Earth Day is a day to celebrate the progress made for the planet over the years, and get excited about the possibilities of tomorrow.

Two years ago today, on Earth Day 2008, the Sioux Falls Green Project was born. Business and community leaders came together to ignite a local movement meant to educate and inspire Sioux Falls to build a greener future together. You can watch some video footage from that day here.

Today, the Green Project is still growing up. About a year ago we formed a non-profit organization to coordinate the effort, and we’ve worked to build awareness for greener living and business, created opportunities for learning and getting involved, and made a real impact. You’re familiar with some of the work we do, like:

• Organizing the Plain Green Conference & Marketplace, the most amazing gathering of green design and business world-changers to ever hit our region (you can still register for the April 28-29 event),
• Making it possible for the RecycleBank program to help Sioux Falls residents save money and the planet,
• Forming the TrashTalkers team to help local festivals, and festival fans, learn how to reduce waste and recycle like they mean it,
• Sending you simple, local green living tips by email, Facebook and Twitter,
• Hosting workshops on topics like greening your workplace, composting and building rain barrels, and
• Bringing you educational events like monthly Green Drinks mixers, speakers and the No Impact Man movie screening.

We’re also busy working for you and our environment on a lot of things that are less visible, like:

• Reforming recycling ordinances and rules to make it easier for you and a bigger priority for waste haulers,
• Helping a group of public high school science teachers rewrite the way they teach sustainability in the classroom,
• Working with other local non-profits to protect and revitalize our urban forest and to transform a local neighborhood through community agriculture, and
• Assisting a local community college to form a Sustainability Degree program.

It’s a nice start. And, even though today is Earth Day, we won’t be saving our environment all in one day. Real solutions are a journey, not a quick fix. This movement is you, and your efforts, and we want to make it easy for you to be part of it in meaningful ways.

So on this Earth Day, we’re asking for your help.

Would you consider making a tax-deductible donation to be sure the Green Project is able to continue our work, and create more and better ways for you and others to be part of this movement? The amount doesn’t matter—we need to show larger funders that they are not alone in making our green future a priority. Whatever you can afford right now would mean so much.

To make your donation, just click here. Thanks so much.

SF Green Project is teaming up with our partner The First National Bank in Sioux Falls to coordinate Earth Hour in our community. In a bold statement of collective concern for our country, our planet and our future millions of people around the world will turn off their lights for one hour–Earth Hour–on March 27, 2010 at 8:30 p.m. local time.

Help send a powerful message that environmental sustainability is a priority for all of us.

The Green Project and The First National Bank in SF are proud to be official supporters of Earth Hour 2010. On March 27, we will be going dark along with many other companies, organizations and families in Sioux Falls, including the City of Sioux Falls, Cherapa Place, Hoawlt McDowell Insurance, Koch Hazard Architects so far.

Click here to see what people, organizations, cities, schools and companies from South Dakota have pledged to go dark on March 27 for Earth Hour. We encourage you to join with us and millions of Americans in making Earth Hour 2010 the biggest effort yet. Getting involved is easy:

1. Sign up at EarthHour.org
   Show your support, find out what Earth Hour events are happening near you and get tips on organizing fun events in your community.
2. Spread the Word
   Invite your friends and family to join the movement, become a fan on Facebook and post a link to EarthHour.org on your profile page.
3. Turn off the lights
   Turn off your non-essential lighting at 8:30 p.m. local time on Saturday, March 27.

Notable U.S. landmarks such as Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, St. Louis’ Gateway Arch, Sea World in Orlando, the strip in Las Vegas, New York’s Empire State Building, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Washington D.C.’s National Cathedral, California’s Santa Monica Pier and the Space Needle in Seattle are among the hundreds of sites that will turn off non-essential lighting for the hour, in what is expected to be the largest-ever call to action on climate change.

For more information, or to be sure your company, organization or family name is on the list, contact Joe Bartmann.

