The Green Issue

Thursday, April 19

earth Day

events

Get Your Green on at these local Earth Day happenings

Saturday, April 14

We Are Earth Day Celebration and Seedling Sale 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Free Earth Day

event at The Ecology Center with a scavenger hunt, live music, dancing, local food, the annual Spring Plant and Seed Sale, educational fun ways to learn about implementing practical ecological solutions, and more. 32701 Alipaz St., San Juan Capistrano, 949.443.4223, www.TheEcologyCenter.org.

Earth Day Event 9 a.m.-4 p.m. San Juan Capistrano Community Center Gym. 20 earth friendly, interactive exhibits. Stop by South Coast Water District’s booth to test your knowledge at “Water & Sewer Jeopardy” and get water-saving items. 25925 Camino Del Avion, San Juan Capistrano, www. sanjuancapistrano.org.

Saturday, April 21

Backyard Skills: Make Your Own Veggie Box 1 p.m.-3 p.m. Build your own back-

yard veggie box to take home and grow your own at The Ecology Center (cost $25 + $20 materials), and also check out their ongoing “Tools for Change” interactive sustainability exhibition. 32701 Alipaz St., San Juan Capistrano, 949.443.4223, www.TheEcologyCenter.org.

E-Waste Disposal, Shredding, and Compost Giveaway 7 a.m.-12 p.m. The city

of San Juan Capistrano and the Goodwill host a free E-waste event/document shredding, as well as compost giveaway with CR&R all at City Hall. 32400 Paseo Adelanto, SJC, 949.234.4413, www.sanjuancapsitrano.org.

Adventure Day Featuring Socal Wildf lower Fest 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Special family event

SoCalGas, volunteers will plant, weed, spread seeds, water and trim bushes and stencil trash and recycling bins. Family members of all ages are welcome.

A light breakfast and coffee will be provided. Ocean Institute, 24200 Dana Point Harbor Drive, Dana Point.

Gardenfest 8 a.m.-3 p.m. The San Clemente

Garden Club hosts the annual event at the SC Community Center featuring a plant sale, garden flea market, contests, art shows, educational programs and more. 100 N. Calle Seville, San Clemente, www.sanclementegardenclub.com.

Transition Laguna Earth Day Festival

9 a.m.-5 p.m. All-day celebration in downtown Laguna Beach in conjunction with Kelp Fest with speakers on relevant topics, environmental organizations, exhibits, activities, art project for kids, cooking demos, live music, films and more. Free admission. Takes place off Park Ave. and PCH. transitionlagunabeach@gmail.com.

celebration at San Mateo Campground in San Onofre State Beach featuring Native American speakers, arts, crafts, food, speakers and more fun hosted by the San Onofre Foundation. Free shuttle from Concordia School. More info: More info: 949.366.8599, www.sanofoundation.org/site/events.

at San Mateo Campground in San Onofre State Beach. More info: 949.366.8599, www.sanofoundation.org/site/events.

Earth Day Clean-Up 8 a.m.-noon Hosted by

2nd Annual eWaste Fundraiser 9 a.m.1 p.m. Shorecliffs Middle School is having its second annual eWaste Fundraiser for Earth Week where you can dispose of old electronics and more.

Additional drop off will be April 22 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 240 Via Socorro, San Clemente, 949.498.1660.

Earth Day at Panhe 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Earth Day

Earth Day San Mateo Trail Restoration Project 8:30 a.m. Clean-up and restoration event

beach, and the jetty, and plant native plants. Another cleanup on April 21. 25300 Dana Point Harbor Drive, Dana Point, 949.496-6172, www.dohenystatebeach. org.

Salt Creek Beach Cleanup 10 a.m. – noon, Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Ambassadors of the Environment Program, The Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel.

The beach cleanup is a fantastic way for neighbors and friends of The Ritz-Carlton to get together and care for our marine environment, while learning from Jean-Michel Cousteau how fragile our beach and ocean are. 1 Ritz Carlton Drive Dana Point, www.ritzcarlton.com.

Sunday, April 22

at Caspers Wilderness Park featuring activities and games, guest presentations, educational programs and exhibits, raffles, contests, and more. Free event. 33401 Ortega Hwy., San Juan Capistrano, 949.923.2210, www.ocparks.com/caspers.

