Last year’s LA Bike Summit brought together an impressive number of cyclists from all over the city — and this year the event’s expanded to become 2010 LA Street Summit: Biking, Walking and Beyond!

Come learn and talk about pedestrian-friendly streets, healthy livable communities, economic development, and more — all with like minded Angelenos. The summit’s free, but if you pre-register by Mon., March 15, you get a free lunch!

When: Sat., March 20, 10:30 am – 5 pm
Where: L.A. Trade Tech College, 400 W. Washington Blvd., Los Angeles
Cost: FREE — with free lunch if you pre-register by Mon., March 15

I was on the “Bike Blogs and More: Electronic Communications Panel” panel at LA Bike Summit last year, and wish I’d gotten up early to make the morning sessions too. This year, I will! Morning speakers include Carl Anthony, founder of Urban Habitat, and Charlie Gandy, the Mobility Coordinator for the City of Long Beach.

The afternoon features 3 sessions, each with lots of different workshops to pick from. Foodies might want to go to “Moving People to Good Food and Good Food to People,” pedestrian advocates to “Changing Communities Through Walkability Assessments,” environmental health activists to “Making the Health Connection.” Many workshops address specific neighborhoods — like Thai Town or Glendale — or very specific issues — like taco trucks or bike racks.

The main summit happens all day on Saturday, but a pre-summit event featuring Janette Sadik-Khan, New York City’s Commissioner of Transportation, will kick things off on Thurs., March 18 at 7:30pm at Keck Theater at Occidental College.

See you at the Summit!

Photo by Lisa Newton

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Nearly 10% of L.A. County residents need food assistance — yet perfectly good food gets thrown in dumpsters around our city every day — which has environmentalists and freebie seekers alike dumpster diving for free food.

Freeganism’s not new news anymore — but a film about freeganism is! It’s called Dive!. Watch the preview’s below (via MNN):

Dive! is screening in L.A.-area venues this month:

>> Thurs., March 11 at 7 pm Conscientious Projector screening at Armory Center for the Arts, 145 N. Raymond Ave., Pasadena. FREE.

>> Sat., March 13, 6:15 pm at the 15th Annual International Family Film Festival, Raleigh Studios, 5300 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles. Tickets cost $10 each.

>> Mon., March 15 at 7:30 pm as part of 7 Dudley Cinema at The Talking Stick, 1411 Lincoln Blvd., Venice. FREE.

More screenings will happen in April and May, if you can’t make these. I like the idea of freeganing, but I tend to be very afraid of food-borne illnesses, since recalls even on food still on supermarket shelves seem to happen every month. The L.A. Times recently reported that food-borne illnesses really cost you:

A new consumer research report released Wednesday has found that the health-related costs of food-borne illnesses total $152 billion a year, including the costs of medical bills, lost wages and lost productivity.

Get ill and you could end up spending a lot more than you saved on your freegan food. So to freegan more safely, read Leah Koenig’s dos and don’ts of dumpster diving.

Freeganing not adventurous enough for you? Try being a frugan — a frugal vegan, according to one Katherine Fairfax Wright, who dumpster dives for her animal-product-free eats and resells salvaged trashed goods at a profit. She blogs at Frugal Living.

Earlier:
>> Dumpsters get popular: Freegans and junk yard tours
>> Book Review: The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved

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>> Take a FREE Surfrider’s Ocean Friendly Garden Class on Wed., March 10 from 6 pm – 9 pm at Hostelling International Santa Monica, 1436 Second St., Santa Monica. RSVP required; contact oceanfriendlygardens@surfriderwlam.org or 310.694.8351 with first and last name, phone number and email address.

>> Co-opportunity’s also having a Free Gardening Event featuring Darren Butler and Margaret Oakley on Thurs., March 11 from 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm at the Santa Monica Main Public Library’s Martin Luther King Jr. Auditorium, 601 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica.

>> Just in time for World Water Day, catch a free screening of Tapped — a film that “examines the role of the bottled water industry and its’ effects on our health, climate change, and our reliance on oil” — on Thurs., March 11 from 7 pm – 11 pm at Santa Monica College’s AET campus, Room 235, 1660 Steward St., Santa Monica. Here’s L.A. Creek Freak Joe Linton’s review. (via The Daily Ocean)

>> Join me at The Organic Center’s 7th Annual VIP Benefit Dinner — themed “Dirt + Water + Sun” — featuring Andrew Weil and other eco-foodie luminaries. The Organic Center’s a fantastic nonprofit that does scientific research and education about organic food and farming — and this party will feature a cocktail reception with organic hors d’oeuvres, live jazz from Mattson Two, and an organic family-style dinner from Pace Restaurant. The party begins Fri., March 12 at 7 pm at the Platinum Ballroom of the Anaheim Mariott Hotel in Anaheim. Cost: $175 per person.

