 Eco-Gadgets & Innovations
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The ECO Pedal from Nissan
Are you impressed by 0-60 acceleration rates? Like to be the first one out of the gate when the light turns green?
Soon, Nissan will have just the thing for you. No, it's not more horsepower. Rather, it's an innovation that will mitigate your lead-foot driving, improving fuel efficiency by 5-10%. Called the "ECO Pedal", it will cause the gas pedal to push back against your big, heavy lead foot.
Here's how it'll work: the ECO Pedal system will calculate an optimum acceleration rate and will  push back only when it senses excess pressure on the gas pedal. An indicator light on the instrument panel will provide additional information: green indicates optimum fuel efficiency; flashing green means your foot's getting a bit heavy; amber tells you to back off, big foot!
If you're not convinced this is such a great thing, consider this: according to a study by Edmunds, for conventional gasoline vehicles, there is a 31% difference in mileage between the most and least aggressive driving styles (think of the money you'd save!). Not to mention the fact that a mellower driving style is safer, more relaxing and helps improve the flow of traffic.
And if for some reason, you ever find yourself needing to make a quick get away, for safety purposes, the ECO Pedal system will have an on/off switch.
The ECO pedal will be available in 2009. For more information, visit www.nissan-global.com.
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Did You Know...
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- In California, Goodwill is a state-authorized collector of electronic
 waste. That means you can take your old TVs, computers, monitors, DVD players, and other electronic items to your local Goodwill, even if they are broken. Don't live in California? More than 50% of the Goodwill agencies in the U.S. participate in the Reconnect program with Dell, which means they accept e-waste.Visit www.goodwill.org to find a Goodwill near you.
- If you get yourself to work without the use of a personal vehicle, you may be entitled to a Parking Cash Out benefit. In some states, your employer is required by law to compensate you for not using a parking space, either by giving you cold hard cash or by providing a free transit pass. Inquire today!
- Besides central air conditioning and electric water heaters,
 refrigerators are the single biggest consumer of household electricity. Consider replacing yours if it's several years old and/or not ENERGY STAR® certified (current ENERGY STAR® refrigerators use up to 40% less energy than conventional models sold in 2001).
For hundreds more helpful tips and resources for greening your life, join us at a scheduled workshop or schedule a presentation for your community group, church, company, etc.
Visit www.teachinggreen.org for more information.
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L.A. Confidential
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Events and other stuff for Angelinos:
Upcoming TeachingGreen Workshops:
Beach Cities Health District, Redondo Beach
Time: 6:30 - 8:00pm
Location: Beach Cities Health District, Beach Cities Room; 514 N. Prospect Ave., 3rd Floor, Redondo Beach, CA 90277
Cost: Manhattan, Hermosa and Redondo Beach Residents - $25.00; Non-residents - $30.00
Tuesday, October 7: (TONIGHT!)
Tooling Around Town in (Green) Style
Tuesday, October 14:
Helping the Earth with Every Bite
Tuesday, October 21:
Making Your Home a Friend to Mother Nature, Part I (Green Building and Energy Conservation)
Tuesday, October 28:
Making Your Home a Friend to Mother Nature, Part II (Water Quality and Conservation)
Tuesday, November 4:
Stemming the Tide of Toxics and Trash
Whole Foods Market, Torrance
Wednesday, October 15: 
Helping the Earth with Every Bite
Time: 7:00 - 8:30pm
Location: Whole Foods Market, 2655 PCH, Torrance, CA 90505
Cost: Suggested $5 donation
For more info, visit www.teachinggreen.org.
LA Green Drinks
Relax, have a drink, make new friends, network and share ideas with others interested in environmental issues.
LA Green Drinks - West Side: 1st Thursday of the month
LA Green Drinks - South Bay: 2nd Thursday
LA Green Drinks - West Hollywood/Silver Lake: 3rd Thursday
LA Green Drinks - Downtown: 4th Wednesday
LA Green Drinks - Valley: 4th Thursday
For times and locations, visit: lagreendrinks.blogspot.com.
Household Hazardous Waste & E-waste Roundup - Redondo Beach
Date: Saturday, October 11
Time: 9:00am - 3:00pm
Location: 1521 Kingsdale Ave, Redondo Beach 90278
Cost: FREE for Redondo Beach residents
Attention Redondo Beach residents! Here's your big chance to properly dispose of your household hazardous waste, including electronic waste and universal waste (i.e., fluorescent light bulbs, batteries). For more information and a list of specific items that will be accepted, visit www.redondo.org.
Don't live in Redondo? Visit www.lacsd.org for a calendar of other upcoming HHW/e-waste collection events and a list of six HHW collection centers open to all Los Angeles county residents.
Redondo Beach Clean Waterfront Festival
Date: Saturday, October 11
Time: 10:00am - 3:00pm
Location: Seaside Lagoon, 200 Portofino Way, Redondo Beach 90277
Cost: FREE
TeachingGreen will have a booth at this event dedicated to local coastal water quality. Come chat with us, meet some other local organizations, listen to the speaker mini-series that will be going on throughout the day, and check out the tall ships "Californian" and "Lynx" which will be docked over the weeked at King Harbor. Visit www.cleanwaterfrontredondo.org to learn more.
