The Orchard Garden Hotel in San Francisco is a wallet-friendly city-center green retreat.

When you’re travelling on business, how green are the places where you choose to stay? The Orchard Garden Hotel is slap-bang in the heart of Frisco, near Union Square, so you’ve got no excuse for not taking public transport to get there. They’ve even got bike stalls.

What the hotel lacks in interior-design zing, it more than makes up for with its eco-credentials. Made from recycled materials – glass and steel – it was one of the US’s first LEED-certified hotels. Its interior decór doesn’t have us singing, but the green agenda seals the deal: paper and carpets are made from recycled materials, the inks are soy-based, the paint is non-toxic and the cleaning products are citrus-based and chemical free.

The 86 guest rooms, spread over 10 floors, are decorated in the natural tones, and furniture is made from FSC-approved wood, with organic Aveda bath goodies for pampering (being good has its rewards). As in many hotels these days, you get a large-screen HD TV, DVD player, iPod dock and WIFI.

Now, listen up: when you leave your hotel room, do you remember to turn off all these electronic toys? Really? Honestly? (I don’t.) Doesn’t matter – your eco-conscience is safe, as this hotel has the genius keycard system, as used in Europe. When you enter your room, the (recycled plastic) card goes in the slot, all the lights come on and everything is ready to go. When you leave, you take it out, and – hey presto – all systems go off (bar one outlet for charging a device). All this saves a whopping 20% in energy costs. And potential second-guessing.

Staying downtown in a city, even if you’re here for work, it’s a crime to miss the view: suites have their own terraces, as well as a sofabed for tagalong buddies. If your budget doesn’t stretch to that – prices for interior rooms are impressively reasonable – you can always check out the skyline from the roof terrace.

Rates start at $125/night plus tax, city buzz and bike parking included, car parking definitely not.

A premier example of eco-chic, Bardessono is one of only two U.S. hotels that are LEED Platinum certified.

Imagine going away on vacation without leaving the faintest trace? This is not a plot point for an episode of CSI, in which, should the aforementioned happen would make for the most unpleasant vacation ever. We’re talking footprint, your carbon one, while still relaxing, getting pampered, and using no fossil fuels.

Bardessono, in California’s Napa Valley, will make you feel wonderfully smug about your time away but this sense of environmental satisfaction comes at a formidable price.

Built from recycled materials, almost completely self-sustaining in terms of energy, and using only local food, the hotel is hard to fault on environmental grounds. Unsurprising, then, that it won LEED’s highest certification, awarded to only three hotels in the world.

Its list of building materials reads like a lesson in green construction practices: salvaged wood, including redwood wine casks, was used for doors, desks and tables, while stone reclaimed from an old wine store at the owner’s family home was reused on the exterior walls. Even the concrete and stainless steel have a high recycled content. The overall feel is modern and unfussy, yet warm.

Air temperature control comes from a geothermal pump, which also provides naturally-heated water – cooling is by automatically-lowered exterior blinds first, to keep the sun out (unusually rare in hotels, but so simple and effective), and by room thermostat second. Most of the hotel’s electricity is provided by nearly 1000 solar panels on the roof.

The best suites have bathrooms with their own treatment beds, for your in-room spa, and outdoor stone tubs; all of the 62 luxe-sized guest rooms have private patios or balconies (as they should, at this price). Take a dip in the rooftop pool, with views to tree-covered hills. As you’d expect, food and wine are both largely organic, with some grown on-site.

Apart from the knowledge that you’re treading so lightly on the planet, we like the free wine tastings and free yoga classes (I wonder if the two are connected, by any chance? Purge your Pinot with some hard-core sun salutations). Even better, go on a bike tour of nearby wineries and enjoy Napa Valley’s finest vintages, pedaling off the dizzying grapes between stops.

Rates start at $399/night plus tax. Clean conscience and shiny eco-halo included.

Places & Spaces is a travel guide that will inspire you to carve out a vacation on your calendar. All of the gorgeous locations and accommodations in our guide share our concern for the environment. From tent glamping to lavish built environments, fair warning, you’ll feel compelled to pack your suitcase.

Fashion writer Johanna Björk continues her drive from New York City to Ojai, California, eating good food the entire way.

During the first part of my six day roadtrip across America, I made it through New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and about half of Nebraska, all without eating any junk food — which is harder than it sounds when you’re on the road. Over the course of the three days that lay ahead, the plan was to make it all the way to California, a mere 1,626 miles.

