Christine

The coronavirus postponed SSMC’s Annual Awards dinner to July 10 but it didn’t stop our community from coming together virtually.  Many attendees had marked Thursday, April 2 on their calendars for SSMC's Annual Awards dinner. When the pandemic upended the celebration and our lives seemingly overnight, our resilient community still found a way to connect.  That night, 22 attendees gathered for SSMC’s first virtual Sustainable Happy Hour. After a round of introductions, including features of impressive home-made green drinks, the group broke into three smaller discussion groups. The overarching theme was "How do we turn this crisis into an opportunity?"  [...]

Climate change will impact the socio-economic viability of every community while also affecting infrastructure, built systems, social aspects and public health. Extreme and rapid changes in temperature, precipitation, and sea level are certain to impact health, natural resources, coastal ecology, transportation, energy infrastructure, and food and water security. In 2018, Sustainable San Mateo County’s Annual Key Indicator Report presented the complex interconnection between systems and behaviors that drive greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and how these emissions lead to climate change, highlighting the urgent need to take action. The Annual Key Indicator Report 2019 continues to explore climate change with a [...]

Peninsula Family Service, a nonprofit serving local families in four Bay Area Counties - including San Mateo County - organized "The Future of Transportation: Clean Energy & Transformation" event as part of its Thought Leader Series.  The May 15, 2019 event was co-sponsored by Sustainable San Mateo County (SSMC) along with Peninsula Clean Energy (PCE) and Thrive.  It included 3 keynote speakers and a panel discussion.  There were over 50 guests attending. The discussion revolved around issues of increasing carbon emissions from conventional transportation and pathways to switch to alternative options for transportation, including Electric Vehicles (EVs).  The speakers also [...]

The founders of local start-up, Impossible Foods, were inspired to make a product that would curb meat-lover's carbon footprint and improve biodiversity. At a tour of their facility, we learned that over time the planet's biodiversity has taken a dive as humans and the cattle we harvest represent an increasing amount of terrestrial biomass. In 2016, humans took up 420 million metric tons and cattle, 1 billion tons of biomass, while other animals only represent 90 million tons (Impossible Foods, 2018). In our 2018 Indicators Report on Climate Change Action, we noted the impact of food choices on greenhouse gas [...]

With our focus on climate this year, we jumped at the chance to learn from a diverse group of leaders, scientists, and activists at the Bay Area Climate Emergency Town Hall. Hosted by the City of Berkeley, which recently declared a climate emergency, the meeting encouraged "accelerated timelines for the elimination of GHG emissions" through an environmental justice perspective that offers pivotal solutions to climate change. Opening remarks by the Mayor of Berkeley, Jesse Arreguin, confirmed that "this is not just an emergency, this is an emergency of our moral obligation to the world." Vice Mayor, Cheryl Davila, welcomed Corrina [...]