Native Tree Planting Project and Beach Cleanup 9 a.m.- noon. Clean San Juan Creek, the

Earth Day Beach & Creek Cleanup 9 a.m.noon. Clean San Juan Creek, the beach and the jetty in honor of Mother Earth Day and plant native plants. Meets at the new Lifeguard Headquarters at Doheny State Beach. Please bring your work gloves. 25300 Dana Point Harbor Drive, Dana Point, 949.496-6172, www.dohenystatebeach.org.

Earth Day San Clemente at Parque Del Mar. File photo

Earth Day San Clemente 8:30 a.m.; 10 a.m.2 p.m. Begins with a beach cleanup at the Pier at 8. Then starting at 10 a.m. celebrate Earth Day at Parque Del Mar featuring live music, demonstrations, giveaways, displays, mini tide pool, photo booth, children’s crafts area and more. 949.366.2326, Info@SCwatersheds.com, www.SCwatersheds.com.

Headlands Cleanup 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Visit the Nature Interpretive Center, adjacent to the Headlands Conservation Park, at the end of Green Lantern for clean up supplies and directions, if you choose to help clean up the area while you hike.

34558 Scenic Drive, 949.542.4755.

Plant Design Class 10 a.m. & 1 p.m. Design a living succulent wall at Goin Native. Cost $25 plus plant costs. 31661 Los Rios St., San Juan Capistrano, 949.606.6386, www.goinnative.net.

Earth Day Yoga + Potluck 4 p.m.-6 p.m. Join The Ecology Center and guests from Yoga Works for an afternoon of free yoga with instructor L.B. Iddings and a post-yoga potluck. 32701 Alipaz St., San Juan Capistrano, 949.443.4223, www.TheEcologyCenter.org.

Earth Day and Recycling at the Ocean Institute 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Event at the Ocean

Institute for the family featuring eco-friendly crafts, stories for kids, marine mammal activities, and recycling for your old electronics and athletic shoes. Get free admission if you participate in the institute’s beach/harbor cleanup from 9 a.m. -11 a.m. Admission $4.50-$6.50. 24200 Dana Point Harbor Drive, Dana Point, 949.496.2274, www.ocean-institute.org.

NABA Butterf ly Walk 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Join the North American Butterfly Association on its annual search for butterflies at The Reserve/Richard and Donna O’Neill Land Conservancy. Cost $5-$10.

Call for info and directions, 949.489.9778, www.theconservancy.org.

tapping

the Pacific

Decision nears on whether to proceed with South County desalination plant

BY JONATHAN VOLZKE

I

t’s something of a paradox.

The series of canals, pumps and pipelines that supplies Southern California’s drinking water is as shaky as the ground around the San Andreas Fault. But lapping up on Orange County’s 42 miles of coastline is the endless Pacific Ocean.

Some see the ocean as at least part of the answer to Southern Orange County’s water woes, where 95 percent of the water is imported from elsewhere.

Others, however, see the ocean as more an oasis than a solution.

A coalition of five cities and water agencies has been working for more than six years to find the truth. Together, they’ve invested $3.3 million — combined with $2.8 million in grants — to drill beneath the ocean floor, pump out briny, brackish water and ram it through a series of super-fine filters to produce drinkable water in a pilot project.

San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano, Laguna Beach County Water District, Moulton Niguel Water District and South Coast Water District, which primarily supplies Dana Point, are the project participants. The Municipal Water District of Orange County is working with them.

After 18 months of pumping, the pilot plant housed in a shipping container at Doheny State Beach is scheduled to shut down April 27. After a few more tests, the participating agencies will be asked whether they want to continue to a full plant -- with a price tag of $175 million. That “go, no-go” decision will be made in 2013.

If it works, the plant would produce 15 million gallons of drinking water a day, enough to provide about 22 percent of the agencies’ future needs, said Karl Seckel, assistant general manager of the Municipal Water District of Orange County.

But it’s expensive. Not just to build, but to operate. Forcing the seawater though the reverseosmosis membranes requires a tremendous amount of electricity. Current estimates, Seckel said, put the cost of water produced by the plant at $1,500 for an acre foot – 325,851 gallons. This month, the cost of buying an acre foot of water through the Metropolitan Water District was about $900.

