Silicon Valley - Tech, Art, Green, Sustainability

Holistic Businessman Fights Medical Board of CA

2011-12-02T15:03:00.000-08:00

Innocent until proven guilty and the right to a fair trial are freedoms granted to you as an American by the Constitution, but it seems that's not the case if the Medical Board of California decides to go after you.

The Board's complaint process is clearly defined on its website.

But in the case local holistic practitioner Cary Silberman, the rules seem to have been changed to suit the Board.

Silberman's case is now being prosecuted by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.

The Right to a Fair Trial

As privileged as we are in this country, the Sixth Amendment still has its problems. Does the court system work or not? Some people would say "no" after Casey Anthony was acquitted from her little girl's murder.

This past summer, the San Jose Mercury News had an article about Silberman and, in my opinion, that story was slanted. I checked the facts of this case and I’m still scratching my head about it. The person that wrote the article obviously got his information from the Board, but did no other research, nor checked anything else out that had to do with the case. It appears he did not talk to the father of the child that was allegedly injured. (I have a copy of that article now down off their site if you would like a copy).

Some of you may know Silberman. Maybe you trusted him and went to see him for a problem that conventional medicine was not healing, at one of the five California locations.

Silberman was the owner of “Shiny Toes,” a cold laser treatment center for nail fungus and pain management. “Shiny Toes” listed California locations in Los Gatos, San Jose, San Francisco, San Ramon, and Beverly Hills. The Medical Board of California began investigating Silberman in January 2011.

An undercover investigator, posing as a patient, obtained evidence that Silberman was diagnosing and treating toenail fungus and using lasers to treat this ailment, according to the Board.

The Charges

According to a press release issued by the Board in July, Silberman was charged with one felony count of practicing medicine without a license, one felony count of grand theft by fraud, and one misdemeanor count of child endangerment, alleging Silberman injured a 4-year-old when he performed laser treatment on the child.

The Board has already dropped some of the charges.

The mission of the Board is public protection, and the action reflected the agency's ongoing commitment to that mission, said Linda Whitney, executive director of the Medical Board in the release.

Silberman started a holistic business that helps people get rid of toe nail fungus and chronic pain. He did this because he truly wanted to help people “not hurt them.” He wanted to make a difference for those who wanted an alternative health option, he said in a phone interview.

The Board, not San Jose Police, stormed into his home office, he said.

Silberman indicated this was the first notice he got that something was wrong and that there were concerns raised against him. They cuffed him, attired only in his underwear, in front of his staff and people who were coming in (he was in the shower when they showed up), he said.

Then they ransacked his entire place, he said.

The Board took things that had nothing to do with the investigation, things that belonged to his ex-wife, antiques, other items that belonged to employees and renters, he said.

The Facts

A San Francisco podiatrist had been complaining about Silberman online, he said.

The “cold” laser system Silberman used in his practice is used by 85 percent to 95 percent of medical technicians, chiropractors and other non-doctor staff. Click here to see some of the companies that train people for this!

Was Silberman really breaking any law, if so many others are trained to use this equipment who are not doctors?

The Interview With The Child’s Father

I called Ray Afandor, the child's father, and asked him about the charges the Board has brought against Silberman.

Afandor said the Board called him a few weeks ago.

He and his son didn’t have a complaint before that call. In fact, he said, they had another appointment for treatment set up with Silberman, when the Board contacted him.

“Kaiser said it’s best to see a specialist now,” Afandor said, and “I’m going to do that.” He is hopeful that it will cure his son's problem.

Afandor said he was putting medication on his son's toes, which "causes liver cancer." His son stopped taking the medication because it was bothering him and they went to Silberman for alternative solutions, he added.

Silberman had previously given him some homeopathic natural ointment to apply to the toes, instead of the cancer-causing stuff a regular MD had given Afandor to give to his son, he said.

Afandor added that he had been taking his son to see Silberman since about late fall of 2010. Silberman said he was a “practitioner,” and he's not sure if he ever said he was a doctor, but that was not his main concern, he said.

Would the son have healed in time with additional treatment by Silberman? Or is his injury from the treatments that Silberman did on him? These are the questions that are at the root of this case now.

