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by Gary Hedden GreenTown had a great September bike ride to see the sights of Historic Los Altos. Bike group at the museum There were a couple of firsts this year – a pedicab with three happy riders and a young lad happily riding a scooter, not a bike! Three happy pedicab riders We had several homeowners come out and give us tours of their properties. We saw the Magic Murals Home up close and personal, trains at the Bleibler House, chickens and bees at the Dracena Lane Cottage and a beautifully restored carriage house at the Denny House. It was a very personal experience to see the homes and hear the stories first hand from the owners’ perspective. Looking at the Magic Murals Looking for bees We’ll be back next year – and we might just add a few more things.

Los Altos Has Been Busy Roundup, a widely used glyphosate herbicide. Source: Flickr Several communities in our area have, or are considering, banning harmful herbicides and pesticides. Here in Los Altos, the Los Altos Parks and Recreation Commission, at its August meeting, recommended a ban in city parks on all synthetic herbicides (including glyphosate-containing Roundup) and pesticides in a vote of 6-1. The Environmental Commission was then asked by the Parks Commission to weigh in on expanding the proposed ban Citywide. A ban on herbicides like Roundup may result in negative aesthetic impacts — such as a few more weeds and landscape maintenance costs are likely to increase somewhat since alternatives, like pulling weeds by hand, tend to be more labor intensive. Still, a few more weeds never hurt anyone and we can’t say the same for glyphosate! LASD is Out Ahead Thank you LASD! Sign sighted at a school campus. Source: Jill Woodford. This year, based on the experience of several communities in Colorado and Southern California, Los Altos School District (LASD) converted to using a steam contraption to keep the weeds at bay. So far so good. A few more weeds perhaps, but signage helps alert the neighbors that there has been a change. The district’s maintenance staff has even demonstrated their steam machine to City staff. Let Your Opinion Be Heard If you’re concerned about the use of chemical herbicides and pesticides in Los Altos, let the Environmental Commission and City Council know what you think.  Contact Callie Niday (cniday@losaltosca.gov), staff liaison to the Environmental Commission. Let City Council know by emailing council@losaltosca.gov and send a note of gratitude to the Parks and Recreation Commission, via their staff liaison, Donna Legge (dlegge@losaltosca.gov). And as always, email us at info@GreenTownLosAtos.org if you have any questions. Sample Letter Los Altos resident and GreenTown volunteer, Jill Woodford, had concerns and here’s what she said (note this has been modified slightly for length): Hello Ms. Niday, Los Altos City Council, and the Environmental Commission – I am writing to urge the City Council to pass an ordinance banning glyphosate-containing herbicides from use in all Los Altos City Parks and public spaces. It is clear from mounting evidence that it is harmful to people and animals. The chemical should only be allowed in special circumstances where several other less toxic methods have been tried, and have failed. The specifics of the policy would be outlined in a detailed pest management policy to remove any ambiguity. San Francisco only allows glyphosate-containing products to be used in special circumstances as it one of only a few chemicals categorized as “most limited” due to health concerns. The City has “[d]ecreased the use of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, within the City by 96% since 2010″. You will find other inspiring facts about their pest management policy here. Berkeley has banned harmful chemical herbicides and pesticides indicating that “The use of chemicals shall be considered as a last resort…Except for the control of a pest which threatens the public health or where hazard and exposure to people, wildlife or the environment is expected to be minimal, any pesticide determined to have evidence of causation of cancer, birth defects, mutations, or other severe chronic health effects is banned from use.” As a resident, parent, and pet owner, I urge you to take a precautionary stance on this issue. Thank you! Jill Woodford

