As I've tried to demonstrate on sustainablog, green building is slowly but surely taking off in St. Louis, and I would make an educated guess that the Earthways Home has served as an inspiration for that. From its web site:
The Missouri Botanical Garden acquired the EarthWays Home and made it the Gateway Center for Resource Efficiency headquarters in November of 2000. The EarthWays Home, a three-story Victorian residence built in 1885 at 3617 Grandel Square, was renovated in 1994 to showcase practical demonstrations of energy efficient systems, recycled products and waste reduction practices.From what I understand, the building need major rennovations when the Garden bought it. It's been turned into a really pleasant place to visit, and regularly holds events in conjunction with its public tours that showcase sustainable building and living practices. I haven't visited in some time, but I'll definitely be there for this month's public tours.
Systems and products in the EarthWays Home offer visitors a springboard to rethink product design and building operations to achieve affordable resource efficiency. Visitors will experience hands-on applications of sustainable lifestyle choices. Many existing features in the EarthWays Home are readily available for general construction and renovation. Examples of things to see:
* energy-efficient lighting sources
* recycled and non-toxic products
* water-saving fixtures
* recycling and composting systems
* energy-efficient window options
* blown-in cellulose insulation
* photovoltaic solar system powering high-efficiency kitchen appliances
* geothermal heating and cooling
* high-efficiency gas furnace
* efficient landscaping options
Pledges: I'm ready to start accepting pledges for the Earthways Center. The standard pledge will be "per post": you'll pledge an amount that you'll give for each post that I or a guest blogger makes during Blogging 'Round the Clock. No pledge is too small, as it all goes to a very worthy cause. I'm estimating 50 posts during the event. Please email me with your pledge. At this point, I only need your name and email address (actually, that's probably all I'll ever need). I promise that I will not use your email address for anything other than contacting you about your pledge.
Guest posts: I've started to send out invitations to bloggers who've been a part of sustainablog's community to donate a post to Blogging 'Round the Clock, and am already excited about some of the guests that have volunteered. If you haven't heard from me, don't worry -- you will. I'm trying to send out a few at a time just so Care2 doesn't think I'm involved in some kind of spamming venture. Regardless, if you're interested in contributing a post (and it doesn't have to be a special post for the event -- it could be something you normally post to your own blog), please don't hesitate to email me.
This is already shaping up to be a fun event. Please let me know if you have questions or suggestions.
Technorati tags: Blogging 'Round the Clock, event, fundraiser
