Green Day Planner: May 2011

Burbank Library Green Pages
May 2011 Calendar

Calendar of Green Events in Burbank and Greater LA. Check out State and National events on the Green Day Planner.

Burbank – Valley
May 5: Heal the Bay Presentation-Stough Canyon Ctr @ 6:30pm
May 16: Sustainable Task Force @ 4:30pm
May 22: WorldFest Earth Day Festival – Woodley Park, Lake Balboa

Los Angeles – Southern California
May 1: Autry Museum Celebrates Earth Day @ 11am
May 4+ Alternative Clean Transportation Expo – Long Beach
May 4: Spring Green Expo – MWD HQ @ 8:30am
May 5+: California Clean Innovation – San Diego
May 14: Women of the Green Generation Conf – Culver City
May 22+: Windpower 2011 – Anaheim
May 22+: World Envir. & Water Congress – Palm Springs

California – National
May 21+: Greenlife Eco Fest – Grass Valley CA
May 30+ Aspen Environment Forum – Aspen CO

State of the Air 2011

State of the Air 2011

For 12 years, the American Lung Association has analyzed data from state air quality monitors to compile the State of the Air report. The more you learn about the air you breathe, the more you can protect your health and take steps to make our air cleaner and healthier.

The State of the Air 2011 shows that the air quality in many places has improved during 2007-2009. Still, over 154 million people—just over one half the nation—suffer pollution levels that are too often dangerous to breathe. Despite great progress, air pollution lingers as a widespread and dangerous reality. It is important to note this progress, even as some seek to weaken the public health law that has improved the air we breathe since 1970, the Clean Air Act.

Overall findings:

Roughly half the people (50.3%) in the United States live in counties that have unhealthful levels of either ozone or particle pollution. Almost 154.5 million Americans live in the 366 counties where they are exposed to unhealthful levels of air pollution in the form of either ozone or short-term or year-round levels of particles.

Roughly one in 17 people–more than 18.5 million in the United States–live in 10 counties with unhealthful levels of all three measures covered in the report: ozone and short-term and year-round particle pollution.

Cleanest and Most Polluted Cities:
by Ozone
by Year Round Particle Pollution
by Short-term Particle Pollution

Cleanest: Honolulu, HI
Ranked 1 for cleanest metropolitan areas in the country for Ozone
Ranked 1 for cleanest metropolitan areas in the country for 24-hour particle pollution
Ranked 4 for cleanest metropolitan areas in the country for annual particle pollution

Most Polluted: Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, CA
Ranked 1 for high ozone days out of 277 metropolitan areas
Ranked 2 for annual particle pollution out of 277 metropolitan areas
Ranked 4 for 24-hour particle pollution out of 277 metropolitan areas

Compare cities by:
Total Population
Pediatric Asthma
Adult Asthma
Chronic Bronchitis
Emphysema
Cardiovascular Disease
Diabetes
Children Under 18
Adults 65 & Over
Poverty Estimate

Google Blogger - Broken Unusable

Google’s “Simple-to-use interface” on Blogger hasn’t worked since about March 28, 2011. Every New Post is automatically formatted as a paragraph –and there’s usually a space of 2-3 lines between more than 1 paragraph. The result: Blogger looks ugly Blogger is quite useless Blogger is currently a disservice to readers, followers and those of us who blog. I haven’t posted a single post about anything since March 28. Google has not explained or addressed this problem When is Google Blogger going to FIX THIS ? IS Google Blogger going to FIX THIS ? Suggestions that using Chrome, Firefox, etc. is a solution -NOT ! Suggestions that the ‘ Updated Editor ‘ is a solution – NOT ! -the Updated Editor has been and continues to be AWFUL, AWFUL, AWFUL . Explorer worked fine as of March 28th. The “ Old Editor “ worked fine as of March 28th. It is April 13 and still nothing works.

Environmental Film Series: March 31

Burbank Green Alliance
Environmental Film Series
March 31 – 7pm

Economics of Happiness: a one-hour documentary film that explores local solutions to our pressing global problems

The Economics of Happiness demonstrates that millions of people are already engaged in building a better world. The film shows that countless small scale initiatives around the world are exploring potential solutions to the multiple crises we face—climate chaos, economic meltdown, and our own personal suffering such as stress, loneliness, and depression. These initiatives are united around a common cause: rebuilding more democratic, human scale, ecological and local economies – the foundation of an “economics of happiness”.

Woodbury University
Fletcher Jones Auditorium
7500 N. Glenoaks Blvd. Burbank, CA 91504

7:00pm Booth Exhibit
7:30pm Screening and Panel Discussion
$10 Suggested Donation (no-one turned away)
RSVP

Earth Hour: March 26

Earth Hour 2011
March 26 @ 8:30 pm
It's time to go beyond the hour

Earth Hour 2011: Beyond the Hour from WWF on Vimeo.

Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million individuals and more than 2,000 businesses turned their lights off for one hour to take a stand against climate change. Only a year later and Earth Hour had become a global sustainability movement with more than 50 million people across 35 countries/territories participating. Global landmarks such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge, CN Tower in Toronto, Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and Rome’s Colosseum, all stood in darkness, as symbols of hope for a cause that grows more urgent by the hour.

World Water Day: March 22

World Water Day: March 22

The Institute for Sustainability, CSUN is hosting Water Day on Tuesday, March 22 in the University Student Union, Northridge Center.

11:00am-12:15pm: screening of the documentary, “Tapped”
~ followed by a Q&A with Tony Machado, PhD, REHS, Dept. of Environmental and Occupational Health

12:15pm Refreshments

12:30-1:45pm: Speakers
~ Don Kendall, Ph.D., P.E., Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UCLA: “Water Supply, Distribution and Treatment in California”
~ Fred Barker, P.E., Waterworks Engineer, LADWP “Water Sanitation and Delivery in Developing Nations: A Peace Corps Experience
Please RSVP for this event.

This is the first time in human history that most of the world's population live in cities: 3.3 billion people ...and the urban landscape continues to grow.

38% of the growth is represented by expanding slums, while the city populations are increasing faster than city infrastructure can adapt.

The objective of World Water Day 2011 is to focus international attention on the impact of rapid urban population growth, industrialization and uncertainties caused by climate change, conflicts and natural disasters on urban water systems.

This year theme, Water for cities: responding to the urban challenge, aims to spotlight and encourage governments, organizations, communities, and individuals to actively engage in addressing the challenges of urban water management.

Water and Cities - Facts and Figures (162Kb PDF)

California Watch: Green Leadership Awards

2011 Green California Leadership Awards
Deadline: March 25

In cooperation with the Advisory Board for the 2011 Green California Summit, the Green California Leadership Awards have been established as a forum to recognize outstanding environmental achievements in government. This is an opportunity to highlight and celebrate successful state and local government projects implemented in California during 2010. All nominated projects must be publicly financed and executed, and must have provided a measurable benefit to the natural or human environment.

Project Awards will be given in each of the following categories:
• Climate Change: Initiatives reducing human contribution to greenhouse gases
• Waste Management
• Energy Innovation
• Transportation
• Green Building
• Water Management: Significant savings in water conservation & efficiency
• Purchasing
• Green Culture: Systemic efforts promoting understanding & application of sustainability concepts