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Strawberry Creek Update

Saturday, July 18 was our monthly work party at Strawberry Creek.

Once again, Nature caught us by surprise. We had planned to continue weeding an area planted in an earlier year, rescuing the native plants from being smothered by encroaching weeds.

But we found that a huge limb had fallen from one of the pre-existing native willow trees. So Tom and Jane and I spent our morning clearing the path and rescuing smaller native plants which the limb was threatening to crush. I put on waders and went into the creek, where I removed enough of the limb to permit free water flow and passage of any fish that might come through.

Since much of the limb was still green with the sapwood still moist, we were able to save dozens of cuttings. Smaller cuttings will be rooted first, then planted. Larger pieces can be jammed into the mud near the water’s edge; they will send down new roots and create new branches, eventually growing into whole new willow trees. Since we already have enough willows at this site, these will be planted at other restoration sites around the bay.

As usual, animals played a part in our morning’s adventures. Jane found that minnows, which had disappeared from the creek for at least a year, had returned in one of the pools. I discovered a towhee nest with several downy babies being fed by the parents.

The next work party is Saturday, August 15, 9-noon. I really hope that a few more of you will be able to make it!

Jim Schnitzen
East Bay Chapter

Gardening Our Way To Paradise

Rethinking plastics leads us back to our source of sustenance — a harmonious relationship with mother earth — and gardening is a doorway into that harmony. For this reason, I have been continually refreshed by my association with the Green Schoolyard program at Davidson Middle School in San Rafael, where my stepson went to school.

The aim of the program is to create a Garden where students can learn about the natural world, nurture living things, and reap the earth’s bounty. Although the Garden began within a circumscribed space, we find the boundaries transparent and often illusory. The Garden keeps slowly expanding into surrounding areas as we remove invasive weeds on the outskirts and infuse an ever richer variety of herbs, flowers, and shrubs.

The last school year, 2008-09, was especially busy and fruitful. The year ended with a climax when the 8th grade class donated $500 toward the purchase of fruit trees to go behind the Woodshop in a long-wished-for Haven.

If you have ever stopped by Davidson, you may recall how weed-infested the entry had been, even one year ago:

Then, the Davidson Dads organized a major overhaul, including upgrading and making more water-efficient the irrigation system, and installling a lawn by the office. The Conservation Corps joined in with great energy:

The smiles on their faces indicate the satisfaction they felt by making such a difference in the appearance of the school’s entry:

Classes in the Garden

* After occasional visits to the Garden in the fall, 6th grade science classes had a series of lessons this spring led by Next Generation garden educator Marijanna Shurtz. Teachers Bob Olson-Brown and Therese Hopkins helped their students plant seeds in their classrooms; many of those seeds are now thriving in the Garden.

* Kimberly Pearson brought her 12 SDC students to the Garden all spring, as often as four days a week. They explored, planted, and tended the growing crops of spring.

* Josh Powell held drawing classes in the Garden to enliven his students’ palette of possibilities.

* Laura Edelen shared Poetry in the Garden with her 6th grade Core classes. This is the third year in which the Garden has been used as a place of poetic inspiration.

Habitat Restoration

The Conservation Corps has cut great swaths of broom, fennel, and cottoneaster out of the Side Garden/Riparian Zone. We have yet to subdue the English ivy and pampas grass. Now, the Bay Institute has taken interest in our Riparian Zone, and has proposed a grant to complete the removal of invasives, plant native shrubs and trees (including some to shade the Band Room, reducing energy costs and carbon emissions), and possibly even restore stream flow by re-connecting to the original slough. Whatever measure of these dreams we realize, we’ll see a visible improvement to the look of this still too-desolate area of campus:

Litter

The proliferation of plastic litter on campus — by students, sports groups, and passersby — is the antithesis of everything the Garden is about. This year a team of students, parents, and staff worked together to move the campus closer to Zero Litter and Zero Waste. On October 10, Algalita Marine researchers Anna Cummins and Marcus Eriksen spoke to the assembled student body and showed pictures, videos, and actual relics from their travels across the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii. One of their exhibits consisted of plastic particles pulled out of the ocean by a surface trawl, just like the ones being shown by Algalita captain Charles Moore to our Governor and his wife:

Conservative estimates in 2003 put the amount of plastic trash floating in the North Pacific Gyre at 3 million tons. Eighty percent of that litter comes from land-based sources. Anna and Marcus made that point vivid for our students. To follow up, this spring the DMS Science department hosted the San Rafael Clean slide show on How Litter Hurts in every science classroom. The students saw images of the growing mountains of plastic trash that are invading our soil and water.

They learned, too, about the devastating effect of this litter on wildlife, such as the entanglement and starvation of an estimated one million seabirds every year.

