Congratulations to the 2008 Sustainable San Mateo County Award Winners!
The recipients of the 9th annual Sustainability Awards truly reflect the three-part message of Sustainable San Mateo County: to advocate and support programs within the county centered on the environment, economy and social equity. Of the 27 outstanding award nominees, the four winners and one honorable mention covered an array of sustainability values, including education, public health and human rights. Whether it’s a nine-acre goat farm or a local website with a global impact, this year’s winners have clearly made a positive difference within the county and beyond:
The San Mateo County Community College District received a special tribute for exemplifying all three E’s of sustainability–economy, environment and social equity. Not only does the District provide a solid education at a relatively low price, it supplies the local workforce with skilled and educated people and provides housing to its faculty and engages in environmentally-friendly projects with new facilities.
Care2.com, Inc. is a Redwood City-based company that has used its website, www.care2.com, to garner attention to world problems such as AIDS, deforestation and human rights abuses. This unique site empowers its members to start and sign petitions, create networks between non-profit groups and causes, post news articles, send eCards (each of which generates a donation by Care2 to save one-square foot of rainforest), and much more.
Through its network of more than 350 partner non-profit groups, it has flexed its muscle for various causes. For example, through its petitioning site, thousands of people signed a petition in support of upholding state laws that requires the auto industry to reduce car emissions by 30 percent by 2016. Its local presence is more than just where it is based. Of the nearly 8 million members, nearly 20,000 live in San Mateo County.
Catalino Tapia is an extraordinary story of perseverance and giving. Tapia came to the United States from Mexico at the age of 20 with merely $6 in his pocket. He worked as a baker and a machine operator and, with his wife, bought a home in Redwood City. After watching his son graduate from UC Berkeley’s Boalt Law School, Tapia, now 63, established a nonprofit group called the Bay Area Gardeners Foundation, which provides scholarships mainly to Latino students in need as they enter college.
The board, comprised of gardeners, raises money for the scholarship fund by hosting dinners and requesting donations from local businesses and their gardening clients. This year the board awarded nine scholarships of $1,500, almost double what it distributed in its first year in 2006. Scholarship applicants must have a GPA of at least 2.5 and commit to at least 20 hours of community service annually.
Community Gatepath is the largest non-profit group in the county serving people with disabilities, reaching more than 6,700 people. Gatepath is the leading agency providing early intervention services for kids with developmental disabilities. They also offer job placement assistance and help transition disabled people to live independently. As a result, businesses like Safeway, Longs Drugs and Marriott heavily rely on Gatepath to provide people in search of work.
This past year, Gatepath took green steps in its building renovation, installing energy efficient windows and sealants and using low-voltage and timed lighting. Recycling drives help fund pizza parties and social gatherings. Between its awareness to limit their carbon footprint and the indelible efforts to guide disabled people, Gatepath is exemplary in its goals and results.
Harley Farms Goat Dairy in Pescadero started 16 years ago with six goats and has since grown into a 200-goat operation as the only dairy farm in San Mateo County. The nine-acre farm is a “farmstead dairy,” meaning the cheese produced comes directly from the farm’s animals. It has received six national cheese awards and was the recipient of this past year’s San Mateo County Farmer of the Year award. It also was featured in a February 2007 New York Times article about “agri-tourism,” a concept in which small farms open up to curious visiting urbanites.
The farm follows several environmentally-friendly practices by providing goats to the “Rent A Goat” program, where goats clear brush and grass. The farm won a four-year grant from the Natural Resource Conservation Service under the U.S. Department of Agriculture, for creek bank restoration and water conservation. The farm utilizes recycled water to cool the milk and offers free manure to its neighbors.
The Solar Our Schools program (SOS) a partnership between Owens Electric and Solar and Hillsdale High School’s Environmental Club represent this year’s honorary mention. Through the SOS program, up to 20 students from the school’s Environmental Club completed four educational sessions that covered solar technology, energy conservation and solar design and installation. Owens Electric and Solar, based in San Mateo, implemented the SOS program to use school districts to not only teach students the many benefits of solar, but also install solar in school facilities for cash-strapped districts. Hillsdale High School now is in the process of installing solar panels.
On November 15, inspired students and teacher, David Emanuel, of Hillsdale High’s Environmental Club hosted nearly 100 community members at the Solar and Sustainability Evening held at the school. The students shared their semester-long experience participating in the Solar Our Schools Program developed by Brian Quock of Owens Electric and Solar where they engaged in a hands-on learning experience about solar Photovoltaic technology.
The evening included presentations by Jill Boone, Environmental Consultant for the City of San Mateo, who discussed the City’s new Sustainable Initiatives Plan, Tina King – SSMC’s Education & Outreach Director, and Brian Quock of Owens Electric and Solar but the best part of the evening was a fun and informative presentation given by the students themselves. Not only did they get up in front of the audience to give an informative slide show about how solar PV works but they also performed a funny skit starring Hillsdale High School’s “Go Solar!” penguin mascot. Another student and community member shared their experience with having solar PV on their homes.
As part of the Solar Our Schools Program, the students will be raising money to install solar arrays on the school and local community members will receive a $1000 credit toward residential solar PV systems. In attendance was the City of San Mateo’s Mayor as well as the Planning Commissioner, Kelly Moran, and Public Works Commissioner, Marion Weiler.
This year’s Green Building Awards goes to the TAIJI House, owned by Scott and Jackie Wood, in Menlo Park, and the Nueva School Hillside Learning Complex in Hillsborough.