Goodbye, Dr. Green T!

Hello everyone,

I'm hoping you're all enjoying what's left of summer vacation; however, if you're back in school, then I wish you a wonderful academic year! Starting this Fall 2010, I will begin my education at the University of California-Berkeley as a Business Administration major in the Haas School of Business. Unfortunately, this new pathway from community college will be a lot more stressful, tiring, and time-consuming on my life. With this being said, I will be stepping down as Dr. Green T from The Green News.

It has been a fantastic last two years serving The Green News. I began as a regular writer of this online newsletter, submitting monthly articles on environmental subjects that interested me. Within 6 months, I was given the opportunity to take on the role of Dr. Green T for The Green News. What an honor. I feel this responsibility and committment has been truly wonderful as I've been presented a canvas in which to create my own works for the general public to read and acknowledge.

I'm excited to see Dr. Green's Blog move forward with each and every person who decides to take on the role. It is absolutely a fantastic experience and I thank The Green News for letting me be the one to grow from it. :) Stay green, everyone!

Peace&Love,
Dr. Green T

Community Supported Agriculture

Hello Everyone,

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), ever heard of it? I hadn't until just today when my Internship Coordinator pulled out a fresh piece of corn from her lunch bag, and explained how much great produce she was receiving this summer! Let me explain briefly. CSA has become a convenient and popular way for consumers to purchase local, organic produce from a farmer directly over the last 20 years. Basically, a farmer will offer a box of fruits and vegetables that are in season for which a consumer will pay a weekly charge for a nutritious and environmentally-friendly goody bag.

If you check out this site here, you can learn more about the advantages to both consumers and farmers, the shared risk, variations, and more!

My Internship Coordinator explained how she purchases from "River Dog Farms" which is located in Capay Valley; however, they deliver their produce to farmer's markets all over the Bay Area for you to pick up from and enjoy. They pride themselves on growing organic food as their site explains what is organic food, why choose organic, and how to sign up for their veggie box deliveries. Click Here if you're interested to learn more and check out their beautiful photo gallery for a better idea of the concept! :)


In addition to "River Dog Farms," there's the "Full Belly Farms" which is the one I'm signing up for because they have farmer's markets near my apartment and a cheaper, more flexible rate for the veggie box deliveries than "River Dog Farms." However, "River Dog Farms" does have its own qualities that "Full Belly Farms" does not, but my vote still goes to "Full Belly Farms." Anyways, "Full Belly Farms" is also located in Capay Valley, and they sell to both restaurants and farmer's markets. "Full Belly is also home to many outreach activities, including educational tours, school group visits, and the much-acclaimed annual Hoes Down Harvest Festival." Interested in signing up for this veggie box delivery? Click Here.

Hope this blog was educational for many of you because buying from local, organic farms decreases carbon emissions from the trip of delivering produce and prevents the risk of obtaining a disease from pesticides sprayed on your fruit and vegetables. Maybe now I'll see some of you guys at a local farmer's market purchasing veggie boxes! In any case, have a wonderful summer, everyone! :D

Peace&Love,
Dr. Green T

BARTastic!

Hey everyone,

You know what's so great about the Bay Area that many people seem to take for granted? Our Bay Area Rapid Transit also known as BART. It's pretty amazing that we have this piece of public transportation that extends from San Francisco Airport all the way to Pittsburg/Bay Point, Richmond, and even Fremont.

I know some people are afraid to take BART because it can seem confusing, but if you go onto their website here, then you can quickly check train arrival and departure times to best map out your BART adventure! Once you become a regular BART attendee, the whole process of purchasing a ticket, finding which train to take, and knowing where to get off will be easy as pie.

It's interesting how much of a positive difference taking public transportation can do for not only our environment, but our wallets too! A roundtrip ticket from Lafayette to San Francisco is $8.90 which is amazing considering how much it would be to drive with the cost of gas, bridge toll, and pollution to take into acount. TO figure out how much it would cost for you to take BART everyday, Click Here.

We are fortunate enough to have this amazing piece of public transportation at our disposal as it stretches across the Bay Area to cities many of us have never even been to. It's also exciting to notice how all these Bay Area cities are all connected by one thing: Bay Area Rapid Transit, BART.

Peace&Love,
Dr. Green T

New Leaf Paper

Hello everyone!!

Hopefully, you're all getting prepared for school to begin session! However, are you ready for more note-taking in your classes, wasting countless pieces of paper? It's interesting how many people don't pay attention to the fact that we're using up vital resources everyday without a care in the world.

Did you know that "China, India and the rest of Asia are the fastest growing per-capita users of paper, but they still rank far behind Eastern Europe and Latin America (about 100 pounds per person per year), Australia (about 300 pounds per person per year) and Western Europe (more than 400 pounds per person per year)"? (Shapley) It's crazy, but there is something we can all do to help!

I have recently discovered this site called, New Leaf Paper, where they off a wide selection of coated, uncoated and office paper, many with 100% post-consumer recycled content and Forest Stewardship Council certification. New Leaf Paper was also first to market with 100% post-consumer papers of unparalleled brightness and printing specifications, including the first-ever 100% post-consumer recycled coated papers, book publishing papers and more.

You don't necessarily have to order New Leaf Paper products because there are plenty of others companies out there that are manufacturing recycled, environmentally-friendly paper for your writing needs. Just do some research, but if you're still unsure as to why to switch to recycled paper, then Click Here to learn more about "15 Facts About the Paper Industry, Global Warming and the Environment." Hope you all are having a wonderful summer vacation! :)


Peace&Love,
Dr. Green T

Works Cited:
Shapley, Dan. "15 Facts About the Paper Industry, Global Warming and the Environment." thedailygreen. Hearst Communications, Inc., 02 Oct 2007. Web. 10 Aug 2010. http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/7447.