Sustainable Fairfax

Bringing people together to support a vital environment and thriving community

Green Tips

Garden Tips for January

by

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.

Green Tips for the New Year

by

The year is young and there is still time to make commitments to create new habits. Find inspiration in Gary Snyder’s poem, For the Children, and learn how to precycle.

Go Light

It is mid-winter of this New Year, 2013, and glimmers of returning light make each day a little longer. As winter’s dark stillness receded, I pondered habits and motivation. Sometimes I am motivated by statistics and yet often I despair and go numb when I hear them. I am just one person, what can I do? Why bother? Is there a deeper motivation to keep me going?

Then my mum sent me an article on resilience from the December 2012 Commonweal newsletter with this poem by Gary Snyder (Turtle Island, New Directions, 1974, used here with the author’s permission). It spoke to my musings.

For the Children

The rising hills, the slopes,
of statistics
lie before us.
the steep climb
of everything, going up,
up, as we all
go down.

In the next century
or the one beyond that,
they say,
are valleys, pastures,
we can meet there in peace
if we make it.

To climb these coming crests
one word to you, to
you and your children:

stay together
learn the flowers
go light

Stay Together

For a long time I wanted to write a blog with tips for creating less waste and living sustainably. I was excited to hear about Sustainable Fairfax’s Zero Waste Project and volunteered to be on the committee. They encouraged me to start this blog on Patch. My fellow committee member, Jahya Burke, is also blogging on the Patch. Her first blog tells about her own supportive community. Read her blog here. Who is your community? Who supports you?

Learn the Flowers

When I get overwhelmed by all the bad news about our environment, I try to remember the words of Indigenous Grandmother, Maria Alice Campos Freire. We are all flowers. It reminds me that I am unique, with gifts and work to offer, and am part of a larger community with their own passions and tasks. What are yours?

Precycling and a Simple Practice: Precycling is a way of reducing waste by avoiding buying items that generate waste. It requires remembering to take a few moments before you purchase something to ask yourself the following questions:

  • Do I need it?
  • Is it over-packaged?
  • Is it in the single-use packaging?
  • Can the packaging and item be recycled?
  • What am I going to do with it when I am done using it?
  • Is the company committed to sustainability and social responsibility?

Changing our habits takes time. It takes desire, attention, and commitment. In her book, Mindfully Green, Environmental Studies Professor Stephanie Kaza combines her years of teaching with her practice as a Zen Buddhist. Starting with the concept of reducing harm she offers the following questions. They take the precycle questions to a deeper level:

  • What do I actually need?
  • What is my fair share?
  • How do my choices impact the food available to others?
  • What is the cost of my waste?
  • Who on the planet is affected by my…production of waste?

The Practice: go light

Here are some suggestions:

  • Use a little bit less dish soap, shampoo, or laundry detergent. If we all do this it will add up.
  • Wear an item of clothing one more time before washing.
  • Carry a beautiful cup with you for your coffee instead of using a paper one.
  • Re-use disposable bags. Start collecting a set of re-usable ones and keep them in your purse, backpack, or car
  • Share tools with friends and neighbors. Or join a club like the Marin Beekeepers that keeps bee equipment for members may borrow. (And take Sustainable Fairfax’s Backyard Beekeepingclass on March 2)
  • Don’t drive one day a week. Instead have an at home day to enjoy your family, take a walk, ride your bike, meet your neighbors, and learn the local flowers.

Studies show that commitments work when we make small concrete steps, name them out loud, and enlist friends to be accountable to. And when we falter, which most of us do, instead of giving up we can use it as an incentive to make our commitments stronger.

What change will you commit to? For how long? Who will you be accountable to? Please share your suggestions and comments for going light.

Creating New Holiday Traditions with Zero Waste In Mind

by

Green tips for creating new family traditions while reducing landfill waste.

The holidays are upon us and it is a good time to start new family traditions. Our waste is said to increase by 25% between Thanksgiving and New Years Day. What can we do differently?

When I was teenager, during the early years of the recycling movement, my family received a set of plates and silverware from a relative. This gift included napkin rings. My mum decided to use cloth napkins instead of paper ones. Our first set of cloth napkins were red bandanas. We each had our own unique ring to hold our napkin until it was ready for the wash.

A cloth napkin may be re-used for several days, depending on you, of course, and what you had for dinner. You can create your own napkin rings from any number of things. Most of my extended family still uses cloth napkins. I wonder how many trees we’ve saved? In addition to trees we saved landfill space. According to the EPA almost thirty percent of landfill waste comes from paper products. What about the energy, and chemicals from the production of paper napkins? Water too, despite the theories that washing uses more water, as napkins take up little room and are simply added to the laundry we already do.

