Green Sexy

Goats Graze in Downtown Los Angeles!

California is one of the most environmentally-conscious states in the union, and the Los Angeles Redevelopment Agency has continued the trend by hiring 100 goats to clear brush in a downtown Los Angeles plot.  Los Angeles residents and downtown workers alike marveled at this unlikely scene.  Sam Vera, an auto repairman, remarked as he snapped a photograph, "This is absolutely beautiful. It's a wonderful contrast to the big buildings around here."  The Los Angeles Redevelopment Agency head Cecilia Estolano said that she could rent the 100 goats for $3,000, as opposed to the $7,000 it would cost to hire men with gas-powered trimmers.  Another advantage is that goats are an environmentally-friendly way to clear away brush that is not only unsightly, but could also be a potential fire hazard.  Anyway, goats are also so darn cute, so who could resist?   

Hiring goats to clear brush---now that's one Green Sexy idea!

China's Green Olympics

For years we've been hearing a lot about the air pollution in Chinese cities and the dangers this pollution poses to its cities' residents.  Lately the discussion of Beijing's air quality has shifted to how it will affect the Olympic athletes' performance.  Some endurance athletes have gone as far as pulling out of certain events for fear that their health and their careers will be compromised by the polluted air.

On the flip side, China has been doing all it can to try to make the 2008 Olympic Games the greenest games yet.  How are they planning on achieving this?  According to an August 5th, 2008 press release from the United Nations Environment Programme  (UNEP),  the Chinese government has taken the following environmentally-friendly measures to green up their Olympic venues:

• Solar power is being used to light lawns, courtyards and streets at several venues including the Olympic Village. The National Stadium, where events such as athletics and football will be held, is being lit by a 130 KW photovoltaic system.
• At the 400,000 square metre Olympic Village, reclaimed water from the Qinghe sewage treatment plant is being used for heating and cooling systems – around 60 per cent in electrical savings is anticipated.
• Translucent membranes in the ceilings and walls of the National Aquatics Centre or 'Water Cube' allow in natural light, and specially designed 'beam-pipes' funnel sunlight into corridors, toilets and car parks at venues including the Olympic Green.
  
• In the Olympic Media Village, at least 3,000 cubic metres of rainwater can be captured using water permeable bricks, pipes and wells installed on roofs, roads and green areas.
• The organizers have set a target of achieving a 50 per cent recycling of waste including paper, metals and plastics at venues. A test run, carried out during the 11th World Softball Championships held last year, achieved a nearly 90 per cent recycling.

In addition, the Chinese government has been cleaning up waterways, moving factories from city centers (or even closing some altogether), planting trees to reduce desertification, and moving towards greener energy, like wind power. 

How much of this change is just window-dressing and how much of is a lasting commitment of the Chinese government to its people and its land?  Only time will tell; but at least the Olympics have given China the impetus to change for the greener!

Nicaraguan Earthship Featured on Green Real Estate Tour

Coldwell Banker Nicaragua Real Estate is offering a three-day Green Real Estate Tours sometime this year, with their Casa Llanta Earthship as one of its cornerstone examples of eco-friendly housing.  In addition to the Earthship there will be four other investment opportunities highlighted for you to drool over. 

Just to whet your appetite, check out this nifty video about the construction of the Casa Llanta Earthship:

Curb Your Car!

The Town of Brighton, NY and their environmental initiative Color Brighton Green is sponsoring Rochester, NY's "Curb Your Car Week", which is to run from May 18th -May 24th.  During this week motorists are encouraged to reduce or cease their driving for this period of time, or to consider biking to work, taking the bus or carpooling.  There are other initiatives across the nation to reduce peoples' car usage, which may already be occuring these days because of increasingly high gas prices.  Some cities like Ann Arbor, Michigan are extending the "Curb Your Car" challenge for the entire month of May. 

May is also National Bike Month, and May 16th is National Bike to Work Day, so there's no better time to take to two wheels this month!  League of American Bicyclists has a pdf of 50 Ways to Celebrate Bike Month---check it out!   

Looking Bright in Brighton New, York!

The room was crowded and the assembled throng was buzzing with energy---green energy!

