Ryan Church of AVA Construction and Steve Schmidt at GreenTown's Energy Upgrade Meeting, 2/1/12 GreenTown Los Altos held a workshop on home energy upgrades on February 1. Two new GreenTown programs and the Energy Upgrade California program were explained to 40 people in attendance. With the advent of Smart Meters®, it is now possible to analyze a household’s energy use from the comfort of your own home. GreenTown Los Altos, partnering with High Energy Audits, Inc. is offering a detailed online assessment of energy use using a web-based tool that can give you results in about 15 minutes. The tool identifies “hidden energy users,” such as electronics that are turned off but still drawing power, pool pumps, recirculation pumps and many others. The analysis can determine if you are a good candidate for the Energy Upgrade California program, which focuses on home heating and cooling efficiencies (see below). To qualify for the online assessment, you need to live in Los Altos, have lived in your home for at least a year and have a PG&E SmartMeter® . GreenTown is offering $50 online assessments for the first 50 homes in Los Altos that sign up to use this tool. Sign up at energy@greentownlosaltos.org. This tool is already available to Los Altos Hills residents through Acterra’s High Energy Homes project. Faye Rachford, Energy Upgrade specialist, center, with two attendees If your online assessment indicates that your heating and cooling loads are your primary concern, then you should consider an energy upgrade through the Energy Upgrade California program. This program entitles homeowners to substantial energy rebates – up to $4,000 in incentives with PG&E’s Advanced Upgrade Package. For a typical California home built before the 1980s, energy efficiency wasn’t part of the equation. “Energy was cheap, and the consequences of producing and using energy were not widely understood,” said Faye Rachford, an energy upgrade specialist with Energy Upgrade California. “Now, however, we look at the home as a system. We recommend that you begin with an energy assessment.” Go to Energy Upgrade and find a local contractor trained to conduct these assessments and perform any neccesary work. You may find that you save energy and money and end up with a more comfortable, healthier home. Act now, the incentives end this year! To help you make the shift to renewable electricity, GreenTown Los Altos announced a second new program for homeowners, available both to Los Altos and Los Altos Hills residents. Working with Bay Area Climate Collaborative SunShares program, this effort leverages the buying power of several communities to attract a solar panel vendor with a highly competitive offer. If you have ever considered solar panels – now is the time! Sign up now to add your name to a list of residents interested in high-quality, low-cost solar energy. The contractor will be selected by February 27. We’re expecting attractively priced offers with lease options that can get you started with no money down. Questions? Email energy@GreenTownLosAltos.org. #ActerraHighEnergyHomes #EnergyUpgradeCalifornia #GreenTownLosAltos #SunShares

Our guest speakers, Kurt Wallace Martin and Amy Harcourt, do not own a car and mostly get around by bike, on foot and via public transit. Once in awhile they use ZipCar. Their mission is to make it easy for others to do the same. Did you know that 40% of the trips in suburbia are less than 2 miles, yet 90% of them are by car!  This statistic was shared by the guest speakers at our “Get Inspired About Biking” event on January 19.  Partners in the consulting firm Bikes Make Life Better shared some inspiring images and stories about a town, a university, and a company that are having success encouraging bicycling instead of driving solo.  We also learned about some very cool technologies that blend GPS, solar, bicycling, mobile phones and the internet to encourage biking. City Center as Living Room In the 1970s the town of Groningen, Holland decided to do something about sprawl and traffic congestion.  They developed a vision of a mostly car-free, compact city where the center would be like a “living room.”  It would be a space where citizens would gather and move about freely, enjoying the beautiful architecture and canals without car congestion.  They created a ring road around the city, moved most car parking outside the city center and made the roads bike-friendly and easy for public transit.  There are even certain roads that are one-way for cars but two-way for bikes. And the city installed massive amounts of bike parking.  