Cape Fear’s Going Green • Spring/Summer 2021

Cape Fear’s

www.GoingG reenPublications.com

Going Green

your guide to local eco-friendly resources

Fast Fashion: Thrifted Threads Green Tips Rent the Runway

Planting Ground Covers Fall Festivals Native Waves & Indigenous Wisdom

www.GoingGreenPublications.com

Spring / Summer 2021

Volume 13 Issue 1

Contents

Letter from the Editor It has, of course, been an unusual year. Cooking at home, watching my backyard birds—not just noticing and moving on—and attending events virtually instead of in 3–D. The pandemic has necessitated cancelling or postponing innumerable life celebrations: weddings, funerals, graduations. We were sometimes able to alter the celebration and have some semblance of a party, but coming together in person has generally been off limits.

I’ve missed participating in live festivals and events and meeting with the public, but there’s one celebration in particular I was sorry I couldn’t hold as I would have wished: April marked the ten-year anniversary of the Environmental Book Club I started in 2011. We held our first meeting in April, in honor of that being the month we celebrate Earth Day. As our first book we read a classic by Rachel Carson: not Silent Spring, but—in honor of our living at the coast—The Sea Around Us. It would have been marvelous to throw a big ten-year anniversary party, but it just wasn’t safe to do so. Instead, we had a small-scale pop-up lending library in front of Old Books on Front Street, where we hold our book discussions. We gathered up spare copies of the books we’ve read, arranged them on a table, announced the event, and welcomed people to borrow (or keep!) works by authors we’ve enjoyed.

Festivals are starting to come back as in-person events, or at least partially so, and I look forward to once again be able to visit with some of you in person. I’ve listed on page 18 the events where we plan to have an exhibitor table. We might even bring books!

— Valerie L. Robertson Editor

3 A House of One Room and Safe Places 5 UNCW Sustainability’s Fast Fashion vs. Thrifted Threads 6 Green Tips: Fast Fashion and Green Laundry 7 Rent the Runway 8 Native Waves: Cherry Ocampo’s Vision for Wellness through Indigenous Wisdom 10 Kickstarting Another Success 12 Ground Covers: What To Do with Your Garden’s Bare Spots 14 Native Plants 16 First Annual Veg-Out October 16 17 Recipes 18 Festivals 19 Your Ecological House™—The Return of Nature 20 NC Coastal Land Trust Welcomes New Executive Director 21 Green News 22 Happy Tenth Anniversary, Book Club!

23 Environmental Book Club Announces Reading List for 2021

❧❧❧ Front Cover: Detail of Carolina Beach State Park Robert Johnson, (Am. b. 1944), Carolina Beach State Park, 40" x 30", c. 2019, acrylic and oil on canvas. Collection of Cameron Art Museum. Claude Howell Endowment for the Purchase of North Carolina Art. Cape Fear’s Going Green is a quarterly publication promoting eco-friendly resources and lifestyles in the Lower Cape Fear River Basin.

Publisher & Editor in Chief: Valerie Robertson Sister City: Eugene, Oregon (Voted “Greenest City” 2006 by The Green Guide) Eugene Contributing Editor: Mary Robertson Advisors & Editorial Contributors: Carol Bales, Stephanie Borrett, Quinn Cook, Lesley Gourley, Virginia Holman, Elaine Logothetis Jack, Colleen Leonardi, Sally Smits Matsen, Casey Nelson, Avery Owen, Cordelia Norris, JP, Kat Pohlman, Philip S. Wenz, and Charley Winterbauer.

Cape Fear’s Going Green Going Green Publications P. O. Box 3164 • Wilmington, NC 28406 (910) 547-4390 publisher@goinggreenpublications.com www.goinggreenpublications.com Cape Fear’s Going Green is available by subscription or on our website.

Print copies are available at more than 140 area eco-friendly businesses and locations, including: Arboretum/New Hanover County Extension Service, Aunt Kerry’s Pet Stop, Lovey’s Market, Old Books on Front Street, Pomegranate Books, Re-eco Design, Tidal Creek Co-op, UNCW, Whole Foods, Shelton Herb Farm, and the YWCA.

photo by Lesley Gourley

Our pop-up lending library event to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of our Environmental Book Club was a wonderful way to connect with passers-by and share some of the wonderful books we’ve read since the group started.

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Editorial: If you have story ideas or calendar items to suggest, email us at editor@goinggreenpublications.com, or call (910) 547-4390.

Advertising information: Email ads@goinggreenpublications.com.

Cape Fear’s Going Green is distributed free throughout Brunswick, Columbus, New Hanover, Onslow, and Pender counties. If you have a business and would like to receive multiple copies for the public, please contact us.

The views and opinions expressed in articles in this magazine are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of this publication.

nature-inspired art

Cameron Museum of Art Features Nature There are two exhibits of nature-inspired art currently on display at the Cameron Museum of Art. The two artists have very different styles, but both choose to immerse themselves in nature as a starting point. They bring their observations back to us in the hope that seeing their interpretations will help us see and appreciate our connection to the natural world of which we are a part.

Short videos that are part of the exhibit allow us to hear from the artists in their own words.

Safe Places: Robert Johnson

February 7 – August 1, 2021 “I hope people seeing Safe Places will understand what an ecologically diverse state we live in. I hope they will feel inspired to go hike the trails in our parks with an observant eye. The more people get out to see the beauty of these areas the more they are likely to care for state parks and will want to preserve what is left of the natural environment.”

—Robert Johnson

A House of One Room: Elizabeth Bradford March 12 – October 17, 2021

Elizabeth Bradford is a painter and a writer who has revered nature since childhood.

Through her work she explores the undeveloped natural world, depicting the complex patterns found in nature. She hopes her work will inspire a deeper appreciation of the untamed natural world and instill a sense of responsibility for its preservation.

Bradford records her hiking and camping experiences in photos and in the Monthly Archives on her website: “Backpacking is a little like business travel for me. I backpack to gather images for the next body of work. I also go to relax and recover from a world laden with trash of every kind—tons of single use plastic all generated in my lifetime, exhaust from cars, media born from mediocrity, trashy thinking built on greed and self-absorption.

“Another reason is to experience, even if only for a couple of days, a life with very few possessions—all one’s necessities coming in at under 25 pounds, fitting neatly into a little bag on one’s back. We are turtles walking upright.” photo courtesy of the artist

—from elizabethbradford.com

Elizabeth Bradford. Duckweed As Constellations, 48" x 72", This exhibition is made possible 2018, acrylic and glitter on canvas. This piece is on display at thanks to the generous underwritthe Cameron Museum of Art through October 17, 2021. ing of the Wells Fargo Foundation.

Spring / Summer 2021

contributed photo

Robert Johnson, (Am. b. 1944), Carolina Beach State Park, 30" x 40", c. 2019, acrylic and oil on canvas. Collection of Cameron Art Museum.

Claude Howell Endowment for the Purchase of North Carolina Art.

by Valerie Robertson There are 41 North Carolina State Parks, and three years ago self-taught artist Robert Johnson set out to reside and work on site in all of them, documenting and interpreting the landscapes, flora and fauna represented in each. His Safe Places exhibition is the premier of the more than 100 artworks he created. The exhibit includes large-scale paintings as well as journal pages, sketches and annotated field observations of the flora and fauna he studied in each location.

The paintings are stylized and colorful, and yet the individual elements so realistically depicted the viewer can identify the species represented. The arrangements of the scenes are playful and varied; in some, multiple views appear in different quadrants rather than as an uninterrupted landscape.

Where he saw an abundance of plants, sometimes he would paint a profusion of them, and other times he would express (continued on page 4) Cape Fear’s Going Green

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nature-inspired art Safe Places (continued) them as a rhythmic pattern, wallpaper-like.

Springtime snowflakes over Mt. Mitchell; grasses dotting a mound.

Johnson’s sketches and nature journal pages are exquisite studies from the field: he draws them first, then colors them in.

He carefully researches what he finds, to learn the identity and habits of each.

Usually when I see beautiful vines or other plants in a painting, I can enjoy their beauty but have no idea whether they are realistic or a creation of the artist’s imagination. As I enter this exhibit, some of the first works I see are of parks in the eastern part of the state, including Carolina Beach State Park and Ft. Fisher Recreational Area. To my delight, I realize many plants (and birds) look familiar rather than just pretty, and in some cases I even know their names. I notice a lovely rendition of partridgeberry (mitchella repens). Hours earlier I’d made a plant label and stuck it in the ground to identify the partridgeberry growing in my own front yard.

I see damselflies and swallowtails.

Least terns, sandpipers, and grackles. Post oak, turkey oak, long leaf pines. Venus flytraps, pitcher plants, and a Southern cricket frog. I feel an unaccustomed personal connection to what I am seeing.

