energy efficiency

Exclusive Greenius Video: Bill McKibben on Hermosa Beach as a Carbon Neutral City

Categories carbon producers, citizen volunteer, climate change, energy efficiency, environment, environmental legislation, renewable energy, solar power, Sustainability, Yes We Can!Leave a Comment on Exclusive Greenius Video: Bill McKibben on Hermosa Beach as a Carbon Neutral City

Renown environmental author and activist, Bill McKibben, is in Los Angeles today where we met him at the L.A. Times Festival of Books.

Bill is the founder of 350.org and we’ve only previously talked together on the radio, so it was a great joy for me to meet Bill in person and exchange hugs and fist bumps.

Bill’s newest book, Eaarth was the topic of of his wide ranging discussion with L.A. Times staff writer, Susan Salter Reynolds, well known for her book reviews and “Discoveries” column.

I got a chance to talk to Bill about a few of the things we’re working on here in the Los Angeles area and the first subject was our Carbon Neutral City efforts in Hermosa Beach.


Meet the Greenius @ the Torrance Environmental Fair this Saturday

Categories campaign, citizen volunteer, climate change, energy efficiency, environment, fossil fuels, green education, recycling, renewable energy, Saving Energy, sea-level rise, solar power, Sustainability, water conservationLeave a Comment on Meet the Greenius @ the Torrance Environmental Fair this Saturday
Joe Galliani, the Creative Greenius at the 2009 Torrance Environmental Fair

That’s your friendly, neighborhood Creative Greenius volunteering his time for the South Bay Environmental Services Center at the 2009 Torrance Environmental Fair.  I’ll be back again this year, at Madrona Marsh on Saturday, March 27 from 10am t0 3pm talking about ways to save energy, save water, save money and cut your greenhouse gas emissions.

Check out the roster of speakers and presentations after the jump.

Continue reading ➞ Meet the Greenius @ the Torrance Environmental Fair this Saturday

Mayor DiVirgilio: “Why Hermosa Beach is Going Carbon Neutral”

Categories carbon producers, citizen volunteer, climate change, electric cars, energy efficiency, environment, environmental legislation, Environmental Politics, fossil fuels, green building, green education, green jobs, plug-in cars, politics, recycling, renewable energy, Saving Energy, sea-level rise, solar power, SustainabilityLeave a Comment on Mayor DiVirgilio: “Why Hermosa Beach is Going Carbon Neutral”
Hermosa Beach Mayor, Michael DiVirgilio, speaking on behalf of 350 at the International Day of Climate Action last October.

Hermosa Beach Mayor, Michael DiVirgilio, has on Op Ed piece in today’s Daily Breeze on why he is leading his city to a carbon neutral future.

In an era when most elected officials offer no substance and no positive vision for our future, DiVirgilio is downright JFK-like in his view of what must be done:

“But now is not the time to narrow the vision for our own future, to diminish our expectations for the better days ahead or to downsize the ambitions for our children’s quality of life.

Now is the time to step up and seize the opportunities available to those who act on new realities before they become mainstream trends. Now is the time to use the stimulus, grant and foundation money available to those who lead before the map is even drawn.

Now is also the time to act because we are standing at another threshold, the threshold of climate-change tipping points that may diminish the future prospects and possibilities for young and old alike.”

So we choose to go carbon neutral, not because it is easy, but because it is our best possible future, and the best path to preserving the small-town beach community and culture we all cherish and want to pass on to the generations who follow.

Getting To Work In Hermosa Beach – The Carbon Neutral ClueTrain Leaves the Station

Categories campaign, citizen volunteer, climate change, energy efficiency, environment, environmental legislation, Environmental Politics, fossil fuels, green building, green education, green jobs, News Media, plug-in cars, politics, recycling, renewable energy, Saving Energy, sea-level rise, solar power, Sustainability, Yes We Can!1 Comment on Getting To Work In Hermosa Beach – The Carbon Neutral ClueTrain Leaves the Station

Courtesy of YouTube and the Hermosa Beach City website, and converted and enlarged through the magic of Greenius, we bring you this exclusive look at the Carbon Neutral ClueTrain leaving the Hermosa Beach station this week.  Local mainstream media missed this story completely but fortunately for them this on-line record will exist for them to use as research.  So will the reporting that the new Patch.com news group will be providing.

The story actually began last week during Hermosa Beach Mayor’s State of the City address where Mayor Michael DiVirgilio spoke about the Carbon Neutral City concept:

Mayor DiVirgilio was right back at it Monday night at the Hermosa Beach Green Task Force meeting, speaking enthusiastically on behalf of the idea:

Join us after the jump to see your friendly neighborhood Greenius and my Fratelli Verde, Robert Fortunato, following the Mayor with our own remarks.

Continue reading ➞ Getting To Work In Hermosa Beach – The Carbon Neutral ClueTrain Leaves the Station

Greenius Presents: My Pal Governor Schwarzenegger on What’s Coming Next & Why AB 32 Needs Your Love

Categories carbon producers, climate change, energy efficiency, environment, environmental legislation, Environmental Politics, fossil fuels, green building, green jobs, Ocean, renewable energy, Saving Energy, sea-level rise, solar power, SustainabilityLeave a Comment on Greenius Presents: My Pal Governor Schwarzenegger on What’s Coming Next & Why AB 32 Needs Your Love

As your friendly neighborhood Greenius continues with his efforts to help Hermosa Beach become the first carbon neutral city in the South Bay, it might help some of you to get up to speed on what we already know is coming our way here in California from climate change and global weirding.

