Sustainability Archive

  • EcoJustice Radio discusses the history of water upon Tongvalands aka Los Angeles: from free-flowing rivers to concrete-engineered flood control and back again Tim Brick of the Arroyo Seco Foundation and and Parker Davis of the Hahamongna Native Plant Nursery.

    Flood Control to Free Rivers: The Tale of Water on Tongvalands

    Posted on August 27, 2020 | No Comments
    EcoJustice Radio discusses the history of water upon Tongvalands aka Los Angeles: from free-flowing rivers to concrete-engineered flood control and back again Tim Brick of the Arroyo Seco Foundation and and Parker Davis of the Hahamongna Native Plant Nursery.

    Continue Reading...

  • Coral Vita’s Sam Teicher discusses the urgent status of the world's coral reefs and how we can restore them by rapidly and effectively growing climate-change resilient coral. The world's first land-based coral farm, Coral Vita, aims to help scale up reef restoration globally using breakthrough technologies and nature-based solutions, including micro-fragmentation and assisted evolution. Learn about the critical role coral plays in marine ecosystems and how restoring it is essential to our collective future. Current and recent, unprecedented mass bleaching events affecting the Great Barrier Reef, highlights the importance of taking urgent action on behalf of our oceans and reefs worldwide. Act now while there is still time to turn the tide!

    Growing Coral to Restore the World’s Reefs with Sam Teicher

    Posted on June 25, 2020 | No Comments
    Coral Vita’s Sam Teicher discusses the urgent status of the world's coral reefs and how we can restore them by rapidly and effectively growing climate-change resilient coral. The world's first land-based coral farm, Coral Vita, aims to help scale up reef restoration globally using breakthrough technologies and nature-based solutions, including micro-fragmentation and assisted evolution. Learn about the critical role coral plays in marine ecosystems and how restoring it is essential to our collective future. Current and recent, unprecedented mass bleaching events affecting the Great Barrier Reef, highlights the importance of taking urgent action on behalf of our oceans and reefs worldwide. Act now while there is still time to turn the tide!

    Continue Reading...

  • Now is the time to invest in a regenerative economy that supports climate finance at scale. Our banking and investment practices can proactively regenerate the planet and foster a clean, green economy that is both socially conscious and sustainable. EcoJustice Radio speaks with Tom Duncan of Earthbanc.

    Green Banking: Toward A Regenerative Economy

    Posted on May 8, 2020 | No Comments
    Now is the time to invest in a regenerative economy that supports climate finance at scale. Our banking and investment practices can proactively regenerate the planet and foster a clean, green economy that is both socially conscious and sustainable. EcoJustice Radio speaks with Tom Duncan of Earthbanc.

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  • On this episode of EcoJustice Radio, we visit with the members of an inspiring community garden and culture-space called The BirdHouse, in Hollywood, CA.

    The BirdHouse: Reconnecting People & Place through Arts & Ecology

    Posted on April 8, 2020 | No Comments
    On this episode of EcoJustice Radio, we visit with the members of an inspiring community garden and culture-space called The BirdHouse, in Hollywood, CA.

    Continue Reading...

  • In 1974, architect Bengt Warne designed the prototype for a greenhouse home to deal with the cold winters in Sweden. Rather than converting an existing structure and moving inside it, he built a normal house -- and then encasing it in glass -- a Nature House (or "Naturhus" ). Inspired by these designs, a family has created a home near Stockholm integrated with the elements of earth, water, air, and fire. The electricity bills have been cut in half, heated by an eco-friendly wood-burning oven and a hot water masonry heater. The greenhouse also shelters Mediterranean-style gardens that couldn't survive the Swedish seasons -- figs, kiwi, peaches, wine grapes, etc.

    Passive-Solar Greenhouse-Wrapped Nature House in Sweden

    Posted on January 26, 2020 | No Comments
    In 1974, architect Bengt Warne designed the prototype for a greenhouse home to deal with the cold winters in Sweden. Rather than converting an existing structure and moving inside it, he built a normal house -- and then encasing it in glass -- a Nature House (or "Naturhus" ). Inspired by these designs, a family has created a home near Stockholm integrated with the elements of earth, water, air, and fire. The electricity bills have been cut in half, heated by an eco-friendly wood-burning oven and a hot water masonry heater. The greenhouse also shelters Mediterranean-style gardens that couldn't survive the Swedish seasons -- figs, kiwi, peaches, wine grapes, etc.

    Continue Reading...

  • Weather extremes, soil degradation, and climate disruption have turned our attention to the potential of soil, carbon, and water cycling as a formidable and creative response to climate change. EcoJustice Radio talks with Linda Gibbs about building the soil carbon sponge for resilience to wildfires and climate change.

