>> If you didn’t win tickets to the advance screening of Discovery’s LIFE on Tuesday, you missed out on the big screen HD experience — but can still watch LIFE on the small screen this Sunday, March 21, when the 11-part series begins airing. I’m actually not a big nature channel person myself, but really enjoyed seeing the first episode. Frogs are fascinating!

>> Since green LA girl readers already tote reusable bottles, this task will require dumpster diving. Go through your naughty neighbor’s blue bin and fish out a bottled water — then send in the bottled water label to Environmental Working Group. “Our goal is to see how good (or bad) bottled water manufacturers are at sharing important water quality information with consumers,” says the eco-health nonprofit, who’ve published a bottled water scorecard from a similar study last year. For your dumpster diving trouble, you’ll be rewarded with a Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides magnet.

>> You can also watch free funny eco-documentaries online, or play addictive eco-socio-political online games.

>> Or you can get off your ass and get to some great green events happening this weekend, like the Green Lifestyle Film Festival, the LA Street Summit, LEED Platinum homes tour, and more.

Image via Discovery Channel

>> The NRDC says we can cut US emissions by 1 billion tons per year (15% current annual emissions) via simple steps — like putting in CFL bulbs. Find out what they are by clicking over — then pat yourself on the back for already doing them, if you’re like the average green LA girl reader.

>> For good news about the environment in California, read Environment Now’s Top Achievements of the Environmental Community in California (PDF) to see what happy things happened in the last year. A ban on dirty trucks at the ports and a a new law to make existing plan more energy efficient are among the achievements. Unfortunately, land use, open space, and smart growth initiatives experienced more setbacks than successes.

Photo by Adam

>> The 2nd annual Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale happens April 24 – May 2. Sign up now, whether because you’re actually vegan or because you’re lactose intolerant like me and wish for more dairy-free baked goods. The money you raise can go to the cause of your choice.

>> Sirens magazine editor Heather Wood Rudúlph went vegan for a month — and shares lessons learned. Among them: “It’s OK to eat dairy and meat—if you do it responsibly.” One of her lessons, however, is false. Wine is not always vegan, due to additives used in some wines. Earlier: Processed, imported vegetarian proteins not greener than local meat.

Image via veganbakesale.org

>> Running in Los Angeles. The L.A. Marathon’s sold out for the first time in its 25-year history! I ran it in 2005 — and may again in 2015. Will you be running the marathon this year?

>> Making pedestrian life pretty.An iPhone app called CitySourced lets you quickly report potholes and graffiti. Just snap a photo, tag it with a GPS location, and send the info to the city. Currently in San Jose, the L.A. version’s hoped to launch later this month. The bad news is that the city plans to fill 80,000 fewer potholes this year, due to budget shortages.

In addition to the usual suspects like Nestle, a couple organic companies made the list — including one of my favorite cereals, Nature’s Path Organic Flax Plus Multibran Cereal. Why? Apparently the claim “excellent source of Omega-3+” is not approved for use on food products.

>> Why I haven’t bought any canned food this year: BPA-free canned food’s hard to come by — even for green food companies that want to make their containers BPA-free. Both Eden Foods and Vital Choice are struggling to — but not yet succeeding at — keeping BPA out of their products due to both the ubiquity of the chemical and lack of alternatives.

>> Did you know Meryl Streep started working as an environmental foodie activist with the NRDC back in the late 1980s? In an in-depth interview with Wendy Gordon at NRDC’s Simple Steps, Meryl Streep talks in detail about food, health, and the environment — very candidly and honestly, even critiquing her own habits on eco-standards.

Photo by dmoola

The winner will get $1,000; second and third place winners will get $500 and $200, respectively. You gotta act fast though, because the deadline for submission’s tomorrow, March 10.

>> Design an Earth Day T-shirt for organic clothing company bgreen Apparel, whose comfy clothes I’ve reviewed here. The winner will get a $150 bgreen gift card, a free T-shirt, design credit (a printed bio inside the T-shirts), and the happy knowledge that all proceeds from T-shirts sold with the design will be donated to Los Angeles-area environmental nonprofits. The submission deadline’s Fri., March 24.

>> Get a cushy internship with the Sierra Club. One lucky intern will be chosen to “travel around the country hiking, rafting, and enjoying the outdoors with the Sierra Club’s youth programs” while vlogging his or her adventures during the 8-week internship. Plus, the intern will get a $2,500 and $2,000 worth of gear from The North Face and Planet Explore. You must be at least 18 years old, and get your application in by March 31.

Photo by vrogy

The new study [by USC scientists] showed that alarming numbers of children ages 10 to 18 who live within about a block — 528 feet — of a Southern California freeway suffer reduced lung development, a deficit likely to persist through adulthood, and which may increase the risk of respiratory disease and premature death.

