On September 9, 1991, Mark Green knocked on his first door in Windsor.

Sonoma County Conservation Action had no long track record. No newsletter. No political report card. In fact, neither of those things existed yet. What Mark had was an idea, a clipboard, and a promise that SCCA was going to become a powerful grassroots voice for Sonoma County’s environment.

And at that very first door, a resident wrote him a check for $25.

Or maybe it was $36. The exact amount has gotten a little fuzzy over 35 years.

The important part is this: it worked.

That first check was an investment in something that barely existed, and turned out to have remarkable staying power.

The idea had begun a year earlier, when Green, then an organizer with the California League of Conservation Voters, proposed building a countywide door-to-door environmental organizing operation. Sonoma County conservation legend Bill Kortum helped bring together local environmental leaders, seed money was raised, and Green became SCCA’s first executive director. By 1991, canvassers were on the streets. SCCA’s operation would grow to reach more than 60,000 Sonoma County households a year.

Thirty-five years later, we can say this with some confidence: that was a pretty good idea.

SCCA has spent three and a half decades doing environmental organizing the old-fashioned way, one conversation, one neighbor and one doorstep at a time. Along the way, SCCA has worked on limiting wastewater discharge into the Russian River, opposing privatization of Petaluma’s sewer plant, establishing Urban Growth Boundaries, advancing vineyard development regulations, winning the Parks for All campaign, and spending more than a decade organizing in support of the SMART rail project.

SCCA also built something less visible but every bit as important: a durable grassroots environmental constituency. Election after election, the organization has interviewed candidates, published endorsements and report cards, mobilized residents and participated in local campaigns around environmental issues. Its organizing model has remained remarkably consistent since 1991: talk to people directly, give them good information, ask them to act, and hold decision-makers accountable.

Today that work ranges from forests, open space and clean water to climate, toxic chemicals, synthetic turf and emerging environmental threats. The issues change. The basic idea hasn’t.

It started with Bill Kortum and a handful of determined environmentalists. It started with Mark Green knocking on one door in Windsor and asking a stranger to believe in a newsletter and report card that did not yet exist.

Thirty-five years, tens of thousands of doors, countless campaigns and a greener Sonoma County later, we think we’ve made good on the promise.

Happy 35th Birthday, SCCA.

Not bad for a $25 check.

Or $36.