Viva Verde - a GRIP project
www.vivaverdenm.com

Viva Verde’s Success has Positive Spin-offs for Community
Fall '09 GetAGRIP Newsletter

Connections made -- and lessons learned -- at the Viva Verde Expo keep rippling through the region, as GRIP and its project co-sponsors turn their focus to future events and offerings.
Some 500 people from throughout southern New Mexico and beyond convened in Silver City in late June for the inaugural Viva Verde Expo. The associated Viva Verde Guide, listing goods, services and contact information for green businesses across the region, has been distributed to libraries, public gathering places and advertisers for free circulation.

“We’re very pleased with the turnout and the response to both the Expo and Guide,” said Allyson Siwik, GRIP executive director and a lead planner for the project. “But we’re far from finished with this exciting project. We want to continue to provide quality information and resources to individuals, businesses and homeowners throughout our region through the Viva Verde Guide and future programming.”

The Expo and Guide, she noted, provided a host of attractions for participants—and a lot of solid business opportunities for shopkeepers, contractors and consultants who set up vendor displays at the event at Western New Mexico University-- as well as had a number of positive spin-offs:
• Green business owners renewed their ties and forged new connections with
consumers, showing off their goods and services and demonstrating how residents
can incorporate green offerings into their lifestyles. Read about Viva Verde business success stories at www.vivaverdenm.com
• Expo participants left the rainy Expo grounds and promptly put their newly gained knowledge to work capturing rooftop runoff and channeling water across their landscapes to supply gardens. Participants continue to implement knowledge gained from Viva Verde in
their lives. To read their stories, visit www.vivaverdenm.com
• The New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce turned to the Viva Verde Guide as a basis for its recruiting efforts in southwestern New Mexico.
• The local Habitat for Humanity connected with Viva Verde Expo Plenary Speaker,Pat Murphy of Community Solutions, to collaborate on a passive solar house design for the Brewer Hill affordable housing development.
• Grant County and Town of Silver City officials cited the Viva Verde project and their involvement in it as part of their successful grant application to launch a collaborative Office of Sustainability, supported with federal stimulus funding, to green up government buildings,
coordinate educational efforts and strengthen low- and moderate-income home weatherization programs.

“Now we’re moving ahead with planning for additional, but probably smaller, events next year,” Siwik said. “People really appreciate finding out how to make their homes and businesses more energy efficient, cutting their utility bills while protecting the environment. They just need some help getting connected to the people and businesses that can help them do it, and that’s what Viva Verde is all about.”

Welcome!
Who stocks compact fluorescent light bulbs? Where can you get flooring that didn’t wipe out a forest? How can you connect with free weatherization assistance for low-income families?

The answers to those questions — and many more — can be found in the brand-new Viva Verde Guide. The booklet is a directory of businesses large and small throughout southern New Mexico that offer products and services designed to reduce energy use (and thus cut energy bills), increase efficient use of water and other scarce resources, boost the use of renewable and recycled materials, and generally ease our impact on the environment.

The guide also provides plenty of useful “Green Tips” to help homeowners and business owners reduce energy use, increase efficiency, recycle more, cut water demand, and take other steps toward lowering both financial costs and environmental impacts.

“There’s a lot of research out there telling us that people want to buy green and do their part to reduce their carbon footprint,” says Allyson Siwik, executive director of GRIP, which took the lead on the Viva Verde Guide project with financial support from the Sierra Club’s Rio Grande Chapter, PNM Resources Fund, and McCune Charitable Foundation. “We don’t need research to tell us that folks are always looking for ways to cut their energy bills. This guide will help them connect with information and vendors who have what they need.”

Mattie Eagle, a GRIP member and Viva Verde volunteer who owns Material Good — “Your Eco Home Store” in Silver City — believes the guide fits into her marketing needs by giving her a tight connection with the people she needs to reach, when they’re ready to buy. “I think it certainly is something that will catch the eye,” she says. “The ‘green’ industry is still kind of young ... and many of us operate smaller businesses that have limited budgets for marketing and advertising.”

Merchants and vendors fromorganizations that are accessible to everyone and that contribute to more sustainable communities throughout southwestern New Mexico are included in the Viva Verde Guide, thanks to volunteers from GRIP, the Southwest Environmental Center, and the Sierra Club’s Rio Grande Chapter who worked hard to bring in regional listings and advertisers. Given that the Viva Verde project is part of the education recommendation of its Climate Action Plan, the Silver City Climate Protection Agreement Citizens’ Advisory Committee also has been actively involved, providing input on “Green Tips” and other elements of the guide.

Besides a business directory and list of educational resources, the guide contains a calendar of green events throughout the region and various promotional coupons. Its release is in connection with GRIP’s Viva Verde Expo, being held the weekend of June 26-28.

More than 200 businesses and organizations from across southern New Mexico are listed in the guide, and over 30 will attend Expo to show off their goods and services. Scores of businesses placed advertising, which helped defray publication costs. The guide is available for free at the Expo, advertisers’ place of business, GRIP’s office, libraries, and other public locations or on-line at www.vivaverdenm. The on-line version has a calendar of southern New Mexico green events. Sign on to the Viva Verde e-mail list and get monthly notices of such activities.

Visit the site here.

The Viva Verde Green Events Calendar is a place to get an overview of local green events for southern new mexico. Find out more here.

Living Green Makes Dollars & Sense . . .



A collaborative project of Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter, Gila Resources Information Project, Silver City Climate Protection Agreement Citizens’ Advisory Committee & Southwest Environmental Center

575.538.8078
info@vivaverdenm.com
www.vivaverdenm.com