Pacific Swell

Hollywood stars to shine at “the only green pre-Oscar party in town”

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:07:38 -0800

Environmentally minded celebrities like Rosario Dawson, Orlando Bloom and Adrian Grenier will stroll the green carpet (natch) in front of the Avalon Hollywood tonight to support the 9^th annual pre-Oscar party for Global Green, the American affiliate of Green Cross International.

According to the event press release, general admission tickets to the bash are going for a very reasonable $50 (VIP packages start at $1000), and will be available at the door. Proceeds from the event are dedicated for Global Green’s national Green Schools initiative, as well as a campaign around the Rio Earth Summit this June, which they would very much like for President Obama to attend.

The much-discussed Chevy Volt will serve as the event’s automotive sponsor, with Chevy rolling out a “sneak preview” of the 2012 Volt that qualifies for the both the carpool lane sticker and the new $1500 CA Clean Vehicle Rebate.

On the more extreme end of green transportation, immensely cool 100% electric motorcycle the Xenon by Evolve will be auctioned off for Global Green’s causes. Reminiscent of the light cycles from the movie "Tron: Legacy," these futuristic bikes should really come with a Daft Punk helmet.

The evening will be powered by the music of headliner Shelia E (who always sets a party off right) and DJs Michael Smith and KCRW-FM radio host Garth Trinidad.

With a GOP debate tonight, remember: scientists are Republicans, too. Even climate scientists.

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:45:02 -0800

In the last couple of days, political fires have been spreading across the climate policy landscape, with Peter Gleick and Heartland Institute atop headlines. I don't think this story from Inside Climate News is trying to put them out, exactly. But with a Republican debate tonight, author Katherine Bagley might be offering a roadmap back to substantive discussion.

Bagley tells the stories of five scientists who identify as Republican who say, in varying ways, to varying degrees, that they've given up on talking to leaders within their political party about their science.

MIT's Kerry Emmanuel is one scientist who believes Republican values best align with his own. And not those of Lincoln, or Eisenhower; he's registered GOP right now:

"No GOP candidates or policymakers want to touch the issue, and those of us trying to educate them are left frustrated,"Kerry Emanuel, an atmospheric scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a registered Republican, told InsideClimate News. "Climate change has become a third rail in politics."

The story also handily sums up what several of the remaining Republican candidates think about climate change:

Santorum has called global warming "a facade," "a hoax" and an example of the "politicization of science." Both Romney and Newt Gingrich, another candidate for the party's nomination, have stepped away from their previous stances that humans are contributing to global warming...

It's incredibly rare for scientists to tell anyone if they're registered with a political party. (I recently was suprised at a one-man staged reading of a play about Dave Keeling to learn he was a Republican, and I heard that guy speak.) The scientists' stories are worth a read before tonight's debate (I'm skeptical about the back half of the article)...which you can watch on CNN, as per usual. (OH, and listen to on KPCC from 9-11 pm.)

Apple turns up the sun with new solar-powered plant

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:42:48 -0800

Apple, the company that makes a large number of your (um, our) cell phones and computers, is in need of a little good news. The digital giant has taken a big PR hit of late, with reports of questionable employee conditions in their Chinese factories resulting in this week’s ABC “Nightline” expose.

Yesterday, Apple took to the company website to announce something decidedly more upbeat: details of their massive new data center in Maiden, North Carolina that will be primarily powered with renewable energy. CNET reports that the 500,000-square-foot facility will cost a cool $1 billion, and has already earned LEED's highest award – a Platinum certification – for what Apple has planned.

“We know of no other data center of comparable size that has achieved this level of LEED certification,” says Apple’s website. “Apple’s goal is to run the Maiden facility with high percentage renewable energy mix, and we have major projects under way to achieve this — including building the nation’s largest end user-owned solar array and building the largest nonutility fuel cell installation in the United States.”

