Good Green: C'mon in Naples, FL

I recently revisited C'mon, The Golisano Children's Museum of Naples in Florida. (http://www.cmon.org/) I'd had a hard-hat tour of the green building when it was under construction and wanted to see the post-opening version.

They have a long list of environmentally-sustainable choices: solar, sun shades, some green roofs, water capture, recycled materials, and lots of outdoor spaces.

Here's a shot of the rainwater capture approach: water off the first roof runs into two rain barrels on the second roof. They slow the rate of flow to the plants on the green roof that otherwise could carry away the planting medium.



Roof water runs off to rain barrels, then
flows through irrigation tubes to the planted roof

Looks like a work of art, don't you think?

Green Bling

I'm buiding a collection of 'green' cartoons.

This is my favorite so far. It says what I think people feel when they seem me coming -- sorry about that, everyone.

"Oh God, here they come -- act green."

But this is the cartoon I use most. I use it to talk about the perils of Green Bling.

 

This really just shouldn't happen. But it does.

You've seen it around you:

• The dollars spent on a solar array in a low-sun region when the most-important step is improving the building envelope.
• The rain barrels purchased but not hooked-up; or hooked-up but never drained!
• Wind turbines and wind spires in low-wind areas.
• Bamboo single-use utensils (I mean come-on...use them again for Pete's sake!)

This isn't the same thing as Greenwashing - when you say something is greener than it is, or you use associations to convince consumers or viewers that you are doing something for green reasons.

Green Bling is using visible, catchy-looking green practices and products totally inappropriately because you're about the 'look', not the result.

Don't do Green Bling. But do send me pictures of if you see any!