Wet n’ Wild at Monterey Bay

I think at one point or another every kid has wanted to become a marine biologist. All throughout elementary and middle school, I used to dream of working with whales, dolphins, and sharks, where I’d spend my days out on the ocean – a dream I thought had sailed away as I developed new interests. Although we didn’t see any whales or dolphins on Monday, I once again had a little taste of that desire.

Before heading to Yosemite National Park, the tour took a short detour to Monterey, California to visit the internationally-acclaimed Monterey Bay Aquarium for a private tour of the facility and its award-winning exhibits.

As we arrived at the aquarium’s entrance, we were greeted by Ed and Rod – our morning’s extremely friendly and knowledgeable tour guides – who split us up into two groups and led us through some of the displays, including the Kelp Forest, Sandy Shore & Aviary, Outer Bay, Splash Zone, and Wild About Otters(you gotta love that charismatic megafauna!).

Marine life is abundant both inside and outside of the walls of this “aquarium along the bay shore.” Inside, more than 550 different species of marine plants and animals, including sea turtles, sharks, rays, birds, jellyfish, giant kelp, and more, are on exhibit. Outside, cormorants and harbor seals make daily appearances. We were told that whales and dolphins are also occasionally seen from the outside of the aquarium. Even more impressive, however, was learning that just several days before our visit, a blue whale (the largest living mammal on Earth) was spotted just outside of the bay – a truly rare sighting.

In addition to natural history, our guides talked to us about the aquarium’s history, as well as, some of their current collaborative conservation and marine education efforts.

Since its opening in 1984, the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s mission has been to “inspire the conservation of oceans” through educating the public. This is a big job, considering they receive an average of 1.8 million visitors annually. However, they are making a huge effort to outreach to even those who are not able to physically visit the Bay.

On their website, you can find a lot of great information about each of the aquarium’s exhibits. You can also check out several web cams for an “inside look” into the life behind the 3 to 15-inch thick glass.

What you’re probably most familiar with, however, is the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program, an outreach tool designed to teach the public about making more sustainable seafood choices.

In addition to their interactive, digital “Real Cost Café” (that lets you chose a seafood dish from a screen and then provides detail to tell you if you made a good choice and why) and the little wallet-sized brochures they produce (and have available in the aquarium), you can also find an online version – specific to your region – West Coast, Northeast, Southeast, Central US, Southwest, and even Hawaii! The guides break down popular seafood choices into three categories – (1) avoid, (2) good alternatives and (3) best choices. The online resource even provides links to each species for an individual profile on what makes the choice good or bad.

For more information on their Seafood Watch program, click here.

Our visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, although short, was a great opportunity for the crew to tour a facility that is making great strides in marine research and public education. And although I don’t expect that I’ll be spending my days diving with dolphins or locked up in a shark cage anytime soon, my visit to the aquarium has reenergized my youthful interests in marine conservation and education.

By: Bret Muter

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A note from the EJ Roundtable

One of the participants in the Environmental Justice Roundtable Discussion who expressed his viewpoints strongly at the Bay View Hunters Point event was Francisco DaCosta. He has a webpage which elaborates on his feelings of what is going on in the neighborhood at: http://www.franciscodacosta.com/

By: Eli Zigas

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San Francisco and the Bay -- All Linked Together

(Editor’s Note: Charlotte Ely is a 2005 Udall Scholar. She was born and bred in San Francisco, and arranged the Udall Legacy tour stop there. She’s now on the bus.)

The Udallers rolled into San Francisco on a foggy Friday evening, about forty-five minutes later than planned. I was already waiting for them at the Hotel Britton when I got the call: The bus was caught in traffic. Big shocker, right? Driving into downtown San Francisco is risky, especially on a Friday night, especially on the last Friday of the month. For the uninitiated, the last Friday of the month in cities all over the world is Critical Mass, the infamous, amoebic congregation of bicyclists who take over City streets, riding by the dozens—and sometimes even thousands—through thoroughfares and boulevards dominated by vehicles every other day of the month. On Friday July 29th 2007, the Udall bus was held up by at least several hundred bicyclists. It was a fitting greeting for a group of scholars traveling around the country promoting sustainable transportation alternatives. If I could have arranged for 13 bicycles to be donated, all of us Udallers would have been part of that mass: it is, after all, a great way to see the City, and I wanted to give the scholars the greatest introduction to San Francisco I could muster.

Instead, we drank beer, ate pizza, and ‘talked trash’ at Anchor Steam, a San Francisco brewery that diverts about 99.5% of its waste from the landfill. As scholars learned the following day at the San Francisco Department of the Environment, San Francisco has successfully implemented what’s called the Fantastic Three, a three bin waste management system that allows City residents to place all organics (anything that came from something that was once alive: meat, dairy, fruits, veggies, soiled paper, etc.) into a GREEN bin, recyclables into a BLUE bin, and all remaining landfill bound discards into a BLACK bin. This program has enabled the City by the Bay to divert about 69% of our waste as of 2006. We’re working to reach 75% diversion by 2010, and Zero Waste by 2020. Anchor Steam has reached an impressive 99.5% diversion by creative means: spent hops are sold to a local cattle rancher, who mixes the rich protein source into feed.