Day Four – Nebraska, Colorado
We woke up on the late side, which was probably due to several glasses of good wine we had at The Drover in Omaha the night before. The plan was to make it to Denver where we had friends to stay with. After a while of driving we saw a roadside sign advertising a “Museum of the Prairie Pioneer” and just had to go check it out. The Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer turned out to be a living history museum with a mix of indoor exhibits and outdoor built environments.

The Stuhr Building, designed by Edward Durell Stone

Yes, indeed, I am

The main building, designed by renowned architect Edward Durell Stone, is surprisingly modern. There, you will find exhibits featuring everything from old farm equipment to period-specific clothing. Across the way, the Gus Fonner Memorial Rotunda houses beautiful collections of Native American and Old West memorabilia reflecting the contrasting cultures of the Plains Indians and the early western settlers. After this, we took a walk through Railroad Town, which is a replica of an old frontier town, complete with storefronts, wagons and trains. Since it was a weekday, none of the buildings were open, and the only other visitors to the museum at the time was a class of school children. It was actually quite nice to feel like we had the place to ourselves.

The Log Cabin Settlement

Hanging out by the teepee

The Log Cabin Settlement is an interpretation of the 1850s-60s “road ranches” that were built (using Cottonwood logs) along the pioneer trails and served travelers heading west. The Pawnee Earth Lodge is a 38-foot wide replica of an 1830s lodge that would have been home to about thirty to fifty people. The Pawnee were once the most influential and populous of the native peoples of Nebraska, and their towns ranged in size from forty to two hundred of these earth lodges. Before leaving, I just had to go lay down inside the teepee for a while to stretch before the long ride ahead.

The Pawnee Earth Lodge

Thirty to fifty people would have lived inside one of these Earth Lodges

After a minor WordPress incident (I accidentally deleted most of a post on my blog trying to fix a spelling error using the WordPress iPhone app), a desperate search for wifi took us to the Coffee Cottage. Located right off the highway, in the midst of gas stations, fast food drive-ins and chain motels, is an independently run coffee shop (with free wifi), where the owner herself will make your cup of ice coffee for the road. That’s what I call a happy accident.

The Coffee Cottage

Original Pony Express Station in Gothenburg, Nebraska

We stopped in Gothenburg, Nebraska to check out the original Pony Express station, a small log cabin that once was a stop along the Pony Express route that ran from Missouri to California. During the period of about eighteen months when the Pony Express was delivering mail, a total of 183 riders did the route. They had to be “young, skinny wiry fellows not over 18″ and “expert riders willing to risk death daily.” Orphans were preferred and the wages were $25 per week. The average weight of a rider was 120 pounds, and most of them were around 20 years old, but the youngest of them was merely eleven and the oldest in his mid-40s.

The Sod House Museum

An authentic replica of the sod houses built by early settlers in the region

On our way back to the highway, we made one last stop, at the Sod House Museum — an authentic replica of the sod houses built by early settlers in the region. Apparently, the museum is also home to one of the world’s largest plows (we managed to miss that one, somehow). Had we not already had our coffee, we would have definitely visited Lasso Espresso next door.

Lasso Espresso

After being on the road again for a while I got my very first close look (and smell) at a CAFO, a sad sign that all is not always as picturesque as it seems. We arrived in Denver a little before 9 pm. The friend that we were supposed to stay with for the night had suddenly become sick and we found ourselves using the Kayak and Priceline apps, looking for hotels for the night.

Driving past a CAFO

Gorgeous skies on the approach to Denver

Apparently, bed bugs are sort of an issue in Denver, and after finding several of the hotels we were looking at on bedbugregistry.com we freaked out and decided that instead of risking waking up with itchy skin we should spend a bit more on a hotel without bed bugs. So, we used a great app called Hotel Tonight, which lets you find deals on nice hotels in major cities for that same night. We ended up at a Hilton Garden Inn, so much for no mainstream motels. Oh well, sometimes you have to make tradeoffs.

Day Five – Colorado, Utah
Before leaving Denver in the morning, we stopped in at a Whole Foods to stock up on healthy stuff to eat during the day. I had been craving a green juice since we left New York, but to my great dismay, this location did not have a juice bar and I had to settle for an organic tea.

Snow-capped mountains

After four days of driving through the plains, the snow-capped Rocky Mountains in the distance was quite an impressive sight, and driving up through them was amazing. We were finally entering the Wild West. Going through the winding roads and tunnels carved through the mountains makes you realize just how amazing it is that people managed to build all this.

