Sustainable Peralta

An official negotiation meeting at the Copenhagen climate talks. Photo from Johannes Jansson/norden.org

Many people from the Oakland/East Bay traveled to Copenhagen including Laney College’s Green Jobs Program Coordinator, Emily Courtney, who travelled to observe the proceedings and atmosphere.

“It was amazing just how many dedicated people there were,” described Emily. “I met people on the bus ride to the conference center. You wait in the registration line and meet somebody else. Then you met the person you sat next to, and another person a lunch, and another new person on bus ride out. And it was like that everyday.”
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Over 1 million plastic bags float into San Francisco Bay every year. Plastic bags pollute our waters, smother wetlands and entangle and kill animals. They also float out into the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to join the huge island of plastic trash bobbing the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Although no one wants this kind of devastation, it seems the Plastics industry has convinced us that this is just how things go.

Oakland-based Save the Bay has launched a campaign in the Bay Area to reduce plastic bag litter from the 3.8 billion bags that Bay Area residents use each year. First, they’re asking us to be simply aware of the problem. Then, they’re asking us to each do something very simple: get reusable bags.

Now, if you’d like to do more, here’s what else:

1. Sign this petition to the Mayor to support a fee on single-use bags. Our neighbors in San Francisco already do!
2. Send an email to the Mayor. You can use this form, and type in your name. It’s that easy.
3. Come out to MLK Shoreline on Saturday, January 9th to help with a clean-up and planting native plants.

Students, Faculty and Staff added their faces to show Laney's support for the 350ppm CO2 goal.

On Wednesday, October 21, 65 people at Laney held one of 5200 events in 181 countries for the most widespread day of environmental action in the planet’s history. Students, faculty and staff from Peralta celebrated 350 Day, an international day of grassroots action to show international decision-makers that people in every locale in the planet agree with lowering the human impact on Climate Change.
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