Tag: California

Amid California’s Drought, Business is Booming for Lawn Painters

Posted on by robbie

As California endures year three of one of the worst droughts on record, residents have sacrificed their manicured lawns and blooming gardens, among other things.
But in an effort to brighten up otherwise dead and desolate areas, some landscapers are profiting from painting lawns green, the National Journal reports.
California tightened restrictions on water earlier this summer, fining residents up to $500 for using the scarce resource to shower lawns or wash driveways. Though flourishing lawns are far and few between, looking at blighted landscapes haven’t made it any easier on residents.

“It became a real eyesore, and we live in an area where everyone keeps their yard really nice,” said Jay Torres, a San Bernardino resident. “I heard about a service where people paint your lawn so it looks like the real thing and thought, why not? “

Lawn painting services continue to sprout up throughout the state, using dye that’s typically reserved for golf courses and athletic fields and lasts up to six months. The dye is billed as safe and nontoxic, but more importantly, landscapers are promoting the fact that it’s less expensive than replacing grass altogether with gravel or concrete.

“People think it sounds ridiculous when they first hear about it,” said Jim Power operations manager of LawnLift, a grass paint company in San Diego. “But they try it, and instantly they’re hooked.”

Power said his company has doubled sales this year while another company, Xtreme Green Grass, claims sales have shot up 60 percent. Landscaping company A Lucky Lawn in Long Beach recently sat down with Santa Fe Springs officials, who are considering the idea of painting the withering grass across their public parks, according to owner Drew McClellan.

But as business booms, the drought continues. And until experts are able to get a better handle on water practices, at least residents have one alternative in keeping things green.

MORE: Even as the Drought Continues, Californians Can Drink From a Firehose of Solutions

 
 

This App is Helping Californians Understand Their Drought Problem

Posted on by robbie

As California continues to grapple with one of the worst droughts on record, government officials are scrambling to provide an accurate picture of just how severe the water problem is.
In fact, just last month, the state’s water board admitted that it doesn’t actually know how much water residents are using, which makes it pretty difficult to implore Californians to cut back. But a new app is working to help complete that picture for the state, enabling residents to track how much water they use daily.
Dropcountr monitors water use in real-time, alerting users when numbers are particularly high and creating reports to show trends over time. The app also allows users to compare how much water they’re using to other neighbors with similar sized-homes, according to Fast Company.

“The first response we get from folks is, ‘Wow, I had no idea that I used that much water,'” said Robb Barnitt, CEO of Dropcountr. “That’s really the first piece we’re trying to deliver — transparency and visibility. It’s really tough to gain much insight from your water bill.”

The app also informs customers about new regulations or rebates from their local utility. For instance, a resident might not be aware of California’s $500 fine for overwatering lawns or excess use for washing sidewalks and driveways.

“It’s really difficult to understand how much water you’re using, or whether that’s reasonable and appropriate based on your household size,” Barnitt says. “We’ve taken a social approach, where we compare a given account to others like them. We’ve seen that’s a powerful motivator in similar programs on the energy side. People are very interested in how they compare to others.”

The company has just started partnering with utilities and working with property management companies, which typically are unaware of how much water their tenants use. The app is a more accurate alternative to the water bill residents receive every one to two months, illuminating how wasteful people can be. In some areas of California, including parts of Sacramento and Bakersfield, officials don’t use water meters at all.
But the app is not available yet for all 440 water agencies across the state. The startup continues to partner with more utilities, as well as implemented a “poke” feature to enable customers to alert their utility about the service.
Dropcountr is also working on developing a feature that will use patterns of flow to discern how someone is using water. For example, if a person is using water for an outdoor irrigation system or appliances, Barnett told Fast Company, it’s easily identifiable.
Last month, 58 percent of the state was considered to be under “exceptional” drought, notching the harshest level of a five level scale. Implementing an app like Dropcountr is not only smart, but seems critical.
MORE: Even as the Drought Continues, Californians Can Drink From a Firehose of Solutions

This Small Change Could Create 47,000 Jobs and Cut 2.5 Million Tons of CO2 Emissions in Los Angeles