A gold mine

Gorgeous lakes

Red cliffs

The outskirts of Vail

We passed an actual gold mine, red cliffs, lakes and small skiing towns. When stopping for a bathroom break we lucked out and found what has to be the most spectacular rest stop in Colorado. There were stairs that led down to a small beach, where the Colorado River rapidly flowed by. I wanted to put my toe in the water but decided that it was probably not the best idea. Instead, I sat on one of the rocks for a while, admiring the splendor of nature’s beauty.

Watching the Colorado River flow by at the most beautiful rest stop in Colorado

Mountain pass

As we drove further through Colorado, the formerly green and red landscape turned all different shades of beige as the trees disappeared. When we entered Utah, a vast landscape of nothing but majestic mountains and canyons was spread out in front of us. It looked like a big storm was stirring up ahead and we decided to stop at the next town and find a hotel for the night.

Entering Utah

Dark clouds looming above the mountains

The nearest town, Salina, turned out to be about three hours away. It was kind of scary to drive through the winding mountain roads in the dark, with rain pounding the windshield. When we finally made it there, we looked up the cheapest thing on Kayak and found a small, fairly new motel. The people in the reception had never heard of Kayak, but were very sweet and honored the rate for us. For dinner, we had a big salad that we had picked up at Whole Foods in Denver that morning. I fell asleep watching a Storage Wars marathon on TV.

Day Six – Utah, Arizona, Nevada, California

It’s amazing how much stuff one can fit in a MINI

On the road again

Hitting the road again in the morning, we were once again mesmerized by the beauty of the landscape. Every time I put my camera down after taking a photo something new turned up. It was kind of ridiculous, in a good way.

Majestic mountains in the distance

…every way you looked.

One of the most spectacular parts was the drive through the Virgin River Gorge, which follows I-15 for 20 miles across the corner of northwestern Arizona and slices right through a scenic desert canyon.

The drive through the Virgin River Gorge is quite spectacular

Majestic canyons — just like a scene from an old Western movie

Entering Nevada, there was no sign to formally welcome us to this new state. There was, however, casinos, lots of casinos. The landscape became more desert-like and the temperature started rising — at one point it showed as 101 degrees Fahrenheit. As we approached Las Vegas, we saw more and more power lines converging in the distance. I guess it takes a lot of power to run all those lights in Sin City.

You pick: Sin or Salvation. Elvis or Jesus

As we approached Las Vegas, the power lines got larger and more plentiful

The strip was enveloped in a big storm cloud, so we decided, since we had both already been to Vegas, that we would find a raw food place to have lunch. I used Yelp to find a place, on the west side of town, called Go Raw Café. Located in a strip mall adjacent to a man-made lake in an upscale residential neighborhood, it was a bit hard to find, but the food was definitely worth it. The house salad was divine (and huge) and came with dehydrated crackers. We also tried the chips, salsa and guacamole (house salsa and guacamole served with flax chips) and half a Portabello Mushroom Wrap (marinated portabella mushrooms, veggies, kale, and “almond cheese” wrapped in collard greens served with house slaw). Such a treat. I also (finally) got a green juice for the road.

Big delicious raw salad

Raw Portabello Mushroom Wrap

Sipping a green juice outside Go Raw Café in Las Vegas

Entering California, you have to pass through an agriculture checkpoint, where they make sure that you are not bringing in any invasive plants or pests. I was worried that they would take my goji berries, but we were just waved through. Finally, we had reached California! It was getting dark and pretty soon we were stuck in LA-traffic on a five-lane freeway. How classic.

Traffic congestion outside of LA

Almost there — Ojai, California, my new home

Rolling into our new home in Ojai, it was pitch black outside. It felt great to have arrived, but I was also sad that the journey was over — 2,872 miles. Maybe some day I will do it again.

Top five delicious and vegetarian friendly dishes in Long Beach, California.

Earlier this summer we ran a contest to find your favorite locavore picks. Reader Annabel Adams sent us her top five from Long Beach, California, and we couldn’t stop drooling over the vegan friendly list, so much so, that we had to choose it as our winner.

1. Grilled Veggie Rice Bowl at Kafe Neo
2. Fried Cauliflower at Magic Lamp 
3. Fried Potatoes at Open Sesame
4. Coconut Oatmeal at Roots Gourmet 
5. Teriyaki Tempeh Bowl at Zephyr Cafe 

Head on over to Foodspotting and start spotting – and testing – these dishes yourself!

