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By Ava Azar When I first heard about the California Coastal Cleanup Day that took place in September from Mrs.Chang at GreenTown Los Altos, I got excited to team up with some of my classmates to participate in a creek cleanup. On September 16th, Jennifer, Diego, Levi and I, who are current 8th graders at St.Nicholas School, participated in a Creek Cleanup at Adobe Creek. The portion of the creek that we cleaned lies on the border between Los Altos and Palo Alto going under El Camino Real. We learned that trash can travel through storm drains to creeks and rivers, ultimately contributing to the bay pollution, which eventually ends up in the ocean. In two hours the four of us, along with our parents, diligently picked up any litter we encountered, covering a distance of about 0.8 miles. Our efforts resulted in the removal of an astounding 99.49 pounds of waste! Talking with my classmates afterwards, we all agreed that we had a great time and felt an immense sense of accomplishment knowing that our efforts had contributed to the prevention of many pounds of trash from polluting the ocean. After the cleanup, we all felt empowered to seek other opportunities to make an impact in our local community, and maybe one day, on a global level. GreenTown Los Altos adopted Adobe Creek through Valley Water's Adopt-A-Creek program, fostering community involvement in creek and watershed protection.

Thanks Ava! For Your Diligence On Climate Change. Hello! My name is Ava and I am an incoming 8th grader at St. Nicholas Catholic School in Los Altos Hills. In 7th grade, I was the Commissioner of Ecology in the Student Council. To celebrate Earth Day back in April, all the students participated in a school wide bottle cap art project. As a school we collected more than 1500 bottle caps! Students and teachers collected plastic caps from daily items they use like a plastic water bottle or a milk jug. This mural shows planet Earth with a tree growing out of it. It serves as a reminder of the importance of recycling, reducing waste and doing whatever we can to save our planet. Our students are part of the generation that's going to need to save our Earth from unfolding, irreversible changes. This bottle cap project was a great way to get all the kids involved and to raise awareness.

We are excited to introduce our 2023 summer interns! Our summer intern program is now in its 6th year and we are delighted to welcome this year - Bella Castaneda, John Tahk, Mira Haldar and Trinity Willis. Mira and John will be working on "Electrify your Home" campaign. They will be researching and creating a guide and resources to enable homeowners to learn about the benefits of electrification and how they can go about Electrifying their home. The will be mentored by Gary Hedden & Connie Miller Bella and Trinity be will be working on "Eating Green Cookbook" campaign. The will help influence the community about the value of eating green through social media, and events like the Farmer's Market. They will be researching and compiling a cookbook with several eating-green recipes that are yummy and practical. They will be mentored by Glenda Chang. Bella Castaneda Hey! My name is Bella Castaneda and I am a rising junior at Homestead High school. What first got me interested in this internship was my love for cooking. I was also passionate on the idea of making a cookbook with recipes even non-vegans would enjoy. I believe it’s important for everyone to take action against global warming and food is a great place to start. My goal for the cookbook was to create vegan recipes that don’t feel like a compromise to the real thing. Outside of school, I teach swim lessons, play softball and field hockey. I’ve also been enjoying the challenge of making sourdough bread. John Tahk Hi! I’m John, a rising senior at Homestead High School. I’ve always really loved the outdoors, and often went hiking with my family and played sports from a pretty young age. Science Olympiad in middle school really allowed me to explore earth science and the inner workings of our Earth, but as I got older I realized that the policy and legislative part of climate science was just as important as the science itself. I’m super thankful to be able to work with Greentown on helping people electrify their homes, and hope that the work we do here makes the process of electrification much easier. On the more hands on aspect of environmental science, I’ve been working on a cool project with a mentor to try and reduce the environmental impact of tennis balls. A few fun facts about me: I love making model airplanes from scratch, my favorite gemstone is citrine, and my favorite books are the Dune and Wheel of Time series because of their immersive world building. Outside of school, I love tennis, swimming, and hiking with my friends. Mira Haldar Hello! I’m Mira, a rising senior at Homestead High School. Although I grew up being educated on the importance of the environment, it wasn’t until I started independently researching the topic, through activities like debate and an international policy competition, that I realized how many aspects of our life are affected by climate change. I’m excited to participate in GreenTown’s Electrification project and hope that it will encourage homeowners to take that next step. In my free time, I like to crochet and read. The book I’m currently in the middle of is Bliss Montage by Ling Ma. Trinity Willis Hi! I’m Trinity Willis, a rising senior at Homestead High School. I’m so excited to join GreenTown on its journey towards a greener and more environmentally sustainable planet! Cooking has always been a huge passion of mine so I’m excited to apply my experience towards creating a collection of sustainable recipes. Outside of school, I help run a Palo Alto food bank that provides free groceries and meals to over a hundred families in need by redistributing excess food otherwise discarded by local grocery stores. In my free time I create digital art and play with my two cats!

