GreenTown received much good input at the community meeting that will help us create goals relevant to our community’s needs. We thank you! Feedback and good ideas continue to flow in, following GreenTown Los Altos’ (GreenTown) Community Forum held on April 18, 2016, at the Los Altos Library. More than 35 people attended the meeting, including Los Altos residents, local officials and small business owners. GreenTown speakers gave updates on the group’s four current program areas: Water, Waste, Watts and WoW! (active transportation modes, specifically walking and biking). Karen (KJ) Janowski kicked things off with an intro of Margie Suozzo who delivered an overall GreenTown update ; Gary Hedden spoke about watts/energy; Barbara O’Reilly shared program updates on water; and Arnold Ambiel talked about reCYCLE bike drive progress. Corinne DeBra who’s been surveying Los Altos residents on what they’d like to see more of in terms of future GTLA program activities helped facilitate a feedback session during the meeting. She asked attendees about environmental issues most important to them they’d like to see addressed, and about challenges and opportunities associated with these issues. Participants were also able to write down issues of their choice on post-its placed on the walls, segmented by program area, allowing all attendees to view and share ideas on the spot. Topics during the feedback session ranged from transportation to community building. Alternative modes of transportation (cutting down on automobile trips), by walking and bicycling, and taking transit were discussed, as well as barriers to doing so. Great observations included: In Manhattan, people walk for a mile or two…but I live 1/2 mile away and I don’t walk into downtown Los Altos.” Attendees discussed creating a sense of community, e.g. a community garden, involving church groups, and doing more that might involve young families and/or create activities that appeal to people of all ages. While holding community forums is a GreenTown tradition, this is an especially good time to connect with people on their top environmental and energy issues and priorities. GreenTown is prioritizing and planning activities for 2016-2017 in four program areas: Water, Waste, Watts and WoW! (active transportation modes, specifically walking and biking). And community input is essential at these times. And as the organization approaches its 10-year anniversary, much progress has been made; however, there’s still plenty to do. We’re looking forward to a future where water stewardship is the rule, resources being used wisely are the norm, more waste is being diverted from landfills, where bicycling isn’t just for recreation anymore, and where renewable energy will be playing a larger role in our lives and our businesses. If you have ideas, drop us a line at info@greentownlosaltos.org.

“Sip & Swap” “founders” Suzanne Bell, Kanesha Banyard, Michelle Sturiale sipping before the swap! Ingenious! Recently, local divas, Suzanne Bell, Kanesha Banyard and Michelle Sturiale organized a, “Sip and Swap” event in Los Altos. What’s happens at a “Sip and Swap”? Friends were encouraged to clean out their closets and offer up gently-used clothes that no longer serve them. Michelle hosted the event as Suzanne, a former buyer for Nordstrom, created the right “shopping” atmosphere, including a luxury rack, while Kanesha, a life coach, focused on the things that make her tick – empowering women  through fun and creative events. The organizers envision this as the start of a movement with creating community, clearing clutter, and helping the planet among their goals. To that end, they are working this summer on a guide to help others organize an equally successful “Sip and Swap”. Think of it as a consignment club. Or shopping without abusing natural resources. Or friends with clothes-you-wouldn’t-mind-wearing benefits. Any way you look at it, it’s good for the environment and easy to pull off (no pun intended, but hey, it works). Every one of the thirty or so attendees of the April Sip and Swap came away with something (or a bag of things) that they LOVED, including things they would never have purchased! Key tips for creating such a party include: Create an evite which includes basic rules so your invitees know what to bring (and what NOT to bring), where to show up, you know…the stuff that can make or break an event. Make a drop date, for when those attending drop their clothes so they can be organized before the big day. By the time guests arrive, finger food and drinks will make it a party with goods displayed in an organized way leaving the fun to begin. GreenTown just loves this idea! While it creates fun, it avoids creating new goods which use a wealth of resources from water to energy and av Sound like something you’d enjoy hosting or attending?  For more details read Suzanne’s blog here.

After much hard work by Maddy McBirney, an artistic bike rack is now part of Los Altos’ tony streets. Striking and practical, we thank Maddy for her design work and effort and hope everyone enjoys the use of the rack for years to come!

What a catch! On Sat., May 22,  a group of 25 GreenTown Los Altos volunteers joined with thousands ofvolunteers throughout the U.S. for National River Cleanup Day. Each location gets different “surprises” as they make our waters healthier. At Permanente Creek, Heritage Oaks Park, we removed a sodden office chair by tying a rope to it and having Mountain View Girl Scout troop 61173 form a line to haul it up. In total, we removed 76 pounds of trash. 15 pounds of that was recycled and 2 pounds composted. A big thanks to all the volunteers. Our next creek cleanup is scheduled for Sept. 17, 2016, National Coastal Cleanup Day. Email us at water@greentownlosaltos.org for more info as the date approaches. We hope to see you there!

