He’s been lurking around Chico since 2005, and now he’s being unleashed upon all the major cities of the United States. Make way for the  ChicoBag “Bag Monster,” a creature that will strike horror in the hearts of reusable and plastic bag users alike.
You may still be wondering what this Bag Monster is exactly. The Bag Monster, is a creation by Andy Keller, owner and operator of the ChicoBag company, to draw attention to the gross amounts of plastic waste that comes from using plastic grocery bags rather than the reusable alternatives that are becoming more and more popular these days.On average, individual shoppers across the nation use somewhere between 500-700 bags per year.  Keller originally used to bring out a huge ball of plastic bags to protest against this obscene amount of plastic bag use; then one day he decided to create a few jumpsuits and attach the bags using Velcro. And so came about the birth of the Bag Monster.
Since then, Keller has expanded his line of Bag Monsters into over 100 suits for people to use; whether it be for educational school programs, or for non-profit events to raise awareness for a cause that has been steadily gaining recognition throughout the state of California. Some of you may have heard about the AB 1998 bill. This is a bill that would prohibit certain types of stores from providing  single-use bags to customers; and California hopes to be the first state to pass a bill of this nature.
In order to draw more awareness for this cause, Keller and over 100 volunteers will be heading to Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco, and marching their way through the city, complete in Bag Monster wear for their “Don’t Feed the Bag Monster” event. AB 1998 will be voted on by August 31st, and ChicoBag will be getting together with other organizations such as Heal the Bay, Clean Water Action, California Coastal Coalition, and the Plastic Pollution Coalition to hold a press conference so the public can be more involved with the movement.
The event will be held on Thursday, August 12 from 11a.m. to 2 p.m.. And after the press conference, Keller plans on taking his act on the road to spread awareness to cities across the country. Interested in volunteering for the San Francisco event? Head to their website, bagmonster.blogspot.com for more information.
By: Jess Krager

At CSU, Chico’s This Way to Sustainability Conference during the first week of November “Greenie “ Awards were presented to leaders and organizations in Chico who have advanced the cause of sustainability. Awards are presented to a nonprofit organization, a business and an individual.

The nonprofit award went to River Partners, an organization dedicated to creating wildlife habitat for the benefit of people and the environment. Over the past 11 years, River Partners has restored more than 6,000 acres of riverbanks and floodplains, providing critical habitat for wildlife and sustainable solutions for California’s rivers. Its habitat restoration work supports efforts to sequester greenhouse gases, improve water and air quality, recover endangered species, improve public safety and protect open space. Irv Schiffman, River Partners board chair, accepted the Greenie at the award ceremony on Nov. 6.

“River Partners appreciates having our river and floodplain restoration work recognized by the Greenie Award,” Schiffman said. “We hope this will raise awareness that restoring riparian areas benefits public safety as well as conservation.”

Smucker’s Natural Foods won the Greenie Award for the business category. Their local division, R.W. Knudsen, was recognized for its deep commitment to sustainability and for its ability to focus on all dimensions of sustainability—the economy, the environment and the larger community.

The individual award went to Robyn DiFalco, CSU, Chico Associated Students sustainability coordinator. In her role as sustainability coordinator, DiFalco facilitates the application process for student-driven sustainability projects, administers the distribution of funds, and assists the students as they implement their projects. She also assists all AS departments in advancing their sustainability efforts and oversees the AS Recycling Program, the Environmental Action Resource Center and the Sustainability Collaborative internship program.

“Winning this award tells me that my efforts are recognized and esteemed by my colleagues,” DiFalco said. “I really feel very privileged to have the opportunity to do this work that I love, to work with so many enthusiastic young adults who are optimistically working to change the world for the better, and to have the support of my peers and superiors at this university and within the AS.”

Nominations for the Greenies Awards were open to faculty, staff, students and community partners of the conference.

