This just in from Baltimore Free Store:
“In this season which for many results in over-consuming and overspending, Baltimore Free Store continues to promote reuse and redistribution with a Free Market give-away.

Sunday December 18th Free Market
2640 St. Paul Street
Baltimore, MD 21218

Accepting donations 10am – 11:45am
Redistributing donations 12:15pm – 3pm
(unless we run out sooner)

We will be accepting gently used non-furniture items and redistributing them to the community at this Free Market event.  All donations are tax-deductible and given away completely for free!  Anyone and everyone is encouraged to shop & donate at this event – there are no qualifications!  If you would like to volunteer, email VolunteerBFS@gmail.com.

www.baltimorefreestore.org”

Catch up on Baltimore Green Map’s 2011 activities as the year draws to an end.

Click on the image below to access the full newsletter.

Illustrating OGM Use

Baltimore Green Map was invited to present Green Mapping as an example of “How Communities are Using Mapping Tools” at Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s October 13, 2011 Unleashing the Power of Local Data conference. Participants had their laptops open for the interactive element, time to explore Open Green Map. We combined information from our own archives, Open Green Map screen grabs and the Green Map System’s Resources to put together a presentation that illustrated a diversity of map scales and strategies to collect information. We also wanted to demonstrate full utilization of the OGM features More info, Comments, Multimedia, Impacts before turning participants loose to browse maps on their own. Those user input features are where “the power” and potential of Green Mapping resides. Besides Baltimore’s four OGM maps, we directed participants to VCU Richmond, Brooklyn’s Red Hook, NYC Green Apple, San Francisco and Capetown and also included DC Green as an example of a government using internal GIS mapping with GMS icons to display City sustainability initiatives.  If you want to view it, here is the link!

Tuesday, July 19th offers hard choices:

At 7:00 PM the 2011 Food & Faith Summer Film Series  will be showing Dirt! The Movie, a film about Earth’s most valuable and under-appreciated source of fertility from its miraculous beginning to its crippling degradation. Dirt feeds us and gives us shelter. Dirt holds and cleans our water. Dirt heals us and makes us beautiful. Dirt regulates the earth’s climate. Dirt is the ultimate natural resource for all life on earth. It also makes for a surprisingly interesting and entertaining subject.

“Please join us as we enjoy some locally grown popcorn while we watch the film and discuss as a group
how we can better value our dirt. Cheryl Carmona, urban farmer, Master Gardener, and soil scientist  will be on hand to help answer questions during the discussion. (No cost or reservations required.)”

7-9 pm at Stony Run Friends Meeting House, 5116 North Charles, Sponsored by the Baltimore Food and Faith Project, a project of the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future.

or , alas, same time frame, 7 p.m. on the 19th, The Big Uneasy is screening at The Charles Theater. Director Harry Shearer will be there in person.

” ‘The Big Uneasy’ is the first documentary by long-time “mockumentarian” Harry Shearer (of “Spinal Tap” and “The Simpsons”). The film follows three remarkable people–the leaders of two scientific investigation teams, and one whistleblower–as they reveal the true story of why New Orleans flooded, and why it could happen in other cities across America. Shearer speaks to the tireless investigators and experts who poked through the muck as the water receded, and uncovers a courageous whistle-blower from the Army Corps of Engineers. His dogged pursuit of facts reveals that some of the same flawed methods responsible for levee failure during Hurricane Katrina are being used to rebuild the system expected to protect the “new” New Orleans from future peril.”

You can learn more about the film and watch the trailer at The Big Uneasy.

Just spreading this announcement from the Free Store. Note especially that they are accepting donations on July 13:

Baltimore Free Store returns to Artscape!

In 2009 we held a massive Free Market at the Artscape festival – and we are doing it again!
July 15, 16, 17
12pm – 8pm
(Never heard of Artscape?  Click here!)

For three straight days we will be giving away donated goods and educating Artscape festivalians on who we are, what we do, and how they can get involved.
We will be in the same place as 2009 and 2010 – the parking garage across from The Charles Theater (1711 N. Charles St.)  All are welcome to come take what they need.