Today 57% of all trips in town are made by bike. Copyright 2008, Cyclestreets.net. A street in Groningen, a Dutch town of 180,000 inhabitants where 57% of trips are made by bike. Bicycle-Friendly University In 2011, Stanford University earned the first and (so far) only Platinum Level Bicycle Friendly University designation by the League of American Bicyclists.  Stanford has about 13,000 bicyclists on campus daily.  The university has a Commute Club and offers a wide range of options to get to and from campus, including carpool, vanpool, shuttle, ZipCar, bike paths and safety programs.  Now, more than half the commuters to campus choose an alternative to single-occupancy vehicles.  Stanford invests in promoting bicycling, in part because it’s a relatively inexpensive way to avoid paying to upgrade public intersections near the campus – something the university is legally obligated to do if its commuters cause traffic congestion in the surrounding communities. Facebook Likes Bicycles Facebook’s new Menlo Park campus at the former “East Campus” location of Sun Microsystems currently houses about 2,000 employees and the company is expected to double its population within the next year.  Facebook has set a goal of getting half its employees to work by alternative means – shuttle, bus, rideshare, public transit and bicycle – with a target of 8% bike commuting.  To support this goal, they’ve installed showers and lockers in all buildings, bike racks and secure bike shelters near each building.  And to help employees get around the sizable new campus, Facebook has just added a fleet of 60 bikes. Social/Mobile Technology Inspires Bicycling Here in Silicon Valley, some of the hottest trends in consumer technology revolve around “social,” “local” and “mobile” – also known as SoLoMo!  Imagine using your smartphone or iPad to locate, reserve and unlock a GPS-enabled bike to borrow.  Social Bicycles has created this solution.  Because their bikes can be locked to any bike rack and unlocked simply by entering a code on a keypad, they do not require the expensive infrastructure investments that some bike-sharing solutions require (e.g. specialized kiosks).  The GPS and the locking mechanism are powered by battery that is charged by a dynamo that runs when the bike is pedaled.  And there is also a small 2-watt solar panel installed on the back of the bike that provides power in case the bike has not been ridden (i.e. charged) for a couple of days.  Check out this video to see how the system works. Sobi Bike-Sharing System Another interesting SoLoMo product for bicycling is Strava. This service tracks your rides, times and achievements and lets you share them with friends.  Once you download the mobile app and sign up for the service, you just grab your smartphone or Garmin GPS system, go for a ride and then sync with Strava.com.  It works anywhere in the world that you can get a GPS signal. Strava Dashboard What Inspires You? In our community, we are blessed with a temperate climate, lots of sunshine and plenty of shopping and recreational opportunities in short biking distances from our homes.  I get inspired to ride my bike when the weather is fine, but I also get a kick out of securing a close-in premium parking space and having a relatively stress-free ride to my nearby destinations. And as a bonus, it just feels good!  What inspires you to ride your bike in Los Altos and Los Altos Hills?

By Peg Champion, GreenTown Los Altos Correspondent It’s January. It’s no fun checking your mailbox these days, because holiday bills have taken the place of holiday cards. It’s cold outside, and you’re chilly inside, keeping the thermostat down so your energy bill doesn’t shoot through the roof. Ryan Church, AVA-Construction contractor, performs a blower door test to determine the amount of air leakage in the house. The news isn’t all dreary. You can save up to 40 percent on your PG&E bill, help the environment by conserving water and energy, and make your home more comfortable, all at the same time. But how? GreenTown Los Altos is offering an evening workshop on Wednesday, Feb. 1, to review several programs that can save you money. The free workshop, led by energy experts, runs from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. at the Neutra House, 183 Hillview Avenue, Los Altos. Click here to register . One program, the Energy Upgrade California program, entitles you to substantial energy rebates from your utility – up to $4,000 in incentives with PG&E’s Advanced Upgrade Package. Currently, the rebates are designed for single-family homes. For a typical California home built before the 1980s, energy efficiency wasn’t part of the equation. “Energy was cheap, and the consequences of producing and using energy were not widely understood,” says Faye Rachford, an energy upgrade specialist