>> Metro’s taking seats out of train cars to make room for bikes, wheelchairs, and luggage. De-seating’s expected to commence in 30 - 60 days.

>> Metro may have to cut services due to lease-back deals it made involving AIG back when the financial company was doing okay:

AIG provided $1 billion in loans to finance the transactions. The company, in return for fees paid by the transit agency, also guaranteed that the lease payments to investors would be made on time.

But now AIG’s financial troubles have

triggered a clause in the lease-back agreements that require the MTA to either find a new firm to guarantee the deals or reimburse investors for their down payments and lost tax benefits, a scenario that could cost the transit agency between $100 million and $300 million….

Under a worst-case scenario, [Metro treasurer Terry] Matsumoto said, the bill could rise to $1.8 billion, more than half the MTA’s annual budget for this year. “There is no practical way we could ever pay that back,” he said.

Metro seems to be scrambling to find a way out of the mess.

>> Unrelatedly, my lettuce is slowly growing, but my squirrel Nutta’s already started nibbling on the baby greens!

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Your turn to help me –

First, the leaves will get little white spots. Then, the whole branch or whatever you call it on tomato plants — sub-stalks, perhaps? — will wither (see example to the left side of pic) and fall off.

What’s wrong with my tomato plant and why is this happening to me?

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Want a one-serving fruit pie cup with honey baked right into the crust? Then we must be fellow Pushing Daisies fans — so I assume you saw the first episode this season, in which Chuck the beekeeper’s bees all die due to errant pesticides!

That, sadly, is happening in real life too — though the reasons aren’t so clear as in the TV version. Our once busy bees are now buzzing away in a mysterious disappearing phenomenon dubbed colony collapse disorder — and in real life, we’ve got no piemaker to touch dead bees back to life (No idea how a piemaker can perform bee reincarnations? Watch Pushing Daisies at ABC.com then come back).

A third or so of our bees have already vanished, which has farmers stressing out, scientists scrambling to find the cause and cure, and activists doing everything from creating buzzy documentaries to bee-friendly gardens. Here are a few ways you can join the work to help bring back the bees, hopefully:

>> Buy local honey. Farmers’ markets and local co-op markets often carry local honey and honey products. My current jar of honey comes from Bill’s Bees, Angeles National Forest, Calif.

>> Plant a sunflower! Want to help with CCD research? The Great Sunflower Project, brainchild of an associate professor at San Francisco State, asks you to plant a native sunflower plant (seeds provided), then note twice a month how long it takes 5 bees to visit it. Project’s over for this year, but you can sign up for 2009. (via eatlocalchallenge)

>> Create a bee-friendly habitat in your front or back yard. Pablo of Salon.com offers some helpful tips, from avoiding harmful pesticides to planting showy flowers.

>> Consider supporting bee-friendly companies like Haagen Dazs, Burt’s Bees, Almond Board of California by buying their products. However, as BlogHer contributing editor Elana Centor hints at in her post, you may want to consider how solid the companies’ commitment to this cause is before spending your money.

>> Be nice to neighborhood bees. If despite CCD, you’re seeing way to many bees around your place, make them move away in a friendly manner. Call David, “a Bee Man” in the LA-area, who’ll somehow take your bees and relocate them to local bee farms. According to Ideal Bite, David does this — for $95 and up — without using pesticides.

Photo by law_keven

[crossposted on BlogHer]

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>> Monday: Watch eco-films FREE at the Sheila Laffey enviro films retrospective, featuring films about the South Central farm, Thoreau’s Walden, Hawaii’s sustainable community projects, and an eco-computer game. It all happens Mon., Oct. 13, 6 pm - 10 pm at Unurban Cafe, 3301 Pico Blvd., Los Angeles. (thnx to Joz for the tip)

>> Tuesday: Hear Food Not Lawns author Heather Flores talk about “the first step in tearing out that resource consuming lawn and putting in a productive edible garden” — then perform with her band Underscore Orkestra.

>> Also on Tuesday: Green Business Networking. Usual place, usual time.

>> Thursday: Sustainable Works’ first annual fundraiser — where I plan to be. All who’re willing to part with $75 are welcome to attend.

>> Saturday: Learn about “Global Climate Change and the Effect upon Wildlife and Wildlands” at Re-Enchanting the City V Conference, put together by the Wildlife and Endangered Species Committee of the Sierra Club, Angeles Chapter. The free, day-long event happens Sat., Oct. 18, from 8:15 am - 4 pm at the Friendship Auditorium, 3201 Riverside Dr., Los Angeles. Full event schedule here (PDF).

>> Sunday: Pottery Barn’s throwing a FREE “Creating an Eco-Friendly Home” class. However, beware the corporate chain’s idea of eco. As Re-Nest has observed:

On the website and in the catalog they describe their bedding as being made from 5% organic cotton, which is a great start, but hardly ‘Eco-Friendly’. Not many of the products in the line have any explanation for how they are eco anything other than colors than evoke the outdoors.

So if you go with your wallet, make sure you ask some questions before whipping out the credit card. The event happens on Sun., Oct. 19, 10 am - 11 am at the Pottery Barn on 1228 Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica. RSVP required to 310.394.2550.

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>> Natural corks are more eco wine-toppers than plastic corks and screw caps. Here are my instructions on recycling both natural and plastic corks.

>> Hybrid taxis are getting more props in Burbank. Once-skeptical cabbies say both they and their passengers like the fuel-efficient taxis.

