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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.
Reducing Plastic Waste and COVID-19
A switch back to single-use plastics does nothing to stop COVID-19, but it does undermine recent efforts to reduce our reliance on a material that pollutes our world in every stage of its life: manufacture, disposal, and eventual breakdown in our oceans.
Groundwater Rules!
With all that’s happening right now, it can be difficult to pay attention to anything other than the news of the day. I’m focused on groundwater; how we use it – and use too much; how we protect it from pollution – or don’t; and how we can ensure that it’s available when we need it. And even on a day when we’re not focused on a pandemic, groundwater can be easy to forgot about -- it's our invisible resource.
The fact that it’s unseen doesn’t mean groundwater isn’t a critical piece of our lives. In California we depend upon groundwater to ensure that streams continue to flow for all or most of
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