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The ydt Blog is our place for news, events, outside articles, and coverage of information that doesn’t make it into our Monday through Friday articles. Often times news and events just happen, so this is the place for spontaneity in our lives.
Please give us a heads up on local news and events you discover too!
Mar Vista as the Pilot Site for LA City Rain Barrel Project
Codi Harris
email: charris@sga-inc.net
phone: (562) 597-0205
posted by Daniel Mabasa
Water Footprint Labels
Read the full article from Environmental Leader.
image from environmental leader
posted by Daniel Mabasa
Congress Passes Bill Addressing Climate Change
Image via Jeff Schwartz
Press release from Representative Henry A. Waxman’s website.
Green Weight Loss
Image via Denis Raev
Posted by Daniel Mabasa
Palin’s Resignation and the Environment
Image from Reuters.com
Reuters Article
Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund
The Carteret People: Victims of Climate Change
The Carteret people find their home on a small group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Papua New Guinea. Because of climate change they are now being forced to relocate their entire population due to sea level rise. These people live humble and sustainable lives. They live with no electricity in huts with sand floors, and sustain themselves with seafood they catch and vegetables they grow. It is sad that we have reached the point where the wastefulness and indifference of many are affecting entire civilizations. Let’s keep promoting sustainability and strengthen the green movement!
Image from thedailygreen.com
Carteret article on thedailygreen.com
Posted by Daniel Mabasa
Coal Free LA
Check out the Sierra Club Press Release
Free Screenings of Food, Inc
Food, Inc is a film that sheds light on American food production and shows why fast food is not sustainable. Watch the trailer to get a preview of what the movie is about.
Image from www.foodincmovie.com blog
Posted by Daniel Mabasa
Green Countries
YDT recently brought you rankings of green U.S. cities. We thought we’d continue by bringing you the global rankings as well. Reader’s Digest has a full article on this list, complete with information on why top countries are leading and how improvements by all can be made. It is obvious from these rankings that countries in the European Union show a trend to score relatively high. The top 5 countries are Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Austria. Another clear trend shows that underdeveloped countries rank much lower than developed nations. The bottom 5 countries are Chad, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Niger, and Ethiopia; all of which are poor countries in Africa. The United States is 23 of 141.
Complete Rankings & Ranking Methodology
Plastic Bag Ban
Earlier this month the executive director of the U.N. Environment Program called for global ban on plastic bags. “Single use plastic bags which choke marine life, should be banned or phased out rapidly everywhere. There is simply zero justification for manufacturing them anymore, anywhere,” said Achim Steiner. Many countries already have bans in place like China and Bangladesh, while others are still heavily using plastic bags. Los Angeles plans to ban plastic bags by 2010.
Mongobay.com article
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0609-hance_plasticban.html
.eco: The Green Domain
It’s safe to say that most of us are regulars to the internet world. That being said, you’ve probably come across domain names ending in .com, .org, .gov, and maybe even some of the lesser known ones like .mobi, .jobs, and .travel. Dot Eco, a nonprofit organization is working to get a new domain out there; .eco. It is proposed to be used for environmental platforms of a company, Disney.eco for example, or for companies with environmental missions, like sierraclub.eco. Will the .eco domain thrive with the popularity of .com, or fizzle out like .biz?
Read the BusinessWeek article here .
(Image from www.supportdoteco.com)
The United States Green Building Council (USGBC) is urging congress to pass several legislative measures, including the GREEN Act of 2009 and a resolution to green US schools. “The GREEN Act of 2009 will help homeowners build and remodel their homes in ways that save energy, thereby reducing their energy costs and their environmental impact,” says the USGBC. They also make sure to point out that the bill would assist low and middle-income households with sustainable projects.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors has passed a resolution to create greener schools in America, another legislative measure the USGBC urges Congress to act on. The legislation aims to allot more funds towards green research, and ultimately allocate billions of dollars for sustainable upgrades and retrofits in school districts across the nation.
