The Environmental Forum of Marin Activities

Prior Activities & Events:

First Thursday - March 1, 2007 - 7-9pm

RETHINKING PLASTICS, RETHINKING OUR LIVES:

Stuart Moody,
Exec Committee of Green Sangha and Chair of Supervisor Charles McGlashan’s Zero Waste Citizen Advisory Committee.

Christin Anderson,
on reducing plastic bag use at United Markets

Heather Furmidge,
on the economics of recycling plastics
(possibly another to be announced)

Plastics, once seen as cheap and convenient substitutes for traditional packaging and building materials, have overtaken our world. They are turning out to be anything but convenient. We are literally awash in non-degradable, non-compostable materials – littering our streets and parks, clogging drain systems, cluttering our oceans and beaches, killing millions of animals a year, and toxifying our bodies. Stuart Moody of Green Sangha described the nature and extent of plastic pollution, with special presentations by graduates of EFM (Class 34) on recycling, bioplastics, and more. Included in the program was short film, Synthetic Sea, on what's happening to our oceans, exhibits of alternative materials, and a lively discussion of what we can do as customers, business owners, and citizen activists to stop the plague of plastics. Stuart suggested the transformation in collective consciousness that will be needed if we are to succeed in this task.

Link to First Thursday webpage

First Thursday - February 1, 2007 - 7-9pm

Renewable Energy Discussion
with Minister from Navarra, Spain.

First Thursday presented Jose Javier Armendariz, Minister of Industry and Technology, Commerce and Labor in the Government of Navarra, Spain. Mr Armendariz will discuss Navarra's activities in the field of renewables; click here to see his bio in PDF* format.

Navarra, one of Spain's seventeen autonomous political districts. Pamplona is the capital of the province, which is in the Navarrese Pyrenees.

Navarra is leading Europe's charge toward energy from renewable sources. Non-fossil fuel sources already account for 61 percent of electricity consumed in Navarra, and the region’s latest forecast is to meet 100 % of its electricity needs from renewable energy by 2010. Mr. Armendariz will showcase Navarra’s activities in the field of renewables and he was interested in t California’s progress in alternative energy sources. This was an opportunity to learn how the EU and public and private sectors are cooperating to finance, site, build and operate a 21st century energy system.

Refreshments were provided by Sabor of Spain.

Learn more about First Thursday at its webpage

EFM Co-Sponsors Green Business Forum

Thursday, November 2, 2006, from 6:00 to 8:30 PM
at Mill Valley Community Center

"Good for the Environment, Good for the Bottom Line"

Attendees:

Joined the Chambers of Commerce of Mill Valley, Sausalito & San Anselmo and Honored Guest – Supervisor Charles McGlashan
Presentations by Ken Kurtzig, iReuse & Shelly Hamilton, MarinSpace
Connected with Marin green businesses and learned about ecologically friendly resources to help save you time, money and the environment!

EFM Sponsors Film at Mill Valley Film Festival

October 7, 2006, at the San Rafael and
October 15, 2006, at the Throckmorton theater in Mill Valley.

The Environmental Forum of Marin was a proud sponsor at this year's Mill Valley Film Festival. EFM sponsored the screening of the environmental documentary, "Swim for the River".
	"This heartfelt chronicle by Tom Weidlinger (A Dream in Hanoi) highlights average folks working to improve the places where they live. By the 1960s, mills, mines and electric plants had transformed New York's Hudson River into a toxic stew. Today, the Hudson is better, but far from clean: eating the river's fish might kill you, and no one in his right mind would swim in it. Which, in 2004, is precisely what Chris Swain decided to do: He swam (yuck!) the entire 315-mile river, from source to sea. Why, for god's sake? To bring awareness to what still needs to be done to make the Hudson "clean enough to drink" and to inspire fellow "friends for the river." The people and communities Swain speaks with and the river's history all flow nicely together in this intriguing document of homemade environmental activism that may well inspire repetition across the nation."
There were two screenings of "Swim for the River"; Saturday, October 7th 7PM at the San Rafael and Sunday, October 15th 4:15 at the Throckmorton theater in Mill Valley. Tom Weidlinger, was present at both screenings.

Please see the Mission, Training, Committees, News, and History web pages for a description of other Environmental Forum of Marin activities and events.