Sustainability
Give Me A #BreakFreeLA & Then Give Me 100% Renewables RIGHT NOW
I’ve lived in my house in Torrance, California for 23 years now. Been in L.A. since I was 19 years old in 1976, back when then Governor Brown was telling us that we were “living in an era of diminished expectations.” He always was so ahead of the curve…
Like I say, I live in Torrance, home of the exploding Exxon Mobil refinery where our Air Quality Management District just gave the refinery operators exemptions to exceed pollution limits while they restart the aging climate wrecker back up.
I was at the meeting where they cut the deal and I had this to say about that:
Continue reading ➞ Give Me A #BreakFreeLA & Then Give Me 100% Renewables RIGHT NOW
Riding Into A Better Future @ South Bay Bike Night
Your friendly neighborhood Greenius has been a proud member of the South Bay Bicycle Coalition ever since there was one, and I’ve been on the Board of Directors just as long. I do it because I love to ride my bike and because here in the South Bay – which happens to be the best climate in the whole world in which to ride your bike – we need lots more zero emission people-powered bike trips to replace car trips, especially fossil fuel powered cars. Our obesity and diabetes rates need it too.
In fact back in 2010 that’s why the County of Los Angeles Health Department gave our South Bay Bicycle Coalition (SBBC) a $250,000 grant. We used that money to create and then help get passed the world famous Seven City South Bay Bicycle Master Plan. That’s the 20 year plan that lays out the blueprint for connecting bikeways in the cities of El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, Torrance, Lawndale and Gardena. The plan that’s now being implemented bit by bit all over the place.
And now the SBBC is having its first fund raiser, cause there’s no more grant money and we need the dough-ray-me to buy bike helmets for kids who don’t have one of their own. We need the Benjamin to pay for certified instructors to teach bike safety classes to elementary school kids and to conduct rules of the road and safe biking workshops for adults. We need the scratch to pay for printing up rules of the road booklets and to offer free bike parking corrals at major events throughout the South Bay. We’re an all volunteer organization and we’re fiscally responsible and frugal too. So you can feel damn good about how hard your money works for better biking on the streets right here in your communities.
And, if like me, you’ve never been to a hipster event at the private rooftop poolside venue at the Shade Hotel in Manhattan Beach, South Bay Bike Night on Saturday, February 28, 2015 is your opportunity.
Continue reading ➞ Riding Into A Better Future @ South Bay Bike Night
Let Us Now Murder AB 2145 Before It Kills Community Choice Power
When we last wrote about AB 2145 it was after a trip to Sacramento to speak out against the bill at the Senate Energy Committee hearing on it. We told the bill’s author, Assemblyman Stephen Bradford that we wanted to bring Community Choice Power to the South Bay, especially cities like Inglewood and Gardena, where lowering electricity bills will have a big impact on homeowners and business owners. We went home that day happy that the bill’s opt in provision had been removed.
But as it turns out we shouldn’t have been so pleased because AB 2145 was still alive and in its revised form now had three different ways to kill the current Community Choice programs in Marin County and Sonoma County, and to make sure no new Community Choice Power programs, like our own embryonic South Bay Clean Power efforts, can possibly succeed.
How does it do that? Pretty simply –
Continue reading ➞ Let Us Now Murder AB 2145 Before It Kills Community Choice Power
Ted Lieu To The Rescue! Heroic Climate Champion Saves Community Choice Aggregation
My politically connected friends (who prefer to remain nameless) advise me to accept State Senator Ted Lieu as he is and be happy for his strong environmental record.
They tell me to stop wishing he was somebody else and that I’m dreaming if I think he’s ever going to change into the dynamo that I fantasize about.
And I get that. You go to climate battle with the Ted Lieu you have, not the Ted Lieu you wished you had. 
Yet still… I couldn’t stop thinking about it Wednesday night at St. Rocke’s in Hermosa Beach where I had gone to get away from it all and rock out to Jimmy Vaughan and his band. Luckily that totally did the trick as I downed one quadruple The Reverend after another, locking into the groove.
That night I slept like Rip Van Winkle himself, dead to the world and dreaming the vivid-as-life dreams that The Reverend, and the music, and the moment made possible.
And it all suddenly became clear to me. 
Suddenly we were at The Crossroads as Ted Lieu runs for Henry Waxman’s seat in the United States Congress. Waxman has been our heroic climate champion for many years now and is retiring. New, fresh, young, energetic blood is needed from a new champion at this special spot on the climate timeline – and Ted Lieu has now seized his moment and become that champion.
Everything he’s done in life has led to this unique time and place. And I could see Ted, bigger than life, looking strong, and determined and unstoppable. He was downright dynamic.
And the issue that Ted grabbed and commanded and was using to transform himself into a climate legend was Community Choice Aggregation. It was a natural for Ted and he knew it.
And right before my eyes Ted was making it his own and becoming positively evangelical about it.
Al Muratsuchi Votes To Kill Community Choice Then Finds Out He Was Duped & Calls Me To Apologize
This political primary season just keeps getting weirder and weirder.
