Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Dec 22, 2011, 2:46 pm
"After sleeping through a hundred million centuries we have finally opened our eyes on a sumptuous planet, sparkling with color, bountiful with life. Within decades we must close our eyes again. Isn't it a noble, an enlightened way of spending our brief time in the sun, to work at understanding the ...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Dec 7, 2011, 12:53 am
Now that I finally have a break from school and will soon be on a break from work, I figured I should update the blogosphere about what I've been up to and share some snapshots of the past few months. I am going to try to post weekly green tips again, even if they are brief, especially during the ne...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Aug 13, 2011, 2:57 am
I got paid to eat spicy ice cream today. And I didn't have to pay for the two scoops, either. It was spicy because it was peach habanero flavor, and it was free and I got paid for it because of Rising Sun Energy Center and California Youth Energy Services. I'll rewind. Today was my last da...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Aug 11, 2011, 10:06 pm
Thomas Fullam, who works for the City of Pleasanton, and two friends are riding their bikes from Oregon to Virginia, updating a blog about their travels along the way. They leave today, and plan to cycle into Yorktown, Virginia, on October 10. Read the full article that I wrote about the trip on Pl...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Jun 28, 2011, 11:34 pm
Did you know that for the many uses we have for freshwater, and for the billions of people living on Earth, that we can only use 0.01% of all the water on Earth? Are you aware that the leaky toilet in your bathroom might be wasting 200 gallons of water daily? How about this: Energy Star rated CFL li...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Mar 11, 2011, 6:33 pm
Need another reason to recycle? Sometimes it's easier to just toss a recyclable into a nearby trashcan than to wait until you find a recycling bin, but here's a good reason to wait and dispose of it properly: "Paper takes up 40-50 percent of the volume in American landfills. Despite the growing comm...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Mar 5, 2011, 1:58 pm
You know those days that just feel like a particular season? They have some quality that reminds you of the typical feeling you get during that season? Well this morning it feels like Spring outside. When I woke up this morning, I opened up my shades and saw sunlight in the redwoods, and just now as...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Feb 26, 2011, 6:50 pm
At nine o'clock this morning, I put a pair of binoculars around my neck and stuffed a small red notebook into my pocket before setting off with a group of four other UCSC students led by UCSC Museum of Natural History curator Chris Lay. I had signed up for this Natural History of the UCSC Campus one...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Feb 22, 2011, 9:27 pm
I'm writing an essay right now. Okay, well not right this minute, but I'm in the process of writing an essay. Topic: Basic tenets of Malcolm X's philosophy compared with Martin Luther King Jr. Supposed to be 4-5 pages. Almost at 5, and I've still got a few more paragraphs about Malcolm X to write. G...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Feb 15, 2011, 1:38 pm
I just returned from the dining hall after eating a delicious omelet scramble. My large brown bear mug is filled with the rich, suprisingly well-made coffee the dining hall serves, and it's sitting here on my desk, wafting wonderful scents into the room. When I got back to my house, I checked on the...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Feb 3, 2011, 12:43 pm
Ok, so this slug isn't taking a midterm, but this slug (as in ME!) is taking a midterm, at 12pm today! It's a Native American studies class, so I'm actually a little excited since that's one of my favorite topics. Of course, I'd rather take a hike and come across some fellow Banana Slugs, but I am i...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Jan 28, 2011, 5:38 pm
It's Friday! I wish I could express fully how stoked off life I am right now...and maybe that's the double shot caramel soy latte I had before class that's talking, but my neighbors are playing some cool music that is making me all the more enthused. I wanna get up and dance. Here's a quick bit abou...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Dec 17, 2010, 2:38 pm
This bird sure looks angry...Look at those eyes! He should listen to Pierre Bezukhov. Photograph taken outside Starbucks in downtown Santa Cruz. “If there is a God and a future life, here is truth and there is goodness, and a man’s highest happiness consists in striving to attain them. We must l...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Dec 12, 2010, 10:47 pm
As humans, our eyes are drawn to those physical structures that surpass the heights of anything we have seen. We love to be “wowed” by skyscrapers, so countries competitively build them to associate themselves with prosperity. China has built six of the world’s tallest, and its new Shanghai To...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Nov 21, 2010, 3:05 pm
My best friend Alexys has this quote on her Facebook wall, and I feel like sharing it with the world. The imagery makes it wonderful, and the message is inspiring. The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream. The oak sleeps in the acorn, the bird waits in the egg, and in the highest...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Nov 11, 2010, 4:11 pm
The free and wild spirit of UC Santa Cruz draws many different sorts of people to its forest of learning. This spirit can be contagious to those who are already inclined toward living a little on the wild side; after all, the campus is surrounded by trees and deer, and this makes it difficult not to...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Nov 9, 2010, 2:06 pm
