Mission: The Valley Women’s Club is dedicated to community action, awareness and leadership in environmental, educational, social, and political concerns that affect the health and welfare of the San Lorenzo Valley and our community.
Mission: The Valley Women’s Club is dedicated to community action, awareness and leadership in environmental, educational, social, and political concerns that affect the health and welfare of the San Lorenzo Valley and our community.
Environmental CommitteeThe Environmental Committee works to protect the watershed and to educate the public on forestry issues, erosion control, hazardous waste, recycling and other issues. We also monitor government policies and procedures. Events Roadside Cleanup, Highways 9 and 236: Quarterly ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS Summer 2009
Our State Assembly Member, Bill Monning, elected last November to represent San Lorenzo Valley, Scotts Valley and Santa Cruz, will be the featured guest in a discussion with the public about environmental concerns in and beyond the San Lorenzo River Watershed. Everyone in the district is invited to come to this free event, on Saturday, August 22, 1pm at Felton Community Hall. Assembly Member Monning will meet local residents and then give a presentation about important bills affecting our local environment that are going through the Legislature or have recently passed or failed. He will finish with a question and answer period. We want him to know our concerns about the San Lorenzo River, source of local drinking water, as well as our forest heritage, our beaches and oceans and the importance of our best stewardship of these resources. Issues include pending bills on county open space, expanding recycling responsibilities of product manufacturers, the threat of state park closures, local watershed impacts from revised forestry regulations, funding for environmental agencies, and impacts on local environmental agencies as a result of State budget reductions. There will be displays highlighting the San Lorenzo Watershed and lots of free information on environmental issues and local environmental organizations. Refreshment served. Come visit San Lorenzo Valley and meet Bill Monning! When: Saturday, August 22, 2009
Water Board Considers Water Supply Master Plan At the May 21 SLVWD Board Meeting, Nicholas M. Johnson PhD, Water Resources Consultant, presented an extensive report on past consumption and future production potential toward the implementation of a Water Supply Master Plan, according to Felton FLOW volunteer, Connie Barr, who attended the meeting. The in-depth report did the following: Evaluated the production potential of its available water resources defined by climate, watershed hydrology, aquifer hydrology, water quality, water rights, and infrastructure (i.e., water collection, treatment, storage, and conveyance). Demonstrated alternatives for sustainably supplying monthly water demand projected for 2030 and a repeat of the 1984-2008 climatic cycles. * On the basis of this analysis, he recommends: Technically supported subsequent District efforts regarding, environmental assessment, and project implementation. The report took two hours of presentation at this meeting of the Board. The entire report, including supporting maps and charts will be available on the District’s website. VWC Has Special EARTH DAY Booth What a special day the April 18th Earth Day festival down in Santa Cruz was. Environmental Committee leader, Carol Carson, had a vision of what it could be and it was perfect! And fun, and productive, and very special... Our booth was really one of the best -- Carol invited Central Coast Wilds, a wonderful native plants nursery off Hwy 9 in Santa Cruz, to bring plants to sell -- and they brought a wonderful selection of plants that made our booth really enticing and attractive. (Click here to view a .pdf of native plants). Gabriel and Shaleah (apologies if I’m spelling her name wrong), and later owner, Josh, were so knowledgeable and friendly, and people wanted to know so much! They were very busy. They had landscaping guides for grass/meadow areas, under the Redwoods, and others -- their brochures are lovely and full of information too. Our big sign urged people to “Save the Earth” Plant a Native! (We received 20% of their sales too! -- really generous people.) They are ecological consultants and can solve a lot of problems and bring beauty to your lives too. We had an information table with Kate Stafford’s attractive information display on water conservation (one of the series funded by our State Fish & Game grant), with her own beautiful photos of farms and gardens, drawing people inside the booth. Two people were excited to join our efforts in the SLV and many others took brochures and videos (Don Alley’s on Salmonids and Citizens for Forest Management’s on the Coastal Redwoods) and walked away better informed. AND....there was music! Stephanie Sakasai and Mark Becker started the day with songs and guitar, and others came as the day progressed, bringing more interest to our booth. And they are really GOOD! (They performed at the Hammer-Marcum Award Celebration too.) Mary Jo Walker came early to help set-up and stayed many hours to help staff the booth. Carol came at noon (with our doggie mascot, “Bucky”), and was the one responsible for our two new members, and Sean Wharton came to help a while later. Kevin Collins helped get the Sierra Club booth going and came by to visit, along with many other VWC members and Earth Day celebrants. KUDOS to Ana Maria Rebelo (the County’s Public Education Program Coordinator) and Ecology Action, for organizing the best Earth Day event ever! Gabriel Carraher
Large signs over public drinking fountains in San Francisco tout the quality of its tap water, urging people to STOP using bottled water. Our water is of high quality too, but if you don’t want the chlorine, a simple, inexpensive water filter will take care of that, AT A FAR LOWER COST THAN BUYING ANY FORM OF BOTTLED WATER. The cost is not just financial for bottled water...it is a horrific cost environmentally, from extracting the oil to make the bottles to the frightening problem of the waste they create. It is an equally horrific cost to one’s health due to the chemicals leaching into the water (or soda, or tea, or...). If you need convincing, or know someone who does, check THIS out!
