Melissa is happy to be helping the environment.

Gardeners tend to be collectors with nurturing and thrifty natures.  These temperaments usually lead to garages and sheds chock full of flower pots that are “too good to throw away.”  The staff of the IMA Greenhouse and volunteers from the Horticultural Society would like to help you clear out the excess inventory with our annual pot recycling day.  We are particularly seeking those types of pots and flats we use regularly, including clay pots in any size, 4.5” plastic pots and smaller nursery pots.

In recent years, these donated pots have saved the Greenhouse thousands of dollars in new container purchases, allowing us to put our limited funds to better use.  As petrochemical costs continue to rise, plastic pot prices have skyrocketed.  Add in the cost of freight and terra cotta pots have gone up considerably, as well.  We are helping prevent limited resources and energy from going to the production of new pots.  Reusing the containers also keeps pounds of plastic out of the waste stream.  It is estimated that a 1 gallon plastic pot might take 200 years to breakdown.

We also get warm fuzzy feelings from sharing! There are times when more materials than we are able to use and store have been donated.  After past recycling events, we have shared with other not-for- profit groups including the IUPUI Greenhouse, Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Marion County Master Gardeners and Indiana Native Plant and Wildflower Society.  Also many items have been returned to the growers to help them keep their costs down so we can provide better prices to our shoppers!

Carole up to her elbows in reclaimed pots.

On Saturday, October 1 from 10:00 – 1:00pm your pots can be dropped in the Greenhouse parking lot.  You will be greeted by friendly volunteers from the IMA Horticultural Society.  The volunteers will sort, stack and sanitize the incoming pots to ready for reuse.  These folks literally get up to their elbows in this work.  Stop by with your donations and visit awhile. The weather forecast is for a bright sunny day and I can guarantee that the volunteers will have a sunny disposition, too.  For more information, please call 317-920-2652.

Katherine’s calling this free gathering Public Social University (PSU).  It’s a concept borrowed from friends in Portland, Oregon, from whence she hails.  PSU puts a unique twist on learning by combining it with other (often seemingly unrelated) subjects, encouraging non-experts to speak about their experiences, and adding a playful energy.

Learning from non-experts.  How refreshing is that?   This Friday, the poetry, history, reality, and politics of water will abound. Check the flyer above for the workshops being presented, or download your very own copy and please share it with others.

Bonus: come to PSU, and you will also see a watery art & design show: ten designers’ responses to the shapes and patterns of the White River watershed.

Want to reduce your carbon footprint while attending Public Social University?  Meet Katherine and other avid cyclists to bike over to the Service Center.  They’ll be convening at Freewheelin’ Community Bikes’ new workshop, 3355 N. Central Ave., at 5:30 pm.

See you Friday.  If you’re craving more aqueous-ness, don’t forget the FLOW project and its multitude of events…

Now I’m obsessed with keeping excess water away from my home, and coupled with a heightened awareness of environmental issues, I have fast-forwarded to rain barrels. Previously the only thing I knew about rain barrels was a song I was taught as a child:

I have since learned there is WAY more to rain barrels than I had previously thought! Water is such a basic need that it’s not surprising humans have been devising methods of collecting it since ancient times. The Valens aqueduct brought water from surrounding hillsides to the medieval city of Constantinople (now Istanbul) to be stored in reservoirs and giant underground cisterns like Yerebatan Sarayi, pictured here:

In the desert, ancient Egyptians dug a network of underground cisterns that collected rainwater. Over these cisterns, Egyptian armies built fortresses that were almost impervious to enemy invasion. Clearly, collecting and recycling water is not a new concept.  As scientists began to understand the need for good sanitation and indoor plumbing became more available, older methods of water collection lost their popularity. The collected water was too contaminated. Today, we are vitally aware of the need to be good stewards of this precious resource!

Which brings me to my new best friend – rain barrels. Today a rain barrel can be as simple as a 55 gallon drum or container with a screen covered hole in the top. Be certain that the drum is food grade and has never been used to store chemicals. Then you’ll need a device that diverts rain water from your gutters into the barrel, a spigot toward the bottom, and an overflow outlet at the side. Because rain barrels are hot right now, there are a bazillion models from which to choose.

The Greenhouse purchased one from the Marion County Soil & Water Conservation District _. Other container sources are Middle Eastern markets, local wine retailers and Craigslist. Buying locally also helps reduce shipping and handling waste.

