Author: Staff

Today’s SF Chronicle has an interesting article on the growth of the so-called “green economy,” or the sales of items considered to be environmentally friendly (rather broadly defined). Some of this is no doubt due to a cultural shift. But some of it is, I’m sorry to say, just more clever marketing on behalf of...

A recent study shows that suburban sprawl creates a car-dependent lifestyle pattern that fosters chronic diseases. Unfortunately, then, San Jose is promoting sprawl with with its recent proposed sports complex, located on a road so dangerous that children are forbidden under threat of expulsion from walking or bicycling to the athletic fields. The complex is...

In an interesting blog by security expert Bruce Schneier, he argues that technology’s increasing ability to detect legal violations has its downside. Calling it “Bigger Brother”, he cites the example of Baltimore using aerial maps and computer software to detect code violations such as rooftop decks built without permits. Schneier argues that because technology makes...

We at CGF find it very timely and appropriate that the theme of Woodside’s annual environmental festival this year is “Earth and Art.” They’ll be holding the event on Saturday, October 9 from noon – 4pm at the Runnymede Sculpture Farm, where some 150 modern sculptures are placed about the 120-acre landscape so as to...

Our colleagues at Peninsula Open Space Trust have been raising private money to buy open space since 1977, and have been remarkably successful. Their work often depends on that of Committee for Green Foothills, which acts to defend lands from development so that they remain as open space and are thus worthy of purchasing, but...

Joni Mitchell, who wrote the song with the lyrics “they paved paradise and put up a parking lot”, may not have realized her connection to obscure tax code provisions. Brian Leiter, a professor from the University of Texas, might see it. Leiter reports on a proposal to accelerate capital depreciation schedules to a single year,...

Today’s SF Examiner has an article about an operation that’s trucking food waste from restaurants in San Francisco not to the landfill, but to a giant composting plant in Vacaville. This is a creative way to keep landfills from filling as quickly (and could alleviate, or delay, problems such as that posed by Santa Cruz...

Next to Stevens Creek and Stevens Creek County Park lies an undeveloped 124-acre parcel that had been proposed for a 1,500-student private academy. Besides destroying the parcel’s environmental value, the proposal would have had significant traffic impacts and access issues. Canyon Heights Academy has now announced an alternative, permanent location for their school, on the...