I’m not sure what percent of my waste I divert from the landfill each year. Normally, I empty my compost pale about once a week, my recycling bin about every other two weeks, and my garbage bin once every four months. Most of what I ‘throw away’ is compostable and—with all our restaurants and day-time dwellers— this is true for the City too: 35% of San Francisco’s waste stream is organic. This fact has the City focusing much of its waste diversion efforts on the GREEN bin. The problem is that the compost facility we send our organics to is overwhelmed. There’s simply not enough space, and expanding an existing composting facility or, worse yet, building an additional facility requires a lofty and arduous permit. This has San Francisco and other cities with similar waste management programs looking at alternatives.

Enter, Stage Right, East Bay Municipal Utilities District, or EBMUD.

EBMUD is a seemingly ordinary wastewater treatment facility: it treats, it flares, it stinks. What makes it unique is that EBMUD has been digesting ‘biosolids’ (a professional term for poop) with organics, yielding much more methane than digesting just biosolids would. Currently, EBMUD is producing about 4.5 MW with this technique, which is enough to power about 4,500 homes. In other words, this wastewater treatment facility is not just managing waste, but generating energy too! Jack Macy, the organics coordinator for the San Francisco Department of the Environment, believes that this could be the future of organics management. Those scholars that weren’t gagging from the stench were impressed. Bret Strogen, in particular, looked as happy as a pig in ____ at EBMUD, where he sported a t-shirt explaining the typical layout of a wastewater treatment facility.

The day ended with a bio-diesel ferry tour of the bay. While I am typically repulsed by the idea of having to go to Fisherman’s Warf (which is a bit like Disney land in the summer, but more crowded and reeking of unsustainably caught seafood), the Red and White Fleet ferry was great. Not only did they kindly donate a ferry ride for our crew, but they also run their ferries on a biodiesel blend just like our bus (usually they use B20, but right now they're temporarily using B5 while testing out new engines.) The ferry went under the Golden Gate Bridge, which, even as an endemic San Franciscan, I had never done before. And, you know, it’s even more breathtaking from the water. Something about floating right where the Pacific greets the Bay…looking around, the other Udallers appeared similarly awed. Martina was especially struck as we passed Alcatraz, where from the boat, we could make out “All Indian’s Welcome” spray-painted in red on the first building hordes of tourists pass as they start walking up to that infamous prison. I was once told that one of the motivations behind securing Alcatraz was ensuring that, when people entered the notoriously beautiful Golden Gate, the first thing they would see was not a prison, but Indian Country, right smack dab in the middle of a glittering blue bay. And the bay was glittering; it was a perfect day for a ferry ride. After rounding Alcatraz, we turned back toward the City. In the distance, we could see Crissy Field, the poster-child of rehabilitated wetlands that lies at the foot of the Presidio National Park, where, the following morning, scholars tore out invasive weeds and put up protective fencing around a sensitive dune community.

If Saturday’s schedule was tight, Sunday’s was wearing a corset taut enough to damage internal organs. After restoring habitat with the National Park Service, we attended a slideshow presentation by Gregg Garr, a San Franciscan to the extreme who has got an amazing collection of old photographs and an unparalled passion for restoring native habitat. His message rang loud and clear: Cars suck and planting natives everywhere is crucial. Perhaps the most shocking part of Greg’s presentation is the point at which he shows one location at two different times: What was once John Mclarren’s nursery, the very one where San Francisco’s premier gardener tended Golden Gate Park’s first plants, is now a parking lot. His slides and his accompanying comments are, however, as inspiring as they are despairing. He concludes with some of the many examples of San Francisco’s habitat rehabilitation successes, including Heron’s Head park, a former dumping ground turned near bird sanctuary in BayView/Hunters Point (BVHP), the neighborhood where the Environmental Justice roundtable was held.

When the slideshow ended, we jumped on the bus and hightailed it for BVHP, where we met with representatives from Green Action, Bayview Hunters Point Community Advocates, Literacy for Environmental Justice, San Francisco Department of the Environment, CalEPA, and EPA Region 9. What was supposed to be small group discussions about Sustainability and Environmental Justice transformed into an open forum about the history of Environmental Injustice in BVHP, current outrages (including a detailed discussion about the allegedly inept precautions Lennar—a development firm involved with many of the redevelopment projects throughout the City—has taken to protect the surrounding community from the asbestos released into the air when serpentine rock is drilled into) and the role of the above mentioned groups in working toward Environmental Justice in the neighborhood. The conversation got heated a number of times. I know it was frustrating for me to sit there and listen to all these brilliant, good people all working, ultimately, toward the same goal, and yet…so many children in BVHP have asthma, and breast cancer rates are abnormally high; and each victory—like the final shutdown of the antiquated PG&E powerplant—seems to be shadowed by defeat—like the disenfranchisement of the community throughout the Hunters Point Shipyard clean-up and redevelopment process. It’s heart breaking. If any of the scholars left their heart in San Francisco, it would have been in the basement of the Bay View YMCA. The most memorable moment for me was when Marie Harrison, a long time community advocate and the Green Action representative, stood up and thanked us all for coming and then sincerely expressed something to this effect: ‘knowing about the problems the people in my community face makes you morally accountable; this knowledge gives you responsibility.’ I hope all of us live up to her expectation, and that I do especially.

Marie Harrison of Green Action speaking at the EJ Roundtable Discussion in Bay View Hunters Point

After the roundtable, we went to the dinner catered by Back to Earth at the gorgeous Women’s Building in the mission district. The Big Green Bus showed up, as did some local Udall scholars, and other folks involved with environmental and sustainability work from several different organizations throughout the City. We munched and mingled, savoring the great company and food that my stomach is now growling about as I write this, driving through some lightless stretch of highway near the California-Arizona border.

By: Charlotte Ely

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Seattle Day Off – Indigenous Experience

(Editor's Note -- a quick jump back a bit ago ...)

Who: Martina Gast, Bret Muter, Bret Strogen, Bob Filbin, Jen Baldwin, Jenny Vazquez, and I (Jessica)
What: United Indians of all Tribes Foundation 22nd Annual Seafair Indian Days POW WOW!
Where: Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center, Discovery Park in Seattle, Washington
When: Sunday July 22, 2007
Why: To learn about and celebrate native culture

During our Seattle stop, Tribal Co-Coordinators Jenny and Martina worked together to arrange an optional visit to the 22nd Annual Seafair Indian Days Pow Wow. What a great idea!

We all piled into a taxi van and traveled to Discovery Park from the University of Washington. The Pow Wow was a remarkable experience for all of us.

The Seafair Indian Days Pow Wow ran from July 20 through 22, and typically has approximately 10,000 spectators, 400-600 dancers in full regalia, 25 drum groups, and over 60 vendors.

The 60+ vendors displayed a wide array of native art & crafts such as clothing, jewelry, music, carvings, and paintings. We ate lunch at the Pow Wow, which included traditional fry bread and a salmon bake… yum. It was delicious!

My favorite part of the day was seeing the Grand Entry. At Grand Entry all of the dancers celebrated together. The Seafair Indian Days Pow Wow holds the purpose to “celebrate the richness of the Native American culture”. The Pow Wow included traditional singing, drum and dance competitions, traditional foods, and much more. The Pow Wow helped enlighten my awareness of native culture. It was an exceptional way to spend our free day.

By: Jessica Fagan

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Raving about Redwoods

Thursday morning the crew awoke to the distant sounds of barking sea lions, and to the fresh smells of the cool, salty, northern California coast. The day was already off to a great start…

That afternoon, Jessica, Savanna, Bob, Jen Baldwin and I hopped on the Legacy Bus to pick up a group from the Crescent City Extension Boys and Girls Club for the tour’s final “snack-sized” Parks in Focus program. As we rolled up to the front of the Clubhouse, we were greeted by 13 excited youth ready to go on their first photographic safari of the majestic coastal redwood groves found in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, one of the parks within Redwood National and State Parks (a unique management cooperative between the National Park Service and the California Department of Parks and Recreation).

In route to the park, we talked to the kids about the fascinating trees – known to have grown as tall as 379 feet and have lived as long as 2,000 years. We also goofed around and danced in our seats to some Oldies music, acting like trees (yeah, I get it, we’re a little weird; but the kids had fun)!

When we arrived at Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, the group took a couple minutes to stretch their shutter fingers, and then listened to Bob as he gave introductory lessons on camera safety and basics, before embarking down the beautiful Mill Creek Trail.

Shortly after crossing a long, narrow, wooden footbridge across the Smith River, we stopped briefly and paired the kids off. There, alongside the water, they participated in the day’s first photographic exercise – a photo shoot. The kids took turns posing and taking pictures, practicing a variety techniques, angles and features into their shots.

Our journey continued as we followed the trail into a thick patch of ferns that opened up into one of the coastal redwood groves. The kids echoed one another’s “ooh’s” and “ah’s” as we examined every new redwood around each new bend in the path. I also found myself in awe.

Jessica and Savanna talked a little more about the redwoods and their physiology, as well as, about some of the other interesting species of plants and animals that inhabit these unique forests.

For our final activity, we sent the kids on a photo-scavenger hunt – providing a list of 30 different tasks (photos) they needed to complete that recapped the day’s photography lessons and tips.

On the way back to the Clubhouse that evening, we quizzed the kids about some of the day’s lessons, where correct answers resulted in yummy treats. We recapped the day’s discussions, and I finished by asking if everyone had a good time. We were all blown away with the response: a synchronous, and almost harmonious, “YEEESSSSS!!!” The sound was almost deafening, but it made us all feel good knowing that were able to instill a little appreciation for the natural environment – and particularly appreciation for the coastal redwoods found in their own “backyard” – among a group of energetic and enthusiastic youth.

We ended our outing back at the Clubhouse with a group picture in front of the bus, and said goodbye as we each received hugs from the kids as they individually thanked each of us – a picture perfect end to our day in the park.

As we pulled away and waved farewell to the Crescent City crew, Jessica, Savanna, Bob, Jen and I looked at each other in agreement – today had been a great day.

By: Bret Muter

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Udallers battle Tansy Ragwort in the Redwoods

While the rest of Team Udall was showing the local kids to appreciate and photograph the redwood forest as part of their Parks in Focus program, five brave Udallers volunteered to help Ellen Patum eliminate the invasive Tansy Ragwort (yellow flowering weeds) on Endert’s Beach outside Redwood National Park’s office in Crescent City.