Seckel said predictions show that the cost of Metropolitan water will continue to climb, while the costs of producing water in the desalination plant would rise much more slowly. The price of water from both sources, he said, is expected to be the

A crew works on installing the submersible pump in the slant well at the Doheny State Beach test facility.

Photo courtesy of Municipal Water District of Orange County

same around 2025.

That’s not good enough for San Juan Capistrano, though. When each participating agency was asked to pony up another $23,000 to finish some tests last month, Capistrano city leaders balked, voting 3-2 to pull out of the project. San Juan is just now getting its $35 million groundwater recovery plant working properly, and the Utilities Department is battling a $6 million deficit. San Juan Capistrano is one of the few agencies in South County with a significant supply of groundwater.

“It’s frankly frightening, the economic picture of this nation and this state,” Councilman Sam Allevato said. “This would allow us to get to a decision point, but I’m afraid of the answer.”

Seckel admitted the project has been a science experiment from the beginning.

While ocean desalination is used around the world, the State Water Plan says just six such plants were operating in California in 2009, producing just a little more than 4.5 acre feet of water a day. That’s a drop in the bucket even when compared to the state’s 20 groundwater-recovery plants – Dana Point also has one – that produce about 225 acre feet of drinking water a day.

Part of the problem is mitigating the environmental impacts. The Poseidon Resources desalination plant in Carlsbad – which will be one of the biggest in the country when completed, took 10 years to plan and six more to get permits. The Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board approved another Poseidon Resources desalination plant in Huntington Beach, but environmentalists have appealed that decision to the state Coastal Commission.

One of the chief concerns with traditional desalination plants: The intake pipes that suck water from the ocean also suck up sealife. Poseidon’s plans rely on existing power plants, which already draw in seawater for cooling.

South Orange Coastal Ocean Desalination Project avoids that – and has not drawn fire from Surfrider or other environmental groups – by using a “slant well” technique that burrows intake pipes beneath the ocean floor at an angle. That means the water is not draw directly from the ocean, but from beneath the sea floor. That avoids drawing in sea life and also

uses the earth as an additional filter.

If built, the project would use nine slant wells, drawing 30 million gallons of water daily.

But the success of the slant well also raised new issues. Plant operators weren’t sure when, and how much “young” ocean water they would draw in the treatment facility as they tapped underground aquifers. The initial water was old -- 7,500 years old – and contains iron and manganese. Building additional facilities to remove the iron and manganese adds about $50 million to the price tag, which is already included in the $175 million estimate.

“We thought we’d find it, but as we connected to the ocean, we thought we’d pump through the iron and manganese,” Seckel said. “We may still do that, but the science right now is inconclusive.

Scientists put tracer materials in the lagoon at Doheny, and waited to see them turn up in the plant water, tracking the flow of groundwater in the area.

Capistrano voiced concern that pumping water from beneath the ocean could somehow affect the San Juan Basin aquifer and hamper the operations of the city’s groundwater plant. The final $23,000 from each participant was to finish the work including the groundwater modeling of the underground basin to help address that question.

Six different metals were also tested for the plant’s equipment, Seckel said, to see which best resisted corrosion in the desalination process.

Still ahead would likely be more test borings into the ocean floor, drilled traditionally, to help define the aquifer and determine the makeup of the water, eliminating the possibility that the slant well has struck something unknown in the under-ocean basin.

“We don’t have a full understanding of the geology under the ocean – (it is) very expensive to do that work,” Seckel said.

Even with some questions unanswered, Wayne Rayfield, president of the board at South Coast Water District, said he’s been pleased with the project.

“I think it’s going well. We’ve learned an awful lot,” he said. “I think also the project is technically feasible and needed. Maybe it’s not needed next year, but it certainly will be needed in the future.”

Those in the industry, water dogs, they’re called, say the public looks at it wrong when it looks only at the cost of water. At some point, it won’t be how much water costs, but whether they can get it at all.

“We’re in a coastal desert, our imported water supplies are going to continue to get more scarce and more expensive,” Rayfield said. “Desal the only good option.”

