What would happen if a plastic bag tax went into effect in L.A.? Maybe something similar to what’s been happening since New Year’s Day in Washington D.C., where a 5-cent bag tax went into effect.

While 5 cents isn’t exactly a lot of money, it appears to be enough to change people’s behavior — quickly. I got to see this change in person when I was visiting D.C. over the weekend. Many stores had prominent signs about the new tax posted on doors and near the register — like the one above I saw at a Subway — and customers were quick to react.

“It’s a nickel now, right?” said a guy, who walked in with two friends. “Okay, put them all in one bag.”

The quick adaptations people are making to the new rule makes obvious how wasteful previous habits were. Last month, each month of the trio would have probably each gotten his or her own bag, only to take the sandwich out just minutes later, discarding the bag to sit pretty much forever in a landfill!

According to The Washington Post, the new bag conserving behavior I saw at that Subway’s not the exception, but the rule now:

Managers at stores that sell food or beverages say the switchover has cut the use of plastic bags by half or more. One Safeway in Northwest reports a falloff of more than 6,000 bags a week, about half of its former volume.

Of course, a new tax can’t avoid protesters — though most of the protesting against the tax seems to come in the form of avoiding taking a bag to avoid the tax, which is a win both for the environment and the business. Many people are finally starting to make using reusable bags a part of their routine simply to avoid paying the nickel — while others are just precariously juggling items out of the store sans bag.

What I find interesting is the fact that people didn’t make such drastic efforts to save 5 cents when the nickel was deemed an incentive than a punishment. For a number of years, many big supermarkets like Ralph’s and Vons have been taking 5 cents off the shopping bills of customers who bring their own bags — yet few were taking advantage of this opportunity to save. Now that the exact same amount of money is called a tax and showing up as a line item on receipts, people are going to extraordinary lengths to save that nickel….

Earlier:
>> Bring your own bag: How to BYOB in easy eco-style
>> Plastic industry uses enviro-laws to “save” disposable bags
>> Styrofoam and the City: The fate of plastic bags and polystyrene in LA

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“Like TED but all green,” is how many environmentalists describe the Bioneers Conference, an event that brings together out-of-the-box eco thinkers, green visionaries, and environmental leaders to attack head-on our most serious environmental problems.

And this year, I’m planning to finally make it to the 20th anniversary of the annual event, happening Oct. 16-18 in San Rafael, Calif. Eco-luminaries like Michael Pollan — who’s coming out with a new youth version of his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma — and Annie Leonard of “The Story of Stuff” fame will speak — alongside a host of other environmental thinkers discussing everything from “Busting the Drug War” to “Visualizing Your Cause on Google Earth.”

Evenings will be dedicated to movie screenings, parties, dancing and socializing. Plus there’ll be fun conference-not-as-usual activities, like herb walks and a seed exchange. And for those who need more than just three days, pre-conference and post-conference intensives will be offered on Oct. 14 and 19.

Who else will be driving up from the L.A. area? I’m working on creating a full carpool for maximum fuel efficiency –

Image via Bioneers

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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.

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Want green travel that goes beyond LEED-certified chain hotels and flight offsets? Pick up one of the  GrassRoutes guides, an urban eco-travel book series put together by Oakland resident Serena Bartlett. These guides reveal the neighborhoody green knowledge that’ll let you get around town like a long-time do-gooder member of the local eco-community.

GrassRoutes: Oakland & Berkeley, for example, clues you into Frugal Foodies, a vegetarian dining society in Berkeley that’s actually accessible to visitors who want to make new foodie friends, and Lakeside Park Gardens, where you can volunteer to help build a sensory garden for the blind.  GrassRoutes: Northern California Wine Country of course details the organic wineries in the area — then also lists the many places you can pick cherries in Livermore valley and provides detailed biking directions — including best spots for breaks — to inland Sonoma county.

In its listings, GrassRoutes guides go beyond simple recycling programs and vegetarian options to look at whether a restaurant or store banks locally, is known as a pillar of the community, or employs people reentering workforce. But lest you fear GrassRoutes guides are all do-gooder and little fun, rest assured that you’ll get details on the best  local lingerie shop, international grocery stores, green spas, and dive bars — a number of which boast only the faintest of greenishness yet have been awarded the little “community pillar” symbol (cheap drinks will, indeed, make the locals consider your bar indispensable).