In Foodspotting Friday we highlight one of Foodspotting’s – or our own – top picks from our Foodspotting guides. Be sure to check them out and tip us off to your own favorites in our Readers’ Picks guide. Want to start spotting food on your own? Join Foodspotting and take part in the food spotting revolution. It’s visual, it’s positive, it’s global and we are in love with it.

Image: Magic Lamp

San Francisco’s Hotel Triton has been a pioneer in eco lodging since the early 1990s.

Kimpton Hotels have been leaders in the industry when it comes to eco-friendly accommodations. The company’s Hotel Triton in downtown San Francisco is no different and actually started it all with an “eco-floor” back in the 1990s, which spread to the rest of the hotel in 2003. Because of its environmental efforts, the Hotel Triton inspired the current company-wide eco-program for all Kimpton Hotels.

Each property owned by Kimpton has a theme and the one for Hotel Triton is pop culture. It was inspired by the imaginations of San Franciscan artisans and the décor is whimsy and fun with personal touches from celebrities that have stayed there, such as artwork, quotes, concert memorabilia, photographs, and personally selected amenities. The hotel is also a supporter of the local arts community by serving as a showcase for emerging artists with a rotating gallery of art.

The Hotel Triton has been called “The best hotel in San Francisco,” and we love the fact that it’s right smack downtown, across from the Chinatown gates. And it’s pet-friendly too!

If you go: Stay in the “Eco Premier King Rooms” which feature different eco design elements a guest can experience first-hand and consider in their own home environments. They each have a special theme like the Trust for Public Land, Happy Planet, the Collage Foundation and the Eco-Chic Room.

Rates start at $180.00USD per night.

Places & Spaces is a travel guide that will inspire you to carve out a vacation on your calendar. All of the gorgeous locations and accommodations in our guide share our concern for the environment. From tent glamping to lavish built environments, fair warning, you’ll feel compelled to pack your suitcase.

Beyond the smell and decay, landfills are considered modern archeology sites, collections of discarded items that give clues to the lifestyles of those who used them. In fact, Harvard-trained archeologist Bill Rathje recently told the LA Times, “The best time capsule in the world is a landfill.”

But that time capsule has an impact.

The average American produces a little over 4 pounds of trash per day, and although we might be diligent about separating our recyclables, once the garbage truck comes along, to us, our waste is out of sight and out of mind. While we return to the house with an empty garbage can, our waste takes off on a journey for the landfill, where mountains of trash pile up to be pushed around by bulldozers and circled by vultures in the air.

Where does your trash go?

We rounded up a list of the top 10 biggest landfills, just to show the ultimate impact of our everyday waste. According to Waste & Recycling News, these are the biggest landfills, based upon tonnage received in 2007. Here are some interesting facts about these places, including some very uplifting ones (really).

1. Apex, Las Vegas, Nevada. 3,824,814 tons.

America’s largest landfill, Apex, lies just an hour north of Sin City. Storing nearly 50 million tons of rotting trash, Apex is no small operation. Surprisingly enough, things seem to be slowing down. According to General Manager Mark Clinker commercial and residential waste has actually decreased. Maybe there’s still hope?

2. Puente Hills, Whittier, California. 3,756,718 tons.

Taking in a third of Los Angeles County’s trash, Puente Hills is a big player when it comes to waste. But talking about trash doesn’t have the same effect as seeing it. Last year, the Center for Land Use Interpretation (CLUI), a Culver City-based think tank, sponsored a tour of Puente Hills in an effort to raise awareness about waste. Tickets sold out in minutes. But the landfill doesn’t just process waste. Puente Hills is the largest recycling location in the US, taking more than one million tons per year of recyclable materials.

3. Newton County Landfill Partnership, Brook, Indiana. 2,692,455 tons.

A stone’s throw from Chicago, Newton County Landfill is responsible for taking a large part of the city’s waste. Chicago residents produce about 1 million tons of trash per year.

4. Atlantic Waste, Waverly, Virginia. 2,669,423 tons.

Virginia’s largest landfill, Atlantic Waste is owned by the trash giant, Waste Management. In 2008 the landfill was fined for some 8,000 gallons of leachate – in other words, garbage juice – which spilled into surrounding wetlands.

5. Okeechobee, Okeechobee, Florida. 2,640,000 tons.

Surprisingly enough, visitors to Okeechobee won’t just see piles of trash, they’ll also get a view of local wildlife. Of the 4,150 acres that make up the site, 1,550 have been placed in conservation easement, offering visitors a variety of recreation and conservation related activities.

