Green Options » localization

Bayview Celebrates the Latona Community Garden

Rhonda Winter — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:08:02 +0000

Many of our Bayview neighbors joined us last weekend to celebrate the second anniversary of the Latona Community Garden. What used to be a smelly skanky debris-filled eyesore, is now a thriving organic community garden. The formerly blighted corner has been transformed into a warm and welcoming public space where neighbors gather, local kids play, and organic food is grown.

Several of the neighborhood kids climbing the walnut tree in the Latona Community Garden.

Walkscore’s New Transit Rating and How You Can Help

Becky Striepe — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:00:04 +0000

Walkscore rates a neighborhood’s walkability on a 1 to 100 scale based on a number of criteria such as proximity to restaurants and grocery stores. Now, they’ve added a transit rating which takes into account a neighborhood’s public transportation options!

Awesome, right? The idea is to “measure how easy it is to live a car-lite lifestyle,” so adding a transit component makes sense. Maybe you can’t hoof it to the grocery store, but you can walk to a train station that takes you to a farmers market. You can still do your thing car-free!

So why do they need our help?

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See a Battery, Pick It Up

Rhonda Winter — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:08:07 +0000

See a battery, pick it up, and all the day you’ll have good luck. Especially if you take the battery that you found and safely recycle it, keeping dangerous toxic poisons out of our seas and drinking water.

I found this used battery near the ocean in Pacifica, right across from our friend Rick’s Salada Beach Cafe. It has since been safely recycled, and kept from polluting our waterways.

Our oceans are already turning into acid. We have to start today to try to make things better. Keeping one more toxic battery or piece of plastic out of our oceans, collectively, will make a difference. Once you start looking, you may be really surprised just how many “disposable” batteries litter our streets and sewers. Next time you see one, pick it up; what you do matters.

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Did Diet Coke Cause My Cancer?

Rhonda Winter — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 23:27:12 +0000

Recently I have been reading very disturbing research about how Diet Coke can possibly cause cancer and kill you. The artificial sweetener that is used in most diet beverages, aspartame, once ingested, becomes a lethal poison called methyl alcohol. Small quantities of this noxious substance can lead to blindness and death; even the most miniscule amounts of this aspartame toxin are strongly linked to cancer.

This is an image of the cancerous tumor that was recently removed from my body.

Billionaires for Wealthcare Reinvent Guerilla Musical Theatre

Rhonda Winter — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:47:10 +0000

CNN highlights the Billionaires for Wealthcare enthusiastically singing the praises of a public option, as they entertained unsuspecting attendees at a health insurance conference in Washington DC last week. Wolf Blitzer and Jeanne Moos discuss the increasingly popular use of guerilla musical theatre across the nation. Cleverly orchestrated performances and mini-musicals seem to have become much more popular with folks now than rabid screaming teabaggers.

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Our Oceans Are Turning into Acid

Rhonda Winter — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:59:16 +0000

Sigourney Weaver narrates “Acid Test“, an illuminating and terrifying NRDC documentary that explains how quickly our planet’s oceans are acidifying due to all of the carbon dioxide that we are pumping into our air. This pollution is causing rapid changes in our oceans’ chemistry that will completely disrupt all life on the planet as we know it on a scale that has not been seen for tens of millions of years.

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Michelle Obama’s Straight Talk on Women and Health Insurance

Rhonda Winter — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:00:29 +0000

First Lady Michelle Obama talks straightforwardly about women and why we all so urgently need health care reform in this five minute short that was just released by the White House. At the moment I know that I am existing in something of a self-absorbed cancer bubble of my own, but I actually found this quite moving and powerful.

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Show Your Support for Water Recycling in SF

Rhonda Winter — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:23:15 +0000

If you are going to be anywhere near San Francisco City Hall this afternoon, please consider going to the fourth floor to voice your support for greywater recycling. There will be a meeting at the Building Inspection Commission today to vote on a SF city amendment which is attempting to make it more complicated for city residents to recycle and conserve our own water.

Time: Wed, Oct 21, pm @ 2pm

Where: SF City Hall, Room 416

Rain barrels made from recycled food grade containers for water conservation.

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A Sea Change: Imagine a World Without Fish

Becky Striepe — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 07:00:29 +0000

Ocean acidification is the undersea equivalent of climate change, as the ocean absorbs 1/4 of the excess CO2 in our atmosphere.

Over time, this is going to have disastrous effects on marine life. The documentary A Sea Change takes a look at some of the consequences surrounding ocean acidification.

