San Francisco Approves Policy to Boost Local Foods

San Francisco has just adopted the nation’s first county local food policy that will ensure access to more healthy, sustainable food and reduce greenhouse gas emissions related to food transportation.

San Francisco’s Mayor, Gavin Newsom, issued an executive directive ordering all county departments to survey the land under their control in order to create an inventory of land that can support community gardens. All city-purchased food for city meetings, schools, jails or homeless shelters must be grown locally with sustainable farming practices. Food vendors with city permits must also meet these requirements.

“The stark reality is that hunger, food insecurity, and poor nutrition are pressing health issues, even in a city as rich and vibrant as San Francisco,” said Mayor Newsom in a prepared statement Wednesday. “From the alleviation of hunger, to the need to support local and sustainable agricultural practices, these recommendations form a comprehensive and strategic approach to addressing pressing needs in all sectors of the food system.”

When asked how the cash-strapped city would pay for higher-quality organic food, which may carry a price premium, county officials said the potential savings are two-fold. Food purchased locally saves money through reduced shipping distances and costs, which also trims greenhouse gas emissions. Healthier food may also save the city money on healthcare in the long run: “The city spends a lot of money treating people for diabetes, obesity, heart disease,” said Joe Arellano, spokeman to the mayor. By promoting healthier food and better eating habits, “we can reduce costs on the back end.”

While the new directive only applies to county departments, individuals and businesses can still take action. From growing food in their backyards to visiting farmers’ markets, individuals can still ensure their food is locally sourced. Businesses can also institute policies to source all foods for events locally. To learn more about local foods, consult your local Eco-Consultant or purchase access to Ask Green Irene, a comprehensive green knowledge database with a lot more information.

San Francisco Approves Ambitious Recycling Law

Commentary: While Green Irene fully supports government efforts to reduce waste and greenhouse gas emissions, you can also play a key role in reducing waste by using the Green Irene Composter, which allows you to compost your  food waste. Green Irene has an indoor and an outdoor composter conveniently designed for you to easily compost your food. The end product, deemed “gardener’s gold,” is highly nutritious soil that can help you grow garden plants. You can purchase the composters at ShopGreenIrene. To learn more about recycling and composting in general, contact your Local Eco-Consultant today!

Throwing orange peels, coffee grounds and grease-stained pizza boxes in the trash will be against the law in San Francisco, and could even lead to a fine.

The Board of Supervisors voted 9-2 Tuesday to approve Mayor Gavin Newsom’s proposal for the most comprehensive mandatory composting and recycling law in the country. It’s an aggressive push to cut greenhouse gas emissions and have the city sending nothing to landfills or incinerators by 2020.

“San Francisco has the best recycling and composting programs in the nation,” Newsom said, praising the board’s vote on a plan that some residents had decried as heavy-handed and impractical. “We can build on our success.”

The ordinance is expected to take effect this fall.

The legislation calls for every residence and business in the city to have three separate color-coded bins for waste: blue for recycling, green for compost and black for trash.

Failing to properly sort your refuse could result in a fine after several warnings, but Newsom and other officials say fines will only be levied in the most egregious cases.

Fines for almost all residential customers and many small businesses – anyone who generates less than a cubic yard of refuse a week – are initially capped at $100. Businesses that don’t have proper bins face escalating fines up to $500.

There is a moratorium on fines until at least July 2011 for tenants and owners of multifamily buildings or multitenant commercial properties to get people used to composting. Buildings where recycling carts won’t fit can get a waiver.

“In any scenario there will be repeated notices and phone calls before we even start talking about fines,” said Jared Blumenfeld, head of the city’s Department of the Environment. “We don’t want to fine people.”

The proposal, hailed as an effective way to cut about two-thirds of the 618,000 tons of waste the city sent to landfill in 2007, drew resistance from some apartment building owners when details emerged about a year ago. And some residents were upset over the possibility of inspectors checking their garbage.

The ordinance calls for garbage collectors to leave tags on containers when they spot incorrectly sorted material, but those collectors are only going to view what’s on top of the container and have no intention of going through them, said Robert Reed, a spokesman for San Francisco collectors Sunset Scavenger Co. and Golden Gate Disposal & Recycling Co., subsidiaries of Recology, formerly Norcal Waste Systems.

“Our role is to pick up the garbage and to make recycling as easy and convenient as possible for our customers,” Reed said. “Our collection drivers will not become enforcers.”

City officials would levy any fines, and the legislation doesn’t provide funding for new trash inspectors.

“It doesn’t create trash police,” Blumenfeld said.

Excerpted from the San Francisco Chronicle. Continue Reading.

Seeing The Light To Energy Savings…

Ever wonder how you could live without light? As a resident of this planet called Earth, I feel extremely lucky to have the Sun, it provides me with an enormous amount of light that I need for living. Wait, we all need light for a variety of purposes.

In general we need light to see; but also to grow crops, power our society, and even keep us happy! (Have you ever met anyone deficient of Vitamin D? I was once diagnosed with a red mark on my chart, “Deficient”, and believe me it’s not a happy state of being!) Inside our houses we need light to see and carry out our normal “home” routine. Unlike outside, we need to be careful with light at home because it’s not free! Forgetting to turn off lights and heating can take a toll on the monthly bill. As your local Green Irene, I can help you see the light to energy saving at home! Lighting fixtures at home can draw a large amount of power, perhaps sometimes unnecessarily because there are more energy efficient options. With my Light bulb Savings Calculator, I can determine how much you can save by replacing your old light bulbs with more energy efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs).

For example, if you replaced 57 old incandescent light bulbs of different types with the Green Irene Set of CFLs and your electricity rate is roughly $0.24/kwh, you would save more than $6,000.00 over the lifetime of the light bulbs at a cost of $536. In addition, your home would reduce its carbon footprint by 41,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, which is equal to planting 5.1 acres of trees or taking 3.6 cars off the roads.I know what you are thinking, “Wow, that’s a lot!” Yes it is… imagine making that kind of an impact and saving that kind of money by just replacing light bulbs…

I can help you green up your home and save money by showing you where the energy savings actually are in your home. Simply ask your local Green Irene, that’s me…you’ll be taking an important step to greening up, while saving money.

Contact Lane Kennedy, Independent Authorized Green Irene Eco-Consultant

www.GreenIrene.com/1070lane.sanfrancisco@greenirene.com