The city of Los Altos, in partnership with GreenTown Los Altos and the Electric Automobile Association of Silicon Valley, is hosting "Destination Electric”—a Los Altos electric vehicle (EV) showcase on Saturday, June 3, from 10 AM–⁠2 PM at the Los Altos Community Center parking lot. This event is free and open to all community members. EV Rebate & Incentives Resources Federal Tax Incentives California Clean Vehicle Rebate Project: Eligible Vehicles Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE) Electric Vehicle Charger Rebate PG&E EV Incentives Page EV Rate Plans Acterra GoEV Resources Page EV Research Shopping Assistance Plugstar SVCE EV Assistant ElecltricForAll The Electric Vehicle (EV) Showcase will include display vehicles and e-bikes, and the opportunity to talk to EV owners about their experience. The following electric vehicles will be on display: Chevrolet Bolt EV Ford F-150 Lightning Ford Mustang Mach-E Hyundai Kona Jaguar I-PACE Kia EV6 Lucid Air Nissan Ariya Nissan Leaf Porsche Taycan Rivian R1T Tesla Model 3 Tesla Model X Tesla Model Y Volvo XC40 VW ID.4 Fiat 500e Additionally, representatives from 10+ organizations will be on site, with information about EV charging, financial incentives and rebates, e-bikes, home electrification, and related sustainability initiatives. Organizations include: GreenTown Los Altos Electric Automobile Association of Silicon Valley Breathe California Acterra GoEV Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE) Bicycle Outfitter EVucation EVCharger Expert Los Altos High School PTSA Sustainability Committee City of Los Altos Environmental Commission Splitvolt, Inc. Volvo of Palo Alto Limited parking is available at the Los Altos Civic Center complex: carpooling or bike riding to the event is encouraged. EV Rebate & Incentives Resources Federal Tax Incentives California Clean Vehicle Rebate Project: Eligible Vehicles Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE) Electric Vehicle Charger Rebate PG&E EV Incentives Page EV Rate Plans EV Research Shopping Assistance Plugstar SVCE EV Assistant ElecltricForAll For more information, including a complete listing of vehicles and information booths, visit losaltosca.gov/DestinationElectric.

