Edible Education - A Reader Responds!

A strong community grows one person at a time, one family at a time. Sometimes all it takes is a reminder of the values that people grew up cherishing, but have forgotten in the busy-ness of life. Here's one reader's response to my previous post about edible education (teaching kids to grow and cook their own food at school):

Your blog about the sustainable gardens has come to fruit. My wife got wind of it when I told her about your blog so she started a sustainable garden at her Pre-School. We are starting with tomatoes, summer squash, and watermelons. The little ones get to help with every step. We can already see the different sprouts starting to break through at each row. We taught the little kids that they have to water with a watering can that gives out just a soft easy supply of water to the new plants. They can't wait to be able to harvest their vegetables that we will use for snack time. The parents are also excited about this project. We have encouraged them to start gardens at their homes.

This is a great family thing to do. I remember my Dad teaching us these same things when I was a kid back in the 50's. Back then everyone in the neighborhood had a garden (and plenty of fruit tress). I loved every minute of it when I was a kid. Especially the part about eating what we grew or sharing it with other neighbors. My Mom made the best Rubarb pie. It also seemed like all of it tasted so much better. I think the big part of it was that all of the family was involved and so were all of our neighbors. Here in the 21st century (2008) it just might take off again.

I just talked to my neighbor who has two little girls about starting a garden. She is actually clearing an area and borrowed my rake to get out all of the rocks. It's so cute to see her little girls so excited about having a garden. Who's next?

Indeed, who's next? This is an idea that can spread like wildfire if we only give it a chance. Many thanks to Chuck H. of Fairfax, California for sharing his thoughts and experiences with us!

Going Local is a Matter of Life and Death

In Memory of my sister, Jessica Brigida Stevens.

When my sister died last summer suddenly, I was struck by the most amazing realization. She had lived in Alaska with her family, my brother lives in Sydney, Australia with his family, and the rest of the family lives here in San Francisco. It seemed ridiculous to be so spread out as a family. How could the most important people in your life be the ones that you saw the least?

Asian cultures view the family differently. It is not uncommon to support your parents in China, for example. Actually, many people don't have a choice. But, in our western culture with everything at our fingertips and supposedly little free time, how did we separate so much from our families and friends?

Everything can change in an instant. I know that when I came into close proximity with death, my priorities changed. My whole outlook changed, actually. I wanted to be close to family and friends. I wanted to get more involved in the community and build something special right where I lived.

The Future of Electricity: The "Smart Grid"

Imagine a utility grid that is smart, distributed and more localized. What does that mean? Well, think electricity combined with the technology and structure of the Internet.

In our current electricity grid, the electrons flow from huge, centralized power plants, sometimes quite a distance from the end user, and simply go one way; picture thousands of one-way streets that branch off of a freeway. It hasn’t changed fundamentally for more than a hundred years, except for the capacity of the grid, that is, an increase in the number of power plants. But, the grid is outdated and in need of an update.

There are fundamentally two major problems with the existing grid:

1. Current transmission lines are incapable of transmitting electrons very long distances. For example, we cannot get our electricity in California from a wind farm in Texas.

2. Inaccuracy of the real-time usage data which makes it hard to predict patterns and troubleshoot.

The loss of electrons in transmission is something that only a technological breakthrough will be able to fix. We will have to wait and see on this one. But this is a long way off considering that the transmission lines will have to be replaced.

Now, what if the intelligence and structure of the Internet was a model for our electricity grid? Well, suddenly power companies would be able to track with accuracy, how much power was being used and where. Currently, much of this data is vague and inaccurate. For example, when there is a downed power line, the utility must wait for a blackout or for someone to call it in to diagnose the problem. What’s more, thousands of homes can go out when there is just one problem on the line. In the new grid, troubleshooting would not be a problem.

This new “smart-grid” would be controlled by thousands of wireless transmitters that could “talk” to each other and give the utility accurate data on real-time energy usage. This has many added benefits including:

• Empowering the customers and utility with real-time data.
• Better troubleshooting.
• More efficient use of the power load.
• Less prone to storms and terrorist attacks.

