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A FUTURE VISION FOR PACIFIC GROVE
So let's imagine Pacific Grove as having transitioned to a sustainable community, a place where
residents eat locally
and shop locally for their daily needs. Parks are surrounded with edible landscapes. An open-air market bustling with people buying fruits, veggies and local crafts offers a place to find fresh items grown close to home.
The city has an odorless compost drop-off for all the area restaurant food waste. Residents can claim composted soil to use in their own yards, each planted with fruit trees and edibles. Cisterns collect rainwater from roofs, reducing the runoff into the bay while offering water for the dry season. A local reservoir holds local runoff and offers water for gardens. Solar panels allow a zeroing out of the electricity bill even during our foggiest years.
Residents walk throughout town finding the goods they need and new stores open to showcase locally manufactured products. A local bike store houses a bike-lending library, and citizens ride scooters and bikes down our roads. A tool-lending library and a fix-it shop opens to allow residents to share tools and knowledge.
Pacific Grove becomes a city that demonstrates simplicity and the beauty of being sustainable and grows the one thing few towns can grow -- community. Sustainable Pacific Grove is dedicated to making such a vision a reality.
Sustainable Pacific Grove in 2013
SPG continues to work at finding more ways for Pacific Grove to transition to more sustainable practices..
( to see what SPG did
during 2012
during 2011
during 2010
during 2009
during 2008
during 2007
during 2006 )
( back to About Us
for this year. )
What we are doing & did in 2013
SPG Activities
On January 9th, 7 pm at the Museum
"Hope for a Changing Planet"
Tama Oliver of Al Gore's Climate Reality Project encouraged us to consider what Pacific Grove
could be doing to deal with and slow ongoing climate change.
Nobody can solve this alone. But a look back at history shows us that when millions of people come together and use their voices to demand action, real change happens. Together, it's time to speak out. It's time to spread the truth about climate change so we empower and inspire others to work toward solutions.
Meeting flyer.
At the Febuary Meeting
"Time Banking: Neighbor Helping Neighbor"
Christine Lima, Organizer of hOURbank,
She told us what Time Banking is and how it can benefit us.
Time banking is an opt-in system, with members earning credits by providing services and
drawing on credits by using services. Often these services focus on community outreach
such as care of the elderly, or help with business development or home repair,
though they can be as diverse as anyone has to offer.
Meeting flyer.
Info on time banking from Wikipedia
At the March Meeting
The Life History of Plastics
Laura Kasa,
Save Our Shores
and
Natalie Zayas, Ocean Debris Program,
Learning for Life Charter School
Save Our Shores has been gathering data which document a
significant reduction of litter.
Laura will share that information with us.
Natalie will discuss how education, of our youth in particular,
offers a real hope for a future with less plastic pollution.
Meeting flyer.
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SPG 2013 Meetings
January 9,
topic was
"Hope for a Changing Planet",
Tama Oliver of Al Gore's Climate Reality Project
February 13
topic was
"Time Banking:
Neighbor Helping Neighbor",
Christine Lima, Organizer of hOURbank,
March 13
topic was
The Life History of Plastics
Laura Kasa, Save Our Shores and
Natalie Zayas, Ocean Debris Program.
April 13
SPG Good Old Days parade, we marched.
SPG had a booth on Lighthouse.
April 21
SPG's Community Garden Grand Opening.
May 8
topic was
PG's Back-yard Treasures,
Margaret Davis, Friends of Fort Ord Warhorse, and
Lorin Letendre, Carmel River Watershed Conservancy.
June 12
"Do the Math: The Movie"
made by
Bill McKibben and 350.org.
July no meeting.
August 14
Potluck picnic in the Garden
September 11
October 9
November 13
December 11
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Pacific Grove's Good Old Days.
Saturday April 13th, we walked or biked in the Parade,
On Saturday and Sunday, April 13 &14th,
we tabled all day on Lighthouse.
SPG's Community Garden Grand Opening.
The big day was Sunday, April 21, 10 am to 3 pm.
Besides seeing all the garden plots that were already planted,
there was a poetry by Dr. Barbara Mossberg,
yoga and singing poetry by Susie Joyce, and an art project.
There were children's activies: 10am to 1pm by Parents Place.
All came prepared for a Picnic Potluck.
Here is the flyer
PG's Back-yard Treasures, with
Margaret Davis and
Lorin Letendre.
Margaret Davis, Friends of Fort Ord Warhorse, will introduce our new Fort Ord National Monument
and its envisioned future, and
Lorin Letendre, Carmel River Watershed Conservancy,
will present the history of the river and the work being done to restore it.
The National Monument and the Carmel River basin, two very different areas,
are both remarkable treasures in PG's own back yard.
Program flyer.
Topic of the June 12th program
"Do the Math: The Movie"
Do the Math: The Movie,
created by Bill McKibben and
350.org, tells the story of a rising grassroots movement.
Its goal: to change the sobering math of the climate crisis and take back our democracy.
From the urgent campaign to divest from fossil fuel to the fight against all the big money
that owns our representatives, this groundswell can change the face of our country and our lives.
Here is the flyer.
Afterwards, we broke into small discussion groups to brainstorm
actions we might undertake, as individuals or organizations. Below are
some ideas that emerged:
Reach out to families and children and
teens to create change.
Saturday picnic with activities and information for families and kids.
Gasoline usage is a financial issue: the price of gas in the U.S. is
the cheapest in the world.
Toll roads around the Peninsula and elsewhere in the county could
encourage conservation (for example, car-pooling) and yield funds for
alternative energy.
Choose where you live, to minimize driving. Sell your car.
Reform the economy.
Raise awareness:
Costs get people's attention. Double the cost
of gas/energy via carbon taxes.
School curriculum and public service
announcements.
Participate in demonstrations: see 350.org, Sierra Club.
Re-use materials.
Use the P.G. trolley.
Encourage low-carbon tours to P.G., possibly sponsored by Chamber or PG
Travel. Nice bus from Bay Area with guide.
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Letter writing to representatives Monning and Stone.
CalPers divestiture.
Write Community Foundation about divestiture.
Advocate for a PG ban on plastic bags.
Advocate for hybrid buses.
Carry a towel rather than use paper.
Desalination as energy-hog.
Divestiture by CalPers.
Energy efficient appliances.
Roof-top solar.
Recycle all types of products.
Mass transit.
Population a major issue.
Carbon tax.
Electric cars.
Boycott
Counteract misinformation about climate change; boycott industries that
fight action on climate change, for example, Koch industries and
products, such as "Quilted Northern" and "Dixie" paper products.
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(SPG is on vacation in July. Have a great summer.)
Join us on Aug. 14 for a Potluck Picnic in the GARDEN
(more later)
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