Unofficial Prom Princess, Mission High Prom '09

El Arbol

Rider350 Profile

Rider Profile: el Jeffe

Name: Jeffrey Blumenthal

Age: 31

City: San Francisco

Bicycle of choice: Wally The Albatross. I built him up from an old Specialized Allez carbon frame, rescued from a pawn shop, for the purpose of riding from San Francisco to Los Angeles in the 2008 AIDS/Lifecycle. He’s decorated with personalized decals that I made to represent people who helped me meet my fund raising goal for the ride. There's still some space left on the bike if you want to be an official Ride350 sponsor...

What you do when you're "working": I work on two causes (which overlap in many ways) – one is renewable energy and the other is bicycles. For part of the week, I help the Local Clean Energy Alliance rally public support for ambitious carbon emissions reduction targets and community-based energy efficiency programs. On other days, I do online marketing for Rock The Bike, a Bay Area business that is demonstrating the unlimited potential of bicycles to transform our daily lives, from hauling cargo to making music.

What you do when you're doing the other things in life: I recently started practicing Aikido at San Francisco Aikikai, which should come in handy if I fall off my bike and need to tumble properly. I recently peeled fresh tomatoes for the first time by blanching them and then sliding the skins off. It was a very rewarding experience -- the resulting pasta sauce was incredibly sweet, and I hope to do more of it in the future. I am a big fan of the Bicycle Kitchen, and I go there to keep my city bike in shape. I spend a lot of time on my computer looking for full-time employment and professional degree programs. Recently, I have been winning a lot of free stuff, including: 2 sets of movie passes, one set of concert tickets, and, most recently, a signed copy of the excellent and soon-to-be-released "true-crime memoir," The Adderall Diaries, by Stephen Elliott.

The climate change issue that resonates most with me: Climate Change excites me, and not because I have investments in Siberian broccoli farms. Rather, the adaptations we must undergo to transition to a low-carbon society hold tremendous potential to change people's lives for the better. Mitigating global warming will require a comprehensive set of progressive changes, such as: the creation of thousands of new jobs in sectors that barely exist yet; investment in strong, safe, self-supporting communities; better land and water management practices; maybe even greater exploration of space...

Addressing climate change means giving birth to a whole new economy, one based on collectivity and long-term outcomes instead of individualism and boom-and-bust myopia.

Why working to educate people about climate change is important to me: Educating people about climate change is important because nobody likes to be told what to do. The IPCC can issue reports on sea level rise until, well, sea levels rise. In the meantime, people won't demand action until they realize that what's good for the environment (e.g. the atmosphere) is also good for them (e.g. their pocket book). Hence, the need for education.

Anything else you want to share: Safeway makes the best chocolate chip cookies outside of grandma's kitchen.

Barbara Boxer supporting green jobs

Statement of Barbara Boxer

Hearing: Full Committee and Subcommittee on Green Jobs and the New Economy joint hearing entitled, “Clean Energy Jobs, Climate-Related Policies and Economic Growth - State and Local Views."

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Statement&Statement_ID=0ff636b0-a82d-41a8-a075-6396c0ebb0e5