current actions we recommend
ACTION ALERT! GREEN NEW DEAL PETITION DELIVERY
JOIN US at Mike Thompson’s Santa Rosa Office on Feb 7th. at 2:30 to 3:30.
We will deliver petitions signed by his constituents and ask him to support the Resolution to create a committee on the GND
Join us and gather outside the office at 2300 County Center Dr. Suite A100. in Santa Rosa at 2:30.
Questions? Contact Christine choex@sbcglobal.net
Support the Green New Deal!
350 Sonoma has just joined over 600 environmental organization demanding our government officials support and activate the Green New Deal as a response to catastrophic climate changes. The Green New Deal proposes 1) Halting all fossil fuel leasing, extraction, and dirty energy subsidies, 2) Transition to 100% renewable energy by 2035 or earlier, 3) Expand public transportation and phase out fossil fuel vehicles, 4) Harness the full power of the Clean Air Act, 5) Ensure a just transition led by impacted communities and workers 5) Uphold indigenous rights as outlined in the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People. The letter also opposes rolling back environmental, health protections, corporate scheme that place profit over community health, including market based technological fixes. We ask that energy companies be held responsible for damages rather than shifting these costs to taxpaers.
We thank our new Representatives, led by Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, for promoting this response to our real existential emergency. We urge you to sign on to support the Green New Deal and to spread the word among your families, friends and social media contacts.
Why Renewable Sonoma?
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 14th (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
Sign up to be a volunteer for one or more Wednesdays!
Thanks
Zero Waste Sonoma County
Eye-opening Zero Waste Display and Info Booth at the Sebastopol Farmer’s Maket
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!
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
Sign the Divest Big Oil Petition
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.