with Energy Upgrade California. “Now, however, we look at the home as a system. We recommend that you begin with an energy assessment. As the saying goes, ‘If you can measure it, you can manage it.’” Rachford will present details of the program at the February workshop. Sit Back and Analyze This Los Altos Hills residents can analyze their energy use from the comfort of their own home. The High Energy Homes (HEH) program is available through Acterra at no cost to five local communities, including Los Altos Hills. HEH is a web-based software tool that can analyze your energy use in 15 minutes. It identifies “hidden energy users,” such as electronics that are turned off but still drawing power, pool pumps, recirculation pumps and many others. The analysis can determine if you are a good candidate for the energy-upgrade program, which focuses on heating and cooling efficiency. “I was pleasantly surprised at the detail of information provided by the analysis. It gave us additional information about what upgrade strategies would be cost-effective in a format that was easy for the homeowner to understand … it helped us decide what we’re going to do,” says Keith Burtscher, a general contractor. There are three qualifications for the HEH program: You’ve lived in your home for at least a year, you have not installed solar, and you have a PG&E SmartMeter®.  Steve Schmidt, Los Altos Hills resident and the architect of Acterra’s HEH program, will provide a program overview as part of the workshop agenda. Margie Suozzo, chair of GreenTown Los Altos, invited residents of Los Altos and Los Altos Hills to learn more about the audits and rebates. “GreenTown is offering $50 online assessments by High Energy Audits, Inc., for the first 50 homes in Los Altos that sign up to use this tool to assess their energy use. But don’t take it from me – come hear from the experts at our Feb. 1 workshop or email us at energy@greentownlosaltos.org.” Peg Champion is a member of GreenTown Los Altos and the principal of Champion Organic Communications. Her work focuses on communication and education strategies to encourage sustainable behavior. For more information visit http://www.ChampionOrganic.com. Learn More Details about GreenTown’s free Home Energy Upgrade Workshop. Register for the workshop. For a description of Acterra’s High Energy Homes Project. For information on PG&E Basic and Advanced Upgrades. Subscribe to the newsletter or become a member of GreenTown Los Altos. #HighEnergyHomesHEH #homeenergyaudits #GreenTownLosAltos #PGampE #EnergyUpgradeCalifornia #airleakaageinhouse #Acterra

Photo credit: Junko Bryant, Acterra On Saturday, December 10, GreenTown Los Altos and Acterra partnered on building a new native garden at Los Altos’ Redwood Grove Nature Preserve. Here, Acterra Executive Director Michael Closson, left, watches GreenTown volunteers Kevin O’Reilly and Forrest Linebarger place rocks for a bioswale – a stone drainage course planted with native grasses to slow and absorb stormwater runoff. Linebarger, an architect and principal of Vox Design Group, developed the landscape plans for the site design, including a rainwater catchment and an interpretive walk with signage. The native garden was designed by GreenTown volunteer Vicki Moore, founder of the Living Classroom, Los Altos School District’s garden-based science program. The design builds on the “Slow It, Spread It, Sink It” principles, endorsed by many water districts in California. Acterra, an environmental non-profit serving Silicon Valley, will maintain the site through its Redwood Grove stewardship program. #RedwoodGrove #NativeGarden #GreenTownLosAltos #LIvingClassroom #Bioswale #Acterra

Season’s Greenings! Have a Joyful – and Sustainable – Holiday By Peg Champion, GreenTown Correspondent Decorated for the holidays: The new bike shop at 359 State Street is one of 150 shops and boutiques throughout the vibrant downtown village of Los Altos. ‘Tis the season… Between Thanksgiving and New Year in the U.S., there is an increase of more than 25 percent in waste, or about 1 million additional tons per week, according to UseLessStuff.org. One of the biggest culprits is paper. Paper and cardboard make up 47 percent of the materials Los Altos contributes to our local landfill, a GreenTown Los Altos waste study indicates. The holiday season entices us to spend more and more on beautifully wrapped gifts, starting as early as Black Friday and continuing through post-Christmas sales. This year, Americans will spend a projected $875 billion from November through January on holiday gifts, or an average of $700 per person, according to Deloitte’s retail forecast. Before getting lost in the consumer madness, think back