Audbon Society - November 10, 2019

Sunday, November 10 at the Green Tent:

The Los Angeles Audubon Society

Join us this Sunday, November 10 at the Mar Vista Green Tent for our guest: Los Angeles Audubon Society.

Harlequin Beetle

The Los Angeles Audubon Society has taught local school children about the Ballona Wetlands since 1991. Every year, 2500 students have the opportunity to visit this special place and see the plants and animals that make Ballona their home. 

According to the Drawdown data, coastal wetland ecosystems are one of the top 100 solutions for reversing Global Warming. Relative to their land area, they sequester huge amounts of carbon in plants aboveground and in roots and soils below. Coastal wetlands can store five times as much carbon as tropical forests over the long term, mostly in deep wetland soils!

A project planned by the State of California will bring serious changes to the existing habitat. The Los Angeles Audubon would love to share more information about the future of the wetlands. Stop by the Green Tent this Sunday to learn more about programs that inspire our future conservationists and what you can do to keep Ballona thriving!

Learn about the outdoor education programs sponsored by the Los Angeles Audubon Society that bring the children of Los Angeles to remnant wild and natural places that are found amid our big city. They work with all age groups, from elementary to high school, striving to show and educate field trip participants that nature still exists in our own back yard and the importance of our local ecosystems. Programs are keyed to Next Generation Science Standards, and support curriculum being taught in the classroom.

Approximately 3,500 school children every year, at the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve and Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area, engage in hands-on activities that include using binoculars to view local birds and other wildlife, scientific illustration exercises where they take a close up view of local flowers and invertebrates and record their observations through drawing, and hiking through open spaces. 

In addition, the Audobon Society hosts a monthly Open Wetlands at the Ballona Ecological Reserve to reach a broader audience, and allow access to a reserve that is usually closed to the public. Stop by the Green Tent this Sunday to find out how you can participate.

Green Burial November 3, 2019

Here is one unexpected way to benefit those you leave behind: 

Transition Mar Vista and Bridging Transitions present: 

Greening Your Death: Your Final Footprint.

Transition Mar Vista and Bridging Transitions invites you to join us Sunday November 3rd, at the Green Tent, in becoming more aware and creative in how we deal with death. 

Honoring the human life cycle and honoring the earth can go hand in hand, so let's find ways to green our final footprint. While dedicated to sustainable living, the green movement has been slow to address how our dying impacts the environment. In the US we bury 20 million feet of wood for caskets, 1.6 million tons of concrete and 4.3 million gallons of embalming fluids containing formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, every year! And cremation, often thought of as a green alternative to burial, has a significant carbon footprint as well as lacing our air with other pollutants such as mercury. 

There is a better way to go!

Come learn about Green Burial, at Sea burial, and new more earth friendly options coming online. Drop by for a chat, information and resources, and participate in creative ways to honor our dead and our own legacy to nature.

You may also want to explore the Green Burial Council website. Honoring the human life cycle and honoring the earth can go hand in hand, so let's green our final footprint.

Grey Water - December 15

Grey Water Conversion - December 15, 2019

GET THAT GREY WATER IN THE GROUND!

Don't let the winter rains fool you.  We still need every drop of water back in the soil.  Redirecting grey water is an easy way to prevent waste.  

What is grey water? It's the "waste" water from your washing machine reused to water your fruit trees or perennial plants instead of being sent to the reclamation plant and then out to the ocean.With a greywater system, every time you do a load of laundry your plants get a good drink and you save money as well.

As everyone knows, California has experienced an extreme drought for many years and it will most likely continue. Water is probably the most important resource for every living species on our planet. Learn how to double the usage of your water!




Green Tent guest Art Lee holds workshops that cover all the information you need to install a grey water system at your house. He's bringing a mini greywater demo system so visitors can see how it works and will answer your questions. He'll also have a signup sheet for those interested in attending a future workshop.

Posted by Mar Vista Green Committee at 9:51 PM  

Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest

CALPIRG Save the Bees Campaign

Ban Bee-Killing Pesticides !

Come to the Green Tent this Sunday, September 28, and learn about what you can do to eliminate a dangerous new class of toxic chemicals from our soils, our foods and our bodies.

In just 2 minutes you can complete an action step toward saving the bees and other pollinators.

