e3's Farmers' Market meeting w/ Aztec Shops

http://arc.sdsu.edu/newsletter/nov2009/farmers.php
Erin, Holly and Tara had an efficient meeting with R.D. Williams and Brian Wynne (from Dining Services) this past week. We established a tentative mission for our Farmers' Market:

Tentative Mission: The Farmers Market at San Diego State University and student organizations are committed to providing the students, faculty, staff, and nearby community with local food, as well as, whenever possible, organic and sustainable food options . This will be done along with promoting sustainable and environmentally friendly practices. Our market promotes ecological, economic and a sustainable food supply.

We discussed the vendor selection, setting dates for vendors to ban Styrofoam/sale of water bottles, e3's permanent involvement, possible names for the FM, recycle bins at the market, and our new consulting plans. Each vendor will have an e3 exec as their consultant. We will build a personal relationship with the vendors, and will help them and be there for them. We also would love to see Thursdays as a health day at SDSU. We are looking into having bands play every week, a yoga session, and an area where students can eat together (we're going to tiedye sheets and place them on the lawn). Next semester we may change the time of the market and the location, but we are waiting to make that decision.

If you have any additional ideas for our Farmers' Market please let us know.

Fall CSSC Convergence @ UCSC

This weekend (November 6th-8th) a handful of e3 execs, as well as a few others, are attending the California Student Sustainability Coalition (CSSC) Fall Convergence at UC Santa Cruz. Join students and young leaders from across California as we come together to build community and organizing capacity amongst individuals, campuses, and campaigns in the student sustainability movement. Share skills and resources, learn about what your peers are doing, network with other schools, and have fun! If you're interested in coming, please email Tara.

Earth Day 2010: Save the Ales

Every year e3 hosts an educational Earth Day event at SDSU. This Earth Day, April 22nd, e3, in collaboration with Associated Students, proposed to included in the plan a Save the Ales: A Garden, Compost and Cultural Event, which will cover another of various aspects including global and local issues such as climate change and water conservation. Our goal is to incorporate social equity into this event while raising awareness about how to green your everyday life through composting, offering students the chance to plant their own victory garden, and providing tips to "green up your gathering."

We have a lengthy resolution which we wrote that we will happily share with you if you're interested. Please let us know if you would like a copy of this resolution.

Kick Gas Festival

On 24 October, people in 181 countries came together for the most widespread day of environmental action in the planet's history. At over 5200 events around the world, people gathered to call for strong action and bold leadership on the climate crisis.

Three former e3ers, Annie Bessinger, Rae Gurne, and Matt Nelson, teamed up and hosted the Kick Gas Festival, which was uncoincidentally celebrated on October 24th. Everyone was encouraged to take the bus or trolley to kick gas.

This enormous event, which was dubbed the "EcoPart of the West Coast," consisted of the following elements:
91X Sustainable Waves Solar Stage
featuring MATISYAHU!!
Plus 20 more bands and DJs!
The Sterling Collwood Sustainable living Zone
K1 Speed EV Auto Cross Racing and Showstopper Wax EV Car Show
Want to show off your EV?
OB Farmers Market Zone
Ocean Beach Surf and Skate Interactive Zone
Go Vavi Fun Zone
Earthlist.com ECO World Zone
Also including local artists, Julian Hard Cider Adult Beverage Garden
…and a Kick Gas Time!

At the peak of the day, there were 8,300 attendees at the festival. Due to the success, look for another Kick Gas Festival next Fall.

350.org

As we all (should) know, Kick Gas Festival is taking place October 24th in San Diego. This date wasn't chosen at random. October 24th is a date where the world is coming together because of 350.org's international campaign started by dedicated to building a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis- the solutions that science and justice demand.

350.org's Mission:

Our mission is to inspire the world to rise to the challenge of the climate crisis—to create a new sense of urgency and of possibility for our planet.

Our focus is on the number 350--as in parts per million, the level scientists have identified as the safe upper limit for CO2 in our atmosphere. But 350 is more than a number--it's a symbol of where we need to head as a planet.

To tackle climate change we need to move quickly, and we need to act in unison—and 2009 will be an absolutely crucial year. This December, world leaders will meet in Copenhagen, Denmark to craft a new global treaty on cutting emissions. The problem is, the treaty currently on the table doesn't meet the severity of the climate crisis—it doesn't pass the 350 test.

In order to unite the public, media, and our political leaders behind the 350 goal, we're harnessing the power of the internet to coordinate a planetary day of action on October 24, 2009. We hope to have actions at hundreds of iconic places around the world - from the Taj Mahal to the Great Barrier Reef to your community - and clear message to world leaders: the solutions to climate change must be equitable, they must be grounded in science, and they must meet the scale of the crisis.

If an international grassroots movement holds our leaders accountable to the latest climate science, we can start the global transformation we so desperately need.

