>> Come join Women of the Green Generation  for a special Women of the Green Generation Holiday Event. Large Marge Sustainables will provide organic foods and GQ Eco Bartending will serve up organic drinks. The event takes place this Thu. Dec. 15 from 7:00- 10:00 pm at a private home in Santa Monica. The address will be disclosed to registered guests. Cost: $10; visit their website to register.

>>  Heal the Bay is coordinating its fifth annual A Day Without a Bag, which urges consumers to forego environmentally harmful single-use plastic or paper grocery bags in favor of reusable totes. Visit one of the more than 60 Giveaway Locations this Thu., Dec. 15 for a free reusable bag. Cost: free.

>> The Los Angeles Bioneers will be screening the film The Big Fix, the newest documentary from the creators of Fuel. The Big Fix will be screened this Fri., Dec. 16 at 7 pm at the G2 Gallery at 1503 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice. Cost: free. If you want to attend, RSVP to srnichols@mac.com.

>> Cruise into the holiday spirit with C.I.C.L.E.’s 4th annual Holiday Toys and Mittens Ride, which will gather toys and warm articles of clothing for Burbank’s Salvation Army, to be given to local families and children through their Giving Tree. The relaxed-paced, 7.5 mile ride will stop at various sites in Burbank. Join the ride this Sat., Dec. 17 at 10 am at Burbank City Hall, 275 East Olive Ave., Burbank for a fun-filled and family friendly day. Cost: the ride is free, but please bring a toy or article of clothing to donate.

>> Freedom and Fashion, an organization dedicated to educating society about the global issues of modern day slavery, sex trafficking, child labor and human rights violation, is holding a fashion show featuring seven fair-trade lines. The event takes place this Sat., Dec. 17 from 6-10 pm at the Cooper Design Space Penthouse, 860 South Los Angeles Street, 11th Floor Penthouse, Los Angeles. Cost: Ticket prices range from $25-100 and are available online.

>> Join GOOD LA in creating a giant human infographic to attack L.A.’s traffic problem. Currently, 81 percent of Angelenos drive to work. On average, they spend 72 hours of that drive stuck in traffic every year. It’s time to take action. Come out this Sat, Dec. 17 at noon at the intersection of West 4th Street and South Figueroa Street in downtown LA. Cost: free. Be sure to RSVP if you would like to attend.

>> Genetically modified food is in the majority of our food items today. The FDA is allowing these foods to go untested and unlabeled. Culture Club 101 is hosting a GMO Labeling Signature Gathering Training to train people in how to gather signatures in order to put a proposition on next year’s ballot to label foods containing GMOs. The training takes place on Sun., Dec. 18 at 7 pm at Culture Club 101, 30 S. Wilson Avenue Pasadena. Cost: free. Reserve your space on their website.

>>  The Green Business Network is holding their monthly networking event this week. Refreshments will be served and there will be a raffle and discount certificates for Pepe & Sherina Designs.  Bring any old batteries, cell phones, shopping bags and dry cleaning bags you want recycled.  The event takes place on Tue., Nov. 8 from 6-9 pm at the Working Village, 212 Marine Street, Suite 100, Santa Monica.  Cost: $15 at the door or $10 online.

>>   Come and support the LA premiere of THE BIG FIX, a documentary about the continued damage caused to the Gulf of Mexico by the BP oil spill last year.  The screening will feature a Q&A with the filmmakers and takes place on Sat., Nov. 12 at 12 and 2:30 pm and Sun., Nov. 13 at 12 and 7 pm at the AMC Loews Broadway 4, 1313 3rd St. Promenade, Santa Monica.  Cost: the price of a movie ticket.

>>  Come out this weekend for the BAGS FOR BNEATO event.  Donated, reusable bags will be distributed along with tip sheets (in English and Spanish) on how to organize your reusable bags so that you always have them when and where you need them.  Come out this Sat., Nov. 12 from 12-4 pm to either the Echo Park Vons (1342 N Alvarado St, 90026) or the Silver Lake Trader Joe’s (2730 Hyperion Ave, 90027).  Cost: free.

>> Update, 11/9/11: This event’s been canceled. CalRecycle invites you to the Santa Monica Pier for a day of outdoor fun and education as they kick-off CalRecycle’s “Check Your Number” campaign.  CalRecycle is offering free parking to visitors who stop to check their car manuals to learn their oil change interval this Sat., Nov. 12 from 10 am – 3 pm.  Cost: free.

