I don’t need to tell you how tight money is today. The economy may technically be “in recovery,” but everyone I know has been spending less, cancelling services, delaying big purchases and taking another staycation. Even the banks are playing it frugal, extending little credit and approving few loans.
So the new and innovative AB 811 — property assessed clean energy bond program — scheduled to roll out this month, looked like a godsend with its easy-to-get loans for property owners to fund energy improvements, including solar photovoltaic (PV) systems to generate renewable green power, for example.
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.
After listening to politicians and want-to-be politicians toot their own horns about how they are Redondo Beach environmental champions, I went out into the field to track down the truth. It wasn’t hard to find.
All I had to do was drive to Neighborhood Grinds on Artesia Boulevard on Thursday afternoon.
I went there to check out the real “green” in the form of locally grown organic produce from Tanaka Farms in Irvine and to find out what boxes of fruits and vegetables were doing inside a hip coffeehouse in North Redondo.
Neighbors on the 500 block of Avenue D were surprised Monday morning to see TV news vans lining their street and a full contingent of reporters, politicians, corporate CEOs and Southern California Edison officials gathering in the driveway of homeowners Scott and Liz Keran.
Thanks to an invitation from Diane Moss, Congresswoman Jane Harman’s Environmental Deputy, I was there too, to witness something that’s already happened at my house and 999,999 others in Southern California. We were all there to see the Edison service representative remove the old, analog electric meter with its mechanical dial that spins and replace it with a brand new digital smart meter with its electronic readout.
First off, a big heartfelt “Thanks!” to City Councilman, Bill Brand, for helping to make my column of last Tuesday #1 in the popularity rankings.
I mentioned Brand in one of my column’s 13 paragraphs and it prompted him to do something he’s never done before – actually respond to my environmental concerns, with a column of his own.
Full disclosure – I’ve met Bill in person at least half a dozen times at different events in the South Bay over the past few years and each and every time I’ve spoken with him he’s introduced himself to me and tells me, “Nice to meet you.” Clearly my shy and retiring personality makes me quickly forgettable.
My column last week on Fourth of July fireworks and their environmental impact had an explosive impact of its own, as my back-and-forth with a right wing blogger in the comments section helped make it the most popular article on Hermosa Beach | Patch for five straight days.
The truth is, the one-day-a-year environmental problems caused by Independence Day fireworks is a miniscule issue compared to the damage we cause every day using fossil fuels to power our transportation, as well as electricity and heat.
But a larger issue emerged from the reaction to my fireworks article, and my tough stance on those who practice a deadly business-as-usual approach to climate change at the expense of our younger generations and the future.
The address on my California drivers license has said Redondo Beach since 1993 and when I travel anywhere in the world it’s the city of Redondo Beach they see listed as my hometown on my passport. I’ve been proud to be identified as a Redondo resident for over 17 years now and I readily sing the praises of Redondo Beach and the people who live and work here.
But one thing I never talk or write about is how sustainable a city Redondo Beach is, or how much the city and its citizens care about the environment. I haven’t written about those things because they’re simply not part of Redondo’s consciousness.
Besides, who needs to blow up $115,000 worth of disposable income, like Torrance does at its Wilson Park extravaganza, when you’ve got rich neighbors in Redondo who will fork the bill for not one, but two 9 p.m. fireworks shows, one from a barge off the pier and the other from the Seaside Lagoon?
Both shows are easily visible from Hermosa Beach, as well as the skyborne pyrotechnics from Marina Del Rey and even Santa Monica.
A typical June gloom morning on the beach at 26th Street couldn’t put a damper on the determined group of 50 to 60 concerned residents who participated in a Surfrider Foundation beach cleanup Saturday.
The trash pickup work, which I was happy to participate in, was the prelude to our part in the nationwide Hands Across the Sand action, designed to bring people from all walks of life and political persuasions together to say no to offshore drilling and yes to switching to clean energy
Despite the work already done that morning by the tractor the county uses to rake and collect trash on the beach, I had no problem finding cigarette butts, small pieces of Styrofoam, food wrappers and all matter of plastic parts and pieces everywhere I looked on the sand.
I walked down from my Hollywood Riviera home to the Riviera Village Summer Festival Saturday on a mission to get something good to eat while I listened to the groovin’ music on this perfect June beach day for the first weekend of summer. I also wanted to see how my own hometown street fair stacks up against neighboring events in Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and Palos Verdes.
I’m happy to report that there was a great BBQ truck that served up a smoking good pulled pork sandwich and a big BBQ’d turkey leg.
But I’m sorry to have to tell you that the Riviera Village Summer Festival (RVSF) ranks dead last in standard green practices for public events. The organizers weren’t engaging in any visible sustainability or environmental practices.
Creative Greenius 