With this accurate information, the utility could begin to more efficiently handle the power loads during peak times. For example, the new smart-grid would be able to turn up the thermostats in thousands of homes by one degree in the middle of summer. Collectively this would make a huge difference in power needs, but on a user-level this would hardly be noticeable. One of the more interesting areas is the “smart appliances” that would be able to power on and off according to the power needs of the grid. Think of a washing machine that turned off on-demand by the power companies if you weren’t using it.

It is amazing that the grid has not changed much since the times of Thomas Edison. This is a huge growth area and very exciting when you consider that much of this will be powered by renewable energy and distributed. Traditionally, the electricity industry is very slow to change, considering the infrastructure changes that are required. However, the “smart grid” will soon be a common household phrase.

A Gold Medal for Banning Plastic Bags?

China is often perceived as a major polluter on the world stage, sacrificing the environment for rapid economic growth. This perception is often buttressed by images of polluted rivers and smog-infested landscapes.

In some ways, however, China is way ahead of the ball in protecting the environment. One prime example: China just placed a nationwide ban on plastic bags. The move is designed to prevent litter and save millions of barrels of oil each year. In a country where up to 3 billion plastic bags are used each day, the significance of this legislation is huge.

By comparison, the U.S. is still struggling to move away from plastic bags. San Francisco banned plastic bags last year, and last month Los Angeles became the second city in the U.S. to enact a plastic bag ban.

Certainly, change can sometimes be easier accomplished when dictated by an authoritarian government such as China's. The beauty of our democracy, and the reason most of us would prefer to live in the U.S. than China, is that we can all play a part in making change. Frustratingly, though, this can all too often lead to political gridlock, or the hijacking of our future by narrow business interests.

The challenge is on. Let's show the world that our democracy can bring about the changes that are needed for a sustainable future.

The spark that started in SF and LA needs to move across the country. Talk to your friends, family, and neighbors about ways to reduce or eliminate the use of plastic bags. Express your opinion in your local newspaper, and persuade your city council or state legislature that this change is needed. Our future depends on it.

Water vs. Global Warming

"Water is the most critical resource issue of our lifetime and of our children's lifetime. The health of our waters is the principal measure of how we live on the land."
-Luna Leopold, hydrologist and professor, UC Berkeley

Global warming is getting all the attention right now and for good reason. Water is an equally important issue, but much less on the radar for the masses, especially in terms of conservation. Think about it the next time you turn on the tap.

Get Informed!

If you are wanting to see change in the world, you need to become more proactive. Become a leader and lead by example.

I encourage everyone to get informed. Do lots of reading about the issues and try to get a good picture of what's going on in the world. Many of us are solely dependent on media to hype up the latest trends and news. This is why we are in the "Green" revolution and feeling overwhemed with it all.

We need to read on our own and become informed citizens. Become an inspiring local organizer and leader. Get involved in your local communities to work on things that you feel are important. Make it your job to be as educated as you can. Don't be complacent.

An Interesting Experience on BarackObama.com

A few weeks ago, I created a profile on BarackObama.com so that I could see how grassroots groups were forming around common interests. There is a section on the website called "Action" where you can join or create a group in your local area, an action group. I joined two groups, one called "Marin County for Obama" and the other called "Greens for Obama."

The functionality and concept was great; I could search groups in my area by entering my zip code. Immediately, I had access to hundreds of people with common ideas and interests.Once I had signed up for these two groups, I started receiving lots of email. Tons, actually, twenty or thirty a day from each group. I started reading the email and people were having conversations and trying to organize things but a lot of it seemed to be arguing! Certain people were using it for negative comments about other users and getting defensive and all sorts of crap. My initial excitement on the possibilities were a bit deflated. I wondered why people were using it for such negativity.

I realize that everyone wants to express themselves. Some people use these groups as a venue to get heard and they may be very passionate about the issues, but they are also very strange. I don't see how such a positive thing, can bring out negativity in this way. And it was very unproductive. I think great things are happening with this grassroots events and group formation on the whole, but after this experience, I didn't feel like being involved. Maybe the groups need more moderation? Just a random experience of mine involving my interest in social networks with politics...

10 Easy Ways to Save Water

10 Ways to Save

1. Give your sprinkler time off. Most lawns and gardens get 20-50 percent more water than they really need. You can cut watering times 2 to 5 minutes for every 10 minutes you water and still have a healthy landscape.


