CommunEcos

Recyclique -the Art of Sustainability

2010-10-23T11:52:00.000-07:00

Recyclique is a co-op of adults and older teens that does "upcycling" -- We design and build useful affordable products from found objects, trash and recycled materials. Our goal is eye-catching, cool products, that are distinctive (not kitsch!). We use sales of upcycled products to support CommunEcos workshops on environmental and alternative economics education; production of co-op products also creates small income flows for underemployed people. Our organization was formerly known as YIKES!. For more info, or to stay updated on our activities, email: yikes.contact@gmail.com or communecos@gmail.org.

And coming up:

NEXT SAT: Our next SKILL-SHARE workshop is Sat. Nov. 5th, 2-4 pm -- Sue will be teaching folks how to krochet those wonderful carry-alls from plastic strips of grocery bags -- make sure you reserve a slot -- email her at sbeauchamp74@gmail.com and reserve your spot.

Our next Third Friday event is on Nov. 18th-- 6-8 pm on Hydroponics, organized by Anthony Watts. Learn to set up your own simple bubbler system so you can grow veggies all year. (see flyer attached) Please forward to friends and appropriate lists.

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Come early to shop at Recyclique’s retail shop [featuring upcycled goods, vintage/thrift and sustainability products], and for our 5-6 pm social hour in the newly renovated EcoLounge.

(see below for photo of house and location, etc.)

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In early June 2011 -- Recyclique opened a combination retail & enviro-education center at 2811 Hillsborough Rd (see above, next to the Food Lion & Monro Muffler). Our hours are 3-6 pm Fridays [come at 5 pm for our social hour - BYOB] and 10-5 pm Saturdays, when there are usually creative activities (or group yard sales) going on out front. So drop by and check us out! --
Our new site enables us to market upcycled & sustainability products (as well as vintage and thrift finds) and and to do regular workshops and social events supporting sustainable lifestyles and green job creation through micro-enterprise with a focus on reuse and repurposed goods. We are also formalizing our non-profit status and creating a board of directors. CommunEcos is the new name of the NGO that will house both the Recyclique co-op and environmental education activities (including yikes!). A new CommunEcos website will replace this one soon. For more info or to learn about how to display your upcycled products in the shop, email: yikes.contact@gmail.com. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Our Upcycling Co-op’s new Retail Shop

. . . exploring the arts of creative re-use, sustainable lifestyles, green job creation & our nutty relationships with stuff

2811 Hillsborough Rd., Durham, NC

(green house next to the Food Lion/Monro Muffler)

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Recent events:

Costume Party -- Fri. Oct. 28^th

to celebrate the opening of “Night Kitchen” – providing

locally-baked goods & hot drinks

in our EcoLounge each weekend--

Frightful yummies/cider/coffee/tea

Live Music by Dylan Turner
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Recent 3rd Friday Workshops:
Mortgage Debt Horror Stories --Friday Oct. 16th - 6-8 pm Film: "We All Fall Down" with insights from local "alter" economist Scott Weir, who teaches at Wake Tech.
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Solar Energy Alternatives Workshop -- Fri. Sept. 16 6-8 pm
in the EcoLounge at Recyclique -- 2811 Hillsborough Rd.

with selections from the award-winning film “Kilowatt Ours” and “Catching the Sun: The Physics of Solar Energy”.

Stephen Hren, co-author (w/ Rebekah Hren) of The Carbon-Free Home, and A Solar Buyer's Guide for Home and Office, oriented us to the current market and fielded questions.

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Also, we just completed our 4th two-week long Green Career Training with the Forest Foundation & Durham Economic Resource Center [supported by a Golden Leaf Fdn grant]. Four different cohorts of DERC students have attended the trainings, which have been held in March, May , August and September 2011. Each 2-week segment has included days focused on Green Literacy, Green Entrepreneurship, Recycling, Sustainable Manufacturing, Residential Solar, Green building, Weatherization, Green Landscaping, & Alternative transportation fuels. Instructors include: Marc Dreyfors, John Parker, Sandy Smith-Nonini, Anthony Watts, Steve Hren, Jeff Ensminger, Henry Wills, Bill Triplett, and Bayyinah Salahuddin.
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Check out the winning entries from our Re-hashed Trash Bash upcycling contest on our FACEBOOK page. The contest was was sponsored by the new UNC YIKES! Team and the Awards Bash was held on the evening of Dec. 2nd in Hyde Hall, at UNC. The prize for "Best in Show" -- for an amazingly strong hammock made from plastic shopping bags -- went to Sam Mize, former NC School of Science and Math student, now at NCSU. Prize winners in the products category included Sue Beauchamp (1st Prize) for her artistic envelopes and Kindle Cherry (2nd Prize) for a revamped floor lamp. Winners in the art category were Charron Andrews (1st Prize) for her eclectic shrine (made from everyday objects) and Diane Moritzio (2nd Prize) for her "Cherry Sky" mosaic from broken glass. The "People's Choice" award went to George Danser for his rotating composter, and the green job "Prototype" award went to the Recyclique co-op for an artistic rain barrel (painted by artist Kim Erny).

All entries had to be made of at least 85% waste or recycled materials. Speakers at the Bash included Muriel Willimon of Orange County Solid Waste, who showed slides on Re-Use and Re-Purposing, Allison Norman of UNC's SWEAT -- a campus environmental organization, Rev. Robert Campbell of the Rogers Rd.- Eubanks Neighborhood which is located near the Chapel Hill municipal landfills, and Cindy Shea, of the UNC Sustainability Office, who spoke about new university initiatives to improve sustainability. Vimala's Curry Blossem cafe provided tasty food made from local ingredients.

