If the Green Guide magazine is too big a dose of green for you, maybe bpm (beats per minute) magazine's
more your style. Each issue of this "music.tech.nightlife.style"
magazine's got a sizable green section on the back that reports on
everything green and now, thanks to a collaboration with green
lifestyle site The G Living Network.
bpm brings pop culture together with environmentalism. There's an
article about Shepard Fairey of "Obey Giant" fame, making The 11th Hour
posters. There's a feature on green L.A. gallery Eco-Logical Art.
TempoHousing, stackable little homes, gets an article too, as do Illy
insta-cafes made entirely from recycled materials.
Tightwads might not like bpm, because -- sort of like Wired -- the magazine
reports on the newest goods and gadgets -- which tend to be higher-end,
design-oriented, pricy stuff as opposed to more quotidian, practical
green goods. In many ways, bpm and gliving are about exposing
eco-potentialities as opposed to giving DIY eco-advice.
Some articles are really more about popular stuff with a barely-green slant. A few issues
ago, Avalon Hollywood was featured as a music venue going green, but
really, Avalon was making only the teensiest steps: recycling, using 25%
recycled paper, and switching to CFLs -- after each incandescents burns
out. And in the latest
issue, a blurb about Blackle -- a website that's basically the Google homepage turned black -- doesn't include the fact that the black screens only save energy on old CRT computer screens.
Still, the mag's generally a fun, informative read -- and available for free reading online!
The current issue includes a review of MOMA's pre-fab exhibit and a
feature on the newest and coolest bikes. Check it out for yourself.
Question: Would you know if LA pursued the Earth Hour?
I know I turned of my lights, but being green seems not popular in LA.... I went to Mulholland Drive and saw no dimming at 8 pm. L.A. was as bright as usual. Very few city buildings have CFLs and solar panels in general.
So why is the LAT, a pretty liberal paper, not talking about earth hour at least (besides your blog)? Must we accuse once again the bad influence of our shameful Mayor? Ed
Answer: Cheer up, Ed. It's true that L.A. perhaps burned a little too brightly during Earth Hour on Saturday, but it may simply be that we've got a little burnout on the lights out thing.
After all, just five months ago we had Lights Out LA, which urged everyone to turn out their lights from 8 - 9 pm on Oct. 20. The city of L.A., led by Supervisor Yvonne Burke and City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, got behind that lights-out movement. You'll be glad to know that the L.A. Times -- the print paper, not only this blog -- DID cover this city effort back then.
Considering the fact that Earth Hour basically just repeated what Lights Out L.A. did, I'm not surprised that this deja vu didn't get as much attention in the city this time around.
That said, many people -- including both you and I, celebrated Earth Hour and turned the lights out. Great thing about grassroots actions: Government involvement's nice, but not a pre-requisite. In fact, I'm sure if both you and I worked a little more to get the word out, we could've gotten more people to turn their lights out. I'll admit I made no effort as a Santa Monica resident to get my city to sign on to Earth Hour. If I and my neighbors and friends had pushed for it, it could've happened!
Lastly: These lights out events are gonna keep happening, so even if you as an individual or your city as a whole missed the last few, you can take part in the next ones. Rufus Wainwright, for example, is calling for a blackoutsabbath from noon to midnight on June 21. "The time could be spent contemplating alone or with friends on the coming year and what personally one can do to save the planet," he says, in his call to turn off not just the lights, but all electronics for 12 hours!
If all electronics for 12 hours seems like too much, Earth Hour 2009's already taking signups. So there's a challenge you can look forward to -- and perhaps write
your councilmember about, if you're keen on city involvement.
Remember -- If you want your city to do something, you as a resident need to ask them to do that thing. I'll definitely try to get the City of Santa Monica to sign on to Earth Hour next year. Will you do the same for the City of L.A.?
>> San Francisco gets strong green building standards. "Potential homes and offices will be rated on measures including the quality of insulation and the amount of recycled materials used in their construction. Only projects that score enough points will be allowed to go ahead."
Here the shopping ranges from the practical to the purely aesthetic. You can find lamps made from eco-friendly materials, gorgeous sustainably-made tables, candlesticks, eco-friendly kitchenware, and much more.
And by the register are the cutest mini-garden tools -- the cute little items you just have to plant and water -- or even just water -- to get herbs to grow.
I love the handcrafted, one-of-a-kind goods made with recycled materials on Etsy, but to find the good stuff, you usually have to slog through all the crunchy-looking duds. But at Reform School, a cute little eco-store in Silver Lake, the owners have doe the hand-selection for you, collecting together all the artsy, whimsical, pretty eco gems that don't look like the product of a sad home ec project.
