Roll out the green carpet: BRO’s annual outdoor eco-awards honor the organizations, movements, trends, products, and individuals in the Southeast making a positive impact on the health of the planet and its people. From a grandpa marching against mountaintop removal to an organization that wants to give everyone a free bike, the Green Globe Award winners are the backbone of the region’s growing green movement.

Best Grassroots Organizations: Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project and Appalachian Harvest

The goal of these groups (ASAP in Western North Carolina, Appalachian Harvest in southern Virginia) is to create and expand regional community-based food systems that are locally owned and environmentally sound. The typical fruit or vegetable you put on your plate travels 1,500 miles to get there. The ultimate goal? To create a food system throughout the Southern Appalachians that provides a food supply for all segments of our society. www.asapconnections.org, www.appusdev.org.

Other Organizations to Watch

Organic Athletes: A professional team of athletes ranging from ultra runners to surfers who are banned together by their love of veggies. All members of the team are vegan and concerned with the local organic food movement, using their pro-athlete status to raise awareness of local food networks. Organic Athletes also organizes local chapters of amateurs interested in spreading the gospel of local food and ecological stewardship among athletes. Check out the growing local chapter in Atlanta. www.organicathletes.org.

Outdoor Alliance: The most powerful outdoor groups in the country have banned together to try to affect real change for our public lands on the national level. The Outdoor Alliance brings together the American Hiking Society, Access Fund, American Canoe Association, American Whitewater, IMBA, and the Winter Wildlands Alliance, providing the 100 million outdoor recreationists a single, united voice. The Alliance’s most immediate goal is to restore funding to the Land and Water Conservation Fund, our principle resource for buying lands, which has been grossly underfunded during the current administration. www.outdooralliance.net.

Most Effective Environmental Organization: Southern Environmental Law Center

For the third consecutive year, SELC has taken top honors among environmental organizations in the Southeast. Like it or not, many of the biggest environmental decisions take place in the courtroom, and SELC has been the Southeast’s leading advocate. They’ve won some monumental battles in 2007, including a unanimous Supreme Court decision against Duke Energy. The precedent-setting ruling will have far-reaching impacts on pollution from coal-fired power plants. SELC also has played a key role in halting the proposed North Shore Road through the Smokies and stopping a Navy military jet landing field near Pocosin Wildlife Refuge in eastern North Carolina.

Greenest College: Warren Wilson College, Swannanoa, N.C.

Warren Wilson is more than a liberal arts college, it’s a 300-acre working farm and 700-acre forest that operates as a laboratory for sustainable practices. The college uses environmental sustainability to inform every aspect of campus life, from composting the cafeteria scraps to using bio-diesel car fleets. The farm is antibiotic free, nurturing grass-fed pork and beef, and it also boasts an organic garden that supplies the campus cafeteria. Their buildings are LEED certified, and the school buys renewable wind energy credits to offset their energy use. It’s nice to see a school practice what it preaches, but its most earth-friendly program is its education model of hands-on learning, which drives home sustainable ethics through mandatory work, study, and community service.

MOST ENDANGERED Forest: Rocky Fork, Tenn.

The Rocky Fork tract is a 10,000-acre parcel of magnificent wildlands that lies adjacent to Cherokee and Pisgah National Forests in the Bald Mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee. Rocky Fork contains tumbling native trout streams, deep forests, and some of the best wildlife habitat for black bear and other species north of the Smokies. The property is truly a missing piece of the Cherokee and Pisgah National Forests with over a mile of the Appalachian Trail on the property and about three miles running along its western border. Due to its proximity to Asheville and Johnson City, this spectacular and wild forestland is in immediate danger of development. The property, which is highly visible from the A.T. and Interstate 26, only very narrowly escaped recent acquisition by a developer.

Congress allocates resources each year to programs like the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) to purchase areas like Rocky Fork with high conservation values. However, over the past few years, funds for LWCF have been drastically cut-just when we need them the most. This shortfall hampers agencies like the Forest Service when important acquisition opportunities arise.

Local and national conservation organizations, private partners, and government agencies have united in an urgent effort to preserve Rocky Fork, now believed to be the last unprotected area of its size and extraordinary natural features existing in the Southern Appalachians. If the government does not purchase Rocky Fork, plan to see a sprawling gated development that will effectively shut folks out of this land forever and that closes the option of protecting this critical remaining open space.

An outpouring of citizen support is Rocky Fork’s only hope. Contact your Congressional representatives to help protect the important ecological, scenic, recreational, and historical value of the Rocky Fork Tract. Specific information is available at www.saverockyfork.org.