>>  Come ride bikes with the mayor of Burbank! The Burbank BikeStop is a high-capacity indoor bike parking facility located at the downtown Burbank Metrolink Station. Ride with the Burbank mayor to the Metrolink Staion for a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Mon., Nov. 14 at 10 am.  The meeting point is Burbank City Hall, 275 E. Olive Ave, Burbank.  Cost: free.

>>  Cornerstone Theater Company continues their first annual “Creative Seeds: An Exploration of Hunger.”  This two-week event has some of LA’s most innovative artists, food activists, farmers, chefs, food critics and thought leaders address the issue of hunger through an artistic lens.  The festival ends on Nov. 20 and events take place throughout Los Angeles.  Cost: some events are free and some have suggested donations.  See website for details.

In case you haven’t heard yet: L.A. cyclists raced against a JetBlue plane from Burbank to  Long Beach over the weekend — and the two-wheelers won by over an hour. Even more interestingly, public transit taker (and also a cycling advocate) Gary Kavanagh beat the plane too. So did a tweeting woman on rollerblades!

Clearly, fighting traffic to the airport, making it through security, and relying on a cab driver to know the way is not as efficient as traveling across town in more eco-friendly ways. Slate has the unofficial finish times, calculated by @bcgp:

Bike: 1:34
Metro/Walk: 1:44
Rollerblades: 2:40
Plane/Lost Cabdriver: 2:54

For those new to the story, Slate’s Tom Vanderbilt provides a nice comprehensive article on what went down — and waxes lyrical about the possibilities of cycling and public transit in the city:

In the face of this fanciful idea (a traffic-busting flight!) it became possible to demonstrate that cycling, often taken as a non-serious or marginal or even annoying (to some drivers) form of transportation in the United States, could seem eminently reasonable: not only the cheapest form of transportation, not merely the one with the smallest carbon footprint, not only the one most beneficial to the health of its user, but the fastest….

But the race today wasn’t only about the cyclists. Gary Kavanagh*, who had reacted enthusiastically to my initial daydreaming about a “Tour de Carmageddon,” was the day’s dark horse, revealing the secret efficacy—and perhaps, for some remote Twitter spectators, the existence—of Los Angeles’ oft-derided subway system. (When I thought of a cyclist racing a jet, I admittedly wasn’t even aware one could take mass transit between BUR and LGB).

Many Angelenos who weren’t even aware of this race talked about how the freeway closure actually made for quite the pleasant weekend. KPCC’s Molly Peterson picked up on this tweet from L.A. County’s public transit agency Metro:

That’s one big idea — and GOOD asked for more this morning by kicking off a new project: “Imagine Your Los Angeles Street Beyond Cars.” Submit your best car-free vision by Sunday, July 31 for a chance to get it seen at the A+D Museum on Thursday, August 11 during the Moving Beyond Cars party. One winner will get GOOD goodies and other prizes. RSVP for the party now to find out who the winner is then.

Earlier:  Without a Car in the World: See 100 Car-free Angelenos

Photo by Michael Dorausch

TV networks don’t just weave in green themes into their shows once a year for eco-creds — They do it to win EMAs! The 20th Annual Environmental Media Awards recognized films and TV programs for bringing attention to environmental concerns at a star-studded event on Saturday at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, Calif. Everyone from Rosario Dawson (below) to Natalie Portman to Eva Mendez to Ted Turner came out to walk the green carpet and honor green leaders in media.

Hosted by Olivia Munn (Attack of the Show) and Jason Ritter (The Event), this year’s EMAs showed just how much better eco-themed programming’s gotten — even compared to just two years ago, when I last attended the event. The Television Episodic Drama category alone addressed everything from global warming to factory farming to e-waste pollution! Bones took home the prize, Michaela Conlin accepting the award for “The Tough Man in the Tender Chicken,” an episode that brought attention to caged chickens.

I discovered there’s a surefire way of winning an EMA: Get Al Gore to do a cameo! Just like in 2008, 30 Rock took the Television Episodic Comedy award home for its Gore-inspired episode. Katrina Bowden (above) accepted the award, joking that she’d biked all the way from New York for the event.

“Rachelle, you wanna go first or second?” asked Ed Begley, Jr. (below) said when he got on stage to accept the Best Reality Television Award for Living with Ed — and got a “First! First!” from his wife as she grabbed the mic from him. Rachelle credited the show for keeping the two of them together!