For 2023, GreenTown Los Altos is offering 4 paid internships in 2 project areas. Each internship is for 10 hours/week for 6 weeks at $17.20/hour. Electrify Your Home, A Guide Eating Green, A Cookbook Application for 2023 summer internships is now closed! Please check back with us in early spring 2024 for next year's internship opportunities Key Dates: The application is due April 28. Interviews will be scheduled May 8-12. Candidate selections will be announced May 19. The internships start June 12 and end July 21. Additional Details: The ideal candidate will be a rising junior or senior high school student passionate about environmental issues. The skills required are effective communication, good research skills, good time management and familiarity with the preparation of documents, spreadsheets and slides. Interns must be willing to work as a team. Interns must be able to work with minimal supervision. The work will generally be from home. There will be weekly zoom meetings with a GreenTown mentor. The Electrify Your Home mentors are Gary Hedden & Connie Miller, and the Eating Green Cookbook mentor is Glenda Chang. The internship will culminate in a slide show presentation to the GreenTown Board on the summer accomplishments. 1 - Electrify Your Home, A Guide Two interns will work on creating a guide that helps homeowners learn about the benefits of electrification and how they can go about Electrifying their home. The work will include: Research: resources (online and other) from various organizations (ex: BayREN, FFBSV, SVCE, PCE etc.) Review the City of Los Altos CAAP’s strategy for electrification Organize: Gather and categorize resources from getting started to advanced. Case Study: Interview one or more homeowners that have electrified their home to learn about and document the conversion process. Expert Interviews: Speak with experts from SVCE and others to understand key homeowner pain points, Guide: Create a guide that serves as a map that a homeowner can use to navigate the conversion process Document & Share: Create a blog post summarizing your work and optionally create a social media campaign to share the work. 2 - Eating Green Cookbook Want to be a cook, social media influencer, advocate for the environment and have fun this summer? GreenTown is looking for two open minded and enthusiastic interns to help influence the community about the value of eating green. These interns will work together as a team. The work will include: Plan several eating green recipes that are yummy and practical. Compile these into a cookbook. Cook these dishes to try them out and post on social media. Research and interview several eating green experts to add a section in the cookbook about meat and dairy substitutes and other useful tips Recruit local restaurants to measure the carbon footprint of the dishes on their menus. Work on the look-and-feel, format and layout of the cookbook. Promote eating green in the community through events such as the farmer’s market. Develop a plan to promote the cookbook. https://www.greentownlosaltos.org/why-eat-green

GreenTown Zero Waste Team members took a field trip to find out! Mission Trail Waste Systems provides the trash collection service in Los Altos. To get processed, the trash and compost loads go to Milpitas and the recycling loads go to San Leandro. Our team toured the San Leandro Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) where Alameda County Industries (ACI) processes about 300 tons of materials per day—including what’s in the blue recyclables carts of Los Altos residents. At the MRF, the loads of materials journey on a network of sifting machines and conveyor belts. Staff sorts items by hand to pick out large items that cannot be recycled at the MRF (we saw carpet padding, hoses, strollers, insulation, and a suitcase to name just a few!) as well as organic or hazardous waste. In addition to hand sorting, the MRF has specialized machinery with magnets and optical equipment with robotic arms to separate cardboard, glass, metals, and different types of plastic. Eventually, the process’s end product is sorted by type and goes to storage piles or is baled for sale. Key takeaways: Let’s do our part to recycle responsibly and safely: Please keep ACI workers safe by not putting hazardous waste (needles or other sharp objects, fluorescent bulbs, paint, etc.) in our blue recyclables carts. Know that loose plastic bags, box packing strips, ropes, and VHS and cassette tapes can clog machinery and cause a shutdown, bringing everything to a standstill. Use reusable travel mugs and silverware. Know that “compostable” paper cups and “compostable” plasticware don’t break down in the current composting system—so they go in the trash. Put recyclables directly into the blue recyclables cart—DO NOT bag in trash bags or they will immediately be sorted out for the landfill. Rinse recyclables to get rid of food particles, air dry if possible, and replace lids and tops before putting them directly in the blue recyclables cart. Don’t “wish-cycle” plastics! Plastic film, snack and chip wrappers, and loose plastic bags do not belong in your blue recyclables cart—they are trash. Check if your supermarket has a collection bin for plastic film (such as used for packaging) and loose plastic bags. See for yourself! Video tour of the MRF is on ACI’s website: https://alamedacountyindustries.com/sanleandro/

