With nearly 200 members & 7 vehicles, Buffalo CarShare is ready to expand once again! As the ground warms, the non-profit organization is announcing a new vehicle hub located at the corner of West Utica and Elmwood. CarShare hopes to add 3 new vehicles this spring – including a truck – with the help of partners in the region.

The new hub on West Utica, the second on the Elmwood Strip, was made possible through a parking space donated by Horizon Realty, a property management company well known to the Elmwood area. The other BCS hub on Elmwood is two blocks south at Brent Manor Apartments.

As CarShare grows, it has cultivated partnerships with other non-profits such as Grassroots Gardens and the Massachusetts Avenue Project, which will help make possible the addition of a truck for use by these organizations as well as CarShare members. In addition, Buffalo CarShare looks forward to partnerships with area institutions such as the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority and the area’s colleges and universities. In that spirit, the non-profit recently responded to a Request for Proposals for car sharing services from the University at Buffalo.

Join Buffalo CarShare tomorrow, April 1st, at 10am as they launch their new hub at Elmwood & Utica!

On February 27, 2010 there was a devastating earthquake in Chile’s central region, affecting an area stretching over 900 miles. The 8.8 earthquake and subsequent tsunamis destroyed many cities and towns, killing more than 400 people.

The Latin American Cultural Association (LACA) and El Buen Amigo are hosting a fundraising musical event and pot luck on SUNDAY APRIL 25th at the University Presbyterian Church (corner of Main St. & Niagara Falls Blvd. ) to raise money to send to the victims. All the funds will go to Techo Para Chile, a Chilean organization constructing temporary homes for those whose homes were destroyed during the earthquake/tsunamis.

They are asking the good people of WNY to help out with this event, which includes musicians, dancing, a 50/50 raffle, and a Chinese Auction.  LACA/El Buen Amigo are looking for: local businesses to donate  goods or services for the Chinese Auction, and musicians, singers, and dancers to perform. You can also take an ad out in the program (full page: $50, half: $30, 1/4 page: $20, a line: $10).

If interested, please contact Santiago Masfarrer at 913-2881 or email lacanewyork {at} yahoo(.)com. Muchas gracias!!

On Saturday April 10, 2010 the City of Buffalo will hold its annual bicycle auction in its garage at 74 Franklin Street.  The auction will start at 9am and will run till the bikes run out, which is usually around 1pm.  This annual tradition is open to the public.  Anyone can get a new ride from anywhere from $1 to $100, with a lot of the bikes selling for under $10.  So come out and see what you can get. 

I know we will be there looking for tandems or trikes.  If anoyone has any leads towards obtaining these please contact us with the inside source.

The auction has been taking place for over twenty year and has been made possible compliments to the bikes that have been marked as unclaimed, lost, stolen, etc.  It’s a cash only purchase event with no receipts issued.  Once the bike is sold, the new owner can pick it up and ride it off the lot, just like a new car!

All the proceeds that are raised go towards a general city fund.  For more information you can check out the Buffalo Police Department’s website or call 851-4567.

This past Saturday, the 27th of March was the annual tradition of Earth Hour.  For the past three years since its inception, at 8:30pm hundreds of millions of people and structures have chosen to turn off their lights in a call for action on climate change by doing something quite simple for one hour. 

Earth Hour was started in 2007, and as each year passes more and more are getting involved on the last saturday during the month of March.  Earth Hour was initially conceived by the World Wildlife Fund, when 2.2 million residents of Sydney participated by turning off all non-essential lights. 

Following Sydney’s lead, many other cities around the world adopted the event in 2008.   Just a few of the many famous structures that have participated have been the Brooklyn Bridge, Eiffel Tower, Las Vegas Strip, Pryamids of Giza, Golden Gate Bridge and most importantly our Niagara Falls.

In 2009, reports show that the United States topped the Earth Hour participation with an estimated 80,000,000 people, 318 cities and 8 states participating.  87 countries among all of the continents were active in this global initiative.  Every year this day is getting bigger and its sure to continue to get larger over the years with all of our help.

Earth Hour 2010 was reportedly the biggest Earth Hour yet, aiming to garner more than the one billion participant goal of 2009′s Earth Hour.  126 countries signed up for Earth Hour 2010.  With everyones contribution, small or large we can go a far way together towards facing climate change.  Its not to early to plan ahead for 2011′s earth hour.

