Saving the Senator Theatre

A beloved local icon fell prey to the economic downturn recently:  the Senator Theatre has hosted movie premieres and local gatherings since its opening in 1939.  I watched the 2009 presidential inauguration there with a standing-room-only crowd, it was a memorable experience.

After the Senator was acquired by Baltimore City, the Baltimore Development Corporation issued a Request for Proposals to "renovate and rejuvenate the Senator into an active and vibrant center for the community."

I'm biased in favor of our Towson University radio station's submittal:  WTMD's general manager posted this blog entry about their proposal to use the space for its originally-intended purpose:  movies, music, and events to bring the community together.

This is an elegant solution that addresses both historic preservation of this lovely Art Deco structure and fostering community in Belvedere Square and beyond.  I hope they have the opportunity to realize this endeavor!

Read a related Baltimore Sun article here.
Other great historic local theatres: The Charles and the Rotunda Cinematique.
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Triple bottom line: money is green

In green business circles you hear a lot about the "triple bottom line":  planet + people + prosperity, or if you prefer Es:  ecology, equity, economy.

In the prosperity/economy vein, I've previously shared posts from Cheapskate Monthly (a newsletter and website at www.Debtproofliving.com, by Mary Hunt). Recently I discovered another blog about personal finance that blends commonsense money advice with book reviews and a Lifehacker-esque vibe:  thesimpledollar.com

One of my favorite posts this week proposed uncluttering your house as a means of improving your productivity and saving money. As a recovering maximalist, this idea really appeals to me.  He says, and I quote: "I link to Unclutterer [blog] frequently because I believe there is a strong connection between clutter and financial problems, since clutter represents having more physical possessions than you can manage and all of those possessions cost money. Plus, dealing with clutter requires a time investment and in our busy lives, time has a very high value."

He also mentions Getting Things Done, a highly-recommended book about productivity.  He doesn't mention
www.storyofstuff.com but the concept video came to mind as I was pulling together links for this post.  Enjoy!
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I didn't know I could recycle that!

Ah, recycling:  the green gateway drug.  Here's a roundup of some links I've been collecting on how to recycle obscure items...  

Compact Discs (CDs) www.cdrecyclingcenter.org/

Yoga Mats www.theboldermatcompany.com (refurbishes and donates yoga mats to charity and gives you a $5 coupon for the website)

10 things you didn't know you could recycle (toothbrushes, wine corks)
http://climate.weather.com/articles/recycle021508.html?page=1
 
75 things you didn't know you could compost
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/home-garden/surprising-compost-items.html

And for any fellow equestrians cleaning out their attics:  horse show ribbons www.ribbonrehab.com and Hodges Badge company.  (in Horse & Rider magazine I saw an article about donating ribbons to theraputic riding charities, but now I can't find the link:  consider this option also!)  


The other day my housemate pointed out that we rarely put out more than one trash bag per week, compared to our neighbors' two to five trash bags.  If we had to pay per trash bag like some of my friends in other states, we'd be saving a lot of money! 
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Tree houses

This is really cool: Roald Gundersen, forester-architect, builds houses from trees. I don't mean lumber, but actual TREES.

Read the NYTimes article
and his website www.wholetreesarchitecture.com/

PS one of the blogs I follow (digginginthedriftless.wordpress.com/) is written by a journalist whose daughter works for this architecture firm.

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Waterwise options for your bathroom

I think I want a new shower head. (why now? just kidding... sortof)

EPA specifications for watersense shower heads state that they should use less than 2 gallons per minute (gpm) at 80 pounds per square inch (psi) of water pressure.


Here are links to a hand shower with decent ratings from Home Depot customers, or a more traditional shower head.

While we're on the topic of saving water in the bathroom, here are some easy, low-cost things you can do:

Fill up an old water bottle (free) and put it in your toilet tank to decrease the gallons per flush (1.6 gpf is the current standard)

Install an aerator ($5) in your sink faucet to get 1.5gpm. Basically, an aerator introduces air into the water flow to make it feel stronger. Laminar flow devices employ a different concept, but also save water (here's a random thread about laminar vs. turbulent flow in the kitchen sink... but I digress.)

Get drain strainers ($2-3) for sink and shower drains to eliminate hair clogs so you won't need to use Drano or other nasty chemicals to unblock them later. An ounce of prevention, as they say...

Resources:
EPA's watersense site
Home Depot's water wise page and Eco Options site
Sierra Club green home page
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Local green events list by HCM

Instead of trying to round up every green event in the Baltimore area myself, I'd like to share the extensive list assembled by Lisa Ferretto of Hord Coplan Macht. Thanks to Lisa for creating and sharing this resource!

The October list is posted here:
http://green.hcm2.com/wp-content/uploads/green-events.pdf

You can sign up for the monthly email newsletter at HCM's website here:
http://www.hcm2.com/resources.aspx?catid=20
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2009 Solar Decathlon report

Final results: Germany won again. California (beautiful architecture winner) and Illinois (gable house, passive house, American vernacular barn-like) rounded out the top three.

Personally, I really liked the houses by Penn State and Minnesota.

Penn State's house featured a row of glass doors along the length of the living space. A water reservoir below the living/dining/kitchen room helped maintain radiant heat despite the cold rainy day, and the living wall in the kitchen contained all the herbs a budding gardener could want for cooking. The deck (of most of the solar houses, actually) included a space for a small kitchen gardening - the ones I saw seemed to follow the square foot gardening method.

The first thing I noticed about Minnesota's entry was its height, and the steel frame - kudos to their civil engineering students for employing visible structure. I imagine the steep roof slope was designed to encourage northern snowfalls to slide off the solar panels, but it also resulted in a cozy alpine feel on the inside of the home. Sleeping nook, bathroom, and closets were nestled along one long side, with a living/dining great space that merged into the end kitchen with large windows overlooking a picnic table and potting area under the roof peak. I could totally live in that house.

Since the entries were limited to 800 square feet, students had to get creative with storage options. Murphy beds were very popular (I heard that under-floor beds were the norm last time). Germany's house had a few twin beds that slid out from a raised floor, and the attached stair steps hinged open to reveal hidden drawers. The Ohio team built its entertainment center into a pullout drawer on one living room wall that stored a futon, dining chairs, and tabletops.

The southern entries tended to feature a breezeway separating living area from kitchen - some of these layouts were set up to transform into one large enclosed space in winter. Iowa used a stacking glass door system to enclose a south-facing sunroom that could be completely opened in summertime.

I wish I'd had time to tour California, Cornell, and Virginia Tech, but the mall was crowded despite the cold rain and mud, so I was happy to keep the day short!

Read consumer information provided from the DOE at this event here http://www.solardecathlon.org/for_consumers.cfm

Link to my photos on Flickr.

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