Carbon Footprint

If you care about green, it's hard not to view these as the worst of times, marked by looming climate, water and energy crises, vanishing fisheries, mile-a-minute deforestation — the list is numbingly endless. In response, we have a largely apathetic public, an environmental lobby rendered toothless by said apathy, a political left and center paralyzed by fear that protecting the planet might hurt the economy, and a political right that's never been more virulently opposed to all things green as job-killing, business-bashing burdens and boondoggles.

If you care about green, it's hard not to view these as the worst of times, marked by looming climate, water and energy crises, vanishing fisheries, mile-a-minute deforestation — the list is numbingly endless. In response, we have a largely apathetic public, an environmental lobby rendered toothless by said apathy, a political left and center paralyzed by fear that protecting the planet might hurt the economy, and a political right that's never been more virulently opposed to all things green as job-killing, business-bashing burdens and boondoggles.

It's all in who you know Re "Nuñez move sparks anger," Jan. 4 What was Arnold Schwarzenegger thinking when he commuted the 16-year prison sentence of former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez's son to seven years? That son, Esteban Nuñez, was heavily involved in the crimes of that tragic night ? he stabbed two people ? and the cover-up, which included trying to get as far away from the crime scene as possible and getting rid of the weapons used. How would Schwarzenegger feel if he had been the father of victim Luis Santos?

If you plop a green building in the middle of nowhere, is it still green? That's exactly what businesses, sustainability experts and planners are trying to find out. The growing "green buildings" movement is taking a new direction with the development of computer models that go beyond measuring a building's carbon footprint and attempt to quantify the amount of energy people consume to reach that building. Take electric utility Exelon Corp.'s uber-green headquarters in downtown Chicago, with its energy-efficient lighting, intelligent heating, ventilation and cooling systems that power down on command, and lights that shut off automatically when a room is unoccupied.

HERE'S the modern traveler's dilemma: You love to travel but worry about the environment, and you know that flying or even driving to your destination leaves a carbon footprint, a measure of how your activities affect the environment. To mitigate the harm a trip can cause -- including fossil fuels burned to get you where you're going -- travelers today can buy carbon offsets.

In a workshop in the city's Mission District, Ally Beran's team of fashion designers is sprawled out over buttons and spools of thread, hoping to stem global warming by stitching new outfits from thrift-store finds. A brown lace applique from a scrap bin could make last year's castoff cashmere really pop, Beran muses. Or swatches from a tattered leather jacket could double as chic epaulets on a high-end used sweater. Designers of sustainable fashion are not only dominating New York catwalks and urban boutique racks this winter; many also are providing farmers with new markets.

OK, here's a quiz: Does sprawling, freeway-scarred, SUV-worshiping, coal-dependent Los Angeles have a heavier or lighter carbon footprint compared with the 99 other big cities in America? If you guessed heavier, think again. According to the Brookings Institution, a prestigious Washington think tank, the Los Angeles metropolitan area emits less planet-warming carbon per capita than any big city except Honolulu, at least by some criteria.

The star-studded romantic comedy "Valentine's Day" is expected to generate plenty of green at the box office this weekend. But it's green of a different kind that could set "Valentine's Day" apart in Hollywood. The Warner Bros. movie, directed by Garry Marshall and featuring a raft of stars including Julia Roberts, Patrick Dempsey, Anne Hathaway and Jessica Biel, took "green filmmaking" to a new level, according to people involved in the project. The film -- which follows the interwoven lives of a group of characters coping with romance and heartache over a single Valentine's Day -- was shot entirely in Los Angeles and features such landmarks as the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Los Angeles International Airport and University High School.

Environmentalists tend to avoid the topic of population control. Too touchy. But the politically incorrect issue is becoming unavoidable as the global population lurches toward a predicted 9 billion people by mid-century. Will there be enough food? Enough water? Will planet-heating carbon dioxide gas become ever more uncontrollable? Now comes a study by statisticians at Oregon State University focusing on the elephant in the room.

Tom Bates stands in his pantry, grinning like a boy on Christmas morning with his loot spread out in front of him. There's a vase half full of used rubber bands destined for return to the newspaper carrier. A pile of hangers will go back to the cleaners. A bin of scraped and dried coffee filters awaits the artist down the street, who incorporates them into her work. Used coffee grounds fill a plastic bag on the kitchen counter. Bates collects them for the compost-making worms in his garage.

