Year: 2015

50 Years and Counting: E.J. Harrison & Sons and the Ojai Valley

Did you know our local trash and recycling hauler, E.J. Harrison & Sons, is celebrating its 50th year of servicing the Ojai Valley this month? The locally based company was founded in 1932 and is one of the oldest and largest privately owned collection businesses in the U.S. – serving over 90,000 customers. Maybe it’s their company motto, “Service is Everything” that has ensured their success and longevity. Or maybe the fact that it’s still a family run business with Ralph Harrison as President, and his brothers Jim and Myron serving as Vice Presidents.

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Greening your Winter Holidays

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Did You Know???
* Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, the average homeowner generates 25% more landfill waste than during the rest of the year.
* In addition, we use more energy because of extra traveling and various holiday festivities, like decorating with lights.
* According to the Energy Department, if all conventional incandescent holiday lights in the US were replaced with L.E.D. lights, annual energy savings would total 2 billion kilowatt-hours—enough to power almost 200,000 homes for an entire year.
Tips on how to save time and money – and protect the environment – this holiday season.

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“Racing to Zero, In Pursuit of Zero Waste” – Sun 11/8, 3:00 pm

http://trash24.org

The movie, “Racing to Zero: In Pursuit of Zero Waste” is brought to you by the Ojai Valley Green Coalition in collaboration with E.J. Harrison & Sons – celebrating 50 years of service in the Ojai Valley!
Sunday, November 8 at the Ojai Art Center
113 S. Montgomery St., Ojai
3:00 to 5:00 pm (doors open at 2:30, we recommend arriving early)

See the trailer here: http://trash24.org.

This will be an Ojai Film Festival screening with a panel discussion. See: Ojai Film Festival Screening Calendar listing of the movie And, visit Ojai Film Festival for ticket purchases.

Also, free and open to the public is the Zero Waste Mini-expo in the art gallery from 2:30 to 6:00 pm.
Organic cake served 5-6pm while it lasts.

And, on Monday, November 9, or Thursday, November 12, between 10:00 am – 12 Noon, you can tour the E.J. Harrison & Sons Recycling Facility
OVGC members or Ojai City residents – $5.00
All other guests – $10.00
Very limited space – first come, first serve.
For answers to your questions, call (805) 669-8445.

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Business Member Spotlight: Kerry Miller Designer/Builder, Inc.

Business Member Spotlight: Kerry Miller Designer/Builder, Inc.
Ojai Valley Green Coalition business member Kerry Miller and his family moved to Ojai in1999. Since then he has used his considerable talents to establish his successful business, Kerry Miller Designer/Builder, Inc. Talents local theatre owner Khaled Alawar sought out when the historic Ojai Playhouse was damaged by a broken water main.
Raised in Texas, Kerry came to us from New Mexico where he attended University of New Mexico, receiving his BUS in sculpture. “Some of the other classes that I took there were solar energy, architecture, light and air pollution,” said Kerry, who enjoyed the woodworking skills that he used in the sculpture. “So after graduating I went into cabinetmaking.”
It was his artistic woodworking skills creating one-of-a-kind doors that drew the attention of a Corrales, New Mexico adobe home builder who hired him in 1980. Kerry earned his own contractor’s license a year later. Next he founded his own construction company specializing in custom doors, gates, fireplace mantles, cabinets, furniture, windows, stained, beveled and etched glass for homes and businesses in the Albuquerque and Santa Fe area.

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Ride to Ojai Day and Use Our Bike Valet!

It’s time again for Ojai Day on Saturday, October 17. The Ojai Valley Green Coalition’s free bike valet service will be on hand to help reduce the number of cars descending on the downtown area as people arrive for the festivities. The Coalition will set up a bike check service at Ojai Avenue and Ventura Street on the ‘Go Green’ block. In offering the service, the Coalition hopes to encourage attendees to benefit the environment by pedaling to the event, rather than driving.
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The great block party known as Ojai Day attracts more local participants than any other event in the year. The valet bike parking service, now eight years running, works like a coat check for bicycles: bicycle riders will be issued a claim check for their bikes, and then the bikes will be guarded by Coalition members in a secure “bike corral.” This means that the bicycles—as well as accessories such as helmets—will be safe from damage or theft.
The Green Coalition is committed to encouraging more bicycle riding in Ojai. Each person who bicycles rather than drives to Ojai Day will have the satisfaction of knowing that he or she is reducing carbon emissions in the valley. Participants can also catch the Ojai Trolley for free rides to and from the Ojai Day celebration.
For more Ojai Day details visit www.ojaiday.com.

Update on the Ojai Food Co-op with Co-founder Michelle Dohrn

OVGC member Michelle Dohrn helped found the Ojai Food Co-op in 2012. Michelle says the idea “sprouted” while she was picking potatoes on a local organic farm with her young daughter. Engaged in the physical act of harvesting those potatoes, she realized she had something incredibly valuable in her hands, a direct relationship with a farmer. She and her daughter were lucky enough to see where their food comes from and experience the work it takes to grow their food. “It so deeply touched me that I thought ‘why don’t more people have access to this type of local organic fresh food?’” According to Andy Warhol, ‘the grocery cart is the most powerful tool for social change.’

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