road Washes Out in Spring: A Poet's
Memoir of Living Off the Grid, will talk about his life in rural Maine far from
power lines and the accoutrements of modern life that many of us cannot
imagine doing without. For 25 years, Wormser, a poet, and his family lived
without electricity or running water. They produced most of their own
food and made do. His account of these years is insightful and a pleasure
to read. Whether you dream of living off the grid yourself, or love books
about country life, you will enjoy meeting Baron Wormser.

Monday, April 23, 8am - 8pm
UConn Celebrates Earth Day
The Eco Huskies and the Office of Environmental Policy will have free bike
tune-ups, hybrid, electric and grease cars, information on water usage
with pyramids of water, Mt. Sneaker, a piece of green roof and more. Visit
their outdoor displays on Fairfield Way and the surrounding areas.
1:00 pm Serving Up the Harvest
Cookbook author Andrea Chesman offers advice and inspiration to all
who want to enjoy fresh, local, seasonal vegetables with every meal. In
her book, Serving Up the Harvest: Celebrating the Goodness of Fresh
Vegetables, she offers recipes that follow three guidelines: "Simple.
Delicious. Harmonized with the growing season." She believes that
vegetables that ripen together taste good together. Her recipes include
such tasty treats as Warm Mushroom Salad, New Potato Salad, Grilled
Chicken and Asparagus Salad, Soy-Sesame Grilled Eggplant, and Everyday
Tomato-Cucumber Salad. Chesman has written many popular cookbooks
including, The Roasted Vegetable, The Vegetarian Grill, 365 Healthful
Ways to Cook Rice, Beans, and Grains, Pickles and Relishes, and Sun Dried
Tomatoes. The Café Co-op will be offering specials from Chesman's
cookbooks.
2:00 - 4:00 pm Turn Old Paper Into New: The Pleasures of
Hand Made Paper
Stop at our paper making station. We will show you how to make
beautiful paper for cards and letters by recycling newspapers, brown
grocery bags, tissue paper, wrapping paper, junk mail, and what have you.
Bring a bit of dryer lint from home to add color and texture to you
creation. Papermaking is an ancient craft that anyone can do.
6:00 pm. Community Supported Energy
Greg Pahl, author of The Citizen Powered Energy Handbook:
Community Solutions to a Global Crisis will talk about Community
Supported Energy. Pahl has been involved in environmental issues for
more than 20 years. In the 1970s he lived "off the grid" in a home in
Vermont with a wind turbine atop an 80-foot steel tower that provided
for his electrical needs. He is a founding member and co-director of the
Vermont Biofuels Association. He has written about biodiesel, wind power,
wood heat, solar energy, heat pumps, electric cars, sustainable forestry
management, and "green" home building materials.
Pahl is also the author of Biodiesel: Growing a New Energy Economy,
Natural Home Heating: The Complete Guild to Renewable Energy Options,
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Saving the Environment and The Unofficial
Guide to Beating Debt.

Tuesday, April 24
2:00 p.m. Building with Awareness: The Construction of a
Hybrid Home
Screening of the award winning video on building a straw bale solar home.
Learn about straw bale walls, post-and-beam framing, adobe thermal
mass walls, passive solar heating and cooling, rubble trench foundations,
roof-framing and insulation, concrete floors, earth plasters for walls,
electrical wiring, photovoltaic systems, rainwater cisterns and more.
3:00 p.m. Virginia Walton: Town of Mansfield Recycling
Manager
In the summer of 2005, after joining the Connecticut Clean Energy
Communities Program, the Town of Mansfield committed to the goal of
having 20% of the town residents signed up for SmartPower by 2010.
Virginia Walton will talk about what this means for the town, the benefits,
and how people can participate. Residents of other towns that do not
already have such a program will also want to hear how the program is
working for Mansfield.
Books for Sustainable Living and displays on various topics will be
available all three days.