Dispatches
California
February 22, 2010
On the way to the coast we had to get our last 
fill of the desert and stop in Joshua Tree National Park for the weekend. Such beautiful scenery and an awesome place to take adventurous hikes. The site of Joshua Trees and large granite monoliths throughout the park gave us the sense that we were on a different planet. And can you believe, in the middle of the desert on a hike called 49 Palms there was 
an oasis with huge palm trees? I must admit, I hit my chest like Tarzan and let out a howl.
After passing through the impressive 5,000 Tehachapi wind turbines, we arrived in San Diego the next day and thanks once again to family, were able to stay right on Pacific Beach! Not only were we happy to 
leave our jackets behind and burry our toes in the sand, but also to find out that when it comes to sustainability, California schools have jumped on the bandwagon.
Our first stop was Southwest High School. An hour before their field trip, we had the pleasure to present to several of Hector Arias’s classes. Mr. Arias has been introducing the importance of sustainability by providing his students 
with hands on experience. Along with other community groups, these students had participated in the Tijuana River Project. They took samples of river water, picked up 6 tons of trash and wrote their congressmen in order to confront the issues at large.
The next stop was eye opening. The school was Herbert Hoover High and the class 
was Business Environment. These high school students were focusing on career placement and preparing for senior internships, as opposed to continuing education. Their teacher, Maria Contreras, invited us to present, not because their school was “green” friendly, or because they were proud of their compost bin, but rather because she felt that no matter 
one’s economic background, ethnicity, or even business interest, that providing children with a broad perspective and showing them the vast opportunity that exists, they will one day be great contributors to their surrounding communities.
Thus far we had been on the road for 6 weeks and had yet to meet our teammates so there wasn’t any time better than the present! Thanks to Jen, Kyle and I had a place to lay our heads for another night. We arrived to open arms as Jen welcomed us and 
we settled in for the night. The next evening Jen cooked up a feast for the crew and one by one everyone arrived…everyone but our fearless leader that is! Over homemade pizza, hummus and other goodies, Jen, Laura, Rebecca, Nicholas, Kyle and I began sharing our stories of how we came to be fans of Green Living Project. Three cheers for a team of passionate, dedicated and fun loving people!
Good to have friends in small places, that’s how the saying goes, right? Yet again we needed a place to crash and our friends, the Darton’s, needed some 
help moving in. We spent the weekend in L.A. with them, ate a delicious friendsgiving dinner and admired the life of a struggling musician and his bona fide nurse/artist wife.
The next week Laura came through once again as the team machine, and rounded up a few presentations at the University of Redlands. We presented to an Environmental Studies class and the SEA campus group. Redlands has integrated sustainability into the university’s curriculum,
which is demonstrated through their energy center reducing the campus’ carbon footprint by nearly 30% and through other projects such as developing a community farmers market.
Our adventures continued, just before we headed north we stopped to see a good friend at FOX Studios and got a personal tour. Way to go FOX for supplying 
compostable plastics in your cafeteria! As we traveled up the coast we stopped in Santa Cruz, camped in Big Sur, admired the elephant seals and sea otters, and hit up a lighthouse hostel!
The last stop in CA, but certainly not least, was at Laguna High School outside of Sacramento. Eric Johnson and his students undoubtedly win the award for outstanding achievement when
it comes to implementing, teaching and learning sustainable practices through science! Through GETA (Green Energy Technology Academy), students study the technology of renewable energy. We were fortunate to sneak a peak at some of their projects like building portable solar power stations, wind turbines and turning algae into electricity!!! If that’s not enough, the students also participated in a 
drive, raising money by avoiding buying bottled water, and instead donating the money in order to build a well for students in Kenya. Laguna High is the perfect example of how we all can think globally and act locally!