Many thanks to our five judges -- which combined expertise from the new NC Re-Use Alliance, Orange Co. Solid Waste, UNC Sustainability Office, the Scrap Exchange and a UNC student perspective.

Criteria: In both categories judges awarded points for aesthetic value or "coolness," quality of construction, usefulness in environmental education, and environmental footprint. For products: additional criteria include usefulness and marketability. Green job prototype criteria included ease of sourcing materials and prospects of being reproduced in a reasonable time by people who do not have specialized training.
Also special thanks to all who donated used shoes for Share Our Shoes -- a Raleigh non-profit that helps clean out American closets and sends shoes to countries where too many people go barefoot..

Due to the enthusiasm that this year's event generated, we may make it an annual event -- but will likely schedule more lead time for crafters and inventors and hold the awards bash in warmer weather if we do it again in 2011. Stay tuned for updates!

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Recyclique is best known for its artistic rain barrels -- we are currently developing additional prototypes in collaboration with local crafters. Examples include mosaics from broken tiles and ceramics, revamped lamps, re-used glass products, and "re-jewelry" from found/recycled materials. We welcome folks interested in creating new prototypes.

If you would like to get on our email list to stay on top of activities, email: yikes.contact@gmail.com.

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Hey check out our new FACEBOOK page: YIKES! on Facebook
(hope you will "like" it while you're there!)
And follow us on TWITTER @YIKESnc

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Recent Educational Workshops: (See workshops page for more info)

ON GREENING THE ECONOMY:
YIKES! has been collaborating with the Black, Brown Green Alliance (BBGA) and Good Work to develop "Slow Money" (alternative lending for sustainaqble enterprises) in Durham. This spring we held meetings on March 23rd, April 19th, and May 18th with the goal of firming up the structure for a Durham alternative lending project which will be named Dura-Bull Bucks. We had three previous meetings with community members last summer and fall. If you would like to join this initiative, please email Sandy at scsmith@email.unc.edu. Special thanks to UNC interns Derrick Bennett, Dan Kennedy and Lauren Stewart, for their assistance with organizing the fall and spring meetings.
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On July 24-25, 2010 we held a 3-D Mosaic workshop!! -- A comprehensive workshop taught by Durham mosaic artist Paula MacLeod on how to upcycle an ugly duckling of an object into a swan using mosaic techniques.
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UNC Students & YIKES! -- Since the spring of 2010 we have worked with about 23 UNC students on a variety of environmental education projects in Durham and Chapel Hill, including the ReHashed Trash Bash last fall. Max Rice did a display on Humanure (composting of human waste) and Elizabeth Lee did a display on plastics recycling at Earth Action Day on April 9th in Chapel Hill and at the NightLight club's Earth Week events in the week the followed. Derrick Bennett has assisted in the Slow Money project this spring. All three were enrolled in Prof. Sandy Smith-Nonini's "Environmental Justice" service learning course at UNC. Recyclique co-op member Henry Wills assisted at both events.
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Other 2010 activities:

Fri. July 30: Recyclique painted barrels with youth as "performing artists" at the Hillsborough Last Friday festival, Old Courthouse, downtown Hillsborough.

Many thanks our 12 outstanding heat tolerant volunteers at the Eno Festival on July 3, 4 and 5. The quality of barrels painted surpassed those from any previous festival, and our new canopy performed like a dream !

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Donated Materials: In April and May, thanks to a contact from Katie King, in our student group, we acquired 61 new large barrels and 14 small ones from a new supplier in Person Co., with very low costs per barrel, so this allows us to divert funds to labor to aid co-op members.

GOOD NEWS on Sales: We sold our 2nd batch of 5 barrels to the Habitat Re-Store in March, and all but one had sold at last check. In spring and summer we've had many new orders (some for two barrels). And our newest item: painted mailboxes were also popular! (who knew?)

Green job income flows!! We are now devoting some income from sales to pay members in need of extra income to do barrel conversions, painting and transport, paying at a piece rate (Durham's living wage used as guide)

New Opportunities and Supporters: Our application for a Durham Craft market table was accepted, and Carpe Diem, a Durham based house cleaning company, generously sponsored our table -- Many kisses to Wendy Clark!

Many thanks to Kim Erny, the artist mother of Kevin Erny (one of our service learning interns) who donated time to paint a beautiful tropical flower barrel for us, which we plan to auction at a future fundraiser. Also, our new series of artist-led upcycling "how-to" workshops started in July, and we hope to continue "how-to" events in the coming year.

Spring 2010 Events:
SAT. MAY 1,"Water Wise: Saving Money & Surviving the next Drought" -- the last of 8 workshops on energy and climate/green lifestyles topics we presented this spring in the Sustain series, w/ Durham Parks & Recreation. This one featured Hope Taylor, exec. director of Clean Water for N.C. -- at the Holton Career and Resource Ctr. -- see Workshop page for more detail.

On Sun. Apr. 25th we painted barrels at a Green Festival at Eno River UU Fellowship, as guests of the new Green Earth Ministry there.

Other events this spring included interest meetings and tabling at UNC, and workshops w/ students of YO:Durham, Carolina Friends School, a Cary Scout Troop (led by UNC Students), and a booth at Earth Action Day (Chapel Hill) .

We're most well known for our artistically-painted rain barrels -- which sold well for the 2nd season in a row in 2009. We also build prototypes, including a solar space heater which now heats our space on sunny winter days. We have plans for future workshops on revamped lamps, attractively designed or painted compost, recycling & trash bins, self-watering plant containers and chicken coops. -- See rain barrel pages on this website for more detail on barrels, prices and pics!