>> Celebrate World Water Day a few days early at World Water Day Los Angeles, a FREE all-day event happening Sun., March 14 from 9:30 am – 3:30 pm at the Natural History Museum, 900 Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles.

>> Tour the L.A. River with Friends of the Los Angeles River! See the waterway up close, find out about its revitalization plans, and get a lesson on L.A. eco-history. Meet up Sun. March 14, at 9:30 am at the River Center, 570 W Ave. 26, Los Angeles to form carpools and caravan around until 4 pm. Cost: $25, or $20 for FoLAR members. RSVP required to Shelly at mail@folar.org or 323-223-0585.

>> Come hear me speak on BREATHE LA Green Salon panel — “AB 32.0 and the Rise of Green Digital Media” — on Tues., March 16, 9 am – 10:30 am at the California Endowment Center, 1000 N. Alameda St., Los Angeles. Free with RSVP.

>> Did you win tickets to see a free screening of LIFE? Then I’ll see on on Tues., March 16 at The Landmark!

>> Catch a free sneak preview of Dirt! The Movie on Tues., March 16 in the Silver Screen Room of the Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood. The event will kick off with an organic reception at 7 pm, followed by a screening at 7:30 pm and a Q&A with the filmmakers. RSVP’s required at KCET.

>> Happy St. Patrick’s Day on March 17! Here are 11 green ways to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in Los Angeles.

>> Weigh in on Metro Westside Subway Extension’s Optional Crenshaw Station. Should the purple line have a stop at Crenshaw or not? Weigh in while the Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Report’s underway. The meeting happens on St. Patrick’s Day, Wed., March 17 from 6 pm – 8 pm at Wilshire United Methodist Church, 4350 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.

>> Fight the threat of offshore oil drilling with Surfrider Foundation and Environment California. Get to an educational meeting where staff from Surfrider Foundation and Environment California, as well as environmental activists and local community members, will come together to discuss what the threats associated with drilling are, and how communities can fight them. The meeting happens on St. Patrick’s Day, Wed., March 17 from 7 pm – 8 pm at Santa Monica Library – Fairview Branch, 2101 Ocean Park Blvd., Santa Monica.

Image via tappedthemovie.com and kcet.org

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Do you dream of sustainable urban landscapes when you sleep? Then I hope you don’t live in Orange County, which is just waking up to the fact that maybe mandating gas-guzzling lawns isn’t the best idea when we’ve got water shortages. Other SoCal cities are more water-wise, however, and want your help to get wiser yet. So enter the City of Santa Monica Landscape Design Contest and turn your dream into reality!

The city wants to install 3 new demonstration gardens at 3200 Airport Ave., across from Airport Park — and is crowdsourcing the design. According to the city press release:

These landscape designs must be simple to recreate, yet sustainable water-efficient garden design templates. Participating designers are encouraged to base their layouts on local neighborhood communities in Santa Monica, i.e., Ocean Park, Sunset, North of Montana, and incorporate outdoor living room features, elements from Mediterranean and shade gardens, climate appropriate plants, as well as permeable paving options. Recommendations for scaling up or down the garden design template to match appropriate neighborhood lot sizes should also be included.

Get your design in by Mon., March 15 for a chance to see your dream grow — literally.

Don’t feel confident enough to tackle a landscape design challenge? Maybe you will, after a couple free gardening classes — both happening next week before the contest deadline:

>> Take a FREE Surfrider’s Ocean Friendly Garden Class and learn about sustainable landscaping practices that will curb urban runoff and ocean pollution. The class — featuring light snacks — happens Wed., March 10 from 6 pm – 9 pm at Hostelling International Santa Monica, 1436 Second St., Santa Monica. RSVP required; contact oceanfriendlygardens@surfriderwlam.org or 310.694.8351 with first and last name, phone number and email address.

>> Co-opportunity’s also having a Free Gardening Event featuring Darren Butler and Margaret Oakley that will teach you about techniques for sustainable and edible gardening. Be there on Thurs., March 11 from 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm at the Santa Monica Main Public Library’s Martin Luther King Jr. Auditorium, 601 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica.

Gardening goodness doesn’t end there. Put these yummy events into your calendar for the Spring:

>> Learn from a free seminar, Secrets of Growing Delicious Heirloom Tomatoes, in time for the tomato season. The free class happens Sun., March 21 from 9 am – 10 am at the Ocean View Farms Community Garden’s’ 6th Annual Tomato-bration in West L.A. on S. Centinela at Rose Ave.

