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Sustainable Earth Forum 37 Begins On September 8!
The Class of 37 is about to kick off with Orientation Day on September 8 at the Lyford House in Tiburon. So far, we have 15 excited students ready to go through this educational - and often life- changing - experience. Their backgrounds and goals are varied, but their level of excitement is consistent. They are interested in everything from composting and waste management to water and sustainable agriculture. They are lawyers, MBAs, retired mortgage brokers, homemakers, career changers, and full-time activists. We'll keep you posted as we journey through another year of classes, field trips, and other awareness-raising experiences.
For those of you who have taken previous SEF courses, please share your enthusiasm for SEF with others who would be perfect for the program and would love to attend. They will be forever grateful for your referral. They can find information and an application on the EFM website: http://www.marinefm.org/training_traditional.html
For those of you not as familiar with SEF, here is a short description: The Environmental Forum of Marin's Sustainable Earth Forum is an annual 18-week educational opportunity for adults, focusing on sustainability, ecology, human impacts on the environment, resource management and citizen based community action. Participants learn from key professionals, government officials and dedicated citizens working actively for environmental organizations. The goal of the SEF is to provide knowledge to individuals who are, or who would like to be, involved in making decisions affecting their community. The underlying philosophy of EFM is that any decision, whether governmental, educational or personal, is a better decision when made by an informed individual.
Here is this year's schedule. Please let Marcia know in advance if you plan on attending, as some of the locations have space constraints.
Orientation 9/8 Geology 9/15 Plant Communities 9/22 Wildlife 9/29 Agriculture and Mariculture 10/6 Baylands 10/13 Bay/Estuary/Ocean 10/20 Water 10/27 Advocacy & Env'l Education 11/3 Environmental Ethics 11/10 Advocacy 11/7 Waste Reduction and Resource Recovery 12/1 Land Use 12/8 Energy 12/15 Transportation 1/5/10 Intro to Sustainability 1/12 Economics of Sustainability 1/19 Projects Day 1/26 Graduation 2/2
For more information please visit:
Sustainable Earth Forum 37 |
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Greetings!
President's Message It's hard to believe summer is drawing to an end and Sustainable Earth Forum is about to begin! We have 15 participants signed up already for a September 8 start. So, if you've been thinking of someone who's "just perfect," have them contact us at http://www.marinefm.org/training_traditional.html. The board has met twice since the annual meeting to plan for the year. As a result we have a full slate of initiatives for 2009-10. Key among these are focuses on:
- Promoting the ability of program graduates to influence public and private policy and decision- making;
- Fostering continuing education, networking, collaboration, and support among Environmental Forum members; and
- Developing the tools and support to create "grass roots" environmental forums in other communities.
We're excited about improvements that have been made to both the Sustainable Earth Forum and the Sustainable Community Seminar. We're also looking forward to increasing the opportunities for Forum members and graduates to get together both socially and through progams designed to highlight environmental and sustainability initiatives in Marin. More about these in future newsletters. Savor the season. Cheers.
Vicki Rupp
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EFM Classified
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EFM Outreach Program - Mentors Still Wanted If you are someone who has experience in organizing, developing, and/or administering different environmental or related programs, and you enjoy the role of a mentor, we need you. With a growing awareness of the varied and complex environmental challenges facing us all, the Environmental Forum has instituted an "Outreach Program" to support groups and individuals concerned about an environmental issue (or issues) who wish to replicate or adapt the Forum's educational programs in their community. Mentors guide those interested in starting such a program through the process. We have already attracted two prospective clients, one in Utah and one in the East Bay. Outreach continues to seek Mentors for future projects starting in the spring. If you would like more information about the Outreach Mentor program, please contact: Barbara O'Grady, Outreach Program, barbaraog@juno.com.
Ritter Center Recycling The Ritter Center was established in 1980 "to be a strategic leader partnering with the community to foster self-sufficiency for low-income families and to end homelessness in Marin County." They accept the following items year-round, Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at its location at 16 Ritter Street in San Rafael: High-need food items: tuna fish, peanut butter, canned chili, Chunky-style soups, pasta, and pasta sauce; Toiletry items (small soaps, shampoos/conditioners, shaving cream, toothbrushes/toothpaste etc.); Sleeping bags and blankets; Department store and grocery store gift cards; and Paper shopping bags for their food pantry. For more information, please visit their website at www.rittercenter.org.
Yosemite Volunteers The volunteer department in Yosemite is looking for some skilled volunteers to help complete the benches at the Lower River and Lower Pines amphitheater. If you have experience in construction (i.e. woodworking, drilling, router experience, strength), and are available September 7, 11, and/or 18, please contact Jack Furr at jackfurr@yahoo.com. You will be provided a campsite in Yellow Pines as well as free park entrance.