Living a “green” lifestyle has become a trend throughout the last few years. We often see ads urging us to buy recyclable bags so we aren’t wasteful or buy local so our money doesn’t go to the wrong place. These ideas all make sense but they often leave consumers feeling guilty about their lifestyle. Greenfeet takes “going green” to a whole new level by teaching customers that changing your habits can not only be helpful, it can be fun.
“We put the fun back into business,” said Valerie Reddemann, founder of Greenfeet. “We take what we do seriously but don’t take ourselves too seriously.”
Greenfeet is an e-tailer with over 3,000 eco-friendly and sustainable goods. They sell everything from solar flashlights to natural soaps to totes made from recycled children’s storybooks. Thousands of customers buy products from Greenfeet each month.
Reddemann started the company in 1997 after she learned about the harmful effects household products can have on people due to the amount of chemicals they contain. She was starting a family soon and wanted to give her child the healthiest start possible, so she looked into other avenues such as natural yard care, recycling and composting. The thought of having a green business blossomed from there.
“The more I learned and started finding out about alternatives, the more I wanted to share that with other people,” she said. “It’s really easy when you first start learning to want to scream from the rooftops ‘You’re all poisoning yourselves.’ I realized pretty early on that wasn’t effective.”
Greenfeet works hard to take a light-hearted approach to educating people on the benefits on being green, Reddemann said. Her educational but laidback approach is meant to inspire and motivate people to make small changes that work for each individual’s lifestyle.
“Just because you choose to go green or live sustainable doesn’t mean that it has to be something that’s outrageously expensive,” Reddemann said. “There’s a lot you can do for little to nothing that can make a huge difference.”
One way she educates people on ways to live green is through her podcast, “More Hip than Hippie.” She started the show in the earliest days of podcasting and has put out over 230 shows throughout the last four years. Their blog, e-mail newsletter and social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, are other ways she stays connected with consumers.
Greenfeet believes in making huge efforts to communicate with their customers, which is why they have created many ways for shoppers to connect with them based on their level of comfort, she said.
“We engage in conversation with our customers, our vendors and with each other,” Reddemann said. “We learn, we explore and we share.”
The company’s products, as well as the personality behind the business, have prompted Greenfeet to be featured in several national magazines, such as Oprah Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle and National Geographic’s Green Guide. They were also recognized as one of the top 10 green businesses of the year by Co-op America.
Reddemann considers Greenfeet a values-based business. They have proven that businesses can grow and be successful and at the same time honor what’s known as the triple bottom line—people, planet and profit.
“I love the fact that we can still live very much in harmony with everything around us,” she said. “Businesses can grow and flourish without plundering the planet and the people around them.”
Reddemann’s passion and enthusiasm for her work has created a place where people all over the country feel comfortable buying green products and learning about ways to live sustainable.

To order from Greenfeet or get more information, visit their Web site www.greenfeet.com or give them a call at 1-888-562-8873 or 530-894-5255. All orders can be shipped to your house or picked up at their office in Chico.