Buffalo Growing is a collaboration that brings together a diverse group of organizations and community members around a common commitment to urban greening, access to healthy food and fostering sustainable communities. The group is focused on both short term and long term solutions to issues such as leasing city-owned land, zoning for urban farms, access to resources and training/education.

One of the group’s main focuses is urban farming and community & backyard gardening. This year is a pilot year for a seed and transplant program to help support gardens in Buffalo. Community gardens will receive seed packets and transplants throughout the growing season and have the opportunity to participate in resource pooling and bulk purchasing.

Volunteers are needed on Friday, April 16th from 11am – 1pm to help package seeds and prepare transplants for distribution. This will take place at MAP on 271 Grant St.

Join in on this opportunity to support gardens and farms in the city, and check out the Buffalo Growing Calendar for other upcoming events.

Sustainable Stewardship: Greening Historic Buildings

Barbara A. Campagna, FAIA, LEED AP

Graham Gund Architect of the National Trust for Historic Preservation
Larkin at Exchange Building, 6th Floor, Barton Room
726 Exchange Street, Buffalo NY 14210

Tuesday, April 13
2 – 4 PM

Preservation Buffalo Niagara (PBN) is hosting a free lecture on making historic buildings – and all older building – more energy efficient. As the construction and operation of buildings accounts for more than 40% of the United State’s carbon dioxide emissions, reusing and retrofitting our existing buildings can reduce emissions dramatically.

Barbara Campagna, a Buffalo native, is the chief architect for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. She will discuss the National Trust’s Sustainability Program and how the 29 historic sites of the National Trust are integrating historic preservation values with green building practices – from green housekeeping techniques to sustainability master plans to LEED certification for historic rehabilitations. The National Trust’s efforts are demonstrating that conservation and improvement of our existing built resources, including re-use of historic and older buildings, greening the existing building stock, and reinvestment in older and historic communities, is crucial to combating climate change.
According to Barbara, “Older buildings are one of our greatest renewal resources and everyone concerned with the environment should also recognize the value of keeping older buildings energy efficient and viable.”
Read the rest of this entry »

Just a quick reminder about Wednesday night’s Member’s Meeting at the Merriweather Library, 1324 Jefferson Ave. It begins at 6:30pm (no food allowed so please try to eat something ahead of time). We intend to be finished no later than 8pm.
There’s lots to update you about; please join us.

We just finished the April Calendar of community events and workshops. We’ll be sending out a more in-depth invitation this week, but here’s a sneak peek before it heads to the printer. Please encourage everyone you know to visit us for our OPEN HOUSE, April 24th.

Rachel and I really hope folks can help us this month with tabling events because we are really in-demand and double-booked for most of the weekends. You’re our biggest cheerleaders and we hope you can help us spread the word about ReUse. If you would like details about the upcoming tabling opportunities, please email volunteer {at} buffaloreuse(.)org

Dear Friends,

The Food and Emerging Media Speaker Series is picking back up with a talk by Eyebeam Executive Director Amanda McDonald Crowley entitled:

Food in the City

THURSDAY APRIL 1st at 7 pm at the Burchfield Penney Art Center. The talk is free and open to the public – please help spread the word!!!

Hope to see you all there!

Amanda McDonald Crowley is Executive Director at Eyebeam in New York http://www.eyebeam.org. She is a cultural worker, curator and facilitator who specialises in creating new media and contemporary art events and programs that encourage cross-disciplinary practice, collaboration and exchange. Amanda was executive producer for ISEA2004, the International Symposium for Electronic Arts 2004, held in Tallinn, Estonia and Helsinki, Finland, and on a cruiser ferry in the Baltic sea. She was Associate Director, Adelaide Festival 2002 and in this position was also Chair of the working group that curated the exhibition and symposium ‘conVerge: where art and science meet’. From 1995 to 2000 she was Director of the Australian Network for Art and Technology (ANAT) where she made significant links with science and industry by developing a range of residencies for artists in settings such as science organizations, contemporary art spaces and virtual residencies online; developing cross-disciplinary masterclasses for artists and curators; as well as beginning to establish links with media artists and organizations in Asia. She previously worked with a range of arts organizations in Australia including the Australia Council for the Arts (the federal government’s arts funding and advisory body), Arts Training Australia (conducting research for a multimedia education and training strategy), and Electronic Media Arts Australia (incorporating the Australian Video Festival). She has done residencies in Berlin, Germany (1994/5), Banff Centre for the Arts, Canada (2002) and at Sarai in Delhi, India (2002/3), regularly speaks at international conferences and festivals, occasionally writes for journals such as Artlink, RealTime, the Sarai Reader, and Art Asia Pacific; and lurks on a lot of media, technology and culture related email lists. She’s an avid cook, amateur gardener, and is currently pursuing research on “Food in the City” with the Eyebeam Sustainability Research Group.

CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS!
Join us on
MONDAY, APRIL 5, 2010
12:00 – 5:00
For a Soda Pop Exchange at the Broadway Market
VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED TO WORK THE TABLES – TO SIGN UP, CALL YVONNE HAIRSTON, 881-5150 EXT. 4402
What:
For every 20oz bottle or 12 oz can of soda pop that people bring receive a FREE quart of milk
For every 1 liter bottle or 3 12 oz cans of soda pop that people bring receive a FREE ½ gallon of milk or juice
For every 2 or 3 liter bottles of soda pop that people bring receive a FREE gallon of milk or juice.
For more information on the event please visit www.healthiernynow.org

Paula Alcala Rosner, Director of Urban Assisted Agriculture
Community Action Organization of Erie County (CAO)
70 Harvard Place
Buffalo, New York 14209
716-881-5150 ext. 4768
Work cell phone: 846-4408

The Canisius College Institute for the Study of Human-Animal Relations
and The William H. Fitzpatrick Institute of Public Affairs and Leadership
proudly announce a special lecture:

Gombe and Beyond: The Next Fifty Years
Jane Goodall, PhD, DBE
Founder ? the Jane Goodall Institute
UN Messenger of Peace

Wednesday, April 14, 2010, 7:30 p.m.
Doors open at 6:30pm. Seating is limited.
Canisius College Koessler Athletic Center (Main and Delavan)

Free and open to the public. All members of the community are welcome.

In July 1960, Jane Goodall began her landmark study of chimpanzees in what is now Tanzania under the mentorship of famed anthropologist and paleontologist Dr. Louis Leakey. Her work at Gombe Stream would become the foundation of future primatological research and redefine the relationship between humans and animals.

In 1977, Dr. Goodall established the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI), which continues the Gombe research and is a global leader in the effort to protect chimpanzees and their habitats. Today, the Institute is widely recognized for establishing innovative, community-centered conservation and development programs in Africa, and Jane Goodall?s Roots & Shoots, JGI?s global environmental and humanitarian youth network, which has almost 150,000 members in 110 countries.

Dr. Goodall travels an average 300 days per year, speaking about the threats facing chimpanzees, other environmental crises, and her reasons for hope that humankind will solve the problems it has imposed on our planet. She continually urges her audiences to recognize their personal responsibility and ability to effect change. ?Every individual counts,? she says. ?Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference.?

Dr. Goodall?s scores of hon ors include the Medal of Tanzania, the National Geographic Society?s Hubbard Medal, Japan?s prestigious Kyoto Prize, Spain?s Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research, the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science, and the Gandhi/King Award for Nonviolence. In April 2002, Secretary-General Kofi Annan named Dr. Goodall a United Nations Messenger of Peace, and she was reappointed in June 2007 by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. In 2004, in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace, Dr. Goodall was invested as a Dame of the British Empire, the female equivalent of knighthood. In 2006, Dr. Goodall received the French Legion of Honor, presented by Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, as well as the UNESCO Gold Medal Award.

Dr. Goodall?s list of publications includes Hope for Animals and Their World: How Endangered Species are Being Rescued from the Brink, two overviews of her work at Gombe ? In the Shadow of Man and Through a Window ? as well as two autobiographies in letters, the bestselling autobiography Reason for Hope and many children?s books. The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior is the definitive scientific work on chimpanzees and is the culmination of Dr. Goodall?s scientific career.

She has been the subject of numerous television documentaries and is featured in the largescreen format film Jane Goodall’s Wild Chimpanzees (2002). She also has been featured in five Animal Planet specials ? Jane Goodall?s Return to Gombe, Jane Goodall?s State of the Great Ape, Jane Goodall?s Heroes, When Animals Talk and most recently, Almost Human.