Join us! -- We held meetings and round table sessions with Good Work in 2009 to develop a democratic co-op model in which members provide leadership and make decisions together about production and marketing and how to share proceeds. Our members benefit from our shared workshop space, use of common materials and supplies, hands-on instruction by artists, crafters and carpenters, and shared marketing. We host booths at local arts and environmental festivals and will soon have shared retail space in our center at 2811 Hillsborough Rd. We've also sold rain barrels through the Orange/Durham Habitat for Humanity ReStore. We have a system in place for sharing a portion of proceeds with members in the co-op who put sweat equity into our common product lines. . We need skilled crafts people, carpenters, crafters & visual artists - come join us. For more info: Email: yikes.contact@gmail.com.

UNC Campus Organizing

2010-10-23T08:39:00.000-07:00

The UNC team sponsored an Upcycling Contest during the month of November --called The Re-hashed Trash Bash. The awards "bash" was held on campus, the evening of Thurs. Dec. 2, w/ enviro- education speakers, healthy food, and an awards ceremony. (see Recyclique (home) page for details on winners and the event). The contest had categories for art and useful products, and a $100 top prize. It was open to high school students, university and the wider community -- entries had to be made of at least 85% waste or recycled materials.

In fall 2010 about a dozen UNC service learning students (from two classes) and other volunteers worked w/ Anthropology Professor Sandy Smith-Nonini to develop on-campus projects with the goal of building a student chapter of YIKES! Our first project was to lend support to the Carrboro-Chapel Hill Transitions Town group in planning and hosting a Energy & Community Resilience Fair for the afternoon of Oct 10 --(one of many 10-10-10 events nationally in coordination with the 350.org campaign to stop climate change.)

Other student activities in 2010-11:

Max Rice and Elizabeth Lee built educational displays on Humanure and plastics recycling, respectively, for the April 9, 2011 Earth Action Day in Chapel Hill and for the NightLite Earth Week celebrations.

Allison Rackley worked with us to improve our social networking, including updating our Facebook page, a new Twitter account, linking both to the website, and upgrading the website.

Dan Kennedy and Lauren Stewart and Derrick Bennett assisted with organizing "slow money" (alternative finance) educational meetings in Durham, in collaboration with the Black, Brown Green Alliance.

Katie Lubinsky worked on editing the biodiesel film footage.

Alex Lowrie continued to lend her leadership energy in pulling together a fall 2010 campus agenda. Max Rice was our "internal communications czar" who kept the planning for the Bash on track. And special thanks to Alicia Thompson, for her work to secure a $500 donation from an anonymous business sponsor to support the student work!! Other students involved included McKenzie Biddiz, Hannah Phipps, John Munoz, Laurel Loeblein, Christina Grose, Whitney Deedmeyer, Meghan Robbins and Rachel Beard.

In spring 2010 we worked with a UNC Communications service learning class taught by Jessica Fifield, whose students helped us by creating new brochures, signs, slides on water conservation, a rolling paint kit, organizing on campus, conducting workships and other projects! We laid groundwork for organization ongoing YIKES activities at UNC this fall.

Volunteer Opportunities

2010-10-06T13:33:00.000-07:00

LITERATURE -We have many literature needs -- such as a new brochure, plus other hand-outs for our tabling and workshops - graphic artist skills nice, but not required!

WEBSITE - We are building a new website, and need help improving our social networking with updated FACEBOOK page, twitter, email links, communication between the two sites, etc. But we need more help from folks who have computer skills!

OUTREACH - All our projects depend on outreach, which is especially challenging to engage not only campus and NGO folks, but also the minority community, public school classes, church groups, you name it . . . Simple things like delivering brochures, posting notices, getting calendar listings into the newspaper in a timely manner, and scheduling and presenting to a high school class or club about how we might collaborate. Helpful if you have a car and don't mind talking w/ people!

UPCYCLING PROTOTYPE CONTEST -- See info on the Recyclique page on the Re-Hashed Trash Bash in 2010. We'd like to turn the Bash into a regular event -- Help us make this happen! Habitat Re-Store and Scrap Exchange are potential partners. Would be cool to engage arts and science or enviro classes, and high school groups. [A variation on this could be a RAIN BARREL DESIGN & PAINTING CONTEST

RECYCLIQUE (our upcycling co-op)-- We need outreach to crafters/carpenters/inventor-types to build our ranks. We need designs and tests of new prototypes for upcycled products to make sell. We need help painting rain barrels and staffing our Sat. Durham Craft Market table. And we need help marketing the barrels and Recyclique's new store (eg. someone to regularly update newspaper and online calendar listings and a Craig's List ad).

Feed My Sheep Community Garden

2009-06-14T14:57:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: In spring 2011, due to the merger of Asbury Temple with another congregation and pending building renovation, the garden has moved to Eastway Elementary School, and will now serve educational goals as well as aiding food security in East Durham.

YIKES! (the predecessor to CommunEcos) was a proud partner in the founding of the Feed My Sheep community garden at Asbury Temple UMC Church (corner of Angier & Alston Ave.). The first section of the raised bed organic garden was built in June 2009, the garden doubled in size in early July, and in early Dec. our raised bed space doubled again, thanks to a donation from NEEM in coordination with Durham's Community Development office, with funds from Glaxo Smith-Kline.!! The garden was a centerpiece in the church's Wright Room youth program in July and August 2009. YIKES! led morning workshops on sustainable approaches to gardening on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the 4-week program. [see below for fall activities of the garden crew]

