Many nonprofits throughout Wine Country share the common goal of educating people and businesses about the importance of sustainability, which the Leadership Institute for Ecology and Economy (LIEE) defines on its website as “secur[ing] people’s quality of life within the means of nature in a way that’s fair and equitable to all humanity, other species and to future generations.” LIEE (formerly Sustainable Sonoma County) is one of three organizations in Marin, Napa and Sonoma counties that advocate for sustainability.
Leadership Institute for Ecology and Economy
In 2000, executive director of the Sonoma County Grape Growers Assciation Rick Theis founded Sustainable Sonoma County (SSC) to educate North Bay citizens and leaders that the way we live and work is co-dependent, and we need to work together to create a better future for generations to come. LIEE and SSC both began as separate nonprofits, but in spring 2005, the SSC board of directors expressed interest in merging the two organizations; thus SSC was dissolved into LIEE.
Today, LIEE focuses on four specific programs to get its message out. Leadership Training for a Sustainable Future instructs community leaders to become more proficient in public policy. Participants in this training program meet one day each month from September through May; they work with political and civic leaders, take field trips, attend workshops and are involved in training exercises with topics ranging from principles of sustainability, food systems, health and education, energy and waste management, and water sources and uses.
The Youth Leadership program is a teen version of its Leadership Training for a Sustainable Future, with the same topics covered, although they’re condensed. Currently, Sonoma Academy is the only local school taking part, but the nonprofit hopes to expand into other schools in the future.
LIEE’s Policy-Maker Outreach program educates elected and appointed officials by providing research and other vital information to help them make wise decisions for sustainable communities. And LIEE’s Community Education program focuses on raising public awareness about how economics, sustainability and social justice are linked. LIEE also forms workshops and forums and works with other organizations to educate people about sustainability issues. LIEE’s fourth program is Leadership Networking.
Tanya Narath, executive director for LIEE, says members and students strive to “walk our talk in everything we do with our programs.” Students are encouraged to carpool, produce zero waste in classes by recycling or reusing supplies, and to discuss different alternatives for sustainability, such as in food systems (agriculture, eating locally), sustainable development (affordable housing, transportation), education and health.
Sustainable Marin County
Sustainable Marin County’s (SMC) mission is to promote sustainable communities in Marin. According to Edward Mainland, secretary for the nonprofit, “We have three legs in sustainability—environmental, economic and social justice—and these are put into planning the way things are done in the county. We’re working on the following agenda: reducing carbon footprints, climate protection, water conservation, reducing toxics to zero, green schools, green businesses, green buildings and green transportation. We’re advocating and educating to support sustainable policies, programs and practices.”
SMC founder Harry Moore, who passed away in May 2008, was an educator, a former Novato mayor and Marin County supervisor. He was also an environmental leader with a vision to make sustainability understandable to future generations, and he hoped to apply its principles in politics, schools and businesses.
The long-term goal of sustainability is survival, but there are many more immediate benefits such as resource efficiency, climate change and oil and gas resource questions. SMC is attempting to increase awareness by talking at conferences and businesses, hosting forums and events, actively using the media, canvassing neighborhoods, appearing before the Board of Supervisors Planning Commission and having members on city and county advisory panels.
Sustainable Napa County
Sustainable Napa County’s (SNC) mission is to bring Napa County business, agriculture, nonprofit and government entities together to promote long-term environmental, economic and social sustainability. Further, SNC’s goal is to inform citizens about sustainability and what they can do to make a difference within their community. SNC began as an initiative of the Gasser Foundation with support from the Napa Valley Vintners, the Napa County Transportation and Planning Agency and PG&E.
SNC primarily focuses on issues that concern the community. It advocates sustainability by conducting one-on-one meetings with businesses, hosting educational workshops for the public and promoting its website. For example, it recently conducted an informational workshop and luncheon for representatives from local banks and lending institutions to discuss ways of financing solar projects for residential and commercial dwellings.
SNC’s goals include supporting countywide green public policy development, including green building ordinances for new and existing residential and commercial buildings, promoting renewable energy and suggesting ways to reduce traditional barriers, including financial costs, regulatory fees, legislative issues and increasing awareness to what nonprofit organizations can do to help cut costs and—for this example—go solar. This includes working to assist social service nonprofit organizations become more energy conscious and informing residents and businesses of Community Pulse, a Web-based measurement tool that uses local data to provide accurate information about environmental health conditions in Napa County.
To find about the organizations profiled here, contact:
Sustainable Napa County
(707) 255-5555; www.sustainablenapacounty.org
Leadership Institute for Ecology and the Economy
(707) 578-9133; www.sustainablesonoma.org
Sustainable Marin County
(415) 461-6677; www.sustainablemarin.org
