Is anyone interested in volunteering to lead a bicycle ride on Saturday, April 17th starting in East Aurora and ending at the Buffalo Audubon Society’s Earth Day Celebration at Beaver Meadows in North Java? This is a great event at a great location, and even features a home cooked vegetarian/vegan meal with admission. Green Options Buffalo is glad to be tabling at the event and encouraged anyone interested to contact Donna, the event organizer, at:
naturenotes {at} copper(.)net
The arrival of the bicycle caravan will be announced and celebrated, and all cyclists will be given 1/2 price admission.

Restoring an architectural gem? Keeping an old home together? Need cost-effective tricks to save old windows, reuse salvage materials, find space for another purpose?

Meet the people with the know-how at the House Restoration Fair, Saturday March 27^th from 10 am to 2pm. The Fair will take place at the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society Museum located at 25 Nottingham Court at Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo. General admission is $8, or $6 if you’re a Historical Society member.

Speak with craftsmen, artisans, material suppliers, and contractors at display tables AND see presentations of first-hand experiences from a carpenter, homeowners, and architects. We’ll be there….will you??

If you’re anything like me, you probably have lots of outfits you:
a) don’t wear anymore
b) have never worn (yet)
c) only wear once a year
d) are saving until your summer body is back
e) you realize it looked better on that curveless model

When I was a kid, I used to dread the 2days a year my sister and I would stand in her bedroom putting clothes on and taking them off and trying them on and turning around so my mother could yank on various parts to see how long I’d have to own it before it really fit me.  I didn’t mind hand-me-downs, it’s just my sister hit puberty overnight and I had a long ways to catch up.
Strangely, my closet is still the same.  There are blouses, skirts, dresses and accessories of various sizes and I don’t know if I’ll ever wear much of it again.  I am ansy to divest my closet of vestments.  I would be fine taking most of it to a thrift store, but I still have some emotional bond with these articles and hope some friend or acquaintance will appreciate their value or history a little.

Do you want to clear your closet too?  Work on that this weekend while it’s pouring rain outside and then, pile all the clothing up and bring them next Thursday, the 18th for a session of hand-me-overs.  We’ve got a full length mirror and some friends who will be objective about whether something really does makes your butt look Big.  Afterward, we’ll truck whatever is left over to a thrift store.

You’re welcome to bring a bottle of soda or wine or snacks.  158 Eaton 6pm

We ask that you direct your members to our petition

There is an urgent need to renew funding for air monitoring in Tonawanda. Current funding is set to expire in April and though the DEC has tentatively committed to extend funding past that date there must be a long term guarantee for this vital information. The Tonawanda Community Air Quality Study was initiated in July 2007 to evaluate air pollutant concentrations in the industrial area of Tonawanda.  The monitoring allowed DEC to calculate annual average ambient air concentrations, characterize the risk from specific air pollutants in the community, and evaluate the data with wind direction information.

The monitoring found five hazardous air pollutants in excess of the state’s annual concentration guidelines, including two human carcinogens: benzene and formaldehyde. Since this discovery, the Clean Air Coalition has taken steps to alleviate these risks to human health, most notably the campaign that culminated with an EPA, DEC, and US Coast Guard led raid on Tonawanda Coke and the ensuing arrest of Mark Kamholz, the Environmental Control Manager of the company. Clearly the air monitoring in Tonawanda has been essential to identifying polluters and ensuring regulatory action is taken to protect human health.

Key points from the sign-on letter:

·         We fully support and applaud the DEC’s air monitoring work in Tonawanda to date.

·         Discontinuing air monitoring in Tonawanda would send the wrong signal to polluters, namely that they are no longer being watched.

·         The DEC, EPA, and community will have no way of measuring progress without air monitoring in Tonawanda.

·         Should the DEC require financial assistance to continue air monitoring it could consider a partnership with the EPA through the Healthy Community Initiative that has designated $6 million toward improving air toxins monitoring.

·         The DEC should make a commitment to funding the air monitoring in Tonawanda at least through the end of 2012.

While searching for more ways to turn recycled newspaper into seed-starting pots, I stumbled across an article about ways to ReUse old phone books (you can also use phone book pages to make pots for seed starting). I thought this was very interesting, especially considering our office got two of them last summer (since the building is a double), and we barely used either one. The ease with which one can search the internet for a business’s phone number has made these print directories almost obsolete.