on some of your happiest holiday memories. It’s likely these memories don’t involve wrapping paper, boxes or expensive gifts. Instead, they usually involve being with family, friends and celebrations with those you love. If we change our focus from the material to what really matters – time spent with family and friends – we can make our holidays more meaningful and friendlier for the environment. Here are some tips from GreenTown Los Altos to help make your holiday more sustainable: Buy Less Start a new holiday tradition of family “Secret Santas” — everyone selects a name out of a hat and buys one gift only for that person. Share personal gifts of time and love — give “gift certificates” of your services, such as babysitting, gardening, cleaning, cooking or teaching. Or make something special – a knitted scarf, baked goods or homemade preserves. Buy Green Purchase “fair-trade” gifts, and help people in developing countries build sustainable businesses that positively influence their communities. Buy green gifts made from recycled, organic and nontoxic materials – find them at online sites such as Ethical Ocean. Or purchase gifts that give all year long, like a subscription to the community-supported agriculture program at Hidden Villa or theater tickets to the Bus Barn. Buy Happiness According to a study from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, donating to charities and helping others lead to the increased happiness and well-being of the giver. So buy yourself some happiness. Donate your time at a local charity in a recipient’s name. Make a contribution, or give gift memberships to local nonprofits and local chapters that support sustainability such as GreenTown Los Altos, Acterra, Slow Food South Bay and the Sierra Club Loma Prieta chapter. Buy Local Avoid the mall and the chain and big-box stores. Shop local businesses for unique gifts – and keep the money in your own community. Give gift certificates for spa services, restaurants and bakeries or even auto repair. Check out resale and consignment shops for designer clothes at a fraction of the cost. Bonus: Ride your bike to Main Street, and shed some holiday pounds as well! Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Instead of buying expensive gift paper, schedule an afternoon for a family craft project and create your own. Children can stamp, stencil or draw holiday designs on rolls of recycled brown or white paper. Wrap your gifts in maps, magazine pages or newspaper comics. Reuse and repurpose wrapping paper and cards. Trim last year’s holiday cards to make unique gift tags. Send your holiday greetings online. If you buy new, choose sustainable cards and wrapping paper. Look for 100 percent recycled chlorine-free paper printed with soy inks – standard petroleum-based inks omit volatile compounds such as dioxin, one of the most deadly chemicals known. Check out Of the Earth for handmade paper with embedded wildflower seeds or Fish Lips Paper Designs for a contemporary look. Or take a workshop, and learn how to make “eco wrap” using repurposed fabric, discarded books, magazines and junk mail at FabMo, in Mountain View. Check out our resources to make your holiday more sustainable: Resources Take the 2011 Simplify the Holidays Challenge and pledge to “more fun and less stuff” Check out the “Story of Stuff,” a humorous 20-minute video that shows the costs – and the effects – of our consumer driven-culture. Use Less Stuff tells you how to Trim Your Holiday Wasteline “Get good stuff” from Ethical Ocean, World of Good or Ten Thousand Villages, a nonprofit fair trade organization that markets handcrafted products. Heifer International provides livestock, seeds or training to a family struggling with hunger or poverty. Learn where to shop this holiday season. Good Company ranks the Fortune 100 as employers, sellers, and stewards. Visit Of the Earth for handmade paper with embedded wildflower seeds or Fish Lips Paper Designs for a contemporary look. FabMo diverts high quality designer materials from the waste stream and holds workshops on how to use them. Seasons Greenings from GreenTown! Peg Champion is a member of GreenTown Los Altos and the principal of Champion Organic Communications. Her work focuses on communication and education strategies to encourage sustainable behavior. For more information visit www.ChampionOrganic.com #GreenTownLosAltos #holidaygiftguide

