The relatively new phenomena of nationwide pathogenic outbreaks, be they from salmonella or E. coli variants, are intimately tied to the fecal contamination of our food supply and the intermingling of millions of unhealthy animals. It’s one of the best kept secrets in the modern livestock industry.

From Mark Kastel and Will Fantle, codirectors of The Cornucopia Institute, a farm policy research group based in Cornucopia, Wisconsin.

http://www.cornucopia.org/2010/08/the-food-safety-shell-game/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-kaas-boyle/california-drops-the-ball_b_702730.html

The hands-on event will showcase hybrid, electric, ethanol, biodiesel, natural gas, hydrogen and other vehicles. Among the cutting edge cars to be offered for free public test drives are prototypes of Toyota’s Plug-In Prius, yet to arrive in showrooms, and exciting new technologies from Ford and Mitsubishi. Private owners are invited to show off their vehicles in the Owners Showcase, spotlighting everything from homebuilt cars to Tesla Roadsters.

The event’s panelists will include industry executives, grass roots advocates and nationally renowned experts. Attendees will learn where, when and how they can expect to purchase the hottest eco-friendly vehicles, the latest on consumer incentives for clean cars, and updates on alternative fuel technologies. Speakers will also address pressing climate legislation and the future of green vehicles.

“Americans spend a lot of time complaining about our ‘addiction’ to oil,’ ” says Oakland-based author Lisa Margonelli, author of “Oil on the Brain” and director of the Energy Policy Initiative at the New America Foundation. “However, the next two years are a frighteningly important time. It’s up to us to exercise our enormous power—as both consumers and voters—to change our relationship to oil and carbon, and ensure that our economy remains competitive.”

Margonelli will take part in an on-stage discussion about petroleum, politics and electric cars with Chelsea Sexton, a key figure in the 2006 documentary, “Who Killed the Electric Car?” Sexton is a consulting producer on the film’s follow up, “Revenge of the Electric Car,” slated for a 2011 release.

Green Drive Expo founder Eric Powers has staged a similar expo in Madison, Wisc., for five years. He saw a need to bring the event to the Bay Area, a national hotspot for green car activity. “The expo is a place where people can learn about and drive vehicles that are available right now,” Powers says.

Powers teamed up with Berkeley-based green car expert Brad Berman, founder of HybridCars.com and PluginCars.com, to organize Green Drive Expo-Bay Area. “For anybody interested in electric and hybrid cars, or other alternatives like bicycle commuting, this event is going to be very informative and a lot of fun,” Berman says.

Local exhibitors will include Luscious Garage, Pat’s Garage and 3 Prong Power, all of which convert hybrids to cleaner, higher-mileage plug-in electric hybrids. Other participants will include the Biofuel Oasis, a biodiesel co-op, Clean Cities East Bay and Hybrid Battery Repair.

San Francisco resident Marc Geller will be among local owners providing ride-and-drives. Geller’s only car has been a zero-emission Toyota RAV4 EV for nearly a decade. He is a co-founder of Plug In America, the nation’s leading plug-in vehicle advocacy organization, and president of the San Francisco Electric Auto Assn.

Geller will join others discussing real-life alternative fuel driving experiences during hourly “Talk to an Owner” sessions. Green Drive Expo is designed to give enthusiasts the opportunity to meet, greet and share nonstop shoptalk.

Tickets to Green Drive Expo-Bay Area are $10 for adults; no charge for youths 16 and under. For free passes and more information, visitwww.GreenDriveExpo.com. Craneway Pavilion is located at 1414 Harbour Way South, Richmond, CA 94804. Event parking is $5. Information: 510-621-7803.

Green Drive Expo-Bay Area sponsors include Toyota, Ford Motor Company, Mitsubishi, the City of Richmond, Clean Cities East Bay,plugincars.com, hybridcars.com, Plug In America, Enginer and Linear-Logic.