Less than 16% of Americans recycle their old phone books. Become one to recycle! You can also call your local phone company and see if they have an opt-out program. OR, here are some ways to REUSE:

1. Make a booster seat for your child. Most of us probably remember sitting on a phone book to reach the dining room table better. Go a step further and cover the phone book with some cotton batting and a fabric remnant to make it even more comfortable.
2. Use them, sheet by sheet, as an alternative to paper towels. Clean windows and mirrors.
3. Next time your kid needs to papier mache something, use pages from your old phonebooks.
4. Crumple the pages into balls to use as packaging filler for delicate objects.
5. Shred the pages up and COMPOST them!!
6. Use one as a kneeling pad for when you’re working in the garden.
7. Use stacks of the pages (10 pages thick or so) to kill the grass where you want a new garden bed. Simply lay the stacks of pages over the grass (overlapping them a bit), wet them down, and cover them with mulch, shredded leaves, or straw. In a few weeks, the grass will be dead and you have a new garden bed!

Next wednesday, March 10th, Buffalo ReUSE is hosting a tin ceiling workshop at 2pm. The workshop will be at the ReSOURCE. For those who do not know, this is our store (where you will find many great things that you may or may not need), so check it out for yourself! 298 Northampton.

If it is nice outside, plan on being outdoors catching some rays and fresh air. Hopefully the weather will be like it has been this week.

I have included a previous blog from one of my colleagues that was written in the past. It includes a great history of tin ceiling as well as the steps that are involved in tin ceiling restoration that we will be partaking in. 

Some may think tin ceiling is out of date, but with a little creativity anyone can come up with different uses for it and bring back its original sublimity. Come next week to find out some neat ways!

Back in 2009, Circle K, a fraternity at UB, volunteered with ReUse for a day. “We mentioned we were running out of space for the seedlings and joked that maybe the students could babysit the seedlings in their dorm room–and they took us seriously!” said Caesandra Seawell, Director of Community Programs. This year, ReUse is extending their “Seedling Foster Parent” program to the public. Becoming a Seedling Foster Parent is easy! Prospective foster parents would take home a tray or two of assembled cells containing soil and seeds. The seeds need a little coaxing “on their bottoms” to germinate. “The ideal temperature seeds need to germinate is around 70-80 degrees. Putting them on top of, or near, a radiator works well as long as the seeds don’t get too hot or the soil drys out.” explained Greenspace Coordinator, Ben Kaiser. The next step is just attention. “You would need to water them, turn them for even sunshine exposure and protect them until they grow bigger and can be brought back to Buffalo ReUse for the next step–our Seedling Swap” Brad Kujawski added.

Seedling Swaps are very common among active gardening communities all over the world. The idea is similar to a book swap–you bring one and take one. Buffalo ReUse invites all Buffalo gardeners to bring (or donate) their extra seedlings to contribute to the East Side of Buffalo community gardens. The seedling swap is a chance to bring a variety of plants to the neighborhood, eliminate waste, and socialize with other gardeners!

Buffalo ReUse’s Seedling Swap will be held Saturday, April 24^th from 10am-4pm (along with their Open House)
There will be a second Seedling Swap on Saturday, May 22^nd in conjunction with a Salad Smorgasbord.

And finally, Buffalo ReUse is planning ahead for some summer shenanigans! ReUse is orchestrating a Pickle Eating Contest! Details are developing quickly, but ReUse hopes to encourage gardeners to plant one extra cucumber plant so there will be plenty of pickles available for the contest. They will need several hundred pickles and hope to use only local supplies.

If you’re interested in gardening with ReUse, becoming a Seedling Foster Parent or a pickler, please contact greenspaces {at} buffaloreuse(.)org or call 716-885-4131.

Back at the end of the Summer’09 we got a surprise at the door. Someone left us a bouquet of sunshine. We got caught up in a lot of rigamarole and never knew who to thank! SO THANK YOU SECRET DELIVERER OF SMILES!
Rachel loved them, Sage loved them, Caesandra loved them and so did Marsha (the guys didn’t even notice them–whattayagonnado?)

The City of Buffalo has just released their 2010 schedule for the bulk trash pickups and its dated to start April 11th.  However, we to encourage you to give us a call at the ReSOURCE 716-882-2800 to schedule a pick up for the reuseable materials like cabinets, doors, toilets, sinks and stuff like that.  Get your tax deduction! Check our website for a complete list of items we’ll pickup.  (Can you help us come up with a JINGLE or viral video??)

Council District
South – April 11th
Delaware – April 18th
Lovejoy – April 25th
North – May 2nd
Niagara – May 9th
Ellicott – May 16th
Masten – May 23rd
Fillmore – June 6th
University – June 13th

APPROBATE US. Artvoice is opening the poll  for their BEST OF BUFFALO AWARDS–you can vote!
The last couple years we have been nominated for Best Activist Group/nonprof, but we’ve never WON. The competition in Buffalo is very steep in that category, for sure. Makes me wonder if there’s something ELSE we can be nominated for so we’ll be a shoe-in. Maybe Best Landfill Diverters? Best used material store? Best Volunteer Site/hosts?  Best place to Scope Hottie-Volunteers?  I dunno.

How about BEST PLACE TO GET DIRTY?!
We want it; we want it real bad (uh ugnh).