Plush pillows are made of everything from organic cotton to reused car seat belts. Journals, calendars, and cards are made with recycled paper -- and look pretty too. Shoes made of recycled materials are all the rage -- including cute teensy shoes for tots.
Find all sorts of green books, from Slow Food Nation to Myspace / Our Planet. Reform School also seems to have a soft spot for recent TED prize winner Dave Eggers' press McSweeney's; you can pick up the latest edition of The Believer or artsy tomes by David Byrne.
You'll find lots of DIY books too, to instruct you on guerilla gardening, guerilla art, and pretty much any type of eco-related guerilla activity.
Reform School's also a one-stop-shop for chic home decorations. Eco-friendly candlesticks, paintings, drawings, and mobiles are all ready for you to take home and get compliments about at your next house party.
I got myself a mousepad, made by Remarkable from a recycled car tire! My mouse feels v. eco atop it now.
Reform School. 4014 Santa Monica Blvd. Los Angeles. (323) 906-8660.
>> California electric car company ZAP has been promising but failing to deliver green cars, leaving would-be ZAP car dealers financially ruined while making, according to Wired magazine . "[ZAP chair] Gary Starr and [CEO] Steve Schneider have likely done more damage to the EV industry than Detroit and the Japanese combined," [former ZAP employee] Scheder-Bieschin says. "And the failure of this industry to thrive has affected everything from global warming to the war on terror. How do you put a price on that?"
>> Global warming causes aggravated allergies -- which explains why I've been so sniffly lately. Live Science has the "Top 10 Surprising Results of Global Warming," which includes speedier satellites and growing mountains. (via Low Impact Living)
>> Organic onion rings taste best. LA Weekly's Pulitzer-prize winning food critic Jonathan Gold says eco-conscious restaurant Akasha serves "what are probably the best onion rings in town."
Green advice givers are all talking about diapers this week. Both Slate's Green Lantern and Salon's Pablo tackle the subject -- and give conflicting advice.
The Lantern says that cloth diapers are greener -- but that he uses disposables themselves due to time management issues, and will consider switching to cloth or flushable gDiapers later on.
Pablo too says cloth diapers are greener -- but is not so keen on the gDiapers -- and recommends diaper services that'll launder the dirty diapers for you.
In an earlier column, Umbra of Grist concluded that "the disposable vs. reusable diaper fight is in a stalemate for the foreseeable future," and suggests diaperless parenting -- an option Pablo deems impractical.
I'm more psyched than ever that I don't have to deal with diaper issues, but having read all these diaper articles in detail, Pablo's option sounds like the most practical green option, assuming you can afford a diaper washing service -- something you likely can do if you can afford to buy disposable diapers at a buck a pop.
Any green parents got more practical advice or stories?
>> Cute polar bear Knut's a psychopath.
"Knut is a combination of abused child-soldier and abused child-star --
treated as a useful spectacle, with too little regard for his long-term
psychological well-being."
Flore Vegan Cuisine's been on my list of restaurants to try for a long while. Vegan, organic, and -- according to other people'sblog reviews -- very yummy. The one problem: Flore's all the way in Silver Lake -- which is practically a different country from Santa Monica, where I live.
But on Wednesday, I braved the traffic -- and was rewarded with a tasty quinoa tabouli wrap (above), served with a side of fruit (you can also opt for a potato or side salad). With it, I sipped an organic juice concoction called "Refresh" -- mainly fresh carrot juice with a healthy kick of ginger.
Everything at Flore's organic and vegan, including the Intelligentsia Coffee, Frontier Tea, kombucha, and organic cola. The Silver Lake crowd seems to love Flore; most tables were full at 4 pm on a Wednesday. The outdoor seating can get a tad noisy from the heavy traffic on Sunset, but it's not so loud that you can't hold a good conversation.
I'm going to try one of the decadent desserts the next time I go back -- though considering the fact that the drive took me 1.5 hours in midday traffic, I might have to wait until L.A. gets a full rail system....
Question: Hi. I am trying to figure out if Los Angeles accepts compostable food scraps in its green bins. I gather from it's website it does not, but i am hoping, perhaps, it is out of date?? Thanks, Tracy
Answer: Yes, you can put food scraps in the green bins -- as long as they come from fruits, veggies, and grains. Don't put any food scraps that contain animal products, even if it's just milk, eggs, or cheese. Your green bin's vegan!
