>> Come engage in a discussion on community land trusts and intentional housing communities. Learn about how housing can be made affordable and environmentally sustainable through community ownership of the land they live on. This is the first of this year’s Friends Peace Dialogue series by the American Friends Service Committee. Come out this Thu., Feb. 9 at 7 pm to 634 S. Spring St., 3rd Floor, Los Angeles. Cost: free.

>> Recycle old fabrics, deconstruct old clothes, turn something old into something new! Learn how to make scarves bags and other items from old t-shirts at a Valentine’s Day DIY Workshop, this Thu., Feb. 9 from 3:45-4:45 pm at the Santa Monica Library, 601 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica. Cost: free.

>> CicLAvia is hosting a Valentine’s party! Bring your Valentine – or meet a new Valentine there! There will be live music and djs, speed dating (open to all orientations and genders!), auction, swag and more! Come party this Fri., Feb. 10 from 7-10 pm at Atwater Crossing, 3245 Casitas Avenue, Los Angeles. Cost: free, but bring money for eats and treats.

>> Do you have a strong interested in becoming trained in home food preservation (such as canning, pressure canning, freezing, drying, pickling and fermenting)? Want to share this knowledge with the public? The University of California Cooperative Extension is pleased to announce the spring 2012 class of the LA County Master Food Preserver program. The application deadline is this Fri., Feb. 10 at 5 pm. Cost: free to apply online, $120 for the complete program (scholarships available).

>> This week’s Green Garden Academy topic is Lawn Be Gone (part I). Learn tips for safe lawn removal, choosing plants to replace lawn and plants for parkways this Sat., Feb. 11 from 10:30 am – 1:30 pm in the Multipurpose Room of the Santa Monica Public Library, 601 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica. Cost: free.

>> Join Culver City’s mayor and the Culver City Bicycle Coalition each Monday morning to explore Culver City and beyond, by bike! Meet this Mon., Feb. 13 at 8 am at Sid Kronenthal Park by the covered tables, near the community room, 3459 McManus Ave., Culver City. Cost: free.

>> Join Heal the Bay and Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District at a gathering to recognize work done thus far to build sustainability into local schools by parents and others and that will focus on considering how to ensure institutionalized sustainability in local schools. Takes place on Mon., Feb. 13 from 7-9 pm at Santa Monica Pier Aquarium, 1600 Ocean Front Walk Santa Monica. Cost: free.

>> On the second Tuesday of every month, you’re invited to the only pure networking event for owners and decision-makers of LA’s green businesses, hosted by the Green Business Network (GBN). Delicious organic snacks, wine and non-alcoholic beverages will be available. GBN events are recycling points, so bring any old batteries, phones, or newspapers you need recycled. Join the fun next Tue., Feb. 14 from 6-9 pm at DIRTT (Doing It Right This Time) 9014 Lindblade St. Culver City. Cost: $10 when you prepay online, $15 at the door (space permitting).

>> 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.

Answer: Two spots immediately come to mind: The LEED Silver certified Ambrose Hotel in Santa Monica, and the Venice Beach Eco Cottages in Venice — though I wouldn’t describe either as “budget.”

That said, green certification programs for hotels are now numerous. We have:

>> Green Seal certification. The nonprofit Green Seal’s certification marks hotels that have reduced their carbon footprint; get details on the creds at Green Seal’s website. A number of L.A. hotels have earned this certification, including Hilton Los Angeles Universal City , Radisson Los Angeles Airport Hotel, Sheraton Gateway Los Angeles Hotel, Sir Francis Drake Hotel, and The Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Suites.

>> Energy Star label. This distinction’s given to buildings that use energy more efficiently than comparable businesses. L.A.-area hotels on this list include Ambrose, Los Angeles Airport Marriott, Renaissance Hollywood Hotel & Spa, and Renaissance Los Angeles Airport.

>> Santa Monica Green Business Certification. If you plan to stay in Santa Monica, look for hotels that have earned its local green creds. Ambrose of course makes this list, as do the Ocean View Hotel and Sheraton Delfina Santa Monica.