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Sustainable Communities Seminar 2010 News
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We are happy to report that we already have a few applicants registered for the class. We are also grateful that Julie Hanft (36) and Hilary Jeffris (36) have agreed to co-coordinate class # 6 (Agriculture, Landscape Maintenance & Permaculture) on March 13, 2010, and Nancy Hughes (5a) has agreed to co-coordinate another class. This eight-week series of educational classes will be held on Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Hospice by the Bay facility in Larkspur, California, beginning January 30, 2010. We are still seeking coordinators so please let us know if you can volunteer your time for one of the Saturday sessions.
Please visit the website to view the preliminary schedule.
If you have any questions, contact Donna Bohegian (Director) at ddbgian@comcast.net or 415-730-2162.
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Sustainable Communities Seminar 2010 |
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Graywater Code Passes!
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The members of Class 36 had a great victory. You may recall that the entire class took on an e- mail letter-writing campaign to generate support for changing the California Plumbing Codes for graywater. Several class members also testified in Sacramento before the California Building Standards Commission.
We're happy to report that on July 30, 2009, the Commission adopted new code language for residential graywater reuse that took effect on August 4, 2009
Overall, the new code is more "performance based" rather than prescriptive, and allows for much less expensive systems to be created by residents of the State. Congrats Class 36 on a job well done!
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MMWD Approves Desalination Project
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On August 18, 2009, the Board of the Marin Municipal Water District held a public hearing on whether to move forward with a desalination project. Fifty-six people spoke before the Board with 47 of them urging the Board to reject the project.
A dozen Environmental Forum of Marin folks attended the hearing and five spoke: Nona Dennis (0), Kay Karchevski (35), Joe Kohn (34), Kiki La Porta (32), and Tommy Weldon (35).
Objections to the desalination project included energy use, public health concerns (Lawrence Rose, M.D., former senior public health medical officer with CAL-OSHA quipped "Eat feces, 10,000 flies can't be wrong"), cost, threats to marine life, and undermining conservation efforts.
Nevertheless, the Board voted unanimously to approve the project. The Board members noted that their approval "is not a final decision" and only allows further study of the energy use and costs.
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Marin Municipal Water District |
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EFM Members In Action
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Donna Bohegian (35) participated in a PGVIP (planet granite volunteers in the park) project in Yosemite on August 8, 2009. Twenty volunteers helped the National Park Service rebuild wooden benches that had rotted in the amphitheatre at Lower Pines campground. Way to go Donna!
Hilary Jeffris (36) is organizing a Mill Valley "Eat In" on September 7, 2009 from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. at Doyle Park, as part of the Slow Food USA national "TIME FOR LUNCH" campaign. The event is a free public potluck that gathers people to support a cause - like getting real food into schools. Lynn Woolsey will say a few words and Mark Leno will be presenting Hilary and her group a certificate of recognition. Please R.S.V.P. to millvalleyeatin@gmail.com. And for more information, please visit: http://www.slowfoodusa.org/index.php/campaign/ti me_for_lunch- detail/slow_food_marin_petaluma_eat_in/ Great job Hilary!
Please let us know what you're doing so we can include more information about EFM members. Email enews@marinefm.org. Thank you!
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MALT Victory
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Marin Agricultural Land Trust (MALT) announced that it has purchased an agricultural conservation easement on the Spaletta family's 772-acre Cypress Lane Ranch.
The Spaletta ranch is prominently located on Point Reyes-Petaluma Road at its intersection with Novato Boulevard. It becomes part of a greenbelt of protected historic farmland on the road leading to Petaluma. Seventy-five percent of the property is grasslands, providing extensive pastures while silage is grown for feed on the southwestern part of the ranch.
Members of the Spaletta family have owned the ranch since 1932. Two of them, Charles Spaletta and his son Tony, currently live there and run a Grade A Holstein dairy cow operation, producing fluid milk. The dairy is of one of only 27 remaining in Marin County, down from 100 dairies in the 1970s. The Spaletta family corporation's sale of an easement to MALT will allow Charles and Tony, the dairy ranchers, to continue producing milk for the Bay Area.
MALT made the purchase with financial assistance from the Department of Conservation's California Farmland Conservancy Program and the United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Conservation Service (NRCS), paying the appraised value of $2,495,000 for the easement.