Prior to our arrival, we were uncertain what Ellen would need us to help out with. Upon our arrival, bus driver Joel joked that our assignment was going to be weeding the ubiquitous yellow flowers in the meadow in front of the office. Turns out, not so much a joke. It looked like a recreation of the field of poppy flowers from The Wizard of Oz.

While it was a daunting site, we Udallers did what we do best: figure out why the heck we’re doing what we’re doing, and then get it done. The ragwort was obviously thriving in this field, and was surely out-competing some native species for resources (many invasive species can create a “monoculture,” which not only crushes plant biodiversity, but ends up restricting the ability of native insects and animals to thrive). Some potential evidence that these plants mess up the ecosystem’s balance was that they were covered in caterpillars and (seemingly intoxicated) bumblebees.

Before we started, I found out (and others knew already) that the best time to remove invasive weeds is in the summer when they are flowering (i.e. before they go to seed), and ‘tis best to rip out the plants by the roots. We split into pairs and created different roles. My partner was the “flowerhead clipper/bagger”, and I was the “root ripper upper”. We left the de-flowered plants out in the meadow, after shaking the dirt off the roots so they would dry up and die quicker. After about four hours of working, we felt pretty accomplished, as we removed almost half of the yellow from the meadow. After this hard day of work, most of us went out for dinner and enjoyed eating fresh local fish at a nice restaurant overlooking the water.

By: Bret Strogen

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A “Grand” Finale Stop

The final tribal stop of the tour was in Oregon at the community of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. The confederation is composed of tribal communities from the area including the Umpqua, Molalla, Rogue River, Kalapuya, and Chasta. Tribal members totaling 8,000 are scattered throughout the world.

Thanks to Siobhan Taylor, Public Affairs Director, and the Grand Ronde community, we stayed at the lovely Spirit Mountain Casino. Our day began by meeting Angela Sears who directed us to the Natural Resources Division building to meet Siobhan, Kelly, and the Youth Conservation Corps who we would work with during the service project.

Siobhan discussed the history of the Grand Ronde community with us before we set off on our project. In the 1850s the United States government rounded up Native people in the extended area, most of which were hunter, gatherer, fishermen, and put them on reservations in hopes of making them farmers. One soldier said it was the “saddest experience he had ever seen.” The Chinook Jargon was the language that united the Native people that came to be the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. Chinook is taught in preschools today and serves as a means of cultural renewal. The Grand Ronde community had to go through the same assimilation process that many Native communities experienced in the 1950s: termination. In the 1954, the tribe was federally terminated and left with the cemetery land and the caretaker shed. Siobhan described this process as a form of “ethnic cleansing.” The community worked together and successfully fought for federal restoration on November 25th, 1983. Land was given back in trust and the community was able to rebuild once again. The first big economic resource on the land came with the building of the Spirit Mountain Casino, which, to name a few, provides funds for schooling, housing, and the natural resource development.

Our service project consisted of helping in the restoration process of the Tillamook Trail with the youth crew who has been hard at work on it all summer. The boys worked extremely hard and put much effort into perfecting the trail. Each had a story or two or many, depending on who it was, to tell which made time fly by. The trail and woods are absolute beauties, and one can only hope that more people will venture out and enjoy it.

Siobhan was at the grill when we returned from our service project flipping burgers. We had a wonderful lunch with the youth crews and Grand Ronde community members and various other employees. We had the special treat of meeting and talking with Chris Mercier, Tribal Chairman and brother of Udall intern alumni Bryan Mercier. It is a tough call on who is the better looking brother. We also shared some laughs and stories with William “Wink” Soderberg, an elder Tribal Council member.

Chris Mercier, Tribal Chairman of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde

We were sent home with not only informational packets and cd’s of tribal member Jan Michael Looking Wolf Reibach, but also memories that will last us a life time. Thank you Siobhan, Kelly, youth crew and all of the Grand Ronde community.

By: Martina Gast

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Portland At Night - Through the Lens

To see all the photos -- see our Flickr page

Photos by: Bob Filbin & Eli Zigas

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The Natural Step (1,2,3,4; Cast Back (Way Back); Repeat)

If Portland, OR steps to different beat, Sweden steps to a different drum. For example, McDonald’s in Sweden serves organic milk and beef, recycles 97 percent of all restaurant waste, and powers over half of its 160 stores, as well as the national headquarters, with renewable energy. This puts the largest burger giant’s green wrecking ball squarely through the window of most American burger chains, even Portland, Oregon’s local environmental burger chain, Burgerville.

Given the fertile grounds for environmental change, it’s no wonder that Sweden gave rise to what I see as the latest and greatest environmental advancement: recognizing that the environment does not exist in a void (“oh yes, there are societies and economies!”) and using that knowledge to create metrics regarding true sustainability. Not sustainability as you find it described in a car commercial; rather, sustainability you can capture, put in a vial, and show to your freshman science class.

