The bottled water market started drying up last year. The main reason, according to BrandWeek: “Shoppers are less interested in paying for a product that they can get for free.”

No kidding. If you’ve already given yourself a pat on the back for your smart water choices, give yourself a second pat — because your smart choice is about to get eco-smarter, especially during this economic downturn. Why? Bottled water’s slowly gonna get less popular and more expensive as cities and states work to reduce pollution and encourage recycling while trimming government budgets and increasing tax revenues.

Yes, just drinking less bottled water can do all that — even in L.A. After getting called out for spending a whopping $88,900 in public money to buy bottled water over 2 years, Mayor Villaraigosa ordered a stop to this wasteful use of taxpayer dollars.

L.A. isn’t alone. In June, The U.S. Conference of Mayors — that’s more than 60 mayors from cities across the U.S. — agreed to phase out city spending on bottled water.

And some cities and states are going farther! In Chicago, a 5-cent tax per bottle of plastic-encased water went into effect about a year ago. The extra money helps fill the city’s budget gap. In Oregon, the 5-cent deposit for beverage containers got expanded to include water bottles as of 2009.

Of course, in Cali, we’ve had deposit fees covering water and other beverage containers for a while now. If you’re curious what the status of bottled water is in various states, check out BottleBill.org, which keeps tabs on state and country laws (but not city laws — sorry) regarding bottle-related bills.

Is anyone arguing against these bills? Yes — the beverage and bottling industry. Their main argument is that water’s good for you — therefore bottled water’s good for you. What that industry tries not to mention is that BYO-bottling’s also good for you and even better your wallet — though admittedly, less effective at making money for those industries….

Photo by Mike Willis and tskdesign

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>> Have you recycled your tree yet? I saw a whole bunch of to-be-mulched trees when I ran by Christine Emerson Reed Park in Santa Monica, dropped off by eco-minded people taking advantage of the city’s Park Your Tree program.

>> Will Campbell did his annual dead tree collection, hauling seven carelessly abandoned trees from his ‘hood to a tree recycling drop off center. Says he: “I’m in it because someone’s gotta be and because I take far greater pride in my neighborhood than any of the seven lame tree tossers in my immediate vicinity who don’t.” Earlier:

>> Some toppled trees in urban areas are being turned into usable wood instead of mulch, albeit with some difficulties. “Mahogany from Brazil can be an easier sell than eucalyptus from Goleta. The streets deliver a dizzying variety of species, but not enough at any one time to guarantee the uniform appearance offered by commercial growers.”

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Aspiring eco-fashion designers now have a new chance to showcase their ethical style. The Fur Free Fashion Competition wants to see your best garment that will “help promote the ethical and environmental benefits of foregoing fur fashion.” (via Fashion, Evolved)

If you get first place, you’ll win $750, an ad in E Magazine, and a profile on the fffashion website. Second and third place winners will receive $500 and $250, respectively.

The main eco-requirement is that the garment needs to be fur-free — an easy task since most clothes, whether conventional or eco-friendly, just don’t contain fur. Still, since the judges — Sophie Uliano, author of Gorgeously Green; Summer Rayne Oaks, eco-model; and Brita Belli, editor of E Magazine — are all environmentally-committed women, I’m guessing additional eco-features in the fashion entries will earn bonus brownie points.

Get more details about the competition on the fffashion website, then enter using the online entry form. Get your submission in — along with the entry fee’s $25– by April Fool’s Day 2009 for a chance to win.

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Chris Paine, director of Who Killed the Electric Car?, is working on a new movie: The Revenge of the Electric Car. And so I interviewed him about it for Whole Life Times magazine:

GM, the main company featured in Who Killed the Electric Car?, is now in serious financial trouble and asking for a bailout. Could you have predicted this?

We absolutely did predict it. In the movie, Joe Romm [author of The Hype About Hydrogen: Fact and Fiction in the Race to Save the Climate] says, “This may be the most serious blunder in the history of the automotive industry.” And he was right. The problem is that car companies put everything in gasoline, the SUV, the truck. They had no alternate plan. It was just very bad decision-making.

Read on to find out when the electric car will in fact exact revenge. Chris is the proud owner of a new Tesla, BTW, which he writes about on The Revenge of the Electric Car blog. Apparently, the all-electric sports car is a cop-magnet.

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>> Make your fave pair of jeans fit again. No, this isn’t a weight loss idea. If you’ve decided you either like or can accept the weight you gained over the holidays, here’s how to stretch your current closet instead of spending on a new one.

>> Stick to energy-efficient TVs. An on-sale plasma TV could cost you less now but stick you with higher electric bills for as long as you have it. Soon, a new Cali law could outlaw inefficient TVs.

>> Five eco-resolutions to save you money in 2009. Go cheap and green –

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Longtime green LA girl readers know I give myself a sticker for every day I limit myself to 2 or fewer drinks. The results for 2008:

Jan: 19
Feb: 19
Mar: 12
Apr: 14
May: 11
June: 19
July: 9
Aug: 11
Sept: 8
Oct: 12
Nov: 13
Dec: 8

Total: 155

This beats out last year’s 127 days — yay! I also achieved my resolution for 2008, which was to get at least 11 stickers a month. My average ended up being almost 13 stickers a month (12.92)

My goal for next year: To get a sticker for more than half the days of the year, which comes out to at least 183 stickers.

