A.M. Greenlist: The green audit

>> Santa Monica's Green Business Certification is getting popular, with beauty shops, hotels and consulting firms all going after the green sticker. Earlier: Office eco-audits and certifications.

>> Want a Green Business Certification for the city of L.A.? City Councilman Richard Alarcon's expected to introduce a motion to fund a $200,000 pilot certification program with city money. Call your council member to show your support for it.

>> What to expect from a home energy audit. Anh-Minh Le gets her home audited, then details the process and offers tips in the San Francisco Chronicle. (via Re-Nest)

>> D.J. Waldie on why you should take the bus and support public transit funding, even if it sucks sometimes. "All of us should know that we are actually making a new citizenry for a different city." I've actually rarely found the 720 or 704 to be as crowded as Waldie describes, but I guess I generally ride during off-hours. Earlier: D.J. Waldie and going green at Antioch College.

>> Some compromises between environmentalists and big business are beneficial, say Audubon California and Natural Resources Defense Council people as they tout the deals they helped broker between conservationists / environmentalists and oil / development companies.

Comments

[KateNonymous]

That energy audit article is great--it will definitely be useful when we buy a home.

I don't ride the 720 a lot, but occasionally I ride it between Mid-Wilshire and Westwood--and yes, it really does get that crowded, and the road is horrible. I can't imagine the 20 is all that different, except with more stops. The one time I rode the 920 it was much less crowded, but generally I haven't been lucky enough to catch it when I've needed to. That's too bad, because its limited stops work for my trips.

[Siel]

I've never taken the 920, but did notice they switched to the smaller buses. I imagine that once we get the Subway to the Sea in place -- whenever that is -- the service on both the 720 and 920 will be cut back and that neighborhood bus lines will run more frequently, as Waldie wants them too. Right now these rapid buses are forced to try to serve the function of the nonexistent subways, which makes things difficult all around --

[KateNonymous]

Very true--although based on my memories of the expansion of the D.C. Metro system in the late 70s/early 80s, things will get worse before they get better. However, after that they really do get better, as long as the new form of transportation remains affordable for users. I'm not sure that's always the case in D.C.

[dogwalker4]

I am glad they were able to reach a compromise on Tejon Ranch, but that brings up an interesting topic. This is not the first time the environmental groups have caved in to the demands of their opposition and in fact may be compromised themselves. The National Resources Defense Council that wrote this article is a great example. It should not surprise anyone that their senior attorney is praising the development industry. If they are not praising the developers, then they are praising the utilities or energy industry. One of their senior attorneys at the NRDC, Ralph Cavanaugh was associated with "Industry Shill Organizations" as reported by the LA Times back in August of 2004. This same guy has well documented and exercised ties to PG&E and NRDC has spent plenty of time greenwashing PG&E over the years. So it makes you wonder if after years of fighting the environmentalists, if the developers and energy industry didn't just infiltrate and take over these groups like NRDC.
Here is another example from the Wall Street journal of the Enviro groups and the NRDC taking the compromised position. What gives here?

Environmentalists Oppose Air-Cleanup Plan
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121073221478190715.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

We have a great tool out there, Google, and you can see exactly who these attorneys are representing on the side. Nothing but smoke and mirrors.