In order to stock the event, we will be accepting donations on Wednesday July 13th from 6pm – 8pm at the parking lot on North Ave. behind Load of Fun (click here for a map – we will be in the red parking area).  The lot is accessible from Maryland Ave. or Howard St. at 20th St.  Look for the UHaul truck.

Recap:
Donate
Wednesday July 13, 6pm – 8pm
Parking Lot at Maryland Ave. & 20th St.
***ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE!***
Shop
Friday July 15 – Sunday July 17, 12pm – 8pm (unless we run out sooner)
We will be in the parking garage across from the Charles Theater for the whole weekend.  We will be giving away donations received on the 13th, plus more!

See you there!
www.baltimorefreestore.org
BmoreFREE@gmail.com

Adding more sites to our recycle map….

Always pleased to spread the word about Druid Hill Park’s Conservatory …right now there’s a great Spring exhibit and, on May 15, an opportunity to support its programs by attending this event:

Baltimore Conservatory Association is hosting the third annual ART UNDER GLASS at the Howard Peters Rawlings Conservatory and Botanic Gardens.  This one day art happening is on Sunday May 15 in two tiers: a Preview Brunch from 11:00am to 12:30pm for $100 per person in advance, and the Art Exhibit and Sale from 1:00pm to 4:00pm at $30 per person in advance and $40 per person at the door.  This year’s theme is “The Great Outdoors” which features the original works of art of nineteen local artists that are inspired by nature amidst the splendor of historic architecture and exotic plants.  As always, all of the work is for sale of which thirty percent goes to support education programs at the Conservatory. Our artists are representing work for all levels of collectors.

Tickets available at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/165307 or The Conservatory (cash or check) For more info visit www.baltimoreconservatory.org

or checks for will call to BCA @ P.O. Box 5668, Baltimore, MD 21210

We are very proud of our Druid Hill Park Green Map. It has been flying out the door at the Howard P. Rawlings Conservatory in the park.  Our ambition has always been to create a passport to accompany the map. We even printed 5000 extra copies for just that purpose.

So we are grateful to the Baltimore Community Foundation for listing the passport project as one of its Funding Opportunities

We imagine 16 destinations within the park, each with an activity to do focused on one of four categories: nature,  history, active recreation, arts & culture. Your passport will be stamped with the appropriate icon when an activity is recorded in the passport.  Finish it and you will be entered in a periodic drawing for prizes…..plus you will have discovered new aspects of Druid Hill Park.  Perhaps you will even be inspired to become a member of Friends of Druid Hill Park!

Here’s a guest blog from BGM’s wonderful intern, Shanna Edberg:

I’ve been helping Baltimore Green Map build a handy new online map. The map is called Baltimore Recycle/Reuse/Share, and it highlights a variety of places where you can buy, sell, donate, recycle, or share used goods of all kinds. The places you can find here range from recycled building materials at The Loading Dock or Housewerks, to classy clothing shops like Vogue Revisited, to social justice organizations like Goodwill and Habitat for Humanity. There are even places where you can find things for free, like the Baltimore Free Store or the Book Thing.

The Book Thing is a personal favorite of mine. As a book lover, it is thrilling to be able to take home any book that interests you, and save some trees to boot! Seeing those roomfuls of stacks of books that people donated just so that other people could enjoy them is awe-inspiring and a lesson on community building and sharing.

Donate your books any day of the week at the convenient book drop

Select books that interest you from a vast array of choices

Do you know of other places that you think others will use and enjoy? Suggest a site (link: http://www.opengreenmap.org/greenmap/baltimore-recycle-reuse-share) and help us expand our recycle map!

FYI The Book Thing of Baltimore is located at 3001 Vineyard Lane, Baltimore, MD 21218. It is open from 9 am to 6 pm Saturdays and Sundays – at all other times, donations can be deposited into the waterproof bins just outside the garage door.

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