Silberman said that Afandor's son came to the office many times and there were never any complaints. Afandor reiterated that he was disappointed by the outcome and that he had taken his son to see Silberman four times.

Lasers

The company that sold the equipment to Silberman, K-Laser USA, would not return my calls, but its website clearly states that it will train technicians to use its equipment.

K-Laser USA has a list of at least 12 other companies in the greater Bay Area and Silicon Valley that are using this equipment, too. Will they be giving these non-doctors a refund when the Board comes knocking on their doors, too? Take a look at those companies by clicking here.

Issue of MD vs. Non-MD Technician

Silberman said he never told people he was a medical doctor.

It should be noted that there is a bill for holistic/alternative healthcare providers, CA Senate Bill 577. This law was put into place to help holistic/alternative healthcare folks, as their prerogative right. The measure also aims to protect them and gives them a range of authority to care for their clients.

The Lawyers, Courts

I talked to the Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Lisa Schon. She stated that the case is mainly concerned with Silberman “diagnosing people, and holding himself out as a doctor.”

This is a case that we should all be following. Our civil rights seem to be largely at risk.

_THE END-

If you enjoyed this post, please donate to SVTAGS.org, so that I can bring you more interesting stories, without the mainstream media bent to it. We also have a show that airs in San Jose on Mondays at 7 p.m. You can see it stream on www.creatvSJ.org at that same time, or watch it in Santa Cruz County on Sunday nights. Reuse, reclaim and rethink the way you choose to live in Silicon Valley and beyond; make this a great TAGS week!

Here are some good resources for toenail fungus:

Mayo Clinic: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/nail-fungus/DS00084/DSECTION=treatments-and-drugs

Kaiser: http://mydoctor.kaiserpermanente.org/ncal/mdo/presentation/conditions/condition_viewall_page.jsp?condition=Condition_Nail_Fungal_Infection.xml&showProvider=true

Good source: California Health Freedom Coalition

http://www.californiahealthfreedom.com/californiah/htdocs/

Exploring 20 Bay Area (Silicon Valley) Women’s Non-Profits with Soroptmist International

2011-10-03T14:59:00.000-07:00

Awakening Women’s Potential Luncheon hosted and produced by Soroptimist International Los Gatos-Saratoga, is this week on October 7th 2011, from 11:30am to 1:30pm.

This event is held to share information about resources for women and girls in the Bay Area with the public. It’s third one that this local Soroptimist club has hosted and last years event had well over one hundred attendees.

There will be time to network with others at the start, to walk around the twenty plus booths of local non-profits and to hear some great information. Later, during lunch, the Honorable Catherine A. Gallagher (Ret.) and Angel Rampy the key not speakers with be talking sharing their knowledge with us. (Read on, below, about both of the dynamic women below).

Soroptimist International is an organization of dedicated business professional women who work to improve the lives of women and girls, in local communities and throughout the world. Soroptimist gives women the ability to take control over their lives, pursue their own goals and live according to their own values. Soroptimist has over 95,000 members in 120 countries and territories. Soroptimist is a 501c3 organization and you can read more here: http://www.soroptimist.org

For the local club meeting times and information, please click here: Soroptimist International Los Gatos-Saratoga.
https://sites.google.com/site/soroptimistlosgatossaratoga/home

Tickets are $35.00 per person, please RSVP is by October 5, 2011, as there will be NO WALK-INS (Villa Ragus will need to pre-order the food, so that’s why there is no walk-ints).

You can conveniently order a ticket online to reserve your space at the fabulous event at: http://awakeningwomens2011.eventbrite.com

Checks can also be made payable to SI of Los Gatos-Saratoga P.O. Box 111538, Campbell, CA 95011-1538, but they must be in to the club by the 5th. Again, NO walk-ins the day of the event. If you can not make it but would like to make donation you can mail checks to the above address.

More on the Speakers:
Catherine served 25 years as a Superior Court judge of the Santa Clara County Superior Court. Catherine is known for her wealth of experience in dispute resolution
as a mediator, arbitrator, Judge Pro Tem, discovery master, and neutral evaluator.
She is currently a member of JAMS, “the resolution experts” that is the nation’s largest private provider of mediation and arbitration services.