For San Clemente, which essentially sits at the end of the pipeline for water coming from the north and the Colorado River, desalination provides an alternative tap, noted Mayor Jim Evert, who represents the city on the project. Any major disaster could cut off the city from its much-needed water supply.

“I think in the future years ahead it’s going to potentially be one of the major supplies of water,” Evert said.

Another mistake made when looking at the project, Seckel said, is failing to look long term, and remember that the water situation changes quickly.

“I think the (economic) environment is working against us, but it wasn’t very long ago, three or four years ago, that people were asking us how quickly we could get this project done,” Seckel said.

“So you have to ask the question, what are we doing to improve our reliability?”

For more information about the South County Ocean Desalination project, see http://www.scwd.org/ water/potable/oceandesal.asp •

Bye Bye Bags

Farewell Foam

Surfrider Foundation, others continue to push for plastic bag and foam bans

BY ANDREA SWAYNE espite a few setbacks in the tri-city area, Surfrider Foundation and other environmental groups have kept up a fight to curb the distribution by retail establishments of single-use plastic bags and foam food service containers in and around San Clemente, Dana Point and San Juan Capistrano.

The effort, aimed at keeping polystyrene — or Styrofoam as its popularly known — from fouling local watersheds, beaches and the ocean environment has been a top priority for the group since launching their Rise Above Plastics campaign in 2008, said Alexis Henry, Surfrider Foundation communications manager.

Since then, Dana Point voted in March to expand a voluntary restriction discouraging the use of polystyrene foam and passed ordinances prohibiting point-of-sale distribution of both the foam food containers and single-use plastic bags.

San Clemente in January 2011 responded to requests from residents by adopting an ordinance banning polystyrene containers at retail facilities.

This change expanded on a 2004 policy banning the use of the foam containers at city events, facilities and by vendors doing business with the city.

The city chose to table the issue of a bag ban in fall of 2011, but since the polystyrene ban became effective on July 1, 2011, the city website asks residents who have witnessed businesses still using polystyrene food containers to file an anonymous report via an online reporting form.

In San Juan Capistrano restricting single-use plastic bags has yet to be considered, although it too adopted an ordinance in 2004 banning the use of foam food service containers within its facilities and events and has also asked business owners to

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voluntarily restrict their use of the material.

Shwack Beach Grill in Dana Point is among the growing list of area businesses embracing the change.

In the days leading up to the Dana Point vote, Surfrider enlisted Shwack owner Max Fisher to ask customers to sign a petition to request City Council to enact a polystyrene ban.

Fisher gladly agreed to help as he had been using eco-friendly products in his restaurant since opening in July and said he often receives positive comments from customers thanking him for his eco-friendly choice in food service containers.

And, even if he needed to pass the few-cent difference on to customers, Fisher said he wouldn’t expect it to be an issue as he strongly believes his restaurant’s effort to protect the environment— aside from the award-winning food—is among the reasons people choose to eat at his establishment.

“As an ocean-themed restaurant doing business in a place that’s so beautiful and so near the ocean, it’s important both to me and my customers to do whatever we can to help the beaches stay clean and the water stay clear for future generations,” said Fisher.

Rick Erkeneff, chairman of Surfrider’s South Orange County Chapter, said the group is very pleased with the recent progress made within the tri-city area both with regard to bans and Surfrider’s success at educating citizens about the harms of singleuse plastics in marine and coastal environments.

“More still needs to be done, and we hope this year to get bag bans implemented in San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano as well as many more of the inland cities in South Orange County,” Erkeneff said, “so by Earth Day next year the region is plastic bag and polystyrene free.” •

Get Paid to Upgrade, Save the Environment

rom toilets to turf, rebates are available to residents and business owners willing to embrace more efficient products – or plants as the case may be – in their daily lives. Local utilities will help ease the swap out of the old with the new by offering the financial incentives.

But planning is key to maximizing the rebate returns. Most municipalities or utility companies offering the rebates require some advance notice – whether that’s filing the paperwork ahead of time or requesting an inspection.

Call the respective utility or visit the websites to view a list of the available rebates, which can include clothes washers, ice-making machines, irrigation controllers, nozzles, plants, toilets and turf.

The incentives, which range from a few dollars to the thousands of dollars, can vary for residential, multi-home properties and commercial customers.

