Media contact: Brianna Hoge
During the event, visitors can take tours of the Solar House and Solar Community, plus shop a vintage market, purchase plants from local shops and more.Want to explore a corner of campus that is entirely off the electrical grid? Join University of Alabama at Birmingham Sustainability for free tours of the UAB Sustainable Community on Saturday, Oct. 1, from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Located at the corner of 11th Avenue South and 17th Street, the community features the UAB Solar House, which is powered by an adjacent microgrid, plus a monarch butterfly waystation.
During the event, visitors can take tours of the Solar House and Solar Community, plus shop a vintage market, purchase plants from local shops House Plant Collective and Recreative Natives, paint birdhouse gourds with ArtPlay, hear music from the UAB Jazz Combo, and snack on treats.
“UAB’s Solar Community is a unique area of our campus,” said Bambi Ingram, manager of UAB Sustainability. “It may seem small from the sidewalk, but it’s teeming with opportunities for knowledge — to learn about sustainable construction and solar power, to explore how science and art can overlap, and to discover the importance of native flora and fauna for the Alabama ecosystem.”
Attendees will also have a chance to take home seeds for milkweed — a native Alabama plant that provides monarch butterflies nutrition, a home for newly laid eggs and a sap that, when ingested, makes them poisonous to predators.