Enviro Fair
Visit our Enviro Fair at the Activist Center in City Hall. These 22 organizations are local, regional and national organizations that better our world. Inspired by the films and want to take part? Visit the Enviro Fair for more information about these organizations and get involved. Also, look for organizations tabling in venues following film sessions about specific issues highlighted in our 2012 official selections.
American Rivers is the leading organization working to protect and restore the nation’s rivers and streams. Rivers connect us to each other, nature, and future generations. Since 1973, American Rivers has fought to preserve these connections, helping protect and restore more than 150,000 miles of rivers through advocacy efforts, on-the-ground projects, and the annual release of America’s Most Endangered Rivers®.
Headquartered in Washington, DC, American Rivers has offices across the country and more than 100,000 supporters, members, and volunteers nationwide.
Through our work in five key program areas – Rivers and Global Warming, River Restoration, River Protection, Clean Water and Water Supply – American Rivers is working to protect our remaining natural heritage, undo the damage of the past and create a healthy future for our rivers and future generations.
Founded in 1989, Animal Place fills a much-needed niche of farm animal rescue, sanctuary and adoption with its two facilities. The mission of Animal Place is to extend compassion to all life with a special emphasis on farmed animals. This is executed by providing permanent sanctuary, education, legislation and appropriate placement of needy animals.
Animal Place Sanctuary, Grass Valley, California
Oak knolls, gently sloping hills, beautiful meadows and irrigated pastures make Animal Place’s 600-acre sanctuary in the Sierra foothills a true safe haven. All the animals at Animal Place sanctuary are permanent residents, getting an opportunity to grow old.
Animals arrive from myriad sources – factory farms, slaughterhouses, research facilities, and neglect or cruelty cases. All animals find a haven where all their needs are met and their individual quirks respected
In addition to providing sanctuary farmed animals, Animal Place serves as an education and advocacy center. We offer tours, cooking classes and workshops at the sanctuary as well as volunteer and internship opportunities. Because factory farming takes the lives of 10 billion land animals each year in the United States, we promote a vegan, cruelty-free lifestyle. If you are ever in the area, we hope you can sign up for one of our tours and meet the wonderful residents at Animal Place!
Alliance for a Post-Petroleum Local Economy (APPLE)
APPLE envisions an economy that functions in harmony with our regional ecosystem, meets the basic needs of our residents, supports a just and democratic society and fosters a joyful, diverse community life.
To achieve this vision, APPLE is working to facilitate reduced dependence on fossil fuels, and to promote a more self-reliant local economy in Nevada County, California.
We work to educate and empower individuals to take personal action toward a more sustainable lifestyle. We collaborate with community groups, business owners, and local government officials to develop the economic and policy opportunities which foster resilience.
Our goals are to raise public awareness, and to ignite projects which foster newly complementary and sustainable energy-environmental-economic-and-social paradigms.
Nevada County is endowed with a rich mosaic of beautiful landscapes, healthy forests, historical treasures, and small towns. The land sustains life and replenishes the spirit. Our towns comfort us with timeless charm. Our farms and ranches feed our communities. The quality of life here is tightly connected to these precious resources.
Sierra Foothill communities are changing as open landscapes fill with housing and businesses from urban refugees. Our vision is to retain the distinct identity of Nevada County’s communities for future generations. It is the Bear Yuba Land Trust commitment to preserve our local history, to sustain our natural resource-based economy, to care for our open land making it accessible for all, and to retain the rural character that has been the source of our prosperity.
Bear Yuba Land Trust exists to create a balance between nature and the needs of the people who make a life and a livelihood here. This is our home. Our mission is to enrich the deep community connection with our land − today, tomorrow, and forever.
Bear Yuba Land Trust is a private, non-profit, membership-supported group promoting voluntary conservation of our natural, historical and agricultural resources through protection and enhancement of natural areas, farms and ranches, trails and parks to provide a lasting community heritage.
BriarPatch Co-op is the leading natural food store in Nevada County.
We are a vibrant, important community hub for gathering and for dialogue and learning about healthful food. We seek to be a leader in social, environmental, as well as fiscal business responsibility, among both local businesses and food co-ops nationally. We model community-mindedness and cooperative principles, and hope to inspire others to do the same, and in so doing, contribute to peace and prosperity for all within our reach.