On Monday, January 7, 2008 my wife and I attended the town of Brighton, NY's "Color Brighton Green New Year's Resolution Party", which was a rally hosted by the Green Brighton Task Force, a creation of  Supervisor Sandra Frankel.  This rally was held to challenge Brighton's residents to cut their energy use by 10 percent in 2008!   Multitudes of residents lined up to sign a pledge form to participate in this noble cause.  Various vendors were also in attendance.  Businesses such as Ambrose Heating and Cooling (solar energy), Rural Opportunities Inc. (a private, not-for-profit regional community development and human service  organization), Tuthill Lighting (compact fluorescent light bulbs), and organizations such as the Rochester Green Business Network and Monroe County Recycling informed and enlightened the minds of the eager audience.

What would be the benefits of households reducing their energy consumption by 10 percent? According to Elias Rodriguez of the Environmental Protection Agency, not only would many tons of carbon dioxide be removed from the air each year, but also, "if every household changed one light bulb to an energy-efficient one, the nation would save and estimated $600 million in energy costs and prevent greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 800,000 cars..." (Democrat & Chronicle- 1/7/08).  The Green Brighton Task Force also recommends the following steps that all of us could easily incorporate into our lives:

* Change a light bulb (to a cfl bulb).                           
* Turn off the lights (when you leave a room).         
* Drive less.                                                            
*Install a programmable thermostat.                        
* Go local.                                                               
* Support renewable energy.
* Buy energy efficient appliances.
* Turn things all the way off.
* Save water.
* Recycle.

Brighton, NY's going green?  That's one Green-Sexy town!

 

Announcing...

I have to have a little suspense here so I'm going to stall... I have been in and out of town for many trips over the past month that amount to my vacation. Launching a blog right before a vacation is not such a great idea. It is common knowledge in the blogosphere that if you want to get good rankings on the search engines and generate traffic you should post regularly and often especially when starting a blog. Well can I ask for a gimme or a mulligan or something? I posted my review of Chicago while at the Blogher conference. Based purely on my observations as a tourist, it was not meant to be in depth or deeply researched. It was intended as a snapshot --how apparent is a locale's green policies and initiatives to an outside.

Travel has been, for me, the word and action of the month. I found myself taking pictures and noting where clearly some places are trying to make a green difference. Just by simply walking around various places I have been exposed to different ways of doing recycling, handling garbage, different takes on clean air. I have been noting efforts both large and small that communities have done to help our environment.

Sooo... City Green will be a feature, not necessarily every month or week but every time I go out of town. I will review what I see and learn about the greenness of communities in the US and abroad. I hope that maybe it can expand to contributions from readers as well. Feel free to send along tidbits and observations you make when you are traveling or from your own town.

Coming up will be several reviews which I will space out. I visited Cranberry Lake (Adirondack Mountains), Toronto, Stratford and Peek'n Peak (a resort near Jamestown, NY). Of course these are reviews so while I will always try to state the positive actions that are being taken but also, I will point out areas where improvement could be made, a constructive critique.

Up next...Toronto...stay tuned.

Seeing Green at Blogher '07

Well as you can see I started this blog a long time ago.  I am finally getting around to getting launched.  I really tried to have things in place before I attended my first BlogHer conference knowing that it was to be in Chicago the city who's goal it is to be the greenest city in the nation.  As we know about the best of intentions...they come to fruition in time.   The blog is ready to go and BlogHer '07 gave me lot's of fodder for launching and filling my blog with lots of gooey good green stuff.  The moment I walked into my hotel room Chicago did not disappoint.  My 17th floor view from the hotel room included several rooftop gardens to my left and one under construction to my right.   It is as if these great buildings grew from the ground pushing up the earth from which they sprouted high into the air.  I can just imagine flying in to O'Hare and seeing these oxymoronic landscapes, these skyscraping terraces in various shades of lush. There are lots of trees around town and many green spaces, good job, but... hey Chicago, if you are listening how come you don't recycle?  I was quite disappointed to not see a single public recycling bin.  There was nothing in my hotel, on the streets or along the famous Navy Pier.  While Mayor Richard M. Daley has taken great steps to make the city appear literally green, it seems it has a way to go to being "green" on the inside as well. ( I don't know if they have a recycling program for household pick-up, let me know if you have info on this.)  After just coming from Toronto where there are recycling bins everywhere I definitely sensed their absence in the Windy City.  While there is room for improvement for all of us, after all that is the main thrust of this blog, I applaud Chicago for aggressively going public with getting their green on.  Since, I didn't fly in this time I was able to bring all my recyclables home to good ole NYS to get recycled. 

Stay tuned for more green from Blogher '07--see how I found Chloe Dao of Project Runway fame and Christine Kane are practicing their crafts in green ways.