Even though Earth Day (April 22) is only a one-day event, we like to celebrate all month long.  This year the Fox Valley once again has a great list of events that are related to Earth Day.

And, our store also turns 3 years old on Earth Day!  Dianne and I are humbled that we've been around for three years considering the state of the economy.  It is truly a blessing and we're honored to be a part of a community that is making steps to a more sustainable ecosystem.

We're celebrating our Earth Day/Birthday on Saturday, April 21 this year.  Join us for cake and ice cream, live music, and special promotions, including a week-long fundraising effort to benefit Fox River Academy.  A percentage of sales from April 16-21 will support special projects for the Academy.

There's lots of things to check out during Earth Week, but here's a few that I will not miss:

Firstly, there's the film, Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land for Our Time.  This film is sponsored by Fox Valley UU Fellowship and Fox Valley Sierra Club.  The show will be at 7pm, Tuesday, April 17 at FVTC's D.J. Bordini Business & Industry Center.

Secondly, in conjunction with the Fox Cities Book Festival, there's author and photographer James Balog who will be making a few appearances April 17 & 18.  His most recent work includes the Extreme Ice Survey, a project that brings image-makers and scientists together to create a photographic record of global climate change.

Thirdly, Appleton Downtown, Inc. hosts its second annual Earth Day Walking Trivia Tour.  Take a walk downtown; answer trivia questions; win ADI gift certificates.  Last year was a big success.  We saw lots of families get involved with this one and the feedback was very positive.  Let's do it again this year!

Lastly, on Saturday, April 28, Habitat for Humanity ReStore's Community Wide Earth Day Celebration winds down the week.  Their annual event is a must-see for everyone!  The event is from 9am-3pm and hosts local vendors and exhibitors, local food, kids' activities, educational forums and more.

We look forward to a great Earth Month!  See you in our store or at one of these events!

 

--J.C.

Our March Coffee & A Movie Night sort of sneaked up on us. We're all set for the 22nd, though. Our movie nights always land on the fourth Thursday of each month. Presented in partnership with our good friends at Harmony Cafe in Appleton, this month's feature is Renewal.
 

We've shown several documentaries since we started this popular event last year.  All have been factual, engaging, interesting, and well ... somewhat "downers."  Renewal is very much uplifting and hopeful of a better tomorrow for our one and only Earth.

Across the nation, people of faith are standing up for the environment. Evangelical Christians are fighting mountaintop removal, a coal mining process that is decimating Appalachia. Muslims are supporting sustainable farming.

 

Jews are helping children experience the bond between nature and spirituality. Interfaith Power and Light is mobilizing people of all faiths in a religious response to global warming.

 

For the first time, the combined energy of these diverse activists is the driving force behind a feature-length documentary, entitled RENEWAL. Veteran film producers Marty Ostrow and Terry Kay Rockefeller have crisscrossed the country to capture these exciting stories of people whose passion and deep moral commitment are making a difference in a time of grave ecological threats.

 

Join us for this FREE showing while you sip FREE Harmony Cafe coffee.

Movie running time is approximately 90 minutes.

RSVP's are appreciated, but not required.

Check out the trailer on the Renewal website.

 

 

-- J.C. Paustian

USA-made Green Toys company, based near San Francisco, CA, continues to release new toys every year since its relatively brief existence since 2007.  They've received numerous toy awards and have gotten tons of media coverage for good reason.

Imagine if companies started duplicating Green Toys' efforts of American-made products, made by American workers!  What a concept, right?

Check out the story of Green Toys here.

Here at Just Act Natural, we're proud to sell these great USA-made toys.  They're safe, cool, affordable, recycled, environmentally-friendly and fun to play with!  What more can you ask of a toy and a company?

We've got Green Toys on hand now and we're getting more as the month rolls along, so make sure you "like" us on Facebook and follow us for regular updates on product releases.

 

J.C. Paustian

Our February Coffee and a Movie Night is all set to go for the 23rd!  Our movie nights always land on the fourth Thursday of each month.  Presented in partnership with our good friends at Harmony Cafe in Appleton, this month's feature is Vanishing of the Bees.

Honeybees have been mysteriously disappearing across the planet, literally vanishing from their hives.

