Photo Credit: Ken Lund

Is money all it takes to overturn a government’s regulatory laws?  Independent oil company Veneco Inc. is certainly trying to prove it with its attempts to amend regulatory laws in Southern California.

Veneco Inc. owns a large oil storage facility in Carpinteria, California, a charming beach town just outside of Santa Barbara.  In 2005, it first proposed the Paredon Initiative, with plans to install an oil deck next to its storage facilities and do an offshore drill for oil in the ocean.  The project would sit right next to several residential areas, which could cause many health and environmental issues for the residents and disturb the coastal habitat.  Since this project is illegal in Carpinteria, negotiations ensued and an environmental review was conducted. 11 “significant and unavoidable impacts” were identified.   Read more…

Image Via Port of San Diego

Have you ever wondered why power boats, which often spend the  majority of their time in sunny windblown waters, aren’t powered by alternative energy like wind and solar? Well, now one is and it’s no small boat either. The Hornblower Hybrid is a 64-foot ferry boat that can hold 149 passengers. Though the boat is based out of San Francisco Bay and mainly serves as a ferry for passengers visiting Alcatraz Island, it was recently in San Diego Bay hosting bay cruises for companies, groups, or just individuals who pride themselves on caring for the environment. Read more…

Photo Credit: David Gil

According to the latest version of the Environmental Performance Index, Iceland leads the world as the top nation in environmental performance. The index is put together by researchers from both Columbia University and Yale University. A number of factors are examined in determining where countries rank on the index, and a final cumulative score is given to each country ranging from 25-100. Iceland received a 93.5. Among the factors considered for ranking are “environmental health, preservation of habitat and reductions in greenhouse gases, air pollution and waste.” Read more…

Have you ever dreamed of getting in a van and driving south until who knows when? I know I have, and in 1968 Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins lived this dream.  This 10,000 mile trip started in Southern California and “ended” in Patagonia, South America.  This trip changed the lives of the explorers and now, because of these two men and their work, over two million acres are under permanent protection.   Their epic adventure was recently recreated and made into a documentary/ travel/ surf film called 180 Degrees South. Produced by Woodshed Films, the film depicts a group of surfers/ explorers making their way from Southern California in a sailboat. The destination was Patagonia but where they ended up along the way could never have been predicted. The film is set to release this spring and from watching this trailer one word comes to mind: Epic.   Enjoy…

Photo Credit: Rene Ehrhardt

“This is about a different way of doing business,” said Jennie Nevin, a 31 year old who formerly worked as an investment specialist for Merrill Lynch. “It’s certainly different from Wall Street, where it was all about what you did. This is all about what we can do.”

What Ms. Nevin is referring to is a co-working space called ‘Green Spaces’ that is home to about 20 entrepreneurs (many of whom are in their 20’s) of environmentally centered start-up companies. The office, founded by Ms. Nevin and her partners (who are also very young: 29 and 30) opened in September in TriBeCa, New York and provides the perfect setting for green brainstorming. Another ‘Green Spaces’ was recently opened in Denver, Colorado and a third should be underway in Los Angeles in the near future. Read more…

Photo Credit: Didier Bier

You think you know what mushrooms are? Sure, they peek through the grass in moist areas, are neatly packaged in plastic crates in grocery stores, and sometimes overcooked on pizza. Not exactly the life-changing ingredient imagined when you think of our current global situation. Nevertheless, if we take the time to look just a little closer, we learn that these tasty mushrooms are simply the fruiting body of mycelium, our true hero in this story, that make up an underground network of fibers with enormous planet-saving potential. Read more…

Photo Credit: Austin Parker

The non-profit group Conservacion Patagonica has been dedicated to conservation in Patagonia since 2000. They have protected over 450,000 acres of land through the implementation of national parks in Argentine Patagonia and have started the process of implementing another national park in Chilean Patagonia. The future Patagonia National Park will be in a place called Valle Chacabuco in southern Chile and will be about 500,000 acres in size when completed. Read more…

Photo credit: T. Howard

Many people are trying to make changes to their lifestyle to start living more environmentally friendly. However, these changes are sometimes hard to keep up with since sacrificing comfort and convenience is sometimes a necessity while “going green”. The Wattbox on the other hand, is a simple device that can make any house become an energy saving home. Read more…

Kristen Taylor

“What we’re excited about is not just the offshoot conversations about public space and sustainability and carbon footprints, but it’s also the fact that one of the things we love to do is make jam with people we don’t know.”

Such is the sentiment of David Burns and his fellow artists Austin Young and Matias Viegener. The three Silverlake artists are the cofounders of Fallen Fruit, an LA-based art collective that combines and preserves fruit, art, and sustainability. The group was founded in 2004 with an initial intention to survey fruit growing in public spaces, “or on the perimeter,” as it is commonly referred to by the artists. The idea was to gather information and “fallen fruit” that had met its end on the public sidewalks, alleyways, and streets beyond the walls and yards of private property.

Think, had you ever wondered about the fate of the grapefruit, lemons, or oranges that hang upon the overburdened branches of your neighbor’s tree? More than likely you have contemplated picking the delicacies that dangle beyond the reaches of private space. Read more…

You know deep down that the environment still has a fighting chance when a 2010 Super Bowl commercial features ‘green police’! And what a hilarious commercial it was! Better make sure you always bring your reusable bag with you from now on or the ‘green police’ might be tackling you from behind.

The commercial did a great job of advertising Audi’s new A3 TDI that runs off of ‘clean diesel’. However, if you are like many of us, you may be wondering what in the world is ‘clean diesel’? Sounds kind of like a newly discovered fossil fuel that is somehow cleaner right? Read more…