According to Venturebeat, after the addition of the solar array later this year, the 20-megawatt building will ultimately churn out 42 million kWh of clean energy annually.

GM, Chevy Volt owners fire back at Gingrich over gun rack jab

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:28:23 -0800

It has been a hard year for GM’s plug-in hybrid car, the Chevy Volt. Despite a popular commercial during Super Bowl XLVI, sales have been sluggish. It even took a hit by not making the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy’s top 12 “greenest” cars of the year in a recent poll.

Now the Volt is suffering the ultimate injustice of being used as a political punch line. During recent campaign stops in Georgia and Oklahoma, Newt Gingrich (who recently found himself stranded in West Hollywood) has bashed the Volt as an instrument of “cultural warfare” on his way to deriding the car because “you cannot put a gun rack on it.”

GM has had enough. News comes out of Detroit that the automaker launched a new blog today to fire back at the Republican candidate, albeit humorously.

“That's like saying 'You can't put training wheels on a Harley.' Actually, you can. But the real question is 'Why would you?' In both examples: It looks weird,” replied GM spokesman Selim Bingol, according to the Detroit News. “It doesn't work very well, and, there are better places for gun racks and training wheels — pickup trucks and little Schwinns, respectively.”

To really prove that Chevy Volts and gun racks do mix, a Volt owner took to his Youtube account, posting a video of – you guessed it – his Volt rocking a gun rack (complete with an impressive array of guns) proudly displayed in the back, wrought out of good, old-fashioned American ingenuity.

Monterey County supervisors vote to reconsider strawberry fumigant

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 12:16:14 -0800

Pesticide methyl iodide has been generating controversy for years. By the time the State of California approved its use on local crops, California Senator Diane Feinstein had already called the fumigant into question over findings that it causes cancer.

Last week, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 in favor of a resolution that asks California governor Jerry Brown to take another look at the just how safe it is to use the much-debated chemical, according to the Californian.

It’s a hotly contested debate in Monterey County, as methyl iodide is used to fumigate strawberry crops, which is a $751 million industry in the county. It had been approved by the EPA as a replacement for pesticide methyl bromide in 2007, with California’s Department of Pesticides getting onboard in 2010, despite methyl iodide being on the state’s list of cancer-causing agents.

While many applaud the move to ultimately ban the pesticide, not everyone agrees. A guest editorial in the Monterey Herald questions the regulation, with agricultural scientist Glen Kardel stating: “if methyl iodide is not used on strawberry fields in Monterey County, the crop will be greatly reduced, along with employment of workers in strawberry production, sending unemployment rates and welfare costs soaring, with an attendant hardship for families of farmworkers.”

On which side of the methyl iodide debate do you stand?

CORRECTION: The original headline of this blog post was misleading. The Board of Supervisors vote does not directly lead to the banning of methyl iodide.

RePowerLA connects DWP energy efficiency to growing jobs

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:15:03 -0800

A new report calling on the LADWP to get real with energy efficiency links energy-saving efforts to jobs, which is interesting not only because of what they're saying, but who's saying it, and why.

RepowerLA is a group with a mission, and a big part of it is to end DWP's reliance on coal (and coal's low, some say artificially low, costs) by getting out of the Intermountain and Navajo power plants. "Los Angeles needs to decrease its reliance on out-of-state coal plants and invest in energy efficiency programs that save customers money and create good, local jobs," said Jessica Goodheart, RePower LA Director, in a statement.

In the new report, the group highlights the fact that LADWP invests less in energy efficiency and has lower savings goals than other utilities. And, the authors write, electricity use is going to rise 10 percent by 2020. Managing demand, they argue, could help offset that. "The LADWP is the largest municipally owned utility in the country, yet it's investing significantly less in energy efficiency measures than other utilities," says Cynthia Strathmann, report author. "Well-designed energy efficiency programs can help the LADWP save customers money on their bills, decrease power generation costs and create job pipelines for qualified workers. Energy efficiency just makes sense at a time when customers are struggling to pay their bills and the cost of energy is going up."

