When it comes to the holiday season I’m a Thanksgiving kind of guy.
I love everything about T-Day: the focus on gratitude and appreciation, the gathering of family and friends, the sharing of a feast we’ve all contributed to, and best of all, its non-denominational inclusiveness.
In a year when there was hardly anything on the national environmental scene to be thankful for (and frankly plenty to flat out freak out over) it’s been the right time to think globally and act locally, especially if that locality happens to be Hermosa Beach where you have green champions such as:
As you know my pals at 350.org have a certain flare for the dramatic. The Global Work Party on 10/10/10, which your South Bay 350 Climate Action Group was proud to be part of, was the largest day of carbon-cutting action in the planet’s history. And there’s no way we’re stopping there. The acceleration of climate change in 2010 won’t let us.
Now, artists and activists have dreamed up an out-of-this-world art project that will keep the climate crisis on the front pages of media outlets around the globe. Talk about pure creative greenius!
And when I say “out-of-this-world” you can take me literally.
If you dig Environmental Charter High School and the the Green Ambassadors as much as I do then you’re not going to want to miss this all star charity event on their behalf, especially if you’re also a fan of Ed Begley Jr. and his Living With Ed Show. Check out the details and join me on Saturday, Nov 6 in supporting these true green heroes!
Members of the newly formed South Bay Bicycle Coalition are happy with the Hermosa Beach "sharrows," which allow bicyclists to use a lane of traffic on Hermosa Avenue. The group hopes to see more South Bay cities install such bicycle-friendly facilities. (Steve McCrank, Daily Breeze Staff Photographer)
I’ve written before about the sharrows Hermosa Beach painted on Hermosa Ave earlier this year and how much I like them. I continue to use them and I like them even more now. I feel safer when riding on Hermosa Ave and the cars on the road don’t seem to have any real problems going around me if they need to.
Since I stop at all the stop signs, I get a certain amount of respect from the vehicles I’m sharing the road with too.
I think a lot more streets should feature sharrows throughout Hermosa Beach and the newly resurfaced Upper Pier Ave is a good place to put them next. I think most of my friends in the South Bay Bicycle Coalition and the Beach Cities Cycling Club agree with me.
A big part of the reasons sharrows work so well in Long Beach is because of the great job they did educating their elected officials, the police force and the public. They made sure they got the word out, that people in the community understood what the rules were and what the benefits would be from working together. The result? Long Beach is fast on the way to becoming the most bicycle friendly city in California.
There’s no reason Hermosa Beach can’t follow that same sharrow story of success and indeed if Hermosa really wants to be taken seriously as a “Green Idea City” or wants to actually achieve carbon neutrality it’s going to need sharrows and a lot more bicycle infrastructure and friendliness to get there.
Step one to get there is for a strong bicyclist turnout for Wednesday (Oct 20) night’s public forum on Hermosa Beach Sharrows. Check out the details after the jump.
Disgraced former HP executive Carly Fiorona who is running as the bootlicking sycophant of dirty polluters and big oil for a US Senate seat in California was caught shoveling more cash into her pocketbook for her campaign last week by my heroes from Greenpeace.
California and the nation lose if unaccomplished mercenaries and carbon collaborators like Fiorona win.
Tired of waiting for the green economy to start offering green jobs that pay real money? Wait no more if you’re a contractor here in the South Bay of California because the cavalry has finally arrived in the form of the L.A. County Energy program. We’ve got 30,000 homes to upgrade and contractors are needed for the before, during and after segments. You’ll be hearing plenty about this from the mainstream media next month, but right now you can get make your move ahead of the crowd thanks to your Creative Greenius and my pals at the South Bay Environmental Services Center . Just read the graphic and then click on it to get all the details.
Creative Greenius 