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May 28 Hearing on Novato Solar Project

on March 3, 2013
las-gallinas pv project

This 850 KW solar project at Las Gallinas sewage ponds has been
quietly generating clean power for several years.

Greenpoint Nursery in Novato has proposed building a 660 Kilowatt solar PV project on the unused ground at the periphery of the nursery. (That would be a little smaller than the solar project at Las Gallinas Sewage ponds in the picture above.) This would be the second project in in the county to be built in response to the very favorable Feed-in Tariff offered by Marin Clean Energy.

MCE is offering a 20-year contract at above market rates to local projects of this size  (a few acres of panels – - much bigger than a home system but much smaller than “utility size” industrial systems.) That’s because construction of lots of “distributed” systems this size – - hundreds, maybe thousands of them; all over the state; all close to the end users – - is a critical part of the switch from fossil fuels to renewables.

The County Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on this project on Tuesday May 28. Sustainable Novato has taken a position strongly Continue Reading →

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SN Produces Climate Video

on March 14, 2013

Bob TV wide

Novatans Bob Brown and Nancy Foster have teamed up to produce a hard-hitting 30-minute documentary on coming local impacts of climate change and what local communities in Marin can do about them.

Produced by Novato Public Access Television and sponsored by Sustainable Marin, Sustainable Novato and Sustainable San Rafael, the program calls for action now and outlines a plan for more prepared, resilient, sustainable neighborhoods and towns.

Bob Brown is a Hamilton resident who has been a planning manager and director for 31 years in some of the most progressive cities in the Bay Area, including Palo Alto, Berkeley and San Mateo. He has specialized in reinvigorating downtowns into pedestrian-oriented, mixed-use/mixed-income community centers, promoting environmental protection and facilitating public involvement. He was the Community Development Director for the City of San Rafael for 12 years, and is currently acting in the same capacity for City of Novato. He authored San Rafael’s Climate Change Action Plan and is now leading an effort to create a county-wide energy efficiency and water conservation retrofit program for existing buildings.  Bob also teaches in Dominican University’s Green MBA and Sustainable Practices certificate programs.

Nancy Foster lives in Hamilton and is a mediator and trainer working in San Rafael.

In Novato, the video will air on Novato Public Access Television (NPAT) cable Channel 26 Thursdays and Saturdays at 8 PM and Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays at noon.  Sustainable Novato is also working on plans to air it on MCMC local access in San Rafael and southern Marin.

Watch the complete video right here:

We hope to produce additional programs on sustainability topics in the months ahead, and we would welcome suggestions for topics and/or potential expert guests. Just click here to leave feedback.

 

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Marin Turns out for Giant “Stop KXL” Rally

on February 19, 2013

 

Panorama 700 w

On February 17, a number of Marin “Sustainables” took the ferry into S.F. to join the giant crowd staging the Bay Area branch of the nationwide “Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline” rally organized by Bill McKibbon’s 350.org. You can see more pictures of Marin’s presence at the rally here.

The idea that President Obama could actually reject KXL is still very much a long shot (see below), but at least the news coverage is starting to include the arguments against this terrible project and the fact that a large bloc of his supporters are dead set against it. Here’s  how USA Today covered the rally, including video of Bill McKibbon.  And here’s the extensive rally coverage from Truthout. And, the the rally prompted PBS News Hour to air a feature story on the pipeline debate,

PBS screen grab on KXL Continue Reading →

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NBC News: “Sandy = A New Normal?”

on March 21, 2013

brian williams thumbA month after hurricane Sandy wiped out the northeast coast, a major study was released which reported that sea levels are rising 60% faster than the most recent IPPC projections. Ice melt in Greenland is outstripping even the most pessimistic forecasts.

That finally got the attention of  the “mainstream” US press. NBC braved the wrath of the climate change deniers to lead its Nightly News on November 26 with this story.  And, they didn’t tiptoe around the implications, either.  Throughout the story, anchor Brian Williams and reporter Ann Thompson made the connection – clearly and without qualification – between melting ice, climate change and weather disasters.

Near the end, Williams actually said Sandy may represent “a new kind of normal” for people living near the coast. Continue Reading →

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Huffman Calls for Climate Action

on February 17, 2013

At least one member of the freshman class in Congress has his priorities straight!  On February 15, Marin’s newly-elected US Congressman, Jared Huffman gave his very first speech on the house floor, and it was a call for action on climate change!  It isn’t much, but you know the old proverb about a journey of a thousand miles, so here’s hoping.

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Local Low-Carbon Diet Works!

on November 6, 2012

 

Late News Flash: Resilient Neighborhoods was just the subject of a feature story in the Pacific Sun. Read it Here

Resilient Neighborhoods is program to create local neighborhood groups of 5 to 7 households (called “Eco Teams”) that conduct a formal program to significantly reduce their carbon emissions and increase their emergency preparedness. The program is jointly sponsored by Sustainable Marin, The City of San Rafael, Energy Upgrade California and the Green MBA Program at Dominican University. To date, the program has been conducted on a pilot basis with 105 Marin households grouped into 15 neighborhood “Eco-Teams” from Sausalito to Fairfax. Resilient Neighborhoods recently announced that just this pilot program has reduced emissions by 1.3 million pounds.

Hamilton Res Neigh groupThe Novato “Waste Watchers,” working in the Hamilton area, were part of this successful test. They will be using what they learned to help form and guide Eco Teams throughout Novato as they reduce greenhouse gasses, improve emergency preparedness and strengthen neighborhood bonds.

The key takeaway from this pilot phase is that learning from each other and mutual reinforcement led families to undertake carbon-reduction measures they would have been reluctant to try on their own.  An even more important payoff reported by everyone was getting to know their neighbors better, which is, of course, the cornerstone of localization,

Find out more at the Resilient Neighborhoods website.

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