Welcome to the City of Foster City’s Environmental Sustainability Task Force (ESTF)’s first regular e-Newsletter! Our goal is to keep you informed about environmental sustainability activities in Foster City.

UPDATES

· Tiered Water Rates / Water Sustainability Fund

Foster City’s Estero Municipal Improvement District (EMID) is implementing conservation-based tiered water rates, online utility billing and monthly utility billing cycles, all in an effort to encourage water conservation. Conservation-based water rates in the form of tiered rates for single-family and multi-family residential customers, and a water budget based rate for irrigation customers, is effective as of July 1, 2010. EMID is also creating a Water Sustainability Fund to support expanded rebate programs and conservation initiatives. More information can be found at http://bit.ly/FCWaterRates (case sensitive).

· Transportation Shuttle Service Changes

On July 1, 2010, the Foster City Connections Shuttle Red Line will cease operation in the westbound direction due to cuts in the Connections Shuttle budget. Currently, the Connections Shuttle Red Line serves stops in both the eastbound and westbound directions. Beginning July 1, shuttles will no longer make stops along the route from Foster City toward Hillsdale Shopping Center and Hillsdale Caltrain. Eastbound service from the Hillsdale Shopping Center to Bridgepointe Shopping Center through Foster City will remain unchanged. Updated Connections Shuttle schedules will soon be available at City Hall, the Recreation Center, the Foster City Library and Community Center, and at Foster City grocery stores. For more information, including options for traveling in the westbound direction, view the full press release at www.fostercity.org/news/press_releases/Foster-City-to-Discontinue-Portion-of-Connections-Shuttle-Red-Line.cfm.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

· “Go Green” Speaker Series

ESTF is thrilled to announce the “Go Green” Speaker Series, which will launch on July 21, 2010. This event series consists of bi-monthly educational events for Foster City residents and will highlight practical, cost-effective and environmentally beneficial actions for the home.

The first seminar focuses on “Water-Wise Ways: Stopping the Drain on your Wallet” and will take place Wednesday July 21 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM in the Foster City Council Chambers, 620 Foster City Boulevard. Participants will learn about the most typical indoor water use patterns, what products are available to improve efficiency and what rebates are available to save money and water. Speakers Anthony and Geno Caccia, troubleshooting accredited green plumbers on HGTV network’s House Detective show and co-owners of James Caccia Plumbing, a family-owned San Mateo County business bring significant expertise to the table.

Reception 6:30 to 7:00pm. Talk begins at 7:00pm. Questions and participation are welcome and encouraged.

For more information and a tentative schedule of future events, view the press release at http://www.fostercity.org/city_hall/committees/upload/ESTF%20Speaker%20Series%20Launch%20PR%20FINAL.pdf

· SPECIAL ENERGY SYMPOSIUM – Creating Energy Smart Homes in Foster City - Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn about the wide range of improvements that can be made throughout your house and the myriad energy efficiency gains that can be made by doing incremental improvements or a complete retrofit. We will present real world “case studies” of a Foster City single family home and an attached home showing what energy upgrades can be made, address how practical improvements can be made, the efficiencies gained and how to find and apply for available rebates, credits and incentives.

Presenters include PG&E, Recurve, and Foster City’s very own Building Inspector Eric Dreesman, who is also a Build It Green Certified Green Building Professional. The Energy Symposium will run from 6:30 to 9:30 pm at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Wednesday August 11, 2010. Homeowners Association Board Directors and individual resident owners, management and owners in multi-family properties and owners of single family homes will all find the information to be informative and useful.

More information can be found at www.fostercity.org/news/go-green.cfm or contact gogreen@fostercity.org.

ARTICLES

Kitchen Composting – If you have a kitchen, you can compost. But, why would you want to?

By Craig Rush

Composting is a natural process by which organic materials are decomposed. By composting kitchen scraps you create a valuable soil amendment your plants will love and you reduce the amount of trash going to the landfill.

Reducing the amount of trash going to landfills is the reason the state of California is encouraging home-based composting: it’s considered part of the state’s recycling effort. As an added benefit, compost contains virtually all the nutrients plants need for good, healthy growth. These nutrients are even held in the compost in the right form for plant uptake.

Because these essential nutrients are readily available to the plant, less commercial fertilizer needs to be applied. The structure of compost means that it also retains moisture, so plants grown in it need to be watered less often. Gardening using compost is less expensive and more Earth-friendly than gardening via conventional “chemical” methods.

To compost kitchen scraps, all that is required is a small bin and a pound of red worms. The red worm, also known as the fishing worm or Red Wriggler, is the most efficient recycler known to man. A pound of red worms will consume, on average, between one half and one pound of kitchen scraps per day. That’s about the net daily output of the average home kitchen. And they’ll do that every day.

Worm composting (also known as vermicomposting) is pretty much labor free. Adding fruit and vegetable scraps periodically is all that is required. Finished vermicompost, called “black gold” among those in the know, is harvested every few months. Harvesting is the only time when some effort is required on the part of the homeowner. At this time, most experienced worm composters like to separate their worms from the finished compost. then return the worms to the worm bin and use the compost for their gardens or potted plants.

Worm composting is fun, easy to do and a great family project (and did I mention that it’s good for the environment?). An easy way to get started is to get the book “Worms Eat My Garbage” by Mary Appelhoff and then attend a free composting workshop taught by a San Mateo County Master Composter. Check the calendar at www.recycleworks.org for the next workshop near you.

Craig is a member of ESTF, and a Foster City resident who composts with his wife, two children, four Guinea Pigs and 10,000 Red Wrigglers on Yawl Court in Foster City.

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ESTF is an ad hoc citizen task force established by the City Council in 2008 to develop a recommended action plan for community-wide environmental sustainability in Foster City. We completed our plan in 2009 (follow this link to see our plan). The plan is composed of recommendations in four main categories – energy, water, air quality, and solid waste. ESTF was re-commissioned by the City Council for a 3 year term (through June 2012) to continue to promote environmental sustainability within our community. We are working with the City to implement our recommended actions and to engage in public outreach and education. In 2010, ESTF is focused on water and energy conservation. To learn more about ESTF, follow this link.