Angel has more than fifteen years’ experience coaching, training and mentoring professionals. Her experience in working in countries around the world and command
of several languages makes her a valuable coach with keen insight into cultural issues and assumptions. Angel also works with nonprofits like Springfield Forward, Habitat for Humanity and Year Up where she coaches low wage earners to assist them in establishing their careers paths and goals and intense business training to get ready
for internships.

Questions about the event, or further information Soroptimist International please contact, BJ Tucker 408-249-5300. For the press, please contact Heather Durham, Hdurham@thedurhamgroup.net, 408-971-7558.

More on Soroptimist as a local club
The Los Gatos-Saratoga Club holds two annual events every year, this event, the Awakening Women’s Potential and a Tea N’ Pearls in May. The Tean N’ Pearls is the only fundraising event that the club does.

The projects the local club works on are:
Women’s Opportunity Award (WOA) that is an award not a scholarship for women who are heads of the household and are going to school. It is meant to help these women achieve a greater educational level and goals that will eventually help them economically to provide for their children. The award varies, depending on the fudraising efforts of the club, but usually is between $1500.00 and $1000.00. It is an award, so they can use it for daycare, school supplies, transportation, medical needs, baby supplies or whatever they need to achieve their scholastic goals. Currently the club is taking applications for the 2011-2012 awards. Have your college advisor contact us for more information on WOA today! Click on our Website to read more. https://sites.google.com/site/soroptimistlosgatossaratoga/projects/woman-s-opportunity-award

Violet Richardson award is for girls in high school that are doing outstanding community work. Some of the past winners have volunteered weekly at local senior centers, shelters, hospitals and more. Check out our Website for more information or contact us today!
https://sites.google.com/site/soroptimistlosgatossaratoga/projects/violet-richardson-award

Other local projects are House on the Hill, Career Closet, GED programs that help women get their high school diplomas, and more.   It is also note worthy that the Bay Area has a deep history with the UN and one of the reasons the UN was able to survive in the 1930’s was because of some strong-visionary Soroptimist women.

Learn more about Soroptimist International by attending this or other events!

Event Date/time: October 7th 2011 @ 11:30am
Event Place: Villa Ragusa, 35 South Second St, Campbell, CA
Hosts: www.Soroptimist.org
https://sites.google.com/site/soroptimistlosgatossaratoga/home
Contacts:
Club President: BJ Tucker 408-249-5300.
Press: Heather Durham, Hdurham@thedurhamgroup.net
408-971-7558.

http://www.meetup.com/http-sites-google-com-site-soroptimistlosgatossaratoga/events/32943742/

NASA’s Ames Research Center event -Adapting to Climate Change

2011-02-14T11:49:00.000-08:00

Written for SVTAGS.org
By Jeanine Lewis
Edited and Research by Heather Durham

Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Change Risks Symposium
NASA’s Ames Research Center
Moffett Field, CA

Adapting to Climate Change

How all these summer like days in the dead of winter are hazardous to our Health

Dr. Ann Clark, Chief of the Environmental Management Division at NASA Ames Research Center, opened with the quote “May you live in interesting times.” Data collected since the beginning of the 20th Century in the Bay Area point to two undeniable facts: sea levels and temperatures are rising. Those do make for interesting times, but why the concerns? NASA Ames Research Center invited leaders of the environmental fields to share hypothesis on just how interesting our lives will get if we continue with status-quo and ignore those two undeniable facts. From February 1-3, 2011, the Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Change Risk Workshop facilitated lectures on global, local, and regional climate changes in the hopes of sharing concerns and possible solutions. On February 4th, NASA Ames held a symposium for environmental-focused press to also be included in the discussions. Dr. Clark continued by commenting “Every problem is an opportunity in disguise.” Well, let’s see how far this rabbit hole goes.

What is the problem?
Our climate is changing; it is getting warmer. During heat waves, even a small increase in temperature can mean a large increase in energy consumption which will lead to an increase risk of power outages. The increase in temperature will put stress on our systems. It also impacts our infrastructure by the increase in structural damage from flooding and wave action. The encroachment of saltwater on freshwater sources will grossly and negatively impact our drinking water. As the sea level is on the rise, there will be increase of delays on public transportation and low-lying highways.

