Impacts Environmentally

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Rotary Club of Los Altos formed its Climate Action Committee in 2021 in response to Rotary International's adding Environment as its seventh area of focus. The committee designs and implements projects to promote sustainability, focusing on mitigating the impact of climate change.
 
In our 75th year, the Rotary Club of Los Altos and its partners delivered these impacts:
  1. Partnered with Redwood Materials, which recycles consumer and EV lithium-ion batteries, and with the Rotary clubs of Cupertino and San Jose to collect four tons of batteries containing the precious metals lithium, cobalt, and nickel. Forty-nine Rotary clubs sponsored collection events and two countywide events.
  2. Delivered to NexTrex™ 900 pounds of unrecyclable, plastic film packaging, which gets converted by Trex® into compostable decking and railings; continued collecting plastic film packaging from 14 Los Altos businesses and planned collection events at other Rotary clubs, the Los Altos School District, the Mountain View/Los Altos High School District, local churches, and Scouts organizations. 
  3. In partnership with the Pacific Beach Coalition's Coastal Clean Up Day, on Montara Beach collected 2,057 pounds of trash, 322 pounds of recyclable materials, 3,561 pounds of green waste, and 14,793 cigarette butts. Cleaned up at Surfer's Beach near Half Moon Bay.
  4. In partnership with Grassroots Ecology, restored habitats at Redwood Grove in Los Altos; removed invasive plants; prepared and planted native plant groups; built protective cages; and watered this local, cherished, wild space.
  5. Performed similar habitat restoration in Bryne Park Nature Preserve in Los Altos Hills.
  6. Secured an environmentally focused grant to Grassroots Ecology to start a pollinator garden in Redwood Grove. 
  7. Partnered with Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, to collect seeds from and re-seed an abandoned Christmas tree lot ( a fire hazard) in the Bear Creek Redwood Open Space. The team learned about the challenges of restoration and what happens when past water systems are no longer available to traditional ecosystems. 
  8. At the Rotary’s two-day, outdoor Fine Art in the Park event, reduced the use of plastics by selling reusable, recyclable Path Water bottles, instead of bottled water.
  9. At Rotary’s Fine Art in the Park event, in partnership with Green Town Los Altos, promoted green transportation and proper trash disposal; provided bicycle parking, encouraged the use of EV and hybrid vehicles to assist patrons, and placed signs indicating recyclable vs non-recyclable products on all trash bins.
In partnership with Grassroots Ecology, restoring habitats at Redwood Grove in Los Altos