>> California Green Lodging Program. Put together to help California state employees travel green, this program awards one or two palm trees depending on a hotel’s green commitment. One-tree hotels haven’t necessarily undertaken actual greening efforts yet; two-tree earners in Los Angeles are Kyoto Grand Hotel & Gardens, Radisson Los Angeles Airport, and Sheraton Gateway Hotel Los Angeles.

On the upside, all these programs and certifications mean a growing number of hotels have taken part in various eco-friendly initiatives. On the downside, no one database or list of green hotels exists, and the varying standards of each program makes figuring out how green a hotel is a rather herculean task.

My suggestion to budget-conscious visitors interested in traveling green is generally to focus less on the eco-creds of the hotel itself and more on the location of the hotel — so as to reduce your in-city travel footprint while making bargain hunting easier. Planning your visit so you drive less — and maybe even not rent a car! — will likely do a lot more to lower your trip’s carbon footprint than agonizing over green hotel certifications (or high per-night prices).

If you’re serious about budget travel and want stay around the beach, I recommend trying Hosteling International – Santa Monica — which is walking distance to many amenities, including bike rental spots, and close to the 720 and 704 Metro Rapid lines.

Photo by ayustety

Answer: I’m not known to be a fan of pre-adult humans, but I found Nina’s email adorable, especially as it came with this sig file:

(\__/) 4 out of every 3 people
(=’.'=)
(“)_(“) have trouble with fractions.

I don’t have trouble with fractions — crossmultiply and divide, baby! — but I think bunnies are cute. In any case, I had good news for Nina! Other students in her ‘hood — at New Vista High School and University of Colorado — also want to ban plastic bags! They’re drafting up an ordinance to do just that, and plan to meet with city council members to push the resulting ordinance into law.

And that, really, is what anyone needs to do to get a plastic bag ban or tax in their neighborhood. Find just a few like-minded people to work with, contact a city council member, then bug said members until a ban or tax happens.

Yes, you’ll probably run into complications — as we have in California. In an ironic turn of events, plastic industry people are using California’s groundbreaking environmental laws — the California Environmental Quality Act — to file lawsuits saying banning plastic bags will harm the environment. No, I’m not kidding — The industry’s actually dubbed itself the “Save the Plastic Bag” Coalition, as if the plastic bag’s an endangered species like the polar bear.

But the work on plastic bag bans and taxes in California continues — if a tad slowed down — on city, county, and state levels. And Heal the Bay’s new Trash Your Friends campaign‘s part of a bigger effort to make a state-level plastic bag tax happen this year. Participate and trash your eco-frenemies!

Until actual legislation goes through and toting your own tote becomes de rigeur, you’ll have to keep hearing “Bring your own bag!” as an eco-mantra. The plastic bag issue’s become such a ubiquitous eco-message the last few years that it’s gotten tiring — almost as tiring as the eco-blights that still litter our streets, oceans, and neighborhoods.

Being a green blogger, I get the full range of emails about plastic bags — from those who chew out every grocery bagger that dares bag items without asking (I email back encouraging friendly convo, since after all, baggers are TRAINED to do just that but are usually more than happy to de-bag if you say you don’t need one), to others who don’t get what the big deal is when plastic bags can be recycled (I email back letting them know only a few municipalities actually recycle plastic bags — and the ones that do do so at an extremely high cost to the taxpayer).

The damn bags have really become a strange sign and symbol for me. Last weekend at Trader Joe’s, the guy in front of me bought three items — A tiny tub of dried figs, a pack of 8 mushrooms, and a small bottle of organic orange juice — and got a plastic bag for what he could have easily carried out with his two hands. I of course had my own bag for my bottle of Moscato. And the woman behind me came armed with a stack of reusable Trader Joe’s bags for her groceries; she glared daggers into the guy in front of me.

What kind of grocery shopper are you? The plastic bagger, the dagger glarer, or the Moscato toter?

Earlier:
>> Styrofoam and the City: The fate of plastic bags and polystyrene in LA
>> Bag fee means bag free — or what shoppers in DC do to save 5 cents

Top photo by Envirowoman

Answer: Naturally clean, healthy, glowing skin’s every eco beauty seeker’s desire — but the exploding eco-friendly beauty product market’s got quite a few green-but-not-effective duds in it. And since each facial product really takes at least a month to show what it can do, finding a green and effective beauty product that works can be an excruciatingly long-term endeavor.