CAUTION: ARITHMETIC AHEAD: ENGAGE LEFT-BRAIN!

It is estimated that one inch of rainwater running off of a 1,000 square foot roof has the potential of producing 623 gallons of water. To calculate the gallon yield of your roof, multiply the square footage of each section of roof feeding into a downspout by 623 and divide by 1,000.

THERE WILL NOT BE A QUIZ: YOU CAN RELAX NOW!

It is apparent that you either need more than one rain barrel or you’ll need a way to deal with overflow. For this, you will need a rain diverter, a device that fits into the downspout and, when the barrel is full, diverts water back into your existing drainage system that presumably slopes away from your foundation. Rainwater collected in barrels and then recycled into your garden can really help reduce the strain on our storm sewer infrastructure.

…And, rain barrels can save you money. Water collected in rain barrels is not potable, but can be used to flush toilets, water plants and wash your car just to name a few application. To make it easy, plan to install a rain barrel close to the garage for car washing, and for plants, use a downspout close to the garden. Be advised that the water pressure of a gravity feed system can be sluggish; so elevate the rain barrel on some cinder blocks.

To prevent or reduce algae growth, place the barrel(s) in a shaded location, choose a dark colored barrel, and screen out leaves…a rain diverter will help with this. Some experts recommend adding a few spoonfuls of bleach. If you have mosquito concerns, one tablespoon of olive oil in your barrel will kill any mosquito larvae and not harm the water quality. There are also commercially available mosquito control dunks; but if you use the water within 2 weeks of collection, this shouldn’t be necessary.

Be certain that the barrel lid is secure at all times to prevent a small child or animal from falling in! It’s a good idea to drain the barrel prior to winter as Indy is notorious for “freeze and thaw” winters.

I have recently noticed suspicious animal tracks in the snow leading under my back deck. I may need a recipe for fricassee of groundhog! And finally…

The intention of i-Tree is to allow communities and other users to assess their current urban forest cover, create awareness and educational opportunities, and guide application for better management of those trees.  It has frequently been applied on a city-wide scale, but can also analyze an entire state’s urban forest, or a small, local city park.  The results are based on field data collected from random plots, accounting for tree species, height, trunk diameter, and canopy characteristics.  The data is then entered into the Urban Forest Effects (UFORE) analysis model, which calculates the amount of air pollution removed, carbon sequestered and stored by the trees, and sustained economic benefits.

100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park

To elaborate on the terminology of carbon sequestration and storage, a brief review of plant photosynthesis may be helpful.  Photosynthesis is the process of converting light energy to chemical energy in the form of sugar (glucose).  Carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O) molecules are broken down with energy from the sun into glucose (C6H12O6), a usable energy form, and oxygen (O2), which, lucky for us, is expelled into the environment as a waste product.

Simplified diagram of the photosynthetic process, from biomassauthority.com

Eventually, that glucose can be reorganized into different forms: sucrose, starch and cellulose.  Each of these sugars is made of a different 6-carbon compound, which are used as sources for plant energy, or stored as organic compounds to develop plant growth and the structural form of the plant (i.e. the inner wood of a tree).  Think of these terms when discussing carbon sequestration and storage, where you can associate sequestration with removing carbon from the air for the process of photosynthesis, and associate storage with the amount of carbon that has been accumulated in the size development of the tree.  This is important, because if the tree were to die, all that stored carbon would be released back into the air or soil as the tree decomposes.

The carbon cycle as it relates to the environment (found here).

Fallen trees litter the woodland floor of 100 Acres.

The results of measuring carbon sequestration and storage have more meaning when you can understand, in part, how they fit into the plant’s life cycle.  Now that you know some of the conditions and terminology, you’re ready to hear what we found about our own, IMA urban forest!

Dwarf Fothergilla (Fothergilla gardenii)

In evaluating the entire IMA campus, including 100 Acres and the Oldfields estate, we found that an estimated total of 750 tons of carbon is sequestered annually by our tree cover, and over 10 tons of pollutants are removed from the air.  Assigning an economic value to that number means that these trees are naturally filtering the air for what would annually amount to a savings of about $47,500 associated with health costs and reduction controls.  It is interesting to note that the amount of carbon sequestered by the Oldfields estate’s mature tree cover alone is enough to counteract the annual carbon emissions from 300 automobiles, which theoretically means that we balance out our yearly carbon emissions from all staff vehicles.  That doesn’t even take into account the amount being sequestered by the remaining tree canopy.  Of course, we could never achieve zero-output on emissions using vegetation alone, but it’s encouraging to realize the impact of what currently exists.  Considering that the museum has reduced building emissions by 12,500 tons over the past five years (about 2,500 tons/year), it is clear that a significant means for balancing emissions comes not from enacting curative measures, but applying preventative measures and reducing output in the first place.  Perhaps the next step would be to measure the total output of carbon and pollutants from the campus buildings for a scale comparison.