I was impressed by how many students seemed to resonate with the message of reducing litter and reducing waste. Two boys came up after one presentation to describe how they had personally helped extract wildlife — one, a seabird, the other, a baby seal — from plastic tangles.

We are not done with this project, but progress has been made. When I showed pictures of Davidson litter spots from Sep 06, such as the one below, very few of the students said they had seen it look that trashed this year.

We were especially fortunate to have Claire Brosnan, Sami Mericle, and Linnea Schurig as student representatives on the Committee to End Litter. We will miss them next year, but know that they will continue their work in community improvement at San Rafael High.

Enrichment for the Garden-minded

Two films came to my family’s attention this summer. Each tells a vivid tale of our relationship with nature and ourselves:
1. Food, Inc. Cinematically gorgeous, this film shows how industrialized agriculture has overtaken our economy, and the high costs we are paying for “cheap” food. The film will confirm every gardener’s instinct that you have, and may spur even further rethinking of your purchasing habits. You may also be inspired to start saving your bean seeds for the next year’s planting.
2. A Man Named Pearl. An unlikely title for an equally unlikely topic, topiary! This film chronicles the dedication of a man who, by transforming his property with breathtaking topiary, created a place of unusual beauty, improved racial relations in his southern town, and became an inspirational figure to young and old. We rented this film from Netflix, and it’s likely available elsewhere.

What a Drag!

Last spring I received a call from Devi Peri, Education Coordinator for Marin Recycling. A customer wanted some information on plastics. How much does the average American throw away every year?

This sounded like an easy enough question, but where does one begin to find the answer? We all have a rough sense that there’s a lot of plastic out there in the world. We see it in too many places. Here’s an extreme concentration of plastic, in the Citarum River:

Fortunately, I remembered that the EPA publishes a report every two years on Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), the stuff that we use and throw away. “These materials,” according to the EPA, “range from packaging, food scraps, and grass clippings, to old sofas, computers, tires, and refrigerators.” (MSW does not include industrial, hazardous, or construction waste.) In 2005, the average American threw away 4.5 pounds of MSW every day, a rate which has held nearly constant since the 1990’s. In 2007, that rate rose slightly to 4.6 pounds per day. (We recycle or compost about 1.5 pounds of that total daily.)

Doing some math with other tables in the EPA report for 2005 (Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures) and referring to the US Census, I came up with an estimate of 186 pounds per person per year thrown away, not recycled.

Armed with this information, Devi’s caller, a man named Sierra Salin, constructed a costume for the Fairfax Festival Parade. It was really a kind of anti-float: about 90 pounds of plastic, representing the weight of what the average American throws away in half a year, which he then dragged behind him for the length of the parade (about half a mile). Here’s what he looked like:

This year, Sierra went at it again, picking up waste plastic at Marin Sanitary Service (the parent organization of Marin Recycling):

After the parade, his daughter wanted to try hauling the costume, or display, or whatever it was. The expression on her face says a lot about the dismay that we feel in our heart of hearts as we watch the growing load of plastic in the world:

Joanna Macy reminds us that we need to embrace the grief that we feel when we bear witness to the suffering of the world. Having done so, she says, we can move on to constructive action. Sierra and his daughter have not only embraced the grief, they have dragged it in full public view. May we all wake up and take constructive action soon!

The Wheel Just Keeps On Turning

By Debra Birkinshaw

(See photos of the garden planting below.)

JoAnna Macy says of the Great Turning, “It is a name for the transition from the industrial growth society to a life-sustaining society. It identifies the shift from a self-destroying political economy to one in harmony with Earth and enduring for the future. It unites and includes all the actions being taken to honor and preserve life on Earth…Now, in this very time, three rivers — anguish for our world, scientific breakthroughs, and ancestral teachings — flow together. From the confluence of these rivers we drink and awaken to what we once knew: we are alive in a living Earth, source of all we are and know. Despite centuries of mechanistic conditioning, we want to name, once again, this world as holy.”

There is a grand yet attainable project going on in our county that is a part of this Great Turning, as in the turning over of soil, the turning of thirsty lawns into edible Edens, and the turning toward transition in our community. A collaborative project of Green Sangha Sonoma County, SRJC Neighbors For Sustainability, and Edible Landscapes, the Garden Wheel Project incorporates the teaching of permaculture principles with hands-on gardening, food exchange, and food donation.

The Garden Wheel Project is already building connections, community, and increased neighborhood food security by bringing neighbors together to install food-focused gardens on at least four JC Neighborhood residential properties. The gardens will emphasize neighborhood food production, low water use techniques, and plants that attract beneficial insects, birds, and other beneficial wildlife to the area.

Garden Wheel participants are working to secure initial funding through a CAB, (Community Advisory Board) Community Improvement grant. Funding for the replacement of thirsty lawns with low-water-use plants and/or permeable landscape materials, such as mulch and bark, is also available through a Green Exchange Rebate Program offered by the City of Santa Rosa.