So excruciatingly long and full of potential skin perils, in fact, that makes some women just stick to the ungreen but cosmetically acceptable products they’re already using. Unless you’re like my fellow green BlogHer contributing editor Beth Terry, in which case you’ve started washing your face with baking soda.

I’m not ready for the baking soda routine — so I’ve done the product research work for you. Over the life of this blog, I’ve put quite a lot of beauty products to the test — and now have a regimen I’m happy with. Good skin begins with a good cleanse, so to kick off this series of green beauty posts, here are the best eco-friendly facial cleansers I’ve found and use now — along with a runner up:

Best facial cleanser: Arcona Toner Tea Bar ($38 for a 4 oz bar)

Balking at the $38 price tag on a simple bar of soap? Rest assured that one generous bar of Toner Tea Bar lasts me well over 6 months — which makes this facial cleanser a money-saving beauty product as well as a very effective one.

I discovered Toner Tea Bar when I got a facial at Arcona, which puts together a 5-product skin care regime complete with generous free samples of each of the products for any first time facial customers. This bar cleanses thoroughly without drying out the skin and without leaving any residue. Plus, Toner Tea Bar smells like a fresh, light, citrus-infused tea.

All of the bar’s ingredients are clearly disclosed, and all but two rank low hazard on Skin Deep, Environmental Working Group’s cosmetic safety database. Those two are grapefruit seed extract which ranks a moderate hazard, and Lecithin, which also gets a moderate hazard ranking IF ingested or left on the skin. So don’t eat your soap!

The biggest downside of this bar: It comes in an heavy and bulky plastic jar which, if recyclable, still seems unnecessary.

Runner up: Avalon Organics Facial Cleansing Gel ($12 for 7 fl. oz. bottle). Prefer a liquid cleanser? Avalon’s cleansing gel, which I tried after stepping away from The Body Shop’s stuff, is not wow-worthy, but does a perfectly decent job — and has the side benefit of being widely available at Whole Foods, Co-opportunity, and many other stores. It does, however, rank a moderate hazard 4 on Skin Deep — which is probably higher than what Toner Tea Bar would rank — and lasts a couple months at most — which means you’d be going through a decent amount of plastic packaging.

Not recommended:

>> Origins Organics Foaming Facewash doesn’t actually remove all traces of makeup.

>> Miessence. While very green, these cleansers are gentle — but also left behind a light oil (mostly peppermint) residue.

>> Blissoma Solutions Fresh – Mild Rice Cleanser left a greasy film on my face.

Best facial scrub: Arcona’s Cranberry Gommage ($42 for a 3.4 ounce jar)

Don’t worry — Not ALL my favorite products come from Arcona, but the company does make some stellar stuff. If you’re used to the average apricot scrub, Cranberry Gommage will be a delicious fruity treat. This scrub has much smaller granules than the average apricot scrub — which means it’s gentler on your skin while providing you with a more intense cleanse and an intense burst of fresh cranberry scent. Use it a few times a week to wake up your skin with a deeper scrubbier cleanse.

Runners up:

>> Emerita Microdermabrasion Face Scrub. I’m not middle-aged yet, but this line of products made for middle-aged women makes a very yummy scrub with tiny but effective granules that exfoliate and massage my skin without feeling abrasive. ($34.99 per 1.7-ounce jar)

>> JASON Apricot Scrubble Wash and Scrub. Honestly, this is the scrub I’m using right now — simply because it’s what I can afford. For an apricot scrub, this scrubble’s perfectly fine — just not as fantastic as Arcona and Emerita’s stuff — or as safe. This JASON product has the usual apricot granules in a somewhat eco-friendlier concoction — but still ranks a moderate hazard 5 on EWG.

Not recommended:

>> Botanics Organics face polish has little scrubby granules that just aren’t scrubby enough — and the product leaves a bit of its creamy residue behind.

>> Brittanie’s Thyme Almond Oat Facial Scrub is very, very natural — but is just not scrubby enough — and leaves an almond-oatmeal residue behind.

