Creating art from waste is one way artists channel their inner activist, and Marin-based artist Tess Felix uses her pieces to bring attention to the plastic pollution crisis that has a choke-hold on our oceans. Recently featured at the de Young Open, her works capture her subject’s character with thousands of pieces of marine debris, collected by hand at Marin beaches, and layered and pasted on oil painted canvas with glue. Portraits in her Eco (Ocean) Hero Series include those of personal friends, commission pieces, and notable ocean advocates like Jack Johnson and Kelly Slater. Growing up be ..read more

As an environmentally-conscious county, a lot of Marinites have electrified their transport. Here are a few things to celebrate, and be aware of, when it comes to going electric. Marin County Tops EV usage This past March, the Bay Area became the first major metro area to have EVs or hybrids comprise half of new car registrations, and (drumroll, please) Marin County took the top spot. Among all large U.S. counties, Marin netted 1,942 EV miles per 1,000 residents. The data, from mobility analytics platform Replica, is based on anonymized mobile device info, roadside sensors, transit agencies a ..read more

We know all about cities because they’re basically built on the same model. When they’re small, they’re like villages of small farms, with residents living in houses that are smaller than their barns. If they’re near water, they can develop commerce, and import and export products. When their population increases and the city expands to fill the available space, the city grows vertically. The rich will live on high floors, with good views; the poor will live in their shadow. At some point, roads will be paved and horses will give way to cars. There will be congestion and pollution. People will ..read more

Passionate about driving change, Janelle Kellman has spent her life addressing critical issues associated with climate change. After receiving an undergraduate degree in history from Yale, a master’s in environmental management from Oxford and a law degree from Stanford (all while playing Division I sports), Kellman began her career as an environmental attorney working across public and private practices. In addition to her accomplishments in the legal profession, Kellman launched a technology startup and now runs a global nonprofit focused on coastal resilience and ocean health and advises ea ..read more

If you’re committed to healthy cooking, then it’s time to ditch that gas-powered stovetop. A recent study, conducted in 159 homes across California (including some served by PG&E) discovered that gas appliances leak gas even when turned off, and that the leaked natural gas contains hazardous air pollutants, including benzene — a cancer-causing chemical with no “safe” limit of exposure — as well as unhealthy levels of nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and formaldehyde.  The discovery of benzene in the samples was particularly alarming to researchers because benzene causes human cells ..read more

Takeout can be fast, easy, and delicious… but the packaging! Some of it will last for centuries after being used for just a day or two at most, some of it looks like compostable cardboard but has plastic lining, and some plastic-looking items claim to be “compostable” but aren’t. These guidelines will help Marin people sort takeout trash and spot the most sustainably packaged takeout options in Marin. The first thing to know is that polystyrene packaging can’t ever be recycled and is banned in Marin County and the cities of San Rafael, Mill Valley, Novato, Fairfax, and Sausalito.  Sushi ..read more

As spring nears, newborn seal pups start appearing on our shores, whether it’s mammoth, saucer-eyed northern elephant seal babies or roly-poly, spotted Pacific harbor seal pups. Luckily, Marin is home to The Marine Mammal Center, which rescues and rehabilitates these seals so they can be returned to the wild. Elephant seal pups, which are born earlier in the year, had a rough start with the intense storms that have been hitting our coastlines. While elephant seal babies are still being born, now it’s the season for harbor seals pups, and they will continue show up on our beaches throughout the ..read more

If you’ve been considering investing in solar power, wait no further! What better way to harness the hot Marin summers than by cutting your energy bill and helping the environment? The 2023 readers’ choice Best of the County winner is SolarCraft (pictured above). For the rest of the Marin Magazine‘s Best of Marin County Solar Service picks see below. Our 2023 Home & Design category sponsor is Headlands Preparatory School. We’ve broken it down by region: Central and Northern Marin. Central | Northern  Central Marin Pac Solar Corporation San Rafael Established in 2013, this fami ..read more

Hey Marin, Hunter Pence is stepping up to the plate again. Only, this time at bat, he’s making a play to help the environment with his new nonprofit foundation, Healthy Planet Project. The organization has already held community events to clean up the Bay and San Francisco, plant trees and educate people about creating a healthier environment — now it’s coming to Marin. After his retirement in 2020, Pence knew that helping preserve and protect the environment was going to be part of the next chapter of his life and career, and founded the Healthy Planet Project with his wife, Alexis.  A ..read more

Salmon are one of the most remarkable and resilient fish on the planet — living between ocean and land. After three years of fattening up in their Northeast Pacific feeding grounds, the Central Valley’s spring-run Chinook (or King salmon) are returning to their natal spawning grounds in the Sacramento and San Joaquin River systems. Unfortunately, this year’s salmon count shows signs of collapse. Like most iconic populations south of Alaska, Pacific salmon are facing an extinction crisis. It raises the question of how we can better support our greater wild salmon watersheds. The answer may lie ..read more