San Anselmo-Fairfax PATCH, January 27, 2012

By Jennifer Hammond, Communications Chair, Sustainable Fairfax

It’s time to stock up on reusable bags for your backpacks, purses and car trunks.  The movement to eliminate single-use bags from stores is gaining momentum.

Click on the r

Grassroots Sustainability 

A Guide to Organizing a Thriving Community

by Lisa Chipkin and Pam Hartwell-Herrero

Grassroots Sustainability was inspired by the real-life efforts of a handful of grassroots groups in Marin County, California that successfully brought sustainability policy and education to their communities. This guidebook documents their best practices and shares important lessons learned along the way. It is intended to empower individuals and grassroots groups near and far to facilitate meaningful change in their communities from the ground up, without having to reinvent the wheel.

Sustainable Fairfax received a great honor at its 12th Anniversary Party in October. LaMonte Bishop presented us with a Certificate of Recognition from State Senator Mark Leno.  The proclamation is a wonderful validation of our efforts in the community. 

The FairBuck Project began in the beginning of 2011 as a collaborative effort by Sustainable Fairfax, Town of Fairfax and Fairfax Chamber of Commerce to launch and utilize a 3 dollar trade token to promote a more vibrant local economy. In June of 2011 we minted 5,000 tokens and had a very successful launch during the Fairfax Festival. With over  30 businesses participating; we were able to get almost 4,000 tokens int circulation in one week, mostly through exchanges with individuals.

Fairfax Chamber of Commerce presents: Breakfast Mixer

Come hear about the Fairfax Currency Project

at Pancho Villa’s

1625 Sir Francis Drake Blvd.

Thursday February 17^th, 9am-10:30am

$12 Breakfast Buffet

You must R.S.V.P. Space limited

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Apologies for misinformation on the newsletter.

http://www.fairfaxcoc.com/ 

How do we keep money local? 
Date: Wednesday, April 20th, 2011

Time:  7-9pm

Location: Women’s Club 46 Park Road in Fairfax
Cost: FREE!!!!

At this educational event you will learn -
• About the FairBuck and local currency
• How and why local currencies are being used around the US
• How can the FairBuck benefit OUR community?

You will:
• Participate in an interactive demonstration on how we propose FairBucks may be used to grow our local economy
• Share your questions, ideas and feedback so we can design the best system.
• Discover how you can be a part of this movement to revitalize our local economy and strengthen our collective spending power
• Find out how you can become a FairBuck Champion and do your part in keeping OUR MONEY LOCAL

Why should I get involved? ~ Because it’s fun and profitable for EVERYONE!

This event is brought to you by the FairBuck Steering Committee - a collaboration of Sustainable Fairfax, Town of Fairfax, and the Fairfax Chamber of Commerce and your friends and neighbors.
information-visit fairbuck.org or Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

 Each year we are profoundly happy to find what dedicated citizens are capable of doing in one small town.

Click on the Read More button below to learn about our highlights in the areas of Community Education & Events, Advocacy, Water Project, Volunteers, Center, Projects, Communications and Development.

This summer, we had a special guest –

Jean-Jacques Fasquel from Paris, France, who has a job with the city as a ‘Compost Master.’  He has been encouraging residents to set up small composting bins in their courtyards and turned his efforts into a job with the city where he goes around helping residents get started.

A Paris courtyard --

Garbage is collected every day!

In Paris, according to an article in TheGlobeandMail.com,“Most live in 19th-century apartment buildings that often share space withstores and restaurants, but were built without extra room to store garbage. Asa result, the city is forced to collect waste every day.”  The article says that the city hopes tosell its project based on the notion that composting in the courtyard canimprove relations between notoriously aloof Parisian neighbours just as much asit can help the environment.

Preserving Fairfax’s character, sustainability and quality of life for the long term

In the Spring of 2010, the Town of Fairfax, Fairfax Chamber of Commerce, and Sustainable Fairfax joined to apply for certification. In July, Fairfax was presented with a certificate showing that we have exceeded the CittaSlow Intl. criteria  and are the second town in the United States to join the CittaSlow movement. CittaSlow accredidation is a recognition of the history of Fairfax, work that has been done to preserve our town and work that is yet to come to keep us striving to root in the past as we move into the future.

CittaSlow Fairfax is in it’s infancy and we are looking for help to make this a living breathing program. contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it                               For more information www.cittaslow.org 

Slow doesn’t mean sluggish or dumb, it means taking the time to enjoy life; it doesn’t mean living in the past or moving backwards, it means shared values that preserve our town’s quality of life.

Videos from Sustainable Fairfax: 5 Ways to Compost and Rainwater Harvesting

Marin Clean Energy is on it’s way to becoming a reality in 2010! Eight towns and the County voted last fall to join together to set up our community based clean energy system. Now we’re into the nitty-gritty details and you can help all of Marin get the best Marin Clean Energy System we can have.

   MCE has the potential to integrate energy efficiency and local power generation. Energy efficiency is the cheapest 'clean energy' available and we would create good local jobs. Public Goods Funds are available to Marin and we should make sure that we get the funding, because Marin Clean Energy can do better Energy Efficiency, Solar, and Low-income programs than PG&E.

Please email your MCE county representative and your MCE town councilor and say that we need to bring energy efficiency and local power generation front and center into all MCE proposals.

Be the Change You Want to See in the World!

Join us for our Sustainability Certification Corps

When: Saturday March 26th & Sunday March 27th, 2011

Time: 9:00am-3:00pm BOTH days required!

Location: Sustainability Center at 141 Bolinas Rd. Fairfax

Participants will learn about global and local sustainability issues. Learn how to become an advocate and resource to educate and inspire others. Finally be inspired yourself, by like-minded people devoted to creating a better future for ourselves, our children and the earth! Trainees will be expected to staff our Center and get involved in community Projects. Certification is met through education, advocacy and action.

Sustainable Fairfax is a local nonprofit, educational group dedicated to preserving and regenerating the social, economic and environmental well-being of our town.

If you'd like to be part of the solution, join us.

Sign up by emailing Kristen Coffey This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Space is limited, so please RSVP...ASAP!