Other things that can go in your green bin: grass, leaves, weeds, tree branches, and clean wood (no nails, etc.).
Unfortunately, compostable food containers, bags, and forks that look like their plastic counterparts cannot go into the green bin, as our composting facilities are not set up to handle these newfangled disposables. Paul Gomez in the L.A. Department of Public Works says plastic-like compostables still need to go in the black bin, though the city is "looking at various aspects" to change that in the future.
>> A vegan map of Los Angeles (PDF). See where the vegan, vegan-friendly, and raw vegan restaurants are on one handy map.
>> Crescent Heights Blvd.'s a great bike connector, says Will Campbell at Metblogs LA. "It offers an adjacent alternative to gut-wrenching gridlocked bike hell bastard La Cienega Boulevard that’s like night and day, baby. Night. And. Day."
We have no shortage of pop stars that get famous then start going in and out of rehab. But after winning a bunch of awards for her music, 23-year-old singer-songwriter Missy Higgins started -- composting.
"I just bought a compost bin yesterday," said Missy (below) when we met up at Flore Vegan Cuisine. "I think it's called Happy Farmer!"
This musician from Melbourne, Australia's been greening her tours for a while now by recycling, opting for organic produce, buying offsets, and driving in hybrids instead of flying. Now, newly relocated to Silver Lake, Missy's lost no time getting settled into a green lifestyle. In addition to composting, Missy's picked up a copy of Greenopia, started shopping at the nearby Saturday farmers' market, and embraced a pedestrian lifestyle. In fact, she walked the half mile from her apartment to Flore -- a distance many Angelenos would have opted to drive.
Here's a celebrity that literally walks the walk, instead of simply buying offsets to greenwash a less-than-eco-friendly lifestyle. While Governor Schwarzenegger has no problem commuting from his SoCal home to Sacramento by private jet, Missy's decision to move to Silver Lake was in part due to environmental reasons. After realizing her flights between Australia and the U.S. were huge contributors to her carbon footprint, Missy decided to settle in Silver Lake -- at least for a year, while promoting her latest album, "On A Clear Night."
"I really don't want to fly unless I absolutely have to," Missy says. And for the most part, Missy stays out of the car too, with the help of her fold-up bike. Silver Lake's a very pedestrian-friendly neighborhood, Missy says, with great cafes, bars, and shops nearby. Pointing to KellyGreen and Reform School, two eco-friendly stores in Silver Lake, Missy optimistically says Angelenos seem to be pretty eco-minded. "All these resources are becoming so accessible," she says.
My own less sanguine view's that many people don't actually take advantage of these resources -- whether it be green stores, walkable neighborhoods, or farmers' markets -- as much as they could. Still, if a newbie Angeleno like Missy finds it fairly easy to green her life, hopefully many others will follow suit.
To that end, Missy's been talking a lot about her own efforts to green her life and tour, even creating five little webisodes (below) that follow her on her eco-adventures, from talking to environmental scientists to visiting an eco-school in Nevada:
Missy starts her biodiesel-fueled tour in May, with two L.A. performances on May 13 and 14 at Santa Monica High School.
One
of the best-kept farmers' market secrets is back again this year in a
BIG way. Green garlic is as hip to LA restaurants and chefs as
neon-colored t-shirts and slap-stick bracelets
are to LA fashionistas. Still relatively unknown, green garlic is
poised to take foodies around the US by storm; crunchy, sweet, juicy,
and easy to prepare it's a perfect mix of sweet and garlicky onion
goodness.
Jerry
Rutiz, the farmer behind Rutiz Family Farms -- one of the few at
the Santa Monica Wednesday market that grows this fantastically trendy
product -- tipped me off that the best part to use is the
white bulbous end up until it becomes light green, which can be diced
and separated in rounds. As Jerry noted, chefs in LA are using the
green garlic for all kinds of things raw (yep, it's just that sweet)
atop salads, or thrown in towards the end of a stir-fry for added color
and some flavor punch. I can imagine it being great in dressings and
marinades as well. With such warm weather upon us green garlic can be
wrapped in foil with a tad of olive oil and cooked on the BBQ—serve it
atop burgers or in grilled sandwiches.
