Posts by Frances Kawamoto
Exposing Dow Chemical’s Greenwashing
Recently, the Ecology Center held a Regenerating Solutions Salon on the topic of greenwashing. Here’s an example of a company’s greenwashing attempt, and a great response to counter it! When a PR firm working for Dow Chemical contacted Anna Lappé, author of Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your [...]
Organic farmers can now sue for pesticide drift and GMO contamination
The Minnesota Court of Appeals recently ruled that large organic farms can now sue for lost crops and damages caused by the illegal trespassing of pesticides and herbicides on its property. For certified organic farms, even a small bit of contamination from pesticide drift can result in the loss of a whole season’s crops, and [...]
Berkeley Patch Recognizes Ecology Center
Berkeley Patch recently published a post highlighting all the various services we offer at our Environmental Resource Center. Did you know that in addition to our curbside recycling program, farmers’ markets, and retail store, we offer free services, many of which are accessible online? And for members, we have a variety of books and DVDs [...]
New Seed Library in East Palo Alto
The Ecology Center houses the Bay Area Seed Interchange Library (BASIL), a sponsored project that allows members of the public to come in and sign up to trade seeds. Inspired by BASIL, Richmond resident Rebecca Newburn started a seed lending library at the Richmond Public Library last May. (Rebecca’s leading a seed saving class at [...]
Help support the bill to cut styrofoam waste
Last week the California state Senate passed a bipartisan bill to cut Styrofoam waste — potentially saving the lives of thousands of marine birds and mammals. Now the pressure’s on to get the bill through the Assembly, where the fight will be even tougher. Tell your Assembly member to vote in support of bill SB [...]
Is Climate Change Aggravating Your Allergies?
According to researchers, rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are causing an increase in the release of ragweed pollen and mold allergies. This LA Times article references the new national study, which also identifies cities where allergies to mold and ragweed are most common, including San Francisco: “The sneezing, eye-watering, itchy-throated misery that comes with allergies [...]
New phone application maps public drinking water fountains
The Ecology Center has long been committed to educating the public about the hazards of drinking from plastic water bottles. Not only do one-time use plastic bottles create waste, they can also leach chemicals into the drinking water. East Bay residents transitioning away from bottled water might find the Ecology Center’s fact sheet on water quality [...]
Warning: Artificial Food Dyes May Be Linked to Hyperactivity
A new study by the US government suggests that artificial food dyes, while not a cause of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, may worsen the condition in some children. While the food industry insists that “the safety of artificial colors has been affirmed through extensive review,” an FDA panel will vote next week on whether foods [...]
EPA Announces New Mercury and Air Toxics Standards
Today, the Environmental Protection Agency announced a series of mercury and air toxics standards for power plants that burn coal and oil. It is anticipated that as power plants abide by these proposed standards, as many as 17,000 American lives can be saved every year by 2015, mercury emissions would be reduced by 91%, direct [...]
Berkeley’s Transition Town
In February of this year, the Ecology Center hosted a Transition Town meeting with about 100 community members and representatives from the City of Berkeley’s Office of Energy and Sustainable Development, “as part of an international movement aimed at promoting community-based sustainability, specifically in regard to energy consumption, oil reliance and food production.” “Each Transition [...]
Apply to become a FoodCorps Service Member!
FoodCorps, a new national service program designed to reverse childhood obesity while cultivating a new generation of farmers and public health leaders, is now accepting applications from potential Service Members. FoodCorps Service Members will spend a year of paid public service building and tending school gardens, developing Farm to School programs and conducting hands-on nutrition [...]
“Urban Homesteading” gets trademarked
The term “urban homesteading,” which pertains to the practice of organic gardening, food foraging, and hand-crafting (among other cost-effective and energy-saving efforts) in urban areas, is no longer in the public domain. Since the term was trademarked by the Dervaes family in Pasadena a few years ago, groups that are engaged in grassroots efforts under [...]
Students Launch Nationwide Campus Food Co-op Project
Two years ago, the Ecology Center highlighted the fledgling efforts of this group at the Sustainability Summit. In two years, it has taken off to be something much, much bigger. Read on to see how students nationwide are joining the movement to change campus food.
EcoFarm Attendees’ Response to USDA Decision to Allow GMO Alfalfa
Every year, the Ecology Center’s Berkeley Farmers’ Market staff attends the EcoFarm Conference, the largest organic farming conference on the West Coast. The following press release was drafted during this year’s conference, when news of the USDA’s approval of GMO alfalfa was announced.
Jerry Brown appoints John Laird to top Natural Resource Post
Gov.-elect Jerry Brown is expected to appoint former Santa Cruz legislator John Laird head of the state Natural Resources Agency, sources said Saturday–a role that will give the environmental advocate a powerful voice in oversight of logging, fishing, farming, parks and water policies. The appointment, likely to be announced after Brown’s swearing-in this week, suggests [...]
If the Earth is Warming, What’s with All the Snow?
With snow covering much of the east coast (17 inches predicted tomorrow in some parts) and temperatures below freezing, there’s a lot of predictable buzz about whether the blustery weather disproves global warming. The New York Times speaks to that confusion: “The not-so-obvious short answer is that the overall warming of the atmosphere is actually creating [...]
Simple Rebuttals to Denier Talking Points
Our Climate Action Coordinator, Debra Berliner, turned us on to this terrific article from Climate Progress. It presents 136 different kinds of statements made by climate change skeptics, along with corresponding one-line responses, as well as more in-depth information on each response. “Most of the time your best response is to give the pithiest response [...]
Goodbye, incandescents!
The state of California has begun a phase-out of incandescent light bulbs that will result in an eventual ban by 2012. Incandescent bulbs will be replaced by compact fluorescent bulbs and halogens. Read more here. And don’t forget to bring your expired CFLs to your nearest hazardous material drop-off site! StopWaste provides a thorough list [...]
Ecology Center urges passage of Food Safety Bill
Please read this update on the SB 510, the Food Safety Bill that was recently passed in the US Senate. The Ecology Center’s views are in alignment with that of Community Alliance with Family Farmers: “SB 510, the FDA Food Safety bill, passed the US Senate yesterday by a vote of 73-25. It contains virtually [...]
Plastic Bag Mockumentary + LA Passes Plastic Bag Ban
Los Angeles County has successfully adopted a plastic bag ban with a 10-cent paper bag fee, an ordinance that will apply to all unincorporated sections in the county. There is still a possibility that LA County may be challenged or sued by the American Chemistry Council, one of the main opponents of the plastic bag [...]
