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What's New? Green Happenings in El Cerrito
9th Annual hillside festival
El Cerrito’s Hillside Festival will be Saturday and Sunday, May 6 and 7, 2023, with more than a dozen hikes and other events scheduled throughout El Cerrito’s 100-acre natural wonderland, the Hillside Natural Area.
The festival, put on by El Cerrito Trail Trekkers and co-sponsored by the city’s Environmental Quality Committee, is free to the public.
Hikes and other events start from several locations throughout the Hillside and touch on such subjects as native flora and fauna, insects, trees, geology and history, poetry, fire safety and habitat restoration.
The leaders are all experts in their fields, and many are expert raconteurs as well. All of the events are family friendly, and some are targeted at young people – including the Nature Scavenger Hunt (photos only; no collecting!)
The annual haiku contest, with poems submitted before the festival, with winners being read on a haiku hike during the festival, is a popular feature every year.
Want to learn more – or are you interested in participating as a leader? Email Davidsweinstein@yahoo.com or visit http://www.ectrailtrekkers.org
This Summer, the City of El Cerrito will be changing cart colors for garbage and recycling containers, to make it easier for customers to sort materials, and in compliance with State Law (Senate Bill 1383).
Old containers should be set out on your collection day and will be recycled. The City will be providing detailed information ahead of the planned rollout, and information can also be found on the City's website at el-cerrito.org/curbside.
For more info., please contact El Cerrito Operations + Environmental Services at: (510) 215-4350 or green@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us.
El Cerrito's "Deep Green" Campaign To Go 100% Renewable!
Sign up for 100% Renewable Energy
The City of El Cerrito created a an initiative to encourage our community to opt-up to Deep Green 100% renewable energy through our local electricity provider, MCE.
Deep Green costs just a penny more per kilowatt-hour, or less than $5/month for the average household. And, it's easy to sign up using this online form.
This campaign follows upon the City of El Cerrito Environmental Quality Committee's 2017 100x100 campaign, asking residents and businesses to shift to 100% renewable energy for the City's 100th Anniversary. In 2017, the City also opted up all of its municipal accounts to Deep Green. Please join the City and help El Cerrito meet its goal to increase the share of the community using 100% renewable energy! Sign up today!
For more information, visit MCE's Opt-up page, or contact City staff at (510) 559-7684.
El Cerrito Declares a Climate Emergency
On August 20, 2019, the City of El Cerrito's City Council approved of a resolution and joined hundreds of jurisdictions across the globe in declaring a climate emergency. Among other commitments, the City of El Cerrito's resolution calls for the City to strive for zero GHG emissions citywide in the forthcoming Climate Action Plan update.
The City of El Cerrito has been actively working to address climate change for more than a decade. In 2006, the El Cerrito City Council adopted Resolution 2006-61 endorsing the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, in which local governments agreed to implement greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction measures and Resolution 2006-93 endorsing the reduction targets of the California Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32). In 2011, the City passed Resolution 2011-12 adopting GHG emissions reduction targets of 15% below 2005 levels by 2020 and 30% below 2005 levels by 2035, and Resolution 2011-26 approving the City's participation in the Institute for Local Government's Beacon Award Program for "Local Leadership toward Solving Climate Change”. In 2013, the City Council passed Resolution 2013-27 to adopt the El Cerrito Climate Action Plan, and in 2017, Resolution 2017-50 in support of the Paris Climate Agreement. For these efforts and the implementation of associated initiatives, the City is anticipated to receive a prestigious Beacon Award in 2019 from the Institute for Local Government, recognizing the City’s demonstrated achievements in addressing climate change.
A brochure highlighting El Cerrito's Sustainability Best Practices can be found here
City staff is currently continuing to monitor and evaluate implementation of the Climate Action Plan and anticipates beginning the update to the Plan beginning in Fall 2022 to incorporate an increased emissions reduction rate. For more information, please contact City Staff at wprovost@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us or (510) 559-7684.