Carpooling

What's so great about carpooling?

It takes one more car, or in my case a truck, off the road and a little less Co2 gets released into our atmosphere. Sounds good to an environmentalist, but does the average Joe or Josie really want to give up control over the radio, or iTunes playlist?

I'll frame it from a business perspective. If leaders in companies encourage carpooling or ride sharing, what will it do for productivity? Wouldn't it make sense to get to know your coworkers in a intimate setting such as a car(energy efficient car of course)? Think of the team building and networking. Conversation doesn't have to be about work. Share stories and experiences.

For me this weekend of school was looking to be tough. I had to give a presentation to my peers about some social entrepreneurship I was pursuing. I wanted and needed to straighten out my thoughts this morning. When my ride picked me up though I felt the urge to use this time to appreciate the morning instead. Since we are both passionate about music we discussed the language of rhythm and delivery in melody.

By the time I was at school I felt comfortable, strong, and passionate after talking about a subject so beautiful. It set my mood for the day and the presentation anxiety was gone.

From an average Joe turned environmentalist I'd trade in the tunes and seclusion any day.

Check out the Hover:

Stadium's Going Green

The Fall Classic is here. Its nice to see the clubs are making the changes toward sustainability, because I want to watch sports forever!

Here are the highlights from the article in Oct. 27th, 2007s Press Democrat

Red Sox; Fenway Park, built in 1912

"Working with the National Resources Defense Council, the team plans a variety of green improvements including the addition of photovoltaic panels, reusing old bricks and sourcing local materials whenever possible. They are also converting to fluorescent lighting, adding sensor-controlled fixtures and installing low-flow plumbing."

". . .makeover in the works in time for the park’s centennial celebration in 2012"

Rockies; Coors Field, built in 1995.

"the Rockies have already installed a 9.89-kilowatts solar array to offset energy consumption of its LED scoreboard; below the scoreboard, a monitoring system displays the amount of energy produced by the array."

Ball clubs who are pursuing green projects in their own stadiums:
Washington Nationals-

"Nationals Park will strive to become the first major stadium in the United States accredited as a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System™ certified ballpark. The new ballpark will pay particular attention to issues affecting the health of the Anacostia River, such as storm water management and minimization of water pollution."


Minnesota Twins- "This project creates a new standard in urban integration . . The ballpark connects with fans whether they arrive by foot, bike, bus, car, light rail or commuter rail."

"A green ballpark was one thing hundreds upon hundreds of fans requested," said Rebecca Greco, AIA, HGA principal. "Because this is a ballpark for all of Minnesota, we placed a high priority on fan input. Minnesota's new ballpark will be a defining testament to a team, a state and its people."

"The Minnesota Twins, also in the midst of a new stadium project, are working with the US Green Building Council to develop LEED certification standards for outdoor stadiums."

New York Mets- opening 2009-
"Citi Field was designed and is being constructed adhering to many LEED standards including overall Green Site/Building Exterior Management, water efficient landscaping, ozone protection; construction, demolition and renovation waste management; use of sustainable materials and optimal daylight and views." (green-links; thanks!)

Ride your Bike

(Consider this tasty track while reading)

When was the last time you rode your bike. As a truck owner (not sustainable), I have been spending more time on my bike in an effort to green my lifestyle. It's not what you hear, riding your bike is not just good for the physical environment, it is good for your head too.

After working and working nothing clears my head like a bike ride into downtown Petaluma. Today my destination was Aquas Cafe. Serving Taylor Maid coffee(fair trade organic), Aqus Cafe serves the best coffee and serves Petalumians (egg heads), who are community advocates. On my ride home, I can see whats playing at the Boulevard Cinemas (currently 3d Nightmare before Christmas . . . no documentaries unfortunately besides Into the Wild) run into neighbors, and grab a brew or two at the Mystic and maybe buy a ticket to the Groundation concert Friday before heading home.

Ahh . . . Its good to get out.

Bioneers; Web Links from Plenaries

Well the Bioneer's Conference is over for 2007, but the Bioneer's work will continue. So many speakers presenting their expertise their world delivered with their compassion and understanding in each presentation. In an effort to bridge the before and after of bioneer's I thought I would post some of the many links to the work present, and please feel free to offer your own (especially since I did not go on Friday).

