By Rachel Hutman

April 1, 2009 (San Diego's East County) - Sure, you recycle, but do you compost? You probably know a little about composting and have heard it’s important for the environment. However you have always pushed it into the back of your brain saying “maybe someday” or “I don’t know how to start.” However composting is much easier than you think, and there are many nearby resources available to help you. The most important reason to start now is the positive difference you will be making in the environment by recycling valuable organic materials. It’s estimated that 50% of your everyday waste can be composted and reused.

April 1, 2009 (Escondido)—San Diego Roots and La Milpa Organica are pleased to announce a new educational program for our community. Whether you are a beginning gardener or experienced farmer, this program will take you full circle through a seasonal planting and harvest on a farm.

March 26, 2009 (El Cajon) - If you haven't yet experienced the Spring Garden Festival, be sure to mark your calendars for April 25th. The annual event drew more than 7,000 people last year and is quickly becoming one of East County's premier attractions. Live music, Native American dancing, arts and crafts, food, plant sales, water-wise gardening, tree-care advice from experts, and special tours for children are among the activities slated at the event hosted by Cuyamaca College.

By Miriam Raftery

Flowering perennials from Daylily hill

Maic Palmiere of Crest displays baskets and jewelry made from pine needles

March 14, 2009 (El Cajon) — Birdhouses, eco-friendly jewelry, and water-saving wizardry awaited visitors at the Water-Wise Plant Fair, held today at the Water Conservation Garden at Cuyamaca College. If you thought low-water landscaping means gravel and cacti, think again. An abundance of flowering plants and shrubs on sale offered visitors a wide array of beautiful yet water-saving alternatives to water-hogging plants and lawns.

By Miriam Raftery

Megan Werland, right, worries about health effects of Powerlink on children including her 5-month old daughter, Eleanor

March 10, 2009 (Alpine) — Children and parents staged a protest rally outside the Alpine Community Center, where SDG&E held a public meeting on Sunrise Powerlink. Holding signs that read "Class 1 Fire Risk" and "Save the Cleveland National Forest", dozens of residents voiced opposition to 230-kv lines slated to run through the heart of this community. Approved by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) in December, Powerlink is slated to include a $92 million section of undergrounded lines along a two-mile stretch of Alpine Boulevard, where Alpine Elementary School is located.

March 10, 2009 (Santee)--Santee invites the public to participate in "SanTree Fest," an Earth Day celebration from 9:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 14th at Mast Park, located at 9125 Carlton Hills Blvd. Festivities begin at 9:45 with a nature walk departing from a trail entrance at the northwest side of the Wal-Mart parking lot. A community tree planting event follows at 10:15. Live bluegrass music by Virtual Strangers, kids' crafts, pot-a-plant with Lowe's, environmental and informational booths will also be available.

Kathleen Beck and Jeanette Hartman (Brian Kramer)

March 8, 2009 (Julian) — Julian residents and environmentalists are embarking on an ambitious plan to make this historic mountain town energy-self-sufficient using renewable resources. Starting with a wind demonstration project at the library, the plan calls for 200 homes in Julian to become self-sustaining through wind and solar energy.

"The more that Julian becomes renewable energy self-sufficient, the more control its residents and businesses will have over the supply and price of the energy they need to survive," says environmental designer Jim Bell. Ultimately, Julian could also create a positive cash flow to boost its economy by producing its own clean, green energy, program proponents believe.

By Miriam Raftery

February 27, 2009 (San Diego's East County)--Area residents must cut water consumption by at least 20% or face stiff financial penalties, local water authorities warn following a state declaration of emergency today due to the drought. Fortunately, there is help for consumers seeking ways to reduce their water usage.

"Sixty to 70 percent of water use in residential is out of doors," said Mark Robak, Otay Water District member.