6. Denver Arapahoe Disposal Site, Aurora, Colorado. 2,561,809 tons.

Colorado’s largest landfill, Denver Araphoe Disposal Site accepts around 12,000 tons of waste per day. But some of that trash is going to good use. In September of 2008, DADS launched its waste-to-energy system to convert methane into electricity. In partnership with the City of Denver, the system generates enough power to fuel about 3,000 homes. (Photos are from adjacent landfill site Lowry, which ceased operations in 1990 and is now part of the waste-to-energy system)

7. El Sobrante, Corona, California. 2,173,216 tons.

Another landfill owned by Waste Management, El Sobrante works closely with the Wildlife Habitat Council to manage more than 640 acres for the benefit of 31 different species, two of which are endangered.

8. Rumpke Sanitary, Colerain Township, Ohio. 2,128,165 tons.

Located near Cincinnati, Rumpke Sanitary brings in a lot of trash, but like other landfills, is doing its part to put some of it to good use. The landfill site hosts three methane recovery facilities that have the potential to recover approximately 15 million standard cubic feet of landfill gas daily. In total, the facilities produce enough energy to power 25,000 homes.

9. Frank Bowerman, Irvine, California. 2,059,859 tons.

One of California’s largest landfills, Frank Bowerman also boasts the world’s first landfill gas-to-LNG plant. The plant has the capacity to produce 5,000 gallons of LNG per day, which has about the same environmental benefits as taking about 150,000 vehicles off the road per year.

10. Columbia Ridge, Arlington Oregon. 2,050,602 tons.

Columbia Ridge processes waste from all over the Northwest, serving major cities Portland, OR and Seattle, WA.

Each week here at EcoSalon, the editors choose a post from the archives that we think you’ll love. The original post can be found here.

Images: D’Arcy Norman, Steve Marcus, Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County, WM, Google, Farache, EPA, Center for Land Use Interpretation, Craig Ruttle, n6vhf, Eric Mortenson.

In a state which owns the role as largest agricultural exporter in the country, how its largest city deals with food policy is important, not only for the state, but the nation as a whole. Such is the case with Los Angeles, California, a place where local produce runs abound. The problem is, it’s not only support for local food production that’s integral for regional food policy, but it’s the distribution of it.

According to the 2005 LA County Health Survey, only 14.6 percent of adults eat over five servings of fruits and vegetables per day. Add that to a population over half (55.5 percent) of which is either obese or overweight, and it’s easy to posit the correlation between good food and improved health.

This week the Los Angeles Food Policy Task Force, established last year by the L.A. Board of Public Works, released a its report, “Good Food for All Agenda: Creating a New Regional Food System for Los Angeles.” The report focuses not only environmental concerns related to the LA food system, but also the political and social side of things. With studies showing that there is a direct correlation between income and health, these are the issues that local, and national, leaders have to start taking a serious look at, and it’s good to see one of the nation’s most abundant agricultural regions starting to do so.

In the land of plenty, the report paints a grim picture of the reality for many LA residents:

A block from backyard vegetable gardens whose vitality could make you gasp, displays of cheap-calorie, high-profit, chemical-laden snacks, and vivid, sugary sodas all but crowd out the produce sections of neighborhood markets. Children eat prepackaged school lunches designed to ease the problems of distribution rather than nutrition. Billions of consumer dollars that could go towards sustainable, fairly priced locally grown food goes out of the region and out of the country. Improbably, even here, many thousands of Angeleno families go hungry each day.

Local food can’t just be a trend or a movement, it has to be practical, affordable and accessible, and when we’re talking about environmental, social and political issues, this is something that all cities across the country should be considering.

The report also calls for the city to establish a Good Food council, which would aid in connecting the dots between all the groups within the city that are doing work that’s related; focusing on local food means strengthening the community around it. University researchers can work with soup kitchens and activists can work with industry professionals.

You can read the full report here.

Image: djjewelz

Growing up in the industrial Midwest, “California Dreaming” was more than just a song. It was an homage to someplace totally “other” – a shining state on the Pacific, full of light and beauty and forward-looking promise. When it came on the radio everyone immediately forgot what they were doing and sang of being “safe and warm.” It was mild all the time there, it seemed, and they had great pot, a governor called Moonbeam, and even solar power. If I just follow the sun, I thought, I’ll end up there.