How did we come into this problem?
“Both human and natural factors represent historical climate” Dr. Radley Horton, Columbia University Associate Research Scientist at the Center of Climate Systems Research at GISS, commented regarding Greenhouse Gas emissions. Natural admissions like volcanoes and sunspot cycles as well as man-made factors such as aerosol emissions and land-use changes have contributed to the increase of our Greenhouse gases. Dr. Horton named various potential impacts of sea level rise; flooding reducing emergency response capabilities, salivation of water supply and freshwater ecosystems, and coastal flooding. Dr. Max Loewenstein, a research scientist in the Earth Science Division at NASA Ames Research Center, reported that in the last 100 years, we have seen the sea level rise by 8 inches, but by 2050, it is projected to be 16 inches higher. Human activities are expected to be a driving factor behind the 21st century climate change. “Even the most remote climate change may have large impacts locally” Dr. Horton continued. Here in the Central Valley for instance, with our increasing heat levels, evaporation also increased, which results in the decrease of available clean water.

Who will be affected?
NASA’s Office of Strategic Infrastructure (OSI) has identified three main systems that will be the most affected by climate change; the workforce, buildings, and nature. “We intend to develop sound plans to address the impact to our workforce for water and temperature, address the built environment effectively, which will address most of the concerns regarding workforce and natural resources” Olga Dominguez, Assistant Administrator for the OSI relayed.

Important buildings, such as the San Francisco International Airport and the Giants Stadium, are below sea level. In 2100, the sea level is projected to rise back to the level we lost by various landfill efforts on which those buildings are built.

California wine is a 30 billion dollar industry and is directly affected by Greenhouse Gas emissions and the availability of clean water. Accurate forecasting will help to improve the vintages by making sure the soil moisture is at the appropriate level. Call the alarm! This is obviously the most important facet to preserve.

How do we attempt to solve it?
First, we must prioritize the important structures already in place that are vulnerable, then develop initial adaptation strategies, link strategies to capital and rehabilitation cycles, identify opportunities for coordination, prepare and implement adaptation plans, monitor and reassess. After the Save the Wine campaign gets underway, we will address the Giants Stadium. Who’s with me!?

Dominguez reports what her office is doing to solve the infrastructure part. “For the first time, infrastructure specialist and scientist are working together to learn how to plan for climate change for the purpose of sustainability.”

Will Travis, Executive Director of San Francisco Bay Conversation and Development Commission weighed in by saying; “In order to reduce our carbon footprint, we need to build housing around jobs. We need to encourage our Government to build communities that residents can walk, bike or take public transportation to.” In synopsis, decrease the necessity to drive such long distances to get to the things we need. It is very common for Bay Area residents to have an average commute time of 45 minutes due to lack of affordable housing close to industry. Imagine being able to buy a house you can afford within 20 minutes, door-to-door, from home to work. Is this sheer brilliance or just common sense? Well, it is certainly a novel idea to say the least.
NASA scientists are going beyond just monitoring climate change; they are actively coming up with solutions.

NASA Goddard Institute of Space Studies (GISS) launched the Flexible Adaptation Pathways (FAP) strategy for New York City based on a London model, which is catching quite a bit of attention. “New York City and the California Bay Area are the first responders to solve the climate change issue” – Dr. Cynthia Rosenzweig, Senior Research Scientist at GISS. FAP identifies the multiple facets of climate change hazards and the uncertainty associated with each and provides a standard timeless policy that will work in all situations. The platform of FAP is to take each aspect of climate hazards, impacts, and adaptation needs to be continually considered and re-evaluated as new information comes to light. For example, a first step is to conduct inventory of infrastructure and assets to begin identifying vulnerabilities. Secondly, characterize risk by assessing the likelihood of the hazard causing an impact, then reduce the level of physical, social, or economic impact of climate change. Additionally, take advantage of new opportunities of the emerging climate change, such like Dr. Rosenzweig’s project to build more pumps at the Rockaway wastewater treatment plant in New York that helped to raise it 14 feet above sea level. This was part of a drainage and wastewater Management Adaptation. Rainwater drainage improves collection.

