another day at work

please step into my office...ha ha.

one of tomas' neighbors has this grass couch outside of their house and we love it! learn how to sprout your own through readymade's tutorial.

urban permaculture in la

Sure, with miles upon miles of sprawling single family homes, congested freeways, paved rivers and architecture meant to be viewed from the seat of a moving vehicle, I can attest that Los Angeles does a good job of living up to its reputation of a city filled with un-inspired design. However, if you take a deeper look into this complex urban fabric, you will discover some green gems that are making big impacts here and opening the eyes of city dwellers around the globe.

Pasadena-based Path to Freedom (PTF) was featured in the LA times twice this week (here and here) for what founder Jules Dervaes calls his "homegrown revolution," created by using "hands as weapons of mass creation."

PTF is an example of urban permaculture, a design philosophy rooted in careful observations of natural patterns and a harmonious integration of ourselves and our communities into the landscape. Using the principles of permaculture, Dervaes and his family have transformed their 1/5 acre city lot into an urban homestead to decrease their energy dependency and to exemplify self-reliant urban living.

Home to over 350 different edible and useful plants and a variety of insects and animals, PTF produces an impressive 3 tons of organic fruits and vegetables annually on their small lot. This produce is supplied to local restaurants and caterers through PTF's home business Dervaes Gardens.

In a permaculture model, all waste, if left an unused resource, becomes pollution. So all food waste at PTF is recycled to its next highest use, through composting to build healthy soil. The use of energy-efficient and human-powered appliances, solar and cob ovens, and solar panels has reduced their electricity dependence by two-thirds. The Dervaes also home-brew their own biodiesel, and are working on water harvesting and re-use projects. They do all of this while maintaining their highly informational website and blog...

continue on at worldchanging los angeles

[Photo by Al Seib for the Los Angeles Times]

[edited by greenlagirl, siel)

partying with purpose

i am quite behind in my posts, but i wanted to shout out to the inspiring group of people who came to the good magazine and world changing party a few weeks back in celebration of the launch of the world changing book.

i took phil (who still hasn't passed on the photos from that night...ahem) and he was so inspired that he bought 5 copies of the book for edsa offices around the world. alex steffen (executive editor) signed each copy with a few words for each office and our new friend, tomas, caught it on film. tomas is fabulous and so is his website think organic where you can view his video shorts on topics of sustainability.

i also got to catch up with the beautiful alanna, feris of greenopia, barent of greendrinks and grow-design, damien of treehuggertv and green la girl siel among others doing amazing, world changing things. except for carrying phil's 5 very heavy books back to santa monica (thank goodness for beer muscles) and my headache the next morning (the after-effects of beer muscles), i had a blast.

the book itself is beautifully designed and the message is powerful. you can find it at a local bookstore near you, or through the world changing site.

swap-o-rama-rama

"There is no beauty in the finest cloth if it makes hunger and unhappiness." Gandhi

i can not wait for december 16th, the swap-o-rama-rama is coming to el lay!! i discovered the sorr a few months ago when i was researching re-made clothing and came across their website which featured images of not one, but two of my very dearest girlfriends! so i knew that this was something that i needed to know about!

say hello to my dear friend maryann (aka orange) who worked with me in the environmental consulting world in sacramento when i first moved to california. she introduced me to the n street co-op that eventually became my home in davis. that's the fabulous amy in the background. this photo is from the san francisco sorr.

and my sweet kristy who went through landscape architecture school with me at penn state. she is crafty beyond comprehension and a very green lady indeed. this is her sewing up her masterpiece at the brooklyn sorr.

sorr is basically a huge clothing swap and series of do-it-yourself workshops that help participants unleash their creative genius. the following is from an email that i received recently:

It's easy to move from consumer to creator! At Swap-O-Rama-Rama you'll find talented indie designers and DIY stations where you can learn traditional crafts like embroidery, beading and appliqué. These include sewing stations with sewing machines run by knowledgeable clothing and costume designers; silk screening, and decoration stations for working with beads, buttons, and a variety of accouterments. This year we'll have a team of LA's best volunteers ready to help you find a new recycled look. But of course the core of the swap is the gigantic piles of free clothing sorted into categories: pants, shirts, skirts, sweaters etc. These piles are the collective total of each guest’s contribution of one bag of unwanted clothes. Take home as much clothing as you can carry. Remainders go to Out of The Closet Thrift Stores.

