Nov 23: Going Green

I see growing signs that the Green movement is taking root here in South Florida. And I find it encouraging. More of us are driving fuel-efficient cars, more buildings are constructed with the environment in mind. And there are more fresh produce markets too, which I include in the general category of all things green as part of the eat-locally trend. Just in the past few days, I've come into contact with two notable examples of this. Last week I attended the grand opening of an important new building in Greater Fort Lauderdale - the very green headquarters of the Children's Services Council of Broward County. Located in Lauderhill, this building is expected to be certified as LEED, meaning Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. That's the nationally accepted benchmark for high-performance green buildings.

The CSC headquarters seems fairly amazing to me. It includes use of recycled building materials and wood certified for being harvested regionally as a renewable resource. The structure also has high efficiency air conditioning, water efficient plumbing, lights that turn themselves off when people leave the room, drought tolerant landscaping. Even a special floor mat at the entrance that does something or other with the accumulated dirt. I didn't quite catch the details but hey, I was impressed.

Then on Saturday, I visited for the first time the Pompano Beach Saturday Green Market. Wow, talk about some first-rate produce, along with fresh smoked fish, boutique gifts and lots more. It's a small market but has just enough booths to make it worth the trip. This thing is open from now through April 24^th each Saturday morning. Just take Atlantic Boulevard to North Dixie Highway, then head north about one block. The market is on the corner of North Flagler Avenue and NE 1^st Street. Many locals make this a weekly stop for high quality local food but tourists come as well to pick up gifts, flowers or fruit for the fridge in their hotel room. I was especially interested in a veggie stand run by two Indian folks, Bill and Lilly. They had some of the freshest looking, and best tasting, vegetables and fruits I've found around here in some time. This included South Florida corn and green beans and summer squash and eggplant, but also locally grown Chinese green beans and chive flowers and many Asian specialties. Mmmmm, really good stuff. I'd like to say I packed all this into the back of my Prius or some other fuel-efficient hybrid for the drive home. The truth is, though, that I don't own a particularly good car for gas mileage. Not yet. But I'm working on it.