Because energy efficiency often begins with building retrofits, the report argues, jobs could follow.

The work generates a large number of jobs because it is labor intensive; studies estimate that it generates three times as many jobs as investment in coal. These jobs are also local, whereas investment in fossil fuel sends money elsewhere and other types of jobs can move overseas. There is also job growth potential in manufacturing the materials used to do the work. A conscious effort must be made, however, to ensure that these are not only green jobs but good jobs.

Another fact the report highlights: 30 percent or more of LADWP employees are at retirement age. I don't know how that stat stacks up against other sectors, but it reminded me of my colleague Shereen Meraji's story last week about manufacturing and the need there for training among younger people to replace retirees.

Here's where it gets really interesting. RePowerLA's report points to US Berkeley research finding that retrofit jobs aren't necessarily high paying ones. That may seem counterproductive to their point, but the reason they point out entry level wages for technican installers (8-15 bucks an hour) is that they want to push DWP toward creating good jobs with higher pay, the better to accomplish true energy savings. "One way to do this is to staff a program with inhouse employees, and the recently created Utility Pre-Craft Trainee classification (UPCT) is an appropriate position for this kind of work."

According to them, "RePower LA is a broad-based coalition of community organizations, environmentalists, organized labor, small businesses and faith-based leaders who are seeking to expand and improve the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s (LADWP) energy efficiency program in a way that creates local employment opportunities for LA’s communities. That means not just LAANE, the progressive advocacy group "dedicated to building a new economy for all." Sierra Club and Greenpeace are part, too, along with environmental justice folk. And so's IBEW Local 18, the DWP's union, whose business manager is Brian D'Arcy, past and probably future nemesis to every general manager of the DWP ever. Basically, it's everybody who would be happy with the DWP creating more jobs, and especially with the municipal utility creating more jobs in order to accomplish energy efficiency and renewable energy.

So, fun question: considering that everybody else on the list for RepowerLA wants DWP to end its reliance on coal, does that mean the DWP's union, Local 18, wants that too? And if so, does that help or hurt the environmental end-coal cause?

What does Peter Gleick's Heartland Institute admission do to his role in California's water politics?

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 23:55:21 -0800

A northern California-based water expert and climate researcher has admitted his involvement in a political and legal imbroglio concerning leaked documents from the Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based nonprofit think tank that funds research as well as libertarian and conservative advocacy work.

A week ago, political strategy documents and donor lists from Heartland shed more light into the way that group challenges the vast majority of climate scientists whose research points to human involvement in a warming planet. One document lists past individual and corporate donors from whom Heartland apparently intends to extract more money this year and next.

Oakland-based Peter Gleick, who works at the Pacific Institute, admitted on his HuffPo blog that he obtained these now-leaked documents by misrepresenting himself to Heartland. And today he apologized:

My judgment was blinded by my frustration with the ongoing efforts -- often anonymous, well-funded, and coordinated -- to attack climate science and scientists and prevent this debate, and by the lack of transparency of the organizations involved. Nevertheless I deeply regret my own actions in this case. I offer my personal apologies to all those affected.

Heartland Institute has said it's consulting lawyers for possible civil actions against Gleick. New York Times Dot Earth blogger Andrew Revkin has now written that Gleick's admission "has destroyed his credibility and harmed others." He continues:

The broader tragedy is that his decision to go to such extremes in his fight with Heartland has greatly set back any prospects of the country having the “rational public debate” that he wrote — correctly — is so desperately needed.

Gleick doesn't just do climate change. As a water analyst, he's been an influential and vocal participant in the Golden State's debates over at least two live issues I can think of. The more regional of the two, though still a signficant one, is Cadiz: an effort to pump groundwater from an aquifer in the eastern Mojave Desert and sell it to local water agencies. Gleick's assessment: "This is cut-and-run water management: take a non-renewable resource that will last a short time, turn it for a profit, and leave a degraded landscape, mimicking the classic boom-and-bust cycles that characterized much of the mining industry in the western U.S. in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries."