Jana driving bikes that thanks to lots of volunteers will land in the hands of those in need. On May 1st, the community came out in force donating 120 gently-used bikes at GreenTown’s ReCYCLE Bike Drive! Many volunteers helped get the bikes in give-away shape, by filling tires with air, washing the bikes, and doing minor repairs. Thanks to Jana Schlansker, Kathleen Santora, the event’s founder, and Mike McTighe for getting the word out! Mechanics from Allstate Realty were invaluable. Bikes that were beyond our mechanics ability or time to fix them, were taken to Good Karma Bikes in San Jose. What an operation! We are proud to work with them and impressed with their three programs. Good Karma’s Three Impressive Programs Good Karma programs include: – A monthly traveling bike fix-it, no questions asked, near public housing in San Jose – A program offering vouchers through the county social services agency for bikes for those in need – many homeless. Plus, occasionally homeless people come in and do odd jobs to earn a bike – Job training for at risk youth (particularly foster kids who need to leave the system at age 18). Good Karma trains them to be bike mechanics and then hires them for 6 months after the training so that they get job experience. The remaining bikes are in the process of being distributed to students in need in the Los Altos and Mountain View school districts. We look forward to the 20th anniversary of the ReCYCLE Bike Drive next year!

The ribbon cutting ceremony, heralding in electric charging station availability at Levii’s Stadium. The parking garage across from Levi’s stadium was the place to be April 20, for the opening ceremony and ribbon cutting for 49 new electric charging stations. Yes, of course, it had to be 49. Jan Pepper making opening remarks. In opening remarks, Jan Pepper, Silicon Valley Power, commented that it is more than charging stations, the project also includes battery storage and a 370 kW solar system to provide the electricity. Russell Hancock, Joint Venture Silicon Valley, added that transportation represents 45% of our region’s greenhouse gas emissions, so we must move to electric vehicles, and the confidence provided by charging stations is important to that effort. Mark Duvall, Electric Power Research Institute, pointed out that this is a demonstration project too, testing an open networking protocol that allows all charging station apps to connect and participate. Another point, most electric vehicles are charged at home and only need a charging station for a small, but very important, percentage of that charging time. Finally, he made the point that the cost of providing electric charging stations is reasonable, it is coming down, and it will likely be less expensive than hydrogen fuel, a promising approach, but one that will require building a vast new supply infrastructure. For more information, go to this link By the way, charging stations will be available every day, not just for Game Day! Gary Hedden

We were so impressed by so many students making the effort to get WoW-ing (Wheeling or Walking) on National Bike To School Day, we wanted to share what one of our many impressive schools, Loyola Elementary, achieved.  We can only say, WOW!

This year’s Lawn-Be-Gone Bike Tour was a great success. Our group of almost 30 riders made seven stops to learn about drought-tolerant landscaping from local homeowners and designers. This year’s GreenTown Lawn-Be-Gone Bike Tour was a great success. Our group of almost 30 riders made seven stops to learn about drought-tolerant landscaping from local homeowners and designers. This is the 4th year with our first stop the always popular Living Classroom demonstration garden at Egan Jr. H.S. GreenTown’s Margie Suozzo told us about the program, pointing out the little signs with plant names and descriptions. This is a great place to see the beauty of mature plants. Our next two stops revisited 2015 Tour stop, allowing us to see the year to year change. Both yards still look first rate. First was Emily Thacker, who likes to keep her landscaping neatly trimmed and gave us some good pointers. Next was Debby Ruskin (ruskingardens.com) who discussed important design features including Netafim, a drip irrigation system. Then we hit some new territory. Look at those veggies! John McShane showed off his property, pointing out that he has something in bloom 11 months of the year. Designer Bonnie Brock (bbrockdesign.com) showed off his extensive raised-bed vegetable garden. Next stop was a brand new installation by Jeff Sheehan (confidencelandscaping.com) explaining the importance of leaving space for the plants to grow minimizing the need to do much pruning. The less pruning the better as it stresses the plants and they end up needing more water. Then it was on to Redwood Grove Nature Preserve. Acterra has done a huge amount of work to restore the Preserve in the past seven years. More than 2600 volunteers, 2/3 of them students, have helped and the efforts clearly show. And guess what? Thanks to the rainfall, there’s water flowing again in Adobe Creek! Next stop, University Ave. to meet Janet Wilson with a very full yard filled with variety and color, she says next year it could look completely different because she likes to keep trying new things! Margie Suozzo describing the Living Classroom program to eager listeners. Final stop? Lunch at the History Museum. Yearning to go native in your garden? Here are some links for more information. Yes, there is a lot of information out there! http://bayareagardening.org http://www.laspilitas.com/     http://www.mostlynatives.com/ http://www.cnps.org/ https://www.mastergardeners.org/ http://www.valleywater.org/ Good luck and have some fun. Gary Hedden, Native Garden Tour Lead

