Sustainable Systems Research Foundation
Image designed by Lauren Reed
Live stream (beginning at 7 PM PST): tinyurl.com/4ume4xvu
“Designing and building a sustainable and just civilization…through pragmatic, well-designed, replicable, and scalable implementation of sustainable systems policy, education, research, and infrastructure”
The Sustainable Systems Research Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit green think tank and eco-project incubator for the Monterey Bay Area and Central Coast of California.
SSRF seeks to create a sustainable Central California Coast through local, participatory community development of sustainable systems and practices.
SSRF develops active collaborations with organizations, public agencies, funders, donors and small private companies that share our interests and goals.
Our philosophy is that the best form of activism is that which benefits the community, is reproducible, scalable and easily adopted and adapted to other places.
Our projects and programs go beyond vision to actual deployment–to function as models that can be replicated in other cities in California, the United States and the World.
Click on the headings above or the projects in the sidebar to learn more.
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NEW(S) from SSRF
Regeneration—Latina Alliance for Agroecology and Food Systems/Regeneración – Alianza Latine en Agroecología y el Sistema Alimentari is a startup fiscally sponsored by SSRF that serves both rural and urban Latine farmers and Latine agricultural professionals in California providing technical assistance (business, financial, food safety, pest management, crop planning, soil health improvement, irrigation, etc.) and service providers (advocates, educators, on-farm staff, cooperative extension specialists and small farm advisors, federal or state government agencies that work with small farmers, and any other professionals throughout the supply chain.) You can learn more about RegenerationLA here.
Regenerative Farming Workshops: From 2021-24, SSRF and RegenerationLA conducted three years of regenerative agriculture and technical assistance workshops for about 50 Latine operators of small farms across the California Central Coast. SSRF conducted a third round of Regenerative Agriculture workshops for 2023-24. With the support of USDA and the California Department of Food and Agriculture, these Spanish and English hands-on workshops on management skills, regenerative agriculture, and agricultural technologies and practices for small farm operators in Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, Monterey and San Benito Counties. SSRF & Regeneration LA have received funding from USDA to conduct another round of workshops in 2026-29. The workshops are held at Paicines Ranch south of Hollister, California and on Rancho Coyote Viejo, a RegenerationLA pilot land access and demonstration farm that is part of Paicines Ranch
Marigold Collective: Cultivating Tradition, Community, and the Land/ Colectivo Cempoalxochitl: Cultivando Tradición, Comunidad y la Tierra. Regeneration is developing the Ancestral Crop Program, a cultural agriculture and agrotourism program centered on the promotion of Mexican food and agricultural traditions. The program supports farmers in growing culturally significant crops while creating educational, seasonal, and market based opportunities for the broader community. The Marigold Collective supports small-scale, organic Latine marigold growers in San Benito Monterey and Santa Cruz counties. See the Events page on RegenerationLA’s web site.
Join the Movement to Create a Sustainable Energy Utility in Santa Cruz! SSRF is launching a campaign to create a sustainable energy municipal utility in the City of Santa Cruz with the authority to build community energy systems and distribute power to interested customers. A more detailed description can be found here.
Older Projects & Other news
Protecting Soil and Water Quality with Compost Applications on Small Latine-operated farms on the California Central Coast Our latest project, funded by the Central California Coast Water Quality Control Board and the Rose Foundation, seeks to measure and monitor nitrate leaching into groundwater after the application of compost. Read the project proposal here and the final report here.
Resources on the “Solar Cost-Shift” Debate
Resources on Community Solar & Renewable Energy Strategies
Housing: Maybe It’s Time to Revisit ADUs
Community Solar Strategies is an on-line discussion and action group seeking to “move the noodle forward” on community and distributed energy resources in California. The California Public Utilities Commission and the state’s investor owned utilities are making the deployment of independent microgrids and community energy systems difficult, if not impossible. This group is developing strategies and tactics for getting around those obstacles. Calls take place every 2-3 weeks. If you’d like to join, please email to sustainablesystemsresearch@gmail.com. Resources and records can be found at https://drive.google.com/drive/u/3/folders/1TcajVYupAP88MSWbmBRC6IUjGqJo4M6C (the page is open access)
Solar Dividends: Solar energy can convert a temporary guaranteed income pilot program into a permanent program. Tune into this webinar to hear more from Robert Stayton and the Sustainable Systems Research Foundation. Video here: https://youtu.be/4KaoFCN6u0c; Audio here: https://tinyurl.com/bdhrf3ua; Transcript here: https://tinyurl.com/m886jhcw
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