Open Hand Atlanta encourages the community to dine-in and give back for Dining Out For Life, April 27

Posted by Liz and John Attaway, 3/28/22

PONCE CITY MARKET CELEBRATES EARTH WEEK THIS APRIL WITH HAPPENINGS AROUND PROPERTY

Events include Atlanta’s Green Market Fair, Georgia Forestry Foundation Exhibitions, SustainAble Home Goods’ “Sustainable Switches” Free99Fridge Donation Drive & More

 In the spirit of Earth Day on April 22, Ponce City Market is hosting a series of green initiatives and events with an environmentally-conscious focus during this year’s Earth Week, in addition to its ongoing green initiatives throughout the year. The lineup includes:

• Atlanta’s Green Market Fair (Sat., Apr. 23, 9am-6pm) – Atlanta Green Market Fair will host over 40 local “green” businesses in a pop-up style market at Ponce City Market to celebrate Earth Week! Complete with live music and a full day’s schedule of educational environmental programming, including speakers, panels, workshops and more, the one-day event will double as a fundraiser for local environmental non-profits and feature early-stage environmental entrepreneurs, sustainability-focused academic programs and green jobs. Activities will kick off on Saturday, April 23 at 9am with Yoga on The Yard. Following, the market will be open from 10am-6pm.

“Everything needed to actually solve the environmental problem already exists,” says Atlanta Green Market’s lead organizer Tyler Thompson. “Those who are able just have to start adopting better alternatives to polluting goods and services. It goes far beyond the reduce, reuse, recycle mantra; it’s about leveraging consumer power to advance market-based solutions to environmental decline. The Atlanta Green Market Fair is a start on how to do that. Come and discover a better way of packaging, building furniture, managing waste, consuming electricity, commuting, eating and so much more.”

Following Earth Day weekend, Atlanta Green Market will host ongoing, weekly pop-up markets around Atlanta featuring many of the same brands slated to attend the fair, including:

• The Jack Ellis Company, a maker of custom reclaimed-wood furniture

• Eutree, a provider of forest-free flooring and paneling

• Fresh Harvest, a subscription-based organic grocery delivery service

• CompostNow, a subscription-based at-home composting service

Atlanta Green Market is a subsidiary of The Environmental Solutions Store (TESS) based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 2021, TESS aspires to become a trusted consumer marketplace for non-polluting/low-polluting alternatives to polluting goods and services. Atlanta Green Market Fair is a volunteer-led event sponsored by Greencom and inspired by the writings of TESS co-founder and long-time ecology and business writer, John Thompson – author of The Environmental Entrepreneur: Where to find the profit in saving the Earth (1992). John’s 30-plus years of research, ponderings and writings inform the science-based labeling methodology used to define what “green-business” really means.

• Georgia Forestry Foundation Exhibitions (Sat., Apr. 23, 10am-6pm) – Georgia Forestry Foundation will be celebrating Earth Day at Ponce City Market by bringing awareness to the benefits our state’s forests provide to clean air, clean water, wildlife habitat and sustainable products. Stationed in the third floor trestle, the breezeway connecting Ponce City Market to the Atlanta BeltLine’s Eastside Trail, they will showcase exhibits from partners at Chattahoochee Nature Center, Georgia Audubon, Georgia Conservancy, Georgia Forestry Commission, Georgia Public Broadcasting’s Virtual Reality Lab, Trees Atlanta, Trust for Public Land and Georgia Tech’s Digital Building Lab. Plus, visitors will be able to experience forests through virtual reality Oculus Go headsets, interact with live animals from Chattahoochee Nature Center, hang out with Smokey Bear, enjoy music and family-friendly activities, and learn about eco-friendly product alternatives made possible through sustainable forestry.

• SustainAble Home Goods’ “Sustainable Switches” Free99Fridge Donation Drive (Fri., Apr. 22 – Sun., Apr. 24) – Throughout Earth Day Weekend, SustainAble Home Goods is hosting a “Sustainable Switches” event, where customers can bring items to donate to Free99Fridge – an Atlanta-based grassroots organization committed to fighting for food justice and addressing the needs of our neighbors through mutual aid – and get 10% off their purchase. They will be collecting non-perishable pantry items, pet food, personal hygiene products, personal protective equipment like gloves and masks, individually wrapped plastic utensils, sandwich bags, meal prep containers and baby food, formula and diapers. All items should be sealed, pre-packaged and ready to be donated.

• Ponce City Farmers Market 2022 (Wednesdays, 4-8pm) – Ponce City Farmers Market opens for the season on Wednesday, March 30 and offers locally grown and made produce and goods! Farmers use organic practices (some going even beyond organic) to help steward the earth while producing some of the freshest and most nutritious food available in Georgia. Now located in the third floor trestle, the market is open seasonally, late March through October, on Wednesdays from 4-8pm. Each week, it will feature produce and goods from urban farmers and artisanal food makers as well as chef demos, live music, unique crafts for purchase, like candles and jewelry, and more. Plus, it will offer monthly yoga sessions by Stephanie Germann. The market will offer a number of Earth Week happenings at their April 20 market.

