The Green Scene
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Don’t miss the opportunity to incorporate a “greener” eco-conscious lifestyle into your days while helping our planet and our children for generations to come. There’s plenty to see in the Festival’s new Green Scene, near the contest area, where you can join in Coca Cola’s Commitment 2020 program.
*With interactive games and displays, check out Coca-Cola's efforts in the corporate community: the largest fleet of heavy-duty hybrid-electric trucks in North America; water stewardship through reclamation efforts in its bottling facilities; reduction in electricity usage through more efficient lighting; sustainable packaging and recycling, and product portfolio and well-being.
And, enter to win a surprise package from Smart Car of Oxnard, learn about sustainable gardening with presentations by FOOD Share and Wells Fargo, or perhaps jump into a live web cast with another part of the world through greenplanetsearch.com.
Eco-aware since 2004 when the California Strawberry Festival received the “Waste Watch” Award from the City of Oxnard for its initiative and sustainable “green” practices, the celebration has instituted event policies that have made an impact on the environment with recycling and responsible operational priorities. Last year’s event resulted in over 7 tons of recyclables being diverted to landfills and 1,500 pounds of goods given to Food Share, while 11,000 patrons saved gas and time utilizing the free Park N Ride Strawberry Shuttle.
After all, what would a strawberry be without a little green on top?!
SETTING THE GREEN STANDARD
What a positive impact on the environment! As recent as 2008, the recycling effort resulted in over four times the original tonnage gathered from the two-day fete.
- 9.29 tons were diverted through recycling efforts
- Food Share received close to 1,500 pounds of goods for local organizations
- 11,000 patrons saved gas & time by choosing to use the free shuttle service
- Amtrak reported record ridership on their trains Festival weekend, thanks to a Kids Ride Free promotion and buses meeting the trains on arrival for transpo to/from the festivities
GREEN BEGINNINGS...
Before being green was a prominent part of our daily dialogue, the California Strawberry Festival was already cultivating plans for a fresh approach with respect for the environment.
In 2004, the Department of Conservation awarded a $69,727 grant to the City of Oxnard’s Solid Waste Division from a field of 47 applicants, for implementation of a campaign encouraging people to go beyond recycling at home, work and school, to public venues. The Festival’s “Take Recycling to the X-Stream” campaign defined the California Strawberry Festival as a model towards a sustainable “green” event and green recycling. As a result, the Festival received a WasteWatch Award from the City of Oxnard, and helped pave the way for a new state law requiring implementation of recycling programs at special events. The recognition highlights organizations that are successfully implementing resource recovery programs.
Patrons strolling the Festival grounds found 500 conveniently located recycle bins inviting them to do their part to help the environment by pitching in. In the months leading up to the event, special California Strawberry Festival public service announcements about recycling also aired in English and Spanish. Additionally, the Festival incorporated user-friendly recycling criteria into all contract agreements, mandating vendors leave their cardboard and recyclables for collection by volunteers from Oxnard City Corp.
In the pilot recycling campaign, more than two tons of material was recycled, resulting in hundreds of dollars in revenue from the Del Norte Regional Recycling & Transfer Station. As recent as 2008, the effort resulted in over four times the original tonnage with an amazing 9.29 tons gathered from the two-day fete.
“While the delicious, juicy red fruit remains front and center in the minds of Festival visitors, the collaboration between the Festival, City Corps and Oxnard’s environmental Resources Division shows us all how responsible planning and actions can make a huge difference while enhancing the festivities,” said Barbara Wulf, Outreach and Education Specialist with the City of Oxnard.
Festival earth friendly practices continue in other areas with a decades-old partnership with Amtrak where Festival patrons are offered a special “Kids Ride Free” weekend fare and free shuttles greet riders at the Oxnard Transportation Center to make the outing a pleasurable adventure. Easing traffic and cutting emissions, a free park & ride shuttle service was established in 2003 to enable patrons to take buses from a multitude of nearby convenient locations. For 2007, the Festival teamed with Toyota’s Highway to the Future Mobile Hybrid Experience as a showcase on the Festival grounds.
Festival organizers work closely with consultants and recycling specialists to further embrace the green community with sponsorships from like minded companies who recognize the benefit of alignment with the Festival whose commitment to the environment mirrors their own. The Festival boasts exciting opportunities for patrons to discover ways they can make a difference through their daily choices and lifestyle consciousness. Don't miss the presentation in the Strawberry Promenade to find out how you can ease your carbon footprint without sacrificing your lifestyle. Just like the delicious strawberry that is at the root of the celebration, “greening” has sprouted into a fruitful enterprise with far reaching effects. How sweet it is…
Sampling of 7.01 tons of recycled materials from 2009 Festival.
Cardboard: 3.2 tons
Mixed recycling: 2.2 tons
Glass: 0.92 tons
Bottles and cans: 0.87 tons
THE POWER OF GREEN
Carbon dioxide and other gases warm the surface of the planet naturally by trapping solar heat in our atmosphere to keep the temperature within a range for breathable air, clean water, and the weather we depend on. By burning fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil and clearing forests we have dramatically increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere and tipped the balance to raise temperatures. This carbon stays in the atmosphere, acting like a warm blanket, holding in the heat – hence the name “global warming.”Most scientists agree that global warming as a result of our activities is real and beyond what nature planned. If we work together to start fixing the problem today, we can have a healthy planet for generations to come.
GREEN FACTS
• A 27-watt compact fluorescent light bulb lights up a room as well as a 100-watt incandescent bulb and uses only one-fourth the energy.
• The average American creates about 15,000 pounds of carbon dioxide every year from personal transportation, home energy use and from the energy used to produce all of the products and services we rely on. Buy products from companies that are trying to reduce their own impact on the climate by reducing carbon emissions.
• By keeping your tires adequately inflated with monthly check ups it helps save 250 pounds of carbon dioxide and you save $840 per year.
• If every US household replaced one bottle of 100-ounce petroleum-based laundry liquid with a vegetable-based product, we could save 220,000 barrels of oil, enough to heat and cool 13,000 homes for a year!
• Consider purchasing green-friendly energy as an alternative to heat and cool your home. When you move your heater thermostat down two degrees in winter and up two degrees in the summer, you save 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide and $98 per year.
GREEN ORGANIZATIONS
Growing Green is made possible with budding awareness. Following is an overview of organizations and websites committed to helping the environment.
www.StopGlobalWarming.org
Action, awareness, involvement
www.SaveOurEnvironment.org
Action, awareness, involvement
www.IdealBite.com
Connection with environmentally friendly companies
www.greenhomeandfamily.com
Magazine focusing on reducing your carbon footprint
www.nrdc.org
The National Resources Defense Council: The Earth's Best Defense
www.sierraclub.org
Explore, enjoy and protect the planet
www.aceee.org
The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy
www.afdc.doe.gov
The Alternative Fuels Data Center
www.ciel.org/
Center for International Environmental Law: Solving environmental problems, legally
www.greenpeace.org
Save the planet
www.usgbc.org
U.S. Green Building Council: engineering with responsibility
www.seac.org
Student Environmental Action Coalition: Uprooting environmental injustices through action and education
www.epa.gov
Environmental Protection Agency: Protecting human health and the environment
www.bark-out.org
Protecting national forests from eradication
www.cascadiaforestalliance.org
Working to inspire non-violent, grassroots involvement in regional forest protection
www.gracelinks.org
Global Resource Action Center for the Environment
www.ran.org
Rainforest Action Network: Protecting tropical rainforests
www.sustlife.com
What you need to live a healthier, more socially and environmentally sustainable life
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