5 Tips to Create a Green Neighborhood

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Published: April 05, 2011
By: James Glave
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3 People Did It

After you get your green affairs in order, help your neighbors create a healthy, resource-conserving community everyone can enjoy.

Effort: Med 2-5 hrs/wk (gardening)
Saves: High $4,000 (sharing car)
Investment: Low $60 (canning supplies)

Around the country, loosely organized alliances of green-leaning friends and eco-conscious neighbors are comparing notes and sharing resources. These resource-smart coalitions are forming carpools, splitting bulk purchases, and liberating vacant lots to plant community gardens.

So grab a clipboard at your next block party, collect e-mails, and Facebook each other about turning your neighborhood into a green community. Here are ideas to get you started.

Tip #1: Share your soil

Satisfy your eco-conscience and use your green thumb by tending a patch of neglected earth.

You can work a plot in an established community garden, although openings sometimes are scarce. Or you can join a match service that pairs gardens in need of tending with gardeners in need of soil.

Urban Garden Share matches property owners with would-be sharecroppers in several cities, including Seattle, Louisville, Atlanta, Boise, and Santa Cruz. These green shares are not limited only to soil and seeds. A Louisville beekeeper recently searched for a garden to host a beehive so her “girls” could have a productive season.

Next: Tip #2: (Un)Forbidden fruits

James Glave

is a former Outside senior editor, onetime news editor for Wired.com, and author of “Almost Green: How I Saved 1/6th of a Billionth of the Planet.” The comic memoir chronicles his efforts to live a greener life on an island off Vancouver.

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I Did This!

I have learned that you should have a public garden not a private one in your backyard or somewhare
Posted by Sophie on July 13, 2011 (Completed this on July 13, 2011)

Charlottesville Real Estate It is very nice that we are going green, its about time to change our lifestyle a more eco-friendly living. The five steps that you gave that you gave are ways to transform that goal into its fulfillment.
Posted by carl on April 14, 2011