About the Organization
Sustainable Lafayette is a network of residents and
organizations located in Lafayette, California, about 20
miles east of San Francisco, who are actively sharing ideas
and solutions for how to make their homes, businesses, and
community more sustainable. Many cities, towns, and
counties across the country have created citizen groups to
pursue sustainability. Lafayette's approach is
unique--to grow a "network" of residents who are focused on
sharing real world success stories and best practices that
will contribute to our community's sustainability.
About our Programs (What We Do)
Sustainable Lafayette started our publishing sustainability
success stories on a web site and doing a monthly
e-newsletter. Now we are also publishing seasonal tips,
hosting educational workshops, publishing a Tip of the Month in the local
paper, participating in many local events, promoting
local food choices, helping to
lead the Chamber of Commerce's Green Committee,
working with Sustainable Moraga to organize Lamorinda Green Drinks and
Green Rheem movie nights, and working with the City of
Lafayette to help organize Lafayette's Earth Day celebration and
new Green Awards program.
About Sustainability
"Sustainable" means to live in a way that can be continued
indefinitely without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs. The essence of this is
a stable relationship between human activities and the
natural world, which does not diminish the prospects for
our children and their children to enjoy a quality of life
at least as good as our own. This requires that we take no
more from the environment then it can replenish, and give
no more then it can absorb. In other words, adopting
lifestyles that respect and work within the earth's natural
limits and maintain the health of the eco-system that we
all depend on.
About the Board
A Sustainable Lafayette Board of Directors was formed in
June 2008 to help expand our activities further. The Board
meets once per month to steer the direction of Sustainable
Lafayette and collectively has expertise in energy
efficiency, transportation, waste reduction, environmental
science, sustainable & local food, small business,
green gardening, and education. Board meetings are open to
any member of Sustainable Lafayette. More about the Board...
About the Founders
Sustainable Lafayette was started by Steve Richard and Bart
Carr in early 2007. Steve and Bart were sharing
stories about pursuing sustainability over coffee and
thought that it might be very useful to share stories
across the entire community in hopes of being inspired and
learning from each other's efforts. Steve Richard is a
Lafayette homeowner who's been working to reduce his
family's carbon footprint by 50% since Fall 2006.
He's had his house professionally audited for energy
efficiency, made a wide range of changes to conserve
energy, and recently installed solar panels. Bart Carr
is a Lafayette homeowner who is a solid waste management
consultant specializing in organics diversion
(composting). Bart also started the Lafayette Bike
Network and has worked to promote biking as an alternative
to automobiles in Lafayette. Both Steve and Bart
are part of Lafayette's Enviornmental Task Force, which is
actively working on measures to reduce the city's
overall footprint, and also involved in organizing
Lafayette's annual Earth Day celebration.
