Residential greywater systems are now legal in California, and most modest residential installations don’t ever require a permit. But exactly how the changed rules are being implemented remains a little murky.

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Sonoma County PRMD deputy director Duane Starnes explains why diverting laundry water outflow to a greywater reservoir also requires some additional changes to the household’s existing plumbing, such as the diversion valve shown at right.

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Art Ludwig, a long-time advocate for legalizing greywater systems, says the state’s new rules allowing them carry an almost symbolic significance that extends well beyond mere plumbing.

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Ludwig's Oasis Design website has detailed and illustrated instructions on how to install a "laundry to landscape" greywater system.

The Bay Area's Greywater Guerrillas are another online resource.

Legislation to commit California’s utilities to a higher standard for developing and using renewable energy is heading for a final decision in Sacramento.

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State Senator Joe Simitian (D-San Mateo) left, the author of SB 14, says his measure offers multiple benefits, including some that extend well beyond California.

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Glynnis Hokenson,  Kate Goltermann and Bret Fanshaw (l-r) from the  Environment California Research and Policy Center in Sacramento,  brought the white wind turbine mock-up to the steps of Santa Rosa City Hall last week to call attention to their campaign in support of the "Triple It" bill to increase California's requirements for new, renewable energy sources.

Go here to read an analysis of SB 14 by the Consumer Federation of California.

Both bills are also being supported by the California League of Conservation Voters.

A complex interaction between native crabs and oysters and invasive Atlantic snails (seen at left)  is playing out beneath the waters of Tomales Bay.

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 Dr. David Kimbro has studied the predatory effects of invasive Atlantic snails on native Olympia oysters in Tomales Bay. He explains how they arrived there more than a century ago.

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There also native Pacific snails in Tomales Bay, but unlike their invasive (or as scientists say "introduced") Atlantic cousins (right), the local snails have learned how to safely coexist with the snail-eating red rock crabs (below). UC Davis biologist Ted Grosholtz explains.

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The smaller, green European crab, another introduced species in Tomales Bay, can handle the less salty water in the shallow portions of the bay, but because they will eat a wider variety of foods, these crabs have not developed the same skills for preying on snails that the red rock crabs display.

Expanding the educational opportunities for children in poor, rural parts of Nicaragua and El Salvador is the focus of a low profile Sonoma-based non-profit.

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Seeds of Learning was started 18 years ago by two Sonoma County men, Todd Evans and Patrick Rickon, based on their own experiences in Central America. {mp3remote}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/founders.mp3{/mp3remote}

Although they are no longer involved in running the daily operations of the organization, Executive Director Annie Bacon says both men continue to actively participate in the group’s international projects.

The Seeds of Learning volunteers have been warmly, if somewhat quizzically welcomed by the people in Nicaragua and El Salvador, Bacon says, with little regard for the region’s difficult history with the United States government.

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Equador