3rd Annual Sustainable Santa Monica Student Poster Contest 

The City of Santa Monica's Office of Sustainability & the Environment, Santa Monica Farmers Market, Big Blue Bus and Sustainable Works announce this year's theme:

Sustainable Food

**Check for Student Poster Making Booths at your local Saturday Pico Farmers Market and Sunday Main Street Farmers Market in March and April.

**For questions or to arrange to get 11 x 17 poster making paper for your class, contact Samantha Sommer or call 310.458.8716 x 3

**Teachers in Santa Monica that reach 100% poster submission participation in their class will receive a prize!

RULES AND GUIDELINES:
· Poster dimensions MUST be 11"x17" and HORIZONTAL
· Include your Name, School, Grade, Teacher's Name and Email, HOME Mailing Address, Phone Number and Email on the back of your poster submission
· All submissions due FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2011 by 5pm
· Only original artwork will be accepted for hand drawn or computer generated posters
· Only one poster submission per student
· Open to all K-12 aged students who live or attend school in Santa Monica
· K-8 posters must be hand drawn
· High School (grades 9 - 12) students may hand draw their poster or create a digital poster using Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Photoshop
· All entries will be become property of the City of Santa Monica, which will hold publication rights for the winning entries. Entries may not be returned.

 AWARDS
Grand Prize Winners will have their poster art displayed on the outside of the Big Blue Bus in the king size ad space and Runner-up Winners will have their poster art displayed on the interior of the Big Blue Bus both for a period of one month!!

All winners will receive a certificate and additional Sustainable Food themed PRIZES during the awards ceremony in May. Their artwork will be displayed on the Big Blue Buses for a month, at City events and at the Santa Monica Farmers Market. Winning posters will be featured on the contest partners' websites and be published in local media outlets and press releases.

SUBMISSION:
Art may be submitted by postal mail or through an arranged pick-up. A pick-up can be scheduled for locations submitting multiple pieces of art. Include your Name, School, Grade, Teacher's Name and Email, HOME Mailing Address, Phone Number and Email on the back of your poster submission!

BY MAIL, SEND TO:
Sustainable Works
Samantha Sommer, 2011 Poster Contest
1744 Pearl Street
Santa Monica CA 90405

TO ARRANGE PICK-UP:
Schools or teachers collecting multiple entries may schedule a pick up by emailing Samantha Sommer, samantha.sommer@sustainableworks.org, or by calling 310.458.8716 x 3.
*Please include "Poster Pick Up" in subject line for emails.

SELECTION:
The Selection Committee will determine a series of winning entries in (4) categories: K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12, including (1) Grand Prize winner and (2) Runners-up from each category. Entries will be judged on originality, creativity of ideas and artistic expression as it demonstrates the theme of this year's contest. The Selection Committee will include Santa Monica artists, designers, and sustainability experts.

                                          Share a Bag Program

Creating an exchange for durable reusable bags in the community. Secondhand shops and all residents are invited to join with the City in our efforts to get reusable bags in use in the community. It's fun to share!  

Reusable Bag Giveaway Events

Pick-up your free, sturdy, reusable bag, sewn from reclaimed cloth for the City of Santa Monica by Green Vets LA.

·March 6th, Sunday, 1:00pm - 5:30pm, Unity Resource Festival, Virginia Avenue Park, 2200 Virginia Avenue MAP

·March 19th, Saturday, 11:00am - 4:00pm, Buy Local Expo, 3rd Street Promenade (between Wilshire and Arizona) MAP

·March 21st, Monday, 12 Noon - 1:00pm, St. John's Hospital, 2121 Santa Monica Boulevard, Cafeteria MAP 

Sustainable Works 2nd Annual House Party Fundraiser

See a pothole that needs filling? Graffiti making a mess of your neighborhood? Tap right into your city and report the issue fast with GORequest for the iPhone! Just open the app, select your issue, and take a picture - the app knows the location and who can fix it for you. No more time-consuming trips or phone calls - GORequest for the iPhone handles your issues when you're on the go!

GORequest for the iPhone is ready to help right now in your city.
  ...More

Government Outreach Web SiteGORequest Support

What's New in Version 1.1

- Automatic city selection
- Optionally remember issue type for subsequent issues
- Address look-up only if GPS accuracy is high enough

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gorequest/id351223716?mt=8

Big Cash Rebates Available for Sustainable Landscapes

Big Blue Bus Community Meetings- YOU ARE INVITED!

