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:
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.
My old pal, Michael DiVirgilio, the Mayor of Hermosa – until Pete Tucker takes over that ceremonial title later this month – is putting on a “Leadership Forum” on Sept 10 in Hermosa Beach in the City Council chamber. I only know about it because the announcement was sent to me by accident with a request not to forward it to anyone. I’m honoring that request by reposting the invite here instead of forwarding it to anyone.
It’s all been very hush-hush with no public announcements or outreach despite the fact that he’s been planning it for a couple of months now. It’s apparently by invitation only and intended for VIPs of an undisclosed nature. Call it a closed session if you want to be really accurate.
This isn’t the kind of transparency or sunshine I expect from local elected officials and this level of secrecy isn’t worthy of a “Green Idea City” label.
After eight months of working directly with Mayor Michael DiVirgilio to introduce and launch the Carbon Neutral City initiative, I stepped aside two weeks ago to focus more on the surrounding South Bay communities and to play a different role in Hermosa.
While every elected official I know in the Los Angeles area has been silent and invisible on the issue of chemical plant security over the past year, our true heroes at Greenpeace Los Angeles have been kicking ass and taking names when it comes to keeping this issue on the front burner, informing the public and calling for the necessary action. Chemical plants using poison gases and other lethal toxic compounds surround our highest population areas here in So. Cal and put us all at risk. They could easily switch to safer alternatives but won’t do so unless they are forced by law.
My pal, Jenny Binstock, one of L.A.’s tireless environmental champions has been relentlessly pursuing this issue and was featured in a Greenpeace video from just two weeks ago talking to regular folks at the farmers market. All she’s trying to do is prevent a toxic nightmare right here in our own backyard… Check it out:
If that doesn’t move you to take some action of your own, listen to what this nursing student has to say about how the local medical community would be able to handle a medical emergency in the L.A. area if we had a chemical disaster:
It wouldn’t hurt if our local council members and mayors in the South Bay spoke out about this issue too, but don’t hold your breath… Or maybe you better.
My pals at Greenpeace, spearheaded by my sister from another mother, Jenny Binstock, produced the video above to warn folks like me, who live in ToxicTown Torrance, that we’re not really safe from the danger that surrounds us all over the South Bay and throughout all of Los Angeles. Luckily we have Greenpeace on the case to do the job that our own Mayor and City Council just aren’t courageous or visionary enough to do.
Mayor Frank Scotto and my friend, Councilman Cliff Numark, should be the ones informing us of this danger and they should be the ones inviting Retired LA fire captain Ed Shlegel to talk to our citizens about the importance of chemical security legislation and the ways we could all be made safer in our homes, in our schools and in our businesses. They should be the ones urging you to contact US Senator Boxer to tell her to schedule a vote on the Secure Water Facilities Act before the August Recess.
But they’re not and they’re unlikely to ever show that kind of leadership. They’ve never shown the willingness or the balls to take on for profit businesses who foul our skies, pollute our air and poison our lands. They seem to think that short term financial gain and tax dollars are worth the long-term health and safety risks that come with these dirty businesses. I’m afraid to report that their idea of sustainability applies only to their own terms in office.
Here’s Boxer’s phone number: 202-224-3553. Tell her you won’t vote for her in a few months unless she does the right thing right now.
Tell her that after her failure to get us a climate bill that you’ve lost faith in her ability to deliver on ANY of her promises and that you don’t care if she loses her job or not. That’s what I told the staffer who answered her phone.
It’s perfectly obvious that President Obama is attempting to reach out to the right and members of Congress who are owned by the oil industry with his move this week to make offshore drilling part of his energy mix. The Greenius understands full well this “Let’s Keep Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman Aboard the Climate Bill Bandwagon” approach, just as I can grok how ineffective and nonproductive that approach is. It’s not the first time the President has followed the same failed path of imaginary bipartisanship with people who only seek a return to the disastrous Katrina-style polices of the past – and it no doubt won’t be the last.
What did we expect? The dude is a politician, not problem solver. That’s MY job. I’m not running for nothing. I’m already the Greenius and there’s no term limits that come with this territory.
My pals at Surfrider Foundation aren’t running for anything either and they’re not about kissing ass to politicians who are nothing more than paid shills for big oil. That’s why they’re among the environmental organizations offering the public the truth and reality on the issue this week. With all due respect to the White House, all they offered was bullshit and spin this week. To see the difference for yourself, join us after the jump to read the four biggest Offshore Drilling Myths and Legends straight from the folks at Surfrider:
Diane Moss, the Environmental Deputy to Congresswoman Harman, Creative Greenius, and Brad Bartz, President of ABC Solar at last Saturday's Torrance Environmental Fair at Madrona Marsh
I spent last Saturday right here in Torrance at my favorite place in town, the Madrona Marsh – even if I did spend it in the parking lot standing behind a table for the South Bay Environmental Services Center. But I got to walk across the Marsh on my way in and I got to see Tracy Drake, the Nature Center Manager and dynamo – and a woman who I adore.
I’ve got more photos (in the Greenius blog’s new slideshow app) and additional coverage for you after the jump….
On Monday I wrote about how some of my friends on the Hermosa Beach City Council had ignored citizen requests that they stop using disposable Arrowhead plastic water bottles as their source of drinking water at City Council meetings. We had told them they were not only wasting money, water and resources – they were also setting a bad public example on television and on the web where their meetings are broadcast.
Creative Greenius 