I followed up by asking how to get more people motivated to switch to green living. The pre-conception is that it is very difficult and costly to transform a home or business to a more planet friendly structure. Dr. Tony said that it’s not nearly as problematic as one might imagine and offered to show me how at no charge. The fact that he offered to help at no charge speaks volumes. Dr. Tony’s only agenda is to help us learn how to live sustainably. There are plenty of individuals and companies ready to take advantage of the green “trend” but they are motivated by money or recognition. Dr. Tony is the real deal! I think I can speak for all in attendance, when I say that he was inspiring.

We skipped the first Saturday of the month at the Beaumont location due to the holiday weekend, but be sure to catch Dr. Tony’s next presentation on April 17^th at the Orange Barking Dog location. We will be back on schedule for Beaumont on May 1^st.

We’ll be implementing a change in the direction of the event as follows:

The SETX Green Exchange will continue to welcome home-grown and home-made food items as well as other gardening-related items for exchange. In addition to these things, we encourage participants to bring any home-made or gently used items for exchange, keeping in mind that the idea behind the exchange is green living and being ecologically responsible. In that vien, please keep in mind that we’re not hosting a garage sale. We encourage you to bring items related to living a life that is sustainable and environmentally-conscience.  We would love to continue to encourage gardeners to join us, but are interested in attracting a wider group of participants. Please help us spread the word and use the comments section of this blog to discuss what you’re planning to bring and/or are looking for before our next exchange on April 17th at 10 AM the Barking Dog in Orange (109 5th Street, Orange, TX 77630)!

Anyway, here goes ala David Letterman. Drum roll, please……….

10. Local stores are more likely to carry locally produced foods which supports local agriculture.

9. Local business owners contribute to more local fundraising and 501(c)3’s.

8. Local businesses provide a majority of jobs.

7. Local businesses support other local businesses.

6. The business community becomes reflective of this community’s unique culture.

5. The sales taxes I pay support this community and county: fixing my roads, maintaining my recreational facilities, . . .

4. Competition and diversity result in fair prices and more choices.

3. Shopping local reduces my carbon footprint.

2. Local business owners invest in the community and have a vested interest in the future of this community.

1. My hometown is more important than a cheap pair of underwear!

Ah, thanks for asking….we LOVE that question! “Geaux” is pronounced and means exactly the same thing as the verb “go”. To expand on that, here’s a brief edu-macation for those of you who are not native Southerners, Texans and/or Louisianians from urbandictionary.com: Geaux is a french word-play on the verb ‘go’. Derived from areas highly populated with Cajun Americans, Louisiana State University Tigers fans, or more commonly both. “G-e-a-u-x, Geaux Tigers, Geaux!”; “Here we geaux Tigers, here we geaux!”

- What do you guys do?

Geaux Local is an organization in Southeast Texas whose purpose is to promote local commerce at a grassroots level in an effort to improve local economic conditions. The Geaux Local Southeast Texas community is collectively concerned with the impact of our spending on the livelihood of local commerce. We understand the implications of choosing to support locally-owned businesses over major chains when a product or service being sought is offered by a local, independently-owned business. Shopping with local, independently-owned businesses keeps our money in our community where it can best be utilized to grow our local economy. We are a group of local citizens who are interested in promoting the idea of shopping with local, independently-owned businesses over major retailers when and where possible for the purposes of positively impacting local economy. We are also local business owners who have a vested interest in the Southeast Texas community. Geaux Local is a division of Independent Nation, a non-profit organization in Southeast Texas. Geaux Local services all of Jefferson, Orange, and Hardin counties through our website, and our MySpace and Facebook pages by providing a virtual venue for local business owners and their consumers to interact in a meaningful way in our search for local answers to the national economic crisis. We are a community of local consumers and business owners who work tirelessly to keep our hard-earned dollars working for us where WE live and out of the hands of the major corporations who got us into this mess to being with.

- Who runs this page and how can I contact you directly?

Our website, Facebook and MySpace pages are run by our Geaux Local Street Team volunteers. Our Street Team currently includes Amy Jones, Amanda Ellis, and Linda Morvant. Amy Jones handles public relations and you can contact her at 409.466.1198 or by email at amjo0675@yahoo.com.

- What can I do to help?

You can forward our website, MySpace and Facebook pages to ALL your friends and encourage them to do the same. You can also join our volunteer base and help with fundraising efforts and other tasks. We are always in need of an extra pair of hands and we’d love to chat with you over coffee (our treat!) about it at one of the fabulous locally-owned coffeshops in town if you ‘ve got time on your hands. Contact Amy Jones for more information (contact info above).

- Do you charge merchants to be a part of your network?

Our merchants have a full year of membership with our organization absolutely free of charge once they join. Our hope is that they’ll find our organization so valuable that they’ll gladly renew their membership in their second year with our organization We’re not in this to make money off of local business owners. We are local business owners ourselves and we realize that advertising budgets are small and also that there aren’t very many affordable options that produce results locally so we thought we’d build our own space, pool our resources and create a mass marketing effort that benefits us all! Novel concept, yes?

- Do you guys have tee shirts or other merchandise?

Merchandise is in the works. Stay tuned!