Earth Day Contest Winners!

I'm happy to announce the winners of the Los Angelista Earth Day giveaway! Thanks to those of you who entered by sharing your best tips for green living! It was nice to see all the stuff you're doing to reduce, reuse and recylce, not just on Earth Day but on every day of the year.

I wrote all your names on pieces of paper, folded them and then let my kids throw them up in the air. They then chose two off the ground. The two winners of the Brita faucet mount filtration system and two new HDPE Filter for Good Nalgene bottles (which is BPA-free) are:

Jameil and Ian!

Congratulations to you both and email me your addresses so I can head over to the post office and have your prizes on their way to you!

Reduce + Reuse + Recycle = Earth Day

Last Friday I took a hike to the top of Mount Hollywood, a place that has amazingly lovely views of Los Angeles -- unless it's a really smoggy morning and you can barely even see downtown.


I know you think your air is cleaner, but just because you don't live in the Smog Capital of America, that doesn't mean you're air is that much better than ours. A little bit better, sure. Much better? Probably not.

Fortunately though, it's Earth Day today so we can each figure out what we need to do in our own lives to make this planet cleaner. After all, it's not like we can move to Mars if this place gets too toxic. Or rather, you go on ahead to Mars and I'll stay right here and wait for your post card.

Seriously though, what are you going to change? I'm all for holding companies accountable to high environmental standards. After all, I saw Kanye West's "Glow in the Dark" tour last night but that doesn't mean I want to literally glow in the dark because of pollutants in my environment. It's just that I can't complain about toxic chemicals being dumped in the water or air if I don't do my part as well. That means it's time for us all to take a look around ourselves and think about how we're going to step up our reducing, reusing and recycling game.

There's lots of seemingly small but impactful changes you can make that will make the smog go away, not just on Earth Day but on every day. Here's some good ones if you're at a loss for what to do. Of course, I'm also happy to suggest that you make today the day you stop drinking bottled water. (Aren't I helpful?)

I firmly believe we can blame the success of bottled water squarely on the heads of the producers of the film "Erin Brokovich". I mean, it had Julia Roberts wearing a pushup bra and it made us all think about whether we could get cancer from drinking water somebody claims is safe.

Never mind that most bottled water is just tap water in the first place. Now it's too late. We're all hooked on it and the corporations that market it to us are laughing all the way to the bank. Meanwhile, tons of oil and energy is used to make all that bottle plastic -- and it's all part of a vicious cycle that sends more pollutants into the atmosphere, causes smog and thus, global warming! I won't even get into the people that throw their bottle on the GROUND after using it. Since you're reading this blog I just know you can't be a litterbug!

Fortunately, we can stop the bottled water madness together. One way is to go back to drinking the water that comes out of your sink. If you don't like how it tastes, well, get a filter. I've been using Brita pitchers for at least the past eight years and the water tastes just fine. Plus, a filter is a MUCH cheaper alternative to bottled water and it's also environmentally friendly.

What's also really cool is that in honor of Earth Day the Brita people have partnered up with Nalgene to create a campaign called Filter For Good. If you're seriously ready to take the pledge to give up bottled water, I can help two of you lucky readers out with that thanks to the first-ever Los Angelista giveaway!

Brita sent me a couple of their faucet mount filtration systems and two new HDPE Filter for Good Nalgene bottles. All you have to do is leave your best tips for green living in the comments. I'll put all your names in a hat and then pick two of you as the winners of these lovely prizes!

Let's hope the changes we all make today and every day will help next year's photo from Mount Hollywood be a whole lot less smoggy.