The Mono Lake Committee has just taken another huge step in our efforts to reduce our ecological footprint.

Isabel, Jim, and TJ from Sierra Solar install panels on the roof of the Committee's Information Center & Bookstore. Photo by Bartshe Miller.

The south-facing roof of our bookstore building is now completely covered with 33 photovoltaic solar panels, bringing our total solar panel count up to 42. Local business Sierra Solar installed panels on our “ice house” office building in 2010 and came back to complete the solar energy transformation. Committee buildings are now completely maxed out on solar panel surface area and are well on their way to becoming (more…)

As the first splotches of yellow begin to appear in the aspen groves of Lundy Canyon, the time has come for many of us to think about the future. Many interns who spend a summer working for the Mono Lake Committee eventually return to the basin—working either for the Committee or the Park Service or another conservation group. Some interns never leave, and instead slip first into winter seasonal work and then eventually into new roles as their knowledge and skill set grow.

It takes a 16,000-member, 20-staff village to save Mono Lake. Photo by Arya Degenhardt.

But what about those of us who are headed off to other jobs and divergent paths this fall, and who may return only as visitors: what has a summer in the Sierra meant to us? (more…)

Articulating one’s core values isn’t simple. Committee staff have been discussing values by filling in the simple phrase “I believe ______” For example: “I believe that the algae, brine shrimp, alkali flies, and birds are important. ” I believe that both the planet and the people on it need places like Mono Lake.” “I believe in saving places like Mono Lake for my children’s children.”

A simple truth emerged quickly from this exercise: we all love Mono Lake. Because we’re always thinking in terms of watersheds and ecosystems, loving Mono Lake means from the headwaters to the lake-bottom, including the tributary streams. (more…)