Contributors

Interested in writing for Groovy Green?  Send us an email, pitch us an idea for a guest post.  We are always looking for new voices and ideas.

Steve Balogh

Steve Balogh

A sustainability enthusiast, Steve is currently working part-time as a healthcare practitioner, part time as a writer, and attends graduate school full time at SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry. After spending hours on the road, watching gas prices climb, he became interested in peak-oil and wanted to reduce his impact on the earth. He now is working to re-localize his community and help others to live energy efficient and self-sufficient lives. Blogging since February 2005 at baloghblog, Steve joined Groovy Green in January of 2006. Steve can be contacted at steve [at] groovygreen [dot] com.

Chris Welch

A confirmed recycle junkie. He has made the Seattle area his home and enjoys hiking, kayaking and camping (in his 1977 VW Bus). Chris is an ISA Certified Arborist and has a degree in Urban Horticulture. He has been involved with the nursery and landscape trade for 15 years. Chris has recently been involved in preservation and planning of a 140 acre open space adjacent to his home. This park will be a place for people to come and learn of the natural process and to see green technology at work. His interests in sustainability were initially peaked when he learned of the principles of permaculture. Always looking for ways to lighten his footprint on the earth, Chris is excited to share this sustainability experience with others. Check out his landscape related blog: greenspade

Aaron Newton

Aaron Newton is a sustainable systems land planner in Concord, North Carolina. He is a founding editor of both Groovy Green and Hen and Harvest, two online journals discussing issues of energy and the environment. He is coauthor of the forthcoming book A Nation of Farmers: Defeating the Food Crisis on American Soil, due out in the spring of 2009 from New Society Publishers. He grows food, raises chickens, teaches classes and rides his bike.

Matt Mayer

Matt Mayer is the puppetmaster that calls Fat Guy on a Little Bike home. He discusses anything that streams across his gray matter. He first became interested in Peak Oil about 2 years ago and felt he needed to make some lifestyle changes. The first change he made was to ride his bike to work instead of driving. Since then he has completely fallen off the cliff compared to what he previously considered normal. He did not understand the importance or value of growing his own food, shopping at at farmer’s markets, educating people or talking politics. He has educated himself on all of the above and wants others to be educated as well. His articles focus on living simply, reducing his footprint on the earth and making small, easy changes to his life to improve the future. He lives in Cedar Rapids, IA with his wife and 2 toddlers. He is currently trying to figure out a way around the city ban on raising chickens in the city so he can tend a small flock.

Zane Parker

Zane Parker is a writer and policy analyst living in a small valley on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. He has worked on questions of economics and sustainability for the past decade, helping start and run a non-profit organization called the Centre for Integral Economics. These days he is also working on building a good home and a good life, from the ground up. Through his blog, lichenology, Zane documents the everyday discoveries and challenges of modern day homesteading, and, in the process, considers how to live, and live well, in these times.

e4

After spending most of his life in the suburbs, e4 moved with his family to almost nine acres in the middle of south-central Ohio’s mega-farm country. After passing visions of owning a couple retired horses, they realized that goats were much more functional, and much less costly. A few Gene Logsdon books later, and e4 was hooked on practical, sustainable agriculture. After learning of Peak Oil, plans were altered, scrapped, or accelerated. Plans for this year include a big heirloom-based garden, a small greenhouse, and hopefully some chickens. In his spare time, e4 is an avid reader, and likes to tinker with web design. He created a web site package for homeowner’s associations and communities, as well as the Peak Ready web site, a starting point for those looking to prepare for the problems brought on by Peak Oil. He writes about whatever is on his mind on his blog, Green, Blue, Brown.

Rob (Beo)

I see food production as one of the paradigms most ripe for change, and with some of the biggest Sustainable Benefits. Much of my work is centered around sub acre agriculture using low to zero inputs to help add to the growing body of knowledge of growing food on a much more personal scale than is currently experienced in The West. I also dabble in community building, and the ubiquitous Green Living: we are experiencing many problems and must engage in the search for many solutions. Plus backyard farming is really damn fun. I believe in small, personal solutions to the Big Problems of today; I believe in the power of Hope and Community; I believe in the power of each of us to improve our Future. And that belief in the individual is itself a Revolution. I hope you enjoy the site, and hopefully together we can learn how to better Be The Change we wish to see in the world.

Sharon Astyk

I’m a 34 year old mother of four (Eli, 6 1/2; Simon 5; Isaiah, 3, Asher 15 months) marvellous boys. Lapsed Ph.D candidate in english literature. Head farmer/gardener of Gleanings Farm, a jewish CSA that delivers produce, homebaked challah, fresh flowers, free-range eggs from our hens and produce from our garden. Writer on all things energy and environmental, aspiring novelist, knitting and spinning addict, Peak Oil activist, general progressive lefty, academic geek, teacher and homesteader.

Marguerite

My name is Marguerite Manteau-Rao. I have a multidisciplinary background as an engineer (Ecole Centrale de Paris), a marketer and advertiser (MBA University of Chicago, last as VP for JWT ad agency), and clinical social worker (MSW Loyola University of Chicago, over 2,000 psychotherapy groups with adults). I am also a bi-cultural product from France and the US. My interest in sustainability and all green things was triggered by an ‘Inconvenient Truth’ presentation from Al Gore, at Stanford University in 2005.

Michael d’Estries

A constant advocate for the environment, Michael found his love of sustainability after moving to Ithaca, NY in 2004. The town and its people changed his perspective on ‘alternative living’ and sharing that news with others has become a challenge and a pleasure through Groovy Green. When not performing in theatre or camping in remote areas, Michael enjoys growing ‘extremely large vegetables’, watching the Bills lose football games, and red envelopes from Netflix. He hopes one day to live in a sustainable home with dark night skies, renewable energy, lots of kids, and plenty of land for the dogs. Michael is also the creator and co-founder of Ecorazzi (www.ecorazzi.com), guilt-free green celebrity gossip.