If you need even more inspiration (or frankly don't have the time/will-power to make Lucques green-garlic aioli with lamb), here's a quick pasta dish recipe:
Pasta with Green Garlic and Basil
1 bunch of green garlic
1/2 lb pasta (penne works well)
3 tbsp olive oil
1/4 to 1/2 cup of sliced basil
Handful of spring vegetables (broccoli, carrots, fava beans, even chard or kale) blanched
Blanch any vegetables you may be using in boiling water for 1-2 minutes (broccoli, carrots, fava beans, peas) and then place in cool water to halt the cooking process. Vegetables should be just al dente. Set aside. Boil water and cook pasta until just tender. In another pan, heat skillet over moderate heat and add one tablespoon of oil and tip to coat pan. Add green garlic and toss to brown lightly (2-3 minutes depending on heat). Set aside. Drain pasta and toss in warm serving bowl along with a tablespoon of olive oil, green garlic, half the basil, and a big squeeze of lemon adding salt and pepper to taste. Add more basil, oil, lemon juice, and seasonings to taste. Adding some broccoli, english peas, or fava beans (just make sure to soften them by boiling for a few minutes) for a great spring-time dish.
Hi, my name is Alex Thompson, and I've been a car-free cyclist in LA since late 2004. I write for and edit the blog Westside BikeSIDE. Siel invited me to write a weekly entry for Emerald City about bicycling in LA. I hope I can be your guide to what's happening with bike culture and bike activism in LA. As an active participant in the urban bike scene I have working knowledge of that culture. As an operating bike activist in West LA I have current information on bike activism in LA.
What do you want to read about cycling in LA? Are you interested in learning about the party rides, the Midnight Ridazz? Or local progress on biking issues? The ins and outs of bike activism? Would you like guidance on becoming a car-free or car-lite cyclist in LA? What interests you? Please tell me what you would like to read about, either by commenting below or emailing me at alexcthompson@gmail.com.
I know that few people have a shrine to cyclists on their mantle. Most LA motorists harbor negative feelings toward cyclists, if not outright hate. That probably includes some readers of this blog. Many motorists feel that cyclists belong on the sidewalks, and unfairly impede them on their drive to their destination. I know that motorists feel that way because whether I ride four or forty miles some motorists always let me know directly, by screaming at me, or indirectly, by cutting me off. Cyclists do not want to be your enemy. We're just fun people who happen to ride bikes to get around.
We're fun because we're happy, and we're happy because we enjoy our commute. As mad as it sounds, I enjoy riding Santa Monica Blvd through West Hollywood during rush hour. I enjoy riding up Sepulveda through the pass and down the other side to go to the Valley - in the middle of the night. I'm not the only one. Cyclists are so enthused we become irritatingly evangelical, often trying to convert everyone around us into die hard riders.
It's crazy, but we cyclists think that we're a transportation solution, as local activist Stephen Box is fond of saying. We think more riders on major boulevards during rush hour will solve LA's congestion problems - and in a green way. Why? Because while cyclists might appear to impede traffic when you're stuck behind one huffing and puffing uphill, they actually free up traffic. For every instance where a cyclist slows you down, there are 100 times they pass through congested traffic unnoticed. That means one less car in that traffic jam. When you get to your destination and go to park, that cyclist translates into one more available parking space.
One thorny issue are the Critical Mass and Midnight Ridazz rides, the enormous nighttime group rides which delay motorists much the same way a freight train does in rural America. I'm willing to discuss this issue later. For now take a moment to imagine if those same 800 cyclists were driving 600 cars instead. Would that be better? One could ask what purpose these rides serve. Well, when you ride bikes in LA, you sometimes need a support group, and that's how these rides function for cyclists.
That begs the question: why don't motorists mass in impromptu parades through city streets? Traffic jams may seem that way, but I assure you, motorists don't want to be there. Why do cyclists gather in groups? I believe that it's because cycling is inherently social. You won't see motorists driving alongside one another for mile after mile gabbing about the elections. It's infeasible and dangerous. However, cyclists are not enclosed in a metal & glass shell, and we travel slower, so it's feasible to safely converse. Hence, cyclists have a tendency to be hyper social. We're friendly.
We want to be your friends. We want you to come along for the ride. Drivers, I hope you will join us for the ride. If not, I hope we can get to know one another a little better, so that life on the road will be more amicable. Car-free peeps - pedestrians, transit riders, or cyclists - let's be friends. Let's regale each other with our stories of LA sans car!
>> At Metro's public meeting, Angelenos said they want better bikeways and sidewalks, not wider freeways, according to Streetsblog LA: "Perhaps Metro will reconsider it’s plan to sink just over 30% of its budget into highway capacity expansion and recommit that money to the transit and other alternative transportation projects that will really make a difference to L.A. County." Get your two cents in; attend one of the remaining meetings.
