DAVIS (AP) – Banana peels, chicken bones and scraps of vegetables have no place in California trash cans as part of the nation’s largest mandatory food waste recycling program due to come into effect in January.

The goal of the effort is to keep landfills in the most populous US state free of food waste, which will damage the atmosphere as it decays. When food scraps and other organic materials break down, they release methane, a greenhouse gas that is stronger and more harmful in the short term than carbon emissions from fossil fuels.

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To avoid these emissions, California plans to begin converting residents’ food waste into compost or energy, making it the second US state to do so after Vermont launched a similar program last year.

Most people in California will be forced to throw excess food in the green waste bins instead of in the trash. The municipalities will then compost the food waste or use it to produce biogas, an energy source similar to natural gas.

“This is the biggest change in waste since recycling began in the 1980s,” said Rachel Wagoner, director of the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery.

She added that it is “the easiest and fastest thing any individual can do to influence climate change”.

The California push reflects the growing recognition of the role food waste plays in pollution in the United States, where up to 40% of food is wasted, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

A handful of states and nations, including France, have passed laws requiring grocery stores and other large businesses to recycle excess food or donate it to charities, but the California program targets households and businesses.

The state passed a law in 2016 aimed at reducing methane emissions by significantly reducing the amount of food thrown away. Organic materials like food and garden waste make up half of all California landfills and a fifth of the state’s methane emissions, according to CalRecycle.

As of January, all cities and counties that offer garbage services are said to have introduced food recycling programs and grocery stores will have to donate edible food that would otherwise be thrown on blackboards or similar organizations.

“There’s no need to put this material in a landfill, it’s just cheap and easy,” said Ned Spang, director of the Food Loss and Waste Collaborative at the University of California, Davis.

Vermont, home to 625,000 people compared to nearly 40 million in California, is the only other state that bans residents from throwing their food waste in the trash. According to a law that came into force in July 2020, residents can compost the garbage in their yards, choose to pick it up at the roadside or drop it off at garbage stations. Cities like Seattle and San Francisco have similar programs.

California law requires the state to reduce organic landfill waste by 75% compared to 2014, or from around 23 million tons to 5.7 million tons by 2025.

Most local governments allow homeowners and apartment residents to dispose of excess groceries in garden trash cans, with some placing containers on the countertop to hold the trash for a few days before taking it outside. Some areas may have exemptions for parts of the law, such as rural areas where bears rummage in trash cans.

The food waste is composted or converted into energy through anaerobic digestion, a process that creates biogas that, like natural gas, can be used for heating and electricity.

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But California composting facilities have a strict licensing process to dispose of food waste alongside traditional green waste like leaves, and only a fifth of the state’s facilities currently accept food waste.

The state has also set a goal of diverting 20% ​​of the food that would otherwise end up in landfills by 2025 in order to feed people in need. Supermarkets must start donating their excess groceries in January, and hotels, restaurants, hospitals, schools and large venues will do so from 2024.

The donation portion of California’s law will contribute to a federal goal to cut food waste in half by 2030.

Davis is one of the California cities that already has a mandatory food recycling program. Joy Klineberg, a mother of three children, throws coffee grounds, fruit peels and cooking waste into a metal container with the label “Compost” on her worktop. When preparing dinner, she empties excess food from the cutting board into the rubbish bin.

Every few days she throws the contents into her green waste bin outside, which is picked up and sent to a facility in the district. Unpleasant smells on the countertop were not a problem, she said.

“All you change is where you throw things, it’s just another trash can,” she said. “It’s really easy and it’s amazing how much less rubbish you have.”

Implementing similar programs in larger cities is more difficult.

The two most populous in the state – Los Angeles and San Diego, which together make up about one in eight Californians – are among the cities whose programs won’t be available to all households next month.

That’s because it takes time to buy the necessary equipment, such as green waste bins for households that don’t already have one for garden waste, and facilities to dispose of the material. Garbage collection fees will rise in many places.

Like Davis, CalRecycle wants to focus more on education and less on punishment. Governments can avoid penalties by reporting to the state themselves by March if they haven’t set up programs and outlining plans to launch them. Cities that refuse to do so could be fined up to $ 10,000 per day.

Ken Prue, assistant director of San Diego’s environmental division, said the city invested nearly $ 9 million in this year’s budget to buy more trash cans, kitchen containers, and trucks to carry the extra trash.

Prue hopes that after the program starts next summer, San Diego residents will quickly realize the importance of recycling food waste.

“Hopefully before you know it it becomes second nature,” he said.

© Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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The post New California Program Goals To Curb Meals Waste Emissions With Composting – CBS San Francisco appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

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The post Biden Proclaims Government Actions to Curb Gun Violence – CBS San Francisco appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

America has been sluggishly divided into red and blue states by experts, as if there was no constant movement of people between them. Fortunately, the reality is a lot purple – and more hopeful – as immigrants, coloreds, and millennials are reshaping parts of America by voting and moving.

