Angelenos: Second Annual Clean Air Car Show, South Pasadena

The clean air car show is coming to town! To a small town east of car-lovin' Los Angeles, no less.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

I went to the South Pasadena First Annual Clean Air Car Show, and IT ROCKED. I saw free screenings of "Who Killed the Electric Car?" and "An Inconvenient Truth" in the fabulous historic Rialto Theatre on Fair Oaks Ave, just south of the olde fashioned Fair Oaks Pharmacy sody shoppe at the corner where it crosses Mission Street.

I eyeballed retoooled (modified) plug-in Priuses. I saw giant PVC solar panels. I saw solar panels added to Priuses. Someone had modded a Honda Element to make it all-electric. People clamored for information on how they could get their diesel cars converted over to biodiesel.

There were panel discussions. Someone from the famed Tesla Motor Corporation spoke about their progress on putting the sexy sports car model in the hands of Hollywood elites who'd pre-ordered them. "When, when, when can we buy the street-friendly sedan version?" people wanted to know.

And of course, there were vendors wanting to let you know about their latest on-demand tankless water heaters. Or sun-powered ovens. (Which baked awesome chocolate chip cookies by the way.)

So, if you have a chance to go this year, you should. It's a nice outdoor festival held in a series of closed-off bank parking lots (how appropos, eh?).

And you can get there by the Gold Line Metro.

There's a Method to Your Greenness

Available at Target and some larger grocery store chains, Method is a complete line of eco-friendly cleaning products.

And I really love some of them.

Like this stuff: lil bowl blu. You squirt it under your toilet bowl's inner lip, wait, and it does a great job of dissolving any gunk that may have accumulated. (Of course you still have to scrub!) Now, I was really skeptical when I tried this, because often "eco-friendly" cleaners don't seem to be, well, quite harsh enough to scour away dirt.

I think this is what makes most people avoid these products: "Sure, it's one thing to use hand soap that's gentle and earth-friendly, but if I want to do a deep clean on the toilet, give me the big bad boys."

Well, lil bowl blu works like its big bad blue cousin, brand unnamed.

And it even has a nice scent, eucalyptus mint. (I can't say that about some of Method's other products. The lavender, for example, just doesn't smell all that great to me. YMMV.)

I also recommend the Tub 'n Tile cleaner. Same "scent" family, does a very good job of cleaning.

And try the body washes. White Tea is delish, and I like the Almond Flower scent too.

(More on their babies/kids' lines in another post.)

The Big "O" at Vons/Safeway/Randalls

I've fallen off the Whole Paycheck wagon, and gotten on the Safeway "O" (or Organics) pony.

When Safeway first began offering organic milk and other dairy products in a distinctive, Whole Foods-ish color scheme, I was intrigued. As ambivalently as I feel about large supermarkets, and as ambivalently as I feel about the expense of Whole Foods' inventory, in the end I am price conscious. And I don't want to "go back" to using fresh ingredients that are pesticide-laden, antibiotic-filled, or hormone-injected.

There's no way to be completely innocent of carbon footprint sins and other stains on my ecological purity. So I have to do the best I can, and try to bring it in under budget.

The "O" line at Vons is actually a pretty good solution. I buy those products on sale and it's a practically a bargain. When a half gallon of organic milk is hovering at $3.99, buying it for $3.50 or $3.29 helps. It all adds up. They're starting to expand their product line, too.

They offer fresh meat, vegetables, fruit, diary & eggs, baby/toddler foods, and beverages. My son likes the drink pouches--the tart-tasting apple is his favorite.

In another post, I'll check on exactly how organic this relatively new line is. Is it for real, or is it just really really good greenwashing? Stay tuned.

Clean & Green

Big ups to Clorox. They figured out that their main product, chlorine bleach, is pretty darn bad for the environment. So they've been working to green their product line.

Here's the result: Green Works. Spray cleaners, wipes, dishwashing liquid, and toilet bowl cleaner.

Much of it is coconut oil-based, and it works just fine. Best of all, you can get it at your local grocery store or chain stores like Target, Kmart, or even Walmart.

Now say what you will about the evils of big box stores (**cough, Walmart, cough**). The fact is, a lot of people shop there. Isn't it better for them to have an eco-friendly choice than to keep reaching for the same old bleach-based or other toxic cleaner?

Christmas Trees: Green or Not?

One of the saddest sights of the New Year is a dried-up evergreen tree on the curb. The tree has served its purpose as decor. Will garbage collectors take it away only to throw it in the town dump?

Here's a list of suggestions of how to do green things with your tree this year, from composting it to re-planting a live one in your yard:

Care2's Green Living on Christmas Trees.
Earthy Family Christmas Tree Suggestions

University of Illinois Cooperative Extension Facts on Christmas Trees

Green Holiday Gift List

Stumped when it comes to green holiday buying?

Try these suggestions:

Salon.com's "Go Green This Holiday Season"

Environmental Defense's "Green Gifts for the Holidays"

Treehugger's 2007 Green Gift Guide

Soy candles at these sources:

SoyDelites
Soyummycandles
Spa Zone Soy Candles

Beeswax candles at these sources:
Beelite Candles
TigerFlag Beeswax Candles
Hurd Beeswax Candles

Upscale Green: Barney's 2007 Holiday Catalog

If you like designer goods, you'll be glad to know that Barney's NY is featuring designer clothing in organic cotton and other earth-friendly fabrics, as well as featuring products that donate a percentage of their profits to non-profit organizations focused on environmental causes.

Take a look at Barney's Green Holiday: a bamboo skateboard, or a Philip Lim organic cotton dress, for example.