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In the News updated August 31, 2010

For Immediate Release                                                         
May 24, 2010                                                                         

Contact:
Beth Ross , Environmental Initiatives Manager
650-780-5917

Redwood City Honoring Dozens of Newly-Certified Professional “Green Gardeners”

Redwood City, CA – At its meeting tonight (May 24, 2010), the City Council of Redwood  City will hold a graduation ceremony for nearly 90 professional residential landscapers who have just completed the Bay Area Green Gardener Training and Certification program. This special recognition takes place at 6:30 pm in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 1017 Middlefield Road in Redwood City.

The Bay Area Green Gardener Training and Certification program, the first of its kind in San Mateo County, provides training and development to professional residential landscapers so they can operate in a more sustainable and environmentally friendly way. The demand is increasing for landscape services that help residents reduce their water usage, incorporate drought tolerant plants, and minimize the need for pesticides. These newly-certified Green Gardeners are now trained to meet this growing demand.

During the ceremony, each graduate will be presented with a certificate noting their completion of the program, which was funded through grants and the participation of Redwood City and its Water Conservation Program, the Bay Area Gardeners Association, the City of Menlo Park, the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency, and the San Mateo Countywide Water Pollution Prevention Program. Significant support and coordination was provided by Acterra.

The course included two hours of class time per week for 11 weeks, a great deal of study time, a field trip to Hidden Villa farm and wilderness preserve, and a grueling final exam. One-hundred percent of the students passed the exam and are now Certified Green Gardeners.

Promoting water conservation in Redwood City was one of the driving forces behind the City’s involvement in the Green Gardeners Certification Program. By training dozens of landscape professionals in the many water conservation tools available, Redwood City can bring water conservation, and other sustainable landscape practices, to the greatest number of residents. This program is associated with Redwood City Verde, a program which includes all of the City’s environmental initiatives. More information about Redwood City Verde is available online at www.redwoodcity.org/verde.

List of Certified Bay Area Green Gardeners

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SMCWPPP In the News:

San Mateo County Seeks End to Cigarette Butt Litter, San Mateo County Times, January 16, 2010.

Green Streets and Parking Lots: Coming Soon to Cities Near You, Cal Planner, American Planning Association California, July-August 2009.

Past Press releases:

4.20.10 SPRING INTO ACTION: Bay Area Stormwater Agencies Ask Consumers to Exercise Caution When Choosing Pesticides

9.10.09 CALIFORNIA COASTAL CLEANUP DAY CELEBRATES 25TH ANNIVERSARY

7.28.09 LOCAL “GREEN STREETS” GUIDEBOOK WINS STATEWIDE PLANNING AWARD

5.18.09 BAY AREA PROGRAM HELPS PEOPLE CONTROL COMMON PESTS WITHOUT HARM TO WATER QUALITY

4/13/09 EARTH DAY EVENT INCLUDE FREE RECYCLING OF CFL’s

Contact:PollutionPrevention@co.sanmateo.ca.us

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Legislative Bills of Interest

In the News Watershed, Stormwater, and Pollutants Articles:

Home pesticides linked to childhood cancer. A new study of children and published in the journal Therapeutic Drug Monitoring links one form of childhood cancer to exposure to common organophosphate pesticides used around the home. Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Washington. August 31, 2010.

12 most toxic fish (for humans and the planet). Food & Water Watch just released its 2010 Smart Seafood Guide to the safety and sustainability of more than 100 kinds of fish and shellfish. Mother Jones, August 30, 2010.

Plastic bag ban forges ahead in California. A statewide bill reaching the final stages of the legislative process could make cloth bags a necessity for all California shoppers. The bill would make California the first state in the nation to ban plastic bags at grocery, drug and some convenience stores. San Jose Mercury News, August 29, 2010.

Nine toxic chemicals join banned 'dirty dozen.' The UN said Thursday an insecticide used in farming and to treat woodworm, Lindane, was among nine highly toxic chemicals added to a "dirty dozen" of dangerous substances on an international red list. Agence France-Presse, August 27, 2010.

Napa-Sonoma marsh restoration's last phase begins. Scooping up a heaping load of black mud, an excavator ripped through a 100-year-old earthen barrier between the Napa River and a 1,400-acre swath of former salt ponds Wednesday afternoon, marking the final step in one of the largest wetlands restoration projects in U.S. history. San Francisco Chronicle, August 26, 2010.

Bamboo: Now for cleaning up pollution. Bamboo: It’s good for making furniture, setting dramatic scenes in kung fu movies — and now for cleaning up toxic Superfund sites. San Francisco Bay Citizen, August 24, 2010.

Is the Electrification of Transportation a Good Thing? Many people are worried about the environmental cost of manufacturing electric cars. They look at those big batteries and conclude that an electric vehicle (EV) must have a much bigger footprint than a conventional gasoline or diesel vehicle. But it turns out that, according to most mainstream life cycle analysis (LCA) studies, around 80% of a car's footprint is produced by usage (burning fuel), not by manufacturing or disposal. Treehugger, August 24, 2010.

Backers of electronics recycling seek unified laws. States, cities and consumer groups are increasingly looking for a federal solution to the growing problem of getting rid of more than 2 million tons of used electronic gadgets each year. Reuters, August 21, 2010.

Ice-trapped pollutants poison polar bears' diets. Apart from shrinking the polar bears' natural habitat, the retreat of the Arctic ice sheet is releasing man-made chemicals into the environment. These can have serious consequences on the animals' health. Deutsche Welle, Germany, August 21, 2010.

Seabirds spew useful contaminant data. Researchers have revisited an easier, non-invasive way to detect contaminants in arctic environments: the fishy oils stored in the stomachs of several seabird species. Chemical & Engineering News, August 20, 2010.