>> Take the 100 Gardens Challenge and pledge to plant your own edible garden during the weekend of April 24 and 25! I took this challenge last year — and I’m proud to say that my year-old chard plants are still going strong (though the basil died really fast and the lettuce barely grew). Help transform L.A. into an edible oasis over just one weekend by planting that garden — or get involved now with the Westside Permaculture Group, the organization behind this challenge, and help organize the big event.

>> Then head over to the Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase and take a self-guided tour on foot or by bike to see pretty, eco-friendly gardens that save water — and money on utility bills. The free event happens on Sun., April 25 and is open to all; a map will be posted closer to date.

Earlier:
>> Book Review: Fresh Food From Small Spaces – Balcony gardens, simplified
>> Urban lawn garden in Santa Monica

Photo by Anika Malone

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For World Water Day last year, Angelenos took part in a March for Water. This year we’re get a World Water Day Los Angeles complete with watery lectures, demos, and a forum — as well as traditional dance, a drum circle, live animal presentations and other kid-friendly activities! (via L.A. Creek Freak)

World Water Day’s actually on March 22, but World Water Day Los Angeles celebrations will happen a few days early to coincide with the Natural History Museum’s Sustainable Sundays series:

When: Sun., March 14 from 9:30 am – 3:30 pm
Where: Natural History Museum, 900 Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles.
Cost: Free

Fittingly, World Water Day L.A.’s a disposable water bottle-free event — so make sure you take your own reusable bottle!

Love water but not too excited about the horde of loud kids sure to be running around the museum? Lucky you — another watery event’s happening in L.A. on Sunday. Tour the L.A. River with Friends of the Los Angeles River! See the waterway up close, find out about its revitalization plans, and get a lesson on L.A. eco-history. I took the tour a few years back –

This carpool tour will go from the San Fernando Valley to Downtown L.A., with stops for tacos and cream puffs. Meet up Sun. March 14, at 9:30 am at the River Center, 570 W Ave. 26, Los Angeles to form carpools and caravan around until 4 pm. Cost: $25, or $20 for FoLAR members. RSVP required to Shelly at mail@folar.org or 323-223-0585.

If you’d like to celebrate World Water Day by giving money to a good cause, consider FoLAR to benefit a great local nonprofit — or Wherever the Need to benefit an international nonprofit currently involved with relief efforts in Haiti by delivering clean water and sanitation.

Images via worldwaterdayla.com

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1. Get out and drink. Take advantage of St. Patty’s deals at your local green watering hole. A few to try:

>> Pizza Fusion Hollywood will offer $1 off all drafts and bottles off their organic and sustainable beers — alongside the restaurant’s usual yummy organic eats. Plus, get $4 Fat Tire and Paulaner Hefe from 4 pm-7 pm.

>> Eco-wine bar Pourtal will have $5 glasses of Vinho Verde (Portuguese “green wine”) all night.That wine’s not organic, but many others at Pourtal are.

>> Library Alehouse will serve Guinness and corned beef alongside farmers market cabbage with potatoes and carrots from Weiser Family Farms.

Know of other green beer deals? Share them in the comments.

2. Or drink at home. Stephanie Rogers at Earth First has a list of organic brews to pick from. Or throw a party and get some local keg beer, which Slate’s Green Lantern is the greenest beer container — as long as you drink from reusable glasses.

3. If you want to drink home all year on the cheap, brew your own organic beer. Sierra Club’s Climate Crossroads shows you how to get started.

4. Become a beer activist. Drink to change the world! Chris O’Brien’s book Fermenting Revolution: How to Drink Beer and Save the World will turn you into a purposeful beer drinker. Follow up that read by watching Beer Wars, to find out why you shouldn’t be drinking Bud Light.

5. Reeling and ready to take eco-action? Ride, don’t drive, to the Community Meeting about the Metro Westside Subway Extension’s Optional Crenshaw Station. Should the purple line have a stop at Crenshaw or not? Weigh in while the Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Report’s underway. The meeting happens on St. Patrick’s Day, Wed., March 17 from 6 pm – 8 pm at Wilshire United Methodist Church, 4350 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.

6. Or fight the threat of offshore oil drilling with Surfrider Foundation and Environment California. Get to an educational meeting where staff from Surfrider Foundation and Environment California, as well as environmental activists and local community members, will come together to discuss what the threats associated with drilling are, and how communities can fight them. The meeting happens on St. Patrick’s Day, Wed., March 17 from 7 pm – 8 pm at Santa Monica Library – Fairview Branch, 2101 Ocean Park Blvd., Santa Monica.

