Green Gal

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...

It's been a bike writing day for me. Last week, I was interviewed for a Good Times article about the bike commuting workshops I'm co-designing and facilitating through my IDEASS bike internship. This afternoon when I walked by a stack of Good Times newspapers, I flipped through one. The article about our workshops began on page seven, and the photograph of my bicycle and me was on page ten. How awesome--my bike's never been in the paper! The article quotes Amelia, the Director of People Power, and me, but it doesn't mention my team partner Aly by name. If I had it my way, she'd have gotten a quote in the article, too! She does so much great work for our team, and she always has a cheerful attitude. I'm so grateful to have a motivated team partner who cares about our project and does a fantastic job! Our hope is that people will read this article and attend one of the workshops--and then they can hear from Aly, too!   Read the article ...

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...

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...

Earlier this afternoon, UC Santa Cruz student leaders from a unique selection of campus groups gathered in the Stevenson Event Center to talk about sustainability, environmental and social justice, democracy, the green economy, and the future with a "globally recognized, award-winning pioneer in human rights and the clean energy economy," Van Jones . There were students in the room with a variety of different interests, but all were drawn to the event by the promise that Van Jones would be an inspiration to hear from and speak with, and at least in my opinion, that promise was fulfilled. But before I go into what he said earlier today, let me share a little about Van Jones. He is the best-selling author of The Green Collar Economy and served as the green jobs advisor to President Obama. He is currently a senior fellow at the Center For American Progress and a senior policy advisor at Green For All... Jones is the founder of Rebuild the Dream, an engine helping to drive the m...

Now that I finally have a break from school and will soon be on a break from work, I figured I should update the blogosphere about what I've been up to and share some snapshots of the past few months. I am going to try to post weekly green tips again, even if they are brief, especially during the next month since I am now on break from school. The first environmental news from my life that I have to share with you is that this quarter, I got a job working in the UCSC Sustainability Office ! I am the Internship Coordinator Assistant, which means I process timesheets, create lots of instructional Google Documents for the office, update the office calendar, and compile and send out the office's monthly newsletter, Greening UCSC . I am loving this job, especially all of the opportunities it has opened for me in the sustainability community on campus. This quarter I also became a voting committee member on the Carbon Fund Committee (whose staff members work in the Sustainability Of...

I got paid to eat spicy ice cream today. And I didn't have to pay for the two scoops, either. It was spicy because it was peach habanero flavor, and it was free and I got paid for it because of Rising Sun Energy Center and California Youth Energy Services . I'll rewind. Today was my last day of working for California Youth Energy Services for Summer 2011. All twelve cities celebrated the successful summer of changing lightbulbs and showerheads, among many other things, in a park in Berkeley. Buddy, the CYES mascot I played soccer for the first time in years, remembering after a few minutes why I hadn't played in so long. (I'm quite scared of getting kicked in the shins or having a ball knock the air out of my lungs, so I only kicked the ball when no one else was trying to gain possession of it. I stepped out of the game at the first opportunity, but I did have fun!) I also ate delicious food and had lunch for one final time with my awesome team of fellow Energy...

Did you know that for the many uses we have for freshwater, and for the billions of people living on Earth, that we can only use 0.01% of all the water on Earth? Are you aware that the leaky toilet in your bathroom might be wasting 200 gallons of water daily? How about this: Energy Star rated CFL lightbulbs (the curly ones) use 75% less energy than incandescent lightbulbs because rather than produce heat to make light, they rely on a chemical reaction that takes far less energy to create. No, I didn't look these startling facts up online. I learned them today, among dozens of others, during training as an Energy Specialist for California Youth Energy Services , a program of the non-profit organization Rising Sun Energy Center . CYES provides free home energy & water consultations (Green House Calls) to increase the energy and water efficiency of homes in the San Francisco Bay Area, thus saving residents money on their utility bills. Founded in 2000, California Youth Energy Serv...