current actions we recommend

Why Renewable Sonoma?

Aug 4, 2018 | Zero Waste, Regen Ag, Actions, Issues | 0 Comments

Ask the Sonoma County Waste Management Agency board to accept their staff’s recommendation that Renewable Sonoma be awarded the commercial compost operation contract for the proposed Llano Road site (by the waste-water treatment facility). Send emails to the SCWMA board via executive director Patrick Carter by August 14^th (patrick.carter@sonoma-county.org)

Talking point ideas for your email:

Renewable Sonoma is owned by Sonoma Compost, the company operating our former, excellent local compost facility at the central landfill site.
They have a long history of supporting composting education, school garden programs, community waste-diversion/ Zero Waste efforts, and local farmers and gardeners
Their proposal includes an anaerobic digester that will generate electricity from green waste via natural gas generation
They are excellent environmental stewards
They have a long history of working with local farmers and have extensive knowledge of the local composting market
Their business emphasis is on creating high-quality soil-amendment products for customers (as opposed to merely diverting green waste from landfill)

Local composting means:

We do not have to truck our greenwaste out of the county (thereby reducing greenhouse gas production)
Farmers, schools, and gardens can purchase high-quality compost produced locally (at lower prices because of reduced delivery fees)

Find a form for a petition to the SCWMA Board Members here: RenewableSonoma_petition

Zero Waste at Peacetown Summer Concert Series

Jun 28, 2018 | Zero Waste, Actions | 0 Comments

Hello Friends,

We are bringing Zero Waste to the Peacetown Summer Concert series in Sebastopol at Ives Park on Wednesday evenings starting July 4th!

The Peacetown Green Team is looking for on-site volunteers to help set-up, monitor and take-down our brand new Eco-Stations (compost/ recycling/ garbage containers) and to talk to attendees about what goes where and how to reduce the amount they discard at concert. This includes transferring “errors” from one cart to another using pickers and gloves provided. This is not dirty work, just steady and important as you have fun listening to the music and making a big environmental contribution.
Sign up to be a volunteer for one or more Wednesdays!

1) Click here: http://signup.com/go/LAzNPct

3) Sign up! It’s Easy – you will not need to register an account or keep a password on SignUp.com (+ entering phone number is optional)

Each week a Team Leader will be staffing the primary station which will have a good view of the stage! We will make it obvious with a sign or funny hat.

The July 4 Team leader is Robin Factor, who initiated this effort. She is a medium height slim blonde with shoulder length hair.

See you at the concerts!

Thanks

Portia Sinnott, Co-founder and Convenor

Zero Waste Sonoma County

Executive Director, LITE Initiatives

http://liteinitiatives.org/

Eye-opening Zero Waste Display and Info Booth at the Sebastopol Farmer’s Maket

Jun 28, 2018 | Zero Waste, Actions | 0 Comments

By Caitlyn Thomasson

Folks in Sonoma County are learning how to work towards Zero Waste by composting, recycling, and reducing plastic use. Considering that Sonoma County residents contribute 4.6 pounds per person, per day to the landfill, this is an much needed culture shift. On June 24th, the Sebastopol Farmers Market hosted the first Zero Waste outreach booth with the help from Recology and 350 Sonoma members to help address this issue. Market-goers could stop by and decorate reusable produce bags made from repurposed from cloth with veggie stamps. The bags are a fun, colorful, and an eco-friendly way for people to gather veggies at the market without using plastic bags. Enthusiastic employees from Recology were on hand to provide information about their company and answer questions about recycling and composting. Also, a travelling trash installation from the Santa Rosa Junior College was on display, providing education and a unique conversation starter to help us all realize how much single-use plastic and disposable coffee cups are sent to the landfill weekly.

To get involved, visit us at the Sebastopol farmers markets for our monthly zero waste outreach booth (July 29th, August 26, September 30, October 21, November 18, December 16 January 27); join us at our zero waste subcommittee maker meetings to make more reusable veggies bags and other reusable DIY items to share at the market (contact Sunny Galbraith for more information: galbraithsunny@gmail.com); make a personal pledge to get closer to zero waste in your life, and encourage your city counsel or supervisor to adopt the upcoming Zero Waste Resolution, and ask restaurants/vendors to replace single-use plastic with compostable and recyclable alternative.

AB 813: Contact your state senator’s office to stop the California Coalification Bill!

Jun 18, 2018 | CA Legislation, Actions | 0 Comments

AB 813 would regionalize California’s electricity grid, merging the existing independent management into a broader regional system. This is an extremely complicated issue. There are compelling reasons to consider regionalization, but the risks far outweigh the potential benefits at this time. Regionalization would increase the control that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has on California’s grid, and FERC is currently dreaming up ways to support extending uneconomical coal and nuclear generation. Also, the western region envisioned in the bill includes coal country – and there is the strong potential that this regionalized grid could extend the economic viability of some of the nation’s worst coal plants. California’s existing grid management system is not in dire circumstances! We have a functioning operator supported by existing out of state contracts that balance our energy needs. We are at a time of remarkable innovation in electricity generation and distribution – it is quite premature to lock in this approach in the face of rapidly changing circumstances, especially when California risks losing control over its electricity generation portfolio by doing so.

Call or email your State Senator McGuire’s office before Tuesday morning! There is a critical vote on this issue on June 19, and we need to reach Senator McGuire, a key vote on this issue. His phone number is (916) 651-4002, or email his legislative aide Christopher.Nielsen@sen.ca.gov. A simple message is fine: “Please do not support AB 813: It is not worth the risk to California’s control over its energy mix. We don’t want coal energy in California. We encourage Senator McGuire to take a stand in opposing this risky legislation and to spread the word among other climate aware legislators.” Thank you!

Sign the Divest Big Oil Petition

Apr 19, 2017 | Actions | 0 Comments

We call on CalSTRS and CalPERS to divest by 2020 from all oil and gas companies, beginning with ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Shell. These companies have known for decades that their products increase the dangers of climate change, but they have not joined the international effort to minimize global warming. Since they refuse to modify their business plans or activities, and since their reserves are at risk of becoming worthless stranded assets, CalSTRS and CalPERS should refuse to own any of their shares.