A.M. Greenlist: Less gas, less water

E-mail picture

>> "Skyrocketing gasoline prices force changes," notes the L.A. Times. One change: "GM closing 4 truck and SUV plants in North America." That move will cut the production of SUVs by about 35%.

>> The Hollywood Bowl needs bigger sidewalks leading up to it and more frequent trains running post-shows, Steve Hymon notes in a post titled "How to prevent people from taking mass transit, Part 1" on the Bottleneck Blog. Interestingly, drivers seem to have an even worse deal, with 2-hour commutes that force them to leave shows early before the best songs.

>>  Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's commission will vote on the "Drought Busters" plan today, putting in tougher regulations and imposing fines for new and existing rules. The proposed rules:

• No hosing down sidewalks or driveways
• Automated sprinkler use limited to 15 minutes per day
• No lawn watering (except drip irrigation) between 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. or when it rains
• Double water-usage fines for residential customers; quadruple for businesses and apartment building owners

The DWP wants the L.A. City Council to ratify this plan within weeks; until then, about a dozen DWP inspectors would issue warnings, but not fines. If the above rules don't reduce water consumption, DWP could move to Phase II of the plan, banning irrigation four days a week.

>> The U.S. Senate's started debating the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act. Many don't expect the legislation to pass, including Alexis Madrigal at Wired who calls the debate "largely symbolic."

>> Six green baby books, reviewed by  Katharine Wroth at Grist. "Healthy Child Healthy World," which I reviewed here, gets top marks along with "Raising Baby Green."

Photo by David McNew / Getty Images

Comments

[KateNonymous]

It's way past time that hosing down sidewalks was eliminated (although I did have to wash away what my neighbor's relative's dog left behind my car the other day). One building on the block where I work hoses down their sidewalk every Friday. What a waste!

I hope there will also be exemptions for people who are watering with collected runoff. And that the city will figure out how to approve gray-water systems. And that they'll have more than a couple of people in the department that oversees solar installation.