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1Sky Makes it Easy to Tell Your Senator How You Feel About Clean Energy

Becky Striepe — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:00:35 +0000

The Senate climate bill is coming out any day now, and it’s time to get heard! With a new tool from 1Sky, it’s easier than ever to call your Senator and let him or her know you support a strong clean energy policy.

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Our National Parks: America’s Best Idea

Rhonda Winter — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:17:28 +0000

Filmmaker Ken Burns’ most recent PBS documentary, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, is a stunning and utterly engrossing tribute not only to our country’s many awe-inspiring natural landscapes, but also to our nation’s fundamental democratic principles. Burns interviews scores of ordinary people, from park rangers and activists to journalists and historians, as they trace the origins of our greatest collectively-owned resources, and share their unique personal experiences in the vast beauty of our national parks.

“When we look at the parks and we look at the United States and we examine the whole idea of democracy, I think that the park experience is an exploration of the idea of freedom.”

-Shelton Johnson, Park Ranger

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Are You Up for the No Impact Project Challenge?

Becky Striepe — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 12:58:58 +0000

In 2007, Colin Beavan got tired of “waiting for the senators and the CEOs to change the way we treat the world.” Instead, he decided to take a personal stand and live one year producing no waste, eating a local diet, and consuming nothing.

He even brought his family along for the ride:

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What’s on Your Plate?

Rhonda Winter — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 08:52:34 +0000

“What’s on Your Plate?” is a compelling new documentary that follows two eleven year old African American city kids, Sadie and Safiyah, as they explore their local New York food systems over the course of a year. The film accompanies the two girls as they embark upon a quest to learn more about food politics and the origins of what they are eating.

Catherine Gund, filmmaker and co-founder of the feminist Third Wave Foundation, chronicles Sadie and Safiyah’s journey as they talk to chefs, farmers and food activists, as well as their own friends, about all manner of food policy and health issues. The girls educate themselves and the audience as they start asking very intelligent and probing questions about their own school lunches, how their food is grown, how far it has traveled, how it is packaged and prepared, food access, farmers markets and what healthy, sustainable options exist where they live. Director Catherine Gund explains that helping to teach her daughter Sadie how to make healthy food choices and to feel a connection to her food was part of her motivation for making the film:

Kids need to know the full benefits of local food: more energy-efficient production, more prosperous farmers, healthier communities, longer lasting and better tasting fruits and veggies. Kids need to know that their food doesn’t only come from the supermarket or the factory, but from nearby farms, trees and the ground.

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Click here to find an upcoming screening of the film near you.

It was an amazing experience to hear kids talking about these issues. This movie can have a real impact on the way we think about what we’re eating.

—Alice Waters, chef, author and founder of the Edible Schoolyard

Greening Your Garden: Make it a Bee Sanctuary

Becky Striepe — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 03:30:55 +0000

We need bees. There’s really no way to get around it. Here in the US, bees are responsible for pollinating 1/3 of our food supply, and that doesn’t just apply to fruits and veggies. Without bees, feed for livestock would be more scarce, causing higher prices for meat and dairy, as well.

Over the past several years, the world’s bee population has been in decline. Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) has claimed around 30% of the bee population each year both in the UK and the US. In the UK, beekepers held protests to raise awareness about the problem. While this year has seen some break-throughs in research to help save the waning bee population, like gene therapy and a vaccine to help prevent CCD, the bees still need our help! Here are some resources to get you started:

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Toronto’s Residential Fruit-Picking Program

Becky Striepe — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 03:30:46 +0000

[Cherry Tree. Creative Commons photo from Suzanne Long]

Not Far From the Tree is a Toronto program that focuses on harvesting fruit from local trees in residential areas for the good of the community!

The mission of their fruit-picking program is to:

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Come to the Bike-In Movies

Rhonda Winter — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 06:17:27 +0000

Lately the long foggy nights of summer make me wistfully yearn for the drive-in movies of my youth. Bad movies and sticky salty gooey food were merely condiments for the socializing that was really the main event on so many long ago August nights. Sadly, all of our local Bay Area drive-ins have gone dark years ago; however, this summer in San Francisco we now have something even better, the bike-in movies.

Throughout this summer the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is hosting a series of free bike-related movie screenings downtown at 7th and Mission Streets, right across from the Good Hotel. Once a month the hotel’s barren parking lot is transformed into a festive and inviting public space, where hundreds of people gather for free entertainment, socializing, and to eat tasty locally made snacks.

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My Vagina Is 8 Miles Wide

Rhonda Winter — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 11:38:02 +0000

Portland based artist Storm Large brings us some happy and enthusiastic vagina love with this incredibly catchy song from her one woman show “Crazy Enough“. She sings that her vagina is a “metaphor for my super vagintastically mystical feminine goddess core“.

