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LA and Long Beach Ports celebrate Clean Truck Program; face fight to continue
By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
Los Angeles’ program to reduce trucking pollution is working faster than planned, but it has come under attack by the trucking industry.
Today, the city celebrates the one-year anniversary of the Clean Truck Program (CTP), which has taken more than 2,000 polluting trucks off the road and helped placed more than 5,500 clean vehicles into service. The changes mean that ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are now two years ahead of schedule in their master plan to reduce shipping truck emissions by 80 percent. The two ports have collaborated to reduce air pollution from both trucks and ships using the hubs.
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Tags: · California, Clean diesel, Clean Truck Program, cleaner trucks, Long Beach port, Los Angeles port, truck emissions
Schwarzenegger to veto renewable energy bills
September 12th, 2009 · No Comments
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s office said Saturday that he would veto legislation requiring a third of California’s energy to come from renewable sources by 2020, choosing instead to mandate the change through an executive order. >> Read the full story
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Tags: · Arnold Schwarzenegger, California, Independent Energy Producers, Jan Smutny-Jones, Renewable energy bills
Palm Desert, Calif., sizzling green
September 8th, 2009 · 4 Comments
By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
Considering how the desert challenges our green aspirations, it’s surprising there’s not already a reality show: Extreme Green — Finding eco-friendly solutions where the sun always shines.
OK, so the title could use some work. The facts remain – the desert is great for producing heat and making solar power. But when it comes to human habitation, it’s an air conditioning-dependent, rugged place.
They understand that in Palm Desert, a small city in Southern California’s desert Coachella Valley. Palm Desert, in fact, would make a good candidate for the Extreme Green pilot show.
“Palm Desert has a long history of interest in the environment both in energy conservation and saving water and respect for the environment,” said Lauri Aylaian, director of community development for the resort city of 50,000.
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Tags: · California, Coachella Valley, Electric vehicles, energy incentives, golf carts, golf courses, native vegetation, Palm Desert, Southern California, Vacations
Wine company says one tree will go up for every bottle that goes down
By Ashley Phillips
Green Right Now
Once, long ago, a winemaker promised to sell no wine before its time. Now, a different company is promising to sell no wine (at least one label of wine anyway) without helping humans atone for past crimes.
The rhyme may not be as good, but the thought is more altruistic.
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Tags: · Africa, Amazon, Asia, California, global warming, rainforest, tree planting, Trinchero Family Estates, Trinity Oaks, wine
Stockton aims to preserve the future with ‘The Preserve’
By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
In the journal of green urbanism, you don’t find much about Detroit, Birmingham, Salina or Stockton. These cities have proud histories, but they’ve not eco-agitators, like say, San Francisco.
Movers and shakers in Stockton, though, say they’re ready to step up to the plate. Developers there just announced a large, green development called The Preserve which they say will make the mid-sized city east of the Bay area an authentic player in the green space. The Preserve, conceived of as a large, but nature-loving mixed use development, should become a magnet for businesses and residents that might not otherwise consider the city a green destination, its developers say.
“The Preserve will demonstrate to all that Stockton has a bright future, a future that benefits from forward thinking about our environment,” said David Nelson, Executive Vice President of A. G. Spanos Companies, the national developer, which is based in Stockton.
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Tags: · A.G. Spanos Companies, California, Gensler architecture firm, green development, Home/Commercial Building, One Planet Community, Stockton, The Preserve, urban development
Tiny homes getting to be a big deal
By Harriet Blake
Green Right Now
One or two of the seven dwarfs would enjoy these houses, but certainly not all of them, and forget about Snow White. In Peter Pan, the lost boys made such a house for Wendy. And when Alice landed in Wonderland, she too experienced the tiny house phenomenon.
So, now in 2009, what’s the appeal of a home that ranges 100 to 800 square feet? Is there a market for them? Are people really downsizing to this level?
The economy may be one factor, but most folks who are attracted to these miniature homes are seeking a simpler, scaled down lifestyle –one that is kinder to the environment. Such a home uses less energy and takes advantage of renewable resources.
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Tags: · Austin, Boston, Brad Kittel, California, Carbon footprint, Jay Schafer, PlaceTailor Inc., Pratt House, Texas, Tiny Texas Houses, Tumbleweed Tiny Houses, U.S. Green Building Council
FedEx puts more hybrids on the road; says feds should express incentives
Green Right Now Reports:
FedEx has added 92 hybrid-electric trucks to its fleet, all of which are converted standard delivery trucks.
 The increase represents a jump of 50 percent in the company’s hybrid fleet, bringing it to a total of 264 hybrid-electric vehicles. FedEx estimates that its hybrid fleet has saved an estimated 1,521 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions since 2004. That’s equivalent to taking 279 cars off the road annually.
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Tags: · Air Pollution, California, Charlotte, FedEx, Greener Businesses, Greenhouse Gases, hybrid conversions, hybrid incentives, hybrid-electric vehicles, North Carolina
California project looks to cut the state’s leftover paint problem
From Green Right Now Reports
San Joaquin County announced it is developing a statewide paint stewardship program aimed at reducing the 8-million gallons of leftover paint Californians generate annually. The California Paint Stewardship Program will focus on teaching consumers how to buy the right amount of paint, properly store leftovers, and provide reuse and recycling options. For paint that cannot be reduced or reused, the project goal is to increase collection of unused paint for recycling and stimulate the recycled paint market.
 Studies show that consumers frequently misjudge their paint needs, leading to large volumes of leftover paint. California’s local governments are spending almost $16 million annually to collect unused paint through Household Hazardous Waste programs, with taxpayers and garbage rate payers paying about $8 per gallon to operate the programs.
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Tags: · California, California Paint Stewardship Program, Household Hazardous Waste programs, San Francisco County, San Joaquin County, Tehama County
Click to plant a tree
From Green Right Now Reports
 Odwalla is continuing its successful plant-a-tree program by donating $100,000 worth of trees to be planted in state parks in California, New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Utah, Ohio, Texas, Maryland, Michigan and Virginia.
Visitors to www.parkvisitor.com/odwalla can choose their preferred state to receive a tree — no contribution or registration is required. The trees will be used to support important reforestation and planting initiatives across the country.
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Tags: · California, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Odwalla, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia
West Coast, college towns show most interest in hybrid vehicles
From Green Right Now Reports
 Cars.com recently released its second Green Cities Index, ranking cities on their interest green vehicles. The list was calculated by evaluating the number of hybrid searches as a percentage of overall car searches in each market, then ranking them.
West Coast buyers, particularly the Pacific Northwest, showed the greatest interest in hybrid vehicles. Eight of the top 10 cities on the list are in Oregon, California or Washington, with Eugene, Ore.; Portland, Ore.; and Santa Barbara, Calif., taking the top three spots.
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Tags: · California, Cars.com, Eugene, Green Cities Index, Oregon, Portland, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, Washington
Gardens within prison walls (how to escape bad prison food)
By Sommer Saadi
Green Right Now
Side by side, hunched over mounds of dirt with shovels in hand, students from Scripps College and inmates at the California Institution for Women (CIW) in Chino, California, plant an organic garden. It’s not the most conventional pairing – twenty-somethings in jeans and t-shirts and women clad in prison uniforms growing fresh produce along stale concrete walls. But it’s a pairing that works. And to those involved, it makes a lot of sense.
“The garden is about connecting communities,” explains Scripps College senior and Criminal Justice Network co-leader Adrian Hodos. “These are two populations that don’t come into contact with each other enough. And now with the garden, they do.”
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Tags: · Adrian Hodos, California, California Institute for Women, Cedar Creek Corrections Center, Chico, Criminal Justice Network, James Jiler, Organic Food, organic gardens, Scripps College, sustainable living, Washington
Wind power growing at gale force in the U.S.
By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
The American Wind Energy Association released its annual rankings of industry leaders today, among manufacturers, producers and states with the greatest wind production  capacity.
First the states: Texas leads the nation with the ability to produce 7,118 Megawatts of power, or enough to keep 1.75 million homes in electricity.
It is followed by: Iowa (2,791 Megawatts of wind capacity); California (2,517 Megawatts); Minnesota (1,754 Megawatts); Washington (1,447 Megawatts) and Oregon and Colorado (each with just over 1,000 Megawatts).
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Tags: · American Wind Power Association, California, GE Energy, Horizon-Energias de Portugal, Indiana, Iowa, Iverdrola Renewables, Michigan, MidAmerican Energy, Minnesota, NextEra Energy Resources, Texas, Washington, Wind Power, Wind Turbines
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