Native Plant Sale & Free Garden Talks

  The hubby and I have decided to kill the lawn and create a drought-tolerant landscape in our front yard. That darned Bermuda grass just doesn't want to go away! No water for nearly 9 months and there's still green sprouts (but not enough to leave it.
  So I was very excited to learn about the Native Plant Sale this weekend. The extremely knowledgeable volunteers from the California Native Plant Society will be selling seeds, shrubs, irises, mints, sages, berries and more plus books, posters, and other paraphernalia on Saturday and Sunday, October 2 and 3.
  The event takes place at the Sepulveda Garden Center at 16633 Magnolia Blvd. in Encino, just west of Hayvenhurst.
On Saturday, at 1pm, noted landscape architect Bob Perry will discuss his latest book, Landscape Plants for California Gardens. Of course copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing.
  Then at noon on Sunday, Emily Green, who writes the "Dry Garden" column for the LA Times, will talk about the 10-year evolution of a native garden.
  If you haven't visited yet, the Sepulveda Garden Center is made up of community garden plots and touring through that is worth the trip in and of itself.
  Later in the month the Theodore Payne Foundation will be hosting its own sale so if you don't find what you're looking for this weekend, there's a fallback!

Vote for Environmental High by Thursday

The students at Environmental Charter High School in Lawndale are asking for YOUR vote in Obama's Commencement Challenge.

You must vote by Thursday evening for your vote to count.

Environmental Charter is a college prep charter school in South Los Angeles. Of the five finalists in the Commencement Challenge it is the only West Coast school, and it is the only institution that focuses on sustainability in its curriculum.

Give the kids at high 5 by voting NOW at http://www.whitehouse.gov/commencement.

Buy a smart, Plant a Tree

To celebrate its one-year anniversary in the U.S., the folks behind the smart car (no capitalization required apparently) are going to plant a tree for each car sold in 2008 and 2009.

That's a nice forest -- in 2008, smart says they sold 24,622 fortwos.

Under the aegis of American Forests, the trees will grow in the Cache River State Natural Area, in southern Illinois.

Presently the only place to buy a smart in the Valley is at the Universal City dealership, although the company's website says a Thousand Oaks location is "coming soon."

Sun Valley CNG Fueling Station Opens

Being stuck behind a school bus belching toxic diesel fumes may become a thing of the past for those in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The second-largest school district in the country today had a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opening of a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) fueling station in Sun Valley.

The station is the second for the district; the first opened in 2001 in the South Bay.

Currently the LAUSD has 40 CNG-powered school buses operating out of the Sun Valley transportation hub. It plans to add another 60.
With 172 CNG buses, the LAUSD boasts the largest such fleet in the state thanks in part to funding from the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

“As we replace our aging buses with new safe, energy-efficient, and lower-emission school buses, we will also continue to build infrastructures that support our greening efforts,” said Transportation Branch Director Enrique Boull’t.

CSUN Sustainability Overview

For our final class project, the Save the Planet team interviewed two of the key players in the California State University Northridge sustainability movement: Dr. Ashwani Vasishth, the recently appointed head of the new CSUN Sustainability Institute, and Tom Brown of the Physical Plant Department. We also talked to some students about recycling.

Waxman Wants Key Energy Post

The Sacramento Bee reported yesterday that U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman, whose 30th District includes much of the West Valley, is attempting to replace Rep. John Dingell of Michigan as the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Click here to read Sacramento Bee article in its totality.