    Regenerative Responses: Growing The Soil Carbon Sponge

    Posted on November 2, 2019 | 2 Comments
    Weather extremes, soil degradation, and climate disruption have turned our attention to the potential of soil, carbon, and water cycling as a formidable and creative response to climate change. EcoJustice Radio talks with Linda Gibbs about building the soil carbon sponge for resilience to wildfires and climate change.

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  • Carry Kim speaks with Doug Lindamood, from SonRise Ranch in San Diego County, California. He and his family own and operate this pasture based livestock operation dedicated to changing industrial, factory farming into a local, sustainable, integrity, food movement through education and outreach one family at a time.

    Pasture Based Carbon Farming with SonRise Ranch – EcoJustice Radio

    Posted on July 30, 2019 | 1 Comment
    Carry Kim speaks with Doug Lindamood, from SonRise Ranch in San Diego County, California. He and his family own and operate this pasture based livestock operation dedicated to changing industrial, factory farming into a local, sustainable, integrity, food movement through education and outreach one family at a time.

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  • Erik Ohlsen is the director of the Permaculture Skills Center, a vocational training school that offers advanced education in ecological design, landscaping, farming, and land stewardship. Creator of the the Eco-Landscape Mastery School online training program, Erik is also founder of Permaculture Artisans which specializes in design and installation of ecological landscapes and farms throughout California. Carry Kim interviews him on EcoJustice Radio.

    Creating Resilient Ecosystems & Regenerating the Planet – EcoJustice Radio

    Posted on December 26, 2018 | No Comments
    Erik Ohlsen is the director of the Permaculture Skills Center, a vocational training school that offers advanced education in ecological design, landscaping, farming, and land stewardship. Creator of the the Eco-Landscape Mastery School online training program, Erik is also founder of Permaculture Artisans which specializes in design and installation of ecological landscapes and farms throughout California. Carry Kim interviews him on EcoJustice Radio.

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  • Tejon Ranch Centennial Specific Plan (or Centennial) is a massive planned city in a unique, rare, fire-prone wilderness of grasslands and mountains, a residential and commercial development in LA County. Nick Jensen from the California Native Plant Society, and Jack Eidt from Wild Heritage Planners and SoCal 350, discuss the dangers to urban sustainability, fiscal health of LA County and the impacts on wild and endangered plants and animals with host Jessica Aldridge.

    Centennial Project: Suburbs Sprawl, Health & Environment Suffers – EcoJustice Radio

    Posted on November 26, 2018 | No Comments
    Tejon Ranch Centennial Specific Plan (or Centennial) is a massive planned city in a unique, rare, fire-prone wilderness of grasslands and mountains, a residential and commercial development in LA County. Nick Jensen from the California Native Plant Society, and Jack Eidt from Wild Heritage Planners and SoCal 350, discuss the dangers to urban sustainability, fiscal health of LA County and the impacts on wild and endangered plants and animals with host Jessica Aldridge.

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  • As the Western U.S. continues with massive wind-driven, high-intensity wildfires that often turn deadly, Naomi Pitcairn recommends retrofitting homes on the Wildland Urban Interface for fire-resistant resiliency. This is Part I of a three-part series.

    Defensible Space: My Wildfire-Appropriate Retrofit Journey – Part I

    Posted on November 16, 2018 | 1 Comment
    As the Western U.S. continues with massive wind-driven, high-intensity wildfires that often turn deadly, Naomi Pitcairn recommends retrofitting homes on the Wildland Urban Interface for fire-resistant resiliency. This is Part I of a three-part series.

    Continue Reading...

  • Iannis Xenakis, the Greek-French experimental composer and protege designer for the famous architect Le Corbusier, advanced theories of the vertical "Cosmic" city as the only sustainable way forward. Here, he wrote this essay in 1966, decrying decentralization (read: suburban sprawl) in favor of building up, up, up...5 million inhabitants to be housed in a single megastructure, a hyperbolic paraboloid of more than 3,000 meters high and 50 meters wide.

    Iannis Xenakis and the Notion of a Cosmic Utopia

    Posted on February 21, 2018 | No Comments
    Iannis Xenakis, the Greek-French experimental composer and protege designer for the famous architect Le Corbusier, advanced theories of the vertical "Cosmic" city as the only sustainable way forward. Here, he wrote this essay in 1966, decrying decentralization (read: suburban sprawl) in favor of building up, up, up...5 million inhabitants to be housed in a single megastructure, a hyperbolic paraboloid of more than 3,000 meters high and 50 meters wide.

    Continue Reading...

  • Alan Durning lays out how many cities have succeeded in building affordable housing with some lessons from unexpected places. Yet constrained housing markets come about from economics, environment, and geography, and sprawl remains a scourge that affordable cities have allowed. No silver bullet here, but ideas...

