Grassroots Leadership College (GLC) is celebrating its fifth anniversary with a community fundraiser honoring the accomplishments of seven outstanding graduates: Sandy River for Dance Alive (Art and Culture), Donna Asif for Homelessness Dialogues (Prisons and Poverty), Tamra Oman for Voices Beyond Bars (Prisons and Poverty), Johnny Ellis work with fathers (Supporting Families), Sara Alvarado for Nuestro Mundo (Youth and Education), Tammy Bieberstein for Weed Warriors (Health and Environment), Cynthia Lin for MEJO and Operation Welcome Home (Neighborhood Organizing), and a special surprise awa

The Natural Heritage Land Trust, formerly the Dane County Natural Heritage Foundation, will commemorate 25 years of voluntary land conservation success at its Stewardship Awards Celebration at Monona Terrace on May 1, 2008 starting at 5:30 pm.

The James Beard House Awards Gala Celebration, one of the premier events in the food industry, is on Sunday June 8th.  Chef Tory Miller is delighted that the theme for this year’s awards ceremony is Artisanal America – the craft of cuisine.  

Chef Tory Miller is honored that he has been invited to return to the Beard House to cook as a guest chef for this year’s Awards Gala. 

Whole Foods Market® encourages shoppers to trade in toxic cleaners and swap them with complimentary Natural Cleaning Solutions to celebrate Earth Month.

Whole Foods Market is teaming up with Naturally Clean to help shoppers reduce their environmental impact in honor of Earth Month. Shoppers can bring in any new or used household cleaner and exchange it for a new full-sized greener cleaner made with natural enzymes. *One toxic trade-in per family is allowed.

Join the party when some of Dane County's most popular chefs team up with Southern Wisconsin's talented brewers, farmers and cheese makers to serve up mouthwatering mini-burgers and satisfying suds at “Burgers and Brew: The Taste is Local” Saturday, May 31st from 4-7pm at Capital Brewery Bier Garten in Middleton.

Recycling bins –hybrid cars - bicycles - local produced food – canvas bags. Going green is the way to be! But, what else can we do? Let Isthmus|TheDailyPage.com show you the good way.

On April 26, 2008, Isthmus will produce the first Madison area Green Day, designed to help every person - no matter what their circumstances - become a little greener and have fun doing it.

Isthmus Green Day at the LEED-certified Monona Terrace will include a wide variety of informative exhibits and fun activities appealing to everyone interested in a more environmentally friendly lifestyle.

In Southern Wisconsin, it is relatively easy to find, cook, eat and even preserve locally grown food. There are farmers’ markets every day of the week. Pick-your-own farms and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms dot the map. Many grocery stores, co-ops and restaurants offer local fare.

The 2008 Southern Wisconsin Farm Fresh Atlas makes it easy to find local food in our region. This free, 40-page booklet lists over 150 farms, farmers’ markets and food-related businesses that sell fruits, vegetables, meats, cheese, milk, eggs and other products.

The Wisconsin Brewer's Guild has appointed seven members to its Executive Board and has chosen its Executive Officers for 2008.

Reappointed to the Executive Board by a vote of the Wisconsin Brewer's Guild General Membership are:

Carl Nolen of Capital Brewery in Middleton, Russ Klisch of Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee, Jeff Hamilton of Sprecher Brewing Company in Glendale, Jim Wisender of Sand Creek Brewing Company in Black River Falls and Bo Belanger of South Shore Brewery in Ashland.

The Empowerment Café is the brainchild of local business woman, mother and youth advocate, Dolores Kokinos. After several years of research into the ways in which people learn, overcome obstacles, and empower themselves to reach goals, Dolores started offering classes and workshops to area organizations, businesses and individuals in 2005. Her success in reaching at-risk youth, those in the corporate world, friends and colleagues inspired her to offer her methods and theories to the larger community.

By George Zens

Considering the seemingly never-ending stream of bad news we are confronted with about the state of the environment, climate change, public health, and not to mention the latest hysteria about the performance of our economy, putting our society on a sustainable footing, let alone trying to save the planet from ourselves, might seem like a daunting task.