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Concern Over SF 'Compost' Made From Sewage Sludge

It's called biosolids compost and its being given away by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission for use in school and community gardens, and homes. But some activists are protesting the giveaways because that material is actually treated sewage sludge which experts say often contains toxins.

Complaints About Bay Area Illegal Wood Burning Up

Complaints from Bay Area residents about neighbors using their fireplaces on no-burn nights are up sharply this winter. Regional clean air regulators said Wednesday that complaints are up 63 percent compared to a year ago, the first season wood-burning was banned on bad air days. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District received 2,355 complaints during the four-month burn season that ended Sunday. Last season the district received 1,422 complaints.

Muni Board Considers Extending Fiscal Emergency

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's board of directors heard public comments Tuesday about the possibility of extending the agency's declaration of a fiscal emergency. A fiscal emergency means the agency expects to run a deficit within a year, and it lets the board bypass environmental reviews when considering fare increases.

Airlines Not Making The Grade On Recycling

When it comes to recycling, most airlines are not making the grade and the industry has a lot of room for improvement.

New San Francisco Energy Efficiency Financing

Beginning in March 2010, the new GreenFinanceSF Program will make it even easier for homeowners to install green improvements. 

Green Financing Bill SigningThe program will include energy efficiency projects, water conservation, and installation of solar energy systems. The word is that the administration is hoping for at least $150 million in funding for this program. If GreenFinanceSF is as successful as the GoSolarSF program was, you can expect every penny will be applied for and San Francisco will see another big wave of private sector solar and energy efficiency projects.

EPA Snaps Up Blumenfeld

November 7, 2009 by greenie

We're sorry to report that Jared Blumenfeld will be leaving his post as the Director of the SF Department of the Environment.  But San Francisco's loss is America's gain as Blumenfeld will become the EPA Administrator for Region 9. 

Who can blame him for leaving? Yes, San Francisco is great, but a new job with lots of power that involves regular travel to Hawaii can't be all bad. Region 9 covers California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii, the Pacific Islands and 140 Tribal Nations. No doubt they are all about to become a heck of a lot greener.  Blumenfeld has been the instigator/implementor of most of the green initiatives in city government over the past 8 years. His greatest hits include: the plastic bag ban; mandatory recycling and composting; the bottled water ban at City Hall; biodeisel buses; the largest municipal solar projects in the country; city solar rebates; and the ban on stryofoam take out packaging in restaurants.

We'll miss you, Jared Blumenfeld.

Green Daze

November 3, 2009 by greenie

There are some fun/interesting green events coming up this week.

Tuesday

  • SF Green Drinks is tonight at 111 Minna. 
  • Somewhat Mysterious event called Green 2.0.  You have to email them to find out the location.  If you go, encourage them NOT to have an event on the same night as greendrinks. 

Wednesday

  • Brown bag lunch called "Our Better Nature: Environment and the Making of San Francisco"
  • SF Bicycle Coalition Volunteer Night

Friday

  • The Right Stuff Awards Dinner

Be sure to save next weekend (Nov 13-15) for the San Francisco Green Festival.  There's no better place to get your green on.

Details for all these events are on the SF Green Scene Calendar at http://www.sfgreenscene.com (Click on the blue titles on the right for details or click on the Calendar for the full Google calendar format.)

Recent Green Haps

October 28, 2009 by greenie

While we were away from this site, San Francisco kept greening it up!  Here are just a few green happenings from the past few months.

Wind Power Makes Sense in SF
The Urban Wind Power Task Force released it's report and recommendations on Sept. 21.  More about this later, but you can read the full 16 page report for yourself.

More after the break....

We're Number 2, We Try Harder

July 23, 2009 by greenie

Once again San Francisco has been identified as the second most sustainable city in the U.S.  This time The City lost out to Seattle in the latest list from the excellent NRDC Smarter Cities Project.  They analyzed data from the Census Bureau, EPA, and various suveys of city governmet staff.

Seattle does have an aggressively green mayor and a cool new light rail system.  They also get a lot of energy from hydro which can be good for clean air, but not always good for rivers and fish.  San Francisco got credit for walkability, the plastic-bag ban, the new carbon offset fund, the solar power program and the local food movement.  Not bad.

One might quibble with choice number 13, Los Angeles.  It's hard to imagine a less sustainable city (ok, Vegas is probably worse.) LA should be working much harder on water desalinization and public transport if they want to be in the least bit sustainable.  With the abundance of sunshine, the whole southern part of the state should be solar powered by now.

How Big is Your Water Footprint?

July 22, 2009 by greenie

You used it this morning and probably didn't think much about it.  When you made your coffee or tea, brushed your teeth, took a shower, put on laundered clothes.  Water is critical to our entire way of life, but we rarely think about how much we are using.   Jaymi Heimbuch has a good post over at Planet Green with links to various water footprint calculators. 

From the article:

"Average water footprints vary greatly not only among people living in the same city but across the globe. According to WaterFootprint.org,
The average person in China has a footprint of about 700 cubit meters
per year, whereas an average person in Japan has a footprint of about
1150 cubic meters per year. Yet towering above that is the average
American, with a water footprint of 2500 cubic meters per year."

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