August 2010 featured Green Generations – SFGD’s 2nd annual benefit event to support local non-profits that provide environmental and outdoor education to under-served children.  Against a backdrop of great music, attendees had a lot of fun expanding their green networks, tasting wine, snacking on savory appetizers, making bike-powered smoothies and re-confirming their green promises.  Check out the photos below!

In a growing and inspiring tradition, this year’s Green Generations set a new record in attendees and amount raised.  A grand total of $6,196 will be shared between the following local environmental organizations:

• San Francisco Nature Education
• Pie Ranch Youth Education
  
• Exploring New Horizon’s Outdoor School

We are all grateful to these groups that provide opportunities for kids to connect with nature and receive environmental education. It continues to be an honor and a privilege to create this kind of event within our green community.  Thank you to everyone who came out and supported Green Generations!

San Francisco Green Drinks
September 7th
“Sustainable Food Movement”

Hello Green Drinkers!

Please join us next Tuesday, September 7th for San Francisco Green Drinks!

Click for Green Generations 2010 photos!

This month, in addition to throwing our standard monthly networking event, we will be simultaneously offering educational programming in the side room of 111 Minna!  For the first 90 minutes (5:30-7pm), SFGD and Bioneers are partnering to provide A Working Woman’s Dialogue on Sustainable Food Systems.  Join Melinda Kramer, founder and co-director of Women’s Earth Alliance and Temra Costa, author and sustainable food advocate, in open discussion on the inner workings of a sustainable food system.  Come early, enjoy organic appetizers and learn from these two leading food activists on how we can all take small actions to make a big difference in this important movement. FREE drink tickets to first 20 attendees!

Again, the educational programming is optional.  Environmental networking and sharing will be going strong all night long in the large front room.

September Sponsors:  Bioneers & Earth Island Presents…

Bioneers, a global nonprofit educational organization that highlights breakthrough solutions for restoring people and the planet, will hold its 21st annual conference at the Marin Center in San Rafael, California on October 15-17, 2010.  The Bioneers Conference features experts and innovators in areas including conservation, climate change, food and farming, technology, and social justice, who work to solve the world’s most urgent social and environmental challenges. Speakers include Jane Goodall, Ph.D., DBE, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and UN Messenger of Peace; Dr. James Hansen, head of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies; and Gary Hirshberg, co-founder and CEO of Stonyfield Farm. From how mushrooms can save the world to how Google Earth is protecting tropical forests, the solutions that come from the Bioneers Conference are fostering positive change and building local communities. Register now for 10% off the listed price on the website, or become a Bioneers member and get 15% off the 2010 conference fee! To register:  www.bioneers.org/conference

Earth Island Presents… in association with the Center for Ecoliteracy invite you to attend a screening of The Bay Institute’s award winning film: A Simple Question: The Story of STRAW.  Join us September 23rd at 7:00PM at the David Brower Center for this remarkable and inspiring documentary about students and teachers taking on the impossible and restoring a watershed.  This program has galvanized the local community and led to significant educational innovation.  It will be followed by a panel discussion moderated Ariana Katovich, Earth Island Institute’s Director of Restoration Initiatives and one of the first Brower Youth Award winners.  Also this month, Earth Island has invited Nature in the City to join them at Green Drinks.  Nature is the City’s mission is to conserve and restore San Francisco’s biodiversity, wildlife habitats & corridors, and connect people and nature where we live.  Stop by their SFGD table next Tuesday and learn more about these two exciting organizations!  www.earthisland.org/events and natureinthecity.org

Event Details

MONTHLY NETWORKING EVENT
Date: Tuesday, September 7th
Location: 111 Minna Gallery
Time: 5:30 – 9:30 p.m.
Bring: Please bring your green flyers, announcements, job postings, etc for the Community Board. And of course, bring your business cards!
Safety: Please be safe when coming to/from SFGD. If you would like someone to walk you to your bus/train stop or car, please let a greeter know. As always, please designate a driver if driving.
Cost: FREE!

SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING
Date: Tuesday, September 7th
Location: Zappa Room (side room of 111 Minna Gallery)
Time: 5:30 – 7:00 p.m.
5:30 Doors open. Closed at 5:55pm
6:00 Temra and Melinda in conversation
7:00 Farmer Jane book signing with Temra Costa / Room opens to all of 111 Minna and the Green Drinks community at the close of the discussion.
Appetizers: County Line Harvest will be providing tomatoes and basil to taste from their certified organic farm in Marin County.
Cost: $5 – FREE drink tickets to first 20 attendees!

