>> Sustainable Works’ 2012 Los Angeles Green Living Workshops are back this year! Get solutions to some of today’s greatest environmental challenges and save money in the process. The first workshop is this Wed., Jan. 25 from 7 – 8:30 pm at G2 Gallery, 1503 Abbot Kinney Boulevard, Venice. Cost: free for residents of Santa Monica and Los Angeles Districts 5 & 11. Register online.

>> Steve Glenn, founder and CEO of LivingHomes, gives the talk “High Design; Low Impact. Building LivingHomes” on modern, prefabricated homes that combine world-class architecture with an unparalleled commitment to healthy and sustainable construction this Wed., Jan 25 from 7-8 pm at CODA Experience Center, 10250 Santa Monica Blvd., #133, Los Angeles. Cost free, though RSVP required: concierge@codaautomotive.com.

>> Find the freshest and most healthy ingredients, enjoy personally crafted foods from home cooks and local kitchens, and discover healing foods both old and new at Eat Well Market. They will feature hand-made and hand-grown foods from backyards and kitchens around LA. Join the fun Sat., Jan 29 from 12-3 pm at Camp Mariposa, 615 E. Mariposa St., Altadena. Cost: free.

>> Get a closer look at the precious resource right beneath our feet and learn about the science of soil with our experts at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles’ Sustainable Sundays this Sun., Jan. 29 from 9 am – 3:30 pm at 900 Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles. Cost: free with museum admission. Tickets are $12 for adults, $5-8 for children.

>> Los Angeles Bioneers is hosting Shannon Biggs who will talk about her work on passing a “Sustainability Bill of Rights” ordinance in Santa Monica, which would strip personhood rights from corporations and give rights to ecosystems instead. Takes place next Tue., Jan 31 at 7 pm at G2 Gallery, 1503 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice. Cost: free with RSVP to srnichols@mac.com.

>> Come learn about the money available to SoCal homeowners who make energy-saving improvements. There is currently up to $8000 available per household, with some of the rebates will expiring in March. $200 in rebates will be given away. Come for a presentation about the program with contractors available to answer questions next Tue., Jan. 31 from 6:30 – 8 pm. Cost: free.

2 Comments

>>  The Green Living Workshop 101 is a condensed version of the 6 week Green Living Workshop which covers the following topics: water, energy, waste, chemicals, transportation, and shopping & food. Sustainability tools will be raffled off to help participants carry out the solutions discussed during the workshop. Workshop takes place this Sat., Dec. 3 from 10 am – 1 pm at the Santa Monica Main Library, 601 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica. Cost: free, though please register through Eventbrite.

>>  Your banana peels, sandwich crusts, lawn clippings, and coffee grounds are precious resources that can be cycled back into the garden. Come participate in a composting lesson at the Natural History Museum by getting your hands in the mix! Workshop takes place on Sat., Dec. 3 from 1-4 pm at the Natural History Museum, 900 Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles. Cost: admission to the museum is $12 for adults, $5-8 for children.

>>  Come out to see the documentary “Tipping Point – The End of Oil”, which addresses the largest industrial project in human history – the Alberta Tar Sands.  Speakers and the q&a will address what we can do to help heal the destructive impact of this project and options for an alternative energy economy.  Takes places on Sat., Dec. 6 from 7-10:30 pm at All Saints Church, 132 North Euclid Ave., Pasadena.  Cost: $15 suggested donation.  RSVP to info@burbankgreenalliance.org.

Image retrieved from wilderutopia.com

0 Comments

>> Metro day passes are just $5 now! Enjoy the cheaper rides while they last –

>> Plastic bags are officially banned in Long Beach starting today — at least in the big stores. And paper bags will cost you 10 cents each — so remember to BYOB! In case you’ve forgotten, a plastic bag ban also went into effect for the unincorporated areas of L.A. County last month. Here’s how we’re doing on plastic bag bans in L.A County cities. Earlier: Got extra reusable bags? Drop them off at Santa Monica’s Share A Bag spots.

And soon you can expect:

>> Birth control sans copays. Insurers now have to cover birth control with no copays — which I think is big green news. Fewer unplanned pregnancies means fewer baby Americans means fewer resources needed. Earlier: Single and happy? Five single bloggers that make solo living fun.

>> Less trees and better views at Yosemite. Of course, hacking down trees for sightseeing purposes is a plan that’s proving controversial.

>> Less Chromium 6 — a.k.a. the Erin Brokovich chemical — in California tap water. California set the nation’s first public health goal for this carcinogen at 0.02 ppb — an unenforceable limit, but one that’s hoped to, you know, become enforceable. LA Times reports: “Environmentalists praised the new state goal, saying they hoped it would pressure state and federal officials to set enforceable standards for the metal and other drinking water contaminants.”

Photo by Fire Monkey Fish

0 Comments

>> Low-income shoppers can’t afford food justice advocate’s eats. Bob Comis tells a touching tale about his experience as a vendor at the farmers market:

I had set out in farming with a mission, to offer ethically and ecologically raised meat at the lowest price possible…. But, I quickly discovered that this was a pipe dream. I couldn’t sell pork chops for less than $7.00/lb. and keep the farm going, and even at that price, my wife would still need to continue subsidizing the farm…. I had set out to make meat broadly affordable, but instead, I was selling exclusive, high-priced meat to the well-off.

Though not quite as meaty, I wrote a post about how eating locally-grown food doesn’t have to be expensive for KCET’s The Public Kitchen. Read it to get a recipe for wallet-friendly, cheese veggie quesadillas!

>> Calif.’s environmental law suspends Calif.’s climate change law. Greenwire points out that “A California court ruling suspending the implementation of the state’s landmark climate change law came with a large dose of irony”:

That’s because San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Ernest Goldsmith found that the state had failed to comply with another landmark law, one that is beloved by some of the same environmental groups that are critical of the ruling, the California Environmental Quality Act.

Essentially, a major environmental initiative is under threat because the state failed to correctly carry out the appropriate environmental analysis.

While environmental lawyers work out that snafu, pro-business groups still pushing the “environmental laws kill jobs” argument are stepping up their attack on the California Environmental Quality Act.

>> Wind and wave energies are not renewable after all. “Build enough wind farms to replace fossil fuels and we could do as much damage to the climate as greenhouse global warming,” reports New Scientist. This conclusion comes from a physicist whose findings are too complicated to summarize here. A quick look at the problem:

Using a model of global circulation, Kleidon found that the amount of energy which we can expect to harness from the wind is reduced by a factor of 100 if you take into account the depletion of free energy by wind farms. It remains theoretically possible to extract up to 70 TW globally, but doing so would have serious consequences.

Although the winds will not die, sucking that much energy out of the atmosphere in Kleidon’s model changed precipitation, turbulence and the amount of solar radiation reaching the Earth’s surface. The magnitude of the changes was comparable to the changes to the climate caused by doubling atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide

Confused and conflicted yet? Welcome to the wonderful world of environmentalism :)

Photo of a bison vendor at the Santa Monica Farmers Market

0 Comments

Do you think corporations have too much control over our government? Annie Leonard — the narrator of the popular eco-minded short video, The Story of Stuff — thinks so, and says 85 percent of Americans think the same in her latest video, “The Story of Citizens United v. FEC.”

This video tells “the story behind the story of stuff,” according to Annie. The gist: Corporations have been given too much power — and even some very generous first amendment rights — to influence government. Yet corporations also have to have profit as their single-minded top goal — meaning other goals important to people, ranging from a clean environment to safe neighborhoods, end up getting ignored.

That makes for “a democracy in crisis,” according to Annie, who calls on viewers to take democracy back from corporations. Watch the video to hear her argument. If you believe — or even suspect — that Annie could be right, you’ll likely also enjoy moving a riveting full-length documentary about this issue, “The Corporation.”

Earlier: Film review: The Yes Men Fix the World

0 Comments