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As the Drive Less Challenge winds down, we’re gearing up for the celebration – May 12, from 5-7pm at First and Main Sports Lounge.  This is a family-friendly event with plenty of non-alcoholic beverages available for purchase at the no-host bar. RSVP at: http://bikewalkwin.eventbrite.com/ We will celebrate: Our collective effort to do less solo driving and more biking, walking, and carpooling! The joys of biking and walking more and the benefits of continuing to do so, and Those who commute to and from work by bike; after all it is Bike-to-Work day! We’ll be awarding some excellent prizes for Los Altos and Los Altos Hills Drive Less Challenge winners. Big winners include those with the most green trips and the most green miles logged, but there will be lots of other prize categories and several random drawings throughout the evening. This party is free and open to the public; there will be light appetizers and a no-host bar at Happy Hour prices. So join us at First and Main for GreenTown Los Altos’ Bike, Walk Win! Party. Stop by on your commute home from work, as it is Bike to Work Day. Visit the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition website to learn more, and check out this great video on the SF Bay Area Bike to Work Day website. RSVP at: http://bikewalkwin.eventbrite.com/ Many thanks to our local sponsors: Alabasta Flower Shop, Andiamo Salon, Andronico’s, Baskin Robbins Ice Cream, Bicycle Outfitter, BK Collections, Brian’s Restaurant, Chain Reaction, Chef Chu’s, Cranberry Scoop, Esther’s German Bakery, Firefly Willows, Hartman Fashions, John B. McBirney, DDS, Jolie Madame, Linden Tree, Los Altos Hardware, Paris Tailor, Peets Coffee & Tea, Peggy’s Health Center, Rick’s Cafe, Sheldon of Los Altos, Sumo Sushi Boat, Tom’s Depot, and Vintage Bath.

Permanente Creek, Los Altos Up a creek, literally! GreenTown will host a tour and cleanup of it’s newly-adopted section of Permanente Creek on Saturday, May 21, 9am-noon. As part of National Rivers Cleanup Day, volunteers will set out to explore both natural and not-so-natural sections of Permanente Creek, cleaning up as we go. Sign up for this free event at: http://permanentecreek.eventbrite.com/ We will meet at Heritage Oaks Park on the corner of Portland Ave. and Miramonte. This will be a great opportunity to see and learn about the channel (which is normally inaccessible behind fencing). Plus, it will give us a chance to establish how much trash is typically in our section of the creek. Gloves and trash bags will be provided. All participants must sign a waiver and children under 17 must be accompanied by an adult. Volunteer information and a liability waiver can be found here.

Join other families, friends, and bicyclists of all ages for a casual and fun group bike ride around Los Altos next Saturday, May 7, from 4:00-6:00pm. The ride will feature several hidden passageways that help you get to several shopping districts and the community center on a safe and fun route for families, kids and adults. Anything to make the ride festive, like a rolling bike party, is encouraged! The ride will organize at 4:00pm at the corner of Main and Second Streets. We will ride for 1-2 hours around town, ending up back in downtown Los Altos. Those interested can continue the party at Spot’s Pizza or other downtown restaurants at 6:00pm. Our next ride is scheduled for Saturday June 4th. For more information, please contact Monthly Bike Ride coordinators Scott Vanderlip at (650) 793-0475  or scott@inet-sciences.com, or Laura Teksler at lteksler@yahoo.com.

Guest blogger: Mike Gospe Beginning on Earth Day, I made a conscious effort to try to use an alternative to the car for at least one errand per day.  Highlights of this past week included multiple trips to markets (Draegers, Whole Foods), post office, library, Pet’s Delight, Chase Bank, and Office Depot. My most challenging ride was the day I decided to ride to Draeger’s to pick up an 11 inch fruit tart. Yesterday’s ride was extra enjoyable because I combined several tasks, including time just to get exercise on the bike: Recycle a collection of ink cartridges by dropping them off at Office Depot. Run to Whole Foods for some needed ingredients for tonight’s dinner. Include a workout by riding to Palo Alto and visiting my good friend Donkey (off of the bike/pedestrian path behind Gunn High School). Total elapsed time for today’s ride was 70 minutes, which included my workout. I’ve also gained a deeper appreciation for what it takes to ride a bike in and around town. Los Altos needs more bike parking accommodations.  It’s okay for a single rider to chain their bike to a tree or signpost. But, if more people are to take up the challenge, we need more and safer accessible places to park our bikes.  In light of the downtown construction, the bike provided me better maneuverability to get to my destination. But, as always, bike safety must always be top of mind.  Bike riders can take nothing for granted, especially for keeping safe alongside cars on streets and in parking lots. Overall, it was a great week.  These and other destinations await me, as I will continue the Drive Less Challenge next week.