2. Water while you sleep. Water only in the early morning or at night when evaporation is at its lowest.


3. Water wetter. Install a “smart” controller, available at an irrigation supply house. This device automatically tells your irrigation system how much to water.


4. If it’s broke, fix it. Check for leaks, pipe breaks or clogged sprinklers and replace or repair if necessary.


5. Replace outdated, inefficient irrigation equipment. Save money through your local landscaping rebate program, if applicable.


6. Shower shorter. Install a water-efficient showerhead that uses 2.5 gallons/minute or less.


7. No drip policy. Because they’re “on” 24/7, leaky faucets, toilets, and showerheads can waste a lot of water.


8. Flush with pride. Check with your municipality for local rebates to install qualified 1.2 gallons-per-flush toilets.


9. Keep it clean & Get green. Use the energy-saving cycle when washing clothes. Use cold water. Rebates are available when you buy a high-efficiency washer.


10. Fill ‘er up. Run your dishwasher on the energy-saving cycle and only run full loads.

Check out H20 Conserve for tons of tips and tricks for saving water as well as calculating you water footprint.

Red Alert: Water is the Next Oil!

From Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke's book Blue Gold, The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World's Water:



According to the United Nations, 31 countries in the world are currently facing water stress and scarcity. Over one billion people have no access to clean drinking water and almost three billion have no access to sanitation services. By the year 2025, the world will contain 2.6 billion more people than it holds today, but as many as two-thirds of those people will be living in conditions of serious water shortage, and one-third will be living with absolute water scarcity. Demand for water will exceed availability by 56 percent.

Many of us who have lived most of our lives in the industrialized countries of the North may find it difficult to imagine running out of water. We have lived with steady supplies most of our lives and have used it lavishly. But at current rates of use, we will run short. At a time when we are on a rising curve in water use because of increasing industrialization, intensified farming, and population growth, water resources are being depleted at an accelerated rate. Aquifer overdrafts, massive urbanization, and unchecked pollution are withdrawing supplies from the world's water account, just when we need to be saving more...There is simply no way to overstate the fresh water crisis on the planet today. The alarm is sounding. Will we hear it in time?

A New Approach to Solving Clean Water in the Developing World

WaterHealth International – a FOR-PROFIT company - based in Lake Forest, CA, has a bold and noble vision:

To be the leading company providing innovative and affordable potable water solutions to meet the needs of all people worldwide, including the poorest of the poor.
WaterHealth video

WaterHealth has some innovative proprietary technology that uses UV light to purify water, but the most innovative part is the low maintenance, simplicity and low cost of the units. The systems need very little power and coupled with solar power they become entirely self-sufficient.

For about $2/day, consumers in developing countries can have access to fresh water, helped by the micro crediting techniques pioneered by Nobel Peace Laureate, Muhammad Yunus.

Describing their product…

Our product offerings for underserved and difficult-to-reach communities are based on the concept of decentralized and modular turn-key systems. Our systems are designed for rapid deployment, and are engineered to be easily and sustainably maintained.

Decentralized water solutions are really working for people in developing communities because this enables scaleable solutions for a variety of project sizes. WaterHealth has a true bottom-up approach because they have learned that you have to see this from all perspectives, most noteable the end user. Currently, WaterHealth’s systems supply almost 1 million people in over 500 communities with clean water in India, the Philippines, and Ghana.

WaterHealth’s approach is what’s referred to as a world-centric business model, which means that they are involved in the entire water supply and purification process from end-to-end, including design, product manufacturing, financing, servicing, and hiring locals to operate the company’s systems. This means jobs in the community, empowerment, and even entrepreneurship opportunities for the locals. And when the loan is paid off, the community can start raising money from the water units.

I want to stress, and WaterHealth is not shy to say, that this is a different approach for two reasons:

1. it’s for profit
2. the world-centric approach

Most non-profits have trouble in the long-run because of capital costs and maintenance.

This should be inspiration to us all. To see an amazing vision like this attempting to conquer one of the humanity’s greatest problems, reveals a simple plan to approach an extremely complex problem. How can WE learn from this innovative approach to solve some of our potentially simpler – in terms of non-life threatening – problems?

