San Mateo will be hosting a series of free events to celebrate Earth Day throughout April and May and highlight how people can bring positive environmental change in their community.
“We are the generation that is actively experiencing the effects of climate change here and now,” San Mateo Mayor Amourence Lee said in a press release. “Collective action starts at the individual level, and we can all take steps to make San Mateo stronger and more resilient. I am incredibly excited for this new Earth Day series that will bring fun and educational opportunities to our community.”
The events aim to ensure everyone takes action to reduce waste, improve the environment and realize the individual contributions they can make to help the planet. Most of San Mateo’s greenhouse gas emissions are from cars, with 50% from transportation and 34% from commercial and residential buildings. The city is working on a city decarbonization strategy focusing on phasing out natural gas in buildings as part of a larger City Council priority to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“We really hope these different programs inspire local action and show there are different ways for people to be part of the solution,” San Mateo Sustainability Analyst Andrea Chow said.
The events started April 1 with a Fixit Clinic at the San Mateo Main Library where experts worked with community members to repair broken items. The clinic focused on broken appliances, computers, toys, fabrics and textiles.
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The two months will offer free, family-friendly programs that will mostly occur at the Main Library. April 8 will have a family gardening day at the San Mateo Arboretum, and April 22 will have library workshops around visible mending, zero waste soup making and Earth Day awareness. May 2 will have a Zoom event about drought and the Main Library will host a May 9 event on electrifying a home. May 12 features events on recycling and composting at Beresford Park and the San Mateo Corporation Yard, respectively. The final event will unveil the new seed library at the Main Library that will provide a storage place for organic, non-hybrid, non-GMO vegetable, herb and flower seeds. The May 20 event will have a seed donation and swap opportunity for that day that is free to all people. The event will encourage people to share excess seeds, with a preference for non-GMO and organic seeds no more than 1 to 2 years old. The seed library will only include organic, non-GMO, non-hybrid seeds. The event starts with a Master Gardener presentation on growing vegetables at 10:30 a.m.
The bigger question is, why are such emissions suddenly bad? Here you are with a mayor who is wet behind her ears telling us what to do. Just be sure that your seeds are woke enough. No Mommy, thanks!
Now when they have the class on electrifying a home, will they stress the upfront costs, or the net costs of electrifying? Will they tell folks that lower income folks are subsidizing higher income folks? Will there be a Mercator map, or better yet, a modified Mercator showing true country sizes, and which countries are increasing their use of fossil fuels to meet demand? Will there be a graph or a spreadsheet to indicate which industry has provided electricity in CA for the past twenty years (hint, gas over 50%)? Or will these events focus on convincing folks that San Mateo is the center of the universe and if we can reduce our emissions in the city, all is going to be okay and the Earth will be saved. Maybe I’ll stop by and ask some targeted questions…
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(4) comments
Mayor Lee; pls ask those attending these many events to leave their cars at home.
"Most of San Mateo’s greenhouse gas emissions are from cars, with 50% from transportation"
So naturally, none of the events seek to reduce car-based transit.
The bigger question is, why are such emissions suddenly bad? Here you are with a mayor who is wet behind her ears telling us what to do. Just be sure that your seeds are woke enough. No Mommy, thanks!
Now when they have the class on electrifying a home, will they stress the upfront costs, or the net costs of electrifying? Will they tell folks that lower income folks are subsidizing higher income folks? Will there be a Mercator map, or better yet, a modified Mercator showing true country sizes, and which countries are increasing their use of fossil fuels to meet demand? Will there be a graph or a spreadsheet to indicate which industry has provided electricity in CA for the past twenty years (hint, gas over 50%)? Or will these events focus on convincing folks that San Mateo is the center of the universe and if we can reduce our emissions in the city, all is going to be okay and the Earth will be saved. Maybe I’ll stop by and ask some targeted questions…
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.