The bus tour crew was back in Science 101 on Tuesday, July 24th, when we received a 2-hour presentation from Duke Castle, one of the founders of the Oregon Natural Step Network, the largest chapter of the Natural Step in the United States. After showing us how all of the environmental, social, and economic problems humans face are interrelated, he hopped into the Natural Step, which I will attempt to re-describe below.

Developed in 1989 by Swedish oncologist Karl-Henrik Robert, the Natural Step is a framework that can help guide our actions. Robert, through a peer-reviewed process, determined four guiding principles, officially known as “system conditions,” that define sustainability in scientific terms:

In a sustainable global society, the ecosphere is not subject to systematically increasing…

1. Concentrations of substances extracted from the earth’s crust
Examples: Fossil fuels, metals, and minerals
2. Concentrations of substances produced by society (synthetics)
Examples: Persistent substances (DDT, PCB’s…), plastics, Freon
3. Degradation by physical means
Examples: Over-harvesting (forests, oceans...), eliminating biodiversity
and in that society,
4. People are not subject to conditions that systematically undermine their capacity to meet their basic needs
Examples: Overpopulation, unlivable wages, environmental and social inequity

We can define a system as sustainable if it does not violate any of the above conditions. Notice that the Natural Step defines sustainability in a negative way – by only describing what should not be done, rather than prescribing a specific solution, the Natural Step allows for innovative solutions. Innovative solutions for, let’s say, pressing environmental and Native American issues (Udall? Anyone?). As long as you do not violate the system conditions, anything is fair game. The Natural Step helps do for sustainability what the green movement has not: create a standard definition for environmental, social, and economic responsibility.

Of course, the Natural Step is not enough on its own. How can an organization, community, or individual using the Natural Step actually start to take action? Mr. Castle then explained the process of backcasting, a common technique, as applied to the Natural Step. This is also a four part process we can call ABCD.

A (Awareness): What do you know about sustainability and why it matters?
B (Baseline Mapping): What does your organization look like today?
C (Clear and Compelling Vision): What does your organization look like in a sustainable society?
D (Down to Action): How will you manage and prioritize steps to sustainability?

By following the backcasting process, an organization will be able to understand sustainability, assess their current level of economic, environmental, and social responsibility, define organizational sustainability, and determine the best course to reach sustainability. It’s important to note that organization’s sustainable does not need to be immediately feasible; it needs to be truly sustainable. As author Jeff Goodell said:

“During the slavery debate there was all this stuff: ‘Oh, you can't abolish slavery, the farms will collapse. What are you going to replace this labor with? We don't have people -- who's going to pick our cotton? Everything's going to fall apart.’ The great thing Lincoln said is, that's not the issue. The issue is, is it right or is it wrong? You make that decision first and then you decide how to do it.”
Just as the American economy survived and thrived after abolition, once sustainability is defined for an organization, that organization can innovate to reach its goals. Most businesses that are implementing the Natural Step are doing so at either negative, zero, or close to zero net cost. Sustainability saves money and in the long run, will save a business or community entirely.

As President Lincoln and Mr. Goodell did, the Natural Step Network believes in the creativity and ingenuity of humanity. There are many ways to build a sustainable society. Having a concrete way of defining what is not a sustainable society is the first step toward achieving sustainability. I am currently working for a sustainability consulting organization in Portland, OR called the Zero Waste Alliance, which uses the Natural Step as part of its framework. If you would like to learn more about the Natural Step and the organizations using it, visit www.ortns.org

By Bob Filbin

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24 Hours to Smell the Roses

If you had 24 hours in the greenest city in America, what would you do? Sleep? I don’t think so. Instead, the inquisitive Udall crew decided to take to the streets of Portland and find out if the purported redolence of the City of Roses smelled true. Here’s an hour by hour itinerary of our time in Portland. Enjoy!

1700: Arrive at Portland State University dorms in downtown Portland. Pass out maps of city.
1705: Maps lost in depths of bags, under beds, in laundromats, or possibly down storm water drains. Udall scholars helpless in big city.
1730: Bob leaves with Savanna and Eli for the Hawthorne District, Portland’s hipster mecca, replete with tight jeans and square reading glasses. As Kayanna is out of town, all people with experience in the city have departed. The rest of the group groans in despair.

1845: Remainder of Udall crew departs for Roots Brewing Company using Bob’s directions, which manage to get them soundly confused. Group spins in circles hoping for guidance.
1930: Group miraculously arrives at Roots Brewery (shortly after Bob finds them wandering on the highway over Hawthorne Bridge),* Portland’s first all organic brewery. We rendezvous with Meg Matthews, Udall Scholar ’03. Group proceeds to drink organic beer infused with lavender, goes on a tour of the brewery, and drinks free organic beer. Yes! It’s local too.
2100: Some continue to drink. Others wander the streets, which happen to be very safe.
2200: Some people are in bed, others probably should be.
0000: Bret Muter and Eli work diligently by quill pen and candlelight, while the rest of the group sleeps, or doesn’t.
0700: Group awakes, then hits the collective alarm, falls back asleep.
0742: Udall scholars emerge from Portland State University dorms like butterflies from a cocoon - very tired, irritable, butterflies. Caffeine is their nectar.
0800: Nectar sighted at People’s Cooperative Grocery in SE Portland. Scholars meet with Fran Warren, mother of rider Kayanna Warren, who provides them with sweet nectar (so good when it hits your lips), local berries, bagels, and bottles of wine (most save this for later).
0845: Emily from People’s gives a brief overview of the community aspects behind running Portland’s only cooperatively-owned and collectively-managed grocery store.

