Just before Gore was to receive the 2007 Santa Barbara International Film Festival Attenborough Award for his documentary film “An Inconvenient Truth,” I interviewed him for “Discover Lompoc,” the TAP TV program that I produce and host for the city. Check out the interview on streaming video at cityoflompoc. com (Episode 10).

Within a few weeks of our interview, Gore’s film also won two Oscars for Best Documentary and Best Original Song and within a few months, he won the Nobel Peace Prize for “creating an ever-broader informed consensus about the connection between human activities and global warming.”

During my interview with Gore, I realized that the City of Lompoc was a model for municipal green practices because it had been on the vanguard of the green movement before it was cool. In his article, City Administrator Gary P. Keefe gives a 120-year retrospective of the city’s history of green standard operating procedures, written with 32 years of experience working toward that end.

Be sure to check out Current City Projects, which may surprise you with several new green projects “in the works.” The Green City Directory provides a comprehensive list of useful resources and Green Education highlights the city’s community outreach programs. City Conservation Coordinator Mary Kammer also writes about green landscaping and various assistance programs.

Lompoc Valley resident Chanda Hagan tells the story of Clos Pepe’s green vineyard practice of farming with miniature sheep. From Clos Pepe Vineyard, which received the Santa Barbara County Green Award for best practices, to Presidio Vineyard, which is currently the only certified biodynamic vineyard in the county, Lompoc Valley contributes to the county’s outstanding green reputation.

Other feature articles illustrate green practices across the valley: Catherine Gallegos describes a straw bale home constructed in Cebada Canyon; Randall Shulman discusses current and proposed local renewable energy sources, such as geothermal, solar and wind; and Wesley Carter updates us on what Vandenberg Air Force Base is doing to go green.

In doing research for this issue, I learned of several green resources that I am already taking advantage of. My favorite is the Earth Machine compost kit, which the city sells for only $14. What a deal! I recommend you get one and begin to enrich our earth by recycling compostable material and diverting waste from landfills.