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All are welcome to join MCL's committee and working group meetings to
engage in our efforts connecting people, preservation, and policy. You are receiving this email because you are a current or past MCL member or attended a past event.
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3/5/2025: LAND USE, TRANSPORTATION, AND WATER: Future of Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit
3/13/2025: PARKS AND OPEN SPACE: Preserving Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health in the Face of Climate Change
3/19/2025: CLIMATE ACTION WORKING GROUP: Harnessing local energy: virtual power and microgrid
Community News & Happenings: SFEI studying dryer emissions of microplastics; Defensible Space "Zone Zero" Strategy Zoom Meeting
ICYMI: What can local government do about climate change?
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Land Use, Transportation, and Water | |
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Wednesday,
March 5, 2025
10:00 am – 12:00 pm
In-person / Zoom hybrid
Join Us In-Person!
Please consider joining us at the meeting at MCL offices. More opportunity to interact!
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Planning SMART’s (Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit) Future
Please join MCL in welcoming Eddy Cumins, SMART's General Manager, and Bill Gamlen, SMART’s Chief Engineer on Wednesday, March 5. Eddy will provide updates on SMART’s recent initiatives, ridership and construction, as well as upcoming improvements.
There will be an opportunity to ask your questions about the future of SMART.
- What is SMART’s overall vision and role in Marin’s transportation network?
- Could SMART’s ROW accommodate other forms of linear infrastructure (power lines for eg)?
- What is SMART’s plan for freight?
- What are SMART’s plans for storage on tracks?
- Are there future plans for lifting or building the tracks and multi-use paths out of the low lying areas and marshlands to facilitate adaptation to sea level rise and for unobstructed creek flow and floodplain migration during heavy storms eg. along Hwy 37?
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Thursday,
March 13, 2025
3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
In-person / Zoom hybrid
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Join Us In-Person!
Please consider joining us at the meeting at MCL offices. More opportunity to interact!
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Join us at the March 13 Parks and Open Space Committee to develop a priority list for Marin actions to preserve biodiversity and ecosystem health in the face of climate change:
The most vulnerable habitats and species information from the Greater Farallon’s Vulnerability Assessment, the GG Biosphere Network Vulnerability Assessment, Biodiversity COP 2024, and OneTams' Peak Health will be represented and priority actions discussed.
Paul da Silva, retired professor of Marin Community College, Danny Franco, Senior Project Manager for the Parks Conservancy, Sara Hutto, Resilience and Restoration Specialist for the GFNMS, and Shelly Benson, Plant Ecologist and Lichenologist, as wll as other local experts, will share as we develop this collaborative and consequential list to advocate for.
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Climate Action Working Group | |
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Wednesday, March 19
10:00 am - 12:00 pm
In-person and Zoom hybrid
Speakers:
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Yang Yu, Sunrun
Yang Yu is Senior Manager, Business Development and Market Strategy at Sunrun. He oversees the business development function of virtual power plants in California and Hawaii, primarily working with state regulators, utilities, CCAs and wholesale markets.
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Craig Lewis,
Clean Coalition
Craig Lewis is Founder and Executive Director at the Clean Coalition. Craig has 30+ years of experience in policy and technology innovation, including solar-driven Microgrids. He has worked in senior government relations, corporate development, and marketing positions at leading wireless, semiconductor, and banking companies.
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Ben Schwartz,
Clean Coalition
Ben Schwartz is Policy Manager at the Clean Coalition, representing it in proceedings at the California Public Utilities Commission and other regulatory bodies on an array of related issues: microgrids, interconnection, net energy metering, community solar, demand flexibility, electrification and more.
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Sam Irvine, MCE
Sam Irvine is Senior Strategic Initiatives Manager at MCE engaged in technology, partnership, and business model innovations, including scaling MCE’s Virtual Power Plant and advancing green baseload projects. He has been a strategic advisor to public utilities, developers, non-profits, and local governments, among others.
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Harnessing local energy: How virtual power plants and microgrids can decrease emissions and costs, and increase energy resilience
Managing aggregations of solar+batteries locally can capture solar energy when it is clean and cheap, store it in small batteries, and discharge some of it when the grid is dirty and expensive. This can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and grid costs (for "poles and wires"), while increasing resilience.
This session features speakers from 3 organizations:
• Sunrun is the leading provider of clean energy as a subscription service, serving over a million customers nationwide. It aggregates its fleet of residential solar + storage systems into Virtual Power Plants (VPPs).
• Clean Coalition is a technical nonprofit with a mission to accelerate the transition to renewable energy and a modern electricity grid. The Clean Coalition establishes policies, programs, and market mechanisms that aim to realize the full potential of solar-driven community microgrids that serve individual facilities and entire communities.
• MCE, our regional Consumer Choice Aggregator (CCA), recently received a $5 million grant from the California Energy Commission to expand its Richmond virtual power plant initiative.
We’ll hear about how the technologies work, their advantages and challenges, and how innovative new programs and legislative/ regulatory policy changes could speed their implementation.
Join us in-person!
We encourage attendees to join us at the meeting at MCL offices.
175 N Redwood Blvd,
San Rafael
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Community News & Happenings | | |
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Are clothing dryers a major source of microplastic pollution in the San Francisco Bay?
SFEI is studying dryer emissions to find out if clothing dryers are a significant source of microplastic pollution in stormwater runoff and in the San Francisco Bay.
The dryer study will contribute to the Statewide Microplastics Strategy led by the Ocean Protection Council to investigate the the sources and pathways of microplastics and develop action plans for combatting microplastic pollution .
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Defensible Space "Zone Zero" Strategy Zoom Meeting
March 11, 2025
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Speaker: Todd Lando, Hazard Mitigation Specialist, Central Marin Fire Department, President Executive Committee of Fire Safe Marin
Sponsor: Ecologically Sound Practices Partnership
Todd will explain what is involved in building and advocating for a “Zone Zero” Strategy that creates a completely clear and ember-resistant area within the first 5 feet around a structure to prevent wildfire spread by eliminating combustible materials directly adjacent to a home; this includes removing vegetation, debris, and storing only non-combustible items in this immediate area around the home. He will address these questions:
- Why is building a Zone Zero plan in Marin vital for fire protection?
- What will it take to implement?
- What can we expect from state rule-making under Governor Newsom's Executive Order?
- What will it mean for firefighters? Homeowners? The public?
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February’s MCL Climate Action Working Group meeting:
What can local government do about climate change?
A conversation with 3 of Marin's Sustainability Coordinators
In this video, meet the Sustainability Staff working for several of Marin’s towns: Phoebe Gouldon for Corte Madera, Bridget Wipfler for San Anselmo/Fairfax, and Grace Ledwith for Mill Valley/Tiburon. The presentations and ensuing discussions cover their goals for 2025, how they coordinate their work, and how Marin citizens can help them meet their towns' climate action plans.
The second hour of the meeting includes an open discussion about what actions members can advocate for and take and what they want from CAWG during 2025 in light of the repudiation of the climate crisis by the new administration.
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Spread the word and forward to a friend!
Marin Conservation League
175 N. Redwood Drive, Suite 135
San Rafael, CA 94903
415-485-6257
www.marinconservationleague.org
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The Marin Conservation League was founded in 1934 to preserve, protect and enhance the natural assets of Marin County. Marin Conservation League is a membership-driven 501C3 non-profit organization. Membership dues and contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. | | | | |
