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Merge Happy Hour

When: Thursday, November 18 · 4:00pm – 6:30pm
Where: 10 Storehouse Row @ Navy Yard at Noisette 2120 Noisette Blvd N. Charleston

Merge is a networking series that takes place in the heart of North Charleston. With an emphasis on connecting local businesses to one another, guests have the opportunity to showcase their business or cause and exchange ideas and contacts in a casual environment.

Everyone is invited. Beverages and light snacks provided.

Sponsored by Social Monkey Group and Anna Bell’s Restaurant
Food by Anna Bell’s
Spotlight on Michaux Conservancy

For more info: http://socialmonkeygroup.com/merge/

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Although few people know it, numerous AmeriCorps*VISTA members are working to improve the lives of people who live in poverty throughout the greater Charleston area. In fact, a VISTA member currently writes and illustrates this blog. To learn about local VISTA members, their projects, and how they impact surrounding communities, take a look at their new Facebook page.

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Read all about the project in today’s Post and Courier story
and on the city of North Charleston Web site

Using recycled materials, the crew from South Carolina S.T.R.O.N.G (Sustaining, Teaching, Rebuilding Our New Generation) installed the mural on a Navy Yard building.

A Thing Of Beauty--After six months of work, the mural now beautifies the wall of its new home on North Hobson Avenue across from Detyens Shipyards.

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The crowd looks on as the Save Noisette Creek mural is unveiled Monday evening at School of the Arts.

About 40 people watched and cheered as the “Save Noisette Creek” mural officially was unveiled Oct. 11 at Charleston County School of the Arts (SOA). Speakers included, Mary Neal with Michaux, Marie Nichols with Charleston County School of the Arts (SOA), Dave Joyner of the Ashley Cooper Stormwater Education Consortium and Marty Besancon, city of North Charleston Cultural Arts Department. Students who painted the mural helped with the unveiling. In addition, two creative writers read original writings about the creek. SOA has won more regional and national Scholastic Writing Awards (nearly 70 of the 90 students last year) than any other writing program in the country. The Scholastic Writing Awards, exclusive for writers and artists between seventh and twelfth grade, is the largest and most prestigious writing contest in the country. Past winners include Sylvia Plath, Truman Capote, Joyce Carol Oates, Robert Redford and Andy Warhol.

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Aspiring artists at the School of the Arts have nearly completed this real-world art project that will be installed on an outside wall at the North Charleston Navy Yard.

AN ENVIRONMENTAL WORK OF ART–After six months on the drawing board, the “Save Noisette Creek” exterior wall mural is nearly complete. Those who already have seen the mural are astounded by the artistic talent shown by these eighth-grade students at Charleston County School of the Arts (SOA). To see for yourself, join us. The mural unveiling takes place at SOA’s Rose Maree Meyers Theater lobby Monday, Oct. 11 at 6:30p.m.
The 8-by- 20-foot environmental mural combines art, environmental education and community service.
With this project, we hope to visually encourage the public to protect our local natural resources. The project collaborators include the Michaux Conservancy, AmeriCorps*VISTA, SOA, the Ashley Cooper Stormwater Education Consortium and the City of North Charleston Cultural Arts Department.
The event is open to the public. We are inviting all who might be interested to join us. For a map and driving directions click here. The Rose Maree Meyers Theater is located by driving past the school office and
visitor center to the very last parking lot.

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Plastic bags, plastic bottles and food containers were the main types of litter found at Riverfront Park by the 18 volunteers who participated here Saturday.

People of all ages joined Michaux in North Charleston on Sept. 18 to clean up Riverfront Park along Noisette Creek and the Cooper River. The cleanup was part of the 22nd Annual Beach Sweep/River Sweep, South Carolina’s largest one-day litter cleanup of beaches, marshes and waterways. The S.C. Sea Grant Consortium and S.C. Department of Natural Resources organize the statewide event, which is held in conjunction with the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup. About 105 pounds of debris was collected from the park.

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Water carries litter, fertilizers, dirt, pesticides, oil, grease and other forms of pollution into this storm drain, which then empties into a nearby creek.

To learn how you can help reduce the stormwater runoff that pollutes our coastal waterways, watch this month’s episode of “Living Green.” Because stormwater pollution is caused by people’s daily activities, education and outreach are the main components of all stormwater reduction programs. As part of an extensive public education campaign in our region to improve water quality, the Michaux Conservancy is working in partnership with guests featured on this show.

We urge everyone to become more informed about solutions to our water quality problems. Watch the Charleston County Government’s 30-minute show “Stormwater”, which will air every Saturday morning beginning Sept. 9 and ending Oct. 2. Viewing times are 9 a.m. on Fox 24 (Comcast channel 6) and 10:30 a.m. on My TV Charleston (Comcast channel 13). The episode was filmed at the S.C. Department of Natural Resources’ Marine Resources Division at Fort Johnson on James Island, and at Oak Terrace Preserve in North Charleston’s Park Circle neighborhood.

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If you want to lose weight, save money on gas and help the environment, write a 50-word essay describing how a bicycle can change your world. You could win a new Jamis Commuter 1 bike valued at $600. Bicycling Magazine editors have chosen Charleston as one of eight areas that will participate in their 2010 bike giveaway. The magazine will select 30 winning essays from Charleston. Each winner will receive a bike, helmet and lock. Participant essays are being accepted here. The giveaway is scheduled to take place Sept. 26 in Charleston.

Consider this: If everyone living within five miles of work cycled to work just one day a week, this would reduce nearly five million tons of global warming pollution a year, the equivalent of taking about a million cars off the road.

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Every day, twice a day, between five and six feet of water rises and falls in Noisette Creek. This creates a unique ecosystem. Very few living things can tolerate, let alone thrive, in the extreme conditions of repeated saltwater flooding. The photos below show Noisette Creek at low tide (top) and at high tide. For more information on tides and marshes click here.

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Riverfront Park's boardwalk winds along the Cooper River shoreline above the marsh grass. The naturalized seawall system parallels the boardwalk, creating prime fish and shellfish habitat in this protected area between the rocks and the shore. Photo by City of North Charleston

Riverfront Park spreads out from the mouth of Noisette Creek and continues down along the Cooper River. On this sultry, summer day, a breeze floats off the water, barely stirring the Spanish moss that drips from massive oaks. Couples swing out over the water. Pelicans soar overhead. Children laugh and splash in the fountain. People fish from the pier. Today is as easy as a walk in the park.

Locals, tourists, retired military, all visit Riverfront Park, and for many reasons: the historical Panama-style officers quarters, the boardwalk, unusual metal sculptures, unique playground equipment, escape from the heat, a crime free park, the military memorial, and lots of ships.

Carolyn Mann has frequented the park since its grand opening five years ago. “I used to work right over there on the Frank Cable, a submarine tender,” she said, pointing to the row of ships lined up at the shore. “I even played golf right on this spot.”

Mann, retired Navy, is referring to the military golf course once located here. In 1901, this section of town became the Charleston Naval Base. As such, it was off limits to most residents for nearly a century. The base closed in 1996.