Board of Directors – Jacinda Ballantyne

This introduces Jacinda Ballantyn, who is  a Member of the Board of Directors of Mainstream Green, Inc.

Jacinda Ballantyne is a Member of the Board of Directors of Mainstream Green, Inc.

Jacinda Ballantyne holds a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from Clarkson University. She currently works at a power delivery consulting company, TRC. TRC provides engineering services for electric utility companies, mainly in design of substations, but Jacinda has also been involved in several projects related to interconnecting wind or solar farms to the grid. Jacinda’s professional goals are to be more involved in the renewable energy industry and to use my engineering skills to more directly support the installation of alternative energy technology.

Jacinda is also passionate about volunteering. In college, she joined the service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega, whose mission is to encourage college students to be involved in community service both on and off their campuses. As a student in the fraternity, Jacinda held multiple positions, including president and vice president of service. SheI continues to support the fraternity as an alumna by volunteering in staff roles to help active students. She also currently volunteers at Helping Hounds Dog Rescue. 

Really Bad Elf Perpetuates Plastic Pollution

The Planet Friendly Way to use your Keurig

This naughty elf is Unsustainable Scott!, and he perpetuates plastic pollution profusion!

What a gift it would be if this little elf would use a reusable coffee filter with loose ground coffee in his Keurig! Not only could he add the used coffee grounds to his compost pile, or mix it into soil around his evergreens or roses, but he could also save himself money by buying ground coffee or beans in bulk, AND prevent more plastic waste at the same time! (Especially if he used a PAPER or stainless steel straw, instead of a plastic one.)

Keurigs, which are basically little on-demand water heaters, are a very energy efficient way to heat water for single serving hot drinks, more efficient than teapots or saucepans.

It is super convenient and fast to put a tea bag or a powdered hot chocolate mix right in your mug, and then, using the empty holder that would hold one of the single serving cups,  tap the the “brew” button to get just the right amount of hot water you need to to fit the capacity of your mug.

A coffee filter like this one may be filled with loose ground coffee to make the perfect single serving size cuppa joe.

A Keurig type machine is the most energy efficient way to heat water for hot beverages including tea and hot chocolate.