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Visiting Sustainable Paradise: Berkeley

by Hannah Lee · June 26th, 2008

Compost, Family & Kids, Spirituality, Sustainability

There are cities with a holy stature (like Jerusalem), and there are cities with cultural eminence (like New York) – but my family just came home from a vacation to a place that holds my nomination for Paradise on Earth: Berkeley, California.

I already knew that Berkeley residents are required to collect their food waste for composting (with weekly pick-ups), but to see it operation, with ordinary citizens scraping their plates (and all food-related paper) into their home-sized composting bins was truly inspiring.

Our friends belong to the modern Orthodox congregation Beth Israel in West Berkeley, which recently voted to allocate money for compostable plastic flatware for their weekly kiddushim. This came after intense discussion about priorities, because the additional expense impacted their educational budget. One of the regulars frets about people absentmindedly throwing their leftovers into the regular trash bins, but they’re already operating at a higher madrega (spiritual plane). Also impressive (especially for an Orthodox shul) is the presence of ramps to the bima from both the men’s and the women’s sections and gates in the mechitza for the Torah to be passed to a woman for carrying through the women’s section. So, this is a shul that believes in total inclusion as well as community responsibility.

Walking back from shul (an urban hike of 2-1/2 miles past gorgeous yards where even the strip between the sidewalk and the street is lushly planted), we detoured to visit Alice Waters’ Edible Schoolyard Project, which occupies one acre of a former parking lot on the campus of the Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School. The students plant, harvest, cook and bake (in an outdoor stone bread oven!) their fruits and vegetables as well as composting the organic waste. A substantial proportion of the students’ lunches comes from this garden. There’s also a lovely chicken coop on the premises. This is a wonderful educational community project that has brought together neighbors to help in its maintenance.

Visiting Berkeley felt like Paradise on Earth to this Pennsylvanian. Where is your sustainable paradise?

Read more about The Edible Schoolyard from staff member Rebecca Bloomfield, here.

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7 Responses to “Visiting Sustainable Paradise: Berkeley”

Eric Schulmiller Says:
June 27th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
I’m leaving for the Bay Area for two weeks – the first is for a cantorial conference in San Francisco, and then we’ll be extending for a family vacation, too.

Any eco-foody “must see/eat’s” (besides Chez Panisse) that fellow jcarroters can recommend?
Lev Says:
June 30th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
In Berkeley, I’d say that you have to hit up Cheeseboard Pizza, on Shattuck, north of downtown. They only make a few types a day with the freshest ingredients, and it’s a co-op.

Also, go shop at the Berkeley Bowl market place.
Hannah Lee Says:
June 30th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
The Berkeley Bowl has the largest fruit and produce section of any supermarket I’ve visited. An unusual gustatory experience is Cafe Gratitude, a raw-food eatery in the Mission District. It’s a cheerful spiritual place that gives its menu items laudatory labels, such as “I am Humble,” “I am Calm,” and “I am Triumphant.” They don’t even serve soy products. There was a card game placed in wicker baskets on each table that exhorted the diners to consider and express gratitude for the blessings of our world. And our energetic and friendly waitress (vegan although the staff policy does not exclude meat eaters) even attempted to elicit our votes and thoughts on what do we most appreciate about our fathers (it being Father’s Day). None of the food was anything we needed to eat again, but it was mind-opening to try foods that were not cooked, and not just limited to green salads.
Tamar Says:
June 30th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
Netivot Shalom, the Conservative shul in Berkeley, is committed to having kiddushes that are 95% plus compostable (though we don’t have rules about what food must be organic/sustainable/local/etc). We don’t put anything out that isn’t compostable, except for (sometimes) individual plastic kiddush cups. It’s really fabulous! Yesterday my 2 year old had a juice box he finished and asked me “Ima, I put this in the trash? Or in the compost?” I love living in Berkeley!

For Eric — if you can get to wine country, try the gourmet and vegetarian restaurant Ubuntu in Napa. But really, there are so many restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area that are very serious about being eco-conscious and delicious, that it’s hard to even start listing them. Enjoy your trip!
Milton Alter MD PhD Says:
July 6th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
My street reivals Berkley,compost and all
shaul judelman Says:
January 31st, 2010 at 4:35 am
doesn’t the beit midrash still have the only RAW kiddush in the world?? now that’s somethin!
Hannah Lee Says:
January 31st, 2010 at 10:01 am
I seem to remember (cooked) chickpeas, but it’s been awhile, so someone local has to answer this last comment.