The days are colder and the sun rises a little later. Yet, many students brave the elements every morning to power themselves to school by walking or riding a bike, a scooter, or sharing a ride. Earlier this year, the GreenTown Los Altos Walk or Wheel (WoW!) Program, with the assistance of the Los Alto School District, Monteclare, and Bullis Charter schools, conducted a survey of students and how they arrived to school. With just one data point, there are some relevant details about Los Atlos children. First off, students in grades Kindergarten through 3rd grade have about the same percentage who walk or wheel to school, roughly about a third of the class. Starting in 4th grade, there is a noticeable increase in students walking and wheeling. With each grade from 4th thru 8th, the jump of walk or wheel students increases by about 10%, with 70% of  7th and 8th grade students walking or wheeling.  As such, our middle schools, Blach and Egan, lead the way. As for the elementary schools, the top 5 WoW! participation schools all have active WoW! programs with enthusiastic parent volunteers. Hats off to Gardener Bullis, Monteclare, Oak, Santa Rita, and Springer! Surprisingly – the bottom four WoW! participation schools all have students who contend with Foothill Expressway each day. We see those two factors – active WoW! participation and finding alternatives to crossing Foothill Expressway – as the keys to increasing WoW! students for the upcoming year. Next year, GreenTown has scheduled bike assemblies at the elementry schools, bike rodeos for all students in March at the middle schools, and “Drive that Bike” for 6th grade students in May. We are focusing on 5th and 6th grade students to increase WoW! participation. As we increase the awareness within those grades, we hope to see an uptick each year in the middle schools as 6th grade awareness becomes a 7th grade habit. If you are interested in joining the momentum of educating our youth on the fun and benefits of walking or wheeling to school, and making a difference in Los Altos, contact bike@greentownlosaltos.org #WalkorWheel #LosAltosSchoolDistrict #WOW #Monteclare #BullisCharter

Connect With a Local Watershed Through Art! January 14-16, 2012, Redwood Grove, Los Altos Register at: www.acterra.org/stewardship Volunteers will help with tasks such as hauling branches and other materials, cutting, trimming, weaving and securing materials to the creek bank. Training will be provided on-site. Two shifts are available each day from 9:30 – noon and 1 – 4 pm. Volunteers must be able to work the entire shift and be physically capable of the activities described above (ages teen through adult). While there are some youth-appropriate activities this project is not a suitable activity for young children. If you don’t meet the qualifications to volunteer, you are welcome to come watch the installation in progress. About the artist: Daniel McCormick is an interdisciplinary artist and design professional with integrated skills in the fields of sculptural installation, environmental design and ecological restoration. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including an Artist Grant from the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation, an Invitational Bridge Residency Award from the Headlands Center for the Arts, a creative development grant from the Blumenthal Foundation, a Creative Capital Award and an Urban Landscape Award from the Friends of the Urban Forest. McCormick’s work has been featured in exhibitions at the Oakland Museum of California, Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, Bolinas Art Museum, Headlands Center for the Arts, Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, CA and the McColl Center for Visual Art. #RedwoodGrove #SantaClaraCountyWaterDistrict #DanielMcCormick #GreenTownLosAltos #Acterra #AdobeCreek

First Step to Improve the Performance of Your Home: Order an Energy Assessment Now – County Offers to Pay 80% of the Cost Through February 2012 There’s no excuse not to schedule an energy assessment now. Santa Clara County is currently offering 80% off the cost of a home energy assessment (up to $800). The County’s offer is designed to spur participation in the Energy Upgrade California™ program, a state-wide initiative targeting energy savings in existing homes. Seventy-five percent of homes in California were built before there were any energy codes. Consequently, they are hot, cold, drafty, noisy. They also often don’t last as long as they should and may lose value on resale. By implementing recommendations from an energy assessment, homeowners can reduce energy use up to 40%, all while making their homes healthier and more comfortable. The Energy Upgrade California™ program offers rebates of up to $4,000 (and more for a limited time) for those who use the findings of the assessment to make home energy improvements. So schedule an energy assessment today. Visit the County’s Energy Upgrade website to find participating contractors in Santa Clara