pebble's blog

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

Over the years men have asked us why there isn't a green group for guys already in Austin. My answer is always "You could get one going if that's something you want to be a part of!" I would love to see what kind of group and activities men would create along these lines!

We received an email recently from a male who wrote: "I really like your group. Can y'all recommend anything similar in Austin that men can get involved in?" We are not currently aware of an organized group or network of men who meet around environmental issues and do similar activities. There is, however, a loosely organized, self-identified group called Green-Gos. There is no leader that I know of or any specific way to contact them except through AustinEcoNetwork. What I mean by this is that guys receiving AustinEcoNetwork's email postings about upcoming activities decide what they want to participate in.

First, if you are reading this and you are not already on AustinEcoNetwork's email list, then you really need to know about it. It will keep you informed about upcoming environmentally oriented events in Austin. Brandi Clark maintains that list and posts announcements. It will "plug you in" immediately. To subscribe, go to http://www.austineconetwork.org/

In early 2009 GreenGirls.net will be inviting men to participate in a tree planting activity in Pease Park, which will happen sometime around February. A group called Friends of Pease Park is organizing that event, so we will be helping them out. We recently adopted the street segment adjacent to the park, so the park is becoming a second home for our group. The tree planting event will be a great opportunity for green-minded guys in Austin to come meet some of the GreenGirls who are volunteering for this event. Does this idea interest you? Stay tuned.

The Internet makes it easy for people to find GreenGirls.net and easy for us to grow and communicate to our subscribers. Of course, this kind of work is done on a volunteer basis, but it is very rewarding. If you would like to discuss the idea of starting your own group and web site as well as what it takes to keep the site and your group happening and growing, we would be happy to discuss this with you. Go Green-Gos, make it happen!

Wouldn't it be great if we all grew up in a learning environment where individuality and demonstrated intelligence were completely supported? Unfortunately, many women today were educated in schools where peer pressure and trying to be like everyone else, maybe even downplaying one's intelligence just to be popular, was considered the norm and a measure of one's success. Who knows what the world would look like today if during those early years in school we were all given frequent opportunities to shine, to be unique, to ask many questions, and to pursue curiosities and dreams?

Imagine a world where our leaders make protecting our planet's precious natural resources a top priority. That world appears to be coming, and women will be crucial in bringing it about. Women inherently understand the connection between the health of our children and the health of our planet. All that may be missing is how to raise our awareness of how our daily choices can make all the difference in what we create and what we leave behind.

We are just beginning to reach out to mothers and daughters who would like to get connected, educated, and inspired around this topic, how we can use precious resources more wisely to live lightly on the earth and preserve it for future generations.

I recently learned about Girls School of Austin, a local private school for girls (grades K-8), through a mother of one of the girls attending the school. I told her a little about GreenGirls.net, how our group had adopted a street and was planning a cleanup event. She expressed an interest in involving her 10-year old daughter more in volunteer activities related to the environment. She also suggested that I contact the school to discuss how the girls could be more exposed to green principles, ideas and examples, and how mothers and daughters might be involved in GreenGirls.net events in the future. To learn more about the school, I watched GSA's video download at http://www.thegirlsschool.org/ and was inspired by girls speaking on camera.

Soon thereafter I met with the head master for Girls School of Austin as well as one of the teachers. We talked about what the school was already doing in the way of environmental education and activities. We also talked about possible topics for guest speakers in their classrooms. For example, a worm composting workshop would be ideal for launching a live, hands-on science classroom project. Or a talk that educates and inspires girls to think a little differently about how powerful they can be as consumers, citizens, and leaders in their community. Or maybe an introductory talk about what it means (and how it feels) to be green. Our group can also be helpful by inviting young women and girls to speak to our group, to share their ideas, inspire others and practice their leadership skills. The possibilities are endless.

Over the past several years, our group has been blessed by the expertise and passion of women speaking on various topics related to the environment. We will continue to have guest speakers at many of our breakfast meetings. Whenever possible, let us consider how we can bring mothers and daughters together to learn new things, do fun things, and take action together. We need each other to be successful.

This is an exciting time for the green movement. Let's continue to be creative, share our talents and passions, and inspire each other!

Recently my boyfriend and I had the pleasure of visiting the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado. Although most of the buildings on the property were off limits to public visitors, we were able to do a self-guided tour within the visitor center. Several exhibits provided mini examples of how electricity is created, stored, and delivered, as well as examples of several generations of materials and their efficiency ratings. There were also videos showing product testing of solar panels and wind turbines, where they extensively test designs and materials prior to mass production and market introduction. It was quite impressive just how far we have come in terms of inventions and applications despite the uphill battle the industry and NREL have faced in terms of the lack of meaningful and sustained financial support.

Standing in front of these exhibits, I could not help but feel that a dark cloud is lifting, knowing that our new leaders understand fully the urgency of developing and implementing clean, renewable energy sources. Just think, we will soon no longer be facing roadblocks to accelerated progress toward clean, green energy solutions for the common good. Perhaps it is time that we take a moment to celebrate this pivotal change in course and speed, and then immediately jump in and participate in every way possible toward the creation of a newly transforming, sustainable economy and culture.

For more info about NREL, go to http://www.nrel.gov/

The purpose of the GreenGirls Career Book is to provide opportunities for GreenGirls to create the job and career of their dreams. Every woman who wants to work in the green "business" world will create opportunities for herself by becoming clear about what she wants and by communicating those ideas clearly to others.

Each page in this book is a resume written by a GreenGirl. Ideally each resume is written from the perspective of "The Job/Career That I Am Now Creating for Myself," whether or not that actual job appears to exist in reality! Know that you can create exactly what you want.

This book is intended to provide a way for GreenGirls to learn more about each other -- our passions, talents, and skills -- so that we can support each other to find what we are looking for. Let's make it so that every GreenGirl who wants to work in the green community finds interesting and rewarding work.

To be able to access the book and post entries in the book, you must be a member. To become a member, just attend a GreenGirl meeting or outing and sign up on our list. You will then be invited to become a registered user for this site. (If you have already attended a meeting and signed up within the past two years, then please look for an email invitation by the end of August 2007; if you don't receive one by then or your email address has changed, then feel free to contact us.)

As women, we have a knack for being wise about limited resources, and we love helping each other. We are in the process of testing a special section called Wishes Granted that will allow GreenGirls.net members to post offerings and opportunities by section, such as housing, jobs, and other items. This new feature will make it easier for us to find what we need as well as to help others who may need what we have to offer. Only group members will have access to this information. To become a member, you must attend a GreenGirls meeting or outing and sign up on our list. If you haven't come to a meeting yet, we hope you will consider doing so.

GreenGirls.net is launching a new project called Grow Your Own. We haven't launched it publicly yet, just sharing the idea among a small group . . . and no, it's not what you might be thinking!

Grow Your Own is about inspiring GreenGirls to start a GreenGirl group in their own neighborhood or community circles. Speaking from my own experience, leading this group has been very interesting, rewarding and a lot of fun! It is now time to decentralize and branch out to be more effective. Taking on this project and starting your own group could change your life! It will certainly help you feel more connected and be more powerful in your own community.

To facilitate this project, this web site is being enhanced to make it easier for you to communicate, post GreenGirl events, and get connected. Our GreenGirl startup kit, also in the making, will give your group focus and direction to ensure its success.

If you are interested in this idea of starting your own group, stay tuned!