ECOS will have a table to Sacramento’s Farm-to-Fork Festival on September 23, 2023! If you’re at the event, be sure to stop by our booth to learn more about our Natomas Team and the work they are doing to protect wildlife, habitat, and farmland in Natomas. The ECOS booth will be #533, located in front of 555 Capitol Mall, Sacramento, CA 95814.
Category Archives: ECOS Updates
50th Anniversary Environmentalist of the Year Awards – Call for Nominations
Please join us this year in recognizing our outstanding area environmentalists by nominating a person, group, public servant, business or movement that made a positive impact. Please submit your nomination by entering the information in the form below, or email office[at]ecosacramento[dot]net.
Learn more about the event here.
Envisioning Our Transportation Future: The Renaissance of Stockton Boulevard 9/27/23
Join us for a transformative panel discussion on shaping a sustainable and prosperous future for Stockton Boulevard. This historic corridor, linking East and South Sacramento, is on the brink of unprecedented growth — but its potential is constrained by outdated transportation infrastructure.
Presented by Sacramento Metro Advocates for Rail and Transit (SMART), the event brings together community and business leaders from Stockton Boulevard Partnership, Florin Road Partnership, and Civic Thread, along with a moderator from Sacramento Business Journal. The panel will conclude with an audience Q&A discussion.
Explore innovative strategies to reimagine Stockton Boulevard as a pedestrian-safe haven, boasting cleaner air, accessible transit alternatives and a thriving local economy that uplifts all. We’ll explore bus rapid transit, active transportation enhancements, safety advancements and affordable infill housing.
All are welcome — Free admission
Doors open at 5 p.m.
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/envisioning-our-transportation-future-the-renaissance-of-stockton-blvd-tickets-698720340347
ECOS MTG/Board 10/4/23
SAVE THE DATE!
Wednesday Oct 4, 2023 at 6:00 pm
(This date is a change from Sept 27 to Oct 4, 2023 to accommodate the SMART Stockton Blvd Forum)
6:00 pm Welcome and Introductions
6:10 pm Darwin Moosavi, Deputy Secretary, Environmental Policy and Housing Coordination, California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA)

Darwin Moosavi will speak about CalSTA, our California State Transportation Agency, and its mission and goals. As the lead author of CAPTI, the Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure, published in 2021, Darwin will share with us how CAPTI has changed the nature of the transportation projects that receive discretionary funding from the State — specifically, how they are increasingly aligned with State climate goals. Finally, Darwin will discuss the work of CalSTA to require better coordination between housing and transportation.
This presentation can help inform us as we shape the contents of a November 2024 transportation ballot measure for the Sacramento region.
7:00 Q&A
7:20 ECOS Board Meeting
8:00 Adjourn
Link to join: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/665616415 | To phone in: 669-900-6833, Meeting ID: 665 616 4155
Green Investing
ECOS has received this article from Karsten Kaczmar, an Environmental Impact-Aware Fiduciary Financial Advisor, who attended EOY 2022. We provide it for your information but ECOS makes no endorsement of the author or his services.
My Certified Financial Planner friend swung his arms animatedly, saying “Look, my job is to help my clients make a profit, that’s it! If they want to donate it to causes they believe in, good for them, but my job isn’t to make sure their investments are ecologically responsible.”
I knew I had an uphill battle with this one.
“Okay, we are here to help our clients make the best return they can, but if their investments destroy the planet they’re retiring into, what’s the point?! It’s possible to align their portfolios with their values and still maximize returns, so why not do that instead? That way we’re feeding two birds with one scone.” (I like birds too much metaphorically kill them)
I get into discussions like this from time to time with my financial advisor peers. The issue is that the industry is built so that you won’t notice the harm your investments are really doing, leaving you donating for causes you believe in, but investing in the very companies that contradict those causes.
It’s time to pull back the curtain and reveal what’s really going on with your investments, and how to make sure your retirement and investment funds aren’t erasing the good you’re doing everywhere else. Let’s talk about going green with your money!
The Problem You Aren’t Supposed to Notice-
Here’s the problem in a nutshell: Most investors are invested in “mutual funds” or “exchange trades (or index) funds.” These funds allow investors to own a variety of stocks all at once, like owning a little slice of dozens or sometimes even hundreds of companies, for only the “per share” price of the fund. This is usually a good thing, because it means all your investment eggs aren’t in one basket.