Green Living Workshop

Thursday, March 10, 2011 - April 14, 2011 

7:00 PM - 8:30 PM

Global Green USA MAP
 

Monday, March 21, 2011- May 2, 2011

7:00 PM- 8:30 PM

Heal the Bay MAP

Tuesday, March 22, 2011 - May 3, 2011

7:00 PM - 8:30 PM

Montana Ave. Public Library MAP

5th Annual Unity Resource Festival

35th Annual Home Show

The 35th Annual Los Angeles Home Show debuts at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium Saturday and Sunday, March 5-6.

The mayor and city dignitaries will cut the opening ribbon Saturday at 10 a.m.

Special feature on Green Energy Products, do-it-yourself workshops, Farmer's Market chefs, gardening and Feng Shui professionals, world of kitchens, dream backyard, gourmet food trucks, Red Cross emergency preparedness kits, celebrity appearances and thousands of products and services for the home.  

 Event Details
When/Time: Saturday, March 5 from 10am - 8 p.m. and Sunday, March 6 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 
Where: 1855 Main Street, Santa Monica

Artists for the Arts Foundation Event

2011 Sustainable Landscape Design Series for Professionals

Green Business Networking Event

Rainwater Harvesting FREE Seminar

Paper Shredding & Electronics Recycling Event

Spring 2011 SMC Environmental & Urban Issues Lecture Series

All programs start at 6:30pm on Tuesday nights at the Bundy Campus room 123 and last at least one hour, plus a question and answer session. Limited seats may be available...seating is strictly on a first-arrival basis.

March 15: Santa Monica College Drives Toward Sustainability

Learn about the many campus groups and individuals working to make SMC a role model. From Club Grow to Eco Action and from education to transportation, we are becoming more sustainable and a better neighbor.

May 3: Why Your Next Car Will Be an EV

Our local electric vehicle expert and celebrity Paul Scott returns. He will update us on the latest electric vehicle technology and development and share his views through his window into our transportation future.

May 24: Green Screens are Growing

Join our environmental films expert and filmmaker Professor Sheila Laffey, PhD, as she explores the wealth of exciting new films that are challenging and transforming the film industry and our culture to become more sustainable. 

Tree Hugging Event

A public "Tree Hugging and Tree Hugger Event" will kickoff the weekend on Friday, March 18, 2011 from 6- 7pm in the Santa Monica Palisades Park at the Children's Tree of Life located at Ocean Ave and Colorado Ave, just north of the gateway to the Santa Monica Pier.

For further information, call 310.399.1000 or email TreeHuggingDay@earthlink.net

Visit the website at www.TreeHuggingDay.com

                                             Buy Local Expo

  When: Saturday, March 19, 2011

Time: 11 am- 4 pm

Location: 3rd Street Promenade MAP

Cost: FREE

Questions: contact the Chamber's Events & Marketing team at (310) 393-9825 x14 or events@smchamber.com 

Green Garden Academy

Alicia Silverstone Presents "The Kind Diet"

When: Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Time: 7:00pm

Location: Santa Monica Main Library, MLK JR. AUDITORIUM

In The Kind Diet, actress, activist, and conservationist Alicia Silverstone shares the insights that encouraged her to swear off meat and dairy forever, and outlines the benefits of adopting a plant-based diet. A book sale and signing will follow.
 

Open House at the Solar Santa Monica Office!

Join us in celebrating the Solar Champions of Santa Monica!!

When: Thursday, March 24th

Time: 5:30pm-7:30pm

Location: 1212 5th St., Santa Monica 90401 MAP  

 
Solar Santa Monica's Advisory Board proudly salutes the City's over 300 separate solar installations on homes and businesses - systems that produce almost 1% of the City's power needs!
 
At the event will be the individual visionaries who stood behind their projects until they were successfully completed. Meet the Champions, Preferred Contractors, City Council members, and members of the Solar Santa Monica Advisory Council and staff. Enjoy refreshments and hors d'oeuvres. 

 
More information at http://solarsantamonica.com/news.html 
 
Please RSVP to Drew Lowell-Britt via email at dlowell-britt@ecomotion.us 

Santa Monica Achieves Landmark Sustainability Milestone with Opening of Water Treatment Plant

· Santa Monica successfully cleans up MTBE pollution.