so start decluttering your closet now (i already have a bag of clothes ready) and join me at the swap-o-rama-rama el lay...

december 16th, 11am to 7pm
$5 plus any size bag of unwanted clothing
$10 without clothing
once inside all of the materials for creativity and all the clothes you can carry are free
all ages welcome!
join the list: swaporamarama-subscribe@gaiatreehouse.com

location: shrine auditorium expo center
700 w 32nd st, la 90007

holy weekend batman!

ok kids, lots going on this weekend so here's the skinny:

tonight, friday, december 1st:


>>santa monica critical mass coming at ya at 6:30 pm.

"Come to a rolling celebration of bicycles, an organized coincidence that happens every 1st Friday at the Santa Monica Pier (Ocean Ave @ Colorado Ave.) Gather at 6 PM, depart at 6:30 PM."

tomorrow, saturday, december 2nd:

>>free intro to permaculture class from 10am-4pm at the audobon center at deb's park 4700 north griffin ave., 90031.

"We are living on a planet in crisis; often individuals feel powerless to effect change but Permaculture offers positive solutions to the problems facing the world; using ecology as the basis for designing integrated systems of food production, housing, technology and community development, you can learn to create a self-sustaining environment, on a farm or in your urban backyard or apartment. The Permaculture Design Course is for anyone interested in gaining skills and perspective for sustainable living and productivity. A Permaculture Design Course is a way to share accumulated information with others. This Introduction to Permaculture Class is an outline of the science and art of Permaculture. It will define the term and its history, its founders, the curriculum of the design course certificate, its ethics and foundations. It will describe the benefits and show some of the most important work undertaken by permaculture designers. For More Information contact: David Kahn 323 667 1330 or info@susltainablehabitats.org www.sustainablehabitats.org"

>>join c.i.c.l.e.'s car-free hauliday toys & mittens ride to benefit the hollywood sunset free clinic and the homeless family christmas day luncheon. bring toys and warm clothes to share with families in need and deck out your bike for this festive ride! 12:30 pm meet at the vermont/sunset red line station (1500 n. vermont ave, la)

>>saturday evening, head over to equator books in venice (1103 abbot kinney) for the world changing book release party...el lay style. this one is also hosted by good magazine and more info can be found on their website. i'll definitely be at this one, so come out to meet other world changers and grab your copy of the book.

>>tales of wonder, tales of woe, a solo exhibition of work by darrah danielle will be hosted at one of my favorites...the transport gallery. the opening reception is...you guessed it...saturday! from 6-11 pm. this is the transport gallery's final exhibition so come out and support local artists. darrah's work is fantastical...

"Reminescent of a colorful cabinet of curiosities, the mixed media pieces in this collection draw you into an enchanted realm where fragments are transformed into petit fables that sing the heart."

>>and don't forget the the hive gallery and studios presents "dolls, dolls, dolls show" saturday from 8pm-12:30am. the featured artist for the night is myna sonou and the featured installation artist is none other than the talented miss jesse spears...daughter of shrine, and co-creator of the making love out of trash exhibit that i posted a while back.

phew!! hope to see some of you at these events...remember to walk, bike, public transport, and carpool!

what can i do?

"it's not that easy being green
having to spend each day the color of the leaves
when I think it could be nicer being red, or yellow or gold
or something much more colorful like that

it's not easy being green
it seems you blend in with so many other ordinary things
and people tend to pass you over 'cause you're
not standing out like flashy sparkles in the water
or stars in the sky

but green's the color of Spring
and green can be cool and friendly-like
and green can be big like an ocean, or important
like a mountain, or tall like a tree

when green is all there is to be
it could make you wonder why, but why wonder why
wonder, I am green and it'll do fine, it's beautiful
and I think it's what I want to be"


last night, i found myself in a room full of people with one burning question on each of our minds...what can i do today for a greener el lay?

that was the theme of the speakeasy hosted by smartgals that i attended right down the street. the evening began with holly ramos' live set and her sweet rendition of the muppets' "it's not easy being green" (lyrics above). a quiz on sustainability was given to warm up conversation, as the guest speakers for the evening: colin bogart, president of the la bike coalition, anna cummins, founder of bring your own, jose angel orozco, creator of the coffee cellar, katura reynolds of treepeople, and james roja of the mta got settled in. each of the panelists introduced themselves and their visions for a greener los angeles, and then opened up for a short q&a from the room.

