Greening the Library

I've taken a wee turn here and the focus today is greening your library.


A couple of months ago we created a Green Team for our library. Our goal is to get our library (Mills College, F.W. Olin Library) on the map with a certificate showing our compliance with the green standards.

So far, so good. We've done our audits, participated in power-down days, switched out our lights, and met a number of times with the University's environmental representative.

At present we're looking into getting power strips for all plugs so we can more easily unplug equipment.

Our next steps are to bring more awareness into the library community, such as:

• less paper usage

• only turn on lights when you are using them

Are you working on a greening project? We'd like to hear about it.

Get the Most out of Your Solar Panels

Some things you can do to get the most out of your solar panels:

• Wash them off from time to time
• Trim large trees that might get in the way of getting maximum sun on your panels
• Call your installer to troubleshoot

Questions: Ask us: www.yznrg.com

Cap and Gown Made of Post Consumer Waste

What a relief to find out the cap and gown I am wearing for my MLIS convocation is made of 100% post consumer recycled plastic bottles.

"For every San Jose State University graduate walking at commencement, an average of 23 plastic bottles were used to manufacture the Cap and Gown, keeping the bottles out of our landfills.  The new line of graduation wear is called GreenWeaver® . It is the latest effort to go green on campus by converting discarded water bottles into keepsakes."(http://www.oakhalli.com/college/sanjosestateuniversity/)

Thank you to all forward thinkers who are keeping our environment in mind!

Calculate your Carbon Footprint & Offset, offset, offset

Have you calculated your Carbon Footprint yet?

You can do this for yourself, your home, or your business.


Use any of these (or others)  to calculate your Carbon Footprint:


Carbon Fund: http://www.carbonfund.org/Calculators/
Safe Climate: http://www.safeclimate.net/calculator/
Terrapass: http://www.terrapass.com/carbon-footprint-calculator/


Or do a Google search for “carbon calculator” and choose a company/organization you want to support--and use their carbon calculator.


What do I do after I calculate my Carbon Footprint?


If you’re doing well...and recycling, reusing, and thinking about the Planet, you might not need to do much. Except keep up the good work!


But what about those things that you “can’t avoid” or that are “difficult” to avoid, for whatever reason, such as travel or paper use?


Consider offsetting your carbon use. Here are some ways in which to do this:


1) Native Energy: For example, you can offset the carbon used in traveling with the easy to use calculator here: http://www.nativeenergy.com/pages/travel_calculator/465.php

2) Plant trees or donate to the Green Belt Movement: http://greenbeltmovement.org

3) Purchase a Terrapass: http://store.terrapass.com/store/c/18-Carbon-offsets.html?&


Get this!: You can even use Search Engines powered by Alternative Energy such as this one called Gigablast: http://www.gigablast.com/


“Gigablast is the leading clean-energy search engine. 90% of its power comes from wind energy” (Gigablast, 2010).

Tell us how you are offsetting your Carbon use.

Sarah and Robert, Owners of YZNRG, an Alternative Energy Consulting Company located in the San Francisco Bay Area: www.yznrg.com
(We work nationally and internationally.)

Corporate Responsibility

On a recent trip to Northern California, we decided to take a hike in the Redwoods. One of the first things we noticed as we entered the park was a flattened Starbucks cup. This could have been a paper or plastic cup (or other item) from any company, it just happened that it was from Starbucks. In fact, Starbucks says they are concerned about the environment and has quite a bit of information on their website on responsibility and even on cups.

It was disheartening to see this litter in one of California's most treasured places and it got us thinking about corporate responsibility.

How can we ensure that what we create does not add to landfill? Or end up in our parks, forests, or anywhere else other than in the appropriate recycling receptacle?

I thought of Ownership and Robert thought of Reverence. What can we do to capture the attention of those who are not recycling or using their own mug so they understand (and hopefully care about) the impact of their actions?

4 biggies: Fast food industry, coffee industry, tobacco industry, and plastic bags from retail industry.

Ideas:

1. Cities/Counties should not be responsible for a company's waste: A company that creates a lot of trash should pay for it. As El Cerrito residents we do not want to pay extra because so and so creates a lot of waste.
   
2. Create eco trainings for the "general public."
3. Companies support community litter clean up or pay employees to pick up their litter.
4. Create awareness, lead by example, pick it up even if it's not your litter...

Tell us your  ideas.

Stay Green!

Sarah & Robert

Live Christmas Tree Grows Up

In an earlier post gifts keep coming in from eco footprint, I brought up my article about using live Christmas trees to heal the scars from a fire in Tilden Park.

Here is the article, colored from age but still a fresh idea, I think.

And the tree--imagine it once in a smallish pot in our living room. See it now as it triumphantly stands over a North Berkeley backyard.

Dad says it's a Mexican Pine. If we were to get live Christmas trees and use them to plant in much needed areas, we would need to choose wisely and plan ahead.

Just think, we could be healing the planet by carbon off-setting, and still enjoy our holidays!

Tell me how you are being Green.

Sarah

Living Green or Just Talking About It?

Would you purchase Solar panels from someone who did not have them installed on their own roof? Would you purchase them from a company that did not use them on the office building? This question touches on sales and advertising, but it also touches on first hand knowledge and trust.

I remember years ago when I was a waitress. I didn't eat meat, yet I had to sell it. This was not easy. I would ask the other waiters how it tasted and how to describe it. At times I would take a teeny taste. But this practice did not feel right; I could not do it now. If I do not have first hand knowledge about the product, I should probably not sell it.

We have been living a green lifestyle for years now. Our carbon footprint is very low. We have Solar Panels, Solar hot water, and use excess shower water and veggie rinse water on the plants outside--that is until we get an official greywater system.

Can somebody really promote something without doing it themselves? Sure you can, but is it going to be effective? Will you be believable?

Visit us at www.yznrg.com.