This weekend, we are fortunate to have Drive Clean Marin hosting an EV show at the College of Marin. They will feature all kinds of Electric Vehicles, and E-Bikes. 

Fairfax's very own Mitch Greer will be there demonstrating a Trek E-bike. 

Each one of us needs to commit to never buying another fossil-fueled vehicle. My go-to vehicle now is an e-bike, followed by a zero emission car. I still have a 4WD Subaru, and, when it is time to replace it, I will replace it with an electric vehicle. 

The Drive Clean folks will have discounts for cars, and information on the various incentives and tax rebates to help make them affordable. Even if you can't afford it now (I can't), it will be fun to learn more about them, and about the new e-bike opportunity. 

​Join us!

I think we all know that we are now in a megadrought worse than anything in recorded history. HERE. 

In July, the Governor passed an Executive Order asking the people of the state to reduce our water consumption by 15%. HERE. 

Because of the unique circumstances in OUR county, Marin Water District (MWD) asked those of us in Marin to reduce our water consumption by 40%. HERE. 

In a recent meeting of the Fairfax Town Council, one resident asked, "If I am using 100 gallons per day per person, is that ok?" The answer, at that time, was yes, that was a reasonable number. 

But yesterday, the California Water Resources Control Board released data that shows us that we are not meeting ANY of the needed reductions, as a state, or as a County. HERE. Even if we are using only 100 gallons per day per person. 

Some of us may not believe that the climate is changing. But, go look at our reservoirs; your eyes will show you that we are in a water crisis. 

Friends and neighbors, we are running out of water. We are not doing what we need to do to make the needed difference. 

Maybe it will rain a lot this year, and all of this will, temporarily, recede from view. And maybe not. And, even if we do get some rain, it will take about 140% of normal rainfall to get us back to "normal." And, all signs point to the fact that dryness will be our new norm. And, pressures for the town population to grow are mounting. 

Let's not put our heads in the sand.

Let's take a clear-eyed view of our reality, and let's accept our responsibility to do what is right for our community, for our County, for our state, for our world. And, unfair as it might be, there are going to be people who won't stop watering their lawns, and who think they can afford to pay for more water, so they will not heed the call; putting an even greater burden on the rest of us. 

I am using about 100 gallons per per day. I am going to heed the call of MWD, the call of the state, the call of nature, the call to serve all of you, my friends and neighbors; I am going to try to get my consumption down by 40% - more, if I can, to make up for people who refuse to do so. 

So, let's all work to cut our consumption as low as we can. Let's also urge the Town Council to use 10% of our ARPA money to help us. Together we can do what we must do.

Thank you.   

Last week, Time Magazine ran an article titled "We're in a Water Crisis: We need to act like it." 

You can find the excellent article HERE. 

And, last night, the Fairfax Climate Action Committee spent two hours working, with the public, on a proposal to take a small (about 10%) portion of the ARPA funds allocated to the Town to use to help the people of this Town make needed progress towards protecting our dwindling and most precious of resources. 

In the end, the CAC voted to recommend that the Town Council move forward with this ambitious proposal. 

It is important to note that, while the money is from Fairfax's allocation of ARPA, and while the program is directly targeted to help the people of Fairfax with their water consumption, the CAC designed the program to be able to link with other jurisdictions and to share strategies, materials, efforts. A gallon saved anywhere in the County is a gallon available to all of us. 

As one member of the CAC said during the meeting, "Nothing is more important than this; no other use of the money is as important; in truth, we can't do too much to deal with this crisis."

While we wait to see what the Town Council will do, please continue to do all that you can to reduce your consumption. Our reservoirs are less than half of normal for this point in a year. We have less than one year of capacity in the reservoirs. They are less than 35% full. 

Don't flush. Take short showers. Stop irrigating. Stop washing cars. Join us. 

We're in a Water Crisis; We need to act like it. 

Thank you, CAC, thank you, Fairfax. 