Treepeople's Community Greening Workshop
Date: Saturday, November 8
Time: 9:00am - 3:00pm
Location: Wilmington, CA
Cost: FREE
Provided: Workshop materials and light breakfast and lunch
Choose ONE of the following training sessions to attend:
- Citizen Forester Training
- Planting Supervisor Training
- Tree Care Supervisor Training
- Tree Care Coordinator Training
- Pláticas en Español (join other Spanish speakers to learn about TreePeople's approach to volunteer-based urban forestry)
Specific location and directions to be provided upon registration.
For more information and to register, contact Linda Eremita at eremita@treepeople.org or 818-623-4878.
Register by October 31.
Weekly LALALA's Annual LOHAS Fair
Date: Sunday, November 16
Time: Noon - 6:00pm
Location: Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center,1935 Manhattan Beach Blvd, Redondo Beach 90278
Cost: $10
This fifth anniversary event by the Japanese weekly newspaper LALALA targets Japanese people interested in environmental issues and healthy food.
This year's speakers will be TeachingGreen's founder, Kathleen Jacecko, who will discuss "going green" here in Los Angeles, and Eric Lechasseur, macrobiotic chef to celebrities such as Madonna and Tobey Maguire, and his wife Sanae Suzuki. The event will also feature a yoga instructor who will demonstrate some basic yoga poses, and several vendors offering organic, vegan, and otherwise eco-friendly products.
To buy tickets, contact Noriko Kashiwakura at event@lalalausa.com.
Gardenerd.com
The ultimate resource for garden nerds
Are you interested in organic gardening? Want to start growing your own organic fruits and veggies? Gardenerd.com is designed for people who have a healthy sense of humor about their obsession with organic gardening, and who have a thirst for knowledge. Whether you're a novice or a veteran, there is a place for you at Gardenerd.com. Check out the Gardenerd's blog and podcast, take a class on organic gardening, or get one-on-one help with your next gardening project from the Gardener herself, Christy Wilhelmi.
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Worth Your Time
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King Corn
2007, Available on DVD
In this thought-provoking documentary, two  recent college grads move back to America's Corn Belt to plant an acre of the nation's most-grown and most-subsidized grain in an attempt to follow their crop from seed to the dinner plate. What they discover about genetically modified seeds, powerful herbicides and the realities of modern farming calls into question government subsidies, our fast-food lifestyle and the quality of our food.
"An enormously entertaining moral, socio-economic odyssey through the American food industry." - Boston Globe
"King Corn is as relevant as Super Size Me and as important as An Inconvenient Truth in the recent rash of documentaries that challenge our perceptions of daily life in America." - The Austin Chronicle
For more info visit www.kingcorn.net.
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Good News!
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Hundreds of New Corals Found on Familiar Australian ReefsTOWNSVILLE, Australia, September 19, 2008 (ENS) - Teams of marine researchers exploring Australian reefs long known to divers have been surprised and delighted to find hundreds of new kinds of soft corals and other animal species never before described by scientists. The researchers say multiple threats to coral biodiversity make the scientific inventory of life on Australia's reefs an urgent priority. "Corals face threats ranging from ocean acidification, pollution, and warming to overfishing and starfish outbreaks," says Dr. Ian Poiner, chief executive of the Australian Institute of Marine Science, which led the research. Only by establishing a baseline of biodiversity and following through with later censuses can people know the impact of those threats..." Click here for full article. |
Support TeachingGreen
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Three ways you can help:
1. Bring us your people
Actually, we'll come to you.
In addition to public workshops, we also give presentations for groups, schools, and businesses. Are you a member of a community group, alumni group, Mom's group, church group, or any other kind of group? Have a business you're trying to green and want to get your employees on board?
If so, we would love to come and give a presentation or two for your group! We give presentations on specific issues, such as transportation, food and household toxics, and we also offer a general overview of sustainable living.
Visit www.teachinggreen.org to learn more and to request a presentation.
2. Volunteer or intern with TeachingGreen
We are seeking interns and volunteers to help further our mission of helping people reduce the environmental impact of their personal and professional lives. We need help with curriculum development, fund raising and outreach. Your involvement will help us to grow the organization so that we can reach more people with the message of sustainability.
For more information, contact Kathleen Jacecko at 310-372-7484 or kjacecko@teachinggreen.org.
3. Become a member of TeachingGreen
We are a 501(c)3 organization, so all donations are fully tax-deductible. Your support helps us spread the message of sustainability via workshops, presentations, our wesite and this newsletter. We currenlty operate only in Los Angeles, but even if you don't live here, remember that when we act locally, we help the global environment as well as the local environment.
To make a tax-deductible donation to TeachingGreen, click here.
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TeachingGreen is a 501(c)3 organization, and as such, we depend on
tax-deductible donations from treehuggers like you! If you'd like to
become a member, see the Quick Links above.
We hope you find
this newsletter helpful and informative, and should you have any
suggestions, questions or general comments, we'd love to hear from you.
Sincerely,
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