While I took a crazily circuitous route, I did, in fact, follow the sun and about 15 years ago settled in just north of San Francisco. Though I’d been coming out here since I was a kid, and had experienced firsthand the progressive gestalt of the “mellow state,” it quickly became apparent to me as a new resident that all was not what I thought it would be. In many ways, massive California functions as a nation unto itself, as divided as any, as susceptible to reactionary thinking, bigotry and good old stupidity as anyplace else. In my time here, I’ve seen some horrendous political “leadership,” antisocial anti-tax measures and, most recently, Proposition 8, banning gay marriage. I often think to myself, where is progressive California? Was it ever even real?

When fits of Golden State cynicism arise, I can usually stop and meditate (yes, I learned to do that in California), and do a quick Cali gut check. Let’s do one now: Three reasons California is still cool.

Medical Marijuana and Marijuana Marijuana

NYT – October 1: A month before California voters decide the fate of a ballot initiative that would legalize marijuana, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill that essentially puts those caught possessing small amounts of the drug on the same level as those caught speeding on the freeway.

I’ve always believed that the nation’s marijuana laws are cruel and unusual – and inane – from both the standpoint of its medical potential and its “hey, man, chill with this” benefits. I also have a bit of a libertarian streak in me that says: “Leave me the hell alone if I want to put something in my body that evidence shows is merely really not too good for me and for which basic precautions can be taken to make sure no one but me is going to get hurt.”

But in the end, it’s not about the party. It’s about sound transactional taxation policy (economic sense) and getting our arms around prosecution and incarceration abuses that are way out of hand (resource management and simple compassion). As an ex-user, I may not get there with you, but its time has come. Despite the fact the state-wide Proposition 19, which would legalize marijuana for recreational use, may go down to (perhaps narrow) defeat, it won’t be too long before the craziness around this issue will finally come to an end – and it will happen in California.

Keeping Cool on the Climate

NYT – October 5: A measure to suspend [California's] vanguard climate change law is heading for failure, by a margin of 49 percent to 37 percent, because voters see the law doing more economic good than harm, a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday showed.

Part of what makes this so cool is another headline: “Billionaire Koch brothers back suspension of California climate law” (LA Times, September 2). The law, AB 32 or the Global Warming Solutions Act, requires that one-third of California’s electricity come from renewable sources by 2020 (less than a quarter does today). The “hold off” measure, Proposition 23, was initially brought to us courtesy of funding from two Texas refiners, who have recently been joined by these maniac brothers, Charles and David, major tea-party enablers who operate oil refineries in states, you’ve guessed it, other than California. These two love to throw wads of cash at climate change deniers and renewable energy opponents. So welcome to California, guys. Boo-yah!

Like the marijuana issue, the progressive angle here is not about some Cali-hip movement. AB 32 limits greenhouse gas emissions and is creating a massive market for renewable energy, including solar, wind and other sources. According to polls, people are getting the money/jobs angle on all this and see California’s economic redemption as inexorably tied to being the global leader in the green economy. According to the NYT, the state “won 49 percent of the sector’s U.S. venture capital funding in the most recent quarter.” Of course, let’s check back in on this after Election Day, but it seems we’re seeing the forest for the trees on this one.

I Now Pronounce You…

SF Chronicle – September 3: The outlook for the legal defense of Proposition 8, California’s ban on same-sex marriage, grew cloudier Thursday as a state appellate court refused to order Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown to appeal a federal judge’s ruling overturning the measure.

The recent record on this one is not good. The passage of Proposition 8 (52.3 percent “yes,” 47.7 percent “no”) was nothing short of a disgrace for civil rights history. But while that speaks to pervasive homophobia in our society as whole (and perhaps also to ways in which the approach of legislation by initiative is so terribly flawed), it seems that our court system, our Republican governor and our Democratic attorney general know an assault – not to mention affront – to our nation’s Constitution when they see one.

Here’s the drill on this case: The Court of Appeal ”dismissed without comment” a lawsuit, filed on behalf of a Los Angeles-area minister, seeking to require the state to defend the initiative after it was struck down as unconstitutional by a U.S. District Court in August. Both Brown and Schwarzenegger refused to defend it in federal court. Next up is a federal appeals court date in December when arguments will be heard on the sponsors’ legal standing and on the measure’s constitutionality.

California’s history, though stained by the passing of Proposition 8, remains at the forefront of civil rights for homosexuals. While the courts sort it out, I’m going to go ahead and remain hopeful that this measure will meet its doom.