>> SoCal's getting two new huge solar energy projects: Southern California Edison's planning a gigantic rooftop solar installation project, and FPL Energy's planning a 250-megawatt solar plant in the Mojave Desert.
Make jam, not war -- by stopping by at the Museum of Contemporary Art this Saturday and joining the attack against the water-guzzling grassy front lawn!
To celebrate architect and artist Fritz Haeg's new book, "Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn" -- as well as the debut of Haeg's new serial project, Animal Estates, at the 2008 Whitney Biennial -- MOCA's throwing a book signing party -- complete with a Public Jam, aka a fruit jam-making session led by the Fallen Fruit collective.
When: Sat., March 29, 3 pm
Where: Art Catalogues, MOCA Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Ave., G102, West Hollywood
What: Come ready to jam. Feel free to bring fruit to jam with.
First, the Fallen Fruit collective will collaborate with you in a communal jam-making session -- then the talk with Fritz Haeg and book contributors Lesley Stern and Michael Foti will begin. There'll be drinks and appetizers too.
Fritz Haeg's the founder of Edible Estates -- a series of projects aimed at turning stagnant front lawns into luscious edible gardens that are "responsive to culture, climate, context and people." According to MOCA's description:
These projects reconcile issues of global food production and urbanized land use with the modest gesture of a small domestic garden. Edible Estates is a practical food-producing initiative, a place-responsive landscape design proposal, a scientific horticultural experiment, a conceptual land-art project, a defiant political statement, a community out-reach program and an act of radical gardening.
Can't find a good organic wine bar? Get a copy of the local eco-directory Greenopia and you'll have five different options to pick from!
The launch party for this greener, thicker, second edition happened four months ago, but Greenopia 2.0 just hit stores earlier this month. Greenopia's like cross between a Zagat guide and a yellow pages -- with an eco twist. With listings for everything from eco-friendly restaurants to green pet stores, Greenopia lets Angelenos quickly locate green goods and services they need -- or even green organizations they might want to join.
Showing the growth of green businesses in L.A., Greenopia's expanded
impressively to 262 pages, up from the 140-page first edition that
launched at Earth Day on the Promenade in 2006. Each business or service listed gets between one to four "leaves"; the more leaves, the greener the company. Accordingly, each listing section of the book begins with an explanation of the criteria used to award the leaves. Restaurants, for example, are judged almost exclusively on the sustainability of the food products they use, while hotels are judged on their recycling and resource management programs, eco-friendly building materials and landscaping, and even "good ventilation and fresh air exchange for healthy indoor air."
This second edition includes little essays from local enviro-entrepreneurs and activists, including designer Linda Loudermilk, Akasha Richmond of Akasha restaurant, and Andy Lipkis of Treepeople. In addition, the end of the directory includes lists of local environmental organizations, eco-minded schools, and recommended books.
Greenopia did still miss a few green businesses. For example, Lou, the cute Hollywood wine bar that specializes in natural wines (many organic or biodynamic) and serves locally-sourced foods, wasn't included! If your business is green, get listed by contacting Greenopia.
>> Who killed the electric car deja vu in the making? The California Air Resources Board is considering requiring fewer zero-emissions vehicles from automakers. If tomorrow's CARB vote goes against ZEVs, automakers would instead be encouraged to make more low-emissions vehicles. (via grist)
>> Why so few good men? Chemical pollution can mean more girls than boys.
"The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences determined
that the ratio of male-to-female births has substantially dropped in
the United States and Japan, yielding about 250,000 fewer boys than
would have been born had the sex ratio circa 1970 endured. In both
cases, researchers pegged environmental exposures as a probable factor
in the shortage of boy births." (via greendaily)
>> Don't fight global warming, just adapt to it, say some scientists.
"Hans von Storch, director of the Institute of Coastal Research in
Germany, said that the world's problems were already so big that the
added burdens caused by rising temperatures would be relatively small."
The L.A. Times article pits the two sides (mitigation vs. adaptation)
against each other, but the strategies for adaptation that are proposed
-- including "better irrigation systems, drought-resistant crops and
more-efficient food transport systems" -- seem quite similar to the
mitigation strategies to me....
Why take separate carbon footprint and water footprint quizzes, when you can do it all with Low Impact Living's Environmental Impact Calculator? This new LILI calculator (in Beta) puts as many eco-impact criteria as possible into one interactive module, letting you see how eco-you are compared to others in your 'hood. Then, LILI recommends actions you can take to lower that impact.