Tonight, the Town of Fairfax Climate Action Committee will consider two proposals to use small portions of the money given to the Town of Fairfax through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. 

ARPA has very narrow limits for what the money can be used for, and that constrains us a lot. One of the things the money is permitted to be used for is to help with water systems, both supply and effluent.

So, we are proposing to use slightly more than 10% of the total given to the Town to help us reduce our water consumption. Doing this will help all of us in the middle of this historic drought, and, those who actually do reduce their consumption, will also save money. 

A second thing that can be done with the money is to provide utility assistance to people of low- to moderate- income. Our second proposal, therefore, is to use less than 10% of the total money to help low- and moderate- income people to install solar systems on their homes. 

Together, these two proposals, if enacted, would use only 20% of the total ARPA money, leaving all of the rest for other uses. It would help us to work together to save the water on which we all depend. It would help those of us on fixed incomes or with low incomes to reduce their climate footprint and to save money over time in reduced energy costs. 

Climate Justice. 

Save the watershed.

Save money. 

Most of the money for other purposes.

What's not to like?

Join us tonight to talk through the ideas and get them into what WE, the people, want and need from the Town Council. 

Together, we can come together and make needed change happen. 

Join us. 

​https://www.townoffairfax.org/meetings/climate-action-committee-september-21-2021/#/tab-agenda 

Yesterday, Fairfax held our summer picnic. 

The Climate Action Committee shared a table with Sustainable Fairfax and Marin Water District, and we were very happy at the opportunity to help so many people with a special emphasis on giving out a wide variety of water-saving devices. 

One thing we did was to ask people about the idea of the Town's using ARPA money to support the Town Residents in implementing water-saving strategies. You told us overwhelmingly that this was a great idea, and we will try to work with the Town Council and others to make this happen. 

Another thing that came out of your feedback was the idea that we would start to create a mailing list so that folks can be more informed on what is going on from an environmental perspective for our people. 

This environmental crisis is here and it is serious. We are all working hard to do what we must do to address it. 

Together, we can. 

Join us Tuesday night, and help us. Our agenda and meeting logistics are HERE. 

Thank you. 

Tomorrow, representatives from the Climate Action Committee will be at the Fairfax Town Picnic, together with folks from Sustainable Fairfax.

We would LOVE to talk with you all about our ARPA proposals, and anything else. We will have a demo of the Flume water meter, we will have the ability to help you sign up for MCE Deep Green, we will have water-saving devices from Marin Water District. 

It will be great to see you all; please join us!!

See you there! 

Yesterday, I came across an article in Environmental Forum magazine. This magazine is the Journal of the Environmental Law Institute, focused on advancing legal structures to support improved environmental outcomes. 

​This article, titled "Building Social Justice," notes that most of our incentives for helping people install Solar energy are tax-focused. So, you have to be paying big tax bills for these incentives to make sense. And, these incentives are not relevant to lower-income people. 

The article describes a few programs from around the country trying to start addressing this gap. It talks about Community Solar as one pathway towards doing so. 

The Fairfax Climate Action Committee has proposed to the Fairfax Town Council that we launch a kind of Community Solar program, with seed money from the ARPA grant we will be getting. The idea behind this program is that we can spend a small amount of money (about 9% of the total grant to the Town) to create such a program targeted at beginning to address this challenge for our people. 

We will be discussing this proposal, as well as a companion proposal regarding a similar amount, partially matched by Marin Water District, to help our people reduce their water consumption through various upgrades and other behavioral interventions. 

We will be discussing these proposals at our next CAC meeting, next Tuesday evening. 

Come let us hear from you!

Yesterday's blog talked about a proposal to use some of the ARPA money to help the people of Fairfax to reduce our water consumption and save this precious resource. 

Another part of the ARPA grant is the ability to help people who were economically hurt by the Covid virus. The Act stipulates that, if the Town uses the money to help people of low- and moderate- income with housing needs, including weatherization, utilities, etc, it meets the requirements of the Act. 

