water conservation

The View From Here Today

Categories citizen volunteer, climate change, energy efficiency, environment, fossil fuels, renewable energy, Saving Energy, sea-level rise, solar power, Sustainability, water conservationLeave a Comment on The View From Here Today
I contributed the following to the World Wildlife Climate Witness site last week and it was published this morning.  I took the photos that now illustrate it here on my blog within the last hour:

My name is Joe Galliani, I’m 52 years old and I’ve lived in Southern California for 33 years.
(c) 2009 by Joe Galliani
(c) 2009 by Joe Galliani - This afternoon's view from my studio's patio

Since 1993 my wife and I have lived in Torrance California, just a half mile from the beautiful beach and the Pacific Ocean. We feel very fortunate to live here at the base of the gorgeous Palos Verdes Peninsula, but today we’re breathing a big sigh of relief learning that the Palos Verdes Wildfire was 100% contained this morning. What we’re not breathing is clean air, because the smoke from the La Canada-Flintridge fire, about 38 miles from here, is still making air quality hazardous and people in the L.A. basin are being advised not to spend too much time outdoors and to keep their doors and windows closed and their air conditioners running.

Continue reading ➞ The View From Here Today

Superstars of AB 811 Rock Palm Desert @ EcoMotion Conference

Categories climate change, environment, green building, renewable energy, Saving Energy, solar power, water conservation, Yes We Can!5 Comments on Superstars of AB 811 Rock Palm Desert @ EcoMotion Conference

Part I – Burning Man’s Got Nothing On This “World Changing Revolutionary Movement”

P1040634
Left: Bob Williams, Royal Bank of Canada Capital Markets Right: Cisco DeVries, Renewable Funding

You know you’re at some kind of  special conference when all the sessions seem to end way too soon and the eight hour agenda blasts by like the all star jam session at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame dinner.

But that’s the way it felt to the Creative Greenius as I covered the EcoMotion Palm Desert AB 811 Conference on Friday at the University of California Riverside Graduate Center. Admittedly I am a geek when it comes to AB 811 type programs that give people loans to put solar on their roof and add energy efficiency to their homes.  And I tend to get a little fired up when I’m around people who actually make things happen instead of just pontificating about it.  Imagine that…

EcoMotion’s President, Ted Flanigan made sure Friday was one of those rare days filled with all substance and no smoke, mirrors or dog & pony shows.  What an exhilarating difference a well organized and smartly thought-out lineup can make. Just ask Los Angeles Lakers Basketball fans.

Continue reading ➞ Superstars of AB 811 Rock Palm Desert @ EcoMotion Conference

Exxon/Mobil To Fund Solar Financing Bond For Torrance Homeowners

Categories carbon producers, climate change, election, environment, environmental legislation, Environmental Politics, fossil fuels, politics, recycling, solar power, Sustainability, water conservation, Yes We Can!2 Comments on Exxon/Mobil To Fund Solar Financing Bond For Torrance Homeowners

img_1046In a deal brokered by the city’s newly commissioned Citizens Environmental Task Force, Exxon/Mobil, owners of the Exxon/Mobil Refinery in the City of Torrance agreed today to fund a bond that will make low cost financing of solar energy systems for home and apartment owners.  The loans for solar power, authorized under California’s AB 811, are added as assessments to a homeowner’s property tax bills and are passed on to the new owner if a home is sold.

Without Exxon Mobil’s funding of the financing bonds the program would not have had the money to offer loans in Torrance.  The city had no money in the budget to make the program possible and no plans to find any in the midst of the on-going economic crisis.  But Exxon/Mobil had no such money problems.  “We’ve had one record profit quarter after another,” said a spokesperson for the oil company.

“We are so cash rich at the moment that we’re spending money all over the place while everyone else is forced to cut back.  We know carbon taxes are coming and we won’t always be floating in a sea of profits we made at your expense.  So it seemed only logical that we give a little back to a community we’ve released an awful lot of carbon in.  Hell, that entire property our refinery’s on will probably be a superfund site after they force us to stop producing our fossil fuels.“

Continue reading ➞ Exxon/Mobil To Fund Solar Financing Bond For Torrance Homeowners

Lillian Light Is No Lightweight – The Environmental Lioness of the South Bay is Fired Up, Ready To Go!