Green is now a factor in pricing real estate: LEED

Green is now a factor in pricing real estate. It would be great if Solar companies could bundle energy efficiency into their mix somehow though. Is this already happening? I am not sure.

Solar companies are so hyped up on the sexiness of nanotechnology, that they are not taking a leadership role in promoting efficiency and positioning themselves as leaders in these two related and equally important fields. Efficiency and conservation first, BEFORE high-tech add-ons, I say.

I think that LEED certification will become the standard in real estate pricing. Like the ENERGY STAR seal on an appliance, or the MPG rating on a new car, I see the LEED rating factored into building purchases that will directly affect pricing. This means that investing in a sustainable home that is LEED certified, has financial benefits, like high resale values and savings on energy and water.

Check out Arno Harris's - CEO of Solar Company Recurrent Energy - blog on this topic: http://arnoharris.typepad.com/cleanenergyfuture/2008/06/class-a--its-got-to-be-green.html

Letter to the Editor: Wake Up America, Water and Oil is Underpriced!

I wrote this short note to the editors of about ten major newspapers across the country:

It is amazing how spoiled Americans have become. We pay five dollars for a gallon of gas and everyone freaks out. Europeans have been paying three to four times that much for years, which has encouraged more fuel efficient vehicles, and also smaller vehicles.

Market forces are at work here, people. Tapping into fuel reserves, off-shore drilling, these short-term fixes miss the point. Oil is a scarce resource and any scarce resource that is in huge demand, will constantly go up in price. Americans have been spoiled and treat these precious resources as God-given rights. It is about time that we pay more realistic market prices for our two most important resources - energy and water.

Water is the next oil. We will see price increases in the future as the cost of providing ready, clean supplies of water goes up. Currently, water is cheaper in the desert of Las Vegas than in snowy Boston; isn't something clearly wrong with this picture?

You can - and should - write a short note to the editor's of newspapers about how you feel about environmental issues. Visit Al Gore's non-profit initiative - wecansolveit.org - for a great resource for the concerned individual. There are many ways you can get involved, under the "Take Action" section of the website. Here is a link to help you write a short note to some editor's right away: http://www.wecansolveit.org/page/speakout/augustchallenge.

Edible Education: Food for Thought

Last week, I attended a lively panel discussion in San Francisco titled "How We Eat and the Slow Food Nation." The panel featured Alice Waters, one of the most famous chefs in America and founder of the Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, California. Her talk highlighted the ways in which we can strengthen and revitalize our sense of community through a more mindful approach to food. She recounted that when she was a teenager in the 1960s, she visited France and observed that the people there visited the market every morning, buying only the freshest ingredients available that day. No processed food, no food shipped from far away. She noticed how food connected family and friends together in the "rituals of the table," making life so much more enjoyable and vibrant. Thus inspired, she returned to America with a mission: to bring back that same sense of community, enlivened through delicious food bought directly from farmers and cooked with an emphasis on letting the simple, natural flavors predominate. Eventually, this approach became known as California cuisine, and history was made.

These days, Alice is promoting edible education in the schools. Her program, called the "Edible Schoolyard," provides urban schoolchildren with a hands-on, concrete learning experience in growing their own organic food and cooking it in a kitchen classroom. In the process, the kids learn about ecology, biology, and nutrition, while also enjoying the tangible fruits of their own labors. As described on the "Edible Schoolyard" website, the program's mission is two-fold:

Children learn about the connection between what they eat and where it comes from, with the goal of fostering environmental stewardship and revolutionizing the school lunch program.

In this way, not only do kids learn important lessons about taking care of themselves and the larger world through a more direct experience of food, but they also eat more nutritiously. Sounds like a win-win to me!

If edible education sounds like a good idea to you, I urge you to take action. Discuss this idea with others in your community and persuade your local school to establish its own "Edible Schoolyard." The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Start now and you can make a difference, too!

10 Greatest Challenges Facing Humanity

The late Richard E. Smalley, considered one of the early fathers of nanotechnology, founded the appropriately-named Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology in the heart of Houston at acclaimed Rice University, which is now a global leader in advanced energy and nanotech research.

Before his death in 2005 at age 62, Smalley and his team came up with a list of the 10 greatest challenges facing humanity:

1. Water
2. Energy
   
3. Food
4. Environment
5. Poverty
6. Terrorism and War
7. Disease
8. Education
9. Democracy
10. Population Growth

From The Clean Tech Revolution by Ron Pernick and Clint Wilder.

