Bonneville Environmental Foundation

I thought the afternoon and evening of May 14 was busy and informative. Here’s some of the staff, board, and friends gathering in the lobby before the bus arrived .

Taking 30 people on a field trip and being environmentally responsible isn’t easy. Eco Shuttle doesn’t have buses large enough at this point, so we settled for BlueStar, using biodiesel fuel and offsetting the miles with our Green Tags. First stop was SolarWorld, the new German solar cell plant in Hillsboro, where Dr. Gunter Erfurt showed us around and answered questions.We are excited to be doing a project with them to add solar panels to the German American School.  Second stop was Da Vinci Arts Middle School, where we have an older solar project and a new one going in. Teacher Dan is retiring this spring, but has been pushing sustainability projects in the school district, including this Rain Garden created and kept by his students. Here we see the Portland Public School District sustainability officer with a model of the planned zero energy classroom to go in behind her. BEF is helping with the solar panels for the roof. Standing to the right with the posters are Randy and Dave.  Next stop was an old project of the Johnson Creek Watershed group. Robin posted quite a bit about it so I won’t. We finished our evening at the Laurelhurst Club, an old dance hall near Laurelhurst Park in SE Portland - pretty, private, and low-key, just right for our party. Artemis Catering did the food - beautiful, delicious, organic, local, and environmentally conscious. Ever try to make centerpieces out of seasonal edibles? Asparagus is local and in season, but a challenge to arrange. Using vases from Goodwill, I added some new potatoes and radishes with their leaves and came up with something to look at and tasty to take home.