Thanks to you, our supporters, this past year has been a huge success for Sustainable Fairfax and our community.  We celebrated 10 years as one of Marin’s leading sustainability organizations, Marin Clean Energy getting ushered into the bidding phase, our Plastic Bag Ban going into effect and we won a MMWD pilot program for Water Conservation that will allow Fairfax to lead the County in water conservation while also providing a state-wide model for grassroots conservation efforts.  We say NO to desal!  

Unfortunately, we recently lost two of our regular support grants to a very well deserved re-targeting to feeding and sheltering the homeless.  We understand that it makes sense in this economy but, it leaves us in a bind. Sustainable Fairfax is making a concerted effort to raise money in our own community where we bring the most benefit. Times have been hard for all, and only because of the tenacity and resourcefulness of Sustainable Fairfax’s Board and or members that we have been able to sustain our efforts and keep the doors of the Sustainability Center open.  Every donation counts!  If every person on our list became a member today by donating $30 or more, we would be a long way towards making or 2010 goals.

We know you really get what we are doing. Please help us out by donating via pay pal or by sending a check to Sustainable Fairfax 141 Bolinas Rd. Fairfax, CA 94930

Our Accomplishments follow.

What do you support? We connect community, ecology and economy with a solution-based strategy to abate climate change/peak oil, reduce waste, conserve and sequester water, promote sustainable food systems, and create local self-reliance and community resilience. We also tackle major county and state-wide Policy issues such as integration of Marin Clean Energy, Stopping the Spray of toxins in our communities and preventing the need for a costly Desalination plant. All this has been done with one part-time paid staff and upwards of 50 brilliant local volunteers who work together creating a more sustainable future for the Town of Fairfax and a model for other communities to follow in our footsteps.

One of the projects this year has included collaboration with EFM Graduate Lisa Chipkin authoring a DIY Sustainability Guide for communities.

OUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN 2009

Our 18 Community Education Events included the Sustainable Summer Film Festival that featured 4 films and speakers on Water Conservation, Growing your own food, Raising chickens in your back yard and Sustainable farming, Seed Swap and Chautauqua Review, Horticultural Therapy and Healing Gardens Classes, Preparing an Ecological Feast cooking class with Emily Bender, Community Rain Garden Tours which were covered by KRON4 News, a Sustainable Spring Festival, A Fairfax Natural History Lesson with Rebecca Burgess, Sustainable Spring Celebration, Sustainable Landscaping talk with book signing by Owen Dell, Sustainable Spaces Home Doctor Check, Hands on Grey Water Workshop, Kitchen Table Sustainability talk and Book Signing with Dr. Wendy Sarkissian, hands-on Earthen Plastering workshop by Jeffrey Adams Green Halloween, 100 Mile Holiday Food event, Creek Walk, and a Winter Holiday Craft Fair. All of these events were able to reach a diverse audience of over 1000 people over the year.

The Projects team focused energy on Green Wednesdays by tapping our local genius to staff an educational table for 20 beautiful evenings at the Fairfax Farmer’s Market engaging over 1000 people of all ages. The primary focus being on lifestyle changes that reduce waste, increase walking and biking, and support localization and re-skilling in our community. We also worked to usher in the first balloted Plastic Bag Ban in the country and have been nominated along with Marin Farmer’s Market for the Heart of Marin Awards for that work. We continue to sell hundreds of our $1 produce bag encouraging the elimination of plastic and paper from our idea of shopping with great support from Good Earth Natural Foods.

We had some great successes this year in the area of Policy. Marin Clean Energy an early project of Sustainable Fairfax formed a JPA of all the towns and cities that want to take part. The bidding process has been successful and by June 2010 we will have the option to get out from under PG&E’s energy mix and lobby our local politicians to get us clean and renewable energy. Of course, Fairfax was the first town to sign on with their support. We have just begun a Rain Garden Project has continued to train citizens about the value of water and the importance of wise-management of this precious resource to support bountiful gardens, flood mitigation and creek health. Our Policy Chair worked closely with Stop the Spray to prevent a toxic LBAM abatement program in urban areas and to alter the Integrated Pest Management policy at a local level. And we undertook Voter Education that included a Sustainability survey for local candidates. We are also proud to report that our Executive Director ran for a seat on the Town Council and won the most votes, making Fairfax the only Green Party Majority council in the country.

Our Sustainability Center celebrated a two-year anniversary continuing to be a hub of activity and resource for the community. This year we opened our Lending Library and began featuring more local artists and items from Tools of Change. In our Sustainable Backyard we were a popular destination on the MCSTOPPP Eco Garden Tour featuring permaculture demonstration that includes roof-water harvesting, composting, natural building, Integrated Pest Management, Nature Art and a Victory Garden.

This year we produced 26 e-newsletters and action alerts that focused on Sustainable lifestyle tips, information about local events, and sustainable news that was sent to a list of concerned citizens that grew this year to reach to 1,229 citizens. Our Communications team also sent out press releases and flyers for each of our events and kept our website up to date and looking great.

In order to find brilliant people who are willing to give their time we continue to host our unique Volunteer Corp Training Program that this year brought 13 new volunteers into our organization through a two-day training that connected them as community leaders and trained them in the basics of sustainability with the help of Andres Edwards author of Sustainability Revolution. These trained volunteers now staff our Center year-round, have joined our working committees, and are integrated into our Board of directors. Our Volunteer Training chair is fine-tuning a new “Master Sustainers” to train new generations of sustainability-focused community leaders to take further action towards creating our sustainable town.

We succeed through the financial support from members like YOU, dedicated volunteers and with the help of some of our Major Sponsors; Marin County Board of Supervisors, Mental Insight Foundation, Borchard Foundation, Good Earth Natural Foods, Tom Crowell and family, Iron Springs Brewery, Rebecca Burgess-EcoArtist, Yoga Mountain Studio, and our newest partner- MMWD.

Collaboration!  We worked closely with non-profits, businesses, and grassroots groups allowing us to reach diverse crowds, grow our community’s network and local resilience- Partners include: Permaculture Marin, Sustainable Marin, EcoFest, Down to Earth Pediatrics, Salmon Protection and Watershed Network (SPAWN), Marin Sanitary Service, EcoMom Alliance, Good Earth Natural Foods, Environmental Forum of Marin, Sustainable Garden Network, Open Garden, Fairfax Town Council and Staff, County of Marin Board of Supervisors, Green Sangha, Marin Farmers Market Association, Earthsite, Bay Area Green Business Association, Marin County Bicycle Coalition, Sustainable Spaces, Fairfax Chamber of Commerce, Fairfax Scoop, Circle Center, Green Coalition to Stop the Redwood Landfill expansion, Andres Edwards and Edutracks, BrainBlaze Advertising, Marin County Stormwater Pollution Prevention Program, UCCE Marin Master Gardeners, Regenerative Design Institute, Local Flora, Fairfax Lumber and Hardware, Village of the Future, Marin Organic, Stop the Spray, Marin Energy Authority, Sustainable San Rafael, Transition Town Initiative.

THANK YOU!