· Puts high-tech water treatment plant on-line and is reaching 70% water self-sufficiency

 
· City plans on reaching 100% by 2020
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (February 24, 2011) City leaders and environmentalists celebrate the dedication of the Charnock water wells and the state-of-the-art renovation of the Santa Monica Water Treatment Plant. This important milestone marks the full restoration of the City's local groundwater, and the reduction of the use of expensive imported water from northern California and the Colorado River. It secures a sustainable supply of locally produced water for future generations, and opens the door to "100% by 2020." 

Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom said, "We were among the first victims of MtBE pollution and will now set the standard for MtBE clean up. We have proven that success can be wrestled out of even the worst of environmental disasters." 

The Charnock well fields, which in 1996 supplied 50% of Santa Monica's drinking water, were shut down for the last 15 years due to contamination with Methyl-tertiary Butyl Ether or MtBE, a gasoline additive, which leaked from gas stations in the area. Through the City's efforts MtBE is now banned. With the wells back online, Santa Monica can now produce about 70 percent of the water it needs on a typical day. The rest is purchased from the Metropolitan Water District, which gets its supplies from Northern California and the Colorado River. By the year 2020 the City hopes to be 100% self sufficient in supplying its own water. 

More than 150 people attended the Dedication Ceremony held at the Santa Monica Water Treatment Plant. Santa Monica officials: Mayor and Council, City Manager, public works department, water resources engineers and guests were exhilarated to take a close look at the completed project. Those at the podium, Mayor Richard Bloom and City Manager Rod Gould, guided attendees through the restoration process and honored those who were so instrumental in making it happen. 

The heart of the clean up and filtration system lies in a granulated activated carbon and then a three-stage Reserve Osmosis (RO) membrane system, which softens the water by removing minerals (calcium and magnesium). RO uses pressure to force water through membranes with pores so small the minerals can't pass through. The final step, aeration and storage, uses the existing air stripping technology in the five million gallon reservoir to remove any remaining volatile groundwater contaminants. Settlements with oil companies paid for the clean up.
Santa Monica Water Treatment Process: Pretreatment > Reverse Osmosis Filtrations > Water Quality Adjustments > Aeration and Storage > Final Delivery 

Rod Gould, City Manager, City of Santa Monica, explained that "Water has been an important part of Santa Monica's history. The Charnock Well Field had been used as a drinking-water source since 1924. That precious supply was threatened in 1996 when MtBE was discovered in the City's ground water. Overcoming the contamination and renovating the Water Treatment Plant was an immense endeavor. But by 2006, Santa Monica reached an agreement with all major oil companies responsible for the MTBE contamination, allowing the City to restore the Charnock Well Field so that it could once again be a viable drinking water source." 

The Santa Monica Water Treatment Plant treats water from three City groundwater well fields - Charnock, Olympic and Arcadia - to provide 8½ million gallons of drinking water each day to its 89,000 residents. With the Plant upgrade to state-of-the-art technology the City is ensured of additional water quality benefits and added protection against potential pollution in the future. 

Gil Borboa, Water Resources Manager, explains further, "It's been a long journey to get here, and we're thrilled to have all of our groundwater resources available to us once again. We're very proud of having accomplished this by working very hard to ensure that every penny of the cost to build the treatment facilities was paid by the polluters, and not by the rate payers of Santa Monica" 

An heroic victory all around, environmentalist Dr. Mark Gold, chair of the City Hall's Task Force on the Environment and President of Heal the Bay described the City's perseverance, "Today's dedication is the culmination of Santa Monica's Herculean efforts to restore a reliable, sustainable water supply to the city. The City stood up to the oil industry to restore our precious groundwater resources, and their leadership means we don't need to rely on imported water from the ecologically degraded delta."

About Santa Monica Water Treatment Plant
The water treated at the Santa Monica Water Treatment Plant undergoes constant, rigorous testing at the well field and the Treatment Plant by plant operators and staff of the City's Water Quality Laboratory. Santa Monica has a perfect compliance record in regards to water quality. For more information about the new treatment facilities, please call the Water Treatment Plant staff at (310) 826-6712 and/or http://waterquality.smgov.net   

Big Blue Bus Announces

 Over 29,000 lbs of Food Donated During 15th Annual Food Drive

 The numbers are in and show, once again, the generosity of the city's employees and the public when it comes to helping local families in need.  The Big Blue Bus, which spearheaded the 15th annual food drive competition between city departments, announced today that a total of 29,001 pounds of food was collected during the latest drive. The food will be distributed to families in need throughout Santa Monica and the Westside.

