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.
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.
The smartest scientists on the face of the planet, the ones studying climate change and global warming, are mad as hell and they’re not going to take it any more. They’re really pissed because some of the dumbest people on the face of the earth have been successfully keeping us from taking the steps we needed to take if we were going to save our children from a future existence we wouldn’t wish on our worst enemies.
I asked Bill about the issues of optimism and pessimism and whether he still felt as he did a year ago when he told an interviewer that he no longer thought in terms of optimism and pessimism, he just got up every morning and got to work.
He said that today he draws his energy and inspiration from the young people, mostly in their 20s, who he works with. They’re not discouraged or to bummed to carry on. They know they’re being given damaged goods by the generation handing off to them and they’re ready to deal with it. They understand that the most powerful, most monied interests are lined up against them with a vengeance and they never expected it to be any different. They’re not ready to give up. And so… neither am I.
I asked Bill about the work my friends at GRID Alternative are doing and his thoughts on the adoption of rooftop solar in this final segment of my video interview with him.
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.
Last Tuesday and Wednesday I lucked out and landed another volunteer slot on a solar installation gig with my old pals from GRID Alternatives. It’s the most physically exciting work I do as an environmental activist and I always feel like I’ve won the lottery when I get the email that says I’m part of the installation crew.
A low income homeowner in Inglelwood was the recipient of 14 – 215 kW primo Sunpower panels and a beautiful Sunny Boy inverter started showing the amount of carbon it was cutting just a few minutes after we turned it on
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….
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.
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.
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.
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.
Creative Greenius 