The decision to have a park ranger give one of the tours of this exhibit was inspired. Park Superintendent Chris Helms has worked in several NC state parks over his 30-year career. He now works at

contributed photo

Robert Johnson, Am. b. 1944, Carolina Beach State Park—Long Leaf Pines, c. 2020. Watercolor and pencil on paper. Collection of Cameron Art Museum. Claude Howell Endowment for the Purchase of North Carolina Art. Exhibition sponsored in part by Blue Spiral 1 Gallery, Asheviile, North Carolina, where “Safe Places” will be displayed Sept. 3–Oct. 29, 2021.

Learn more at robertjohnsonpaintings.com. photo by Valerie Robertson

Chris Helms, Park Superintendent at Carolina State Park, gave a tour of the Safe Places exhibit in June. Here, he shows us his favorite of the parks in the North Carolina system.

contributed photo

Robert Johnson, Am. b. 1944, Carolina Beach State Park—Frog, c. 2019. Watercolor and pencil on paper. Johnson sketches in the field and thinks of these not as watercolors, but as drawings he then colors. Collection of Cameron Art Museum.

Claude Howell Endowment for the Purchase of North Carolina Art.

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Cameron Art Museum 3201 South 17th Street Wilmington, NC 28412 Tuesday–Sunday 10 a.m.–5 p.m.

Thursdays–Open late until 9 p.m.

Carolina Beach State Park—he loves its biodiversity. Another docent might discuss the artist’s style. Helms points out the fox squirrel, and tells us something about how it behaves. He walks us through some of the places he knows and loves, explaining how the water cascades down the hill, or the view we will see if we cross the creek or crest the hill to see what is beyond the painting’s edge.

Robert Johnson’s work kindled in me a desire to get acquainted with all the parks in North Carolina, and renewed my resolve to argue for conservation of what wild places still exist in this biodiversity hotspot that is Southeastern North Carolina.

photo by Valerie Robertson

Chris Helms, Park Superintendent at Carolina State Park and Cameron docent for a day, describes what one would see on Mount Mitchell in different seasons. Mount Mitchell, 48” x 64”.

fast fashion

UNCW Sustainability’s Fast Fashion vs. Thrifted Threads

by Avery Owen On January 23, 2020 UNCW Sustainability hosted “Fast Fashion vs.

Thrifted Threads,” an event intended to expand community education about the sustainability of clothing industries.

The event featured a clothing swap and an interactive panel with a focus on the issues associated with “fast fashion.” Fast fashion is defined as inexpensive clothing manufactured from cheap materials at a rapid speed to keep up with the latest trends. H&M, Old Navy, and GAP are great examples of popular shops that stock their shelves with fast fashion styles. Fast fashion exists because consumers want cheap, attractive clothing. But, this clothing comes at a cost.

Consequences of fast fashion affect all three pillars of UNCW’s definition of sustainability—social equity, environmental sustainability, and economic viability.

Cheap (and often plastic) materials used to create fast fashion are designed to wear out and be tossed in the trash.

What Is “Fast Fashion?”

Cambridge English Dictionary: clothes that are made and sold cheaply, so that people can buy new clothes often

Collins English Dictionary: the reproduction of highly fashionable clothes at high speed and low cost

Merriam-Webster: an approach to the design, creation, and marketing of clothing fashions that emphasizes making fashion trends quickly and cheaply available to consumers



“For many shoppers, Primark has an irresistible offer: trendy clothes at astonishingly low prices. The result is a new and even faster kind of fast fashion, which encourages consumers to buy heaps of items, discard them after a few wears and then come back for another batch of new outfits.”

— The Economist 9/5/15 https://www.economist. com/business/2015/09/05/ faster-cheaper-fashion

Spring / Summer 2021

Unfortunately, most fast fashion styles are assembled in foreign countries by grossly underpaid and overworked employees.

Though alternatives to fast fashion exist and allow consumers to make more sustainable choices, these solutions are not always accessible or affordable outside of cities. The multifaceted issues surrounding fast fashion make it an important topic to know.

“Fast Fashion vs. Thrifted Threads” featured a panel of four active community members with unique perspectives on the issue at hand. Elaine Logothetis Jack, a biologist and former owner of Sapona Green Building Center, discussed the environmental impacts of manufacturing fast fashion. Kelsey Gibbs, the owner of The Wonder Shop and Sealevel City Vegan Diner, shared the journey of a piece of fast clothing and her experiences selling sustainable fashion. Dr. Ann Rotchford, a social psychologist in the Sociology and Criminology Department at UNCW, focused on realities of throw-away culture and overconsumption. Finally, Shelby Diehl, an environmental science and political science student at UNCW and secretary for 350 UNCW, offered a student perspective on the issue.

After each panelist presented a brief explanation of their take on fast fashion, questions were presented to encourage a conversation between panelists. The audience, which comprised a mix of students, faculty, and community members, covered a diverse range of perspectives that fostered thoughtful questions about fast fashion. Participants asked about the cultural pressures to purchase fast fashion, which clothing materials are environmentally-friendly, the sustainability potential of thrift and vintage stores, and how to shop sustainably in Wilmington.

Panelists responded with their knowledge and recommendations. The event created a space for an interesting conversation between coastal NC residents about a widespread issue. Audience members learned about fast fashion’s significance and ways in which they can reduce their consumption of fast fashion.

The January Fast Fashion vs. Thrifted Threads event was co-sponsored by UNCW Healthy Hawks, Plastic Ocean Project, Give, and Divest UNCW.

Fast fashion is not a distant sustainability concern. It should be important to anyone who purchases and wears clothing. If you are interested in reducing your contribution to fast fashion industries, think before you buy and consider alternative methods of acquiring the item. In your mind, conjure the backstory and impacts of the garment you may consider purchasing. Then, take a look at local shops offering secondhand goods. Thrift shops, vintage shops, and community clothing swaps offer fantastic and fun solutions.

Thrift shops cater to a wide range of budgets, and clothing swaps can be free.

Avery Owen wrote this while an environmental science and geospatial technologies student at UNCW. She worked as a Sustainability Peer Educator for UNCW Sustainability and served as Vice President and Community Outreach Coordinator of UNCW Plastic Ocean Project. She grew up in a pottery family among a community of clay artists that taught her the importance of sustainability and the beauty of Earth’s resources.

Send us your green news!

E-mail us at editor@goinggreenpublications.com.

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fast fashion

Green Tips—Fast Fashion and Green Laundry

by Elaine Logothetis Jack

Fast Fashion “Fast Fashion” (FF) refers to retailers’ practice of producing cheap clothes as quickly and as frequently as possible. This term used by fashion retailers describes inexpensive designs that move quickly from the catwalk to stores to meet new trends. Prices on these items are so low that they encourage consumers to buy en masse without thinking too much about the life cycle of the items. The World Bank finds the fashion industry is responsible for nearly 10% of global carbon emissions (World Bank fashion, Quantis 2018 study).

Fast fashion brands are not creating pieces to last a long time. Most FF fabrics are composed of over 60% synthetic materials. These synthetic fibers are mostly a form of plastic and do not decay. An estimated 85% of textile waste in the United States ends up in a landfill. Fast Fashion companies contribute to poor working conditions in developing countries. For example, the 2013 garment building collapse in Bangladesh is the deadliest garmentrelated accident in world history.

What’s happening now is that some fashion labels such as fast fashion giant H&M have begun to embrace sustainable fashion trends. Women’s clothier EILEEN FISHER has pledged to use sustainable fibers, non-toxic dyes, reduce manufacturing waste, pay fair wages, and to make clothes that last (https://bit.ly/3zhF64y).

“Science Friday” on NPR aired a segment about the fashion industry, which is very informative (https://bit.ly/3iGZS71).

Do you want to tell the world about your green or sustainable product or service?

We wouldn’t be here without our advertisers, and you could become one of them!

Contact us today to learn more: (910)547-4390 or ads@goinggreenpublications.com.

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The Guardian—See articles “Impacts from Fashion Industry” (https://bit.ly/2V70smt) and Lululemon employee (https://bit.ly/3kPewvw).

What you can do: • Ask the manufacturer questions about material, sourcing, production methods, labor.

• Choose an ethical clothier.

• Select quality pieces over quantity.

• Swap or sell unwanted or outgrown clothes—locally at The Bargain Box, Vintage Values, The Fairy Circle, Clothes Mentor, Plato’s Closet, Once Upon a Child or online at ThreadUp, Poshmark, and ebay.

• Turn old fashion into new fashion— i.e. convert a pair of jeans into cut-offs or a skirt, or a trim a long skirt into a mini.

• Repair clothes & shoes—learn to sew and mend clothes.

• Shop SLOW FASHION (SF)—SF advocates for good quality fibers, clean environment, and fairness for both consumers and producers.

• Take a fashion break.

• If possible, launder clothing less frequently to extend the item’s life— see below on laundry.

Laundry How to stay green while getting your laundry clean.

Laundry has a big impact on the environment. Between 75–80% of our clothing’s lifecycle is deleteriously impacted from washing and drying. Heating wash water and running the dryer requires a lot of energy. An average U.S. household does nearly 400 loads of laundry per year, and consumes 13,500 gallons of water according to U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Star Program.

What you can do: • Wash on COLD temperature versus hot or warm water—Heating water takes energy and decreases fabrics’ life. Most modern washers do an

equally fine job of getting clothes spic and span in cold.