Like most travel guides, GrassRoutes guides include a brief history of the area, transportation info, plus sections on dining, entertainment, cultural activities, nightlife, and pet and kid-related stuff. Unlike many travel guides, GrassRoutes guides are organized not by neighborhood, but by activity. Brunch places are grouped together, for example — separately from the lunch places, dinner spots, and take-out restaurants, all of which have their own categories.

This unorthodox structure makes the guides actually seem best suited for local residents eager to explore their town — or for newcomers who’ve moved into the neighborhoods. The Oakland & Berkeley guide, for example, includes rather detailed profiles  bike shops in the area, big ups welding classes offered at The Crucible, and plugs a tool lending library — information that’s not going to be particularly relevant to a visitor.

And some of the information a visitor might want is missing. The Oakland & Berkeley book’s very bare bones maps will require that you find  a separate map or fancy phone to help you get around — and walking tours of neighborhoods will have to be self-concocted since none are included. The extremely brief details lodging options — ghettoized to a few pages at the very back of the book, no less — may also leave you turning to web resources to find a place to stay.

That said, the Northern California Wine Country guide’s more helpful for the average tourist, with expanded lodging info and details on bike-fueled wine tours, olive tours, docent-led winegrowing hike and more. All this means that like the quirks of these NoCal areas the guides cover, the guides too have their quirks, with everything from a short glossary of Oakland lingo (do you know what joog means) to a sociological critique of Napa valley, about which Serena writes:

I am acutely aware of the lack of diversity, the assumption that paradise can be bought, the lavishness enjoyed on the backs of unnamed others. I wriggle and struggle to find something real in this land of  façades.

For this kind of personal, locally-oriented, in-depth look at discovering the real place-ness of these tourist spots, pick up a copy of GrassRoutes guides. Both the Oakland & Berkeley and the Northern California Wine Country guides cost $16.95 each (less on Amazon); a San Francisco guide is due out next month.

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Though I’m writing this while stuck at an airport, I’m really looking forward to my BlogHer ‘09 trip to Chicago next month — especially since the city’s made some very impressive green changes since BlogHer ‘07, when I was last there. The Windy City’s hard at work on the Chicago Climate Action Plan, after all.

But for this post, I’ve decided to focus on the important stuff: Food. Yummy green Chicago dining spots I’ve visited:

Coffee lovers: Swim Cafe. Go here for 100% fair trade coffee from Just Coffee, tasty food that supports organic agriculture, and a relaxed atmosphere. The indie coffee shop’s been made famous by Young American Bodies — Above’s the panini I ate during the last BlogHer. Find it at 1357 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago.

Pizza lovers: Crust. This organic restaurant makes very tasty flatbread pizzas — great with organic vodka cocktails organic pinot blanc  or other yummy organic drinks. 95% of the ingredients used at this eatery are organic. Two  years ago I had a “Shrooms” pizza with yummy fresh mushrooms, goat cheese, and seasoned spinach. 2056 W. Division St., Chicago.

Veg and vegan food lovers: The Chicago Diner.. This very chilled out and popular spot’s proudly meat free — and serves up some yummy organic cocktails and fair trade coffee too. Vegetarians, vegans, and raw foodies will all find something to love here. The vegan reuben’s apparently the house specialty, but I can attest to the wilted spinach salad’s yumminess too. 3411 N. Halsted., Chicago.

Fine diners: Green Zebra. This higher-end, well-known vegetarian restaurant isn’t cheap — but the food’s delicious and the atmosphere chic. The staff’s very accommodating of any and all odd eating requirements and quirks. 1460 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago.

Since I’ve already tried all those spots, I plan to try out these eateries this time around:

Butterfly Social Club. Organic cocktails, from Goji Kombucha Cider to Funky Budda’s Margarita. 726 W. Grand Ave.