Best eye makeup remover: Earth Science Eye Make-Up Remover ($6.50 for a 4 fl. oz. bottle)

This fragrance-free, paraben-free product is a clear gel that’s non-greasy and does its job quite well. The product scores a 2 on Skin Deep — and is conveniently available at Whole Foods and Co-opportunity. I may, however, keep experimenting with new removers, because Skin Deep does list quite a few removers with a 0 hazard rating — though I’ve learned to avoid removers that are primarily made with oil, as those are just too greasy and gross.

To remove makeup, I use Organic Essentials organic cotton balls. I tried Ecotools Eco Foam cleansing sponges, but found the pads not only to be rough on my skin, but also just poorly made — the glue between the sponge and cotton seeps out the edges, and is really painful to get out if you happen to get a granule of the stuff in your eye, like I did once. Plus, despite being called “Eco Foam,” the cotton used is not organic — though the pads are reusable.

Not recommended:

>> Aubrey Organics Herbessence Makeup Remover. This remover’s annoyingly greasily — not cool especially if you’ve already got oily skin. You may as well just declare yourself a diehard hippie and remove makeup with olive oil.
__

For other opinions on eco-friendly facial cleansers, read Katherine at EcoSalon test of 5 facial cleansers and M.J. Prest at The Ethical Style blog’s effort to give herself a $50 spa vacation.

Last but not least — While the beauty industry would like to convince us that we need only buy their products to get gorgeous, flawless skin, what you eat and how you live are by far the biggest influence on how your skin looks. If you drink like a fish and eat Hot Pockets every day, no expensive facial scrub will be able to undo that damage.

[crossposted on Blogher]

Top photo by amecoli; other images via Amazon.com

Answer: I am not a raw vegan, but I can recommend raw vegan restaurants I like!

My favorite raw vegan organic restaurant of the moment is Better Life Cuisine, which offers yummy soups, salads, smoothies, juices, wraps, and entrees at affordable prices. Try the Fiesta Platter to get a sense of what the casual place has to offer — and be sure to save room for the sumptuous raw desserts.

Want wine with your raw dinner? Try Juliano’s Raw, which as far as I know, is the only raw vegan restaurant that serves alcoholic drinks. I also love the tasty salmon rolls and chocolate mousse — but I’m not a fan of the overly fruity and sweet appetizer plate.

Also in Santa Monica is Euphoria Loves Rawvolution Cafe, a neighborhood favorite that hasn’t yet pleased my taste buds — but perhaps I should give another try. I’ve had friends rave about the restaurant’s onion “bun” and though I’m not a big fan of the thing, I did enjoy Euphoria’s no-bean hummus — nevermind that I have nothing against eating cooked beans.

For raw Asian dining, visit Cru in Silver Lake for bento box style meals and tasty raw sorbet desserts. I’d visit Cru more if it were on the westside, but for now I just mostly ogle the photos of the restaurant’s raw organic dishes.

Finally, visitors to L.A. will be amazed to see the variety of yummy raw vegan foods available at local Whole Foods. My favorites are the Notchos raw kale chips!

Enjoy your Cali visit. Readers: If you have other L.A.-area raw vegan restaurants to recommend, share your reviews in the comments.

Raw updates:
>> SunPower Natural Cafe: An organic vegan spot makes kale delicious
>> Raw Living Vegan Bazaar: Free monthly raw organic food fest

Answer: Since I mostly work from home, I rarely have the occasion to pack a lunch — but I have written about eco-friendly lunch boxes and totable utensils, which you might find helpful. Those kits often come with compartments for sandwiches and snacks, which could eliminate your need for separate bags altogether!

But if you do need separate sandwich and snack bags, try these options, ordered in the order I’d try them based on eco-friendliness, functionality, aesthetics, and safety:

>> Plum Creek Mercantile Organic Snack Bags (left photo). Made of 100% organic cotton canvas, these snack bags look the safest and greenest to me. Of course, the bag does have the drawbacks of cotton — They’re not waterproof, and they can stain. On the upside, they can be thrown into the washing machine with the rest of your laundry and don’t pose any plastic-related health hazards.

