As everyone who reads the news or watches TV knows, California’s budget process has been a disaster. This is not too surprising considering the state of the economy, the fact that it takes a two-thirds majority to pass the budget, and the inability of the Democrats and Republicans to work together on anything. But what was surprising was that a recent transportation lawsuit won by Sacramento neighborhood and environmental groups was unexpectedly caught up in the middle of it. In June of 2007, Neighbors Advocating Sustainable Transportation (a coalition of Sacramento neighborhood and community groups, and the Environmental Council of Sacramento (ECOS)) filed a lawsuit over Caltrans’ inadeq

Sacramento is a city with limited transit options and lots of freeways, a city at the absolute downstream end of freeway rivers flooded with vehicles. Light rail only serves some portions of the city, and farther out along the light rail lines, many neighborhoods are not connected to stations, forcing residents to drive downtown.   Buses are few and far between. There aren’t enough bicycle routes. Pedestrians take their lives in their hands when they cross the street, even if crossing on a green light with a walk sign. Freeways and streets grow more congested every year and, at least in the Central City, parking grows ever more expensive and difficult to find.   Air pollution is getting

On Thursday night, Sacramento residents will gather to celebrate a new brand of "localism". Increasingly, Sacramentans are redefining it's traditionally negative conotations of narrow-mindedness and stubbornness. Instead, "Sacramento localism" is about efforts to build a healthier, more sustainable community, including reducing pesticide use and increasing food security. Thursday's event, entitled “Organic Sounds,” will highlight two local efforts that are setting precedent for the entire state: the Pesticide-Free Sacramento and the soon-to-be-launched EAT (Environment and Agriculture Taskforce) Sacramento projects. Sacramento City Councilman Rob Fong and Chef Michael Tuohy of the Grange

On January 15th, during a technical workshop that was poorly attended by the public and local media, the Sacramento City Council voted on a proposal that could wind up affecting the citizens of Sacramento for many years to come. The Council voted to table the City’s yearlong effort to replace the costly and environmentally detrimental practice of trucking Sacramento’s non-recyclable municipal solid waste (MSW) over the mountains to a landfill east of Reno, Nevada with a sustainable, less costly and more environmentally friendly waste-to-energy (WTE) approach. Our Sacramento-based company, U.S. Science & Technology, submitted a proposal that was ultimately selected from among 11 responses

Construction on the new central plant in downtown Sacramento, one of the biggest public works projects in the state, may halt next week if the budget crisis is not resolved. The stoppage of construction could idle as many as 300 construction workers, and delay the completion of the plant, which is currently scheduled to begin operation in May of this year. When finished, the building would be one of the few LEED Gold certified buildings in the country. J.B. Hall, foreman for contractor Skanska USA Building, Inc., acknowledged that his workers could be idled as soon as next week, but he couldn’t go into any detail. Several workers on the site were well aware that things could stop on a jo

There have been emails going around for perhaps as many as nine years in which dog owners are urged to beware of cocoa mulch and dog poisoning. A link to a website on urban legends in usually included for reference. Those who forward the message are rightfully concerned but looking a little deeper we find that while caution is indicated; panic is not. In 2007, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center (APCC) handled 26 cases of cocoa bean mulch ingestion—a third originating in California. “Dogs are attracted to the fertilizer’s sweet smell,” says Dr. Steven Hansen, ASPCA Veterinary Toxicologist and APCC Director, “but like chocolate, cocoa bean mulch can be too much for our canine companions

The Sacramento Bike Kitchen (SBK) has been open for a week and the buzz is all over town. A DIY bike workshop that spreads bike culture with its unique approach to getting 'er done. Volunteers help YOU know your bike by showing you how to fix and maintain it. The result is that you are much more at cause over your 2 wheeled friend NOT the effect. Your affinity skyrockets for all things bicycling and simply cannot go anywhere unless it's on a bike. Well alright thats a little over the top but I hope you get my point. At the kitchen we have a theory that most entry level bicyclists have had their hearts broken with the box store variety of bicycles that are not long for the dumpster. Poorly

In no particular order here are ten green benchmarks in Sacramento during 2008: The City Council voted in August to allocate $650,000 to count trees in the city as well as to gauge the health of our conifers. TV's CBS 13 assigned an "outrage alert" to the move inferring it was misuse of precious funds. Mayoral candidate (now Mayor) Kevin Johnson echoed similar sentiment. BTW a tree limb did fall on a campaign party in June for then-incumbent mayor Heather Fargo causing some injuries. Sacramento lost its only progressive talk commercial radio station in June as Talk City 1240 became Rejoice 1240 KRJY with a format known as hip-hop gospel. This reporter read some of the newscasts for a tim

