Speaker Event - Afghanistan: A Returnee's Perspective

Afghanistan: A Returnee's Perspective

When: Thursday, May 20 12:30pm - 1:30pm
Where: Pacific Room at Tides, Thoreau Center

Dawoud Nasraty, a recent Afghan-American returnee, recalls his experiences of day-to-day life in Kabul and offers perspective on the country's recent past, its current direction and future. Through film clips and discussion, Dawoud’s stories will open your eyes to the richness and complexity of the people that make up this war-torn country.

After a hiatus in Afghanistan of nearly three years, Dawoud has returned to Tides working as a financial analyst for the Tides Center.

Bike to Work Day 2010

Bike to Work Day: Eat, Win Prizes, Enjoy The Ride – May 13, 2010

The Bay Area's biggest bicycling celebration, Bike to Work Day, May 13^th.

Thoreau Center encourages you to ride your bicycle.

Have fun. Win prizes.

1. Enter to win the Grand Prize : $500 Gift Certificate at Sports Basement: Lincoln & Halleck Energizer Station – Presidio Main Post – 6-10AM. Free Presidio Bike Bell for everyone who signs in.
2. Free Breakfast & Lunch : Coffee & Bagels at Lincoln & Halleck between 6:30 AM & 10 AM. – Energizer Station - Food, Drink, a Bike to Work Day canvas bag and a limited edition Presidio Bike Bell for you for riding your bike to the Presidio Energizer Station at the corner of Lincoln & Halleck. Sip fair trade Coffee & nibble bagels while your bike gets tuned for free by Sports Basement professional Mechanics and more! REMEMBER to sign in at the station to enter the raffle and to get your ticket for a FREE BBQ lunch at Thoreau Center Courtyard near Acre Café between 12 PM and 3 PM. You must come by the BBQ to win the raffle prizes. BBQ Burgers, Hot Dogs, organic salad, munchables and veggie options too. If you are riding but can’t come by the station in the morning enter the regional raffle at btwd.bayareabikes.org/register.
3. Meet Presidio AmeriCorps Volunteers: Many thanks to the AmeriCorps volunteers who will be pitching in big time this year to run the Presidio Energizer Station. Stop by the station and say hello…over snacks and coffee.
4. Nominate a Bicyclist: Nominate the cyclist you admire as Bike Commuter of the Year. Do you know a dedicated cyclist worthy of Bike Commuter of the Year? Nominate them today!
5. Take Part in the Team Bike Challenge: http://www.youcanbikethere.com/tbc compete with other Bay Area commuters to win great prizes for bike commuting in May.
6. On the Way Home: SFBC's Annual Bike Away from Work Party and Fashion Show 6-10pm, The Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell St. If you rode your bike, you're invited to the SF Bicycle Coalition's fun and fabulous Bike Away from Work Party and Fashion Show! Stop by Rickshaw Stop on your commute home and unwind (FREE valet bike parking provided). Learn the city's biking secrets from fellow bicyclists and bask in the glow of a successful Bike to Work Day!
7. If You Drive: Consider Carpooling http://www.presidio.gov/tenants/transit/carpool.htm

Author Event - Philip J. Dreyfus

Whole Earth Library presents
Sustainably Speaking, author series
Presenter: Author Philip J. Dreyfus on
Our Better Nature: Environment and the Making of San Francisco
Thursday, April 29, 12:30pm to 1:30pm
Pacific Room at Tides


Join us for a conversation with Professor Philip J. Dreyfus of San Francisco State University as he tells us stories of the making of San Francisco. How did San Francisco become a world-class metropolis? How did San Franciscans labor to remake their landscape to fit their needs? Dr. Dreyfus will focus on the ideas about nature during the early 20th century that destroyed our wetlands and forests, yet created the Golden Gate and Yosemite parks, the Sierra Club, and the modern environmental movement.

Philip J. Dreyfus is Associate Professor of History at San Francisco State University. He has received numerous awards for his classroom teaching, and his writings have appeared in various academic journals.