BriarPatch Co-op is a cooperatively-owned business committed to supporting our community by:
• Welcoming everyone
• Selling healthful, earth-friendly, affordable products
• Providing a quality work experience
• Offering excellent customer service and consumer education
• Building our local economy
• Serving as a resource center for conscious living
Being a co-op owner-member gives you the opportunity to:
• Have a voice in decisions that shape the co-op’s future
• Receive a discount that increases with volunteer work
• Support the cooperative ideal and share in its benefits
Since our founding, a passion for preserving the environment and trust in the power of justice have served as our core values. These fundamental principles, which still guide our organization today, inspired a small group of dedicated attorneys to form what would become the world’s first and largest nonprofit environmental law firm.
From day one, Earthjustice has used the law to even the odds against powerful special interests and to hold accountable those who jeopardize the health of the planet. We concentrate our work in three strategic areas: preserving our natural heritage, promoting a clean energy future, and safeguarding our health. Employing sound judgment and the expertise necessary to take on far-reaching, big-impact litigation, Earthjustice continues to be a leader in helping restore the earth to ecological balance. We have provided legal representation—at no cost—to more than 1,000 clients, ranging from large national groups such as The Wilderness Society, Natural Resources Defense Council, and the National Audubon Society, to smaller community coalitions, such as the Alaska Center for the Environment and Friends of the Everglades.
Over the years, we added a Policy and Legislative team to craft laws that support and extend our gains, and to help prevent legislative attempts to undermine environmental progress. We created an International Program to address human rights, trade, and environmental issues, and developed a Communications team to focus on public education.
Finding the Good is a multi-faceted 16-week traveling semester program dedicated to the research, study, documentation, and sharing of working models of sustainability. Our program is open to high school juniors and seniors looking to take a semester of study away from their traditional schools, as well as to students taking a gap year after high school graduation.
We are based in the Sierra foothills approximately 20 miles from Nevada City, California. At Finding the Good, we live closely with the land and learn daily by working hands-on in and with our surroundings. Here, you will not only learn the concepts behind a more simple, sustainable existence; you will grow to understand how those concepts work by cultivating and preparing food for our community, by researching and installing alternative energy sources, by designing green buildings to house yourself and your belongings, and by building and maintaining all of the interpersonal relationships that make our community function. Living and learning become one and the same.
The Foothill Conservancy works to protect, restore, and sustain the natural and human environment in Amador and Calaveras counties for the benefit of current and future generations.
The Foothill Conservancy envisions a future for Amador and Calaveras counties where:
- Rural character and scenic quality are protected.
- Agricultural lands, forest lands, and open space are conserved.
- The natural diversity and habitat of native plants and animals are protected and restored.
- Free-flowing rivers and creeks are protected and restored.
- Development is ecologically, economically, and socially sustainable.
- Historic sites, small towns, and community identities are preserved.
- Cities and counties coordinate their land use planning.
- Social, economic, and natural diversity are balanced to strengthen local communities.
The Friends of Butte Creek work to protect, restore and enhance the natural habitats of wildlife in the Butte Creek Watershed.
The Friends of Butte Creek evolved from the early efforts to create a collaborative community-based organization in the Butte Creek Watershed. When it became clear that environmental concerns and opinions were being ignored, FBC formed in 1999 to advocate for stronger environmental review, protection and enhancements to the watershed.
PGE operations have had a dramatic impact on the fishery of Butte Creek, both good and bad. FBC has been the only non-profit group involved in the relicensing of the DeSabla-Centerville Project. We have spent dozens of days in meetings and writing comments trying to work with the state and federal agencies to ensure that the benefits of the project are justified and the negative impact to the fish and wildlife of the Butte Creek and West Branch Feather River are minimized. The West Branch is severely dewatered to increase PGE power production. Benefits of this added water to the fishery of Butte Creek are not well studied and may actually create more problems than benefits. Studies underway may reveal opportunities to restore some of the habitat of the West Branch while maintaining a strong, viable fishery on Butte Creek.
The Committee for the Right to Know is a grassroots coalition of consumer, public health, environmental organizations, and food companies in California that is seeking the labeling of genetically engineered foods (GMOs).
On November 9, 2011, the coalition submitted the California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act to the State Attorney General for title and summary, prior to circulation as an initiative measure for the November 2012 election.