0855: Bob demonstrates the skills he’s learned by volunteering as a bulk stocker at People’s for the past 6 months, such as the art of positioning his mouth beneath the organic chocolate chip funnel.
0900: Duke Castle from the Oregon Natural Step Network presents THE NATURAL STEP (ta da!). People’s socks are blown off. Duke recommends a local, organic sock company for replacements.
1100: Udall crew leaves for downtown Portland and the Pearl District, home of Portland’s fine art and chic shopping, not to mention Powell’s Books, the largest independent book store this side of the Mississippi (Darn you, Delaware!). Udallers, as any environmentally-sensitive intellectual superstars, blow all of their cash on used books.
1130: Bob and Jenny roll toward the Blossoming Lotus, an all-vegan, mostly local and organic restaurant with a specialty selection of raw foods. Oh yes, there’s a yoga studio attached. Ah, Portland.
1300: Some Udallers meet with Savanna’s friend, Amanda Peden, who is currently working in the Ecotrust Building, a LEED Gold building which is home to only environmentally and/or socially responsible organizations. Tenants include HOTLIPS Pizza (local, organic pizza), Patagonia (environmentally-minded outdoor apparel), Ecotrust (non-profit working to rebuilding the economy of the Pacific NW in a sustainable fashion), an environmental investment company, the first environmental bank in the U.S., the Portland Office of Sustainable Development, and Bob’s camping tent (he never leaves).
1400: On the road to Regence Boys and Girls Club, which opened on June 18th. Udallers meet with Dean Simpson, local farmer from Wildcat Mountain Farms.

1530: Udallers and Dean teach 50 youth from Regence and Meyer Memorial Boys and Girls Clubs about local and organic food, how to make sustainable pizza (Yum! Is that pizza that renews itself? Sign me up.), and hand out and discuss how to grow food plant starts (tomatoes, greens) provided by Dean. Specialty pizzas include apple, walnut, and blue cheese as well as corn, salsa, black bean, and tortilla chips.
1630: Kids consume pizza, give us thumbs up, teach me what “phat” means, says it describes the pizza.
1700: Udallers make stellar pizzas of their own, garnished with love (as well as fresh basil, thank goodness – love only gets you so far in the culinary world).
1800: Udallers hit the dusty trail hard - so hard that the dust cloud blocks out all light and sight. Udall bus stops, waits, hits the trail less hard, rides for Grand Ronde.

Author’s Note: The pizza project was amazing. It was our first service project where we were directly teaching people about environmental issues. The fifty participants came away with more than great pizza; when questioned by the Regence Boys and Girls Club Program Director, several responded with clear and concise definitions of sustainability, local, and organic food, as well as why all of those aspects matter. I couldn’t have asked for a tastier treat.

* Bob uses the Hawthorne Bridge in his other life (as a mild-mannered sustainability consultant, rather than a caped crusader of public service) to commute by bike to his workplace in downtown Portland.

By Bob Filbin

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Picture This: A Bus, a Boy, and His Camera

Hello World! Welcome to my first ever non-pictorial blog post. For me, the past six weeks have moved in frames per day. As I have taken over 10,000 photos, that’s around a quarter of a thousand frames per day and 1 picture per mile. Whoa. According to the photographer’s greatest adage, that also equates to over 100,000 words. I’m surprised I don’t have writer’s cramp.

Though many days have passed without a written blog post from me, that does not mean I am not thinking important things. For example: Is every picture worth a thousand words? Or are some pictures worth 563, while others are worth over a million? Are we talking one syllable words? Coherent sentences? Correct grammar? How many words are my pictures worth? What’s the mean, mode, and median? At this point, these questions are unanswered, but don’t worry, I will have them chi-squished by Tucson. Rather than verbally explaining my problem-solving approach, I will let a photo do the talking:

Singing in the rain. 1,230 words, avg. of 2.4 syllables per word.

By: Bob Filbin

P.S. Actually, it’s the Foundation’s camera. I’ll give it back, I swear.

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Cheers, Mates -- and other local reviews

By popular request (and for those of you who may prefer beer to wine), we bring you the great, local American beers we have discovered while on our bus tour.

(That’s us posing with some microbrews.)

But first, a few facts environmental facts on beer:

• In many countries, intense wet weather (potentially connected to climate change) is causing a decline in barley production. In the UK, for example, barley production decreased from 69% to 22% in 20 years. This has contributed to the decline of the skylark (down by 58% since 1981) through removal of nesting and feeding sites.
• Imported beers come with "food miles" --CO2 emissions associated with the transport of foodstuff. More CO2=more climate change!
  
• Climate change's hot temperatures may also be threatening hop production, thereby driving up the price of ales.

What to do, what to do? Obviously the solution is to drink more local beer (and save habitats, slow down climate change, and bring down the price of beer!)

