EcoATMs coming to Bay Area grocery stores

By Victoria Schlesinger

02/28/2011

Kiosks that will give you cash for your old cell phone or iPod will soon stand side by side with coin machines in grocery stores. The San Diego start-up, EcoATM, received $14.4 million in funding earlier this month and plans to rapidly deploy the machines. The Bay Area should be on the top of the list. [The Atlantic]

San Francisco low-flow toilets result in bleaching sewer sludge

By Victoria Schlesinger

02/28/2011

The culprit behind the rotten egg smell wafting from San Francisco’s sewers in the summer has been identified. Apparently the city’s low-flow toilets have been so successful that sewage is backing up in the system. To treat the smell, the city plans to add 8.5 million pounds of bleach annually to the sewer system, a decision many oppose. [San Francisco Chronicle]

Doctors prescribe nature for healthy living

By Victoria Schlesinger

02/28/2011

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Environmental Education Foundation have teamed up with health care providers to promote outdoor activity as a way to get healthy. Doctors are writing prescriptions to parks. The two-year pilot program is being tried nationwide, including in Santa Clara where one Kaiser doctor has written 67 prescriptions to the Don Edwards Preserve. [USA Today]

Muni caught sleeping on the job

By Victoria Schlesinger

02/28/2011

Details are coming out about the California Public Utilities Commission’s initial investigation into Muni safety violations, and it’s not pretty. One driver was caught sleeping. Others speeding through school zones. And dozens of instances of failing tracks and emergency phones. [San Francisco Examiner]

Millions needed to restore salmon to San Joaquin River

By Alison Hawkes

02/25/2011

The salmon that used to swim their way along the San Joaquin River are long gone after the Friant Dam was built in the 1940s. But a $1 billion river restoration effort has conservationists planning for the chinook’s return. One cost estimate was put at $20 million to bring back 40,000 fish with a fish hatchery. Officials plan to start up a spring run late next year. [Fresno Bee]

The 33% renewable energy standard is back

By Victoria Schlesinger

02/25/2011

A measure that requires California utilities to purchase 33 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2020 is up for debate again. Yesterday the state Senate approved a bill introduced by state Senator Joe Simitian from Palo Alto that mirrored the 33 percent measure vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger last year. Democrats are cautiously optimistic the bill will pass under Jerry Brown, who has championed green energy, despite the state’s fiscal woes. [Christian Science Monitor] [Los Angeles Times]

Cleantech investors reboot

By Victoria Schlesinger

02/25/2011

A new trend in cleantech investing promises to put money into helping companies with proven technologies expand rather than focusing on risky, nascent ideas, according to Earth2Tech. Venture capital funds are also looking to invest their cleantech money not just in California but China, India and Europe. [Earth2Tech]

Muni under investigation for safety

By Victoria Schlesinger

02/25/2011

The much maligned San Francisco Muni is under attack not by grousing riders but the California Public Utilities Commission, which accused the rail system of repeatedly violating safety regulations. Inspectors said Muni was endangering the public, citing problems with the track, train control system and the agency’s slow reaction to the issues. [San Francisco Chronicle]

Waiting for d’snow

By Victoria Schlesinger

02/25/2011

Like Vladimir and Estragon in Samuel Beckett’s famous play Waiting for Godot, the Bay Area is watching and hoping today for snow to hit San Francisco streets for the first time in more than thirty years. Forecasters say that if the white stuff does reach such low elevations it will not be until later this afternoon or evening. [San Francisco Chronicle]

“Science was subverted” in strawberry pesticide approval

By Victoria Schlesinger

02/25/2011

The lead scientist hired by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation to independently review the health impacts of methyl iodide, a controversial fumigant, concluded “there is no safe level” of the pesticide. UCLA chemical toxicology professor John Froine went on to say during a California Assembly Committees on Health and Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials hearing that the DPR inappropriately approved methyl iodide last December. [Monterey County Weekly]