7. Or stick strictly to St. Patrick’s Day-themed events, and use Google Transit to ride safely to the St. Patrick’s Day festival at L.A. Live.

8. Dine green. Robin Shreeves at MNN has a recipe for Irish brown bread, and Blogher’s own Alanna Kellogg put together a roundup of green food recipes.

9. Eat green cookies. Bake your own — or get organic shamrock sugar cookies from Organic Bouquet. Two dozen cost $59.95.

10. Get crafty. Can’t drink or go out because you’re stuck at home with the kids? Jenn Savadge at MNN has some ideas for eco-friendly St. Patty’s craft projects, like making a coffee filter shamrock, handprint rainbow, or paper mache pot of gold.

11. Appreciate green beauty. Check out these gorgeous photos of Irish landscapes — limestone bluffs, swamp woodlands, pastures for peaceful grass-fed cows — from National Geographic. Enjoy them now, because according to Della Watson at The Sierra Club’s blog, The Green Life, “a report from the Irish American Climate Project predicts that global warming will endanger the Emerald Isle’s verdant fields, cause a drought-induced reduction in the the country’s famous potato crop, and lead to more “bog bursts” (think mudslides).” Even worse, climate change is worsening the quality of Saaz hops used to make pilsner lager!

Earlier: Happy hour with green-tinted glasses

[crossposted on Blogher]

Photo by swanksalot

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>> Want to be a serious bicycle activist in L.A.? Watch this short video of a day in the life of local biketivist Ramon Martinez and follow him as he volunteers at the Bicycle Kitchen, organizes a protest ride with the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, and of course, bikes!

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.”

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If you read green LA girl by email only, you opened up your inbox this morning to discover that, alas, you missed your chance to attend the advance screening for Discovery Channel’s LIFE on Mach 16!

Despair not: Another green documentary’s screening that day — and it’s free and open to the public, as long as you RSVP quickly for this opportunity. Get to a Community Cinema Screening of DIRT! The Movie.

What’s DIRT! about? According to KCET, ITVS, Bioneers and Youth Service America, the organizers of the screening:

It’s under our feet and under our fingernails, but what is it? And how did it get there? Inspired by William Bryant Logan’s acclaimed book Dirt: The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth, find out how industrial farming, mining and urban development have led us toward cataclysmic droughts, starvation, floods and climate change. Dirt is a part of everything we eat, drink and breathe. Which is why we should stop treating it like, well…dirt.

Watch the trailer below:

The screening happens Tues., March 16 in the Silver Screen Room of the Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood. The event will kick off with an organic reception at 7 pm, followed by a screening at 7:30 pm and a Q&A with the filmmakers. RSVP’s required at KCET.

Image via kcet.org

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Loved Planet Earth? Now the Discovery Channel’s come out a sequel of sorts: LIFE. And green LA girl readers can win tickets to an advance showing of the premiere episode — “Challenges of Life” — on March 16! Here’s your chance to experience LIFE on the big-screen in HD format [Update: Tickets are now all gone!] — before the series premiers on March 21.

But first, about LIFE: Narrated by Oprah Winfrey, LIFE takes a closer, more intimate look at different animal and plant groups, showcasing amazing scenes from the natural world in all seven continents.

For example — Remember those fun falling scenes in Avatar, when Jake Sully and Neytiri break their falls by dropping onto a series of leaves? I just found out there’s a toad that does exactly that to escape from its enemies.

That would be the waterfall toad, which happens to have opposable thumbs like humans! Watch the frog break its perilous fall in this short clip from LIFE:

The first two of LIFE’s 11 parts — “Challenges of Life” and “Reptiles and Amphibians” — will air Sun., March 21 on the Discovery Channel. But if you’re in the L.A.-area, you can win a pair of tickets here to see “Challenges of Life” on the big screen on Tues., March 16, 7:30 pm at The Landmark, 10850 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles.

Simply email me at greenlagirl@gmail.com with your full name, and you’ll get a pair of free tickets — until I run out. I’ll put up an update once all tickets are given out — which means unless you see said update after this sentence, tickets are still available — so email me now! [Update: Tickets are now all gone!] Winners will receive an email confirming their tickets.

Here’s a couple more clips from LIFE’s first two episodes to pique your interest. Watch cheetahs hunt ostrich and Komodo dragons hunt buffalo!

Image via Discovery Channel

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This week’s green weekender went up yesterday — but a lot more’s happening this week!

>> 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

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