Chasing Clean Air

2011 Go Green Expo and AltBuild Expo in Los Angeles: Mark Your Calendars Now

Quick! I-131! Plutonium! Radioactive Cloud!

Japan's nuclear disaster has been elevated to a 7 on par with Chernobyl, and the average U.S. citizen living downwind from Japan in western states like California is naturally concerned with what's in our air, water, and milk.

There may not be anything we can do about Japan's nuclear disaster impacts but we can learn small and big ideas to make a difference here now.

Consider two, count them TWO, informative green conferences starting this weekend.

Alternative energy suggestions! Creative reuse of natural resources! Energy efficient buildings! Organically "grown" clothes!

Let's lessen our so-called nuclear energy "needs" and learn about alternatives together.

Mark your calendar to attend this weekend's Go Green Expo April 15th - 17th, 2011 at Los Angeles Convention Center, and the AltBuild Expo (Alternative Building Materials and Design) May 6th and 7th at the Santa Monica Civic Center. 

Book Review: My First Summer In The Sierra 100th Anniversary Illustrated Edition by John Muir

My First Summer In The Sierra 100th Anniversary Illustrated Edition by John Muir is a must have book for the nature lover who wants  an arm-chair adventure told by America's very own king of the national parks.

John Muir.

National Geographic Adventure rated this book one of top 100 adventure books of all time.

With gorgeous illustrations by Scot Miller, like the book cover that looks beautiful on my marble table, it's a fascinating absorbing read:

John Muir's own words taken from his journal about his journey to the heart of Yosemite.

His life's most important work began by chance, or fate if you prefer, with Mr. Delaney, a sheep-owner...

"...for whom I had worked for a few weeks, called on me, and offered to engage me to go with his shepherd and flock to the headwaters of the Merced and Tuoloumne Rivers--the very region I had most in mind.

I was in the mood to accept work of any kind that would take me into the mountains whose treasures I had tasted last summer in the Yosemite region."

And despite initial trepidation about taking the trip, being that he was an inexperienced sheep herder, Muir took the job and found his life's work.

Kurt Vonnegut on Air Pollution

 

"Evolution can go to hell as far as I'm concerned. What a mistake we are. We have mortally wounded this sweet life-supporting planet--the only one in the whole Milky Way--with a century of transportation whoopee. Our government is conducting a war against drugs, is it?

Let them go after petroleum. Talk about a destructive high!

You put some of this stuff in your car and you can go a hundred miles an hour, run over the neighbor's dog, and tear the atmosphere to smithereens. Hey, as long as we are stuck with being homo sapiens, why mess around? Let's wreck the whole joint. Anybody got an atomic bomb? Who doesn't have an atomic bomb these days?"

Kurt Vonnegut from A Man Without A Country, his last book published in 2005.

Ecclesiastes may have had it right, nothing is new under the sun. Or wait.

What about harnessing the sun for solar power, and harnessing the wind, and harnessing the best minds in our culture, not the worst.

And creating plug-in electric cars, an odorless and no particulates in the air alternative to smog.

There are good minds like Lester Brown spreading solutions and alternatives to petroleum and nuclear.

Listen to the good minds now. Don't miss opportunities while given the chance. 

The All-New 2011 Kia Optima EX Review

Why review the 2011 Kia Optima EX under my Clean Cars column?

For starters, Koreans caught my attention at the LA Art Show as one of two countries that consistently represented artists creatively set apart from others.

A unique combination of colorful, elegance, and symmetry.

Being the world traveler that I am, I know trends penetrate a culture's industries.

So, naturally, I was curious: Does Kia Motors of Korea provide a colorful ride, an elegance, a symmetry?

Let's start the 2011 Kia Optima EX engine, push the ECO mode button to ensure we're rolling down streets as economically as possible, and get this baby started to find out.

Comfort

Head and Neck Support

Unfortunately in Los Angeles a lot of folks complain,

"Oh, my back! Oh, my neck!" And the first thing they want to know is:

"Where can I buy the best seat? The best car seat? The best support for my head and neck seat?"

The 2011 Kia Optima EX offered comfortable sturdy seats, which adjusted to sit high--I love to sit high and feel like I'm queen of the road-- and had sturdy back and neck support.

Symmetry and elegance incorporated into the design.