• Dry on the line—Try to hang items dry on a clothesline or drying rack when possible. Skipping the tumble dryer can nix around 60% of energy used on laundry and your clothes smell fresh. When you do use the tumble dryer, choose low heat.

• Remove lint—Clogged lint traps reduce dryer efficiency by lengthening dryer time.

• Wash full loads only—Saves water.

• Separate towels—Towels are bulky and can damage delicate fabrics.

• Avoid chlorine bleach—Bleach erodes fabrics, which decreases their life span. An alternative is to whiten with lemon juice.

• Choose a front-loading washer— Energy Star front-loading washing machines can save nearly 7,000 gallons per year and money in operating costs.

• Wear it more than once—Besides unmentionables and socks, wearing your clothes more than once before laundering them is a big step to reducing your laundry footprint.

• Opt for an eco & concentrated detergent—Look for biodegradable and phosphate-free detergents.

Concentrated detergents require less packaging and waste as a little will go a long way. Both white vinegar and Borax reduce soap residue from clothing and balance soap pH better than fabric softeners.

For more Green Laundry Tips visit https://www.treehugger.com/htgg/howto-go-green-laundry.html.

Green Tips was included in the monthly newsletter to families at Cape Fear Center for Inquiry.

Elaine Logothetis Jack is an Independent Sustainability Consultant and former owner of Sapona Green Building Center. She holds a B.A. in Biology from U. Colorado, Boulder and an M.S. in Biological Sciences from California State University, Fullerton.

fashion

Rent the Runway

by Kat Pohlman I’ve never considered myself a fashionable person. But it was my birthday, my 30th birthday. A farewell to the excuse of being in my twenties when making poor decisions or acting childish. So I thought.

My partner planned a getaway to Charleston for the big day, and I wanted to feel more special, mature, or what some may refer to as more “fashionable” than usual.

With the word “sustainability” in my job title, I was well aware of the social and environmental impacts of the clothing industry and the new buzz words “fast fashion.” I’ve been thrift shopping since I was 18, not primarily because of the global impacts, but because I am on a budget and could give a rat’s behind if it is last year’s look.

It was my hairstylist who referred me

to Rent the Runway. She uses this online clothing rental service for big events. They have apparel for all occasions, and you can rent for a few days for a fraction of the cost of buying.

This is where things get interesting. I needed a 29-year-old dress and a 30-yearold dress. I wanted to play the part of both saying goodbye to my 20s and welcoming my adulthood properly. Ordering clothes online, in general, makes me nervous.

But I know what styles look best on me and this particular website allows you to order two sizes to ensure that at least one might fit. I searched for a few days and asked the opinion of anyone who would listen. Finally, I settled on a nice floral cotton dress that looked like something a modern-day Scarlett O’Hara would wear, for my last day of 29 (around $30), and an upscale ($800 retail, $70 rental) dress for my first dinner in the era of checking a new age box on surveys.

photo by JP

Kat Pohlman celebrates her first day of being 30 with an elegant sequined dress from Rent the Runway.

Spring / Summer 2021

The day before my order was to arrive, I received an email from Rent the Runway apologizing that my 29-year-old dress had come back either smelly or ripped, but unwearable. They said they would pick out a similar style dress for the same price, a bold move in my opinion.

Opening my dress bag was like a built-in birthday surprise, and when I pulled out the 100% sequin-covered mini-dress that felt like it weighed 50 pounds, I couldn’t have been more confused by my excitement. I never would have chosen that dress, but I rocked it and it gave me the feeling I was looking for, special and fashionable.

However, it was the next night that was even more amusing. I bestowed the responsibility to my best friend from high school and my boyfriend to come up with a plan for the evening. I should have known better. They are incredible, loving humans with one tragic flaw they share… communication. So there I sat in my $800 dress as the waitress put a sombrero on my head at a delicious, but casual Mexican restaurant.

My takeaways: If you know the cuts that fit you best, are adaptable, and don’t mind being the best-dressed person in the room, renting clothes for special occasions (or in general) is a great option to save your wallet and our precious Mother Earth.

Oh, and I’ll never stop being childish, and you shouldn’t either.

Rent the Runway is a subscription fashion service that offers rental of unlimited women’s designer styles for everyday and specialoccasion wear. www.renttherunway.com.

Kat Pohlman: “As the Chief Sustainability Officer at UNCW, I do my best to ‘walk the walk.’ The majority of my life revolves around my job. I hope this ‘experiment’ inspires others to take extra steps to ensure a future that provides the same or more opportunities as today!”

Fashion Resources Fashion for Good is a global organization involved in moving sustainable fashion forward. Their “Innovation Platform” is used to connect those working on sustainable innovation with brands, retailers and funders to bring new ideas and technologies “from niche to norm.”

Learn more about their work around the world at fashionforgood.com.

Going Green welcomes editorial contributions from the community.

If you have an environmental story you’d like to tell, contact us and we’ll email you our “Contributor Guidelines.” Email Publisher@ GoingGreenPublications.com or call (910)547-4390.

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green business

Native Waves—

Cherry Ocampo’s vision for wellness through indigenous wisdom

by Colleen Leonardi Where land meets the sea is where Cherry Ocampo wants to be. A North Carolina native, Ocampo has unearthed the benefits of mixing rare regional clays and halophyte plants together for enhanced beauty and well-being. Founded

nearly a year ago by Ocampo here in Wilmington, Native Waves Carolina Blue Clay offers locally sourced seaweedinfused clays, salt waters, yaupon tea, and more. From face masks to topical treatments for inflammation, Ocampo uses her products daily. And once you meet her at

the Tidal Creek farmers market, it’s evident she has a healing touch.*

Origins Born into a family of herbalists with a mother whose lineage dates back to Bogotá, Colombia and a line of the Ch’orti’ Mayan and Miskito Indians, Ocampo is on a mission to share Native American medicinal traditions from her past for future generations. Her knowledge of plant life and indigenous medicine runs deep.

“When I was a kid, we used to cover each other in clay and pretend to operate on each other. I learned about native wild plants, too, growing up but it was not celebrated, so I would keep the knowledge to myself and hide my books,” she says, as we talk about her life growing up in Chapel Hill.

As an adult, when faced with a health crisis that allopathic medicine could not cure, she sought advice from a Native American healer. He guided her back to her intuitive center and onto her life’s path.

Then she had the dream.

A Vision “I was gathering clay like when I was a kid and I was putting it on my body,” Ocampo says. “And then I was in the Yucatan peninsula and I was walking along in the forest.” When she woke from the dream she asked: “What am I supposed to learn from this? Is there medicine in blue clay?”

Ocampo started researching Native American blue clays online. She searched for sources of it in southeast North Carolina and discovered veins of Georgia blue clay here in Wilmington. Then she saw the science on blue clay for gastrointestinal and skin disorders, “…for what I needed,” she says. “And then I found the Mayan connection with it. And then it clicked. I thought, “Is this some weird way of ances(continued on page 9) photo by courtesy of Native Waves

Cherry Ocampo walks to find wild native plants in the field, such as this native yucca, which she uses to make soap.

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* Ocampo offered her products at the market until the pandemic, and for now sells online.

green business Native Waves (continued) tral messaging? Spiritually, I thought this is my answer. It’s going to sound crazy to people but I’m going to try it out.”

Earth and Sea Ocampo aims to provide a line of products for her clients that honor the past as well as the present. A self-taught forager and herbalist, she honors traditional, indigenous medicine by seeking the expertise of Native American communities.

With Native Waves, Ocampo combines earth and water—soil and sea—to bring two feminine aspects together. Ask her about the cultural history behind the use of clays and aquatic plants for healing, and you’re in for a fascinating look back on ancient Mayan approaches to medicine and contemporary approaches to algotherapy, the therapeutic uses of seaweed.

Yet you don’t have to be a traditionalist to benefit from what Ocampo offers. And this spring, you may even see her foraging on the shores of Wrightsville Beach for

seaweed. As the ocean warms, aquatic plants like sea lettuce, red dulse, sargassum, grasselaria, and padina (also know as peacock’s tail) start to proliferate.

Ocampo searches along the coastlines for these and other seaweeds. She has worked with Wilson Freshwater, research specialist at the Center for Marine Science, and even sought advice from the Asian markets in town, as their experiences growing up in oceanic towns makes for a few self-taught experts, too.

For all of her foraging for freshwater plants, Ocampo travels inland “past Leland” as she doesn’t trust the water here in Wilmington due to its toxicity. She also gathers fresh rainwater and saltwater photo by Colleen Leonardi

As the ocean warms each spring, aquatic plants such as red dulse start to proliferate. Ocampo finds these and other seaweeds along the coast.

in alignment with the cycles of the moon, using the waters in her products to enhance the energetic aspects of her blends.

In the future, Ocampo hopes to inspire chefs in the region to use more locally sourced seaweeds on their menus. She also hopes to offer workshops about foraging for local plant life along the coast (see sidebar, below).