Conservation and Efficiency: Two Often Overlooked Areas

Most people trying to save the planet think that the best thing that they can do is to buy a hybrid vehicle like a Toyota Prius or put solar panels on their home. However, two of the most important areas in environmental change are being overlooked: conservation and efficiency.

The two most important resource-savings take place in energy and water usage. Although this is much less sexy than getting some semiconductors installed on your rooftop, efficiency and conservation are the easiest areas to make a difference right now, and should be regarded as the most important first step for any concerned citizen. I am amazed by how many people make the big jump towards other more technology-heavy measures, before they consider the changes that are less interesting on the surface, but if everyone did them, could literally change the world.

Often referred to as the cleanest power source of all, efficiency is the most effective way to save resources. Amory Lovins, founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute in Snowmass, Colorado, is one of the world’s most respected efficiency technology gurus. He first coined the term negawatt in 1989 as a unit of conserved electricity, or a megawatt of power that the power plant never has to generate because of efficiency.

Both in the water and electrical industry, the incentives have to be changed for efficiency and conservation to flourish. In the past, water and energy companies have been rewarded by how much water or energy they sell, without any incentives to sell less or encourage efficiency and conservation.

Nowadays, utilities are changing that model and reforming the system to create financial incentives for utilities to promote efficiency. For example, the Northwest Power Act of 1980 allowed power generators to share a portion of their customers’ savings from using less electricity, giving them a financial stake in the efficiency game. Among utilities’ large-scale efforts in efficiency is market transformation, a program in which utilities and regulators promote the manufacture and purchase of energy-saving products (appliances, building materials, etc.) with rebates, industrial training, consumer education, and marketing assistance.

But in most areas in the United States, except for the Northwest, California, New York, and a few others, regulatory efforts to drive efficiency measures have a long way to go. The decoupling of utility sales and profits has not happened yet in most areas, which gives utilities the wrong incentives to encourage efficiency and conservation.

We must spread the word about this important and often overlooked agent of change. Visit the website Flex Your Power [www.flexyourpower.org] for more information about conservation and efficiency. Also visit H20 Conserve [www.h2oconserve.org] for water efficiency tips and advice.

Success Teams: The Power of Working Together in Small Groups

When I was first starting out in a new career, I joined a professional association in my area that had used the book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People as inspiration to form something called a Success Team. A Success Team is simply 5-7 individuals meeting together consistently over time around a common interest area.

In another life, I was a photographer, so my first experience with Success Teams was in that industry. This association made us each pay $300 to belong to the group, which I thought was rather steep, BUT they did supply a facilitator - who was also a career counselor– for our first meeting, and also formed the group for us. We were instructed on how to conduct the sessions efficiently around a set structure.

The structure is as follows:

1. Each person speaks for 10 minutes about what they are doing and what their goals are. This time is not designed for complaining or venting, but on moving forward in your career.


2. The discussion is opened up to the group for 5 to 10 minutes for feedback, comments and support. Then you move on to the next person.
   

Note: It is helpful to meet monthly or bi-monthly. This keeps up the momentum. It is good to follow this set structure for the following reasons: time efficiency, focusing the group on one person at a time, and forcing you to get to the heart of the issues quickly.

It is a very simple concept, but I have found it to be a powerful tool for my career in several areas, including:

• Being held accountable for goals and goal-setting.
• Being validated for what you have done and encouraged to push further.
• Sharing knowledge and best practices.
• Networking.
• Brainstorming.
• Developing your own leadership skills and becoming a better team-player.
• Organizing events and getting involved in the community.

Watch out for these three pitfalls in setting up a group:

1. When forming a group, it is hard to find people that are going to be on the same page in terms of skills and goals, but don’t worry about that too much. A lot of this is an exercise for you to go through by setting your own goals and forcing you to be accountable for them.


2. Group members must be enthusiastic and motivated and not skeptical about the idea. It is important that you like them as people as well!


3. Meet consistently and try to not skip meetings. Be serious, because the Success Team is a powerful tool if you use it right that could really benefit you.
   