Best Green Movement:

Free Bikes

Community bike programs are popping up across the Southeast. Each program is operated uniquely, but the mission is the same: provide the public with free (or cheap) environmentally friendly transportation. Stop by any community bike program and you can borrow a bike for as long as you want. Old bikes are donated and the cycling public works on them together to get them in tip-top shape. Sharebike in Roanoke, Va., for example, hosts bike repair clinics and operates a number of bike borrow “shelters” throughout the city’s downtown and greenway system. Simply borrow a bike in one spot and return it at another. Other community bike programs in the Southeast include:

Bike Athens Bicycle Recycling Program, Athens, Ga.:

Distributes bikes to individuals who are underserved by private and public transportation. www.bikeathens.com.

SoPo Bikes, Atlanta, Ga.: Provides no-cost and low-cost bike maintenance and bike sharing for inner city kids. www.sopobikes.org.

Decatur Yellow Bikes, Decatur, Ga.: Reconditions bikes and makes them available to people throughout Decatur. www.dybikes.org.

1304 Bikes, Raleigh, N.C.: Provides refurbished bikes to the community in exchange for volunteer hours at the bike maintenance clinics. www.1304bikes.org.

Knoxville Bike Library, Knoxville, Tenn.: For a small donation and deposit, you check out a bike and keep it for however long you need it. www.ninjaswithagendas.com.

Richmond Re-Cycles, Richmond, Va.: Provides low-cost bikes to the public while teaching them fundamental bike maintenance. 804-355-0166.

Share Bike, Roanoke, Va.: Operates a number of bike borrow shelters throughout the city, as well as regular bike repair clinics. www.sharebike.org.

Positive Spin, Morgantown, W.Va.: Donates refurbished bikes to charities and encourages citizens to pedal instead of pumping gas. www.positivespin.org.

Check out www.ibike.org for a complete list of community bike programs. If there’s not one in your town, think about starting one up.

Best Green Running Events: Relay for Clean Air, Run for Clean Air 5K

We should all be concerned with clean air, but runners have a particularly high stake in the situation. Active people are affected more severely by the fine particles and toxic emissions in the air. Appropriately, runners are trying to raise awareness the best way they know how: by running. The Clean Air Council in eastern Tennessee hosts a 5K for Clean Air every April, and the Canary Coalition in western North Carolina puts on the Relay for Clean Air, a 100-mile run/bike relay from the Smokies to downtown Asheville. www.cleanair.org, 
www.canarycoalition.org.

Best News From the Other Side: Duke Power’s Energy Conservation Initiative

Duke Power plans to cut 800 megawatts of energy use from its total power grid through energy efficiency measures. The cut is equivalent to eliminating an entire power plant’s worth of electricity. If the details are approved by the Department of Energy, the efficiency program would be a pioneer in the energy industry. After losing a Supreme Court decision and being denied a permit by North Carolina state regulators for one of two proposed power plants, Duke decided to replace the disallowed 800-megawatt power plant with an equivalent amount of energy efficiency over a four year period. The plan would give Duke the authority to briefly shut off participating customers’ air conditioners and refrigerators by remotely signaling computer chips implanted in appliances and thermostats. Duke would also offer discounts to customers who buy compact fluorescent light bulbs. “If we can cycle off a refrigerator for 10 minutes in 4 million homes, that’s real savings,” Duke spokesman Tom Williams said.

Best Trail Mix: Bear Naked.

Plenty of food companies out there offer organic and vegan friendly fare, but how many of them give directly back to the trails you love most? Bear Naked’s new line of organic trail mix helps fund the company’s “Triple Crown Project,” a partnership designed to help build, conserve, and maintain America’s three classic long-distance hiking trails: the Pacific Crest Trail, the Continental Divide Trail, and the Appalachian Trail. Through the sales of the new trail mix products, Bear Naked makes a donation to each governing trail organization to help conserve America’s favorite long trails. In addition, Bear Naked has committed to helping plant 50,000 trees in areas damaged by forest fires.

Best Eco-Citizen Walking the Walk:

Ed Wiley

This former coal miner spends his time and energy raising public awareness for mountaintop removal, a coal mining process that threatens the lives of thousands across the country. Wiley’s granddaughter attends Marsh Fork Elementary in Sundial, W.Va., a school that sits directly beneath a Massey Energy coal sludge site (see toxic towns)--one of the dangerous byproducts of mountaintop removal. Fearful for his granddaughter’s health and safety, Wiley has held peaceful protests, sit ins, hunger strikes, and has even walked 455 miles from Sundial to Washington, D.C., all in the hopes of bringing the travesty of mountaintop removal to the light of day. In the process, Wiley has become a spokesperson for the anti-mountaintop removal movement, moving governors, senators, and thousands of Americans to act on behalf of the children of Marsh Fork Elementary.

