Green Options

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Calling all sustainability hounds: EcoTuesday, the sustainable business leaders networking forum, is launching its highly anticipated Ambassador Program. Through the program, people can produce EcoTuesday events in their city and generate income from event sponsorships. Ambassadors are responsible for organizing events, securing venues and speakers each month, and developing relationships with companies that want to sponsor EcoTuesday events.

EcoTuesday is currently held on the 4th Tuesday of every month in San [...]

On June 20, 2008, an unusual, early summer lightning storm sparked over 1400 fires in California.  According to state wildfire maps, currently 489 fires are burning.  The reduction in the number of fires is not because they have been put out, but because these blazes have merged.  For example, the Hell’s Half Complex, which threatens my home and has prompted the sheriff to issue a mandatory evacuation, originated as 17 fires that have now grown together into one fire over 10,000 acres with 35% containment.  11 California counties have received disaster declaration from President Bush, who will be touring Northern California today.

These fires started naturally and are probably the kind of fires that occurred naturally before massive fire suppression efforts began in the west a hundred years ago. After a nice Memorial day soaking, the foliage here was pretty green when the lightning struck.  These fires have been smoldering and cleaning up the forest, except where they are threatening homes. Klamath-Siskiyou Wild explains it best:

Fire has been an integral component to the function of biodiversity for millennia. Fires burn in a diversity of patterns and intensities, and are influenced by numerous factors such as fuels, temperature, terrain and moisture. Many of these fires are close to communities and firefighters are doing their best to protect lives and property. Once the smoke has cleared, we may find that many of these fires in back country forests were ecologically beneficial as fire clears out understory vegetation, burns a natural mosaic pattern and leaves behind a healthier forest.

A church more often than not needs to draw its inspiration from the heavens, but San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral has taken that stereotype to the next level, as they announced Thursday that they would be partnering with Pacific Gas and Electric to install a new photovoltaic power system.

The project will see PG&E commit $65,000 for the installation, and designed and implemented by SolarCity of Foster City; it is expected to be completed later this year. And it is all thanks to the hard work of Reverend Canon Sally Bingham, the president of California Interfaith Power and Light, an organization founded upon the idea that the religious aspects of the community must respond to global warming as a moral issue.

For those of us in California who follow governmental action on climate change, the Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32) was a watershed moment. Signed by Gov. Schwarzenegger in 2006 (see photo at left), the bill established a comprehensive program of both regulatory and market-based mechanisms to achieve reductions in greenhouse gases of 30% by 2020. So we celebrated!

And then, we waited. The next step depended on the California Air Resources Board (CARB), which was tasked with developing those regulations and mechanisms needed to actually achieve the reductions, called a Scoping Plan.

Now, the wait is over (at least, THAT wait is over): CARB recently released its draft Scoping Plan, which is now open for public comment. The Plan includes a variety of measures that will touch every area of our economy. A few key points include:

• Carbon: A cap and trade system will cover about 85% of the state’s emissions, and will eventually become part of the regional carbon market, the Western Climate Initiative
• Energy: A requirement that a full third of the electricity produced in California come from renewable sources, partnered with additional support for energy efficiency programs, as well as building and appliance standards. The Million Solar Roofs Initiative must also be fully deployed
• Transportation: Plans include high-speed rail, more fuel efficient cars under the California Clean Car law, and more walkable communities

Move over Pink’s. There is a new fast food joint in town that wants to serve up the next cult hot dog and must have ground patty, but O!burger’s offerings come with a twist. O! goody.

Serving up grass fed beef and free range turkey, all of the new burger joint’s menu items are organic and tasty. Grass fed beef makes the meat richer with omega 3, beta carotene, vitamins A & [...]

Starting tomorrow, San Francisco’s Moscone Center will play host to Intersolar North America, the country’s premier exhibition for photovoltaics, solar thermal technology, and solar thermal architecture. The Intersolar conference, which has previously only been held in Europe, will attract 210 solar companies and over 12,000 attendees.

Corporate participants will come from every part of the solar energy supply chain—ranging from PV cell manufacturers and components suppliers to service companies and manufacturers of solar thermal applications for heating and cooling.

Not only will the event have a massive exhibition center for the participating companies, but it will also put on a variety of solar-themed workshops. Topics will include solar cooling, solar thermal energy, introductory photovoltaics, and more.