Los Altos has officially proclaimed that MAY IS BIKE MONTH! So Many Biking Activities and Events! Roll Your Way Through May NOW THEREFORE, the City of Los Altos hereby proclaims May 2023 as Bike Month, asking our residents to join in to support bicycling, to participate in the events planned and urging all road users to share the road safely with bicyclists May 3 - National Bike and Roll to School Day Keep an eye out for the over 1200 Los Altos students who bicycle each day to and from school. Why bike, roll and walk? Learn more here. May 13 - Los Altos Family Bike Day Sign up here. This is the second edition of this family-friendly biking event. The event includes guided bike rides in Los Altos and energizer stations with the ever-popular blender bike, snacks and swag. The bike rides starting in both North and South Los Altos will be between 4 and 6 miles and will show participants how to navigate their neighborhood streets, including safe street crossings and some secret cut-throughs. You’ll also review the rules of the road and practice some bike skills. May 18 - Bay Area Bike to Work Day Pledge to pedal with us here. Keep an eye out for the over 1000 bicyclists riding through Los Altos. The Bicycle Outfitter (at 963 Fremont Ave, Los Altos) will host an Energizer Station! May 18 – 20 - Bike to Wherever Days Pledge to Ride Wherever here, Join thousands of Bay Area residents in celebration of the humble bicycle. Cities across San Mateo and Santa Clara counties have a friendly competition: the city with the greatest number of riders to pledge (counted in relation to population) wins the prestigious Silicon Valley Cities Pedal Power Challenge award. Let’s put Los Altos in the lead! May 19 - Downtown Los Altos Bike n’ Dine Sign up here Team up with family, friends, and neighbors to experience the joy and freedom of biking to Downtown Los Altos while exploring its wonderful dining opportunities. Once you arrive Downtown, visit our event hub at Veterans Community Plaza (junction of Main and State Streets). We'll have music, activities for children, and you can safely park your bike at our "bike valet" while you explore the vibrant downtown area on foot. We'll also share event swag including exclusive dining discounts and offers from downtown restaurants. It's the perfect opportunity to enjoy Los Altos dining while doing your part to help reduce traffic congestion and carbon emissions.

Wheeee! That's the sound of a kid who's just gotten a "new" bike from GreenTown's ReCycle Bike Drive. The ReCycle Bike Drive is back and celebrating its 24th year refurbishing gently used bicycles for kids in need. GreenTown is looking for volunteers and bike donations for the bike drive, which will be held on April 8, 2023 from 10am-2pm at Los Altos High School. GreenTown accepts gently used bikes that are gathering dust in your garage (or worse, headed to the landfill), then volunteers dust them off, clean them up, fix them and donate them to kids in our local communities who otherwise wouldn't have access to a bike. Now that's a win-win! Los Altos Hills resident, Kathleen Santora, started the bike drive with friends more than two decades ago at St. Nicholas School. In 2012, with GreenTown’s help, the event was extended to the broader community. Partnerships with Los Altos High School and Bicycle Exchange have further improved the bike drive and our ability to get bikes into the hands of students and others who need them. "We just love this event!" says GreenTown bike drive coordinator, Margie Suozzo. "It combines reducing waste, reusing and recycling, with clean transportation and giving back to the community. And we couldn't do it without the generous contributions - both bike donations and volunteer time - from the local community." How does it work? Volunteers at the bike drive will be on hand to accept donations. Bikes of all sizes are accepted. Bikes collected at the bike drive will be spiffed up, repaired, and donated to students at local schools who can’t afford them. Kids who receive bikes will also get a bike helmet and lock to keep both their bikes and noggins safe. Our partners Los Altos High School and Silicon Valley Bicycle Exchange (bikex.org), as well as other local school officials, are key to identifying students and others in need and in managing bike placement. Bicycle intake guidelines GreenTown welcome your donations but wants to make sure the bikes it gives away are like a new gift to the recipients, so consider the following questions before you donate: Was your bike stored outside? Has the bike been in a crash? Is