Amanda at Natural Mommie raves about these bags. Each bag costs $5.75 – $6.75 depending on size, with discounts for sets of 3 or 5 bags. Plum Creek also sells non-organic snack bags, so select carefully.

>> Kids Konserve Food Kozy (middle photo). Made from recycled PE plastic, this sandwich wrap helps close the recycling loop — and is free of BPA, lead, and phthalataes too. According to One Small Step, these wraps are non-toxic and non-leaching — but I always caution readers to avoid putting heated foods in plastic or plastic-lined containers.

Leighann at Full Mommy has a nice review of these Kozys. Each Kozy costs $5.

>> LunchSkins reusable snack pouch (right photo). These velcro bags are made of a cotton (not organic) fabric coated with a polyurethane liner that makes the bags greaseproof and waterproof — and that the company says won’t leach into food — though I’d still feel queasy using them for hot food. The bags are made in the U.S. and are free of lead, BPA, and phthalates.

Suzanne Catchpole at babyology says LunchSkins are of excellent quality and easy to clean. Each bag will run you $7.85 to $10.95, depending on size.

>> Wrap-n-Mat sandwich wraps and pouches. These fold-up wraps and pouches are free of BPA, lead, and phthalates — but are made with plastic (LDPE), and thus shouldn’t be used for hot food or thrown in the dishwasher. Prices range from $6.50 for small ones made in China to $8.95 for big ones made in the U.S. Get them locally at The Green Life in Santa Monica or All Shades of Green in Silver Lake.

>> snackTAXI sandwich and snack sacks. snackTAXI prides itself in making its food pouches locally, in Mass. The machine-washable bags are made of cotton lined with a nylon with a polyurethane coating and are lead and phthalate free. Each bag costs $6.95 – 8.95, depending on size.

>> reuseit.com snack and sandwich bags. Made in the U.S. out of nylon, these velcro-fastened bags can hold both hot and cold items and can be thrown in the washing machine for cleaning. Each bag costs $6.95; less if you buy more than one.

If you want to take care of all your reusable lunch container needs with one purchase, consider the No More Plastic Baggies! lunch kit from One Small Step, which includes two sandwich bags, a snack bag, four food containers, a spork, and napkins — all reusable, of course. I gave one of these away last year.

Have you tried any of these snack and sandwich bags — or have others to recommend? Share your green lunch wisdom in the comments.

Earlier:

>> Sunday solutions — Foil or film?
>> Bring your own bag: How to BYOB in easy eco-style
>> Bring your own cup and mug: An eco-stylish money-making habit

[crossposted on BlogHer]

Photos via Plum Creek Mercantile, kidskonserve.com, LunchSkins

Answer: The short answer’s no — though upcycling may be possible. Josh Peterson at Planet Green suggests turning the helmet into a planter, while Grist’s Umbra suggests creating some sort of trash sculpture.

My guess is that the resulting planter or sculpture will be eco-fugly — but I haven’t got any better suggestions. Like Umbra, I’ll encourage you not to feel bad about this small bit of waste if you decide to black bin it. Your eco-friendly bicycling habit more than makes up for the little space your former head gear will take up in a landfill. Happy riding!

Photo by knaakle

Do you know any bike shops in L.A. that might have that kind of bike? Thanks so much!! Graham

Answer: To help answer your question, I asked Westside Bikeside‘s Alex Thompson if he knew of anyone who owned an electric bike I could talk to. His response: “Man . . . I don’t know anyone! That’s weird I guess, but people are really snobbish about the electric bike thing.”

It’s true — Many a cyclist will mock electric bikes. The point of bikes, they’ll say, is human-powered transportation. What’s the point of biking if you’re moving via an electric assist? Why forego the natural exercise bicycling provides while sucking power from the electric grid?

Other cyclists, like you, admit that sometimes, we need a little help.

After all, some of us live in hilly areas — and others of us live just too far from work to self-propel ourselves the whole way. Many people may be willing to bike 2 miles to work, but not 5 or 10 — though obviously hardcore cyclists that really do bike 10+ miles to work certainly reap the benefits of ther commitment to cycling. Plus, most of us don’t have showers at work — and can’t ruin our work attire with daily buckets of sweat — or go about our workday looking soggy from our morning commute.