Plenaries:
(Friday)
PAX Scientific - Jay Harman - Designing the Next Golden Age
Judy Baca's Art - Judy Baca - The Interactive Digital Mural, Social Reconciliation
Judy Wicks Home Page - Judy Wicks - Local Living Economies; Green, Fair, and Fun
South Mountain Company - John Abrams - Thinking Like Cathedral Builders
Ella Baker Center - Van Jones - Toward a Green Growth Alliance: Birthing a New Politics

Community Building 2.0
WiserEarth - International directory and networking forum that maps, links, and empowers the largest movement in the world.
Bioneers 2.0

Plenaries
(Saturday)
Sustainable South Bronx - Majora Carter - Green the Ghetto
Native Movement - Evon Peter - An Indigenous Perspective on How to Survive the Next Hundred Years
V- Day - Eve Ensler - V to the 10th
Soldiers Heart - Edward Tick - Return of the Ghost Dancers; Modern War's Desvistation . . . and healing

Plenaries
(Sunday)
Home Site - Wallace J. Nichols - A Brave New Ocean, or an Ocean Revolution
Ashé Cultural Arts Center Carol Bebelle - Culture and Re- Building . . . Re-membering New Orleans/Re- Weaving its social and Cultural Fabric
Health Care Without Harm - Charlotte Brody - The Sea Around Us, The Environment in Us
White Earth Land Recovery Winona Laduke - Seeds the Creator Gave Us
Earth Rights - Ka Hsaw Wa & Katie Redford - Earth Rights; Linking Human Rights and Environmental Struggles in the Age of Globalization


So those were some of the links from the weekend, but there were many more in the afternoon sessions. Maybe I'll get some of those out there too. Happy exploring.

California Clean Tech Open Finalists

2007 Finalists
Congratulations to the 2007 finalist teams! Click on a team name for additional details.

Air, Water & Waste Category Finalists
Cascade Clean Energy
EarthGuard
Exergy Systems, Inc.
Friendly Cow Biogas
Microvi Biotech, LLC
Nanoaqueonics
Vision Energy Corp.
Waste Not, Want Not

Energy Efficiency Category Finalists
Ahwahnee Technology
Aquarian Microsystems - Active Micro-Control of Refrigerant Liquids
Blue Earth Energy, Inc.
Nila, Inc.
Progressive Cooling Solutions
SuperBulbs
Zee Dynamics, Inc.

Green Building Category Finalists
BuildFast
E-Mod
Enverity Corporation
Morgan Digital Works
Redwood Renewables
Vertical Landscape

Renewables Category Finalists
1-Solar
Ascentool Inc.
Hoda Globe Company
Humdinger Wind Energy, LLC
Lite Trough
Sereno Solar
SolarAire, LLC
SolarSeal Technology
Tahoe Water Systems

Smart Power Category Finalists
Aptility (formerly Euclid Street Technologies)
Blue Joule
Energi.ca
Federspiel Controls
Grid Saver
Lucid Design Group

Transportation Category Finalists
barefoot motors, LLC
BGT Biogasoline
High Merit Thermoelectrics
Hum Cycles
ICR Advanced Vehicle Engine
New American Energy, Inc.(dba Mighty Algae Biofuels)
RideSpring
RFT
Syncromatics
The Last Mile

The Social Networking Guide for Newbies

In this article FastCompany.com gives you an overview of the what, where, why, and how of social networking. If you haven't gotten yourself onto one of these sites I recommend it. Personally I have reconnected with long lost friends and am able to maintain contact with acquaintances from the past.

"Social networking communities are Websites that provide an opportunity for you to contribute your opinions, interests, and skills to the largest creative work ever built by mankind: the Internet."-FC

Here is the readers digest version:

Part I: Getting Started
Step 1 - Finding the online social networks best suited for you.
Step 2 - Registration.
Step 3 - Creating your User Profile.
Step 4 - Start networking.
Step 5 - Enjoy your new connections.
Part II: What Can You Do on a Social Network?
Things to do in a social network.
Bulletin boards.
Chat rooms.
Part III: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Some top social networking sites?
* Clubpenguin.com is a social network for kids 4-8 years old.
* Linkedin.com is a business network for professionals.
* Bebo.com is the largest social networking site in the UK, Ireland, and New Zealand.
* EldersVoice.com is a social networking site for senior citizens who are young at heart.
* Traineo.com is a weight loss community.
* Dogphoria.com is a dog lovers' social network.

