We are consuming too much stuff. Wasteful disposables create environmental and health costs at every step in their lifecycle, from raw materials extraction to manufacture, transport and disposal. The impacts range from oil spills and deforestation, to energy and water use, pesticide use, soil depletion, water and air pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.  

Manufacturing products with less toxic materials and promoting the development of "green chemistry" can not only protect our communities, workers, and ecosystems, but can actually save businesses money, increase efficiency, reduce liability, and give them a competitive advantage as other parts of the world regulate the use of toxic materials.

As California enters its third consecutive dry year, water conservation is a popular topic - television, newspapers, billboards, and radio messages are telling us to conserve water because of the drought.

Clean Water Action agrees that we should practice additional conservation during times of drought. But California's is a dry climate that is expected to become dryer still as the impacts of climate change intensify. This drought gives us an opportunity to rethink our attitudes about and our overall use of water.

Most communities rely on groundwater for their drinking water supply. Throughout the Valley, extensive and ancient groundwater deposits are being depleted and contaminated with runoff from farms, food processing plants, sewage systems. In addition, naturally occurring contaminants like arsenic, manganese, and uranium also contaminate groundwater as a result of wasteful irrigation practices of agricultural operations.

The exploding use of pesticides and synthetic fertilizer in post World War II agriculture generated an agricultural boom in California and throughout the US. Today seven of the top ten agricultural counties in the US are located in California and in 2010, California agriculture generated $37.5 billion in sales.