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MALT |
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September Native Plant Walks
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Take a walk on the mild side with Joe Kohn (34) and the Marin chapter of the California Native Plant Society. All hikes are free and open to the public, so please feel free to invite your friends. Come prepared for any type of weather or conditions, dress in layers, have non-slip footware, and bring rain/wind protection just in case. Although it may be sunny and warm when you leave home, the weather could be cold and foggy when we reach our destination. Please be prepared. Bring lunch and plenty of water, binoculars and/or hand lenses, and your favorite field guides. For further information, contact Joe Kohn at 415- 459-0231 or at joko@foxvalley.net
Deer Park, Fairfax Sunday, September 6, 2009 10:00 a.m. One of the more pleasant walks in Marin County is the Yolanda Trail that goes from above Deer Park School in Farifax to Phoenix Lake in Ross. Once on the trail, the entire northern flanks of Mt Tam come into view, and it feels so remote that you could easily imagine you were trekking in the High Sierra backcountry. By early September, fruits and berries should be abundant, so if you have a field guide on ediible native plants, please bring it along. Also, decidious shrubs and trees should be starting to shed their leaves, so we could possibly be treated to Marin's version of the change of seasons from Summer to Fall, with, if nothing else, hillsides of vibrantly red Toxicodendron diversilobum (Poison Oak). Last but certainly not least, there are generally late season flowers still blooming in September, such as Zauschneria californica (California fuschia), several species of Eriogonum (buckwheat), and the smell of the fragrant male Baccharis pilularis (Coyote Bush) in flower is so strong that it scents the air. To get to Deer Park School, go out the Fairfax- Bolinas Road from downtown Fairfax, and just before it starts to twist and turn, make a left on Porteus Drive and take that all the way to the end, where you'll find a parking lot for the school.
The Trees of Gerstle Park, San Rafael Sunday, September 13, 2009 10:00 a.m. When it comes to native vegetation, there's always something of interest to be seen in Marin County, but by mid- September, those sights are often few and far between. That's when it's time to look upward, into the trees. Gerstle Park in San Rafael was purchased as an estate by the Gerstle Family in 1881, and they planted many trees and shrubs, both native and non-native. In 1977, the schools of San Rafael pooled their resources to develop a nearly 60 page booklet/brochure on all the trees at Gerstle Park. With such stately California natives like Calocedrus decurrens (Incense Cedar), Abies concolor (White Fir) and Chamaecyparis lawsoniana (Port Orford Cedar) alongside such exotic trees as Cryptomeria japonica elegans (Japanese cedar) and Trachrycarpus fortunei (Windmill or Fortune Palm), it ought to be a lot of fun to walk though this small but lovely park to see what has flourished since 1977, and what can't be found any longer. Last year at about the same time, we took a tree walk on the campus of Dominican University, and although it was quite different than a typical CNPS native plant walk, it sure was a lot of floral fun. Gerstle Park is located in San Rafael. To get there, take D Street from downtown San Rafael, heading south towards Wolfe Grade. Less than a mile from downtown and before starting to climb over Wolfe Grade, make a Right at San Rafael Ave, and the park entrance is several blocks up, on the left.
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Native Plant Walks |
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"West Marin Wild" Art Show - Labor Day Weekend
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The Environmental Action Committee of West Marin will be holding their bienniel art show, West Marin Wild, over Labor Day weekend beginning with an Artists' Reception and Preview Sale on Sept 4 at the Red Barn, Point Reyes National Seashore.
Please visit the website for details.
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Environmental Action Committee of West Marin |
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Marin Organic September Events
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Join the Marin Organic Glean Team! Every Monday at 4:00 p.m., the Marin Organic Glean Team harvests extras from the fields of Marin Organic member farms for the Organic School Lunch and Gleaning Program, which then donates the produce to schools, camps and low-income resource centers throughout Marin County. Come meet your local farmers, get your hands dirty and join in the fun! To find out more contact Marin Organic at (415) 663- 9667 or visit their website at www.marinorganic.org.
Food Series Talk Saturday, September 5, 2009, 7:00 p.m. at Toby's Feed Barn Come hear David Mas Masumoto, author of "Wisdom of the Last Farmer: Harvesting Legacy from the Land, Epitaph for a Peach" and three other books. David is a third generation organic peach and grape farmer, whose organic farming techniques have been employed by farmers across the nation.
Marin Organic Volunteer Training Day Sunday, September 13, 2009, 1:00 to 3:00 p.m at Cow Track Ranch, Nicasio Learn in-depth about the focus of Marin Organic, its programs and initiatives, and how you can help in our efforts to support the viability of local, small- scale agriculture. Volunteers at Marin Organic are invited to join us in the fields, the office and at special events. Bring your passion, your creativity, and yourself to this work! Inspire others through action and spread the seed of our work throughout Marin, the Bay Area, California, and beyond. To register, please contact Paige Phinney at (415) 663-9667 x104 or at Paige@marinorganic.org before Friday, September 4.
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Marin Organic |
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SPAWN September Events
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Creekside Restoration Extravagana Part 2 September 12, 2009, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at 9255 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. (Near Olema) in the GGNRA Join SPAWN for habitat restoration as well as free breakfast, free lunch, and the opportunity to see wild salmon. For more details visit spawnusa.org or email blaine@tirn.net.