Hopleaf Bar. Lotsa beer, organic wine, and organic meat options — plus a nice array of vegetarian dishes to choose from. 5148 N. Clark St.

Lula Cafe.  Seasonal, organic, local produce at a cafe in Logan Square. 2537 N. Kedzie Blvd.

Other non-dining green spots I hope to check out this time around include:

Pivot Boutique: Eco-fashion boutique at 1101 W. Fulton Market.

Working Bikes Co-Op. The kids here fix up donated bikes, donating some to countries where bikes’re scarce and selling others cheaply in its Chicago store. 1125 S. Western Ave.

Parks. 90% of Chicago’s parks are pesticide free, according to Grist. I’ve visited one — Above’s me and my friend Anne under the bean.

Know of other green spots in the Windy City? Share your knowledge in the comments –

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Go Green Expo in Atlanta last weekend was a lot smaller than its L.A. counterpart — but the Georgia event was full of eco-superheroes, sort of.

Above’s the anti-disposable-bag eco-fashionista, standing in front of GreenPlate’s booth. Dressed entirely in the environmental blight that’s the disposable plastic bag, the eco-superhero promoted reusable bags and bottles.

Then there was the recycling fashion icon, wearing a skirt of disposable plastic water bottles. The colorful Kika Paprika T-shirt she’s wearing was also made with recycled plastic water bottles!

Last but not least was Captain Planet, roaming the expo floor sending out good green vibes — mostly by posing for photos with excited kids.

Does thinking about Captain Planet take you right back to your own childhood? Watch the hero in action again on Mother Nature Network, which has all the old Captain Planet episodes for you to watch free online.

Meanwhile, I’m still stuck at the Atlanta airport, thanks to a now 4-hour flight delay. I may never visit Atlanta again, specifically to avoid this airport –

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When I was planning for the last Blogher conference in Chicago in 2007, I had a bunch of people ask why I wasn’t taking the train (answer: It took too long). This year, thanks to a new study, no one’s asked me the train question — yet.

Train trips aren’t necessarily greener than plane trips, found Mikhail Chester and Arpad Horvath in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. Their study (PDF) looked not just at the carbon emissions of trips themselves, but also the emissions created by the infrastructure needed for the travel modes (i.e. train stations) and the types of fuel used.

After all, even electric trains have huge carbon footprints if that electricity’s created by burning coal. And if nighttime buses are running nearly empty, the per-passenger carbon footprint of your post-bar bus ride home’s gonna be pretty big — even bigger than that of an SUV.

Of course, this kind of finding doesn’t simply mean that flying’s the greenest way to travel — or that you should drive your SUV to the bar. Besides the drunk driving issue, off-peak hour buses, even if never packed, give people the ability rely on public transportation for all their transit needs — thereby taking more cars off the road and more people on the bus during peak hours.

Instead, this Berkeley study points to a need for smart urban planning. As Catherine Brahic of NewScientist’s Environment blog reports:

Any government considering expanding its rail network should take into account the emissions it will generate in doing so, Chester says. Setting up a public transportation system that only a small proportion of the population uses could generate more emissions than it cuts, he adds – especially if trains and buses are not well connected….

“New rail systems should serve as links to other transit modes, as is often the case in Europe and Japan,” he says. “We should avoid building rail systems that are disconnected from major population areas and require car trips and parking to access.”

Basically, traveling by rail can be much greener — if lots of people can get to the stations WITHOUT DRIVING — and if we power electric trains with renewable energy. From a practical standpoint, the trains’ll need to be faster too! In fact, a new HNTB’s America THINKS survey found that Americans would love to travel by high speed rail:

More than half of Americans (54 percent) would choose modern high-speed trains over automobile (33 percent) and air travel (13 percent) if fares and travel time were about the same.

And thanks to Obama’s commiting $8 billion to high speed rail, Americans could get what they want. Of course, lots of people still already love taking train trips, even if our trains aren’t moving at high speeds yet. Amtrak’s new ad tries to show why train travel can be a lot more relaxing than fighting car traffic or navigating airport security (via Streetsblog LA):

Alas — while I’d like to travel in relaxedly on a train, I’d need to give up 4 work days (2 each way) to rail it to Chicago. Thus, Southwest it is — but I eagerly await those high speed trains….