This concludes our one-two-three listicle for your Cali consideration. Each one of these issues has key decisions coming up in the near future (two major ballot measures and one federal court case), so we’ll be keeping the pulse on California Cool as we go. In the meantime, I remain bullish on the Cal bear. And I still smile every time I cross the Golden Gate Bridge.

Image: tibchris

If you’ve ever seen the movie Chinatown, in which private investigator Jake Gittes (played by Jack Nicholson) stumbles upon a gigantic water scandal in the course of investigating an adultery case in Los Angeles, then you know that California’s water issues go way back.

Water is contentious here because we have so little of it and need so much. California is one of the world’s most valuable agricultural areas. The state supplies over half of U.S. fruits, nuts and vegetables and over 90 percent of U.S. almonds, artichokes, avocados, broccoli and processing tomatoes, yet, most of the water used to grow these crops comes from the extreme northeast part of the state.

Early in the history of California, we built a series of dams, canals, and aqueducts to transfer the Sierra snowpack to agricultural and urban areas. Without this water, most of the areas where we grow crops and many of our urban centers would be virtual deserts.

Warmer temperatures over the past few years and irregular precipitation have left the state with a less dependable Sierra snowpack. Court decisions to protect fish, such as the endangered Delta Smelt, have meant that the water diverted from the delta to farms and urban areas has been cut by as much as 30 percent. And the state’s population is still growing and expected to continue to do so.

With lower deliveries, water agencies across the state are worried about being able to supply their growing customer base. The issue has been framed as a fight between farmers and fishermen, north and south, and rural and urban.

The current situation recently led to the revival of an old idea that was once one of California’s most contentious water battles – a Peripheral Canal. The original Peripheral Canal was proposed in the early 1980s as a way to divert water south from the Sacramento River and the delta. It sparked an epic north vs. south campaign battle, with the north accusing Southern California of attempting to abscond with water that wasn’t rightfully theirs.

The California Water Bond of 2010, (or Proposition 18) created a new water war this past spring and summer until it was removed from the ballot in September by the California Legislature. The unpopular bill was not expected to pass in November so lawmakers postponed it until 2012, in hopes that the public would be more receptive to the bill at a later date.

The bill was to provide ecosystem restoration, groundwater cleanup, funding for safe drinking water, water education, recycling, and drought relief, but the bulk of the money was to go to dams (which, under the bill, could be partially owned by private corporations) and a new peripheral canal. This Civil Eats article summarizes the different issues well. Despite several worthy environmental projects contained in the bill, many activist groups saw it as a way to subsidize water for large agribusiness concerns, while leading the way toward privatization at taxpayer’s expense. Other environmental groups saw the restoration efforts as nothing more than remediation for the damage caused by the new diversion and storage systems that were the true crux of the bill.

The list of groups that opposed the bill included The Sierra Club, Food & Water Watch, United Farmworkers, Restore the Delta, the Small Boat Commercial Salmon Fishermens’ Association, and many more. Supporters included Meg Whitman, California Chamber of Commerce, and most of the state water agencies, and a few environmental groups such as Save the Redwoods League and the Nature Conservancy.

Because the bill is due to be resurrected in two years, environmental groups, government agencies, and ag groups are working to educate the public about the state’s water issues.

I recently attended a panel discussion entitled Portioning California’s Water for Farms, Fish, and Families at the David Brower Center in Berkeley CA. The event was sponsored by the San Francisco Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier, the San Francisco Professional Food Society (SFPFS), the Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF), and Sustainable Agriculture Education (SAGE).

The panel was billed as an educational session for food professionals and concerned citizens. Panelists were to discuss the need to consider fish, wildlife, farms, and urban areas when setting water policy. Unfortunately the panel was largely made up of bureaucrats and water lawyers talking to one another in insider water language. Panelists summarized the positions of their various constituencies on the water issues, failing to connect the dots in a way that would have helped the audience relate. These long individual summaries did not leave much time for questions from the audience that could have served to bring the discussion closer to home. I can’t say I didn’t learn anything, but as an educational session, it was mixed.

The panel’s moderator was Tina Cannon Leahy, Principal Consultant, California Assembly, Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee. Panelists included: Laura King Moon, Assistant General Manager, State Water Contractors; Campbell Ingram, Program Manager, California Water Program, The Nature Conservancy; Barry Epstein, Partner, Fitzgerald Abbott & Beardsley LLC; Brian Leahy, Assistant Director, Division of Land Resource Protection, California Department of Conservation; and Tim Ramirez, Natural Resources Division Manager, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, and Dave Runsten, Community Alliance with Family Farmers.

