An environmental impact study will be done and once that is complete the ordinance can be adopted so the actual timeline of when it will take affect is not defined yet.

In 2010, LA county voted to ban plastic bags in unincorporated areas in the county. County officials have said that ban has reduced the use of “single use” plastic bags by 94% in those areas.

The measure comes at a time when plastic bags have come under fire heavily (and rightly so) by environmental groups and individuals. More and more people bring their own reusable bags to the store.

The environmental group Save The Bay lobbied hard for this measure and was present at City Hall yesterday including board member and actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus she said, while holding up a plastic bag, “unlike most other ugly, dangerous and expensive things, we cannot get rid of these overnight” talking about all the plastic waste in our oceans.

We all know that plastic bags are the second most common item found in the ocean after cigarette butts. For an area that loves their beaches and has built a culture around enjoying those beaches it seems appropriate that this measure was adopted.

LA has shown itself to be model for other large (and small) cities to follow!

Check out the hash tag #banthebagla to see people’s pictures from city hall!

Image from Sea-thos Foundation

In this economy we are always looking for great ways to save money and help the environment…. use your library. People buy millions of books a year and millions of trees are used to create those books, never-mind the fuel and emissions used to delivery them to stores or directly to your home. Everyone seems to have a Kindle, iPad, Nook, or some other device but they need to be charged and many of the components used to make them are ultimately harmful to the environment when we are done with them. The greenest option is to go the library and borrow the book you want to read.

Library’s have up to date books that have just come out (maybe not 50 Shades of Grey). Even if you are a slow reader you can renew the book and keep it longer. Even if you do not return it the day it is due you will be giving a contribution to the library to buy more books and will still be cheaper than buying the book.

Do not forget to bring the kids. Library’s are know to attract the kids and their parents but really they are a great resource of education for the kids. You are not going to go to your local Barnes and Nobel and purchase a book about ladybugs because you daughter saw one in her bedroom but you can take one of out of the library (or even better read it to her there!).

Many library’s also have movies to rent, even if they charge a nominal fee I gaurentee it will cheaper than Netflix’s or your cables on-demand prices.

Goto the library, get a card and get a print out of their hours to put on your fridge so you know when they are open. Most cities now have agreements with other towns so you can take out books at more than one towns library in case yours does not have the book you want.

Obviously there will be some books that you want to purchase to keep for reference but really how many times are you going to read the new Sue Grafton book?? Do you really need your own, new copy??

Going to the library is definitely a great way to help the environment.

See my post in a few days about my new favorite thing!

Image from: http://melissamossart.blogspot.com/

For the Mom who loves to Garden:

• Get a recycled bottle watering can.
• Buy fall bulbs for planting (Spring Hill Nursery) with gloves and other garden tools.
• Purchase lily’s in your mother’s favorite color they will grow back every year and make a great addition to the yard… every year she will be reminded how much you love her.
• Get a planter and fill it with strawberry plants so she can put it on her deck and enjoy strawberries through out the year. Throw in some chocolate for her to melt and make chocolate covered strawberries or add a bottle of champagne (they go together so well).
• Fill a planter up with your Mom’s favorite herbs so she will have fresh ingredients on hand.

For the Mom who loves to Cook:

• Guide to how to shop at a Farmers Market, with a list of local farmers markets, and a canvas bag to take with her.
• Meatless cookbook, Mom does not need to be a vegetarian to enjoy some recipes that do not use meat (Moosewood Inn has some fantastic vegetarian cookbooks).
• Bamboo cooking utensils and cutting board (since bamboo is renewable).

For the Mom who loves Clothes:

• A spa gift certificate and a bamboo or organic cotton robe so she can feel like she is at the spa even after she leaves.
• Organic cotton clothing or Bamboo clothing.

For a Mom who loves to Pamper Herself:

• Buy her a basket of products from the Body Shop they use fair trade ingredients, never test on animals, and have been at the forefront of corporate responsibility.
• Aveda organic products including their soy candles.

Other ideas:

• Give to Mom’s favorite environmental charity
• Think of things your Mom really loves, maybe she talks about a thing she had when she was kid that she loved but does not have anymore, look for it at antique shops, Etsy, and Ebay (that is recycling too).
• Buy a picture frame from recycled materials and put a picture of you, your siblings, her grandkids…etc. in it for her.

Remember be creative and really think about what your Mom would like. For all she does for you and your family she will appreciate the thoughtfulness.

Here are some great things I recommend you check out

Teach your Child How to go Paperless on TLC Parentables @laura_St_John of @puterbugs gives some great advice on how to teach your kids how to be environmentally responsible.

Can McDonald’s Lead In Green? on GreenBiz.com tells us about what McDonald’s is doing to compete with other companies that are know for their sustainablity plans.