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Let’s Ride Bikes!

Becky Striepe — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 10:00:34 +0000

Getting out of your car and onto your bike is one of the easiest ways to reduce your carbon footprint, get in shape, and save some cash!

With all that going for it, why aren’t more folks ditching their cars and pedaling their way around town? There are a ton of excuses, some legit, some not so much. You don’t have to cycle everywhere to make an impact. Even replacing a few car trips a week makes a difference, and you just might find that the more you ride, the more you want to ride. Here are some resources from around the GO network to help get you going!

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Steven Chu Gives Me Hope

Rhonda Winter — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 02:38:26 +0000

United States Secretary of Energy Steven Chu is by far my favorite member of the Obama Administration; I am even one of his many facebook fans. It is so exciting that science is no longer a dirty word, as it was during the dark ages of Bush. To me, the Nobel Laueate Chu comes across as a no nonsense incredibly competent visionary, and his practical genius shines though every time he speaks. This is a short clip of him explaining the tremendous potential to make ethanol from agricultural wastes, yeast and drought tolerant miscanthus grass.

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Buck for Charity: Pulling Together to Make a Difference

Becky Striepe — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 07:00:43 +0000

[Little Things Add Up. Creative Commons photo by nicmcphee]

A group of eco-bloggers is collecting cash for charity and letting us choose who benefits!

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Green Options » localization

Bayview Celebrates the Latona Community Garden

Several of the neighborhood kids climbing the walnut tree in the Latona Community Garden.

Walkscore’s New Transit Rating and How You Can Help

Walkscore rates a neighborhood’s walkability on a 1 to 100 scale based on a number of criteria such as proximity to restaurants and grocery stores. Now, they’ve added a transit rating which takes into account a neighborhood’s public transportation options!

See a Battery, Pick It Up

See a battery, pick it up, and all the day you’ll have good luck. Especially if you take the battery that you found and safely recycle it, keeping dangerous toxic poisons out of our seas and drinking water.

I found this used battery near the ocean in Pacifica, right across from our friend Rick’s Salada Beach Cafe. It has since been safely recycled, and kept from polluting our waterways.

Did Diet Coke Cause My Cancer?

This is an image of the cancerous tumor that was recently removed from my body.

Read more of this story »

Billionaires for Wealthcare Reinvent Guerilla Musical Theatre

This post contains additional media. Click here to view the full post.

Our Oceans Are Turning into Acid

This post contains additional media. Click here to view the full post.

Michelle Obama’s Straight Talk on Women and Health Insurance

Show Your Support for Water Recycling in SF

Time: Wed, Oct 21, pm @ 2pm

Where: SF City Hall, Room 416

Rain barrels made from recycled food grade containers for water conservation.

A Sea Change: Imagine a World Without Fish

Ocean acidification is the undersea equivalent of climate change, as the ocean absorbs 1/4 of the excess CO2 in our atmosphere.

1Sky Makes it Easy to Tell Your Senator How You Feel About Clean Energy

The Senate climate bill is coming out any day now, and it’s time to get heard! With a new tool from 1Sky, it’s easier than ever to call your Senator and let him or her know you support a strong clean energy policy.

Our National Parks: America’s Best Idea

“When we look at the parks and we look at the United States and we examine the whole idea of democracy, I think that the park experience is an exploration of the idea of freedom.”

Are You Up for the No Impact Project Challenge?

What’s on Your Plate?

Click here to find an upcoming screening of the film near you.

It was an amazing experience to hear kids talking about these issues. This movie can have a real impact on the way we think about what we’re eating.

—Alice Waters, chef, author and founder of the Edible Schoolyard

Greening Your Garden: Make it a Bee Sanctuary

Toronto’s Residential Fruit-Picking Program

Not Far From the Tree is a Toronto program that focuses on harvesting fruit from local trees in residential areas for the good of the community!

Come to the Bike-In Movies

My Vagina Is 8 Miles Wide

Portland based artist Storm Large brings us some happy and enthusiastic vagina love with this incredibly catchy song from her one woman show “Crazy Enough“. She sings that her vagina is a “metaphor for my super vagintastically mystical feminine goddess core“.

Let’s Ride Bikes!

Getting out of your car and onto your bike is one of the easiest ways to reduce your carbon footprint, get in shape, and save some cash!

Steven Chu Gives Me Hope

Buck for Charity: Pulling Together to Make a Difference

A group of eco-bloggers is collecting cash for charity and letting us choose who benefits!