Tres Rios Nature and Earth Festival is an annual two-day outdoor event that focuses on the rich diversity of wildlife, habitat, history and culture of the Gila River drainage.This is an opportunity to celebrate the rich heritage, ecology, history and wildlife of the Gila, Salt and Agua Fria Rivers! It is a great opportunity for the whole family to enjoy a beautiful spring day in Arizona and learn something about the place we call home.
Tours and Educational Programs:
Educational programs and tours will be offered throughout the weekend. From displays of our famous venomous reptiles, canoe trips looking for wildlife and birds, fishing clinics, to hikes to Petroglyphs – there is something for everyone!

Children’s Activities
An extensive children’s area will have hands-on crafts, live animals, up-close encounters with critters, educational displays, storytelling and more! See what is “Just for Kids!”

…and for wildlife enthusiasts and Bird Watchers…
The Festival offers in-depth classes on identifying those tricky sparrows, the impressive wetland birds, tips on wildlife photography and our region’s unique Southwestern avifauna.

Fun, Food and Entertainment:
Vendors of local favorites to whet the appetite and entertainment to delight the senses!

Dates: March 15-16, 2008
Times: Saturday 9:00 – 4:00 & Sunday 9:00 – 4:00
FREE ADMISSION!
623-204-2130

Check out their webpage for more information.

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

The reservoirs in SRP’s system are at 93% and rising thanks to plenty of snow pack this year. Just a couple months ago the system was just below 50% so all this water is great. Don’t go out and throw a water party though, Phoenix’s insatiable thirst for water will go through all that pretty quickly. It never hurts to save some for tomorrow.
SRP provides around 54% of the valley’s water.

Despite the filled lakes, one wet season does not a dry spell break, warned Ester. “We need another wet winter in a row to be able to lay this current drought to rest.”

Article with nice pictures and video at East Valley Tribune.

You’ve probably already seen the headlines about prescription drugs in drinking water, if not here’s a link to azcentral.com. I imagine this may drive more people to bottled water who may not realize it’s usually just tap water. I’d be curious to know if the R/O or whatever extra filtering they do reduces the amount of drugs? Somehow I doubt it, but if you know send the info over.

Here’s a prescription drug disposal pamphlet from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.  I couldn’t find any information on any drug take-back programs in Arizona, if you know of any let us know and we’ll post it up.

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.