Photo by Professor Bop

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Mo’ luggage, mo’ problems — from feeling cranky about lugging the stuff to paying through the nose to hire a taxi instead of just hopping on public transportation. Pack light, and you’ll waste no more time arguing with airport people about maximums, waiting for the baggage carousel, or trying to fit overstuffed carryons into spaces that are just too small.

You’ll save money too — on extra gas to move the extra weight, on flight luggage fees, on hotel porter fees, and on travel funds in general, since lighter bags mean you’ll be better able to opt for public transportation instead of being forced to hire a taxi. Shedding the weight will obviously be better for the environment — less fuel spent moving stuff around — but that’s just icing on the cake.

So pack light and travel easy — with these tips:

1. Keep a collection of small bottles and containers. Whether or not you’re dealing with anti-liquid laws on planes, having these small bottles around will let you squeeze into them just the amount of shampoo and lotion you need for the trip. Why lug big heavy bottles of liquid around — especially when any of that stuff can squish or spill and create problems?

Little bottles and travel-sized toiletries are easy to find in stores, but you can just as easily save sample containers you get for free. That’ll save money — and eliminate unnecessary packaging waste too.

2. Don’t carry packaging. Got a new outfit for your vacation? A new camera you’re saving to use at the first Blogher event? Take the stuff out of its packaging before putting it in your luggage. If your stuff needs padding, let your clothes double as strategic cushioning. If you’re afraid your nice shoes will get squished, use socks — that you plan to wear during the trip — to retain their shape.

3. Pick a color scheme. If you pick a neutral base color — say, black — for your travel wardrobe, you’ll be able to wear a new cute outfit everyday without carrying a separate outfit for everyday. This tactic will especially help you take fewer shoes — which have to be most women’s biggest luggage space hogs. Follow Mimi at La Mimi’s advice: “Only take neutral colored shoes, because they will go with any outfit, regardless of the colors.”

Take basics in neutral colors too. Black pants will go with a variety of tops and scarves — and people will notice the tops and scarves a lot more than the pants, if you’re afraid someone will make fun of you for wearing the same thing twice. As Earth Wind & Power blog points out, “As long as you aren’t out rolling around in the mud or stinking up your clothes, most things can be worn more than once.”

4. Don’t pack stuff you’re not gonna use. This seems pretty obvious, except there’s some stuff I always take on trips then don’t use. That would be workout clothes! I’m not alone in this — Apparently, Sara at Cash on the Barrelhead has the same issue.

To be fair, I usually work out once — the first day — but just don’t use the other 3 outfits I’ve brought for the subsequent days! There are two ways to solve this dilemma: Don’t pack workout clothes — or work out more. I’m gonna go for the second option on the trips I’m taking this year. Ever the optimist –

Other common things that get packed then not used are work-related stuff, long books you couldn’t get around to reading at home but thought you’d somehow find the time to read during a really busy conference, and again, shoes.

5. Pack the usable reusables. A collapsible reusable bag, a cute reusable water bottle or coffee mug — These are things that’ll come in handy — as well as reduce luggage and save you money. No more buying plastic bottles at the airport when you can fill up free at the water fountain!
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Last but not least — Keep in mind that fitting everything into one bag is not quite the same thing as packing light. First of all, the bag you choose needs to not be gargantuan. Second, you don’t want to pack the thing so tight so its weight’s more than you can handle comfortably. For up to a week-long trip, f you’ve fit everything into a bag that’ll fit into a plane’s overhead compartment, AND it’s light enough that you can lift it over your head to put it in said overhead compartment with relative ease, you’re good to go.

Got more light and eco packing tips? Share them in the comments!

Photo by Perfecto Insecto

Update, 6/9/09: Green and easy airport travel in Los Angeles

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Want a free electric car you can charge up for less than the cost of gas? That’s what could happen if Better Place, an electric vehicles services provider, gets its way to redefine the way we buy, maintain, and fuel our cars. Here’s Better Place’s idea, as WIRED magazine describes it:

Drivers could plug in anywhere, anytime, and would subscribe to a specific plan—unlimited miles, a maximum number of miles each month, or pay as you go—all for less than the equivalent cost for gas. They’d buy their car from the operator, who would offer steep discounts, perhaps even give the cars away. The profit would come from selling electricity—the minutes.