The second of the two is an $11 billion-plus water bond on which Californians may vote later this year. Gleick co-authored one of the only, if not the only, comprehensive (and critical) assessments concerning what the water bond might do.

It seems worth pointing out that none of this raises questions about research Gleick has done, just the way he's behaved by fraudulently obtaining documents Heartland wanted to keep confidential. But if Gleick has to step down, take a leave of absence from the Pacific Institute, or otherwise divert his attention from California's water issues, regardless of what you think of his views, that could change the tone of statewide debates on these matters. And it dries up one wellspring of information for the policymakers, legislative analysts and legislators with whom he regularly communicated.

So will this compromise Gleick's credibility in his other realm of expertise, California water policy? It's hard to imagine any answer besides yes.

Controversy: California FGC President kills mountain lion in Idaho

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 18:42:41 -0800

Dan Richards, the current president of California’s Fish and Game Commission president, is in a whirlwind of controversy after a photo was released showing him posing with a dead mountain lion he killed in Idaho. While hunting mountain lions is illegal here in California, hunting the big cats is allowed in Idaho.

Even though the hunt was perfectly legal in Idaho, it has still generated plenty of outrage here in California with the picture, which Richards shared with the Western Outdoor News, who originally published the photo, according to The California Majority Report. They've released a scathing editorial (along with the offending photo, so please proceed with caution) calling for California Governor Jerry Brown to replace Richards, also stating that he’s opposed the Marine Life Protection Act in the past. The U.S. Humane Society has posted the picture to their Facebook page, suggesting that users "drop a (polite) email to the folks at the Fish and Game Commission and ask for a new president."

While they are a protected species in California, there is no shortage of mountain lion vs. man confrontations. Earlier this month, a man in El Centro had to pay a $500 fee for killing a mountain lion he says attacked him while hunting deer.

Are electric bikes the future for San Francisco?

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 11:40:27 -0800

Biking in Los Angeles is a precarious business. Given our city’s legendary traffic congestion, maneuvering L.A. on two wheels is definitely not for the faint of heart. Even our own Mayor Villaraigosa felt the unforgiving wrath of street traffic when a short-stopping taxi sent him crashing from his bike to the pavement and ultimately to the hospital with a broken elbow back in 2010.

Up north in San Francisco, biking is additionally challenging given the famously mountainous landscapes. A simple errand to the grocery store at the bottom of the hill can quickly become a much trickier return trip. But what if that bike was electric? It’s the question being asked a new federal grant that will introduce shared electric bikes to the city by the Bay to see if they could potentially help ease traffic congestion and have an environmentally positive impact.

According to the New York Times, the nonprofit organization City CarShare will receive $760,000 of a $1.5 million grant from the Federal Highway Administration to integrate 90 electric bikes to their fleet of shared vehicles over the next two years.

“In 2001, City CarShare was launched by transportation visionaries as a Bay Area nonprofit with the goal to make our community a more livable place,” extols their website. “Carsharing means fewer cars on the road, less congestion, and less pollution.”

The overall goal of assessing the aforementioned impact of making the bikes available will be handled by the Transportation Sustainability Research Center at UC-Berkeley.

Positive education: Sacramento high school goes solar

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 20:44:39 -0800

Ah, high school. Those were the days. Well, not really. I couldn’t wait to get out of that place. Then again, my high school was the kind of place that turns up in horror movies. But hey, it’s Friday night. I’d rather imagine that I went to high school in Dillon, Texas, and Tami Taylor was my sympathetic counselor. But I digress.

I’d like to think that the students of St. Francis High School in Sacramento will go on to have much happier memories of the best years of their lives. They’ll certainly have good stories to tell their kids, like how they remember when most schools were powered by expensive electricity, and not primarily powered by the sun.

