Greenways are corridors of protected open space for conservation and recreation. Asheville’s greenway system is growing and will eventually offer a minimum of 14 corridors and 29 miles of trails connecting the places where people work, live and play.

More about Asheville’s greenways

Green built in Asheville: More information

News Release from the City of Asheville

The City of Asheville is examining new possibilities to increase consumer recycling and affect waste reduction within the city, and is drawing on community members in four Asheville neighborhoods for assistance.

As part of the “HowLowCanAvlGo” campaign, the city, in conjunction with Curbside Management, is conducting a waste reduction pilot program in neighborhoods on the north, south, east and west sides of Asheville. Residents in those neighborhoods will receive new blue 95-gallon carts to use for recycling all goods currently handled by Curbside management.

“Everything they normally put in their bins, they now will put in this cart,” says City of Asheville Solid Waste Manager Wendy Simmons. “And they don’t have to sort it.”

The barrels are being distributed to 770 residences in Norwood Park, Burton Street, Parkway Forest and Park Avenue/The Views neighborhoods. These neighborhoods, explains Simmons, were chosen in order to create as diverse a sample group as possible that is representative of the city at large.

The pilot program will last three months, during which time, the City of Asheville and Curbside Management will weigh how much recycling and trash is generated and compare that number to weights collected prior to the distribution of the carts. Curbside Management will also collect data on sorting and handling the recycling to determine the feasibility of expanding the program city-wide.

“It gives us an opportunity to review challenges we might have, such as topography and accessibility,” says Public Works Director Cathy Ball, “and figure out how to address those challenges.”

The pilot program, says Simmons, is truly a community effort that draws on the organization and participation already present in the selected neighborhoods. Getting the word out about the program to everyone in a community is a challenging prospect, but already several neighborhood association members have stepped forward to help distribute information and get their neighbors on board.

I grew up in the 1970s in England, in a family that felt like they invented green. My parents built their own home, dug their own well, and harvested their own produce.  They both rode to work on bicycles, 45 minutes each way. My friends thought they were a bit crazy, however most of their parents were also hippies a few years ago, so everything was cool, dude!

During that time period, Prince Charles was one of the world’s first green advocates with real power, although he too was somewhat before his time, with newspapers mocking his ‘green’ focus.  In a 1988 speech at a European Environment Conference, the Prince said, “There is a growing realization that we are not separate from Nature, a subconscious feeling that we need to restore a feeling of harmony with Nature and a proper sense of respect and awe for the great mystery of the natural order of the Universe…We are beginning to realize that whatever we do to Nature-whether it is on the grandest scale or just in our own gardens-is ultimately something that we are doing to our own deepest selves.” In the early 1970s the United Nations adopted the environment as its “mantra”. Known as the “green prince” or “Eco-King,” from his first speech on the environment given at the Countryside Conference in 1970, to his global push for sustainable development.

Today, green is again getting center stage and this time we have the internet to bring together and disperse the data.

This is a great list of straight forward suggestions from the Green Building Council on sustainable living – a 101 of getting started. What do you think about the green debate? Should we be focusing on the smaller everyday things or the big picture? Maybe we should find a way to look at both? What’s YOUR view on the best way forward -please add your comments at the end of this article

Sustainable Lifestyles
Reducing, Reusing and Recycling

* Recycling is important, but first and foremost: Use less. Watch the Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard to find out why.

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Green building is a crucial and urgent economic and environmental imperative, says new McKinsey report
Investment in energy efficient building and other non-transportation sectors can reap $130 billion in annual savings ($1.2 trillion total), 1.1 gigatons in annual greenhouse gas reductions, and the creation of as many as 900,000 new on-going jobs. See our green town page for more information on green building projects

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People have so many reasons for exploring living off grid. The Mountains of North Carolina offer a perfect canvas from which to build an eco-friendly life. The Asheville market place is very ‘green-aware’, however when it comes to listing property as ‘off grid’ there are not too many listed in this way. However, there are MANY properties available – with its sunny days, mild climate and earth that produces produce in abundance, the area is a natural when it comes to green.

Check out our featured home in Fletcher, along with all the ‘green’ and eco-friendly homes for sale in the Asheville NC area

Featured home in Fletcher:

MLS #: 420602 [View Property]

Home features:

• A solar system that may produce power that can be ‘sold back’ to the grid
• Entire neighborhood will be solar powered which will lead to large tax credits for owners
• Wood finishings are often created from wood milled from timber from the property
• Walnut used for many finishings
• Keeping room with wood burning fire
• Large storage room downstairs for all the garden or other hobby equipment, that leads to a large unfinished basement that could be finished
• Large master on the main level, with tray ceiling, his and hers bathroom sinks, and a large walk in wardrobe with a window
• Game room or office upstairs
• You’ll find finishes in this home that you normally find in million dollar homes

Explore Asheville NC area homes for sale off the grid and eco-friendly

Source: Rebecca in ‘The Green’

Save Water, Energy, and Money Washing Diapers with a Front-loading Washing Machine

Our old clunker of a washing machine came with our house. A typical top-loader from the 1970s or ‘80s, it probably used about forty gallons of water per load. (more…)

Source: the National Association of Realtors