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In case you missed the news, the city of L.A. is aiming to drastically reduce its trash. The goal: A 70% recycling rate by 2015, eventually getting to zero waste within 2 decades. Doable? I hope so, because landfilling's costing us a lot of money -- and we're running out of room.
L.A.'s Zero Waste Plan, also known as SWIRP (Solid Waste Integrated Resources Plan), kicked off last August with a number of public outreach efforts. So far, we've had numerous regional workshops and two big public Zero Waste Conferences.
From those efforts, the city's come up with 12 guiding principles for the zero waste effort, which will be used to create an action plan to eliminate landfilling -- after which we'll actually start taking action. Yes, it's a very long process, a.k.a. "a 6-year stakeholder-driven planning effort."
But for now, the public's invited to a third Citywide Zero Waste conference (PDF), where said 12 guiding principles will be announced and "confirmed":
When: Saturday, May 3, 8:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Where: The Center at Cathedral Plaza, 2nd Fl. Ballroom, 555 W. Temple St., Los Angeles
RSVP: Call Vikki Zale at (310) 822-2010 or email vikkizale@aol.com
In exchange for your time and input, you'll get complimentary meals and free parking -- though really, de-car-ing's recommended. Early birds can get there before the rush for an optional Zero Waste Film Festival from 7:30 a.m. - 8:30 a.m.
That's Katie Ricketts, community/market organizer at Southland Farmers' Market Assn. and contributor to Emerald City, giving out bags of yummy, farm-fresh produce in front of the Santa Monica Main Public Library!
Stop by between 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. today and you can meet her in person -- and sign up for the Santa Monica Market Basket Program. Want in-season strawberries but don't want to fight the crowds at the Santa Monica Farmers' Market? If you join the Basket Program, all you'll have to do is choose a pick-up location -- either the SM Main Library or the parking lot at the SM City Hall -- and a pre-packed bag will be waiting for you between 1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. every Wednesday.
Cost: $25 for a "classic" bag, which'll contain 8 to 10 pieces of produce. You can opt for a $30 "specialty" bag that includes a few items with higher price points or a $38 family bag. Yes, prices have gone up a tad because some of the summer produce costs more.
To sign up, just stop by either location during the pick-up time on a Wednesday -- or contact Katie at katie@sfma.net or (310) 740-7544. After prepaying (credit card, check or cash), you can start picking up your bag o' goodies every week! Eating local's never been easier.
I believe the Basket Program's still trying to implement a viable bag reuse program, but having a hard time making the process simple and feasible for produce buyers. Got suggestions?
Photo by Siel
 >> Wondering why food prices are so high? The Washington Post has put together a series on the Global Food Crisis -- a more apt name for which would be a Global Food PRICE crisis, as Michael Tobis points out. For a shorter primer, read Tom Philpott's quick rundown in Grist.
>> "Factory farms pose unacceptable risks to public health, the environment and animal welfare," according to a two-year study released by the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production.
>> Should organic standards for food serve as the organic standards for shampoos and lotions too? That, essentially, is the debate over which Organic Consumers Assn. and Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps have sued a whole bunch of personal-care product companies. The OCA and Dr. Bronner's feel only products that meet USDA's organic food regulations should be able to use the word "organic" on their packaging. Other companies argue personal-care products shouldn't be held to the same standards as food.
>> U-See-LA Without a Car: UCLA students get a de-car-ing map! (PDF) It's a 6-page guide to popular L.A. destinations, from the Rose Bowl to the Santa Monica Pier. Thanks to reader April for the tip.
>> You know about MillionTreesLA -- and the many critiques surrounding it -- but did you know New York had a similar program? MillionTreesNYC also gives away trees, but the standards appear to be stricter than ours: "individuals and families are limited to adopting one tree per household and required to register their new tree at milliontreesnyc.org."
>> ReShirt Cutting Contest: Revamp your old T-shirt to win a 30-minute style consultation with Barbra Horowitz and a $300 Greenloop Gift Certificate. Unleash your imagination within very strict eco-friendly guidelines. Not only must you reuse a T-shirt you already own, the redesign process must be limited to cutting and tying. No dyeing, silkscreening or sewing.
