Articles by Ashley Brotherton

Article - News; by Ashley Brotherton - 12/6/12

The National Weather Service Wants You

Help map out long-term climate changes

Calling all wanna-be weathermen: You can help measure long-term climate changes with 11,000 wanna-be weathermen across the country. The National Weather Service is looking for volunteers in Calvert County’s Dunkirk area to take daily maximum and minimum temperatures and measure rain and snowfall. The Service will train and equip you. The Service has collected 120 years of data to help understand floods, droughts, heat and cold waves. The data you...

Article - Green Living; by Ashley Brotherton - 11/29/12

The Composting Bandwagon

Composting is fermenting innovation. Here are some of the new thinkers leading the way.

Honey’s Harvest Market & Deli, Rose Haven Anna Chaney’s family has been composting since she was a kid, so when she started her businesses, composting came naturally. At Herrington on the Bay — Chaney’s wedding, special event site and catering company — and Honey’s Harvest Deli and Market, 10 to 15 tons of food scraps are composted each year at Chaney’s farm in Harwood. There is no financial incentive, Chaney...

Article - Green Living; by Ashley Brotherton - 11/29/12

50 Shades of Green

Composting is only one way creative people are avoiding waste. From art to ecology, the alternatives are as wide as your imgination.

Rethink Recycling Sculpture High-schoolers were up to the challenge of Maryland Department for the Environment’s 11th annual Rethink Recycling sculpture contest. Students in 22 high schools from across Maryland imagined new uses for everyday waste, from rusted machines to aluminum foil to water bottles. No Anne Arundel or Calvert County schools rose to this year’s challenge; Calverton School signed up but didn’t meet the deadline....

Article - Bay Weekly Interviews; by Ashley Brotherton - 11/29/12

Turning Kitchen Trash into Green Cash

A Bay Weekly conversation with Vinnie Bevivino, the mastermind of Chesapeake Compost Works

Give me your trash! says Vinnie Bevivino, the mastermind of Chesapeake Compost Works, of the organic and biodegradable material taking up 20 to 30 percent of all landfills. Chesapeake Compost Works — begun in 2010 as a 40-page business plan and a drawing — has risen as a 55,000-square-foot warehouse in Baltimore’s Curtis Bay. At full capacity by year’s end, 60 tons of compost will be cured there every day. Bevivino — a 31-...

Article - News; by Ashley Brotherton - 11/15/12

Roadside Signs Still Fine

State Highway Administration hasn’t collected a penny

Counting any fewer roadside signs as you drive through Chesapeake Country? After $25 per fines on signs on the right-of-way on state highways were promised last year, we expected postings to go down. Didn’t you? In the weeks before the November 6 election, signs bloomed. Many were gone before Election Day, though business-as-usual signs — Christmas Lights was an omnipresent one — quickly returned. The State Highway...

Article - News; by Ashley Brotherton - 11/1/12

Anne Arundel Countians Speak Their Mind

We’re closer to unity on birth control for pets than on who should be president

Anne Arundel County agrees more on spaying and neutering than who the next president should be according the Anne Arundel Community College Center for the Study of Local Issues survey. Seventy-one percent of 510 respondents support the creation of a low-cost spaying and neutering program. How it was paid for was up for debate. Adding a penny or two to the price of dog food had the most votes and 23 percent of the supporters. The least popular idea was to add a dollar or two...

Article - News; by Ashley Brotherton - 10/25/12

Oxford House Brings Hope to Recovering Addicts

Project ECHO becomes a landlord for recovery

The most frustrating thing for Henry Trentman at Project ECHO is seeing recovering addicts leave the recovery program beaming with positivity, then come back six months later because they fell off the wagon. When Trentman heard about the international Oxford House concept, he thought, Holy cow, this makes a lot of sense. Residents have to follow three simple rules to live in an Oxford House: Stay sober, pay your dues and don’t be confrontational. If you stick to the...

Article - News; by Ashley Brotherton - 10/25/12

There’s An App For That

Technology brings us closer to nature

We live in an app world. If I want a song, I Shazam it; If I want a paint color from a photo I just took, bam, I ColorSnap it. I search for apartments and add mustaches and cats to any picture I please, all in the iPhone that fits in the palm of my hand. Now the National Park Service is using an app to get us closer to nature. The free Chesapeake Explorer app offers information on state and national parks, trails and outdoors activities, all on one map....

Article - Green Living; by Ashley Brotherton - 10/18/12

Red, Right, Recycle

Green Annapolis collects at Boat Show

Annapolis looks less like a circus now that the U.S. Boat Shows — and their tons of waste — are packed up. This year was the first time that recycling routed waste. At 25 ecostations across City Dock, visitors found greener choices for recycling. At each station, a green 50-gallon bin collected paper, plastic, metal and glass while a red bin collected trash for the landfill. Boat fanciers got those choices courtesy of Elvia Thompson and Lynne...

Article - News; by Ashley Brotherton - 10/11/12

Raising Money and Giving It Away

Lothian Ruritan Club celebrates 60 years helping the community

Andrew Dennis of Shady Side knew he wanted to go to college. He didn’t know how he was going to manage the costs. As a senior at Southern High School thriving in his welding class, Andrew went on the hunt for scholarships. He found his way to college with the Lothian Ruritan Club, which awards $8,000 in scholarships evenly to eight graduating seniors every year. Andrew earned the John Hiser Scholarship, which helps seniors wanting to go into culinary or vocational...