More Tips For Reducing Paper Use:

  • Use cloth towels instead of paper ones. Linen towels are well known for drying glassware to a sparkling shine. A friend has a cloth towel hanging by the sink for hand drying and one by the stove for dishes. I still use paper towels, however a roll may last me a year. How long can you make one last? Please remember to put your food soiled paper towels in your green waste bin. Food scraps go in the green bin too!
  • Old t-shirts, bed sheets, and towels make great rags. Tear them to your preferred size and stash them under your kitchen and bathroom sinks and in the garage. They are absorbent and re-usable plus they won’t end up in the landfill. Turn less the worn sections of flannel sheets into dish towels.
  • Buy responsibly manufactured toilet paper (and other paper products). When I was little, my mother told us that we only needed 4 sheets of TP. Now this seems a bit Spartan, yet it still provides me with a baseline for using less.
  • Then there are plates and silverware. Use real ones and practice good dishwashing techniques. Some of the sweetest moments after a holiday meal are being part of the clean-up crew. Use this as another opportunity to connect with your relatives and help out. Or be a kitchen angel and sneak away for a break from the festivities.

In writing this I discovered my own weak spot, Kleenex tissues! Now my challenge is to buy or make cloth handkerchiefs. In the meantime I will buy responsibly manufactured tissues. Alas, this will be a small hardship?the greener products are not as soft as Kleenex.

Good luck with forming new traditions and keep us posted on your progress and creative solutions. Let’s re-think gift wrapping too! What do you do?

I look forward to this journey together on the Road to Zero Waste!

 

Fairfax Commits to Zero Waste

by

We have all heard about the impact our waste has on the earth, on animals, and on people: the island of plastic and other debris trapped by the gyre in the North Pacific Ocean; birds dying, malnourished, their stomachs full of plastic bits; whole communities, often of lower income, falling ill because of improperly disposed industrial waste; how landfill gas contributes significantly to climate change, and so on. It is daunting! What can one person do? Thankfully, Zero Waste is a concept and goal that is gaining traction around the world. It is not just about recycling, but is about changing systems at the government, corporate, and household levels.

The Town of Fairfax has embraced the Zero Waste movement by passing a resolution to achieve ninety-four percent diversion from landfill by 2020. This means that only six percent of all our waste will end up in the landfill; the remaining ninety-four percent will be reduced and reclaimed! Earlier this year the Town of Fairfax and Marin Sanitary Service (MSS) contracted with Sustainable Fairfax to help achieve this zero waste goal. Fairfax is joining communities around the world in creating less waste and we are excited to get going.

Dealing with waste is a complicated matter. How do we dispose of the debris from our lives be it plastic, rotten food, last season’s clothing, a broken toy, dead cell phone, expired medicines, or anything else? Especially when you wonder where does this—paper bag, juice box, old cauliflower, battery—go? Do I put it in the garbage, green waste can, compost bin, or is it hazardous waste?Marin Sanitary Service (MSS) and Sustainable Fairfax can help you answer many of these questions.

Through this monthly blog we invite you to join us on the road to Zero Waste. Our aim is to make it as simple as possible by offering ways to cut down on waste and maybe even save you some money! We will be starting at home first. Further along the way we will address other routes to attain Zero Waste such as advocating for governmental policies that curb waste and helping producers understand their responsibility for packaging through Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). After all we, the consumers, pay for discarding this packaging, not to mention the cost to the environment. We look forward to many fruitful conversations as we change our habits and discover a more sustainable and expansive awareness of waste.

Look for our Green Tips Blog the first week of every month and see you on the Road to Zero Waste!

Just Say No to Paper and Plastic

by

It’s time to stock up on reusable bags for your backpacks, purses and car trunks.  The movement to eliminate single-use bags from stores is gaining momentum.

The Marin County bag ordinance in effect as of Jan. 1 comes on the heels of Fairfax’s plastic bag ban approved by nearly 80% of Fairfax voters in 2009. The Fairfax measure, spearheaded by Sustainable Fairfax’s Renee Goddard, was a great success for the town. Plastic bags are are not only disastrous for the environment, but jam up the recycling stream and are rarely recycled.

Goddard emphasized that the Fairfax bag ban was pursued in the spirit of collaboration with Fairfax businesses. “Most of our retailers were already moving away from the use of single-use plastics. I believe they experienced this legislation as a positive, unifying opportunity to celebrate our common desire to do what is right for the environment,” she said.

The Marin County ordinance, impacting unincorporated areas of Marin, takes a big step forward by eliminating single-use plastic bags and mandating a minimum five-cent charge for paper bags, making reuseable bags even more attractive.

Although the new law does not apply to incorporated cities and towns like Fairfax, Good Earth Natural Foods has stepped up to the plate by voluntarily participating, and is graciously donating the five-cent fee to Sustainable Fairfax. Although it is far more eco-friendly to bring reusable bags to the store than purchase paper ones (see our Sustainable New Year’s Resolutions), Sustainable Fairfax will put these funds to good use by helping the town achieve its zero-waste goals. Fairfax’s zero-waste ordinance aims for 95 percent diversion by 2020, which is five years ahead of the County.

Hopefully, other cities and businesses in incorporated Marin will recognize the importance of the plastic bag ban and paper bag charge and follow Good Earth’s lead. Paper bags are extremely damaging to the environment, destroying trees and ecosystems, wasting massive amounts of water and energy, and requiring harmful chemicals to produce and recycle them.

The good news is that bag bans are spreading in California and beyond. They have been implemented in ten states within the United States, as well as many developed and developing countries.