 

Known as Colony Collapse Disorder, this phenomenon has brought beekeepers to crisis in an industry responsible for producing apples, broccoli, watermelon, onions, cherries and a hundred other fruits and vegetables. Commercial honeybee operations pollinate crops that make up one out of every three bites of food on our tables.

 

Vanishing of the Bees follows commercial beekeepers David Hackenberg and Dave Mendes as they strive to keep their bees healthy and fulfill pollination contracts across the U.S. The film explores the struggles they face as the two friends plead their case on Capital Hill and travel across the Pacific Ocean in the quest to protect their honeybees.

 

Filming across the US, in Europe, Australia and Asia, this documentary examines the alarming disappearance of honeybees and the greater meaning it holds about the relationship between mankind and mother earth. As scientists puzzle over the cause, organic beekeepers indicate alternative reasons for this tragic loss. Conflicting options abound and after years of research, a definitive answer has not been found to this harrowing mystery.

 

Join us for this FREE showing while you sip FREE Harmony Cafe coffee. Movie running time is approximately 90 minutes. 

RSVP's are appreciated, but not required.

 

 

 

-- J.C.

Check out our ceramic Valentine's-themed Eco Cups.  Our Eco Cups are great sellers throughout the year at Just Act Natural and we're always getting in new patterns and styles.

Now is as good a time as any to ditch the one-time use, disposable coffee cup habit.  We all love our coffee at our favorite Downtown Appleton coffee houses, but can't we just bring our own and then wash it out and reuse it?  Is that so tough?

According to the Sustainability is Sexy website, Americans tossed 23 billion paper coffee cups in 2010!  Yikes!  We can do better than that!  Check out the chart below for some staggering numbers.  Thanks again to Sustainability is Sexy for the chart.

I wrote this blog two years ago, but it’s worth repeating:

If you haven’t been downtown in a while, I would take a look-see.  You’ll be pleasantly surprised at the diversity of businesses that now exist on this one-mile stretch of College Avenue.  Are there vacant buildings?  Yes, there are, but Appleton Downtown, Inc. is diligently working on that.  It’s not an easy task, especially with obstacles like the economy and parking standing in the way to start a new business.

Several of our customers have heard me bring up the story of my childhood memories of coming downtown.  I’m going to rehash it here once again, so forgive me if you’ve heard this story before.

200 block of College Ave., downtown Appleton December 1972 Post-Crescent photo

As a kid it was a big deal to hop on the Valley Transit bus and come to downtown Appleton, especially at Christmastime.  My brothers and sister had great memories visiting downtown during the holidays, checking out Prange’s, Gimbels, Sears and other smaller stores that had Christmas decorations in their windows (picture the scene from the movie A Christmas Story where Ralphie is transfixed by the Red Ryder BB Gun and other animated Christmas toys in the store windows.  That was me, only this was from the mid- to late-‘70’s.)  And, we can’t forget about Bruce the Spruce, the talking tree inside Prange’s.  Seeing him was a combination of excitement and terror.

Avenue of the Angels, downtown Appleton, December 1973 Post-Crescent photo.

Now that my wife and I have our very own store downtown, I hope to bring back at least a slice of that Christmas magic to kids in the area.  I got a glimpse of that this morning before the store opened. 

Avenue of the Angels, downtown Appleton December 1972. Post-Crescent photo.

One of our decorations in our window is a snowman holding a stick with marshmallows roasting them over a campfire, and the stick moves up and down.  Well, nearly every morning, a group of tots from the YMCA stroll down the avenue all roped together like a Mt. Everest exploration team.  As I was vacuuming the front area, the first child noticed the snowman, then a second one and before I knew it, all of the kids were huddled around our window watching the snowman roast his marshmallows.  

December 1973 College Avenue Post-Crescent historical file photo.

It was a beautiful scene and watching their little faces and listening to their “oohs” and “aahs” immediately took me back 30 or 35 years.  I think I got back that slice I was looking for.

So come and check out not only our store, but the other mom and pop stores downtown and support these local businesses by doing your Christmas shopping in a relaxing atmosphere.  Remember:  “Peace and love, not of push and shove!”

 

Please join us at Just Act Natural on Thursday, Nov. 3rd for a special guest we're hosting.  Sue Loomans will be making the drive up from her hometown in Wauwatosa, WI to give a presentation on "Global Warming Challenges & Solutions."

The FREE presentation is based off Al Gore's Academy Award-winning documentary "An Inconvenient Truth." Loomans was trained by Gore to give this talk. 

