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President Obama, under mounting pressure from business groups and Republicans in Congress, has withdrawn a plan to strengthen emissions rules for smog-causing chemicals.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
Following on an earlier series in the same vein, The Guardian's "Google Street View Specialist" has unveiled a new GSV series, this time showing iconic album covers in the exact locations where they were photographed. From the obvious (The Beatles' Abbey Road), to the less so (Times Square as seen on PJ Harvey's Stories from the Sea), the images revisit the scenes of classic LPs,......read more
If you're also one of those people who carry all kinds of gear around with you, distributing it in various pockets, bags and drawers, we might have found just the right item for you: The Bandito by This Is Ground. The simple pouch is designed to accommodate your everyday gear. Including slots for but certainly not limited to, pencils, pens, stylus, cords, brushes, sticks, stones, glasses, and a......read more
One century ago, fierce battles broke out in the shadow of Monte Piana in the Italian Dolomites as WWI began. The 18,000 young soldiers who lost their lives at that site were honored this past week at the 2015 Highline Meeting Monte Piana, an annual event that unites young people from all over the world through their shared passions for adventure and the sport of highlining. Since the first......read more
In the realm of #firstworldproblems, there aren't many more annoying than reaching in your bag or pocket and pulling out a tangled mess of cords. Los Angeles company This Is Ground has created a simple solution with the Cord Taco, a leather envelope that keeps headphones, USBs, and other small cords clean and organized. The tacos are handmade from premium leather in tan or black, and seal shut......read more
Felicity Barringer for The New York Times: FRESNO, Calif. — The small prefab office of Arthur & Orum, a well-drilling outfit hidden in the almond trees and grapevines south of Fresno, has become a magnet for scores of California farmers in desperate need of water to sustain their crops. Looking at binders of dozens of orders for yet-to-be-drilled wells, Steve Arthur, a manager, said,......read more