KCET’s Pixeltown blog’s running a Better Know a SoCal Blogger series — and I’m the latest interviewee!

Who is your ideal reader?

Anyone interested in living a healthier, happier life in L.A. or beyond. Environmentalism isn’t really about sacrificing personal freedom and fun for the sake of the environment, but actually improving your quality of life by rethinking old assumptions about the American Dream. Especially with the economy and housing market the way it is today, many people are discovering they don’t really enjoy being financially jailed into isolated homes in the ‘burbs that require them to waste hours of their lives stuck in traffic every day. I’d like to think green LA girl helps show people life doesn’t have to be that way.

Read the rest of the interview to find out about my favorite bike route, my favorite color, and one of the most frequent complaints I get about the blog.

0 Comments

BlogHer ‘09’s gotten a lot bigger this year — not only the conference itself but even LobbyCon sold out — and the conference shwag even more plentiful and sponsors a lot more — noticeable. My hotel room had flowers and a sponsor message on the flatscreen when I got in –

The conference has gotten greener too (the Sheraton’s also part of the Chicago Green Hotels Initiative (PDF) — though honestly I haven’t seen much evidence of eco-friendliness in the hotel beyond a note encouraging people to reuse their towels) — with the conference shwag bag itself made of recycled materials. Inside’s a second organic cotton tote bag from Green Works and a certified organic lip balm. There’s also a lot of of not particularly green stuff — including a Mr. Potato Head I got my roommate to take off my hands….

If you’re at BlogHer ‘09, come to my Green Leadership panel tomorrow at 3:15 pm in Michigan A&B. Then say hi afterwards — I”ll be giving out free BPA-free water bottles from FilterForGood, my trip sponsor, post-panel.

If you’re not here, follow the liveblog.

4 Comments

The 4th blog anniversary was actually on Sunday — but it’s been so busy I didn’t realize it until now!

Things that have happened in the last year: Fulfilled a new year’s resolution, took a trip to Israel, started writing for MNN and FilterForGood, kicked off the Car Free Mondays series, threw a fundraiser for Obama and began slowly getting my shit together and acting more like an adult — a process that is, alas, a bit too difficult to quantify or even list.

Some green LA girl mentions appearances in the last year: NPR, SELF magazine, KoreAm, Strategies for the Green Economy, AltCarExpo, Los Angeles Bike Summit, Green LA, and a few others –

Read or re-read my 10 favorite posts from the last year — and stumble them as a birthday gift!

>> Locavoring in a box: Organic CSAs in Los Angeles

>> An Anti-capitalist video guide to happiness

>> Oh the things you can recycle

>> Discover One-Mile-Radius Living

>> Book review: The Thoreau You Don’t Know

>> Stop junk mail: A Complete guide to getting just the mail you want

>> My fave eco-socio-political online games

>> 9 steps for bicycle happiness

>> Cat litter: An environmentalist’s dilemma

>> Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup laced with mercury

Thanks, always, for reading –

Photo by azizul hadi

9 Comments

Turn to page 67 in the L.A.-focused July 2009 issue of SELF magazine, and sandwiched between scary side effect warnings for an eyelash grower and tips for sculpting a bikini bod by walking, you’ll see a small blurb about me:

Save the Planet: GreenLAGirl.com

In addition to writing about cool eco-happenings (e.g. the latest organic fashions), environmental activist Siel Ju shares her inventive DIY ideas for greening the world. Who knew it was possible to “upcycle” wine corks into a dormat?

Also listed are OrganizingLA and To Live and Eat In L.A., my favorite L.A.-area foodie blog.

8 Comments

I’ve lost my roommate for BlogHer Conference ‘09 to the economic crisis (she can’t afford to go anymore), but thanks to Stonyfield Farm, the plans for my own trip to the Chicago conference in July is now extra fortified with organic yogurt.

Stonyfield Farm’s probably the best-known all-organic yogurt company out there, since its products are everywhere from Wal-Mart (Stonyfield’s 85% owned by Groupe Danone and benefits from the distribution power of that giant though some enviro purists aren’t happy with the arrangement) to Whole Foods (some of whose stores have kiosks for recycling Stonyfield yogurt containers into new Preserve products) to Co-opportunity, my local co-op grocery store.

Serendipitously, Co-opportunity’s latest mailer included a coupon for Stonyfield’s new Oikos organic Greek yogurt — so I picked up a cup to use in my creamy spinach curry. And the yogurt was very creamy — despite the fact it’s fat free!

I got the plain yogurt — 90 calories with just 6g sugar and 15 g protein per 5.3-oz cup — but vanilla, honey, and blueberry flavors — sweetened with organic honey and sugar — are available too. Unfortunately, Co-opportunity only has the single-serving cups, which I don’t like to get because they create more plastic waste than I’m comfortable with, even if they can be recycled. I’m hoping the 16-oz tubs’ll get there soon –

In the meantime, I need to look for a new roommate for BlogHer –

2 Comments

As you know, green LA girl recently got a slight redesign — which included changing the tagline to “urban eco living by the beach.”

Sometimes I like the new tagline; other times I don’t. What about you?

Oh — And if you have a brilliant idea for a new tagline, please share it with me! Poll closes at the end of Earth Day.

4 Comments

Your turn to help me –

Don’t you love green LA girl’s new header and slightly modified design? That’s a rhetorical question :)

The new and improved blog design comes courtesy of Kim Woodbridge, my tech guru whose excellent work I recommend to every Wordpress blogger who wants to spend more time blogging and less time futzing impotently with tech issues, and Cassandra Davis, a car-free graphic designer who designed the dreamy new header.

My question is this: How can green LA girl metamorphose to better serve you? Are there other features you wish green LA girl had? Is there stuff you want green LA girl to cover — or cover more or less frequently?

All constructive criticism and suggestion’s very much encouraged. Comment away — or feel free to email me at greenlagirl@gmail.com if you’d like to keep your ideas private. Thanks for interacting –

4 Comments

Utne had Jason Marsh of Greater Good magazine put together a post listing Five Online Tests to Gauge Your Goodness. I couldn’t take the social intelligence test because my flash isn’t working for unexplained reasons, but besides that, below’s what ensued.

>> I’m generally amoral, but fair about it. The green bars are my scores from the Moral Foundations Questionnaire; blue’s the average liberal, red conservative. Notice I score below both groups on everything except on fairness. If only life were more fair!

>> I am not unconsciously racially prejudiced, at least according to the researchers at Project Implicit who put together tests to test your unconscious biases. Also, I heart Obama. Below’re my results.

>> I can read your face. Below’s my score on the “Mind in the Eyes” test, which tests how accurately you can decipher others’ emotional states. Perhaps my fears about possible thinning in my right cortex were unfounded.

>> I am “somewhat compassionate about other people” according to the Compassionate Love Scale, on which I scored a 3.

>> I am happy for Will Campbell, who is now a big zero, aka finally debt free. I would like to point out, however, that had Will opted for online statements, he would’ve been able to put an extra stamp’s worth of money towards his payments and gotten out of debt somewhat faster while saving some trees :P Seriously though, congrats Will :)

Feel free to share your own scores in the comments –

0 Comments

Your turn to help me –

Word of my speaking at BlogHer ‘09 must’ve gotten out because the conference is officially sold out!

I’d love to meet as many green LA girl readers at BlogHer this year as possible — and have even been thinking of putting together some sort of green event on Thursday night, provided I can convince my conference roomie to throw one with me in our room at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers and line up sponsors.

What I’m wondering is: Are you registered for BlogHer? And if so, are you getting in Thurs., in time for my potential party?

5 Comments

Are you proud of me now?

Because all of January, I didn’t have a single drink, as I resolved to do for the new year. Now there’s just the bigger goal of getting at least 183 stickers (aka having 2 drinks or less in a day) this year. 32 down, 151 to go!

I am, however, rather disappointed to report that going dry didn’t have the positive effects I had hoped for. Apparently, my dreams of becoming a sober superwoman of sorts — productive, energetic, and generally psyched about being alive every day — were unrealistic!

More seriously, I think something’s wrong because I’ve been tired all the time. I’m wondering if it’s celiac sprue or a gluten sensitivity, since I basically replaced the alcohol calories with baked goods and subsequently started feeling really shitty. I shared this hypothesis with Summer yesterday; she optimistically pointed out that gluten sensitivity’s v. popular in L.A. :P I’ve caught a fad!

If you’ve had me not respond to calls or emails or comments, ignore you on Facebook, or worse, cancel plans, this is the reason. I have a few up moments during the day when I get writing done; the rest of the time I’m semi-comatose. Please don’t take it personally. Now that I’ve officially switched to a new health insurance plan, I’m hoping to get to the bottom of this.

How are YOUR new year’s resolutions going?

11 Comments