The gardens will be replicable models for neighborhood food production in our county, and designs and plant choices will produce as diverse a harvest as possible, which will facilitate trading. Surplus from the gardens can be traded at the JC Neighborhood produce swaps, (launching in July 2009) and donated to FISH, a neighborhood organization that provides food to people who need it. There is a vision to include some school gardens in the future, to safeguard this practice for future generations.

As the coordinator for the Stewardship of the Earth project, part of the New Social Contract being revived at our Peace and Justice Center, I want to draw for our readers the connection between peace and justice work and this project. There can be no peace without sustainability. We work together to assure our community that there is an abundant flow of resources locally; therefore, there is no need to panic, take up arms, and invade other countries in search of plunder. It is time to turn over a new leaf.


Susan Lamont of Edible Landscapes is teaching us about how to lay out the garden.


Debra, Angela, Terra, Rebecca, Ian and Trathen


Susan, Angela, Elva and Trathen


Sandra is one of the masterminds and networking wonders for this project.


Angela, of Edible Landscapes, and Terra look on as Rebecca and Ian plant.

Planting is under way. There are many edibles in this garden now-oregano, thyme, basil, dill, cilantro, rosemary, sweet potatoes, beans, peas and tomatoes. There are also raspberries, a lemon verbena, and an aloe plant. I want to plant edamame for some more protein.

*****

Debra Birkinshaw is a board member of the Peace and Justice Center of Sonoma County and an organizer for Green Sangha Sonoma County. To get involved in the Garden Wheel Project, you can email her at: cognizant2@hotmail.com.

 

Volunteering at Whole Foods


Green Sangha was honored to be the recipient of Oakland Whole Foods Market’s 5% Community Giving Day on Thursday, June 25. Our volunteers had a great time staffing our table, educating the public and ourselves about plastics in the environment, and encouraging shoppers to bring their own containers and fill up from the store’s many bulk bins for a truly Zero-Waste shopping experience. We distributed information, including our flyer Tips For Waste-Free Shopping (PDF) and gave out free rolls of recycled toilet paper and CFL light bulbs.

Strawberry Creek Restoration in Berkeley

A small group of East Bay Chapter members met up to enjoy the sun and bubbling water of Strawberry Creek in Berkeley yesterday morning. We pulled weeds to give space for the native plants to grow and enjoyed each other’s company. Here are a few photos of the day. (Click images to see larger versions.)

If you’re interested in joining the next Strawberry Creek work party, please contact Jim Schnitzen at jimschnitzen@earthlink.net for schedule and details.

Message from the Sea

Litter has been with us since the dawn of time. But with the dawning of the age of non-biodegradable synthetics, and the profusion of these materials in single-use, disposable products, litter has taken on enormous proportions. We’re just beginning to consider the consequences.

On Tuesday, May 26, Green Sangha co-sponsored a presentation by Algalita Marine Researchers Anna Cummins and Marcus Eriksen, to help us visualize those consequences. The speakers described the voyage of the “Junk,” a plastic-bottle boat that sailed from Long Beach to Hawaii in the summer of 2008. They showed us pictures and videos, displayed items found on their ocean travels, and told the story of their journeys into the North Pacific Gyre, where plastics that outweigh zooplankton are entering the food chain and disrupting life’s essential processes.

On that same Tuesday, Richard James, a West Marin photographer and environmentalist, had his own journey on the coast at Pt. Reyes. He captured his work in a set of stunning photographs, such as this one below. (You can see more of his pictures at the bottom of this article.)

Whether we see the debris littering our shore, or peer at jars full of plastic confetti recovered in ocean trawls, the invasion of plastics into our ecosystem is inescapable.

While we are all struck by Algalita’s initial 1999 finding of a 6:1 ratio of plastics to zooplankton in the North Pacific Gyre (cited even as recently as Moore’s 2008 paper in Environmental Research), Anna & Marcus pointed out that zooplankton concentrations vary widely by season and time of day. A more reliable benchmark, they said, is the concentration of plastic particles per unit of surface area. In 1999, they found .002 gm/m2. In 2008, the concentration had doubled to .004 gm.

They reported on their visit to Kamilo Beach in Hawaii, where the plastic trash can go up to your knees. And this was three months after the beach had been cleaned of all litter. Scooping into the beach at the high tide line, they found more plastic particles than sand.

They spoke also of Midway Island, about the size of a college campus. They found hundreds of Laysan albatross carcasses with plastic pouring out of their abdomens. They cited the finding of Laist (1997) that 44% of the world’s seabirds species are susceptible to plastic ingestion or entanglement. In addition, 22 kinds of cetaceans, all marine turtles, and a growing list of fish are so affected.

