Natural and Sustainable

1. Bloomington, Indiana:

• Population: 68,779
• Climate: Mild, four-season weather. January average temperature; 30 degrees. July average; 76 degrees.
• Median House Value: $150,6000 as of August 2007
• Natural Assets: Elevation is at 840 feet. Near various large wilderness areas, picnicking and fall colors. Nearby lakes are great for canoeing, kayaking and bass fishing.
• Sustainable Initiatives: The city signed the U.S. Mayers Climate Protection Agreement to meet the standards of the Kyoto Protocol, and international agreement to address alimate change by reducing greehouse gas emissions. Bloomington also has a major sustainable development program empowered by a citizen/government commission.
• Also: Bloomington residents describe their hometown with words such as “homey”, “affordable” and “politically active.”

2. Bellingham, Washington:

• Population: 72,992
• Climate: Mild weather with a long rainy season, January average temperature; 35 degrees. July average; 62 degrees.
• Median House Value: $252,000
• Natural Assests: Access to Bellingham Bay, San Juan Islands and Mount Baker as well as the 241-acre Whatcom Falls Park that features four waterfalls and well-maintained walking trails. During the summer, Whirlpool Falls is a popular swimming hole where locals jump off cliffs as high as 50 feet into the natural pool below.
• Sustianable Initiatives: Strong municipal and county commitment to resource efficiency and stewardship. Bellingham has signed the Mayors Climate Protection Agreement and administers the Vluntary Metering Program that promotes residental and commercial water conservation.
• Also: Some locals insist that snowboarding was invented and prefected on the slops of Mount Baker, a 10,800-foot glacier-covered mountain clearly visible from the streets of Bellingham.

3. Ukiah, California:

• Population: 15,580
• Climate: Mild in general, warm summer afternoons, buffered by coastal breezes. January average teperature is 45 degrees; July average temperature is 73 degrees.
• Median House Value: $330,000
• Natural Assets: Elevation: 615 feet. Within an house of the Pacific coast, and neat the virgin redwoods of Montgomery Woods State Reserve, one of the few remaining redwood groves you con’t drive through.
• Sustainable Initatives: Local activism, renewable energy, drafting of a new comprehensive plan for Ukiah.
• Also: Edowed with ecological wealth in the form of a mild climate, fertile soil, and surrounding forests of oak and some remaining redwood, Ukiah and Medocino County are a mecca for all things sustainable.

4. Eau Claire, Wisconsin:

• Population: 62,570
• Climate: Chilly winters and warm, potentially humid summers. January average temperature, 14 degrees. July average, 72 degrees.
• Median House Value: $139,900
• Natural Assets: Chippewa River State Trail, a spectacular riverside trail from Eau Claire to the city of Durland. Access to Wisconsin’s 15,000 lakes and 44,000 miles of rivers and streams.
• Sustainable Initiatives: Extensive use of bicycles and bicycling infrastructure. Methane generator at a local dairy operation and increasing use of solar energy.
• Also: This west central Wisconsin city is not a hige tourist destination, and that’s OK with most of its residents.

5. Paonia, Colorado:

• Population: 1,589
• Climate: January average temperature. 25 degrees. July average teperature, 72 degrees.
• Median House Value: $124,300
• Natural Assets: Great rafting, fishing and camping at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and West Elk Wilderness Area; bicycling on beautiful country roads.
• Sustainable Initiatives: Citizen activism (such as the Western Slope Environmental Resource Council) to protect Paonia from over development and create local self-reliance.
• Also: This little western slop gem was first established as a home base for coal miners, many of whom still occupy the bungalow houses of the downtown area.

6. Dixon, New Mexico:

• Population: 1,529
• Climate: Mild summer, erratic in winter. Average January temperature is 31 degrees, July average is 72 degrees.
• Median House Value: $220,000
• Natural Assets: Confluence of Embudo River and Rio rande; pastoral countryside of rolling hils, characterized by sagebrush, apache plume, cliffrose and pinon pines.
• Sustainable Initiatives: Passive solar architecture, local economy, preservation of land, water rights and watershed.
• Also: The housed and farms in Dixon (about half an hour from Taos and an hour from Sant Fe were built failry close together to make use of meticulously maintained acequais, which is irrigation ditches fed by snowmelt.

7. Ocean Springs, Mississippi:

• Population: 17,698
• Climate: Hot and muggy summer. Annual precipitation is 62 inches. Average January temperature is 68 degrees. July average is 82 degrees.
• Median House Value: $120,5000
• Natural Assets: Elevation, 30 feet. Accessto 170,000 acres of public lands in Jackson and George Counties and the 80-mile stretch of the Pascagoula River that is protected from development. At this year’s Wild Wing festival, more than 200 or 342 species of birds in the region were identified.
• Sustainable Initiatives: Restoration of natural wetlands; replacement of destroyed houses with smaller, more energy-efficient homes; and creation of an eco-tourism industry around the unspoiled mature of the area; birds, marine life and other wildlife on huge tracts of undeveloped land.
• Also: If you have survived a hurrican with the fury of Katrina, the word sustainability is partly synonymous with survivability. The dowtown area of Ocean Springs was one of the few commercial districts on the Mississippi coast to come through Katrina intact, or nearly so, but 177 houses in the small city did not.