17 Ways to Get Your Kids to Eat Healthy Food from Good I am not even going to explain it you have to see it!

Finally… a funny but serious image I found on Pinterest

Finding a Farmers Market is much harder than you would think. I know of at least two in a 5 mile radius from my home but you cannot find out about them through any one central source. I found out about both of them through word of mouth. One is a long-established farmers market in an area that can easily support it but it only runs a few months of the year and I am now desperately trying to find out when it starts again. The other one is extremely small, has the worst parking ever and on a weekday. As the interest in farmers markets grow I expect that it will move to a better location with more vendors. But to be perfectly honest finding about either of them is next to impossible.

Here is my advice on how to find them:

• Call you local townships offices, all of these markets need to have permits in the towns they are in so you are most likely to find out about them through this source. They may not know the dates and time though so you need to get the name of the group that obtained the permit and contact them (also note some towns run them so you might be calling the organizer).
• Once you know the organization running the market email or call them to find out when it starts.
• Google or use another search engine to search “farmers markets” and your town or state. You may get linked to the website of the group organizing a farmers market, a farm selling at particular farmers markets, or non-profit groups that have booths at markets.
• Read your local paper or search for a blog about your area that might mention the farmers market.
• Ask your neighbors, maybe they know of one… sometimes there are really close to your home but in a more remote area that you do not drive by to know about.

This is the best site I have found so far is Local Harvest the site is updated by the organizers of each farmers market.

Most importantly once you find one tell people about it and if you had a hard time finding it let the organizers know because they want people to come too.

If you find any good resources on finding a farmers market I hope you will post it here for people to see.

As Earth Day approaches I have been reflecting on how my commitment to the environment evolved and how I came to where I am now.

I think I was born an environmentalist. I think my parents influenced it in a very indirect way. They did some green things but not to be green and I always wanted to take it a step further.

My Great Grandma might have had the biggest influence on me but she was not an environmentalist either, she was widowed single Mom in the Depression who had to provide. She told me about the victory gardens she planted during the war so they could have food to eat and not take away from what could be sent to the troops overseas. She did not buy tons of new things, she made fresh whole foods (many of her recipes are still the best foods I have ever eaten) and she even cleaned with environmentally safe products (home made cleaner).

My parents saved old t-shirts and towels to use as rags and while we did have paper towels in our house we did not use them as often as people do today. We always dusted, washed the cars and our bikes with the rags. We saved our margarine containers to use for our paints or arts and craft products.

My neighbors even influenced me, my next-door neighbors Mom growing up was so cool (she was a kindergarten teacher) and she used to give us the stuff that was left over in the house to use for arts and crafts. They got new shades for a room and she gave us the old one for us to paint and decorate to make a banner. She even let all of us neighborhood kids take over her kitchen to make apple pie from the apples that had fallen on the ground at the local rose garden down the street (how lucky was I to live near a rose garden). Today when us neighborhood kids get together as adults we talk about those apple pies, they did not turn out that good but it was a great memory of being outside together.

As a child I remember the day the town dropped off our first recycling containers, they were black plastic with the town emblem on them and there was a place to write your address on them since everyone would have the same one. I remember sorting our glass by color, this was before comingling. We were definitely one of the first towns to have recycling. I still occasionally see some people in town with those same recycling bins out on the curb!

When I was in either second or third grade I won a poster-making contest about recycling. I wish I had picture of my poster but it was basically two drawings one of a dark yucky world with garbage everywhere and one of a green meadow and pretty flowers on the top it said “if you don’t recycle” and “if you do recycle.”

In my teenage years, I used my babysitting money to be a philanthropist for the environment and gave money to environmental organizations. In my college years when I was studying to be a teacher I did several projects on incorporating environmental education into mainstream lesson plans including math, science, reading..etc. I recently found a copy of a huge semester long project I did on this topic and I wish there was a school I could send my kids to that would do anything close to what I proposed. In graduate school, when I studied public policy and non-profit management I always dreamed of working in an environmental organization.

In my personal life, I recycled as aggressively as I could given the limitations of my municipality. I eat organic as much as I can, in fact I started drinking organic milk as exclusively as I could since my environmental economics class in spring 1997 when I first learned about rBGH.

I started this blog about living a more ecofriendly life before I had children. Not only has it educated me but it has helped introduce me to other amazing people who have the same commitment as me.

When my children were born I really kicked it up, I b-feed which is one of the most physically demanding things I have ever done other than pregnancy. Make organic baby food and send it to school in glass containers with a stainless steel sippy cup.

I hope I raise my kids to realize the importance of protecting the environment and live an environmentally conscious life.

I hope they see my commitment for what it really is, a commitment to them and their kids.

Hope everyone has a great Earth Day and makes one change in their life for the planet.

Updated: For fun last night I tweeted Ed Begley Jr and he responded… Who inspires you?

“@greenforu: @edbegleyjr what is the biggest influence that made you an environmentalist? Mine was my grandma”My dad.

“Most people in the country are looking at everything that’s happened; it just seems to be one disaster after another after another,” said Anthony A. Leiserowitz of Yale University, one of the researchers who commissioned the new poll. “People are starting to connect the dots.”