Posted on by robbie

Green solutions and green jobs are a hot topic in this country. Not only can the green industry make our planet healthier, but it can bring employment opportunities to repressed areas as well.
But the question remains how to turn this into a reality. Which is why California took the initiative and conducted a study on how to help Los Angeles County adjust to climate change and to help both the public and policymakers make educated decisions and preparations about it.
The Los Angeles Solar and Efficiency Report (LASER) is the brainchild of the Environmental Defense Fund and the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation. Data that was collected includes information on current environmental health risks, temperature increases and areas susceptible to climate change.
Armed with this knowledge, communities can now pinpoint areas and projects in which to invest to increase renewable energy jobs and decrease electrical bills.
The research team used a data driven mapping tool to show the county’s renewable energy potential. Focusing on rooftop solar energy generation and energy efficient measures, the map details where the county is currently — and where it could be with a few simple adjustments.
Currently, Los Angeles County only uses two percent of its solar power potential. However, by increasing that number to just 10 percent, theoretically, the county could create 47,000 jobs and reduce their CO2 emissions by 2.5 million tons. Not bad, huh?
The report also focuses on providing solutions for vulnerable areas, which right now, numbers about 3.7 million people, or 38 percent of the country.
According to Colleen Callahan, the head researcher of the report and deputy director of the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation, the report is being released at the perfect time. “The project is timely because with new state funding sources becoming available, LASER can help inform how the region invests resources to address pressing environmental challenges while providing job opportunities in its most impacted communities,” Callahan told EcoWatch.
And with the White House calling for states to become more environmentally aware, the LASER report is a leading example and has received praise from the administration for its work.
As it should, because of the information it gives to policymakers, helping them make smart investments. After all, doing something wise with greenbacks can grow some major green results.
MORE: 5 Inspiring Green Initiatives Moving America Towards a Bright Future

The Innovative Blood-Drawing Technique That’s Pain-Free and Saves Money

Posted on by robbie

Most 19 year olds spend their days hanging out with friends, not revolutionizing American healthcare. But that’s not the case with Elizabeth Holmes who dropped out of Stanford to start the company, Theranos.
During her freshman year in college, Holmes took chemical engineering professor Channing Robertson’s seminar on advanced drug-delivery devices (aka, things like patches and pills). After completing a summer internship at the Genome Institute in Singapore, she hit upon her first idea: a patch that simultaneously delivered medication and collected data about the patient to inform their doctors with.
Holmes dropped out of school to work on a patent for that product and to launch her company using the rest of her college savings.
That invention was the first of many that the now 30-year-old CEO would develop. According to Fortune, Holmes is listed as a co-inventor on 82 U.S. and 189 foreign patent applications. Eighteen in the U.S. have been granted.
When Holmes first told Robertson about her plan to drop out, Robertson told Fortune, “I said, ‘Why do you want to do this?’ And she said, ‘Because systems like this could completely revolutionize how effective health care is delivered. And this is what I want to do. I don’t want to make an incremental change in some technology in my life. I want to create a whole new technology, and one that is aimed at helping humanity at all levels regardless of geography or ethnicity or age or gender.'”
As Holmes set to work on her company, she shifted from her initial idea to one about developing a revolutionary way to run diagnostic tests on very small amounts of blood — just a drop — instead of the full vials most labs need.
She came up with a technique that not only minimizes the discomfort, but also enables doctors to run dozens of tests on just one sample — and it delivers the results efficiently and inexpensively. They’re so affordable, in fact, that no test costs more than half of the allowed Medicare reimbursement for it. Fortune writer Roger Parloff says, “with widespread adoption [this] could save the nation billions.”
And that’s just part of Holmes’s next plan for Theranos. The company is partnering with Walgreens, whose stores currently host 21 patented Theranos blood-drawing facilities. They’re all in Phoenix and Palo Alto for now, but the drug-store chain plans to gradually add them nationwide. Holmes’s eventual goal? For just about every American to have a Theranos facility within five miles.
In addition to the cost savings and the minimized discomfort, Holmes’ technique allows for more frequent blood draws in people with conditions that require it, so that doctors can better monitor the fluctuations in their health.
Holmes said, “Anywhere from 40 percent to 60 percent of people, when they’re given a requisition by a doctor to go get tested, don’t, because they’re scared of needles or the locations are inconvenient or the cost is too high. And if you’re not even getting tested, how is it possible that we’re going to move toward an era of preventive medicine?”
MORE: This California City is Staffing A Firehouse with A Different Kind of Lifesaver
 

Setting Politics Aside, Americans Are Stepping Up to Help Migrant Kids

Posted on by robbie

A new Gallup Poll finds that the issue of immigration has become the number one national concern of Americans. And while there’s no legislative solution in sight to cope with the massive influx of refugee children fleeing Central American gang violence and arriving in the states that border Mexico, individuals across the country are putting partisan issues aside in the face of this humanitarian crisis, coming up with ways to help.
In San Francisco, 17-year-old high school student Julia Tognotti has been working tirelessly to collect clothing for the detained children ever since she saw a documentary on the crisis in her Spanish class last May. After school recessed for summer vacation, she traveled to Nogales, Texas, and volunteered in a shelter for the migrant kids.
“I talked to a boy there on the first day named Brian. He was 17 and I’m 17 and he was from Honduras and it took him two months to get to Mexico and he took seven trains. And I was so surprised to hear this because it really made me think, ‘could I do this?'” she told Sergio Quintana of ABC 7 News San Francisco.
Tognotti has collected two loads of clothes to send to Nogales and is planning to continue her work, accepting donations in Brisbane, California. She also hopes to organize a trip to the border for more teenagers to learn about the issue. Julia’s father David Tognotti told Quintana that the family doesn’t want to get “tangled up in the politics of the issue,” they just want to help the kids.
“We have a 17-year-old that’s trying to do what she believes is right to help people and it would be great if we could help support her.”
Meanwhile, the Hispanic Heritage Foundation (HHF), a Washington, D.C.-based national organization promoting Latino leadership, organized a trip for concerned people to volunteer at a refugee shelter run by Sacred Heart Church in McAllen, Texas. Actress America Ferrara, best known as the title character in “Ugly Betty,” joined the mission, reading books to the kids. HHF has also donated clothes, toys, books, and tablet computers.
In New York, La Casa Azul Bookstore is coordinating a book drive to supply migrant kids who arrive at shelters in the New York City area with free reading material. They’re looking for new and gently-used books in Spanish for kids and are offering a 10 percent discount to anyone who buys such books at their store. La Casa Azul will collect the books through August 10 and personally deliver them to children and teenagers in need.
As the actions of these caring Americans demonstrate, we don’t have to wait for government action before we reach out to help another human being.
MORE: Meet the Volunteers Bringing Relief to the Humanitarian Crisis in the Southwest
 

Even as the Drought Continues, Californians Can Drink From a Firehose of Solutions

Posted on by robbie

Anyone who follows the news may hold their water bottles a little bit closer as they see how the country is running out of the liquid so central to our lives. After all, there are severe drought conditions — think: farms going thirsty and forests catching fire — in seven states. California, in particular, dominates headlines as it faces its third dry year in a row, with more than 60 percent of the state suffering from exceptional drought.
The list of consequences of this extreme weather will turn your mouth dry — from the billions that could be lost in farm revenue to the possibility of earthquakes brought on by groundwater withdrawal.
While the drought is nothing short of devastating (with some calling the situation in California a modern day Dust Bowl), the responses to the water shortage represent amazing examples of how crisis can yield creativity. Here are a few of our favorites.
California has put water conservation regulations into place, and the Los Angeles Times reports that those who continue to hose down their driveways or install wasteful water decorations can be fined up to $500 a day. Skeptical? Even if the state does not catch H2O wasters, unofficial “water cops” with mobile phones fill the void with their #DroughtShaming hashtag, posting pictures on virtual neighborhood watch programs.
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While these emergency restrictions and responses are temporary for now, they have the potential to raise awareness and change habits forever. Food editor and writer Elaine Corn put it perfectly in her post for the Sacramento Bee: “To protect ourselves from food shortages and to buffer California’s agricultural economy, we all should regard any adjustments that allow us to grow food with less water as permanent.”
Disasters like these demonstrate the connection between crisis and collaboration — both on a local and a global scale. For example, perhaps as we develop a fear about where our food will come from (or at least get scared away by high prices at produce stands), we will start to build our own community-supported agriculture systems. If we team up to give more to the land than we take from it, not only could we collaborate on fresh summer salads to bring to block parties, but we also could enrich our soil to soak up what little rain might fall in the years ahead.
MORE: One in Five Baltimore Residents Live in a Food Desert. These Neighbors are Growing their Own Produce.
In an example of collaboration across borders, researchers from the United States and Chile are working together to harvest fog — turning those tiny droplets you wipe off your windshields into drinking water. These kinds of partnerships will only gain more interest and momentum as the water supply shrinks and the need for new ideas grows. So perhaps as Texas looks to the Gulf of Mexico as a source for fresh water, it might also look a bit further to the Arabian Gulf and countries like Qatar, which already rely on desalinated water for the vast majority of their fresh water needs.
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As other sources of fresh water become scarcer, California is working on harnessing the power of the sun (instead of drawing on oil and gas) as a more sustainable way to power the water desalination process and turn brackish water into something drinkable. And there are other solutions, according to National Geographic, such as a smaller community working to merge its water system with a bigger neighbor, and the Kern County Water Agency is considering pumping nearly 50 miles of the California Aqueduct in reverse.
Of course, sometimes the best solutions come from rethinking how we use the tools already at our disposal, as reflected in a recent report from the Pacific Institute and the National Resources Defense Council, which looks at the massive amounts of water that could be saved by improving water use efficiency, increasing the capture of rainwater and stormwater and recycling and reusing water. See for yourself:
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And with Senate Democrats and House Republicans offering dueling solutions on how to aid California farmers, the state is seeking solutions from beyond the beltway, looking to startups like WellIntel, Tal-Ya, and WatrHub.
Ultimately, the solutions that help California get through the dry days should matter to everyone in America. And it’s not only because we may soon find ourselves dipping our bread and dressing our salad with a bottle of olive oil from the Golden State. It’s also because we can all learn a lot from the way the largest agricultural producer in the nation weathers this storm.

Transitioning to Civilian Life Can Be Difficult. So Microsoft Trains Marines in IT Before They Hit the Job Market

Posted on by robbie

When military members leave the service, many struggle to find a job — often having to study for a new degree or certification in order to qualify for a position, all the while not being able to rely on consistent income.
To help solve this problem before it even arises, Microsoft is working with Marines at Camp Pendleton in California (and two other U.S. military bases), offering a 16-week certification program in Information Technology to soldiers planning to leave the service in the near future.
Sergeant Taylor Harris, one of the participants in the Microsoft Systems and Software Academy, told Bob Lawrence of ABC 10 News, “It’s great to be able to do this while we are transitioning because we still get a stable paycheck because we’re on active duty.”
Although none of the veterans are guaranteed a job with Microsoft, part of the academy is an interview training session that helps many of them secure an IT position. And at the end of the course, each of them is flown to Redmond, Washington to interview with the tech giant. Navy veteran Sean Kelley, Microsoft’s Senior Staffing Director of Cloud and Enterprise Group, told Lawrence, “70 percent of those who go through the program are working in the tech industry.”
In January, Kelley testified before Congress about what Microsoft has learned from its veteran recruiting efforts, and how the company believes that training veterans in IT can help solve the industry’s problem with finding enough people with technical skills to hire.
“Economic projections point to a need for approximately one million more STEM professionals than the United States will produce at the current rate over the next decade,” he told the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. “The United States graduates about 300,000 bachelor and associate degrees in STEM fields annually. Fewer than 40 percent who enter college intending a major in a STEM field complete a STEM degree. It is clear that many people, including veterans, lack the technology skills and industry certifications employers look for to fill the tens of thousands of available IT jobs across a broad range of industries. Eight years ago when we started exploring how Microsoft could be helpful to our transitioning veterans, we were surprised to learn there were very few opportunities for veterans to acquire these in-demand skills.”
Classes like this one are helping many veterans find not only a job, but a high-paying and satisfying career. Tuition for the class costs about $3,000 on Camp Pendleton, compared to $10,000 to $20,000 for a similar certification course off base. Corporal Joseph Priest told Lawrence, “As soon as I heard about this opportunity, I jumped on it…you put a little bit aside for tuition costs, and might get a job that lands you between 60 to 80k. I think it’s worth it.”
MORE: Here’s A New Website Bringing Unemployed Veterans and Understaffed Tech Companies Together
 

How This Fix Can Help Quench California’s Thirst

Posted on by robbie

Seven billion gallons. From dripping faucets to burst water mains, that’s the amount of potable water that’s wasted every single day from our country’s leaky pipes.
As the Huffington Post reports, that startling amount could meet all of the daily water needs of California — a state that’s now experiencing the most severe drought ever recorded.
Simply put, the nation’s water pipes are way too old. As ABC News puts it, “Much of the piping that carries drinking water in the country dates to the first half of the 20th century, with some installed before Theodore Roosevelt was in the White House.”
Aging pipes are precisely the reason why a 100-year-old water main recently burst in Los Angeles, spewing out 20 million gallons of precious water in the already drought-stricken Californian city.
MORE: What Can We Learn From the Horrific Harlem Blast?
So what’s stopping Uncle Sam from calling the plumber? Cost, of course, is one main reason. According to Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. will need to spend up to $200 billion dollars on water systems over the next 20 years to upgrade transmission and distribution systems, $97 billion of which will need to go towards water loss control.
The New York Times also points out a much more sinister reason why the country isn’t giving its aging water infrastructure a facelift. Mary Ann Dickinson, president of the Alliance for Water Efficiency, tells the paper, “Water loss is unsexy,” adding, “There’s no ribbon cutting for new plants. If you announce that you’ve recovered a million gallons a day, it looks like you weren’t managing your system right in the first place.”
ALSO: Can This Ancient Farming Method Help Drought-Ridden California?
But this necessary (albeit expensive) fix could also mitigate much bigger problems. As the American Society of Civil Engineers says, if we do nothing about it, we’ll only have more water shortages to come, increased rates as water gets more expensive and even increased exposure to water-borne illnesses due to unreliable delivery and wastewater treatment services.
Our water systems are only getting older and the planet is only getting hotter, which means more droughts all around — and not just in the American southwest. Solutions are more crucial than ever to conserve this important resource.
Meanwhile, it may be a good idea for you to call your local plumber if you haven’t gotten around to patching up that leaky faucet.
DON’T MISS: The Silver Lining to California’s Terrible Drought 

