Enjoy a day of powerful presentations designed to educate and promote green living practices and environmental insights for the way we work, play and live. Top experts in various dimensions of “Green Living” headline this unique conference.

 

• 6 Extraordinary Speakers
• Book Signings with Authors
• Delicious Lunch Included
• Raffle for Great Green Prizes
• Eco-Friendly Vendors
• Green Living Resources

The conference will feature renowned speakers: Toby Hemenway, author of Gaia’s Garden (over 35,000 copies sold), Brad Lancaster, author of Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands (and will have his newly released Volume 2 available), Greg Peterson from Your Guide to Green and the Urban Farm, as well as many more top-level experts within the fields of GREEN Living!

Conference is Mar 3rd 9am to 5pm at the Phoenix Zoo Stonehouse Pavilion.
$44 per person if you register by April 1st. $55 after that.
You must register to attend, no walk-ins. Space is limited.

Get the full scoop at the Green Living Conference website.

Local First Arizona is a non-profit started in 2003 by Kimber Lanning to support locally owned businesses. They do this by educating the public about the benefits of local business and by having an extensive database of local business listings on their website.

Local business really defines a city and sets it apart from areas where all there is is the same chains you see everywhere else. Also when you buy local much more of the money stays local, helping out our economy. I’m sure Local First Arizona will thrive in Tucson where thinking local already seems to be more prevalent then Phoenix.

Lanning acknowledges that it can be easier and cheaper to go to the big box retailers. But she said a study in Austin showed that for every $100 spent at a local business, $42 stays in town, while only $13 spent at a major chain stays in town.
“Anyone who feels they are saving more today by going to a chain store is taking dollars out of their children’s pockets,” Lanning said.

Learn more from this article at tucsoncitizen.com

And at Local First Arizona’s own site.

Intel Corp. is going “green” in a big way. The semiconductor giant said Monday it will purchase more than 1.3 billion kilowatt hours a year of renewable energy certificates, which will make Intel the largest corporate purchaser of green power in the U.S.Among the alternative energy technologies that will be supported by the program are wind, solar and biomass.“This is the single largest purchase of renewable certificates in the history of the program,” said Intel spokesman Bill Calder.

Complete Article at East Valley Tribune

Arizona’s economy once rested on the foundation of the five C’s - copper, cotton, cattle, citrus and climate. Then came the sixth C - construction and other industries that bolstered employment such as semiconductors and aerospace. More recently, economic developers have been seeking to diversify Arizona’s economy by promoting new economy stalwarts such as bioscience and information technology.And most recently, another sector has emerged to generate excitement - sustainability.

Continue on to the rest of the article at East Valley Tribune.

For one, the new store taps more local suppliers like Tonopah Rob, who produces locally grown lettuces, baby cabbages, beets, turnips and watermelon radishes, said Chris Petroulakis, Whole Foods regional produce coordinator.And Petroulakis found French Kiss melons from a Yuma farm family, the only ones with the seeds for the extra juicy variety, he said.

Article at East Vally Tribune