Did you know that Californians throw away six pounds of trash every day, equivalent to almost 2,200 pounds every year, roughly the weight of a subcompact car? What role can libraries play in creating or mitigating waste?
In his book, Seven Wonders: Everyday Things for a Healthier Planet, John Ryan states, “a 100 percent reused library book produces no waste and consumes no energy.” He lists the public library as one of the Seven Wonders.
As an environmentally-minded community stakeholder, the Sonoma County Library has been a member of the Zero Waste North Bay Task Force for over five years and proudly participates in the first annual North Bay Zero Waste Week!
From Sunday, July 24, through Saturday, July 30, organizations and community groups across Sonoma County will be hosting different events to raise awareness about the environmental impacts of waste, and offer actionable ways to live a zero waste lifestyle.
This is an opportunity for participants to learn new skills, build community, and create sustainable habits through the lens of zero waste. Focusing on solutions for reducing, reusing, redesigning, repurposing, repairing, recycling and composting to limit landfill, water, and energy waste!
On Wednesday, July 27, POP for a Porpoise, an interactive program educating kids about the plastic ocean pollution epidemic, will be held at the Rincon Valley Library at 11 a.m. The Sonoma County Library also has books and resources available all year round. Check out the list below, stop by your local library branch, or explore at sonomalibrary.org.
Streaming Selections Available on Kanopy
What happens to everything we use after we throw it away? We’re breaking down the issue of waste and sustainability piece by piece to answer one of the most important questions facing the world today: How do we save our planet?
The Story of Plastic Documentary
The Story of Plastic is a searing expose, uncovering the ugly truth behind plastic pollution and the false solution of plastic recycling.
Jeremy Irons sets out to discover the extent and effects of the global waste problem, as he travels around the world to beautiful destinations tainted by pollution. This is a meticulous, brave investigative journey that takes Irons (and us) from skepticism to sorrow and from horror to hope.
Books Available from the Library
The Zero Waste Solution:
Untrashing the Planet One Community at a Time
by P.H. Connett
In The Zero Waste Solution, author and scientist-turned-activist Paul Connett profiles the most successful zero-waste initiatives around the world, showing activists, planners, and entrepreneurs how to re-envision their community’s waste-handling process by doing the following: consuming less; turning organic waste into compost; recycling and reusing other waste; demanding non-wasteful product design; and, creating jobs and bringing community members together in the process.
No Planet B:
A Teen Vogue Guide to Climate Justice
by Lucy Diavolo
An urgent call for climate justice from Teen Vogue, one of this generation’s leading voices, using an intersectional lens—with critical feminist, indigenous, antiracist, and internationalist perspectives.
Your Planet Needs You:
A Kid’s Guide to Reducing Waste and Recycling
by Philip Bunting
An inspiring guide packed with simple explanations of how kids and their families can reduce, re-use, and recycle to help clean up our planet.
Countywide events include:
- A Fix-it Clinic and Reuse Fair on July 24 at Tek Tailor in Santa Rosa
- A Zero Waste Water Webinar on July 26.
- A Clothing Swap on July 27 at Grand Central Petaluma Coffee
- A Compost Workshop at the Guerneville Regional Library on July 30
- And much more!
The full schedule of events is at zerowastenorthbay.org.
Oh! If you are wondering, some of the other Seven Wonders are: the bicycle, the ceiling fan, the clothesline and the ladybug!
