Fall 2006 Newsletter

Dear Ecology Center members and friends,

We're happy to bring you another Ecology Center newsletter, providing you with ideas for sustainable living and an update on our work. 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 Eco-Calendar, the Eco-Directory, and this Newsletter accessible and free to all. Please support us and the services we provide by becoming a member. Visit our website at http://ecologycenter.org/donate/

In this issue:

1. First Annual Berkeley Sustainability Summit, Hosted by the Ecology Center
2. Resources for Teachers: Terrain for Schools and more
3. Berkeley Farmers' Markets: GMO-Free Zones
4. Fall Gardening Ideas
5. Organic Cotton Baby Clothes and Toys, New in the EC Store
6. Sign Up Now for the East Bay Environmental Training
7. Ecology Center Introduces Bioneers to Zero Waste

1. First Annual Berkeley Sustainability Summit, Hosted by the Ecology Center

On Friday, October 6th, the Ecology Center will be hosting the First Annual Berkeley Sustainability Summit. It is a one-day event designed to highlight the broad spectrum of local sustainability efforts led by business, government, university, and community groups. A whirlwind of speakers from different sectors will talk about their initiatives and challenges, and the practical, on-the-ground activities they are undertaking within the city limits.

It will be a chance for professionals, activists, and interested parties to gain familiarity with the whole range of local sustainability endeavors, publicize their work to a broad cross-section of Berkeley leaders working on companion issues, and develop strategic relationships with other groups and individuals. And eat a great lunch, of course!

Why a summit?

In the last decade, the environmental movement has become quite specialized. As information on sustainability topics has proliferated, groups have chosen to devote themselves to deep knowledge and activism on very particular issues. The downside to this otherwise positive groundswell of action and advocacy has been the dwindling of links between fundamentally connected subjects.

Another development has been the diversification of the types of groups working on sustainability issues. It's no longer just activists working on environmental campaigns. Government agencies, university offices, school districts, nonprofits, and local businesses have all joined the shared commitment to a sustainable future. These increasingly active players are making strides on various fronts. However, the results are often frenetic and uncoordinated, with separate and limited circles of people, agencies, and institutions not talking with each other.

We at the Ecology Center encounter many efforts moving us in the right direction. Yet we also see people working on similar issues who do not know about each other, and those who do not fully know what is going on in their own field of interest, much less in related fields. With so many groups working different angles, we believe that there needs to be an opportunity and forum to share information, communicate challenges and successes, and coordinate efforts.

This fall's Berkeley Sustainability Summit will be the first of its kind: an event that both illuminates and facilitates the coordination of sustainability efforts within a single municipality. We hope you can join us!

For tickets and more information, visit the Summit's web page.

2. Resources for Teachers: Terrain for Schools and more

School is starting, and teaching about the environment has never been more important. Are you a teacher on the lookout for good environmental lesson plans? Or do you know a teacher who could use a little help? Our Terrain for Schools guides are a treasure trove of ideas. Our online archive contains science, social studies, and language arts lesson plans that fulfill California state content standards.

The Ecology Center library also contains books on environmental education and curriculum. Of note:

• French Fries and the Food System: A Year-Round Curriculum Connecting Youth with Farming and Food
• The No Waste Anthology: A Teacher's Guide to Environmental Activities, K-12
• Teaching About the San Francisco Bay and Delta: An Activities and Resource Guide
• Getting Started: A Guide for Creating School Gardens as Outdoor Classrooms
• More for K-12 on composting, recycling, energy, gardening, ecology, climate change, watersheds and more.

3. Berkeley Farmers' Markets: GMO-Free Zones

“Environmental groups yesterday urged the European commission to follow Japan and restrict imports of American rice after the US government admitted that an illegal and untested genetically modified strain had contaminated the food chain.” - The Guardian, John Vidal, 22 Aug 2006

While the U.S. government appears not to be able to keep GMO contamination out of the world's food supply, Berkeley's three farmers' markets have been declared GMO-free zones, and our market managers go to extra lengths to keep GMOs out of the markets. Read about the work of Farmers' Market Manager Rosalie Fanshel as she tracks crops and ingredients back to their source and helps vendors find organic, GMO-free sources.

Get Involved

Local citizens and governments like Mendocino county have passed ordinances that ban GE crops from being planted in the area. Now state and federal governments are attempting to override local laws. Read more about the issues and sign a petition from the Organic Consumers Association to protect people's democratic right to create GMO-free zones.

4. Fall Gardening Ideas

Whether you've got a few pots by the front door or an extensive backyard garden, one of the fun things about being a green thumb in the Bay Area is our year-round growing season. Here are some things to think about as we move into fall:

• It's a great time to plant greens - lettuces, kales, chards, and spinach are all great fall and winter crops.
• In late October and November, you can plant peas again.
• Other fall and winter crops include brussel sprouts, broccoli, leeks, onions, and radishes. It's also time to think about cover crops to enrich your soil: fava beans, winter rye and hairy vetch are all candidates for fall or winter cover crops.

If you're interested in gardening with native plants, fall is a good time to introduce new plants to your garden. The fall and winter rains will help them get established before next summer's dry season. It's also the time to think about planting many landscape plants. Trees, shrubs and ground covers should all be planted now for the same reason - our winter rains will help them establish root systems that will sustain them through the dry summer.