“It’s been a journey,” Ocampo says. Luckily, we’re the recipients of her gifts.

Colleen Leonardi is a freelance writer, editor, and MFA candidate in creative nonfiction at UNCW. Learn more at colleenleonardi.com.

A Sea of Potential

photo by Colleen Leonardi

Cherry Ocampo harvests seaweed for incorporation in some of her products. The benefits sheet for her Sargassum is shown here with an assortment of the pink wampum (quahog clam) shells she also finds locally.

Spring / Summer 2021

“There are 135 species of seaweeds along the Carolina coast and a lot of them are edible and no one around here is using them in restaurants,” says Ocampo, founder and owner of Native Waves Carolina Blue Clay. Bringing science, heritage, and culture together, Ocampo hopes to educate people on the benefits of seaweeds and other native plants. Future workshops will include topics such as: Native American herbalism in the area of Wilmington and the cultural aspects; algotherapy, the therapeutic uses of seaweed; and foraging as a culinary and medicinal practice. To learn more about Ocampo, her products, and future classes, visit Native Waves on Facebook at facebook.com/nativewavescarolinablueclay or Instagram at instagram.com/nativewavescarolinablueclay or call (910) 998-7776.

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green business

Kickstarting Another Success...

by Quinn Cook What if your morning coffee, afternoon soda, or evening cocktail could eliminate scalding hands, moist handshakes, and cold sweats by simply slipping into a little sweater that helps save our oceans in one fell swoop? That would be freakin’ awesome, right? Whether you call your beverage insulator a “Cozy” or “Koozie,” Freaker USA’s latest Kickstarter project, the Slippy, does just that.

Zach Crain, company founder and Wilmington, NC, resident, gained national recognition through his grassroot, nonconformist marketing techniques that launched the Freaker brand to new heights. The effective, eccentric beverage insulators known as Freakers and the radical Freaker line of socks have been more than successful nationwide. Locals remember Zach’s debut on an early episode of Shark Tank when “Woot, Woot!” became a popular buzzword among fans.

Crain’s latest endeavor, the Slippy, is taking the Freaker brand to a whole new level with one mission in mind: Freaker USA is going to save our oceans—one plastic bottle at a time. Every Slippy manufactured, sold and delivered removes one plastic bottle from our waters and turns it into a reusable beverage hugger that can replace all unfriendly Koozies haunting junk drawers across America.

Continuously sustainable and environmentally viable, Slippy pullovers are going to make a huge difference in the global effort to eliminate garbage patches around the world. A garbage patch is a large area of the ocean where litter, fishing gear and other debris—known as marine debris— collect. Freaker USA is contributing by collecting plastic bottles from our oceans to produce reusable, maintainable, and ecologically responsible beverage insulators right here in North Carolina.

How does Freaker USA turn one plastic bottle into one Slippy? Plastic bottles are collected from coastal areas that are not

afforded proper waste management.

The bottles are then transported to a Greensboro, NC facility managed by Unifi, another North Carolina-based company committed to recyclable sustainability.

The Unifi plant manufactures fibers to produce a yarn aptly named Repreve Our Ocean. While the Repreve product contains 70 percent post-consumer plastic and 30 percent coastal plastic, the company agreed to work with Freaker USA to manufacture a yarn specific to their needs.

One of the main challenges in developing the Slippy was getting yarn that was 100 percent ocean-bound plastic. Even though post-consumer plastic yarn and post-consumer plastic mixed with oceanbound plastic yarn exists, Crain could not find a company producing material that was not a combination of the two resources.

“Unifi makes the yarn for us in Greensboro,” Crain states, “and I was able to convince them to make a yarn for Slippy that’s 100 percent coastal plastic. It’s the only one in the world that I’m aware of.”

Knitting Slippies through Unifi’s ecofriendly process utilizes 73 percent less energy, 67 percent less water, and 55 percent less chemicals than the making of regular yarns. The Slippy is the only product that uses 100 percent ocean-bound plastic, meaning all the bottles are collected from the beach or within 30 miles of the coast in countries without formal waste management systems. In effect, every Slippy produced was once a plastic bottle on the coast of Mexico or Haiti.

In the fall of 2019, Crain went back to his grassroot efforts of raising capital by creating a Kickstarter campaign for the Slippy with a “Join the Cause—Keep Plastic Out of the Ocean” call to action.

The Slippy Family

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(continued on page 11

green business Slippy (continued)

By December, his $10,000 goal was more than exceeded, and backers pledged over $42,000 to support his endeavors.

“I want to make cleaning up the oceans accessible to everyone,” Crain says.

“For $5.00 you can go to Mexico, pick up a plastic bottle off the coast, and turn it into a souvenir that protects your hands from hot and cold sweaty drinks.

“That being said,” he continues, “the more Slippies that are purchased, the more plastic bottles get collected. I’m not the one collecting the bottles—the people that choose to purchase Slippies are.”

Crain has short- and long-term goals for his little eco-sweaters. “The plan is to get the name out there hard and fast, so [everyone] will want the name Slippy and not a knock-off.”

Ultimately, he sees national chains such as Starbucks and McDonalds replacing their paper or cardboard coffee sleeves with reusable, sustainable Slippies adorned with their own logos. “I’m a little worried that [big chains] will only want to retail it for $1.00,” Crain says. “You could if you made it overseas or in China.

“The problem is that China is responsible for 90 percent of the plastic in the ocean … and the fastest way to clean up the ocean is to stop buying stuff made in China. Consumers vote by spending their money, and we’re voting for 90 percent of the plastic in the ocean every time we buy something from them.

Spring / Summer 2021

“I’m not saying China is bad or good.

They’re producing what we want and support—cheap products—but if we stop supporting them, they’ll change what they’re doing to get our support and money again.”

Big corporations are taking notice.

“We’re aggressively going after the promotional industry,” Crain continues. “You know … those free things companies give out [at trade shows]. In fact, Verizon is the first global mogul to come on board—purchasing 2,500 promotional Slippies.

“Pretty cool!” Crain says. “Verizon’s keeping 2,500 bottles out of the ocean— ‘Can you hear me now?’”

Crain believes producing promotional merchandise for small, medium and large companies is the most efficient way to get large numbers of bottles out of the ocean as quickly as possible. His short-term goals are moving fast in the right direction, and his long-term goals are not far out of reach.

Slippies are super soft and cozy and stop puddles in cup holders. They fit on your wrist, slip into butt pockets, shirt pockets and even over pint glasses, wine glasses and cans.

They are reusable, sustainable little

Every year Americans use enough cardboard coffee sleeves to cover Texas. sweaters making a difference one bottle at a time.

Reaching out to all of his local supporters in Wilmington, Zach shouts out, “Are those new shoes? You smell so good, and your hair’s like beautiful fire. Thanks for being there for me in the beginning, and even if you’re just getting on board, I love you now and always. XOXOXO!” So how are you going to handle your morning coffee, afternoon soda or evening cocktail? Pretty darn Slippy, right?

Woot! Woot!

Quinn Cook is... Quinlan Concepts. Writer, editor, publisher, designer, event planner, artist rep, and the creator of the ArtOberfest Art Crawl through downtown Wilmington’s historic Streetcar District.

Cape Fear’s Going Green

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native plants

Ground Covers—What To Do with Your Garden’s Bare Spots

by Carol Bales

This is the eighth of a series of Cape Fear area native plant articles to appear in Going Green. The articles will include stories about common native plants that would enhance any coastal North Carolina garden or landscape.

Our lawn is full of bare spots where nothing seems to grow. To remedy those spots, we use native plants that love to grow in areas inhospitable to ornamentals.

The native plants we use as ground cover provide color and variety to our flower beds.

bought four straggly plants that honestly looked questionable, but in good faith, we planted them in an area where nothing else grew. Two years later, that bed is covered with dark green foliage and bright yellow flowers, and is trying to creep past its border into our lawn. This plant can be easily propagated from runners. It grows in partial to full shade, in sandy well-drained soil, and looks lovely in the spring when it blooms.

Wild ginger (Asarum canadense): Woodland perennial, in the family Aristolochiae (like Dutchman’s pipe). This plant has interesting veined, glossy, dark green leaves no more than 3" wide and long. It grows only about 4–5" tall, and

What is considered to be a ground cover? Plants that hover close to the soil, no more than 8" tall, trailing or vining, perennials that require little in the way of pruning, fertilizing, insecticides, and protection from foraging animals. Oh, yes, we only use those plants that are native to North Carolina and our coastline areas.

Here are a few examples of ground covers that we have tried successfully in our landscape.