St. Francis recently installed a 253-kilowatt solar energy system to seven buildings on campus, which is expected to generate up to 31 percent of the school’s electricity, and save them a whopping $1 million in energy costs over the next 20 years.

The school’s new energy system is showcased in a new report from the Environment California Research & Policy Center, “California’s Solar Cities 2012: Leaders in the Race Toward a Clean Energy Future.” Paid for through a grant from the U.S. Treasury and through rebates from the Sacramento Municipal Utility Department (SMUD).

“Our students are excited and happy to have solar panels here at the high school,” explained Ingrid Niles, the communications director of St. Francis to the Valley Community News (wow, high schools have communications directors now?) “I think overall, our kids think having something like this is pretty cool and we hope we inspire a few of them to look at this stuff after high school.”

Del Mar Fairgrounds offers $5 million for environmental upgrades

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:05:43 -0800

The last thing anyone is thinking about at the fair is politics. Roller coasters and corn dogs are more like it. But just down south, the Del Mar Fairgrounds, home to the popular annual San Diego County Fair (which set an attendance record last year) has agreed to pony up $5 million for environmental improvements to the area after much political wrangling.

For more than a decade, the California Coastal Commission alleges that the 400-acre area has been in violation of a number of their statutes. Bordering the San Dieguito wetlands, the fairgrounds has been charged with a number of infractions over the years, from setting up tents, a pumpkin patch and erecting a concert stage in the vicinity, all unapproved by the commission.

Now that the fair board has agreed to a cease and desist order and won’t dispute the Coastal Commissions jurisdiction over the area, It’s clearly a great deal for the Commission. The fairgrounds will surrender 15% of their parking (namely the south overflow dirt lot), which will be returned to the wetlands. They will also restore a wetlands buffer to the southern and eastern edges of the property of 100 feet and will pay the wetlands coalition $100,000 over five years starting in 2013.

Losing that much parking for such a popular attraction already has some locals worried, both about traffic and the potential of increased parking fees to make up the difference, according to online message boards and comment areas.

The wetlands area has already gone through a considerable upgrade recently to the tune of $90 million dollars, so this new infusion of cash and a big step back by the fair board should go a long way in maintaining the area’s natural habitat.

The Coastal Commission will consider the proposal next month.

The next mayors' next thoughts on land use, urban design, and planning in L.A.

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 09:07:04 -0800

Nerdy delights await you each of the next five Fridays at the Ron Deaton Civic Auditorium. That's where the American Institute of Architects/LA division will hold a series of meetings with announced mayoral candidates about architecture, urban design, and city planning. LA Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne and Los Angeles City Planning Commission President Bill Roschen will be on stage with Jan Perry this week. Then next week, Austin Beutner, then Kevin James, then Wendy Greuel, then Eric Garcetti.

"We're trying to attract a large, diverse audience," said Will Wright, who handles media and government affairs for the AIA.

In theory, each mayoral candidate will face "provocative questions" about how a city looks and how people move around in it and respond to it. The responsibilities of developers to the city at large; the role of the city's built environment itself; what everybody thinks about land use. At the end, the architects will create a score card to highlight and contrast each candidate's response.

7-9 PM, at the Ron Deaton Civic Auditorium at the LAPD Headquarters Building in downtown LA. It's free, but you have to register, and it's pretty easy to do that.

Washington State to impose $100 tax on electric car drivers

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 22:12:40 -0800

Electric vehicles are definitely on the rise. With the market continuing to expand from the Volkswagon Electric E-Bugster to the much discussed Neon Leaf, it could be argued that EV’s are the current belle of the auto industry ball.

With the State of California setting “clean car” rules to further reduce auto emissions, all signs are pointing to an overall healthier environment for everyone.