GreenTown’s 45 Volunteers Helped! GreenTown volunteers sorting through collected waste at the Sept. 21 National Coastal Cleanup Day. Source: Linda Ziff As part of National Coastal Cleanup Day on Sept. 21, GreenTown Los Altos organized about 45 volunteers to clean Permanente Creek at Heritage Oaks Park in Los Altos. The event began as cub scouts, girl scouts, teens and adults gathered around the Enviroscape watershed model to learn about sources of water pollution. With eyes wide and hands waving to volunteer, children added pollution to our model. Drops of oil (soy sauce) were placed behind the cars and motor boats. Poop (chocolate sprinkles) was placed next to pets. The lawns got a dose of colored sprinkles, representing pesticides, insecticides, and fertilizers. And then the rain came. Armed with spray bottles of water, the kids made a downpour.  We observed how pollution enters and pollutes the waterways. Poor fish and turtle! Next, everyone donned gloves, grabbed bags, buckets and trash grabbers. We scoured the creek banks for trash.  (We were surprised that there was water in the creek bed, so we kept to the banks.) Some volunteers found a half-buried tire, along with 2 shovels and a rake, which they put to use digging out the tire. It weighed 10 pounds! Everyone brought their finds back to a sorting area where we sorted and weighed each category. We collected over 12 pounds of waste (landfill) and 1 pound of compost. For recycling, we had 4 pounds of  plastic, almost 3 pounds of metal, more than 9 pounds of glass and a pound of paper.  Our more unusual items were the tire, garden tools and a dead skunk in a plastic bag. (Ewwwww!) In Santa Clara County, cleanups are coordinated by Valley Water in September, in conjunction with National Coastal Cleanup Day, and in May, in conjunction with National River Cleanup Day. Since 2011, when GreenTown Los Altos adopted this section of Permanente Creek, we have conducted biannual cleanups. Preliminary reports from Valley Water noted a record-breaking 1946 volunteers cleaning 51.7 miles of waterways throughout the county on Sat. They collected 51, 260 pounds of trash, which includes 4,403 pounds of recyclables. (updated results appear on cleanacreek.org). In addition to educating about and preventing water pollution, one of GreenTown’s goals with creek cleanup is to encourage children to enjoy natural environments. They may play in the park, but usually don’t get near the creek or into the natural landscape. Yesterday, I was delighted to have one little girl tell me, “I had a dream that I fell asleep in a tree.” I asked her how she felt about that, and she responded, “I was soooooo happy!” As I was putting the Enviroscape away, another young person asked “Are we going to do that again?” I told her I was putting it away and asked, “Did you like it?”  She responded,  “I LOVED it!!!” Mission accomplished. We’re looking for a volunteer to spearhead our next creek cleanup in May. Email us at info@GreenTownLosAltos.org if you’re interested!

~by Margie Suozzo September 16 marked the one-day only showing of Game Changers, a documentary about the “bill of goods” we’ve been sold by the meat and dairy industry about the nutritional benefits of an omnivore diet for athletic performance. I was there and I can tell you, the movie’s producers, including luminaries such as James Cameron, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Jackie Chan, make a convincing case that it is simply not true. The benefits of a plant-based diet on our gut microbiome and vascular system far outweigh that of a meat and dairy focused diet. And all evidence points to the fact that we, as humans, were designed to eat plants. The film follows James Wilks, a combat instructor for the US military and former UFC fighter, who endured a bad injury and set out to research the optimal diet for recovery. This investigation led him on a journey of discovery that a plant-based diet was not only the best medicine to support his recovery, but also the diet of many uber athletes, ranging from the Roman gladiators, a woman’s running champion and a champion track cyclist to the strongest man in the world. I’ve been a “flexible” vegan for more than a year now and came away with a clearer sense of the nutritional benefits of a plant-based diet. The movie is now availableto pre-order on i-tunes. It’s anticipated to hit the digital world on 10/1. Don’t miss it!

~by Gary Hedden Sea level rise has already started and the “likely” projection is 10 inches by 2050. Two speakers addressed this challenge Sept. 16 at the Los Altos Library. The first, Violet Saena, grew up on Samoa and knows first hand the impact on small island nations like Samoa and Kiribati. Samoa has mountains, but the atolls of Kiribati are flat coral reef islands. Ten inches is a lot to them. Just in case, they bought 5000 acres in Fiji, but they really don’t want to move. They are proud of their land and their culture. Violet now manages Acterra’s Resilient Communities Program in East Palo Alto and Menlo Park. The effort is called adaptation and the goal is to move beyond research and pilots to doing something. That includes big projects like dikes to hold back the water and small projects like cooling centers to protect people without air conditioning when we have periods of extreme heat. The second speaker, Dr. Anna Michalak, is a Professor in the Department of Earth System Science at Stanford University. She gave us a quick lesson on the science of climate change, and it’s real folks. We have had CO2 levels between 180-280 ppm for the past 800,000 years. Now it is over 400 and the planet is warming up. One interesting fact, sea-level rise isn’t just from melting glaciers. That accounts for 52% of it. Another 38% comes simply from the warmer oceans expanding in volume. Sea level rise is ominous of course, but the biggest damage comes from extreme weather events – cyclones and hurricanes. She told us about the things we can and should be doing to move away from burning fossil fuels, but the pace isn’t fast enough. Executive director Kris Jensen, speaker Violet Saena, and Dr. Anna Michalak Speaker Violet Saena Dr. Anna Michalak