These demographic groups are migrating from the large coastal cities to the suburbs, to the city centers, to the south and even to parts of the Midwest. These newcomers both change their new home and are changed by them.

For much of the past century, most of the migration of Black Americans and immigrants took place to the major cities of the Northeast and to the west coast in the later decades. Over the past decade, these populations have been relocating from these traditional ports to areas where there has been relatively little migration in the past.

In his analysis for Heartland Forward, a nonprofit research group, demographer Wendell Cox found that among the largest metropolitan areas, the fastest growth in the foreign-born population in the past decade was in Dallas, Houston, Nashville, and Columbus, Ohio, and their numbers rose between them 25% and 40%. In contrast, foreign-born populations are stagnating or declining in Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago, the country’s traditional immigration centers.

Ironically, the fastest growth has occurred in the states that backed Donald Trump, while it declined in the states that backed Hillary Clinton in 2016. Rather than gathering in a few places, immigrants are increasingly following the earlier patterns of the 19th century and spreading to the US in the middle of the country.

This movement is already changing and energizing some regions in surprising ways. Nashville may be the country music capital – stereotypically the epitome of white American culture – but it’s also home to small Kurdistan, a Somali population, and a growing Latino community. Even in a place like Fargo, ND, which was more than 90% white in 1990, newcomers and more foreign-born residents have created a more diverse city. When I was there in the summer, I happily stumbled upon a Thai ice cream parlor.

A similar pattern of movement away from traditional turnstiles can be seen among African Americans. In countries like New York, Los Angeles, Seattle and Portland, Ore, black populations are stagnating or even declining. In the city of San Francisco, the African American community has declined from 13% in 1970 to about 5% today. Despite dating back to the 19th century, this community has grown so small that there is even a 2019 film called “The Last Black Man in San Francisco.”

Where are the African Americans going? Places like Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, and Las Vegas, as well as a variety of smaller subway areas like Boise, Idaho; Fayetteville, Ark .; Provo, Utah; Portland, Maine; and Scranton, PA. For African Americans and other minorities, the main motivator seems to be the economy, a recent report for the Urban Reform Institute shows.

The median household income of African Americans in Atlanta, adjusted for the cost of living (where the cost of housing is a major factor), was more than $ 60,000, compared to $ 36,000 in San Francisco and $ 37,000 in Los Angeles. The median household income for Latinos is more than $ 65,000 in Columbus and St. Louis, compared to $ 43,000 in Los Angeles, $ 47,000 in San Francisco, and $ 40,000 in New York.

Home ownership is a critical economic factor. Real estate remains the key to financial security: home equity makes up around two-thirds of middle-income Americans’ wealth, according to the Census Bureau. However, in some parts of the country, particularly along the California coast and the northeast, home ownership is often inaccessible. About 50% of black residents own their homes in places like the Atlanta and Oklahoma City subway areas, compared with just under a third in the Los Angeles and Denver subway areas. Among Latinos, El Paso and St. Louis stand out as subway areas of high home ownership, while Boston and San Jose home ownership is much lower.

Even before the pandemic, according to the Brookings Institution, millennials were leaving big cities like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago and heading for cheaper subway areas like Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin and Houston. The pandemic – in part through the ability to work remotely – has further accelerated the move of younger technicians from San Francisco, New York, Boston, and Chicago to Sacramento, Madison, Wisconsin, and Cleveland.

The movement of socially liberal millennials, minorities and immigrants is seen by some progressives as a way to build a lasting democratic majority in parts of the country that are conservative. This was certainly seen in the Georgia Senate races, where African American and Latino voters helped lead two progressive Democrats, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, to victory.

Conservatives fear that left-wing newcomers will overthrow the politics of their strongholds. But we should also consider the possible long-term effects if historically marginalized people are able to buy houses and start businesses. In the past, these changes have resulted in people being a little more conservative.

In Texas, where Latinos generally do better economically and are better able to buy houses than in California or New York, they also tend to split their votes more evenly between parties, with nearly 40% voting for Trump.

Even in big cities like New York, Trump managed to improve performance in minority and immigrant neighborhoods, possibly in response to the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 restrictions on companies that employ more color workers. American communities are largely in the middle of the road as their representatives, with moderates being the largest group in cities, rural areas, and suburbs across the country, according to a new study by The Times and polling agency Reality Check Insights.

This movement towards centrist politics through migration may provide a way out for our toxic and highly polarized political environment. These demographic trends, which are unlikely to go away, could prove to be the unifying force the country needs.

This piece first appeared in the Los Angeles Times.

Joel Kotkin is the author of The Coming of Neo-Feudalism: A Warning to the Global Middle Class. He is a Presidential Fellow for Urban Futures at Chapman University and Executive Director of the Urban Reform Institute. Learn more at joelkotkin.com and follow him on Twitter @joelkotkin.