By Kayla Cook

By Ryne Johnson

On a beautiful but hot May day in 2001, I rode up to Peter Chu’s restaurant on my newly assembled “townie” and met Steve Kay for the first time. Three hours later, Steve and I had shared personal stories, professional experiences and scribbled out the initial business plan for what would become The ChicoProject, on a dinner napkin. Thus, literally, our company was forged on the very green concept of riding a bike to work.
By steadfastly following a simple ride to work, ride wherever around town approach, my physical condition evolved remarkably and rapidly. In less than a year, I completed my first Wildflower Century then went on that summer to finish the Davis Double Century, the Eastern Sierras Double Century and the first two-thirds of the Terrible Two Double Century—I met my match that day!
Riding my bike to work had become a passion that transformed my physical condition enormously, enhanced my creative thinking, I believe, and gave The ChicoProject a truly unique personality. Simply put, people thought I was the strangest person they had ever had a professional meeting with. “Oh, you rode your bike,” I would hear regularly, “how unusual.”
At first I didn’t pay much attention to these comments. I looked upon being able to ride to work as the one of the great benefits of coming back to Chico after years of commuter slavery in big cities. Within two years, however, notwithstanding all the very clear personal benefits of riding, it became harder and harder to maintain a ride-to-work lifestyle for two inescapable reasons: First, as the success of my company grew, I simply found it increasingly awkward to arrive to meetings sweaty and looking like I had just come from the gym, wearing shorts because I didn’t want my pant leg to get greasy. Second, I just couldn’t find a viable solution for getting my 6-year-old son to and from school in a semi convenient fashion on a bike. He just never could figure out why his father made him ride to school when all his friend’s parents, most of who lived closer to his school than we did, got to drive everyday—very uncool.
The handwriting was on the wall; my days on the bike were numbered. Ultimately, it became a personal struggle to maintain my odd riding lifestyle in the face of professional decorum, family harmony and simple convenience. The forces of modernity ultimately won out and I parked my bike to simply make my life work more simplistically.
Except for the occasional twinge I would experience whenever I would come across a finisher’s patch from a century ride over the next seven years, I really never gave my riding days much thought. I drove an air conditioned car, I arrived to meetings only five minutes late and my son developed a strong since of belonging to his environmentally unfriendly cohort. So what if I put on 20 lbs and elevated my cholesterol to the threshold of needing prescription therapy. I was living the American dream a gallon at a time.
Then Chico’s Ride to Work initiative came along and threw me out of my easy chair. The event really struck a chord with our organization, and I’m pleased to be able to boast that The ChicoProject has won its division two years running. What I’m not pleased about is the fact that both years, I was low man on the contribution list. Why? Well, nothing has changed in eight years: I still can’t afford to arrive to meetings sweaty with a greasy pant leg and my son now needs to be carted all over town, not just to school and don’t get me started on the 8th grade cool thing!
I know there are some hardcore bikers out there who are rolling their eyes saying “Give me a break, wimp,” with their kids riding next to them or strapped in a tow-behind cart. But here’s the point to this article: It’s not about the hardcore converted riders. Or at least it shouldn’t be. Bike to Work Week should be about everyone else as well, and it shouldn’t be just a week. It should be about getting regular people, people who have regular jobs and regular kids to work, school, shopping or play on a bike every day that it’s not pouring rain. If we figure that out, we might change the world.
So how do we do that? First we need to change the dress code and maybe even how we dress. If we made it to “Casual Friday” we can make it to “Bike Friendly Friday” then expand from there to Monday–Thursday. We have “technical” clothing for every other activity, what would it take to develop a fashionable line of clothes with zippered pant cuffs, vented shirts and chafe-proof inseams? Sounds like an entrepreneurial idea that our municipal organizations and community minded businesses could help launch by requesting employees to serve as role models and ride to work sporting their new “Esigner” (for Eco-design) clothes. Employees might find that they could pay for their new togs with their savings at the gas pump and over the long-term, lower healthcare costs.
The spin-off benefits of this transformation might be really interesting to watch. Bike shops might begin to replace car lots. By the way, if you want to see some of the few winners from last year’s gas price hikes that sent everyone else into an economic tail spin, go talk to your neighborhood bike shop owner. Trek and Specialized are huge fans of OPEC and so are their dealers!
Next, imagine if everyone was doing an hour more exercise each day by simply pedaling to and from the office? What would our calorie intake suddenly look like? Our food consumption and composition would likely change dramatically. Back in my riding days I ate anything I wanted and still lost weight. Ultimately, I gravitated to healthier food products that provided me more useful energy. Extrapolated to a community level, we might opt to grow more local healthy food and even develop more useful energy enriched food products to power our pedaling clientele, which sounds like another entrepreneurial opportunity that should also amplify the health benefits of this proposed revolution. Over the long run, we may not need all those health insurance benefits we lost in part due to the oil shock exacerbated recession.
In time we’ll develop new bikes with new solar assist motors to help ease the pain of getting to work, though many of us might choose to live closer to work, town or our children’s school to reduce commute output. This might help change property values and encourage more people to live closer to town while still relieving traffic from our streets. We would telecommute to more distant locations, adding impetus to the development of new bike mounted, voice activated mobile telephone equipment, etc., etc., etc.
Finally, if our kids see us ride to work, the grocery store and the movies they might get back on their bikes with enthusiasm as some of us can remember before we all developed a drive wherever philosophy. We will know we have arrived when our children say, “Ah Dad, do we have to drive? It’s only sprinkling!”
So the next time someone shows up to a meeting at your office with a little sweat on their brow because they chose to ride to the office instead of drive, consider refraining from referring to them as “unusual.” Revolutions have a tendency to start with a few meager souls who tend to appear a bit strange at first but sometimes go on to cause big changes in the world. I look forward to seeing more two-wheeled revolutionaries at meetings that I attend this year.

Ryne Johnson is the CEO of The ChicoProject, LLC, and is also the director for the Center for Entrepreneurship at Chico State. He can be contacted at rjohnson@thechicoproject.com.