by Margie Suozzo Summer is over and the kids are back in school. Time to purge! I recently received an email from a friend in Los Altos who had done a bit of an “excavation” in her house. The kids were back in school and she had time to clear out rooms and closets of stuff they no longer wanted/needed. But she wanted to make sure that as little as possible of that stuff went to the landfill. THANK YOU! Together we made a plan for where to recycle her miscellaneous items: Old Shoes Source: torange.biz A Runner’s Mind in Los Altos has a bin at the back of the store, inside the door, for old shoes and other sporting equipment. How convenient! Old Blue Jeans DesignX accepts some denim and other fabrics in good condition. The company, which emphasizes sustainability, uses the material for its after school and summer session “upcycling” classes for kids. DesignX was founded by a local Los Altos mom who hails from the fashion industry. You can contact DesignX here. Old Sheets GreenTown Los Altos’ Waste Reduction Team uses old sheets and other cotton fabric to make produce bags to replace plastic produce bags. Cell Phones Source: flickr.com Target collects recyclables at the front of their store. One bin is for old cell phones and ink jet cartridges. Make sure to remove the SIM card and factory reset so your data doesn’t go with your phone. Mailer Pouches Some can be recycled at store drop off locations. In particular the white and blue packages from Amazon. Find the closest store drop-off location here. You can also drop off clean and dry plastic bread bags, cereal inserts, ziplock bags, etc. at these locations. Egg Cartons and Berry Baskets If you find you have been stockpiling old egg cartons and berry baskets because you just can’t throw them out, we have good news. Several farmers at the Los Altos and Mountain View farmers market take used egg cartons and virtually all of the berry farmers accept plastic berry baskets for reuse. Many berry farmers are also switching to fully biodegradable cardboard boxes, too. Woo hoo. The GreenTown Waste Reduction team is happy to help identify how you can reduce the environmental impact of “KonMari-ing” your home. In addition, here are a few good resources you may want to consult: City of Sunnyvale’s “How to Get Rid of Anything” website. A great source of info on where to recycle things locally. Some of the drop off locations, such as the SMARTStation, however, are not applicable to Los Altos and Los Altos Hills residents. Hope Services (collects good condition clothing, housewares, and electronics, etc. to benefit local developmentally disabled adults) Local recycling companies GreenWaste What Goes Where? Blue Cart(Los Altos Hills) Mission Trail Waste Systems residential service guide (Los Altos residents) Earth911.org. Sometimes helpful. Here you can search by material for places that recycle that material within your zipcode or nearby. Let us know if our Waste Reduction team can help you figure out where to recycle ANYTHING! For more information, visit our website here.

Every year, GreenTown Los Altos gets help in accomplishing our mission from students whose hearts are in environmental change for the better. Our 2019 interns are as impressive as ever: (in alphabetical order) Mahita Bobba is a rising Senior at Los Altos High School. She’s passionate about political science, business, and environmental justice. She’s a student leader and youth activist, and is super excited to intern for GreenTown Los Altos and help create a sustainable community. Lexie Crilley is a rising senior at Los Altos High School, a competitive swimmer, and a still-learning pianist. Her favorite subjects are biology and English, as she loves reading, writing, and learning about all aspects of science. In her free time, she enjoys art and photography, as well as spending time in nature by hiking, biking and exploring. She’s passionate about protecting the environment and is excited to be a part of GreenTown Los Altos! Ellen Hu is a rising senior at Summit Denali w They’ll be working on a variety of projects with each intern focusing on one capstone project – Mahita Bobba will focus on our effort to stop the use of gas-powered leaf blowers Lexie Crilley will focus on reducing waste, especially plastic waste Ellen Hu will work on our campaign to Plant 500 Trees by Arbor Day 2020 Chloe Olsen is on her way to Berkeley and will focus on our Eating Healthy, Eating Greencampaign. The internship program runs for 10 weeks in July and August, and we look forward to the energy and excitement that these students bring to GreenTown.

