Riders participate in the Sustainability Week bike parade Saturday in Blacksburg. Participants traveled from the Virginia Tech Electric parking lot to the farmer’s market.
To kick off Sustainability Week in Blacksburg, Mayor Ron Rordam led a short bike parade from the Virginia Tech Electric parking lot on Energy Drive to the Blacksburg Farmer’s Market Saturday.
Sustainable Blacksburg is a non-profit community organization whose mission it is to facilitate environmental stewardship in the Blacksburg area and to enhance the region’s livability by reducing its impact on the local and global environment. A whole week of activities is planned.
The stormwater public arts project launched this week in conjunction with the Town of Blacksburg. This program centers around water heritage and water quality and is modeled after a successful program in Richmond.
Blacksburg will be seeking design concepts from local artists to adorn some selected storm drains around town with a mission to raise awareness about the choices (and changes) citizens can all make to restore the health of local impaired waterways. Selected artists will receive a stipend to complete their works and a public unveiling of the newly decorated storm drains is planned for next year’s Sustainability Week.
There will be showing of the movie “An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power” at the Lyric Theater on College Avenue today and tomorrow at 7 p.m. and 9:15 p.m..
The Public Poetry Project has poems selected for their human connection to nature/mother earth, by local and global poets, are printed on recycled lengths of fabric (curtains, tablecloths, etc.) and hung from poles in locations around Blacksburg for citizens to find and visit.
The Participatory Public Prayer Project will be available at the Blacksburg library. Near the book return slot inside, there will be materials for making an eco-prayer flag. This will be similar to the Tibetan Prayer Flags in which individual flags are strung together on a rope or string. The finished prayer flag, in the tradition of the Tibetan ones, will be hung in Blacksburg and allowed to slowly age and decay.
Caught Green Handed Ambassadors will be looking to spread awareness and give a tangible “attagirl” or “attaboy” to folks who take that extra step to make green choices in their everyday lives.
Ambassadors will distribute Caught Green Handed stickers to people seen using reusable totes, refillable water bottles, biking or something else green.
Sustainability at the Market Day is from noon-6 p.m. today at the Blacksburg Farmers Market. Special sustainability-themed activities will be available for kids of all ages.
The Sustainability Week team is bringing nine great speakers, in rapid fire, presenting on environmental/sustainability topics of expertise or passion at the Alexander Black House on Draper Road from 6-8 p.m. tonight.
Thursday offers two events: SEEDS, Freshwater Heritage of Blacksburg: Stroubles Creek & 16 Frogs Tour will start at the SEEDS –Blacksburg Nature Center on Wharton Street NE at 2:30 p.m. Participants will follow the Stroubles Creek flow, find some Blacksburg historical locations and a few of the 16 bronze sculpted green frogs along the tour. At 4:30 p.m., streets that impact Stroubles Creek will be cleaned.
The Recycle Pop Up Shop will be a place where children can create original artwork from recycled and surplus materials. This is a fun drop-in event that will start at 3 p.m. Friday and continue through 5 p.m. Sunday at the Blacksburg Children’s Museum at 1470 S Main St.
For more information on these and other Sustainability Week events, visit sustainableblacksburgva.org
