Humboldt has a decidedly eco-groovy reputation, but is it deserved?
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s the world readies to celebrate Earth Day on April 22, it seems a fitting time to take a good, hard look in the mirror. Yes, Humboldt County, home to towering redwood trees, flowing rivers and a magnificent coastline, was green before it was cool. It’s a place where folks outfitted their homes with solar panels before they were cost-effective and where farmers markets were commonplace before kale was hip. Humboldt County certainly has green credentials, but are they deserved? Is Humboldt living up? The Journal looked at six major indicators: electricity consumption, government policies, waste diversion, transportation and water and air quality. The results are mixed, and maybe a bit surprising. Here’s what we found.
pretty well. We diverted more than twice that amount, keeping it out of the landfills, through recycling, compost and other means. Karen Sherman, Humboldt Waste Management Authority’s senior programs analyst, says the authority’s member agencies are keeping far more trash out of the dump than the state mandates. HWMA’s collective jurisdictions (Eureka, Arcata, Blue Lake, Ferndale, Rio Dell and
Trashy
In 2011, Humboldt County residents sent 158 million pounds of garbage to landfills near Redding and Medford, Ore. But by state standards, we’re doing EXCAVATORS AT HUMBOLDT WASTE MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY’S TRANSFER STATION TOPS OFF A TRAILER WITH ABOUT 16 TONS OF RECYCLABLES. IT WILL TRAVEL 142 MILES SOUTH TO BE PROCESSED AT SOLID WASTE OF WILLITS. PHOTO BY DREW HYLAND
14 NORTH COAST JOURNAL • THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 2014 • northcoastjournal.com
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unincorporated Humboldt) diverted 69 percent of their garbage in 2011, well above the state goal of 50 percent, but still below an upcoming 2020 mandate of 75 percent diversion. CalRecycle Assistant Director of Public Affairs Mark Oldfield says “diversion” is kind of an old metric when it comes to reducing garbage. Nowadays, the state assigns a pounds-per-person-per-day number to every jurisdiction in the state and
monitors how closely it meets that goal. In 2011, Ferndale was the only Humboldt jurisdiction to exceed its target, pumping out 4.1 pounds per day per person of trash to its 3.4 pounds per person per day goal. The state gave the city a pass, citing a good faith effort. “As a whole, the county is doing very well,” Oldfield says. It’s tough to compare jurisdictions, he continues, because places with more industry are going to put out