(photo courtesy of AWEA)

Part III of a three-part series:   HEALTH, SAFETY, AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF WIND FARMS 

February 22, 2009 (Boulevard) — Our country has jumped on a high-speed wind-energy bandwagon, as if the costs of developing and producing wind energy are as invisible as the wind itself. Are benefits commensurate with the costs? Can developers mitigate any risks and impacts? Our panoramic look at wind-farm issues continues, rendering potential fire risks, alleged health hazards, and environmental impacts of wind-development more visible, alongside wind energy’s better-known projected benefits.

PART II in a three-part series:  WHY BOULEVARD?

By Gayle Early

Pristine vale in McCain Valley slated for transmission lines, including Sunrise PowerLink. (photo by Gayle Early)

February 16, 2009 (Boulevard) — Iberdrola Renewables and other parties have had their fingers in the wind, testing for the past three years and more.

“If you link the windy areas in San Diego County to the transmission, it restricts you to very few areas. McCain Valley—and a small area around Julian—is one of the few areas in San Diego County that has wind anywhere near transmission,” said Andy Linehan, Permitting/Environmental Director of Iberdrola.

The quality of wind here might be questionable. Alan Ridley, Professor at Cuyamaca College and enthusiastic expert on renewable wind energy said, “I remember 10, 15 years ago a former Sempra employee told me they just can’t do wind energy in East County, because it’s the wrong kind of wind. I had a lawyer tell me that ‘Kumeyaay Wind project is good, but it’s not great.’

by Gayle Early

(photo by Miriam Raftery)

February 10, 2009 (Campo)--Editor’s Note: Should wind turbines hundreds of feet tall –higher than the existing Kumeyaay wind farm turbines—be allowed in the rural McCain Valley/Boulevard region in East County? Does the nation’s critical need for “green” energy outweigh the concerns of residents seeking to preserve the rural character of their backcountry communities? With new industrial-scale wind farms proposed across America, East County Magazine’s Gayle Early set out on a quest to explore these issues in depth for our three-part series on wind energy.

PART I: BACKCOUNTRY RESIDENTS BATTLE SPANISH WIND GIANT

As they were talking, they saw thirty or forty of the windmills found in that countryside, and as soon as Don Quixote caught sight of them, he said to his squire:

“Good fortune is guiding our affairs better than we could have desired, for there you see, friend Sancho Panza, thirty or more enormous giants with whom I intend to do battle and whose lives I intend to take, and with the spoils we shall begin to grow rich, for this is righteous warfare, and it is a great service to God to remove so evil a breed from the face of the earth.”

By Miriam Raftery January 24, 2009 (San Diego's East County)--In the last days of the Bush administration, two federal agencies gave a parting gift to Sempra Energy. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission designated a vast swath of San Diego's East County as a federal energy corridor, paving the way for the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to approve Sempra's controversial Sunrise Powerlink project one day before George W. Bush left office. For construction to commence, however, the U.S. Forest Service (a division of the U.S.

February 1, 2009 (El Cajon) -- Savor a flavorful tour of the Water Conservation Garden on Saturday, February 15th at 11:30 a.m. Tour includes samples of sweet and savory flavors from the botanical world including fruits, vegetables, and herbs--and then there is chocolate!

December
18, 2008 — Are you an Energy All-Star? Take credit for your green efforts
and submit a nomination for the 5th Annual San Diego Excellence in Energy (SANDEE)
Awards.

The SANDEE Awards recognize outstanding projects and activities that have
achieved significant energy efficiency or energy conservation savings, implemented
renewable energy and reduced CO2 emissions in San Diego County.

Environmental voting records for east San Diego County state legislators and Governor Schwarzenegger

By Sylvia Hampton

December 9, 2008 San Diego) — Environmental protection is very important to San Diego County voters. Every year the League of Conservation Voters publishes a "scorecard" on the voting records of all state level representatives: www.ecovote.org/scorecard_2008.pdf. Among Assembly members representing East County and San Diego's eastern region,  environmental protection scores ranged from a low score of 5% (Anderson, Gerrick and Walters) to a high of 95% (Salas).  Among our state Senators, scores ranged from a low of 6% (Hollingsworth) to a high of 100% (Kehoe), while Governor Schwarzenegger received a 60% rating.