Another example would be to enhance natural landscape and drainage to plan for controlled flooding. FAP system can be implemented in cities around the country, especially San Francisco Bay Area that closely relates to the infrastructure of New York City. Dr. Rosenzweig suggests going through the city’s sustainability office to being stakeholders, university scholars, scientists, legal, insurance, and risk management experts to develop a plan like FAP to work for their community. “Identify, characterize, and understand nonlinear tipping points, triggers, and decide how to solve it systemically” Dr. Rosenzweig advises.

Who is supposed to pay for all this?
There are various companies, stakeholders, and organizations that have a vested interest in creating a systemic solution to climate change. Dr. Loewenstein suggests Research & Development collaborations and partnerships with groups dealing with observation, atmospheric composition, and ecosystem forecasting to name a few. Steve Hipskind, Chief of the Earth Science Division at NASA Ames Research, also suggests non-traditional partnerships like the Pipeline Research Council International and Cisco’s Climate Program. Collaboration with venture capitalist firms, technology institutions, green builders, and graduate students will facilitate new ideas with funding to take action.

Knowing the problem is only the tip of the rapidly melting iceberg. The success of the symposium was that it offered a multitude of solutions. We all have a vested interest in adapting to climate change.

See some of this event soon with SVTAGS.org show in San Jose Channel 15 on Monday’s at 7:30pm and Santa Cruz County channel 26 on Sunday’s at 6:00pm.

If you would like a historical copy of this program at NASA, when show edits are complete, please send $25.00 (for pre-orders) and $5.00 for shipping (to most US cities, more out of the Country) to P. O Box 2428 San Jose CA, 95109. Check Payable to Executive Producer Heather Durham.

Other related articles:
http://blogs.kqed.org/climatewatch/2011/02/04/nasas-closer-look-at-the-bay-area/comment-page-1/#comment-10290

http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2009/prod_092409b.html

http://www.epa.gov/climateleaders/partners/partners/ciscosystemsinc.html

Links:
SVTAGS
http://twitter.com/SVTAGS
http://www.meetup.com/Tech-Art-Green-and-Sustainability/
http://www.svtags.org/
http://www.veoh.com/search/videos/q/SVTAGS
Info@SVTAGS.org
http://svtags.blogspot.com/

NASA
http://geo.arc.nasa.gov/
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/home/index.html
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html

http://www.columbia.edu/

Photos: Jeanine Lewis
Lake Mead 1985 and 2010

San Francisco Green Fest today

2010-11-06T09:36:00.000-07:00

My entire week was filled with working on two new SVTAGS TV/Cable shows, speaking engagements-one at SBODN, a 3-year Anniversary event of the Green Chamber of Commerce SF,the
"Be The Change" Program with Aterra, an "Awakening Women's Potential" event with Soroptimist International and now I'm off to film at the Green Fest San Francisco for my TV Cable show.

Since I have been out of town in years past for this fall Green Festival. I'm really looking forward to investigating today the hundreds of vendors, speakers and see what's up there!

Exhausted from the weeks activities, but also very excited to be able to go to this.... I will be reporting more later on all of the above mentioned!

http://www.svtags.org/

(Above photo of San Francisco City Hall lite up with orange colored lights for the SF Gaints).

One Green Gals Home Improvement Projects Day 4

2010-07-30T10:13:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I thought I would walk into the tile shop and know what I wanted. The FireClay shop that won the CA Clean Tech Open (now Clean Tech Open) in 2008 has so much cool stuff I walked away confused about what to buy!

Today I will go back and take a closer look at their bone yard, which is leftovers that people did not want after the tile was handmade just for them... (people can be so wasteful and picky!)

Here is what my shower has looked like this week and some photos of the tile from Fire and Clay in San Jose. After looking through my photos and thinking I had took before shoots, the only photos I could find are of the cats playing next to the tile we tore out. For the past 2 plus years the cats have thought that the upstairs shower was there personal sandbox, since that's were their box has sat. They are very confused this week and are not happy about the tar in the shower.

Nothing like old meets new in a home improvement project.
Click here for slide show of the project.

