Flanked by towering racks of wine barrels, and with the sweet smell of yeast in the air, close to 55 area citizens gathered at RailBridge Cellars on North 16th Street for the second gathering of the Sacramento Sustainability Forum (SSF) last Thursday evening. Winemaker Jon Affonzo opened his doors and donated his facility to host the monthly forum established to connect businesses, non-profit organizations, government, and interested individuals for the purpose of promoting sustainability in the Sacramento region. It was a memorable day for Affonzo, in addition to playing host, his second daughter was born early that morning.

“I pretty much pulled an all-nighter last night,” Affonzo said as he poured tastings of his wine for the crowd.

Following an initial welcome and review of the evening’s agenda by SSF’s co-founder, Rick Noss, Affonzo briefly updated the group on the evolving green practices being found in the wine industry. He gave a list of diverse examples, including the increased presence of solar power, use of raptors for rodent control, and spiders for insect control.

Jacob Griscom, SSF’s co-founder, acknowledged SSF’s supporters and introduced the evening’s keynote speaker, Cecilia Jensen, Sustainability Program Manager for Sacramento County. Ms. Jensen is a licensed civil engineer with over 23 years of experience in the environmental field. She holds two Bachelor’s degrees in Microbiology and Civil Engineering from California State University, Sacramento. Jensen is the first ever sustainability program manager for Sacramento County, a job she refers to as, “the toughest assignment she has ever had.”

Jensen’s presentation dealt with Sacramento County’s past and current sustainability efforts, and illustrated future opportunities such as the formation of a Green Building Task Force and $5.4 million in federal stimulus money to go towards energy efficient initiatives such as the Climate Action Plan. Another item of significance to the audience was a low interest loan program being proposed for property owners to be used for solar and other energy efficiency projects (AB 811). This program would tie the purchase to the property, as opposed to the owner, to justify the return on investment. Similar progressive programs have been successful elsewhere. Jensen acknowledged that SSF could provide a valuable vehicle to gain citizen awareness and support for all such programs.

The balance of the evening involved breakout sessions to discuss critical topics identified by the forum’s participants, such as land use, transportation, and conservation.

The next forum will meet on Thursday, October 15th, at 6:00 PM. The keynote speaker for October will be Graham Brownstein, Executive Director for the Environmental Council of Sacramento (ECOS). The location of this event will be publicized shortly.

The Sacramento Sustainability Forum was founded by Jacob Griscom, Western Regional Manager for BetterWorld Telecom, and Rick Noss, CEO of GreenVision for Business. SSF is a self-funded volunteer effort reliant on the donation of meeting locations and promoted through area businesses, associations, and organizations that support the vision.