Bay Area
Celebrate Earth Day All Around the East Bay
Happy Earth Month! Whether you’re interested in learning how to get started with worm composting, how to electrify your home, reduce wasted food, or build healthy soil, there’s a way to celebrate for everyone! Try a StopWaste tip any day throughout the month, or join your neighbors in community for an Earth Month workshop or event.
![Who are the action heroes for the environment? You can be one of them! Illustration via Stopwaste.org](https://www.postnewsgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/happy-earth-month-featured-web.jpg)
By StopWaste.org
Happy Earth Month! Whether you’re interested in learning how to get started with worm composting, how to electrify your home, reduce wasted food, or build healthy soil, there’s a way to celebrate for everyone! Try a StopWaste tip any day throughout the month, or join your neighbors in community for an Earth Month workshop or event. This year StopWaste is spotlighting city and community partner events to take action and work together towards a more resilient environment.
Explore all the events and resources, and be sure to check back frequently as we continue to add to the full calendar. Curious about what activities your city is hosting? Check out links to your city’s website below for more. For more information, go to https://www.stopwaste.org/earth-month-2023
Ways to Celebrate Earth Month
Make Every Carrot Count
Reducing wasted food is one of the leading solutions to climate change. Taking care and making the most of our food are important acts of environmental stewardship, honoring all of the resources and labor that went into getting it to us. Learn more ways to plan, store, and prepare food to save money and benefit our planet
Build Healthy Soil
Use compost to feed your garden and build healthy soil! Applying just 1-2 inches of compost to your soil will help your soil retain moisture, improve its structure, and help your plants access nutrients. Compost also helps healthy gardens sequester carbon in your soil and plants, reducing your climate impact.
Celebrate with the Entire Family
4Rs Action Heroes, assemble! Join youth and families across Alameda County in sharing your stories of action and community that represent how you are part of the (Re)Generation – an intergenerational collective identity for people committed to building a regenerative earth.
Calendar of Events
Saturday, April 22
9 am – 1 pm: Oakland Earth Day — Get outside to celebrate Earth Day with neighborhood clean-ups of streets, sidewalks, schools, parks, and along creeks and other waterways. Volunteer registration opens on April 1st; individuals and small groups are encouraged, but not required, to RSVP. To register, go to: https://oakland-volunteer-community-oakgis.hub.arcgis.com/feedback/surveys/c9a5c976287542c19372807dd2c3da6c/explore
8 am – 12 pm: Piedmont Free Compost Giveaway — Pick up one cubic yard of compost while supplies last. Bring your own shovel, gloves, and container(s), to pick up compost. Volunteers will be on deck to help you bag and load the compost into your vehicle. Held at the City’s Corporation Yard, 898 Red Rock Road. * Piedmont residents only.
8:30 am – 1 pm: City of Hayward Annual Earth Day Citywide Clean-Up and Community Fair — Come together to collect litter and abandoned debris in various neighborhoods throughout the City of Hayward. After the Clean-Up, visit the Earth Day themed Community Fair at the park for fun activities. Free lunch will be provided to volunteers who register via Eventbrite. The festival will be held at Weekes Park 27182 Patrick Ave Hayward, CA 94544
2 pm – 5 pm: Home Electrification Fair — Are you thinking about switching from gas to electric? There are plenty of good reasons to make the switch: healthy, safety, long-term saving, and of course climate. Attend the fair to get any and all questions answered about the benefits, energy-saving tips, where to find trusted contractors, available rebates and tax credits, and more! Held at the The Brower Center, 2150 Allston Way, Berkeley
12 pm – 2 pm: Composting 101 — Join Farm2Market and guest speaker, CompostGal, Lori Cadwell, to learn all about composting, including how to compost, the benefits, and trouble shooting of composting. Great for all levels of experience. Held at APC Farm2Market, 2600 Barbers Point Road Alameda, CA 94501.
8 am – 12 pm: Compost Giveaway — Dublin residents can take home one bag of FREE compost at the annual Compost Giveaway event at Emerald Glen hosted by Amador Valley Industries. The compost is made from Dublin residents’ yard trimmings and foods scraps. This is a great way to see how Dublin’s food waste journey is circular and directly benefits the community! This is a drive-through event in the parking lot of Emerald Glen Park, off of Gleason Drive. Dublin residents only*
9 am – 12 pm: CVSan Earth Day — Join your friends and neighbors to beautify and clean up Castro Valley. Volunteer to pick up litter, plant trees and native plants, spread mulch, pulled weeds, and more. The community clean-up sites include Castro Valley Creek, downtown Castro Valley and the Center Street Overpass Park and Ride. To sign u to volunteer, go to https://www.cvsan.org/zero_waste/community_and_education/earth_day.php
11 am – 3 pm: Fremont Earth Day — Join for a day to celebrate Earth Day and increase environmental awareness in the community. Activities will include a Bicycle Fix-a-Flat Workshop, Earth Day art, medication take-back, free confidential document shredding, learning about gardening and composting, and more! Held at the downtown event center at 3500 Capitol Avenue in Fremont.