Drought. What to do? You can cut back on your water use, of course, but there are two sources most people don’t try to use – rainwater and greywater. John Russell, President of WaterSprout, told us about both at a GreenTown Los Altos sponsored talk organized by GreenTown Water Chair, Linda Ziff, held at the Los Altos Library Feb. 29. John Russell from WaterSprout. Rainwater can be collected in barrels, a fun and low cost approach that will help you during dry spells in the winter, but they go empty in the summer just when you need it the most. A better bet is greywater capture. You have water from your washing machine all year, so capture it to be reused elsewhere, such as for irrigation. It can be a simple DIY system without a pump, or something much more elaborate. Russell can help with that. He cautioned that greywater should not be used with root vegetables or leafy greens like lettuce, but there are plenty of other places that make sense. Visit greywateraction.org  for more information. There is one more very good reason to capture rainwater and greywater: energy savings. Pumping, cleaning and treating water is the biggest single use of electricity in the state. Linda Ziff, Water Chair at GreenTown Los Altos. Using less water helps fight climate change in more ways than one! Gary Hedden | Energy Chair Slide Presentation

From “impossible to inevitable,” says Geof Syphers, CEO of Sonoma Clean Power, speaking of Community Choice Energy at “The Business of Local Energy Symposium” held March 4 in San Jose. That’s how he describes the difference between today and 2010 when Marin Clean Energy was started. Geof Syphers, CEO of Sonoma Clean Power For starters, by 2020, 60% of the State’s population may be enrolled in a CCE (Community Choice Energy) program, the hybrid approach of supplying clean energy purchased by a local non-profit agency and delivered by PG&E. Closer to home, Los Altos and Los Altos Hills have just joined Silicon Valley Clean Energy, our local Santa Clara County CCE. GreenTown Los Altos applauds our elected leaders for making that possible. Symposium speakers described the major transformation underway as we move from fossil fuels to renewably sourced energy – solar, wind, biomass and geothermal. Carla Peterman, Commissioner with the California Public Utilities Commission told us the CPUC is committed to more renewable energy but the variable supply requires careful management and we need better storage and smarter use of electricity. Costs are down and switching to clean, renewable energy is realistic, but it is more than that. Mark Ferron with the Board of Governors, California Independent System Operator put it in one word, “Decarbonize.” That means using clean electricity to heat our homes and power our cars. That’s how we tackle climate change and renewables are just one step along that path. Gary Hedden | Energy Chair

If you loved biking as much as Scott Vanderlip and Gary Hedden, you’d organize bike rides too, to share your love of the sport and have some fun, literally, along the way. The duo has organized bike tours in the past (and will in the future) but on a rainy day in February, the planned event was cancelled due to rain, while the fun still happened. The plan was meet at Peet’s then bike to De Anza College to see an art exhibition, with artwork from GreenTown leader Linda Gass among others. Rain spoiled the ride but not the fun. Here’s Gary’s write up on the subject: Scott Vanderlip and I organized a bike ride to DeAnza College to see, “Burning Ice”, but Mother Nature said, “No, no, no.” A blustery wind and heavy rain spoiled that grand idea. Instead, we drove. The name Burning Ice comes from our current burning interest in climate change as the earth’s ice melts. The exhibition of environmental art is in collaboration with Silicon Valley Reads, and their theme for 2016 is climate change. Some of the pieces were strikingly beautiful such as the waterfall coming from three industrial strength pipes. The “water” is plastic wrap of all things! One of the student interns making this piece has a part time job at Home Depot, and an endless supply of plastic wrap. The masking tape applied to the floor (right) to create a pathway is another student effort, and elegant for both its simplicity and attractive look. Linda Gass (pictured left) showed her beautiful work called stitched paintings. The art depicts the the fate of wetlands and the impact of sea level rise in San Francisco Bay. Wetlands act like a sponge to absorb rising sea levels, worrisome in this age of a worsening water crisis. A final piece worth a closer look, by Barbara Boissevain, is an artistic take on a tragic event, the fire at the Chevron Refinery in Richmond in 2012 that sent 15,000 people to the emergency room. Her photographic images projected into two barrels of oil make a powerful statement. Linda and Barbara have studios at Cubberley and will be hosting an Open House May 14-15, 11AM-5PM at Cubberley Community Center, 4000 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto, CA. Stop by!

On Feb. 29, 2016 get ready to be drenched with information.  Because John Russell, an expert on the subject will expand your horizons on the topic. Imagine a world where water is not only used smartly but reused wisely. Where systems clearly measure and monitor the amount of water we have a Come to the Los Altos Library on February 29 to hear directly from John Russell, a longtime leader in the field of water systems design and founder and principal designer at WaterSprout, Inc., a design/build/maintain greywater and rainwater systems company based in Oakland, California. So far from its 180 projects, WaterSprout, Inc., has helped save 2.5M total gallons of tap water, helped get 1.6M gallons of greywater reused, and helped collect 738K gallons of rainwater. Are their methods the answer to preserving water in our Mediterranean climate? WaterSprout offers rainwater, greywater, and water-use monitoring—from simple laundry-to-landscape systems to more comprehensive automated designs. The company provides consultations, water assessments, design, permits, installation, maintenance, and contracting and subcontracting. Event co-sponsored by GreenTown Los Altos and the Los Altos Library. Pre-register at meetup.com. By Malar Ganapathiappan #waterconservation