Green Drinks Silicon Valley

2010-06-04T15:13:00.001-07:00

Tonight I'm heading to Green Drinks Silicon Valley. There is a new gal running this one and her name is Suzanne Hibbs. She is very enthusiastic about getting Green Drinks numbers up from where it stands. Last month she said that about 50 people showed up and she is hoping that this keeps increasing. She asked if I would do a few minutes on Green events in the area, or on my TV Cable show that I started about a year ago, (of course that show is called Silicon Valley -Technology, Art, Green and Sustainability (SVTAGS).

In my past experience with the local Green Drinks only a hand full of people showed up. However other areas have any where from 40 to a 200 people show up. Since Green Jobs, Green Economy, Sustainability and related topics are so hot right now- it makes sense that people would want to gather and share information here. Since we are so used to sharing information through technology. Maybe this is why the numbers in the past have bee low, because we like to sit at our computers and talk to others, not really get out and share our research... I think that it's not that really, so we will see what the turn out is like and I hope folks will come, share their thoughts, perspectives on this new green economy and the boom that feels like it's just ahead!

A verde cheers to all!

http://www.greendrinks.org/CA/Silicon%20Valley

Green Chamber of Commerce event in Silicon Valley

2010-05-25T22:30:00.000-07:00

Last night the Green Chamber of Commerce helped us celebrate our first year of film production for Silicon Valley -Technology, Art, Green and Sustainability (SVTAGS). The event was held at CreaTV San Jose.

Silver Mountain Winery hosted their organic wines for tasting, Morocco’s hosted Couscous salad that was yummy and Marin Gourmet hosted with all natural, locally made hummus and olive tapas.

Our guest speakers were Christine Hertzog, author of the Smart Grid Dictionary and Ken Crittendon of the Smart Grid Council of Silicon Valley. We had rave reviews from all that attended and they said that these two are dynamic speakers.

We had four door prizes and winners are as follows: Ron Huch, CEO of WESCOA Engine Technology won the Green Chamber of Commerce membership. Jill Cody won the SVTAGS guest appearance on the ½ hour show. Sandy Desch won the CreaTV San Jose annual membership. Cesar Plata won the Eco Baskets that included vintage wine glasses, CFL’s and a set of eco-friendly bamboo hot pads and drink coaster.

A big thank you to everyone that has helped to produce the television show this year and that helped set up last nights event!

Margo Alaimo -Assisting with set up/prep and tear down, picked up the couscous (thanks so much!) and other production tasks.

Mark Arnold -Film editing and writing/editing for blogging, set up/prep and tear down of events.

Tammy Correa -Assisting with set up and prep at this event, the USGBC event and all the other help she has supported me with this year! Also to Tammy’s Daughter Onjaney -Assisting with set up and prep.

Courtney DiMiceli –Event set up and prep!

Luis Del Rio - great help with set up/prep and tear down for production and the event!

Again the wine is the best organic that this crowd has every tasted... I totally agree!

For some reason this blogger site is not letting me add the slide show feature right now. So go here to see the photos form last night: http://picasaweb.google.com/HeatherNoelleDurham/GreenChamberCoHostigSVTAGSCreaTVSJ#

More events to come this summer!

Deepak Chopra, Cinequest and SVTAGS

2010-04-22T18:22:00.000-07:00

Last month I was invited to be "media" at Cinequest Film Festival for my TV/Cable show. The two-week event was amazing with movies that you would never normally get a chance to see.

One of the staple events that Cinequest does is a “Life of a Maverick Award” and this year the recipient was Deepak. He spoke for about an hour and a half. You can read about that here with Sandy Desch, who was my guest write at the event: http://sandydesch.blogspot.com

To see my exclusive interview with Deepak backstage go here for the uncut version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3df1v6qje8

Don’t forget to watch my show, Silicon Valley -Technology, Art, Green and Sustainability (SVTAGS), on Monday’s at 7:00pm in San Jose channel 15 Comcast/CreaTV San Jose, or watch after they air here: http://www.veoh.com/search/videos/q/SVTAGS

Sept. 2009 USGBC-NCC Silicon Valley meeting, Leaders of Silicon Valley

2009-09-09T00:45:00.000-07:00

After a long Labor Day weekend, I’m back to the grind here in Silicon Valley. Okay, well I did not take the whole weekend off. I was prepping for the filming today of two new television shows in my series of shows Silicon Valley - Technology, Art, Green and Sustainability.