The state of Washington, however, seems to have missed the memo. Just last week, the Washington state senate passed a new law that charges owners of electric vehicles $100 to make up for lost gasoline tax. Senator Mary Margaret Haugen (D) sponsored the bill, and commented on its passage in a press release:

“We think the purchase of electric vehicles is great for the environment, but we also need to maintain our roads, which is why we have the gas tax,” she stated in the release. “Electric vehicles put just as much wear and tear on our roads as gas vehicles. This simply ensures that they contribute their fair share to the upkeep of our roads.”

Granted, $100 over the course of a year is much less expensive than paying the state of Washington’s 37.5 cent gasoline tax. Still, the new law is as controversial as one might expect.

How would you feel about having to pay a $100 tax on your electric vehicle? Would such a charge it be a deal-breaker, or worth the convenience? The Comments section is waiting for you.

Red car remnants in Ballona Wetlands (picture)

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:45:03 -0800

I went out to Ballona Wetlands yesterday, and yep, it was wet. (Though mostly windy by the time I was there.) There, in addition to, you know, all the reporting, and the sighting of marine-military copters taking El Presidente to his Foo Fighters party, I was reminded once again of the fact that I know squat-all about rail car history in Los Angeles.

I didn't fully realize that the red cars that once ran through places like my beloved Atwater Village (where there's a Red Car pocket park) also ran to the ocean on a Balloon route (which, I'm guessing, is the source of the remnant trestle I saw in Ballona). I might have known it, but I didn't grok it. Subway to the sea, indeed.

Look, give me a break; I've only lived here four years, and this is a big city. And if you've got recommendations for books about this fascinating piece of LA history, hit me in the comments.

More golden eagles found dead at California wind farm

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 11:56:34 -0800

With the death of two more federally protected golden eagles at the Pine Tree wind farm in the Tehachapi Mountains (after six were found dead earlier), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has stepped in to determine what’s causing the avian fatalities.

It’s been concluded that whirling blades on the 90 turbines that populate the 8,000-acre farm near Mojave felled the first six eagles. But there is still no cause of death for the two most recent dead eagles found on the site.

Environmentalists argue that turbine-powered wind farms in the wilderness are simply giant deathtraps for some species. The abnormally high bird mortality rate at Pine Tree (the highest in California) raises issues of wind farm location, and putting much more emphasis on migration research before erecting more farms.

So far, Pine Tree is not being held at fault for the eagle fatalities.

No light at the end of the tunnel, as regulators and railroads are still fighting about air quality

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 09:26:47 -0800

Railyard companies are asking a federal court to find the executive director of this region's air quality management district in contempt, according to lawyers familiar with the case and news reports out of the Inland Empire.

The move comes in a court battle over rules governing idling locomotives California and regional air regulators tried to make. The California Air Resources Board and the South Coast Air Quality Management District want to limit diesel particulate pollution from trains because that kind of pollution is associated with way higher cancer rates in fence line neighborhoods. Railroads have long claimed that California can't do that, because federal law precludes the state from regulating matters of interstate commerce. In 2007, a federal district court judge agreed. And so since then, the air district hasn't tried to enforce those rules.

So why are the railroads beefing? Because California's not dropping it. Locomotive idling limits are in a plan the state wants applied to more than a dozen and a half rail yards around California. David Danelski reports in the Press-Enterprise:

The railroad attorneys now say that including the idling limits in the region’s official air pollution clean-up plan violates the “spirit and the letter” of the order that stopped the air district from “implementing or enforcing any provision” of the rules, according to court papers filed by railroad attorney Mark E. Elliott.

As for why California air officials aren't dropping it, they seem to believe there's a light at the end of the tunnel. An appeal in the same case went to the 9th circuit, and while it wasn't successful, they may have gotten an assist out of it. In the opinion of Judge Susan Graber, environmental lawyers and the air district see daylight: how, perhaps, to crack down on idling.

