Recycling in Carmel

In Carmel last weekend, after scattering Mom's ashes (very good for the environment as well as for Mom's love of nature), we tried to figure out their recycling system.  Our beautiful cottage was very dog-friendly and provided blue plastic poop bags but no bin especially for dogs.  I suggested the garbage, but Kathy thought that would be smelly.  (I could have told her that poop stops smelling after a while.)  So she carried the blue plastic poop bag down to the ocean and found a bin there--not a recycling one thought.  Later we saw that there was a special bin just for dogs there on the ocean.  It's called "Mutt Mitt," and it's white in the shape of a Dog's head. 
In Carmel they have recycling and garbage, but they don't have compost yet.  Clint Eastwood, who used to be the mayor of Carmel, could lead the way if he would just stop talking to empty chairs.

Empty NYC streets mean bicycling is easy!

Just got a response from my former student!  (To respect her privacy, I'll delete her e-mail.)

Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2012 8:39 AM
To: tina_martin@sbcglobal.net
Subject: RE: Are you okay?

Hi Tina,

We are perfectly fine, thank you. We still have power & internet !!!

This morning Thomas took his bike to go to work. He told me the city is empty, its great to bike!

My mom & my niece  are with us, they came for Halloween, for 2 weeks. I hope the weather won't be too bad tomorrow....

yes, Fulton address is still valid.

I hope you are very well

Love

Isabelle

---

Subject: Are you okay?
Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2012 08:23:34 -0700

Dear Isabelle,

                Are you still at your Fulton Address?  Are you okay?  Please let me know!

                Love,

                Tina

In response to her e-mail, I'm sending her the link for Treehugger, which focuses on Hurricane Sandy flooding in  NYC and the implications. 

Great!  I’m really glad this was a bicycling opportunity rather than a disaster or inconvenience for you.  I’m going to send you something fascinating from Treehugger!

Team TreeHugger [nick@treehugger.ccsend.com]; on behalf of; Team TreeHugger [newsletter@treehugger.com]

The Treehugger staff says "Forgive us if our coverage is a bit preoccupied with Hurricane Sandy today....I suspect that we will be short-staffed today as three of our editors are without electricity."  

Their articles include "What if New York City Invested in Climate Adaptation Like it Has in Combating Terrorism?"  but maybe without the erosion of civil liberties?

It also includes a picture of the World Trade Center flooded as Al Gore predicted it would be.

 The

Nature Cuts Our Energy Use

The front page news (besides plans for the Victory Parade for the World Series Champions “We’re No. 1—let’s party” and the ongoing shunning of Ross Mirkarimi) is “Monstrous storm ravages the northeast/Deluge hits New York City hard with record 13-foot seawater surge.”  This of course is the month we’re focusing on water in our environmental science class and I’m making water one of the major focuses (won’t say foci) of my Life Style Project.  (Once again, I skipped my bath today.)  The news report says that the surge of seawater flooded the tunnels, subway stations, and electrical system that powers Wall Street.  I called my son Jonathan, who lives on 84^th Street near Central Park, and he reassured me that it hadn’t affected him. He’d even had electricity.  I have a former student who still writes to me, and she and her husband live on Fulton Street, near the southern tip of Manhattan, so I sent her an e-mail to be sure she’s okay.  But here’s the environmental science angle:  To lessen damage from saltwater to the subway system and the electrical network, NYC’s main utility cut power to about 6500 customers in Lower Manhattan, so here’s how nature is taking care of itself.  It’s making it necessary for us to cut our energy use.  It’s giving us no choice.  (And  this is the first time since 1888 that the stock market has been closed because of weather.  Nature is having to resort to extreme measures.

And now back to the past weekend.  

As I said in an earlier post, we managed to find a strictly vegetarian restaurant, but we found only one.  The following morning, I took a gigantic Trader Joe's bag into the restaurant the Bay Park Hotel has and I explained to the man who greeted us, "I have a special diet."  But when I saw that the breakfast was totally vegetarian--not even any bacon or sausage--I explained my project to the greeter/server.  (I must remember too that part of the project is to let people know what I'm doing so it will occur to them that there's a connection between the environment and what we eat.)  I could eat!  Of course, another reason that it was okay for me to eat there was that it was a complimentary breakfast; there was no way of having our room and not having the breakfast.  So by eating in the Crazy Horse Restaurant, which isn't strictly vegetarian, I'm not supporting them; I'm actually depleting them--not that I want to be mean.  I just want vegetarian restaurants to have a fair chance.

I had leftovers instead of ordering at noon, when Kathy and Javier had vegetarian dishes at the not strictly vegetarian Forge in the Forest in Carmel.  