County. An energy assessment takes around 3 or 4 hours. During the assessment, the contractor measures your home’s performance using equipment such as a blower door, duct blaster, manometer, and infrared thermal imager. Energy Upgrade contractors have employees who are certified by the Building Performance Institute. They understand how to analyze a house as a whole system and cost-effectively fix problems that arise. Contractors are getting busy, so book your energy assessment now, and remember, through February 2012, Santa Clara County will pay for 80% of your assessment (up to a value of $800). Click here for more details. Once you have your assessment, we’re guessing that you’ll want to know more about rebates available to upgrade your home. On February 1, 2012, Santa Clara County Energy Upgrade program and GreenTown are co-hosting a workshop to educate residents about next steps. The Energy Upgrade Workshop will be held at the Neutra House, 181 Hillview Avenue, Los Altos from 7:00-8:30pm. #EnergyAssessment #Rebate #SantaClaraCounty

Today was a ribbon cutting for the new “pop up” bike shop at 359 State Street. A few folks from GreenTown were in attendance.  A pop up store, for those of you who are wondering, is temporary. Jeff Selzer, general manager of Palo Alto Bicycles and founder of Bike Arc, who runs 359 State Street, said they would be at that location for up to 12 months. Mayor Packard cuts the ribbon The store has a nice gathering area at the back with a big screen TV.  Everyone is welcome to come hang out, drink Peet’s coffee and talk about bikes.  Mayor Ron Packard had a few kind words to say about Los Altos being a great area in which to bike and Jeff added that the City of Los Altos just received Bicycle Friendly Community status at the bronze level, but should go for silver or even gold!  That got some nice applause from the crowd. View photos courtesy of Karl Danz.

On Monday, November 14, Mike Barnes, Co-Chair of the GreenTown Los Altos Business Co-Op, presented information to the Los Altos Environmental Commission regarding Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) food containers and the GreenTown Co-Op’s efforts to reduce the use of these containers for carry out foods. See Mike’s presentation. The Environmental Commission is currently researching the problems with Expanded Polystyrene food containers and the efforts by jurisdictions throughout California to restrict the use of EPS as a food container. Mike’s presentation focused on both the health considerations with EPS containers and the growing concern with the litter problem and the expense to clean up EPS particles from highways, waterways and the Bay. He briefed the Environmental Commission on the efforts of the GreenTown Los Altos Co-op to provide compostable alternatives at competitive pricing for Los Altos businesses, schools and congregations and concluded with a recommendation to the Commission that it is time for Los Altos to join the 45 other jurisdictions in California that have banned EPS as a food container. The Environmental Commission plans to continue discussion of this issue in the December meeting. For more information, view the presentation or contact coop@greentownlosaltos.org.

By Peg Champion, GreenTown Los Altos Correspondent In the final stage of the Redwood Grove rainwater harvesting demonstration project, Sybil Cramer, Sarah Jacobs and Teri Wiss install the connection hose between the two barrels. On a damp and chilly Saturday afternoon, 20 volunteers gathered in a semicircle around Arnie Thompson, Acterra watershed project director in Los Altos’ Redwood Grove Preserve. “With any luck, we’ll have the installation finished before it starts to rain,” said Thompson. The volunteers were there to build the first phase of a rainwater harvesting and native gardens demonstration project, a joint effort of GreenTown Los Altos, Acterra and the Los Altos History Museum’s Shaped by Water Exhibit. Four hours later, as the first raindrops began to fall, the catchment at the Caretaker House was complete: the house’s downspout had been modified, two 50-gallon rain barrels were seated on a new brick and wood platform, a first flush diverter had been installed, and a perforated overflow pipe snaked through the open space where the second phase native garden is planned. Two 50-gallon barrels were transformed for the rainwater harvesting demonstration project; here, Wendy Wu, Los Altos High School Green Team Officer, holds the barrel steady while Arnie Thompson drills the overflow valve opening. “Stormwater runoff is a severe problem for our local watersheds and the San Francisco Bay,” Kathleen Santora, GreenTown project coordinator, told volunteers. The