After a day of three meetings on Tuesday the 8th of September, there was another interesting USGBC-NCC Silicon Valley Branch meeting. Our SV Branch of the US Green Building Council always meets the 2nd Tuesday night of every month. This month our topic was “Leaders of Silicon Valley. Our panel of speakers consisted of Kevin Surace from Serious Materials, Carl Gaurdino from Silicon Valley Leadership Group and Abe Yokell from Rock Port Capital.

All three men had very interesting and unique perspectives on what is happening in Silicon Valley. All agreed that clean tech, green jobs and innovations here in the Bay Area (Silicon Valley to the rest of the world) is where the economy is going to keystone, or paddle back to life from this economic crisis.

Kevin’s opening, some said was almost like a sales pitch, with video clips of Obama talking to the world about what Serious Materials is doing and how it’s a model company. In the video you see Kevin standing on stage with Obama, walking through towns with workings and you see flashes of ribbon cutting ceremonies at various plants that Serious Materials has purchased. They made these purchases and saved hundreds of jobs around the US from leaving our boarders and from those factories closing down completely- forever!

Yes, it was little salesman like of Kevin, but hell, why should it not be- tell the world what they are doing and hope that others will follow in their footsteps.  (We can hope so at least!)

Next up, Carl Gaurdino spoke on Silicon Valley Leadership Group and the 4 basic rules that they have: 1) Define victory, 2) Determine Strategies, 3) Detail steps and 4) Don’t forget to have fun! Yes theses are the four D’s that Carl bases his decisions on. The programs that have been started by SVLG are pretty amazing. If you have not heard of Sustainable Silicon Valley, it was formed with the help of SVLG. A fun event that was started more then four years ago by SVLG is the CEO bike to work challenge that this year in May got 80,000 workers biking to work all on one day. The CEO’s that took part in this had areas set up to reward the bikers, with parties, prizes and celebrations that encouraged everyone to partake in the event. The smog on that day in the Bay Area was for sure lower!

Last up, was Abe Yokell and I have to say that many women were whispering in the room, "is he single???" This guy is not only smart, but a hunk- (can I say that-oh yeah-I’m not reporting to any boss, just me!). He is a transplant from Boston and has been working with Rockport for many years and many-many millions of dollars invested into start-ups. One you might of heard of lately- Solyndra that is another company paving the way for a green economy!

There was a Q &A session and then our monthly meeting was complete. At the start of every meeting there is an hour of networking with some facilities hosts giving us a tour of their LEED building. Tonight we had a review of SAP’s sustainability practices and then we were right into the meeting.

So, for the details of this event, to hear the full from start to end and all the information relayed at the meeting, you will have to watch my show on Monday’s at 7:00pm in San Jose or Campbell Comcast channel 15. If you do not live in California in one of those cities, you can watch online at www.creatvSJ.org

2009-07-14T01:51:00.000-07:00

These are the photos from the USGBC Advocacy Day in Sacramento
July 8th 2009

USGBC Advocacy Day at State Capitol

2009-07-09T14:21:00.000-07:00

Okay, so this is my first post, here we go…

On Wednesday July 8th 2009 a group of people from the US Green Building Council gathered from all over the state in Sacramento. Our goal was to introduce the USGBC to the Senators and Assembly folks at the Capitol. There were people from the 8 Chapters in California. I belong to the Northern California Chapter (NCC). For almost two years I have been the Program Chair of the USGBC-NCC Silicon Valley Branch. It’s has been a pleasure to meet other people in the Architecture, Construction, Design, Engineering and others people in industries interested in sustainability.

Although my two year term is almost up, I want to see how I can help with the issues at hand-- by sharing information about the Built Environment that will help cut down on the Co2 and make our world a more sustainable place.

I’m not a morning person, so when the alarm went off at 5:00am my instincts were to roll over and throw the alarm across the room, but that morning I jumped to my feet and made some coffee. This was going to be the first time that a group of USGBC folks went to the State Capitol to share knowledge with our government.

