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Reaching out for more ideas...

Last Tuesday, I met with Andrea Cook at the Center for Sustainable Energy in San Diego www.energycenter.org and we brainstormed some more ideas as to ways I can help people live more green.  My initial plan was to give out tattoos and cartoons to the kids and reusable grocery bags to the adults.  But what if I gave people a head start by creating an enviro-gift pack within the bags?  Compact fluorescent light bulbs, local produce, a tip sheet including easy ways to save resources and reduce money spent in the home.  What else is portable and relatively inexpensive?

I would also like to donate recycle bins at all of the events.  Upon collecting enough funds to rent these bins, I plan on collecting the plastic and aluminum myself and taking them to a recycle center and refunding the money spent on the bins.  This money making project is another way I hope to excite entrepreneurial type kids about the advantages of recycling.   

Throughout this process, I would also like to create greener practices in the ways that volleyball tournaments are run.  In the major AVP events, giant coolers of water are placed on the courts accompanied by sleeves and sleeves of paper cups.  These cups are used once, then thrown away since players play on up to 4 different courts throughout one day.  My goal is to find a sponsor who produces reusable water bottles that will replace the paper cups.

I am still in the brainstorming process and welcome new ideas.  Lets make living green fun and easy for everyone!    

Join Colleen's Green Team!

Before my feature comes out in Sierra magazine, I would like to take this opportunity to tell all my friends about my plans this season on the beach.  As you all know, I moved to California to pursue my beach volleyball career.  I dream of being more successful on the beach than I was indoor which takes lots of work, money, and ideas.   

During six weeks of  the 2007 summer, I stayed with my friend, Cory Tixier, founder of Pure Habitat NYC, a green cleaning and consulting business.  Cory brought to my attention the areas of my life that could use a little green makeover.  I could use less water while doing dishes, I could take shorter showers, I could air-dry my hands in public bathrooms instead of using paper towels, I could buy produce from local markets to reduce the demand on the transportation of goods, I could ride my bike more often and develop some damn sexy legs, and of course, I could tell my friends about the easy changes I am making in my life to prevent our Earth's resources from getting used up. 

I started thinking more about living in a greener world and thought about the beaches I play volleyball on.  If global warming persists at the rate us earthlings are consuming, some predictions state that by 2100 the sea level will rise up to 6 meters!  Just to put this into perspective, that is 3 Colleens!  This made me realize that perhaps I could make a bigger difference than just making changes in my life; while on tour, I could encourage others to make changes in their own lives. 

A friend of mine designed a temporary tattoo for me and I am going to wear it at one meter on my body which is just below where my bikini bottom meets my thigh.  This mark is going to represent where the sea level may rise to during my lifetime. 

I really enjoy talking to kids and want to get their ideas on living greener.  I am going to encourage them, their parents, and other adults to join my green team.  In order to do so, they must promise me to change one aspect in their lives to contribute to a better greener world.  Upon making this promise, they will be provided with a token to keep their word: a temporary tattoo, a re-usable shopping bag, or a 1-meter magnet to stick to their fridge.  All kids  will receive an extremely cool storyboard from Pixar artist, Nick Sung, just to give them some ideas how they and their friends can live greener lives. (THANK YOU NICK FOR YOUR GENEROUS VOLUNTEERMANSHIP!!!)

The very best ideas from all of the people I encounter are going to be featured on this very website with their bright and shiny mugs to accompany their awesome ideas.

The only thing missing now is an environmental teammate to help me execute my vision.  I have the budget to keep my website, talk and listen to great green ideas and make temporary tattoos, but the rest requires more money than I have. 

If you know of anyone willing to help me out, please let me know!

Peace out, Colleen

YOUR NAME HERE

I'm currently looking for a sponsor to team up with to help me spread the message about slowing global warming.  This sponsor should be as invested in the environment as I am. Did I mention you get you name or logo on my booty? Cheers!

Colleen's Summer Plan by Friend and Physicist Steve Crandall

The scientific debate is settled.  We humans have a major role in the
increase in average global temperature and the consequences of the
potential rapid change through the rest of the century are not
cheery.  We have to do something about it if we care about our
children, their children and their grandchildren.  The first steps are
convincing people there is a problem and that there are things they
can do to make a difference.

AVP professional beach volleyball player Colleen Smith is hard at work
convincing people that climate change is not something we can
ignore . Waiting for technology alone to save the day is too risky.
She reasons we need to embrace the idea of change and start making
changes where we can.  The journey is worthwhile and we may even
become better people for it.  But there are people who need to understand
this and share her passion.

Her strategy is to engage people and get them thinking on their own
about what they can do.  People have to stay positive or they may give
up.

Colleen is a tall, powerful and passionate young woman who gets
attention when she is at her beach “office” training or playing.  The
beach is something that will change as sea level increases and this
gave her an idea.  She wears tattoos at heights where scientists think
sea levels may be in the future.  People are naturally curious about
these marks and conversations begin:  Conversations with these props
give people a visual sense of what is at stake. 

They see, they hear, and they remember.

Young people, particularly youngsters, are fascinated by this strong
woman and Colleen explains that they should not see this as a
frightening future that is out of their hands. It is not something to
fear and retreat from, but rather something where we - where they -
can change the outcome.  We need to attack it with the energy that she
attacks a volleyball.

As she talks to the children, she gives them suggestions of positive
steps they can take and encourages them to spread the word to their
family and friends.  They can help their parents make the right
choices when important decisions are made.   She tells them there is
no magic solution, but rather many smaller actions that can and must
be done. There is no silver bullet, but there is silver buckshot.