there significant rust on the frame (sections larger than a dime) or on the chain/cogs? Can you move the seat post up/down? If you answered "yes" to any of the following, GreenTown probably can't take your bike, but others can. Try Community Cycles or Good Karma Bikes in San Jose. “We’re so appreciative of our volunteers who greet donors and wash and fix bikes and our partners, our bike donors, and our partners!” Suozzo said. “Because of them, GreenTown can provide kids with the joy of commuting to school by bike -- a clean, efficient and FUN form of transportation." Plus, the bike drive is a community builder, and in my humble opinion, one of the best volunteer event of the year!" ReCycle Bike Drive Got a Bike? Give a Bike. Make Someone Smile! When: April 8, 2023 | 10am - 2pm Where: Los Altos High School

You Can Receive Up to $8,000 in Rebates for Upgrading Your Gas Water Heater or Heating and Cooling System Other rebates available for upgrading electrical panels and other home electrification steps plus more from BayRen and our Federal Government. Switch from gas to electric appliances through the SVCE FutureFit Homes Program. Get rebates on: ✅Heat Pump Water Heaters ✅Heat Pump Heating and Cooling ✅Pre-Wiring for electric appliances ✅Main panel upgrade Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE) customers can receive up to $8,000 in rebates for replacing a gas water heater and gas furnace with efficient, electric heat pump appliances through the FutureFit Homes Program. Gas water heaters and furnaces are typically a home’s biggest source of emissions and contribute to poor air quality in our community. Replacing gas appliances with electric avoids emissions without compromising comfort. Take advantage of the SVCE FutureFit Homes Program and begin your journey to an emissions-free home. Learn more at https://svcleanenergy.org/home-rebates/ Combine these rebates with additional rebates and tax credits from those available through the Federal IRA (Inflation Reduction Act) programs for even more savings. Learn more about the IRA Tax Credits and Rebates by downloading the fact sheet here.

BACKGROUND Since May 2022, GreenTown has had the pleasure of working with a few representatives from The Terraces at Los Altos (TLA) Recycling Committee. They were interested in increasing recycling and composting and sought GreenTown’s assistance. Let’s set the stage as to why this is important. Americans consume resources at an enormous rate. If all people in the world consumed at the rate that Americans consumed we would need five planets to supply them with appropriate resources. Five planets!!! Clearly that’s not sustainable! To address this problem, we need to rethink our consumption patterns: whether we have to buy something to begin with; if we do, is it recyclable; can we repair or reuse things that we have; and then, and only then how do we recycle and/or compost what we must throw “away.” GreenTown has some history working on waste reduction. In 2008, we developed a white paper that looked at the best recycling and composting programs in the region and what Los Altos could do differently to increase recycling and composting. We developed a series of recommendations - both high level and detailed - shared them with the Environmental Commission and City Council to inform the development of a request for proposals for a new waste contract franchise agreement. The City fully adopted our recommendations and, when Mission Trail was selected, almost immediately they were able to increase waste diverted from the landfill, through recycling and composting, by more than 30%! In addition to this work, we have held countless talks and workshops and have written numerous articles to help educate residents on how to increase recycling and composting. Our work at TLA began with a waste audit, conducted by Mission Trail Waste Systems. This was followed by an on-site audit by GreenTown, as well as a series of recommendations. Some of those recommendations have been carried out, others are in progress. This documents some of our progress to date. INITIAL WASTE ASSESSMENT & AUDIT GreenTown, working with Mission Trail, estimated waste generated at TLA and what percentage was recycled and composted. Here are the initial findings. It’s important to note that these do not include landscaping waste, which is collected by a separate contractor: Approximately 450 tons of waste is collected by MTWS annually. 