8. Brattleboro, Vermont:

• Population: 11,994
• Climate: Winters that usually make the holiday season white (average annual snowfall is 68 inches). Average January temperature is 25 degrees. July average is 73 degrees.
• Median House Value: $180,000
• Natural Assets: Skiing at Mount Snow, Haystack and Stratton ski areas, kayaking on the Connecticut River, mountain biking and hiking in the Green Mountains.
• Sustainable Intiatives: Civic activism to preserve quality of life (for instance, no billboards allowed.) Recently, 200 residents took the “localvoe” challenge in which they pledged to eat locally grown foods for either a week or a month.
• Also: Faced with the challenge of preserving their agricultural heritage and their beautiful landscape, the residents of Battleboro created a local tradition that has captured New England’s heart: “The Strolling of the Heifers,” a feminine version of Span’s famours “Running of the Bulls”. (Source: Some information pulled from M.E.N. 2007)

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*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Pop your sponges and plastic scrubbing pads in the microwave at full poer for two minutes. This will kill 99% of all the living germs and bacterial spores, including E. coli. Be sure and dampen your sponges and any others before doing this, so that it doesn’t create a fire. This is a environmentally safer alternative to bleaching them.

• Love cut flowers? Weel, most are treated with pesticides and flown thousands of miles, and usually die in about three days. Instead opt for indoor plants such as hydrangeas, which come potted.

• Try to buy local over organic when in the supermarket. Of course organic is important to your health as well as your families, but buying local you support local growers. It not only forces you to eat seasonlly, when produce is freshest, it also eliminates the energy coasts of shipping food from around the world. Also, small farmers are more apt to care about their environmental impact than industrial agriculture, since they live on the land they work.

• Bring a tote to the supermarket when you do your shopping, and try to remember plastic produce bags as well, so you are not collecting more and mroe each time.

• Test your own drinkinbg water yourself with a water purifying kit from a local hardware store. Or get an easy-to-install water filter. So instead of buying plastic bottles, use a carafe of water in the fridge.

• When you order take-out ask for the condiments of only what you plan to use. Who really needs 12 packets of soy sauce, eight packages of ketchup or four pairs of plastic knives? It’s sad to see them all end up in the trash eventually.

• Opt to pay a few cents extra to support wind-powered electricity, which comes from a renewable energy source. Your power company won’t hook you apt. or your house up to a different generator, but it does make sure that a comparable amount of wind energy is used in another place and it will overall make a tiny difference for a better world.

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*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Swap, don’t buy (Try eBay, Craigslist, and Freecycle.)

Common pullutions to oregon and the world’s water ways include:
• Cigarette butts
• Fishing line
• Styrofoam cups
• Scrap metal
• Borken glass
• Tires
• Pesticides
• Chemicals

All of these things end up in the Pregopns rivers, streams and lakes. Garbage and pollution contaminate our drinking water, poison fish and wildlife, and turn pristine waterwaterways into un contaminated trash mounts.

You can make a difference in this horrible situations or any waterway for that matter by adopting that waterway and cleaning up for future generations to come.

How it works: Oregon Adopt-A-River uses a citizen-based hands-on approach to keeping the state’s water cleans. Volunterrs take care of their favorite section of river or waterway, such as a stream or lake and they work with federal, state and local governments to clean it up. And continue to keep that waterway clean.

Adopting a waterway is simple. It only takes on person to get things started. And all it takes is gathering some friends or relatives or even neighbors together and start it up. Anyone who is an environmentally concerned citizen can Adopt-A-River. Those who adopt a waterway are called “Stream Stewards”. They choose a two-mile stretch along any waterway in Oregon. Stream Stewards make a two-year commitment and hold cleanups at least twice a year. Oregon Adopt-A-River will provide:

• A how-to manual on planning a clean up.
• Certificats of Adoption and Recognition.
• Grabage bags, stickers and window decals.
• Assistance to learn who owns and manages the land along your adopted waterways.
• Safety Tips.
• Sample news releases and suggestions on how to attract media coverage.
• Ideas on how to obtain donated supplies.
• Adviuce on trash disposal.

Oregon Adopt-A-River also serves as a resource for citizens and volunteer groups. Teaching volunteers about the importance of healthy waterways is a central part of the Oregon Adopt-A-River program.

The state of Oregon alone, has hundereds of rivers and streams. All of them need help from committd and concerned volunteers. Here’s how to get started in any state where you live: The following is a random list of states that have the Adopt-A-River program in force.

• Minnesota

• Indiana

• Oregon

• Tennessee

• Montana (Adopt-A-Fish Program)

• Florida

• Mississippi

•Illinois

• Michigan

• Outside the U.S. -Canada

To name a few. Get started now by contacting your local water shed dept. through your local national park office. Or contact your city’s chamber of commerce to find out how to get started.

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*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Buy things that will last over time. Think long term, even if the product is more expensive, if it will last longer than ultimately it is worth the more expensive price tag. If the product, such as clothing is made better, it will last for years and years to come.