A.M. Greenlist: De-car-ing at 70, plus lots of Metro news

>> Woman moves to Santa Monica, de-cars, loves life. She's like me, except a half-century older. "Instead of jumping into your car to do 11 boring errands in four hours, you do one errand, or two, and it takes as long as it takes, and you only buy what you can carry, or push, in a cute little cart.... I'm here on the ground, walking past flowers, and I don't miss those cars at all."

>> The half-cent sales tax for better transit in L.A. is a step closer to making it on the November ballot. The Metro board "asked Metro staff to report back in June with a comprehensive package of specific street and highway improvements and public transit projects that could be funded by a new transportation sales tax in Los Angeles County." Earlier: Subway to the sea: Worth a half cent sales tax hike?

>> With the promise of $213 million in federal funds, the Metro board voted to turn carpool lanes into high occupancy toll lanes. "If all goes as planned, tolls for those lanes would take effect on the 10 and 210 freeways in the San Gabriel Valley by the end of 2010." Carpoolers may still get to use the toll lanes for free; many details still have to be ironed out.

>> Massive bus service cuts averted! The Metro board decided that the proposed cuts were too severe and voted to limit cuts to 6 lines.

>> Why food prices are suddenly going up. In Grist, Tom Philpott breaks down the many reasons behind the sudden rise in food prices around the world. Item 4, which details Haiti's transformation from a food secure nation to a country of displaced farmers and hungry urban poor, is especially saddening. Support local agriculture!

>> Nalgene gets sued over Bisphenol A (BPA) in its sports bottles. The company has already said it will pull bottles containing BPA out of stores in the next few months. However, as of now, Nalgene continues to sell bottles containing BPA.

>> Penguin swims in a custom-made wetsuit. Pierre, an African penguin that was going bald, got dive gear company Oceanic Worldwide to make him a suit. "With his plumage restored, Pierre is being weaned off the suit, taking more and more dips in the buff. There are no plans to make him a matching surf board." Earlier: Fake flipper for a turtle named Allison.

Photo by Cathy Cole via Flickr

Comments

[Matt]

All that Metro news and the purchase of 260 new 45-foot CNG buses was completely overlooked - looks like it means the final end of the last few Metro diesel buses. Hooray! And, well, for the art minded, take a look at the windows on a 45 ft bus, they're slightly curved, kinda elegant, sorta like it came from an automotive design studio:
http://www.metro.net/images/detail_photogallery_f11.jpg