58.4% is landfilled and the other 41.6% is diverted from the landfill. Typically 75% or more waste can be diverted through recycling and composting. Percentage Waste Collected by Mission Trail Waste System Source: Tim Giacomini, Mission Trail Waste System (MTWS), June 2022 Additionally, an estimated 16.8 tons of landscape waste is collected annually by Brightview Landscaping (pers. comm. landscape contractors on site, to be verified), which slightly shifts total waste percentages to: 56.3% landfilled and 43.7% diverted, 33.4% from recyclables and 10.3% from compostables. In addition, Mission Trail conducted a one-day waste audit at TLA in June 2022. This audit led to a series of recommendations for TLA to consider, including: Building out three-bin systems throughout the facility (blue for recycling; green for organics/food waste; and black for trash) with more receptacles and better signage that mirrors that on the outside of the facility. Halting the use of black bags for anything other than trash as they are automatically directed to the landfill. Recommend using clear or light-colored bags instead. Training and monitoring staff to ensure best practices and providing continuing education. MTWS also noted that these actions will increase recycling and composting, reduce trash bins, and save TLA money. ON-SITE WALK-THROUGH GreenTown and the TLA Recycling Committee members met in July 2022 for a 2-hour walk-through of the facilities and held additional meetings in August 2022 with Dining and Facilities staff. Findings/recommendations include: Separating food waste from the dining waste stream represents the greatest opportunity for diverting waste from the landfill. Currently this waste is considered trash. Additionally, this effort would save TLA money as a large Mission Trail waste collection bin could be replaced with an organics bin. Estimated savings are on the order of $300 per month. To support this effort, we recommended that a three-bin system be added to each prep station. Staffing issues have made implementing this recommendation challenging. The dining manager is supportive but until he has consistent staff, he is unable to effectively implement the recommendations. Status: currently, this high-impact measure is on hold. Residential recycling and compost could be significantly increased. We recommended conducting a resident survey to better understand barriers to recycling and composting. In December 2022, with the TLA Recycling Committee, we implemented this survey with the following findings: Fifty-two survey responses were received. All who responded to the question on whether they support the goal of increasing recycling and composting said YES. Residents perceived the main challenges to more recycling and composting as: Motivation Staff training/education; and Resident training/education. Recycling: Most residents separate their recyclables, but more and better information is needed: 68% felt informed about what can be recycled. 32% could use more information, in particular regarding plastics recycling. The types of materials typically recycled include: paper, glass bottles, aluminum cans, plastic bottles and containers, and clean tin foil. Composting Organic Waste: The majority of respondents compost and most consider themselves well informed about what can be composted. 63% of respondents always compost; and 18% sometimes compost; and 18% never compost. Materials typically composted are food waste and food-soiled paper and the most frequent location for composting is adjacent to Maple. For those who don’t compost or sometimes don’t, key issues included questions about what actually can be composted and lack of containers for composting at the facility. Four things were considered helpful to increase composting: Education (29) Better signage near collection bins (23 ) More bins in common areas (18); and Having a compost container in each apartment (9) Interest in joining the TLA Recycling Committee was significant! Additionally, the administration can facilitate recycling and composting goals by implementing a three-bin systems throughout the facility, providing better signage, conducting staff training, and installing a large (3cy) organics bin for collecting dining food waste once the staffing situation improves. PILOT ORGANICS BIN One of the main residences, Redwood Lodge, does not have any facilities for organics collection that are within the building. Those that they had are considerably further away and outside, rendering composting difficult. GreenTown and the TLA Recycling Committee engaged the administration to put an organics collection bin alongside of a recycling bin in the Bistro, to make composting more convenient. This bin had good signage on it and a resident willing to collect the material each day and deposit it in an organics waste container! Results so far have been positive with more residents using the facility to dispose of their food waste and food-soiled paper. The current goal of this program is to move the responsibility of composting this waste to TLA staff. NEXT STEPS Continue to monitor the staff situation for Dining to take advantage of an opportunity to re-introduce and implement our food waste collection proposal. Provide resident education through hands-on activities and events to address barriers identified in the Resident survey. Work with administration to sustainably maintain an organics collection bin in the Bistro and to build out more three-bin systems throughout the facility and offer improved signage.

