The Napa Valley Climate Connection: Learning the three 'Rs' in the 21st century - Napa Valley Register

Learning the three 'Rs' in the 21st century

Back in the 1800s, the three "Rs" meant “Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic.” But today, faced with the climate crisis, we need to teach our children (and ourselves) a new set of three Rs: “Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle."

We’ve begun to do that, both globally and locally — including quite recently, at the American Canyon Library. On Feb. 3, the Green Screen Film series invited children and their adults to a day of games, short documentaries, and shared ideas. Napa Climate NOW!’s Green Screen film team (Ginger Gregory, Carol Glaser, Susan Crosby, and Linda Deitiker-Yolo) led activities based on a short film “The Story of a Plastic Bottle” to showcase how long single-use plastics stay in the environment after they’ve been tossed aside.

Manolo, six-years-old, attended with his family, and led the way in the “Timeline” game, guessing how long different types of trash take to break down in the environment, ranging from a few weeks for an apple core, to over a million years (estimated) for a mylar balloon. Naama Brenner Abramovitch, Napa Recycling’s Recycling Specialist, pointed out that composting and recycling greatly reduce the time needed for items to decompose and saves resources that would otherwise be lost.

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This was followed by the locally made documentary, “Waste is a Verb,” a close-up look at the award-winning Napa Recycling and Composting Facility. Last year alone, this facility accepted over 185,000 tons of material to recycle or compost. Through extensive, multi-step sorting and processing, they recovered 92% of this material for reuse.

Not all the material received can be sold because recyclables might be contaminated with non-recyclables. This led to the next game: “What Goes Where?” a fun (and funny) trash sorting exercise that inspired deep dives among the adults (which kind of plastic bag is best for dog poop?) and resulted in a proud Manolo, who exclaimed, “Mama, I can tell Dad where things go!”

But the real problem — and most serious impact on climate — is the amount of garbage Americans throw out in our consumption-based economy. The Environmental Protection Agency stated that the trash tossed per person was up to 1,800 pounds a year in 2018.

As University of Michigan environmental engineer Shelie Miller pointed out in a 2020 article in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, “Consumers tend to focus on the impact of the packaging, rather than the impact of the product itself…But mindful consumption that reduces the need for products and eliminates wastefulness is far more effective at reducing overall environmental impact than recycling.”

This gets to the importance of the first R — Reduce. Reducing the use — and the environmental damage — of single-use foodware is at the heart of reusable foodware ordinances, such as the one put forth by Napa Climate NOW! This ordinance, based on current ordinances from other California cities, reduces trash and pollution by requiring all dine-in foodware to be reusable rather than disposable. To-go foodware would be available by request only and patrons would be allowed to bring their own.

On March 20, 2024, Calistoga will become the first city in Napa County to enact this kind of waste reduction ordinance. The Jan. 26 Calistoga Tribune reported “the new rules bring the city into compliance with 2021 state legislation aimed at reducing the estimated 35 million tons of waste delivered each year to California landfills. The city ordinance applies to all restaurants and food services within city limits. Among the requirements are that disposable items must be made of compostable materials and all food ware intended for use at a restaurant must be reusable. In addition, polystyrene can’t be used, sold or distributed in the city.”

Hats off to Calistoga! Now let’s see the rest of Napa County excel at the three Rs.

Actions You Can Take

- Watch “Waste is a Verb” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xmuG2XvbhA and “The Story of a Plastic Bottle” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLeccbkBZzs.
- Check out the next Green Screen Film events on March 24 (Napa Library) and April 6 (American Canyon Library) at https://napa.350bayarea.org/
- Learn more about Napa Climate NOW!’s campaign for a Reusable Foodware Ordinance in all Napa County jurisdictions at https://napa.350bayarea.org/disposable-foodware-reduction-ordinance

Contributor Chris Benz is a retired winemaker and co-founder of Napa Climate NOW!

Napa Climate NOW! is a local nonprofit citizens’ group advocating for smart climate solutions based on the latest climate science, part of 350 Bay Area. Info, napa.350bayarea.org