Photo by Charlie Neibergall/Associated Press
(Curmudgeonly L.A. cyclist Alex Thompson's rants cause the conflict-adverse discomfort, but he cares a whole lot.)
Between 1996 and 2008, the city of Los Angeles added 5 miles of bike paths or lanes each year. That's an astronomical success!
No, that's a complete failure. The city of Los Angeles encompasses 469 square miles. Adding 5 miles of bike lanes per year corresponds to adding 56 feet per square mile each year. 56 feet. That's the width of a small 7-11 parking lot. Ride your bike for 2 seconds, and that's how much farther you can expect to be able to ride on bike lanes in your neighborhood next year. You can expect a complete network of bikeways in about 100 years. City of L.A., EPIC FAIL.
There isn't just failure on cycling infrastructure. There's failure on all cycling issues. The Los Angeles Bicycle Advisory Committee, which advises the City Council on cycling issues, can't find a steady meeting location. The committee president, appointed two decades ago by then-Mayor Bradley, still fails to follow basic rules of order or treat the public with courtesy. Councilman Bill Rosendahl is indulging residents of Mar Vista who are convinced bike paths cause crime, rather than insisting on better law enforcement.
Worst of all is the institutionalized bias against cyclists at the L.A. Department of Transportation (LADOT). LADOT bicycle staff spend most of their time explaining to bike activists, "here's why you can't have what you want." In order to update the L.A. Bike Master Plan, the LADOT and Planning department scheduled four meetings for community input. That's about one meeting per million people. Portland had one meeting per 12,000 residents to update their bicycle master plan. It gets better, if you visit LADOT's Bicycle Services website and follow the link to "planned bikeways" it sends you to this map:
This map is from 1996!!! I was still a virgin. "LADOT, planning to make a difference since 1996."
The only reasonable way to interpret the city's inaction is as a collective "Go **** Yourself" to cyclists. Punk rock til the end, cyclists irreverently flipped this, and interpreted it as "Do It Yourself!" And so a large segment of cyclists have found new and innovative ways to make progress without the cooperation of local government. Indeed, when the Bike Kitchen's budget purportedly surpassed the LACBC's, it was a quiet signal that doing it OURSELVES is the way to go. Does that sound angry? That's an echo of a whisper of the frustration that exists throughout the cycling community.
So we've been doing it for ourselves. Outreach? Midnight Ridazz has developed it's own brand of outreach: F.U.N.! Fun rides through the city -- a nightlife that revolves around biking -- is the unexpected form that cycling outreach takes in L.A. Most Ridazz prefer not to describe their activities as activism, it's just what they do for fun. Whatever it is, it's fun and effective. Thousands have been inspired to bike by these epic displays of F!U!N!
(RichTOtheIE demonstrates FUN at CRANK Mob, best bike ride on the Westside! photo by digablesoul)
Cyclist education? The bike repair collectives -- the Bike Kitchen, Bike Oven, and Bikerowave -- do more to educate cyclists than any other L.A. org, governmental or not. These entirely volunteer organizations mobilize over a hundred volunteers weekly to teach cyclists how to fix their bicycles on a not-for-profit basis. Informal education on other topics takes place here as well. Step into the Bike Oven and mention a recent problem with a motorist and you'll likely hear several similar stories, and learn a couple new coping strategies. To a certain extent this happens on Midnight Ridazz rides too; I learned a lot of the tricks that keep me safe talking with other riders at group rides. There might even be a motorist education effort on the way, and not from the Metro, but from cyclists.
Bike infrastructure? At Semiotics of the Ride, activists are developing a signage system to turn 4th St. in Hancock Park into a bicycle boulevard. Is the city supportive? As far as I know, they're not. These activists lobbied hard, to no avail, to get cycling improvements on 4th St. This DIY effort is a reaction to unassailable status quo that persists within city departments. So, now we do our own infrastructure.