Vegetarian in Carmel

Before I get back to you to tell you about my weekend in Carmel, where there appears to be only one strictly vegetarian restaurant, the Mon Chay, I'll give you the web site given on a card I found at the Mon Chay.

http://www.meetup.com/vegetarian-and-vegan

I don't think the Mon Chay actually has a website, but it's been favorably reviewed online, and my family all give it a favorable review too.  Coming soon!

http://www.yelp.com/biz/mon-chay-carmel

E-Waste at City College

Last night we had a very important Board of Trustees meeting at City College, and it lasted 6 hours--until almost 2:00 a.m.! 

You can read about the meeting from the beginning

http://www.sfgate.com/education/article/CCSF-faculty-pack-hall-as-cuts-weighed-3983128.php


to the end.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/City-College-dismantles-faculty-leadership-3984671.php

There were two newspaper articles because the meeting ran so late that Nanette Asimov had to get in one article before the end of the meeting so it could make the presses for the morning edition.

During the "intermission" of the drama, I took my e-waste--four print cartridges and a fluorescent light bulb--to the e-waste.  There wasn't an e-waste place in the MUB building, so I went to the student union building, which was locked. 

But then I discovered an e-waste disposal place right outside the building.  How smart!

I had thought that the meeting itself might be toxic, but somehow people rose above venom even though the cuts to our program have been hazardous.

This just in:

Fui a traer el BMW a Millbrae y aproveche la oportunidad para ir a Trader Joe"s, comprar abarrotes y usar la bolsa.Te mostrare las fotos manana. 

That's from a message from Javier, who picked up his four-door car in Millbrae, where he had the chance to go shopping at Trader Joe's and put his own bag to use.  (That was the homework assignment I gave him to do for my Life Style Project.  I'm supposed to be reforming him among other things.  Bravo, Javier

My Eco-Contact in Tonga

I just heard from the "Ta'ahine 'i Tonga" I wrote abut recently.  Here's what she said:

Hi Tina, Thanks for the comment! I can't imagine what Tonga must have been like back then...well, I guess some parts probably would be exactly the same, but it must have been pretty challenging all the same! I'm always impressed by the Peace Corps Volunteers here - they're off in tiny rural villages, so much more isolated and immersed in the culture and language than we are here in Nuku'alofa. I was finished reading a book called Wild, a memoir written by a lady who hiked for three months along the Pacific Crest Trail. It got me thinking all over again about what I learnt growing up, and the skills I want to work on while I'm here. Stay tuned for my next post and maybe I'll be able to answer your question about growing up on a farm a bit better there. As for the spin cycle...I may have worded it a little bit wrong when I said that the clothes are dry after one minute. What I meant was, that after 9 minutes of washing, and 1 minute in the spin cycle, they're ready to hang out to dry. I'm slowly getting less impressed with this washing technique though, on the days where bedsheets and towels need washing, the hand rinsing step in between seems to make up for any time I save on the washing cycles. I've definitely always used cold water, but it is certainly still a relief to be in control of how much water is used washing my clothes here! I'd be interested to read your log, maybe you should turn it into a B-LOG and share it online! 'Ofa 'atu mei Tonga, Sarah

19th Avenue Beautification Project

It rained yesterday and this morning, and I know it was just for the "beautification project"-- to water the soil that's been put in the median on 19th Avenue for 15 blocks between Wawona--one of my cross streets--and Lincoln Avenue.  I appreciate that! 

Twenty-one years ago a real estate agent brought my soon-to-be-ex-husband and me to this spot to show us a house, and I said, "I would never consider living on such a busy street."  Then we went inside, and the house was so nice and surprisingly quiet that we made an offer within an hour. 

But now things are getting even better!  Because there are so many accidents on 19th Avenue, they're trying to get people to see it as a residential area, not a freeway.  The speed has been lowered to 30 mph, and once it has some green in that strip in the middle, it might be seen as something other than a freeway.

On Monday morning October 23, I sent an e-mail to the name given at the San Francisco Department of Public Works.

Dear Ms. Gordon,

                I live on 19^th Avenue right across the street from Larsen Park and am excited about the “beautification” project.  Of course, I can look out my window and see the progress.  (Right now the soil has been put in and is getting a good soak.)  But I was wondering whether you have a picture of what it’s going to look like when it’s completed.

                Also, I’m taking an environmental science class, which involves keeping a log of good  environmental practices.  We’re now on the subject of soil!  Any information that you can send me about this project would be welcomed.  Of course, I’ve read the press release.

                Thank you for what  you’re doing.

                Tina Martin