I have tried various ways to get to work over the years I've worked for the City - drive alone, take light rail, ride my bike, occasional carpool, some combination of these. But the more I learn about climate change, the less inclined I am to drive alone. And the more I experience the many benefits of public transit or biking, the more invested I become in those transportation modes.

With a station 1.5 miles from my house, the VTA's light rail is a very attractive commute mode for me. It takes me all of 5 - 10 minutes to drive to the station depending on the traffic signals(10-12 minutes by bike!). My gas tank stays fuller longer (and so does my wallet). I've met people on the train I enjoy talking with. I can read a book or do some work on the way in as well. Then, I get a nice walk to City Hall when I arrive downtown. To top it off, VTA now has express service between the Ohlone Chynoweth and Convention Center stations. This cuts about 6 minutes off the commute timewise, but about an hour psychologically! I love it!

But with a 1.5 mile ride to the light rail station, there's really no reason for me to drive when I have my bike. So I've begun riding my bike to light rail instead. I take my clothes in a backpack and change at work. The exercise energizes me and riding my bike puts my actions more in line with my values (a healthy environment). In fact, biking is so much fun that I now ride my bike all the way in sometimes as well. I have a work buddy I meet on Curtner and we ride the rest of the way in together. I've also been known to ride all the way home, or ride from the Tamien Station where I can pick up the bike trail for the majority of the route. If I'm out after dark on my bike, I use my bike lights and one of those electric green windbreakers for visibility. I have raingear in case I'm caught in bad weather. My commute does double duty as my workout as well.

San Jose has great resources for avoiding the solo car commute - lots of bus routes, light rail, bike trails and dedicated bike lanes. There are great benefits to leaving your car in your driveway - health, financial, environmental. Now that I've shifted into using these commute alternatives, it's hard to imagine going back to my car. Overcoming the inertia of our established habits is not that hard. I really recommend it!

Four years ago, our company, ACI Alloys, contacted the Santa Clara County Green Business program to see if we could get certified as a green business. But at that time, the program was designed specifically for offices and retail (restaurants and dry cleaners and the like). There were not any plans to expand the green business program into the manufacturing sector.

So, in 2008, we went ahead and created our own green business manufacturing guidelines, adopted unanimously by our management, and published our guidelines on our website (www.acialloys.com/Green.html).

In the four years since that program was adopted, we have recycled tons of paper and cardboard, reused thousands of cubic feet of packaging material, cut down thousands of miles of single occupancy vehicle (SOV) trips, and sent many tons of metals back to the recyclers as well.

Unfortunately, our internal ability to recycle paper and cardboard has recently ground to a halt (can't haul 20 cubic feet per week on a bicycle). Also we have faced some challenges with our landlord and changing our trash pick-up service to include recycling services. Although I heard the City of San Jose is working on a Citywide recycling and improved garbage collection services for the commercial sector.

Still, at ACI Alloys we are persisting in our efforts to adhere to a Green Vision, including recently closing the loop on re-circulating cooling water, a move to a paperless office, and a new bottle-and-can charity drive (thanks to all our volunteers!), and we hope that other small manufacturing businesses will join us in going green!

The Water Bottle Free initiative is a movement to lower the amount of plastic water bottles at Santa Clara University (SCU), and it has been an ongoing pursuit among students and faculty leaders for many months. SCU made a pledge to reduce the amount of plastic water bottles by 50% of their 2009 levels by 2012. In order to reach this goal, Santa Clara’s Associated Student Government (ASG) distributed Mission Sustainable reusable water bottles to all incoming freshman on campus last month. However, the success of this program could not have been achieved without the help of senior Conner Mulrooney who worked on installing over 30 goose-neck water filling stations around campus, including the student center, fitness center, and all residence halls.

This student-led initiative is just one of many taking place at SCU that has cultivated a culture of sustainability both on and off campus. The Office of Sustainability works with students, faculty, and staff to develop projects that raise awareness of environmental issues and create lasting change to make SCU and the wider Silicon Valley community more sustainable.

Over time I've learned to reduce my household waste dramatically by doing a few simple things. It use to be that I couldn't find enough room in the black garbage container the waste hauler provided to take all my household waste. Now, I can go 2-3 weeks without filling that can. I easily compost food waste, avoid plastic wrapped produce and foods when possible, bring nylon produce bags for reusue instead of using new plastic baggies every time. It's been more about personal choice when purchasing anything. Choose less packaging, or purchase products with compostable packaging. Still, it's mind boggling to consider just how much plastic is part of any product we buy!!

