Sustainable Greenville

This website will be devoted to connecting the average citizen of Greenville, SC to the many sustainable opportunities available here in the upstate. We want to celebrate local businesses, organizations and spiritual outlets that believe in improving the quality of life of our communities through sustainable action.

This website is the result of an ever increasing demand for living more gently in our homes, community and planet.

Communities will work together to plan and act in ways that will result in the harmonious solution of social, economic, and ecological concerns.

Check out our resources and calendar pages to discover what is available here in the Greenville Area.

If you don't see your organization or event listed, please contact Ed Wilmot at outdoored@juno.com

PREMIER NOVEMBER EVENT: 

ALTERNATIVE GIFTFAIR                                         

Greenville Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Noon – 3 p.m.

For the sixth year, Greenville will join dozens of other cities across the nation in hosting a holiday market that leaves shoppers uplifted while enriching communities at home and abroad! Shoppers at Greenville’s Alternative Gift Fair find gifts to honor family and friends while benefiting a dozen non-profit local, national, and international organizations. Gone are the feelings of uncertainty and anxiety that are so frequently a part of our holiday shopping experience. The true spirit of the holiday season prevails in a fun, festive atmosphere, where the buyer always knows the size is right and the gift will not go to waste!

At the Alternative Gift Fair, shoppers can choose from a diverse collection of local and international organizations, including:
• Greenville Rape Crisis and Child Abuse Center
• Greenville-Area Interfaith Hospitality Network
• Greenville Organic Foods Organization
• Heifer International
• Ten Thousand Villages
• UU World of Children Preschool
• Southernside Community Center
• American Red Cross
• Wildlife Rehab of Greenville
• Greenville Free Medical Clinic
• Habitat for Humanity

These are organizations with established track records of helping people and the environment.
These gift-giving opportunities specifically target people and places in need by providing:
• livestock to a Central American villager,
• food to a needy local family,
• health care for rescued wildlife, and much more.

Alternative gifts range from $5 to $100 and are all tax deductible. Cash or checks will be accepted.
This year give a gift that truly keeps on giving!
Those who make purchases on behalf of friends and relatives can choose beautiful cards with a description of their gift.

Shoppers will also find live music, yummy treats, shade-grown coffee, and international handicrafts at the fair.

For more information about last year's fair, including a listing of participating organizations and a sample “shopping list,” see our web link or call 370-3493. The Alternative Gift Fair is sponsored by the Greenville Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and is based on a model by the Center for a New American Dream (see www.newdream.org).

 

How often are you told you are doing something the wrong way? Maybe they are right; maybe they are wrong.

Is there any way to know if the path you are on is taking you to a better life?

The ancient Greek word hodos, meaning way or path, was used by early Christians to denote their position of following the vision of Jesus. So let’s start with the word hodos.

A path can be straight and narrow OR broad and long OR sinuous and backtracking. A path is a “way” to get from one point to another. It can be intentional and caustic OR irrational and exploratory. It can be anything.

Where ever we are in life, we are on a path!

Is it the path we want to be on? Is it getting us what we want in life?

When we get tired enough, we stop asking the questions and do one of two things: either run from life or accept life on its own terms. Accepting life means living life. Accepting life means taking responsibility.

There are those who say they accept life, but are on autopilot. They give up. They take their lot with cynicism and dread. They have lost purpose and direction.

We all want to belong. We want good fortune and health. We want the world to do us good. Yet always just out of reach.

Everybody has different ideas on what life is, what the meaning of life is. No one person or group has a right to say what is! Even you. Even me.

With that said:

What matters is how AUTHENTIC your life is!

When your hodos crosses any particular moment, you have a choice to be authentic or deceiving. Do you choose to be fully involved with honesty and integrity or a spectator with disregard and selfishness?

When we choose to have a better life (financial, personal, work, health, spiritual, civic) we usually make choices based on our limited vision rather than on our full potential.

So, let us explore ways to improve our quality of life, open up to that potential and truly experience an

AUTHENTIC LIFE.