The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California voted Tuesday to reduce its water deliveries across the region by 10% this summer.

The water board has hinted for months that a major reduction was coming down the pipe due to drought conditions (for the past three years) and restrictions on water exports from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Basically, there is more demand than available supply.

As the water district’s general manager, Jeffrey Kightlinger summed it up nicely with - “We’re short.”

These are the agency’s first cuts to residential water users since the early 1990s drought. According to the North County Times, “the agency cut deliveries 17 percent in 1991 and 10 percent in 1977.” The cuts will begin on July 1 and last for a year.

And there is more bad news for Southern California residents. In addition to a smaller water allocations, the water rates will increase about 26 percent (on average) on Sept. 21.

“The era of big lawns is over,” said Bob Yamada, water resources manager for the San Diego County Water Authority.  “I think we’re going to have to make some lifestyle changes with regard to how we use water, and particularly how we use water outside.”

The Los Angeles Times explains the new reductions and its penalties:

“The Metropolitan Water District, which imports water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta and the Colorado River and sells it to local water districts, will achieve the reductions by imposing penalty rates. Local utilities that use more than their allocation will have to pay more.”

“If Southern CA has been waiting for a signal to implment mandatory conservation…they certainly got it yesterday from the MWD,” twittered Ryan Alsop of the Long Beach Water Department.

Yet, the Los Angeles City Council just rejected the LA Department of Water and Power’s proposal to increase water rates and face penalties to encourage residents to decrease water consumption by 15 percent. The Council asked for more time to review and vet the proposal. Meanwhile, Long Beach has instituted a successful conservation program (pdf) over 21 months ago. Just last month, it “hit a 10-year low in consumption, or 14% drop in average water use.”
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Free veggies anyone? More than 40,000 people showed up to pick free vegetables left over from the harvest at a Colorado farm about 37 miles north of Denver. The farm owners expected about 5,000 to 10,000 people to pick a few carrots and potatoes last Saturday. Instead, more than 11,000 cars showed up and the people picked the fields clean. Owner, Ms. Miller, told the Denver Post, “Overwhelmed is putting it mildly. People obviously need food.”

And in Los Angeles recently, Mayor Villaraigosa revealed his long-range plan to generate “enough solar power to meet one-tenth of the city’s energy needs by 2020.” His goal could be achieved if solar panels are installed on public and private energy generating facilities as well as on residents’ homes. This initiative will also help the city’s Department of Water and Power reduce its use of fossil fuels, like natural gas and coal, and benefit global warming reduction efforts. If the Mayor’s plan were successful, Los Angeles would become the “hub of the solar-energy industry.”

The White House may become a “green” house. In the recent Barbara Walters interview with President-elect Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, Obama said that he wants to make the White House green. He plans to work with the chief usher for house and evaluate his new home’s energy efficiency. When asked why the focus on greening the house, Obama said, “Part of what I want to do is to show the American people that it’s not that hard.”

Global warming is a global concern. Although the global economy is in the pits right now, HSBC bank’s second annual global poll found that 43 percent think climate change is a bigger problem than the financial crisis. And 78 percent of those polled want their countries to do their “fair share” of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Although the global citizens polled want their governments to fight global warming, invest in renewable energy (55 percent), and participate in climate talks (27 percent), as individuals, these people are less willing to change their own lifestyle than last year (47 percent in 2008 vs. 58 percent in 2007). Have they ever heard the expression that change begins with YOU?

So if you are a big greenie, where can you meet like-minded individuals? Funny you should ask. There is a new social networking site called Greenwala. The site is designed to help people learn more about being green, brag about their green works with family and friends.

“No one cares more about the environment than oil companies,” said Steven Colbert on The Colbert Report last night. Check out his sketch that poked fun at the expiration of the offshore drilling ban. Colbert tells the audience: “A lot of people talk about loving the earth. But how many of them actually penetrate it?” asked Colbert.

Perhaps those thousand of bankers and financial folks who were laid off in this economic fiasco can flip their skills into a “green” job. According to a study released by the U.S. Conference of Mayors Thursday, the new shift to renewable energy and efficiency is expected to create a whopping 4.2 million jobs. Currently, there are about 750,000 folks who work in green jobs. Hey, there’s hope for the unemployed yet.

Forget hybrids and low emissions vehicles. And we all know gas prices and constantly filling up at the pump are a bummer. Daimler’s new tiny Smart ED car may be the answer. This new all-electric vehicle debuted at the Paris Auto Show today. It goes about 90 miles without recharging and barely makes a sound.

What do greenies and Goldman Sachs have in common? They are a part of the Senate’s bailout bill that passed yesterday in a 74 to 25 vote. Although the legislation was primarily designed to aid the nation’s financial system, the bill has incentives for renewable energy use. Environmentalists regard these cuts as essential for promoting growth in wind, solar and other alternative energy industries.

Many of us can remember our parents telling us to eat all the food on our plates. Now kids and grownups in Los Angeles don’t have to. They can give their food scraps to the City of Los Angeles “recycling ambassadors” under a new pilot program.

Houston, there appears to be a problem: SMOG. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the city tops the list at #2 (LA is numero uno) for severe smog problem.

I figure I might as well stay on this PopandPolitics bent today…

New York

So, my new editor of PopandPolitics.com, Tricia Romano, has her own blog entitled nobodywalksinla.com, which I suppose highlights why she luvs LA.  As a L.A. resident currently in New York city, I found her posting on NY completely hilarious. And I recently wrote my own ode to Los Angeles. And I honestly find NYC a bit overrated. So, I had to share.

Here is a portion of the post. Be sure and check out the entire piece, “I couldn’t help myself, diatribe on New York.”

Consider: New Yorkers, who pay out the nose for rent and other costs of living, put up with an unbelievable amount of people, dirt, grime, and stress, are heavily invested in believing that they live in the “Greatest City in the World.” Because if it’s not the center of the universe, then why are they putting up with all this bullshit? I think they hate L.A. so voraciously because the public image of L.A. is an easy target, (blonde, fake, tan, insipid, shallow, ect), and also because they know in their bones, they’d actually like it better if they just tried to live somewhere outside of Hollywood or Bev Hills. It’s almost a case, of someone doth protest too much.

XXXX,

The Caramel Bella