the topics that were discussed were broad yet very connected. we discussed the need to reduce our disposable mentality here in los angeles (and the usa in general) that anna is tackling through her reusables campaign. anna also talked about the documentary "our synthetic sea" which inspired her through discovering the incredible effects that plastics are having on our oceans. jose talked about the importance of fair trade, organics, and shade grown in the coffee business, and why it makes a better cup of joe. colin made the point that you don't have to throw your car over a cliff and become an avid cyclist to make a difference...bicycling for your local errands instead of driving or commuting to work by bike one day a week makes a big difference, especially when a lot of people start to do it. james expressed his desire to make los angeles more of an experiential city and our need to engage ourselves in the urban fabric through walking, biking, and utilizing the public transportation system. europe, he said, is shaped by people who live in smaller apartments, use public transport, and collect experiences whereas the united states is more shaped by consumption and the collection of things. this proved to be a hot topic, and the point was made that los angeles neighborhoods (culver city for example) are creating experience locally but that the public transportation and bikeway infrastructure are not there to support it... last but not least, ketura explained that treepeople is a community service and gave many reasons why neighborhoods should utilize their community treeplantings (um, like we all need to breathe right?).

all in all, it was an evening full of great conversation and intention. it inspired me to see so many people working hard for the cause in my new community. i also got to catch up with my permaculture buddy eric from los angeles post carbon, and finally got to meet anna!

"riding around in city buses for a hobby is sad"

i had some errands to run today so i decided to make an adventure of it. i caught the metro bus 4 from the corner right outside my house and rode it to downtown where i took care of all of my business pretty efficiently. i picked up the red line subway back to vermont/sunset and wandered my way around the neighborhood until i reached home.

i'm always amazed how e m p t y the subways are here in el lay... they are clean, efficient, and fun to ride on compared to other cities that i have lived, but on a friday afternoon the amount of riders was very very light. after some research, i came across an article from city beat that says:

"Despite more than 73 miles of rail, the Metro system only serves about 217,000 people on an average weekday and much less on weekends. In a city notorious for its smog, car culture, and abundant highways, trains offer a much-needed alternative to driving. However, putting the “mass” in “mass transit” will depend on a massive extension of the current system – especially to both East L.A. and the Westside."

so pretty much the "the L.A. Metro Rail is clean and safe, in part, because it just doesn’t go anywhere."

there is, of course, a west side extension in the works (there was a groundbreaking ceremony in late september 2006) ... but don't count on riding on it any time soon. the expo line will is set for completion in 2010 and will only get us from downtown la to culver city, with the second phase of development eventually extending the line to santa monica. luckily we have the friends 4 expo who have played a big role in keeping this project going, and will continue to push for the full expo extension to the beach...i just hope to ride it in my lifetime.

the los angeles metropolitan transportation authority (mta) was voted america's best recently. even though they obviously have quite a ways to go, i do appreciate their efforts in bringing safe and cohesive public transportation to a city that desperately needs it. you can plan your own el lay adventures on the metro website.

p.s. the title is a quote from a belle & sebastian song :)

only in el lay

greendrinks gets press from the el lay times...they even shouted out to "permaculture!"

a ucla study exposes hollywood vip's for what they really are: very impacting polluters (via defamer)

explore the lost streams of los angeles with the el lay weekly

guerrilla bbq's and other city repair projects

saturday night, the los angeles permaculture guild and saje hosted a slide show by mark lakeman, founder of portland's city repair project. my partner in crime for the evening was geofrey collins (architect and founder of sco studio in venice). we had both seen mark's slideshow before, but we heard that there'd be booze and other local permies there...so we were of course sold.

city repair is a multi-disciplinary, non-profit organization which works with communities to recreate the infrastructure of the public commons where people live. some of the projects that mark highlights are the conversions of street intersections into public squares, or organizing other forms of permanent or ephemeral place interventions. city repair is effectively engaging citizens in the reinvention of the public landscape using natural building and permaculture techniques.

city repair also hosts the village building convergence, a 10-day event held every may in portland where citizens, natural builders and activists come together to help neighborhoods design and build their own community amenities.