Green and Gold (Chrysogonum virginianum): We first saw this plant in the New Hanover County Arboretum’s native plant demonstration garden, and fell in love with the intense color of this native ground cover. We looked for it in plant catalogs, nurseries, and in the woods but were unable to find it. Fortunately, Joyce Huguelet, proprietor of Going Native Gardens, had a handful of plants to sell. We

Adobe stock photo

Chrisogonum virginianum, or Green and Gold

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Asarum canadens, or Wild Ginger

could be used as a potted plant placed on a deck or patio. We started ours in a pot, where it bloomed happily for two years until we transplanted it into our bed of Green and Gold. The flowers can be found in the spring by looking under the leaves for tiny brown bell shaped flowers that hug the ground—thus the nickname, “Little Brown Jug” plant. It has also been called “Piggy ginger” due to the shape of the leaves that resemble pig feet. The plant requires little in the way of watering, weeding, fertilizing or pruning. It spreads slowly by stolons* and vines. In the wild, the plant grows well in the shady forest with sandy soil. Herbalists used to use the plant as a labor inducer, but due to its toxicity that use has been discontinued.

Wikipedia photo

Lippia nodiflora, or Frog Fruit

Frog fruit (Lippia nodiflora): We first saw this darling little plant in Austin, Texas, where it was planted as a rock garden plant in the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. I fell in love with the tiny white flowers, and after hearing its common name, I could just envision little frogs coming to eat a bite of the plants. I never saw the frogs, but I was delighted to find it growing like a weed here in New Hanover County. It grows well in poor, sandy, wellAdobe stock photo drained soil. It is in the verbena family, and is native to our county (New Hanover County). The foliage is dark green in the spring and summer, turning dark purple in the fall. It is easy to propagate from its runners that root readily wherever you want a rapidly growing ground cover. It dies back to nothing in the winter, but reemerges in the spring when the soil is warmed up. There is a patch of this plant growing in the Arboretum’s Native Plant Demonstration Garden, happily creeping along its stone paths. (continued on page 13) * Stolons: In botany a stolon—also called a runner—is a slender stem that grows horizontally along the ground, giving rise to roots and aerial (vertical) branches at specialized points called nodes.

native plants Ground Covers (continued) Woodland or White Stonecrop (Sedum ternatum): This lovely little perennial ground cover is native to the Eastern United States. It grows close to the ground, and is usually 3–5" tall. True to its name, it will grow happily on top of rocks or boulders, providing a colorful mound of white to lavender flowers in the spring. The petals of the flowers are jagged and toothy with little yellow centers. It is easy to grow and requires little maintenance.

Creeping blueberry (Vaccinium crassifolium): For those of you who love to eat freshly picked berries, this is the plant for you! However, you will need to get up early to beat the birds, squirrels, bees and snakes away from your blueberries! They love the sweet berries, but will not eat them when they are green. We actually had to rescue a poor little grass snake that was tangled in our bluebird netting while trying to catch the other foraging insects on our blueberries. This plant grows in a mat-like manner, covering the ground, and not growing more than 8" tall. It is an evergreen trailing shrub, with beautiful little bell-shaped white and pink blooms in early spring. The berries start out as tiny light green buds, turning to blue then glossy black when they ripen. It grows best in the sun, but will tolerate partial shade, sandy or rocky and very acid soil.

We have not tried to grow this plant, but are planning to try it in a large container this fall.

be grown as a container plant or as a rock garden plant.

No doubt there are many other native ground cover plants that we could try. You could consult with the Arboretum’s plant clinic director, Matt Collogan, who will be happy to help you with questions about these and other ground covers.

Reference photo courtesy of Cotonis/North Carolina State University

Vaccinium crassifolium, or Creeping Blueberry

The Plant Clinic at the Arboretum/ Cooperative Extension is open Monday– Friday from 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

(910) 798-7660 Matt Collogan, Extension Agent Consumer Horticulture New Hanover County Center mecollog@ncsu.edu (910) 798-7660

photo courtesy of Oregon State University

Carol Bales is an avid gardener and seed saver, and grows several kinds of milkweed in her yard.

Vaccinium crassifolium, or Creeping Blueberry

Trailing phlox (Phlox nivalis): Native to our area, this perennial flowering vine produces lovely showy pink tubular blooms in the spring and summer. It is heat tolerant, and can be used as a companion plant in lawns, since it is only 4" tall, and likes to be pruned often. Plant Delights Nursery in Raleigh is conducting trials of this and other phlox varieties. As with other non-native phlox plants, this can

Pixabay photo

Phlox nivalis, or Creeping Phlox

Send us your green news! Call us at (910)547-4390 or E-mail at editor@ goinggreenpublications.com.

Native Plant BioBlitz September 11–19 Would you like to help with the Native Plant BioBlitz that will be part of this year’s Native Plant Festival? If you know something about identifying plants native to our area, or if you’re familiar with the iNaturalist app, the Festival would welcome your help. Sign up at https://bit.ly/3wVSMR3 to receive updates on the BioBlitz as the festival grows closer. You may also contact Morgan Freese directly with questions at morgan.freese@ncaquariums.com.

Adobe stock photo

Sedum ternatum, or Stonecrop

Spring / Summer 2021

No iNaturalist experience is required to participate in the event. The organizers will hold at least one Zoom training to walk you through the “how-to” of providing identification help. This is a fun way to learn how to participate in citizen science, and is something that can be done solo or with the whole family.

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native plants Plant Walk at Wild Meadow Farm

You can also walk along the fruit grove planted in 2011 in honor of Paul W. Phillips, the Museum’s Senior Security Guard. The orchard contains white and black muscadine grapes, peach, pear, fig, apple, plum and blueberry plantings.

Wild Meadow Farm will host an easy, half-mile, two-hour nature walk at their farm in Delco on August 15. On past walks they’ve discussed plant ID and uses, wildlife, and local history.

The walk will start at 9:30 a.m. sharp to beat the heat. Find them on Instagram @WildMeadowFarmNC. Email them at WildMeadowFarmNC@gmail.com to RSVP and get directions.

“Leaderless” Green Swamp Native Plant Walk

Cameron Museum Nature Trails

In order to beat the heat the SE Coastal Chapter of the Native Plant Society will conduct an Early Bird plant walk Saturday, August 14 at 8 a.m. at the Green Swamp. Armed with iNaturalist and some group common knowledge the group will explore the Green Swamp for no more than 90 minutes. Google maps is a good source to find directions to its location in Brunswick County.

The 9.3-acre campus of Cameron Museum of Art has nature trails for you to enjoy. Stroll along the pond and follow the trail from the museum front door north to the campus’ historic woodlands. On the trail you can see native plant and animal life.

We’re Back! (to doing walks)

For those in Wilmington who would like to car pool, a convenient meeting place is the Burger King located on 3rd Street between Wooster Street and Dawson Street. Poolers will meet at 7 a.m., depart promptly at 7:15. The easiest way to coordinate the pooling is to arrive at the Burger King with the willingness to drive or ride. It all can be sorted out in the parking lot.

After over a year of staying isolated we are happy to get back to doing plant walks. We only have one walk scheduled as of now but we expect to schedule a lot more during the good weather months. We will be trying to go to new places and are open to suggestions. We will include a walk in the Green Swamp. Most of us never get tired of a trek through it.

If going directly to the Green Swamp, meet in the parking lot off of route 211. Bring bug spray and good walking shoes.

The group asks that all participants be fully vaccinated.

Contact Charley Winterbauer at cewinterbauer39@gmail.com to sign up for the walk.

Fun for Kids: It’s Owl Good at Airlie Gardens For the ninth year in a row, Airlie is excited to host its Annual Art Exhibit, July–December 2021! They invited artists, or teams of artists, to decorate, paint or otherwise adorn one of 10 oversized four-foot tall, fiberglass owl models. These owls will be placed throughout the grounds for guests to enjoy as part of their garden experience. Artist designs were selected based on creativity, craftsmanship, use of materials, the ability to appeal to all age groups, outdoor sustainability, and durability.

Roger Shew

The Green Swamp looks different as the seasons change. This the Shoestring area, showing flowers in bloom in June.

Recommended Reading

For those considering going a walk through the Green Swamp, Charley Winterbauer, co-chair of the local Native Plant Society chapter, recommends this book

by James Fowler. Entitled Orchids, Carnivorous Plants, and Other Wildflowers of the Green Swamp, NativeNorth Groundcovers of itNC Carolina, he considers an Native species are those that occur naturally in an area. They are better adapted to local conditions requiring less care once established.

Native plants support our native invaluable resource to learn about wildlife, in particular our birds, butterflies and bees (pollinators). Introduced plants may become invasive, outcompeting the natives and not providing the food and cover our native wildlife depends on. this diverse ecosystem.

If you would like to be informed on the walk schedule and other plant-related activities, go to www.ncwildflower.org and join the state-wide NC Native Plant Society. Based on your address, you will automatically be assigned to a local chapter. For the SE portion of the state, that is the SE coastal area chapter.

Southeastern Coastal Area Chapter

Questions? Email cewinterbauer39@gmail.com.

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North Carolina Native Plant Society

The native plants below are all perennials and should return each year if planted properly.

They all attract pollinators, provide a food source, and are available commercially.

If your local nursery does not sell these native plants – encourage them to do so!

