greenerMIAMI

greenerMIAMI Will Be Back Shortly

Hello to all of our greenerMIAMI readers! It has been a few months since we last wrote. Baby Oliver is now 3 months old, and we're going to try to start getting back to a little more well-rounded lifestyle that includes updating greenerMIAMI regularly.

If you have or know of a local green business or service, please leave a comment here. We are going to try to compile a list of all of the eco-friendly businesses in the area.

Additionally, if you would like to write original pieces for greenerMIAMI, please also comment here. I can see your email address even if you do not include it in the body of your message. I will be in touch.

I've also had many offers for translations into Spanish. If you would like to write original pieces in Spanish, or translate existing posts into Spanish, please also comment here, even if you have written us before.

Thanks for all of your support, Miami! We'll be back soon.

GreenerMiami is on Maternity Leave...

Thanks for visiting. Oliver was born on April 9, 2008, and we'll be taking some time off to be with him and to figure out this whole parenting thing! Please visit past posts for reading material, and if you need to post an upcoming event, please do so in the comments section of this post. We'll be back in a few weeks. Thanks! Rebecca

Join the greenerMIAMI Team!

We've promised an updated greenerMIAMI site for some time, but have had a lot on our plate. However, we're excited to announce that we are able to move forward with growing the voice and the team of greenerMIAMI.

As you may know, I'm co-Founder and Editor of Ecorazzi.com, a popular "green gossip" website - eco-friendly paparazzi, if you will. On Ecorazzi, we've got team members all over the world contributing content to our site. Not just writers, either: field reporters, photographers, videographers, and more. I've always treated greenerMIAMI quite differently than Ecorazzi, and I'm beginning to wonder why.

Sure, greenerMIAMI is a sub-topic of an already small subject, but there is a lot going on in the environmental arena locally, and a lot of people that are interested in hearing about it. So, we are now officially looking to grow the greenerMIAMI "staff", if you will. Please note that all of these positions are VOLUNTEER, but will be a lot of fun, and interesting to say the least. If you have written us before regarding an interest to contribute, please write us again - there are a lot of emails coming in and we don't want to or mean to skip over you.

Positions available include, but are not limited to:

• Bloggers: general environment / Miami topics or select your own "beat" and write about a specific eco-issue.
• Bloggers en español: Escribe o traduce sobre el medio ambiente y Miami
• Field Reporters: attend local eco-events and report back on them. A digital audio recorder is nice to have, a digital camera is almost necessary.
• Video Producers: we need more original content! Attend events or create your own locally focused eco-videos
• Photographers: a picture is worth a 1,000 words!
• Podcasters: we could definitely use an audio piece, as well
• Programmers / Designers: ideally, greenerMIAMI will become a full blown website - if you'd like to help and have some tech experience/background, we've definitely got some work to do in that area

The possibilities are endless. If one of these ideas doesn't float your boat but you've got one of your own, let us know! Do eco-experiments and write about them! Blog about your daily experiences riding the bus! Go on a quest to recycle! 

If you are interested in any of these volunteer positions with greenerMIAMI, please send us an email. If blogging is what you are after, please send a sample post that is relevant and appropriate for the site. Please be aware that if it is accepted, it will be posted to the site with credit to you. If you are with a non-profit environmental organization, consider having a monthly column on greenerMIAMI that you post yourself.

We look forward to hearing from you and have you help make greenerMIAMI.com a resource FOR the community, BY the community!

Quick Bits [UPDATED]

Sam Suds was on the local news last night! Check out CBS 4's report on PVC called Poison Plastic?

Miami Monthly reports on the fact that Key Biscayne might become "the forefront of the local green movement" with the help of Councilwoman Patricia Weinman. It reads, "Weinman said last month she would like the Village to host a special town meeting with the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy to discuss alternative energy sources and different solutions to environmental concerns."

Have you heard of Pizza Fusion? They are an organic pizza franchise that is from South Florida! Looks yummy. "Save the Earth One Pizza At a Time"...love it!

Organic Fashion gets covered in the Miami Herald. Thanks for the tip, Bryan & Tere!

