Dear Daily Actors,
When I think about our North Bay Environmental Health Network, I think of mushrooms – mycelium to be more specific. Mushroom mycelium grows in dense networks that facilitate communications amongst plant life, relay nutrients to help each other out, and build resilience within ecosystems. Mycelium is immunologically active; it increases our body’s and ecology’s immune system response and protective abilities.
A workshop in collaboration with the Botanical Bus on indigenous herbal remedies.
Our North Bay Environmental Health Network is like a mycelial network connecting organizations and individuals who are working in impact areas affecting our environmental health. We share resources and network support, develop and facilitate coalitions, and leverage our collective impact towards policies and system changes that prioritize our environmental health and justice.
One such example is Sonoma Safe Agriculture Safe Schools (SASS), recent recipient of Sonoma County Conservation Action’s Local Heroes Award. The Sonoma SASS coalition includes a broad group of Sonoma County non-profit organizations. The coalition convened in 2018 with the goal of coordinating efforts to reduce the use of synthetic pesticides (herbicides, insecticides, rodenticides, fungicides, etc.) in Sonoma County. Each of the Sonoma SASS organizations approaches the issue of pesticide use from a different lens (workers safety/rights, environmental justice, watershed protection, environmental stewardship, public health, etc.) using different approaches (community education, political action, direct action, research etc.)
The broad base and diversity of our coalition strengthens our campaigns and is why we’ve been so successful. Sonoma SASS has been instrumental in the passage of pesticide restriction policies that protect children and families who visit Sonoma County parks and trails, city-maintained parks and public spaces in Santa Rosa, Cotati, Rohnert Park, and Windsor, and Santa Rosa City Schools’ 25 school campuses. We are also affiliated with other SASS coalitions throughout the state of California to coalesce on state-wide policy initiatives.
Mycelium reminds us that our diversity is what makes us strong and resilient. It takes all of us to make a healthy environment. We can no longer afford to work in siloed ways, cut off from each other and isolated. Working collectively towards the health and wellbeing of our environments and communities is an empowering and effective way to create sustainable and healthy change. I invite you to be like mycelium, check out our North Bay Environmental Health Network, and be a part of our collective immune system.
Feed this network with a tax-deductible gift today, and your gift will be fully matched.
Take heart, take action,
Nichole Warwick,
Environmental Health Programs Manager