The most confusing part of the night for me came when Jeff Skoll, founder of Participant Media (An Inconvenient Truth, Food, Inc.) , accepted the EMA Corporate Responsibility Award. He kicked off his acceptance speech with a story:

One evening a snake slithered across my path and I reacted by taking a shovel and hacking it to death. And my uncle said, you know what Jeff, that snake wasn’t going to hurt you and it has the right to live, just like any other creature. My uncle was later eaten by a grizzly bear. I’m told that the bear is alive and well. We miss you, Uncle Ernie.

That part got a lot of laughs! Then Jeff said, “Just kidding.” Wait — Was he kidding about his uncle getting eaten? About the bear being alive? Or about missing the uncle? His closing sentence only confused me further. “And Uncle Ernie, if you’re out there somewhere, this is for you.” Can you figure it out?

And the funniest moment of the night came courtesy of Jane Fonda, who introduced Ted Turner, recipient of the EMA Lifetime Achievement Award. Talking about Ted’s financial donations to help end female genital mutilation, Jane said “He puts his money where his mouth is” — and got roaring laughter from the crowd.

Compared to 2008, the sponsor presence was much lighter during the show, with just one major sponsor — Toyota — given on-stage time. Of course, Toyota’s green cars often came up when the celebs talked about their own greening efforts, both on the carpet and on stage. “I’d just like to point out that I drive a 5-year-old Toyota Highlander Hybrid,” said James Cameron when he accepted the award for Avatar in the Feature Film Category. “It’s the only hybrid I could find that seats seven. I have five kids so — not much choice five years ago. And my wife drives a Lexus hybrid. I hope that was not the basis on which we were selected for this award.”

Other winners were Gasland for Documentary Film (above, director Josh Fox), Handy Manny for Children’s Animated Television, and Lights, Camera, Take Action! for Children’s Live Action Television. After all the winners were announced, Kenny Loggins took the stage and entertained — then partygoers got up to wander around the studio lot, tasting delicious, sustainable bites from Akasha, Jar, Grace, Real Food Daily, Mani’s on Maple, Border Grill, and other local green restaurants while sipping organic drinks — and picking up eco-shwag like organic potting soil from Kellogg Garden Products, which supports EMA’s Organic School Garden program for Los Angeles Unified School District students.

Wish you’d been there? Watch the whole show online at The National Geographic Channel on YouTube, starting Oct. 23.

Awaiting the next Avatar-like film? You’ll have to wait another three years or so. That’s according to Avatar director James Cameron, who took home the Best Feature Film award at the Environmental Media Awards ceremony at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank Saturday night.

“I can’t wait to make another Avatar film in another 3 years or so,” James said in his acceptance speech. “This is such a critical time, I think, in the history of the environmental movement, and there’s so much that needs to happen right now and the fight is escalating.”

I’ll write more about the EMAs as a whole later, but for now, I’ll say I was blown away by James’ clear commitment to environmental issues and inspired by his calls to action. In a near 9-minute long acceptance speech, James said that making Avatar amped up his environmental work. “The interesting thing about Avatar for me is that the work didn’t end when the movie came out,” James said. “In a funny way, it just began, because the film resonated around the world with environmental groups and activists and with people in the indigenous community who came forward and approached me and said ‘this film is important to us, it resonates with us’ or in the case of some of the indigenous leaders, ‘this is our reality. We are fighting the bulldozers everyday and we’re fighting for our habitat and our culture and life.’ They asked for ways in which we could get involved with them and do something jointly. So it’s really become this amazing journey.”

James pointed to the importance of getting people from an emotional connection with a film to taking direct action to address environmental concerns. “The movie, as much of a message film as it is — It doesn’t give you anything truly to act on. It doesn’t teach you the way a documentary does. It just creates an emotional reaction, maybe an emotional connection to nature that we’re losing in our lives. Maybe to some people it creates a sense that we do need something, that we need to do something soon. But it doesn’t tell you what to do so there’s a lot of work that needs to be done for me in parallel to that.”

One piece of that work is defeating California Prop. 23 — an initiative to halt California’s landmark global warming law (AB 23) — which comes to vote next month. James says he’s fighting this proposition — with his own money.

“The fight is in front of us, and it’s really time to really double down. I mean, the fight’s been brought to us in our own home turf with Prop 23,” James said, deriding Valero and Tesoro, the Texas companies that are the main backers of this California proposition. “The AB 32 legislation is such important, landmark legislation on climate change and a clean energy economy that we’ve just got to win this one and we’ve got to win it resoundingly. So I’ve dumped a bunch of money into that, which I don’t normally do — I just feel like it’s such a line in the sand fight that we have to win.”