Envision Charlotte

If you have been following along you know that we have some new exciting stuff happening over here at the Innovation Barn! Thanks to Lowe's Companies, Inc. Hometown grant we are redoing the outside - shade, sign, a water feature, a bunch of new artwork, new natural landscaping just to name a few! The kitchen will be host to our new partner Canteen North America and their new concept Cuisines! So to celebrate all this fun stuff we are hosting a festival with a Fish Fry, Nov 13th 5:30 - 8pm! All our partners, Change Please, 100 Gardens, Crown Town Compost, Springclean, Power Up USA, Ekologicall LLC, Adrina Farms, The Bulb, Waxhaw Worms will be here hosting a variety activities - see below. Thanks to Ally 6pm - 7pm, the first 150 people can make a candle from the wax harvested from the honey! Event is free to attend, however, if you like a plate of deliciousness you will need a ticket! $35/Plate Beer Battered Tilapia, Coleslaw, Malt Vinegar & Tarter Sauce, Adrina Farms Salad Roasted Acorn Squash, Pumpkin Seeds, Dried Cranberries, Lemon Poppy Vinaigrette French Fries Thyme & Truffle Aioli, Honey Glazed Granny Smith Apple Tarts, Tea or Lemonade (beer and wine available for purchase) (can you pick out all the items coming from the Barn?) $50/Plate – the above plus a pound of HONEY! $250/Plate – the above plus a leaf on our donor tree! You will be able to select your own leaf, customize it and pick your leaf location! Thanks to Ally - from 6 – 7pm make your own candle using the wax from our bees, until the wax runs out! Additional activites – Change Please will be hosting a coffee-tasting session where participants can sample different brews and use a flavor wheel to guess the flavor notes of each coffee. It’s a fun, interactive activity that will engage your senses and deepen your appreciation for the complexities of coffee. Join The Bulb’s fun activity, where you can test your produce knowledge by guessing the weight of various fruits and vegetables! It’s a great way to engage with fresh, local produce while learning more about healthy eating. Join 100 Gardens for a tour of their aquaponics lab and discover how they raise tilapia while growing sustainable produce in a closed-loop system! Springclean is excited to host a vintage pop-up shop, where attendees can explore unique items and engage in hands-on activities showcasing the various ways we repurpose materials. Join Waxhaw Worm Farm as they guide you through the process of building a worm bag and provide tips on how to care for your worms. For $25, you'll get to take home a ready-to-use bag—just add worms! Registration and tickets here - https://lnkd.in/ecWpsjkG

I’m thrilled to be speaking at SmartCity Expo World Congress Barcelona on a topic close to my heart: how increasing environmental pressures are reshaping the way we manage natural resources. Circular economy practices offer smart, green solutions for addressing these challenges by enhancing food security, water management, and waste reduction. In my session, I’ll explore innovative strategies that promote circularity in urban resource management and discuss how this approach can tackle the complex environmental, social, and economic issues we face today. I’ll also be sharing insights from Charlotte's own journey, particularly how the Innovation Barn has been instrumental in advancing our city’s progress towards a more circular economy. By engaging corporations, individuals, students, and even other cities, the Innovation Barn has become a hub for collaboration and innovation, driving meaningful change in how we think about waste and sustainability. If you're attending the event, I’d love to connect! Come by and let’s catch up on how we can work together to drive more sustainable, circular solutions for our cities. #SCEWC #CircularEconomy #SmartCities #InnovationBarn #Sustainability

I will be joining my friends at Metabolic for a couple of events during NYC Climate Week. Would love to know who else from my network will be up there and suggestions for any additional must attend events. #sustainability #circulareconomy https://lnkd.in/e5yUVEdg

What’s next on our upcycling journey? Check out these ‘bricks’ made entirely from PakTechs collected from our local breweries! Now, we’re looking to take it a step further, and we need YOUR creativity! What mold should we tackle next? Something uniquely Charlotte, perhaps? Drop your ideas in the comments—let’s turn our city's waste into something amazing together! 💡 #InnovationBarn #CircularEconomy #CharlotteCreatives

With all the breweries in Charlotte, there are a ton of PakTechs out there! 🍻 Instead of letting them end up in the landfill, we’re turning them into something cool… first up: beads! We made this awesome bracelet, and you know you want one! And with all the different colors of PakTechs the combo's are endless! But that’s just the beginning—what’s next? Stay tuned for more upcycled creations coming your way! #UpcycleMagic #SustainableStyle #InnovationBarn

Exciting Update! Today marked our first Red Vest Day with our incredible partner, Lowe's Companies, Inc.! The Lowe's team rolled up their sleeves and got to work—moving furniture, pulling up turf, scraping, and painting—all to prepare for the upcoming exterior transformations. We’re gearing up for another Red Vest Day in October, where we'll install new landscaping and put the finishing touches on the project. By November, the Innovation Barn will look absolutely stunning! A huge thank you to Lowe's Companies, Inc.. for their unwavering support in helping us make Charlotte a more sustainable and circular city. We couldn't do it without partners like you! #RedVestDay #Sustainability #CircularEconomy #InnovationBarn #Partnerships

Queue up the kids! Recently, we had the pleasure of hosting over 100 kids from Freedom School Partners for field trips at the Innovation Barn! These amazing students learned all about the Circular Economy and discovered practical ways to reduce waste at home and school. They even got hands-on and helped us make animal beds out of old tee shirts (which we also use as sound panels). We love welcoming kids to the Innovation Barn, knowing they'll inspire their families to become even better environmental stewards! 🌍♻️ #CircularEconomy #Sustainability #InnovationBarn #FutureLeaders

We could not be more excited to announce that we are one of the recipients of Lowe's Companies, Inc. 2024 Hometowns grant! Lowe's has been a partner at the Innovation Barn since we opened and having corporate partners like them really enables us to advance our mission in creating a more sustainable, circular Charlotte. If you have been to the Innovation Barn (and if you haven't what are you waiting for?) you know that the front door is hard to find. So as part of this grant not only will we be able to put a sign over the door but also we will be bringing in Amy Hart (bunny artist) to create and incorporate a tree out of found materials. The leaves of the tree will display our donors (hint hint) both individuals and corporate partners. In addition, we will be adding some much needed shade, natural landscaping, a cool water feature and making the outside more ADA accessible! Thank you Lowe's for all that you are doing to help organizations like Envision Charlotte and our Innovation Barn!