>>  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.

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>>  If you’re starting a business related to the “green” marketplace, including urban farming, or if you have a business idea that addresses other environmental or social justice issues, come out for a green and social business entrepreneur orientation today, Tue., Nov. 1 from 3-5:30 pm at the USC Credit Union Community Room, 3720 S. Flower Street, 1st Floor, Los Angeles.  Cost: Free. Space is limited, RSVP to info@lending4change.com.

>>  Join the Sierra Club, along with the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy to hear about a program through the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power that aims to create jobs, reduce LA’s dependence on coal and save residents and businesses money on their utility bills.  This happens Thu., Nov. 3 from 6 – 8 pm at the Iman Center, 3376 Motor Ave, Los Angeles.  Cost: free.

>>  Siptea, Living by Lynne Leventen & Unatti Foundation are hosting a hot tea and tea cocktail sampling party and clothing drive to benefit the local Planet Aid, so bring clothes to donate!  This is an LA Green Drinks event. There will be a gift basket raffle, with proceeds going to the Unatti Foundation.  Come out on Thu., Nov. 3 from 7-10 pm to 1627 Montana Ave, Santa Monica.  Cost: free.

>>  Folk Art Bike Rides is riding through Historic South Central LA to celebrate CicLAvia’s extension into South LA.  The ride will conclude by feeding into the Free the Streets fundraiser party.  Come ride on Sat., Nov. 5 at 10:45 am at Mercado La Paloma, 3655 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles.  Cost: the ride is free and the fundraiser is $10.  RSVP for the ride to rsvp@cafam.org.

>>  Hold Up Art presents TRASH, a group exhibition featuring the work of nine emerging artists.  With an emphasis on art that’s been created on repurposed and found materials, TRASH is as much about the environment as it is about the free-to-own vibe of contemporary street art.  The opening reception takes place on Sat., Nov. 5 from 7 – 11 pm at Hold Up Art, 358 E. 2nd Street, Los Angeles.  Cost: free.

>>  Cornerstone Theater Company presents the 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 first day of events is on Nov. 7.  Cost: some events are free and some have suggested donations.  See website for details.

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>> Los Angeles could get parklets! Happy Park[ing] Day, everyone! Good news — those mini parks popping up at a parking space near you could become permanent, sort of. LA Daily News reports: “Los Angeles officials announced an effort today to create mini public park spaces downtown and in Highland Park.” (via LAist) Earlier: Los Angeles is park poor compared to most large cities.

>> Finally, Los Angeles may ban plastic bags — and paper bags too! “Under the L.A. proposal, stores would be permitted to give away or sell only reusable tote bags, or risk a fine,” reports the L.A. Times. An exemption would be made for small plastic bags meant to keep raw vegetables and meats separated from other groceries to prevent cross-contamination.” A plastic bag ban is already in effect in unincorporated areas of L.A. County and a handful of nearby cities like Santa Monica and Manhattan Beach. Earlier: Styrofoam and the City: The fate of plastic bags and polystyrene in LA.

>> L.A.’s got a new 2.2-mile bike path down 7th Street, running from Catalina to Figueroa. Happy riding! Earlier: 7th Street to get a bicycle-friendly makeover.

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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

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>> Cyclists to race JetBlue plane from BUR to LGB. That’s right: A bicycle racing team called Wolfpack Hustle will be racing a man taking a plane (Joe Anthony, who happens to be an avid cyclist himself). Both sides will go from Burbank to Long Beach, the route for which JetBlue offered $4 rides during Carmageddon. How the race came into being via Twitter‘s a pretty interesting read — and the race itself should be interesting to follow on Twitter.

>> Cyclist Will Campbell‘s organizing The Autocalypse Now Ride, “a 47-mile route that will begin and end at the Happy Foot/Sad Foot sign at Sunset Boulevard and Benton Way in Silver Lake.” The ride begins Saturday, July 16, at 9 am.

>> Ride your bike and eat real food too. Join L.A. County Bicycle Coalition’s free guided group ride to the sustainable foodie event Eat Real Festival! Meet at the corner of Wilshire and Western at 10:30 am on both Saturday and Sunday to ride along.

>> No, you can’t ride your bike on the 405 this weekend. As LAist puts it: “There’s no sex in the champagne room, and the LAPD would like you to know that there will also be no bike rides allowed on the 405 during Carmageddon.”

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