Common Name

Scientific Name

Bloom Time/Color

Area Best

Planting Needs

Native Notes

Green-andgold

Chrysogonum virginianum

Spring, or later yellow

Piedmont Coast and Mountains

Part sun-part shade; average to dry soil

Evergreen; great as ground cover; deer resistant

Pussytoes

Antennaria plantaginifolia

Spring, whitish

Piedmont, Mountains, Coastal Plain

Mostly sun; well-drained, non-rich soils

May be only somewhat evergreen; spreads by stolons

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native plants First Post-Pandemic Plant Walk After a couple of weather-related cancellations (one for thunderstorms and one for threat of thunderstorms), the NC Native Plant Society–Southeastern Coastal Chapter held its first plant walk since the pandemic—a successful morning plant walk through the Herbert Bluethenthal Memorial Wildflower Preserve.

This walk was led by Dr. Darin Penneys, who identified plants and explained their growth habits. He pointed out several native plants that would work in residential gardens—good substitutes for some of the nonnatives currently overused in yards. Penneys is a an evolutionary biologist studying angiosperms (plants that flower); he is Assistant Professor of biology and marine biology at UNCW. The preserve is an oasis in the middle of the UNCW campus, lush and full of native plants. It is open to the public, and is a short walk from Visitor Parking Lot M. Ringed by a hurricane fence, the gate to its entrance faces Price Drive.

Information on the Native Plant Society appears on page 14.

Individual membership costs $25/year ($15 for students).

Local Native Plant Society Chapter Welcomes New Co-Chair Krystyna Ochota has joined Charley Winterbauer as cochair of the NC Native Plant Society Southeastern Coastal Chapter. Ochota is the Brunswick County Consumer Horticulture Program Assistant and Master Gardener Coordinator for NC State Cooperative Extension. She was an Extension Master Gardener Volunteer in Brunswick County, including a member of the volunteer leadership team, and eventually was hired by Cooperative Extension in Bolivia, NC. Ochota engages in planning and implementation of the Extension Master Gardener program for Brunswick County.

She also engages in education of the public on a variety of horticultural topics, by various means (telephone, email, inperson, video, etc.). Ochota (along with Horticulture Agent Tom Woods, and Natural Resource Agent Amy Mead) enjoys coaching consumers to approach their landscape in a holistic manner, taking into account the larger view of habitat and ecology.

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Welcome Service LLC personally welcomes newcomers and new businesses to New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender Counties.

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Spring / Summer 2021

photo by Valerie Robertson

Darin Penneys identifies plants along (and off) the trail through the Bluethenthal Preserve.

Send us your green news!

E-mail us at editor@goinggreenpublications.com.

"Voices of the Sea" Calling on 100 women with a shared love and commitment to Mother Ocean.

Share a loved one's or your story of adventure, inspiration, love, wonder and cherished memories.

Plastic Ocean Project is expanding our research and education about plastic pollution in the ocean. We need your support for our initiatives and more access to the open waters. With your support we can make this possible.

Current initiatives include: the documentary, "If the ocean could talk," and raising awareness through research by surface sampling and studying plastic ingestion by marine life in the North Atlantic.

For more details: www.plasticoceanproject.org Cape Fear’s Going Green

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First Annual Veg-Out October 16 VEG-OUT kicks off its inaugural one-of a-kind festival to engage and promote a healthy lifestyle, vegan & vegetarian food, nutrition, and the environment all in one place on October 16, 2021 at the new Riverfront Park, downtown Wilmington, North Carolina.

This free community event is designed to engage and inspire curiosity and to provide informed decisions on health and well-being.

VEG-OUT is currently accepting applications for vendor booths (organic, holistic, vegan, vegetarian, green, cruelty-free products and/or information), guest speakers, cooking demonstrators, select arts & crafts vendors, vegan & vegetarian food vendors, non-profit organizations and more. Any food truck or concession that sells vegan or vegetarian food.

ALL of the food, drinks, products, and general merchandise available within the premises of the event must be complicit with a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle, be environmentally friendly and benefit healthy choices.

Applications are available at: www.veg-out.org.

We wouldn’t be here without our advertisers, and you could become one of them!

Contact us today to learn more: (910)547-4390 or ads@goinggreenpublications.com.

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local seasonal food

Recipes Cauliflower and Sweet Potato Curry Servings: 4

Ingredients • 1 head cauliflower, cut into florets – Red Beard Farm (Willard, NC) • 2 Tbsp. coconut oil • 1/2 large yellow onion, finely chopped • 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped • 2 Tbsp. fresh ginger, grated • 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cubed – Red Beard Farm • 2 cups kale, roughly chopped – Farmage (Castle Hayne, NC) • 1/4 cup frozen peas • 1/2 cup cashews • 2 ½ Tbsp. curry powder – Simply Organic • 2 Tbsp. red curry paste – Thai Kitchen • 14 oz. (1 ¾ cup) canned diced tomatoes with juice – Bionaturae • 13.5 oz. canned full fat coconut milk – Native Forest Simple Organic Unsweetened

• 2 tsp. sea salt • Fresh cilantro – Farmage • 1 lime, cut in wedges

Welcome to Going Green’s recipe page, where we bring you new ideas for how to enjoy local and seasonal foods.

For the purpose of this page, “local” will include North and South Carolina.

Instructions Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Sauté onions, ginger and garlic while stirring for about 2 minutes.

Add cauliflower florets and sweet potato to the pot and mix in the curry powder, red curry paste and salt. Sauté for an additional 5 to 7 minutes until the vegetables are completely infused with spices.

Stir in coconut milk, canned diced tomatoes with liquid, peas and cashews.

Put lid on the pot and bring to a boil, then lower the heat and let simmer for 20 to 25 minutes until vegetable are tender. Remove lid to add in kale and stir until the kale begins to wilt. Squeeze in 1 or 2 wedges of lime.

Garnish with cilantro and remaining lime wedges. Serve as is or with rice or quinoa.

Simply Delicious Chocolate Chip and Walnut Cookies Servings: 12 cookies Ingredients

• 2 cups almond flour – Bob’s Red Mill • 1/3 cup chocolate chips or carob chips • 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped • 1/2 cup banana, ripe and mashed • 1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract • 1 tsp. baking powder

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350oF. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk together the almond flour and baking powder in a mixing bowl.

In a separate bowl, mash ripe banana with the back of a fork until almost liquid. Add the vanilla extract to the mashed banana.

Stir the banana and vanilla mixture into the flour until completely blended, creating the dough.

Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.

Scoop up 2 tablespoons of dough at a time, roll with your hands into a ball and flatten.

Place on prepared cookie sheet, spaced apart.

Place in preheated oven and bake for 10–12 minutes until starting to brown at the edges.

Let sit for a couple of minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. Enjoy!

Original recipes and photos courtesy of Casey Nelson. She is a National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach specializing in plant-powered women’s health. Connect at casey@ caseynelson.com.

Spring / Summer 2021

Editor’s note: I tried this recipe using pecans I harvested from the tree in my yard in October. One of our testers added a dash of salt and a little more sugar.

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festivals

2021 Festivals Slowly Return to Normal After a year of nearly all events being virtual, some events will once again invite people to congregate.

Cape Fear’s Going Green currently plans to exhibit in person at three festivals in Wilmington in the Fall of 2021: Native Plant Festival

September 18, 2021 New Hanover County Arboretum & Self-Guided Nursery Tour & Sale

Fire in the Pines Festival October 9, 2021 Halyburton Park

Veg-OUT

October 16, 2021 Riverfront Park

Veg-OUT Festival Premiers A new festival starting this fall is one that will celebrate vegetarian and vegan lifestyles. Organizers have booked the new Riverfront Park space in downtown Wilmington, and are seeking exhibitors, vendors, food trucks and other concessations consistent with a vegetarian or vegan, health-conscious lifestyle. The event will be free to attend. See page 16 for more information.

Native Plant Festival Wilmington’s Native Plant Festival is held annually in the fall. In 2020, it changed its information sessions to virtual and moved the plant sale from the Arboretum to sites of all the individual growers of native plants. Now that pandemic restrictions are easing, this year’s event will be a combination of events at the Arboretum and throughout the community.

For the 2021 Festival, scheduled for Saturday, September 18, presentations and exhibitor tables will return to the grounds of the New Hanover County Arboretum.

The plant sale will once again be spread throughout the area, with an updated online (and print) map guiding people to visit growers of native plants throughout the area. Activities at the Arboretum will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; plant sellers will be able to set their own hours and may be open longer than from 10–3.

Hourly gardening presentations will happen on the hour, starting at 10 a.m. in the Arboretum’s Education Center and on Zoom. This year’s speakers will be Jess Jarvis, Amy Long, Amanda Chapman, Jess Roach, and Andy Wood.

The plant growers on this year’s self-guided nursery tour and plant sale will be Five Oaks Nursery & Tree Farm, Going Native Gardens, Grizz’s Nursery, Lloyd’s Nursery, Lumber River Native Plants, Shelton Herb Farm, Wild Bird & Garden, and Wild Meadow Farm.

New this year: iNaturalist expert Morgan Freese is organizing a Native Plant BioBlitz plant scavenger hunt event for

the week leading up to the festival. To participate, folks take pictures of native plants (preferably in the wild) and post the photos on the iNaturalist app, which can be used on a phone or a computer. Photos taken from September 11–19 will qualify, and there will be prizes for most observations and most species photographed.