Sunday, April 23 —
9 am – 12 pm: Earth Day Shoreline Cleanup — Have fun with family, friends and neighbors, cleaning up the beach! Come to the Earth Day Shoreline Clean Up at Shorebird Park in Emeryville any time from 9 a.m. to noon. If you have them, bring collection buckets and/or bags, garden claw, reusable water bottle, and coffee mug. Wear layers, sunscreen, hat, and work gloves. Additional tools will be available for use until supplies run out.
Saturday, April 29
1 pm – 3 pm: Gardening for Renters — This class can help you navigate small spaces so you can garden! Topics will include: container and indoor gardening, working with your landlord, free/low cost resources, reuse options, and maintaining your garden. It will be held at Ploughshares Nursery 2701 Main Street Alameda, CA 94501.
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of July 24 – 30, 2024
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 24 – 30, 2024
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Activism
Oakland Post: Week of July 17 -23, 2024
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 17 -23, 2024
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Bay Area
Op-Ed Senate Bill 966 Threatens Health Equity in East Bay
My East Bay community is struggling to get by. A proposed State Senate bill would set us back even further. Serving the East Bay community has been my life’s work and my greatest joy. After leaving the Bay Area to complete my seminary, I returned home to found The Community Church in Oakland. From the outset of my time as the church’s pastor, I have been guided by the belief that my service must extend beyond the pulpit, because the health and economic needs of my community are so great. Our church has organized free food banks, COVID-19 testing clinics, and a housing and re-entry program for those suffering from addiction.
![Rev. Dr. Lawrence E. VanHook.](https://www.postnewsgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/VanHook-featured-web.jpg)
By Rev. Dr. Lawrence E. VanHook
Special to the Post
My East Bay community is struggling to get by. A proposed State Senate bill would set us back even further.
Serving the East Bay community has been my life’s work and my greatest joy. After leaving the Bay Area to complete my seminary, I returned home to found The Community Church in Oakland.
From the outset of my time as the church’s pastor, I have been guided by the belief that my service must extend beyond the pulpit, because the health and economic needs of my community are so great. Our church has organized free food banks, COVID-19 testing clinics, and a housing and re-entry program for those suffering from addiction.
Through my service, I have seen the challenges that our community members are facing. Oakland, my hometown, has the third-highest rate of violent crime in the state. The local economy is strained. Oakland-based businesses are leaving our community because they’re struggling to get ahead.
Both East and West Oakland has disproportionately high rates of respiratory illness due to heavy air pollution. While our local efforts have brought some aid to those in need, we are also counting on our state elected officials to help us address the systemic health disparities afflicting the community.
Chief among the health concerns of community members is having reliable and affordable access to prescription drugs. Equitable access to medications gives us the peace of mind that we can keep ourselves and our families healthy and safe. Our community should not have to choose between paying rent or purchasing prescriptions.
Unfortunately, rather than taking action to combat soaring prescription drug prices, some California lawmakers are pushing legislation that could raise patient costs at the pharmacy counter.
The Legislature is currently considering SB 966, a bill backed by special interests that would undercut the few tools we have to keep prescription drug costs contained, letting big drug companies increase their prices, profiting on the backs of working families – some of whom already live paycheck to paycheck.
SB 966 would target the fundamental programs through which small businesses, unions, and government health programs are able to offer their employees and members quality and affordable healthcare. Millions of Californians rely on these plans to obtain essential medications at the lowest-possible cost.
The bill would make it illegal for employers and unions to incentivize the administrators of their prescription drug plans to negotiate for the lowest possible cost for prescriptions. Right now, small businesses and unions can choose to pay these administrators more for taking on big drug companies and securing discounts – a choice that will be outlawed under this bill.
As a result, employers will have no leverage to stop big drug companies from setting sky-high prices, disproportionately impacting working families.
As these health costs quickly add up, employers will have little choice but to pass the increases down to their employees. That means California patients will see higher healthcare costs and co-pays.
From my perspective, most concerning is that the bill would exacerbate the health disparities impacting my community and other underserved populations. If SB 966 becomes law, the most vulnerable may be forced to skip prescription doses, stop filling their prescriptions, and avoid essential care.
By rejecting this cash grab by big drug companies, our state elected officials can send a clear message that they stand with the community, patients, and working families.
We cannot afford SB 966.
Rev. Dr. VanHook is the founder and pastor of The Community Church in Oakland and the founder of The Charis House, a re-entry facility for men recovering from alcohol and drug abuse.
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