>> This Tomatomania dude grows more tomatoes in his backyard than you do, unless you harvested more than 10,990 tomatoes last year. But where exactly is Winnetka?

>> Get more bloggy via 2 FREE teleconfrences featuring my friend Britt Bravo, who btw is also a career consultant whose services I’m currently getting a lot out of!

Photo by jeffsmallwood

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>> More cyclists means fewer accidents! “According to a study by researchers at the University of New South Wales, the number of collisions decreases as the number of bicycles in traffic increases. It sounds like a paradox, they say, but motorists are more likely to drive carefully and respectfully when there are more cyclists on the road.” Get your friends on a bike!

>> Gardening can save you money and make you happier. This LA Times article profiles Marta Teegen of Homegrown who’ll put in a home garden for you for about $2,000. The girls at Heartbeet Gardening offer a similar service too. Start gardening!

>> Bad chemicals like phthalates and parabens are getting phased out by both new and more mainstream companies, as the green market keeps growing. Unfortunately, “natural” or “organic” product claims aren’t always regulated, so it’s still often up to the consumer to figure out — if they can — how green a product actually is. Earlier: Clorox’s new dish liquid avoids the carcinogen in many green products.

Photo by SeraphimC

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>> The former South Central Farm site won’t become a warehouse for at least a year, pending an environmental review. Community activists are psyched. Earlier: A Forever 21 development’s planned at the site of the former South Central Farm.

>> Clive Thompson on Why Urban Farming Isn’t Just for Foodies. “Our world faces many food-resource problems, and a massive increase in edible gardening could help solve them. The next president should throw down the gauntlet and demand Americans sow victory gardens once again.”

>> Build a Green Roof with some help from Wired. “Plants on your roof can reduce your heating and cooling bills and protect your house’s waterproofing. That’s /in addition/ to all the other good things, like cleaning air, filtering water and providing a feast for your senses. ”

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Back in April I wrote about Heart Beet Gardening, a cute lil local gardening company run by three Marlborough School alumnae — Megan Bomba (right), Sara Carnochan (right), and Kathleen Redmond — who’ll help you set up your own private, organic edible landscape.

At that time, the girls had just put in a 1,000-square-foot native-and-edible garden — including pomegranate, fig and persimmon trees surrounded by artichokes, lemongrass, fennel, chives, blackberries, grapes, and other herbs and edible plants — for $5000.

This is how it all looked 4 months ago:

Here’s how it looks now:

Need a lil help getting your own edible garden started? Call Heart Beet, and you could have one set up in just a week. The cost for a 100-square-foot garden with a raised bed runs between $1,500 to $2,500 for set-up, depending on the condition of the soil, the type of irrigation system desired, and other factors particular to your garden.

Once the garden’s set up, get gardening yourself! Heart Beet can help you maintain it for $75 a month, but the company’s overall goal is to get more people growing stuff.

Heart Beet Gardening. 310.460.9365.

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Motivated by Kalyn Denny’s post ’bout caprese salad,” I decided to start a balcony tomato garden!

First stop: The Santa Monica Farmers’ Market, where I picked up a high country tomato plant from a local farmer (right). “You got lucky!” he said, and pointed out that my lil $3 purchase actually had 3 separate tomato plants in it — so I paid just a buck per plant! He advised me to separate the plants out and plant them v. deeply.

Second stop: Whole Foods, to pick up a couple pots — I found biodegradable ones that look stylish too! — and some compost.

Next, I tried to separate out the tomato plants as gently as possible — They were really enmeshed together though — then put each one in its own pot.

Wish me luck with these — because my last tomato plant got strangely twisty. For encouragement, I read Jul of This Non-American Life’s post about her balcony-grown tomato — which has a cute lil nose! If I can successfully get my tomato plants to thrive on my balcony, I’ll try branching out. Soli Deo Gloria at Heart and Hearth says lemongrass is easy to grow on her balcony.

If things don’t go too well though, that’s okay — I’m actually encouraged by Kate at The Root’s confession about her balcony gardening troubles, just cuz it’s comforting knowing I’m not the only plant killer:

The carrots seedlings, such as they are, one centimeter tall, are yellowing, the chard has somehow mummified into tough little inch-long shoots, the lavender I had such high hopes for seems to think it has fall foliage, Freya’s little primrose plant is suffering through yet another cycle of flood and drought, and my Brandywine tomato is straining to produce its 20th leaf. It’s nothing good.

Got a balcony garden of your own — or thinking of starting one? Then bookmark Grow Your Own, “a twice-a-month blogging event that celebrates the foods we grow or raise ourselves and the dishes we make using our homegrown products” organized by Andrea at Andrea’s Recipes.

[Crossposted at BlogHer]

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Can’t afford the organic gardening class at SMC? Then head over to the FREE Organic Gardening series offered by the Community Garden and the Environmental Change-Makers in Westchester!

Once every few weeks, the Environmental Change-Makers will help you tackle a new gardening challenge. If the fact that the events are held at a religious spot doesn’t bother you, you can take advantage of the upcoming lessons:

>> Aug. 23: Winter Vegetables. The cool season is one of enormous bounty in Southern California. Now is the time to plan it!

>> Sept. 13: Seed Saving. Learn how to save seed from vegetables.

>> Sept. 27: Organic Pest Control. Snails, slugs, aphids, cutworms — How do you keep these pests at bay without all those toxic chemicals?

All lessons happen from 9 - 10:30 am at the Community Garden at Holy Nativity Church, 6700 W. 83rd., Westchester in Los Angeles.

Photo via Community Garden Exchange

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