It took me just 8 minutes to input the info to get my calculations -- and I'm proud to say I scored very very low! The average LILI, based on the environmental impacts of a typical home in the region, is 100 -- and I got an 18!
The low score has me liking the calculator, but the app does still need some fine tuning. For example, I put in that I didn't have a dishwasher -- but then still had to answer a question about how many dishwasher loads I do a week. I had the same problem with the washing machine / dryer questions; I also got no questions about my use of the apartment complex's communal washing machine.
And while I like that the LILI gives me a list of recommended actions at the end, I found that most actions on this list had little to do with the info I'd put into the quiz. For example, I got a suggestion to install low flow shower heads -- but I already have low flow shower heads and simply wasn't asked about it during the calculations part. Some advice, like buying a biodiesel vehicle to replace my car, seemed rather bizarre, considering that I don't have a car to replace, and that adding one would actually increase my footprint.
Still, the LILI's recommended actions are useful and practical in that they include the cost of taking that action, the annual savings (if any) that action will create, and the LILI score reduction that action will provide. With all that info, it's easy to see at a glance what eco home improvement project will get you the most eco-bang for your buck.
Go through the calculator, and let me know if you beat my score!
Odd thing about Myspace's new eco-book, "MySpace/OurPlanet: Change Is Possible": It kicks off with Myspace president Tom Anderson basically declaring the supremacy of the printed word over the web: "I wouldn't be doing this unless I thought it was for something so unbelievably important that it had to be in print," Anderson writes in his foreword.
Is the soy-ink printed, recycled-paper book mightier than the blog? Perhaps, though in Myspace's case, the book's designed to mimic the social networking site, covering a whole lot of topics in a semi-disorganized, but also semi-associative, eclectic, freewheeling fashion.
Published by HarperTeen, "Myspace/Our Planet" clearly aims at a young audience, with advice on greening prom, taking eco-alternative spring breaks, and changing mom and dad. And impressively, the book provides a rather surprisingly informative and engaging perspective on a wide range of environmental topics, despite the web-friendly snippets-and-bullet-points format of the book.
That, of course, makes me think that the book wasn't exactly written "by the Myspace community with Jeca Taudte," as the cover states. More accurately, the book seems to have been written by Taudto, with random pullout quotes from Myspace members sprinkled in. Here's one such brilliant quote included in the book, written by one Lorylicious![[♥rawr]]:
I REALLY HOPE PPL START TO TAKE ACTION ON ALL THE DISASTERS WE ARE CAUSING. GLOBAL WARMING IS GETTING BAD AND NO ONE REALIZES WE NEED MOTIVATIONAL TEAMS TO GET EVERYONE INVOLVE I THINK THERE SHOULD BE MORE RECYCLING, STOP THE WAR BECAUSE WERE ONLY DESTROYING MORE OF OUR WORLD AND LOOSING SOLDIERS THAT HAVE FAMILIES (sic on all spelling, grammar, punctuation errors, and choice to use all caps)
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it's the effort to tie the book in with the social networking site that seems most strained. In the first few pages, readers are advised to employ Myspace as a tool to further their enviro-activism -- by adding eco-organization as one of the "Top 8" friends or using eco-related pics and wallpaper to "make it clear that the earth matters to you" -- actions that seemed so ineffectually small that it actually made me LOL.
But the web activism advice improved as I read on. A chapter tied in personal enviro-activism with larger political activism, for example, also conveniently tying Myspace's Our Planet page with Myspace's Impact Channel. And then the book recommended green blogging "to educate communities and to inspire change." Wait -- that's me!
Maybe I shouldn't have LOL'd so quickly. Serendipitously, I got an "invite" to add Heal the Bay as a "cause" I support -- so I hit "accept." On Facebook.
>> Public meetings about the second phase of the Expo line (PDF), which will extend the light rail from Culver City to Santa Monica, begin tomorrow, Wed., March 26.
>> Learn how to mix and match bicycling with pubic transit at the "Cycles of Continuance/Sustainable Transportation: Using Bicycles and Public Transit" event tomorrow, Wed., March 26, starting 7 pm at All Shades of Green, 3038 Rowena Ave, Los Angeles. Cost is $15; students get discounts. Pre-registration required: (323) 665-7454.
>> Become a confident city bicycler via the Basic Bike Handling Skills Workshop, happening on Sat., March 29, starting at 10 am in Glassell Park, Los Angeles. $15 suggested donation; call or email to reserve your spot.