impervious cover of houses, patios, driveways and roads keeps rainwater from slowly filtering back into the ground after a storm. Runoff becomes “a conduit for pollutants such as heavy metals from automobiles, and toxic chemical pesticides and fertilizers from lawn care. Without rainwater harvesting, we’re literally throwing money down the drain,” said Santora. Sponsored by the GreenTown Water Stewardship Committee and coordinated by Santora and Forrest Linebarger, the education project focuses on two key issues: stormwater management and water conservation. Linebarger, an architect and principal of Vox Design Group, developed the landscape plans for the educational display, including rainwater catchment, a native garden, an interpretive walk with signage and a bioswale – a gently sloping stone drainage course planted with native grasses to slow and absorb stormwater runoff. The design builds on the “Slow It, Spread It, Sink It” principles, endorsed by many water districts in California. Acterra, an environmental non-profit serving Silicon Valley, installed the rain barrels and will maintain the site through its stewardship work at Redwood Grove. Linebarger says he wants to encourage a “conservation mentality.” Urban centers, agriculture interests, fishermen and environmentalists all vie for California’s precious water resource. The problem is only going to get worse, according to Linebarger, “There’s increasing demand for a shrinking resource.” The Public Policy Institute of California projects the state’s population will grow dramatically by 7 – 11 million, an increase of as much as 29 percent by 2020. The Association of California Water Agencies predicts that, due to climate change, we can expect a 25 percent reduction by 2050 of Sierra mountain snowpack – a key source of California’s water. Los Altos Hills and Los Altos rank high in residential per capita water use. “The water that we have isn’t managed well. We purify water to drinking quality levels, then use it to water our lawns and flush our toilets,” says Linebarger. Los Altos and Los Altos Hills rank high in per capita water use (see chart to the right.) A majority is used for irrigation and landscaping: 50 percent in Los Altos and 80 percent in Los Altos Hills. “Our goal is to create a demonstration model to inspire residents to conserve and offset usage by building their own rainwater catchment and native plant gardens,” says Santora. “We need to learn how to conserve our available water and manage it wisely.” Los Altos High School Green Team officers Wendy Wu and Sarah Jacobs create a platform using bricks donated by Peninsula Building Materials; Kathleen Santora, GreenTown project coordinator and Junko Bryant (right), Acterra project director, supervise the build. The Redwood Grove project is an outdoor expansion of the Shaped by Water: Past, Present and Future exhibit, curated by Linda Gass, a Water Stewardship Committee member. The exhibit, at the Los Altos History Museum through April 22, 2012 addresses the history and future of water in the Santa Clara Valley in a fun, interactive, family-friendly format. The demonstration project looks towards the future. “Most people just don’t know about the serious water problems we’re facing,” says Gass, “But I have hope because of the younger generation, like the kids working here today. Change happens when individuals take action.” GreenTown and Acterra invite the public to participate in the installation of a bioswale, permeable pathway, and native garden, in phase two of the demonstration project, on Saturday, December 10, from 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM. For more information about this project, or to learn more about stormwater management, visit the Shaped by Water: Past, Present and Future exhibit. Peg Champion is a member of GreenTown Los Altos and the principal of Champion Organic Communications. Her work focuses on communication and education strategies to encourage sustainable behavior. For more information visit www.ChampionOrganic.com. Resources Redwood Grove Native Garden Demonstration Project. For more information about the installation on Saturday, December 10, from 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM, email water@greentownlosaltos.org. To learn more about the rainwater harvesting and native gardens visit the Shaped by Water: Past, Present and Future at the Los Altos History Museum, open Thursday through Sunday, noon to 4:00 PM. To participate in the GreenTown water stewardship program, visit our webpage or contact Joe Eyre, Committee Chair at Learn about Acterra’s Redwood Grove Preserve Restoration Project #RedwoodGrove #GreenTownLosAltos #ShapedbyWater #Acterra #RainwaterHarvesting

