Green Gal

This morning I had the pleasure of interviewing Lily Urmann, my dear friend and fellow UCSC sustainabilibuddy graduate. We spoke about one of her favorite favorite subjects: Biomimicry. The Biomimicry Institute describes biomimicry as "an approach to innovation that seeks sustainable solutions to human challenges by emulating nature’s time-tested patterns and strategies. The goal is to create products, processes, and policies—new ways of living—that are well-adapted to life on earth over the long haul. The core idea is that nature has already solved many of the problems we are grappling with. Animals, plants, and microbes are the consummate engineers. After billions of years of research and development, failures are fossils, and what surrounds us is the secret to survival." Lily is fully immersed in the study and development of programs related to biomimicry at Arizona State University. The work of the Biomimicry Center at ASU is at the forefront of biomimicry educati...

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Yesterday morning, I picked up tiny pieces of plastic, cigarette butts, and other trash carelessly left by beachgoers during a two-hour beach cleanup at Seabright Beach in Santa Cruz. It began at 11 AM, so after a quick breakfast, I biked from my new place to the shore of Monterey Bay, looking forward to my first beach cleanup. I had been struck by a desire to participate in a beach cleanup on Tuesday of last week after stopping by West Cliff Drive on my way home from work. Sitting on a bench overlooking the Bay, I realized that I had never done a beach cleanup, although I've helped with cleanups of other kinds before on campus at UC Santa Cruz. I committed to myself that I'd do one soon, and then pedaled on home. That same afternoon, I checked my email and saw a message from Surfrider Foundation, announcing a World Surfing Reserve beach cleanup on Saturday, July 19. Wow, talk about the universe really aligning things for you! I immediately joined the Facebook event page ...

Today on the way home from work, I took the scenic route along the coast of the Monterey Bay. Yesterday on the way home from work, I stopped by a local and organic farm stand for some kale and strawberries. On my way to work each day by bike or bus, I can look below me and see the bay or look toward my destination and see redwood trees, fog, and deer. I couldn't ask to live and work in a better place than this. Since I last posted, I've graduated from college with a degree in English Language Literatures, acquired two part-time jobs, visited the Bahamas for the first time, and gotten back on my road bike. I've ridden up the hill to work four times in the past two and a half weeks of working, and my goal is to bike to work 2-3 times a week. It's 45 minutes uphill, and the hardest part is the last leg of it. I love the energy it gives me when I arrive at work, especially since my job is mostly sitting in front of a computer emailing people, posting on social me...

This morning, my family and I went to our town's downtown farmers' market to enjoy the company of our community, enjoy the fresh air and fresh produce, and to get a knife sharpened at one of the booths. I also was able to snap some photos for the green tips guide I'm editing for the City. After we dropped off the knife to be sharpened at one end of the market, we wandered back down to Main Street and explored an art gallery, which sells locally crafted art, paintings, and jewelry. I observed that the jewelry prices were all at least $40, which seemed high to me. Then I realized that in order for a local artist to make a living selling jewelry and in order to use fine quality materials, that is the true cost. I'm so used to prices you might see at big chain stores where the jewelry is made in China out of cheap materials. Though I stopped buying lots of jewelry awhile back, realizing this made me want to be selective and thoughtful the next time I do want to get som...

Starting this blog 3 years ago was probably one of the best decisions I ever made. I didn't quite realize how important the blog would be to my life or that it would become a valuable place for me to explore my writing style, learn innumerable new sustainable lifestyle tips, and truly hone in on what I’m passionate about. Green Gal on her way to high school a few years ago. Around the same time that I started the Green Gal blog, I also started a literature blog called perennial Thoughts . My whole life I figured I’d study literature, and I was right. But I also figured I’d go on to become an English teacher or a writer of fiction. In eighth grade health class we had to create a timeline for our lives, and on mine I put that by age 25 I would have published my first book. I figured it would be creative writing, or something fictional. I participated in NanoWriMo a few years in high school and joined the school’s writing club. I wrote for our local Patch back whe...

A few hours ago, I returned home from the California Higher Education Sustainability Conference at UC Davis (click here to read others previous posts I've published about the conference). My notebook has 10 pages, front and back, filled with ideas, best practices, reminders, and contact information from others who attended the conference, which brings together students, staff, and faculty from higher education institutions (and others who work with higher education) throughout California. I attended the conference because I work in the Sustainability Office at UC Santa Cruz, and next year I will be leading a team focused on Education & Outreach to our campus community regarding not only the work our office does, but also the work of the sustainability community at UCSC in general. This year, I've worked on developing our  monthly newsletter , our new  student-written blog , and our growing Facebook page , and next year...

It's already Wednesday, and I just haven't had the time to update the blog since Monday, which fortunately means I've been busy exploring the opportunities of the conference and the campus! I've attended many workshops, learned some great take-aways, and have spent some time exploring the UC Davis campus. For now, I'll take a step back and return to Monday evening's activities, and later this week, I'll write about the workshops I've attended. The California Higher Education Sustainability Conference kicked off Monday night with keynote speaker Dr. Mitchell Thomashow, who spoke about the Nine Elements of a Sustainable Campus. Click here for a written document about the nine elements, or watch a video from a different event on the same topic, below: One of the major take-aways that I learned from his keynote address was that "How we act is how we live," meaning that the ways in which we live day to day make up our life, not the ...

Earlier today, I arrived at the UC Davis campus for the California Higher Education Sustainability Conference . It's a week-long conference focusing on sustainability at the university/college level, and participants include students and staff from throughout California.  According to the website , "The California Higher Education Sustainability Conference highlights cutting-edge research, as well as case studies with proven successes in curriculum development, operational programs, and community partnerships. This unique event is jointly organized by independent/private colleges, California Community Colleges, California State Universities, and the University of California creating the opportunity for dialogue across institutions. The University of California, Davis envisions hosting a conference that deepens connections among sustainability practitioners, academic and adminitrative, across all sectors of high education, utilizing the Davis Campus as a living laboratory dem...