They reminded us that 80% of ocean litter comes from the land. Even riding their bicycles through Oregon, considered one of the cleanest states, they could not travel more than 20 seconds before they saw another piece of roadside litter. (In the San Francisco Bay Area, the Regional Water Quality Control Board reports an average of 3 pieces of litter along every stream that feeds the Bay.) Whether we see the debris littering our shore, or peer at jars full of plastic confetti recovered in ocean trawls, the invasion of plastics into our ecosystem is inescapable. Amphipods, barnacles, benthic worms, jellyfish, salps, lugworms, and plankton have all been documented to ingest plastics in their surrounds.

The rainbow runner is a particularly telling example. Marcus found this fish on many Hawaiian restaurant menus. One rainbow runner that he caught while sailing to Hawaii had 12 pieces of plastic in its flesh. From a total of 671 samples of prey fish on their journey, 37% had visible plastic particles in them. “Our fish,” said Marcus, “are eating our garbage.” (And these are just the visible particles. A 2004 study of a market in Singapore found BPA, a building block of polycarbonate and a major endocrine disrupter, present in every sample of seafood.)

What can we do about this spreading plague of synthetic, non-biodegradable, often-toxic material? Recycling has been at the top of many people’s lists. Anna and Marcus, though, said that it should be at the bottom when it comes to plastic. Here’s why:
1. Recovery is inefficient.
2. Markets for recycled plastic are limited.
3. Plastics are easily contaminated by foodstuffs and other materials; types of resins are also easily confused in the high-speed sorting of materials at recycling centers.
4. Low melting points of plastics means that they must be washed instead of burned clean.
5. Down-cycling is the best that we can get out of plastics recovery.

Instead, they described a 3-point plan:
1) Ban throw-away design.
2) Require EPR for all durable goods.
3) Create an economic incentive for retrieval of all plastics loose in the environment, perhaps 25 cents per pound.

We might add to this list: 4) Institute the Precautionary Principle as a screen for all new chemical and manufacturing products and processes. Include a retroactive recovery and replacement program for all synthetics already on the market with proven endocrine-disrupting effect. This program would be paid for by fines on companies that produced these synthetics.

Many of us have already begun the process of change, diminishing our purchase of items made of, or wrapped in, plastic. We have spoken to friends and family, even encouraged and instituted zero-waste practices at office parties and school events. Others have hosted presentations on Rethinking Plastics. Others are tabling at Marin Farmers’ Markets to inform fellow customers about healthy alternatives to plastic. Some of us have written letters to legislators and spoken at public hearings.

What comes next? More education, more outreach, more advocacy. Here’s a sampling of opportunities:

EDUCATION
* Come to a screening of Addicted to Plastic, an entertaining and informative film, on Thursday, Sept 10, at the Rheem Theatre in Moraga. The event opens at 6 pm with wine and cheese tasting; the film starts at 7 pm.
* Join Cathy Rosekrans’ team of volunteers at the Civic Center Farmers’ Market the third Sunday of every month, where we educate customers on healthy alternatives to plastic; or come to the Oakland and Hayward markets on Saturdays. Contact Cathy at katerine2@earthlink.net.

OUTREACH
* Think of one business that is selling unnecessary plastic (e.g., plastic water bottles) and talk with us about how to inspire them to change.
* Contact us for names of businesses that we’ve already identified as good candidates to hear this message.
* Think of one wasteful plastic product (e.g., the new plastic labels on organic produce, or plastic net bags around cantaloupes), and brainstorm a campaign to replace this item with something clean and green. (In many cases, that replacement means nothing — a Zen option!)

ADVOCACY
* Write letters to legislators on bills pending in Sacramento this year: EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility), plastic bag fees, and a styrofoam ban. These have all been moved to the “two-year calendar,” meaning that they have been postponed for consideration till Jan 2010. It’s not too early to start reminding our legislators that we need this action.
* Speak to your city council about banning styrofoam and all throw-away petro-plastics such as straws, cups, and lids.
Green Sangha will be sending updates on opportunities periodically, but please let us know if you have ideas of your own or need support for follow-through. We will be offering the Rethinking Plastics training in September and October in Berkeley, preparing volunteers for speaking, for tabling at markets and other venues, for outreach to businesses, and for civic advocacy. We start Thursday, Sept 24. Each class goes from 7 to 9 pm. RSVP if you would like to participate!

In the meanwhile, know that many inspired activists are taking on the Herculean task of re-imagining our world, from one dominated by empire to one constructed of community. Join us as we build that community through meditation, education and support, and awakened action.

Stuart Moody
Rethinking Plastics Campaign Director

All Pt. Reyes beach litter photos on this post (first picture, and all below): Copyright Richard James, May 2009.