Subject Guide: Sustainable Cities

For the first time in history, over half of humanity lives in cities, and they continue to grow globally at two percent a year. They only cover two percent of the Earth's surface, but their impact extends well beyond their borders as they consume 75 percent of the planet's energy and resources, and emit 80 percent of its greenhouse gases. Generally speaking, as cities function today on a global scale they are driving widespread ecological destruction that imperils the planet, while on a local scale many urban neighborhoods are plagued by social inequality, economic insecurity, violence, pollution, and crumbling infrastructure. Not all hope is lost, however, as over the last few decades there has been a growing literature arguing for possible solutions to these pathologies from a new perspective based on sustainability. The books from the library collection below offer a selection of mostly recent entries into the debate over what urban sustainability should like like and how it could be achieved. While no single city has yet to come to grips with all of the issues surrounding environmental degradation and threats to the quality of life, these works illustrate many imaginative and innovative programs and policies in place today working to regenerate cities into healthy communities integrated into sustainable ecosystems.

And a reminder that next week (April 11-17) is once again National Library Week, as all healthy communities of course depend on healthy libraries. You can download the official America Library Association PSA with a picture of author Neil Gaiman reading a book here.


Kent E. Portney. Taking Sustainable Cities Seriously: Economic Development, the Environment, and Quality of Life in American Cities. (2003)

Moving beyond descriptive accounts of community sustainability actions and attempts to derive lessons learned from them, this book is a comparative analysis of such efforts that examines the reasons why some cities pursue sustainability and the factors that shape the operation and effectiveness of their programs. It looks at initiatives in two dozen American cities that have pursued a diverse array of initiatives operating on the basis of sometimes very different conceptions of sustainability, asking among other things whether a program needs to incorporate livability and environmental justice concerns in order to be considered a serious effort.


Peter Newman & Isabella Jennings. Cities as Sustainable Ecosystems: Principles and Practices. (2008)

Newman and Jennings detail a model for viewing urban dynamics and redevelopment based on the patterns and processes of natural and sustainable ecosystems, including such qualities as health, zero waste, interconnectedness, self-regulation, resilience, and flexibility. With case studies from several different countries, they illustrate their ideas of how cities can better integrate themselves into their local bioregional environment as a path to sustainability.


Peter Newman, Timothy Beatley & Heather Boyer. Resilient Cities: Responding to Peak Oil and Climate Change. (2009)

Do the impending crises surrounding climate change and peak oil spell doom and collapse for cities around the world? Drawing on "resilience thinking" from the field of ecosystem management, the authors argue and illustrate with examples from around the world that there are ways for cities to scale down their ecological footprints, reduce their oil dependence, improve their quality of life, and better fit themselves within the capacities of local, regional, and global ecosystems.


Warren Karlenzig with Frank Marquadt, Paula White, Rachel Yaseen & Richard Young. How Green is Your City? The SustainLane US City Rankings. (2007)

From the SustainLane internet media company (which includes websites www.SustainLane.com and www.SustainLane.us) comes this first effort to benchmark the performance of the fifty largest U.S. cities with respect to sustainability. Find out why they think San Francisco ranks at number two and Oakland at number five. See where they place your favorite large American city online at their latest rankings from 2008.


Patrick M. Condon. Design Charrettes for Sustainable Communities. (2008)

Drawing on his extensive professional experience, professor Patrick M. Condon of the University of British Columbia's School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture has written a practical, step-by-step guide to the design charrette process. Increasingly popular in North America since the late 1980's, the design charrette is a time constrained process that brings together citizens, public officials, developers, architects, engineers, and other stakeholders to collaboratively plan and design new and redeveloped sustainable communities. It is a new paradigm for design decisions that minimizes confrontation while building pubic support.