Each city has its own unique rebates. In San Juan Capistrano, for example, a swap out of a toilet older than 1993 can qualify a resident for a $200 rebate for up to two toilets, said San Juan’s Water Conservation Coordinator Francie Kennedy. Already, 650 porcelain thrones in the city have been replaced and plenty of rebate dollars remain, she said.

“Each toilet, over its lifetime, uses about an acre foot of water,” Kennedy noted.

By paying the $200 now, San Juan expects to save upwards of $600 in water.

In San Clemente, turf replacement can be combined with the city’s qualified plant rebate of up to $300, according to Dan Dyer of San Clemente’s Utility Department. The city lists 61 different plants, shrubs and trees to choose from.

Don’t lose out on the chance to pocket extra money while also helping the environments and keeping utility costs at bay.

Rebate websites: www.socalwatersmart.com, www.mwdsaveabuck.com, www.scwd.org/conservation/residential/rebates.asp Check your city’s website for specific rebates: www.sanjuancapistrano.org, www.san-clemente.org, www.danapoint.org • — Stacie N. Galang

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What in the World… It’s Earth Day

BY LISA ZAWASKI, SENIOR WATER QUALITY ENGINEER, CITY DANA POINT, LINDA HOMSCHEID, COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER, SOUTH COAST WATER DISTRICT

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hat do “Bridge over Troubled Water,” “All My Children,” and the New York City Marathon have in common? They all made their debut in 1970—the same year that Earth Day was inaugurated as a national day of environmental awareness and action. And, just like the Simon and Garfunkel tune, ABC soap opera and 26-mile race, Earth Day is still going strong 42 years later.

Renew, Reuse, Recycle. April is a fitting month for Earth Day because it marks the start of spring, and the season of Earth’s renewal. So, take a moment this month to consider some behaviors that impact the environment and make a conscious choice to change them—even a little. For example: • Turn sprinklers off when it rains; let Mother Nature water your yard for free.

• Read the directions on pesticides and fertilizers so that they are applied sparingly; excess chemicals

pollute our creeks and ocean. And don’t apply right before rain is expected.

• If you wash your car in the driveway, use sand bags to keep the dirty wash water from going down the storm drain. Divert the water to your yard for a free watering. Or, collect with a wet vac and dispose in a sink rather than down the storm drain.

• Grab a reusable shopping bag from your car before you go into the store.

• Think twice about flicking that cigarette butt out the car window; it will end up in our waterways.

This year, in honor of Earth Day, we hope you take time to explore ways that you can help prevent ocean water pollution, conserve water and energy and reduce waste—while still enjoying our fabulous quality of life in our tri-city area. Be sure to turn to the events calendar page in this pullout section for a list of local options for celebrating Earth Day.

What in the world? What do Monday Night Football, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Matt Damon have in common? You’ve got it; they all made their “debut” in 1970 and, like Earth Day, they’re still going strong.

Happy Earth Day to all. Thank you for being stewards of our most precious resources and for doing your part to make every day Earth Day. This article was adapted from the regularly featured DP Times column Harboring the Good Life, a cooperative effort of the City of Dana Point and South Coast Water District to cultivate conscious living to protect and preserve our coastal neighborhoods and resources. If you have any suggestions for topics, please feel free to direct questions to lzawaski@danapoint.org (City of Dana Point) or lhomscheid@scwd.org (South Coast Water District). •

Green Living simple steps for everyday success

Earth Day a chance to spark interest in environment

BY JESSICA WATKINS

W

hat do you think of when you think of living green? Do visions spring to mind of your hybrid-driving, yoga-practicing, organicbuying, quinoa-eating, tree-hugging friend? While some folks are able to dedicate themselves fully to environmental concerns, being “green” doesn’t require going from gross consumer to eco-nut overnight. It starts with getting informed and understanding that an individual’s every action affects the natural environment and the environment of others.

And, if each person chose more thoughtful actions, systemic change would take hold.

April 22 marks the 42nd annual observance of Earth Day in the United States. According to the Earth Day Network, more than 1 billion people now participate in Earth Day activities each year, making it the largest civic observance in the world. “Earth Day is a reminder for each of us,” said local Harry Helling, president of the Crystal Cove Alliance and board chairman of The Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano, “to shift our perspective from our normal human point of view to, instead, a much broader humanity point of view so that we might see, with greater clarity, our collective relationship with the planet.”