after the lecture, everyone hung out on the sidewalk outside (realize that this is right downtown in the most industrial section of el lay...not a spec of green to be seen). ray brought his amazing rocket stove/oven (pictured to the right) which proved to be the hit of the afterparty as he whipped up pizza and other yummie bites and cooked it over the heat of pallets that he found in the street. now that was a real guerilla bbq if i ever saw one. people talked about city repairs and green dreams for el lay. all in all, it was quite an inspiring night.

urban greening

out of 33 design firms recently submitting entries for a new 32-acre state historic park on the not a cornfield site in downtown el lay, the entries from new york-based field operations, hargreaves associates of san francisco and mia lehrer and associates of los angeles have come out on top...and each with quite different proposals reports the latimes.

i definitely see the benefit in field operation's radical proposal, which includes relocating dodger's stadium to the not a cornfield site, in getting people to think outside of the box. the city needs progressive vision, as the latimes says, "to keep us from falling back into the kind of default planning mode that focuses on the short term."

however, on a sustainability front, i see more benefit in a plan such as hargraves' which makes a green statement for the city with it's low-slung structures covered with photovoltaic panels and a series of wetland habitats reaching out to the los angeles river.


mia lehrer's design calls for a similar elegant transition from urban to natural and symbolically utilized the leaf-shape of the site. lehrer's firm also benefits from the knowledge of the area from working on a new master plan for the l.a. river.

eventhough funding for the project is still up in the air, (the outcome of proposition 84 will have a big impact on this), the chosen team will ultimately make a huge statement for the city of los angeles. it is really exciting how much this competition has raised awareness and discussion about urban planning in los angeles, and has people visualizing great green possibilities beyond the current concrete jungle.

check out worldchanging for a great article about "remaking l.a.".

city of palms, ca changes name to palm-less

one might say that palm trees are to el lay as, say, potatoes are to idaho...neil diamond even sang about los angeles as a place where “palm trees grow and rents are low” (remind me to ask neil who *his* landlord was!) however, the long-time symbol of classic southern california landscape is slowly being phased out as the trees are dying from fungal disease and old age. the city is replacing the sick palms with oaks, sycamores, and other native species with greater environmental benefits such as shade cover, air-pollution trapping, and wildlife habitat (although i know that owls nest in palms...and rats too!).

although we're not going to wake up tomorrow to a palm-less city, it is likely that our treescape will continue to be altered through the million trees initiative launched earlier this month 'cause palms didn't make that the cut for that either. (via msnbc)

i am quite happy with the push for natives as i don't consider palms more than ornamental picks (remind me to tell you about the thumb-numbing work i did at the american academy in rome carving model-bound trees from toothpicks!) and crave streets lined with real trees like the ones that they use up north...you know, ones with leaves and stuff!

image titled "transition 5 ( sunrise )", 2006,
by my incredibly talented friend and local venetian kenny littlejohn harris

only in el lay

the los angeles design czar has a few words to say about beautiful el lay...

ecorazzi spills the beans on which celebreties did not make the green grade this week...

and join pierce brosnan this sunday for his sandcastle building contest! oh, and also to fight the installation of a gigantuan liquified natural gas facility off the coast of malibu.

current exhibitions

not necessarily green in nature, these current exhibitions at the moca and lacma explore our perceptions of beauty, environment, and design...

parallel practices in fashion & architecture

This exhibition explores the common visual and intellectual principles that underlie both fashion and architecture. Both disciplines start with the human body and expand on ideas of space and movement, serving as outward expressions of personal, political, and cultural identity. Architects and fashion designers produce environments defined through spatial awareness—the structures they create are based on volume, function, proportion, and material. Presenting the work of international fashion designers and architects, the exhibition examines themes such as shelter, identity, tectonic strategies, creative process, and parallel stylistic tendencies including deconstruction and minimalism.
(via moca)

breaking the mode: contemporary fashion from the permanent collection

Creating clothing, for protection, profession, or spectacle, has undergone dramatic change over the past twenty-five years. A number of designers have introduced subversive elements into the fashion system, examining and deconstructing its entrenched conventions and changing the rules about what is aesthetically pleasing and fashionable. Breaking the Mode: Contemporary Fashion from the Permanent Collection will present designers who found traditional criteria and solutions obsolete – designers who challenged the canons of the body’s fashionable silhouette, revolutionized methods of garment construction, rejected the formulaic use of materials and techniques, and exploited new technology in textile production.
(via lacma)