EcoNews Report

Organic matter — things like banana peels, coffee grounds, and newspaper — clog our waste system and when it reaches a landfill, breaks down into methane, a potent greenhouse gas. That’s why California is requiring more and more diversion of this organic matter from our waste stream. 

Two compost nerds — Layla Richardson of Zero Waste Humboldt and Daniel Hosapple of the Blue Lake Rancheria — join Gang Green to talk about how individuals can start composting in their backyard and how large producers of organic waste, like the Blue Lake Rancheria’s brewery and restaurants, can compost their food waste and returning it back to the soil.

Learn more:

• Zero Waste Humboldt
• Blue Lake Rancheria’s Daluviwi’ Community Garden

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The McKay Community Forest is one step closer to reality with the release of the draft Forest Stewardship Plan. The McKay Community Forest looks to join its famous neighbor to the north, the Arcata Community Forest, as a local hub for recreation, wildlife, and even timber production—all directed by the Forest Stewardship Plan. Hank Seemann of Humboldt County and Stevie Luther of the Humboldt Trails Council join the show to talk about the future of the McKay, trail building, and just how soon you can take your dog for a walk in the woods here.

LINKS:

• The County’s McKay Community Forest web site.
• The Humboldt Trails Council’s volunteer sign-up page.

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Karelian Bear Dogs were bred to hunt large game, like bears. Now they are being used to save them. Wildlife biologist Jessica Reyes of the Wind River Bear Institute joins Gang Green to talk about how these fearless dogs train bears to avoid humans - and how the dogs train humans to be better for bears.

Want more? Check out this YouTube video or the Wind River Bear Institute’s website.

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On Thursday, we celebrated the expiration of PG&E’s 50-year license for the Eel River dams. Next up comes license surrender, decommissioning and ultimately dam removal. 

Tune in to hear about what this process might look like and why it is so important to act swiftly to seize the opportunity for recovery of the Eel River’s wild runs of salmon and steelhead.

And in other celebratory news: Klamath dam removal is on track to begin by the end of this year. Two of California’s largest rivers are in for monumental change over the next few years!

LINKS:

• Friends of the Eel’s Potter Valley Project page
• Caltrout’s Eel River Dams page
• Potter Valley Project
• Undam the Klamath

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Plastic pollution in our oceans is a high-profile problem.

Jen Savage, Senior Manager of the Plastic Pollution Initiative of the Surfrider Foundation, joins the show to talk about just how bad the problem has gotten — if the headline didn’t give it away, it’s so bad that a recent study found microplastics in human blood — and what can be done to stop the problem.

[Note from Jennifer Savage: Since recording, the tobacco and cannabis industries convinced the state assembly’s Health Committee to gut the state bill that Tom and I discussed. It will no longer ban cigarette or cigar filters, only single-use vaping products.]

LINKS:

• California Legislation
• Reducing Waste in National Parks Act
• Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act

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On this week’s EcoNews Report, planning expert Dan Zack joins Gang Green to talk about “urbanism” — a term that might sound scary for rural Humboldt County. But despite its name, principles of urban design can be applied across the whole of the county, from Bridgeville to Eureka. Because at its core, urbanism is just about making planning work for humans. Dan also breaks down “form based codes,” a relatively new idea in urban planning that is at the heart of the Gateway Area Plan, Arcata’s new planning effort to allow for mixed-use infill development near the city’s core.

Like what you hear? Dan is giving a slightly longer presentation on “The Principles of Good Infill Development” on April 7 at 6 p.m. via Zoom. There will also be the opportunity to ask him some questions. Register online here. (Kudos to the Coalition for Responsible Transportation Priorities for sponsoring Dan’s talk!)

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With gas prices spiking and a climate crisis making you feel guilty every time you get into your car, you might be thinking about dragging your bike out of the garage for a ride. But what about the rusty chain, the flat tire and old brakes? And what about your own anxiety: Will I look dumb? Where is it safe to bike?

Your friends at Moon Cycles are here to help! Sage and Sprout, the owners of Moon Cycles, Arcata’s queer-owned bicycle shop, join Gang Green to talk about getting back on your bike and how they are working to make bicycling more inclusive.

REQUIRED READING:

• Check out Moon Cycles.
• Want to learn skills? Talk to Eureka Bike Kitchen!
• Humboldt Bay Area Bike Maps

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Humboldt County is faced with some important and difficult decisions regarding our energy future, and if the TerraGen project taught us anything it’s that the public needs to be involved as energy projects are planned.

But civic engagement requires an educated populace, so the Northcoast Environmental Center is working to figure out what folks do and don’t know about renewable energy sources and how to fill those information gaps to make sure we move forward with the best possible energy sources for our future.

In this episode Gang Green are joined by CalPoly Humboldt graduate students Lorelei Walker and Alexander Brown to talk about our energy past, our energy future and the survey they are working on with the NEC to learn Humboldt County residents’ perspectives on renewable energy sources.

Take the survey by March 31 at this link. 

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Ask anyone who has tried to look for rental housing lately and they’ll tell you that housing in Humboldt is expensive. Humboldt, like California generally, suffers from a housing affordability crisis brought on chiefly by failing to build enough housing. Our housing crisis is an environmental issue and local green groups are working to support new infill housing development.

On this week’s episode, Gang Green talks to housing policy experts Lulu Michelson and Brian Heaton about why California has failed to build enough housing and what policy changes can be made to support housing creation.

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On this week’s EcoNews, the gang’s nerdy lawyers — Tom, Matt and Scott — are joined by CalPoly Humboldt’s own professor of environmental law, Jennifer Marlow, to talk about the recent oral argument in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency. 

Is the court going to jettison Chevron deference in favor of its newly constructed “major questions doctrine” or will we see a return to Lochner-era non-delegation doctrine? Learn what that all means and why it should terrify you on this week’s episode!

• “In climate-change case, justices grapple with EPA’s role, congressional intent, and their own jurisdiction,” SCOTUSBlog, Feb. 28, 2022.
• ”The Supreme Court appears eager to gut the EPA, but can’t figure out how to do it,” Vox, Feb. 28, 2022.

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