   The Problem: 

A critical problem affecting the bees is that they are increasingly exposed to a relatively new class of pesticides called neonicotinoids (neonics). These chemicals have been used in exponentially increasing quantities in the last few years and studies definitively link loss of bees to exposure to neonics. Some bees experience acute toxicity from directly sprayed crops and die right away, while others are chronically exposed as they collect pollen from flowers grown from neonics-treated seeds. 

Neonics are neurotoxins. In addition to weakening bee immune systems and making them more susceptible to disease, the neonics disorient the bees meaning they can’t find their way back to their hives. And unfortunately the NIC in neonics acts just like nicotine in cigarettes – it can be addictive to bees. So bees are exposed and then go back and back again to plants that have been treated, increasing their exposure and speeding up the die off.

The Solution

To fully save the bees we need to phase out and then ban the use of neonics and we need to ensure that they are not replaced with equally or more dangerous chemicals. Common sense alternatives exist, like altering the time of planting and watering, and planting more native species, but big big agrichemical companies like Monsanto, Dow Chemical, Bayer and Syngenta are fighting to prevent bans.

Thankfully, many legislative bodies have already begun the process of removing this deadly chemical from our lands. The European Union has banned several of them; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has committed to phasing them out on the public lands they manage; and cities like Seattle and states like Maryland and Connecticut have taken action as well. 

In order to restore bee populations to health and save our food supply, we need states and cities to ban the sale of bee-killing pesticides. In California, we’re focused in particular on closing the loophole that has allowed companies to continue to sell neonics-coated seeds, an issue the state is required to address with new legislation proposals by February of 2026. And on a local level, we’re looking to expand the number of “Bee Friendly” cities and campuses across the state.

How?

With many strategies including

• Petitions

• Press conferences 

• Lobbying with statewide leaders 

• Volunteering 

• Canvassing

Organizational History:

Our partner groups Environment America and U.S. PIRG both have a history of working on pesticides and bee-killing pesticides. Environment America has organized chefs and restaurateurs in support of a Bee Friendly Food Alliance. And U.S. PIRG has a long history of working on pesticides, mostly from a public health perspective, and in this case from a food supply perspective. The last time this campaign was run in California, we got several universities and cities registered as “Bee Friendly”, and got legislation passed to ban the commercial sale of neonics sprays in private gardens.

.

Solar - 10-13-19

Sunday, October 13 At the Green Tent

Solar Power   

Solution #10 to Reverse Global Warming

Rooftop solar panels are ranked the #10 solution (out of 100) that will help us achieve drawdown* by the year 2050.  Learn more about current rebates and general information about solar panels on Sunday, October 13, at the Green Tent.  Local solar expert Jeffrey Sugarman looks forward to answering your questions.

Unfortunately, the 30% federal tax credit for solar is being phased out, starting at the end of this year (December 31, 2019).

If you’ve been thinking about solar, and want to take advantage of the full tax credit, you will have to do so in the next two and a half months.

Also, please check out the following link to get politically active in the attempt to extend the credit: https://www.seia.org/initiatives/solar-investment-tax-credit-itc

*Drawdown is that point in time when the concentration of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere begins to decline on a year-to-year basis. It's not a quick fix, but we CAN REVERSE GLOBAL WARMING...if we all get on board and get our friends and families on board.  This is great news for humans and other living things.  It is a plan that invites us to participate at any level we can.   

There are many simple steps you can take (you are probably already doing some of them) to make an impact!  Check out this TED Talk to get the big picture: Chad Frischmann simplifies Drawdown...

Wild Birds in Your Backyard - October 6, 2019

Wild Birds in Your Backyard!

     On Sunday, January 12, Wild Birds Unlimited of Santa Monica's Julie Hanson will greet shoppers at the Mar Vista Farmers Market's Green Tent and talk about “The Wilderness in Your Backyard.” For the wild birds around the neighborhood, a typical backyard is their wilderness, the place where they find food, water and shelter, and raise their babies.

For fun, kids can stop by and make a pine cone feeder to take home. The local birds will delight in finding your backyard offering of a nutritious treat and the whole family will enjoy seeing who stops by for a visit.

Come and learn how you can enjoy the numerous wild birds living in your own backyard by putting out the feeders, food, and water that the birds love. 

Ms. Hanson will show Green Tent guests the typical wild birds that visit their backyards and neighborhoods, and how to view and recognize them.

Learn how you can support and protect the birds and their nests in the neighborhood's trees and bushes.