Richard Register. Ecocity Berkeley: Building Cities for a Healthy Future. (1987)

This pioneering and influential book by Richard Register, founder and President of Ecocity Builders, proposes a set of sweeping changes to give Berkeley, California a sustainable future. Incorporating existing patterns of development and natural features of the landscape, it envisions residential centers becoming increasingly compact and the surrounding land reclaimed by open space, forests, agriculture, and wildlife habitat to the benefit of people, quality of life, and the environment. Extensively illustrated by the author, it shows how a sustainable built environment can be exciting, imaginative, and inspirational.


Harry Wiland, Dale Bell, and Joseph D'Agnese. Edens Lost & Found: How Ordinary Citizens are Restoring Our Great Cities. (2006)

This book profiles the trailblazing individuals and groups in Chicago, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Los Angeles who are working to encourage the development of green spaces in their cities and neighborhoods as an alternative to ecological and social breakdown. From roof gardens to urban farms, citizen activism and leadership are working with nature, restoring communities, and transforming American cities through the creation of sustainable urban ecosystems.

Art Opening: Expressions of the Bay Area

Expressions of the Bay Area

Opening Reception: Friday, March 19, 5:00pm to 7:00pm
Thoreau and Seed galleries at the Thoreau Center for Sustainability.
1014 Torney Avenue, Presidio, San Francisco

Exhibition date: March 19 through May 31, 2010.

March is Women’s History Month. To celebrate, Thoreau Center is exhibiting artwork by thirty local artists from the San Francisco Women Artists Gallery (SFWA). A nonprofit dedicated to the furtherance of women in the visual arts, SFWA has been operating continuously since its founding in the late 1880’s. The evening’s program will include an awards announcement for best work in this juried show.

Brown Bag: Women and Public Policymaking

Brown Bag: The 2012 Project, a campaign of The Center for Women and Politics
Presenter: Mary Hughes, Director of The 2010 Project
Friday, March 19, 12:30p to 1:30p
Thoreau Center for Sustainablity - Pacific Room at Tides

The 2012 Project is a national nonpartisan campaign of The Center for American Women and Politics of Rutgers University to identify and engage accomplished women over 45 to run for congressional and state legislative office in the 2012 elections.

The United States ranks behind most other nations in terms of women’s representation in government. The underrepresentation of women in public office profoundly affects US policymaking decisions. The 2012 Project seeks to remedy this situation by identifying women outside traditional political circles; inspiring them to see public service as a career capper; educating them about open, competitive legislative and Congressional districts; encouraging them to run in the 2012 elections; and directing them to available resources.

Mary Hughes, the architect of The 2012 Project, has more than 20 years experience electing candidates nationally, with a particular focus on working with women elected officials, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Brown Bag events are free informal mid-day learning sessions hosted at Tides. Friends, neighbors and colleagues are welcome. Visitors, please sign in a the front desk.

Thoreau Center Brown Bag: Whitopia - Race and Public Policy

Whitopia--Race and Public Policy
Presenter: Journalist/Scholar Rich Benjamin
Friday, March 12, 12:30p to 1:30p
Thoreau Center for Sustainability - Pacific Room at Tides

This brown bag gathering will address the impact of race and ethnicity on pressing policy debates: social spending, immigration, citizenship, and voting. Rich Benjamin will discuss his timely research findings on those issues, and the challenges surrounding ethnic diversity, civic inclusion, and progressive public policy. You will be encouraged to offer thoughts on pressing topics: What does the Obama administration, the present Congress, and civil society portend for these policy issues, the quality of race relations, and our democracy’s health? Can we form the necessary ideas and talking points to move a progressive agenda forward, one that revives viable progress towards the commonweal and the common good?

Rich Benjamin is the author of Searching for Whitopia: An Improbable Journey to the Heart of White America, and Senior Fellow at Demos, a nonpartisan public policy center based in New York. Searching for Whitopia was selected for the 2009 Editor's Choice Award by Booklist and the American Library Association. Benjamin’s social and political commentary is featured on television and radio, in major newspapers and magazines, and in the blogosphere.

Brown Bag events are free informal mid-day learning sessions hosted at Tides. Friends, neighbors and colleagues are welcome. Visitors, please sign in a the front desk.