In case you need guidance, here is some good stuff we found on the road:

• From Boulder, Colorado: Walnut Brewery's Old Elk Brown Ale (as Bret Muter lovingly describes, "it's like being in a meadow with Elk grazing all around me")
• And one from Denver: Wynkoop's Chile Ale ("Ai-Chiuaua!" exclaims Jen Baldwin)
• Missoula's Moose Drool Ale, from Big Sky Brewing Company ("fiesty," says Bob; "don't stop believing," comments Martina)
• Grand Teton Brewing Company's Brown Ale ("like K.C. and the Sunshine Band threw away the keyboard and picked up the Banjo," reveals Jenny. Joel, our bus driver, agrees with the recommendation, at least)
  
• Grand Teton Brewing Company's Bitch Creek ("it's bitchin' good!" nods Martina)
• A Gruit Kolsch from Roots Brewing Company in Portland, Oregon ("comfortingly intoxicating," reminisces Julie; Savanna agrees)
• Another from Roots: The Exxcaliber Stout (observes Crystal, "dark and stormy")
• And yet another from Roots: The Woody IPA ("arousing!" giggles Bob)
  
• Seattle's Mac and Jacks ("brawny with a hint of fruit," according to Kayanna)
  
• Chicago's Goose Island wheat beer ("the best friend a pizza ever had," states Bret Strogen)
• DC's Capitol City Brewing Company's Hefeweizen (I think it shouts, "summertime is here! Yay!")
  

(And don't worry; if you're not a beer drinker, try Wynkoop's Root Beer. As Eli describes, "it's got a well rooted flavor that lingers longer than a Rocky Mountain high.")

Oh, you may also want to stay away from the following:

• Root's Skarkbite ("I would rather be bitten by a shark," comments Bret Muter. Joel and I agree wholeheartedly)
• Yuengling (aka "vomitling" for Bob)
• Cask-conditioned Victoria (I don't think I can even repeat Martina's review without blushing...)
  
• Grand Teton Brewing Company's Yellowstone ale (VERY disappointing. Crystal and I had the wax seal break on our bottles, leaving nothing left but flat bubbles)
  

(Again, for the non-beerites: avoid Yellowstone's ginger ale. "It was ailing," laments Eli.)

Cheers, mates!

By: Sapna Thottathil

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Sustainability at UDub and Other Happenings in the Emerald City

Merrill Hall was built under unusual circumstances. Merrill Hall, at UW’s Botanic Gardens, was built to replace the Center for Urban Horticulture, which was burned down in May 2001 by arsonists from the Earth Liberation Front. The arsonists set the fire because they believed, incorrectly, that a professor at the center was carrying out research on genetically modified trees. As the university made plans to rebuild at the site, several students encouraged the administration to make the new building a green one. Given the reasons for the fire, one can imagine how receptive the University was to the idea. Professor of Forest Resources Tom Hinckley, however, quickly took up the cause and spearheaded the effort to build green. In 2005, LEED-certified Merrill Hall opened its doors.

Professor Hinckley met with us on the morning of July 23rd to tell us a little bit about the architectural features of Merrill Hall. He emphasized that every feature of the building – every different kind of wood used for the doors, trim, and siding of the building – had a story behind it. Was it more environmentally responsible to use wood from a Forest Stewardship Council certified forest half a world away, or wood from a clear-cut right here in the Northwest? Should the building have incorporated donations of conventional materials in order to allow for more environmental features elsewhere in the building? Collectively, the stories presented both the successes and the difficult trade-offs that were made in attempting to build a sustainable structure.

UW Sustainability Panelists J.R. Fulton, Anite Bowers, and Clara Simon

Our tour of the building was brief, however, as the focus of the morning was a panel addressing the sustainability initiatives at the University of Washington. Our panelists included Anita Bowers, Assistant Director of Housing and Food Services; Clara Simon, Sustainability Manager for Capital Projects; Tony Guerrero, Director of Facility Services for UW Bothell; A.J. Van Wallendael, Programs Operations Specialist for the Environmental Programs Office; Sterling Luke, Shop Safety Representative for Facility Services; and JR Fulton, Capital Planning and Sustainability Manager for Housing and Food Services. The topics addressed during the panel ranged widely from local food in the dining halls and biodiesel in the power washers, to corn husk buildings and the use of goats to manage weeds on the Bothell campus.

The weed-whacking goats on the Bothell campus were just one of many examples of how progressive the new UW campus is. At Bothell, the facilities staff use Green Seal certified cleaning products and only organic fertilizers – including compost tea from their on-site vermicompost project. The campus also manages its own stormwater through bioswales and the on-campus wetlands. As of July 1, 2006, the Bothell campus became herbicide free. In August, the campus will be reviewed for its Salmon Safe certification. I was amazed by these and other achievements at this relatively new campus. I was particularly impressed because these progressive programs were driven primarily by the staff of the college, not by the students. The same cannot be said for sustainability initiatives at many other colleges.

