I have heard students talk about the local farmers market since I was a freshman, and yet for a variety of reasons I had never gone to one until this weekend. Even though it was small, the market still provided fantastic local foods, and saved me a trip to the store. 


Farmers markets can be incredible resources and assets to a community. They not only provide a place for farmers and local businesses to sell directly to people, but they also foster a sense of community and encourage people to get outside and interact with one another. 

At the farmers market near campus there were not only vendors for fruits and vegetables, but also bread, baked goods, jams, flowers, jewelry, and ready to eat foods. 


I enjoyed being able to interact with the vendors and see the wide variety of foods grown so close to where I live. The beautiful weather certainly helped as well. 


For Santa Clara students and local residents, check out the farmers market in Franklin Square, Santa Clara every Saturday morning. To find a farmers market near you check your local newspaper as well as searching online (most farmers markets are listed online). 

It’s the third Friday of the month and thousands of Bay Area residents are gearing up to make their way to the San Jose Bike Party. Today’s theme is “The Rapture” in honor of the potential end of the world tonight. They have asked everyone to dress up as angels and demons in case the prediction yet again does not come true and Harold Camping needs some help saving face.

If you are an avid cyclist or just want to have a good time with a few thousand other people you should come out tonight and ride with us. For more information check out SJ Bike Party.

It seems as though genetically modified organisms (GMOs) come up, a great deal of speculation and confusion soon follows. I for one have had assumptions of how ubiquitous GMOs are, but it’s completely different to see the startling figures in graphics.

Check back soon for a detailed look into GMOs.

I have to admit, I am a hypocrite. When I first saw Vibram 5 Fingers at work, I made fun of my coworker relentlessly for having “monkey feet.” He kept telling me how amazing they were, and I ignored him and made jokes instead.

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Due to the fact that it is midterms, I did not have a ton of time to make anything for my friend’s birthday. In an attempt to make it as sustainable as possible with very little time or resources I ended up having to make cupcakes in papers as well as from a mix (which I am strongly against). Even though I did have to make them from a mix (and they do not taste as good as if I had made them from scratch), I made sure that they were organic and not full of preservatives or other unnecessary chemicals. 


What I could have done to make them more sustainable:
– Buttered the pan or used reusable silicon baking cups instead of cupcake papers.
– Made them from scratch to remove the plastic bags as well as the unnecessary waste from shipping the mixes. 
– Put them in a reusable container that is easy to cary and that my friend could keep.


Although they were not ideal, these cupcakes were still a way to celebrate his birthday without having to buy store-made cupcakes and waste even more resources and plastic packaging (plus all of the staff in the newsroom enjoyed them). 

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After only 4 weeks of school midterms are upon us (a downside to the quarter system). This means that students at Santa Clara are staying up later, multitasking, stressing and consuming way too much caffeine. (even as I write this I’m trying to update my tumblr and twitter, write a short paper, and plan the rest of my week so I can get everything done). 


In the beginning of the quarter only a few people would bring coffee to class, but as the quarter marched on the number of paper cups and plastics lids in all of my classes has risen dramatically. Although the coffee itself has a major environmental impact, the single use cups and lids alone are shocking. Trash cans and compost bins around campus are full of the cups. The estimates of paper coffee cups we use per day is well into the millions. According to Chris Jordan it’s over 40 million per day. 

Even though we are all rushing, we need to remember that there is always time to grab our to-go mug, and wash it afterwards (an added bonus is that your coffee/ other caffeine filled drink will stay warmer and test better longer). Just because we are stressed doesn’t mean we need to stress the environment.

I think Who Killed the Electric Car? may have been the first environmentally focused documentary I ever saw. I came home one day and my parents were watching it, and I ended up getting sucked into it as well.

The movie is about the electric cars that were available in the early ’90s before they were “killed” by the car industry. It’s an interesting look at why it has taken us so long to create viable electric cars.

Last night Governor Jerry Brown signed the Toxin-Free Infants and Toddlers Act into law which will ban BPA in baby bottles and sippy cups in California. This is a key step in decreasing young children’s exposure to the hormone disrupting chemical.

“Governor Brown has put the interests of California’s children first in the face of intense lobbying by the chemical industry desperately trying to defend their use of this hazardous chemical in the products of our most vulnerable,” said Renee Sharp, head of the Environmental Working Group’s California office on their website this morning.

Even though BPA has not been banned from all food products, (such as water bottles, aluminum can liners, or even cash register receipts) this is still a key step that moves us toward the larger goal of a complete ban of the chemical. It is also important to begin with those who are the most vulnerable to the affects of BPA which are infants and toddlers. Ultimately the law that will go into effect on July 1, 2013, proved that with enough support we can stand up to big industries and their forceful lobbying.