After six years of research, Raser Technologies will deliver geothermal energy to the city of Anaheim, California. The geothermal generator, which is located in Beaver County, Utah, will produce 10 megawatts of energy, or enough to power 9,000 homes. It should be completed by October. Anaheim’s new energy source will put it on the fast track to reaching 20 percent of its total energy needs through renewable energy by 2012.

The Raser geothermal model is much more consumer-friendly than previous models, as it operates at the relatively low temperature of 165 F. And a lot is riding on its success. According to Merrill Lynch’s managing director of corporate finance Roy Piskadlo, “The success of this project will be important, because with this new low-temperature technology, the range of potential commercial sites is much wider.”

The area in front of San Francisco’s city hall doesn’t exactly represent lush farmland but that doesn’t prevent it from being a viable SF food source. For the first time since 1943,
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, Slow Food Nation founder Alice Waters and more than 100 volunteers planted the first edible garden in the City’s Civic Center. This victory garden, which takes its name from from 20th Century wartime efforts, helps to address food shortages by encouraging citizens to plant gardens on public and private land.

Victory gardens continue to spring up in and around the City as food prices continue to rise and food sustainability becomes more of an issue. This Civic Center venture found its funding through various organizations including Slow Food Nation, CMG Landscape Architecture, City Slicker Farms, The Presidio Native Plant Nursery, Alemany Farms, Friends of the Urban Forest, Ploughshares Nursery, Urban Permaculture Guild, Coevolution Institute and many others.

Our salad bowl spins with the thought of the many crops being grown Amaranth, Snap Bean, Pole Bean, Dry Bean, Broccoli Raab, Ground Cherry, Chicory, Chinese Cabbage, Collards, Cowpea, Cress, Leeks, Okra, Bunching Onion, as well as Calendula, May Flowers, Sunflowers and many others. Being realists, we thought that in this City that how will these crops survive with all the pesky homeless and veggie thieves but the city provides on-site security to guard against theft.

You may be thinking “Uh, Jeff, why are you asking?  Just write about it!” Yeah, that’s how we’d normally do things here.  I ask for a reason, though: we’re participating in an experiment in “community funded reporting” with Spot.us, a new journalism initiative in it’s very early stages.

Spot.us is the brainchild of David Cohn, aka DigiDave. The concept: “Spot Us’ is a nonprofit that allows an individual or group to take control of news in their community by sharing the cost (crowdfunding) to commission freelance journalists.” The project has been funded by a Knight Foundation “News Challenge” grant.

So, where do we come in?  We’re going to be among the first publication venues to test the system out.  We’ve agreed to ask for your support for an article by Wired.com staff writer Alexis Madrigal. The pitch:

California’s biofuels usage is expected to jump nearly 600 million gallons over the next couple of years, but the ethanol supply is already stretched to its limits. Almost all of California’s ethanol runs through a single terminal. If there were a disruption at that terminal — via accident or intent — the state’s gasoline infrastructure could grind to a halt. And even with that terminal, there are serious questions about whether the terminal could meet demand. (More details available at the Spot.us wiki)

I’m always on the lookout for interesting new events that expand my knowledge, and introduce me to new people and ideas. Two such events are coming up over the next week in the Los Angeles area.

First up, this Sunday from 6pm - 8pm, a permaculture workshop will be held at All Shades of Green. For the uninitiated, like me, permaculture is generally defined as, “a system of perennial agriculture emphasizing the use of renewable natural resources and the enrichment of local ecosystems.” In layman’s terms, it refers to the design of agricultural systems that mimic natural systems.

The workshop will cover topics like building healthy soil, attracting wildlife, and landscape design. The facilitator, Melinda Joy Miller, founder of the Shambhalla Institute, is also a renowned feng shui master, so she brings those elements to bear as well.

Here’s a little bit of good, common-sense news to celebrate this Independence Day: city officials in drought-stricken Sacramento have decided against fining a local couple for not watering their lawn. Guess the ongoing news coverage embarrassed the right people into doing the right thing.

A little background: after California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared emergency drought conditions in the state early last month, homeowners Matt George and Anne Hartridge decided that lavishing grass with a precious liquid wasn’t the right way to deal with the crisis. So they stopped watering their lawn. Naturally, the grass responded by turning a crisp, dead brown. And, naturally, some disapproving lawn-lover complained.