Find out more about these legislations and the USGBC here.
Photo by Allan Henderson
Solar roofs in residential areas are no longer just an ideal futuristic technology, but are becoming commonplace for many Americans. As a U.S. leader in many environmental initiatives, California is seeing a higher prevalence in solar technology, including solar roofs on private homes. The California Solar Initiative (CSI) is part of a campaign called Go Solar California, an ongoing effort to provide affordable solar technologies to people across the state. Along with incentive programs, Go Solar California publishes a monthly newsletter with progress reports, workshop information, and promotions. Check out this latest promotion from the Go Solar California Campaign and win a green home makeover!
Cities across the state also have local incentive programs to help reach the goals of the CSI. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power provides a residential solar power incentive that covers up to 75% of LA projects. On July 1, 2009 new CSI program requirements will take effect due to the acceptance of California Energy Commission’s Senate Bill 1. Among others, this bill will effect energy efficiency agreements and inspection protocols.
Go Solar California
www.gosolarcalifornia.org
Photo by Paulo Tavio
Posted by Daniel Mabasa
Sheriffs Gone Green
LA County Sheriffs are going green–well at least some of their cars. The County is leasing 17 fully electric Mini Coopers for just $10 a month. Read more about the merger of the LA Sheriffs from Green Options Gas 2.0 here.
Posted by Tracy Hepler
We know that many of us love to travel, especially now during the summer months. But we also understand that traveling increases your carbon footprint and contributes to global warming. Lucky for us, there are ways to travel and minimize (or completely offset) your carbon emissions. The Sheraton Phoenix hotel has recently installed a rooftop garden and has plans to retrofit this hotel with LED and CFL technology. TerraCurve.com, along with the full story here, is a good source for environmental travel. It helps you find deals on green flights, hotels, and rental cars. Another option for traveling green is to look for sustainable packages offered by your favorite travel agent. For example, Orbitz.com, the online travel agency has resources to find and book eco-friendly travel vacations at Eco.Orbitz.com. Happy travels!
photo from http://www.terracurve.com/
Hard economic times are usually associated with declining job availability. However, this is not necessarily true for green jobs. According to a recent study by the Pew Charitable Trust, 770,000 people currently hold jobs in the clean energy sector. This is near the scale of the traditional fossil fuel based energy sector. Check out the full article from Wired.com.
photo from http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/06/green-jobs-grow
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HP has recently launched “Green IT for Dummies” in the hopes of giving organizations the simple solutions on how to run implement Green IT practices, and lessen environmental impacts. The guide is a useful resource that recommends what course of actions you should take, and details the expense and difficulty to implement those actions. The best part is that HP is giving these guides away free, but hurry, it’s a limited time offer. Green your organizations with the guide! Get it here.
Image from http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/globalcitizenship/environment/productdesign/greenit4dummies.html
Living in California, specifically coastal California means that your privvy to some of the best beaches and surfing in the world. If you’re a surf or beach ethusiast, show your support tomorrow. On June 20th a variety of different beaches will be hosting clean ups and other community service opportunities. Read a great post from Good Magazine here to learn more about how to get involved tomorrow.
Images via Will Etling
Posted by Daniel Mabasa
(Photo by Aaron Logan)
What do Portland, San Francisco and Seattle have in common? According to Sustain Lane, they’re all green city front runners. Overall rankings came from 16 sustainability categories including air quality, green economy, and traffic congestion. You can also check out where cities rank in each category, LA, for example ranks 4th in a few categories including solid waste diversion. Certain cities have also improved over the years. Columbus, OH jumped from 50th in 2006 to 30th in 2008. So where does LA land in this in all this? Drum roll please… LA takes 28th place, of 50. Not bad, but not excellent. The Lakers have pushed us to #1 in basketball, how about we work together to get sustainability up there too! Go here for the full city rankings.
