Tours
The following tours were offered in 2011.
Six tours, and the additional youth only tour, will be offered Friday morning.
Lunch will be available to enjoy on your return. You may want to continue the tour conversation over lunch.
The film, "The Economics of Happiness", and a facilitated conversation will take place at the same time as the tours.
Tour 1 - Building Sustainability in Midtown Detroit
Tom and Peggy Brennan, visionaries, will show and tell the story of The Green Garage, an experience of deep sustainability in the city. Zachary and Associates, long time advocates for and residents of Detroit, invite you to visit 71 Garfield in Sugar Hill, historic, green sustainable living and working artist space powered by solar, thermal solar and heated/cooled by geothermal HVAC.
Tour 2 - Environmental Justice Tour
This tour will highlight the devastating disproportionate impacts of toxic contamination on people of color and low-income communities in Detroit. Rhonda Anderson, Sierra Club's Environmental Justice Program Organizer, will take participants to sites that illustrate these negative impacts on communities. Participants will also learn about the successes of the community leaders fighting this pollution, including taking air samples organized by the Bucket Brigade.
Tour 3 - An Urban Garden Tour
Staff from the Greening of Detroit will showcase a variety of urban agricultural efforts in Detroit. This will include community gardens, a farm and individual efforts.
Tour 4 - Green Water Infrastructure Tour
Green water infrastructure is one solution to mitigate stormwater and sewage pollution that negatively impacts the Detroit and Rouge Rivers. On this tour, you will walk the Detroit Riverfront, see examples of constructed wetlands that absorb stormwater from surrounding streets, and learn how a local community organization transformed the landscape of the Duffield Branch of the Detroit Public Library to include rain gardens, native plants, permeable pavers, and rain barrels.
Tour 5 - From Growing Our Economics to Growing Our Souls
Rich Feldman, of Detroit City of Hope & the Boggs Center will lead this Eastside tour that will highlight the rise and fall of the industrial age and the American Economic Dream and the transition and commitment to the emerging vision, theory and practice of the 21st century American. This engaging and informative tour invites you into the past, present and future.
Tour 6 - Home Weatherization: Seeing Is Believing
This tour will be held at WARM's weatherization job training facility. Participants will see cutaways of furnaces, water heaters and other systems and examples of proper installation of various types of insulation. Steve Christensen, a certified energy auditor who is one of the one of the weatherization instructors, will provide time for questions.