The Ecology Center store carries a great selection of gardening books and products. If you want more information on gardening in our neighborhoods this fall and winter, check out Pam Pierce's Golden Gate Gardening, Katherine Grace Endicott's Northern California Gardening: a Month-by-Month Guide, and Plants and Landscapes for Summer-Dry Climates of the San Francisco Bay Region produced by the East Bay Municipal Utility District. If you don't have dirt in the ground to play in, you should also check out McGee & Stuckey's The Bountiful Container, a comprehensive guide to all sorts of gardening in containers.

Out of season seeds are on sale! Come into to the store to get seeds for next season for 50% off.

5. Organic Cotton Baby Clothes and Toys, New in the EC Store

Conventional cotton farming uses more insecticides than any other crop, and, according to the Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA), “epitomizes the worst effects of chemically dependent agriculture” (Organic Cotton Briefing Kit, PANNA, http://www.panna.org). Both the volume and the toxicity of pesticides used on cotton are particularly bad - many of the chemicals used on cotton were developed during WWII as chemical weapons. While much of the world's cotton is grown in the global south, pesticide intensive cotton growing is certainly not a removed problem. Also according to PANNA, in comparing pesticide linked illnesses of farm workers in California, conventional cotton is the third worst offender. In addition to purely chemical problems, Monsanto introduced Bt cotton, a genetically engineered plant, in 1996. All of the strains of genetically modified cotton have had serious problems wherever they've been grown, many actually showing signs of significantly lower resistance to pests and disease than non-GM cotton varieties (Adrian Myers, Organic Futures: The Case for Organic Farming). Switching from conventional to organic cotton products is one very important move for those of us looking to live more sustainable lives.

You probably know that the Ecology Center store stocks a great selection of organic cotton t-shirts, but unless you've been in the store in the last few days, you don't know about our great new selection of organic cotton baby stuff! We've been looking for organic cotton baby items for years. At the last big trade show, we visited every single baby vendor, and there was nothing organic. This month, the market is definitely booming. We have clothing coming in from seven different vendors - t-shirts, onesies, footies, many with matching hats, bibs and blankies. The sizes range from newborn to 4T, and we can order some styles in 6T. Just as exciting is a fantastic line of organic cotton stuffed animals. They're very cute!

6. Sign Up Now for the East Bay Environmental Training

Our Environmental Resource Center crew has been working hard to bring you an in-depth course about our East Bay environment and to help you get acquainted with the people and organizations active in local environmentalism. Make time this fall to participate and learn from a great assembly of people.

The East Bay Environmental Training program is a six-week immersion course designed to provide participants with a sustainability and justice framework for understanding local and global environmental issues. The course will introduce participants to the urban environment of the East Bay, as well as to local organizations and people active in social change work. Sessions will include presentations by speakers from a wide-range of organizations and projects, as well as field trips, discussions, course readings, student projects, and an evening film series.

The course begins with an introduction to ecology, environmental justice, sustainability, and environmental health. Subsequent session topics will include:

• Food and Agriculture;
• Water;
• Air and Toxics;
• Waste and Consumerism;
• Energy, Transportation, and Global Warming;
• Housing, Land Use, and Sprawl.

We'll look at both the problems we face and the solutions people are working on. Our hope is that participants leave having become activated, inspired, and better equipped to engage as advocates for protecting and restoring the environment and its people.

Call or email to reserve a spot - enrollment is limited.

Saturdays, October 7, 2006 - November 11, 2006
Time: 10am - 4pm
Location: Various locations throughout the East Bay.
Cost: $75 - $150, sliding scale. (One year Ecology Center membership included.)
Info: 510-548-2220 x233, erc@ecologycenter.org.

7. Ecology Center Introduces Bioneers to Zero Waste

The Ecology Center will be partnering with Bioneers and the Marin Conservation Corps to introduce and demonstrate the concept of Zero Waste at the 17th Annual Bioneers Conference.

Bioneers is a large and vibrant conference that attracts visionary innovators from around the country and world to share “practical solutions for restoring the earth - and people.” In years past, Bioneers has implemented recycling and composting programs that have become model practices for other large event organizers.

This year, the Ecology Center is taking a lead role in moving Bioneers beyond “greening” and toward Zero Waste, a concept that puts the Bioneers community on a path to emulate natural cyclical processes, where no waste exists. Zero Waste involves both aggressive resource recovery and industrial redesign to eliminate the very concept of waste.

During Bioneers, the courtyard at the Marin Center will be a Zero Waste Zone. Recovery stations staffed by Marin Conservation Corps members will include receptacles for recyclables and compostables. To avoid the generation of landfill-bound garbage, vendors will use compostable utensils made from corn and eschew plastic packaging, including bottled water.

Conference attendees can stop by the Ecology Center's recycling truck, which will be parked in the courtyard, and receive more information about Zero Waste. Ecology Center staffers will be on hand to answer questions on a variety of waste issues.

On Saturday afternoon, Ecology Center Executive Director Martin Bourque and Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) Co-Coordinator Annie Leonard will be hosting a session entitled “Zero Waste: A New Vision.” The interactive presentation will introduce attendees to the emerging movement of Zero Waste and community-based solutions to waste that protect the environment and public health and create “green-collar” jobs.

Bioneers takes place October 20-22 in San Rafael. Join us in the Zero Waste Zone! (And bring your own cup!)

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/20060901.html.

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 making a donation. Support our work on-line at http://www.ecologycenter.org/donate/