Best Local Book About Local Food: Holy Cows and Hog Heaven: A Food Buyers Guide to Farm Friendly Food.

Author Joel Salatin is a Virginia farmer who has positioned himself as the unofficial spokesman for the local food movement. Raising “beyond organic” food that he refuses to ship or sell to supermarkets, Salatin is one of the most successful direct farm-to-consumer producers in the country. He’s written a number of books detailing his practices, but Holy Cows explains better than any why you should opt out of the “industrialized food system” and buy direct from local farms. Forget the food miles, forget the unethical treatment of animals on industrial farms, forget the poor environmental practices of those farms, forget the support you’re providing to the local economy (all solid reasons to buy and eat local). Instead, think most about the health benefits of eating local. To paraphrase Salatin, we should all be concerned with where our food comes from and what practices go in to its production. You don’t take candy from strangers, do you?

Best Green Band: Perpetual Groove.

Mayday


Two Shores

These Athens, Georgia-based jamrockers took the issue of carbon emissions to heart when they headed into the studio to record their latest disc, LIVELOVEDIE. The band teamed up with Green Mountain Energy, a national leader in providing clean energy and offsetting carbon emissions, and produced LIVELOVEDIE while using only clean, renewable energy. The band’s efforts at reducing carbon emissions don’t stop in the recording studio, either. Perpetual Groove was able to offset all of the emissions generated during their spring tour this year-an estimated 50 tons of CO2-with the help of these RECs, and their ticketing and merchandising websites now offer patrons the chance to purchase RECs to offset emissions from the band’s future road trips. All of the band’s promotional handbills, posters, and flyers are created using 30% post consumer waste materials, tickets are printed on hemp/flax recycled paper, and the band uses soy or vegetable based inks whenever possible. --Dave Stallard.

Brightest Shining Light for the Future: Solar Decathalon

Imagine the smartest kids in college battling it out to see who can create the most sustainable solar home. That’s the gist of the Solar Decathalon, a competition between university teams of architects, engineers, and environmental studies students to build and operate energy efficient solar powered homes on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Specatators can tour their creations which make up a temporary solar village. The team with the most energy efficient home wins. Oct. 12-20, 2007.

Best National Forest: Bankhead National Forest, Alabama

Bankhead gets the nod for its progressive stance on forest restoration. For years, Bankhead was managed primarily as fields of loblolly pines to produce timber and pulp. Thousands of acres of the trees were planted in rows and clear-cut in 40-year cycles, much of which was done without public input. After years of public outrage, debate, and litigation, Bankhead National Forest changed directions; its management plan was altered to emphasize restoration over timber harvesting. Through a Community Liaison Panel in 2001, the Forest Service created the Health and Restoration Initiative, a five-year schedule of work that emphasized the restoration of six native upland forest communities. Bankhead managers began replacing the planted loblolly pine forests with native oak/hickory/pine forests that provide better habitat for wildlife and are more resistant to beetle infestations. Through the process, the forest service has converted 80,000 acres of pine plantations to natural, mixed forest communities. The converted acres represent almost half of the Bankhead’s total 180,000 acres. The restoration activities were funded by an innovative “stewardship program” created by the Forest Service that used proceeds from thinning the loblollies to offset restoration costs. Bankhead also recently won a national stewardship award for its efforts in the chestnut tree restoration projects. Bankhead is currently growing hybrid chestnuts that may be resistant to the blight that destroyed the trees in the 1930s.

Runner-Up: Cherokee National Forest, for its restoration efforts in Shady Valley, a bowl-shaped valley sitting at 2,800 feet that was home to a number of mountain bogs at one time. Some bogs remain, but most were drained to create farmland over the last century. The U.S. Forest Service and a coalition of environmental groups are working to restore the ecosystem to its original state with a focus on watershed health.

Best Thing You Can Do for the Earth Right Now: Use Compact Fluorescent Bulbs.

Compact fluorescent bulbs use 74% less energy than a standard bulb, saving you $30 over the bulb’s lifespan. If every American switched one light bulb to a CFL, the environmental impacts would be equivalent to removing 800,000 cars from U.S. roads.