If an electric bike gets even people with longish communites out of their cars and onto bikes — thereby reducing pollution and congestion and carbon emissions — that’s a win win. As Trevor Reichman points out in Treehugger, “An electric bicycle is about 100 times more efficient than a car carrying one person.” Plus, on a practical level, electric bikes are “allowed in bicycle lanes and anywhere else a regular bicycle is allowed” — so long as they don’t move faster than 20 miles per hour.

I don’t actually own an electric bike, but I recently got to try out a PEDEGO electric beach cruiser (above) — which has a comfortable, sleek bike with a powerful motor that lets you go up to 20 miles per hour — for as far as 30 miles per charge!

The fact that the particular bike I tried was a “boy” bike (PEDEGO also has girl bikes, a.k.a. “step throughs,” available) and only had hand brakes (I generally use foot brakes) and was too big for me, had me freaked out at first — but I did like the bike! Since my own bike’s basically a beach cruiser, I loved the comfy feel of the PEDEGO. I got on and turned the throttle on the right handlebar for the electric motor — which propelled me around electric-style!

I will admit though, that I was so enamored by the fun boost from the electric assist that most of the time I was on the bike, I didn’t even put up a pretense of pedaling. But I’d like to think that once I got over the novelty of the electric motor, my quads would kick in more effort!

Honestly, I don’t need an electric bike. I live in a very flat area of Santa Monica, and work at home. Who might need an electric bike? Trevor says he got one during an extremely hot summer, when he had to commute up a giant hill to work. “Being that I had to wear a suit and tie, my sweat almost gave me hypothermia due to the unnatural and artificial arctic conditions inside capital building which directly followed my commute. Not only were there no showers for cyclists, but there weren’t even bicycle racks!”

Trevor also points out that many people with non-electric bikes use their bikes only for recreation, not for general transport — and I have to empathize with his frustration. I’ve met a serious competitive cyclist who seemed blindsided by the suggestion that he might actually ride his bike to get around town, instead of just transporting the bike in his car when he wasn’t officially “training.”

One thing to keep in mind with electric bikes: The battery must be handled responsibly. An Associated Press article notes that 98% of electric bikes in China use lead-acid batteries — which unfortunately are quite polluting, especially when not disposed of safely. Part of e-biking green, then, includes opting for greener batteries like nickel-meter-hydride and lithium-ion batteries — PEDEGO, for example, uses lithium-ion batteries — and disposing of those batteries safely once they’re dead.

I’d look carefully into reviews of electric bikes before plunking down the money for a new one. e-power vehicles in Pasadena will at least give you a couple options to try, including PEDEGO cruisers, which retail for $1,595 — not cheap, but a helluva lot cheaper than a car, if the e-bike can propel you into a car-free lifestyle.

Another option to consider is an electric motor kit; Chile Chews has one that helps her grow her TITS (Time In The Saddle). You can also find pre-loved e-bikes on on Craigslist. If any readers know of other L.A.-area shops that specialize in electric bikes, please share your knowledge in the comments! Happy electric-assisted cycling!

Top photo by velobry; other photos by Siel

Answer: Sorry to hear that the cheapo apartment is not so cheapo once you add up the AC bill! Perhaps the bigger lesson here is to move in the summer if you live in SoCal, to avoid inadvertently moving into a tin shed. More seriously though — There’s a lot you can do to chill out sans AC!

The big, overall tip is this: The easiest way to keep your house cool eco-style is to not get it hot to begin with. The idea behind this tip’s a useful one for troubleshooting around the house in general — It’s a lot easier to prevent ants or other bugs from coming into the kitchen than it is to get rid of them after they arrive, for example. In any case, I’ll focus on preventing heat first then go on to the cooling tips:

1. Change your lightbulbs. Still don’t have CFL bulbs? Then no wonder you’re burning up. CFL bulbs use a lot less energy than conventional bulbs — because conventional bulbs use a bulk of the energy it sucks up to create heat.

