Juliet Ellis

WARNING! Sewage sludge is toxic. Food should not be grown in "biosolids." Join the Food Rights Network.

Juliet Ellis is on the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and also the Board of Directors of the David Brower Center. She "has a Masters of Science in Business Administration with an emphasis in environmental and urban studies from San Francisco State University. Prior to becoming Director for Urban Habitat , Juliet was the Associate Program Officer for Neighborhood and Community Development at The San Francisco Foundation. She was responsible for all aspects of grantmaking in the areas of workforce development, housing, homelessness, economic development, community development, and neighborhood planning.

"Juliet has served on numerous regional and local boards and committees, including the Oakland Homeless and Low-Income Taskforce, the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, the San Francisco School of Volunteers, and the Alameda County Public Health Disparities Taskforce. She currently serves on the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and the Boards and Steering Committee of Transform, the David Brower Center, the Partnership for Working Families, and the White House Environment and Climate Taskforce."

• Director, Green For All
• Former Steering Committee, Bay Area Alliance for Sustainable Communities

Chez Sludge

The Food Rights Network released a major investigative report on July 9, 2010 titled: Chez Sludge: How the Sewage Sludge Industry Bedded Alice Waters. It examines collusion between the Chez Panisse Foundation and the SFPUC based on an extensive open records investigation of the SFPUC internal files. (To view the internal documents see: SFPUC Sludge Controversy Timeline.)

Sewage Sludge to Gardens Controversy

In 2009 and 2010 a major controversy erupted in San Francisco involving Juliet Ellis when the Center for Food Safety and the Organic Consumers Association called on the SFPUC to end its give-away of toxic sewage sludge as 'organic compost' for gardeners.

Resources and articles

• Sarah Phelan, SFPUC shuffle: Powerful commission lies dormant until the mayor can find picks acceptable to the board, San Francisco Bay Guardian, August 6, 2008
• CFS Petitions San Francisco Mayor to Stop Giving Away Poison Compost to Public, Center for Food Safety Website, September 23, 2009.
• Heather Knight, Nonprofit calls PUC's compost toxic sludge, San Francisco Chronicle, September 27, 2009.
• Barry Estabrook, Sludge Fest: Center for Food Safety vs. San Francisco. It’s a battle that may be coming soon to a city near you, Politics of the Plate, November 30, 2009.
• Barry Estabrook, Free Compost--Or Toxic Sludge?, The Atlantic, December 1, 2009.
• Anna Werner, Concern Over SF Compost Made from Sewage Sludge, CBS Channel 5, March 3, 2010.
• Chris Roberts, News Farmers Call PUC's Shit, Will Dump it on City Hall Today, San Francisco Appeal, March 4, 2010.
• What SF calls compost, activists call 'toxic sludge, San Francisco ABC affiliate KGO TV, March 4, 2010.
• Josh Harkinson, A Backlash After San Francisco Labels Sewage Sludge Organic, Mother Jones magazine, March 4, 2010.
• Photo Gallery: Activists Praise Poop, Deliver Dirt to Mayor's Office, SF Appeal, March 4, 2010.
• Evelyn Nieves, Claim: San Francisco giving gardeners toxic sludge, Associated Press in the Boston Globe, March 5, 2010.
• John Upton, The City’s free compost causes stink SF Examiner, March 5, 2010.
• Jill Richardson, Food Sunday: Toxic Sludge as 'Organic Fertilizer', FireDogLake, March 7, 2010.
• John Stauber, Waiter, There Is Toxic Sludge in my Organic Soup!, PRWatch.org, March 16, 2010.
• Brady Welch, Shit show: What has the SFPUC has been dumping in city gardens?, San Francisco Bay Guardian, March 23, 2010.
• Brady Welch, Alice Waters protested for supporting using human waste as compost San Francisco Bay Guardian, March 31, 2010.

Related Sourcewatch articles

• San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
• Francesca Vietor