Independents week is this week and is a national event to promote local businesses across the country. Here in Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano is supporting this cause and has declared June 30 – July 6 as independents week! Support your local economy and its uniqueness by making an extra effort to shop locally this week.

Why support local business? Check out this list of reasons from Local First Arizona:

• For every two jobs national retailers bring to a community, three jobs are lost as a result of local businesses closing down.
• When you shop locally-owned businesses, your money is re-circulated over and over and creates up to 75% more tax revenue to our community and state.
• Independent businesses raise the standard of living in your community because they take their profits and buy products and services from other local businesses, thus creating more and more tax revenues needed for the community to thrive.
• Millions of dollars of tax revenue subsidies handed to chains by financially-starved local governments drain even more tax revenue from our community and state.
• Blighted empty shopping areas are created in your community when chain stores re-locate to a more lucrative shopping center, or leave altogether. Literally hundreds of big stores are abandoned each year across the United States.
• Independent businesses are unique enterprises that contribute to the character of our community by offering a more diverse selections of goods and services.
• Independent businesses provide meaningful service with a personal touch. It matters to them that you are satisfied and will come back again.
• Carefully planned predatory pricing practices have allowed national chains to establish virtual monopolies as they drive local competition out of business. And then they raise their prices.

Take the pledge to support local business this week and pick up your golden ticket to save 20% at participating locations. No matter where you are in the country this is a great week to support local business and help keep your money local and your neighborhood unique.

Look forward to my list of recommended local businesses coming later this week. Until then see what some other Arizonan’s favorite local spots are here.

Maricopa County has been working on a green initiative to save taxpayer’s money and be more environmentally friendly. They plan to enact policy to save energy, use more fuel efficient vehicles, use renewable energy such as solar, and plant roof top gardens to help reduce the heat island effect. Overall this sounds like a great start.

Among the county’s goals and actions to be reached over the next several years:
• Increase recycling and decrease the use of paper. Several departments will increase the use of electronic documents to cut down on hard copies. They also plan to increase by an average of 5 percent each year the amount of recycled and remanufactured products.
• Beef up efforts to reduce air pollution and cut down on travel. By 2012, Environmental Services will have replaced half of its fleet with alternative-fuel or hybrid vehicles. Increasingly, staffers will attend out-of-town meetings electronically rather than in person.

The Department of Public Health, for example, will increase Web use and videoconferencing and, by 2011, will buy a fleet of hybrid vehicles for employees.
• By 2011, at least 5 percent of full-time county employees will telecommute each day. A shorter workweek will be available for eligible employees.
• The Public Works Department will use biodiesel fuel and liquid-propane gas for at least half of its new vehicles and equipment. It also will work with ASU’s sustainability institute to calculate and track the county’s carbon usage and measure the effectiveness of green programs.
• By July 2010, Public Works will implement a program designed to make sure that 75 percent of all new county-owned and county-managed facilities have a renewable energy source – such as solar, wind or hydrogen-fuel cell – as part of the building’s design and construction.

“Our goal is to have every element of Maricopa County – every staff member, every manager, every supervisor – to constantly be looking at the way we do business, so we can save as much resources as possible,” said Joy Rich, an assistant county manager who oversaw the creation of the program. “There are a lot of resources that we consume as an employer. We frankly should’ve done it sooner.”

More over at [azcentral.com]

I’ve never been to Arcosanti, but it sounds like a really interesting place to visit or even live. Have any of you ever visited? What do you think?

Arcosanti was started in the 1970s by Italian architect Paolo Soleri, a spitfire who seeks an alternative to a car-dominant, hyper-consumerist society. With his so-called urban laboratory, Soleri, 88, hopes to eliminate the automobile, promote frugality and create a functional metro center run on the Earth’s resources: food from organic gardens, power from the sun, air conditioning from the shade, building materials from the natural surroundings. Though still a work in progress, Arcosanti in theory offers residents the same amenities as, say, a Manhattanite: housing, commerce, culture and dining.

[washingtonpost.com]

The Green Living Conference on May 3rd was a huge success! The conference featured many local vendors and five excellent speakers and a fantastic lunch provided by That’s a Wrap. Unfortunately Invest Green couldn’t talk due to their compliance not letting them, but you can find out about them here. I’d highly recommend this conference to anyone that wants to learn more about green living. They are holding another conference in November, so be prepared, I’ll announce more about that one when I get more details.

Topics they covered included retrofitting the suburbs for green living, rainwater and gray water harvesting, GM presented on what alt fuel cars they have coming down the line, green building, and what kinds of harmful chemicals are in everyday cleaners and how they affect people. I’ll post a blog covering each topic in the coming days.

Kudos to Greg Peterson of yourguidetogreen.com, Christy Grace, and all the other people that put on this great conference.

Call to action canceled. Looks like AZ Biodiesel will be moving to a new city. Update forthcoming.

Check out the popular posts to the right. –>

The City of Chandler Arizona has ordered AZ Biodiesel to cease operations because of zoning compliance issues and refuses to let them operate while these issues are worked out. AZ Biodiesel is a small company making WVO Biodiesel and can’t afford to be shut down while waiting for Chandler to complete this 3 to 6 month process. AZ Biodiesel has the full support of the city’s fire marshal and has been safely producing biodiesel for their own vehicles for three years at their current location. They are located in a light industrial zone which has been approved for biodiesel production in the City of Phoenix. AZ Biodiesel is the only source of biodiesel made from waste oil in the Phoenix area and it would be a huge shame for the city to loose this valuable resource. Please encourage the City of Chandler to let AZ Biodiesel operate while this process is completed by emailing, calling, or faxing them at the address and phone numbers below.

**Update please read before contacting the City of Chandler. Please check the comments below for the response you’ll get back from Chandler and also AZ Biodiesel’s response to that. There are definitely two sides to every story and maybe both parties have some blame to accept for this mess. As far as I can tell AZ Biodiesel wasn’t trying to get around any planning and zoning laws, they were under the impression they had followed all the rules and had done everything the City had asked. That was until they were shut down without warning. It seems there was some sort of communication disconnect between the City and AZ Biodiesel and instead of working with AZ Biodiesel to fix any issues they shut them down and told them they’d have to wait. Hopefully our letters can help move this process along and get these issues resolved without having to make AZ Biodiesel move or go out of business.