As reported in last month’s newsletter, Greentown has adopted the Permanante Creek channel from the Santa Clara Valley  Water District. Help us celebrate GreenTown’s creek adoption and stewardship by joining our first creek cleanup on Saturday, May 21st from 9am-noon. Sign up for this free event at: http://permanentecreek.eventbrite.com/ We will meet at Heritage Oaks Park on the corner of Portland Ave. and Miramonte. This will be a great opportunity to see and learn about the channel (which is normally inaccessible behind fencing). Gloves and trash bags will be provided. We plan to pick up litter and trash along the Permanente channel (the gates will be unlocked on this day for creek cleanup volunteers) and if time permits, also the section upstream that borders Heritage Oaks Park. There are several good reasons to participate in the May 21st cleanup, which also happens to be National River Cleanup Day: Volunteer locally while others do the same nationwide Learn a bit of creek history and some current problems Demonstrate your concern for birds and downstream wildlife that depend on this creek by picking up items that can injure or kill them Stop the flood of trash that makes its way from creeks to the Bay and eventually out into the ocean When done we’ll bring our bags of trash back to Heritage Oaks park for sorting, counting, and photographing. Some of the plastic will be saved for a future art project.

GreenTown Los Altos gives a green thumbs up to the Los Altos School District Living Classroom Program for winning Acterra’s Business Environmental Awards in the “Environmental Project” category. The prize, announced in late April, rewards “a specific environmental project that has demonstrated significant leadership in a focused area, such as resource conservation, environmental outreach, pollution prevention, or minimizing carbon footprint.” Kudos to program founder Vicki Moore, Program Director, Mike Sanderson, and Los Altos School District middle school teacher, Courtney Cadwell, who helped develop many of the lesson plans. “As a Living Classroom docent, I know first hand how effective the Living Classroom lessons are in engaging students in garden-based science, social studies and math lessons,” notes Margie Suozzo, Chair of GreenTown Los Altos’ Leadership Team. Living Classroom lessons are available for all elementary grades (typically there are 4-6 lessons per grade), with new lessons being piloted at the middle school level. Some examples include the following:They cover a range of topics, from science to social studies, using garden-based instruction, e.g.: 2nd graders, whose curriculum includes studying plant lifecycles, examine wheat in a three part lesson, from seed to pretzel; 3rd graders, studying the Ohlone, harvest and measure corn, beans and squash produced in a traditional three-sisters garden; 6th graders sow and grow plants that were critical to ancient civilizations highlighted in their curriculum. Walt Hayes, Chair of Acterra’s Business Environmental Awards Judging Committee notes that “Our team found this project totally inspiring in all ways, including features like its creativity and comprehensiveness, its integration with state curriculum standards, how its turnkey approach avoids burdening teachers, and the way it achieves all those goals on a minimal budget. ” GreenTown gives the Living Classroom program our green thumbs up! For more information, contact the Living Classroom program, please contact Mike Sanderson at 650-947-1103.

Once you’ve signed up for the Drive Less Challenge, here’s how to log your trips. Sign In to Your Account You’ll see a page that looks like this: You may find that your “nickname” and password are already filled in.  If not, enter the name and password you chose when you first signed up.  Then click Login. Next, you’ll see a page that looks something like this: Under “where did you go?” select the type of trip you took (work, errands, etc.) from the dropdown menu. Under “how did you get there” select your mode of transportation (walk, bike, bus, carpool, drove car alone, etc.) Enter the miles and the date and click “Log this trip.” Your total miles, “green” miles and CO2 will be tracked for you. Any questions, email us at bike@greentownlosaltos.org or comment on this post. Bike! Walk! Win!

