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 (7/21/09)

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 (6/17/09)

Just another day in the office! After a quick brainstorm about the the day's tasks, the online crew continued to work on the sustainable business directory. There were about 420 companies accounted for, but lots of missing contact information so the trainees searched frantically to obtain the vital information. One of the online workers, Adam, also put his video skills into use by editing clips of previous Green Collar Technologies events. Videos will soon be posted on the web on sites such as Youtube.

In the meantime, the online crews "other half" went to the Big Island EKO Compost at the Hilo dump to collect valuable mulch before the next shipment ran out. Trainees shoveled a load of mulch into the flatbed, then headed back to Mountain View to add the mulch to the raised rock beds they prepped yesterday. The workers also spent time for beautification by weeding the property.

Big Island Eko Systems.

You can also get more information about Big Island Eko Systems on their twitter site.

Lessons and Tips of the Day:

1. You might want to invest in a few shovels and pitch forks if you have quite a few workers. Having one pitchfork saves money and workers don't get as tired because they take turns, but a small investment in more equipment may lead to more productive work day.
2. There are lots of sustainable options available on Hawai‘i Island. Sometimes you just need to take the time and effort to consider them.