The post Extra Individuals Shifting to Different States Might Curb Polarization appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

America has been sluggishly divided into red and blue states by experts, as if there was no constant movement of people between them. Fortunately, the reality is a lot purple – and more hopeful – as immigrants, coloreds, and millennials are reshaping parts of America by voting and moving.

These demographic groups are migrating from the large coastal cities to the suburbs, to the city centers, to the south and even to parts of the Midwest. These newcomers both change their new home and are changed by them.

For much of the past century, most of the migration of Black Americans and immigrants took place to the major cities of the Northeast and to the west coast in the later decades. Over the past decade, these populations have been relocating from these traditional ports to areas where there has been relatively little migration in the past.

In his analysis for Heartland Forward, a nonprofit research group, demographer Wendell Cox found that among the largest metropolitan areas, the fastest growth in the foreign-born population in the past decade was in Dallas, Houston, Nashville, and Columbus, Ohio, and their numbers rose between them 25% and 40%. In contrast, foreign-born populations are stagnating or declining in Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago, the country’s traditional immigration centers.

Ironically, the fastest growth has occurred in the states that backed Donald Trump, while it declined in the states that backed Hillary Clinton in 2016. Rather than gathering in a few places, immigrants are increasingly following the earlier patterns of the 19th century and spreading to the US in the middle of the country.

This movement is already changing and energizing some regions in surprising ways. Nashville may be the country music capital – stereotypically the epitome of white American culture – but it’s also home to small Kurdistan, a Somali population, and a growing Latino community. Even in a place like Fargo, ND, which was more than 90% white in 1990, newcomers and more foreign-born residents have created a more diverse city. When I was there in the summer, I happily stumbled upon a Thai ice cream parlor.

A similar pattern of movement away from traditional turnstiles can be seen among African Americans. In countries like New York, Los Angeles, Seattle and Portland, Ore, black populations are stagnating or even declining. In the city of San Francisco, the African American community has declined from 13% in 1970 to about 5% today. Despite dating back to the 19th century, this community has grown so small that there is even a 2019 film called “The Last Black Man in San Francisco.”

Where are the African Americans going? Places like Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, and Las Vegas, as well as a variety of smaller subway areas like Boise, Idaho; Fayetteville, Ark .; Provo, Utah; Portland, Maine; and Scranton, PA. For African Americans and other minorities, the main motivator seems to be the economy, a recent report for the Urban Reform Institute shows.

The median household income of African Americans in Atlanta, adjusted for the cost of living (where the cost of housing is a major factor), was more than $ 60,000, compared to $ 36,000 in San Francisco and $ 37,000 in Los Angeles. The median household income for Latinos is more than $ 65,000 in Columbus and St. Louis, compared to $ 43,000 in Los Angeles, $ 47,000 in San Francisco, and $ 40,000 in New York.

Home ownership is a critical economic factor. Real estate remains the key to financial security: home equity makes up around two-thirds of middle-income Americans’ wealth, according to the Census Bureau. However, in some parts of the country, particularly along the California coast and the northeast, home ownership is often inaccessible. About 50% of black residents own their homes in places like the Atlanta and Oklahoma City subway areas, compared with just under a third in the Los Angeles and Denver subway areas. Among Latinos, El Paso and St. Louis stand out as subway areas of high home ownership, while Boston and San Jose home ownership is much lower.

Even before the pandemic, according to the Brookings Institution, millennials were leaving big cities like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago and heading for cheaper subway areas like Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin and Houston. The pandemic – in part through the ability to work remotely – has further accelerated the move of younger technicians from San Francisco, New York, Boston, and Chicago to Sacramento, Madison, Wisconsin, and Cleveland.

The movement of socially liberal millennials, minorities and immigrants is seen by some progressives as a way to build a lasting democratic majority in parts of the country that are conservative. This was certainly seen in the Georgia Senate races, where African American and Latino voters helped lead two progressive Democrats, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, to victory.

Conservatives fear that left-wing newcomers will overthrow the politics of their strongholds. But we should also consider the possible long-term effects if historically marginalized people are able to buy houses and start businesses. In the past, these changes have resulted in people being a little more conservative.

In Texas, where Latinos generally do better economically and are better able to buy houses than in California or New York, they also tend to split their votes more evenly between parties, with nearly 40% voting for Trump.

Even in big cities like New York, Trump managed to improve performance in minority and immigrant neighborhoods, possibly in response to the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 restrictions on companies that employ more color workers. American communities are largely in the middle of the road as their representatives, with moderates being the largest group in cities, rural areas, and suburbs across the country, according to a new study by The Times and polling agency Reality Check Insights.

This movement towards centrist politics through migration may provide a way out for our toxic and highly polarized political environment. These demographic trends, which are unlikely to go away, could prove to be the unifying force the country needs.

Joel Kotkin is President Fellow for Urban Futures at Chapman University and Executive Director of the Urban Reform Institute. He is the author of “The Coming of Neo-Feudalism”. @joelkotkin

The post Op-Ed: Extra folks transferring to different states might curb polarization appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.