Happy Earth Day!

Even though we should live every day like it was Earth Day, here are some things that you can do today to decrease your impact.

Today my homework took me off campus and into a whole new world. I am no foreigner to gardening and I have been around very small scale farms before, but I have never been or seen anything quite like Veggielution.

Even though I am only a junior I am working my senior journalism capstone this year for my communication degree (a capstone is much like a senior thesis. Next year I will do a different senior project for my environmental studies degree). I am writing about the growing food movement in Santa Clara County, and my research quickly led me to Veggielution, a community farm in San Jose.

Veggielution began it’s journey in 2007 in four backyards with San Jose State students. Since then it has grown into a farm on 2.5 acres. The land is used to produce crops that are low cost or free to the community, educate people about gardening/farming, and serve as a beautiful space for people to relax and connect with the nature and people around them.

I spent the morning weeding and thinning out recently planted carrot beds with about 7 other people, while about 40-50 other people did other jobs elsewhere. It was wonderful to get outside (before the sun got too hot) and meet some new people. It feels great to know that although I didn’t do an extreme amount of work, someone will enjoy the carrots I carefully selected and weeded.

I’m falling in love with my capstone project, and I can’t wait to visit more incredible places like Veggielution.

*This post was originally published in The Santa Clara in my Sustainable Student column

A staggering 28 percent of green house gas emissions are from transportation alone in the United States according to the EPA. Most cities in the U.S. are built around cars and make it difficult for people to get around by alternative transportation.

As much as I would love to give up driving entirely and instead rely on my bike, the train and BART, it’s just not possible with where I currently live.

But even if you are like me and cannot completely give up driving, there are ways that you can cut back on the amount of driving you do and the money you spend on gas. 

According to a recent article in GOOD:

Global warming is getting worse, and so are our commutes. The 2010 American Community Survey showed that in 2009 the number of commuters driving alone increased half a percentage point to 76.6 percent, a total of about 100 million people. Meanwhile, the percentage who took public transportation slightly decreased to 4.9 percent.

Of course, you already know some of the easiest ways to help curb pollution. Carpool. Take the bus. Take the metro. Bike to work at least once a week and get fit in the process. (The first few days on the road can be intimidating, but follow a few simple tips and confidence will follow.) Or make your other car an electric bike. Walk, and enjoy some spring air. Our December human infographic on traffic in Los Angeles showed how much better traffic flow would become if just 3 percent of the city’s drivers switched to taking public transportation or biking to work.

If you can’t ditch your car, you’re not alone. There are 808 cars for every 1000 people in the U.S, second only to Monaco… And one gallon of gasoline takes nearly 13 gallons of water to produce, so you may be inadvertently using more than 500 gallons of water every time you fill up. But there are things you can do to clean up your car’s gas usage.”

Quick tips*:

– Drive 55 MPH or bellow (when appropriate for the speed limit, not in 25 MPH zones, etc.)


– Avoid sudden stops and starts


– Be sure you have up to date clean air filters and get regular tune-ups and maintenace


– Keep your tires fully inflated
*From Good

There are few things I hate and fear more than having to drive in the city. But with BART and Caltrain I rarely have to. Even though the BART trains are absolutely disgusting (a study found e. coli on the seats, among other things), I still get excited to take it. I love the convenience of it, and today my mom and I had a great time meeting new people on the packed commute train. 

The one thing that would make me love BART even more (other than it actually being clean) is if it went to more places. The city and part of the East Bay have great service, but the rest of the Bay Area is left lusting after better public transit. I would love to one day be able to take efficient public transit to work. A girl can dream.

Yesterday my parents and I decided to visit the Treasure Island Flea in San Fransisco. The flea market is hosted in the 1939 Historic San Francisco World’s Fair building on Treasure Island, and to be honest most of the allure of the flea to us was the location. I had never been to the Island before, and the entire concept intrigued me. 


The Island itself is a man-made island that was created for the World’s Fair, but later used as a naval base in World War II. We drove around the island and although some areas are rented out and people live there, most of the island looks like something right out of a zombie apocalypse with boarded up windows and moss/mold covered empty windows. 

The flea market itself was the fanciest flea market I have ever been to. Outside the building food trucks were lined up and people were willing to stand in the rain to get a taste. 

Unfortunately I forgot the camera at home, so sorry for the grainy cell phone photos. 

Flea markets are a great way to find used items or your next new treasure. We came home with a great new tablecloth and some cloth napkins. By the crowds it’s safe to say that flea markets are no longer a place for trash and are becoming a popular way to find what you are looking for. 

It amazes me how obsessed the U.S. is with paper towels. Even though we have real towels and cloths in our closets that could do the job just as well, if not even better, than a paper towel, we insist on spending money on the disposable version. 

In honor of international women’s day I wanted to honor one of the many influential women in the global environmental movement. Wangari Muta Maathai won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her work in Kenya with her Green Belt Movement to become the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Maathai led the grassroots organization and the women in it to plant more than 20 million trees on farms, schools and church compounds. 

Maathai is internationally known and recognized for her work for human rights, democracy, environmental conservation and women’s rights. As the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree, Maathai not only encouraged women through her work, but paved the way for many more to follow through her personal achievements. Although she died in 2011, her legacy will live on to inspire women and men around the world to create lasting change.