Because the District’s rules have not become a part of California’s EPA-approved state implementation plan, they do not have the force and effect of federal law, even if they might in the future. [emphasis mine]

The State Implementation Plan is a kind of master strategy for how California tries to comply with federal limits on air pollution. It's monumentally complicated, and it gets changed a lot. Idling rules for locomotives could be just one of many changes that get added to the plan, and, the logic goes, if federal regulators approve that plan, then regional guys aren't usurping the role of the federal government when it comes to interstate commerce. AQMD's lawyers have filed a statement from executive director Wallerstein justifying that by pointing to this ruling:

I believed and continue to believe that the Ninth Circuit decision in this case authorized and contemplated that the District could submit the Rules for inclusion into the state implementation plan. I never believed that such action was prohibited by the injunction in this case.

What this all means is that Wallerstein and other AQMD officials will likely testify in the case later this month. Railroads aren't the only ones interested in what AQMD officials will say under oath in open court about diesel particulate pollution and their priorities about it. Especially since AQMD officials had to declare how little they're doing about diesel particulate pollution in order to counter the contempt claim. This kind of thing doesn't happen much.

Japanese tsunami debris expected to reach California shores

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 21:42:51 -0800

The catastrophic 9.0 tsunami that rocked the coast of Japan last March was more than just devastating. Destroying whole villages and reducing the Miyagi Prefecture down to little more than a pile of rubble, it also swept everything in its path – buildings, cars, boats, furniture and more – out to sea. All of which is heading directly for the shores of the western United States, including Hawaii, Washington and of course, California.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency’s Marine Debris Program, all of that stuff (pretty much anything that floats) started showing up last September when fishing buoys from the disaster washed up here in California. The floating detritus, once moving in huge debris fields, has broken down into millions of smaller pieces headed right in our direction.

Exactly when the main mass of this junk is going to start reaching our shores, though, is anybody’s guess. Although calculations by the NOAA predict it will begin happening sometime in 2013, with the bulk of it showing up in 2014. They say that any of the debris coming up radioactive is “highly unlikely,” but are quick to warn citizens to proceed with caution if/when this debris (which could potentially contain human remains) shows up. “Avoid picking up sealed containers of chemicals” is one common-sense suggestion on the Marine Debris Program’s FAQ page). The Environmental Protection Agency is already bracing for what is sure to be a massive clean-up effort.

The U.S. government is also working with Japan to return anything of personal or sentimental value to its home country.

Green love: being eco-conscious makes you sexier and even more dateable

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:48:54 -0800

Ah, the day after Valentine’s Day. Hallmark holiday or not, depending on how things went last night can have a profound impact on today. If it was all good and full of candy, kisses and flowers, today is a rainy but romantic reminder of all things heart-shaped. But if it was a lonely, bitter slog of “woe is me,” today is just a crappy rainy day when the President is going to make traffic even worse.

Buck up, little camper. Wipe those tears and step away from the ice cream. Just the fact that you’re here reading “Pacific Swell” is already setting you up for love. Really. The Timbaland Green Dating Guide by the good people of the outdoor clothier and the relationship experts at OKCupid.com find that 77% of the more than 1000 respondents cited eco-conscious behaviors (like turning off lights and saving water by sharing showers, wink wink) as hot and a great reason to date someone. Just like you do! See, we’re going to have you hooked up in no time.

It gets better: those weekly hikes you’ve been putting off? Put them back on. Almost 60% of those surveyed said they’d rather meet that next Mr. or Mrs. Right while doing something active outdoors. Am I saying that Runyon Canyon is a one big sweaty, yoga-pants-wearing meat market of health-conscious hotties? Maybe, but I digress. It’s not just hiking; according to the survey, outdoor spaces like local farmers’ markets and tending to a community garden are just as effective for finding that special someone.

The guys will like that the fact that these eco-positive ladies like to keep in environmental on dates, too. Instead of dropping big bucks on some fancy dinner, 54% of those surveyed report that an “outdoor adventure” would be an ideal date. Planting trees, roaming an orchard picking fresh fruit and strolling the local botanical garden all ranked high on the list of date activities.