The USGBC is a volunteer organization and is a 501C3 non-profit made up of 20,000 businesses in the US. There are 114,000 registered LEED AP’s (LEED, AP= Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, Accredited Professionals) and in March itself over 100,000 people registered for the test to become LEED AP’s. This is a powerful group of people and we are hoping to help make a business case for greening up buildings.

Hence the “USGBC Advocacy Coalition Day” at the State Capitol.

When my commuter partner and I arrived in Sacramento at 8:30am, we went into the meeting place that the USGBC staff people had picked Ambrosia Café (thank you Ashleigh and the rest of the USGBC staff!). There was a meet and greet, introductions and then an overview of what was to come.

We looked the key Legislation and the 31 bills that the USGBC is supporting. AB 3 for workforce development: Renewable Energy , Authored by John Perez is one of them and another key one is AB 828 Green Building Standards, Authored by Ted Lieu. There are many that did not make this list and our main purpose was actually to introduce people from each of the USGBC Chapters to the Senators, Assembly members, and their staff. (If you are interested in the other bills on the list, please email me and I will send you that information).

We did a brief overview of the Green Building Code and more logistical information was also given out. We then broke into four groups of 6 to 8 people. The groups were given an agenda for the day with preset appointments. I was in group B with Dan Geiger, USGBC-NCC Executive Director, Ashleigh Talberth USGBC-NCC, Suzanne Nolan Advocacy Chair for USGBC-NCC, Paul Wermer the one of the key people on the USGBC-NCC CA Advocacy Coalition, and the rest of us as Volunteers in the USGBC-NCC Advocacy Team for the day: Nick Burton, Max Perlman and myself. (Joel Baumgardner who is also leading up the USGBC-NCC Advocacy Coalition ad the Chairperson, joined us later in day after a meeting for his day job!).

At 10:30am it was time to walk over to the Capitol. Our schedule included Assembly members: Julia Brownley, Dave Jones, Tom Ammiano, Ira Ruskin, Jerry Hill and Jared Huffman (for some of these folks we met with their Chief of Staff). We also met with Senators: Carol Liu, Fran Pavely, Ellen Corbett and Lois Wolk (again some of these folks sent their Chief of Staff).

Suzanne Reed was one of the Chief of Staff we met with and she works for Carol Liu. They Authored the AB32 bill and this was probably one of the best meetings we had. Another memorable moment was meeting with Ira Ruskin. He is our local Assemblyman for San Mateo and Santa Clara County. He was genuinely concerned in hearing what the people had to say who volunteer hours of their time to help with the USGBC.

In all, there was 38 meetings set up for us with all four groups at the State Capital. According to Justin Malan with price Consulting - USGBC Northern California Chapter advocate. He has been working as a lobbyist for many years and was most impressed with the reception that USGBC received from Legislators and staff. "This is by far the most successful first Lobby Day that we have participated in. With the 8 California chapters now unified, we will soon see USGBC become a significant voice in the Capitol," Justin noted.

One key point is that 40% of carbon emissions are from the built environment, so obviously to look at how we are doing things with the building industry needs to be examined at very carefully by our government. We can reduce carbon emission by 30% to 40% with green building. The standard that the USGBC has created with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a tool that has proven business cases (ROI) for building owners. To this point one of the things that was clear is that making a business case to some of the politicians is key (and I will not mention names here). That if we can prove that you can save money now ---which you will by implementing green building--- then we can win over the people in government that still do not believe that there is a climate problem and that things need to change. The message was repeated to us in many of the offices we visited, that there are some at the Capitol that still do not believe that changes needs to happen- very sad!

Later in the evening we retreated to Ambrosia Café again and debriefed. When all four groups returned, one person from each group talked about the groups experiences for the day. In all, it was a very positive day and we made good connections. It was a great start for USGBC California Advocacy Coalition.

I’m glad I could do my part to be there as small business owner, and in all, the day was worth my time. I met a lot of people from around the state and got to hear the pre-process of lobbying at the State Capitol. The USGBC-NCC is looking for more advocates to help with their next day at the Capitol, so if you are interested you can contact: suzanne@suzannenolan.com

If you are interested in coming to a USGBC-NCC, Silicon Valley Branch Program meeting, the next one is on July 14th at DGA Architects in Mt. View, and the topic is Co2. You can register online at www.USGBC-NCC.org.

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