The garden came about as a joint project of yikes!, Public Allies & Asbury Temple's Feed My Sheep food ministry. Three UNC service learning students, Linnie Greene, Jayme Strowd & Tavia Benjamin worked with Sandy on bio-intensive methods & container gardening in the spring of 2009 as part of an anthropology course titled "Inventing a Sustainable Agriculture." The students used container gardening to get a variety of seedlings underway; Our partners, the NCCU Public Allies organizers class (see Eric & Tionya above!) did neighborhood outreach and obtained a small grant to fund the project. The students gave a workshop with community members on biointensive methods in April. Rachel Hardy, who directs the "Feed My Sheep" food ministry at Asbury Temple, at corner of Alston and Angier in Durham, NC, secured permission for the garden on church grounds in May. Eric and Sandy did a presentation about the garden at a Feed My Sheep food distribution day. Many thanks to LeDarrell Murray, who brought his tiller to break ground on our first garden workday, and to David Arthur of Isaiah House/Jubilee Restoration Project who consulted with us on the entire project and built the frame for the raised bed.
During the July 2009 Wright Room youth program at Asbury Temple YIKES! volunteers Sandy & Nyota offered classes on community gardening and biointensive methods to young people (covering a range of ages from 1st through 12th grade) enrolled in the program two days a week. The young people filled the bed and planted the new portion of the garden and took care of it. We planted tomatoes, onions, cabbage, brocolli, green beans, swiss chard, squash, zuchinni and cucumbers. We ended the program with a tasting and sharing of recipes for healthy dishes made from fresh produce. Most vegetables we planted were very productive.

We held a fall garden workday to clear old annuals and plant winter vegetables. Later in Nov. Eric installed landscape fabric to protect plants from freezing weather. On Dec. 8th the staff from NEEM (Natural Ecological and Environmental Management) built and filled two additional raised beds, effectively doubling our space in preparation for the spring season. The new beds have a rich organic soil mix, with compost enriched from products of the Indian Neem tree, which stimulate root growth and contain natural pesticides. Our first spring planting of cool season veggies took place in March 2010, and we have set up a weekly watering schedule. Periodic workdays have taken place since, and once again the garden was a centerpiece of the Wright Room program. To join the garden co-op, email Rachel: rahardy0052 @ mindspring.com or Sandy: scsmith @ email.unc.edu.

Green Living Issue of Indy Weekly

2009-04-30T21:26:00.000-07:00

Check out the Indy's new Green Living Issue, which just came out in celebration of Earth Day 2009. I was the special project editor, & I thought it turned out nicely (but then, I would . . .)
Indy Weekly: Green Living Issue

Blogging toward Sustainability

2009-04-14T07:39:00.000-07:00

Sandy's occasional editorials on sustainability (Independent Weekly):
Bladerunners: Towards a sustainable lawn

How our kids will pay for global warming

NC Powerdown events

2009-03-14T09:29:00.000-07:00

From July 2008 through March 2009 we hosted regular events at the EcoLounge on energy/climate topics as part of NC Powerdown, a Triangle-wide meet-up site for all ages. You can join the site to receive notices of future events at: http://oilawareness.meetup.com. Just go to home page and sign up. Events to date included:

· a forum on sustainable biodiesel w/ tour of production facility (July 2008)

· viewing of the film "Blood & Oil" followed by a panel discussion (August 2008)

· a slide-show by early adopters of solar hot water (October 2008)

· two workshops on do-it-yourself solar space heaters (Dec 2008 & Feb 2009)

· an electric car demo & showing of "Who Killed the Electric Car?" (March 2009)

The NC Powerdown website also helped promote the YIKES! "Sustain" workshop series, sponsored by Durham Parks & Recreation (Dec -Aug. 2010)

Build Your Own Solar Space Heater

2009-02-24T16:39:00.000-08:00

Solar Space Heater Student project:

In two workshops last winter Steve Hren and Chris Allen led reassembly & installation of our solar space heater, (built in Mar 2009 by students at NC School of Science & Math). Then Marc & Henry hooked up the PV fan - so the system is now working! Time to test it! Anyone have an infrared temp. gun we can borrow?

In spring 2009 a "miniterm" class from the NC School of Science & Math built the solar space heater at the EcoLounge (at Carolina Biofuels). These boxes, which come in a variety of designs, save energy in winter and many models have a rapid payback. YIKES! coordinated the project, which ran from Feb 26 - March 6. Prof. Marion Brisk taught the class; Steve Hren, Chris Allen & Matt Jacobi advised students on materials and construction. Special thanks to The Forest Foundation, which sponsored the project.
See the resulting YouTube video which lays out each step in construction:
How to Build a Solar Space Heater, Parts I, II & III (too bad big brother killed the cool soundtrack)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hl5stDoprhw

Here's photo of our prototype (below, right):

This project grew out of a yikes!/NC Powerdown workshop: How to build your own solar air heater on Feb. 6, 2009 held at the N.C. School of Science & Mathematics, Durham, NC, taught by Steve and Rebekah Hren, authors of The Carbon-Free Home.

Update: In fall 2009, after some trouble-shooting, we decided to redesign the space heater with fiberglass insulation, as we discovered the rigid polystyrene warped when it got too hot.

"Global Warming gonna get yo Mama" Halloween Party

2008-10-27T10:02:00.000-07:00

Be Very Afraid!!
Can you survive the Haunted Staircase. . .
Food, drink & treats! Come in costume! (Prize for best) - Invent a bio-superhero costume!
NE Central Durham neighborhood kids especially welcome!!

7-9 pm - Friday Oct. 31, 2008
The EcoLounge at Carolina Biodiesel
1404 Angier Ave.
Durham, NC

What we do

2008-09-21T22:30:00.000-07:00

CommunEcos evolved from yikes!– YOU(th) Involved in Keeping Earth Sustainable, a non-profit organization based in Durham, NC that fosters cross-generational community-based education and outreach to aid our society's transition to renewable forms of energy and low-carbon lifestyles. We seek to cross over race and class boundaries that have long hindered environmental advocacy.

