On March 20th the City of Santa Monica Green Building Program showcased six houses that were certified as LEED Platinum.  I was able to visit four of them, all of which were impressive.  What I appreciated the most was the effort put into these homes to make sure that the materials cooling and warming the [...]

Last Saturday we had about 15 volunteers show up at Parkman Triangle. The results? Awesome. Many thanks go to Donal and his friend, who showed up and obliterated the 15 or so tons of decomposed granite that CDG had delivered earlier that morning. Thanks to them and the other hard working volunteers who did everything [...]

When I was a child, it seemed that the only cheeses that existed were cheddar, Swiss, and maybe Monterey Jack.  In other words, orange cheese, white cheese, and Velveeta, if that counts.  Then a generation ago, artisan cheeses slowly made their way into specialty shops and even grocery stores.  In the United States, Canada, and [...]

It’s one week until Easter, one of the most important holidays to Armenians.  I was lucky enough to be in Armenia for Easter in April 2000, when we went to Etchmiadzin, where the Holy See of the Armenian church is located.  Which reminds me . . . if you are looking for good vegetarian or [...]

Korea Western Power Co., a subsidiary of KEPCO, the large Korean energy giant, has plans to implement a 520 megawatt plant 200 km south of Seoul.  The plans have been discussed since 1980, but pending the results of an environmental impact report, the entire scheme should be up and running by 2014.

No, not the Lady Gaga song.  I’m talking about the raw vegan restaurant we visited earlier in the week. I have been haunted by a video I saw on meat.org narrated by Paul McCartney.  I already had been reducing my meat consumption, but after watching that video, I was determined to eat alternative forms of [...]