    How Cities Can Build Affordable Housing

    Posted on October 3, 2017 | No Comments
    Alan Durning lays out how many cities have succeeded in building affordable housing with some lessons from unexpected places. Yet constrained housing markets come about from economics, environment, and geography, and sprawl remains a scourge that affordable cities have allowed. No silver bullet here, but ideas...

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  • Urban sustainability depends upon reducing energy from automobile usage and maximizing transportation efficiency through public trains, streetcars, electric buses, and people movers. The companies developing autonomous cars could not care less: they offer on-demand private transport for the masses, with specific intent to move people back to cars.

    Autonomous Cars Will Drive Sustainable Cities Backward

    Posted on March 26, 2017 | No Comments
    Urban sustainability depends upon reducing energy from automobile usage and maximizing transportation efficiency through public trains, streetcars, electric buses, and people movers. The companies developing autonomous cars could not care less: they offer on-demand private transport for the masses, with specific intent to move people back to cars.

    Continue Reading...

  • Can re-purposed shipping containers become the next inexpensive, quick to construct, green building solution for affordable housing? Danish "starchitect" Bjarke Ingels, as well as a recent Orange County, California, project, assert yes to all of the above, but there are limitations.

    Shipping Containers as Sustainable, Affordable Housing?

    Posted on September 27, 2016 | 2 Comments
    Can re-purposed shipping containers become the next inexpensive, quick to construct, green building solution for affordable housing? Danish "starchitect" Bjarke Ingels, as well as a recent Orange County, California, project, assert yes to all of the above, but there are limitations.

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  • Facing a major Coastal Commission decision, Newport Banning Ranch developers should adopt staff's recommendation that all environmentally sensitive habitat should be protected and could be integrated in a vision for a small-scale visitor-serving development through Regenerative Design.

    Using Regenerative Design to Revitalize Newport Banning Ranch

    Posted on September 6, 2016 | 1 Comment
    Facing a major Coastal Commission decision, Newport Banning Ranch developers should adopt staff's recommendation that all environmentally sensitive habitat should be protected and could be integrated in a vision for a small-scale visitor-serving development through Regenerative Design.

    Continue Reading...

  • Destroyed in a dramatic and highly-publicized implosion, the Pruitt-Igoe public housing complex has become a widespread symbol of failure among architects, politicians and policy makers. A 2012 documentary unveiled the many witting and unwitting villains, including urban poverty, public policy enforced racial segregation, and urban disinvestment in favor of the White Suburban Dream.

    Pruitt Igoe Myth: The Death of 20th Century US City

    Posted on September 5, 2016 | 4 Comments
    Destroyed in a dramatic and highly-publicized implosion, the Pruitt-Igoe public housing complex has become a widespread symbol of failure among architects, politicians and policy makers. A 2012 documentary unveiled the many witting and unwitting villains, including urban poverty, public policy enforced racial segregation, and urban disinvestment in favor of the White Suburban Dream.

    Continue Reading...

  • Tiny Houses, although lauded as a green way forward in a world covered in wasteful McMansions and debt enslaving rent payments, must overcome health, safety, and building standard regulations that still consider this form of housing either illegal or difficult to approve. Alyse Nelson charts a way through the red tape.

    How to Legalize Building and Living in Tiny Houses

    Posted on August 23, 2016 | 2 Comments
    Tiny Houses, although lauded as a green way forward in a world covered in wasteful McMansions and debt enslaving rent payments, must overcome health, safety, and building standard regulations that still consider this form of housing either illegal or difficult to approve. Alyse Nelson charts a way through the red tape.

    Continue Reading...

  • Welcome to the Anthropocene age, where humans have transmogrified the planet, its oceans and atmosphere, caused mass extinctions and wholesale contamination that will remain for millennia. Beyond the politicians and scientists, the way forward remains in the hands of writers, artists, and designers taking inspiration from wild earth in a movement called Geo-Fauvism.

    Geo-Fauvism and Anthropocene: Altered Planet, Wild Literature

    Posted on June 4, 2016 | 2 Comments
    Welcome to the Anthropocene age, where humans have transmogrified the planet, its oceans and atmosphere, caused mass extinctions and wholesale contamination that will remain for millennia. Beyond the politicians and scientists, the way forward remains in the hands of writers, artists, and designers taking inspiration from wild earth in a movement called Geo-Fauvism.

    Continue Reading...

  • Newport Beach's Banning Ranch, the site of a proposed mega commercial and residential development, is an extraordinary archaeological site. Once the site where an ancient Native American coastal village called Genga, a ritual and trading hub for both the Tongva and Acjachemen Native American Nations, existed for over a thousand years.

