KICK-BUTT SELF-DEFENSE: Lori Hartman Gervasi, author

‘People will be able to put all of this information
together and see that it not only makes sense
(to go green), but it’s the right thing to do.’
We can have beautiful homes that also
work well.”
Upgrading or remodeling existing
structures also is easier on the environment
— yet another lesson in recycling. Making
changes to existing buildings makes
economic sense, while maintaining a
continuity with history and connecting
new ideas with traditional ones.
■
The Regenerative Cooperative is an
intentional community set up in 1999 by
students at Cal Poly Pomona’s Center for
Regenerative Studies.
Today, the cooperative involves students
who live in four houses in the historic
Lincoln Park district in Pomona. The idea
is to promote sustainable and regenerative
principles within a community of likeminded
individuals.
Tyrone La Fay, a landscape architecture
graduate student, has lived in the
22 | inlandlivingmagazine.com | may 09
— Kristeen Ramirez, Frontier Project
community for two years. The 1925 house
he shares with other students has solar
panels, and there is a plan to install a solar
hot water system. The students grow a lot
of their food in the yard. Worms are used
to help fertilize the soil.
La Fay and his housemates practice
sustainability daily.
Incorporating changes can make a big
difference, he says. Using local, available
resources helps. Sharing information with
neighbors is an added benefit to building
communities.
“What’s most important is what’s going
on inside — the changing of the habits as
well as what materials are being used
outside. Both have far-reaching effects,”
he said.
■
At the Frontier Project in Rancho
Cucamonga, it will soon be possible to
check out a specially designed living room
The Frontier Project
and Turner
Construction recently
topped off the
14,000-square-foot
educational center
under construction
adjacent to the
Cucamonga Valley
Water District
headquarters in
Rancho Cucamonga.
The hands-on
demonstration
building is designed
to educate consumers
about the latest
methods and
technologies in water,
energy and site
conservation.
CouRTesy PhoTo
and kitchen to see what technologies and
new products are available, and then learn
about trends in energy efficiency.
Opening this fall, the Frontier Project
will be a 14,000-square-foot demonstration
building designed to be an educational
resource. The Cucamonga Valley Water
District and supporters want it to be a
place where consumers, commercial
builders and advocates for sustainable
living can learn about the latest in energy
conservation and stewardship.
“Visitors will be able to see what’s out
there and determine what their payback
will be,” said Jo Lynne Russo-Pereyra,
Frontier Project spokesman. “People are
willing to listen and want to know more.
We feel we will have an opportunity
to impact change.”
There will be programs, workshops
and opportunities to sit down with
professionals and ask questions.
“People will be able to put all of this
information together and see that it not
only makes sense (to go green), but it’s the
right thing to do,” said Kristeen Ramirez,
with the Frontier Project.
— Suzanne Sproul