New to this year's campaign was the ability of the public to donate food at special bins placed around town, or via cash contributions through a special online donation center set up by the American Red Cross in Santa Monica. All donations benefited the American Red Cross, which distributes food to agencies around L.A. County, including the Westside Food Bank.

The winning Santa Monica city departments and their donations were:

Small Department:        City Attorney's Office - 8,500 pounds of food

Medium Department:    Library - 5,953 pounds of food

Large Department:       Big Blue Bus - 2,859 pounds of food

City employees donated $4,312 in cash contributions, and online donations to the Red Cross came in at $885, which when totaled are equivalent to 25,985 pounds of food. Together with the 3,016 pounds collected from the food bins around town, the grand total was 29,001 pounds of food donated, which will go directly to local families.

Recipients of the American Red Cross of Santa Monica include the Westside Food Bank, which feeds more than 70,000 people each year; WISE Senior services, which operates local senior centers in the area; and Meals on Wheels, offering mobile food service for local senior citizens.

The annual food drive ran from November 26 to January 10.

For more information about the Big Blue Bus, visit

www.BigBlueBus.com

. To learn more about the American Red Cross and its services, visit

www.redcrossofsantamonica.org

. For media inquires, please contact Francine Pares at 949-481-7559 or

fpares@intelibrand.com

.

Introducing Buy Local Market

Buy Local Santa Monica, the Chamber of Commerce, and your local business districts are excited to bring you BuyLocalMarket.com, a one-stop-shop for everything Santa Monica!

 BuyLocalMarket.com is Santa Monica's own discount platform.  We want to capture the tremendous interest generated by "daily-deal" sites like Groupon and Living Social, and direct it back to local businesses.  Buy Local Market empowers you, the business owner, to create your own deals.  You choose the products, the discounts, the expiration dates, and more and we help market the site as a whole.

When: Wednesday April 27, 2011

 Time: 11am - 2pm
 

Santa Monica's annual celebration of sustainable business leadership takes place at the Sheraton Delfina Santa Monica Hotel

For sixteen years the Chamber of Commerce, City of Santa Monica and Sustainable Works have honored local organizations that make extraordinary contributions to our community with the Sustainable Quality Awards.

www.smsqa.com

SAVE THE DATE-- City of Santa Monica Green Building Tour

After sending all your green to Uncle Sam, come see how some local building projects were able to save green by going green.  As an appetizer to the Altbuild Expo (www.altbuildexpo.com) the City of Santa Monica is hosting a Green Building Tour on Saturday April 16th.  This annual open house will showcase several green projects around the Westside.  Come see and learn how these projects went green and then mark your calendars for Altbuild on May 6th and 7th to come back and hear more from the experts about the latest in green products and programs. Sign up to receive details about this event by emailing brenden.mceneaney@smgov.net.  

SAVE THE DATE-- AltBuild Expo and Conference 2011

WHAT: The Eighth Annual AltBuild Expo and Conference Presented by the City of Santa Monica-the largest and most-respected green design and building expo in Southern California for both professionals and public.

WHO: Over 150 hand-picked exhibitors featuring the world's best in green building and design materials; energy efficiency techniques and technologies; alternative energy; water conservation and management; environmental plumbing; municipal and state agencies, and non-profit organizations.  

WHEN:  Friday and Saturday, May 6th and 7th, 2011; 10AM - 5PM daily 

WHERE: Santa Monica Civic Auditorium 1855 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401

WHY: The time for Altbuild is now more than ever; the nation and California in particular is enjoying unprecedented rebates and financial incentives for both builders and homeowner to design, retrofit, and add on green.   AltBuild provides the best opportunity of the year for professionals--designers, architects and the building trades-and the public alike to explore everything that's new and on the horizon in green building, design and operational practices.   The event features public demonstrations, accredited educational programming for professionals, and small group discussions led by area green building experts. Each offers best practices and practical knowledge of green building from a pocketbook, design and carbon footprint perspective. 

WHAT ELSE: The Eighth Annual City of Santa Monica AltBuild Expo is the largest green building expo in Southern California. The Expo is free and open to the public and features free bike valet parking; automobile parking is $9.  

www.altbuildexpo.com