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Today I was sifting through a bunch of papers accumulated over the past six years, including meetings and conversations with GreenGirls.net members. I came across one idea that Daniela Brown had suggested several years ago, but had never been implemented. Unfortunately, Daniela moved away soon after, and now it is my time to leave the city. Anyway, the idea is very worthy of considering, and one that some of our members might especially enjoy.

"Delving Deeper" is where we would get together to have friendly debates on subjects where there is some controversy, such as carbon credits, ethanol, nuclear energy, to name a few topics.

Here are some positive aspects associated with Delving Deeper:
- allows leadership
- provides an opportunity to talk about difficult topics
- helps participants attempt to understand all of the facets of a particular topic
- not just green-washing, but wrestling with topic
- it is not just okay to debate, but encouraged as it informs other people
- brings civility to conversation
- builds confidence in communication skills

Delving Deeper could be held as part of a regular meeting or at another venue.

What do you think about this idea? Please let us know at http://www.greengirls.net/contact. (Please select "Comment or question" when selecting drop-down category so your message will get to the right person. Oh, and don't forget to type "Delving Deeper" somewhere in your message). We look forward to hearing from you!

On March 14, 2010, we held our first Book Club Meeting & Potluck. Ellen Hansen hosted the event, having selected "Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature" by Janine M. Benyus as the book to be discussed. Although most of us had not finished the book (which could be very technical in places), our conversation indicated that we found it both interesting and provocative, and maybe even a little unsettling. This event was a good start for a great idea, so we're looking forward to the next one.

Our next (quarterly) Book Club Meeting & Potluck will be hosted in June by Holly Weyant, who picked the classic environmental book "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson. More info about the event will be posted on our calendar (at right) once details are confirmed. Events are also posted via our Facebook page, so we encourage you to check us out there.

Book titles suggested for future meetings include*:

- Ishmael - Daniel Quinn (1992)
- Small Is Beautiful - E. F. Schumacher (1973)
- Diet for a Small Planet - Francis Moore Lappe (1971)
- The Jungle - Upton Sinclair (1906)

*The person who volunteers to host a given book club event will select the book being discussed.

Although each of us feels passionate about "being green," there is often one primary area in the field of green that we feel most passionate about. We may find that our passion drives us to become more informed about our key subject. We find ourselves attending events, sharing information, and getting inspired to do more to help.

Consider becoming a Team Leader for our group. The following GreenGirls.net members have already volunteered to be Team Leaders for their specific areas of interest:

* Dr. Rhonda Steinke, Team Leader for Natural Health
* Jan Duffin, Team Leader for Inspiration
* Tejashri Kyle, Team Leader for Recycling
* Autumn Mesanko, Team Leader for Community Action
* Christine Engler, Team Leader for Water
* Joni Gilton, Team Leader for GreenGirls.net

Each Team Leader agrees to lead at least one GreenGirl event over a one-year period of time. The event might be being a guest speaker (oneself and/or others) at one of our meetings. Or it could mean inviting GreenGirls to attend an event while serving as the point of contact for attendance at the event. Being a Team Leader means inspiring others to get connected, educated and energized to help our community create a truly sustainable economy.

If you would like to serve as a Team Leader for any of the topics listed below, please contact us. Remaining program areas include:

. Community Building
. Energy Efficiency
. Environment/Habitat
. Food
. Green Businesses
. Organic Gardening
. Renewable Energy
. Waste Management

If you live in the Austin area, we would like to invite you to join our recently created group on Facebook!

We were looking for an easier way for us to communicate with each other and inspire more activities. Our hope is that having a presence on Facebook will allow members to become more involved, engage in discussions, notify each other about formal (and informal) activities, and share photos of our events.

We are sure this group will grow and evolve over time to be a dynamic and fun place to visit, especially with your participation and input. So feel free to keep us all in the loop about what you’re doing, what you care about, and what you’d like to see us do together.

http://www.facebook.com/

If you have trouble finding us, try this:

1. Login to Facebook.
2. Click on the Groups icon (located at bottom left).
3. Click on the "Browse Groups" link (near top of screen).
4. Look for Search box (in the upper left-hand corner) and enter "GreenGirls.net".

Note: The screen shot provided is for Step 3 only, after you type "GreenGirls.net" (without quotes) in the search box and press Enter.

Take Care of Texas: Save Money. Save Water. Save Energy.

Tips to save up to $1,300 per year!

Interested in learning more about water conservation and rainwater harvesting for your home? Join the TCEQ and The Home Depot for an Earth Day consumer-education event on Saturday, April 18, 2009, 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., at 16 Home Depot stores across Texas.