Imagine my surprise on Friday afternoon when my cell phone rang and it was Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi on the line calling to tell me he had made a big mistake and that he was sorry.
He wanted me to know that he really regretted his YES vote two days earlier for AB 2145, the CAA Killer bill, which – Surprise! – was written by the big utilities to try and kill Community Choice Aggregation.
Al said he had been lied to about what the bill really says and does and that he didn’t really know anything about CCAs until a few weeks ago. He again said he was sorry, that he had dropped the ball on this one and that he was now going to lobby State Senator Ted Lieu to make sure the State Senate didn’t make the same mistake. What could I say? Al sounded sincere and remorseful…
The Curious Case of Buying A New State Senator From The South Bay
Candidate Ben Allen, running as a democrat, gets $300,000 from the right wing guy who wanted Henry Waxman out of office – Bill Bloomfield – and then Ben tells me he feels “weird” about it.
But not weird enough to make a public statement about the money, where it came from and what Bill Bloomfield wants in return for his three hundred thousand bucks. Ben would have to be a lot more weirded out than this is making him feel.
I’m guessing Bloomfield thinks he’s buying a Ben Allen who would NOT be Waxman-like on the issues. I’m guessing he feels like Ben Allen would be the best representative of folks who consider themselves Republicans.
Ben would protest that, but money talks and that $300k is speaking much louder than any of the weak rationalizations and justifications Ben is now making.
You want to show what you’re really made of, Ben? Publicly turn down that money and tell the guy trying to give it to you that you cannot be bought and you will not allow him to define you and that you know what he’s trying to pull – just like all the rest of us know.
Yes indeed, it is these moments in the spotlight that define character – if you ask the Greenius – and if there’s one thing this race has, it’s plenty of characters.
Now I don’t know much about politics and I’ll be the first to admit that I think both political parties have failed us miserably and have outlived their time. Are they the lessor of two evils or the evil of two lessors?
Continue reading ➞ The Curious Case of Buying A New State Senator From The South Bay
Wendy Greuel Our Best Bet To Get To 100% Renewable Energy In Time
To those of you who know me best and have been reading Creative Greenius since we started publishing in October 2007 it seems pretty silly that any candidate for elected office would seek my endorsement or think that it would do more good than harm.
And you would think that would be especially true for anyone running to become our United States representative from this 33rd Congressional District – the person who will be following the great Henry Waxman in that position.
But in fact, both Wendy Greuel and Marianne Williamson have each reached out to me and I have taken their asks seriously and with more thoughtfulness than usual given the crossroads we find ourselves at climate wise. Without Henry Waxman as our Representative we lose a giant.
I’ve spent time talking with Marianne Williamson’s policy advisor over the last couple of weeks and just this Wednesday I had the pleasure of meeting with Marianne one-on-one for about 90 minutes at my own spiritual sanctuary, our beloved South Coast Botanic Garden on a spectacular summer-like morning.
Continue reading ➞ Wendy Greuel Our Best Bet To Get To 100% Renewable Energy In Time
Wendy Greuel Gains Green Ground in South Bay L.A. – Stands Up & Speaks Out To Keep Hermosa Hermosa
Your friendly neighborhood Greenius has been waiting for awhile now to see which of the candidates for Henry Waxman’s 33rd District seat was going to step up environmentally. Today that person turned out to be Wendy Greuel.
My good friend, Dency Nelson, tells me Ted Lieu was already that guy and that Ted’s strong record speaks for itself. And it’s true that Ted has come out against fracking and is signing on to Holly Mitchell’s strong anti-fracking bill and reportedly has called “climate change” his number one priority. And yet…
I’m just not feeling Ted Lieu. I never have in the 21 years I’ve lived in Torrance, which is where Ted is from and started on his road to higher and higher office. I’ve never personally witnessed any passion out of Ted or felt that he had the fire in his belly on the environment or was any kind of climate action hero.
Maybe I’m wrong about Ted, like I was several years ago about then Manhattan Beach City Council Candidate, Wayne Powell, who I didn’t think was much of an environmentalist the first time I met him, but who has turned out to be the most reliable and thoughtful issue guy on the Manhattan Beach City Council.
Light Up Your Future At The Manhattan Beach Pier 8pm Saturday March 29
Some cities just turn out the lights for an hour to celebrate Earth Hour. But not Manhattan Beach which is launching its MB2025 vision of a 100% renewably energy powered city by 2025 at a special forum in the late afternoon and then filling the world famous Manhattan Beach pier with hundreds of people for Earth Hour to demonstrate their support for clean energy and their ability to Light Up Your Future. Hosted by the Mayor and City Council of Manhattan Beach and featuring an uplifting live music performance from the Hawaiian ukulele recording group Pihemanu, this event will be live streamed to a worldwide on-line audience. The world leader in LED lighting, LEDtronics has generously donated 500 LED candles and holders.
Continue reading ➞ Light Up Your Future At The Manhattan Beach Pier 8pm Saturday March 29
Creative Greenius 