Earth Day Activities in April
Several activities will take place in the Palisades in celebration of Earth Day, although every day is Earth Day!
Young Environmentalist Program
Palisades Cares will administer this program. Local students will submit entries by April 1 to the Chamber of Commerce office on Antioch. All participants will be honored on stage at the April 13 Chamber Health and Environment Fair.
To participate, students must go to school or reside in the Palisades. Project must take a minimum of three hours. Details will be posted by March 4.
Recycling in the Palisades
Street-side recycling to Kickoff on April 13
Palisades Cares received a $9600 LA City Community Beautification Grant for the installation of 15 blue recycling bins. Several community organizations and individuals pledged matching funds or volunteer labor in support of this project: Michael Edlen, Rotary, Lion's Club, Optimists, Masons, Kevin Niles, Charlene Ahern, Denise Melas, Betty Resnick, and Josie Tong. Councilman Rosendahl, PRIDE, and the Village Green Committee also support the project. The kickoff date will be at the Chamber's Health and Environmental Fair on April 13. Local students will distribute recycling information and perform environmental skits.
Recycling at Palisades Recreation Center to Start Soon
Palisades Cares is receiving a grant from the Junior Women's Club for recycling bins here, also.
Business recycling
15 local businesses recycle with Chrysalis Recycling, a free weekly service. Clients include: Palisades-Malibu YMCA, Chamber of Commerce, Palisadian-Post, Oasis Palisades, Calvary Christian School, Pacific Palisades Presbyterian Church, Palisades Lutheran Church, Sara Jo, Senior Funding Advisors (and neighbor businesses), Roy Robbins Gifts, Bel Air Bay Club, Wells Fargo Bank. Contact wilsone@changelives.org or Antonia Balfour and Lester Woods of the Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce Business Greening Committee for details. The Chamber committee helps inform businesses of recycling options and encourages businesses to be green. Other Palisades' businesses contract with existing waste haulers or have employees who take home their recyclables. Village Books recycles with Consolidated. First Federal Bank employees take home the recyclables. Spectrum has a substantial recycling program. Gelson's has containers for recycling plastic bottles and aluminum cans outside the north entrance of the store. Businesses can get free recycling bins from the California Department of Conservation at www.bottlesandcans.com.
School recycling: all 11 Palisades schools recycle. Visit "School Greening" for contact info.
Communities of Faith: Palisades Presybterian, Palisades Lutheran, Methodist, and KI recycle. (Others may, further details are forthcoming).
Green Events
-All Chamber events will provide recycling.
-The Chamber has changed the name of its April Health Fair to the Health and Environmental Fair.
Reusable Bags
- Regal Cleaners has sold over 500 reusable cleaning bags that customers use instead of plastic bags! --All local grocery stores offer reusable bags. Ralph's gives $.05 credit per bag. Gelson's enters each bag user in a weekly contest for $25 gift certificate and has a reminder at each checkstand.
-Pharmaca and Elyse Walker both have logoed reusable bags. Elyse Walker donated over 100 bags on the Dec 20 Heal the Bay, "A Day without a Bag".
- On December 20, over twenty volunteers distributed 1300 reusable bags to local businesses and shoppers. The bags were donated by LA City, LA County, onebagatatime, and Palisades Cares (UDO Realty), as well as Elyse Walker.
-On February 9 and 10 local Girl Scouts distributed 1800 reusable bags
Plastic Bag Free Weekend
Girl Scout Cadette Troop 128 distributed 2000 reusable bags on February 9 and 10 as part of their silver badge project. They designed and purchased 900 bags with their cookie money and designed an informational flyer and videos for YouTube. They spoke to community groups including schools, communities of faith, and the Chamber of Commerce. They inspired many residents to use their own bags. Councilman Rosendahl supported them by distributing bags on Sunday at the farmer's market. They inspired younger girl scouts to focus on the environment for their bronze badge. Way to go, girls!
Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs
-Karen Martinez Cohen of Palisades Green Initiative will help you change your light bulbs. Contact karenmmart@aol.com.
Green Businesses
-Lunchopolis is a waste-free lunch kit developed by two Canyon School moms. Visit www.lunchopolis.com for information.
-Greenopia lists green businesses in Pacific Palisades as well as other areas of Los Angeles. The new edition is out now. Reserve a copy at Village Books.
Resources
-Visit www.earthtalktoday.tv, Peter Kreitler's website, for daily EarthTalk News Feeds on environmental news.
-Articles from "Save our Earth" in the Palisadian Post can be found at www.palisadespost.com under the name of Marie Steckmest.
-Useful websites: idealbite.com; nrdc.org; sustainableworks.org; thegreenguide.com; greenopia.com; ladwp.com; stopglobalwarming.org; earth911.org; stopglobalwarming.com; sierraclub.org; ciwmb.org; coalitionforcleanair.org, lacity.org/san., takeaction@newdream.org.
- The Green" on the Sundance Channel, "Planet Earth" on Discovery Channel, and Living with Ed, featuring Ed Begley.
-Books : The Green by Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas M. Kostigen, Green This! greening your cleaning by Deirdre Imus, Worldchanging:A Users Guide for the 21st Century, edited by Alex Steffen; Field Notes from a Catastrophe by Elizabeth Kolbert; An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore; Green Living: The E Magazine Handbook for Living Lightly on the Earth by the Editors of E/The Environmental Magazine; The Solution is You! An Activists Guide, by Laurie David. The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming by Laurie David and Cambria Gordon, and Greenopia, the urban dweller's guide to living green.
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