Stunning Underwater Plants and Sea Life on the Ocean Floor (Slideshow) The ocean is full of uncharted territory -- and of breathtaking natural wonders that look like they'd be more at home on Pandora than in the blue depths just off the beach where you spent your summer vacation. Treehugger, August 20, 2010.

Pesticide pollution must be curbed in urban areas, too. Too many Californians associate pesticide use only with large-scale agricultural operations. In reality, pesticide sales are split about evenly between agricultural and household and institutional products like pesticides and chlorine used to sanitize drinking water. San Jose Mercury News, Opinion, August 16, 2010.

Plastic surf: The unhealthful afterlife of toys and packaging. There is much more to the story about plastics in the ocean than concerns about macrodebris. Much smaller bits of plastic that are accumulating in oceans all over the world can potentially harm marine life and possibly even human health. Not only do they leach toxic substances like bisphenol A, they absorb pollutants like DDT and PCBs. Scientific American, August 13, 2010.

An ocean of plastic. There’s a place in the center of the Pacific Ocean where all currents converge, and swirls of colorful confetti billow through otherwise blue waters. But far from magical, these tiny shards are pieces of plastic from around the world, whirled in a gyre known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Need to Know, PBS. August 12, 2010.

Peninsula creeks join list of trash-clogged waterways. More than 20 Bay Area creeks have joined a statewide list of polluted waterways due to major trash problems, but the distinction is unlikely to speed up the cleanup process, according to environmental groups. San Mateo County Times, August 11, 2010.

EPA requires cleanup of mercury from cement plants. The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday announced the nation's first limits on mercury emissions from cement plants. McClatchy Newspapers, August 10, 2010.

State blazes new path on chemical risks. Under the leadership of Maziar Movassaghi and Maureen Gorsen, acting and former directors of the Department of Toxic Substances Control, the Schwarzenegger administration has embarked on what could be one of the most significant consumer initiatives in years. Sacramento Bee, Editorial, August 8, 2010.

Nationwide push underway to recycle batteries of all types. San Francisco is considered a leader when it comes to recycling just about anything. Now a nationwide push is underway to get the rest of the country to catch up. San Francisco KGO TV, August 3, 2010.

Elite science panel wades into California water war. Scientists tasked with unraveling one of the nation's most vexing environmental puzzles started their first field trip to the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta at a fish processing facility here near one of the estuary's major water-pumping stations. Greenwire, August 3, 2010.

San Mateo beaches lead county for pollution. Beach closures in Northern California increased dramatically in 2009 from the previous year due to elevated bacteria levels, with two beaches in the city of San Mateo leading the county in closing or advisory days, according to a national report. San Mateo Daily Journal, July 30, 2010.

Lost Ladybug Project helps scientists understand insect's decline. Entomologist John Losey is trying to figure out why populations of ladybugs are declining. Washington Post, July 27, 2010.

Plastiki Completes 8,000 Nautical Mile Journey Protesting Plastic Pollution After traveling 130 days and 8,000 miles, the Plastiki sailed in to Sydney earlier today, ending the trek to bring attention to the problem of plastics in our ocean. Headed up by David de Rothschild, the project's purpose was to show that there is no "away" and that our wasteful ways are causing havoc in the high seas, specifically, causing massive trash gyres like the Pacific Garbage Patch. Treehugger, July 27, 2010.

Green Street: A water-wise and solar-lighted community effort. Thanks to a newly completed makeover involving one federal bureau, one state agency, as many as six city agencies, three nonprofit groups and 24 homeowners, Elmer Avenue has become the Rolls-Royce of L.A.’s Green Street initiative. Los Angeles Times, July 24, 2010.

Researchers model personal pollution exposure. A new study finds that people's diets matter more than their local environment, when it comes to how much organic chemical pollution settles into our bodies. A person living in the Arctic is about 520 times more susceptible to some pollutant exposures than a person eating a mixed diet in the temperate zone, scientists estimated. Chemical & Engineering News, July 23, 2010.

Suit seeks ban of common pesticide. Two environmental groups sued the U.S. EPA today, demanding that the federal government decide whether to ban chlorpyrifos, a widely used pesticide that has been linked to illnesses, including asthma and developmental problems such as attention deficit disorder. San Francisco Chronicle, July 23, 2010.

Green Gardening Doesn't Come from a Store Greenwashing exists everywhere. One would think that an activity as simple and genteel (yeah right...) as gardening would remain unscathed. No. We gardeners have our fair share of greenwashing to deal with as well. Treehugger, July 23, 2010.

Delta survival requires major cutbacks in water use, state study finds. Californians are taking out roughly twice as much water from the Delta as is environmentally sustainable, according to a new report demanded by lawmakers and informed by some of the state's top scientific experts. Contra Costa Times, July 22, 2010.

New survey says California's child care centers not notifying parents of pesticide use. A new survey of California's child care centers found that more than half of them are ignoring state regulations to notify parents that they are using potentially dangerous pesticides. San Jose Mercury News, July 21 2010.

Prioritizing Plastics Key to Kicking Oil Addiction - Plus Reducing Waste & Pollution Now, plastics alone don't amount to much out of a single barrel of oil compared to liquid fuels, but their utter ubiquity in our lives combined with the resultant massive waste management and water pollution issues means we've got some serious contemplation to do. Treehugger, July 21, 2010.

Getting Off Oil: Forget Hybrids And Solar Panels, We Need Active, Exciting and Vibrant Cities Matt has noted that almost three quarters of our oil goes for transportation, and concludes that we have to create "more communities where the average person's daily needs are met on foot, on non-motorized vehicle and via public transportation." But is there proof that this actually works? Does it mean that we have to turn all of our cities into Manhattan or Copenhagen? Treehugger, July 21, 2010.