Environment
When we first visited Richmond’s Seed Library in June last year it was a fresh idea popularized by its coordinator, Rebecca Newburn, and other garden-lovers volunteers. Today, exactly one year from its launch in May 2010, the library has between 350 and 400 users.
Richmond’s Lincoln Elementary School playground and parking lot were turned into a Bike Fiesta Saturday, with scores of neighborhood bike riders and dozens of bicycling enthusiasts from throughout the city coming out to celebrate cycling. It was mild mayhem as bike-riding youngsters careened, sometimes on wobbly wheels, around the school grounds dodging bystanders and each other.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has scaled back the monitoring of radiation in milk, drinking water and rain, saying data shows radiation levels related to the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant are consistently declining. Richmond’s California Public Health Laboratory has led the state’s air and milk testing efforts.
Richmond and North Richmond turned “green” on Saturday, celebrating the international Earth Day with a “Green” Panther Parade that was five times bigger than the one last year and several other events throughout the city.
In celebration of Earth Day, a nonprofit solar panel installer helped a family in North Richmond reduce their electricity costs.
Every year since 1970, on and around April 22 individuals and organizations worldwide have demonstrated their commitment to environmental protection and sustainability. This year, Richmond’s citizens will have plenty of opportunities to support this global idea.
Hundreds of people from the Bay Area and as far away as Seattle flocked to a sprawling North Richmond nursery last weekend to celebrate its annual Spring party.
About 20 people gathered in front of the El Cerrito offices of Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia late Friday to protest a transfer of funds away from an urban ecology program.
Scientists in Richmond are the state’s first line of detection, conducting radiological tests to monitor whether the partial meltdown of nuclear reactors in Japan poses any threat in California.