Yeah! Finally! Awesome! Not sure what else to say about that quote and the study finding that are to be released today stating that over 69% of american’s agreed with this statement “global warming is affecting the weather in the United States“

Dr. Anthony A. Leiserowitz of Yale University and researchers at George Mason University, commissioned the survey, conducted by Knowledge Networks. They surveyed 1,008 American adults by computer in the last half of March, with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Knowledge Networks is known for having more statistically accurate web surveys because they include households of low income by providing them with computers.

The survey shows that people are starting to believe and understand the scientific communities position that greenhouse gases and the human contribution to that has affected our weather. For instance, when people were asked whether they attributed specific events to global warming, recent heat waves drew the largest majorities. Scientists say their statistical evidence for an increase of weather extremes is indeed strongest when it comes to heat waves.

Asked whether they agreed or disagreed that global warming had contributed to the unusually warm winter just past, 25 percent of the respondents said they strongly agreed that it had, and 47 percent said they somewhat agreed. Only 17 percent somewhat disagreed, and 11 percent strongly disagreed.

Majorities almost as large cited global warming as a likely factor in last year’s record summer heat wave, as well as the 2011 drought in the midwest. Those views are also consistent with scientific evidence, which suggests that global warming is causing heavier precipitation in all seasons.

One of the more striking findings was that 35 percent of the public reported being affected by extreme weather in the past year. The United States was hit in 2011 by a remarkable string of disasters affecting virtually every region, including droughts, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, and heat waves.

Dr. Leiserowitz said that recent events might be puncturing the public’s “very simplistic mental model of what global warming is supposed to be.” Past survey work had suggested, he said, that people tended to see the climate change problem as “distant in time and space — that this is an issue about polar bears or maybe Bangladesh, but not my community, not the United States, not my friends and family.”

In reading part of the actual survey results is that 58 percent of Americans would be interested in learning what their favorite TV weathercaster has to say about global warming. This really shows the a great majority of people really want to learn more and from trusted sources. I would venture to guess that people actually like their weatherman/women more than their newscaster. People want to learn more and they do not necessarily trust the news media on this topic.  

It seems that people are starting to realize our actions are affecting the planet and that those actions have serious repercussions. This is great research to come out during the week of Earth Day but I hope that people really see that there is a need for

For more information read the NYTimes article “In Poll, Many Link Weather Extremes to Climate Change,”

For more information read the survey results here

In honor of Earth Day next week I am suggesting that we start a revolution and tell companies that use Styrofoam to stop. It is bad for our health and bad for the environment. If you want more details on why we should not use styrofoam click here to see my post Why Styrofoam is Bad.

ACTION: This week Tweet the companies below and tell them stop using styrofoam us the hashtag #NoStyro If you are not on Twitter go to their Facebook page or email them using their customer feedback pages (links listed below)

Since I wrote that post there have been TONS of people who have gone to the Dunkin Donuts website to leave a comment asking them to stop using styrofoam. Here are some other companies that I have seen using styrofoam. If you know of any others leave me comment, email me at greenforu (at) hotmail (dot) com, or tweet me @greenforu and I will add a link to their comment page.

Dunkin Donuts (@dunkindonuts): Tell Dunkin Donuts on Facebook here. Click here to tell Dunkin Donuts to finally get rid of their cups!

Chick-fil-a (@chickfila and @dancathy): Tell them on Facebook by clicking here. Click here to tell them to stop using styrofoam cups and containers. They even say on their website that they are not going to change their cups till they find a cup that still statifies their customers, right now they have not?

McDonalds ( @mcdonalds and @mcdonaldscorp) They may have ben the leaders in stoping the use of styrofoam containers in the late 80′s and early 90′s. They still use styrofoam cups in some areas for their Sweet Tea drinks. To leave a comment with them on their social responsibily webpage click here

Sonic (@sonicdrive_in): Tell them on Facebook here. Click here to tell Sonic get rid of their styrofoam cups

Jamba Juice (@jambajuice): Tell them on Facebook by clicking here. Click here to tell them to stop using styrofoam cups

Egglands Best (@egglandsbest): Tell them on Facebook here. Click here to tell Egglands Best to stop using styrofoam egg cartons.

Take some time and send these companies your comments telling them you want them to stop using styrofoam.

Sample Tweets to cut and paste:

 @dunkindonuts Coffee tastes better in paper cup. stop using styrofoam #nostyro

@jambajuice Stop putting your healthy fruit juices in styrofoam cups #nostyro

@egglandsbest Eggs prefer to be cardboard not styrofoam, save the earth #nostyro

@mcdonalds @mcdonaldscorp @chickfila In honor of the Earth and our health stop using styrofoam #nostyro

@dancathy as CEO of @chickfila you can help the planet by stopping the use of styrofoam at your resturant #nostyro

ANYONE WHO USES THE HASTAG #nostyro WILL GET A RETWEET FROM ME

Have any other companies I should list email me or enter a comment here on the Green4U Facebook page.

Photo: leadpile.com