>> Hear a panel on "Getting In, Out and Around Los Angeles" greenly. The focus here is not on public transit or biking, but on greener cars, "highlighting some of the entrepreneurial ways in which the business community is responding to the challenge of getting around LA." This Sustainable Business Council event starts at 7 pm on Thurs., March 27, at Livingreen, 10000 Culver Blvd, Culver City. Cost is a tax-deductible $20.
One enviro-campaign that makes me laugh -- with them, not at them: Greenpeace's little pranks against the makers of Kleenex, Kimberly-Clark -- a company that shamelessly continues to make paper products from clearcut ancient forests. Spoofing Kleenex's "let it out" ad campaign, Greenpeace has created a "Kleercut: Wiping Away Ancient Forests" site, complete with a header depicting forest animals crying on Kleenexes over their destroyed habitat.
The spoof site's not the first time Greenpeace has used Kleenex's own advertising to poke fun at the company. About a year ago, Greenpeace activists infiltrated one Kleenex shoot for its “Let it Out” ad campaign. Kleenex reps enticed passers by to plop onto a blue couch and let out their sorrows — with a $200 award for crying in an ad-worthy way — on a Kleenex. Greenpeace members pretended to be would-be cryers, thus crashing the couch -- and making a YouTube video of the debacle.
One girl mourns the loss of her dog on Kleenex’s blue couch, during which GreenPeace activists unfurl a Kleercut banner behind her. The Kleenex rep berates the activists, saying “she’s talking about something personal, while you have a ‘nice agenda.’” Then the girl pipes up to shake her kleenex and say “it really makes me upset that … this is all a 100% virgin fiber.” Here's the video:
Kimberly-Clark happens to be the largest tissue maker in the world -- which seems to suggest that business as usual is still more economically rewarding than eco-conscious business practices. Change that by going against the grain! Need a tissue? Get Seventh Generation's 100% recycled, minimum 80% post-consumer tissues, available at Whole Foods and other local stores. Or you can ditch disposables altogether and get a hanky, like reader m suggests.
How much more does 100% post-consumer recycled paper cost? Earlier this month, Green Cities California -- which includes L.A. and 10 California cities and counties -- pledged to make a complete switch to 100% post-consumer recycled copy paper -- though with no set date for finalizing the switch. I'm support the initiative, but I started wondering what the financial implications of this green decision would be.
After all, even though making post-consumer recycled paper doesn't kill trees and saves lots of energy, the eco-friendly paper market still hasn't reached the scale to make it cost-competitive with virgin paper, as I found out the hard way through my research on green business cards.
Santa Monica couldn't tell me how much more the switch to 100% post-consumer recycled paper cost the city, partly because they made the switch back in 2004. Getting an accurate number would mean accounting for inflation, paper use reduction programs, structural changes in the city, etc., making calculations difficult.
Luckily -- at least for this numbers-crunching mission -- the city of L.A. hasn't made a full switch yet. Only 30% of the paper the city of L.A. uses is 100% post-consumer recycled. So I was able to find out what the cost difference of switching the rest of that paper would be from Gerald St.Onge, who does environmentally preferred purchasing for the city L.A.
St.Onge said that 100% post-consumer recycled paper would cost about 50% more than virgin paper. In fact, the reason L.A. hasn't gone all post-consumer recycled already is due to budgetary reasons -- not due to lack of availability, the reason Shannon Parry, an environment analyst for Santa Monica's Environmental Programs Division, pointed to.
"Right now we're tying to [make up] the difference in cost by paper reduction," St.Onge said. The higher cost of 100% post-consumer recycled paper is a bit of a chicken or the egg problem. Due to the added expense, government agencies, companies, and individuals don't buy more of it. But because not enough of it is bought, the recycled paper market doesn't grow as fast in scale to bring down those prices.
Although the city of L.A. hasn't set a deadline to complete the switch too all post-consumer recycled paper, Onge said "we're committed and we're doing everything we can to change all the commodities that are being purchased into environmentally-friendly products." There's reason to be hopeful: Along with the Green Cities California initiatives, L.A. City Council approved an Environmentally Preferable Purchasing statement and program last month, committing the city to opting for eco-friendly products whenever possible.
>> Echo Park Lake hasn't been looking pretty (above), what with dead stalks and lotus plants that didn't bloom. A $60-million cleanup project's planned to begin in 2010 to "remove sediment buildup, add screens to reduce urban runoff and rebuild the lake edges"
Lots of green building events happening this week:
>> Get a free sneak preview of the upcoming AltBuild Expo's Green Home Tour! Hear from a Green Building Panel featuring architects and builders of the Tour's green homes tomorrow, Tues. March 25, 6:30 pm at the Santa Monica Main Public Library, 601 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica.
