The Green Athlete

Wildflower Video

Wildflower!

The Green Athlete had another successful event at the Wildflower Triathlon Festival this past weekend. The Green Athlete Van traveled to Lake San Antonio early in the week so Pro Triathlete Chris Lieto could get in some last minute training before the race on Saturday. We filled up on bio-diesel fuel before we left and a few hours later we arrived at our camp.

The always comfortable ride was even better this time around as we added a new sponsor to the program - Sony - who outfitted the van with a flat screen TV and a Sony Playstation III. The crew was able to play a little Guitar Hero every night before bed. And I won't share how many tines we watched Anchorman.

Each day the van and the appliances were powered up by the solar panels on top of the van provided by Sungevity. It was a great feeling knowing we were getting our energy direct from the sun. We served coffee every morning to other athletes who were camping nearby. They were able to stop by each morning and re-use the great Green Athlete coffee mugs provided by Trek.

K-Swiss provided us with some great Green Athlete tees that we were able to give out to supporters. Next time you see us at an event be sure to stop by and get one. Next up - Boise 70.3!

Happy Earth Day!

Today is Earth Day and a day that can be the start of making little changes that can help limit our waste. A simple way and something you can do right now is go to www.catalogchoice.org/ and spend a minute filling out what catalogs you want to stop coming to your house. It is very simple and very easy. Why do we need all those catalogs in the mail when the internet is full of shopping. If you want to look for things to buy just spend time searching Google instead of reading a catalog you will through away as soon as you are done flipping the pages.
This is one simple thing you can do, but I encourage you to read some of the blog entries in this site or others and find other ways you can help. Please come back frequently as I will do my best to post new ways we can limit our carbon foot print.
Happy Earth Day!

Recycle your running shoes!

The Green Athlete and Chris Lieto are proud to partner up with a great non-profit organization called Soles for Souls www.soles4souls.org. We will be working with them along with the support of K-Swiss to do recycled shoe drives at the various events we are at this year. Next up - Wildflower Triathlon Festival! So if you are heading up to Wildflower next week, bring an extra pair of old running shoes to recycle. Look for the Green Athlete van, turn your shoes in and we'll reward you will a discount coupon for a pair of new K-Swiss running shoes!

Sungevity acknowledged by Fortune Magazine - 11 Great Green Ideas!

Berkeley startup Sungevity aims to do for the solar business what Dell did for personal computers: digitize the entire enterprise to cut costs and create a mass market. Enter your address on Sungevity's website, and satellite-imaging software zooms in on your home, calculates the roof's dimensions, selects appropriately sized solar arrays, and shows what they will look like installed -- while computing your return on investment. Once the order is placed, an off-the-shelf prepackaged solar array is shipped to the customer's door, and an installation crew is dispatched. "This changes the game," says
Sungevity co-founder Danny Kennedy.
-- Todd Woody

Sungevity Launches

Eco start-up company Sungevity is launching a new web application on Earth Day that will take the guess work out of solar panel installations. Enter your address on Sungevity's website and satellite-imaging software will zoom in on your home, calculate your roof's dimensions, select the right sized solar arrays and calculate how much money you'll save on energy costs.

Once you place an order, the site will ship one of five off-the-shelf prepackaged solar arrays and dispatch an installation crew to your door. An on-line database tracks local building and permit requirements and sends the necessary forms to you for you to fill out.

This is great news for everyone who has ever wanted to jump on the solar bandwagon, but was afraid to because of the headaches that come from any large home project. The system will also help make everything cheaper, since half of a solar system's costs are from installation hassles.

Unfortunately, the service is limited to California addresses right now, but if business is good, we could probably count on a nationwide roll-out in the near future. [Green Wombat via Wired]

The Sky is Falling

Road Trip to California 70.3

Making the road trip down to California Ironman 70.3 down in Oceanside California. We started our trip from the Green Athlete headquarters in Danville, California. We are driving down in the Green Machine - my new Ford E350 conversion. It is a stock van that has been converted to 4x4 and with all the amenities of home. Sleeps 4, has a kitchen, fridge, microwave, great stereo, and it is all run on solar and BioDiesel. It makes a road trip very comfortable. I am actually writing this blog from the back bed as we pass Buttonwillow on the I-5. The solar is set up by Sungevity, who you will see soon at www.sungevity.com. They specialize in setting up your home with solar power which is very easy and very affordable. We have my Trek bikes on the racks and plan on riding most places when we set up camp. 1 World 2 Wheels is a program set up by Trek to build awareness of how easy it is and how good it is for the environment to just ride your bike to run short errands and to get around. We will be stopping by the K-Swiss headquarters on our way down to see the facility and say hi to the gang. They are excited to see the new Green Athlete van and to be a part of our shoe recycling drive for Soles 4 Souls program, where we collect used shoes to donate to the needy and to recycle to build tracks and playground flooring. Come by and see us at the expo at the race this weekend and check out the van. Look forward to seeing you there.

REUSE

REUSE is the second of the 3 R's. I talked a little about Reduce and now about Reuse. It is all first about Reducing what we use, then reusing what you can to eliminate more waste and last will be recycle.

You can "reuse" materials in their original form instead of throwing them away, or pass those materials on to others who could use them too! Remember, one man's trash is another man's treasure! Here are some examples of reuse ...

1. Take along washable cups or travel mugs instead of disposables; a lot of restaurants and convenient stores will be glad to fill or refill your own mug. When you hit Starbucks everyday try to not use a new cup that ends up in the garbage, bring your own mug each day. That little step if everyone did it would save an enormous amount of trash.

2. When you do use disposables like plastic cups, plates, utensils, and plastic food storage bags, don't throw them away! Wash and reuse them -- most of them will last for a long time with many uses. They may not cost much to replace, but it doesn't make any more sense to throw away those things than it does to throw away your bicycle after one use.

3. When you do decide to replace something large and "reusable", be sure to donate the old one to charitable outlets like Goodwill, Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, Vietnam Veterans, and the many others that are probably in your area. Most of the time the item can be repaired by those groups, and then redistributed into other homes rather than landfills.

4. Hold a yard sale or give-away. And ask your neighbors to join in too -- this shares the work and increases the number of unused things that can find new homes and new uses. And your local recycling/solid waste office may run a "swap shop" at a recycling centers --

5. When you go to the grocery store bring your own bags. There is no sense in using the plastic or paper bags they supply there. Bring your own cloth bags that you can use over and over again.

These are just a couple simple and easy ways you can make a big difference. When you really think about it these things would not take much effort or energy out of your day, but can save a lot of waste to our environment.

Recycling Car Batteries: It adds up!

One car battery translates into quite a substantial amount of waste: 3 pounds of plastic, 21 pounds of lead and 1 gallon of lead. Don't just get rid of that old worn out battery, recycle it. Over the past seven years, AAA has recycled over two million batteries through their Great Battery Roundup Program. In honor of Earth Day (April 22nd), AAA will recycle your car batteries for free from April 9 through April 19. To find a site near you, call (800) 903-2227 or visit:
www.batteryroundup.com