In my many years of encounters with the performing arts, I had never experienced hip-hop theater before Sunday night when I attended a performance at The 418 Project on Mission Street in downtown Santa Cruz. The theatrical performance, entitled FreeLand, took place during the second half of a benefi...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Nov 7, 2010, 2:43 am
It's raining in Santa Cruz this morning. Outside is foggy and wet, while I'm nice and warm in my dorm room. Perfect for story time! Last Wednesday, I received an email from a woman who works with the Natural History Museum in Santa Cruz. I had learned about the museum while searching online, and was...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Nov 3, 2010, 6:46 pm
In a factory in Scott City, Kansas, cattle—the raw material that becomes the finished product of this factory—are filled with synthetic estrogen and corn, which fattens them faster than their natural diet of grass (Pollan). Grain cannot be digested by their ruminant stomachs, so these living bei...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Oct 30, 2010, 10:06 pm
Lower Campus this morning Earlier this quarter, I was looking through the Recreation guide for interesting classes or workshops to register for and I came across an Herbology class through the Holistic Health Program. I am fascinated by ethnobotany--how different cultures use or have used plants, bo...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Oct 24, 2010, 1:59 am
It's been quite rainy here in Santa Cruz this past week, and tonight's rain has been quite talkative...whispering drip-drops and pitter-patters all over the ground for hours. In a world devoid of concrete, the noises rain makes would be quite different. Living in a small dwelling like an Ohlone tule...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Oct 14, 2010, 1:30 am
I am on a high right now for two reasons, from the coffee I had two hours ago, as well as (and more importantly) from the amazing evening I've been enjoying with my friend Tanya. We have History: The World to 1500 together and she lives two floors above me, so I've gotten to know her through early m...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Oct 12, 2010, 2:54 am
In August 1992, the decaying body of a 23-year-old Emory University graduate told investigators little about how he had come to live in an abandoned bus in Alaska. Christopher McCandless had tested himself in the Alaskan wilderness for almost four months before misfortune led to starvation. His inte...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Oct 6, 2010, 11:33 pm
Knowing me and my crazy involvement in clubs last year, it's no surprise that I joined the sustainbility club through Stevenson College, PTAGS (Path To A Greener Stevenson). Tonight was our second meeting of the year, and I have realized that I come back from the meetings with lots of great energy t...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Sep 28, 2010, 3:47 pm
On Saturday, UCSC students who'd participated in Wilderness Orientation (and their friends and roommates) took vans down to Younger Lagoon Reserve in Santa Cruz to volunteer. It was day one of WICKED Work Days, an annual tradition after WO. It was a day full of hard work, dirt, mice, and deliciously...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Sep 22, 2010, 3:32 pm
Ok, so it's definitely been way too long since my last post. Since August 5, my last time writing on Green Gal, I went backpacking, learned things about myself that will help me find balance during the new school year, made new friends, moved into my new home in the forest of UC Santa Cruz, learned ...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Aug 5, 2010, 9:55 pm
I have been spending time reconnecting with old friends and getting to know newer friends better this summer. As a result, I have less time to spend blogging. I've decided to take a break from Green Gal until I have more time. School starts in September and many of my friends go to school in mid-t0-...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Jul 21, 2010, 8:32 pm
Yesterday, I attened Orientation at UC Santa Cruz! I met some cool people, learned a lot about classes and the school, and signed up for as many environmental group emails as I could find! I also signed up for classes and got a tour of my college, Stevenson. I originally signed up for Chicano Teatro...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Jul 16, 2010, 1:47 pm
Last Friday while on vacation in the mountains, my family took a day trip to the town of Murphys. We make the drive from Tuolumne to Calaveras county almost every year when we're up there. Though historic like its neighboring towns, Murphys is a little more upscale. It's a big wine-tasting place: in...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Jul 12, 2010, 2:30 pm
On Saturday, I returned home from a little more than a week of vacation in the Sierra Nevada mountains. I had an interesting and enjoyable time venturing around Twain Harte, Sonora, Columbia, Murphys and Pinecrest. Here's a brief recap of the first few days of vacation: Thursday, July 1 I drove up w...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Jul 1, 2010, 2:28 pm
I'll be enjoying the pine-scented mountain air for a week. I'll be back July 10. Green Gal
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Jun 30, 2010, 4:39 pm
Interested in learning some quick facts about five of our nation's national parks? Read this informative guest post by Louise Baker: The United States is home to an array of beautiful monuments and natural phenomenon, from Niagara Falls, to the Grand Canyon, to the Rocky Mountains. Beauty is what th...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Jun 29, 2010, 4:12 am
I always forget that I know how to draw and that I actually enjoy it. When I was little I drew like crazy, but as I got older I drew less and less. Every once in a while I draw something and remember that I can. It's not that I can draw really well (as my sister PawPrint can), but I can at least get...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Jun 28, 2010, 5:04 pm
