Parvaneh Keivanfar and Alex Gray Share Eco Hero Award

By Martha Quenon

Meet Parvaneh of Butterfly Vegan Bakery and Alex Gray of Bicycle Barista who are partnered for a Cool Davis Eco Hero Award in the Consumption category.

Parvaneh and Alex are also partnered personally through marriage and help in each other in both their personal and professional lives.

Both entrepreneurs envisioned zero waste businesses and strive to achieve that goal. They found it relatively easy to practice the 4Rs [reduce, reuse, recycle, rot (i.e., (compost)] on the supply side of their businesses, but more challenging on the product end.

So they have gone to more expense to purchase alternative packaging, such as clear compostable food bags for Parvaneh’s baked creations.  When possible, such as at farmers’ markets in Davis and Sacramento, she avoids using storage packaging by serving her delectable fruit crumbles or tarts in biodegradable cups with a compostable spoon.

Her customers commend her for minimizing the waste stream and offering healthy baked goods.

Both Parvaneh and Alex goods are delivered by bike.

Alex also frequents area farmer’s markets where he provides espresso beverages from his bike trailer. He serves the coffee in paper cups made with bio-plastic liners. This eliminates the use of fossil fuels for the plastic liner and allows the cups to decompose unlike traditional “paper” coffee cups.

He also makes a point of offering several non-dairy options for the same price as traditional dairy, even though the products are in general more expensive.  The dairy milk he offers is supplied by Clover, a nearby, humane-certified dairy.

Parvaneh and Alex delight in providing products that are tasty and healthy for their customers and planet Earth.

With a little ingenuity and elbow grease, they minimize their environmental impact and bring daily smiles to their customers, which makes all their hard work worthwhile!

2016 Eco Hero Award: Consumption

2016 Cool Davis Award Recipients

Eco-Heroes: Lisa Baker, Steven Wheeler, Parvaneh Keivanfar and Dana “Alex” Gray, Mike Hart

Climate Solutions: Mutual Housing Yolo, Davis Bicycles!, UC Davis Aggie Reuse Store

Each year Cool Davis recognizes individual Davis residents as Eco Heroes. The winners are residents who model how to incorporate sustainable practices into their work, civic, and everyday lives. Acting out of personal conviction, they do “the right thing” for themselves, our community, and our planet.

The Cool Davis Climate Solution Awards go to local businesses, groups, or organizations for exemplary efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  As they model ways to reduce their environmental impact, they become leaders in creating options to conserve resources, reduce fossil fuel dependence, and stabilize the climate.

In its efforts to work with our community on carbon reduction and sustainability, Cool Davis awards focus on Energy, Transportation, and Consumption.