The downside is that if you own a bit of all 500 companies on the S & P 500 index, you don’t just own the ones that are advancing a greener world. In most S & P 500 funds, around 10% of your money is directly invested in big oil, fracking, coal, and fossil fuel manufacturing. Some of the companies you’re probably invested in are: Exxon Mobil, Chevron Corp, ConocoPhillips, Marathon Petroleum, and about 49 more fossil fuel companies as of the time of this writing (see https://www.morningstar.com/etfs/arcx/spy/portfolio for a full breakdown of these holdings). If you’re in the “energy sector” or “value sector?” That percentage is significantly higher.
Having seen over 2,000 portfolios over my years in the industry, I’ve found many clients are investing in companies they would want nothing to do with if they realized that’s where their money was. Most of us are trained that if we invest in the markets, as long as the number goes where we want over time, we’re doing alright. We aren’t trained to request our advisors minimize investment impacts we don’t align with when they invest our money, and advisors aren’t trained to prioritize this either. This is business as usual, and it’s part of why our efforts to build a greener world seem to move so slowly.
Picture this: You are donating 25,000.00 a year of your investment income to ECOS and other organizations committed to fighting climate change. Meanwhile, you have a million dollar investment portfolio. As you use your 25,000.00 of investment income to fight for change, around 250,000.00 of your investment portfolio makes you a personal owner of the very companies doing what you’re fighting against. You’re quite literally using the money your investments made owning fossil fuel companies to fight fossil fuel companies. One of my clients put it this way: “you vote with your dollars, and we had no idea what we were voting for.”
How to Go Green with your Investments
Your financial goals are important, and your financial security matters. You can’t throw away your financial future to avoid your money going into parts of the market you don’t want it in. It’s important to go green in a way that is financially sound, responsible, and can potentially make you comparable or better returns to whatever you’re currently doing. Here are my top 5 tips to do just that:
- Talk to your Financial Advisor, if you work with one
If you have a financial advisor, talk with them about your values and your desire to invest in an environmentally responsible way. They will have the ability to adjust your portfolio to minimize negative environmental impact while still aligning with your investment goals. Specify that you want your entire portfolio aligned, otherwise many advisors will just re-allocate 10% of your holdings into a green fund and call it “good.” Make sure your advisor has done the research on ESG and Impact Aware funds, because there are a few hundred to choose from. If they lack expertise in this area, I recommend… - Look for a Financial Advisor who specializes in ESG or Impact-Aware Investments
Some advisors are passionate about and actually specialize in Environmentally and Socially Conscious Investing, and have put in the time to invest their client’s money in a way that minimizes environmental harm and maximizes positive impact. Find them. Most advisors won’t charge you for an initial consultation/analysis of your current holdings and will be happy to provide you with their recommendations for how to align your financial and ethical goals. - Avoid “Greenwashing”
Even when I was working with one of the largest, most successful investment firms in the world, I discovered that their “environmentally aware” investments were nearly as exposed to fossil fuels and deforestation as their standard investments. Just because an investment says “Green” or “ESG” doesn’t mean it is. This is known as “greenwashing” in my industry, and I see it everywhere. If you want to avoid greenwashing, I recommend… - Use publicly available websites or paid reports to research your investments
There are some great publicly available websites that provide independent environmental and social justice research on stocks, bonds, ETFs and mutual funds. Some even provide a letter-grade rating as to how negative or positive an impact a particular investment has in various areas, such as global warming, deforestation, gender equality or weapons manufacturing. You can also pay for more extensive research, or pay an advisor like myself to provide you with that same research if you want to save some time and headaches. - Divest and Reinvest–Carefully
Now that you know the impact of your current investments, and you have alternatives to switch to, you’ll want to sell the things that don’t align with your values, and buy the investments that do. A good financial advisor will do all this for you, but if you are going to do it yourself here are some things to keep aware of: First, pay attention to short vs long term gains, meaning think about if what you’re selling is going to bite you from a tax perspective. Next, make sure you aren’t drastically changing the risk of your investments. Some investments aren’t as actively traded, presenting liquidity risks, or they invest in more risky companies. Even if it looks good on paper, you could be getting into a mess by buying it. Also, make sure you aren’t over-investing in one particular sector of the market, or falling victim to greenwashing.
Follow these five tips, and you’ll be on your way to investments you can be proud of. By aligning your investments and your activism, you can be confident that the largest portion of your money is working in tandem with what you care about, not against it.
Redesigning your investments can be daunting, but it’s worth it. By shifting how we invest, we shift the very flow of capitalism itself. We tell the world Economies that we’re putting our money where our mouth is, refusing to fund with one hand what we fight with the other. Millions have already switched to impact-aware investing, and we are already seeing a few big oil companies change to more green policies in response to the green investing movement. You’ve gone green in other areas, now it’s time to go green in the area that might just have the greatest impact of all.
Karsten Kaczmar is an Environmental Impact-Aware Fiduciary Financial Advisor with Vantage Financial Group, based in Auburn California. He helps clients across the US invest in a way that aligns their financial goals with the values they most care about. He is on a mission to transform the face of capitalism, bringing liberation to marginalized communities and healing to the planet itself through green and socially conscious investing. For more information, find him at realhopeadvisors.com.
All content is for information purposes only. It is not intended to provide any tax or legal advice or provide the basis for any financial decisions. Nor is it intended to be a projection of current or future performance or indication or future results. Opinions expressed herein are solely those of Karsten Kaczmar. The information contained in this material has been derived from sources believed to be reliable but is not guaranteed as to accuracy and completeness and does not purport to be a complete analysis of the materials discussed. All information and ideas should be discussed in detail with your individual adviser prior to implementation. Advisory services are offered by Vantage Financial Group, an Investment Advisor in the State of California. Being registered as an investment adviser does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Purchases are subject to suitability. This requires a review of an investor’s objective, risk tolerance, and time horizons. Investing always involves risk and possible loss of capital.
Press Release: ECOS launches campaign to save wildlife habitat and farmland in Natomas
September 11, 2023
“We think the annual Farm to Fork month, with so many people celebrating the locally grown food in the region, is a perfect time to highlight how important farms are to people and wildlife.” stated Heather Fargo, former Mayor of Sacramento and lead of the Natomas Campaign for the Environmental Council of Sacramento (ECOS).
ECOS is calling on the public to protect Natomas open space and embarking on a major campaign to educate the community about how important the Natomas farmlands and open space are to wildlife in our region and beyond. Natomas is a special place; it is a vital part of the Pacific Flyway and home to 22 protected species, in addition to providing food for our region and the world.
The Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan was established in 1997 to ensure the basin’s natural resources are not lost with the growth of the Natomas community. Unfortunately, loss of these resources is likely to happen because of proposed residential and industrial development projects covering more than 8,200 acres of land intended to remain in agriculture.
The first of those projects is the Airport South Industrial Project, a 450-acre warehouse district proposed for land south of I-5 and adjacent to the West Lake neighborhood in North Natomas. If approved, it would put over 6 million square feet of warehouses on foraging habitat for the endangered Swainson’s Hawk.
“ECOS wants Sacramento to remember the value of open space and farmland as a way to support wildlife and combat climate change. We Sacramentans have a role in protecting one of the Earth’s biodiversity hotspots,” said Fargo.

A new message is on display on a digital billboard along I-5 in downtown Sacramento. It has a simple message – save Sacramento’s wildlife habitat and farmland.
Targeted to those who enjoy the local dining experience offered in the city, it simply says, ““There’s no Farm to Fork without farms” and “Natomas farmlands feed people and wildlife”.
The billboard is timed to coincide with the annual Farm to Fork Festival that includes the Tower Bridge dinner and the street festival on Capital Mall on Sept 22-23.
The billboard kicks off a major new campaign by ECOS, continuing its 50 years of efforts to protect the environment.
“The establishment of the Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan was important for regional sustainability thirty years ago. Now with climate change, it is essential that we stop sprawl and protect biodiversity in this area. The NBHCP provided for development on 17, 500 acres, and the proposed projects are outside of that,” said Susan Herre AIA AICP, President of the ECOS Board of Directors.
ECOS is partnering with Sierra Club, Habitat 2020, Audubon Society, Friends of the Swainson’s Hawk and California Native Plant Society.
Map of the Natomas Basin The proposed projects are in red and are labelled.

More information is available on the ECOS website – https://www.ecosacramento.net/
Contacts: Heather Fargo, former Mayor of Sacramento, ECOS Natomas Team Lead: h-fargo[at]comcast[dot]net, (916) 600-6615; and Susan Herre, President of ECOS Board, susanherre[at]gmail[dot]com
The ECOS Mission: Our mission is to achieve regional sustainability, livable communities, environmental justice, and a healthy environment and economy for existing and future residents. ECOS strives to bring positive change to the Sacramento region by proactively working with the individual and organizational members of ECOS, neighborhood groups, and local and regional governments.