EarthPlay 2013
Wishes for Our World
11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Your hosts for Earth Day - Oak Grove School, Food for Thought, Ojai Valley Land Conservancy and the Coalition - have a great day organized for the community. Here are all the fun and interesting things you can do:

Hang out at the stage - entertainment includes Dave Palmer & Friends; Kalinka; the Ojai Youth Symphony; school bands from Nordhoff, Besant Hill, and Oak Grove; Kealoha & Company; Tonalli Aztec Dancers; author James Mihaley; Peace Sticks; and more.

Eat, learn, browse and play - there will be food aplenty, environmental presentations and exhibits, field play, community involvement, and great ideas for our world.

Create - elementary students from schools throughout the Ojai Valley have designed 9" x 9" cloth squares with wishes for our world that will be displayed for all to see. Additional squares will be available at the event so you can create your own "Wish for Our World."

Tread lightly - trolley rides to EarthPlay are free all day, courtesy of the City of Ojai Trolley. There will also be a bike valet available and special parking for EV cars. Walking is great, too, but please leave your dogs at home for this event.

Admission is free and everything takes place under the trees at the Oak Grove School campus, 220 W. Lomita Avenue in Ojai.

For more information visit ojaiearthday.org. To help staff the event, check out the volunteer shifts available here.

We also have Earth Day raffle tickets available that benefit the Coalition. Hit reply to contact Deborah for details. Thank you!

Full Steam Ahead

We won't lie, it's kind of nuts right now. We're settling into our new digs with lots of fun and educational ideas for the space. We'll be hosting a series of open houses through the summer to show it all off. We're designing a new rack card, putting together our 2012 annual report, preparing 2012 tax returns, getting ready for Earth Day, and another 3-month long Solarize Ojai program - just to list a bit of what we're doing.

Interwoven with the above has been the development of our new focus and program areas, and crafting an emblem to visually tie it all together. We're down to two versions of the emblem and would really appreciate knowing which one, you think reads best. Click here to view and then hit reply to vote with the 'left' or 'right' one.

Here is an overview of what the emblem stands for - keeping in mind it's a work in progress.

Our Focus

To increase our valley's renewable energy resources, while decreasing fossil fuel inputs in its many forms.

Our Program Areas

Renewables, Energy Efficiency, and
Appropriate Lighting Initiative (REAL)

Increase solar energy production in the Ojai Valley and explore other renewable power sources while supporting energy efficiency, energy conservation, and appropriate lighting in our homes, businesses and public areas. Work group meets the 4th Wednesday of each month 5:30 p.m., next gathering April 24.

Watershed Literacy and Water Security

Save energy by increasing efficient use and conservation of water; promote the importance of preserving our watershed. Work group meets the 2nd Thursday of each month 5:30 p.m., next gathering April 11.

Local Food

Advocate the growing, purchasing and preserving of local food to increase food security and reduce our collective food miles. Work group meeting still to be determined.

Sustainable Transportation

Make the Ojai Valley more walkable and bikeable, integrated with public transportation and EV infrastructure, to reduce our collective fossil-fuel based car miles. Work group meeting still to be determined.

We're looking for program (work group) leaders and members, financial supporters, and community ambassadors. How can you engage?

Should We Start a Seed Library?
Can You Team Up to Help Spearhead It?

We have developed a great environmental library of books and DVDs, but would a seed library be the icing on the cake? Join us for a webinar Thursday, April 11, 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. to explore the possibility of a seed library at the Coalition's new resource center - 206 N. Signal St. #S.

At a seed library, patrons can check out seeds for free. They then grow the fruits and vegetables, harvest the new seeds, and "return" those seeds so the library can lend them out to others.

Webinar guest speakers are:

Kelly Becker
Seed Library Coordinator
La Crosse Public Library (La Crosse, WI)

Justine Hernandez
Seed Librarian
Pima County Public Library (Tucson, AZ)

Stephanie Syson
Institute Manager
Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute
Basalt Seed Library Project (Basalt, CO).

To join us for the webinar, RSVP here.

Ken Wright: Coalition Co-founder and
WaterSmart Technology Founder

This month we highlight new business member Ken Wright who has lived in Ojai for 17 years. Ken, the founder of WaterSmart Technology, Inc. is an inventor with products and inventions used world-wide. Perhaps most importantly to us, Ken helped found the Ojai Valley Green Coalition after an "environmental awakening" spurred by Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth."

"When the film mentioned the warming of the oceans and the impact that was having on giant kelp beds around the world my jaw dropped," said Ken. "A week later I visited Malibu. I remembered in my youth seeing the giant kelp washed up on the beach every summer...Well, sure enough, hardly any kelp! It had just vanished."

Immediately Ken began buying environmental books and trolling the internet. Twelve weeks later he urged his friend Tim Baird to see the movie and the rest, as they say, is history.

"We thought, what do we do?" said Ken. "I wanted to start an Ojai Valley group, one that would be small enough to really have an impact, and then, maybe grow it to influence other cities to push environmental education and concepts."

Ken and Tim also thought building on Ojai as a green community would draw people to Ojai. So off Ken went to a San Francisco environmental convention where he met Hunter Lovins, an author and promoter of sustainable development. Ken arranged for Lovins to give a seminar in Ojai on the environment and the OVGC was born.

Read full article here.