To achieve this: I’m not drinking this month — with a one-day exception for Obama’s Inauguration. That way I’ll have some wiggle room if I fuck up later on in the year.

As you can see from the photo, I’m totally on top of it so far.

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Yes, I’ve written briefly ’bout these games in various clicklists, but I’m compiling them again here because really, who works on a Friday sandwiched between a holiday and a weekend? Once you’re done with these, it’ll be time for happy hour –

Climate Challenge. Sure, Bush did a horrendously bad job. But do you think you’re up to the task of governing while saving the environment? With great power comes great responsibility — and in Climate Challenge, you’re the president of the European Nations, responsible for tackling global climate change from 2000 to 2100. Try to go green while negotiating with other nations, keeping the economy running, and making your constituents happy.

So you know, President Siel was very good for the environment and had a 70% approval rating. However, she also left the economy in ruins — which, I have to say, doesn’t reconcile well with the super high approval rating. I assume this anomaly to be a glitch in the game.

Ayiti: The Cost Of Life. Yes, the name of the game sounds a tad dour — and honestly, the premise of the game — keeping a cute but poor Haitian family of 5 alive and well for 4 years — is a tad depressing. However, this Unicef / Global Kids game’s fun, challenging, and addictive!

I’m proud to say I’ve learned to keep the family alive — which oddly doesn’t quite stop me from continuing to play the game over and over in an attempt to keep them happy while raising their standard of living and giving them a good education. The one downside of the game is that because the youngest two kids never get old enough during the 4-year period to take a higher-paying job, the player gets little motivation to educate or train them. Above’s the results from the session I’m most proud of.

The Adventures of KAB Man. Fly free with KAB (Keep America Beautiful) Man while collecting recyclables and avoiding non recyclables. This oddly addictive game doesn’t really take into account the fact that different cities have different recycling policies, but the basic recycling materials are covered. As you can tell from the image, I’m not very good at controlling KAB man, though I’d like to think I’m pretty good at recycling –

And remember — Tried and true games like Pacman and Tetris don’t require a game console. Play ‘em free online!

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If, like Will, your New Year’s Resolution is to bike everyday — or at least more often — and need help or motivation, consider these bike classes at C.I.C.L.E.

Learn to Ride a Bicycle (for grown-ups). Total newbies are encouraged to learn a new trick they’ll never forget. Say the people at C.I.C.L.E.: “If you have the will, we have the patience, the understanding and the way. That class — capped at three newbies — happens Sun., Jan. 4 at 10 am. Cost: $20, plus an optional $5 for a bike rental.

Handle It Better! Bike Handling Skills (Level 2). Get comfier and more confident on the road with this intermediate level bike handling skills workshop, which happens Sun., Jan. 11 at 10 am. Class is capped at 10 people; fee’s $15.

Traffic Basics: Get into the flow… If you’re new to city riding, then take this workshop to bike safely and confidently. The class happens Sat., Jan. 31 at 10 am. Class is capped at 6 people; fee’s $15.

All classes happen at Glassell Park, 3650 Verdugo Rd., Los Angeles. Call 323.478.0060 or email info@CICLE.org to reserve your spot.

Lots of Angelenos are taking de-car-ing resolutions this year. What’s yours?

Image via C.I.C.L.E.

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If you’re tired of raising a skeptical eyebrow at all those clean coal ads, you’re not alone. In fact, Futerra, an eco-motivated communications agency in the U.K., has gone so far as to put together The Greenwash Guide (PDF) to help separate the real green dreals from the greenwashing. (via Tiny Choices)

The Greenwash Guide’s cutely designed and illustrated — and the writing’s wittily informative. Open up this free PDF guide to get a sense of what green attributes you should look for in products — and what greenwashed claims to ignore. Futerra even provides annotated samples of both laudable and greenwashed ads.

The guide tends to be very U.K.-specific, with frequent references to the “green Pound” — but greenwashing’s clearly a big problem in the U.S. too. Today, American Public Media’s The Greenwash Brigade blog put together its list of 2008’s Greenwashes of the Year.

Energy companies are car makers are the sectors most often called out, but FIJI water’s greenwashed campaign tops The Greenwash Brigade’s list. (Earlier: A chilled plastic bottle of water) Peruse the list for more details — and learn to avoid greenwashed products in 2009.

Images: Courtesy futerra.co.uk

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>> When Good Causes Go Wrong: 7 Utterly Outrageous PETA Stunts. Earlier: PETA’s cheap attention-getting schemes often treat women like meat.

>> A big year for L.A. Transit. Steve Hymon says the groundwork’s been laid for major transit changes as he recounts the year’s events in the L.A. Times.

>> A Fair Trade Year in Review. Change.org recounts both the successes and disappointments in the fair trade movement this year — including Starbucks’ promise to double its commitment to fair trade certified coffee.

>> Relatedly, here’s a primer on fair trade becoming mainstream. This article from the Institute for Food & Development Policy, titled “Fair to the Last Drop: The Corporate Challenges to Fair Trade Coffee,” provides a synopsis of the problems that’re emerging now that big corporations like Starbucks, Nestle and Wal-Mart are getting into fair trade, which used to be a fringe socially-progressive movement.

The conclusion here’s that farmers need to be given more voice, so that they can “not only be ’stakeholders’ in development, but ’shareholders’ in the business.” Whether or not that’ll ever happen is still a big question.

Photo by LiveU4

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