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Fall 2008 Newsletter
Greetings!
This edition of the Ecology Center newsletter contains an update on our work, with ideas for protecting the environment, building community, and creating justice. The Ecology Center has provided free, non-commercial information to the public since 1969. We help people make informed choices about issues that affect them, others, and the planet. To this end, we make the EcoCalendar, the EcoDirectory, and this Newsletter accessible and free to all. Please support us and the services we provide by becoming a member of the Ecology Center. Visit our website at ecologycenter.org. Ecology Center programs and projects highlighted this issue: 1. Berkeley Farmers' Markets Become First to Ban Plastics2. Green Holiday Guide, Craft Fairs, Special Holiday Sales3. Climate Change Action Groups Underscore the Power of Local Community4. Indigenous Seed Saving, and Winter Cover Crops5. Checklist for Saving Energy and Money this Winter6. Pacific Wildcraft Brings Sea Vegetables to the Farmers' Markets7. Farm Fresh Choice Partners with Clif Bar Family Foundation8. New Terrain Explores Controversies within the Environmental Community |
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 1. Berkeley Farmers' Markets Become First to Ban Plastics
 Come 2009, plastics will be pulled from all three Berkeley Farmers' Markets. The ban includes plastic bags, packaging for prepared foods, utensils, and to-go ware, says Ecology Center Market Manager Ben Feldman. "The overall goal is zero waste," says Feldman. "This initial step is really a step in eventually preventing us from putting anything in the landfill." The Berkeley Farmers' Markets received a grant from Alameda County Waste Management Authority (StopWaste.org) that will allow the purchase of over 120,000 compostable bags to sell to vendors. This will enable the markets to subsidize the cost of the bags to ease the transition to the compostable bags, which run about fourteen cents per bag compared to two cents for plastic bags. The subsidized compostable bags will be priced to what the farmers pay now for plastics. Read more about the program in Terrain magazine.
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2. 2008 Green Holiday Guide, Craft Fairs, Special Holiday Sales
 Each year we publish our Guide to an Eco-Friendlier Holiday Season with tips on gift giving, holiday foods, trees, and travel. We also organize Ecology Center craft fairs and store sales to provide access to local, sustainable, and healthy gifts. Check out the 2008 Green Holiday Guide and tap into these resources:
• Guide to an Eco-Friendlier Holiday Season
• Farmers' Market Craft Fairs
• Ecology Center Store Holiday Sales
• Toy Clinic with Free Lead Testing
• GAIA Craft Fair
• Guide for Eco-Friendlier Travel
• How to Green an Event Guide
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3. Climate Change Action Groups Underscore the Power of Local Community
 Throughout its forty year history, the Ecology Center has been a pioneer on the national landscape of environmental action, responding to pressing ecological concerns through local efforts: spearheading the ban of methyl bromide at farmers' markets, initiating one of the country's first curbside recycling programs, and creating innovative demonstration projects such as the EcoHouse. Now as climate change presents the greatest ecological challenges humanity has known, the Ecology Center again underscores the power of local communities by organizing local Climate Change Action Groups, which you can participate in. Find out more.
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4. Indigenous Seed Saving, and Winter Cover Crops
 On Oct. 11, 2008, the Ecology Center's fiscally-sponsored project, Indigenous Permaculture Program (IPP) held a Seed Saving Conference at the Intertribal Friendship House in Oakland that featured among other speakers, Terri Compost of the Ecology Center project Bay Area Seed Interchange Library (BASIL). The question "Why save seeds?" was put to Indigenous Permaculture staff. Read their response, and also find resources for seed saving, and using Winter cover crops to improve your soil.
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5. Checklist for Saving Energy and Money this Winter
 The coldest months of the year are upon us and utility rates are soaring. PG&E's power mix includes 22% nuclear (up from 11% in 2002), 17% large hydroelectric, 2% coal, and 44% natural gas. The generation of electric power produces more pollution than any other single industry in the United States. Proponents of nuclear power are gaining steam everyday. What better time to do an energy audit of your home and workplace?
Maybe you know that using compact fluorescents use 65-70% less energy than incandescent bulbs but did you know that in most homes you can save about 2% of your heating bill for each degree you lower your thermostat? We bet there are items on the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy's Home Energy Checklist for Action that can save you money and energy this winter. The checklist has easy steps you can do today, along with suggestions for longer term projects to lower your energy use, lower your energy bills, and decrease harm to the environment. Get started today.
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6. Pacific Wildcraft Brings Sea Vegetables to the Farmers' Markets
 Andrew Daunis and Pacific Wildcraft became part of the Berkeley Farmers' Markets in the spring of 2008. Andrew features sea vegetables wildcrafted and harvested off the Mendocino coast. Sea vegetables provide nutrients that are becoming harder to obtain from "standard" food sources due to soil depletion. Nori provides protein and Vitamin D, and kombu and wakame are used in cancer treatments as they can filter heavy metals and draw radiation out of the bones. Read the article by Market Operations Manager Tami Loeffler, which includes details of the health benefits, as well as the sea vegetable process from start to finish. Don't miss the recipe for sauté sea veggies!
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7. Farm Fresh Choice Partners with the Clif Bar Family Foundation
 The Clif Bar Family Foundation has introduced On Your Behalf, a gift card program that allows gift card recipients to make contributions to the organizations of their choice. That's right, you buy the gift card and your friend or family member chooses how they would like to donate the funds. And they have 23 extremely effective, grassroots organizations to choose from focused on a wide array of issues, including environmental restoration and conservation, sustainable food systems and agriculture, and public health! We are very proud to say that the Ecology Center's Farm Fresh Choice program is one of the beneficiaries of On Your Behalf. Find out more about how these unique gift cards work and purchase them for the people on your holiday list.
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8. New Terrain On Stands and Online
 The Fall/Winter 2008 edition of Terrain magazine includes a special section pinpointing controversies within the environmental community. Articles include Nuclear Redux: Climate change forces a reaxamination of nuclear power; Waiting for Ocean Energy?; as well as articles on green building, slow food, and an interview with Jeffrey St. Clair. The issue is available at local stands as well as online.
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Did you know that you can call us with your environmental questions? Our Info Desk staff will give you referrals and provide information to help you make sound ecological choices. Email erc@ecologycenter.org or give us a call at 510-548-2220 x233. To subscribe to or unsubscribe from this newsletter, send a note to newsletter@ecologycenter.org. This newsletter can also be found online at http://ecologycenter.org/newsletter
The Ecology Center is a membership organization providing environmental information and direct services to promote sustainable living and a healthy, socially just world. Please support this community resource for the environment by becoming a member or by making a donation. Support our work on-line at http://www.ecologycenter.org/donate/
[Photo credits: Stefan Kühnfrom; from creative commons on flickr.com: irkesomecushion, fpoint8, Leslie Duss, Doug Greenberg, pbo31, elroySF] |
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