What’s new is the feeling of urgency. With
the challenges of serving their constituencies and customers in a tight economic climate, both local and county government and private companies know that ‘business as usual’ practices just won’t cut it any more. Pressing environmental issues, such as competition for scarce water supply and improving degraded air quality, are driving home the feeling that finding new solutions is not a luxury. going green, more than ever before, boils down to ‘how’, instead of ‘why.’
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In 2009, thirty-four
growers certified 16,000 acres of wine grapes, more than 10 percent of the district, to the
Lodi Rules sustainability standards,” says Cliff Ohmart, the Lodi Wine Commission’s former director. “There are now over twenty wine labels in the marketplace bearing the Lodi Rules logo and about fifteen
“
wineries either using the logo now on their labels
or will soon do so.
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san joaquin magazine
The good news is that this sense of urgency is mixed with hope.
Conversations about the need to be ‘green’ are no longer lingering at the beginning stages. People in both the public and private sectors are increasingly taking what they’ve learned, sharing it, and creating new policies and practices to make this region a quality place where we live, work, and play. Here’s how and where we see this new vision emerging.
We are sharing ‘green’ practices that work
Back in 2003, when a committee of winegrowers, academics, and lodiWoodbridge Winegrape Commission (lWWC) members gathered together to develop the lodi Rules, a set of 75 standards that define what kinds of practices are needed to grow wine in an environmentally sound, socially equitable, and economically feasible way, it was anyone’s guess whether it would gain the type of recognition and respect in the wine industry that it now enjoys today.
Almost a decade later, carrying the stamp of approval afforded by Protected Harvest, the environmental organization that certifies farmers’ use of environmental farming standards, the lodi Rules program continues to gain traction. “In 2009, thirty-four growers certified 16,000 acres of wine grapes, more than 10 percent of the district, to the lodi Rules sustainability standards,” says Cliff Ohmart, the Commission’s former director. “There are now over twenty wine labels in the marketplace bearing the lodi Rules logo and about fifteen wineries either using the logo now on their labels or will soon do so.” Currently the vice-president of professional services for SureHarvest, a provider of sustainable management software for the agricultural sector, Ohmart says that the lodi Rules template provided a framework that could be shared across disciplines. “We are working closely with the Almond Board of California in developing a sustainable almond self-assessment workbook. The SureHarvest model is based on what we learned in lodi as well as with the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance program that SureHarvest helped put together, and that was also based on the lodi workbook program.” A sustainability workbook approach is needed as much by cities as it is by farm growers, and in the city of Tracy efforts are underway to address environmental issues in an integrated and measurable way that can be used a template for other San Joaquin Valley cities. “Tracy represents an ongoing pilot project under the Emerald Cities program,” says Steve Coyle, architect and urban designer for Town-green, an Oakland-based sustainability community planning company. The goal, says Coyle, is to meet California sustainability targets by reducing Tracy’s “carbon footprint,” decreasing its dependency on using fossil fuels and preserving habitats and renewable resources. The plan includes implementable programs, such as the recent acquisition of a grant to create multi-family recycling measures, regulations, and best practices. The end product will be local Community Action Programs’ (lCAP) that can be deployed state-wide.
We are partnering til we drop
look under the hood at just about all ‘green’ april 2010