Wooded path along the canal behind the Lilly House.

In terms of carbon storage, there are approximately 30,000 tons of carbon currently stored in tree mass at the IMA.  The amount stored annually varies according to tree type, maturity, size and health of an individual tree, but taking into account that the process of decomposition is much faster than that of building and accumulating plant matter, it is wise to consider the amount of carbon that would be emitted back into the atmosphere if we were to lose or remove the current tree canopy.  From one perspective it would seem that fallen trees themselves are contributors to the global concern for increased levels of carbon in the atmosphere, but bear in mind that a dead tree decomposing on the forest floor is a natural part of its life cycle and ecosystem.  It provides habitat for wildlife, and the decaying tree releases carbon into the soil which supplies nutrients for the live vegetation around it, food for microbes and insects, and contributes to good soil structure.  There are many such trees in 100 Acres.

Decaying tree trunk in 100 Acres plays a role in establishing a strong and balanced ecosystem.

What is of greater concern is a lack of balance, where trees are removed for the development of buildings and other such construction that will output large amounts of carbon, gases and particulate matter.  Where there is no consideration for counterbalancing these outputs is where the danger lies. Nature is in a constant process of trying to maintain equilibrium in the environment, and with tools such as i-Tree to aid our understanding of where we currently stand, we can make educated decisions that will support that process.

Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis) leaves in early fall color.

This discussion, which was moderated by our Director & CEO, was recently summarized in an article in the Art Newspaper, Climate control: time to change the settings.

I also want to point out what a great job AIC and IIC have been doing with their blogs to let members know about conferences and current news.  Check out the AIC blog and read all of the recent posts about the Annual Meeting.  While there’s no substitute for actually going to a meeting, the amount of information the members of AIC are sharing through the blog is impressive.

Along with AIC and IIC, ICCROM has been using Facebook and Twitter to share current news and connect with a larger audience.  Even if you’re not a conservator, you ought to check out these pages and start paying attention to all of the discussions.

• AIC Blog
• AIC Facebook Page
• AIC Twitter Account

• IIC Blog
• IIC Facebook Page
• IIC Twitter Account

• ICCROM Facebook Page
• ICCROM Twitter Account

(A lot like what the Indianapolis Island residents are going to experience in the IMA’s 100 Acres: Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park).

There’s an architect who’s long advocated for the domestic pleasures and greater sustainability possible with smaller, well-crafted homes: Sarah Susanka, author of the Not So Big House series of books.  She speaks at The Toby this Thursday, May 20 at 7 pm, as part of the IMA’s Planet Indy speaker series.

In advance of her Indy visit, I asked Sarah a few questions about her ideas:

What is the relationship between good design and sustainability?

In my books, they go hand in hand.  I believe that anything that is well-designed will stand the test of time and will sustain the inhabitant.  The wise use of both energy and monetary resources is a core element of good design.

How do you create desire for small instead of big?

I talk to people and work with people at all ends of the spectrum–people who want 600 sq. ft. homes and those who want 6,000 sq ft.  I’ve tried to offer the tools they really need to evaluate their decision.  When people are focused on high square footages, there is usually some “keeping up with the Joneses” going on.  I tell these clients: “How about having the coolest house, not the biggest?”  I help people “right-size” their homes.

What about modular homes?

The pre-fab industry is learning how to make better a house than the typical modular home currently on the market.  But a small house doesn’t have to be a cheap house.  You don’t buy a Porsche because it’s big – the point is that it’s beautifully made.  I believe that if we could look into the future we would find that many houses are going to be made through a manufacturing process.  The art of the home will be greatly enhanced and tailored onsite, but basic form will be delivered.

Manufactured Housing

What projects are you working on now?  What trends do you see?