California Assemblywoman Julia Brownley intends on continuing her fight to implement a plastic bag ban statewide in 2012. The Assemblywoman’s previous plastic bag ban bill AB 1998 was rejected by the California Senate in 2008, but, given the expansion of plastic bag ordinances across the state including unincorporated Los Angeles and the City of San Jose, the political landscape is now quite different.

The benefits of such legislation are clear. China implemented a plastic bag ban in 2008 and reportedly saved 60,000 tons of plastics, equal to five million tons of coals, and reduced carbon dioxide emissions by over 10 million tons.

With efforts from governments, businesses and citizens, together we can curb the wasteful and needless practice of single-use bags.

Sustainable New Year’s Resolutions

by

Bringing sustainability into your day-to-day routine can seem challenging. To help you out, we’ve pulled together 12 resolutions to make it easy for you get on the path to a healthier, more sustainable 2012. Through the year, we’ll be exploring each topic to give you more information about bringing these practices into your daily routine!

1. Bring your own bag! Make your reusable bags as important as your grocery list and keep them in your backpack, purse, car, and bike so that you always have them handy. And, remember, cut down on plastic use by bringing your own produce bags for smaller items.

2. Just say no to GMOs! Research ties the introduction of GMOs into our food supply with the increase in allergies and food-related illness, and now organ failure, not to mention increased pesticide/insecticide use and crop failure. Avoid foods containing canola, soy, corn, cottonseed, sugar beets (and their derivatives) unless organic or GMO-free.

Download the Non-GMO shopping guide for assistance and get involved with local GMO-labeling advocacy!

3. Green your cleaning products! Look for green products certified by EcoLogo or Green Seal, which meet green standards. Better yet, make your own. Our own Stacy Wineberg Dieve is teaching a class on making non-toxic cleaning product. Sign up now!

4. Support your local economy! It may seem unimportant, but supporting local businesses is crucial to promoting a vital, flourishing local economy and for improving town infrastructure. Turn to local stores for your necessities and gifts, and re-invest your tax dollars in your town. Shopping with Fairbucks makes it fun and easy, and many Fairfax businesses offer specials for customers paying with Fairbucks.

5. Kick the can! Bisphenol A (BPA) is an endocrine disruptor, a class of synthetic chemicals that mimic or disturb hormones, including testosterone and thyroid hormones. BPA is linked to cancer, early puberty, reproductive problems and a number of other serious diseases and health problems. Over 90 percent of the canned food on the store shelves in the US contain BPA in the can linings. The BPA in cans leaches onto the food contained inside. Therefore, when we use canned food, there is a strong chance we are serving BPA with our meal too. Even products labeled “healthy” or “organic” are just as likely to be contaminated with BPA as their conventional counterparts.

6. Make it an organic apple a day! Apples topped the list of the Environmental Working Group’s “Dirty Dozen” list, with 98 percent of conventional apples tested containing pesticides. Their Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce will help you determine which fruits and vegetables have the most pesticide residues and are the most important to buy organic. It also features the “Clean 15,” which are the fruits and vegetables wth the lowest pesticide residues.

7. Kick the carcinogens out of your personal care products! Only 20 percent of the chemicals used in cosmetics are tested for health and safety. Check out the Teens Turning Green Dirty Thirty List and the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Cosmetics Database to help you read labels and find safe products.

8. Volunteer! Sustainable Fairfax, the Fairfax Volunteers, and the Fairfax Park and Recreation Department have programs throughout the year to improve Fairfax common areas, help community members, and build community through fun events.

Sign up for the Fairfax Volunteers newsletter and for the Sustainable Fairfax newsletter to find out about these great opportunities, including working at the Food Pantry, trail-marking, creek clean-up, Peri Park clean-up, the Fairfax Festival, Summer Picnic, and more!

9. Go native! Native plants require less care and water, and provide natural food and habitats for bees, birds, and other beneficial life. The California Native Plant society has great resources for the home gardener.

10. Support our cyclists! Fairfax is a great place for cycling, and the number of kids who bike to school is on the rise. In 2012, Fairfax will be implementing a bike spine to help kids bike to Manor safely. Young cyclists appreciate your extra patience and space as they learn to navigate our streets! To make it safe for cyclists of all ages on our narrow, crowded streets, please slow down and share the road.

11. Spare the Air! The Winter Spare the Air program notifies residents when particulate matter levels are anticipated to be unhealthy. On these high pollution days, the Air District will issue a Winter Spare the Air Alert, which prohibits wood burning throughout the Bay Area.

Ozone pollution, or smog, can become a health problem in the Bay Area. The Spare the Air program notifies residents when air quality is forecast to be unhealthy, and urges residents to drive less and reduce activities that contribute to smog. Sign up for EnviroFlash AirAlerts to receive e-mail notification when Spare the Air Alerts are issued.

12. Join Sustainable Fairfax! Your membership supports our programs and projects, like leading the plastic bag ban and working with the North Bay Conservation Corps and Marin Sanitary Service to bring the community progressively toward Zero Waste. We also provide educational programs throughout the year, and host events like EcoFest and the Holiday Craft Fair. Click here for more information!