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2025 Year in Review: ReThink Disposable in California
It's been another successful year for the ReThink Disposable program, and we want to thank our Board, our members, and our valued supporters for trusting us to do this work.
We wrapped up a four-year contract with StopWaste where we worked together to reduce single-use disposable foodware in Alameda County. We've done multiple conversion case studies with local businesses over the course of this contract — the most recent a five (5) restaurant study in the Fruitvale neighborhood of Oakland, where we found that even a simple straw and sauce cup conversion saves the restaurant $694 annually and
2025 Year in Review: Toxics in California
California is known as a leader in regulating toxic chemicals in products to protect public health and prevent pollution. The end of the year is a great time to review the opportunities and challenges faced by Clean Water Action and Clean Water Fund’s Toxics Program in 2025 and how we met them. There were some grave disappointments, but those only provide fuel for future victories.
Planting Trees, Growing Environmental Leaders
In May, I finished my third semester teaching a college dual enrollment Healthy Communities course at Madison Park Academy in the Sobrante Park District of East Oakland. Sobrante Park is an environmental justice community burdened with heavy traffic. The majority of households pay over 50% of their income for housing, and the community has some of the highest asthma rates in the country. Most of the environmental injustices faced by residents are due to air pollution from vehicles including the diesel trucks that run on the 880 freeway directly adjacent to the school. Diesel trucks are not
SNAPS Air Monitoring Launch in Lost Hills
On May 13th, with the symbolic press of a green button, Comite Lost Hills En Accion (Committee Lost Hills in Action), successfully launched the SNAPS (Study of Neighborhood Air near Petroleum Sources) air pollution monitors at the California Air Resources Board SNAPS Kickoff in Lost Hills. Over 25 community members joined the launch and celebration. Lost Hills is the first community selected to host SNAPS monitors. During the three to six months during which they will be in the community, they will monitor air contaminants such as: Volatile Organic Compounds(VOC's), Criteria Pollutants(
Water as a Human Right
The Human Right to Water, passed by the legislature in 2012 and signed by Governor Brown, was a great policy idea with almost no teeth. Community members and advocates worked for years to gain recognition for water as a human right, with our first bill, AB 1242 (Ruskin, 2009) vetoed by then-Governor Schwarzenegger and its successor, AB 685 (Eng, 2012) taking the full 2-year session to pass. The legislation was short and to the point:
It is hereby declared to be the established policy of the state that every human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water adequate for