Local Green Experts Series

(Following is a guest column, the second in our new Local Green Experts series.  Whitney Parks is founding director of Chartreuse Research and a project designer at Koch Hazard Architects.)

by Whitney Parks

photo by Dean Isham

This year, Plain Green will open with an exciting event, a community service project, integrating hands-on learning, sustainable building concepts, and community stewardship.

The Project

The Sioux Falls Chapter of Architecture for Humanity and Sioux Falls Seminary have partnered to organize the construction of a Straw Bale Shed, April 27 and 28, before the Plain Green 10 Conference. Sioux Falls Seminary’s Summit House, located near downtown Sioux Falls in the Pettigrew Heights Neighborhood, will be the building site for the new straw bale shed. Sioux Falls Seminary students living at Summit House hope to eventually use the structure as a Tool Lending Library for the residents of the Pettigrew Heights Neighborhood for simple home maintenance and repair.

Want to get involved?

If you are interested in learning about straw bale construction, would like to help build the fi rst straw bale structure in the City of Sioux Falls, or if you would like to volunteer your time for a good cause, join the building team. Spend two days bale raising and plastering with a straw bale specialist from Nebraska, Joyce Coppinger, Managing Editor and Publisher of The Last Straw Journal.

Participants will learn sustainable construction skills with hands-on involvement while building the straw-bale shed. Space is very limited and an application is required. Though there is no fee, space is available for Plain Green attendees only. Register here today. After registering, you will be emailed an application. Team selection will be completed by April 13, 2010.

This Community Service Project is made possible by Koch Hazard Architects and Chartreuse Research, in partnership with Architecture for Humanity Sioux Falls Chapter, Sioux Falls Seminary and other supporters.

We made a little video as a way to say ‘thank you’ to Green Project supporters, and provide a short update on the activities of the past year and the initiatives we’re putting together now.

You can watch the video below, or download a PDF of the video transcript here: Thanksgiving Update.

With our greenest transportation pal The MinusCar Project, we’re hosting a special community screening of the documentary film No Impact Man, right here in Sioux Falls, on December 8. It’s free, and we hope you’ll join us for a movie and discussion about  getting more of what matters out of this holiday season.

You can RSVP on our Facebook page, or by scrolling down to “Sioux Falls” here.

What is No Impact Man? It’s a documentary that tells the story of Colin Beavan’s decision to completely eliminate his personal impact on the environment for a full year. It means eating vegetarian, buying only local food, and turning off the refrigerator. It also means no elevators, no television, no cars, busses, or airplanes, no toxic cleaning products, no electricity, no material consumption, and no garbage. No problem – at least for Colin – but he and his family live in Manhattan. So when his espresso-guzzling, retail-worshipping wife Michelle and their two-year-old daughter are dragged into the fray, the No Impact Project has an unforeseen impact of its own.

Watch the No Impact Man movie trailer.

Kilian Community College is teaming up with the Green Project to design an all new Sustainability degree program. The two-year associate degree will be the first of it’s kind in South Dakota. We’re not talking wind technicians here, but a program to prepare a new kind of employee for growing businesses and organizations. As the green economy progresses, more and more companies are looking for professional people with knowledge and skills in living and working in eco-friendly ways who can lead green efforts from inside the company. This program will be put together based on the needs and ideas of real companies and organizations in the Sioux Falls region.

We’ll be co-hosting a free Sustainability Idea Lunch on Wednesday, July 1st at Kilian Community College’s downtown campus (300 East 6th Street). Join this facilitated brainstorming session from 11am to 1pm to help Kilian create a new sustainability degree program suited to the needs of Sioux Falls’ growing businesses.

If you’d like to attend, just click here http://tinyurl.com/kilianlunch and let us know. If you can’t attend and would like to share your thoughts and ideas, please email us or call 610.4240.

Learn more about Kilian Community College at kilian.edu.