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Environmental CommitteeJanuary 2007 At its annual retreat, the VWC’s Environmental Committee for the SLV established some interesting plans and projects for 2007 after attendees shared viewpoints on our goals as individuals, as a group and as world citizens. Concepts as far-ranging as global population, species loss, human rights, global warming, consumption, local control of natural resources, and the underlying assumptions around the “need” for economic growth were presented as basic reasons for personal commitment and involvement. The knowledge that by acting on local issues we can influence these larger issues gave deeper meaning to the discussion. As each member in attendance brought up local issues on which we should focus, an expansive array of goals and projects, big and small, were brought forth. Others were sent on-line by some who could not attend the retreat. As you read through these, please consider what you would like to take advantage of, to participate in, or where you would like to help. (The ideas are not in any special order, so keep reading!) If you cannot contact someone online, please call Nancy Macy (338-1728) for alternate contact information. Jump in! Many of these are already “in the works!” Create Handbook/Packet for Residents: A collection of ideas and information to be distributed to SLV Watershed residents (starting with Lompico to test it out), to help them live with less impact and greater pleasure, including our brochures on septics, erosion, etc. Help needed: creating and compiling the handbook, copying and distributing, and getting feedback. Contact: Mary Jo Walker Create Watershed Boundary Signs to help create awareness of the various watersheds and where our lives connect with them. Contact: Dusty Gipson Expand Educational Opportunities in many ways, including:
Expand Political Action in Support of Environmental Issues, including:
Motivate groups of landowners to Create Conservation Easements starting with groupings of small “undevelopable” parcels. Contact: Sean Wharton Organize or serve on Chair-support Subcommittee to help with some of the time-consuming administrative tasks of the Environmental Committee. Contact: Nancy Macy Increase Active Members of Environmental Committee. Contact: Mary Jo Walker Put on a Fundraising and Membership-Expanding Event. Contact: Stephanie Sakasai Organize one neighborhood to do Invasive Non-native Plant Removal. Contact: Linda Moore ROADSIDE CLEAN-UPS Please put the following dates on your calendar to help with the VWC’s Roadside Clean-up efforts: April 29, Aug. 5 & Nov. 4. Our Roadside Clean-up effort was formerly a part of the “Adopt-a-Hwy” program through CalTrans, but they backed out of it just over a year ago. Feeling it was important enough, the VWC decided to continue with the clean-ups, joining forces with a Big Basin neighborhood group that had also been a part of the CalTrans program and that had several VWC members involved. If you would like to help with the Ben Lomond and Felton sections of Hwy 9, please call Alexis Krostue at 335-5248 to get directions to her home for coffee and muffins before going out and getting the litter off the road. If you would like to help the Big Basin Way group in Boulder Creek, please call Joan Barton at 338-0721 for details. The VWC Board voted to pay considerably more for a special rider to our Liability Insurance to cover the volunteers involved in the Roadside Cleanup, as well as those helping with our annual River & Road Clean-up on the second Saturday in October (October 13 for 2007). You can help make this investment worthwhile by helping with the clean-ups this year! And bring a friend. RECYCLING REDUCES GLOBAL WARMING! You knew recycling was a good idea, but it is actually a GREAT idea. In a recent article, Scott Smithline, Policy Analyst, writes in the California Progress Report that, “Garbage is a major contributor to Global Warming. Solid waste landfills are the single largest man-made source of methane gas in the United States. Methane (CH4) is a powerful greenhouse gas that is 23 times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere than the most-prevalent greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide (CO2). Every time you “throw away,” you are contributing to global warming.” It turns out that ton for ton, recycling reduces more pollution, saves more energy and reduces GHG emissions more than any other activity besides source reduction. Californians currently throw away millions of tons of recyclable materials every year. According to the California Integrated Waste Management Board, over 60 percent of the “garbage” in California landfills can be composted or recycled. Increasing recycling should be California’s priority strategy for reducing global warming effects associated with solid waste management. Recycling reduces GHG emissions in two important ways. First, recycling keeps materials out of the landfill. Landfills are designed to be anaerobic, meaning that once waste has been dumped, very little air remains below the surface. Landfill gas is generated as a byproduct of the digestion of organic materials by organisms that thrive in these anaerobic conditions. Food waste, paper, grass, and other organic matter is readily digested and turned into landfill gas- which is 50 percent methane. While most modern landfills are required to capture some of their methane emissions, significant quantities continue to escape into the atmosphere. Recycling also reduces GHG emissions by reducing the need to continually mine and refine virgin resources for product production. Everyday consumer products such as an aluminum soda can are made from resources mined from the earth, transported great distances, and eventually processed with industrial machinery requiring massive energy inputs. This all results in significant GHG emissions. Recycling one ton of aluminum cans results in four tons of GHG reductions. The VWC recycling centers recycled about 30 tons of aluminum in 2006. So we prevented 120 tons of greenhouse gas emissions! Spread the word.
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