Tag Archives: Sustainable city

Straws Banned On Wharf

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Making the wharf substainable. First the bags, then the straws and the cup lids. Next thing you know there will be cloth napkins and no more plastic toy souvenirs.

60s wharf at night

“It’s one thing to have a ban on plastic bags, but once you go to plastic straws it takes it up one more level,” said Mary Alice Cerrito Fettis, a board member and past president of the Monterey Fisherman’s Wharf Association. “We’re very excited that all the beverage serving businesses on Fisherman’s Wharf have figured out an alternative to using plastic straws.”

According to Ted Terrasas, the city’s sustainability coordinator, it was an effort to get early stakeholder input, especially by those most affected, the restaurant owners. About 30 attended the gathering, which included Monterey Bay Aquarium officials and local non-profit representatives.

Straws Banned On Wharf

Oregon: Recycled Materials End Up In Landfill

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Why bother?

Oregon is serious about recycling. Its residents are accustomed to dutifully separating milk cartons, yogurt containers, cereal boxes and kombucha bottles from their trash to divert them from the landfill. But this year, because of a far-reaching rule change in China, some of the recyclables are ending up in the local dump anyway.

In recent months, in fact, thousands of tons of material left curbside for recycling in dozens of American cities and towns — including several in Oregon — have gone to landfills.

Oregon: Recycled Materials End Up In Landfill

Zero Net Change

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Bike stations would be located at places such as Middlebury Institute of International Studies, the Naval Postgraduate School and the Presidio of Monterey.

Councilman Alan Haffa was very supportive of the program, noting that his students at Monterey Peninsula College were enthusiastic about it while Councilman Ed Smith had concerns that people wouldn’t spend money on such a program when they can purchase their own used bike for a reasonable cost.

The city on Tuesday also approved its Climate Action Plan, which has been in the works for several years.

This makes sense – more bicycle riders exhaling more CO2 into the fragile atmosphere. Bicycle riding is causing global warming.

Zero Net Change

What Stores Have In Store At ATC Hotel

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Now that Pacific Grove residents have passed Measure X, the detail design, approval process and environmental study are next in line for Project Bella, the five star hotel which could be built after the American Tin Cannery is bulldozed.

“We have made a commitment to make this if not the most sustainable building in the United States, certainly the most sustainable buildings, not just hotels but buildings in general,” said Crall.

As developers map out the 225 rooms and suites, shops and more, businesses inside the American Tin Cannery are wondering what’s in store for them next.

Next? The highest substainable rent for an art gallery or restaurant in the substainable states of America. Substainable Substaining Substainability.

What Stores Have In Store At ATC Hotel

P.S. Substainable!

Many Restaurants Lie About Sourcing

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I think that we as Americans have really come to expect inexpensive food. We spend a very small amount of our disposable income on food, and restaurateurs have to cope with that. They have to figure out how to offer food to us at a price we will pay, while buying the best ingredients that they can. And often, as in any other business, it’s buy low and sell high.

You confronted a lot of chefs about this, and a lot of them gave you the same answer.

[They said] “I guess that should come off the chalkboard.”

There were plenty of people who were honestly surprised to find something was still on the chalkboard or still on their menu many months after they’d purchased that product, and many others that were just caught red-handed.

NPR
Many Restaurants Lie About Sourcing

Moe Hates The New Garbage Company

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Greenwaste’s mandatory recyclables sorting rules are not making the trash creators happy. Was he old way any better?
hollys cafe

And what a typo – Ron Shank!

Ron Shank with St. Vincent De Paul Thrift Store said a centralized location to deal with the cardboard isn’t what the businesses are paying for.

Shank said he’s paying more money under GreenWaste for less service.

“I don’t mind paying a few more dollars, I realize costs are going up. I expected that,” he said. “I did not expect to have poor service and in my opinion, it’s poor service.”

Moe Ammar, president of the Pacific Grove Chamber of Commerce, said a lot of work needs to be done for the sides to reach an agreement. He criticized GreenWaste’s claims of being environmentally friendly, saying some businesses will end up just driving to the dump or putting recyclables in the trash.

“The only thing that’s green about that company is money,” Ammar said.

Moe Hates The New Garbage Company

Pacific Grove Taking Away Property Rights?

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Resident being forced to comply with someone else’s idea of appearance or risk having his home taken away.

On Sept. 12, Pacific Grove’s code compliance division heard from four residents who live near Jack Van Bebber, a resident on Grand Avenue they say has been a problem for years. They asked a hearing officer for the city to take action against Van Bebber, including placing a lien on his house.

Grand Avenue? Same street where “ground zero” for the Sustainable Pacific Grove’s shining example of green living, the old drive through bank building on Grand and Pine.

Not Van Bebber's Yard

One person’s trash is another mayor’s “sustainable society”, I guess.

Pacific Grove Taking Away Property Rights?

Visitors Want Milkweed And Gift Shops

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huge gift shop

Maria Rodale visits the monarch sanctuary, searches real hard to blame something that’s not organic for the decline. Besides, isn’t it the caterpillars someplace else that munch the milkweed?

I arrived around 10 a.m. and saw…nothing. OK, I saw one tiny monarch flitting about like it was a bit drunk. The sanctuary itself is also kind of…sad. Its entrance is between a motel and some garbage cans. It’s very small, and surprisingly, there was no gift shop! I thought back to when I researched the place on the Web and recalled that it was very hard to find. Hmmm…

Undaunted, I drove downtown to the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History, where I asked what was going on. “Oh, they are there. If you go back at noon there is a docent who will show them to you. They can be hard to see.” But, I asked, was the population declining? “Absolutely,” she said. The current population was only a quarter of what it was just 10 years ago, she added. I asked what she attributed it to and she said “urban growth, habitat loss, lack of milkweed.” What about agricultural chemicals? I asked. “Oh, that’s more of an East Coast problem,” she said.

Visitors Want Milkweed And Gift Shops

Huffington Post

Got Solar Panels On Your Home?

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If a fire starts, they may just let it burn rather than risk firefighters’ lives.

In a fire, seconds count, and that was why firefighters were speaking out Saturday about the consequences of an added obstacle sprouting up on Bay Area rooftops: solar panels.

Solar panels covered part of the roof of a Piedmont home that was destroyed by a 2-alarm fire on Tuesday.

The cause of the fire was still under investigation Saturday, but Piedmont Fire Chief Warren McLaren was clear with reporters after the blaze was extinguished that the home’s solar panels made fighting the fire that much more difficult.

“Oh absolutely, it made it hard on the roof,” said McLaren.

Concern over solar panels prompted a 2010 report from the Fire Protection Research Foundation that said that the panels were not only potential hazards for tripping or slipping, but the additional weight from the panels contributed to the possibility that the roof would collapse.

KTVU News
Got Solar Panels On Your Home?

Sustainable Practices Leads To House Burning Down

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I’ll keep putting my potato peels down the disposal thank you

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A fire destroyed a home at 15 East Rounds Ave. Saturday morning after a compost pile spontaneously combusted.

The compost pile was located next to a deck that was attached to the house.

“Once that organic material reaches a certain temperature, it ignites,” said Franklin County Fire Investigator John Bashaw. “Something like that needs to be kept away from a house.”
No one was injured in the blaze.

Adirondack Daily Enterprise
Sustainable Practices Leads To House Burning Down