Improving Energy & Comfort at Home
Let’s make your existing home more energy efficient, healthy, and comfortable! We’ll discuss simple things you can do as well as the benefits of a comprehensive whole house energy assessment. The Greater St. Louis Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program will also be explained. Your home is your biggest investment, we’ll help you learn to take care of it! Pizza and drinks provided.

 JUST ADDED!  Greening Your New Home – No Greenwashing Allowed
Looking to build or buy a new ‘green’ home? Be careful of the greenwashing – claims of green that aren’t really green! Come learn the basics of true green building. You’ll go home with a listing to ensure you include true green building aspects into your next home decisions. Let us help you start the process! Pizza provided.

Greening Your New Home – Advanced Focus: Building Green Walls
Local green homebuilding experts will discuss performance characteristics, cost-benefits and construction methods associated with structural building materials increasingly used in green-certified home projects such as SIPs, ICFs, composite I-beams, recycled plastic composite lumber, etc. Get details and compare options before you build!

Problem Solving Sustainability For The Small Business Owner
Join this introduction discussion on how to incorporate sustainability into your small business practice. From recycling programs, indoor air quality, and purchasing policies to employee carpooling, energy use and generating a marketing message – there is always a way for the small business owner to get started greening their practice and to plan for additional, future sustainability measures.

Where Is “Away”: Leaving For The Landfill
You’ve always wanted to get away… here’s your chance! In this adult outing we’ll take a trip to see where it actually goes when you throw your trash “away.” We’ll tour a local landfill, check out one of the biggest compost heaps in town, and learn more about the secret life of trash. Morning munchies will be provided, but please arrive ready for your adventure, dressed for the weather in closed-toed shoes.

Integrating Renewable Energy into the Grid
Some policy and lawmakers are calling for more than 30 percent of our nation’s electrical energy to come from renewable energy sources by 2020. Learn how utilities are responding and ways you can easily choose renewables – without investing in your own system. Representatives from AmerenUE’s Pure Power program as well as leaders from Missouri’s developing wind power industry will join the class. Explore cutting edge innovations that may power our way to a more sustainable future.

Composting Expanded: Bokashi
In a space-saving bokashi system, effective microorganisms transform all kinds of kitchen waste into a nutrient-rich soil amendment.

Composting Expanded: Vermicomposting
In a vermicomposting system, worms process your food scraps to produce a natural fertilizer and soil conditioner that your houseplants will love.

Home Plate: Let’s Go Out to Dinner and See a Farm
Urban farms are popping up in abandoned lots and helping revitalize neighborhoods throughout the country. We will tour New Roots Urban Farm, located in the heart of historic Old North St. Louis and learn more about community supported agriculture projects and local farmers markets Following the tour, we will eat dinner on the farm, featuring fresh, seasonal fare. The class begins at the EarthWays Center and will travel together to the farm from there. Carpooling will be encouraged.

Home Plate: Preserving the Harvest
Deliver the healthful wealth of your garden to your family’s table all year long! Leasburg, MO gardener, teacher, and veteran preserver Laura Friz will demonstrate basics and share expert tips covering canning, drying, and freezing all types of fresh produce – and she’ll whip up a batch microwave pickles too! This class will take place at the Kemper Center at the Missouri Botanical Garden. Participants are asked to call the EarthWays Center to register: (314)577-0220.

 New Date!  Sustainability 101: What is a Carbon Footprint?
How do human activities contribute to carbon dioxide in our atmosphere and global warming? We will sort out the myths and facts about calculating a carbon footprint and discuss carbon offsets as an option for tackling this issue. Participants will explore resources for computing their baseline carbon footprint and discuss action plans for monitoring and reducing our personal carbon output.

Sustainability 101: Greening the Built Environment
Most of us spend at least 90 percent of our time indoors. Can we reduce the environmental impact of our homes and buildings by making them greener? Yes! Representatives of the US Green Building Council’s St. Louis Chapter will help us learn what makes a building green and discuss the role of green buildings in designing a more sustainable future.