Old trees
Not only are big, old, beautiful trees pleasant to see out your window or from your porch, they help cut down on electricity bills as well, and provide some much appreciated relief from our Southern heat.

Native plants
Just because you want to be more green, doesn’t necessarily mean you come with a green thumb. The beauty of landscaping with native plants is two-fold; since they’re meant to grow here, they don’t need much loving care, or much water. Which means your thumb can be less than green and you can save time and money.

Conserving energy
The sweet thing about conserving energy in 2011 is that it’s super-easy and, most of the time, makes life more enjoyable.

Programmable Thermostat – You save energy, you save money and you get to come home to a house that’s the perfect temperature.

Tankless Water Heater – Rather than heating and reheating your water all day and night, heat it as you need it – save energy, free up a closet for storage and never run out of hot water again.

CFL bulbs – Rarely will you have to drag out the ladder to replace the light in the hallway or fumble around for a week because you can’t be bothered to replace it. Sure, they cost a tad more, but they last 10 times longer than regular bulbs and you can save $30 per bulb, per year.

Healthy living
A great added bonus to green living is healthy living. We all know that biking and walking are better for you than driving, but it extends beyond that. By cutting down on harmful chemicals used in building materials, you get clean air inside your home and out.

The NCCAE will open its doors to three kindergarten and four first-grade classes, less than 150 students in all. Thanks to voters passing the 1 percent sales tax increase, however, the school will grow by one grade each year until its new $27.1 million school building is complete.

The new arts-focused elementary is also part magnet school. Together, those attributes will help provide high-quality teaching that exceeds state standards and the district’s core curriculum by integrating creative disciplines such as visual arts, music and drama instruction across all subject areas to reinforce traditional elementary subjects.

To help reach that goal, a variety of partnerships with local businesses, non-profits and governmental agencies will help give students countless opportunities, such as field trips and lessons taught by arts professionals, to connect classroom learning to the real world.

The model for NCCAE comes from the Ashley River Creative Arts Elementary and the philosophy that children learn best when taught through collaboration with the arts.

So who can or will be attending NCCAE? One suggestion is that half of the students come from a new attendance zone from the existing Dunston, Hursey and North Charleston Elementary schools. North Charleston’s District 4 constituent school board will decide which neighborhoods belong to the new zone/school. However, students who live outside this zone, but still reside in District 4 can also apply.

View the Post & Courier article here – www.postandcourier.com/news/2011/jan/07/n-charleston-to-get-arts-elementary/

Presented by the City of North Charleston Cultural Arts Department, the celebration attracts 30,000 residents and visitors who flock to the event April 29 – May 7. “Festival Week”, as it’s called, features national, regional, local and even community artists and performers for concerts, theater and dance performances, exhibitions, children’s programs, literary events, street dances, an Art Walk and a National Outdoor Sculpture Competition & Exhibition. Both free and moderately priced ticketed events are available.

The pièce de résistance is the festival’s Main Event, which is April 30 and May 1 at the Charleston Area Convention Center Complex. More than 40 performances take place here on four stages including judged art, photography, youth art and fine craft exhibitions as well as a gem and mineral show, an antique show and sale, children’s activities, arts & crafts booths and an outdoor food courtyard. Parking and admission are free for the Main Event.

The curtains close on the festivities Saturday, May 7, with the Grand Finale at North Charleston Riverfront Park with variety of concerts and activities and a booming fireworks display over the Cooper River.

Learn more about the stuff we didn’t have space to list at the 2011 North Charleston Arts Festival’s website.

Go to the article here.

Come out to the FREE event for food, fun, games and more.  Meet our green home builders and take a tour of OTP.  All of the details are right here:

WWW.OTPBLOCKPARTY.COM

Click here to read the article and watch a video.

The Navy Yard at Noisette (Navy Yard) recently received LEED Certification under the LEED for Neighborhood Development Pilot Program. LEED for Neighborhood Development is a certification program developed by the US Green Building Council (USGBC) in collaboration with the Congress for New Urbanism and the Natural Resources Defense Council that integrates the principles of smart growth, new urbanism and green building into the first national system for neighborhood design.  The USGBC states that “LEED certification provides independent, third-party verification that a development’s location and design meet accepted high levels of environmentally responsible, sustainable development.”

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