Living Lands Agrarian Network is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that offers training and mentorship to a new generation of farmers. Our unique model of cooperative farming integrates ecological education, community involvement, resource sharing, and celebration around the food we grow right here in our neighborhoods. We practice and promote localized ecological farming for the profound effect it has on ourselves, our neighbors and the planet.
We offer training and mentorship to aspiring farmers through our diverse network of farmers and farms. When a trainee is ready to begin their own independent farming business, we offer access to land, infrastructure, continued mentorship, as well as venues for farm sales to help them get a successful start. Our model is largely dependent on local community members who value the importance of local, ecological agriculture and offer portions of their private property to our organization.
We are farmers. We plant, nurture, harvest, and process vegetables, grains, dry beans, chickens and small livestock. We facilitate the work of interns and volunteers who support farm production. We teach gardening in the community and in Nevada City schools.
We are interns and volunteers, here to help and to learn. With our shared values in ecological, small scale agriculture, we are in service to make friends, share meals, and further the vision of Living Lands.
We are land owners. We recognize the potential of our backyards, in providing food to Nevada County. We appreciate the dedication of farmers, interns, and volunteers as they transform the soil of our pastures into “Living Lands.”
Nevada County Grown is a non-profit, tax-exempt marketing organization created to strengthen the connection between local farmers and ranchers and the larger community. It is the result of collaborative efforts of key members of the Local Food Coalition, including the Agricultural Advisory Commission (AAC), the Agricultural Commissioner, the UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor, several members of the Nevada County Farm Bureau board, and a core group of dedicated community-at-large volunteers.
The mission of Nevada County Grown is to foster a sustainable local agricultural economy by making the community aware of locally grown agricultural products and assisting qualified agricultural producers to promote their products. This is done by proudly displaying the Nevada County Grown logo, publishing the Farm Guide, maintaining the Nevada County Grown web site, and promoting local agriculture at community events.
As a membership organization, Nevada County Grown has a Board of Directors comprised of agricultural producers and community-at-large members. Annual membership dues fund marketing programs, materials and educational resources.
Supporting local farmers and ranchers keeps money circulating in the local community, and helps preserve the land and rural values we all enjoy.
The Nevada Wilderness Project is a catalyst for wildlife habitat conservation, wilderness preservation, and smart development of renewable energy. We work on conservation issues affecting public lands in Nevada, and we are a non-profit, 501(c)3 organization supported by donations and membership.
We started in 1999 by working to protect public lands in Nevada as permanent Wilderness, the strongest protection possible. The results? – More than 3 million acres of spectacular and rugged land in Nevada have been protected by Congress for future generations. And our work has just begun.
Today we use the best scientific research and conservation planning to find ways to conserve linked—or physically connected—wild areas, benefiting plants and animals that need connected landscapes for migration and population health.
We also work with energy companies and public officials to ensure renewable energy development in Nevada is “smart from the start” – harnessing renewable and clean energy resources while protecting wildlife habitats, open spaces and the iconic beauty of the state.
We also prod, persuade and persist in working with Nevada’s Congressional delegation to pass bills designating public land in Nevada as Wilderness, National Conservation Area or other designations to protect our state’s spectacular natural gems.
The pieces are in place in Nevada for conserving a multi-million-acre complex of wildlands, and we believe it will be a habitat and wildlife mosaic of global significance.
WE are committed to defending a livable future through empowering nonviolent action.
WE seek to change the institutional and social status quo at the root of the climate crisis, and move toward a just and healthy world.
By pushing the reality of the climate crisis to the forefront of the public forum, WE will secure the attention and inspire the revolution the climate crisis requires.
PEACEFUL UPRISING CORE PRINCIPLES
- We refuse to be obedient to injustice.
- Our human stories are extremely powerful, and genuine sacrifice has the ability to awaken and inspire others.
- We are connected to something much greater than ourselves, which has an incredible power to change the world.
- We are steadfast in our commitment to the truth.
- Our allies and strategies align with and create the healthy and just world we want to see.
- A powerful movement originates with personal transformation and a commitment to being an agent of change.
- Creating a better world is not only necessary, but makes us authentically happy people.
- We are committed to building a supportive community that empowers our members to realize their potential.
- The best response to intimidation is joy and resolve.
- We recognize a nonviolent movement as the most effective means of creating a just and healthy world.
- We respect the inherent worth and dignity of every person*.
