The article gives a snapshot of what you can get for that price in a few cities across the country. Click HERE to check it out!

Try these simple tips to start saving today:

No-Cost

•  Program your thermostat to work around your family’s summer schedule—set it a few degrees higher (such as 78 degrees) when no one is home, so your cooling system isn’t cooling an empty house. With proper use, programmable thermostats can save you about $180 a year in energy costs.

• Check your HVAC system’s air filter every month. If the filter looks dirty, change it, but change the filter at least every three months. A dirty filter will slow air flow and make the system work harder to keep you cool, wasting energy.

• Run your ceiling fan to create a cool breeze. If you raise your thermostat by only two degrees and use your ceiling fan, you can lower cooling costs by up to 14 percent. Remember that ceiling fans cool you, not the room, so when you leave the room make sure to turn off the fan.

•  Pull the curtains and shades closed before you leave your home to keep the sun’s rays from overheating the interior of your home. If you can, move container trees and plants in front of sun-exposed windows to serve as shade.

Olivia Bouler, 11, has already helped to raise more than $70,000 to protect whooping cranes and other birds who are threatened by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

A budding orinthologist who already knows she wants to study at Cornell University, Olivia was shaken by the growing disaster and wanted to do something. So she wrote a letter to the National Audubon Society and told them she had one skill to offer: drawing. “Eleven years old and willing to help,” she wrote.

Olivia is drawing birds and sending one rendering to every person who donates to oil relief efforts through the society. Learning of her effort, AOL donated $25,000 in her name to the Audubon Society and offered to host her portfolio at a site it maintains for artists. Cont...

Project leaders are looking for volunteers to help them move the bush honeysuckle pile at the Barber St. site this Sat. June 12 from 10am to 2pm. Other touch-up work includes keeping paths clear of vines. Some trash pick-up may also be necessary.

The Barber Street Park Project is a volunteer effort to design and build a neighborhood park here in Athens on an empty lot on Barber Street. Located at the top of Boulevard, the site is well positioned to serve as a neighborhood focal point and could easily be integrated into a future greenway network and/or a rails-to-trails project.

For more info about this project and to find out how you can get involved, check out Dan Lorentz's great blog HERE.

Make sure you visit the Market, located at Bishop Park, Saturday mornings from 8am to Noon. Click HERE for more information, including a list of what will be available each week. You'll also see a link to the Market website at the bottom of our homepage.

Go get your veggies and support our local farmers!

Jared York was so impressed with one of the group's designs that he decided to build the very efficient, 4BR/3BA house plan the students created. The four UGA students, their Professor Megan Lee and Dean Laura Jolly of UGA's Family and Consumer Sciences School toured the completed home today.

The students were very excited to see their plans come to life! The 1,655 sq foot Energy Star home is a great use of space and includes a room downstairs with a pocket door entry that could be used as an office/den/4th BR. There are three bedrooms upstairs, including a master bedroom and two gorgeously tiled bathrooms.

Click HERE to see photos of this great example of sustainable design.

Tour de Farm is a three-day, approximately 100-mile bike ride to many small local farms in and around Athens-Clarke County. This year's Tour de Farm was a huge success, as both riders and volunteers alike connected to and formed relationships with the agricultural landscapes of Northeast Georgia, the food grown locally and seasonally in our region, and the people working hard to produce this food sustainably.

"It was a really cool experience and one I would definitely do again," Briggs said. He said guest chefs prepared dinner each night using food grown on the farms and riders camped at stops along the way.

The group of riders were followed by a camera crew from CNN, so we'll post those videos when they are available. To check out photos from the event, click HERE.

As we head into moving season in Athens, keep in mind your local options and don't toss your furniture in the trash. There are plenty of area non-profits that will even pick up that old sofa you no longer want! Put a phone call in to one of these places and RECYCLE:

Athens Habitat ReStore - 706-354-0936

Goodwill - 706-433-1900

The Salvation Army

Athens Thrift Store - 706-546-5596 drop-off or 706-357-9244 pick-up

Donations are tax deductible! Click HERE for more on the survey.

Looking for ways to make an impact? Click HERE for a few ideas and check The Flagpole for local activities, including the New Earth Day Festival.

As you go about your day, take this quote with you from the great Dr. Seuss:

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
nothing is going to get better. It's not. - The Lorax

• Provide a pedestrian recycling option which will reduce the burden on our local landfill;

• Support of our local artists and the arts;

• Beautify downtown with artistic recycling bins.

Proposals due by 2pm June 11th. Selected artist recieves an honorarium of $500. Click HERE for more info.