In December, my friend Alexys and I spent some time at my family's cabin in the mountains. She taught me some Miwok words and I created a picture book that incorporates the words so I can better learn some of the language. Since then, I've learned some more words and have written many new words from...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Jun 23, 2010, 6:07 pm

Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Jun 20, 2010, 11:56 pm
Photo from the book Deeper Than Gold On Friday afternoon, my family drove up to Nevada County to visit my step-mom's parents in Grass Valley. Saturday morning we drove to Empire Mine State Park for a family portrait. I had never been to Empire Mine before, but unfortunately we didn't really get a ch...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Jun 18, 2010, 6:26 pm
As I mentioned in an earlier post, my family has joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program with Terra Bella Family Farm. I hadn't visited the farm until today when we picked up our fresh produce and bread. I had to take pictures of the quaint farm located right in Pleasanton. On another...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Jun 10, 2010, 7:30 pm
Sabore, a Maasai warrior I met two years ago (Photo credit: Asante Africa) Today in AP Human Geography, my friends and I presented our end-of-the-year project, which our teacher calls Extreme Makeover: LDC (Least Developed Country) Edition. We chose the African country of Kenya because my good frien...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Jun 8, 2010, 10:46 pm
That's what the sticker says that they gave me: I Voted. How exciting that my voice has been heard as a voting citizen for the first time! I followed some Sierra Club recommendations and talked with my parents about the different issues and people to vote for. Sierra Club recommended No on Measure D...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Jun 5, 2010, 1:00 pm
Modern-day Montana may not seem like a likely case study for a book about societal collapses, so it may be surprising that it is the focus of Part One of Jared Diamond’s 2005 New York Times Bestseller Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. Though Diamond asserts that he isn’t claimin...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Jun 5, 2010, 12:26 am
With sadness and yet joy for the future, I attended my last Environmental Club meeting of high school on Wednesday. I stepped down from the role of publicist/secretary and said goodbye to my beautiful club members and fellow officers, with whom I have helped rebuild a fallen club. I will miss runnin...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Jun 2, 2010, 12:23 am
I was searching through On Demand Free Movies earlier this evening and I came across some episodes of a show entitled "Into the West." I was intrigued, so I looked at the details. I don't know how I manage to do so, but I always find the most interesting shows on television when I least expect them!...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Jun 1, 2010, 12:47 am
I just want to quickly share with you a conversation I had with my Environmental Club friend about healthy food on Facebook Chat. It gives me hope that not all teenagers are junk food addicts: Patricia oh, are you planning on bringing anything for the env club partay on Wednesday? I wanted to brin...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - May 27, 2010, 12:17 am
For my second semester senior year Economics project, I was to choose an economic issue of interest to myself and find eight articles from various angles. I had to write an introduction to the topic, write paragraph analyses of each article, and then come up with my own solution to the economic prob...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - May 11, 2010, 11:26 pm
Imagine the San Francisco Bay Area during the most recent Ice Age at the end of the Pleistocene epoch: a lush, green valley that San Francisco Bay now fills; coasts that extend 12 feet farther into the sea than they currently do; abundant wildlife and megafaunal mammals, like mastodons, short-faced ...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - May 7, 2010, 3:07 pm
"Be careful whom you call a Neanderthal. You may be one yourself. Or at least you may have Neanderthal ancestors. That's the conclusion of a study being released Thursday that examined DNA extracted from Neanderthal bones more than 35,000 years old." I read this article saying to myself, well ...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Apr 24, 2010, 3:30 pm
On Thursday, I celebrated my 18th birthday as well as the 40th anniversary of the first Earth Day in 1970. My mom took me hiking in the morning since school didn't start until 10:40 (thank you STAR testing!). At lunch, my Environmental Club had an Earth Day party and we ate leftover popcorn and ...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Apr 21, 2010, 1:12 pm
As Spring really takes hold, with rainy days (like today) and then hot, sunny days that feel like summer, I'm getting excited for the end of the school year and for my post-high school adventures. Spring is always a rapid season in the school year, with testing and finals in classes speeding thi...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Apr 21, 2010, 12:12 am
Yesterday, April 19, my dad and step-mom, four other Environmental Club members and I attended the Goldman Environmental Prize Ceremony. Here are some pictures from the inspiring event that took place in San Francisco: The ceremony took place in the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts C...
Comment - Like

Green G. posted an article on Green Gal - Apr 14, 2010, 12:22 am
I returned from my best friend's grandma's house in Tuolumne on Sunday afternoon and was enjoying my extended time away from the computer, so I didn't post about what I learned at that time and still haven't gotten around to it. I've been mulling the experience over in my head an...
Comment - Like