Happy Earth Day!

Today is Earth Day.

Last week, on April 14, 2007, the Los Angeles Greens participated in a march in Westchester to raise awareness about global climate change. The march was organized by Environmental Change Makers and co-sponsored by the LA Greens. The march was part of a national day of action on climate change, Step It Up 2007.

The march was covered by ABC News (2) and LA Indy Media.

Green leads as San Francisco bans plastic bags

Thanks to leadership from San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi (above), one of 50 elected Greens in California, San Francisco has become the first U.S. city to ban all non-compostable plastic bags.

From the Green Party of California press release:

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 10-1 Tuesday to require the city's grocery stores and chain pharmacies to use only recyclable paper or compostable bags, despite stiff resistance from the California Grocers Association and the plastic industry...

The measure had been delayed after the grocery industry went to the Legislature to intervene. Now, the law goes into effect for 54 grocery stores within six months, and a year for large pharmacies with at least five locations. It benefits consumers in many ways, says Mirkarimi.

The compostable "plastic" bags are stronger, they can be dumped directly into a compost pile because they are made from starches like corn and potatoes and they won't pollute the environment, kill marine life or gum up recycling machines. The cost for compostable bags is about the same as paper bags.

Run your Car on Alternative Fuels

A diverse group of Angelenos joined the Los Angeles Greens for our annual Earth Day event! Community activist and Green, Tracy Larkins, discussed how she converted her diesel vehicle to run on waste vegetable oil. She believes veggie oil to be the best option and spoke on the emerging politics of this issue as well. And a representative from LoveCraft Biofuels discussed the conversion process and gave us a look under the hood! (Read the press release.) During the meeting, guests enjoyed complimentary food courtesy of Sante La Brea.