Could Olive Trees Save California’s Drought-Stricken Farmers?

Posted on by robbie

The olive branch — a timeless Greek symbol of peace — could now signal a new beginning for drought-stricken California. All but completely built for total dryness, these trees are mighty impressive and may just save America’s biggest agriculture state, according to Grist.
With small, waxy leaves and the ability to sense drought and go dormant during rain-free times, olive trees are the perfect crop for California’s future – a future that soon enough, may not be able to support the crops currently growing.
That’s because California’s drought is very real — and goes far beyond a simple slowdown in rainfall. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Governor Jerry Brown has called for residents to voluntarily reduce water use by 20 percent, and a recently passed law makes wasting water illegal.
READ MORE: How Fog Could Solve California’s Drought
“[Farmers] are coming to the stark realization that, no matter what they do, there won’t be enough water to keep their trees alive,” Peter Fimrite of the San Francisco Gate writes.
Which is where olive trees come in.
Dan Flynn, executive director of the UC Davis Olive Center, told Grist that “there’s 10 times more California-grown olive oil than we had 10 years ago,” meaning an oil boom — olive oil, that is — already has legs and is off and running. That’s because the California climate is becoming nearly identical to the native habitat of olive trees: the Mediterranean. This makes them incredibly easy to farm, as they are significantly more sustainable than the almond tree, which, in many cases, they will displace.
Especially with the advent of almond milk, that nut has been in high demand. Almond trees require a lot of water, though, which makes them bad crops for the new California.
Health fanatics shouldn’t worry, though, as olive oil has been shown to be extremely good for you. Another plus is that an increased domestic supply could make for olive oil that’s both higher in quality and better tasting.
So what does all this mean?
We get tastier olive oil and become healthier as a country in the process? Yes. Most importantly, however, is that California can continue on as an agricultural powerhouse even as the climate changes.
This olive branch is bringing peace. Peace of mind, that is, that we don’t have to give up in the face of drought.
DON’T MISS: The Silver Lining To California’s Terrible Drought

When Veterans Need to Let Loose, These Volunteers Help Them Ride the Waves

Posted on by robbie

When you picture a surfer dude, you probably think of Hawaiian shirts, beach bonfires, ukuleles and a carefree attitude toward life. All of which is the opposite of the image that comes to mind when you think of a brave veteran wounded while serving our country. But the recent Waves of Valor Surf Camp proved that both vets and surfers can hang 10 together.
Sponsored by Team Red, White & Blue and the Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, the event took place at the Bolsa Chica State Beach in Huntington Beach, California on July 19. In total, four surf camps are scheduled for this summer, and this is the second year that volunteers have offered surfing lessons to veterans.
How do veterans learn how to surf? Each is teamed with four volunteers: a surf captain and three others on duty to fetch boards, help the service members mount the surfboards and assist with swimming when needed.
During the Huntington Beach event, the 17th Street Surf Shop closed for business for the day so its employees could volunteer — helping people such as Navy veteran Goldie Nwachuku catch a wave.
At first, Nwachuku was afraid but managed to stand up on a surf board for the first time. “It’s really good to have a smile on my face. I haven’t smiled in a long time,” Nwachuku told Ethan Hawkes of the Orange County Register.
Ryan Lee, Air Force vet, told Hawkes that surfing, “really helps relieve my stress, and it also helps me connect with the veteran community here and with the other volunteers.”
The program has proved so successful that for next year, organizers are planning a three-day surf event that will bring former soldiers from across the country to participate.
Whether the surfers can get any of the vets to yell “kowabunga,” however, remains to be seen.
MORE: How Does Running Coast to Coast Help Veterans?