• Madewell’s Pre-Loved Jeans Program (Ongoing) – Madewell practices circularity year-round by allowing customers to turn in any brand of “pre-loved,” old denim to receive $20 off a new pair. If a certain quality standard is met, pre-loved Madewell denim will be sold online through their resale platform, Madewell Forever. Other branded denim is sold on thredUP.com and if the product is unsellable, it is sent to Cotton’s Blue Jeans Go Green™ program to be recycled into insulation.

• Marine Layer’s Re-Spun Program (Ongoing) – Marine Layer’s Re-Spun Program helps to keep textiles out of landfills one tee at a time. All year long, this program encourages customers to donate tees, which are then turned into new products, and this month is the perfect time to celebrate this! Customers receive a $5 store credit per tee, up to $25 off per person. Read more about Marine Layer’s sustainability efforts here.

• Allbirds – Allbirds, a certified B Corp and Public Benefit Corporation that believes in making shoes and apparel in a better way, opened a new retail store and community center at Ponce City Market in October 2021. The brand is on a mission to prove that comfort, design and sustainability aren’t mutually exclusive by making premium footwear and apparel from renewable materials, designed for everyday life. It is the brand’s first store in the Atlanta area and 30th globally, with locations across North America, Asia and Europe.

• Mangata at Citizen Supply – Framed by a design language that sounds in femininity, minimalism and global design, Mangata is an ethically-crafted home decor brand founded by Francie Lowman in the spring of 2020. After spending a few years in the furniture industry and having a strong desire to center design around sustainability, Francie founded Mangata as a way to create a more eco-friendly home. Mangata offers a range of homegoods such as furniture, light fixtures, ceramics, pillows, curtains and more at Citizen Supply, and all products are locally and thoughtfully created using eco-friendly materials, sustainable methods and fair traded products such as organic cotton, natural vegetable dyes and sustainably harvested wood.

• Emblazoned at Citizen Supply – Emblazoned has been making statements and artwear in Atlanta since 2019 with their unique collections of handmade, reclaimed and ethical accessories, including earrings, necklaces, rings and more. Inspired by travel, Emblazoned produces small-batch designs made from sustainable and ethical materials sourced from artisans in nine different countries. Owner, Designer and Atlanta local Em Clarke Arnold set out to celebrate global artistry and tradition by investing in fair trade partners and forging connections across the globe. All of Em’s designs seek to honor the tradition of handmade techniques. Emblazoned aims to bring exposure to the rich history of communities through materials like recycled glass from Ghana, repurposed bone from India and Tagua seed from Guatemala. Visitors can shop Emblazoned’s beautiful designs at Citizen Supply at Ponce City Market or online here.

• Dragon Denim at Citizen Supply – Born out of a love for thrifting, Dragon Denim sells custom jean jackets, hoodies and t-shirts made with up-cycled and reworked materials. Sparked by painting an old jacket in 2018 and selling it on Instagram, Owner and Designer Rayna Parks’ unique pieces quickly grew into a one-of-a-kind brand. Parks’ most popular items, lace denim jackets, are created by reworking parts of the jackets with lace pieces embroidered with delicate designs, including flowers, stars, butterflies, snakes and of course, dragons, setting a classic grunge tone. Dragon Denim’s intricate pieces can be purchased here or at Citizen Supply in Ponce City Market.

Designed with sustainability in mind, Ponce City Market is committed to employing green practices throughout the property and has been awarded numerous accolades such as LEED Gold Certification, the Urban Land Institute’s Global Award for Excellence, BOMA International TOBY Award, PEDS’ Golden Shoe Award and ULI Atlanta’s Project of the Year, among others. With a focus on building community connections, Ponce City Market incorporates a pedestrian network, public green spaces and access to the Atlanta BeltLine corridor—all within the revitalized historic property. Ponce City Market also encourages the use of alternative methods of transportation for residents, office and retail employees, local neighbors and guests, providing hundreds of bike parking spaces to visitors traveling to the market using Atlanta’s BeltLine trail, which runs adjacent to the building. A complimentary shuttle bus to and from MARTA is also available for office and retail employees and FLATS residents. Additionally, the property partners with ride-share services such as Uber and Lyft to offer convenient, designated pick-up and drop-off locations on-site, as well as Zipcar car-share vehicles.

In 2020, Jamestown made a formal commitment to achieve net zero operational carbon emissions portfolio-wide by 2050 and adopted all 17 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Additionally, Jamestown has committed to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), pledging to reduce its Scope 1 (property-generated) and Scope 2 (landlord-generated) greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030, from a 2018 base-year, and to measure and reduce its Scope 3 (third party-generated) emissions.