THE ECOLOGY CENTER

The Ecology Center is a nonprofit organization that aims to serve as Orange County's premier eco-educational learning center and is driven to inspire and educate people across Southern California communities in the areas of environmental sustainability and stewardship. By providing hands-on activities, quarterly exhibits, on-site demonstrations and informational seminars promoting practical and ecologically sound solutions for the household and community.

The Ecology Center is located at South Coast Farms in the suburb of San Juan Capistrano and seeks to create a healthy and thriving environment where clean air, water and power are economically, ecologically and elegantly enjoyed. And with its rich cultural heritage and agricultural tradition, it's no wonder that The Ecology Center has upheld its credibility as the ultimate local, one-stop resource committed to proactively solving some of today's most pressing environmental problems.

OUR WORK PLAN

The Ecology Center supports a revolutionary approach to the redesign of our community based on the conviction that thoughtful design, mirroring the safe, regenerative productivity of nature, can create an industry that is sustaining, not just sustainable. Such a system, modeled on the natural world's abundant creativity, can solve rather than alleviate the problems industry currently creates, allowing both business and nature to thrive and grow.

Our plan includes:

• Educating and contextualizing current human behaviors to their environmental impacts

• Engaging and advocating sustainable human actions

• Working as a community to find solutions to sustainable living

• Implementing sustainable human behaviors to transform our community

• Imagining an industrial system that:

• Purifies air, water and soil

• Retains valuable materials for perpetual, productive reuse

• Measures prosperity by natural capital productively accrued

• Requires no regulation

• Creates positive emissions

• Celebrates an abundance of cultural and biological diversity

• Enhances nature's capacity to thrive

• Grows health, wealth, and useful resources

• Generates value and opportunity for all stakeholders

OUR FOUNDER

Ever since the native Californian joined the Surfrider Foundation back in high school, Evan Marks' life-long career as an environmentalist was already underway. Through this participation, Marks was convinced that people had the ability to directly impact the environment by taking matters into their own hands.

He continued his advocacy while attending the University of California, Santa Cruz where he studied Agroecology - the study of sustainable agriculture - with the goal of transforming modern agriculture through integrated organic systems management. Having worked extensively in California and Hawaii and internationally in Costa Rica, Peru, Mexico, Ghana and Nigeria, Marks acquired personal hands-on experience in the fields of ecological design and sustainable agriculture.

In 2008, Marks was given the opportunity to bring environmental education and awareness to Southern California with the development of The Ecology Center at South Coast Farms. Hoping to transform the facility as the regional hub for sustainability and green living, Marks and volunteers of The Ecology Center are actively recruiting members in hopes of promoting eco-consciousness across San Juan Capistrano and its neighboring communities.

With the unyielding support of the City of San Juan Capistrano and a highly qualified board of directors including: Harry Helling, Christopher Keys, Jorden Segraves, Roian Atwood, Laura Freese, Ken Friess, Azmin Ghahreman, Samantha Hoffman, Max Isles, Bruce Matsui, Vicki Marks, Ziad Mazboudi, Rebecca Noble, Kate Roberts, Jamie Welsh, The Ecology Center will draw from its rich history as a motivating factor to further secure a healthy and sustainable environment for generations to come.

OUR HOME

Perched in the middle of farm fields even today, the Congdon House on Alipaz Street has seen a lot of firsts in its 130-year history. Built in 1878, it is the oldest wooden structure in San Juan Capistrano.

When Pony Express Rider Joel Congdon built his family home in 1878, it was one of the first wooden houses in town. The two-story Victorian sat on square blocks taken from the rubble of the Great Stone Church at the Mission, with walls of redwood from Northern California, held together by square iron nails, shipped from San Francisco.

In 1887, Congdon planted Orange County's first walnut grove around the house, beginning an agricultural tradition that would continue with the succession of families that have lived there since. In 1991, the city bought the Congdon House as part of the open-space bond purchase, preserving an essential piece of San Juan Capistrano's heritage.

Now, with the support of South Coast Farms, the Congdon House continues to tell its story. Having witnessed more than 130 years of social, agricultural, and environmental change, it presents the perfect venue for an exploration of the links between past, present, and future. At the same time, as one of the oldest standing embodiments of the past, it serves to remind us that we must act today to rejuvenate the environment for the generations to follow.