But don’t get too far out of pockets. There are still limits, people. It’s not surprising that 45% of the men would be turned off by a date that tried to force him to eat something exceedingly healthy. But I think that 46% is a low number of women who would balk at a dude who would try to pick them up for a date on their bicycle.

In short, you’re not alone. That red-hot and environmentally aware other half you’ve been looking for is out there. You just have to go out into the big, beautiful world and find them.

It’s official: The air in Los Angeles can kill you

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:05:54 -0800

Most citizens of Los Angeles don’t need a survey to tell them that it’s the most stressful city of America. Still, when Forbes crunched a bunch of numbers including quality of life data, unemployment rates, housing affordability, etc, good old L.A. clocked in at #1.

While we know that stress can lead to a myriad of health issues and according to some, even death. Not exactly the feel-good statistic of the week, but hey, this is Los Angeles. Deal with it.

If that statistic is grim, it’s about to get even worse. According to a new study by the Environmental Protection Agency, just living in Los Angeles can kill you. To be more specific, the rampant air pollution that blankets Southern California is what can actually get you in the end.

Published in the journal Risk Analysis, the study (based on 2005 air quality) estimates that anywhere from 130,000 to 360,000 premature adult deaths in SoCal going forward. They’ve linked the poor air quality to everything from asthma, bronchitis and trips to the ER. In L.A. County, city of Los Angeles led the pack with 10 percent of deaths directly linked to air pollution.

Oh, there’s more. In direct opposition to the cliché that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, yet another study (this one from the Archives of Internal Medicine) links SoCal air pollution to (gulp) brain damage and dementia. In short, we can’t catch a break around here.

“We, as a society, are on the verge of dealing with an unprecedented number of people having dementia,” warned Jennifer Weuve, a researcher at Chicago’s Rush University Medical Center and leader of the study (which examined the effects of course particulate matter on older women) to the Huffington Post. “We know relatively little about how to prevent dementia, but we do know cognitive decline is related to dementia.”

Dementia, death, and brain damage — this is really starting to feel like a prequel to “The Walking Dead.” I’m definitely in the market for a few of those designer medical face-masks that were all the rage in Japan a few years ago…

Greencore: L.A. hardcore band It’s Casual rock out for the MTA’s Red Line

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:10:28 -0800

If there’s one thing all L.A. residents know intimately, it’s traffic. Our fair city is legendary for it, but the harsh reality of getting around Los Angeles behind the wheel is often the very definition of stress. Yes, I’m speaking from experience.

Thankfully, L.A. does have a working public transportation system, the Metropolitan Transportation. Before you go in with the snarky comments about it working, trust me: it does. Try getting across town in my beloved home city of Detroit publically, and then come talk to me.

For Boyle Heights hardcore band It’s Casual, living and working in Los Angeles on the MTA is not only a way of life, but the inspiration behind the band’s new album, The New Los Angeles Part I: Through The Eyes Of A Bus Rider, scheduled for release on March 13. Adamant about sending “a green, pro-public transportation message across the globe,” the album’s first single is an aggressive anthem “The Red Line,” which eschews the virtues of hopping the bus and reminding us that indeed, “the freeways are not so nice.”

Featuring It’s Casual’s singer/songwriter Edward Solis getting off a bus in Hollywood armed with his trusty skateboard and guitar, the video (directed by photographer/Jackass affiliate Rick Kosick) seethes with the tension of being stuck on one of the city’s many thoroughfares, name-checking the 405, 210, 101 and more. Best of all, the song really rocks.

“We’ve been working at it and believing in this kind of music — which I call L.A. hardcore or L.A. skate rock — every day,” Solis says in the band’s online bio. “I don’t take it lightly. It all comes from deep within.”

Solis, who doesn’t own a car, estimates in the band’s latest press release that he’s traveled almost 88,000 miles by way of L.A’s MTA since 2004. If that’s not hardcore, I don’t know what is.