We engage in hands-on projects to raise consciousness about the urgency of action on the energy/climate crisis that confronts us, and to promote awareness of alternatives to fossil fuels and carbon pollution.

We are in the process of getting our 501-c-3 status. For more information, contact Sandy Smith-Nonini, at yikes.contact@gmail.com.

Educational Workshops

2008-09-21T21:30:00.000-07:00

We offer interactive workshops on energy/climate themes for high school and college classes, and adult groups -- they are designed for older teens (ages 15-21) and up. In winter and spring 2010 we presented weekend workshops in the SUSTAIN series at the new Holton Parks and Recreation Center on N. Driver St.

Green Literacy Training: We are collaborating with The Forest Foundation and the Durham Economic Resource Ctr. on a project to green the DERC training program for hard-to-employ young adults. Funded by the Golden Leaf Foundation, this grant will allow us to organize a week of Green Literacy training for DERC students, followed by a week of Green Career Orientation, including three fieldtrips. We will also be planning a "Train the Trainer" program with DERC for people who wish to become Environmental Educators. These sessions will be repeated for future DERC cohorts in the spring and summer. Contact Marc Dreyfors or Sandy Smith-Nonini for more detail. (Email yikes.contact@gmail.com for more info).

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Recent workshops on building a Sustainable Economy:
We are collaborating with the Black, Brown Green Alliance (BBGA) to assess interest in "Slow Money" (alternative local lending for sustainable enterprises using a peer-to-peer model) in Durham. Since March 2011 we have been meeting once a month to develop a project in Durham. We envision working with others to build a network of individuals willing to make small loans ($500 - $5000) for both "slow (sustainable) food" projects (using the "Slow Money" logo) and also non-food sustainability projects under the logo of "Dur-a-Bull Bucks." For more info on the next planned meeting, contact yikes.contact@gmail.com.

Here's some info on how we started last fall:
Wed. Nov. 10 -- Our 3rd Interest Meeting was held at the Good Work office, in Durham. It was attended by 13 people, and featured special guests: Jennifer Lazarus, of Lazarus Financial Planning; Dan Kennedy, of Carolina Microfinance project; & Alejandro Sanchez of Latino Credit Union. We had two previous meetings with interested community members in September and August. At the last meeting, there was a consensus that we should continue this process, and we projected our next planning meeting for Jan. 2011. If you would like to join this initiative, please email Sandy at scsmith@email.unc.edu. Special thanks to interns Dan Kennedy and Lauren Stewart, for their assistance with organizing the last two meetings.

Wed. Sept. 29 -- 2nd Interest meeting: Bringing "Slow Money" to Durham -- a collaboration with the Black, Brown Green Alliance -- We hosted this meeting at Sandy's house attended by 17 folks to discuss pros and cons of various models for starting an alternative lending program in Durham with the goals of promoting small-scale social enterprises that are environmentally sustainable and help create green jobs. This meeting grew out of a workshop sponsored by Durham Parks & Rec that we held in August -- see below.

Sat Aug. 7^th-- Eco-Economics: Getting from Price to Value;
We aspire to triple-bottom lines and sustainable development, yet growth remains the capitalist mantra. So what's the alternative? Does local matter? Do worker co-ops work? Where can you borrow to start a sustainable business? This workshop will explore working models of alternative economics and share insights from the annual mtg. of BALLE (Business Alliance for a Local Living Economy) which two of us attended recently in Charleston, SC. Plus, Carol Hewitt will discuss an exciting new "slow-money" lending project in Chatham Co. that folks want to replicate in Durham! Slide show & panel discussion that will involve all participants. Leaders: Sandy Smith-Nonini, Carol Hewitt, Dawn Trembath, &; Donald Nonini.

Bios: Carol, co-founded the new Abundance Slow Money Project (combines a social mission with low interest lending for sustainable enterprises); Sandy & Don teach anthropology at UNC-CH, & Don co-directs a NSF research project on the NC sustainable food movement, and Sandy coordinates YIKES! (You(th) Involved in Keeping Earth Sustainable), Dawn is a Fellow at Good Work, a non-profit that supports social entrepreneurship.

Sponsors: YIKES! (www.yikeslink.blogspot.com) & Durham Parks & Recreation.

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The YIKES! "Sustain" Workshop series in 2009-2010 were sponsored by the City of Durham’s Parks & Recreation Dept.; and held at the Holton Career & Resource Center, 401 N. Driver St., Durham, NC 27703

Workshops held during winter-spring 2010:

Kwanzaa Celebration Workshop: “Ancient Wisdom: What our Ancestors Knew that We Forgot”

Sunday December 27, 2009 2pm - 3pm

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Black History Month Celebration Workshop: ”Green Jobs: Finding Opportunity in Crisis”

Sunday February 7, 2010 2pm-3pm

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Women's History Month Celebration Workshop: "Closing the Loop: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”

Sunday March 14, 2010 2pm-3pm

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Saturday Morning SUSTAIN series:

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January 23, 2010

“WATTS UP!! Cutting your utility bill down to size!"

10:30am-12:30pm -------------------

February 6, 2010

“Solar solutions for your house: hot water and air heating”

10:30am-12:30pm -----------------

March 6, 2010

“Out of Gas: The Bad News about Fossil Fuels"

10:30am-12:30pm ----------------

April 3, 2010

“Making Fuel from Waste Vegetable Oil: Biodiesel Power!”