So why not let my old pal, Governor Schwarzenegger tell it to you straight about what we’re doing here in California to prepare for what we already see coming our way:

Unlike the astoundingly large group of dumbed-down states in the USA who happily have their heads up their own asses when it comes to sharing the climate change facts with their citizens and actually taking the bold actions necessary, California isn’t lying and isn’t delaying.  If we have any chance at all of stopping catastrophic climate change from making the future a moot point for your kids, the rest of the country is going to have to follow our lead with emissions cuts, energy efficiency and renewable energy use.

Many of them will have to be dragged kicking and screaming – as usual – but if we have to go caveman on them to help save ourselves, then so be it.

Continue reading ➞ Greenius Presents: My Pal Governor Schwarzenegger on What’s Coming Next & Why AB 32 Needs Your Love

BREAKING NEWS: Hermosa Beach To Become Carbon Neutral City! Acting Locally, Thinking Globally

Categories carbon producers, citizen volunteer, climate change, electric cars, energy efficiency, environment, environmental legislation, Environmental Politics, fossil fuels, green building, green education, green jobs, plug-in cars3 Comments on BREAKING NEWS: Hermosa Beach To Become Carbon Neutral City! Acting Locally, Thinking Globally

Ever since the Copenhagen climate treaty talks ended in impotence two months ago there hasn’t been a single ounce of positive news on the international scene about our chances of cutting the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and getting CO2 levels back down to the safe 350 ppm zone.  Here in the United States our President and Congress haven’t shown the leadership or sense of urgency necessary to prevent a climate catastrophe and they’ve given the people no hope for their children’s future at the national level.  Many in Congress have acted unethically and immorally with the responsibility they have been trusted with.

As the Creative Greenius and organizer of the South Bay Los Angeles 350 Climate Action Group that’s just unacceptable to me.  If they can’t get the job done in Washington, DC or at the UN – and it’s obvious to me that they cannot – then we will take the reins of responsibility from them right now and we will get the job done here locally.

That’s exactly what is happening now.

Last night at the Hermosa Beach, California City Council meeting, Mayor Michael DiVirgilo, confirmed that he and the City Council are committed to making their iconic beach town a Carbon Neutral City at the earliest possible date.  Hermosa Beach’s Green Task Force was directed to come up with the plan and a special joint session of the Council and the Task Force was scheduled for March 30 to get the carbon neutral ball rolling.  This makes Hermosa Beach the first city in the South Bay of Los Angeles County, and the first city in all of Los Angeles County to declare their intent to become carbon neutral and sustainable.  And that makes them the leadership model we will replicate in all of the other 87 cities that make up this County of 10 million people.

None of this is happening by accident.

Your Creative Greenius was there on the scene to witness the historic action and to add my remarks to note the occasion.  Check out the video excerpt courtesy of Hermosa Beach’s website after the jump, and discover, in classic Paul Harvey tradition, the rest of the story…    

Continue reading ➞ BREAKING NEWS: Hermosa Beach To Become Carbon Neutral City! Acting Locally, Thinking Globally

It’s 2010 – Are YOU Ready for The Greenius Decade?

Categories citizen volunteer, climate change, electric cars, energy efficiency, environment, fossil fuels, plug-in cars, renewable energy, solar power, Sustainability, Yes We Can!2 Comments on It’s 2010 – Are YOU Ready for The Greenius Decade?

I sure hope you’re strapped and ready to roll for the Greenius Decade because ready or not, it’s already begun and I guarantee you it will not be like any other decade you’ve ever experienced or even previsualized.  The Greenius Decade will be all now and totally happening.  The Greenius Decade is ready to discover the limits of the possible by venturing a little way past them into the impossible.

Continue reading ➞ It’s 2010 – Are YOU Ready for The Greenius Decade?

Hey Exxon! Hey Chevron! My Friends At the EPA Are Declaring What You Do Dangerous & You Will Pay. Pack Up Losers, It’s Time For You to Go!

Categories carbon producers, citizen volunteer, climate change, electric cars, energy efficiency, environment, environmental legislation, Environmental Politics, fossil fuels, green buildings, green jobs, greenwashing, Killer Coal, renewable energy, Saving Energy, solar power1 Comment on Hey Exxon! Hey Chevron! My Friends At the EPA Are Declaring What You Do Dangerous & You Will Pay. Pack Up Losers, It’s Time For You to Go!

How do you like me now South Bay spewers of greenhouse gases?  Yeah, I’m talking to you Exxon/Mobil mercenaries who work at the Torrance refinery and you amoral assassins who get your blood money from the Chevron refinery in El Segundo.

I told you there was a new sheriff in town and that your days in my community were numbered.  Did you think I was kidding?

Now the EPA is about to smack both of you upside the head – and these are only the opening smacks you both have coming.  Good thing you wear those hardhats.  Maybe you should have spread some of your slush fund bribe money around to the schools and libraries in Washington DC where the EPA holds it meetings instead of trying to buy your love here from desperate parents and city councils in the South Bay.            

Continue reading ➞ Hey Exxon! Hey Chevron! My Friends At the EPA Are Declaring What You Do Dangerous & You Will Pay. Pack Up Losers, It’s Time For You to Go!