It's all in who you know Re "Nuñez move sparks anger," Jan. 4 What was Arnold Schwarzenegger thinking when he commuted the 16-year prison sentence of former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez's son to seven years? That son, Esteban Nuñez, was heavily involved in the crimes of that tragic night ? he stabbed two people ? and the cover-up, which included trying to get as far away from the crime scene as possible and getting rid of the weapons used. How would Schwarzenegger feel if he had been the father of victim Luis Santos?

It was September, and the Tournament of Roses was proud of its newly signed sponsor, American Honda Motor Co. The automaker, promoters said, not only was the first-ever presenting sponsor, it was "employing Honda's innovative environmental technologies to help the Rose Parade function more efficiently and reduce its carbon footprint. " Leading Saturday's 122nd Tournament of Roses will be a 35-foot fairy tale castle called "A World of Dreams," the first float to be powered by fuel-efficient hybrid technology.

It's taken a while, but you think you've finally gotten a grasp on the issues related to where most of your food comes from. You've successfully parsed the gray areas among local, seasonal, organic, sustainable, no-spray and conventional. You know your carbon footprint from your food miles, and you shop at a farmers market when you're not getting deliveries from your CSA. Congratulations. Now what do you do about fish? Yeah, that's what I thought. Me too. As confusing as the arguments about produce might be, they've got nothing on seafood.

There will be award-winning novelists and bestselling mystery writers, leading historians and experts on nearly everything under the sun. But it wouldn't be a book festival in Los Angeles without, of course, entertainers. Stars of stage and screen have been a part of the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books since its inception, doing readings, interviews and book signings, often playing to packed crowds. This year is no exception, with appearances scheduled by such celebrities as Alicia Silverstone, Marlan Wayans, Bernadette Peters, Carl Reiner and Henry Winkler.

Jose Guzman fell in love with bicycles thanks to God. His first long bike trip was a few hundred miles through the dry mountains of Jalisco in central Mexico, in a long line with a few hundred other pedaling Catholic pilgrims. Later, he turned his passion for biking into a small delivery business, stacking 200 pounds of fresh chicken over his back wheel every day in suburban Mexico City. In Los Angeles, Guzman pedals everywhere -- from his apartment in Pico-Union to the Inland Empire, Sylmar, Harbor City and other places, often hitching a ride part of the way on a Metro bus or subway line.

Green is good, right? Not necessarily when it comes to lawns, according to a new study by UC Irvine researchers. For the first time, scientists compared the amount of greenhouse gases absorbed by ornamental turf grass to the amount emitted in the irrigation, fertilizing and mowing of the same plots. It turns out keeping a lawn is not good for Mother Earth. In four parks near Irvine, researchers calculated that emissions were similar to or greater than the amount of carbon dioxide removed from the air through photosynthesis -- a finding relevant to policymakers seeking to control the gases that trap heat in the atmosphere and contribute to climate change.

EXTRAVAGANT: Swarovski crystal-encrusted invitations delivered by hand. Stevie Wonder on the bandstand. Four gown changes for the bride. SUSTAINABLE: A reception following the ceremony at the same location (better for the carbon footprint). Flowers freeze-dried to last forever. Locally sourced organic menu. EITHER WAY, you'll marry in splendid style.

Al Gore may be kicking himself for helping to popularize the term "carbon footprint." Even conservative think tanks have incorporated the phrase into their arsenals, using it last week to criticize the former vice president for his Tennessee mansion's Texas-sized electric bills. Before Gore became a crusader against global warming, there were no "carbon footprints," according to a Nexis search of all news sources from 1980 to 2000.

The star-studded romantic comedy "Valentine's Day" is expected to generate plenty of green at the box office this weekend. But it's green of a different kind that could set "Valentine's Day" apart in Hollywood. The Warner Bros. movie, directed by Garry Marshall and featuring a raft of stars including Julia Roberts, Patrick Dempsey, Anne Hathaway and Jessica Biel, took "green filmmaking" to a new level, according to people involved in the project. The film -- which follows the interwoven lives of a group of characters coping with romance and heartache over a single Valentine's Day -- was shot entirely in Los Angeles and features such landmarks as the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Los Angeles International Airport and University High School.