- Protecting Peaceful Uprising as an institution will never take precedent over our commitment to the fight for a healthy and just world.
* Corporations are not people.
SalmonAid educates the public through its events and media coverage. We help people grasp the importance of functioning rivers, streams, and estuaries and the need to protect and restore them. These waterways historically supported self-sustaining, abundant, and fishable runs of wild salmon and steelhead and they can do so again.
SalmonAid motivates citizens as it engages them. Through our “Why Eat Wild Salmon?” campaign, we educate consumers about the health values of wild salmon and the dubious quality of farmed salmon. Our Actions letter and e-mail campaigns directed at decision makers — empower people to express the value they place in rivers.
By rallying the fishing, tribal, and conservation communities of the Pacific Coast, SalmonAID demonstrates strong, broad-based support for policies that protect and restore healthy and abundant salmon and steelhead populations. We make a clear connection between the health of our environment, our jobs, and the quality of the food we serve to our families. When rivers function as more than canals and waste receptacles, salmon populations thrive; restored rivers and their salmon populations can re-vitalize fishing communities and businesses across the coast and serve as a healthy food source for our families.
Commercial fishermen, conservationists, Native Americans and recreational fishermen don’t always agree, but when these forces unite through SalmonAid, we deliver a strong message to our elected officials: “Restore Rivers, recover wild salmon, rebuild jobs.”
Sierra club Motherlode Chapter
Ours is geographically the largest Sierra Club chapter in California – with eleven local Sierra Club groups in twenty-four counties. With our unique grassroots presence we can influence the policies at the city and county level. Our groups foster the protection and enjoyment of natural environment in and around their communities. And we have diverse habitat to protect – from the vernal pool grasslands of the Central Valley to the oak woodlands of the foothills to the conifer forests of the Sierra Nevada.
Our chapter is governed by an Executive Committee of twenty members, nine who are elected at-large and eleven who represent each of our groups. Our Conservation Committee is composed of members who wish to participate on a regular basis. Both committees meet in January, March, May, August and November, usually in Sacramento. Each of our local groups have their own elected Executive Committees to guide their activities.
The Sierra Fund was established in 2001 as the only community foundation dedicated exclusively to saving the Sierra Nevada.
Our mission is to protect and preserve the Sierra for all who love it and who depend on its abundant resources. We do this by partnering with private donors and public agencies to increase and organize conservation investments in the land, air, water and human resources of the Sierra Nevada.
The Sierra Fund pursues its mission in three ways, all of which are directed by our Integrated Sierra Investment Strategy (ISIS):
Philanthropy – As the region’s community foundation for the environment, The Sierra Fund works with private donors to direct their investments and contributions toward those conservation efforts offering the most strategic impact. Our various funds have granted nearly $1.5 million in the past eight years.
Advocacy – We showcase private investment and demonstrate regional need to leverage public recognition of and investment in the region, at both the state and federal level. Our efforts have directed more than $105 million to the region and spearheaded establishment of critical new programs such as the Sierra Nevada Conservancy.
Strategic Campaigns – Our unique strategic outlook directs both our Philanthropy and Advocacy, and allows us to identify and foster new campaigns to protect and restore the Sierra’s natural resources.
Sierra Streams Institute is a watershed monitoring, research, and restoration group based in Nevada City, California, in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Our mission is to promote community stewardship and scientific knowledge of watersheds through monitoring, research, restoration, and education. Founded in 1995 as Friends of Deer Creek, SSI has grown to become an important voice in the regional scientific community—but we are still proud to call Deer Creek our home watershed.
Sierra Streams Institute is a regional watershed science organization based in Nevada City, California, dedicated to increasing watershed stewardship capacity throughout the Sierra Nevada region and beyond. Although much of our work takes place in the watershed of Deer Creek—a major tributary of the Yuba River, which drains to the Feather River, the Sacramento River, and ultimately the San Francisco Bay—SSI is proud to be a vitally important voice in the regional scientific community. We work with local, state, and federal agencies as well as universities and community groups to find solutions to the problems that afflict Deer Creek and other watersheds throughout the region that share the challenges resulting from a century and a half of gold mining, development, and agriculture. SSI’s emphasis on rigorous science and consistent data collection provides the basis for restoration decisions that are made on behalf of Deer Creek and other Sierra streams, and makes us an especially valuable partner of local and state government agencies who lack the funding and capacity to gather their own data.
