The initial idea of the Pole 2 Pole 4 charity trip was to drive in a van thousands of miles from the North Pole to the South Pole meeting people, speaking at events, participating in fundraisers and spreading the message of “living sustainable and green”. We would fuel our van with recycled cooking oil, paint squares all over the (white) van and sell them as advertising space, thereby donating all the profits. When it seemed that it was too risky and bureaucratically horrendous to continue, we decided to document Green Initiatives in North America instead. This article is about one of the initiatives we covered: green San Francisco.
Green San Francisco
Waking up in an apartment on Green street…
..browsing through the “green” directory…
… looking for a place to get green pearl milk tea, I knew this was going to be the city to find some cool green initiatives in San Francisco.
Just looking around in the city says a lot; everywhere you look you see electric trams..
.. and electric cable cars..
.. but also green hybrid cabs ..
.. zero-emission hybrid trolley buses ..
.. segways ..
.. and bicycle tours.
Many businesses in San Francisco promote themselves as being green and caring for the environment.
Some keep it simple..
.. while some take a more radical approach with big posters ..
.. and information stands.
To get a closer look at what’s going on when it comes to taking action, I zoom in on two initiatives.
The Green Zebra Environmental Action Center
“The Government is stimulating people and businesses to make green choices”, says Anne Vollen, co-founder of The Green Zebra Environmental Action Center. “An example is Solarmap, which is a Google Maps based tool that shows you how many megawatt (and therefore money) your house or apartment can save when you install solar panels. Another example is Walkscore, a tool that calculates a score from 1 to 100 based on how close your house is to cafés, public transport, shopping centers etc.”.
The Green Zebra is putting in their share too. Their workspace offers room for events such as “Farmer’s Market cooking demonstration” and “DIY compost workshop”, and you’ll find tons of informational booklets and ecofriendly products (even notebooks made out of elephant dung!). “If we all take baby steps towards making green choices, we’ll get there eventually”, Anne believes.
Anne’s 3 tips to make green choices in your day-to-day lifestyle:
- Don’t buy bottled water (San Francisco tap water is of great quality)
- Bring your own bag to the grocery store
- Walk those 5 blocks instead of driving there
The Green Zebra Environmental Action Center
50 Post Street Suite 9
(across from Tully’s on the ground floor)
San Francisco, CA 94104
https://www.thegreenzebra.org
Coffee to the People
After visiting Anne, Josh and I walked an hour (aren’t we green?) to our next stop, an organic and sustainable café called Coffee to the People, where we meet manager Austin. “Coffee to the People has a history of being an example for other cafes that want to improve their green-ness. It’s easier to run a green business in San Francisco than in other cities in America. The SF Government makes green options financially attractive, and helps out practically, by collecting compost for instance”, Austin explains. “Cafes are a great place to stimulate green awareness amongst the public, due to the coffee culture here in America. Here at Coffee to the People we provide information about recycling and reusing (parts of) products”.
Austin’s tips to be green in your daily life:
- Turn down the brightness of your screens
- Don’t leave the water running when you’re brushing your teeth
- Don’t leave devices on stand-by mode
“Oh, and search with Ecosia, the green search engine that saves 2 sq meters of rainforest with every click!”, Austin swiftly adds.
Coffee to the People
1206 Masonic Ave
(between Haight St & Waller St)
San Francisco, CA 94117
https://www.coffeetothepeople.blogspot.com/
The conclusion
All in all, it’s hard to miss the numerous green initiatives all around San Francisco. Like the banner on the street suggests, sustainability is the SF state of mind. And it shows! We’re curious if there is any other American city that can top this!