The Bay Area Air District has proposed rule amendments to reduce harmful emissions of NOx and fine particulate matter from space and water heating appliances. Natural gas appliances such as water heaters and furnaces are a major contributor of NOx in the Bay Area. NOx emissions and particulate matter (formed when NOx reacts with other air pollutants) contribute to a host of respiratory ailments. Our health and equity analysis shows that these emissions are responsible for as many as 89 premature deaths per year in the Bay Area, disproportionately impacting people of color. To address these public health issues, the Air District has released the draft Appliance Rules for public comment, which closes on February 6th. These revised appliance rules are expected to be considered for adoption by the Air District Board of Directors on March 15th. This is a very impactful rulemaking and our Board members have expressed an interest in hearing from public agencies on this topic. Comments can be submitted via the link above. The proposed rule amendments would apply only to new and replacement appliances and do not mandate retrofitting of existing appliances. The rules will be point-of-sale, meaning only zero NOx water heaters and furnaces will be available for sale or installation in the Air District’s nine-county jurisdiction, beginning with water heaters in 2027 and furnaces in 2029. The rules will not apply to gas appliances used for cooking, such as gas stoves. The rules may be controversial with the public due to the perceived additional costs of cleaner appliances, potential electric panel upgrades and utility expenses. We expect those costs to decline as technology improves, which is why we are phasing in the standard over time depending on equipment readiness. The Air District is working with important regional partners such as BayREN to understand these costs, identify potential solutions, and track technology improvements that are already bringing down some of these costs. We’ve created the Fact Sheet and website with more information for you, your colleagues, and to refer members of the public to. Thank you in advance for your help on this.

Author of the award-winning The Zero-Waste Chef cookbook, blogger, fermenter, and sourdough baker Anne-Marie Bonneau began a plastic-free life in 2011. At her GreenTown lecture on January 10 at the main Los Altos library, she discussed her journey to low-waste living. Anne-Marie is completely committed to cutting food waste and plastic packaging because doing so reduces our carbon footprint and therefore our contribution to the climate crisis—while at the same time satisfying our taste buds, improving our health and well-being, and boosting our bank accounts. Not-so-fun fact: Food waste creates 8% to 10% of greenhouse gas emissions—which is more than the aviation industry produces! Above all, Anne-Marie made the point that “zero waste” is an intention—while one person eliminating all of their waste is great, thousands of us taking actions to reduce our trash by just 20 percent can have a much bigger impact on the planet. Her message was “no guilt”—taking any steps to reduce waste and avoid plastic is worthwhile. Here are some of Anne-Marie’s low-cost, actionable tips for cutting back on our food waste and plastic use: Start your lower-waste journey by knowing what’s already in your refrigerator and pantry. Then “shop” there first, including using leftovers, to make simple meals like pizzas, frittatas, soups, salads, roasted vegetables, etc. Do an audit of your plastic waste so you understand what you’re using and where you might be able to cut back. Make a shopping list to purchase only what you need before you go to the farmers’ market or the supermarket. Use cloth produce bags instead of plastic. Bring glass jars from home for buying (at Country Sun Natural Foods and Sprouts Farmers Market, for example) and storing your bulk pantry foods. Use glass jars also for storing food in your refrigerator, for bringing home restaurant leftovers, and for picking up takeout (Silicon Valley Reduces lists restaurants by city that support bringing your own containers). Preserve vegetables by cooking and freezing them in glass jars when they’re in season for best flavor, nutrition, and cost. For preserving through fermentation, check out zerowastechef.com. Buy previously owned, “pre-loved” clothing (at REI and Sports Basement, for example). For more, visit Anne-Marie’s website, subscribe to her blog, and explore The Zero-Waste Chef cookbook.