There are a few people in the city, or other local governments, that get it. The Santa Monica Planning Department has shown not only a progressive attitude toward cycling, but a remarkable willingness to open their planning process to the public. Lynne Goldsmith of Metro is doing good work to connect cyclists and bus operators to try to prevent conflicts. The city of Pasadena & CICLE successfully worked together to produce Bike Week Pasadena last year. They did so well that the 2nd Annual Bike Week Pasadena takes place in two weeks. Surprisingly, one of the best allies of cyclists is the LAPD. LAPD treats social bike riders with an open mind, allowing big group rides to continue if the ride is safe and moves along quickly. As well, anecdotal evidence suggests that officers in the LAPD are far better educated in the rights and needs of cyclists than in other jurisdictions.
There are people in local government who do right by cyclists, they're just the rare exception to a daunting rule. News that the L.A. bike culture is a fully DIY culture should resonate ominously within deaf ears at City Hall. 100% independent of city support, a growing constituency of cyclists can now bring uncompromising political will to bear on city officials.
(Next week I'll summarize some ways you can get involved in bike activism.)
 Feel like the only 29-year-old at Green Business Networking events? If you've had your fill of biz-social events that end by kids' bed times, it's time for you to sign up for Room 367's launch party.
Intended as an after-work gathering for twenty- and thirtysomething green-minded professionals, Room 367's launch party is a business and social networking event that aims to let young would-be eco-entrepreneurs mingle over drinks and music -- without people their parents' age hanging about -- while plotting a green takeover to transform business-as-usual.
When: Tuesday, May 6, 6 p.m. - 10 p.m.
Where: A&D Musuem, 5900 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles
Cost: $20 for advance online registration, $25 at the door. Use the promo code "greenopia" to get a free copy of Greenopia, given to the first 100 registrants.
There'll be an open bar, organic nibbles, a live DJ, free admission to A+D's new main exhibit "After the Flood," and a guest speaker -- Michael Danenberg, the COO of GOOD magazine. I'm guessing there'll be lots of MBA types as well, holding drinks in one hand and business cards in the other. After all, USC Marshall School of Business and UCLA Anderson School of Management are among the event partners.
Room 367 -- named after the cool green shade of Pantone -- is the younger offshoot of Opportunity Green, which puts together an annual green business conference. It's unclear as of yet how Room 367 peeps are going to make sure only twenty- and thirtysomethings come to the event. Past experience with events that attempt to enforce an age cap tells me older people in denial about their age will surely try to crash the party.
Valley girls looking for the latest eco-fashions don't have to drive to West Third Street. greenROHINI, an environmentally-conscious boutique that opened the doors to its LEED-certified shop in Sherman Oaks last year, carries everything from Del Forte jeans to Deborah Lindquist designs to recycled tire purses.
The spacious boutique invites browsing -- especially since the items made with pre-loved fabrics are often one-of-a-kind. Shoppers can sip on the complimentary organic tea and coffee -- served in reusable mugs, of course.
Not all items will meet with choosy environmentalists' seal of approval, however. Some organic jeans were available, but many others were made with conventional cotton, despite the anti-conventional cotton message on greenROHINI's website. Apparently, these non-organic jeans' claim to eco are the sustainable dyes used in the manufacturing process.
Still, most of the fashions here are made of recycled, organic or sustainable materials such as bamboo and hemp. And Lorin Becker, the owner who also runs the store, is very knowledgeable and will answer any eco-questions you may have about specific pieces.
I splurged on a reversible halter top made out of vintage fabric by Aster Park in Portland. Since it's reversible, it's really like getting two halters for the price of one... Cost: $115 -- except when I declined a bag and pulled out my reusable tote, Lorin gave me an unexpected 10% off!
greenROHINI. 13327 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks. (818) 981-0023
 >> Live Earth's coming back on Oct. 5, this time to college campuses. The event's a series of overlapping concerts around the world, intended to raise awareness about global climate change. Earlier: Live Earth returns, now as a CD/2-DVD set.
>> Design an eco-inspired poster for the Abbot Kinney Festival and win $500. The organizers plan to make the annual event green-themed, so let your artwork reflect that. Deadline: May 9.
>> Green claims on cleaning products can be confusing, because not all products that claim to be eco-friendly are created equal. Investigating all the different ingredients on a product label can be time-consuming, stressful work.