With Earth Day drawing near, it’s time to shake off the tree-hugging stereotypes and get yourself ready to join the global green community. From ecobeginner to expert, there are many simple things you can do to live greener every day: • Got morning breath? Make sure in your groggy, pre-coffee state that you turn the water off while you brush your teeth.

• Do a lot of driving? Before making the big leap to go hybrid, simply check and make sure your tires are inflated properly. Low air pressure decreases miles per gallon.

• Hate watering the lawn? Replace it with attractive, draught-tolerant, California-native landscaping.

Reduce your water footprint and harmful ocean runoff and save a ton on your water bill, too.

• Ready for some spring cleaning? Before you spray, consider this: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated that air pollutant levels

The Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano. Photo by Scott Sporleder/The Ecology Center

inside our homes can be two to five times higher than outdoor levels due to toxic ingredients found in some cleaners and fragrances. Check labels, or, better yet, make your own cleaners out of all natural ingredients.

• Drink water? Did you know it takes up to three times as much water to produce a plastic bottle of water as compared to drinking the same amount of tap water? Use a reusable bottle, and you’ll save that precious resource every time. Plus, you’ll save energy by eliminating freight energy to ship that packaged water to you. It comes out of your spigot for almost free.

• Want to eat better? Buy natural food as local as possible to avoid premature, tasteless harvests and massive air and land freight energy costs. Take it up a notch and have fun growing your own fruits and veggies in raised beds or containers.

We all know the adage “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle,” and most of us in Southern California are pretty good at the last one. But, did you know that roughly 30 cents of every dollar consumers spend on packaged goods goes towards paying for the packaging? And most packaging promptly gets recycled or thrown away? Consider the first two Rs before falling back on recycling. Do you really need that new product? Or can you make do? Can you repair or reuse what you already have? Can you buy it packaging-free at a consignment or bulk store?

Consider how your buying dollars speak, too, since consumer demand affects the marketplace.

Choose to spend a few more pennies now on select items of better quality, higher standards, and non-genetically modified organisms and industry standards and pricing will improve in time. Great examples of this are the increased number of organic products at competitive prices now available in the supermarkets as compared to 10 years ago.

Since 2009, The Ecology Center — adjacent to South Coast Farms in San Juan Capistrano — has helped people discover attainable solutions by breaking down environmental ecology into five accessible categories of living: food, water, shelter, waste, and energy. Through year-round program-

ming and hands-on workshops for all ages, the center engages people in “eco-education” to equip everyone to make better choices, challenging people to pledge action, tracking and encouraging those pledges, and exemplifying what it means to be eco-conscious. Executive Director Evan Marks considers the work of the center as “a bridge to sustainability for the community.” And what does sustainability really mean? “Giving back more than you take.”

There are many information resources that can help you go green. Check out any of the following websites to get started or delve deeper into ecoawareness: • A Billion Acts of Green: act.earthday.org • Local insights into food/water/energy/waste/ shelter: TheEcologyCenter.org/resources • Surfrider Foundation’s action center www. surfrider.org/take-action • Rankings of best and worst companies social and eco-awareness: betterworldshopper.org So whether you are young or old, whether you live in a big house or a studio apartment, whether you have a lot or a little to invest, think about what actions seem accessible and spark your interest.

Then, join in a community that shares your interests; gain some new ideas and give encouragement and expertise to others. Conquer your green-phobia and take a step toward making every day Earth Day--we will all benefit.

Local Event Call-out: The next opportunity to gain some of The Ecology Center’s hands-on eco-education is this Saturday at their annual “We Are Earth Day Festival and Seedling Sale.” Learn about our eco-system by touring their learning landscape, taking the scavenger hunt, eating local food and drink and getting your hands dirty planting a garden or building a terrarium. Commemorate your visit by making a pledge. Admission is free, and all are welcome. Saturday, April 14, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., 32701 Alipaz St., San Juan Capistrano. Special street parking will be available.

Jessica Watson can be reached at jessica@theecologycenter.org. •