Categories citizen volunteer, climate change, election, environment, environmental legislation, fossil fuels, green education, renewable energy, Saving Energy, solar power, Sustainability, Voters, water conservation, Yes We Can!2 Comments on Lillian Light Is No Lightweight – The Environmental Lioness of the South Bay is Fired Up, Ready To Go!

hummin-v27_3-lillian-lightThe more time I spend with Lillian Light the more I admire, respect and flat out like her.

Our relationship started about a month ago when we spent an evening together carpooling to a UCLA workshop on communication climate change that we both participated in.

I wrote about our experience at the time in Greenius On The Green Scene The South Bay Report.

I dug Lillian right away.  She speaks her mind, she knows what she’s talking about and she does more than just talk, she walks the environmental walk.  Lillian is the real deal and a rare commodity in this world – authentic and genuine without the slightest hint of pretense or self-importance.

Lillian is also the President of the Environmental Priorities Network (EPN) and I wanted to learn more about them and more about Lillian herself.  When I asked her if she’d agree to be interviewed for Creative Greenius she graciously agreed.

Continue reading ➞ Lillian Light Is No Lightweight – The Environmental Lioness of the South Bay is Fired Up, Ready To Go!

The Curious Case of the Torrance Enivornmental Commission

Categories citizen volunteer, climate change, environment, Environmental Politics, fossil fuels, green building, green buildings, politics, recycling, renewable energy, Saving Energy, solar power, Voters, water conservation, wildlife9 Comments on The Curious Case of the Torrance Enivornmental Commission

scoop1I attended the first 2009 meeting of the Torrance Environmental Quality and Energy Conservation Commission last Thursday night and it was curiously different from anything I expected.

First of all, I was the only member of the public who attended the meeting. Secondly, the energy level, enthusiasm and sense of urgency I’ve experienced at other environmental meetings was nowhere to be found among the Commissioners. Maybe they all wished they were watching the Lakers-Celtics game that night instead…

Your Greenius already knew the Lakers would beat down Boston, so my focus was fixed on what was going down in the room.

Continue reading ➞ The Curious Case of the Torrance Enivornmental Commission

News FAIL – L.A. Times Blows Global Warming Story

Categories carbon producers, climate change, environment, Environmental Politics, fossil fuels, water conservationLeave a Comment on News FAIL – L.A. Times Blows Global Warming Story

state-newspaper-excusesThe L.A. Times has a newsbreaking interview with new Secretary of Energy Steven Chu in this morning’s paper. Secretary Chu gave the Times an exclusive Tuesday and the paper says he warned about the threats from climate change more “bluntly” and in more “dire terms” than he ever has before.

But don’t look for this big story on the front page because it’s not there. It’s buried in the California section and it’s given just a fraction of the ink that the “news” about the tiny town of Newman gets for its move to ban a book with too much cursing in it.

If you want to hear some real serious cursing you should be hearing the string your Creative Greenius is putting together over what a lousy job the Times is doing with the biggest story of our generation.

Continue reading ➞ News FAIL – L.A. Times Blows Global Warming Story

Manhattan Beach, The South Bay’s Greenest City

Categories citizen volunteer, climate change, environment, Environmental Politics, green building, recycling, water conservation3 Comments on Manhattan Beach, The South Bay’s Greenest City

obama-is-new-green Happy New Year!

I hope you’re as happy and energized as I am about Obama’s impending Presidency and his game-changing energy and environmental appointments. If you’re not, then you’re probably part of the problems we’ve been having and your unhappiness is something I can live with.

The Creative Greenius says you can now expect a bold United States policy on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, a rapid shift away from carbon-based fuels to renewables and a science-based approach to water policy and other critical resources.  In fact, you can bank on our country  following the green lead that’s been set here in California.  And again, if that bugs you – so much the better.  Change is but mere weeks away.

It’s all coming eight years later than it should, but the Climate Change Calvary has now arrived and they’re riding hard and fast.

More about what all that means to you, and your family and your job to come in our next Creative Greenius post, but first let me tell you what’s happening in Manhattan Beach, California just a few miles up Pacific Coast Highway from my home.

Continue reading ➞ Manhattan Beach, The South Bay’s Greenest City