Welcome Wagon: Green Buildings Miami

We'd like to send out a warm welcome to GreenBuildingsMiami.com, Miami's newest green blogger. It is run by Bryan Dempsey, who contributed an article to greenerMIAMI a while back.

More local green presence on the web can only be a great thing. He'll be bringing us news specifically related to green building, LEED, and more - all on a local level.

Help greenerMIAMI by Donating $1

Hello to all greenerMIAMI visitors - from Miami & around the world. I'd like to announce plans to bring greenerMIAMI to the next level. We'll be bringing this site into a format that will not just be a blog, but also a much more organized, bigger and better website...with a blog inside that, of course.

It's going to be a great resource for the local community on anything environmental - and myself and some friendly helpers are doing all of this with our own time and resources...with pleasure.

GreenerMIAMI is happy to offer all of this information free of charge to the public, and create an incredible resource for the community. However, some of these changes will cost money, and I'd like to ask some help. If every person that visits this site could donate just $1, we would be able to cover our expenses.

We hate to ask, but we appreciate any help you can give us. This is not a tax-deductible donation, but it will go to very good use in development of a new greenerMIAMI.com. I'll be glad to publish the names & websites of the donors if it is desired (anonymous donations are also glady accepted). Additionally, I will publish the total amount raised.

Thank you so much, and if you can, I would greatly appreciate your donation of $1. You may use the donate button on the upper left-hand side of this page, or send money via PayPal to rebecca.e.carter@gmail.com.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! We promise you will be impressed with the results!

Register to Vote TODAY

If you would like to vote in the November 7, 2006 elections, the deadline to register to vote is TODAY.

Residents may register to vote at a number of locations including:

• Public libraries;
• Most city, town and village halls;
• State public assistance agencies;
• Florida Driver License Bureaus
• Miami Dade Elections Department, 2700 NW 87 Ave;
• Miami Dade Elections Department, Satellite Office, 111 NW 1^st Street.

For more information and for voter registration sites, please call 305-499-VOTE (8683) or visit Miami Dade Elections.

greenerMIAMI Sudoku

Something fun and a little unrelated for a Friday. Make your own Sudoku with Flickr photos. Check out the greenerMIAMI Sudoku, then make your own.

Thoughts on the future...

I've been absent the last day or two. Sorry to leave you without much interesting content, but hopefully you've been searching through the archives for good tidbits of the past.

I love that the Publix post drew so much conversation. That's the kind of thing I'd like to see more of! I know I have readers, but sometimes it's so quiet around here I think I'm all alone!

I've been thinking about the future lately. The future of greenerMIAMI. Don't worry, it definitely has one! When I started greenerMIAMI, I just knew that I wanted to be involved with the environment. And since I was already a blogger, it seemed like the most logical step to create greenerMIAMI - the blog.

The idea is that it will be more than just a blog. I'd like to have a website that is easier to navigate for resources, in addition to a blog. I'd like to provide more how-to resources, articles, videos, and maybe even a research area (Ask greener). All of this goes along with our current function of compiling and providing local green resources for the community.

But in addition to the website, there are so many more things that I want to do. Start a Kill-a-Watt lending program, promote Bringing Your Own, and litter & recycling improvements for the area.

It's been mentioned to me recently that maybe greenerMIAMI should become a non-profit organization  - so that we can apply for grants to fund these projects for the community. Another idea that has been thrown out there is to put a program under an existing non-profit, to receive tax-deductible / grant potential status, without creating a new organization.

When I first started, I was very excited about the concept of for-profit, socially responsible companies. I was hoping that I could make that happen somehow through this site, but it might not be the right fit. One of the purposes of greenerMIAMI is to provide information to the masses. Which of course means free.

If the purpose of the organization is to bring the community to a better place, does that automatically mean non-profit? What other options could you think of to be able to bring greenerMIAMI to the next level? What are your thoughts in general? Come on, I know you're out there! Start talking.

Our First Poll: Can You Recycle From Home?

Announcing greenerMIAMI's first poll (we're copying Rick!).

The question: Do you have the ability to recycle from your home?

Answer the Poll, View the Results.