>> To really be on the safe side, you could try making your own green cleaners.
>> Conserve water -- seriously. "We must learn from the history of the great droughts and begin to think of ourselves as partners with, rather than potential masters of, the changing natural world," writes Brian Fagan, author of "The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations."
>> Polar bears: Endangered or not? A judge says the decision on whether or not to include polar bears on the endangered species list must be made by May 15.
Deborah Lindquist, the queen of recycled eco-couture, has a cute little boutique in North Hollywood, I found out. So a couple weeks ago I tried to drop by this stained-glass-decorated, sign-less store next to a tattoo parlor -- only to find that the front door was locked, despite the fact that the store was officially open. "The owner just went out and took the key," said the woman who let me in the back door.
One benefit to coming in the back: I got to see how Lindquist's fashions get made! Three women were working at their sewing machines in a big, cool back room. I wound around them to get into the store.
While many eco-fashion designers use virgin fabrics (albeit organic or eco-friendly in some manner), Lindquist made her name by reusing pre-loved fabrics, turning outdated clothes into fashionable new ones. She's dressed everyone from Gwen Stefani to Paris Hilton, according to her website.
Such detailed attention to metamorphosing dated duds into today's IT items doesn't come cheap. Get ready to fork over about $400 if you're dying to own that recycled cashmere sweater. The sticker price is the downside, though you'll walk away with your purchase knowing your new fashion item is truly eco-friendly AND locally made.
Well-heeled mamas can get their kids matching mini baby sweaters, modeled here by a ruddy, slightly petulant doll. Dog lovers with money to burn can get designer re-fashions for their pooch too. Cooler, summer-friendly fashions, from vintage fabric skirts to intricate corsets, also adorn the racks. Too bad the boutique isn't where the Rodeo Drive or Robertson Boulevard crowd can find it.
Deborah Lindquist. 10500 Magnolia Blvd. North Hollywood. (818) 762-7199
 Love loquats? Then join this year's Nocturnal Fruit Forage -- put together by the Fallen Fruit collective in honor of the Loquat.
Fruit growing on branches overhanging public property -- like sidewalks -- is free for the taking in Los Angeles. The Fallen Fruit collective -- a collaborative project by David Burns, Matias Viegener & Austin Young -- encourages and helps more Angelenos to take advantage of the city's fruitful bounty by providing free fruit maps of city neighborhoods, advocating for more fruit tree plantings, and putting together fruit jam-making or fruit foraging events, such as this loquat-specific one.
When: Wednesday, April 30, 2008, 6 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Where: The triangle park at Edgecliffe and Sunset in Silver Lake, Los Angeles
Cost: Free
RSVP: info@fallenfruit.org
Why a nocturnal walk? According to Fallen Fruit's website, "We like to do these walks at night because it heightens people's senses; most of us associate fruit with sunshine in the country, not urban darkness."
All loquat eaters are invited to forage! Bring just a a flashlight and a bag, and go home fruitified.
>> Ousted from the South Central farm 2 years ago, some South L.A. farmers are commuting via an old bus to farm at Buttonwillow, Calif., west of Bakersfield. "The group sells weekly at farmers markets in Watts, Leimert Park, Atwater and Hollywood, as well as at a monthly tianguis, or marketplace, set up outside the 14 acres they once farmed at 41st and Alameda streets."
>> How to haul things on a bicycle -- coffee mugs, flasks, boxes, etc. "Once you find the right gear for your particular bike needs, biking becomes a whole lot easier and more enjoyable."
>> How to whiten your teeth naturally -- and cheaply! Organic strawberry plus baking powder will do the trick, according to health.com (via lifehacker).
>> How to be healthy: Save other species. "That's the message from Eric Chivian and Aaron Bernstein from Harvard Medical School in Boston, who say that human health depends crucially on biodiversity."
>> Congress is looking into why the FDA relied on two studies funded by American Plastics Council to decide that the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) is safe -- in the face of more than 100 published studies by government scientists and university laboratories that have raised health concerns about the chemical. BPA is often present in plastics marked #7, such as some Nalgene and Camelbak bottles. (via grist)
Photo by Carlos Chavez / Los Angeles Times
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