Tuesday night, I took the Blue Line to the Long Beach Plug-in 2009 Conference in 2009.  At first, I was excited to take the Metro Rail once again; earlier that morning, I had visited Pasadena for a meeting using the Gold Line.  I kept wondering, “Why would anyone diss mass transit?”  Well, when I finally [...]

I maintain that doing better for the environment doesn’t just mean recycling, finding cleaner sources of energy, or conserving water—to me, it also means making the world a better place through deeds. Eunice Kennedy Shriver passed away earlier this week. She had a long, accomplished life, but it’s still a huge loss. In a New [...]

Yesterday I went to the Plug-In 2009 show in Long Beach.  I was hoping to see more vehicles, but the evening was an interesting one.  There were vendors ranging from light-weight auto bumper makers to electric charging station manufacturers.   (more…)

Last Saturday morning, I was walking Cosmo before it got too hot for him . . . forgetting that the problem with walking him in the morning is like playing dodge ball—we are always avoiding the neighborhood nemesis, the leaf blower.  Discussions on pollution often focus on cars, factories, and LA, the ports:  but these [...]

I’ve always believed that being “green” does not require a dogmatic insistence that all food you eat shall be organic and free-range.  If a restaurant focuses on fresh ingredients, local vendors, and encourages those in the ‘hood to walk for a mean instead of jumping in a car and driving across town, than The Kitchen [...]

The Green Tech Connect Forum in Pasadena was a success for so many reasons.  One issue that I was thrilled to see addressed was the role of heavy duty trucks and equipment.  In front of the Pasadena Convention Center, not only could you see buses, but trucks and hauling equipment was on display as well. [...]

Los Angeles has many issues surrounding its transportation woes, but rail is not, well, a total loss here.  Folks outside of LA are often surprised when I mention that Los Angeles has a few local rail lines and a pretty extensive commuter train system.  The system is not as extensive as we’d like, but as [...]

Assuming that battery technology is a panacea for our current energy woes is ignoring one side affect:  the toxicity, energy and expense racked up from extracting the materials that allow the battery to work. Newer generations of batteries generally use lithium ion technology, and as companies manufacture more and more batteries, these same companies are [...]

I’ve been to many “green” events over the past several months . . . from huge conferences such as Intersolar to events in the basements of skanky restaurants where I couldn’t wait to claw myself out . . . sometimes I had just felt so “dirty” and “corporate” compared to the brownshirts with whom I [...]

I would like to think that the bureaucrats in LA are careful about pest control, but I’m dubious . . . this is from a neighbor: I saw a guy in a jeep from the Greater Los Angeles County Vector Control District in the neighborhood twice in the last two weeks spraying near the curbs and [...]