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No fun: L.A. County beaches may levy fine for throwing footballs and Frisbees
At least you can still play volleyball.
It’s the prototypical summer scene: shiny, happy people frolicking on the beaches of Los Angeles, playing catch and tossing Frisbees. Now the L.A. Board of Supervisors has passed a sprawling, 37-page ordinance that outlines restrictions on the throwing of the apparently offending objects on L.A. County beaches.
It’s not a sweeping ban: Specifically, the ordinance frowns upon “any person to cast, toss, throw, kick or roll” anything outside of a beach ball or volleyball on any L.A. beach between Memorial Day and Labor Day. The basic idea is to protect the general public from flying objects during the peak summer months, when beaches are at their most crowded. So those aspiring to be the next Gabrielle Reece are good, but Eli Manning wannabes, not so much. And the Frisbee Olympics are definitely out. The rules are not so stringent over the winter and spring months, so plan accordingly.
<i>Correction, clarification and update: L.A. County is saying the new ban actually loosens an earlier, unenforced restriction that has been in place for a long time. This post originally stated that the fine was $1,000. It's lower than that for football and frisbee-throwing, and the ordinance and its history is also a bit more nuanced than how we originally described it. For further clarification, here's another post.</i>
Walmart introduces new "Great For You" healthy food label
Long one of America’s most controversial retailers, Walmart continues it’s aggressive charge to being a more responsible one with the launch of new labels clearly identifying healthier food choices for shoppers.
Starting this spring, the bright green “Great For You” label will appear on Walmart house brands Great Value and Marketside, as well as fresh and packaged produce.
“Walmart moms are telling us they want to make healthier choices for their families, but need help deciphering all the claims and information already displayed on products,” explained Andrea Thomas, the senior vice president of sustainability at Walmart in a press release. “Our ‘Great For You’ icon provides customers with an easy way to quickly identify healthier food choices. As they continue to balance busy schedules and tight budgets, this simple tool encourages families to have a healthier diet.”
The new program was launched this week in Washington, D.C and has already received support from First Lady Michelle Obama.
“Today’s announcement by Walmart is yet another step toward ensuring that our kids are given the chance to grow up healthy,” said the First Lady. “Giving parents the information they need to make healthy choices is a key piece of solving childhood obesity.”
To be considered "Great For You", foods have to meet stringent requirements including the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, U.S Department of Agriculture and Institute of Medicine.
The move is part of Walmart’s renewed commitment to making healthier food readily available and identifiable, including the recent launch of "The Green Room” blog, which tracks and promotes global sustainability efforts.
Electric Avenue: Stanford team wants to recharge your car while you drive
For the environmentally (as well as financially) conscious driver, electric cars are the only way to cruise. With California stressing greener cars and automakers making a concerted effort to bring more affordable electric vehicles to the public, the need for basics like charging stations are increasingly paramount. Even big retailers like Ikea and Walmart are getting onboard by adding said stations to their stores (the easier to shop inside, of course).
Now researchers at Stanford are working on a progressive system that would all but eliminate the need for charging stations by literally electrifying the roads we drive on. Using technology known as magnetic resonance coupling, the general idea is that metal coils would be placed in the actual freeway itself, creating a wireless transfer system that could literally charge an electric car’s battery as it drives.
“Our vision is that you'll be able to drive onto any highway and charge your car," explained Shanhui Fan, an associate professor of electrical engineering working on the project to the Stanford News. “Large-scale deployment would involve revamping the entire highway system and could even have applications beyond transportation.”
As exciting as the concept of electric highways charging cars as they drive might be, all I can thing about are those “applications beyond transportation” — like being about to charge my phone and laptop computer at the same time…
Santa Monica signs resolution towards sustainability bill of rights
Pacific Coast Highway in Santa Monica
The city of Santa Monica has signed a new eco-positive resolution that aims to guarantee citizens a series of environmental rights based around sustainability — and the right to sue if they’re not met:
The right to clean, affordable and accessible water from sustainable water sources for human consumption, cooking, and sanitary purposes; the right to a sustainable energy future based on sustainable renewable energy sources; the right to a sustainable natural climate unaltered by fossil fuel emissions…the right to clean indoor and outdoor air, clean water and clean soil that pose a negligible health risk to the public; and the right to a sustainable food system that provides healthy, locally grown food to the community…
So goes the ambitious new bill, which builds on Santa Monica’s already robust commitment to environmentalism, with the city’s first sustainability plan established back in 1994. Presented to city council this past January, the bill passed unanimously and will be reintroduced as an ordinance for another vote before the end of the year.
They're looking for a few good…sheep
Joshua Tree NP is home to about 250 Nelson's Bighorn. If you want to know how many of those guys are in San Gabriel mountains, state Fish and Game wants to talk to you.
Bighorn, that is. Ovis canadensis. Nelson's Bighorn.
But first, the California Department of Fish and Game is looking for a few good volunteers to look for those sheep. Fish and Game is continuing its decades-long survey of bighorn sheep in the San Gabriel Mountains with some public elbow grease on the evening of Saturday, March 3 through all day Sunday. March 4. You don't even need experience! You are, however, encouraged to have binoculars or spotting scopes. And it ain't like a pleasant stroll down the pavement:
Volunteers will hike to designated observation sites in the San Gabriel Mountains early Sunday morning to count and record bighorn sheep. Volunteer groups will be led by a representative from either DFG, USFS or the Society. Participants must be at least 16 years old and capable of hiking one mile in rugged terrain, although some survey routes are longer. In general, hikes will not be along trails and accessing survey points will involve scrambling over boulders, climbing up steep slopes and/or bush-whacking through chaparral.
Orientation is at Verdemont Community Center in San Bernardino Saturday evening, and volunteers get free campsites (first-come, first-served) at the Applewhite Campground in Lytle Creek Saturday night. Volunteers have pitched in for more than a decade, at least, always around this time of year.
Bighorn sheep once ranged over the San Gabriels freely. Fish and Game says the population's dropped over 80 percent in the last 20 years, but it seems to have leveled out. A report on restoration efforts describes the helpfulness of fire in creating habitat for bighorn in an increasingly competitive wilderness space.
State officials are signing up volunteers here.
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