
The Los Angeles Board of Public Works has announced sustainable new rules for residential parkways. LA Times Greenspace reports that Los Angeles-area homeowners will now be allowed to plant drought-tolerant, turf substitute ground-cover plants in residential parkways without a permit. Previously, homeowners were only allowed to plant street trees and grass without a permit. Residential parkways......read more
President Obama, under mounting pressure from business groups and Republicans in Congress, has withdrawn a plan to strengthen emissions rules for smog-causing chemicals. The abandoned Environmental Protection Agency standard would have dramatically reduced emissions of ground-level ozone. For American eco advocates, the announcement is salt in a wound opened by a series of White House decisions......read more
President Obama's environmental concessions (read: cave-ins) continue to pile up, and American environmentalists are rightly losing faith. His latest retreat, on ozone regulation, comes just days after the State Department gave the go-ahead for the controversial Keystone XL oil sands pipeline from Alberta to Texas. The smog announcement was conveniently released on Friday before......read more
Slated for release this coming fall, "Groundswell" follows surfers Peter Devries, Travis Gordon, Dan Malloy up the west coast of British Columbia, where the delicate coastal ecosystem faces a major threat in the form of the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline from Alberta's tar sands. The film, a collaborative production of the Raincoast Conservation Foundation, Patagonia, and Woodshed......read more
Here is the trailer for Last Call at the Oasis, the highly anticipated new documentary from Academy Award-winning director Jessica Yu. Inspired by Alex Prud'homme's book The Ripple Effect: The Fate of Fresh Water in the 21st Century, the film is a thorough examination ofthe global water crisis, with a focus on industrial and agricultural pollution in America and the drying of the Southwest. Last......read more
For coastal communities, the new reality of a changing climate means dealing with the effects of rising seas and massive storms. Just ask New Yorkers. Fortunately, there are smart people around the world dreaming up ways to defend against storm surges and flooding. At West Virginia University, researchers are at work on a seemingly simple engineering concept aimed at halting floodwaters in......read more
The latest food rage that's sweeping the nation is taking place underground. Clandestine dinners are one-off events held at secret locations, where in-the-know guests rub elbows with like-minded diners. Next week, Stag Dining Group, Cocktail Lab, and FAIR. Spirits team up with SHFT at Sundance (in conjunction with Ford and W Residences Hollywood) to bring a shared......read more
There are a few places on Earth that feel decidedly unearthly, and caves happen to be one of them. Australian-born photographer John Spies, who has been living in northern Thailand for thirty years, spends plenty of time underground exploring caves in his adopted homeland. As a cave explorer, photographer and guide, Spies has visited 85 caves, discovered incredible formations, documented......read more
Spotted this one the other day on Quality Peoples. It's the trailer for Glass Love, a 2006 surf movie directed by Andrew Kidman, featuring Cat Power doing her beautiful, plodding version of Velvet Underground's "I Found A Reason". Along with Cowboy Junkies' rendition of "Sweet Jane", it's surely one of the best VU covers of all time, and pairs perfectly with Kidman's mellow longboard......read more
From the ground, the Bolton Eco House may not look like much at all -- just a few stone walls that could easily be mistaken for ancient ruins covered by grass. But from the air, the picture is stunning, revealing an impressive architectural design shaped like an abstract flower. The bold, earth-conscious residential design comes courtesy of Make Architects, who landed it the distinction of being......read more