CCL September 29, 2019

Come to the Green Tent this Sunday, September 29, and learn about the work of Citizen's Climate Lobby and their audacious plan to make corporations pay for 

Citizens’ Climate Lobby

Citizens’ Climate Lobby  (CCL) is a

nonpartisan, grassroots organization

focused on national policies to address climate change.

We work to create a broad foundation for climate action across all geographic regions and political inclinations.

CCL supports passage of  the

Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act  

(Bill H.R. 763).

It will drive down America’s carbon

pollution while unleashing American technology

This policy is:

Bipartisan

The majority of Americans support Congress taking

action on climate  change, including more than half of

Republicans.

Effective

Resources for the Future estimates a 47 percent

drop in net U.S. greenhouse gas emissions would

occur by 2030 from this legislation. 

Good for People

Will improve health and save lives.

The  carbon dividend puts money directly

into people’s pockets every month to spend as they

see fit, helping low and middle income Americans.

Good for the economy

Will create over 2  million new jobs,

thanks  to economic growth in local

communities across America.

Revenue Neutral

The fees collected on carbon emissions will be allocated

to all Americans to spend any way they choose. The

government will not keep any of the fees collected.

master gardeners - September 22, 2019

IT'S "MASTER GARDENERS" SUNDAY!

On Sunday, September 22,  from 9 am to 1 pm, the UCCE LA County Master Gardeners will be at the Green Tent with plants and seeds to give away. Stop by for your choice of seedlings lovingly grown by the Master Gardeners expressly for the Mar Vista community. As always you’ll get a chance to start your own plants from seeds — everything the Master Gardeners bring, they give away for FREE!

If you’ve been planting and you have any leftover plastic six packs like these, please drop them off to the Master Gardeners so they can continue to provide you with seedlings every month. 

Click here for a handy monthly list of things to do in the garden in LA County.

Have a Gardening Question?  Email mglosangeleshelpline@ucdavis.edu with a description of your concern or question; attaching photos helps the Master Gardener diagnose the problem. OR, you can phone in your concern or question by leaving a detailed message at (626) 586-1988.

Reversing Global Warming - September 15, 2019

Can Global Warming Unify Humanity ?

It is easy to get caught up in the gloom and doom, the infighting and polarization of our current social and political landscape.  How about trying a little mental jujitsu and looking at all of the ways addressing Global Warming can benefit us individually and as a species?  Try the suggestions below as a daily Mindfulness Practice.

REDUCE FOOD WASTE

Eat foods in their original form. No processing to degrade food value, no packaging to deplete the environment.   Shop at Farmers Markets to reduce food travel time and support more regenerative agricultural practices.  To learn how forward thinking farmers are reversing global warming, watch Farmer's Footprint.  

Prepare meals and eat them at home. You will burn about 250 calories for each meal you prepare. If you have young children, you will teach them a valuable skill which is empowering and a money saver.  

SAVE ENERGY

Turn off electronics when not needed   In addition to turning off lights and unplugging personal electronics when they are done charging, why not put on a sweater when you are cold and only use the AC when you are really feeling the heat.  Use stairs instead of pressing that elevator button...a nice little treat for your heart and and muscles, too!

PLANT TREES

Walk or bike instead of driving whenever possible.  Dirty fossil fuels are killing us as they contribute to global warming.  Skip the car when you can.  Carpool when  you can't.  You may end up shopping closer to home which is good for the small businesses in your neighborhood and fosters a sense of community, a stress-reducing bonus.  (see below)

CONSERVE WATER

Get to know your neighbors. A recent Los Angeles Times article cited research that indicates people who have good relationships with their neighbors live happier, healthier lives. And when you are preparing those home-cooked meals, it’s so much easier to borrow a cup of sugar or a lemon from a neighbor than to drive your car to the market and back. A real stress-reducer!



Choose exercise options that have the lowest environmental impact while bringing you the greatest joy. Example: Instead of getting in your car and driving to the gym for an hour, and then driving back again, why not put on some of your favorite music and dance around the house? 


Stay connected to your motivators. Write them somewhere and review them often! 

Take time to just sit and be...even if it's only 5 minutes a day.

Stop by the Green Tent for tips on how to experiment with these ideas and incorporate the best into your life. Mar Vista resident and Green Tent Manager Jeanne Kuntz is a certified wellness coach; learn more at her Teaching Wellness website. 

Check out Talk Nerdy to Me.  An awesome group for local folks who want to meet up, socialize and learn!