My latest book [published March 2010] is More Not So Big Solutions For Your Home, about doing more with less space.  And we’re developing a line of houses for the builder market, for the people who build suburbia.  Some of them are gung-ho about building smaller houses, but you can’t just shrink a big one and make it livable.  We need to take their simple-to-build houses and make them a whole lot more interesting to live in.

A longer version of this interview will appear in the June-July issue of Indiana Living Green magazine.

Last month, 22 benches were packed in a 40 foot ocean-going freight container at the artist’s studio in Rotterdam. After an Atlantic ocean crossing, U.S. customs clearance, and a few truck trips, the container arrived at the park.

IMA staff assembled on the morning of arrival ready to unload and unpack. We opened the container to find each bench thoughtfully packed and placed within the container. As is typical with artwork in transit, extra materials were used to pad and protect each piece. However, given the size of the work, these “extra materials” amounted to a huge pile of Styrofoam.

Feeling a little guilty about leaving the Styrofoam in a dumpster for trash pickup, I began to ask coworkers if they knew of any places in Indy where we could take the foam to be recycled. Sure enough, just up the road from the IMA, we found exactly what we were looking for. We threw the first of two loads into an IMA Horticulture dump truck and headed to our destination.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by Mark Vandersall and the friendly staff at the Createc Corporation. After unloading the dump truck, Mark was kind enough to walk us through the process of recycling EPS (Expanded Polystyrene) Styrofoam.

Clean, white EPS Styrofoam is fed into the granulator (much like a wood chipper) where it is chopped up into small pieces. These pieces then accumulate in a large dustless bag. From there, they move down to the “densifier” which uses an auger and pressure to eliminate the air in the foam granules. The final product is a highly condensed “log.” These recycled “logs” can then be molded to make new products such as building insulation and product packaging.

Granulator Dustless bag Extrusion

To give you an idea of just how dense the materials become; our dump truck full of material was condensed into this:

One cubic foot of recycled Styrofoam. (iPhone added for scale)

This blog entry has a dual purpose:

I want to thank the IMA staff who helped in the process of getting the materials recycled. Thanks to Chad Franer, Laurie Gilbert, TJ Lemanski, and Scott Shoultz (who is now, if he wasn’t already, an expert dump truck driver). I’m glad to know that at the IMA, we are always striving for ways to be green.

I also want to spread the word that there is a great place in Indy that is more than happy to take unwanted EPS Styrofoam off your hands. Createc accepts clean, white, molded EPS (#6) Styrofoam Monday through Friday from 9-4.

Happy recycling!

Director Chris Paine, via NUVO.net

@mitchmaxsom: Happy or sad, well-told stories that better help us understand another perspective or circumstance are beautiful and necessary

@joanofdarkknits: I watch them, but I hate them [at the same time]. I still have images burned into my brain from one on animal cruelty and one on child cruelty.

@raypawulich: They can be powerful, but if I’m going to invest my time in sitting still and watching something, I choose to be entertained.

Sure, they can really open your eyes. But sometimes, they just tell you to keep on keepin’ on. For example, I’ve been on an save-the-planet documentary kick lately, but I’ve always been pretty passionate about the environment. I don’t eat meat, I recycle, ride my bike a lot, I’ve worked for an environmentally-conscious local newspaper, and now an environmentally-conscious museum. All good things, but I have to admit, just like anyone I get lazy (I forgot my reusable grocery bag at home. Again. Oh well.) and stray from the path. Sometimes I just needed a jolt of reality to reaffirm my tree-hugging beliefs. That’s not a bad thing, right? Do what you gotta do to stay motivated.

Here are the last few documentaries I’ve seen that have done just that.

Watching those movies reminded me why I chose my way of life in the first place. They didn’t change my opinions, just made me aware again. Given my interest in all things ‘green,’ it’s probably no surprise to you that I really dig the Planet Indy speaker series here at the IMA. Tonight, you can see Who Killed the Electric Car? by director Chris Paine… here’s the trailer:

The aforementioned local paper, a.k.a. NUVO, recently interviewed Paine:

NUVO: Why did you think electric cars would make a good documentary?

Chris Paine: The mainstream media didn’t cover the story of why these 5,000 cars were all re-possessed and destroyed. We were shocked. And we thought, well, why is that? Then later, in the midst of a production at a television station in Michigan, someone there said, “You know, one of the reasons the story wasn’t covered was that so many of the TV stations got burned by covering the Firestone rollover stories earlier in the ‘90s.” Everyone had their advertising budgets pulled by the car companies. Car advertising is so critical to so many media outlets it usually pays to not do highly critical stories of the auto industry. So it created this vacuum for us.

Here’s a little info on the event: In the four years since filmmaker Chris Paine released the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car?, electric vehicles have been revived. In that film, Paine documented the corporate leaders, government officials and consumers who embraced SUVs over electric cars, exploring the larger story of our car culture in the process.

See Who Killed the Electric Car? at 5:30 pm, then at 7:30 pm hear Paine discuss the latest progress on electric vehicles, the relationship between good design and sustainability, and new ways of thinking about mobility. After the program, see an electric car up close and get information about companies making electric vehicles in Indiana. How did we get that electric car in the building? Glad you asked…

So will you leave the Toby feeling depressed and hopeless? Maybe. Maybe you’ll feel outraged. Or maybe, like me,  it will just get you back on track. When NUVO asked Paine what people interested in seeing more electric cars should do, he gave a really simple, but brilliant answer:

They can keep motivated, keep asking questions and keep taking risks.

Have you seen a film or documentary that has changed your opinion on social issues? Has a film ever inspired you to make changes?

Tara Donovan, Untitled (Plastic Cups), 2008 (Photo by: Dennis Cowley/ Courtesy Pace- Wildenstein, New York)

We’re looking forward to a big IMA exhibition this April by contemporary artist Tara Donovan, who works in the medium of plastic. I’ve had plastic on the brain since watching the recent documentary Addicted to Plastic, directed by Ian Connacher:

The ironic fact is that plastic was invented as a substitute for natural materials like rubber and cork, in an attempt to conserve them. But now there is ten times more plastic than plankton in the oceans. One hope, according to scientist Freeman Dyson, is biotechnology — engineering fish or birds that can digest our byproducts.

All things plastic are born in the form of a pre-production pellet called a nurdle, about 5 mm in diameter. There is no death for plastic. That plastic spork or toy may break down into smaller pieces, but it never disintegrates. Meaning that the planet has to absorb it all.

What about the cultural impact of plastic? It had a starring role as the smart guy’s investment in 1967’s The Graduate. Some might say it liberated women, creating convenient food storage and reducing drudgery by making vacuums and irons weigh less. You could say that plastic does the opposite by taking power out of our hands—none of us make our own plastic at home.

So what are we to do, knowing that phthalates (the chemical that turns plastic into squishy, pliable vinyl) disrupt hormones? And that our addiction to petroleum-based plastic fuels our addiction to oil?

We innovate, that’s what. Some entrepreneurs consider landfills (brimming as they are with plastic) the “oil wells” of the future. Plastic can be creatively repurposed. Some companies are experimenting with bioplastics. And NEC makes a biodegradable cell phone.

Bring on the ingenuity. Time to dream up some alternatives to the plastic status quo…

The annual award presented by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) since 1994, recognizes institutions for outstanding social, educational, environmental, or economic contributions to their communities. According to IMLS Director Anne-Imelda M. Radice, the IMA was selected for the award based on the Museum’s “exemplary programs (that) respond to community challenges, positively impact people’s lives, and serve as models for the nation’s museums.”

National Medal for Museum and Library Service

While the award recognizes the collective contributions of the entire museum, I wanted to share just a few of the programs cited.

• FREE GENERAL ADMISSION

• VIEWFINDERS, a program of the IMA’s School & Teacher Programs Department that serves more than 9,000 third grade students annually from Indianapolis Public Schools and other school districts. Free family memberships are given to all Viewfinders participants.

• IMA ACCESSIBILITY, including partnerships with the Indiana School for the Deaf and the Indiana School for the Blind, captioning on all IMA-produced video, large print text available in the Museum galleries, and assistant listening, accessible seating, and signing interpretation in Tobias Theater.

• ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERSHIP, including the museum’s green design initiatives and ENERGY STAR award for energy efficiency – the first ever to be awarded to a museum.

• ONLINE INITIATIVES, including ArtBabble.org, an online community of 19 (and growing) partner organizations created to showcase art-based video content.

Thank you, thank you to all those who helped to make this award possible. If Senator Lugar or the staff of the IMLS were here, I’d give them a big hug. IMA colleagues – Get ready, because I’m gonna be a high fiven’ machine today!

Congrats, ya’ll!

Read more in today’s Indianapolis Star.