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Health and Well-Being

14 02, 2024

2024 Youth Sustainability Award Winner: Kayla Ling

2024-04-18T15:09:26-05:00

Just 15 years old, this remarkable sophomore at The Nueva School is making waves in the areas of environmental advocacy and social justice through her passion for video storytelling. Her commitment to inspiring others and mobilizing communities has earned her our first-ever Youth Sustainability Award. Kayla is a stand-out leader at her school, where she organizes impactful initiatives for her fellow students in the Environmental Club, including the Eco-Action Raisers event that empowers 300 students and teachers to take tangible action for the environment. She has also served as Nueva’s Social Justice Chair, organizing workshops and guest speakers to enrich [...]

2024 Youth Sustainability Award Winner: Kayla Ling2024-04-18T15:09:26-05:00
14 02, 2024

2024 Ruth Peterson Award to Be Presented to Bernard Bruand

2024-02-20T18:08:51-05:00

The Ruth Peterson Award, established in memory of a dedicated SSMC leader and given to an invaluable SSMC volunteer, will be presented to Bernard Bruand. Bernard does not shy away from the complex and global nature of climate change and building a sustainable community. He was born in France and graduated from Lyon University with a degree in electronics and electro-mechanics. After working for 40 years with Hewlett Packard in France, Germany, Singapore and California, Bernard retired in 2012 and decided to focus on contributing to society. He had a special interest in sustainability and joined the San Mateo [...]

2024 Ruth Peterson Award to Be Presented to Bernard Bruand2024-02-20T18:08:51-05:00
14 02, 2024

2024 Sustainability Award Winner: Youth Climate Ambassadors

2024-04-18T13:57:33-05:00

The Youth Climate Ambassadors (YCA) Leadership Program is a first of its kind in California. The program is a knowledge-to-action seven-month long leadership program that provides 9-12th grade students in San Mateo County the opportunity to explore social and environmental issues contributing to the global climate crisis. Over the past five years, 273 students have participated in the program. Participants increase their knowledge on climate change and build communication and other professional skills through a series of 10 workshops and retreats. Their work culminates with a Community Impact Project that is youth-created and youth-led and designed to translate knowledge and [...]

2024 Sustainability Award Winner: Youth Climate Ambassadors2024-04-18T13:57:33-05:00
13 02, 2024

2024 Sustainability Award Winner: Samuel Herzberg

2024-04-18T13:51:53-05:00

As we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the San Mateo County Parks Department, there is quite possibly no one who has had more impact on the sustainability of our county’s outdoor space than Samuel Herzberg. If you've visited a San Mateo County park, trail, beach or open space, you have benefited from Sam's work. Sam has spent over three decades working in the Parks, Public Works and Planning Departments of San Mateo County specializing in regional, natural resource, sustainability and park planning. He protected our shoreline from proposed offshore drilling. He initiated four watershed planning efforts to prevent flooding, protect [...]

2024 Sustainability Award Winner: Samuel Herzberg2024-04-18T13:51:53-05:00
13 02, 2024

2024 Sustainability Award Winner: Byrd’s Filling Station

2024-04-18T13:47:25-05:00

As San Mateo County’s first and only grocer focused on the sustainability of each product and the supply chain, Byrd’s Filling Station has reimagined a grocery store without single-use plastics. Since opening in May 2022, it has already eliminated over 100,000 pieces of single-use plastics. Laura Porter started Byrd’s Filling Station to give busy people one convenient place to find effective plastic-free, natural products. The store focuses on organic and/or non-GMO products and reusable or recyclable packaging. It also prioritizes local vendors to ensure a resilient, community-focused supply chain that minimizes greenhouse gas emissions. Byrd’s is a woman-owned business (WBE) [...]

2024 Sustainability Award Winner: Byrd’s Filling Station2024-04-18T13:47:25-05:00
31 01, 2024

The New Sustainability Ideas Bank: Online, Searchable and Downloadable!

2024-02-02T19:03:09-05:00

Implement new sustainability programs and policies in less time with fewer issues. Doing anything for the very first time is hard. There’s a learning curve. Like when I recently built kitchen cabinets. The first one was a painstaking process to figure out which pieces went together, in what order, which screws to use, how far to drill them in, etc. After the first one, I whipped out five more with ease. The same is true for designing policies and implementing programs to become more sustainable. Establishing a renter equity program, getting people to try an induction cooktop, establishing deconstruction waste [...]

The New Sustainability Ideas Bank: Online, Searchable and Downloadable!2024-02-02T19:03:09-05:00
20 10, 2021

Conclusion and Acknowledgments

2021-10-20T13:46:01-05:00

Conclusion The current housing crisis did not happen overnight. It is rooted in 250 years of shameful local practices, harmful actions and outright racial discrimination. Sadly, profit and resistance from homeowners opposed to change have too often been more important than social equity. It’s time to focus our attention on making more affordable housing available in every city in San Mateo County. For the sake of our quality of life, and to build a mutually beneficial relationship that restores our ecosystems, more housing must be found immediately. ABAG’s alarming Regional Housing Needs Allocation numbers, recent state legislation alleviating some of [...]

Conclusion and Acknowledgments2021-10-20T13:46:01-05:00
19 10, 2021

Historical Background

2021-10-20T15:59:20-05:00

History has value, but presenting the historical perspective of the current housing crisis in San Mateo County is no routine matter. Understanding how the San Mateo County housing crisis has evolved may be confrontive and difficult to accept. However, a failure to understand that history will result in a lost opportunity to move forward and improve the situation. The current housing situation has more than 250 years of history that have slowly built the reality of today’s housing inequity. The housing crisis we are grappling with has its roots in the displacement of indigenous populations from the late 1760s, [...]

Historical Background2021-10-20T15:59:20-05:00
1 10, 2021

Air Quality for All

2021-10-01T15:36:58-05:00

At Sustainable San Mateo County’s Happy Hour on July 20 titled “Air Quality for Equality”, attendees discussed disparities in air quality in San Mateo County and the wider Bay Area. Guest speaker David Canepa, who serves on the county’s Board of Supervisors and sits also on the Board of Directors at the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, correlated these disparities to racial and socioeconomic differences and highlighted some of the work the county is doing to combat these impacts. Ulysses Vinson, director of SMC Labs, explained how his firm is partnering with an air quality company, Clarity, to monitor [...]

Air Quality for All2021-10-01T15:36:58-05:00
17 07, 2021

San Mateo County Gets Ready for Wildfire Season

2021-07-17T23:01:08-05:00

In 2020 alone, while nearly 2.5 million Californians were infected by COVID-19, nearly 10,000 fires burned 4.2 million acres across the state (The New York Times 2021, Cal Fire 2020). That is more than one football field’s worth of land burned for each Californian infected by COVID-19. Fire preparedness is pivotal to preserving the health of our surrounding ecosystems and communities. As a local resident, I wanted to learn more about what work is being done to prepare for wildfires this year. I reached out to Samuel Herzberg, a Senior Planner at the San Mateo County Parks Department, and Portola [...]

San Mateo County Gets Ready for Wildfire Season2021-07-17T23:01:08-05:00
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