Tag: South Bay Bicycle Coalition

Riding Into A Better Future @ South Bay Bike Night

Categories Bicycles, citizen volunteer, climate change, Community Activists, SustainabilityLeave a Comment on 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.

Members of the newly formed South Bay Bicycle Coalition are happy with the Hermosa Beach "sharrows," which allow bicyclists to use a lane of traffic on Hermosa Avenue. The group hopes to see more South Bay cities install such bicycle-friendly facilities. (Steve McCrank, Daily Breeze Staff Photographer)
December 2009 – Members of the newly formed South Bay Bicycle Coalition are happy with the Hermosa Beach “sharrows,” which allow bicyclists to use a lane of traffic on Hermosa Avenue. The group hopes to see more South Bay cities install such bicycle-friendly facilities. (Steve McCrank, Daily Breeze Staff Photographer)

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

I’ve Done The Math – Now I’m Doing Something About It

Categories Bicycles, carbon producers, citizen volunteer, climate change, Community Activists, election, energy efficiency, environment, environmental legislation, fossil fuels, green jobs, Ocean, politics, renewable energy, sea-level rise, solar power, Sustainability6 Comments on I’ve Done The Math – Now I’m Doing Something About It

IMG_1859 copyWhy would your Creative Greenius walk away from his high-paying, highly rewarding executive role at CBS EcoMedia where I was working to fund environmental, education, and wellness projects all across the USA, just as the company hit more  growth milestones and was likely to pay generous bonuses?

Biz card - Oct 18, 2013, 9-33 AMThe answer is simple and direct – because I have done The Math. 

And so it is that I resigned from my position as Director of Strategic Partnerships and Public Affairs for CBS EcoMedia effective  the first of this month and I will now be devoting my full time to working on climate change response with the South Bay 350 Climate Action Group, the South Bay Bicycle Coalition and 350.org

I had no other choice once I did The Math and saw what things add up to – and how little time we have left before the global temperature goes past the Game Over limit of 2°C.

Continue reading ➞ I’ve Done The Math – Now I’m Doing Something About It

Greenius Will Meet With Al Gore To Talk Climate Reality

Categories citizen volunteer, climate change, environment, fossil fuels, green education, renewable energy5 Comments on Greenius Will Meet With Al Gore To Talk Climate Reality

Joe Galliani Selected As Climate Leader Just As Global Warming Reaches Tipping Points

After five years of studying, writing, advocating, volunteering, community organizing and now working professionally to try and make a positive difference on the issue of global  warming – all in the face of relentlessly increasing world temperatures and rapidly rising greenhouse gas emissions – I have reached the point of one last stand. 

We may well be as doomed as doomed can be already – as I frequently tell my friends that we are, and the “Hell and High Water” may already have arrived earlier then even Joe Romm’s dire predictions, but I’m not quite ready to cash in my chips and give up the ghost.  I can’t offer you any scientific hope to hang your sporty new fedora on, or any magic bullet news that might yet save the day, but I just don’t have it in me to piss on the fire and call in the dogs so I can go quietly into that good night.

Continue reading ➞ Greenius Will Meet With Al Gore To Talk Climate Reality

Environmental Charter High School Gets Solar; Greenius Goes EcoMedia

Categories citizen volunteer, energy efficiency, environment, green building, green education, renewable energy, solar power, Sustainability, water conservation1 Comment on Environmental Charter High School Gets Solar; Greenius Goes EcoMedia
Alison Diaz (with scissors) along with ECHS staff and supporters about to cut the ribbon in front of Environmental Charter High School's new solar-powered greenhouse. (photo by Glenn Marzano)

I have seen the future and it looks like a solar-powered greenhouse, a solar-powered pump driving aquaponics, a non-toxic termite treatment for buildings, students growing their own fruits and vegetables on their high school campus irrigated by captured rainwater, and other sustainable practices paid for by grants from corporations with no strings attached.

The on-stage banner heralding the ribbon cutting event @ ECHS. (Courtesy of CBS EcoMedia)

In a still repressed economy during an era when “no new taxes” is the mindless mantra that forces cutbacks and the elimination of educational programs and resources, the only place the dollars are going to come from are nontraditional, innovative sources.  You can argue the merits of that if you want, but I’m done arguing. I just want to see projects get funded, renewable energy put to work, energy efficiency retrofits instituted, conservation measures adopted and sustainable practices replace business-as-usual before the climate crisis makes any positive action a moot point.