Here’s what I did learn: Almost everyone on the panel seemed to be for the Water Bill. One audience member spoke up and asked how delta farmers could be expected to subsidize developers and big ag. She identified herself as a 3^rd generation delta farmer and stated that the delta farmers are NOT for this bill. I would have liked to have seen some other viewpoints represented on the panel, and not just in the audience. There was some valuable talk of conservation efforts by municipalities and farmers, but I would have liked to have heard more.

Bottom line is this: We don’t have enough water, yet we need to continue to produce food, supply our cities, and protect our ecosystem. Therefore, we need to educate ourselves about where our water comes from and how it’s used, learn how to conserve, and get involved in 2012. And this isn’t just a California problem. It’s a global problem.

Here are some good places to start to learn more about water as a global problem:

Film: Blue Gold: World Water Wars

Book: Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution, and Profit

This is the latest installment in Vanessa Barrington’s weekly column, The Green Plate, on the environmental, social, and political issues related to what and how we eat.

Image: DSearls

There are (or were) few things as wonderfully tech-free as the little red schoolhouse. A single room, a few wooden desks, a corresponding number of quaint textbooks (paper) and, well, okay, a chalkboard. I guess that counts for technology. But, still, write on it 100 times: “Keep it simple. Keep it simple. Keep it simple”¦” And then add: “With nothing toxic. With nothing toxic. With nothing toxic”¦”

Unfortunately, the classroom has not been immune from the hazards of “progress,” both in terms of its impact on our environment as well as on the health of the people (namely, kids) who benefit from it. But from asbestos to lead paint, where our children learn has rightly been on the forefront of our society’s efforts to clean itself up. And this summer, the Bolsa Knolls Middle School in Salinas, California, turned such efforts into a proactive initiative by installing new, environmentally friendly schoolrooms for its sixth and seventh graders.

The modular classrooms are dubbed Gen7, by their West Coast manufacturer, American Modular Systems (AMS). The prefab “green learning spaces” were constructed off-site and delivered to Bolsa Knolls over the summer, just in time for the start of the school year.

To create the classrooms, AMS started with green and efficient electrical and mechanical systems and integrated them into its established ”building envelope.” The finished product contains mostly recycled and recyclable materials, and low and zero VOC (volatile organic compound) interiors. Insulation in the walls and roof make for a quiet learning space and minimize heat and cooling loss. (Oh, and how’s this for school cool: One of the recycled materials used in the structures’ insulation is denim fabric scraps.) Meanwhile smart lighting is provided by “natural daylight harvesting.”

Test results: the whole shebang exceeds California’s Title 24 Energy Code by more than 30 percent.

The off-site construction method, says AMS, means reduced energy demands, without chemicals or toxins or waste requiring landfills required at the project location, which is good for the local community. And “because our Gen7 schoolrooms are modular, they can be installed and ready for students in as few as 90 days,” said Tony Sarich, AMS’ vice president of operation. Read: over the summer. (Summer. As in “where did that go?”)

Here’s some more info for our loyal “Spec-Heads”: Smart Thermal Displacement Ventilation (TDV) system reduces electricity use and costs by 35 percent; grid-neutral design structure; programmable lighting that’s natural daylight harvesting; Low-E, solar band 60 dual-glazed operable windows and programmable Energy Star-rated tubular skylights that lower electricity usage. Oh, and the roof is designed to allow the installation of photo-voltaic power panels. Okay, folks, now settle down.

Behind the scenes, AMS is also promoting itself as an excellent green corporate citizen “dedicated to earth-friendly manufacturing practices.” Its facilities “employ a range of green practices, including daylight harvesting at its 280,000-square-foot enclosed manufacturing space, efficient office lighting and heating/cooling, effective water-saving devices and have installed a rooftop solar-capturing system to offset energy usage.” Want more? Its site even mentions that plant employees carpool to work and jobsites in “modern, CA emission-compliant vehicles.”

The results of all this could be dramatic: According to AMS, kids attending green schools are posting “20 percent higher test scores, fewer absences due to respiratory illness, lower faculty healthcare costs and higher teacher retention.” Also big on the agenda is money savings, which can mean strapped school systems end up with more green. According to The Californian, Trevor Miller, the district’s facilities consultant, each 1,000-square-foot classroom costs the district about $180,000 or half the cost of a conventional classroom. Write that a hundred times: “Half the cost. Half the cost. Half…”

Also see: Crisp Green