Drivers would either plug in to a charging spot if they’re gonna be parked for a while — or quickly swap out an empty battery for a full one if they’re in a rush. The exact details of what the plans would look like are still up in the air, but Better Place is quickly striking deals all over the world in its quest to replace gas guzzlers with clean electric vehicles, and gas stations with an electric battery-replacement and charging grid.

That electric optimism got Better Place’s Israeli founder and CEO Shai Agassi named one of TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2009. While the company’s headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif., Israel was the first country to partner with Better Place — and now has the first plugged in parking lot at Cinema City mall in Pi-Glilot.

Last week, I got to visit that station to see how it all worked — and to take a ride in an all-electric Renault! The charge stations basically look like short posts, which you can park in front of and plug in using a simple cord. The electric Renault’s a smooth ride with a lot of power — The car, according to WIRED, is set to be on the Israeli market by 2011 and will be able to “go from 0 to 60 in a respectable 7.5 seconds.”

The Renault likely won’t be Better Place’s only option; the company’s in talks with a number of car companies. TIME reports that Agassi’s goal’s that no more gas-powered cars will be sold in Israel come 2015. In addition to Israel, Better Place has cut deals to roll out in California and Hawaii, as well as Denmark, Australia, and Canada.

In Cali, the rollout will start in the Bay Area, with infrastructure deployment starting next year and electric cars scheduled to hit the mass market in 2012. When do you think we’ll see the end of gas-powered cars in the U.S.?

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The start was rocky. I got singled out at the airport check-in line and sent to a private room where a security person very politely took my backpack from me, save my cell phone, wallet, passport, boarding pass, and a copy of Lonely Planet’s guide to Israel & the Palestinian Territories.

“You’re already taking too much…” said the security person apologetically when I tried to take a second book with me. She reassured me I’d get my bag back at the airport gate — which I did, after a second security person swabbed my shoes and passport with a strange blue stick and ran the swab through a machine.

On the upside, everyone was really nice about the strict security measures — and I got to get on the plane first, presumably for my troubles –

After an uneventful 14-hour flight I’m now in Israel! I’m here with 3 other American journalists on a clean tech tour organized by the America-Israel Friendship League, self-described as a “non-sectarian, non-political, not-for-profit organization strengthening ties between the people of the United States and Israel.” The League organizes a whole bunch of such trips for different American groups every year — and is very open about its goals: To show that there’s more to Israel than the Middle East conflict.

Basically, Israel’s trying to change its image — to rebrand. I’ve already developed mixed feelings about these efforts, which seem necessary because the general perception of life in Israel is skewed — but also makes me strangely queasy at times. For example, I could empathize when one tour organizer talked about how people around the world think of pasta when they think of Italy, but guns when they think of Israel — and how she felt this image did not at all reflect what living Israel was actually like. I felt less comfortable when a government employee involved with this rebranding process went so far as to say it’s more important for Israel to be perceived well, than to be right — and that perception is what was of great importance, politically or otherwise. This comment I found strangely chilling, if very L.A.

I also found the candor with which everyone talked about this rebranding effort — Yes, the word rebranding was actually used, and plans to announce a new tagline of sorts (“like New York’s ‘Big Apple’”) were discussed — very refreshing. More on all that — and actual clean tech stuff — later….

Those conversations, BTW, happened over dinner at a Chinese restaurant near Tel Aviv. I make fun of the “Chinese Food & Donuts” grab-n-go places in L.A. all the time, but those places have nothing on this white table cloth restaurant’s eclecticism! The meal included everything from sushi rolls to what looked like mini empanadas to made-from-concentrate lemonade to a rich chocolate souffle to what I believe was a lamb-and-veggies stirfry.

One of my fave thing about Israel so far: The kosher restaurants, which are very convenient for a lactose-intolerant person like me –

Image by ponte1112

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