Modern Space Meeting Oct. 20th!

This Tuesday, October 20th from 3:30-5:00pm in the Arena Meeting Center AB (right in front of the ARC) the ModernSpace (New Student Union LEED Platinum Building) committee will be hosting a meeting with the contractor, architect and LEED consultant to choose and review sustainable strategies for the ModernSpace building. YOUR input is highly recommended and is needed for this project to be as sustainable as possible for 60 years worth of students. Please try to attend and show your support and ideas!

Green Lunch Bag Series

Once again Green Love is hosting the Green Lunch Bag Speaker Series at SDSU. This series will be taking place once a month on Wednesday. The following two meetings are Wednesday, Nov. 18th, 1-2:30 p.m. at Scripps Cottage and Wednesday, Dec. 9th, 1-2:30 p.m. at Scripps Cottage. There will be a catered organic lunch to accompany the fabulous guest speakers.

Kick Gas Pub Crawl- Oct. 11th

Kick Gas Festival, which now has commercials on MTV & many SD radio stations, will be held on Saturday, October 24th at Qualcomm Stadium! The Kick Gas Festival is only 2 weeks away but the Official Kick Gas Festival Pre- Event Pub Crawl is here! There will be 2 pub crawls this Sunday, October 4th from 2-7 p.m. in Ocean Beach at Pac Shores AND Hillcrest at #1 on 5th. Get your favorite kicks laced and get your @$$ on the pavement. For sign ups and more info email nvilla@kickgasfestival.com!



The Kick Gas Festival is looking for some FUN, ENTHUSIASTIC, GREEN LOVING, HARDWORKING VOLUNTEERS! They're going to need help in their different zones, ensuring that each zone is well-kept and if the zone leader needs anything, you'll be there! The time slots for volunteers will range from 3-4 hours throughout the day. They will need volunteers from 9 a.m. - 9 p.m. If you want to get involved with the Kick Gas Festival check out this site: http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/eve/1413975315.html

Greening SDSU Athletics

Holly, Erin, David, Josh, and Tara met with a representative of SDSU Athletics on Wednesday, October 7th. The meeting was to put our foot in the door and to see how receptive Athletics would be to working with e3 and making green changes in their building and in their departments. We want to focus on continuing to make changes at SDSU and we think this will be a great project for us. Athletics has their own building (AZAT which is located across from Viejas Arena/ARC on 55th), hundreds of involved students/staff, and local high schoolers look up to some of the SDSU sports stars.

We have a tour of AZAT scheduled for Wednesday October 14th. We have some ideas of how we can make our Athletic department more eco-friendly but after the tour we will have a better understanding of what changes we would like to see made, and how we can implement those changes. If you have any ideas of how we can improve our Athletic department, please contact us: TARAKELe3@gmail.com

Bike Lane Update

On Friday, October 2nd Holly and Tara attended a very positive and progressive bike lane meeting held by the architectural consultants KTU+A. Some of the other attendees included A.S. Director Dan Cornthwaite, Associate Vice President of Operations Bob Schultz, A.S. President Tyler Boden and Green Love Commissioner Grant Mack. We were able to give input and discussed the challenges and concerns that people were having with the bike lane.

Stated current challenges:
- SDSU is a commuter-based campus
- adjacent topography limits easy bike access
- no bike use in "ped areas" may not be understood/enforced
- high speed/volume roadways around SDSU
- safe and secure bike parting facilities are in short supply/not in dismount zones

A Spring 2009 survey (307 surveyed) gave the following results:
- 305 lived on campus, 65% commuted, 5% were campus staff/visitors
- 46% lived in 92115, 12% lived near campus, 13% lived in other SD areas, 17% lived in other cities
- the day surveyed: 40% drove, 24% walked, 15% biked, 8% used transit, 6% carpooled, 7% other

The consultants gave very details and informative slide show presentation, with simulation photographs of the bike lane on our campus, which was very exciting to see! Instead of painting bikes lanes on our campus, they are going to stain the ground. It looks more natural and the stain will stay for many years.

Currently there are 5 proposed bike lanes, additional bike racks, and bike lockers at SDSU. The lanes are located in the following locations:
1. near Cuic/Zura/LLC/Tenoch
2. from the start of the foot bridge to 55th exiting near Viejas Arena
3. near the Music Building
4. from the start of Campanile Walkway near Campanile/Hardy Ave to Hilltop Way in front of Hepner Hall (which would lead to the already legal bike area)
5. from Campanile Walkway to Aztec Center between Open Air/Adams Humanity

Construction will most likely begin at SDSU, but plans to work with CalTrans and San Diego city are in the works. Proposed bike lanes going to/from SDSU have been studied but will take longer to implement due to additional parties involved and their regulations.

We are anxiously waiting to hear back on about the finalized plans. Stay tuned & keep your fingers crossed for the construction to begin in Spring 2010!