Newspapers / University of North Carolina … / March 24, 2010, edition 1 / Page 4
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Page 4 {The Blue Banner} Wednesday, March 24, 2010 Businesses showcase green products at WNC Home Show By Vanessa Holbert STAFF WRITER VMHOLBERT@UNCA.EDU Many local businesses are offering greener, more sustainable products to their customers. Merchants said they noticed a growing demand for more natural substitutes to outdated, less environmentally friendly products. “Asheville is an extremely green town. They have embraced green building practices and green building products more so than most areas. Some of the hot spots for green, besides Asheville, are Austin, Texas, and Bend, Ore. It is finally getting to the point where a lot of the green products and practices of building a home are becoming afford able,” said Clay Johnson, president of Peak Productions. Exhibitors are showcasing their newly developed green products at the WNC Home Show, which has been held annu ally for 35 years, Johnson said. He said his company is producing the show. They recently bought the show from John Patterson of Western Carolina Productions, and this is their first year running it since the company has only been in business for one year. “Just about all manufacturers are try “Just about all manufacturers are trying to embrace the public's desire to be gentler on the environment." -Tim Reid Leicester Carpet Sales manager ing to embrace the public’s desire to be gentler on the environment,” said Tim Reid, the Hendersonville store manager of Leicester Carpet Sales. Leicester Carpet Sales, offers various approaches to natural products for cus tomers wishing to be more environmen tally friendly. “We sell carpet composed of bamboo, which is considered a renewable re source,” Reid said. He said they also offer a type of carpet composed of cork, which, is harvested from Cork trees in Portugal every 10 years without damage to the trees. They also have carpet that is constructed of recycled soda bottles. The soda bottles are made from PET, or polyester. The PET carpet is stain resistant, according to Reid. “We try to have something new in our booth every year,” Reid said. “This time it’s a special exhibit of Shaw’s Anso nylon carpet that was used to stage the world’s biggest pie-throwing contest in Dallas, Texas. Ten thousand pies were thrown at the carpet and it cleaned up perfectly, highlighting Anso’s lifetime stain and pet urine warranties,” he said. Leicester Carpet Sales also tries to pro mote more green products to their envi ronmentally friendly customers by offer ing Anso carpet, which is composed of recycled carpet. It can be recycled again and again and comes in several varieties, Reid said. “Leicester Carpet Sales has partici pated in the WNC Home Show since it started. We see it as a good opportunity to connect with people who really care about enhancing their home and making it special,” Reid said. “We do see an in crease in business right after the home show, but there is also a long-term ben efit, as people remember us weeks and | months later when they want flooring,” he added. Reid said the steep decline in the hous ing industry made this a challenging year for them. But the family-owned business, after serving people for more than 38 years, expects to be atound for a long time. Solar Plus Green, a local solar panel company, said they are doing their part to help customers with the transition to energy efficiency and environmental friendliness. “We make great effort in business and at home to conserve energy and water, to recycle and to use solar heating. We help others to go green, including install ing solar heating systems for businesses and individuals for virtually free with tax credits and our zero percent interest rate loans,” said Kevin Wei, founder of Solar Plus Green. Wei said his company is participating ^ in an exhibit at the WNC Home Show on April 19. He said he wanted to enter | to showcase his green business and of- -j fer to install the solar heating systems for | customers. See green Page 8 UNCA’s Career Center plans meditation programs, job fairs By Chris Fish STAFF WRITER CAFISH@UNCA.EDU The Career Center offers clinics this month to help students decide what ma jor is right for them, according to a center counselor. Life is Calling will be a week of clinics starting on Monday. The clinics are designed to help stu dents learn how to live more authenti cally, and to help align their goals with their life vision. “We will be having events that have a lot of body movement, where you do gentle movements without breaking a sweat and you are totally integrated into your being,” said Eileen Buecher, a counselor in the UNC Asheville Career Center. “Once you find your center of peace, you will find your power.” Students can also participate in a meditation horse-riding clinic in which horses will sense the students’ level of confidence. “There is a facility in Marshall that works with businesses and social work programs,” Buecher said. “The horses will serve as mirrors. If you are not au thentically 100 percent in your way of being, or when you become distracted or get lost in your head, the horses will not want to be around you. However, if you are in your way of being, which is how you need to be to make good decisions or present yourself in an interview for a job, the horse will stay with you and love on you.” Along with the meditation programs. a job fair will show students all of the options they can pursue with a degree, according to Buecher. “The job fair was supposed to be held in February, but we were snowed out and forced to reschedule it. If we get more student turnout this time, we may keep it this way,” she said. “All of our ser vices are based on decision making, self- assessment, exploring options and then making a transition from college toward a career or graduate school.” Jesse Shelton, a sophomore at UNCA, said he was unaware of how helpful the Career Center is for students who are confused about what to do with their lives. “It’s really cool to see how helpful they are,” he said. “I am not really sure what I want to do with my life, but I think they can make things easy for me and really help me figure some stuff out. Hopefully, these events coming up will help me re alize what my calling is.” Kate Flemming, a UNCA student, said she also was unaware of the convenience the Career Center offers. “I did not really think about how help ful it could be to go to them,” she said. “I am very interested in seeing how they can help me out. Hopefully I will learn a lot about myself within the next week.” Buecher said she believes many stu dents forget to come to the Career Center for help if they need it. “I don’t think it’s not that they don’t know about us, but they need to be re minded of all we can do,” she said.
University of North Carolina at Asheville Student Newspaper
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March 24, 2010, edition 1
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