See attached photo of compost I collected for my garden from food waste.

I've been biking to work for about the past 5 years, each time with an absolutely wonderful commute. I live in West San Jose off Winchester, and every time I've looked for a new job, I've limited my search to workplaces 10 miles or less (that can be 12-15 miles by freeway) from home, knowing that I'd want to bike commute (I've done the car commute, and it was soul-killing and terrible: I'm a miserable, angry driver). Each time I've found a school within 4 miles of my home, and my current commute is a breezy 15-minute 5k (3.1mi) that I've enjoyed for the past three years. I have no shower at work, but a utility closet stores my bike happily without needing to carry a lock, and upgrading to panniers (saddlebags) have made hauling my laptop, student papers, lunch, clothes, and bike tools a complete breeze. I estimate that I ride 20+ work days a month, for a mellow total of around 1000 miles per year.


My favorite interactions are always places with other cyclists and pedestrians out on the streets, where conversations happen casually and unpredictably and where urban life just seems to invite me to participate - whether to just smile and wave to someone I see or to stop in at a shop. I wish more shops and restaurants would offer indoor, unlocked, visible bike parking, as those are the places I visit most. Bike racks are cute, but to be honest, unless they're literally in front of the door to the place I'm visiting, I don't bother: my ride is too important to leave out-of-sight.

I attended the San Jose City’s presentation, at City Hall, on Solar panel installations and the group buy plans, along with information on rebates and incentives. It seemed that it was the best time to take advantage of those programs, for the best cost/value ratios, along with doing my part to reduce our dependency on fuel generated energy.
I contacted Sunpower Solar and they came to me to see what I was interested in. After some in depth discussions on PG&E usage reports, site capabilities, Sunpower systems generating capacities, etc., I decided on a 2.9 KWH system using high efficiency panels to be installed on my SW/facing garage roof, here in South San Jose.
Sunpower presented a detailed report to me, on capacities, efficiencies, usage, PG&E rate plans, meters, costs, system monitoring etc. We scheduled a date for installation, which was completed by Nov. 2, 2010. I had to wait about a month for PG&E to install a smart meter that would run backwards, before I could turn on the system. PG&E is experiencing increased backlogs for their work to install meters and check and approve solar systems. It was up and running by Dec. 2nd, with extra time to get the rebates.
I can now monitor the power generated/used at home on a display at the house and on the internet. Thanks to all those who helped bring this to pass. I now, look forward, even more, to those bright sunny days ahead!

Jack Boren

In the spring of 2008, Horace Mann School received the City of San José's Go Green Mini-Grant Award to fund the implementation of a Recycling Club on campus. Classrooms at Horace Mann had previously sorted waste in recycling containers, but there was no infrastructure to collect the recycling from the individual classrooms. In addition, there are classrooms on all three floors of the multi-story school, so carrying the boxes of recycling to the recycling dumpster across campus was difficult.

Parent volunteer, Sally Schroeder, organized the Recycle Club that is comprised of student participants, grades third through fifth. They collect the recycling from each classroom and office. Under the supervision of Ms. Schroeder, the students visit each classroom or office twice a week and transfer the recycling to a bin on wheels. They record the number of recycling containers collected and then weigh the bins and calculate the total weight collected from each floor. The Recycle Club also graphs the weight on a large data display board for the Horace Mann community to see the progress the program has made. In the 2008-2009 school year, the Recycle Club collected just over 6 tons (or 12,000 pounds) of recyclable material as measured by the students of the Recycle Club.

At the end of 2009, Allied Waste of Santa Clara County formally recognized Horace Mann Elementary as a leader in recycling efforts amongst schools in San José with a recognition award of $1,000 at the San Jose Unified School Board meeting on November 19, 2009. The City of San José joined Allied Waste to formally recognize Horace Mann School Recycle Club at the City Council meeting on December 8, 2009. These awards recognized the collaborative efforts that have made Horace Mann a leader and part of San José's Green Vision to achieve Zero Waste by 2022.

Story submitted by Horace Mann Elementary.