Next Best Thing You Can Do for the Environment Right Now: Buy a Community Supported Agriculture Membership.

For a few hundred dollars every season, you can buy a subscription to a local farm that entitles you to a weekly or bi-weekly basket of produce direct from the farm. The box contains a rotating array of fruits and vegetables depending on what’s harvested that week, and the veggies are usually pulled from the ground the same morning. CSA memberships offer a convenient way for you to cut down on food miles while supporting a local farmer.

Most Underused Wilderness: Beartown Wilderness, Jefferson National Forest

The 5,600-acre Wilderness area lies on the edge of Burke’s Garden in southwest Virginia, covering some of the most rugged and remote forest in the state. There are no roads leading to Beartown. The only way to access the area is by hiking a section of the A.T., which borders the southern edge of the Wilderness. Once you enter Beartown, it’s up to you to figure out how to explore it. There are no maintained trails crisscrossing the forest, and the old logging roads that used to offer access are now overgrown with vegetation. But if you’re good with a topo and compass, the spoils of Beartown are yours for the taking. The land is steep, ranging in elevation from 2,500 feet to almost 5,000 feet, and a number of pristine streams twist through the forest floor, including the Roaring Fork, a native trout stream that anglers cherish.

Best Green Trend: Green Gear

Tired of companies labeling their backpacks “green” just because the mesh on the drink holder is partially recycled? So are we. Finally, some honest eco-improvements have occurred in the outdoor industry.

The Osprey Resource Packs are some of the most sustainable packs on the market. They consist of four day-packs and two courier bags made from at least 70 percent recycled materials. The primary resource that went into bag construction was old soda bottles, or 100 percent recycled PET. The best part? Making recycled day packs didn’t cost Osprey any more than making traditional day packs, so they’re now attempting to turn their technical packs into sustainable products.

Looking for eco-friendly running shoes? The Brooks Cascadia 2 was developed in part by vegan Western States 100 ultramarathon champion Scott Jurek using “green rubber” that incorporates silicon rather than petroleum. New Balance, the most socially responsible of the big shoe manufacturers, recently phased out PVC and has many vegan shoe options. And Timberland Mountain Sneakers feature renewable hemp uppers, organically tanned leather, shoelaces from recycled soda bottles (PET), insoles topped with merino wool, PET recycled yarn linings, and a 30% recycled sole.

When you’re done with your athletic shoes, give them a chance to be reincarnated as playground groundcover through Nike Reuse-a-Shoe. Or donate the shoes to One World Running (oneworldrunning.com) or PPP Africa to provide shoes-and clean water-for African villages (pppafrica.org).

On the water, Astral Buoyancy’s Norge PFD is a completely PVC-free rescue vest that uses organic kapok (a soft, fluffy fiber that’s naturally shed from a tropical tree seed) to stuff the front panels.

At the campsite, opt for the Fire-Fly Stove from Mo-Go-Gear. At first glance, it looks just like an old-school alcohol stove. And it is. Only this one is made from 100% recycled materials-specifically, old beer cans and used .22 magnum shells. And Pacific Outdoor Equipment’s ECO Thermo 6 Sleep Pad is made from undyed bamboo fiber and the air valve is recycled aluminum. Even the chord on the stuff sack is hemp. There’s also a whole bunch of tree planting and carbon offsetting going on in the background as well.

BRO applauds these recent environmentally friendly steps made by outdoor manufacturers, but we’re wondering when the movement will move past “partially recycled” pieces of gear and into completely sustainable gear. Who will be the first to create a completely sustainable backpack? Who will be the first to build a running shoe from 100% recycled material?

BEST INDOOR TREND: ECO-THEMED VIDEO GAMES.

It’s tough to see how sitting on a couch and playing a video game could save the world, but Adventure Ecology gives it a shot. This eco-themed video game lets kids play an eco-hero on a quest to halt pollution and defeat global warming. The game teaches inter-dependencies in the ecosystem, a concept that is tough to get across in a text book or lecture, allowing kids to learn the ins and outs of sustainable living while entertaining them at the same time. adventureecology.com.

Best LOCAL Green Festival: Off the Grid Music Festival

Everything from the food vendors to the main stage will be run on renewable energy, making Off the Grid the first completely renewable touring music fest. It all goes down August 31-September 2 at the Watauga Gorge Takeout in Butler, Tenn. Check out local band favorites like The Solos Unit and Hope Massive, and run the Gorge in a raft while you’re at it. www.myspace.com/offthegrid. •