10:30am-12:30pm -----------------

May 1, 2010

"Water Wise: Saving Money and Surviving the next Drought"

10:30am-12:30pm ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Other workshop themes we offer: “Climate Change: Science & Policy for a Human Future” (w/ slides/video shorts) “Oil, War & American Power: What Energy Has To Do With It” (w/ film) ”The Stuff in Our Heads: Rethinking "Community" and "Value" (slides) “Not-So-Green Revolutions: Contradictions of Industrial Farming” (slides/video shorts) “All You Can Eat -- Re-inventing Local Food Systems” (slides/video) “Assault on Paradise: Why Rainforests & Biodiversity Matter” “Globalize This! - 'Free' Trade or 'Fair?' - You Decide" (slides; video) Standard workshop: 2 hours - presentation w/ visuals (video or slides), and discussion; followed by learning lab: interactive or service activity on biodiesel, recycling, alternative energy. Workshops must be arranged in advance. Intensive workshop: 3 hours, also w/ visuals and interactive pedagogy. Email for more info/rates and to schedule interactive workshops w/ high schools/community groups.

Mentoring Programs: We mentor a small number of high school, college and young adult volunteers and interns engaged in long term service or research projects that align with our goals (usually a minimum of 30 hours volunteer time/3 months). We can assist students in arranging class credit if their schools have service learning or independent research programs. We also invite artistic young people to join our Recyclique co-op and attend upcycling sessions. See Recyclique page. There are opportunities to earn cash for your creations, and also to learn to use new tools and techniques, how to oversee quality control, market products, and do customer relations.

Work skills/Entrepreneurship: Marc Dreyfors, director of GreenWay Transit & Carolina Biodiesel, runs a mentoring program for neighborhood teens who earn money on site while learning basic workplace skills and the principles of sustainability. We also assist student and adult entrepreneurs to develop ongoing green co-op or business projects. Our goal is to create economically self-sustaining projects that benefit the environment as well as those who put their time into projects, while strengthening our educational programs and the economy of Northeast Central Durham.

See Scheduling a Workshop page for information on faculty/scheduling, etc.

Past Projects - 2008 - 2009

2008-09-21T15:57:00.000-07:00

Thanks to rain barrel sales and many hours of donated labor, we purchased a digital projector for doing slide shows and videos in fall 2008! And we can now offer customized educational workshops on sustainabilty themes for high school classes, scout troops, church groups, or other community groups that do programming for teens or young adults. Since the fall we have developed two major projects with help from interns, volunteers and community partners: Recyclique and the Feed My Sheep Community Garden project. See pages specific to those projects for details . . .

We also worked with Marion Brisk's mini-term class at NC School of Science & Math to build a solar space heater -- see the video students made from their experience. Testing the heater's efficiency comes next.

Solar Hot Water Lab: We are networking with a team of community volunteers, solar installers and high school science students for a 2-phase project. Phase I is to install a solar hot water system for Carolina Biodiesel, which will heat vegetable oil (speeding up the reaction that produces biodiesel), and serve as a demonstration module on site for future educational purposes. In the process we'll learn about the physics and hands-on skills of solar hot water systems. Phase II of the project is to build and test a low cost "appropriate technology" solar hot water system with the goal of making the technology more widely available. Chris Allen, is helping to pull a team together to work on this in spring 09. In May we moved around the corner to a new site on S. Goley St., but this project remains an option at the new site!

Eco-edutaining youth since 2007

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See Recyclique & Workshops pages for up-to-date info on our activities.

A quickie history: YIKES! (the organization that led to Recyclique and CommunEcos) originated in Spring 2007 through a joint project of Clean Energy Durham (CED) and two classes at the NC School of Science and Math to identify homes with potential to benefit from solar hot water in the Watts-Hillandale neighborhood. Around 30 students attended workshops, surveyed the neighborhood for solar exposures, then leafleted over 243 homes that their survey indicated had good solar potential. Then organizer and YIKES! founder Sandy Smith-Nonini, an anthropologist who had been part of a recent research project on solar hot water for residential use, conducted several slide shows for interested homeowners. Through an arrangement with CED, local solar installers offered participating homeowners a discount in months that followed.

In Spring 2008 YIKES! members took part in the Youth Climate Action Project (Y-CAP) - a series of workshops sponsored by NC Climate Advocacy Network, of Raleigh, including a rain barrel painting workshop and a series of sessions on climate change science and policy, in preparation for youth lobby day at the State Legislature in Raleigh on June 4th, where teens presented arguments for bills under debate that would reduce the carbon footprint of our society. The teens researched the bills they argued for, and their passion made an impression on lawmakers. Misti Pinter, a local filmmaker, documented the Youth CAP in a series of Podcasts that can be seen on the NC-CAN website, and aired on Channel 8, Chapel Hill's public access channel. Y-CAP was organized by Laura Thigpen, an environmental educator in Raleigh, and was funded by a grant from SURGE (Students United for a Responsible Global Environment) through UNC's Environmental Resources office.

The Y-CAP project spawned our 1st rain barrel painting event. After our first workshop in March, attended by 35 teens, YIKES! sponsored barrel-painting booths at 2008 and 2009 Earth Day festivals in Durham and at the Eno River Festival on July 4th weekend both years.

In June & July 2008 proceeds from rain barrel sales helped the Forest Foundation purchase new lighting and electrical connections for our EcoLounge space. Roque, Hana and Sarah, three talented YIKES! artists, also painted a fabulous mural of ocean and African ecologies on the walls of the space. A stage was built and a Pullen Baptist youth group painted a white backdrop for the stage for projecting slides and videos. In August 2008 rain barrel proceeds allowed us to buy a digital projector for educational workshops.

YIKES! sponsored a classroom project on the science of oilseeds crops funded by a $1000 grant from Project Learning Tree, in collaboration with Marion Brisk, a professor at the NC School of Science and Math. Dr. Brisk's students are studying prospects for canola, as a new winter crop for that will benefit NC farmers, while providing a sustainable local source of oil for both the restaurant and biofuel industries.

