Volunteers, pledgers, and experts – and some who are all three — gathered on April 13 in the Blanchard Room of the Stephens Branch Library to celebrate Earth Day and the wrap up of the Yolo Earth Day Pledge.

It wasn’t actual Earth Day (which was founded April 22 1970) and we didn’t have an electric moped to give away. But we did do some shade twisting and clothes hanging, story sharing, and self-reflection. Sacramento Valley College Corps Fellows’s brief resilience projects presentations were a highlight as well as the thank you gifts ranging from “Make Love, not CO2” thermals, to commemorative hand-etched glassware sourced from the thrift store, to that highly desirable Yolo County sustainability calendar.

We missed a few folks who were unable to make, in particular, our Yolo County Chief of Emergency Services. Happily we know there will be more opportunities.

Responses to the pledge displays included:

Barriers

  • One of my children lives out of this county and we need an international bank
  • Conflicting or lack of information on big banks/funds

Successes

  • Got a portable emergency kit that I keep in a set place for quick access
  • Pre-cool my home every night. It really helps!
  • Pre-cooling works. Usually don’t have to run AC. Have lots of attic insulation.
  • Bought a used Leaf that I use for commuting
  • Been vegetarian for 35 years but moving closer and closer to vegan

Final survey results are still coming in and more story requests will be made. Pledgers, look for an email from coolsolutions@cooldavis.org in your inbox (add us to your contacts to ensure delivery!)

Next year’s pledge will be available to all those who wish to visit the pledge page, download the action menu, and get busy. An additional round of surveys and events is on hold for now. As we retool and readjust, support can be found on the pledge page and informational videos can be found on our YouTube channel.

Special thanks to the Yolo County Library for providing our venue and carnival popcorn, Nugget Markets for a $100 gift card to fund our luncheon, and the Woodland Public library for its Square One makerspace where the glass was etched and commemorative birchwood keychains were laser cut.

THANK YOU AGAIN TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED MAKE THE PLEDGE FUN AND SUCCESSFUL!

Your Yolo Earth Day Pledge Team

Special thanks to experts Michael Young of the US Sustainable Investment Forum, and Todd Larsen and Cathy Becker of Green America.

Heartfelt thanks to Rekha Vaitla, Frances Tauzer, Ken Kirsch, Kristin Heinemeier, Lisa Baker, Brittney Nial, Maggie Maue, our SVCC Fellows, Johan Verink, and Marsha Baird to navigating the vagaries of Survey Monkey!

See all the photos on our Facebook photo album (just a small selection below)!

Pledger stories

Yolo Earth Day Pledgers Make Good Progress Not Finished Yet

Pledge resources

 

 

 

 

 

PLEDGE SURVEY RESULTS AS OF DECEMBER

  • 89% made progress on their pledges
  • 26% finished all pledges for the year

 DIVERSIFY YOUR RIDE

  • 43% fully incorporated
  • 46% still working on it
  • 11% having lots of emotions

GET AN ENERGY BOOST

  • 46% fully incorporated
  • 37% still working on it
  • 4% having lots of emotions

EAT THOUGHTFULLY

  • 54% fully incorporated
  • 54% still working on it
  • 0% having lots of emotions

GET INVOLVED

  • 36% fully incorporated
  • 46% still working on it

BUILD RESILIENCE

  • 29% fully incorporated
  • 57% still working on it

GREEN FINANCES

  • 21% fully incorporated
  • 50% still working on it
  • 4% having lots of emotions

ADDITIONAL ACTIONS

  • Electric scooter incorporated into family members transportation options
  • Paid to plant trees and tried planting 2 on property
  • Replaced 2nd story windows reducing heat/cold loss
  • Trying to use bikes more often again, like I used to but weather is more challenging now. Did succeed sometimes though!
  • Thermostat turned down low. We wear sweaters, sit with blankets, wear knitted hats indoors, save ‘used’ water from rinsing dishes and use that water on plants.

Support Docs

  • 46% Very helpful or Helpful
  • 25% Somewhat helpful

Email tips and resources

  • 18% Excellent or Very helpful
  • 32% Helpful or somewhat helpful

Barriers

  • Options are not all readily practical nor cost effective as offered.
  • Between homes, visiting family, missed my chance to look through things
  • Cold weather makes it hard for me to get on my bike
  • Just generally swamped and worn out with work and kids.
  • Having meatless dinners was hard until I discovered the veggie egg scramble!
  • Other members of family might not be as enthusiastic.
  • Coordinating with my spouse on things like greening our finances and making large green energy purchases.
  • Financial – a lot of these actions require having funds to make changes
  • Mostly time. For example, committing to walk, bus or bike to errands means allowing more time.
  • Remembering my pledges? 😆
  • Heat pump conversion is expensive even after accounting for rebates and credits.
  • Was going to be fully electric by the end of this week, but contractor postponed, costing me incentives and extra cost to finance.
  • I’ve been working at these things for a long time, so finding ways to make more improvements can be tough and incremental.
  • Health issues of family arose that impacted meals
  • Financial is the most burdensome. Lack of financial resources for home transitions to electric and solar – and need more options for seniors to get around.

Benefits

  • Better home insulation
  • I feel happy whenever I do make progress.
  • inner encouragement to do more
  • Keep energy use pretty low in the home
  • Met some nice people at the Fridays For Future Climate Strike.
  • The progress I’ve made has contributed positively to my health through exercise and eating habits.
  • Very happy with my small electric car – I’m saving on gas money while helping lower emissions.
  • The benefit I notice most is using my e-bike instead of my car. It feels good for the environment, and also means my old car will last longer.
  • I’m eating better by reducing the high impact foods. (I switched to this from my initial pledge of going meatless 3x per week.) I feel really good about greening my finances and moving out of some of my investments.
  • Reduced energy bill this summer.
  • Walking more (now that I have mostly recovered from my hip replacements) has been really healthy for me.
  • Better energy usage.
  • Am getting a bit more exercise and have found younger neighbors who are willing to drive.

Future guidance

  • Guidance on replacing gas cooktop with electric induction stovetop.
  • More info on electric cars and heat pumps.
  • Information and grants for the area to help defray cost of making some big changes.
  • Get the city to be proactive in electrification of buildings.
  • Any kind of unusual hints for reducing driving or gas usage in the home (since I’m in an apartment, I can’t just switch to electric).
  • More options for seniors for transportation and help with funding and getting permits for going all electric and to get solar.
  • Computer based training
  • Send me more reminders