Dear kind readers,

Green LA girl is coming to an end.

That is, the blog green LA girl is no longer going to be updated. The woman you might refer to as green LA girl — that would be me, Siel — will continue on living.

You’ve probably noticed that since about the middle of last year, the pace and energy of green LA girl has slowed quite a bit. During that time I switched careers from freelance writing to teaching, moved back to Santa Monica, and focused more on my creative writing — the stuff I neglected after getting my PhD in 2008 (and a bit before that too).

I’ve really enjoyed blogging here the last 6+ years, but my interests are — drifting. And to pursue those new interests, I have to let go of old ones.

Thanks to Nisha, April, and Sarah, who’ve helped keep this blog afloat the last few months. Thanks to everyone who came to the Blogger Beach Cleanup, green beauty party, and other green LA girl events. And thanks to all of you readers for your engagement and encouragement over the years.

For the time being, green LA girl will stay online. I may still occasionally update this blog with personal updates, but more likely, I’ll develop my new personal website that focuses more on my new interests. That site’s still very bare bones, but you can find it at sielju.com.

I hope you’ll keep in touch.

Siel

Photo via SLOLA website

>> Big City Forum presents Fast Forward: Los Angeles on the Verge, featuring a panel of speakers that will harness creative methods for a lively discussion around livability, sustainability, community, and the politics of place in Los Angeles. Takes places tonight, Wed., Mar. 7 at 7 pm at the Armory Center for the Arts, 145 North Raymond Avenue, Pasadena. Cost: free.

>> What exactly is a ‘genetically modified seed’? What is ‘heirloom’? How do seed saving and local food growing relate to local and global peace? Who owns the future of food? Join the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Friends Peace Dialogue, speakers Megan Bomba (SLOLA) and Deanna Marie Weakly (Master Gardener, founder of Skid Row Rooftop Garden), and green LA girl writer Nisha Namorando Vida to learn and dialogue on these questions this Thu., Mar. 8 from 7-8:30 pm at the AFSC headquarters, 634. S. Spring St., 3rd Floor, Los Angeles. Cost: free.

>> The G2 Gallery has begun a weekly screening of Ken Burns’s six-part documentary The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. The screenings provide a deeper understanding from a historical perspective of the people and places that shaped America’s national parks. The screenings will be held every Thu., Feb. 9 – Mar. 15 at 2 pm. Check out this week’s screening “Great Nature (1933–1945)”, on Thu., Mar. 8 at 2 pm, G2 Gallery, 1503 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice. Cost: $5. All proceeds will be donated to the World Wildlife Fund and the Sierra Club.

>> Santa Monica College is conducting its 10th annual Environmental and Urban Issues Speakers Series. Join Genevieve Bertone and other Santa Monica College faculty, staff, and students to learn how we are working on transportation, energy, food and other projects that make SMC more efficient and a better neighbor on Tue., Mar. 13 at 6:30 pm in HSS 263 on Santa Monica’s Main Campus (Map). Cost: free.

Photo via Big City Forum

Here are the wonderful new green LA girl bloggers whose work you’ve been reading:

Nisha Namorando Vida is an independent researcher and writer.  Her projects include researching the impacts of development economics on local and global patterns of inequality; building Local to Global Life Works, a project that organizes democratic policy planning events; and researching how to live symbiotically with our planet.  

Nisha is an avid cyclist and cook.  She is involved with many Los Angeles area nonprofits, writes for green LA girl and localblu.com, and is currently working with the filmmakers of the GMO Film Project.

Email Nisha at namorandovida@gmail.com.

April Gilbert is a Capricorn vegetarian currently working toward her B.S. in Sustainable Management through the University of Wisconsin (online). An actress under the  name Hazel Dean, after her Great-Grandmother, she has guest-starred on the TV shows “The Cleaner” and Disney’s “Even Stevens.”

In 2008 April co-created Pan Global Allied Enterprises, a production company focusing on low cost entertainment, where she gets to express her creativity through writing, acting and editing.

April’s blog, Sustainably Small, focuses on and shares ideas about living a life that is more fulfilling, betters our communities, and is in harmony with our environment. April lives in Los Angeles with her cat, Pee-wee Herman.

Email April at gilbert_april_dawn@student.smc.edu.

Sarah Fonseca holds a BA in Environmental Studies and works as an environmental and property condition consultant for a Commercial Real Estate Due Diligence firm in Santa Monica. She started with the firm in New York City and moved to Los Angeles five years ago to head up their west coast office.

In her free time, Sarah independently researches sustainable food production, sustainable nutrition, and holistic wellness. She’s an enthusiast of good food, hiking, and yoga. You can find her as a frequent host of the west side LA Green Drinks.

Email Sarah at sarahfons@gmail.com.
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Contact these women directly about green events about town you feel they’d be interested in, based on their posts online.

Photos courtesy of Nisha, April, and Sarah

Green Festival is finally coming to Los Angeles! I’ll be speaking at the big two-day eco-event,- and 8 lucky green LA girl readers will each get a pair of free tickets to hear me talk — and somewhat less importantly, to enjoy all the other festivities too :)

Put together by Green America and Global Exchange, Green Festival Los Angeles will feature a giant exhibit hall with more than 300 booths, many speakers and workshops, an organic food court, an organic beer and wine garden, eco-film screenings, yoga and movement classes, green business seminars, and more.

When: Sat., Oct. 29 and Sun., Oct. 30
Where: Los Angeles Convention Center, 1201 S. Figueroa St., Los Angeles
Cost: $10 — or free to the winners of this giveaway!

I’ll be speaking on a panel called “Blogging For Good,” along with fellow bloggers Laura Klein of Organic Authority, Karl Burkart of MNN, and Jerry James Stone of Discovery Channel. We’ll be on the Media Revolution and Green Cinema stage on Sat., Oct. 29 at 4:30 pm!

Comment by Friday, Oct. 21 to get into the drawing, which’ll happen Oct. 22 (more info on freebies here). U.S. addresses only.

Image via Green Festival

So resist that urge to unsubscribe from my email and RSS feeds! I’ll be back after Labor Day, greener and beachier than ever. In the meantime, have a great long weekend –