Green Living Workshop update week 7 2009

Sustainable Works Green Living Workshops

There are 6 workshops currently running. This post is specific to the following workshop:

Tuesdays 12-1pm at Bryan Cave

To see other Workshops' posts click on the 'Sustainable Works' header above.

Introduction
>>Santa Monica Sustainable City Plan
>>Santa Monica Ecological Footprint description
>>Santa Monica Ecological Footprint graphic

Footprint Quizzes
>>Take both ecological footprint quizzes and record the number of acres and earths your lifestyle requires in your LifeStyle Survey.
>>Ecofoot.org
>>Myfootprint.org

Green Community Groups
>>Sustainable Business Council
>>Net Impact Los Angeles
>>Green Business Networking
>>LA Green Drinks
>>Eco Tuesdays

Green Happenings
>>GreenLAGirl - Siel's personal blog about eco-happenings in the Los Angeles area

>>GoToGreenLA - find all of the sustainable, eco-friendly, environmentally-conscious events taking place in and around Los Angeles

Sources of Environmental News
>>Grist.org - has an informative and humorous daily newsletter that will keep you abreast of the latest environmental news

>>Green Inc. New York Times Blog - "How will the pressures of climate change, limited fossil fuel resources and the mainstreaming of "green" consciousness reshape society? Follow the money. From renewable energy policy to carbon markets to dubious eco-advertising, our energy and environment reporters track the high-stakes pursuit of a greener globe."

>>GreenBiz.com - offers more than 8,000 resources, including daily news and feature stories, reports, checklists, case studies, and links to organizations, technical assistance programs, government agencies, and recognition programs.

Are you a Los Angeles resident? Help Bring Sustainable Works to the City of Los Angeles!
>>Get ACTIVE! Write a letter to your City Council Member letting them know you would like Sustainable Works programs to be offered in Los Angeles. To find out more about our programs visit our website. To find your City Council representative visit LACity.org, scroll to the bottom of the page and enter your intersection. The results of the search will provide you with a list of your elected officials. See a sample letter.

Documentaries Mentioned During Introduction Week
>>FLOW - Interviews with scientists and activists intelligently reveal the rapidly building crisis, at both the global and human scale, and the film introduces many of the governmental and corporate culprits behind the water grab, while begging the question "CAN ANYONE REALLY OWN WATER?" Via flowthemovie.com

>>An Inconvenient Truth - former Vice President Al Gore presents a compelling look at the state of global warming in the fascinating and startling documentary

>>The 11th Hour - a documentary concerning the environmental crises caused by human actions and calls for restorative action through a reshaping of human activity.

>>The End of Suburbia - A movie that discusses the dwindling supply of cheap energy in the form of fossil fuels and its effect on society.

>>The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard - From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. Via storyofstuff.com

>>Manufactured Landscapes - a documentary on the world and work of renowned artist Edward Burtynsky. Internationally acclaimed for his large-scale photographs of “manufactured landscapes”—quarries, recycling yards, factories, mines and dams—Burtynsky creates stunningly beautiful art from civilization’s materials and debris.

>>Blue Vinyl - A Toxic Comedy Look at Vinyl, The World's Second Largest Selling Plastic.With humor, hope and a piece of vinyl siding firmly in hand, Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Judith Helfand and co-director Daniel B. Gold travel from Helfand’s hometown to America’s vinyl manufacturing capital and beyond in search of answers about the nature of polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

>>Who Killed The Electric Car? - A murder mystery, a call to arms and an effective inducement to rage, Who Killed the Electric Car? is the latest and one of the more successful additions to the growing ranks of issue-oriented documentaries. - The New York Times

>>Fuel - An insightful portrait of America’s addiction to oil and an uplifting testament to the immediacy of new energy solutions. Director, Josh Tickell, a young activist, shuttles us on a whirlwind journey to track the rising domination of the petrochemical industryand reveals a gamut of available solutions to "repower America" —from vertical farms that occupy skyscrapers to algae facilities that turn wastewater into fuel. Tickell and a surprising array of environmentalists, policy makers, and entertainment notables take us through America’s complicated, often ignominious energy past and illuminate a hopeful, achievable future, where decentralized, sustainable living is not only possible, it’s imperative.

>>The Future of Food - There is a revolution happening in the farm fields and on the dinner tables of America -- a revolution that is transforming the very nature of the food we eat. The Future of Food offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade.

>>King Corn - King Corn is a feature documentary about two friends, one acre of corn, and the subsidized crop that drives our fast food nation.