Please join us Tuesday, January 29th, from 6:30-9PM at the Santa Monica Public Library for a panel discussion on sustainability in our community.

Discussion topics will include:

What is a sustainable community?
An overview of the guiding principles and goal areas in Santa Monica's Sustainable City Plan.

What resources and opportunities exist to participate in our local sustainable community?
Programs, rebates, grants & educational opportunities to make participating in a sustainable Santa Monica easy, affordable & fun.

Brief presentations will be followed by time for Q&A with speakers. Participating organizations include City of Santa Monica's Environmental Programs Division, Sustainable Works, and Global Green USA.

Date: Tuesday, January 29
Time: 6:30-9PM
Location: Santa Monica Public Library, MLK Room
RSVP: RSVP is not required but recommended and appreciated. Please RSVP to Traci Reitz, Community Sustainability Liaison, traci@sustainablesm.org.

FREE

2008 Sustainable Works Green Living Workshops

Starting soon!

Learn how to incorporate sustainable practices into your everyday lifestyle, improve your quality of life, and save money while saving resources.

A Green Living Workshop consists of ten - fifteen individuals who meet once a week for six weeks to learn about concepts of sustainability. Each of the six meetings engages residents in hands-on, interactive and educational experiences.

Join one of these upcoming workshops:

Wednesday nights 7-8:30pm
starting January 16th

Santa Monica Public Library
601 Santa Monica Blvd.

Thursday nights 7-8:30pm
starting January 17th
REI
402 Santa Monica Blvd.

Saturday afternoons 1-2:30pm
starting January 19th
Virginia Avenue Park
2200 Virginia Ave.

Contact Barent Roth at Sustainable Works for more info: 310.428.7201

Santa Monica launches launches a new program turning food waste into electricity!

Food waste makes up as much as 20% of the total solid waste stream that gets buried or burned. The City of Santa Monica was awarded an EPA grant to implement a demonstration project to reduce food waste being buried at landfills. This project will involve the collection of food waste and diversion of this waste to Hyperion Treatment Plant for "waste to energy" or for composting at a site in Bakersfield.

The City is in the process of identifying community partners for this food collection effort.

The first phase involves separating and collecting "pre-consumer" or kitchen food waste in 35 gallon totes at the kitchen. Kitchen staff would receive initial training from the consultant and the collection stations would be monitored periodically by volunteers from Santa Monica College. The City will provide totes and signage for the pilot partners.

The second phase would involve the collection of post-consumer food waste such as recyclable and compostable food service containers.

And finally, a Tool Kit will be written describing the methods utilized in this pilot, which can be used by other municipalities as a model.

For more information please contact Karl Bruskotter: karl.bruskotter@smgov.net, 310.458.2255

Santa Monica Landscape Water Effiency Competitve Grant Program

Applications accepted: January 2008 - March 2007

Reducing outdoor water use is critical to Santa Monica's sustainable future. Currently, the City of Santa Monica imports over 90% of its water from Northern California and the Colorado River (over 400 miles) and nearly half of the water consumed in Santa Monica homes is used for watering landscapes!

With the Sustainable City Plan goal of curbing citywide water use 20% by the year 2010, the City has expanded its water efficiency incentive programs with the addition of this competitive landscape grant program.

This grant program offers incentives up to $20,000 for water-efficient landscaping. Since 2005, over $350,000 has been awarded to home-owners, apartment owners, businesses and schools.

The Green Building Resource Center's Professional Development Series

The purpose of these Series is to provide an in depth and hands-on education experience for builders and contractors on how to "green-up" their projects.

For the first round of this series, Orit Yanai, a professional color consultant, will be teaching on applying eco-friendly materials, such as American Clay and Zero-VOC paints, for coatings and interiors.

Date: Wednesday 1/22
Time: 9AM-12PM
Location: Global Green USA
2218 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA 90405
This event is free of charge.
RSVP is REQUIRED. Space is limited to 25 people.
Please make your reservation by phone - 310.452.7677 or by email - gbrc@globalgreen.org.

Connecting people in Santa Monica and growing sustainability.

Join today and help us grow this community resource!