City zoning laws and planning decisions haven’t taken these highway-related pollution studies into account. In fact, the LA Weekly article argues city laws have encouraged more people to live in these polluted areas:

Today, in fact, the Department of City Planning chief Gail Goldberg and the Office of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa concede to L.A. Weekly that nobody in City Hall is tracking, or can even estimate, the number of children who have moved into housing erected within 500 feet of freeways since scientists documented the chilling health effects. Los Angeles lawmakers are making no effort to measure the human health costs of such housing.

Earlier: Death by Smogging: Ultrafine particles in Los Angeles

>> Power plants create heat pollution in the oceans, and environmentalists are trying to make them pay. Basically, the plants suck in cool ocean water — along with little sea creatures — to cool their plants, the dump the warmed water — with now-dead sea creatures — back into the ocean.

Federal rules have banned new plants from drawing in seawater for so-called “once-through” cooling systems. Now the state water board wants to apply this rule to the 19 existing plants dotting the coast from Eureka to San Diego. The board’s proposal … would require plants to supplant seawater pipes with massive cooling towers that recycle water, or to use air-cooling platforms.

>> Tougher emissions rules could make the ports cleaner. The South Coast Air Quality Management District proposed rules to put regulatory teeth into the current voluntary pollution reduction targets. These “backstop rules,” if passed, would make polluters pay for not reducing pollution.

Each year, pollution from the movement of goods through the region contributes to an estimated 2,100 early deaths, 190,000 sick days for workers, and 360,000 school absences, according to the California Air Resources Board.

Photo by andropolis

Earlier: StreetFilms put together a short video about the 3 bicycle co-ops in the L.A. area. There is now also a fourth, The Valley Bikery.

>> L.A. has 3 fun bike rides happening on Sat., March 6. Unfortunately, none are on the west side…. Earlier: Green weekender and other green happenings this week.

>> Volunteer for the Orange Line bike study, happening March 24 and 27. According to Metro’s blog The Source, “Volunteers will survey bike riders, walkers and car drivers who utilize Orange Line park-and-ride lots. Volunteers also will count bike and pedestrian trips on the Orange Line’s bikeway.”

>> Catch a free screening of Rock the Boat, a documentary about Angeleno activists who kayaked 51-miles of the L.A. River in 2008 to show that the river is a navigable waterway — and thus falls within the Clean Water Act. According to LAist, the screening happens tonight at 9 pm at the Electric Lodge, 1416 Electric Ave., Venice.

>> The next West Side Green Drinks happens at The Green Life, where you can get a really great deal on recycled envelopes. The party begins this Thurs., March 4 at 7 pm at The Green Life, 2409 Main St., Santa Monica.

>> Help save pelicans at G2 Gallery’s “Fill The Bill” reception to support International Bird Rescue and Research Center’s pelican rescue efforts. According to Will Campbell at Metblogs — who says he’s too often “been up-close and personal with a dead brown pelican along Ballona Creek” — that event happens this Fri. at G2 Gallery, 1503 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice.

>> Get your cat neutered with a free voucher from Actors and Others for Animals. Los Angeles County residents who want one of the 400 vouchers must register at online by March 9, and complete the surgery by April 20.

>> Work out at Lemon Grove Park in East Hollywood, which now has a new fitness trail and exercise zone that includes a 10-piece set of exercise equipment.

Photo of Joe Linton kayaking the L.A. River via L.A. Creek Freak

>> The L.A. Times reports on the LAPD’s new effort to respect bicyclists’ rights:

Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck told a group of bicycle advocates that department-wide training would be implemented to highlight the rights of bicyclists on the road and ensure that officers know how to deal with incidents involving bikes.

Toward that end, officer training “would include a document that would be included in official department policy outlining officers’ responsibilities in dealing with cyclists on the road” as well as a mandatory “computer-based ‘e-learning’ agenda … to help [officers] better recognize problems and issues involving cyclists.”

>> Expect more bicycle sharrows by mid-June, after LA DOT finally implements the long-awaited sharrows pilot program. Earlier: Bike sharrows may be on L.A. streets by May.

>> BikingInLA has a great summary of what went down at the first Metro Roundtable.

>> Will Campbell took 89 fun beachy photos of people passed while biking on The Strand between Hermosa Beach and the Ballona Creek bridge.

Bus:

>> Metro got the first of 50 new buses bought with funds from the Stimulus Bill. According to Metro’s blog The Source, “the buses are powered by natural gas and will replace 33 diesel buses and 17-propane fueled buses.”

>>  L.A. Times profiles a 26-year-old bus rider — who used to be a snobby driver. Now she enjoys the money savings from de-car-ing, and the views and conversations on the bus. Longer-term bus taking bloggers are split on their take on this profile. Damien Newton at Streetsblog LA sounds happy that the article describes “riding the bus as a fun place to be,” while Rosemary — formerly of Booking it Bus Style and now of Ro Ro Ro Your Blog — says the article “dripped with an offensive and condescending tone from start to finish.”

Rail:

>> L.A. City Councilmember Tom LaBonge wants to see the Metro Red/Purple line extended from Union Station to 6th Street in the Arts District.

Photo by Russ Roca Photography