| Please join us to honor Gordon Bennett 2008 Environmental Leader of Marin Save the Date Where: Mill Valley Community Center, 180 Camino Alto, Mill Valley, CA 94941 The Environmental Education Council of Marin "EECOM" invites you and your colleagues and friends to join; Senator Mark Leno, Assembly member Jared Huffman and Supervisor Charles McGlashan at our 2008 Environmental Leadership Award Ceremony. The award ceremony will be held at the Mill Valley Community center on Tuesday evening, November 11 th between 6:30 and 8:30 pm. This year EECOM is pleased to honor Gordon Bennett as the 2008 Environmental Leader of Marin. We hope that you and your work colleagues/friends can join us for this auspicious event to honor an environmental hero, and to support our important work going forward. The price of a ticket is $40 per person paid in advance and $50 at the door (advance purchase is suggested in case of the event being sold out). Tickets can be purchased on line at www.eecom.net or by mail to our office at 42 Bolinas, Ste G, Fairfax, CA 94930. Excellent opportunities to sponsor this event and be involved in this important ceremony are also being offered. EECOM has received excellent coverage for this event in Marin IJ and other news sources (reaching over 80,000 people), and we always list our supporters, on signage at the event, at our web site and in our e-zine which goes out to over 2,000 people. If you are interested in being a sponsor please contact us at support@eecom.net. This important event marks an annual milestone by honoring individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to our community. It also presents community leaders an opportunity to come together and celebrate our sustainable Marin County.
EECOM, a decade old environmental organization has provided leadership in the areas of environmental education, sustainable food systems, and in helping to stop global warming. We are a small non-profit with environmental programs throughout Marin and the Bay area. We network with a large number of organizations including sustainable businesses, environmental education groups and government agencies. Here are some highlights about our work: Eco-Energy Footprint Campaign to Stop Global Warming Last year, Al Gore's Marin county appearance benefited our local energy footprint (global warming) campaign. To date we have received over 800 pledges from home-owners and business owners to reduce their energy consumption, and we have educated over 40,000 Marin residents on Marin's oversized energy footprint. [Got to www.eecom.net to make an energy pledge and sign up on our "Pledge Wall" and join many of your neighbors.] These pledges result in significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Based on the 800 people who have pledged to reduce their electricity and gasoline consumption by 20% each over the period of one year, they could be collectively saving: • 1,181,376 kilowatt hours per year, resulting in annual savings of 3017 tons of GHG • 91,560 gallons of gas per year, resulting in annual savings of 784 tons of GHG and 889 tons of CO2 ! Not to mention savings on their energy bills. According to one of the businesses that EECOM has worked with, they saved 30% on their energy costs! Recognizing that even if we succeed in significantly reducing Marin County's energy use, because of our small size and population this is not enough to stop Global Warming, EECOM links community members to larger state and national campaigns like the Step It Up Campaign seeking to pass a bill in Congress to significantly reduce America's greenhouse gas emissions. Over 1,000 residents joined us throughout the county to raise support for this initiative. Environmental Education Programs Through our teen media program, we train high school students in journalism, we interview environmental leaders, and their stories are professional edited and aired every week (52 stories a year) after Living on Earth on KAWL. This fine education program for older teens, builds communication and media skills while providing job training. We are also able to bring new voices to the media, by disseminating newsworthy environmental stories. We also reach many younger children in Marin County through our excellent nutrition and garden program for children in grades k-4 th . Just this past year, we reached over 650 children nutrition and garden lessons (in four of Marin counties poorest schools) every other week. By doing so, EECOM provides over 50 hours of in depth education and training to each youth (a grand total of 32,500 hours of educational instruction!). This in-depth nutrition and garden program has changed children's attitudes and behaviors about what foods are healthy and desirable to eat, and educated them in basic ecological and gardening principles. The program has also transformed some of the schools food and nutrition practices, by encouraging a school salad bar option. This year, we are pleased to be able to reach out and help many more schools and children since launching our school garden mini-grants program and our mini-grants for field trips for kids. You can learn more about these grants at www.eecom.net . Marin City Programs: Health and Nutrition For four years, EECOM has provided services to some of our poorest communities; Marin City and the Canal. We run an after school education program for Marin City middle school children to engage them in beneficial activities. Through the Marin City Youth Corps program we guides and recognize the youth's contribution to their community through gardening, clean up and helping on community projects. One of our favorite youth activities is their bringing fresh organic produce directly from our farm stand to elderly Marin residents as part of a free delivery service. This past year, we successfully launched the Marin City Farm Stand bringing organic produce at economical prices to the Marin City community. The farm stand is a fledgling micro-enterprise that provides employment and job training to Marin city residents. We hope to spin off the farm stand in several years as a viable self-sustaining business. In the future, we hope to link the farm stand to a larger community garden, making the stand entirely self-sufficient and community run. Environmental Education Networking, Training Mini-grants & More EECOM has the most comprehensive and up to date listings of environmental education providers in Marin County. You can view our list and get more information about the different programs from the providers at www.eecom.net. We also host a quarterly networking meeting as part of our Children and Nature Connection, and we just launched two wonderful mini-grant opportunities for school gardens and for field trip outings for kids. Go to www.eecom.net to see our application and learn more. Next year, we will offer certification course in EE for Marin public school teachers, along with many of our partners. All of this and more has been accomplished, by a relatively small organization, making EECOM one of the most efficient non-profits in the bay area. This means that every dollar that is donated to us is put into meaningful programs that benefit our local community. We have a wonderful group of community supporters to date and EECOM would be pleased to add you to our list as one of our sponsors. If you live or work in Marin County, you will be directly benefiting your own community by doing so. If you have any questions please contact me at the e-mail or phone listed below.
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Environmental Education Council of Marin |
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