www.greenlagirl.com
I wanted one of these bras so bad that I emailed them asking if they shipped to the US, and how much it cost. The bad news -- Shipping to the US alone costs around -L-12.
I was apprehensive at first, but now that I'm used to it I prefer the bus .... it beats having to fight with crazy drivers, and here in Cali, it beats having to fight for a parking spot."
points out how sexy bus riding really is: People who ride frequently tend to have firm glutes from all the extra walking (don't sleep on those downtown hills). College students ride buses (try the 48, 13, or 3) and so do many of those big, strong fish-throwers at the Market. Back in the day, lucky bus riders in the Bronx rubbed elbows with Jennifer Lopez. Buses are great places to meet people (I should know-I met Adam on the 545) and, apparently, good places for couples to share quality time. The girl's even considering embarking on a campaign to change Metro's image" -- with ideas for sloganed muscle-Ts and such.
Enforced exercise, time to read, reduced expenses, and contact with her community on a level that would never have been possible in "the isolated bubble of a single-occupancy vehicle." So -- To sum up -- The bus is sexy cuz: - Bus riders have great asses.
Most of the bus system's so fraught with problems that people don't take em. On the other hand, the bus system has a hard time getting funding unless ridership's increased. These are the 2 major probs I see and others have mentioned: 1 Reliability. MTA buses quite often fail to show up, let alone show up on time.
MTA trip planner's pretty much useless -- about a third of the time, I get an error message; another third, I get a circuitous route when there are clearly better ones. I see 2 major courses of action: 1 Appeal to and work with the MTA to make some serious changes.
joining their Citizens Advisory Council if you have the time, etc. More broadly, it means trying to get more of our public funds to go towards improving our public transportation system instead of building more big highways.
WorldChanging gushes that Google Transit "combines the best of Google maps with the best of current transit trip-planners. It tells you where to walk to, what lines to take when, plots it all out on the map (both walking and riding, with flags to differentiate), and tells you how much it will cost.
Anna (left) and Sara deep into a discussion about biodiesel. About an hour later, I checked in with Anna again -- She was deep in a convo with Alison about getting local and organic food in schools. The pics of the party here are to illustrate that talking green is sexy and fun :P Perfect party conversation, in fact. Okay -- So not everyone was talking about the environment.
Tuesday question about how to make alternatives to driving sexy, I got some really, really amazing ideas. I also realized that asking about "alternatives to driving" may be a bit broad for one post and its attendant string of comments. Thus: I'm separating out walking, biking, bus riding, and train/rail riding, each to get its own post with the comments from the original post integrated in. The posts are intended to stimulate discussion -- and, by proxy, actual local action -- to stimulate de-car-ing in LA.
Worldwatch Institute, which give us an energy used per passenger-mile (calories) stat for various forms of transportation. Buses, which aren't even all that efficient, still use only half that, at 920. Rail, which for pretty much all intents and purposes, doesn't exist for me in LA (I've never lived close to one of the few stations) burns 885. Walking's 100 a mile, and biking's the most efficient, at just 35 cals a mile.
keeping their cars longer and using biofuels and other such as temporary solutions, I think it's really important to try and move LA in a direction that make walking, biking, and taking public transport a sexier -- and more convenient -- option than car ownership.
Anna, and I had been carpooling from Santa Monica -- better than all driving solo, but still a petro-dependent method - So: After literally months of deliberation, we finally decided to bike to Green Drinks last Thursday!
We hit only a few snafus: One of Summer's lights fell off, and once in a while I yelped a lil cuz I get scared when using the left turn lane on a bike - But we got there intact, a lil sweaty and energized :) Thanks to Anna for leading the pack! By the end of the night we'd each biked over 22 miles -- and effectively burned off the booze...
Ed Begley, and other famous peeps wax lyrical about the sexy efficiency of electric vehicles. The sad stuff: We're talking about the deadly combination of automotive and oil industry forces, governmental policies heavily influence by those forces, and, of course, consumer apathy that buys what they're told is sexy without taking the time to do any additional research as to what effect their choices have in our world. I have to say I found the ending -- which tried to put a positive spin on things by pointing to the current rising tide of public concern about the environment -- a bit abrupt. I mean, despite a serious activist front supporting EVs, car companies refused to renew leases, managed to take all of these nice cars back, and crushed em.
really made me think long and hard about the solutions that require fewer compromises with the big industries -- solutions that don't depend so much on the decisions oil and car companies. The movie made me want to totally cut myself off the grid as a big fuck you to the oil industry. I really, really don't wanna buy any more gas -- "Not one drop," said Summer, who watched it with me.
If you're not, check out when it'll be at a theater near you. And if it's NOT coming to a theater near you, call the theater and request it; Paul Scott, one of the interviewees for the film who's turned guerilla marketer for it, says in some places, a single phone call has gotten the film into a local theater.
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