California as seen by one Bulgarian

There is one place in the US, which makes the whole trip worthwile. Its citizens are more "European", than Europeans. At least when it comes to sustainability and environmental protection.
California, eden on Earth.

Heading to the US I felt the usual reluctance - 2 weeks in the most consumeristic country in the world.

Houston confirmed my expectations and memories with its 6 lane highways in one direction, enormous trucks instead of cars, chemical releases in the atmosphere, diesel locomotives pouring smoke, smell and puritan behavior.

On the second week I landed at San Fransicso International Airport....and the world changed. We had lunch in a small old school fish restaurant, plastic was not tolerated even as a means of payment. The nature on the ocean shores looked wild and untouched...pelicans, cormorans and a sense of universal peace and harmony.

What a different feeling it is to be surrounded by people that care of the environment, to be able to buy goods that have been produced using green energy and to use green energy for daily needs. I was visiting friends of mine who live in Palo Alto and like most Palo Altoians consume green energy. Another feature of the citizens of Palo is their strivings towards zero waste goal. On the contrary of Sofia zero waste program, where probably less than 1% of Sofia's population know of the existance of a program, the Palo Alto program has realistic chances of successful achievement of the goal. Palo Altoians have surpassed the state mandate to divert 50% of landfill waste, by diverting 62% in 2004. In 2005 they have adopted the zero waste goal and they are aiming at 73% diversion in 2011 and 93% in 2021.

While Sofia has been reviewing options for separate collection of recycables in the past 10 years and is trying to locate a place where to dump its daily tons of garbage, Palo Altoians found that separate collection of glass, plastic and paper is outfashioned and is not serving the purpose, so now all recycables are collected in one box and that has tremendously increased the percentage of recyclables collection.

Palo Alto has a remarkable recycling program http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/public-works/rec-recyc-index.html. Detailed analysis of waste is carried on, investigating the percentage of recyclables into landfill stream and urging citizens for more reasonable behaviour for placing the goods that can be recycled at the proper place. This web site provides sufficient information on what can be recycled and where a recycling center is available. Regarding non recycables a question is raised how to we eliminate those from the garbage stream and the natural answer is by Critical Consumption. If we are conscious when purchasing of what the leftovers will be, there will be no issue with waste when the item is consumed. Flex your consumer muscle - give preference to items that are recycable or compostable when making a purchase.

There was no single person I have met in California that was not involved in someway.
...a 50year old woman, hostess of a mountain retreat informed us that having a fire in the fireplace is not good for the environment, because of the smoke. She asked us if we have ever been in a place, where all the houses use wood for heating. Yes, I have been - every small village in Bulgaria uses wood in simple heaters. Wood takes almost 30% share of the heating in Bulgaria, higher than central heating. Although I think the woman was exagarating the harm , the Bulgarian situation is ages away. At a recent biomass conference the above data was proudly presented by Government officials as a good trend into inclreasing use of biomass in the country. They did not care that this biomass is burnt with very low efficiency or what its origin is and if there is control in cutting wood.
...the same woman suggested that people that come to the retreat co-share their cars to reduce gasoline usage.

....The people with backyards had a compost, the people living in apartments (my friends) were carrying their organic waste in a garden where my friend is the Master Gardener. The harvest from the garden is used as the source of food for 2 organic restaurants in Palo Alto alongside with being a learning garden, where kids can be educated (http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2006/june7/garden-060706.html)


On a Saturday you can go to the farmers market, fresh fruits and vegetables sold directly by the farmers on the same morning or the previous night. Kind, good people - the farmers themselves selling their products, polite with a smile, offering you to taste.

So, generalizations about America being the consumeristic heaven are not exactly right, as there places where both candidates for governor have to be green if they want to have a chance of winning.