Berkeley Action Plan: Tracking our Progress Community Outreach and Empowerment – EcoHouse Events

Goal: Mobilize community members

Performance Metric: Participation in EcoHouse events

Target: Achieve an annual sustained increase in EcoHouse event participation.

Status: Since 2006, the Ecology Center’s EcoHouse has offered EcoHouse Event Participation workshops and tours for community members. In 2013, a 500 total of 131 community members took part in EcoHouse events. 400

EcoHouse is a demonstration 300 environmental home and garden located in a North Berkeley 200 residential neighborhood. Classes, hands-on workshops, and tours of 100 the and garden are designed Participants of Number to teach people of all ages, 0 backgrounds, and income levels 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 how to make their living spaces Year healthier, more energy and water efficient, and ecologically friendly. A range of water-saving measures have been implemented at the EcoHouse, including efficient fixtures, a graywater and wetland system, and a rainwater cistern. Its green building features include natural and recycled building materials, salvaged kitchen cabinets, bamboo kitchen countertops, a strawbale and rammed earth shed, and solar panels. The EcoHouse gardens include a living roof vegetable garden and an organic garden with native drought-tolerant plants. EcoHouse events include educational tours of the existing features of the property, hands-on workshops to build new environmental features at the house, and classes on relevant topics such as seed saving.

Why is this metric important? Annual level of participation in EcoHouse events is an indicator of how well the program is reaching the Berkeley community. The EcoHouse is a unique and important resource for our community because it provides individuals with the tools and support necessary to inspire and make environmentally-sensitive changes in their own living spaces. Given that the success of local climate action effort rests on behavior change, it is important that this program, and others like it, continue to reach more residents of Berkeley and beyond.

Resources and assistance for community members: The Ecology Center (www.ecologycenter.org) contains information on the EcoHouse and other Ecology Center offerings, including Climate Change Action programs, the curbside recycling program, the Berkeley Farmers’ Markets, the Farm Fresh Choice food justice program, an EcoCalendar of environmental community events, and the Berkeley Climate Action Coalition.

Data sources and technical notes: EcoHouse event and participation data is provided by the Ecology Center.

Tracking our progress: Review Climate Action Plan performance metrics at www.cityofberkeley.info/climate

City of Berkeley, Office of Energy & Sustainable Development www.cityofberkeley.info/sustainable Jun-14