By Peg Champion, GreenTown Los Altos Correspondent Los Altos High School freshmen Laurel O'Such, Carly Cohen and Daniel Rosenbaum place the new compostable trays and food waste into the correct collection bin. Local restaurants and schools are joining GreenTown Los Altos in an effort to eliminate Styrofoam® and non-recyclable plastics used in food service. An innovative buyers’ cooperative is reducing landfill waste by replacing petroleum-based products with compostable materials. GreenTown Los Altos formed the business co-op in 2010 to provide restaurants with compostable takeout containers and food-service utensils from Palo Alto-based World Centric at a price 25 percent below what they would pay on their own. “The program became more compelling in March 2010, when the Los Altos City Council awarded the new waste contract to Mission Trail Waste Systems,” says Mike Barnes, co-chair of the co-op. “A key element of that contract was the collection of organics.” Under the contract, Mission Trail collects and commercially composts yard and food waste, such as vegetable and meat scraps, food-soiled paper and compostable containers. The composting process produces beneficial soil fertilizer and reduces methane, a potent greenhouse gas created when organic matter is land-filled. A 2008 GreenTown Los Altos solid-waste study discovered that a whopping 40 percent of Los Altos’ landfill waste was organics, and it urged the city council to include organics collection and composting in the new waste-service contract. As much as 21 tons of trash have been kept out of the landfill over the past year as a result of the co-op. “The goal of our program is to reduce waste by eliminating Styrofoam® and those plastics not typically recycled (# 3, 4, 5, 6) from the landfill,” says co-chair Mary Clark Bartlett. Bartlett is owner of Epicurean Group, a founding co-op member. Her sustainable food-service company, headquartered in Los Altos, provides healthy food to schools and businesses throughout the Bay Area including Pinewood Schools, St. Francis High School and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Barnes says that Epicurean Group’s participation provided the deep discount that co-op members enjoy. “The large volume they purchase from the co-op earns all the other, smaller members the same discounted rate.” The discount lowers the cost of the compostable materials to the same price range as non-compostable products. Co-op members in Los Altos include Brian’s Restaurant, Chef Chu’s, Sumika and Tom’s Depot. There is no fee to become a member, and membership is open to all Bay Area businesses. Local schools are making the switch, too. GreenTown Los Altos is underwriting a program at Los Altos High School (see photo) to replace polystyrene lunch trays with compostable ones. After hearing a presentation from Barnes last spring, the high school’s Green Team raised the necessary funds for a pilot project. Students voted to continue the program this school year and GreenTown stepped in to provide funding. Program coordinators estimate that the program, set to launch Oct. 10, will eliminate more than 3,400 foam trays from the landfill this school year. Mountain View High School is also considering a similar program. Expanded polystyrene foam – Styrofoam® – contains styrene and benzene, compounds that are suspected carcinogens and neurotoxins. According to Save the Bay, an environmental organization that tracks marine debris, Styrofoam® is the second most abundant beach debris in California. A bill to ban the use of polystyrene foam products in California, SB 568, passed in the state senate this year. Proponents expect a similar bill to be introduced during the 2012 legislative session. More than 50 cities and counties in California have banned foam food containers. “We think it’s a matter of time before polystyrene foam is banned,” says Barnes. “Our co-op is helping businesses make a cost-effective transition to healthy, sustainable materials.” For more information, or to join the GreenTown Co-op, contact coop@greentownlosaltos.org. Visit greentownlosaltos.org to subscribe to a monthly newsletter and “like” GreenTown Los Altos on Facebook. Peg Champion is a member of GreenTown Los Altos and the principal of Champion Organic Communications. Her work focuses on communication and education strategies to encourage sustainable behavior. For more information visit www.ChampionOrganic.com Photo Caption: Los Altos High School freshmen Laurel O’Such, Carly Cohen and Daniel Rosenbaum place the new compostable trays and food waste into the correct collection bin. Photo Credit: Peg Champion #compostables #greentownlosaltoscoop #LosAltosHighSchool #styrofoam