Mar Vista Art Walk

MAR VISTA ART & MUSIC WALK

Mona Lisa" by artist Zebi

Join us this Sunday at the Mar Vista Farmer’s Market Green Tent to find out about the upcoming Mar Vista Music & Art Walk. Created as a means to improve the walkability of our neighborhood, this local art walk is a fun, FREE celebration of all the arts. More walking = fewer cars + less greenhouse gas + better health! 

All along the 1-mile stretch of Venice Blvd between Inglewood Blvd and Lyceum Street, the sidewalks and parking lots will be transformed by this walk's theme: SPECTRUM: A Celebration of LGBTQ+. 

In addition to the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, SPECTRUM celebrates the life of Blaze N. Bernstein, a promising local student cut down in an Orange County hate crime. Blaze’s family are much loved, longtime Mar Vista residents and great supporters of local arts and artists.

"Marina" photo by Marina Andrade,

The September Art Walk has been moved - by community demand - to Saturday, September 14th, from 4-10 p.m., to allow more families with young children, seniors and students to come out and enjoy the neighborhood.

The Mar Vista Art Walk is a joint effort of environmental nonprofit Green Communications Initiative (GCI) and the community of local artists.

Poster art by Mykel Rose (mykelrose.com)

Jeanne Kuntz - Kids and Global Warming

MEET THE PLANET SAVERS!

I believe the children are our are future

Teach them well and let them lead the way...
(The Greatest Love)

Although the reality of global warming can be scary, we have no choice but to address it.  How do we inform our youngest citizens without frightening them? 

As parents, teachers and caregivers, we insure the health and wellbeing of our children by teaching them simple habits. Look both ways before crossing the street.  Wash hands before eating.  Eat your broccoli.  Now is the time to introduce and reinforce daily practices that protect our planet as well.  

Teach About Climate Change 

Is Like Teaching About Sex

Give kids the information they need right now.  Save the more specific details for a time when they are ready.  As we raise their awareness about the steps to reversing global warming, they become curious about all aspects of climate change and will seek more information.  There are many books and videos that empower young people of all ages to be part of the solution.

Stop by the Green Tent to learn about current materials and upcoming curriculum for school-age children.

Below is information to get you started right now......and many of these lifestyle approaches will save you money and improve mental, physical and spiritual health.

According to the well-researched Drawdown Project data, if we can shift our habits to reduce food waste and eat lower on the food chain, we will significantly reduce the release of greenhouse gasses, the cause of global warming.

Sustain our fragile planet while you enjoy healthier, less expensive meals.

Eat foods in their original form.  
No processing to degrade food value, no packaging to deplete the environment.

Grow your own  
Food is right outside your door. What could be more convenient? Don't have space for your own garden?  Help a friend or neighbor with their crops and share the bounty.

Buy and prepare only what you need. 

Learn how experts such as Kitchen Karate help you determine the right quantities of food to purchase and prepare for your meals.  

Save Water Eat Lower on the Food Chain

Eat Lower on the Food Chain
Replace beef with other forms of protein to save water, money and lives.  And when you do consume animal protein, look into how it was raised.  Choose farmers who use more humane practices at all stages of meat production.

Prepare  and eat meals at home. You will burn about 250 calories for each meal you prepare.  If you have young children, include them in all phases of the process, from menu planning to cleaning up.  You will teach them a valuable skill which is empowering and a money saver.  

Align your food choices with a healthy planet AND a healthy body..

Mar Vista resident and Green Committee Chair Jeanne Kuntz is a certified wellness coach.  Stop by the Green Tent and get a free consultation on habit change.  Learn more at her  website, Teaching Wellness .

Posted by Jeanne Kuntz at 3:19 PM 

Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest

No comments:

Post a Comment

Master Gardeners - August 25, 2019

IT'S "MASTER GARDENERS" SUNDAY!

Join us on Sunday, August 25 at the Green Tent for another wonderful day with the UC/CE LA County Master Gardeners from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. They’ll be handing out free plants and free seed packets. Stop by and start your fall planting now. And they’re giving these seedlings away:

Blue Lake Green Beans and Gold Rush yellow beans — these are BUSH beans so you don’t need to trellis them. And you can serve them raw in salad or pickled or lightly steamed as a side dish.

