Sustainable Fairfax

Bringing people together to support a vital environment and thriving community

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When: Friday, March 20, 2015
Doors Open: 7:00pm Film: 7:30 pm
Where: Fairfax Women’s Club, 46 Park Rd, Fairfax
Cost: $5-10 Suggested Donation – no one turned away
Speaker: Mai-Lan Ha, a Senior Research Associate for the Pacific Institute’s Corporate Sustainability program focusing on its international standards and corporate water stewardship programs. Ms. Ha will provide comments and take questions after the film.
BLUE GOLD sheds light on the world’s rapidly approaching water crisis and suggests that wars of the future will be fought over water, as they today over oil, as the source of all life enters the global marketplace and political arena.

“Ultimately the world’s water supply is at risk of disappearing, and rich or poor, no one can’t escape it. Get informed and inspired – watch this film.” (Treehugger)

“A must see film for every person on the planet” (GreenMuze.com)

Sponsored by Sustainable Fairfax in collaboration with New Belgium Brewing Company, Fairfax Volunteers and Fairfax Parks and Recreation Commission

https://sustainablefairfax.org/event/859/

by Leave a Comment

When: Friday, March 20, 2015
Doors Open: 7:00pm Film: 7:30 pm
Where: Fairfax Women’s Club, 46 Park Rd, Fairfax
Cost: $5-10 Suggested Donation – no one turned away
Speaker: Mai-Lan Ha, a Senior Research Associate for the Pacific Institute’s Corporate Sustainability program focusing on its international standards and corporate water stewardship programs. Ms. Ha will provide comments and take questions after the film.
BLUE GOLD sheds light on the world’s rapidly approaching water crisis and suggests that wars of the future will be fought over water, as they today over oil, as the source of all life enters the global marketplace and political arena.

“Ultimately the world’s water supply is at risk of disappearing, and rich or poor, no one can’t escape it. Get informed and inspired – watch this film.” (Treehugger)

“A must see film for every person on the planet” (GreenMuze.com)

Sponsored by Sustainable Fairfax in collaboration with New Belgium Brewing Company, Fairfax Volunteers and Fairfax Parks and Recreation Commission

https://sustainablefairfax.org/event/859-2/

Sustainable Fairfax Youth Blog: SO, What is a Biodigester?

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As a senior in Drake High School’s environmental studies academy SEA-DISC, one of my many activities is an internship with the local non-profit organization Sustainable Fairfax. Recently I have been working with Sustainable Fairfax on their water program, conducting interviews with various experts on water use, waste water, and watersheds in Marin County and getting a great perspective on these issues. Along the way I also discovered a few other exciting projects that are leading the way to sustainability in Marin.

At the very end of the industrial yet tranquil Anderson Drive in San Rafael, California, something revolutionary is going on. Central Marin Sanitation Agency (CMSA), a regional public organization that manages waste water from San Rafael, Larkspur, San Anselmo, and surrounding areas, has undertaken a project that harmoniously combines waste management and energy production. Better yet – it’s a huge step towards sustainability for the county.

According to the Marin Sanitary Service, about 30% of material in the landfill is food waste. However, about seven years ago and working in tandem with Marin Sanitary Service, CMSA developed a plan that would significantly cut that number, as well as provide renewable energy for the county and reduce landfill emissions of methane, an even more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

The process of transforming vegetable peels and fruit rinds into clean energy is actually quite simple. Participating restaurants and markets separate their food waste, which is collected by Marin Sanitary Service and ground into small pieces. Mixed with collected fats, oils, and grease, the material is trucked down the road to the CMSA site and stored in large, sealed tanks called biodigesters. The hot, humid microclimate inside the digesters is perfect for fostering microbes, which eat up the mixture of food and oil wastes and release a low quality form of methane called biogas. After being purified, the biogas can be used to generate electricity. All that is left of the solid waste is a rich fertilizer, which can be used to augment soil for growing food.

The process is one big loop; grocery stores throw out their old produce, food waste is turned into energy and fertilizer, farms use fertilizer to grow food, and the cycle continues with no landfill involved. The initiative will be a vital part of achieving Marin County’s goal of reaching zero waste by 2020.

When I spoke with Jason Dow, General Manager of CMSA, about the future of biogas in Marin County, he was animated. “Currently we run about 18 hours a day on energy produced on-site. […] Within about three years we are looking to be completely energy independent, as well as exporting energy to the county.” Dow said.

By Paige Yeakle, Sustainable Fairfax Intern & member of SEA-DISC- Drake High School’s environmental academy

Garden Tips for January

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It’s bare-root season! Plant-bare root fruit trees, roses, berry vines, etc. Some nurseries will prune the tree for you before you take it home.

Start vegetables indoors: Broccoli, cabbage (early varieties), cauliflower, celery, kale, Romaine lettuce, peas, artichoke, chard, leeks, rhubarb, spinach.

Garden upkeep: Prune fruit trees and roses, Cover frost-tender plants (Leave plants already damaged by frost alone. Prune blackened branches and leaves in April, when the true damage will be more apparent).

Take your living Christmas tree back outside If you plan on planting it in the ground, remember that most of them get very large. If your tree is going in the compost, Marin Sanitary Service is picking trees up at the curb through the month of January.

It is a great time to sheet mulch weedy areas or lawn that you want to convert to drought tolerant plantings. Find out more about sheet mulching here.