No iNaturalist experience is required— the organizers will hold at least one Zoom training to walk you through the “how-to” of providing identification help. Sign up at https://bit.ly/3wVSMR3 to receive updates on the BioBlitz as the festival grows closer.

You may also contact Morgan Freese directly with questions at morgan.freese@ ncaquariums.com.

Details about the festival and the Native Plant Bioblitz will be available starting in August at arboretum.nhcgov.com and on the Native Plant Festival Facebook page.

Fire in the Pines Festival October 9 The annual Fire in the Pines Festival is returning to Halyburton Park this fall! Fire in the Pines Festival is an environmental educational celebration dedicated to our longleaf pine forests and fire. Longleaf pine forests hold a special place in the southeast. They are one of the most biodiverse in the world, home to some incredible plants and animals including the rare red-cockaded woodpecker and Venus flytraps. The festival will include environmental educators, exhibits, native plants and animals, music, food trucks and the grand finale—a controlled burn! If you would like to learn more about the role of controlled burning in our longleaf pine forests, join the fun at Fire in the Pines Festival this October 9th!

Visit www. fireinthepines.org for festival updates as they become available.

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your ecological house™

The Return of Nature “...we can defend outselves from disaster by enhancing our world of wonders.”

— George Monbiot, Natural Climate Solutions Advocate Sometimes everything just comes together. In recent months, I have written a great deal about two related problems, “legacy carbon” and “climate migration,” which begins with the abandonment of uninhabitable or economically indefensible regions. By legacy carbon, I mean the excess carbon dioxide we’ve already released into the atmosphere that will continue to push global temperatures higher even if we cut all new emissions immediately.

Regions and locales subject to abandonment in the coming decades due to legacy carbon’s effects include areas threatened by sea-level rise such as coastal lowlands and most of southern Florida, inland areas vulnerable to flooding such as wetlands and regions susceptible to wildfires and/or prone to drought. In other words, most of North America.

To mitigate or adapt to these disruptive developments, we must address two issues: first, obviously, we must reduce emissions by around 50 percent by 2035 and nearly 100 percent by 2050. If we don’t, we will have no choice but to abandon those areas that currently are only at risk. But assuming we manage to pull that particular rabbit out of a hat, we are still faced with the legacy carbon problem and ensuing climate chaos.

that each of their two existing machines captures the annual emissions from 200 cars. The company says it would need to build 250,000 such units to capture just one percent of our current emissions.

An alternate proposal of growing biofuels that would capture carbon that could be resold as fuels is also limited by scaling, but in a different way. Growing enough biofuel to meet carbon sequestration demands could double the world’s use of fertilizers while reducing the amount of arable land available for growing food by as much as 50 percent.

And it turns out that some of the same natural habitats that we need to retreat from—coastal zones, wetlands and peat marshes—are the most efficient carbon capture and storage “machines” on the planet. For example, coastal ecosystems can capture carbon 40 times faster than tropical forests. It is estimated that, by implementing a global NCS program we can immediately provide as much as 37 percent of the carbon sequestration required to ensure stabilizing global temperature below the 2ºC “fail safe” level—and, properly managed, natural ecosystems will quickly add more storage capacity. Finally, we can implement NCS for a fraction of the cost of any other carbon sequestration proposal.

Enter Natural Climate Solutions (NCS), a new set of proposals underwritten by a diverse group of climate experts and activists. (Supporters include many of the “heavy hitters” of the international climate movement such as activist Bill McKibben, climate scientist Michael Mann, environmental author George Monbiot and young Nobel nominee Greta Thunberg.)

Reduced to its essence, the idea of NCS is to let nature do the work of sequestering atmospheric carbon.

Philip S. (Skip) Wenz is the author of the E-book Your Ecological House, available at all major electronic book distributors.

By restoring natural ecosystems—or helping them restore themselves—we can sequester and store enormous amounts of carbon, while at the same time helping to mitigate one of the other great crises facing the planet, its sixth mass extinction.* (Talk about things coming together!)

* Note: the Cape Fear’s Going Green Environmental Book Club will read Elizabeth Kolbert’s book The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History in order to discuss it at the October 12, 2021 club meeting. See page 23 for details.

We’ll take a good look at NCS in upcoming columns, because the restoration of nature is our best bet for saving our ecological house. © Philip S. Wenz, 2021

How should we go about sequestering excess atmospheric carbon?

Unfortunately, most of the current proposals—with their high-tech, highfinance approach to the problem—won’t do the job. While some machines have been developed that can extract CO2, they face serious economic challenges but, more importantly, they simply cannot be deployed quickly enough to avert disaster.

Climeworks of Switzerland, one the few companies that manufactures atmospheric carbon removal equipment, claims Spring / Summer 2021

B+O: design studio, PLLC

architecture / landscape architecture

mail: 1319-CC Military Cutoff Rd., PMB 221 tel: 910.821.0084 www.b-and-o.net

Cape Fear’s Going Green

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green news walls Green Wall – continued NC Coastal Land Trust Welcomes New Executive Director space. One of the tenants will be the Wilmington-based software

company creator of the popularSociety’s beer app.2013 Charles Science degree in marine biology.Untappd, He National Audubon immediately began a long and successful H. Callison Professional Award.

Each wall, year, It’s Mott’s hope that, through the success of this green career at the National Audubon Society. this award honors one volunteer and they will grow in popularity in our area. And that way, more one He held many roles at Audubon, notably willstaff member fromand Audubon who have of building occupants enjoy the health aesthetic benefits as the deputy state director of Audubon’s made remarkable contributions to consersystems like these in the near future.

North Carolina state office and most vation through coalition-building, creative once again himself to be recently as the programAlthough director Steve of theMott hasthinking andproclaimed perseverance.

A native of North Carolina, Golder has retired, you may be able to reach him through his website, www.

Atlantic Flyway Coast Strategy. a deep affinity for the southeastern coast, Golder’s lifelong work has contributed mottlandscaping.com.

“We met good candidates from across where he grew up in Wrightsville Beach. to the protection of coastal birds and their the state during our search and are ex“The North Carolina coast is my home. habitats, and has established sanctuaries tremely pleased to have found Walker, who for 35 percent of North Carolina’s breeding It’s where I learned the lasting value of brings deep coastal conservation experiprotecting the places that make our coast shorebirds. A talented nature photograence and expertise and has had a long so special, and the importance of land pher, Golder’s photographs have appeared trusts,” Golder said. “I believe that conserv- professional relationship with the Coastal in dozens of publications, including eight Land Trust,” said Ann C. Simpson, chair of ing natural and working landscapes and book and magazine covers. the executive director search committee investing in land stewardship is one of “Walker’s decades of experience in andbypast president of the board of directhe best ways to have a lasting impact on photo Valerie Robertson conservation and deep commitment to of the Coastal Land Trust. natural andincultural that arepot, so whichtors Each plant the wall resources lives in its original is placed directly in its the Carolina coast make him a perfect fit tray. The plants willNorth grow towards thecoast.” light, so maintenance of the wall will important to the Carolina “I had the pleasure of working with for Coastal Land Trust,” said Melanie Allen, Walker Golder has joined the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust as its new executive director. He succeeds founding executive director Camilla M. Herlevich.

Golder comes to the Coastal Land Trust from the National Audubon Society.

include a monthly task of removing each pot by hand, turning it 180 degrees, the Coastal Land Trust on several land the University of and Golder putting itattended back in place.

protection projects where the missions North Carolina Wilmington for gradufrom the City of Wilmington Commission forAudubon Outstanding of and the Coastal Land Trust ate school, where he earned Tree a Master of aligned, and I am Function Design at the New Hanover Regional Medical Center excited for the Betty Cameron Women’s and Children’s Center (a rooftop garden opportunity to get that can be visited by patients and their families). back to coastal land What was it about this project that pulled Mott out of retireprotection,” Golder ment for what was obviously going to involve a lot of time and said. effort?

pomegranate books “A good little bookstore…

For one thing, the sheer complexity of the project was enticis a laboratory for our coming together.” ing. It was new and different and challenging. “I had to learn an Ross Gay awful lot. I mean I’d done this kind of work forever, but still this “I love walking into a bookstore. is a new system I haven’t used... Also just the logistics of it, you It's like all my friends arebuilding sitting ona shelves, know. Building something inside here is like ship in a waving their bottle. It was complex enough to be interesting. ” pages at me.”

Tahereh Mafi

Even more important, though, this project was an opportunity for him to prove that such a complicated project could be very successful. And he was concerned that if a green wall were attempted but were not a success, that might be the end of using green wall technology in Wilmington. But he was confident he could make it work. “If it’s successful and it gets some of the notoriety I think it’s going to get, you’ll see a lot of them, maybe a waterways and ocean not this big. This is a major undertaking in anybody’s book.” He friendly, free business believes that the success of his green wall plastic will encourage others. roasting organic, shade grown Mott plans to put together information on the newly comand small farm coffee lots pleted green wall, enough so that people will have documenta-

ZOLA

tion on how it was created. What he’d really like is to put together a class to teach what he’s learned to people who are eager to 4418 PARK AVE learn.