Do you care about clean air?? If so, Greentown Los Altos has an easy way for you to do your part. Help GreenTown eliminate gas-powered leaf blowers from the City of Los Altos. This polluting equipment does more damage than most people realize. According to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, “For the best-selling commercial leaf blower, one hour of operation emits smog-forming pollution comparable to driving a 2017 Toyota Camry about 1100 miles, or approximately the distance from Los Angeles to Denver.” In order to educate people, we have printed information to distribute to residents and landscape providers. If you hand a message to the blower operator when you see a gas-powered leaf blower in use,  you can help us make a difference. To get a copy, send an email and we will deliver materials to your home. Good news from our code enforcement officer: gas leaf blowers are now on the list of complaints that can be emailed to the City on the City Code Enforcement complaint form on this page. Info on leaf blowers. Leaf-Blower-Ban-04-21-2019 Letter to gardeners in English English letter to gardeners Letter to gardeners in Spanish is below. Spanish letter to gardeners Here’s what the letter says: Landscape Service Provider, Using a gas leaf blower is prohibited in Los Altos. Los Altos Municipal Code 6.16.070 prohibits the use of gasoline powered leaf blowers at all times. The operator of the gas-powered leaf blower will receive an Administrative Citation of the following amounts. 1st violation in 12-month period – $100 2nd violation in a 12-month period – $200 Additional violations in a 12-month period – $500 Gas leaf blowers create lots of pollution and they can make you sick. They make the air unhealthy for many hours after the blower is used. ——————– Proveedor de servicios de jardinería, En Los Altos, es prohibido usar un soplador de hojas a gas. El código municipal 6.16.070 de Los Altos prohíbe el uso de sopladores de hojas a gasolina en todo momento. El operador del soplador de hojas a gas recibirá una citación administrativa (multa) de las siguientes cantidades. Primera violación en un período de 12 meses – $ 100 Segunda violación en un período de 12 meses – $ 200 Violaciones adicionales en un período de 12 meses – $ 500 Los sopladores de hojas de gas generan mucha contaminación y pueden enfermar a la gente. Hacen que el aire no sea saludable durante muchas horas después de que se usa el soplador.

~Chloe Olsen The Los Altos Farmers’ Market is a much anticipated time of the year, where family and friends can come together every Thursday during the summer to try some of the best food and drink in the Bay Area. From fresh organic fruits and veggies to colorful snow-cones and gourmet take-out, it is an event where adults and kids alike can find just about anything to suit their fancy. While it may not be difficult to find amazing food, the harder part surprisingly comes after: deciding where to put any wrappers, plastic utensils, or leftover scraps. That’s where GreenTown comes in! You can find us by the waste stations, which consist of recycling, compost, and landfill bins, where we help direct you on where to put the remainder of your meal and drink. Additionally, there are signs on the front of each bin that list which items go where. Some examples include: → Recycling: Plastics 1-7 (usually listed on the bottom of item with a recycling symbol and the number in the middle) Glass Foil → Compost Food Food-soiled paper Compostable cups (with liquid) → Landfill Plastic utensils (this one is surprising!) Foam containers By the end of our first night at the Market, we were very happy with what we saw! The most amount of waste was in compost which was filled to the very top, destroying the competition. Recycling came in second and took up about ¼ of the bin. The amount of landfill was minimal and was less than ¼ full. Throughout the Farmers’ Market, we noticed that many people were apt to looking to put their waste in either landfill or recycling first, but then saw the signs or received instruction from us and put it in the correct bin. Most people are confused with where to put their waste, so don’t worry–you are not alone! For some more guidance, here is a comprehensive list of where other items can be composted, recycled, or put in landfill. The fact that this much waste was composted is exciting. Not only does that mean less landfill, but composting adds nutrients to the soil without the use of chemical fertilizers, prevents soil erosion, and reduces the amount of methane by preventing organic material from rotting in landfills without oxygen (a greenhouse gas that is 70 times more powerful than carbon dioxide). The more composting, the better! Being on the lookout for compost bins is just one way you can help. You can also compost in your own backyard to minimize food waste, help your plants, and protect the environment! If you are interested, check out this link that shows you the types of composting, what foods to compost, and the steps to take to start your own composting at home. So next time you are at the Farmers’ Market, finished with your incredible meal and ready to throw away your leftovers, look to the green bin first! Your environment will thank you for it.