From experience we have learned that in addition to conducting research, it is imperative to impart an understanding of the issues we are studying to the public and to work closely with local government entities to solve local problems. This is essential in order to enable the public to contribute an educated guiding voice to the governing process. As an organization we have chosen to accomplish this task through education and involvement rather than political means.
In December of 2000, a small group of Sierra residents and local homeowners learned about impending plans to develop Tahoe’s Martis Valley, and they decided to do something about it. They quickly discovered similar threats throughout the Sierra. What they could not find, however, was an organization with the capacity and expertise to stand up to irresponsible development and effectively advocate for lasting conservation. So they formed Sierra Watch – and launched the ambitious Martis Valley Campaign.
Sierra Watch mobilized hundreds of volunteers to participate in the public planning process, commissioned biologists and planners to create an alternative blueprint for responsible development, and even filed public interest lawsuits to uphold state law. Most important, Sierra Watch sat down with our conservation allies, Martis Valley landowners, and local political leaders to collaborate on creative resolutions to pressing planning issues.
The results are unprecedented: permanent protection for thousands of acres of priority conservation land, caps on future development, and $100 million in private funding to help protect more of the Martis Valley landscape.
In recognition of the Sierra Watch role, The Truckee Donner Land Trust and the Trust for Public Land thank us for our “leadership and vision in protecting the natural beauty and resources of the Martis Valley.”
Our work, of course, is not done. Sierra Watch is actively following through with conservation goals for Martis Valley and Donner Summit. In Lassen County, we are providing strategic resources to defend Dyer Mountain – consistently providing an effective and inspiring example of how we can work together to protect the places we love.
The mission of Snowlands Network is to protect opportunities for quality human-powered winter recreation and protect winter wildlands.
The headwaters of Forestdale Creek, east of Carson Pass on Highway 88 and shown in the above photo, is now closed to snowmobile use for nearly the entire snow season because of a 17-year effort by Snowlands Network (and its predecessor the Nordic Voice). The south side of the Mount Rose Highway at Tahoe Meadows is closed to snowmobile use because of our efforts. These are two examples of how we serve our membership. Read more about our current projects and past projects to see the many aspects of our advocacy work.
Snowlands Network was established in March, 2001, to advocate for the needs of all those who venture into the winter backcountry in search of peace and solitude, and for the winter wildland environment. Our membership includes backcountry skiers, snowshoers and others who revel in the joy of muscle-powered recreation in nature’s winter wonderland.
We believe that in order to protect our current winter recreation opportunities, and expand them where we have few or none, we must engage the Forest Service and others in a dialog and in some cases challenge their management decisions. Protecting the winter wildland environment, the natural sights, sounds, fauna and flora, goes hand-in-hand with protecting opportunities for winter recreation. We work with other like-minded organizations to attain our goals.
Snowlands Network is “your voice.” We attend meetings, we analyze proposals, we make proposals, and we keep our members up-to-date on issues that affect the sports and the wildlands they love. We are doing the things that members of our community can’t or don’t have the time to do. In return, all we ask for is your membership support.
Woolman (also known as Sierra Friends Center) is a nonprofit educational community dedicated to the principles of peace, justice and sustainability. Originally founded in 1963 as a Quaker high school, today Woolman offers educational programs for teens, retreats for adults, and summer camps for children and families. The name was inspired by John Woolman, an 18th century Quaker human rights activist, who aspired to live his life in complete integrity with his principles.
Located on 230 acres in the Sierra Nevada Foothills within walking distance of the Yuba river, the Woolman campus is an experiment in sustainable community living. Most of our produce is grown here in our organic garden, much of our energy is from solar, wood, and other renewable resources, and the ideas of Permaculture and conservation are infused in the community culture. As a Quaker community we welcome people of all backgrounds, and do not require or push any religious beliefs. While many of our staff and participants are not Quaker, the Quaker ideals of inquiry-based education, consensus decision making, peace, equality and integrity are fundamental to our shared endeavor.
Youth Opposing Tobacco for Health
Y.O.U.T.H. Coalition members will be coordinating local tobacco litter events, conducting community educational presentations, media activities and press releases, receive technical training and support from the California Youth Advocacy Network, The Sierra Club, and increase their perception of themselves as leaders.
