Experience Green has spent four years making the Lowcountry’s future a little greener.
There’s no one thing you can do to make the world a better place. There’s no magic bullet to make for cleaner water, clearer air, and a brighter tomorrow. There are, however, a million little things you can do. And few know this like Experience Green founder Teresa Wade.
“So many people are motivated to make big changes, starting with the small changes,” she said.
Ironically, Wade started with a big change, namely the formation of Experience Green four years ago. This 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, to quote its website, is “focused on the what, how, why, and when of sustainability, with the long term goal to improve society through increased stewardship of the environment, care of the people, and growth of economic prosperity.”
The little changes started from there, with Experience Green becoming involved in events, endeavors, and efforts big and small. As the organization has grown, even those small events have become fairly large in their own right.
Take the Baseline Sustainability Assessment Wade is on target to launch this year. She refers to it as her “pet project,” but the BSA is attracting big attention. The Community Foundation has thrown in more than $19,000, and organizations from POAs to Palmetto Electric have shown their support.
“This is a very critical project for us to be able to assist Hilton Head Island and show where it is in regards to sustainability,” said Wade. “The idea is to get a baseline measurement in terms of waste generation, consumption, water waste, that sort of thing. We’re looking at the carbon footprint of the island.”
The Sustainability in Golf event is another of Experience Green’s million little things. And by little, once again, we mean fairly huge. Held in the Sea Pines Resort in October of last year, this two-day event brought together PGA pros, golf superintendents and managers from 11 states, plus Canada and Scotland, to talk about greening up golf’s image.
“It was the first time sustainability as the sole topic was applied to golf,” Wade said. “We came out of it tagged as the catalyst organization to advance sustainability through the golf industry.”
Red Fish recycles as many products as possible and strives to provide its customers with the freshest ingredients, and whenever possible, serve vegetables from its garden, Bear Island Farms and other local farmers. Fish are caught locally and in the wild and meats are natural or free range.
A little closer to home, Experience Green hosted its Earth Day Celebration this past year in Old Town Bluffton in conjunction with the May Rive cleanup, partnered with TerraCycle to have local waste turned into brand new products, and inspired communities around the Lowcountry to focus on sustainability.
“Moss Creek has started recycling cardboard, Sea Pines is testing compostable cups, and Haig Point’s golf tees are now all recycled,” Wade said, tallying off a few of the small yet huge changes happening across the region.