Los Altos businesses have really stepped up to entice you to get out of your car and walk, bike, skate, or carpool.  So far, 24 businesses in Los Altos have contributed some fantastic prizes totaling over $1600 in value, including: Bike Gear Gift certificates and gear from Bicycle Outfitter and Chain Reaction Eats Gift certificates from Andronico’s, Baskin Robbins, Brian’s Restaurant, Chef Chu’s, Esther’s German Bakery, Rick’s Café and Sumo Sushi and some goodies from Peet’s. Services and Health Products Teeth Whitening by Dr. John McBirney, DDS Gift certificates for nail, hair and healing arts treatments from Jolie Madame, Andiamo Salon and Firefly Willows and for health products from Peggy’s Health Center. Alterations by Paris Tailor Gifts and Products for Your Home Gift certificates from Alabasta Flower Shop, BK Collections, Cranberry Scoop, Hartman Fashions, Linden Tree, Los Altos Hardware and Vintage Bath. How Can You Win These Prizes? Sign up for the Drive Less Challenge by visiting www.drivelesschallenge.com and clicking on “Take the Challenge.”  Be sure to select “Los Altos/Hills” as your community.  Compete as an individual or gather up some friends, co-workers, fellow students or neighbors to compete as a group.  Then log your trips and your miles. Prize Categories Most Green Miles by Mode (e.g., bike, walk, bus, train, carpool, small electric) Most Green Trips Most Green Shopping Trips Best Blog Story Most Improved (must input a baseline) Greenest Group Largest Group We also plan to do a few random drawings, so you could win a prize just by signing up for the contest! #bike #contest #fun #walk

Students at the GreenTown Los Altos table with Mike Barnes On April 5, 2011, Joe Eyre, GreenTown’s Water Stewardship Chair, and I staffed a table for GreenTown Los Altos at the annual St. Francis High School Earth Day Every Day event. This event, held on campus during lunch breaks, was organized by the St. Francis High School Environmental Club Moderator, member of the Science faculty, Roberta Chisam, as well as students of the Environmental Club. GreenTown Los Altos was joined by representatives of the Fish and Wildlife Agency, The Pacific Gyre Clean-Up Project, Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation Department, the Plug-In Car Initiative featuring a GM Volt, and Summer Winds Nursery featuring native plant species. I offered students information about compostable containers that the GreenTown Co-op is offering to restaurants in Los Altos. These containers are environmentally-preferable to styrofoam take-out containers.  Our compostable containers can be disposed in the compost stream and break down in 180 days leaving a non-toxic residue that supports plant growth, whereas biodegradable containers, made of some organic material and some petroleum-based material, must be disposed of in a landfill because the resulting residue is toxic and will not support plant growth. St. Francis students at the Earth Day event Joe Eyre offered information on our water conservation and stewardship effort. Both of us were able to talk about the upcoming events on the GreenTown Los Altos calendar, including an April 27 talk at the Los Altos Library on water-saving lawns and the Permanente Creek Cleanup on May 21. The creek cleanup event is particularly relevant for St. Francis students as Permanente Creek runs right behind the campus. It was an enjoyable afternoon and it was great to see the interest by the students in advancing their understanding of environmental issues. By Mike Barnes Chair, Business Co-Op Program GreenTown Los Altos

Here are some top ways to help you and your families be water stewards. Average residential use of water Conserve Water Get a Water Wise House Call from the Santa Clara Valley Water District. Reduce outdoor water use through efficient irrigation and native plants. Take advantage of water district rebates for toilets, washers, and turf replacement. Stop water waste inside and out. Reduce Watershed Pollution Protect our streams and the Bay by: Tuning up your irrigation and/or use drip to prevent water overspray that runs into storm drains and to the creeks.  Native plants help by using less water. Eliminate or reduce lawn chemical use: synthetic fertilizers, weedkillers, and pest killers that kill stream life. Wash your car at the car wash.  Do not hose off your driveway. Minimize Wastewater Pollution Chemicals, pharmaceuticals and other substances cannot be removed by the Regional Water Quality Control Plant and end up flowing into the Bay with the released effluent.  Minimize this by not dumping anything in the wastewater.  Properly dispose at hazardous waste dropoff sites. Think about what you eat You can take short showers for a year and save less water than eating a pound of beef, which requires over 2,500 gallons of water to grow and produce.  Other foods, such as butter, pork, and almonds are also very water intensive. –Joe Eyre, Chair Water Stewardship Committee

Water is a unique resource necessary for sustaining life and not substitutable with any other substance. As our population and economy grow, it is important to efficiently manage the water we have and protect our watersheds. The GreenTown Los Altos Water Stewardship Program educates and encourages Los Altos and Los Altos Hills residents to: Conserve water, both indoors and outdoors.  We want to build the ethic of wise water use that will enable a high quality of life for future generations. Reduce pollution to our streams and the Bay. We have the vision of healthy, passable streams that would enable Steelhead trout to return. We also want to minimize wastewater pollution that ultimately flows into the Bay. Our committee is currently working on several exciting projects and could use more volunteers! For more information or to join, contact: Joe Eyre, Water Stewardship Committee Chair at water@greentownlosaltos.org or (408) 857-8609.