Hope you had a nice World Water Day yesterday! A whole watery series of posts kicked off on Monday with a little roundup on how to take individual action on this big global issue. Now, here's a roundup from all the events of the week:
>> World Water Day gets a concert in Second Life. WaterPartners International, a nonprofit that provides safe drinking water and sanitation to people in developing countries, is trying to bring the water issue closer to home -- or more accurately, the computer -- by letting people travel virtually to experience the global water crisis.
>> Walk for Water: A Stroll by the beach becomes activism. Angelenos celebrated World Water Day by joining the Walk for Water -- an awareness-raising event "inspired by the 3-6 mile journey women and children make every day in water stressed countries" at the Santa Monica Pier.
Shades Hair Studio's not the only L.A.-area hair salon going green. Encino's got Nori's Eco Salon, an eco-conscious hair salon that's going to hold its grand opening Saturday:
When: Saturday, March 29, 7 pm - 9:30 pm
Where: 15826 Ventura Blvd., Suite 224, Encino
What: Music, refreshments, and celebration; all ages welcome
The salon's too far away for me to frequent, but the place sounds eco-dreamy, with natural linoleum floors, recycled denim insulation, and other green features. Nori's offers a full range of services, for haircuts to hair color to hair or foot massages with organic essential oils.
Nori's specialty is non-toxic hair color, using the EcoColors product line. Compared to conventional colors, EcoColors contain less questionable ingredients -- and shuns sulfites or parabens altogether. However, the EcoColors still do contain some ingredients environmentalists might not like, including ammonia, peroxide, and PPD (a.k.a. coal tar). Purists may still opt against coloring their hair, but those who feel they must cover up their grays or get highlights for the summer will likely welcome EcoColors' less toxic products.
For my part, I find the world of eco hair color super confusing to navigate, since eco's hardly a defined term, especially for artificial coloring. For example, Susan Henry's line used at Shades Hair Studio contains parabens but no ammonia, while EcoColors contains ammonia but no parabens. Those with sensitivities to one or the other might make their choices accordingly.
>> PAYD: Pay-As-You-Drive car insurance. Jason Bordoff argues in Democracy that "The social benefits of PAYD would be approximately $30 billion per year, mostly from reduced accidents and congestion, as well as reduced local pollution and carbon emissions plus increased oil security. Premiums would also decline for around two-thirds of drivers."
>> The Scuppie: Socially Conscious Upwardly-mobile Person. Basically, a man's coined this new enviro jargon for a book deal. It'd be funny if the scuppie designation was tongue in cheek, but the site actually seems to be in earnest --
>> A smurftastic guide to the tragedy of the commons.
"The Smurfs belong to everyone. They’re our smurfs. The Gargamels
aren’t playing fair. They’re ripping us off, and we have to stand up
for ourselves." (via Utne)
>> A profile on Jerry Rubin, long-time local social and enviro activist, now working on preventing the ficus trees in downtown Santa Monica from getting replaced with other trees. "Views are mixed on the effectiveness of his tactics; critics say they are more publicity stunt than change agent, but he has his fans."
Walk into most hair salons and you'll be greeted with a harsh chemical smell, thanks to the ammonia and other chemicals in most hair color products. Now, there's a salon that prides itself in its chemical-free atmosphere: Shades Hair Studio.
Shades is a full-service Beverly Hills salon that's gone green -- or at least much greener. Owner and salon operator Susan Henry, spurred by her own health problems due to working with conventional hair products, created a line of natural hair colors that contain no ammonia whatsoever. These products are better for the environment and for the health of the salon's clients. And because the colors don't stink up the salon, clients can enjoy their experience without inhaling noxious chemicals.
I stopped by Shades for a haircut earlier today, and loved the sunny, chemical-free atmosphere. The salon's brightly lit and heated through passive solar by two large skylights, giving the place an relaxing, airy, open feel.
My stylist, Tina, listened carefully to my ideas about what I wanted for her hair (I took in pictures), made some suggestions, and visually confirmed exactly how much hair I was ready to chop off. After a relaxing shampoo, I finally got my much-needed haircut -- and I'm very happy with it! And although I didn't get my hair colored, I will say the woman sitting two chairs down who got her hair colored strawberry blond looked amazing.
My one beef with Shades: The hair care products are full of
How much more does 100% post-consumer recycled paper cost? Earlier this month, Green Cities California -- which includes L.A. and 10 California cities and counties -- 
