Fwd: Update

[Rebecca Husband]

Not sure if everyone got this email.  Just passing along to invite dialogue.  

Thanks,

Rebecca

Pikah...@gmail.com

P.S. Please excuse the typos.  Auto-spell often doesn't do a good job reading my mind.  

Begin forwarded message:

From: Erica Etelson <ericae...@gmail.com>
Date: March 26, 2013 8:00:17 PM PDT
To: Rebecca Husband <pikah...@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Update

I don't think we should move forward with eat local challenge. With no potluck and no discounts, all we're really offering is a farmers market tour which I don't think many families will be interested in. I think the take-home message with respect to the difficulty in selling the e-bike and the eat local challenge is that the green team is prob best suited to focus on green improvements the school can make rather than green improvements people can make in their personal lives. For example, when the roof gets replaced will be a great time to revisit going solar and the green team can certainly lead the charge for that and maybe help raise $ if necessary. In the meantime, even though BH has already done a lot, there's prob more it can do if we look deeper.

Erica Etelson | tweeting @iluvsolar | connect on LinkedIn

On Tue, Mar 26, 2013 at 7:51 PM, Rebecca Husband <pikah...@gmail.com> wrote:

I wanted to get an update on the Craigslist action on the electric bike. Also since we haven't gotten any discounts or local labels at local stores, I was wondering what everyone thought about moving forward with the eat local challenge. 

--
Thanks,
Rebecca
pikah...@gmail.com

510-701-6750

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[Rebecca Husband]

Passing this along also... How do others feel?

Thanks,

Rebecca

Pikah...@gmail.com

P.S. Please excuse the typos.  Auto-spell often doesn't do a good job reading my mind.  

Begin forwarded message:

From: Sarah Moore <smile...@gmail.com>
Date: March 26, 2013 11:31:56 PM PDT
To: Rebecca Husband <pikah...@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Update

No takers yet on the bike. I'm still a fan of the Eat Local Month idea. I think that the Farmer's Market tour kick-off will be wonderful -- having a cooking class with some kids mid-month and a wrap up with Soup's On at the end of the month paired with some general encouragement/resources on eating local during May seems great.

I can write up a blurb for the April 9 Tuesday Note with the April 12 bike to school day and a save the date for the April 30 Farmer's Market tours. Sound good?

Sarah

[Katarzyna Zacha]

Not sure what to think... I actually like the educational part of eating local more than discounts; however, I can see how disappointing it could be not being able to accomplish all as planned. 

Not pushing in either direction and always willing to give a hand,

Katarzyna

Sent from my iPad

[Sarah Moore]

Sorry my message didn't go to the whole group the first time. My feelings mirror what Katarzyna voiced -- I also thought that the education aspects were the most interesting. And I love the idea of families going to explore the South Berkeley Farmer's Market with a personal tour of the stands from a Berkwood Hedge papa -- sounds totally cool to me. I also love the image of Rebecca surrounded by CSA boxes and kids over camping stoves making up a mess of yumminess to share with the community at school pick-up (I can also help with this, it just isn't totally in my comfort zone). So, I'm still supportive of doing these things and using Tuesday Note to share resources related to Eating Local in May.


Perhaps some positive news on the e-bike front -- I've had an e-mail exchange today and someone may be coming to see it on Sunday afternoon. He seems sincerely interested, but also has reasonable questions, regarding the use and treatment of the battery that I just don't know. I also only this evening noticed that the sticker on the battery that says "once torn the guarantee is invalid" is torn down the middle. That is definitely a bit unsettling. This potential buyer says:

I was hoping to speak to the owner because then she or he would be able to tell me about the condition of the battery.  About a year ago I bought a different electric bike and found out that the battery was worn down considerably, necessitating me having to buy a new one.

I really don't want to have that happen again.  Is there any chance that you could get me in touch with the original owner  (assuming you know who that person is) so I can ask about the condition of the battery?

My response was:

Sadly, I can't put you in touch with the original owner, because she passed away. She was a grandmother to one of the students at our school and after her death, her son and daughter-in-law donated it to the school with the request that it be used to support green initiatives at the school. I completely understand your question and asked the same (from the son/daughter-in-law); unfortunately we just don't know more than it was only ridden a few times before the owner fell ill. It was stored indoors and untouched for over a year while she was sick. I'm not sure what the impact of lack of use has on a battery, but that is basically the case here.

Stickers on the battery say "2011/04/09" and "LiMn2O4 Hi-power Battery, 10-FLT-10J (37V/10Ah) Shuangjing." Another sticker says to "..charge the battery for 2 hours every 3 months." I think it is safe to assume that this didn't happen for 12-18 months.

I recognize that there is some risk due to the unknown here and I'm sorry about that. I wish I had better information for you.

If anyone has more information or corrections to something I said, please let me know. My understanding is that Joanne and Matt don't really know about its use and don't want to be bothered with it, right?

Thanks,
Sarah

[Rebecca Husband]

I believe it to be true that Joanne and Matt don't know more about the state of the battery.  Pacific bike may be able to do a battery assessment for this guy.  I know with our old electric car they could hook it to a machine and get a fair amount of info about the state of the battery.  

It sounds like the eat local challenge should still happen.  I am thinking it should be tweaked a bit.  My main concern with the challenge was to make it more convenient and less expensive for families and I don't think we have done that.  Because of this, I feel like our focus should shift away from the main piece being about families making a commitment to eating local towards the kids learning about eating local and the benefits of doing so. I am wondering if Seema can think about ways to tie this theme in more with the classes and curriculum. However, I am concerned about asking the teachers to take on more or adding to their already full curriculum.  I still think we can ask families to think about where their food comes from and to make an effort to eat more local as a way to support what the kids are learning. However, if the focus is on what people buy to feed their family, it feels very personal and political.  I am concerned that we will be ostracizing people unintentionally.  

I would love to hear if people have any thoughts about how to enrich the educational aspects.  

Thanks,

Rebecca

Pikah...@gmail.com

P.S. Please excuse the typos.  Auto-spell often doesn't do a good job reading my mind.  

[Erica Etelson]

I think we can drop/minimize the "eat local" theme and do the cooking with the kids which seems like the element we're all most excited about and an activity that surely no one would find threatening/ostracizing. When we hand out the cooked food at pick-up, we could also hand out Full Belly brochures but not make a big deal about it.

I don't object to a farmer's market tour but my hunch is just that we won't get many/any takers so I'm reluctant to see us put energy into it.

Erica Etelson | tweeting @iluvsolar | connect on LinkedIn

[kevinf...@comcast.net]

Might try giving Angus a call at Oceanworks auto- they definitely have battery testing equipment (not sure if works on bike batteries) and he sells bikes at the shop, so he should be sympathetic to the cause

kevin

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From: "Rebecca Husband" <pikah...@gmail.com>
To: "Sarah Moore" <smile...@gmail.com>
Cc: berkwood-...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, March 27, 2013 11:25:51 PM
Subject: Re: Update

[Seema Patel]

Hi team!  I promise to respond to this thread soon!  I've read through them and will write shorty.  Thanks for your patience.  

Seema