We're in the La Canada Valley Sun!

 

One hundred Crestview Preparatory students team up with the Sustainable Living Bike Tour to clean up the Hahamongna Watershed Park in La Canada Flintridge.  Read more here: 
Reaching for a greener tomorrow

Bike Tour in the Santa Ynez Valley Journal

Oak Valley School students learn the basics of bicycle maintenance

Sharing Our Planet with Lessons in Sustainability

Will Teaches Students about nutrient cycling with our Eden Aquaponics System

Lissa teaches students to make their own all natural, plant-based mouthwash and lip balm. 

Students check the PH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels of the bike tour Aquaponics system

The Finish Line

What will it take to connect a critical mass of people to natural systems? How do we inspire ourselves and others to embrace a sustainable lifestyle? What is quality of life and how can we best achieve it for ourselves and our communities? The answers to these questions come in many different shapes and colors, but year after year, one answer is the bike tour. 14 volunteer cyclist-educators, 700 miles, 23 days, 17 schools, 12 gardens, 15 flat tires, 3 brand new compost systems, and thousands of students. As educators, paid or volunteer, experience has shown us, it isn’t enough to teach with words. We have to live our lesson plan. It isn’t enough to ask students to make environmental pledges without building them the resources to follow through. It isn’t enough to teach the students that pay us. We have to BRING IT, outside of Catalina island, outside of the box, outside of the classroom, and outside of an abstract separation between work and life. And we have to have an amazing time while doing it! Thank you to the countless individuals that made it all possible. Thank you to the friends, families, schools, and churches that put us up for the night. Thank you to the farms and natural food stores that fed us. Thank you to the teachers and administrators that worked extra hours to fit us into their schedule and purchased resources to make their schools a model of an ecologically sound future.

The Homestretch...

This morning’s ride to Markham Middle School took us through Pasadena Arroyo, Chinatown, downtown LA, and south central LA and into Watts. This was our first time at the school, so it was exciting to be there. We worked together with the non-profit program Enrich LA that has been building a farm project on the school’s campus.

We worked with 130+ students on bike tour and Markham Farm projects including; planting of a herb and vegetable garden, painting compost

signage, constructing a compost bin, and making natural body care products. It was a very busy day with lots of kids getting their hands dirty, trying new things, and expanding their knowledge of where our food comes from. Many thanks to Oscar, Yenny, and Tomas for all of

their hard work coordinating a day on the urban farm. We left at the end of the school day and

had a quick ride to a homestay with the host with the most: Rasheed. This is our second to last day of the tour!