4/24/13 – School is out for the summer - almost

As the semester draws to a close I am actually a little bummed I won’t be a part of this class anymore. It has been a ton of fun learning and discussing certain topics that incorporate all spectrums of Green Communities.

Professor Goldsmith is now one of my favorite professors…I think he is really down-to-earth and has a very intellectual mind. I am confident we will be able to keep in touch and hopefully even bounce ideas off one another or something.

Today and Monday were our presentation days and they went pretty well, I think.

A lot of the groups had similar concepts or ideas of transition strategies. Some had more and some had less. Either way it was really cool to see all of our minds collaboratively thinking about what kinds of things we can do to make change happen in our daily lives, commutes, and schedules. 

I can’t say how much I’ve learned this semester in this class, but it has by far been my favorite class this semester. I look forward to the potential to going to Curitiba, Brazil next Fall Break!

God Bless!

4/22/13 - When it's on your mind it's on eBay

In my 1/9 post, I mentioned that I learned about a person in my class who has a boyfriend who used to fix iPhones…

Thinking about that now, I realized that I kind of work for a company that already does this (sort of). If I haven’t mentioned this already, I work for eBay. I think that eBay is a great company to work for and it is especially “green” in the way that it promotes consumer-to-consumer sales and business.

Think about it.

You can sell pretty much anything on eBay. You can get rid of your broken iPod, your used shoes, your hand-me-down clothing…ANYTHING!

Their tagline… “When it’s on your mind it’s on eBay” really makes sense and I just found an even greater sense of pride for the great e-commerce company that I work for!

http://www.ebay.com/

http://www.ebayinkblog.com/

http://www.ebayinc.com/

http://www.ebaycareers.com/

4/17/13 – Brainstorming

As I begin to get situated with my group for our group projects/presentations, we are all brainstorming ideas or topics. The focus is on transition strategies that affect our quality of life and that are part of our daily commute from home to school and from home to work.

Today our group went over numerous categories of change such as transportation systems, food systems, water systems, architecture, and energy. Our next task was to go home and think about some more in-depth ideas that are more specific. As I was thinking about mine – my topic is transportation – I came across my mom’s magazine “Better Homes and Gardens”. 

Obviously this isn’t transportation specific, however, I noticed an article about roof gardens and green roofs. Oila! That is amazing. I saw right before my eyes a transition strategy in a fairly popular magazine that was promoting green roofing and gardens while at the same time telling the audience how easy it is! I love it and I really wanted to share – please see the pictures I took of the magazine below.

4/15/13 – Group projects

So we are beginning to think about group projects and discuss possible areas to discuss in our presentation.

As we brainstorm our ideas of what we could do, while at the same time getting to know my group teammates, I noticed something cool. 

We are all thinking like an ecosystem. We are all incorporating ideas that were brought up in class that we learned about transition strategies. I really love how we are all thinking together and it is really cool to see how we all “get it.” It is cool because it is nearing the end of the semester and we are all on the same page, thinking collaboratively.

That is the extent of my thoughts for today. I just really think it is so cool to see how far we’ve come. We really know what Green Communities are.

4/10/13 - Urban Chicken Coop

I just had an epiphany. As we’ve been talking a lot recently about home-grown eggs from backyard chickens, a lot has been on my mind about it. I have been thinking more and more about that idea, if feasible and possible when I am out living on my own, how I might actually be able to have chickens and grow my own eggs…along with all the other benefits. Ironically, today, I found a magazine in our house opened up to a chicken coop idea/project titled, “The Skeptic’s Guide to the City Chicken.” I think the title totally fits how most city-dwelling Americans think of chickens (“their place is not in the city.”). Although I personally think it would be more valuable to someone to handcraft their own coop, the ideas portrayed in the article are really interesting and I’d like to share. It’s definitely something cool that I came across and I think it is really awesome how it was right in line with one of our most recent discussions in class about chickens and home-grown eggs.

  

 

 

I hope these aren't too large, just wanted you to be able to read what it says...

4/8/13 - My mind is transforming...

Thinking of all this composting stuff (compost privy’s, composting waste baskets, composting bins, etc) it is really turning my mind…

As I wrap my head around such a concept, I realize that it is not as “gross” and “disgusting” as the modern American eye views or sees it (myself included!). The more I learn about it in class, the more I think about it as “wow I could apply it to my life.” I just threw away some food and almost feel embarrassed that I didn’t have some form of a composting bin to put it in to save it from going to the landfill… I almost feel guilty that I should have one in my house even though I don’t. This is different compared to my thoughts previously.

Wow, talk about a new change in thinking…

4/3/13 - High Performance Green Infrastructure

As I reviewed and briefly browsed over the “High Performance Green Infrastructure,” I noticed how thorough and in-depth it was. I mean, most design criteria, guidelines, or recommendations briefly browse over and explain the best way they think things should be done, built, designed, constructed, etc. However, this document was at least ten times as thorough and in-depth as any design document I’ve ever read! It seriously went over a ton of stuff! The designers of the piece must have spent a lot of time thinking about the components of each integral part of “High Performance Green Infrastructure,” and what it means in every single way. Typically when one thinks about a “complete street” they do not narrow down to the very minute details of the construction process and materials being a key integral part of it. Yet this document went into that and so much more! I was actually very impressed with its depth of thought and how large and grandiose of a vision the authors have.

This is really revolutionary stuff!