Sustain Lane’s 2008 Green City rankings
http://www.sustainlane.com/us-city-rankings/
In December of this year leaders from around the world will meet in Copenhagen to create a new plan to cut carbon emissions. What does this mean for you? 350.org invites you to the International Day of Climate Action on October 24 to participate in the largest climate action the world has ever seen! So far there are 1033 registered actions to happen across the globe in 56 different countries. You know you want to register your own action! Do it here, and make sure to let YDT know about it.
International Day of Climate Action
http://www.350.org/
(Image from Toyota.com)
With more and more environmental and economic pressures automakers are moving fuel efficiency and affordability to the top of their priorities. Toyota has recently launched the 3rd generation Prius, starting at $22,000 with tested mpg ratings of 51 city and 49 highway. Some new key features include a solar roof, different driving modes, and LED headlights. Micheline Maynard takes you behind the wheel of the new Prius in this New York Times article.
Click here to see what Toyota has to say about their Prius
NYT- Prius Review
http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/prius-diary-driving-the-2010-prius/
Posted by Daniel Mabasa
I was fortunate to be one of the “thought leaders” at the event titled, “An Eco Evening with Celebrating Style with Conscious.” The evening brought together what seems to be a solid core of Green Los Angeles. The event which was showcased at Opportunity Green Sponsor and eco furniture star Environment, featured some of the best in wholesome, sustainable food in L.A.
Who was there? Locali Conscious Convienence, O (organic) Burger, Real Food Daily, Chocolove, and more. And of course no Opportunity Green party would be complete with out conscious beverages–so it was nice to see VeeV and Honest Tea there as well.
Who’s on board. So far they’ve lined up Annie Leonard from The Story of Stuff, Joe Laur of Greenopolis, Jonah Sachs of Free Range Studios, Trudy Hardy of Mini USA and more. Check out the latest event sponsors and speakers at opportunitygreen.com
To learn more about Opportunity Green read my and co-founder Lauren’s reaction to last year’s conference. Be sure to visit their blog too where YourDailyThread was recently named one of Opportunity Green’s Top 10 Eco Twitters to Follow.
images via Opportunity Green and Julian Walter
CNN Money has just come out with the numbers. On the top we have Anheuser-Busch, Mariott International, Integrys Energy Group and Disney. The worst….Circut City 
View the complete listing here.
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The Sacramento River is most endangered in the country and it supplies drinking water to 25 million Californians!
It’s a major source of drinking and crop water for Californians and it is in a lot of trouble. Read the complete article here an see what we need to do to save our largest river network.
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Planet Green has released a new article suggesting the greenest way to work is from home (no transportation) and online on the weekends (less people are online so there is less energy being used and less distraction from social media sites i.e. facebook/twitter.) While the author may have a point, I’m a firm believer in the balance of work and your personal life. We need a proper break in order to perform well at our jobs. Whether or not this is infact the greenest way to work, I’m personally going to have to pass and perhaps make it up in another aspect in my life (perhaps green energy credits from LADWP might help–I already do that!) What do you think? Read the full article here.
As if you needed another reason to want an iPhone. iTunes just release a new application for $2.99 allows you to know what food is locally in season. If only iPhones weren’t monopolized by AT&T (boo)…Till then I’m sticking with my T Mobile Black Berry : ) Read more about the iPhone application here.
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Yes, our fair city is a tad complicated. I mean, where does the eastside end and the westside begin? Where exactly is Boyle Heights? Or Larchmont?
The L.A. Times has mapped it all out: the boundaries, the what, the where. Check out your community and the ones you’re curious about here. http://projects.latimes.com/mapping-la/neighborhoods/
Posted by Danielle Davis
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Like beer? What if you could have organic beer delivered you once a month…and what if you could have it in time for St. Paddy’s Day? This is all true thanks to Eco Express you can sign up for either 3, 6, and 12 month clubs from certified organic microbreweries. And you’ll get brewers notes from each beer you get.
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