Our campus

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NOTE: In March 2011 we moved our workshop to 2811 Hillsborough Rd. where we opened a combination retail and environmental education space in late May. See photo and description on the Recyclique page of this website.

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From May 2009 until March 2011 our workshop space was on the Green Oil and Light (GOAL) Campus (on S. Goley St., just off Angier Ave). We held three volunteer work days in fall 09 to insulate the Recyclique workshop (many thanks to Travis Cohn, Don Nonini, Susan O'Neil & the Durham Tech Brownsfield course grads for their help). And in July 2010 Anthony Watts helped us extend an HVAC duct into the space for AC and heat (so civilized!).

YIKES!'s Recyclique project shared space with GreenWay Transit &
Carolina Biodiesel on the GOAL Campus, which offers green job training and serves as an incubator for new sustainable enterprises.

A pre-May 2009 retrospective:

The EcoLounge (see photo below) was our old “environmental learning lab” and community space, from Aug. 2007 to May 2009. This was a large day-lit warehouse space, in a building shared with Carolina Biofuels at 1404 Angier Ave. This first "Green Oil Campus" was featured in the Independent Weekly's Earth Day 2009 Green Living Issue: French Fries in your Tank.

Scheduling a Workshop

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Our Green Training Faculty:

Marc Dreyfors, MS, director of Carolina Biodiesel and the Forest Foundation, is an Environmental Educator and a board member of Environmental Educators of North Carolina. He received a Masters degree from Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment, and has over a decade's experience in fair trade, biofuels and green transit.

Sandy Smith-Nonini, Ph.D., is a research assistant professor of anthropology at UNC-Chapel Hill, who previously taught anthropology at Elon University for 5 years. She teaches courses on environmental activism and sustainable development, and participated in a 2006-07 research project, funded by the UNC business school on solar hot water for NC homeowners.

Anthony Watts, BA, Communications (UNC) -- Green Energy Consultant and experienced carpenter, with experience in plumbing, electrical and solar technology. Anthony was a research associate on the above UNC solar project.

We draw on a number of local experts as guest speakers.

Mentoring: No charge – must be projects that we have agreed to sponsor.

Standard Workshops: $60 -groups of 15 or less; or $4/student, up to 30 max.

Intensive workshops: $85 -groups of 15 or less, or $5.50/student up to 30 max.

Mobile workshops: We can do presentations at your site of choice within the Triangle area for the above (3-hour) rate, plus a travel charge ($25, Durham; $35 Chapel Hill/Raleigh), contingent on availability of personnel. Likewise, we can bring your students to our site using biofuel-powered vans or buses.

Hydration/Nutrition (on-site events):
* Optional refreshments: cold drinks and healthy snack, $1.80 person for 12 or under; $1.50/person for larger groups. (recommended for longer workshops)
* Optional healthy lunch w/ drinks: $10 per person (local food, as seasonally available, catered by 9^th Street Bakery)

Note: At present CommunEcos and the Forest Foundation are staffed by volunteer labor. But we do have to pay rent, buy equipment, supplies, & fuel and we aspire towards paid staff. Our goal is to pool community skills and knowledge to build a facility and network that serves the public as we transition to a more sustainable society. We need your participation and generosity to offer these programs. All proceeds from educational events and fundraising activities go back into the non-profit – to improve our space and deepen our capacity for education and outreach projects.

Documentary on sustainable biodiesel

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In summer 2008 four college students (well, one had graduated) -- Roque, Melissa, Sarah, & Hana -- set about to make a documentary film on the sustainable biodiesel movement which originated in Pittsboro, NC and has made gained a national reputation for teaching others how to make fuel from waste products like used veggie oil and chicken fat! [Eg. Read Biodiesel Power, by Lyle Estill]

We completed seven shoots at Piedmont Biofuels coop and Industrial site, both in Pittsboro, at the home of Lyle Estill (Piedmont founder) at Carolina Biofuels, Durham, and at the house of a homebrewer, for a total of 8-9 hours of footage.

After a year's hiatus on the project, this fall (2010), UNC communications student Katie Lubinsky is editing the footage into a short film as part of an anthropology internship.

We are grateful to the People's Channel in Chapel Hill, where Roque and Melissa took classes before we borrowed equipment to film. Our finished film will air on Channel 8, the local public access channel, in addition to being marketed for educational use, previewed at Cairns & Sundance, considered for an Oscar . . .yada yada . . .

Painted Rain Barrels

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Scroll down for views of in-stock barrels.

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Price list:
$75 each - In stock models (55 gal) See above for current designs as of July 7, 2011; Note that the frog barrel has frogs on all sides, the salamander barrel has another (green) salamander and a frog (shown just above it) on its other sides, and its background is still being completed; the starry night barrel has planets on its other side, missing are a mountain barrel and bird barrel that are in process. Email: yikes.contact@gmail.com for more info, or to place an order.
$85 each - Custom painted barrels (if design you like is not in stock; see above or email for options)
$65 each - Solid colored 55 gal barrels. (usually brown, green or black - state your preference)
$35 each - Painted 30 gal recycling barrels, with cut-out top & lid. We have ocean & flower garden designs in stock - email for photos.
For orders of two or more, we give a discount of $5 off per barrel.
Delivery locally (Durham city) for $10 (max of two/trip), or free for Watts-Hillandale or Old West Durham.
Note: Custom barrels may take a few weeks, depending on schedules of painters; and unpainted barrels are only available when we have a large supply on hand) $15 for outside city, up to 15 miles.