    Preserve Newport Banning Ranch as Sacred Archaeological Site Genga

    Posted on May 12, 2016 | 4 Comments
    Newport Beach's Banning Ranch, the site of a proposed mega commercial and residential development, is an extraordinary archaeological site. Once the site where an ancient Native American coastal village called Genga, a ritual and trading hub for both the Tongva and Acjachemen Native American Nations, existed for over a thousand years.

    Continue Reading...

  • Jerry Brown, once known as governor Moonbeam who signed into law the California Coastal Commission, now can be seen as the man behind handing it over to developers. Governor Brown must fire his four at-will commissioners with significant lapses of judgement and ethics, as well as his powerful backroom dealer from the Resources Agency.

    Jerry Brown’s Regulatory Capture at the CA Coastal Commission

    Posted on May 4, 2016 | 4 Comments
    Jerry Brown, once known as governor Moonbeam who signed into law the California Coastal Commission, now can be seen as the man behind handing it over to developers. Governor Brown must fire his four at-will commissioners with significant lapses of judgement and ethics, as well as his powerful backroom dealer from the Resources Agency.

    Continue Reading...

  • The California Environmental Quality Act, protector of resources and communities through consideration of implications of proposed projects, is under attack. Representatives from industry and real estate development, and sometimes even Governor Jerry Brown, seek ways to weaken it, or to exempt their pet projects. While the law is far from perfect, it remains the gold standard of environmental protection in the US.

    Reform California’s Environmental Quality Act? Not Now.

    Posted on April 27, 2016 | 2 Comments
    The California Environmental Quality Act, protector of resources and communities through consideration of implications of proposed projects, is under attack. Representatives from industry and real estate development, and sometimes even Governor Jerry Brown, seek ways to weaken it, or to exempt their pet projects. While the law is far from perfect, it remains the gold standard of environmental protection in the US.

    Continue Reading...

  • Why did Coastal Commissioners dump popular Executive Director Charles Lester in a closed session at their February meeting in Morro Bay? It is part of a plan by well connected lobbyists and lawyers pushing environmentally damaging projects for their wealthy clients.

    Power, Influence, and Obfuscation: A Plan to Game the California Coastal Act

    Posted on March 11, 2016 | 8 Comments
    Why did Coastal Commissioners dump popular Executive Director Charles Lester in a closed session at their February meeting in Morro Bay? It is part of a plan by well connected lobbyists and lawyers pushing environmentally damaging projects for their wealthy clients.

    Continue Reading...

  • The Kogi People of Colombia, through two separate documentaries, delivered a message of a sustainable interconnection with nature and community as a way to avert climate and ecological destruction.

    Kogi People’s Lesson From the Heart of the Mountain

    Posted on January 22, 2016 | 1 Comment
    The Kogi People of Colombia, through two separate documentaries, delivered a message of a sustainable interconnection with nature and community as a way to avert climate and ecological destruction.

    Continue Reading...

  • Alexis Slutzky tells the story of a September 2015 pilgrimage through California's Owens Valley, called Walking Water. This first phase of a much longer journey began at Mono Lake and ended 180 miles south at Owens Dry Lake. For 100 years, Los Angeles has piped water from there over 300 miles further south to sustain the city, draining ancient lakes and groundwater, destroying natural water systems. In the fourth year of an historic drought, Walking Water seeks to create a new narrative regarding this life-giving resource, investigating our common and often conflicting needs, and learning how to live within our means.

    Walking Water: Eastern Sierra Pilgrimage of Healing the Drought

    Posted on October 30, 2015 | 1 Comment
    Alexis Slutzky tells the story of a September 2015 pilgrimage through California's Owens Valley, called Walking Water. This first phase of a much longer journey began at Mono Lake and ended 180 miles south at Owens Dry Lake. For 100 years, Los Angeles has piped water from there over 300 miles further south to sustain the city, draining ancient lakes and groundwater, destroying natural water systems. In the fourth year of an historic drought, Walking Water seeks to create a new narrative regarding this life-giving resource, investigating our common and often conflicting needs, and learning how to live within our means.

    Continue Reading...

  • Takeaways from a recent Green Festival Expo discussion on the Los Angeles River Revitalization include that the job of planning for water resiliency belongs to all of us, not Frank Gehry regardless of his recent charge, and we must also consider how public access, parkland, ecosystem restoration, cargo and passenger rail, bicycle greenways, and anti-gentrification environmental justice will fit into the mix. Collaboration is the key.

    L.A. River Must Transform as Watershed, Transportation Corridor

    Posted on September 29, 2015 | 2 Comments
    Takeaways from a recent Green Festival Expo discussion on the Los Angeles River Revitalization include that the job of planning for water resiliency belongs to all of us, not Frank Gehry regardless of his recent charge, and we must also consider how public access, parkland, ecosystem restoration, cargo and passenger rail, bicycle greenways, and anti-gentrification environmental justice will fit into the mix. Collaboration is the key.

    Continue Reading...

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