I am currently researching how groups can come together locally and create change, build communities and do this on a mass-scale. The main ingredient in this possibility is a strong desire to push your career forward in a dynamic and beneficial way to the world. A perfect Win-Win situation! If you have any ideas, please comment.

My most recent Success Team is a Clean Tech career group in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is pushing me forward professionally, with the added benefit of helping to solve environmental issues.

Everyone is Looking to Profit from the "Green" Revolution

So many people are hopping on the "green" boat right now. They don't know how and they don't know what, they just know it's all gotta stop. And right now.

I have heard so many people wanting to get into this movement and start a "Green" business. When I asked one person what the business would be about, they responded: "I don't know, but I know I need to start one!"

Someone else I know was transitioning from Photography into creating a consultancy that helped governments acheive the Kyoto protocols. I looked on the website and it was fully functional, except there was no content!

This was very telling. Where is the content???

I am very skeptical about this sudden desire to go "Green". It feels very bubble-like, although I know these people are genuinely concerned. That is not to say that everything "Green" is all fluff, but there is lots out there.

I think "Green" should just be replaced by "Community". That is what is lacking the most. Maybe we needed to wake up to how much damage we are doing to our surroundings, but are any of us really that surprised? We have been over-worked and have not invested properly in family life, nor our local communities. If we prioritized theses things, given an example by the right leaders, we might be able to start from the bottom up. Nobody has taken the leadership reigns in this country to show us values beyond mindless consumerism and the hunt for wealth.

Talk to the guy in the check-out line. Reach out to someone. Start small and build up confidence to lead by example in your local area. Do all you can to audit your ecological footprint [http://www.myfootprint.org/en/], but don't feel you need to make it a career unless you have some true value to bring to the table.

Check out BetterTogether.org, which was founded by Robert Putnam "calling for a nationwide campaign to redirect a downward spiral of civic apathy. Warning that the national stockpile of "social capital" – our reserve of personal bonds and fellowship – is seriously depleted, the report outlined the framework for sustained, broad-based social change to restore America’s civic virtue."

What is the evolution of social networking?

The evolution of social networking sites show they develop new functionalities.

1. First generation sites only let users manage friends' lists. There are mainly flat, single entry lists by schools or classes you attended. Examples: Copainsdavant (FR), Classmates.com


2. Second generation sites can be seen as the first social networks. They are centered around an individual and his friends, and friends of friends : they follow the 6 degrees rule. Examples: LinkedIn (US), Viadeo (FR), Xing (G).


3. Third generation sites could represent the first social media sites. They allow multi-dimensional connections, real conversations between users, in compliance with the social graph theory *. Examples: Myspace (US), Facebook (US), Bebo (UK).
   


4. Fourth generation sites are what I am proposing already exist and will flourish in the future. They would represent social media sites that facilitate face-to-face meetings. They allow people to come together off-line around common interests, building real communities and friends in the real world. Examples: Meetup.com (US), Match.com (US).

We are already seeing a huge amount of green social network sites that are flooding the market place. I think that we are already maxxed-out on these sites. Most of my friends use Facebook and LinkedIn, but are unwilling to belong to any more social networks.

Unless...the rules change. The climate is right, we just need the right solution that might integrate into these pre-existing sites. Why reinvent the wheel?

There is still a huge opportunity here to provide some real value to people through the internet. People are craving to be heard and to interact with people off the computer. This is not regression, but progress facilitated by technology.

Facebook Study

view presentation (tags: facebook study)

Sources: faberNovel analyses, Stanley Milgram (1967) Facebook; 03.10.2007 - Facebook study;
FaberNovel Consulting.

* As exposed by Mark Zuckerburg (US).

Seeking experts to contribute to our blog.

We are looking for experts in different fields to post to our blog. If you think that you have any ideas on how to build local communities, please contact us.

Our Manifesto:
Ideas to build strong local communities. We believe that the internet should be harnessed to bring people back together, face-to-face. We would like to empower everyday people to make a difference, locally.

Here are some keywords to give you an idea on what we are looking for:

• social networking
• community building
  
• grassroots movements
  
• environmental experts
• clean-tech
• education
• healthcare
• renewable energy
• water
  
• biofuels
• green building
• technology

Power America with Cheap, Clean Energy in 10 Years? Yes We Can!