SPECIAL DRINKS OF THE MONTH

Pear-a-Guay – $5
Pear vodka served with Guayaki’s Traditional Mate over ice.

The Purist Lemondrop – $5
Rim two chilled martini glasses with a fresh lemon twist and dip into sugar. Fill a metal shaker w/ice, 2 oz of premium organic vodka and 8 oz of Purity.Organic Lemonade. Shake and Pour.

Community

* Post your green event on the Bay Area Green Calendar for free!

* SF Green Drinks is on LinkedIn. Connect with other environmental professionals.

* SF Green Drinks is on Facebook. Please join the group ‘San Francisco Green Drinks’ for additional resources and information.

* SF Green Drinks is booking out Sponsors and Community Partners for 2011.  If you or someone you know is interested in connecting with our community, please get in touch!

See you on the 7th!

- The Green Drinks Team

* SPECIAL GREEN DRINKS EVENT *

San Francisco Green Drinks and Bioneers are partnering for the first time to provide a very special evening of educational programming. Join us at the September 7th Green Drinks as Bioneers presents Melinda Kramer, founder and co-director of Women’s Earth Alliance and Temra Costa, author and sustainable food advocate, in conversation to reveal the inner workings of a sustainable food system. Highlighted by personal stories working side by side with locals in fields, villages and cities across the globe, Temra and Melinda will discuss the imperative role women of all cultures have in making a sustainable food system possible, their influence on how we procure food, barriers to accessing local organics and what we as individuals can do to support our local food system without breaking the bank. From India to South America to our own backyards, it is the very essential act of eating that keeps us connected to each other and to the earth. Learn from these two leading food activists how you can take small actions to make a big difference in how you are nurtured from the inside out, and hear about Temra’s presentation at the upcoming Bioneers 21st Annual Conference, October 15-17th, 2010 and her newly released book, Farmer Jane.

Date: Tuesday, September 7th, 2010

Where: 111 Minna – Zappa Room (side room).

Time: 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM

5:30pm – Doors open.  Closed at 5:55pm

6:00pm – Temra and Melinda in conversation

6:45pm – Q&A

7:00pm – Farmer Jane book signing with Temra Costa / Room opens to all of 111 Minna and the Green Drinks community.

Cost: $5

Melinda Kramer: Founder, Co-Director, Women’s Earth Alliance

Before founding Women’s Earth Alliance, Melinda worked around the world with organizations pursuing environmental justice, sustainable local economies and indigenous rights. She lived in East Africa working with CARE Kenya on sustainable agriculture and health projects and later worked throughout the North Pacific Rim, nurturing the emergence of grassroots environmental movements in China, the Russian Far East, and Alaska with international organization, Pacific Environment. Melinda led Pacific Environment’s China and Marine programs, conducting trainings in media, organizational development, and campaign strategy for grassroots NGOs. Melinda also worked on sustainable fisheries issues in Alaska and the Russian Far East, facilitating the International Bering Sea Forum, a long-term collaborative initiative that involved Russian and Alaskan scientists, policy makers, fisherman, NGOs, and indigenous leaders. At the Natural Capital Institute, Melinda was the Communications Manager and a key contributor to the web-based communication tool, WiserEarth.org. Melinda has degrees from Washington University and University of Nairobi. She is a trained facilitator and speaks Kiswahili, Spanish, and some Mandarin.

Temra Costa: Author, Food and Farming Advocate

Temra Costa is a nationally recognized sustainable food and farming advocate. Her recent book, Farmer Jane: Women Changing the Way We Eat is the culmination of the past seven years she has spent working to promote a more vibrant local food economy in California and beyond. In addition to the book, she has written for numerous publications on hot-button issues such as Farm to School, eating locally, food safety, and how to create regional food systems. Her previous role as statewide director of California’s Buy Fresh Buy Local campaign, and other positions held with Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF), worked to engage stakeholders in our food system, from farm to fridge.
Temra’s first book Farmer Jane: Women Changing the Way We Eat, features over 30 women and how they are changing our food system for the better as farmers, educators, mothers, chefs, businesswomen, and policy wonks. The book also explains how businesses and all of us eaters can get involved in changing how our country eats and farms.
Temra works, cooks, gardens and writes in the East Bay of California. She’s a radio show co-host on Green 960, works as a food and communications consultant for various businesses, and speaks at events throughout the year.