Menlo Park City Managers Office, Office of City Manager of East Palo Alto, 350 Silicon Valley, Acterra, Menlo Spark, and Peninsula Clean Energy,
According to the April 11, 2025 issue of "The Almanac", the Belle Haven Community Campus will be hosting " Love Our Earth Festival" on April 26, 2025. I hope two major issues will be addressed at this event.
One is the horrific effects overpopulation has had on our planet - wildfires, disease, flooding, famine, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, traffic congestion, accidents, crime and the mental distress it has brought to many people including homelessness. As population increases, so do the cost and complications increase for the building, maintenance and repairs of our daily services, - water quality, electricity, gas, sewage, phone and computer, road repairs, food production and its transport. Social, civil and political relations decline. Mountain Lions and coyotes are being seen in our local communities. We are pushing them out of their homes and natural habitat.
It is vital that we all learn why we must contribute to "SMALL" families and how to do so. The world will continue to fall apart until we choose to address and demonstrate over this obstacle. (POPULATION CONNECTION is a good source of information for education).
The other issue is solar. Our gas and electric bills are skyrocketing day by day. We need to start with a basic foundation: Window placement, so we receive the most comfort, light, and cool breezes throughout the year, thermal mass, insulation, a Passive solar hot water heater to preheat our water, a clothes line or drying racks to dry our clothes. It would be most helpful to get away from depending so heavily on technology to meet our daily needs. Lets be more independent, self-sufficient and sustainable by depending on the energy directly from the sun. It costs nothing. This would also help us to grow some of our own food - and spend less time at the grocery store.
Solar panels are a great idea, but they should be used to the minimum. Much of their product BEGINS and ENDS in hazardous waste.
The most important ingredient, here is the sun. How can we make the most of the free, non-polluting energy that is daily available to each of us? We can keep our trees thinned, opened up, and pulled down so they do not shade our neighbors. Keep the shade in OUR OWN yards. It is so much more enjoyable to get up on a cold winter day, with the sun shining brightly into whatever room one chooses to put ones self together in. The sun contributes to inspiration, joy, enthusiasm, motivation, gratitude, appreciation, guidance, direction, peace and harmony..
It seems to me, this is what "Earth Day" is all about.
Thank you for letting me share these ideas.
Jackie Leonard-Dimmick