While both dairies’ digesters are reducing one kind of pollution, greenhouse gases, they’re actually adding to another kind. http://blogs.kqed.org/climatewatch/2010/08/29/cow-power-not-cutting-it/

It was about 7 p.m. on the fourth day of the Costa Rican Adventure Race 2010, with 18 teams hiking, biking, ziplining, rafting, and kayaking twenty-four seven through the jungle, across rivers, up mountains and around a volcano. We’d spent the afternoon at a race checkpoint at SkyTrek in Monteverde – the “cloud forest” – watching teams hike the sky bridges in pouring rain then push away down muddy roads on their bikes. We passed the French Wenger team, fixing a flat tire on the side of the road as we all made our way to the final destination of the race on the beach in Samara. But we were in a truck – they were on bikes, legs caked with mud, clothes plastered to their bodies with sweat, feet red, swollen and tingling with trenchfoot.

As we parted, we noticed they were heading in the opposite direction of the beach, and we worried that they might be losing it after so many hours of grueling physical exertion. We questioned them and suggested they check their maps, but, following race rules, were forbidden to advise them. After we said goodbye and good luck, Ana Maria Castillo, the volunteer who’d been checking off teams at SkyTrek, got on the radio to race headquarters to make sure the team was not too far off track. Turned out they knew exactly what they were doing – since race rules prevent them traveling the main highways, they were searching for an alternative route to their next destination – crossing a raging river by boat.

We were having breakfast the next morning at the elegant Villas de Samara with Team Explore of Sweden, who’d bagged the race the night before at 8:07 p.m. following 84 grueling hours, as the Wenger team trudged through the hotel courtyard. They took a celebratory turn around the pool in a golf cart to scattered cheers and applause, then proceeded to the comforts of a clean dry villa, bath, and bed.

More race notes to come!

By Trish Riley; Photos by Ken McMurry

The Port of Los Angeles’ Clean Truck Program is a central element of the Clean Air Action Plan, which targets major sources of air emissions at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach – ships, trains, trucks, cargo handling equipment and harbor craft.
The Clean Truck Program:
Establishes a progressive ban on polluting trucks
October 1, 2008: All pre-1989 trucks were banned from entering the Port
January 1, 2010: 1989-1993 trucks will be banned, in addition to 1994-2003 trucks that have not been retrofitted
January 1, 2012: All trucks that do not meet the 2007 Federal Clean Truck Emissions Standards will be banned from the Port

http://www.portoflosangeles.org/ctp/idx_ctp.asp

The Port of Los Angeles Clean Truck program establishes a progressive ban on polluting trucks

We had a good meeting at Warehouse on August 4 – great food and drinks and wonderful space – THANK YOU Richard and Ryan! The only drawback was that it was a bit difficult to hear those who needed to share information with us, and I apologize for that to Robert Pearce, who brought us up to speed on the Koppers/Cabot Superfund Site; Rick Nesbit, who told us about his run for Alachua County School Board (vote August 24!); Kevin Veach, who told us about his new business, Green Energy Options, which provides a comprehensive energy and efficiency audit and advice on cutting your carbon footprint; and Annie Pais, who told us about The Blue Path, now on exhibit at Florida Museum of Natural History. Thank you all and all others who shared your sustainability initiatives with those of us who are forging a green road to the future.

Next up, Green Drinks Gainesville will meet at The Original Pizza Palace, 604 NW 13 St., 6-8+ p.m. on Sept. 1.  Mike Amish of Indigo Green Store and the U.S. Green Building Council will share his experiences building shelters in Haiti with Barrels of Hope and Jacob Cravey of EarthGivers. Come see how they did it and who they were able to help with this innovative design!

Join us to share news about your own green projects and help us build a more sustainable community! Bring your friends, cards, brochures, fliers; wear a name tag!

See you there,
Trish*
–
Trish Riley
954-384-9466
Director: Cinema Verde: Gainesville’s Second Annual Environmental Film and Arts Festival
Publisher, www.GoGreenNation.org: Environmental news and resources to create a sustainable world
American Society of Journalists and Authors – Society of Environmental Journalists
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Green Living (Penguin/Alpha Books 2007)
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Greening Your Business (with Heather Gadonniex, Penguin/Alpha Books 2009)
Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Miami and the Florida Keys (W.W. Norton/Countryman Press 2005, 2009)
The Explorer’s Guide to South Florida (with Sandra Friend, W.W. Norton/Countryman Press 2010)
www.trishriley.com
www.gogreengift.com
www.teddistails.com