That’s why for the past week I’ve been working at my new job in Manhattan Beach where I’ve transitioned from the volunteer advocacy efforts I’ve been contributing since 2008 to a professional role in sustainability partnerships for CBS EcoMedia.  EcoMedia employs exactly the kind of nontraditional, innovative business practices I’m talking about through their EcoAd program – the kind of innovative business practices that found me on the campus of Environmental Charter High School (ECHS) in Lawndale on Friday morning to celebrate the ribbon cutting for their new solar-powered greenhouse.

Continue reading ➞ Environmental Charter High School Gets Solar; Greenius Goes EcoMedia

Moving Planet South Bay Shaping Up To Be Spectacular!

Categories environmentLeave a Comment on Moving Planet South Bay Shaping Up To Be Spectacular!

What, pray tell, has the Greenius been up to?  No posts on Creative Greenius, no new columns on Patch.  What gives with that? Did he go to DC to get arrested with the rest of the 350 gang?  Fraid not, friends.  I’ve been busy working to get the South Bay Bicycle Master Plan passed in the seven cities it covers and helping to get the Vitality City Livability Plan passed in Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach.  And for the past couple of months I’ve been combining that passion with my organizing work for 350 and this year’s Moving Planet event on September 24 and the result is Moving Planet South Bay.  We’ve got over 35 different organizations, groups, businesses and local cities partnering with us and putting on incredible demos, workshops and displays on how we’re going to make our communities more bikeable, more walkable and more livable.  Check it out and then join us in Manhattan Beach – You’re going to love it!

Creative Greenius Loves Hermosa Beach Sharrows & You Should Too

Categories Bicycles, citizen volunteer, climate change, environment, Sustainability, Yes We Can!Leave a Comment on Creative Greenius Loves Hermosa Beach Sharrows & You Should Too

 

Members of the newly formed South Bay Bicycle Coalition are happy with the Hermosa Beach "sharrows," which allow bicyclists to use a lane of traffic on Hermosa Avenue. The group hopes to see more South Bay cities install such bicycle-friendly facilities. (Steve McCrank, Daily Breeze Staff Photographer)

 

I’ve written before about the sharrows Hermosa Beach painted on Hermosa Ave earlier this year and how much I like them.  I continue to use them and I like them even more now.  I feel safer when riding on Hermosa Ave and the cars on the road don’t seem to have any real problems going around me if they need to.

Since I stop at all the stop signs, I get a certain amount of respect from the vehicles I’m sharing the road with too.

I think a lot more streets should feature sharrows throughout Hermosa Beach and the newly resurfaced Upper Pier Ave is a good place to put them next. I think most of my friends in the South Bay Bicycle Coalition and the Beach Cities Cycling Club agree with me.

My recent bicycle tour of Long Beach with their Mobility Coordinator extraordinaire, Charlie Gandy, further convinced me of the benefits of sharrows.  Their green painted sharrow lane on 2nd Street in the Belmont Shore neighborhood produced 30% more cyclists with fewer crashes, 20% fewer cyclists riding on the sidewalk and a 50% reduction in car/bike crashes.

A big part of the reasons sharrows work so well in Long Beach is because of the great job they did educating their elected officials, the police force and the public.  They made sure they got the word out, that people in the community understood what the rules were and what the benefits would be from  working together.  The result?  Long Beach is fast on the way to becoming the most bicycle friendly city in California.

There’s no reason Hermosa Beach can’t follow that same sharrow story of success and indeed if Hermosa really wants to be taken seriously as a “Green Idea City” or wants to actually achieve carbon neutrality it’s going to need sharrows and a lot more bicycle infrastructure and friendliness to get there.

Step one to get there is for a strong bicyclist turnout for Wednesday (Oct 20) night’s public forum on Hermosa Beach Sharrows.  Check out the details after the jump.

Continue reading ➞ Creative Greenius Loves Hermosa Beach Sharrows & You Should Too

Greenius on Patch.com: Biking Our Way Toward a Carbon Neutral Fiesta

Categories Bicycles, climate change, energy efficiency, environment, fossil fuelsLeave a Comment on Greenius on Patch.com: Biking Our Way Toward a Carbon Neutral Fiesta

After the overwhelming success of the inaugural bicycle valet operation at the Memorial Day Fiesta Hermosa, filling our free parking lot to capacity for all three days, those of us who worked to make it happen set our sights even higher for the upcoming Labor Day Fiesta.

Even though we took care of 800 to 1,000 bicycles per day over Memorial Day weekend, and made visiting the Fiesta a no-hassle, groovy good time for all those riders, we’re not satisfied.

We are now looking to park three times that many bikes each day over Labor Day weekend. Imagine us taking 7,000 to 9,000 cars off the roads over those three days and replacing them with bicycle riders.

How’s that for a greenhouse gas cutting vision?

READ THE REST OF THE STORY ON HERMOSA BEACH PATCH.COM