There are some really amazing things happening in Los Angeles with regard to green jobs and funneling employment opportunities into the green sector. This coming week, the Good Jobs, Green Jobs West conference is taking place in Los Angeles on Thu., Mar. 15 and Fri., Mar. 16. Admission for both days is $195.

Good Jobs, Green Jobs West is part of a series of conferences taking place nationally. The Los Angeles conference is partnering with the California Labor Federation, who is also hosting their Workforce & Economic Development conference, Unemployed in America: Causes, Consequences, Solutions, which takes place immediately before Good Jobs, Green Jobs from Tue., Mar. 13 – Thu., Mar.15. You can attend both conferences at the rate of $295, by registering with the California Labor Federation and indicating that you want to attend Good Jobs, Green Jobs West during the registration process. Be sure not to register separately, or the discounted rate will not apply.

Conference keynote speakers and plenary panelists include: Congressman Xavier Becerra, Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa, Teamsters general president James P. Hoffa, California Air Resources board chair Mary Nichols, California Labor Federation chief officer Art Pulaski, Californians for Clean Energy and Jobs co-chair Tom Steyer, Sierra Club national treasurer and past president Allison Chin, chairman of the BlueGreen Alliance’s Apollo Project Phil Angelides, and others.

We have many hard-working people and organizations to thank for this, including Green for All, the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE), Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE), the Apollo Alliance, our innovative Los Angeles labor unions, and, of course, the countless individuals involved in pushing for transition to a sustainable, green economy.

If you can’t attend the conference, but are interested in the subject matter, check out some of the above organizations. They do amazing work in Los Angeles, pushing forward green changes at the policy level. There are also other interesting green jobs movements afoot, such as the campaign for a Green New Deal.

I also highly recommend that you pick up a copy of Van Jones’ seminal book Green Collar Economy if you haven’t yet, since he has great ideas to rebuild a green, clean, prosperous America. You can also check out the website Green Collar Economy.

Lastly, if you can’t attend the Good Jobs, Green Jobs conference because you are looking for a green job, you might find one at Green Job Search.

Photos via Green Jobs, Good Jobs West

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During my trip to EARTH University, we spent a day in the banana fields and at the packaging center. In the fields I was blown away when I saw how the bananeros harvest the bunches. One man uses a machete to separate the bunch from the tree, and another man hoists the 60 lb bunch onto his back and sprints across uneven terrain. He then nimbly chains the bunch onto the train that will take them to the packing plant.

There, workers spend 10 hours a day wielding knives at lightning speed. They inspect and separate the big bunch of bananas into the smaller banana hands that you pick up at Whole Foods.

While I was watching them work very hard, what I was really witnessing was the Whole Trade Guarantee in action. Whole Foods trusts Transfair USA, Rainforest Alliance, and Fair for Life to certify that suppliers have met criteria including quality, premium price to the producer, better wages and working conditions, and environmental sustainability.

According to Fair Trade USA, “Many of the developing worlds’ small farmers live in poverty, struggling to feed their families and to maintain ownership of their land. Hired workers are often denied basic employment rights and fair wages, unable to escape poverty no matter how hard they work.”

This is especially relevant to the banana industry because the companies that have dominated it have a dark history of treating workers unjustly, including knowingly exposing workers to toxic chemicals.

When workers and the environment are treated fairly, one could assume that the products will inevitably cost a little more. So how much are you willing to pay for the piece of mind that your bananas were not involved in the exploitation of innocent workers?

If you have extra pocket change, a dime to be exact, you could put it toward a good cause and potassium rich produce. I called several grocery stores and couldn’t find bananas more then ten cents a pound cheaper than the fair trade variety, so why choose cheaper? Sometimes when you get a deal, someone else is paying for it.

Apparently a lot of shoppers feel the same way. According to a recent press release by Fair Trade USA, it was announced that sales of fair trade certified products are up 75% in 2011 in the U.S. That means huge improvements in a lot of peoples lives, and is proof of what big changes a small amount of change can make.

Photos by April Gilbert

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Hola from Costa Rica! I am writing from EARTH University where I am spending a week living as a student with a group sent by Whole Foods. EARTH is a tropical paradise with a mission: to prepare leaders with ethical values to contribute to the sustainable development of the tropics and to construct a prosperous and just society. They are reaching these ambitious goals in surprising and inspiring ways which I have been lucky enough to witness during my stay.

If EARTH University sounds familiar to you, you may have seen it on a banana label on the shelf of your neighborhood Whole Foods Market. In addition to bananas, Whole Foods supports the universities commercial enterprise by sourcing pineapples, tropical flowers, and coffee. (If you haven’t tried Costa Rican coffee, run, don’t walk to whole foods to buy some. It’s amazing!)

Profits support EARTH’s scholarship program, which is important because half of all students receive a full scholarship and an additional 30% receive a partial scholarship. The students come mostly from Latin American countries and don’t have the economic means to afford a college education. The goal is that the students return home after graduation and improve their communities with the knowledge they have gained at EARTH. It’s working because each EARTH grad creates roughly four jobs.

The curriculum is a combination of hands on learning and traditional classroom style. Each student starts and runs a business beginning in their second year, making them effective agricultural entrepreneurs. My condensed experience here has had me spending time in the banana fields, the packing plant, multiple gardens (most of the food in the cafeteria is grown on campus), and classrooms, including the soil lab, which was a crash course in the chemistry of what makes good soil.

More than just an institution of higher education, EARTH is deeply committed to the improvement of local communities. La Florita is the first carbon neutral community in Costa Rica, and possibly Latin America, because the university has committed to sharing its agricultural and environmental knowledge. Earlier today EARTH students and I helped install a bio-digester in a small farm which will help the environment by keeping pig waste from contaminating the local eco system, and also provide methane gas for the family to cook with, so they don’t have to cut down trees to use for firewood. Earth is innovating and implementing many more similar solutions that benefit the environment and communities.

Everyone here at EARTH has been exceptionally warm and welcoming. Not just the professors, staff, and students, but also the local sloth and iguana seem to say hola in their own way. The pura vida attitude is contagious. I am looking forward to my “graduation” even though it will be sad to leave this amazing place. When I return home I hope to improve my community by sharing the knowledge I have gained this week, just like a real EARTH graduate.

Photos by April Gilbert

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Love Alter Eco’s fair trade organic olive oil from Palestine? That product, sadly, has been discontinued — but fair trade co-op Equal Exchange has stepped in with its own green brand. Equal Exchange Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil — made from Nabali olives from by small family farms in Palestine — is now widely available.

I even picked up my current bottle from Bob’s Market, a family-owned grocery store around the corner! It’s now my go-to dressing for quick salads.

Described as “robust and peppery with a strong fruit finish,” Equal Exchange’s olive oil comes from farming co-ops through the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees, a nonprofit that helps farmers integrate eco-farming practices and compete in the export market, among other fair trade and sustainable initiatives.

Get a 500 ml bottle of your own for $15.99 at Equal Exchange’s web store or a natural food store near you.

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>> 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.

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