SMOG . . . cough . . .cough

Ahh, Today I must smog my car. What a wonderful word Smog is. Not quite FOG, not quite SMOKE, but SMOG. Isn't it a nice reminder of the unintended consequences of getting from point A to point B. Auto companies are definitely striving to increase their competitive advantage by lowering their emissions. Just look at Toyota's goal of increasing 40% of it's Hybrid sales for 2007 (courtesy of Treehugger.com).

Drive around town though and look at all those cars. If we all buy Hybrids what happens to all the SUV's, Datsun's, and Chargers? Crushed? Stripped? Well . . . Peak Oil News and Message Boards has your answer with a 101 uses for a dead car. While "Use as prop in a theater production called 'road warrior,'" sounds interesting and fun, perhaps the design of the internals can actually be useful in our other energy needs:

"The transmission and driveshaft might be of use in a water powered, makeshift machine shop. The possibilities for using engine parts are probably endless if a person is creative." -BastardSquad

With oil getting closer and closer to $10/ gallon. Cough. And with Biofuels not providing the answer we are looking for. At what point does taking the bus sound attractive? National gas averages

For all those people that want to support their current lifestyle of driving down to the shopping center and loading up for their weekend on the powerboat. You would think that at some point those consumers would want to concentrate on saving our fuel for trucking durable goods. But I think that awareness will come only when they experience the actual scarcity.

I think biking down the freeway sound fun, but thats just me.

Permaculture Tour- What is it?

On Saturday I went on a Permaculture tour in Point Reyes and Bolinas. It was one of the most beautiful places I have every been.

I have heard a lot of talk about permaculture recently and when an email came to me from Daily Acts, featuring a sustainability tour of permaculture sites I jumped on it. For $30 We had some of the greatest examples show and explained to us.

So what is permaculture? Being a word dissector, we have perm which links to perm-anent. From Dictionary.com:
Permanent: Intended to exist or function for a long, indefinite period without regard to unforeseeable conditions.
Then we have culture. Dictionary.com gives this definition:
Culture: Development or improvement of the mind by education or training.

Essentially we know permaculture as effective gardening. But most gardens create a lot of waste and energy loss because of poor design. It is about asking questions and closing loops. For example our guide gave the example of how when they first started out they decided to plant strawberries (because they liked them; an important factor to consider if your a beginning gardener, and I most definitely am!). They noticed bugs eating the strawberries, so they asked how do we get rid of the strawberries? Instead of going with a toxic chemical they chose ducks! Then they had to get the ducks to stay on their property so they asked that question and decided to build a pond. Then they had a lot of top soil (precious top soil! . . .because), so they decided to build a cob office hut. It is beautiful.

Nature is so elegant and complex. Permaculture is playing in nature. It is supporting your livelihood by producing abundant food. It is creating a living fence that supplies you with food to eat, trade or sell, instead of cutting down trees to make a dead one. It is about collecting chicken poop on cardboard and using it as a mulch that blocks weeds. It is about learning and problem solving.

Our guide described permaculture as creating a human habitat.

I rent, but I am allowed to plant a garden in my shared backyard. I don't really have the cash to start a garden and then leave in a couple years, but I think I'll take action and do it anyways!

I think I will plant some strawberries.

Regenerative Design Institute

Drink up

Plastic Water Bottles-

Plastic water bottles are a major energy sink and resource killer. Read more how here. Its deceiving because we are led to think that they are RE-cycled, but in reality they are DOWN-cycled as the material looses strength, not to mention the energy it takes to transport, process the material.

Fortunately, there is an easy switch. I bought a tap filter from PUR which will save me money (see money saving charts). Next I choose a Klean Kanteen as my carrying source. But there are lots of different stylish aluminum bottles. Just check out Sigg bottles!

From Social Justice to Environmental Sustainability

I started my education as an advocate for social justice. My education and experiences caused me to want to help people live happy healthier lives through recognizing and embracing opportunity. My path led me to the Green MBA at Dominican University of California. Soon I was surrounded by individuals who shared unique experiences and points of view, both from the social justice AND environmental framework.

I am beginning to see where we are going as a society and as an ecological organism. What I see demands a new paradigm. I have developed one part to my paradigm (social- seeing every human as an equally equipped valuable person), but I have been lagging in my environmental modeling.

So I am on a journey to change my paradigm like most people will eventually have to. This blog is a shared vision of my thoughts, views, and expanding choices. Created with, "Faith that I will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties while at the same time confronting the brutal facts of my current reality, whatever they might be" -Good to Great by Jim Collins (2004)