That’s why, for example, small scale chicken farmers will use conventional bulbs to keep young chicks warm. If you’re not raising chickens indoors but still use conventional bulbs, you’re basically paying good money to your utility company to fire up a whole bunch of mini heaters in your already-hot house — then paying the utility a second time to cool the heat (if you turn on the AC) that you paid to create.

So switch the bulbs and while you’re at it, turn off everything you’re not using. Pull out the slightly warmed cell phone charger, snuff out your heater’s pilot light, and shut down your computer after you read this post. They’re small but they add up — My hands are hotter than my feet, for ex, because they’re hovering over a hot-ish laptop while typing this post –

2. Draw the curtains when the sun’s directly shining through your windows. You’ll be surprised at how much less hot your place will get just due to this simple move alone. I like to still keep the windows open when my curtains are closed to keep the breeze going, but if your area’s got no breeze — or only an extremely hot breeze, you may want to close the windows during these hot hours too. The rest of the time –

3. Work the windows. Popular Science gives some ideas as to how you can strategically open and close windows in your home for maximum breeziness. Spend a few minutes figuring it out and you’ll be cooler the whole season. The PopSci article also has some ideas for how to –

4. Use the fan. From what I’ve gathered from research and anecdotal evidence, ceiling fans provide the most coolth. However, I just make do with a vertical fan, mainly because the heat in my place is not hot enough to spur me to go through the work of getting permission to install, then actually installing, a ceiling fan. However, if I really was too hot and was considering going through the work of getting and paying for and installing an AC, I’d definitely look into the ceiling fan option first.

5. Dress for success. If you’re female and work in an office, you probably have no idea how hot it is because the AC’s turned up so high you’re still wearing all black plus a coat inside anyway. Well when you get home, change — immediately. I say this because when I worked in an office, for some reason, I used to have a habit of getting home then putting off changing while doing other stuff around the house — going through the mail, eating things — and letting my physical discomfort climb until I got cranky and started fuming about how I really need an AC. Once I learned to change first, pour myself some ice water, then drink it while doing this stuff, I became a happier person. So don’t be like the old me. Even changing from a black T-shirt to a white tank will make a pretty significant difference in your physical comfort.

6. Time your showers. I don’t mean keep them short to save water — though that’s a good idea too. These days, I shower around 4 pm — because I work at home and that’s when it’s hottest in my apartment. If you work in an office and keep your empty home locked up during the day, then the hottest time’s probably gonna be right when you just get home. If so, ditch the a.m. shower and catch an extra few minutes of nice sleep every morning, then jump in the shower as soon as you get home from work. A nice cool shower will keep you cool for an hour, by which time your house should be at least a tad cooler. Oh — and wet hair’ll help keep you cool, so nix the blow dry.

7. Drink cold water — filtered tap water, that is. And keep your ice cube trays replenished while you’re at it.

8. Get out of the house. The reason AC in the home seems overindulgent to many environmentalists is because that AC’s using up a whole lot of energy and resources just to cool one or several people. However, AC seems much less problematic when they’re used for the good of many — to cool a classroom or office, for example, since many people are sharing that space and getting the benefit of one machine.

I feel about AC the way I feel about lawns — I’m peeved by grassy lawns for private homes because they’re an unnatural and a gross waste of water that only benefits a few people — and California’s in a drought! But I’m less bothered by, say, grassy areas in parks or soccer fields, since the resources that go into it can benefit everyone who picnics there, plays games there, etc.

So if the above cooling measures keep your home livable but for just a few days out of the year, well then use those few days of excess heat as an excuse to treat yourself to a movie or a great latte at your favorite air conditioned cafe or happy hour at an air conditioned bar with friends or lounge at the beach. The money you’ve saved on not buying / running an AC will pay for this occasional treat –

For more keep cool tips, check out wikiHow’s ideas, which include wearing a wet T-shirt or putting ice cubes on your pulse points.

Last but not least: If, despite trying all of the above, your home really is unbearably hot many days of the year, don’t die of of heat stroke. Use the AC judiciously. Hopefully, by implementing the keep cool tips, you’ll at least dramatically cut down your use of the AC — and the corresponding power bill.

Photo by Sidereal