This is no surprise, but we need to remind ourselves constantly of the effects of Nonpoint Source Pollution. The Surfrider Foundation tells us, “Runoff from residential landscapes affects the quality of our oceans and the quality of our lives. The sediment in water reduces clarity; nutrients increase algae populations and red tides; bacteria close beaches and sicken wildlife; debris can choke and suffocate aquatic species; and pesticides picked up off a landscape can poison fish consumed by humans -- all of which degrade the natural beauty, and our enjoyment, of the ocean. The good news is that you can help bring back healthy coasts and oceans though CPR -- Conservation, Permeability and Retention. It’s a way for all of us to design and maintain our gardens so that we can reduce urban runoff -- and the pollutants that go with it.” - excerpt from Surfrider Foundation’s Ocean Friendly Garden web site section, http://www.surfrider.org/ofg.asp. QUICK THOUGHTS on Environmental Issues Film Online on True “Costs of Good” Don’t miss this … A terrific film, made by a former Greenpeace activist on the facts about the true cost of goods to the environment, consumer, and society, with suggestions for how we can change. Go to http://www.storyofstuff.com Awesome Article on Women Making a Difference for the Environment This is an excellent website featuring some remarkable stories about some amazing women. Enjoy! http://www.nwhp.org/whm/honorees.php
An active environmental blogger, Ronnie Citron Frank, gave some hard facts on using trees to wipe our faces and blow our noses. “According to the EPA, the U.S. generates approximately 3,430,000 tons of tissue, napkins and paper towels of waste. That’s a lot of trees…all non-recyclable.” So consider cloth napkins for the following reasons: • Cloth napkins can be used and reused over and over again. Want to save some trees? What you need: What to do: 2. Lay the shirt flat and cut a square piece of the shirt. 3. For a no-sew fringe edge, pull the threads off evenly on each side. Or, with a sewing machine, hem stitch the four sides. 4. Iron. (Place mats can be made using the same method.) Timber Harvest Legislation Would Severely Reduce Environmental Oversight A Southern California Assembly Member, whose District does not have any forest lands, has introduced legislation (AB 1066-Mendoza) to extend the ability to renew a Timber Harvest Plan (THP) without review. The VWC joined the Lompico Watershed Conservancy and the Sierra Club in speaking out against this legislation. Each Timber Harvest Plan (THP) costs the State of California’s Department of Forestry many thousands of dollars - not to mention the costs to the Department of Fish and Game and local water districts and county agencies in dealing with the THP’s -- and there is no fee assessed to file a Plan! This is a direct and unfair subsidy of a large industry. Supporters of AB 1066 are claiming that extending the life of a THP will save the State money by reducing the costs of administering the Plan. This is a farce when the State should not be bearing the burden of reviewing the plan and enforcing the (already too weak) environmental standards and oversight in the first place. The entire Coast of California will suffer severely from reduced oversight and we are sure the Sierras and other harvested areas will be deeply, adversely affected. The end result of this bill will be to expand the negative impacts of timber harvest while reducing oversight of those harvests. We hope to see it defeated. Smoke Detectors ARE Radioactive Smoke detectors save lives and are a vital tool in every home and business. However, when being disposed of they MUST be taken to Household Hazardous Waste (Ben Lomond Transfer Station), Thursdays or Sundays, 7:30-3:30, for free disposal. Manufacturers are responsible for the tiny amounts of material. Why is it radioactive? Read on. SMOKE DETECTORS… The detector's manufacturer is required by law to properly dispose of the radioactive bits (http://earth911.com/hazardous/smoke-detectors/tips-for-properly-disposing-of-smoke-detectors/), so if your local hazmat folks refuse to deal, pop it in the mail. The manufacturer's address should be on the detector itself or enclosed with the instructions/warranty. What if you are a normal person and disposed of the instructions/warranty? I read on the Internet that most detectors are branded First Alert or American Sensors, so I say look 'em up and ship it on -- you can find out more here (http://www.nadi.com/). Read on if you wish to learn more about the strange presence of radioactive material in this household appliance. The radioactive isotope is americium-241, a synthetic element related to plutonium production. Inside a smoke detector are two metal plates, one with a negative charge and the other a positive charge. The alpha particles emitted from the americium move about between the plates. They knock a few electrons off the oxygen and nitrogen in the air between the plates, creating positively charged atoms and free electrons. This results in an electrical current constantly going between the plates. If a fire starts and the smoke reaches the detector, the smoke attaches itself to the charged ions and interrupts the electrical charge. This interruption triggers the incredibly annoying -- but lifesaving -- alarm. There are photosensitive smoke detectors that do not contain radioactive bits, but these apparently only excel with very smoldery fires, not flamey fires. Americium lasts a long time (see next paragraph), the alpha particles are easily blocked by the armature of the smoke detector, and this type of detector is quite sensitive to smoke -- all of which are positive. Apparently the americium does the best job, and farther than that Umbra's Science-O-Matic could not delve. Americium-241 is not only in smoke detectors. It is a byproduct of nuclear weapons detonation, with a half-life of 432.7 years -- well, I think the EPA's strangely disturbing attempt to reassure the public should be inserted here. "Because americium-241 was widely dispersed globally during the testing of nuclear weapons, only very minute amounts of it are found in the soil, plants, and water." We are estimated to be environmentally exposed to about one millirem per year of general radiation from nuclear testing. On the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Personal Radiation Dose Calculator, a smoke detector accounts for 0.008 mrem of exposure. Smoke detectors do not threaten our health in our homes. The weak alpha rays disperse within a few inches of air or are blocked by other parts of the detector itself. Still: Do not dissect your smoke detector. Do not burn it. Do not eat it. And while technically you are allowed to throw it in the trash, according to the NRC, it would be far better if you sent it off with the hazmat folks or back to the manufacturer. We'd rather not have it in a landfill or incinerator. I mean, I wouldn't. No matter how interesting it is to learn about americium-241. (Courtesy of Umbra Fisk of GRIST) |
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Bill Monning Meets the Public in San Lorenzo Valley 
