By Pam Tanner, Denver EcoMetro Guide Market Director

The excitement of the holiday season is over and you may be feeling the pressure of either making a New Year’s resolution related to your health or fitness goals.

Most of us begin the New Year and the prerequisite fitness resolution with the best of intentions, only to hit a wall within two or three weeks and struggle to maintain our motivation to continue. Below are some suggestions to help you develop a routine and achieve your goals: More...

Eat, Play: 10th Annual Laurel Street Festival
The festival will showcase live music and performances highlighting some of the greatest Bay area and local talents, a street fair with over a 100 vendors, street art, gourmet food booths, family fun at the Kid's Zone featuring games, activities for children of all ages and showcases more than 100 retail, service and restaurant establishments in Oakland's own Laurel District.
August 8, 1- 6pm
The Laurel District along MacArthur Blvd. between 35th and High

Play: If You Give a Mouse a Cookie at Children's Fairyland
Active Arts Theatre for Young Audiences will perform If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, a play based on the book by Laura Numeroff. As a special treat for families, every ticket to the show includes one hour free admission to Children's Fairyland prior to the show.  
Now - August 16 - visit website for times
Children's Fairy Land, 699 Bellevue Ave, Oakland
View coupon at ecometro.com More...

Live: Compost Give-Away at the Saturday Berkeley Farmers' Market 
Bring your own container -- two buckets are suggested or large garbage bags. Please backyard amateur gardeners only and no professionals. Sponsored by the Berkeley Nutrition Coalition in cooperation with the Network for a Healthy California - a state program promoting healthy active families through the daily eating of fresh fruits and vegetables.
March 28, 10am-3pm
Saturday Berkeley Farmers' Market, Center St at MLK Jr Way, Berkeley
View coupon at EcoMetro.com

Eat: Vegetarian Cooking Class: Demystifying Tofu and Tempeh
Join Compassionate Cooks’ founder Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, author of the Joy of Vegan Baking. In our popular tofu/tempeh class, you will learn the difference between silken, soft, firm, extra firm, and super firm tofu; discover the magic of frozen tofu; and learn the secret behind perfect tempeh! Cook up: Tempeh Pate, Cornmeal-Crusted Tofu Filets with Tartar Sauce, Tofu Parmigiana, BBQ Tempeh, No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie . $55 (in advance), plus $5 food/materials fee due on day of class (Discounts for registering for class packages.) Register online or mail a check to Compassionate Cooks P.O. Box 18512 Oakland, CA 94619.
March 28,10am-1pm
First Unitarian Church of Oakland, 685 14th St. at Castro
View Coupon at ecometro.com

Image: Flickr/CreativeCommons  More...

Live: Bay Area Seed Interchange Library (BASIL) 10th Annual Seed Swap
Potluck supper, hoe down, music, home-grown garden seeds, and the company of fantastic local gardeners!  Learn about seed saving and the Library. BASIL is a project of the Ecology Center. Cost - food and seeds to share or $10 donation. For more information call  Info: 510-658-9178, or email terricompost@yahoo.com.
March 7, 6:30 - 9pm
Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave, near Dwight Way, Berkeley
View coupon at EcoMetro.com

Image: Flickr/CreativeCommons

Live: Designing with Native Plants
This workshop will help you recreate your outdoor living space by integrating native plants to create a thriving, drought-tolerant garden. We will learn about the advantages of using native plants, selecting plants, and garden design techniques. For details, please visit the website. Instructor: Jocelyn Bentley-Prestwich, JocelynAlyssa Garden Design.
March 7, 10am - Noon
Ploughshares Nursery, 2701 Main Street, Alameda
View coupon at EcoMetro.com
 More...

Live: Berkeley Youth Alternatives Garden
Get your hands dirty in one of Berkeley Youth Alternatives' two gardens. Tasks may include weeding, bed preparation, sowing, transplanting, and harvesting. Meet at the Bancroft Garden. Call with questions.
February 13, 10am - 1pm
Berkeley Youth Alternatives Garden, Bancroft Way, between Bonar and West St, Berkeley

Live: MLK Jr. Shoreline Restoration Project
Volunteer to help us plant 8,000 native seedlings at this shoreline park this winter like California poppy, western goldenrod, California bee plant and sticky monkey flower that will showcase beautiful flowers and provide habitat and food resources for pollinators and other animals. We also need volunteers to pick up trash along the shoreline as this site is one of the Bay's worst trash hot spots.
February 14, 9am - Noon
Martin Luther King, Jr. Regional Shoreline, Oakland

Image: Flickr/CreativeCommons More...

After the trick or treaters have retired and brushed their teeth, your neighborhood continues to be home to little vampires. Chargers, TVs, computers and other electronics on standby suck energy without a purpose, but at a cost. Good Magazine estimates that a plasma TV in active standby costs an average $160 per year. Use Halloween as a reminder to unplug electronics on this list and give copies to neighbors.

Next, we look forward to carving this CFL shaped pumpkin from Ready Made Magazine, an especially important reminder as upcoming Daylight Savings Time means earlier nightfall. Go ecomaniac and light your pumpkin with an LED. (Image: Flickr/oskay) More...

If you followed my advice from last week, you’ve managed to get yourself a sweet new laptop that’s also easy on mother Earth. But choosing a socially responsible computer is just the beginning. Computers (and the people that sit in front of them) are notorious for binging on a high carbon diet of energy, paper and printer toner. So today I’ll cover ways you can curb your computer’s gluttony or as I like to say, reduce your carbon mouseprint.

Okay, let’s start with energy. We’ve all been guilty of leaving our computer on when we’re not using it. The good news is that most computers and their peripherals come pre-set to save energy by going into “sleep” mode after a period of inactivity. The bad news is that this tricks us into thinking they’re off, when in fact they’re still sucking energy. More...

If you drive a diesel vehicle, consider using biodiesel. The Berkeley Biodiesel Collective holds a Biodiesel 101 monthly at the Ecology Center. The BioFuel Oasis is a women/worker-owned co-op that has gallons of information on their site biofueloasis.com. More...

One of our favorite sites on Oakland arts and history... More...

Is there a safe biking or walking route between your neighborhood and school? The national Safe Routes to School program started in Marin County, and you can help bring it to your neighborhood. More...