[Sosfbay-discuss] Earth Day in Morgan Hill.

[Wes Rolley]

(cross posted to GCF).

Morgan Hill, CA is a small city... well, hardly a city with a population 
between 35 - 40 K.  One might call it an edge-city in Silicon Valley and 
that fact is reflected in the number of people who commute North to work 
(mostly by car) or the few companies that have moved South in order to 
take advantage of lower sq ft lease prices.

In some ways, I don't think that the experiences in Morgan Hill 
translate everywhere, but I was surprised at the extent to which the 
City of Morgan Hill and the Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce made an 
event out of Earth Day.

To begin with, and I mean begin as this was the 1st time, Earth Day 
activities took over the Community and Cultural Center.  There were 
three divergent sets of activities going on.  Most notably, there was a 
Sustainable Business Conference that was sponsored jointly by the City 
Government and the Chamber of Commerce.  The emphasis was was on 
resource reduction, with presentations from the water district and PG&E 
as well as the Mayor, Steve Tate. Tate talked about the new 
Environmental Agenda for the City of Morgan Hill.   About 18 companies 
had people signed up.

The second set of activities were aimed at students involvement.  There 
was a poster contest on an environmental theme and an exhibit of Science 
Fair projects, followed by an awards presentation.  My only 
disappointment came from the Science Fair as most of the entries seemed 
to say that they had completed an assignment while none of them 
indicated that the entrant had developed a real curiosity about the 
subject at hand.

The final set of activities was a set of tables and displays from a few 
companies (one was a bike company, another a landscape company who 
featured low water landscaping) and governmental organizations (Bay Area 
Air Quality Management District, Open Space Authority, Water District, etc.)

Following this, I would like to call attention to the fact that the 
Chamber of Commerce has instituted a Sustainable Quality Award. Details 
here: http://www.morganhill.org/SQA/2008/SQA%202008%20PRESS%20RELEASE.pdf

The active participation of the Chamber of Commerce seems to say that a 
few companies have gotten serious.  In this, they seem to diverge from 
the pattern of the California Chambers of Commerce.  Note: Criticism of 
the Chambers by Planning and Conservation League's Mindy McIntyre. 
http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2008/02/california_cham_1.html

All in all, it was a good beginning and worth replicating in other 
communities.