Archive for the ‘water’ Category

Wow.  Two weeks ago I posted a short film I did with Patrick Benson on LA's tenuous relationship with water.  And as I often do weekly, I posted the link to most of the LinkedIn groups to which I belong.  From a bird's eye view, the results were interesting:  I think few actually watched the film, but I sure got a lot of comments based on my title, which was "Is water really the next oil?"

It has been my pleasure to work on this article with Soledad Obregon, a graduate student at the Technological Institute of Buenos Aires (Instituto Tecnológico de Buenos Aires, or ITBA).  This article will be in Spanish and English, and to honor the success that the ITBA group had in Corrientes, Argentina, this article will be in Spanish and then an English translation will follow.

El agua es una de las necesidades humanas más básicas, sin embargo, es uno de los problemas más difíciles que enfrenta la sociedad. La mayoría de nosotros, sin embargo, realmente no pone mucha atención en el agua que consumimos. Es posible que una persona moleste si un río o lago se contamina, pero la mayoría de nosotros se deshace de productos por el desagüe sin pensar en que eso también contribuye a la contaminación. Además hay cuestiones relacionadas a la utilización de productos químicos en nuestras casas y patios. Algunas de esas toxinas terminan en la bahía local o río, pero hay una buena probabilidad de que se filtre, llegando así a nuestras aguas subterráneas.

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Los Angeles and water sure have a sordid history together.  Of course there's the 1974 movie, Chinatown, that sums up the backroom deals and violence that worked to bring water to a thirsty and ambitious Southern California.  Now we are on the verge of another chapter in the "water wars," as years of drought, increasing population, and frustration elsewhere in California threaten to disrupt the way of life to which Angelinos have grown accustomed.

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Journalists, and yes, of course, bloggers, are up in arms over the recent water main problems in Los Angeles.  Drive somewhere in our City of Angels, see a road dug up, and chances are a water main has burst, sending city employees in a tizzy who would rather make sure that Mayor Antonio’s one million trees die in supermarket parking lots.

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With all the news about Ted Kennedy’s passing, I had no idea that we were starting another wildfire season, until I stepped outside to water the garden.  As it turns out, 600 acres of the Angeles National Forest are consumed with flames.

And then I smelled it, that sick scent of embers mixed with dust.

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We've been talking for decades about greening L.A., so it doesn't make sense to put forth a policy that's going to make everyone's lawns go brown.

-          Matt Myerhoff, spokesman for LA City Councilman Greig Smith

Huh? (more...)

Let me be frank:  I’m not what the MBA and marketing world would describe as an “early adopter.”  I’ll buy an iPhone by 2013, we still don’t have a flat-screen TV, and well, on the environmental side, it took me three years to see Who Killed the Electric Car and Fast Food Nation (it wasn’t easy to watch:  every time Avril Levigne was on there, I wanted to shout “Hey Hey You You I Don’t Like Your Girlfriend), and well, it took me 47 years (amazing cause I’m only 22!) to read Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, a primer for anyone with a passion for the environment. (more...)

I’m already starting to think about fall planting.  This year was our first vegetable gardening, and I have got to say that we exceeded our expectations.  The winners:  tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, salad greens.  We still haven't purchased salad greens since April!  Fresh tomatoes are a no-brainer.  And home grown eggplant lacks the tough rind that covers its  supermarket-bought cousins.  Finally, zucchini is just plain fun and EASY.  And it's fun watching a pumpkin turn from golf ball to basketball in your yard.

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Dear Pasadena Convention Center, Thank you for being a great conference venue during a recent event I had attended.  You are located right in the middle of what’s fantastic about Pasadena, and I love the fact that you are walking distance from two Gold Line Stations.  During the conference, however, I noticed some slips that you should sort out if you really want to be a “green” facility: (more...)