Los Angeles County is in the process of designing a PACE (Property-Assessed Clean Energy) program to help property owners “go green”.  While it is still in the early stages of development, this program will provide financing to home owners making green improvements on their property, allowing  costs of these improvements to be carrier by the property itself rather than incurring massive out of pocket expenses.  California has implimented similar programs in Berkeley(Berkeley FIRST), Palm Desert (Energy Indepence Program) and Sonoma County (Energy Independence Program.) 

To learn more about this program and others like it please visit The Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency.

This weekend I came across a simple little list from the Ocean Conservancy with tips to help with the International Coastal Cleanup:

“How does our behavior affect the Ocean? Every year, hundreds of thousands of volunteers remove as many as seven million pounds of trash from beaches, reefs and waterways during the International Coastal Cleanup.  This trash degrades habitat and can strangle or poison ocean wildlife.  Here is how to cast your consumer vote for the ocean.

• Buy items in bulk with  less packaging.  Avoid individually wrapped food servings.
• Remember that durable is better than disposable; more throwaways mean less lanfill space and more marine debris.
• Buy items made of recycled materials and those that can be recycled in your community.
• Buy food that is produced locally, in accord with conservation principles.  Transporting food over great distancesuses more energy.”

Ocean Conservancy

1300 19th Street NW, 8th Floor

Washington DC 20036