~Gary Hedden The ride begins GreenTown led 30 cyclists on this year’s Summer Solstice Night Bike Ride. We had a good group of riders including families, members of the Los Altos High School Green Team, and one couple from San Jose. The weather was perfect as we headed from Peet’s on State Street, turned north on Los Altos Avenue, and continued to the Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve. The tide was up, there were lots of shorebirds, and the sunset was bright and beautiful. Leaving Baylands, we turned on our bike lights, headed home by way of the Stevens Creek Trail and made it back to Los Altos by about 9:30. It was dark but we all agreed it was a fun ride and it’s fun riding in the dark! Fun times! The group at sunset

~by Gary Hedden Grace Hammond, behind the podium, at the workshop Outputs vs. Outcomes and Why It Matters. How do you measure success? It’s important. We need to know if what we are doing is working. We need to know if all the effort is worth it. A workshop hosted by the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits offered some insight. GreenTown was there and we learned that the first step is to pick our goals. What is our objective and how will meeting the objective help us achieve our mission? Our presenter, Grace Hammond, hao two words for us to help explain the process. Outputs and Outcomes. Outputs are the “how” and they should be SMART – specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-limited. Outcomes are the “impact” and good outcomes will advance the mission. She offered an example to illustrate the concept. A health care organization with the mission that “no child shall die from a preventable disease” could have an output that they will inoculate 10,000 kids in Ghana in the next year to reduce polio by 75%. It’s very specific, can be measured, can likely be achieved, should reduce deaths and has a time limit of one year. After one year, the outcome is evaluated. Did it achieve the expected result? Did it advance the mission by reducing childhood deaths? She had other examples, but the point she made to the nonprofit organizations in the room, and there were about 40 participants representing a wide variety of groups, is that we should always measure the outcomes of our activities and test the results against our mission statement. GreenTown does that. With our anti-idling program, we surveyed driver behavior, then we began a program at Los Altos High School that included signage in the drop-off/pick-up areas, driver education, and stickers to remind folks to do the right thing. It worked! A follow-up survey showed a nearly 80% reduction in idling. That is the kind of information that our supporters/donors expect and it is important to our volunteers too. By measuring outcomes we really know we are accomplishing good things, and that’s an inspiring motivator.

~by Gary Hedden Ocean Robbins speaking. Ocean Robbins doesn’t eat ice cream. His grandfather co-founded Baskin-Robbins 31 Flavors and his grandson won’t touch ice cream. We love ice cream, but it’s dairy, fat, sugar, and flavorings – not healthy Ocean told us at GreenTown’s June community forum. He then listed the ills associated with an animal-based diet, especially with animals raised by ‘factory’ farming – obesity, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and more. How does he know that? Among other things, he cited the ‘blue zone’ communities where people live long, healthy lives and eat a simple diet without much dairy or meat. He had a very personal example too. His grandfather. Yes, the fellow who founded Baskin-Robbins was overweight, pre-diabetic, and suffering from heart disease. His family convinced him to change his diet, and he lost the excess weight, regained his health, and cut seven strokes off his golf game. The interest in diet started with Ocean’s father. As a young man, he chose to walk away from the family business. He studied yoga, got married, had a family, named his son Ocean, and wrote a book, Diet for a New America. Ocean Robbins taking questions. It’s more than our own health. Ocean told us about the harmful effects of modern agriculture – wasteful use of water, topsoil erosion, and reliance on pesticides, weed killers and fertilizers. None of this is good for the planet. The situation with farm animals is no better with the overuse of antibiotics and the mistreatment of animals. His stories of caged chickens in cramped and dirty living quarters were particularly disturbing. The answer according to Ocean is that we can make a change by ‘voting’ with our purchases. Buy organic. Buy whole grain bread, almond milk, Beyond Burgers, Impossible Burgers, and eggs from free-range chickens. And just like his father, he wrote a book to help us make the change, 31-Day Food Revolution. It will be good for us and good for the planet.