Announcing Local Results!

Dear friends,

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• Localization Asset Map Launched!
• Study Finds Bounty of Untapped Rooftop Resources
• Movement Builds for Local Clean Energy
• Bay Localize Joins Earth Island
• Events Roundup: Upcoming and Recent
• Support Bay Localize!

Localization Asset Map Launched!

To help you live more locally and better, Bay Localize has rounded up some of the most exciting projects, community groups and innovative businesses in the nine-county Bay Area. The Localization Asset Map displays these resources geographically, includes organizational and project descriptions, and provides contact info, so that you can get involved with localization in the ways and places that best fit your life.

Most of our consumption can be broken down into the areas of food, energy, and raw materials, and the Localization Asset Map highlights resources these key areas, plus Community Education. Since localization is holistic, however, it is also endlessly diverse. We've included organizations working for food justice in the East Bay, a materials reuse center in Contra Costa, and a bicycle coalition in Marin.

Many of the groups included are active partners or allies, and some we happened upon by chance. All are doing incredible work to make our environment healthier, our society more just, our economy more sustainable, and, ultimately, our region more livable. Give them your time, your support, your business, and your attention. The Asset Map is a resource both for those looking to get involved and those looking to draw people in. It's a resource for us.

Take a look, and you're sure to find something that inspires!

Study Finds Bounty of Untapped Rooftop Resources

Rooftop Resources can be developed on existing buildings in the Bay Area, without structural improvements. Today building owners can install rooftop technologies that improve water quality, save energy, grow fresh produce, generate clean electricity and contribute to regional sustainability, concludes Bay Localize's recently completed Neighborhood Assessment Report, Tapping the Potential of Urban Rooftops.

The study's most compelling findings showed that on the 743 buildings in the quarter square mile study area:

• 1.9 million gallons of irrigation water/year could be generated from rainwater harvesting
• 11.6 million kWh/year of solar electricity could be produced, totaling 8.5 megawatts of capacity
• 124 metric tons of vegetables/year could be harvested

We encourage you to check out the entire study by downloading the PDF. (You can also help support our efforts by donating $35 (to cover printing and postage costs) for a hard copy of the report. The 85-page, color copied and bound report can be delivered within 5 business days.) We also encourage you to take our Rooftop Resources Survey to share your views on rooftop systems.

Rooftop Resources Primer to be Released this Winter

Highlights from the Assessment will be incorporated into the Rooftop Resources Primer, a comprehensive booklet that will lay out the thesis of the Rooftop Resources Project, key research highlights, prototypes and findings from the Assessment, resource lists for rooftop system products, designers and contractors, and educational opportunities. The Primer will be released this Winter.

Green Roof Infrastructure: Design and Installation 201

Do you want to grow your green roof knowledge? Get an advanced training for green roof design and installation! On December 13, Bay Localize will host a Green Roofs for Healthy Cities "Green Roof Infrastructure: Design and Installation 201" course. This one-day course overviews green roof project management, building code and municipal permitting issues, liability, sub contracting and more. For more information, click here or contact Anna Sergeyeva at asergeyeva@greenroofs.org.

Living Classroom Blossoms Over Students' Heads

At the E.C. Reems Academy of Technology and Art's open house on October 25, the new edible roof garden and living classroom was the star feature. Jason Harvey, Executive Director and founder of the Oakland Food Connection, introduced the garden to middle school students, parents and members of the community. Ingrid Severson introduced the Rooftop Resources Project and spoke on the significance of localization, and Maka Agbo of the Ella Baker Center linked the garden's significance in growing the green economy.

The event marked completion of the garden's first phase, including eight beds soon to be filled with fresh food. When finished, the rooftop garden will consist of a drip watering system, a composting system, a green house, thirty-five garden beds and twenty hanging herb beds (see illustration below). Students from Unity High School will lead the educational program, teaching courses on garden development to the younger E.C. Reems students and encouraging them to prepare simple, nutritious meals from the food they grow. Take-home food bags will also be distributed weekly for student participants to share the harvest with their families.

Movement Builds for Local Clean Energy

Bay Localize is ramping up our efforts to bring clean, reliable and local power to our communities. Through our work with the Local Clean Energy Alliance of the East Bay, which includes groups like the Sierra Club Bay Chapter and Pacific Environment, we are building a broad-based movement for a socially just, renewable energy economy.

In September, over 40 East Bay residents took part in a Local Clean Energy Alliance workshop on the benefits of adopting a Community Choice energy system in the East Bay. Bay Localize's Kirsten Schwind moderated a panel featuring energy expert Robert Freehling, Berkeley Councilmember Kriss Worthington, and Jay Hermon of REC Solar. Participants discussed ways to encourage Berkeley, Oakland, and Emeryville to move forward on a joint plan they've already begun exploring to supply residents and businesses with 50% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2017.

Building on this grassroots momentum, the Alliance is also reaching out to key strategic allies and public officials. We recently presented the case for Community Choice energy to the Oakland Apollo Alliance, a local green economy coalition convened by the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 595. In November, Local Clean Energy Alliance members met with Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums' Budget Chief Dan Lindheim to discuss how a Community Choice energy system can create jobs and help the city meet its renewable energy goals.

Under California's unique Community Choice energy law, cities and counties can act as buyers' coops by purchasing their own energy on the open market, or by issuing tax-free bonds to invest in their own new energy generation facilities. San Francisco and Marin counties have already taken the lead in the Bay Area by advancing their own community energy plans. With your help, we are confident that we can generate the vital support we need to pass a Community Choice program in the East Bay, with the ultimate goal of creating an unstoppable wave of local clean energy systems that ring the entire Bay Area.

To get involved with our Local Clean Energy Campaign, please contact Kirsten Schwind at kirsten@baylocalize.org or call (510) 834-0420.

CONSULTANT OPPORTUNITY! Bay Localize and Pacific Environment are hiring an independent consultant for the period of December 2007 through November 2008. The consultant will coordinate a campaign on behalf of the Local Clean Energy Alliance of the East Bay (LCEA) to move the cities of Oakland, Berkeley and Emeryville towards a more locally-oriented clean energy grid. Click here for more info!

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Bay Localize Teams Up with Earth Island Institute

We are very pleased to welcome the Earth Island Institute as Bay Localize's new fiscal sponsor, and are grateful to the Center for Sustainable Economy for its generous sponsorship as we got going over the past year. Partnering with the Earth Island Institute allows Bay Localize to focus on running our localization programs while the experienced staff at Earth Island takes care of our accounting, payroll, and other administrative needs. This is excellent news for supporters, who are now eligible to receive a free one-year subscription to the Earth Island Journal for donations of $35 or more.

We welcome your partnership in our vibrant work! Please make checks out to the Earth Island Institute, with Bay Localize in the subject line, and send them to:

     Bay Localize
     436 14th St, Suite 1127
     Oakland, CA 94612

Or click here to make an online donation. Thank you for sharing your vision and energy with us!

Events Roundup: Upcoming and Recent Activities

UPCOMING EVENTS:

• Food Security & Urban Agriculture with Jason Mark, November 28, San Francisco
• Symposium on Industrial Land - This Land is (Whose) Land?, November 30, Berkeley
• Holiday Local Crafts Fair at the Berkeley Farmers' Markets, December 8, 15, and 22
• Democracy School, January 25-27, San Francisco

Look for announcements of other upcoming gatherings on our online Events page.

RECENT EVENTS: