To make de-car-ing more popular in L.A. we need pleasant sidewalks — but the city doesn’t make it easy for neatnik pedestrians. Steve Lopez’s latest column in the L.A. Times tells the story of one Boaz Hepner and his long quest to get some sidewalk trash cans in his neighborhood. The guy spent a lot of time calling the city and waiting on hold, pounding the pavement to get local businesses to sign on to the Adopt-A-Basket program, and organizing a neighborhood cleanup day with his city councilmember.

About a year later, he’s still waiting for some of the trash cans to arrive — and recycling bins aren’t even an available option.

The story’s both disappointing (due to the slowness of the city) and heart-warming (due to Boaz’ persistence), but what really caught my eye was a comment that Boaz left on his story:

When i mentioned the complaint of dozens of businesses that their requests to trim their storefront trees have been ignored for YEARS, the councilman’s office told me that it’s unfortunate but the city simply doesn’t have the money for it. That’s the true reality.

That comment reminded me of the tree jails I saw while walking down Washington during the Great L.A. Walk in November. Below’s a photo of one:

For a while Esther of e*star LA, H.C. of L.A. and O.C. Foodventures, and I pondered why each sidewalk tree had a costly-looking green cage around it — green cages that matched the green trash cans, but still lent every tree a sad, jailed, dont-you-dare-hug-me appearance.

The money and effort invested in these cages seemed a waste to me at the time — especially if that money and effort could have been spent trimming trees that desperately need trimming. But for all I know, perhaps the cages were necessary. Perhaps there’s a history of tree vandalism in the area?

Does anyone know the story behind the tree jails? I was going to call 311, but having just read Boaz’ story, I though asking you readers might be faster –

Okay — I just realized it’s Wednesday — but I’m putting this post up anyway.

Your turn to help me –

green LA girl and The Daily Ocean are teaming up — for a fun, social beach cleanup on Sun., Oct. 25!

The two of us — me and Sara Bayles — cleaned up the beach together for 20 minutes before. Now, you’re all invited to join us for a friendly, 20-minute beach cleanup of Santa Monica beach — sandwiched between lots of socializing over snacks and drinks with bloggers and readers. More details coming soon — but mark it down in your calendar now!

We also need a cute name for the cleanup, since all we can come up with is Siel and Sara’s Beach Cleanup. Ideas? Share them in the comments.

Update: The Blogger Beach Cleanup‘s now happening on Oct. 24, on the International Day of Climate Action. Join us!

Your turn to help me –

At long last I’m getting around to replacing my vinyl shower curtain, which I bought pre-loved via Craigslist but must get rid of because vinyl in heated environments just isn’t good for you.

Why did I put off this replacement task for so long? I can’t decide what curtain to get.

From what I can tell, hemp shower curtains get moldy pretty fast (see comments on this post). My guess is that linen curtains would have the same issue. Ruling those out unless someone lobbies strongly for them in the comments, I have 2 options:

1. EnviroCurtain recycled polyester curtain / liner. I like the idea of just having one curtain-liner, instead of having a curtain and a liner. However, I don’t know anyone who just has a single curtain-liner — and I seek assurance that the item won’t be a miserable failure like those shampoo-and-conditioner-in-one dealios.

Will this curtain-liner work as well as its doubled-up counterparts? And am I willing to welcome sustainable but somewhat crunchy looking tagua nut buttons — used instead of metal grommets — into my bathroom?

2. Organic cotton curtain with vinyl-free liner. Umbra at Grist has a polyester-and-cotton ensemble — so I’d like to go one better and get organic cotton and recycled polyester.

I found a number of organic cotton shower curtains — EnviroCurtain makes an off-white one, and Pottery Barn’s white Cameron Organic Matelasse Shower Curtain‘s my fave so far, though since an all-white shower curtain may be bad news, I may go with the Sausalito Stripe Organic Shower Curtain — so that part’s easy.

However, the only recycled polyester liner I’ve been able to find is the one above — and must be used independently because it won’t attach to metal grommets. So I’d need to go with a virgin polyester liner — available all over the place including Target — or some other non-vinyl liner like this one at Gaiam.

What shower curtain-liner combo would you get if you were me — and what do you use at home?

Images via Amazon and Pottery Barn

So what’ve you done to show for it? How’re your New Year’s resolutions going? Have you made and stuck to any eco-related changes?

Has 2009 been all you hoped it would be and more?

As you know, I fulfilled my resolution — but now I have new ones going….

Your turn to help me –

Today’s question’s simple: What prompted your interest in the environment?

How and when did your eco-interest emerge? I ask because the answers to this question relate to a hunch I have about the beginnings of enviro-consciousness…. I hope you’ll weigh in.

There are eco-friendly products that work even better than their conventional counterparts — and there are eco-friendly products that just don’t work. Meyer Lemon Hand Lotion from Natural Spa by Earth Friendly Products (17.5 fl. oz for $15) is one of the latter — a product I’m afraid some newbie environmentalist will pick up and decide never to buy green again.

Inconsistent texture’s the main problem with this lotion. At the top of the bottle, the “lotion” was all watery and gross — like the “watery stuff” at the top of some ketchup bottles. It took a few pumps before anything resembling lotion came out.

When I got to the bottom, the “lotion” developed the consistency of old peanut butter — hard, chunky, clumpy. Add on top of the fact that the lotion had a slightly medicinal smell and  doesn”t absorb very well, and you have an eco-product disaster.

Apparently, Earth Friendly Products realized their lotions had problems — because I found out after a call to the company yesterday that as of a couple months ago, the company’s stopped making its spa line — at least for now.  However, the product’s still available at Amazon and other online retailers.

Ever bought an eco-dud yourself? Share the details in the comments so we can all learn to avoid it!

Image via ecos.com

My Verizon DSL frustrates me to no end — not because there’s anything actually technically wrong, but because it’s always so damn slow.

Is cable better?

I’m hoping to hear from people who’ve tried both and decided on one’s superiority –

green LA girl commenters are generally awesome — and this post isn’t precipitated by any specific mean comment here. But because mean comments, even when rare, suck a lot of happiness and fun out of blogging, I was thinking about writing a “How to deal with mean comments” post, both as a guide for myself and hopefully for others.

I’m by no means saying I’m a perfect commenter — There are some comments I regret leaving, and many more comments I wish I’d worded in a more kindly fashion. I’m sure many of you are in a similar boat — and since mean comments tend to beget more mean comments, I wondered if maybe we could collectively crowdsource a solution — or at least a list of mitigation measures.

So — I’m interested in your tips! How do you deal with negative comments? What do you do to pre-emptively discourage mean comments from being left in the first place?

If you’ve blogged about this topic before, leave the link to your post in the comments and I may link to it in the final post.

With Tweet-a-Watt and Tweet-a-Flush, the eco-proud can now show off how little electricity they use — or even how few times they flush the toilet. All that public display of eco-affection may be a bit TMI, but my question today has to do with private displays of eco-habits.

Simply knowing how much energy or water you use can change consumer habits. The problem is that this info only confronts us once a month, if that, in the form of a water and power bill. A few companies are trying to change that — and while in Israel, I visited one of them.

Always wanted to know which appliance was taking up the most energy — or which of your kids was leaching out the most vampire electricity with their video console? Computerized Electricity Systems — a company that seeks to fulfill “the consumer’s desire for full visibility and control of the energy consumption at their premises” — could help you do just that.

For an illustration, check out the screenshot (as projected on a screen then photographed — thus the fuzziness. Click to biggify) of the detailed, up-to-the-minute energy consumption info you could get about your home or apartment whenever you felt curious. Basically, you could log on to your home’s energy web page any time to see what’s drawing the most energy — then adjust your lifestyle accordingly to make it more energy-efficient.

The system could be tweaked to alert you if any appliance seems to be sucking up more energy than usual — or even to turn certain things off during peak hours when energy is most expensive (if your utility uses variable rates depending on peak / off-peak times).

Sure, smart homes like the Wired Living Home already have systems similar to this in place — but those are expensive systems uniquely integrated into those McMansions. CES’ system would connect to existing electric systems — basically replacing conventional electricity panels — allowing any home to become a smart home without huge tech investments.

CES’s working to sell its idea not so much directly to consumers, but to utility companies that serve consumers — so it’s not really a system you can just go out and buy right now. But my question is this: If you had the choice, would you get and check into a system like CES’? Or is it too much info and trouble? Do you want less info and detail, maybe preferring simpler energy-efficiency devices like GreenSwitch that don’t give you any data, but will cut off the electricity to all devices of your choosing with a simple flick of the switch?

Do you seek simplicity or detail when it comes to motivating yourself for energy efficiency?

Hello reader who never comments or emails. It’s me, Siel. And I’m wondering: Are you a green blogger too? Then stop lurking and share your blog in the comments so we can all visit it! I want to read what you’re writing –

To sweeten the deal for the shy folk: I have one Blogad invite to give away! If you want it, just say so in your comment sometime before Monday. The winner will be drawn next Tuesday. Looking forward to meeting you –