Equally impressive were the efforts of Food Services on UW’s main campus in Seattle. In the dining halls, conventional french fries have been replaced with fries from local, organic potatoes, and all the beef now comes from grass-fed cows. Tully’s Coffee even developed its own organic, fair-trade regular coffee, decaf coffee, and espresso to sell in the campus cafés – oh, the advantages of an $18 million food budget! So many colleges – including my own – have no such sway when it comes to food orders. My favorite of the food initiatives on campus was that regarding water. Sales of bottled water at UW are high, but the enormously detrimental environmental consequences of bottled water have moved Food Services to replace this product. Beginning this fall, the dining halls and cafés will no longer sell bottled water. Instead, they will sell reusable water bottles that can be filled with filtered tap water. Bottled water was not widely sold even ten years ago, but now we take it for granted. As customers we demand it and food suppliers are loathe to deny us what many believe to be a healthy alternative to soda. But, if you ask me, bottled water is something akin to clean coal: fine – perhaps – for the consumer, but a disaster – undeniably – for the source. I commend UW for having the conscience to make the switch.

Bill Rodgers and Eric Eberhard with Bret M.

After our wonderfully informative panel on sustainability, we headed back to the heart of campus to meet with Eric Eberhard and Bill Rodgers. Eberhard is a partner at Dorsey & Whitney in Seattle, as well as a member of the Udall Foundation’s Board of Trustees. Rodgers is a professor at UW Law School. Between them, Eberhard and Rodgers have over eighty years of experience with Indian law. We all enjoyed a tasty lunch while listening to the men’s stories about Mo Udall, issues in Indian Country, and some of their past cases. As there are several members of the crew interested in the law, and Indian law in particular, the luncheon offered a fabulous opportunity to ask questions we have not been able to present to other guests.
That afternoon we bid farewell to the Emerald City, clicked our ruby slippers, and glided down the yellow brick – read: black asphalt – road to the City of Roses and Bridges. We haven’t been in Kansas for weeks!

By: Savanna Ferguson

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What’s Up Sea-town What’s Up? (artist from Seattle)

Friday, July 20, 2007 (“Seattle or Bust”)

After a meeting on the bus that lasted from Sprague to North Bend, we got out and stopped at the Cedar River Watershed to stretch the legs, smell some fresh just-rained forest air, and learn about the protected source of Seattle’s drinking water. The best parts of the education center, aside from the displays and the LEED building, were definitely the water drum garden and the ripe thimbleberries.

When we arrived in Seattle, we were on our own for dinner. I made sure to grab some pho while I was in town, as well as some bread from Flying Apron, a vegan, wheat-free bakery. Others went to go to the release parties for The Book That Shall Not Be Named (I’m on page 382, by the way – no comments that spoil the ending, please!!).

Saturday, July 21, 2007 (“Bob, Bret S, and Eli’s trio debut”)

We were welcomed officially to the University of Washington early Saturday morning on campus…with style!!

University Housing and Food Services provided us with a breakfast of local and organic fruits, yogurts, juices, pastries, and fair-trade, shade-grown coffee from Tully’s. And you thought Seattle was only Starbucks! Think again. The nectarines and Rainier cherries were in season, they were juicy, and they were delicious. I hear that the leftover fruit not eaten on Monday was given to us as a care package, to boot. (PS…Housing and Food Services also provided breakfast for the riders on Sun and Mon morning, as well as refreshments for our panels on Monday)

UW Provost Phyllis Wise greeted us warmly and enthusiastically, as did other important administration and staff, including:

- Mona Pitre-Collins, UW Scholarship Office
- Anita Bowers, Housing and Food Services
- Barbara Smith, Housing and Food Services
- Clara Simon, UW Capital Projects
- Stevan Harrell, Department of Anthropology
- David Fluharty, School of Marine Affairs
- John Sahr, representative of Asst Dean Taylor's office

Following this warm welcome, we proceeded to a volunteer event with Earthcorps, a Seattle organization that combines local restoration with global leadership. We worked on maintaining a site which had been restored to native vegetation – good for urban wildlife, slope stabilization, the future of trees in Seattle - at Me-Kwa-Mooks Park in West Seattle. We worked alongside Earthcorps members from all over the US (and all over the world), and also over 20 community members, who came to pitch in for 4 hours of ivy-thrashing, bucket-slinging fun. We had a great view of the Puget Sound.

In the afternoon, I brought Bret M. and Savanna to the Burke Museum, where I worked for 5 months. Professor Stevan Harrell, my old advisor for my studies in China who was also a curator of the museum, met us there and gave us an introduction to the In the Spirit of the Ancestors exhibit, which features Northwest Coast Contemporary Native Art. We also found their special exhibit Yellowstone to Yukon, with wildlife photos from the Rockies, captivating as well.

In the evening, we all went down to Agua Verde, a UW-area staple, for an alumni meetup, but not before we had some afternoon entertainment!
**….maybe that should remain on our private blog. Sapna got a good bachelorette send off, so apologies to the future side job aspirations of Bob, Bret S, and Eli, but I think what happens in McMahon Hall stays in McMahon Hall.**

At Agua Verde, we heard about the sustainability pursuits of the restaurant from Owner Bill, got to sit on the deck, and met up with Jocelyn Lin (’01 Scholar), and Courtney Carothers, (Udall Fellow ’07).

For some awesome news coverage of our events in Seattle, orchestrated largely by my friend Meghan Peters, see below:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/lifestyle/325057_udallbus26.html
and
http://thedaily.washington.edu/article/2007/7/25/udallBusTourPromotesGreenLiving

By: Kayanna Warren

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