Posts by Ecology Center
Coming this November, GMO Labeling Initiative on Your Ballot!
California’s Right to Know Campaign turned in nearly a million signatures earlier this month to secure the GMO Labeling Initiative’s spot on the November ballot. While signature gathering volunteers deserve a moment of victory, it may be only a respite before the big push during election season. This historic effort may face a tough push [...]
Ecology Center Statement on Gill Tract
The Ecology Center supports the vision of the Gill Tract as a UC Berkeley Center for Urban Agriculture Research and Training. This vision of the Gill Tract is aligned with the mission of public land-grant institutions and the Gill Tract’s incredible legacy as the birthplace of vital sustainable agriculture methods. It also honors the significant [...]
BASIL Represented at Justice Begins With Seeds Conference Next Week
The BASIL seed library is hosting a panel and seed swap at this year’s Justice Begins with Seeds conference. The conference is all day next Friday and Saturday, May 18th and 19th in San Francisco. Please register and attend this amazing conference, and bring seeds to swap! Read on for details.
Honoring Our Heroes Who Have Passed Away
We want to take a moment to acknowledge some of our environmental leaders who have been laid to rest recently: Earnest Callenbach and Adam Yauch, aka MCA.
Perennial Vegetable Workshop and Plant Sale, This Saturday, 5/12/12
We’ll be gathering at the EcoHouse this Saturday from 10 am to noon to learn from permaculture expert Christopher Shein. Learn to select and grow low-maintenance edible plants and how to naturalize annual crops such as lettuce, arugula, chard, and collards by seedsaving. Bring questions about garden vegetables and fruits. Space is limited, so registration [...]
Stand Up to Support Berkeley Urban Ag Legislation on May 16th!
Please join us at the Berkeley Planning Commission meeting on May 16 at 7pm to support the passage of Edible Gardens legislation! The City of Berkeley has been considering legislation to facilitate the sale of homegrown edibles in Berkeley’s residential areas. The legislation that has been presented to the Planning Commission comes up for a [...]
This Saturday, Connect the Dots with Climate Solutions, Climate Reality Bike Ride!
Have you been wondering about our wacky wintry spring weather? Remember our June-like January? Our local weather recently has been unpredictable, but we’ve been lucky so far in the Bay Area. With climate change contributing to erratic weather patterns, the best strategy is to be informed and prepared. This Saturday, May 5th, a global event [...]
Free Tickets to The Great Divide, the Shotgun Players Play about Fracking
From May 16th to June 17th, the Shotgun Players will be presenting The Great Divide, a play about fracking directed by Mina Morita and written By Adam Chanzit. Read on to learn about free tickets and discounts for Ecology Center members.
Creating Rain Gardens Ecology Center Store Event, Thursday, 5/3/12
Learn how to collect rain to reuse in your front or backyard. Water conservation experts Cleo Woelfle-Erskine and Apryl Uncapher will talk about their new book, Creating Rain Gardens, covering everything from rain barrels to simple living roofs, permeable patios, and other low-tech affordable ways to save water in the garden. The authors walk homeowners [...]
Plan Toys Sale to Launch New Sunday Hours at the Ecology Center Store, 4/29 – 5/6/12
We are excited to offer a great deal for environmentally savvy kids and friends-of-kids: 25% off our inventory of Plan Toys! These creative, colorful toys are made from rubber trees that have stopped producing latex. We carry them at the Ecology Center because they are some of the safest toys available, with chemical free wood [...]
Gill Tract in Albany Provides Fertile Ground for “Occupy the Farm”
This last weekend, in one of the more lively Earth Day activities, a group of 300 people took over the Gill Tract in Albany, and promptly began preparing the land to farm 10,000 plant starts. With banners reading “Occupy the Farm: Take Back the Tract” and “Whole food not Whole Foods,” the organizers are evolving [...]
Greywater, Rainwater Catchment, Earthworks Tour at the EcoHouse, Sunday, 4/29/12
With the warm weather here and the recent rains still within memory, this tour will provide an overview of water saving landscapes in action! The EcoHouse will host a tour next Sunday, showing how you can turn your house and yard into a water saving site with greywater systems, rainwater catchment, earthworks, and appropriate landscaping [...]
Book Launch Party: The Essential Urban Farmer, Thursday, 4/26/12
We’re looking forward to an upcoming evening with urban farmers Willow Rosenthal and Novella Carpenter, who just hatched a new book, The Essential Urban Farmer. In this indispensable guide, the authors share their experience as successful urban farmers and provide practical blueprints and rich visual material for novice and experienced growers looking to bring the [...]
Study Finds Pesticides Linked to Bee Colony Collapse; Groups Petition EPA to Suspend Use
The research magazine Science recently published studies that linked a commonly used class of pesticides, neonictotinoids, with declining bee populations. Neonictotinoids have been the fastest growing category of pesticides since their introduction in the mid-90′s, and they were developed specifically because they are less toxic than other pesticides. Unfortunately, they work as a neurotoxin on [...]
Wild, Foraged, and Indigenous Foods at the Farmers’ Market this Saturday, 4/14/12
Our modern-day American diet relies on only about 30 plant species, while 200 years ago a Native Californian’s diet would have included about thousand. Many of these plants are still available free for the gathering along with many “weeds” introduced from other continents. This Saturday, come to the Farmers’ Market from 10 am to 3 [...]
Berkeley Edible Gardens Initiative: Report back from April 4th Planning Commission Meeting
Thank you to everyone who came out to the Berkeley Planning Commission’s hearing on the Edible Gardening Initiative. Here is a recap of what happened: Two options were presented to the Planning Commission: option A would allow people to sell and trade their homegrown edibles with no zoning certificate, while option B would require that [...]
Fibershed Author Event with the Institute of Urban Homesteading, this Thursday, 4/12/12
What are the next steps we can take towards localization? Rebecca Burgess, founder of the Fibershed Movement and author of the book Harvesting Color, will answer the question “what if it were possible to wear 100% locally produced clothing?” Rebecca’s journey started with a year-long challenge to wear clothing whose fibers and dye plants had [...]
Talk and Book Signing by Wes Jackson, Tonight!
President and founder of the Land Institute, Wes Jackson has over forty years of experience in the field (literally) of sustainable agriculture. With a background as a geneticist, and concern over increasing soil depletion, Jackson has led research to create grains that both have high-yields and have beneficial traits like retaining water and helping return [...]
Write in or show up to support Edible Gardens in Berkeley, this coming Wed, 4/4/12
The Berkeley Edible Gardens legislation is on the Berkeley Planning Commission’s agenda next week. The proposed legislation will facilitate small scale donation, selling and trading of edibles from Berkeley yards, with many benefits gained from a low-impact change. Berkeley residents who support food localization and small business growth should plan to be there or convey [...]
Ecological Design Tour of EcoHouse, this Sunday 4/1/12
This is a new focus for an EcoHouse tour, so we’re excited to offer it this weekend! Get inspired to manifest your sustainable dream house. Some of the Bay Area’s finest designers and builders collaborated to create this example of a single family residence that boasts locally available, non-toxic materials, living architecture, greywater irrigation, rainwater [...]