Barrels are re-used industrial food grade plastic, previously used for non-toxic materials. They are lightly sanded and primed, designs are painted with acrylic or latex paints, and finished with a clear finish coat. Faucets (w/ threads for garden hose) are brass, installed into a no-leak conduit, barrels have an overflow installed at the top to which you can attach a hose and run back into your drain system. They have a half-moon opening on top for gutter flow, covered with a nylon screen (secured by a bungee and cord or re-purposed rubber bike tire inner tube) which can be pulled back for dipping out of the barrel. In addition to the screening, for maximum mosquito protection, we recommend use of one-quarter mosquito dunk (or a cup of vinegar) per barrel per month during summer weather.

Rain barrel sales support CommunEcos's sustainability education and green job creation projects - We involve teens and adults in painting rain barrels at festivals and community events; and we produce environmental workshops.

Our goals

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NOTE: Beginning in 2011 CommunEcos will be the umbrella non-profit organization that will house both YIKES! and Recyclique.
Our goal is to engage in creative cross-generational projects that build public awareness and encourage new thinking about low energy lifestyles, and the need to live in harmony with the earth and each other. We also explore sustainable social and economic models based on equity and cooperation as our society transitions away from its current obsession with profit and growth.

We seek to create student/youth-run chapters on college and high schools campuses, and in other community settings, that focus on learning about, teaching and promoting solutions for the energy/climate crisis. We hope to build well-informed leaders -- organizers, educators & community members -- who will shape policy in coming decades as human societies go through a cold turkey withdrawal from our fossil fuel addiction.

We need help from you to shape the movement -- everything from "branding" what we do, to website creation, identifying cool projects, shaping our priorities, and figuring out how to influence policy. [See volunteer opportunities page!]

Other goals:
* promoting social entrepreneurship to provide opportunities to adults and young people in low-income neighborhoods which get hit especially hard by high fuel prices
* fostering cross-over projects that engage college students working together with high school students on sustainability projects,
* creating community service activities through which students can earn credit toward courses,
* involving students in creating interactive, and/or visually-interesting projects that will communicate sustainable goals to the wider community,
* developing projects to assist middle and high school teachers to keep up with and enhance school curricula on the changing energy/climate crisis scene
* developing ways to promote awareness of YIKES! work and of the issues we engage with in the wider community/state/nation
* building community and new forms of identity that will enable the great paradigm shift we are living through
* Oh, and by the way -- this is a nerd-friendly organization -- we love folks who are into science!! Rely on you!! -- But our task in YIKES! will be to make science extremely cool, and accessible to English majors, math-phobics, jocks, fashionistas, etc. So we need lots of folks who are into the arts, journalism, web-based formats, podcasts, film, etc. We also need folks who understand politics, history and social studies so we can figure out the human element in these processes -- whether falling down rabbit holes, or climbing out of them --

Why your house needs a rain barrel

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During last year's drought we learned just how fragile the water supply is for central NC. In short, we are a high-growth, increasingly urban region that relies on reservoirs fed by small rivers whose upstream sources are less reliable than in the past -- in part due to unchecked development. New state legislation makes it likely that in future dry periods municipalities will act more rapidly to put water-use restrictions in place. And new tiered water rates in Durham will allow the city to charge higher rates to consumers who are high users of water.

We can expect more droughts more often with the rate at which global warming is progressing. Rain barrels, which catch the flow from roofs for use in gardening, became critical to keeping ourdoor bushes and trees alive last year. For rain barrels to be useful, it is important to get them installed ahead of the dry season -- when spring or early summer rains will fill them up.

We began painting and selling rain barrels in spring 2008 as a fundraiser for YIKES! Our barrels are lightweight plastic (formerly used for non-toxic food or other water-based products), hold 55 gallons, and have a screened hole in the top where you can direct your gutter flow -- you will need to cut the gutter with a hack saw and insert a flexible plastic diverter (Home Depot has many varieties). The barrels have a brass faucet, with a no-leak connector at the bottom to hook to your watering hose, and an brass overflow at the top (to be attached to a short piece of hose which you can let empty on the ground or hook back up with the drain that your gutter originally emptied into).

Our painted barrels are prepped with a primer that helps paint adhere to plastic; then the design is done with either latex or acrylics paints, and a top coat of clear polyurethane lacquer is sprayed or painted on top. We recommend using 1/4 mosquito dunk per month per barrel (or a cup of vinegar, or a thin film of cooking oil on surface) to keep them free of mosquito larvae (yes there is screen, but we hear the critters are darn inventive at getting into vessels with water [dunks are avail. at Lowes or Home Depot].

PRICES:
Painted barrels: most are $65-85 -- see other rain barrel post for more photos and info on prices/delivery/discounts, etc.)

You can pick up your barrel with advance notice at the our workshop on the Green Oil & Light Campus, at the end of S. Goley St., off Angier Ave., Durham [just east of Alston; turn right (south) on S. Goley] A barrel will usually fit into a hatchback or large car trunk. We will deliver to Durham addresses inside city limits for $15; delivery outside city can also be arranged; email to inquire. Contact: Sandy at scsmith @ email.unc.edu.

Contact us

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yikes! coordinator: Sandy Smith-Nonini
Email me at scsmith @ email.unc.edu
or call: 919-286-7396 or 358-6341

Workshop at Green Oil & Light Campus
1410 Cross St. - at end of South Goley St.
off Angier, just 2 blocks east of Alston, Durham
logistics/directions:
Henry Wills, intern, 308-3147
or
Marc Dreyfors, director
marc @ theforestfoundation.org
or call: 919-957-1500

Mailing address for yikes:
c/o: Sandy Smith-Nonini
2030 Englewood Ave
Durham, NC 27705