Sunflowers are everyone’s favorite, so come and get one.  Here’s one grown by someone who stopped by and picked up a seedling at the booth months ago: 

But just for a variety, there’ll be some zinnias too!

There’s still time to grow your own pickles (well, cucumbers to be precise!)

And if they get big enough in time, there may be some basil and some cilantro.

Click HERE to learn about composting, grass recycling, water wise gardening, fire wise gardening and more.

And please remember to bring along those empty “six packs” so the MGs can plant up more seedlings for next month’s market. 

Have a Gardening Question? 
Email mglosangeleshelpline@ucdavis.edu with a description of your concern or question. Attaching photos will help the Master Gardener diagnose the problem. OR, you can phone in your concern or question by leaving a detailed message at (626) 586-1988.

Ballona Wetlands - August 18, 2019

BALLONA WETLANDS

...an environmental treasure in our own back yard 

White-tailed Kite*

You may have heard about the 600+ acres of the Ballona Wetlandsjust to the south and west of Mar Vista. But have you visited this wild habitat where so many wildlife species and rare plant populations still thrive?   One imperiled bird species that our former neighbor and beloved Councilmember Bill Rosendahl loved, is the beautiful White Tailed Kite, which needs the upland areas where small mammals live just beneath the surface and provide great meals for the Kite, as well as for Great Blue Herons and several raptors.

Image Courtesy of Craig Butler

Drop by the 

Green Tent 

on Sunday, January 20, to learn about the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve, which is a fragile mosaic of different habitats: seasonal ponds, wet meadows, salt pannes, sand dunes and prairie grasslands.  

AND - learn about the imminent threat to these special lands - there is a plan to bulldoze and excavate the life-rich soils at Ballona, destroy habitat for many thousands of animals and move things 

around, as if they are decorating the place.  

In the Yerba Mansa Meadow*

One of the historical sloughs at 

Ballona Wetlands, photo by Marcia Hanscom

Great Egrets*

Audubon Cottontail Rabbits*

Biologist Roy Van de Hoek

 (perhaps you know him from the Feathers & Foliage walks in Mar Vista or have seen his Blue Bird houses in our trees

) and Marcia Hanscom, Executive Director of the 

Ballona Institute

 ,will be on hand to talk with you. Ballona Institute is known as "The Voice for Nature on the Los Angeles Coast."

Image Courtesy of Craig Butler

C

lick here

  to learn more about the treasures at Ballona. A

nd watch 

this

 video

to see just some of the miracles at the water's edge.

According to the 

Drawdown

 data, Coastal wetland ecosystems are one of the top 100 solutions for 

reversing Global Warming.

Wetlands 

sequester huge amounts of carbon in plants above ground and in roots and soils below.  

Coastal wetlands can store five times as much carbon as tropical forests over the long term, mostly in deep wetland soils.   There are also hundreds of trees on the ecological reserve - as well as grasslands, which have also been discovered to be strong in terms of helping with carbon sequestration - which could minimize impacts of predicted climate change.

Additionally

, a methane gas storage field sits beneath the wetlands on our coast - the Playa del Rey Gas Storage Field.  SoCalGas wants to install new fossil fuel infrastructure as part of the ill-conceived plans for the Ballona Wetlands.  So Ballona Institute has joined with Food & Water Watch, Indivisible and other groups like Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project to - instead - close this gas plant down and to do everything they can to protect the sensitive lands at Ballona on the Los 

Angeles coast.

Learn about Ballona Institute's latest campaigns, including the most important one of all - the threat that bulldozers we once chased from the Ballona Wetlands are threatening to return! Stop by to learn what YOU can do to help save the Ballona Wetlands again!

* 

Photos by 

Jonathan Coffin

**Photo by Marcia Hanscom

Additional images by Craig Butler

Seed Library of Los Angeles - Sunday, August 2019

SAVING SEEDS - SAVING THE PLANET

David King, SLOLA Chair, is waiting to teach you about seed saving!

This Sunday, August 11 at the Green Tent, representing the Seed Library of Los Angeles, David King, founding chair, will have seed samples and information on upcoming SLOLA events!

SLOLA recently launched their very own blog, so click here for updates and info that you won't want to miss!


SLOLA is our local organization protecting the diversity of our food supply – come and talk to David about saving some of the remaining seeds from summer or to gear up for the coming winter harvest. You can see the seed inventory awaiting checkout at SLOLA.

Posted by Jeanne Kuntz at 8:58 AM No comments: 

Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest