Public health and climate change go hand in hand. Environmental hazards lead to more than 12 million deaths around the world every year. About 8 in 10 adults in California say climate change is a top concern for them. Sustainable practices can seem daunting and intimidating. Many people want to help but don’t know where to start. The Camarillo Public Library is an ideal setting to host discussions and workshops on sustainability since it is seen as an impartial broker of information. To ensure long-term success of sustainable practices, the Library hosted community programs led by local experts.

Programming focused on ways in which small steps create big impacts. From January - June 2023, the Library featured a different sustainability topic each month. We also tied sustainable topics to promoting healthy eating by offering workshops that focused on vegetarian cooking and gardening basics. Library staff worked with city and community partners to provide programming on these topics.

Over a period of 6 months we provided 14 interactive workshops that reached over 313 participants. Workshops were tailored to children, teens and adults and included author visits, local chefs, kidSTREAM, nonprofit groups and CSUCI. While the Library was successful in offering several workshops for the public, staff wanted to “walk the walk” and work on a community project focused on sustainability and community service. For All Staff Day, the Library partnered with Food Share in Ventura County, which provides quality sources of nutrition such as fresh fruits, vegetables and protein to those in need. Staff spent the morning harvesting over 5,690 pounds of lettuce from a local farm to give to people facing hunger. Library staff are very familiar with helping people connect to resources such as books and materials. Joining a local harvest was an incredible opportunity for us to come together as a team and engage the community in a new way by providing help to those who face hunger.

Community members were asked to participate in a survey after each sustainability workshop. Eighty-two people responded: 97% agreed or strongly agreed that they learned something from the activity; 98% agreed or strongly agreed that they are more confident about what they learned; 93% agreed or strongly agreed to apply what they learned. The Library was successful in attracting new people to sustainable workshops: nearly 33% of respondents had never attended a library program before. Community partners were critical for the program's success. The most highly attended events resulted from cross-promotion. While we have a strong ongoing partnership with the City of Camarillo, we welcomed the chance to collaborate with the following organizations:

• Food Share Ventura County
• Ventura County Master Gardeners
• Camarillo’s Farmer’s MarketRecycle2Riches (nonprofit organization that focuses on upcycling)
• kidSTREAM (local children’s museum)
• California State University Channel Islands (CSUCI)