Tampa may well be on its way to taking over the moniker Green Bay. A blog called Creative Loafing has been listing the 100 greenest people and organizations in the Tampa Bay area and some of the list-makers are quite intriguing.

Project 3.0/The Roosevelt made it on the list because Rudy Arnauts, Steve Francois, Joe Redner, and Bryan Roberts came up with the bright idea to turn one of the area’s old buildings into something new. The 100+ year old brewing company structure was remodeled using different, sustainable, modern architecture and construction styles. The building also features A/C that runs off of well water circulating through a concrete slab, which doubles as a canvas for artwork. The building itself is a showcase of green talent, but will also be used as an event hall and artist think tank.

Photo Credit: Creative Loafing

Eckerd College also made the list as the greenest campus in town – and we’re not talking about the lawn on the quad. The school has implemented several campus-wide initiatives to get students thinking not only of their future but the future of the world upon which they are about to embark. Eckerd has a student-wide bike share program, a student-run recycling program, and environmental film festival and a partnership program whereby the students donate used items at the end of each year that they might otherwise throw away to local charitable organizations who recycle the items to new users. (more…)

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Photo credit: Barbara L. Slavin

New Mexico is the Land of Enchantment: Home to arid deserts, Rocky Mountain peaks, and all the majesty that lies in between. Many outsiders think of New Mexico as arid desert, sort of a continuation of dryness that begins in California and ends in Texas, but New Mexico (which was once part of old Mexico) is as diverse geologically as it is culturally.

The first homeowners (to meet Europeans) in New Mexico were Pueblo Indians. Their oldest surviving village, the Taos Pueblo, still rests — and is inhabited — at the foot of New Mexico’s most majestic mountain peaks. Those peaks are just the top of New Mexico’s geology. The state shares a good portion of the high Colorado plateau, averaging 1.3 miles above sea level and home to the Four Corners Monument.

From these elevated forests you can also travel to the Rio Grande and the colorful deserts and mountains that in fact do connect eastern California to Arizona, New Mexico, and west Texas. Now take all this geology and add to it a culture rich in Pueblo, Navajo, Ute, Hispanic, and European culture, including a thriving art community. Artists and writers such as Georgia O’Keefe and D.H. Lawrence have called New Mexico home. This Land of Enchantment is even home to its own Spanish language dialect. (more…)

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Photo credit: Boston.com

Residents of Minnesota, North Dakota, and parts of Canada have been scrambling over the last few weeks to stem the tide of the icy and unforgiving Red River. Ice jams have been backing up the river, compounding already rising water levels. In truly amazing acts of teamwork and organization, area communities have become sandbag factories in an attempt to save their homes, businesses, and livelihood. As the region braces for yet another Red River crest this week, the future of residents’ homes is already in question.

While many homes have been saved, no community can completely avoid damages when flooding and an icy northern winter join forces. Still, even those homes successfully saved by sandbagging will face significant cleanup challenges due to layers of dust formed in the process. Even as a second crest approaches in the coming weeks, city and state leaders are scrambling to find answers to housing issues in the impending aftermath.

The first line of financial defense for flood-affected communities will be the federal government, and more specifically, the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) and the President himself. The possibility of aid to individual homeowners for home repair is very real, but it requires a declaration of disaster from President Obama, a prospect that has brought FEMA investigators into the area currently to assess the damages. (more…)

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