It's an Al Green kinda day

Yesterday, my day of non news was a mixed bag. So I found solace in Al Green, Marvin Gaye, and the late great James Brown.

The result?

It made me think about all the things that were good this year... and there was a lot of good. Good and green.

So the lip service to green this year seems to have made a wee bit of traction. The weird shaped light bulbs, photo voltaic with rebates for consumers, H20 Heaters offer up on demand (we like) and recycling taken seriously (at least by those within my social circle.)
I see people consciously bringing bags into grocery stores..
LED lights now grace many homes and lawns, including our own fabulous Christmas tree downtown. So where can we bolster our efforts?

The local Westvalley Greenleaf is a year old. Looking through my old notes
during a well needed year-end weed of my studio I found notes about all things accomplished green: a speakers series, the green fair and finally a quasi government committee after much bitching and sharp elbows.
But without a true leadership position from local government and the school system it remains toothless. A simple search on the town website brings up a paltry list of three items. Even the Sustainability Committee that I fought for lacks a web mention under town committees. It does however plug a composting class.... but you gotta dig though the site to find it. Our local poster girl of compost (other than yours truly) is Diane Rose of Crimson restaurant.
Diane Rose can be summoned up in one sentence: Visionary meets culinary..She makes that OTHER local celeb chef look like a rookie.

So this new year, a moment of pause to think how you might make your own world a bit greener. Did I forget to mention the zen of digging in the dirt once you've embraced composting...maybe best left for another blog post. Need to crawl before digging around a worm bin.

One area of improvement on the green front? Our local schools. I know from visits to Blossom Hill Elementary, big recycling bins loom larger than the average third grader. It's all good... because it's a visual reminder of how important it is to be consistent to create good habits.

My kids attend Daves Ave. Not a recycling bin to be seen other that the ones hidden behind the clubhouse parking lot.
Those bins are indeed marked recycling but what goes into them makes one question the reading ability of those attending and care taking the school.

If our own local government can walk the walk than we might see even more of the community making an effort to be green but without the guidance and precedence set from local government and the school district it's going to take longer.

Local efforts to be applauded: Our "green" Mayor last year. Barbara Spector put the green issue front in center during her tenure, and is the one who really got the ball rolling. Paul Dubois spearheaded the LED light charge to change the town Christmas tree this year.. Anyone willing to creatively capture the same spirit and momentum ? A few ideas like maybe a solar trash compactor much like the ones found in Capitola and Santa Cruz. This would be a great addition downtown in the town square? Ever been around on a Sunday morning and noticed the bins overflowing with pizza boxes? Recycling downtown alone would be a huge step in the right direction, but I hate to put on my dominatrix mantra and not have anyone to whip :)