When the Town Council was considering the Climate Action Plan, we got several comments reminding us that some of what's in it - like putting solar panels on peoples' roofs - are beyond the means of many of our people. 

And, of course, the Town is concerned with advancing issues of social justice. 

So, hearing all of this, the CAC has proposed that we use a small part of the ARPA money (less than 10% of the amount allocated to the Town) to help low- and moderate- income people put solar on their homes. 

The idea is, we would use the money to put panels on peoples homes. We would then have the people pay for the electricity at a rate that is similar or, if possible, less than what they are already paying to PG&E. After a few years, once the panel cost has been repaid, the person with the panel will not have to pay again; so, the person from Fairfax would be economically advantaged from the beginning, with the benefit increasing over time. 

As the money comes back, then, we will use the money to fund future solar projects for more people in Town, so that this money will be used over and over to help the people of this town. 

But, the Town needs to hear from you. 

Tuesday night, September 21, we will discuss these two proposals. We hope you can join us. 

As I wrote yesterday, the Climate Action Committee has developed a plan to use money from the Federal Government to help people of this town to save one of our most precious resources - our water. (and, by the way, the money we would otherwise spend on it). 

Our proposal includes two major elements. First, we will empower a team of volunteers to help our people implement water-saving strategies in our respective businesses and homes. For sure, we can all do better, and having someone who knows the tricks of the trade can help us each figure out how we can help. 

The second part of the proposal is additional funding to add to the funding already available from Marin Water District ONLY for the people of Fairfax. Today, MWD provides grants and rebates for investing in things that save water in homes and businesses. Mostly, these grants and rebates do not pay 100% of the cost of these measures. So, our proposal will help people to pay for the remainder of the measures, thus making them even easier to adopt. 

We will be having a Public Workshop during our regularly scheduled Climate Action Committee Meeting next week. During that meeting, we will describe the elements of the plan, answer questions about it, and hear comments on it. The Town Council wants to know; should we take this money from the Federal Government and use this small bit to help you, in this way. 

Please join us next Tuesday, September 21, from 7-9. 

Our meetings always end on time, and we welcome all people of our Town. 

Join us!

Earlier this year, the Town of Fairfax passed its new Climate Action Plan. During the Public Comment phase of this work, we received a number of comments from the people of this town noting that it can be financially infeasible for people on fixed incomes or in other situations to make needed investments into reducing their personal carbon footprints, not matter how much they might want to. These folks said that they needed help. 

Also, earlier this year, the Federal Government passed the American Recovery Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA). Under the terms of this Act, a certain sum of funds is being allocated to the Town of Fairfax. The Town Council asked the Climate Action Committee to propose ways that the Town can use some of our allocation to support the people of this Town in realizing our climate goals.

The CAC has proposed two different ideas to the Council. One would help Town Residents to reduce our water consumption. This measure will have a small impact on our emissions, but is an obviously needed response to our current water crisis, which is itself an impact of our increasingly urgent climate situation. 

The second CAC proposal is to help low- and moderate- income households in Town to install solar panels on their homes to simultaneously reduce their GHG emissions and reduce their costs. The structure of this proposal includes a provision under which the Town Person receiving the panels would pay for the electricity generated by the panels, so that the money can be used again in the future by others who also need panels, thus maximizing the benefit to the people of this Town. 

The Town Council asked the CAC to convene a special workshop to involve the people of this Town in considering these two ideas, and to see if there is support for the idea of using this money to help you in this way. 

On Tuesday of next week, September 21. All of our meetings are publicly noticed on the Town Website. We will post a packet with the agenda and with drafts of the two proposals. 

Please join us if you can; we need everyone's best thinking to make best use of this amazing opportunity. If you can't join us, then reach out to me anytime, and let's talk through your thinking.

The IPCC says we are in Code Red for Humanity; if we do not bend the carbon curve, nothing else is going to matter.

​Help us help you.