Loomans is part of a national network of speakers who are connected to Gore's "Climate Reality Project."  The Climate Reality Project is bringing the facts about the climate crisis into the mainstream and engaging the public in conversation about how to solve it. They help citizens around the world discover the truth and take meaningful steps to bring about change.

Her talk will begin at 7pm lasting about 45 minutes and will be followed up with a question and answer session.

RSVP's are not required, but very much appreciated.  Save your seat at 920-574-2932 or info@justactnatural.com.  Seating is limited.

Check out www.climaterealityproject.org for more info.

Join us for our monthly program Coffee & A Movie Night, held in partnership with Harmony Cafe - Fox Valley.  Each month's movie will have an environmental, health or wellness theme, and will be held on the fourth Thursday of the month inside Just Act Natural at 129 E. College Ave., Appleton.

 

After each movie, we'll have a very informal discussion session. 

For this month's Coffee & A Movie Night we'll be hosting two showings of Food Matters -- a 10am and 6:30pm showing.  Local schools are off that day, so we hope to get some additional turnout during the matinee showing.  Enjoy a cup of Harmony coffee, while viewing this extremely important documentary. 

 

A few of the film's highlights include:

• How to use food as medicine
• Who needs vitamins
• Is organic better
• How safe is our food
• Natural treatments for lowering Cholesterol
• Foods that fight Anxiety and Depression
• Natural therapies for Cancer
• Which drugs might do more harm than good   

Click here to watch the trailer.

 

 

Join us for our FREE monthly program called Coffee & A Movie Night, held in partnership with Harmony Cafe - Fox Valley. Each month's movie will have an environmental, health or wellness theme, and will be held on the fourth Thursday of the month inside Just Act Natural, 129 E. College Ave., Appleton.

After each movie, we'll have a very informal discussion session.

Join us for this month's Coffee & A Movie Night at 6:30pm, Sept. 22 where we'll be showing The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream. Enjoy a cup of regular or iced Harmony coffee, while viewing this documentary made in 2004 that is almost prophetic here in 2011.

Since World War II North Americans have invested much of their newfound wealth in suburbia. It has promised a sense of space, affordability, family life and upward mobility. As the population of suburban sprawl has exploded in the past 50 years, so too has the suburban way of life become embedded in the American consciousness.

Suburbia, and all it promises, has become the American Dream.

But as we enter the 21st century, serious questions are beginning to emerge about the sustainability of this way of life. With brutal honesty and a touch of irony, The End of Suburbia explores the American Way of Life and its prospects as the planet approaches a critical era, as global demand for fossil fuels begins to outstrip supply. World Oil Peak and the inevitable decline of fossil fuels are upon us now, some scientists and policy makers argue in this documentary.

The consequences of inaction in the face of this global crisis are enormous. What does Oil Peak mean for North America? As energy prices skyrocket in the coming years, how will the populations of suburbia react to the collapse of their dream? Are today's suburbs destined to become the slums of tomorrow? And what can be done NOW, individually and collectively, to avoid The End of Suburbia?

Join us this Saturday from 8am - 12:30pm for this month's Just Act Natural Green Market -- an extension of the Downtown Appleton Farm Market.

The Green Market block extends from Durkee Street east to Drew Street.  The south side of the street will be filled with green vendors and the north side is chuck-full of art vendors.

This is the public's chance to chat with local experts on all things green.  Ever think about installing solar panels?  Check out Appleton Solar's booth and get straight answers about the power of solar.

Want to switch to kid- and pet-friendly lawn care?  Talk to local companies Valley Organics and Backyard Organics.

Always wanted to start backyard composting?  Now you can talk with the compost experts at Compost Joe's.

Where's the best bike trails in the area and where can I get the best bike?  Fox Cities Greenways will tell you and give you a map.  Make your way over to the Appleton Bike Shop booth and they'll show the best bike for your needs.

How do I even start coverting to a green lifestyle?  Dianne and myself here at Just Act Natural can help you with that, too.  Come talk to us either at the booth or in the store.  We are happy to help!

The opportunities abound at the Green Market.  You're going to the Farm Market anyway, take a few more steps eastward on College Avenue and talk to locally-owned businesses and organizations about going green!  See you Saturday!

 

J.C. Paustian