Native Plant Dye Workshop Saturday, September 19, 2009 (the day before the Fall Equinox), 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at SPAWN's Office, West Marin and Lagunitas Creek. Exact directions upon reservation. Beginning with a hike in the beautiful Lagunitas Watershed, one of the last viable coho salmon habitats in California, you'll visit the ecosystems where the sacred coho salmon and the native plants that support them co-exist. You'll explore the native plant dye species in each of their unique habitats, as well as explore the wide variety of color they offer us in the dye vat and on various natural fabrics. If you want to dye some of your own clothes, yarns, or fiber- bring them along. A sample organic wool skein, a silk scarf, and many fabric swatches are included in the workshop. The cost is $30 for SPAWN members and $65 for new members. (The $65 rate includes an annual membership w/ SPAWN). To reserve your space contact Paola at Paola@Tirn.Net, 415-663-8590 x111.
Rainwater Harvesting Tours Friday, September 25, 2009 in West Marin, and Saturday, September 26, 2009 in East Marin. Learn the principles of harvesting and storing rainwater while visiting a number of local community projects that demonstrate the many various ways to disconnect from the stormdrains and protect precious water resources! Community members, technical experts and suppliers will be on hand to share resources and assist you with design. Each Rain Garden Tour is $15 for members, $25 for non-members, or $40 for tour plus an annual family membership w/ benefits. Spaces fill quickly! To register contact Lisa Chipkin, SPAWN Water Conservation Council member - Rainwater@Tirn.Net, 415-845-3568.
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SPAWN |
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Greenbelt Alliance Outing - September 13
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Tarantula Trek Sunday, September 13, 2009, 4:00 to 6:30 p.m.
A 19th century scientific expedition described tarantulas as "attaining the size of a half-growth mouse, possessing fangs the size of a rattlesnake's, and delivering a bite generally considered fatal." Fact or fiction? Join the Greenbelt Alliance for a talk and nature walk in search of Mount Diablo's giant spiders.
For more information and to make a reservation please visit the website.
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Greenbelt Alliance |
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Celebrating H2O - September 16
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The Bay Institute works to protect and restore the ecosystems of San Francisco Bay, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, and the rivers, streams, and watersheds tributary to the Estuary. Please join the Institute for a fundraiser to "Celebrate H2O." The Institute has planned an exciting live auction, and will provide excellent and sustainable local foods and wines. When: Wednesday, September 16, 2009, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., toast to 2009 Honorees Philip L. Isenberg, David Donnenfield, and Kevin White, 6:30 to 9:00 p.m., Reception and Auction Where: Golden Gate Yacht Club, One Yacht Road, San Francisco
For more information, please contact: Angela Moskow at (415) 878-2929 x 22 or moskow@bay.org.
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Bay Institute |
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Sustainable San Rafael Community Education Forum - September 24
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Heather Wooten on Healthy Communities Thursday, September 24, 2009, 7:00 p.m.at First Congregational Church of San Rafael, 8 North San Pedro Road.
Join Heather Wooten, an Associate Planner working with Oakland-based non-profit Public Health Law and Policy. How can public health advocates, environmentalists and city planners work together to create healthy, sustainable communities? What do we need to do to make it easy for neighborhoods to establish community gardens? What is required to ensure everyone has access to healthy foods and kids have safe places to play? These questions and more will be discussed at Sustainable San Rafael's next Community Education forum. More info will be on the website soon.
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Sustainable San Rafael |
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Cornerstone (Sonoma) Sustainable Garden Design Show - September 18
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The Late Show Gardens September 18, 19, and 20, 2009, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., at Cornerstone Sonoma
The Late Show Gardens is a revolutionary garden show unlike any other - addressing climate change and drought head-on. It is an unparalleled opportunity for world-class minds to come together in one place and discuss ideas that may help to improve our impact on the world. Celebrate design while addressing climate change, drought, sustainable practices and renewable resources.
Show proceeds will go to the Trust for Public Land's new Balboa Park, a park in San Francisco's Excelsior district that will provide a sorely needed recreation space for an area with the highest concentration of children in the city. The Garden Conservancy, with its mandate of care and preservation of historic gardens will also be a beneficiary. For more information, please visit the website.
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Cornerstone Late Show Gardens |
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September Green Tip - Five Ways To Green Your School Lunches
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School's back in session! Did you know that our addiction to "convenient" lunch products has resulted in tons of trash in landfills each year? In fact, close to 2.7 billion juice boxes end up in landfills every year. Here's five ways to green your school lunches adapted from Reusablebags.com:
1. Use reusable lunch bags. 2. Pack a resuable water bottle. 3. Opt for reusable snack and sandwich bags. 4. Use reusable food containers. 5. Pack reusable napkins, utensils, and ice packs.
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