Participants will learn tips to help save money, water, and energy, and will learn how to build a rain barrel for use at home.
For $50, participants may build their own rain barrels to take home. (optional)
The first 30 customers to pre-register will receive a FREE Take Care of Texas reusable bag, a faucet aerator, and a compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulb at the event.
Get tips to save up to $1,300 a year!
For more information and to find a location near you, visit www.takecareoftexas.org/partners.

At our March breakfast meeting, we discussed ideas and suggestions for making our group better, i.e. improving group leadership and thereby increasing member participation. Toward this end, we will be extending invitations to GreenGirls members to take on leadership in more personally meaningful ways, targeted to each member’s personal passion and expertise. So we will have Team Leaders for particular subject areas or topics.

The subject areas would coincide with our weblink categories, including but not limited to:

• Community Building
• Energy Efficiency
• Environment/Habitat
• Food
• Green Businesses
• Inspiration
• Natural Health
• Organic Gardening
• Recycling
• Renewable Energy
• Waste Management

Each Team Leader would be responsible for sponsoring at least one GreenGirl event over a designated period of time, say one year. The event could be coordinating a guest speaker event or other activity related to the leader’s designated subject area. Of course, GreenGirls would be encouraged to hold more than one event during the year if they would like to do so.

Would you consider being a Team Leader for your favorite subject area over the next year? Please be sure to let us know if you are interested!

By the way, if you have any reservations about being a Team Leader, please let us know. We want it to be a win-win for all of us, so let us know how it would work best for you.

Now that GreenGirls.net has adopted a street that we are responsible for cleaning up on a quarterly basis, we are acutely aware of the pollution caused by cigarette butts. During each cleanup session, we notice that there are countless butts scattered along the roadside. The amount of time it takes to clean up these items is huge. Even a small segment of our designated street, say 100 feet, can take hours depending on the volume of butts.

Do the people flicking these butts even realize that they are creating a workload for their fellow citizens? If they did know the effort required, would they care enough to change their habits? We don't know. However, we need to at least try to educate drivers and pedestrians to think twice before flicking their butts on the ground and instead put them in a trash receptacle. There are many reasons to do so.

Volunteers in Pearland (TX) hold annual Cigarette Litter Awareness Days. The following link offers a wealth of information that we may want to use in the future:
http://www.keeppearlandbeautiful.org/cigarettelitter.html

If you want to take action on your own, you can report any litter violations via the Don't Mess With Texas web site. See link below:
http://www.dontmesswithtexas.org/report-a-litterer.php

We can all do our part to keep Austin clean. Prevention is the key.

In celebration of Barack Obama's inauguration, we will be serving sweet potato pie more often in our home. It will serve as a reminder that we can envision and create a new dream — and that anything is possible. Below is a recipe that uses all natural, organically grown ingredients.

Ingredients (choose organically grown, whenever possible):

1 pound sweet potatoes
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup cane sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 9-inch unbaked pie crust

Directions:

Boil sweet potato whole in skin until soft when poked with fork (40 to 50 minutes for 1 large sweet potato or 20-25 minutes for group of smaller ones). Run cold water over cooked potatoes, remove skin, and place in large mixer bowl.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mash cooked potato and beat with softened butter until combined. Add sugar, milk, eggs, nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until smooth. Pour into unbaked pie shell.

Bake in preheated oven for 55 to 60 minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Pie will puff up like a soufflé, and then sink down as it cools.

Serve warm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream (optional).

~~~Thanks to Huffington Post's article posted Nov 24, 2008, which provided the above recipe (which we slightly adapted to include organic ingredients).

Heather and Jeff Barrie have created a short video update to Kilowatt Ours, and posted it on YouTube. Since finishing the original film, this cute, caring couple has moved out of their basement apartment and now live above ground in a small home in East Nashville (a cool place to be). They brought their energy saving passion with them and in this video they show us how they have managed to keep their electricity usage at less than half that of the average home in their state of Tennessee.

You can view the YouTube video here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1GijpkvXNM

Please watch it and let them know what you think.

The complete, high res version of "Jeff and Heather's home energy saving tips" is included as an extra feature on the Kilowatt Ours DVD available at
http://www.KilowattOurs.org/donate.

As a bonus they provided a link to their new and improved version of How to Save $1000 Per Year on Your Electric Bill.
http://kilowattourscommunity.org/forum/uploads/98/KilowattOurs-TenSteps.pdf

Our thanks go to Jeff and Heather Barrie, who continue to inspire all of us.

Amy found this quiz interesting and thought we all might too. Enjoy Sierra Club's approach to helping us cook more eco-friendly. If you get 100% of the answers correct, good for you (and consider having us over for dinner)!
http://www.sierraclub.org/howgreen/cuisine