Archive for September, 2010
This Friday, October 1, 2010 Outdoor Film Screening: “Lafanmi Selavi”
Come learn about Haiti and take part in this benefit event series to support reconstruction, sustainable agriculture, and food sovereignty in Haiti. Begin with a tour of the California Hotel Microfarm with People’s Grocery at 6:30pm (light snacks and Numi Tea served) or arrive at 7pm for the film. The California Hotel is a historic [...]
Ecology Center Helps California Farmers’ Markets Accept Food Stamps
The Berkeley Farmers’ Markets were the first markets in the state to accept EBT – the electronic benefits transfer cards that replaced paper food stamps. Using free state-provided wireless card terminal, we swipe the benefit cards and issue tokens for scrip that EBT cardholders can use to buy produce from the farmers. Since that beginning [...]
Ecology Center & Slow Food Collaborate on East Bay Dig In
As the second summer hit the East Bay, dozens of volunteers turned out to help local community-based gardens prepare for the fall in a coordinated day of service. Martin Bourque, Ecology Center Executive Director, and Anna Hillgruber Smith Clark of Slow Food East Bay, thought that Slow Food USA’s National Day of Service, Dig In, [...]
Safely Dispose of Unsafe Medications
This Saturday, there are two ways you can help keep our waters clean. Participate in the annual Shoreline Cleanup, from 9am to noon, and then head over to San Pablo Park to dispose of your prescription medications. Home storage of prescription medications is a serious public safety issue, leading to accidental poisoning, overdose, theft and [...]
Ecology Center Recycling Program – a Model Green Collar Employer
When the Ecology Center emerged as the first provider of curbside recycling services in 1973, all of the positions were volunteer. During the 1980s, we worked to institutionalize recycling to make it ubiquitous and mainstream. Even though the term “green collar job” had not yet been coined, the Ecology Center was well on the way [...]
This Saturday: Green Beer Olympics to Benefit the Ecology Center
Do you like to drink organic beer and get silly with friends on a beautiful fall weekend? There is no better place to be than Berkeley’s Civic Center Park on Saturday, September 25th. Bison Brewing is teaming up with the Berkeley Farmers’ Markets to host the Green Beer Olympics, a benefit for the Ecology Center. [...]
Exploring the Farms of Your Favorite Farmers’ Market Vendors
Each year, Ecology Center staff and members of the Berkeley Farmers’ Market Community Advisory Committee visit the farms of three Berkeley Farmers’ Market growers. This year we headed east, winding around Mt. Diablo to Frog Hollow Farm in Brentwood, skirting the labyrinthine canals of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to Lucero Organic Farm near Lodi, [...]
Dig In East Bay: Slow Food Volunteer Work Day
Join the Ecology Center and Slow Food East Bay in the Garden for a Volunteer Work Day. Slow Food chapters across the nation are joining together for this national day of service. For just a couple of hours, come together with some of your neighbors to build a fence or chicken coop, paint a shed, [...]
Slow Food USA’s Inedible Egg Video and Call to Action
Our friends at Slow Food USA have made a new video called “The Inedible Egg” that exposes some of the factors behind the recent egg recall. Better yet, they have outlined some actions that you can take to support federal legislation that will increase food safety and put pressure on bad actors like habitual food [...]
East Bay Express Covers Solar Cooking at EcoHouse
“At ten in the morning, the usual fog layer covered North Berkeley. Reyel and Michaela Daystar, self-described solar cooking enthusiasts, were leading one of their occasional workshops in fuel-less cooking. The only problem was that the source of their fuel — the sun — was missing. “Instead, Reyel entertained the dozen or so spectators with [...]
Solano Strollers get first peek at new recycling carts!
As the roll-out date of the new recycling carts nears, Ecology Center staff are working to get the public ready. We had a great day at Solano Stroll this past weekend, getting the word out with a live demo of how the cart works. Our hands-on recycling quiz reinforced how to separate cans and bottles [...]
First Haiti Benefit Series Event: Sourdough Workshop
Learn the basics behind keeping a sourdough culture and take home your own! We will have two presenters on sourdough, and will finish by eating some samples and learning to bake peasant bread. Thursday, September 16th at 5300 Genoa St, Oakland. Time: 7-8:30pm. Sliding scale $10-$30, no one turned away for lack of funds. RSVP [...]
Hands on! Sign up for our Washing Machine Greywater Installation Workshop
Join us Sunday, September 19th as we install a legal laundry greywater system at the EcoHouse. This workshop will give you the opportunity to work with tools, understand the parts, and get technical assistance to design and install your own laundry greywater system. Teachers Babak Tondre and Nik Bertulis will begin with a presentation that [...]
New Rolling Recycling Carts are coming in October – Get a Sneak Preview at the Solano Stroll this weekend!
Recycling is old hat for Berkeley residents – we’ve been pioneers in the field for years. But at the Ecology Center we’re always striving for improvements to make recycling easier and more effective. We’ll begin delivery of the new rolling recycling carts to single family homes and small apartment buildings in mid-October. The new rolling [...]
Ecology Center Wins Zero Waste Achievement Award from California Resource Recovery Association
The California Resource Recovery Association chose the Ecology Center’s Berkeley Farmers’ Market as the winner of the 2010 Zero Waste Achievement award. The Ecology Center has long been working toward a Zero Waste future, and in 2009, the Berkeley Farmers’ Market became the first farmers’ market in the nation to eliminate the distribution of plastic [...]
Volunteers Needed for the Annual Shoreline Clean-up
One of the side effects of living in a world full of disposable plastic products is that our beaches are littered with plastic spoons, bags, and wrappers. The currents of the North Pacific Gyre have trapped an island of garbage larger than the size of Texas in the central North Pacific Ocean. But we can [...]
Darn! California Plastic Bag Ban Fails Passage
From our friends at Californians Against Waste: “AB 1998 Plastic Bag Ban failed passage tonight, stalling in the Senate with a 14-21 vote. We gave this bill our all–thanks to all of you who supported our efforts. In the end, incessant plastics industry lobbying made passage of the bill impossible. Los Angeles County, Santa Monica, [...]
