Green Collar Jobs Training Program Update (7/23/09)

The weather for today was predicted to be cloudy with a high chance of showers, due to the bad weather off the south east end of Hawai‘i Island. However, if you lived here for some time, you probably realized that the weather can turn on a dime and it could be sunny one minute and raining heavily 5 minutes later. Luckily, for the Green Collar Jobs Training Program this means we experienced a very hot and clear, sunny day on Hawai‘i Island. The weather turned out for the best because the offline sustainability trainees headed down to Nanawale to put more time and effort in the Mark Hansen's sustainable, affordable, and modern Earthship.

Trainee's refined their Earthship skills and knowledge by again mixing the special concrete mix and packing it into the white bags that will help the mix retain the specific shape needed for the wall structure. The trainees are pretty excited that they are working on a building concept that is not really well known because it gives them a skill not too many people and hopefully will help them stand out when they are looking for jobs in the future. The trainees are also are hoping to raise awareness of this greener, sustainable home option.

Back in the office, the online sustainability group continued work on server maintainence, the Hawai‘i Sustainable Buisiness Directory, and starting to put closure to the summer 2009 Green Collar Jobs Training Program blogs.

Green Collar Jobs Training Program Update (7/22/09)

Just Cruisin Coffee Shop in Downtown Hilo.

Work today was essentially the same as yesterday. The online sustainability group is continuing to work on daily tasks and attempting to complete the new tasks they set forth on previously, and the offline sustainability group is working at the Just Cruisin Coffee shop. They are again spreading cinder and filling the empty spots on the coffee shop property.

With less than two days left in the program is about time we start thinking about the future. Brent has hinted to the workers that there will be another Green Collar Training Program starting in the near future, but hasn't given the exact details. If you have any interest in the Green Collar Jobs Training Program or in Green Collar Technologies in general, keep in touch with our main website at greencollartech.com!

Green Collar Jobs Training Program Update (7/21/09)

Today the online and offline sustainability groups are split up with the offline crew going to the Just Cruisin Coffee shop and the online crew staying back the Hawai‘i Innovation Center. There is a large pile of red cinder at the coffee shop and the offline sustainability crew will be spreading wheel barrows of it all over the property. Meanwhile the online sustainability crew is in the office working on a set of new tasks Brent has set forth for them to accomplish. These tasks include numerous activities such as going through the yellow pages of the phone book to find more groups and individuals to add to the Hawai‘i Sustainable Business Directory, as well as doing some needed maintainence of the Green Collar Technologies server. It's tedious work, but someone needs to do it.

Green Collar Jobs Training Program Update (7/20/09)

Time sure does fly by! It's officially the last week of the Green Collar Jobs Training Program. On this very beautiful day, with clear blue skies and a perfect view of the top of Mauna Kea, the trainees are again working at the Just Cruisin Coffee shop.

The online sustainability workers are feeling quite different than they did on Friday and rather than wanting to be indoors to avoid the rain, they would rather be outside working in the nice, sunny weather. However, with the shop running on air conditioning and free samples of the smoothies and coffee drinks at hand, they really can't complain. Who said online sustainable jobs aren't amazing?

Online Workers completing daily tasks at the Just Cruisin Coffee Shop.

Offline trainees taking a break from maintenance work on the coffee shop property.

Meanwhile the offline sustainability workers used the knowledge and skills they gained at the Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resource Center and planted kalo around the Just Cruisin Coffee property. They also raked the premises to make it look even better.

Brent also dedicated this week to giving short introductory courses to the online sustainability crew about topics they were interested in such as computer applications, online marketing, and the internet in general. Today trainees asked about Search Engine Optimization, commonly known as SEO, and he taught them some tricks to increase website, blog, etc. standings when being search by engines such as google, yahoo, etc.

Daily Tips and Lessons:

1. Take advantage of the beautiful weather!
2. Use sites like websitegrader.com to assess your website's search standings.
3. Make sure to define meta description and meta keywords to increase search standings.
4. The more incoming links you have the more site visits your website may get, further increasing your search standings.
   

Green Collar Jobs Training Program Update (7/17/09)

The last few days were a bit difficult due to a combination of the lack of available resources and job opportunities. However, the tides have turned today and someone has a need for the Green Collar Jobs Training Program. The worksite is also located in area that doesn't require a lot of travel, gas, and gas money, so it's a perfect worksite candidate for the Green Collar Job Training Program. The offline sustainability trainees are working at the Just Crusin Coffee shop location in Hilo, near the the county buildings. Trainees are working on property beautification, which is just a pretty term for the tedious work they had weeding the property.

Unfortunately, the weather wasn't so cooperative with overcast skies and and occasional showers, but the online workers did get to enjoy the comforts inside of the coffee shop. There they continued daily tasks, and with the program coming to an end are working on putting finishing touches on all the things they have documented and created over the past six weeks.