910.452.1107

Who will get to visit the wall every day? As floors of the building are finished, will be rented out as office bring this ad for a the free cookiebuilding with coffee bag purchase 20 www.goinggreenpublications.com Spring 2017

Golder is the recipient of several awards and recognitions, most notably the

president of the board of directors of the Coastal Land Trust. “He has the skill and enthusiasm to lead the Coastal Land Trust’s talented staff into this next chapter.”

“I am very excited and honored to join the Coastal Land Trust as executive director,” Golder said of his new position. “The work of this organization will shape the legacy that we leave to future generations.”

Learn about the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust at www.CoastalLandTrust.org.

—courtesy of North Carolina Coastal photo

by Valerie Robertson Land Trust A scissor lift was used to allow placement of the plants.

The lift only reached 22 feet, so Mott had to place a

Do you have a new environmental job?shown Let us know! ladder on top of the platform at the top of this photo, in order to reach the last several feet of wall.

E-mail us at editor@goinggreenpublications.com.

Herbs • Vegetables Natives Butterfly & Bee Plants 340 Goodman Road, Leland

910-253-5964

Year-Round • M-Sat 8-5 web page: LocalHarvest.org www.sheltonherbfarm.com www.sheltonherbfarmnc.com A Century Farm & Bird Friendly Business Cape Fear’s Going Green

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green news Local Conservationist to Serve as Preserve Manager on Remote Pacific Atoll After more than 10 years of working at Cape Fear River Watch, Kay Lynn Hernandez has accepted what she calls a dream assignment on the Palmyra Atoll in the Pacific, working for The Nature Conservancy as Preserve Manager of the Palmyra Atoll Research Station. It’s a four-month assignment, so upon her return in Kay Lynn Hernandez December she’ll be leading ecotours through her newly-formed company, Wilmington Outdoor Adventures (www.wilmingtonoutdooradventures.com).

The Palmyra Atoll Research Station is a resiliency laboratory, so climate change is its research focus. Hernandez will be in charge of making sure visiting scientists from all over the world have all they need to do their research on site. “Living off the grid in one of the most remote locations on the planet and being surrounded by an abundant and healthy array of marine and terrestrial wildlife will be the adventure of a lifetime. I’m looking forward to sharing stories upon my return!” Learn more about the Palmyra Atoll at https://bit.ly/3iptQfJ.

Community Builds a Nest

photo by Virginia Holman

Publisher Valerie Robertson adds a white branch to the oversized nest on the grounds of the Cameron Museum of Art.

The NEST Project was a community event hosted at Cameron Art Museum on June 19, 2021 with artists Leatha Koefler and Brenda Brokke. The community came together to construct a giant nest from natural and recycled materials, and learn about local wildlife through the great people at Island Wildlife–Cape Fear.

The nest will remain on the grounds at least through July.

Art in the Arboretum Registration is now open for 26th Annual Art in the Arboretum, to be held November 5–7, 2021. This is the largest coastal outdoor art show and sale in North Carolina, held at the New Hanover County Arboretum, 6206 Oleander Drive in Wilmington. It is sponsored by the Friends of the New Hanover County Arboretum, the New Hanover County Coooperative Extension, and the Wilmington Art Association.

Contact Roben Jarrett at rjarrett@nhcgov.com or (910) 7987671 for information on attending or participating in the show.

Deadline to register your art is Sunday, September 26.

Spring / Summer 2021

Cape Fear’s Going Green

21

Wild

Bird &

Garden

Sat., May 22: Painted Bunting Workshop 9:15-10:30 a.m.

Native Plant Sale 2:30–4:30

Imagine the Possibilities in Your Backyard May 22: Wild Bird &Sat., Garden

Hanover Center Painted Bunting 3501 Oleander Drive Workshop Wilmington NC 28403

910-343-6001 Native Plant

9:15-10:30 a.m.

www.wildbirdgardeninc.com Sale 2:30–4:30 Wild Bird Garden

Imagine the Possibilities in Your Backyard Wild Bird & Garden Hanover Center 3501 Oleander Drive Wilmington NC 28403

910-343-6001

www.wildbirdgardeninc.com Wild Bird Garden

environmental education

Happy Tenth Anniversary, Book Club!

The Environmental Book Club, hosted

by Cape Fear’s Going Green magazine and Old Books on Front Street, is happy to announce its tenth anniversary! At our inaugural meeting, in April 2011, we discussed The Sea Around Us, by Rachel Carson—an acknowledgement of our coastal location.

We’ve been connecting around good books ever since, reading everything from classics to new releases. We were looking forward to throwing a big party to celebrate, but perhaps we’ll aim instead for a big party on, say, our 12th anniversary, by which time we hope we don’t have to worry about how many people are together in one space.

The “library” is a little more like the “Little Free Library” concept, in that we are not concerned about getting our books back, necessarily; if they wend their way into the community and are enjoyed, we consider this a success.

At our most recent pop-up event, a family that stopped by was initially reluctant to take any books, because they were about to finish their vacation and get back

book fromdelighted the on a planeThis to Ohio.

Weiswere to Environmental Book Club think our Lending Library books would Library wind up westLending of the Mississippi! and was donated by Frannie Sweeney.

We anticipate holding another couple

of pop-upPlease lending events later this calllibrary (910)547-4390 year—perhaps at one thealong upcoming to return, orof pass to a friend. festivals where Going Green will have an exhibitorwww.GoingGreenPublications.com table. You’ll find the whole list of our book selections since 2011 at https:// madmimi.com/p/96b6321.

This book is from the Environmental Book Club Lending Library

and was donated by Shelley Ray. Please call (910)547-4390 to return, or pass along to a friend. www.GoingGreenPublications.com

Sample book plate that appears in books from the Environmental Book Club Lending Library.

Some of the books come back and are put back in the library; others get shared throughout the This book is from the community.

Environmental Book Club Lending Library and was donated by Shelley Ray. Please call (910)547-4390 to return, or pass along to a friend. www.GoingGreenPublications.com

This book is from the Environmental Book Club Lending Library and was donated by Shelley Ray. Please call (910)547-4390 to return, or pass along to a friend. www.GoingGreenPublications.com

photo by Lesley Gourley

Publisher Valerie Robertson, left, and Gwenyfar Rohler, owner of Old Books on Front Street, greet members of the public as they come to peruse the pop-up lending library options. Rohler’s store has hosted the monthly Environmental Book Club discussions since they started in April, 2011.

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www.goinggreenpublications.com

Cape Fear’s Going Green

Environmental Book Club!

Come join us 6–8pm at

Old Books on Front Street

249 No. Front Street • Wilmington (or via Zoom)

2021 Book Titles May 11

A Walk in the Woods

Bill Bryson June 8

Visionary Women: How Rachel Carson, Jane Jacobs, Jane Goodall, and Alice Waters Changed Our World Andrea Barnet

July 13

Coming Into the Country John McPhee

August 10

Entangled Life

Merlin Sheldrake

September 14

A Question of Power: Electricity and the

Wealth of Nations

Robert Bryce

October 12

Environmental Book Club Announces Reading List for 2021 The environmental book discussion group met in the fall to select the titles the group will discuss throughout 2021. See the listing on this page for the titles of books they look forward to reading and discussing in the coming year.

you come, as it enriches the conversation,” says club leader Valerie Robertson. “Our group welcomes new members and one-time visitors.”

Old Books On Front Street offers a discount on new copies of the book club selections. Call the store for details, or ask at the register. (910)762-6657.

The Environmental Book Club is organized by Cape Fear’s Going Green and hosted by Old Books on Front Street. The group meets the second Tuesday evening of the month inside the bookstore.

Discussion begins at 6:00 and runs approximately 90 minutes.

PANDEMIC CONDITIONS:

There’s no long-term commitment: you can come when the book being discussed is a title that interests you! “We do hope you’ll read the book before

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History

Through at least the end of 2021 we are hosting a hybrid Zoom + in-person meeting situation. The first ten people who RSVP may attend in person. We all wear masks, and honor social distancing. Virtual attendees (regardless of where you live!) may RSVP to request the Zoom link for the meeting.

Elizabeth Kolbert November 9

All the Wild That Remains David Gessner

Cigarette butts are the #1 littered item in the world.

December 14

Rivers of Power: How a natural force raised kingdoms, destroyed civilizations, and shapes our world

Sign up for the Going Green newsletter! We’ll send you updates to let you know when a new issue is published. Let us know by email if you’d also like to be on the email list for Environmental Book Club news. Email Publisher@GoingGreenPublications. com or sign up directly on our website: GoingGreenPublications.com.

Questions about Book Club? Call (910)547-4390.

Spring / Summer 2021

Stormwater 101

Lawrence C. Smith

...they wash into our river and ocean where fish and wildlife mistake them for food.

Butts cannot be digested.

Thank you for not littering!

Cape Fear’s Going Green

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