New Tampa Patch 

By  Tristram DeRoma 

The Story Behind the Eye-Catching Art at I-75 Exit…

This week's challenge was inspired after seeing the damage done to my home state - Vermont.  So many roads were washed away, bridges destroyed, small businesses in small downtown communities were inundated with water...  This week's challenge is to volunteer, donate money to storm recovery efforts or to a local cause in your community or help out a neighbor.  The best way to help storm victims is likely to donate funds to…

How many of you survived at one degree warmer this week?  We keep ours at 81 during the day and 80 in the evenings/nighttime when it gets a bit hot for sleeping.  If you made it through even a day with warmer temperatures, pat yourself on the back!  If it felt too warm to do this all of the time, try raising it each time you leave the house, or commit to one day a week where you can handle one degree warmer.…

I am presently in Vermont. I was searching for a group that is working on sustainability issues. BINGO. I discovered   www.sustainablewoodstock.com.

CHECK THEM OUT!  They have made and posted a six-minute video of how they organized a group of citizens.…

WOW!! This is a lot of work, I have started ripping all of the weeds out and converting what was once a foresty back yard into a sustainable organic garden. So far I feel very lucky! The years of overgrowth has left a lot of compost. I was suprised when I came across the massive amount of worms in my back yard. WORMS GALORE!!!! Unfortunaly I recently got a new roof and the gutters had to go, but I am trying to tap into what I do have. (PICTURES WILL BE UP SOON)

All materials…

In the dog days of August, what better way is there to test your commitment to sustainability than to turn up the A/C by one degree?  That is this week's challenge!  If you are at work all day, it will not harm a thing to turn your A/C up one degree while you are gone.  Test yourself during the hours you are home as well to see how it feels at one degree higher.  A good evening walk in the summer heat will also make it feel cooler in the house when…

I recently went toVermont for a few weeks.  We stayed in Burlington ("the Big City") most of the time.  I took more time this trip to enjoy what the area has to offer.  I grew up there, but probably took forgranted the qualities it has during my younger years.  From my planning perspective, it was a haven of vibrant, active mixed uses in the downtown.  Stores from my childhood are still alive and well, the pedestrian-only street through the middle of downtown was swarming with people on a…

From Alternative Income to Alternative Money Concepts

The goal for this month was to make as much money as we could in ways other than our day jobs.  When we started thinking about this we realized that a money grabbing frenzy was not really want we wanted.  After talking about it we came to the conclusion that what we really wanted was to start thinking about and using money differently.  With that intention in mind we started the month by analyzing…

This week, we challenge you to look at your produce labels and find out where your fruits and veggies come from.  If you shop at a fruit stand, ask them which items are grown locally in your home state.  With globalization, most of us can get almost any kind of fruit or vegetable at any time of year.  It is difficult to know which fruits and veggies are grown in our home states or even which items are in season locally.  For example, in Florida, our strawberry season is January/February.  We…

Of all the challenges we’ve faced this year, it’s plastics we can’t let go of.  Our frustration was evident in the title of the last blog “Epic Fail”.   Each month we have read, researched and watched documentary after documentary to educate ourselves about the month’s topic.  Nothing has brought us down more than the negative impacts plastics have on seemingly everything.  Problems include pollution, toxins exposure from leeching, consumption of fossil fuels and waste associated…

Permaculture Media Blog - Picks of the Month (July 2011)…

This week's challenge is to write to one of your elected officials - either at the local, state or federal level.  Topic?  You pick!  Most local governments are in the process of finalizing budgets for next year -tell them what programs you want preserved or share your ideas for cuts.  At the State and Federal level, maybe you have strong feelings about the budget priorities, ideas to save money or want to encourage them to vote/not for a certain Bill.  We challenge you to take this small…