DCT Letter of Excellence: Bay Area Green Tours

Congratulations to our first recipient of the D.r.e.e.m. Come True Letters of Excellence: Bay Area Green Tours.

This Berkeley, California based non-profit is reaching out in the community to educate people about various sustainable issues such as where your food comes from, where the local and green certified business are, what options consumers have for sustainable home improvement, energy and fuel, and more! By conducting themed tours, people experience education in an active and fun way! Their superb initiative has earned them the 2010

For more information see their website: www.BayAreaGreenTours.org

Our intention with these letters is to provide our support and encouragement to other organizations, businesses, individuals, and projects that are working for real sustainable change.

Dani has been volunteering with Bay Area Green Tours and has been able to experience their efforts first hand.

Below is a copy of their DCT Letter of Excellence:

D.r.e.e.m. Come True Letter of Excellence

Dear Bay Area Green Tours,

I am writing on behalf of D.r.e.e.m. Reality, a growing educational non-profit with a dedication to sustainability. Though we are a small organization, we are eager to connect with and support other organizations and individuals that are striving for a similar goal of real, sustainable change. This letter is intended to express our enthusiastic encouragement of your efforts!

Recently, I have been granted the opportunity to explore, first hand, your organization's mission to “demonstrate the sustainable economy in action, inspire support of local green businesses, and empower people to incorporate environmental responsibility and social justice into their personal and professional lives”. By volunteering with Bay Area Green Tours I have come to understand how truly dedicated the faculty is to accomplishing its mission. I'd like to share some specific observations that we believe you should be proud of!

• BAGT's participation within the David Brower Center community, as the “Greenest Building in Berkeley”.

• BAGT's tours that focus on various alternative energy, transportation, and resource conservation which present established solutions for environmental sustainability to consumers.

• BAGT's “Farm to Fork” tours' expressed intention to connect the community with their food source, enacting educational methods to raise the public's knowledge of organics and small family farming.

• BAGT's efforts to bring awareness of the importance of supporting local business, which have an integral role in creating economic sustainability.

• BAGT's specialized youth education, reaching out to supply the younger generations with essential information on various successful methods of sustainability in action.

I am personally very proud to be part of the incredible work that Bay Area Green Tours does, and extend my own, as well as D.r.e.e.m. Reality's, gratitude for your efforts. Please continue to keep up the excellent work!

Sincerely,

Danielle Stinson

Vice President and Director

D.r.e.e.m. Reality

A Green Valentine...

Christmas left piles of discarded wrapping paper, ribbon, and packaging in its wake. Now, thanks to Valentine’s Day, we enter a dangerous, trashcan-clogging world of plastic hearts, tissue paper, and greeting cards. Add to that complicated packaging for every item, and nearly any holiday can be one of our most wasteful times of year. A couple years ago, for Christmas, my mom came up with several clever, sustainable ways to “wrap” her presents for us. She was my inspiration for this blog.

--Following are a few tricks I’ve used that you can try. Remember them for birthdays and other holidays, too!

~ Earth-friendly Gift Wrap Tricks! ~

*REDUCE PACKAGING WASTE: Inside a gift I had bought, I found paper stuffing used to give it shape. Instead of letting it get thrown out, I used it as wrapping paper for one of the other gifts! Worried your paper is too boring? Jazz it up with glitter, stickers, or even just your own handwriting. For your Valentine’s gift, try writing a love poem on it. Be creative!

*USE ALTERNATIVE WRAPPING MATERIALS: Find things around the house, like the removable cover of a decorative throw pillow (Thanks again to my mom for this trick).

Instead of wrapping boxes, decorate them or keep an eye out for ones that are already decorated- no wrapping necessary! L

ook for cloth gift bags while shopping. If you have a hard time finding some, I recommend visiting a wine shop. They often carry a variety of elegant decorative cloth bags for wine bottles. They make smaller gifts look dazzling, and they can usually be found year-round!

Last, but not least, remember that some presents don’t need anything more than a bow to be magical. J

*Last but not least… RECYCLE (OF COURSE!): After the presents have been opened, don’t forget to check your items for recyclable materials. We all know that nearly every product is locked deep within seemingly impenetrable plastic. Recycle it! Save space in your trash can, and help save the Earth at the same time.


Love & Light,

Kaitzilla J

November's Bike Month

Whew! 2010 seems so long ago, already! How does the time fly by so fast? I honestly cannot say. I can, however, tell you how the people manage to travel so quickly… They’re riding their bikes! That’s how! J I am especially thankful and proud to announce that D.R.E.E.M. Reality’s November Bike Month for 2010 was a rousing success. Fellow director Ashley and I started a FacebookTMevent in order to get the word out. We were extremely excited, as this was one of our first official acts as D.R. directors. Thankfully, it took off even more than either one of us were expecting. So many great people jumped on the chance to trade their four wheels for two. Friends told friends who told more and more friends. In no time, the majority of our posts were from complete strangers! Hooray for networking!

Please feel free to visit D.R.E.E.M. Reality’s FacebookTM page and look for “Bike Month” to see how we did. While you are there, check for upcoming events and opportunities to make a difference. Participants have posted comments, kept track of their mileage, and even posted pictures of some of their bicycling adventures! We had so many participants it was impossible to name a winner. On second thought, there was one clear winner: our mother Earth! She is likely the most thankful for the positive impact that so many bikers made to help her. J

Special thanks to everyone who pedaled their way through November, those who pedal their way through life, and those who will choose to pedal more in the future. Biking is not only a wonderfully fun and effective way to commute, but it is also a great way to exercise and have a great time doing it. Remember, every month can be bike month. So, drop those keys, grab a bike, and pick up the pace!

Love and Light,

-Kaitzilla