Every year after Christmas until the first of the year arrives, neighbors all over town take their Christmas trees down and put them out on their front curbs. Yesterday I saw many lonely trees that were no longer useful. What should happen to these trees that we spend years growing, just to be chopped down, put in a warm home for less than a month, and finally, kicked to the curb. Apparently, when put out on your curb, these trees are added to the landfills like any other trash. I have been researching and have discovered some solutions on how to put these trees to good use yet again. According to the county of Sacramento, Waste Management and Recycling, on December 27 and January 3 onl

Do you love trees? Do you want to volunteer to improve your neighborhood's tree canopy? You can play a key role in helping the Sacramento Tree Foundation educate neighbors about the multiple benefits of trees, tree planting, pruning basics, and tree care. Learn how increasing the urban tree canopy can improve our built environment, health and save energy. Join a series of classes to learn tree care, pruning, planting techniques and more from area professionals in a weekly series of hands on class activities, discussion and field trips presented by the Sacramento Tree Foundation’s new LEAF (Leading Education Awareness in Urban Forestry) Program. New classes start for 8 weeks on Tuesday eve

My first shopping trip to Safeway with a reusable shopping bag of my own proved to be very successful. I finally used my Sacramento Press grocery bag to get a few necessities and was pleasantly surprised by how much I could fit into it.  Exactly how much did I fit into the bag, you ask? Let me count the groceries:  3 boxes of cereal A half gallon of milk 4 frozen dinners 3 bags of frozen vegetables 9 yogurts 2 packages of cheese 1 loaf of bread 1 package of tortillas 5 cans of soup    The Safeway bagger made it all fit perfectly. While it was heavy I was happy to be only carrying one bag and more importantly knowing that bag was not plastic.  If I had a family of five to fee

In 2007, the City of Sacramento generated an average of 750 tons/day of solid waste. About 348 tons/day (46%) of this was recycled, leaving 402 tons/day to be trucked across the Sierra Nevada mountains and buried in the desert at the Lockwood Regional Landfill in Sparks, Nevada. The City, consistent with its sustainability initiative, has been exploring more environmentally sound alternatives for the unrecycled portion of the waste, including the prospect of converting it into energy and other useful products. On August 24, 2007, the City issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to attract a development partner to build, own, and operate a resource recovery and waste-to-energy facility in

Each night, two dozen diesel trucks are loaded up with Sacramento's trash and sent on a journey to the Lockwood Landfill located in the Nevada desert. The trek is a whopping 282 miles round-trip, which is a huge expense for vehicles that only get five to seven miles per gallon. Wondering if there will ever be an alternative to dumping endless piles of waste in landfills? Recently, Sacramento has been debating whether to jump on the bandwagon. In August 2007, the idea was proposed to create a "waste-to-energy" facility. This got the gears moving, and in February 2008, Sacramento granted exclusive negotiation rights to U.S. Science and Technology. The technology is called Plasma Gasificat

In my previous story, The Docks' DEIR: part I (which you can find by clicking the "storyline" tab), I summarized the possible harmful impacts that the Docks Plan could have on the environment. The last article was all about aesthetics, light and glare, air quality, and biological resources. In this article, I am going to discuss three more areas of environmental interest: cultural and historic resources, hazards and hazardous substances, and hydrology and water quality. "Cultural and Historic Resources" is the fourth topic of chapter five. It basically deals with any artifacts, sites, objects, etc., that are either at least 50 years old or have sacred or religious meaning. The main issue

Every year for 36 years, ECOS has presented the “Environmentalists of the Year Awards.” This year is the first year that they have turned the awards ceremony into a full-blown celebration with the introduction of their 1st Annual Fall Festival on Saturday, October 25. By creating a celebratory atmosphere, ECOS was hoping to bring more people out to the event as well as encourage people to bring their kids. Family-oriented activities included a crafts table and endangered species face painting. The festival featured two local bands: Schwamigos and Hard Clumpin’ Litter. The music set the tone for a relaxed and joyous occasion. I would characterize both bands as being a bit rock and roll, wi

In my first article for this storyline I discussed several simple steps that individuals can implement to reduce their water consumptions.  To read more about simple conservation tips, please click on the green storyline tab and select the article titled, "The Crisis."  However, in this time of crisis immediate action is a necessary step, so it is also useful to consider the more drastic methods of conservation, such as drought-resistant landscaping. Outdoor residential water use accounts for 21 percent of all urban water use, according to the Pacific Institute, an environmental research group located in the East Bay.  Activities included under this umbrella term of "Residential Outdoor"

So you've heard, or in case you haven't, California is in a drought. Governor Schwarzenegger has declared a State of Emergency for Sacramento County, among others, because water levels are so low. The water year that ended on September 30, 2008, was classified by officials at the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation as "critically dry." In fact, the months of March to September 2008 were the driest on record for the Northern Sierra, which only received 3.5 inches of rainfall, a mere 23 percent of the average. Also, the major state reservoirs are only holding about 1/3 of their capacity when a normal year would fill them to about 2/3 of capacity. Most significant for Sacramento residents, the Sacra