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Happy PARK(ing) Day!

Eric Fredericks • Friday September 19, 2008

PARKing Day 2008 is in full swing in Sacramento. The park at J & 20th is INCREDIBLE! Here’s a short video clip and a few photos. The video shows a time at the park with the fewest people all day, but a really cool game erupted when the train came. By the way, the train doesn’t come by all that frequent. More to come in the future, but I’m headed back to the park!

Category: Parking Day •• Region: Sacramento •• Comments [1]

PARK(ing) Day Returns This Friday!

Eric Fredericks • Tuesday September 16, 2008

Across the world this Friday, there will be several hundred fewer car parking spaces and just a little more park space. Concerned people from around the globe will be converting car spaces into mini-parks—many with sod, benches, games, etc.

Here in Sacramento, we will be creating several spaces across the grid. I’ve created a webpage that has all the information you need to know about our local efforts. Visit it here. On the page, you will find park locations, contact information, information for Facebook, photos from last year’s event, event flyers, and more. The park I’m involved in organizing will be located at J & 20th Streets in Midtown. The park will be named Presley Park in memory of Jason Presley who was incredibly instrumental in bringing together last year’s amazing park.

For those of you in other cities, I encourage you to check the PARKing Day Headquarters website to see if there’s a park in your community. I had so much fun last year that I’ve decided to spend the whole day in the park this year. It’s one of my favorite days of the year! That game of chess pictured above was not staged, by the way. Two strangers just sat down and decided to play!

Here is the event flyer for our park (Note: we should be out there well before 8am!):

Category: Parking Day •• Region: Sacramento •• Comments

Carnival of the Green #145

Eric Fredericks • Monday September 15, 2008

We’re proud to host this week’s installment of the Carnival of the Green! The Carnival of the Green is a weekly roundup of green issues around the blogosphere and is administered by TreeHugger, the leading media outlet for driving sustainability mainstream. Last week, Tiny Choices did a fantastic job hosting Carnival 144, and next week’s host is The Green Guy. Please make sure you stop by their sites.

I also wanted to take a moment to mention that the person that coordinates the Carnival at TreeHugger, Kara DiCamillo, suffered an injury last week. We certainly wish her the best and hope for a swift recovery! Now, on with the show…

Surfer Sam shares a touching article on how many of our favorite wildlife animals are facing extinction. He details which animals are in danger of extinction, animals that have been saved from extinction, and what you can do to help with conservation.

At The Green Motorist, Melissa takes a look at the two major party Presidential candidates green motoring platforms. Feel free to share with us which platform you think is better.

Nimic at The Green Routine tells us about 8 Products You Didn’t Know Were Made From Oil. I certainly didn’t know about some of these, and I’m sure you will be surprised as well. Can you say peak oil?

MissMalaprop is giving away a pair of children’s shoes made from recycled materials from Pedoodles new eco-friendly collection!! Just follow the instructions on her site.

Were You Wondering… What Do You Do With Leftover Paint? Katrina Cain lets us know what we should and should not do with our leftover paint.

How could I host a Carnival of the Green without mentioning that Friday is PARKing Day?! People around the world will be converting car parking spaces into mini-parks this Friday. Check out more information about the park I’m coordinating in Midtown Sacramento, or learn more about the event on the PARKing Day website.

Is it safe to drink from plastic water bottles? Victoria Everman has the final word on water bottle safety at her website. She also writes about a new green food guide that helps navigate the world of farmer’s markets, food blogs, and charitable organizations, and was able to exclusively unveil Ortolan’s Tarot and Paisley Collections.

At Sweet Solar Home, Brian Overland argues that the time to go solar is now because of rising energy costs and diminishing solar incentives.

Ever wonder where the water that enters your house comes from, how it gets processed, and where your wastewater goes when it leaves your house? The Littlest Guy explains why water conservation is important.

Praveen Puri of Tao of Simplicity alerts us to a big problem in Indonesia: komodo dragons are killing a number of locals on some remote islands of Indonesia, and the locals are blaming the Nature Conservancy. Find out why.

The southern coast of Peru is a desert coast with no plants at all. But the ocean offshore is a goldmine of diversity, due to Humboldt currents and upwelling of nutrients that support a lush population of fish. Sally Kniedel took many photos of the wildlife off Peru’s coast and posted contact info for safe, cheap, and comfortable lodging and transportation at the Veggie Revolution.

Sox First’s Leon Gettler shares that Silicon Valley’s venture capitalists think that renewable energy and green technology will be a lot bigger than the Internet.

Drinking from a straw is fun. But straws are usually disposable and made from plastic. Beth Terry at Fake Plastic Fish has found solution in GlassDharma: a company that is trying to save the world one reusable glass straw at a time!

The Silicon Valley Blogger at Digerati wonders if small spaces and tiny quarters that use less resources are worth the price tag in some regions? Many of our readers would think so I bet :)

Señor José shares a quick and easy green tip on bottles that reduces waste and saves you money.

And finally, JT at the Smarter Wallet offers us 10 tips on how to save money on gas. I would not have posted this normally, but I also think they are good tips for the environment. That doesn’t seemed to be mentioned.

Just to give you an idea of how popular the Carnival of the Green is—slots for 2009 are already booked out. I secured this date over a year ago not knowing that this would be one of my busiest weeks ever! I’m glad I did it though, I learned a lot. Thanks to everyone for your submissions and keep up the fight for a more sustainable world!

Category: Blog Carnival •• Region: General •• Comments [1]

It's Time to Chalk It Up Again

Eric Fredericks • Friday August 29, 2008

Photo from the Chalk It Up Festival in Fremont Park, Sacramento

One of my favorite events in Sacramento is taking place this weekend in Fremont Park– Chalk it Up! Please make sure you check out their website and stop by the event!!

I shot the photo above during the 2006 event. To see more photos, see my Chalk It Up Gallery.

Category: Public Art •• Region: Sacramento •• Comments

Gum Wall in Seattle's Post Alley

Eric Fredericks • Monday June 30, 2008

A wall covered with gum in Seattle's Post Alley near Pike's Market

I haven’t been posting much lately, but I want to start getting in the habit of doing so again. So, here’s a fun way to kick it off… with gum!

A friend of mine just returned from Seattle and showed me some photos of an alley covered in gum. I had visited the same alley before and shot these photos. It’s called Post Alley and it’s located right next to the famous Pike Place Market. It’s quite a site to see, so if you visit Pike Place, make sure you check out Post Alley—there’s more to see than just gum.

Of course, Seattle is an amazing city, and is probably in my top five most walkable cities in the US. Please check out my photos of the Gum Wall and other photos of Seattle (Note: I have hundreds of photos in this photo set that are not yet public, but will release more in addition to these over time).

Category: Culture •• Region: Seattle •• Comments [4]

Help Improve Fremont Park

Eric Fredericks • Friday May 30, 2008

Children playing at the playground in Fremont Park, Downtown Sacramento

Have you ever thought that Fremont Park in Downtown Sacramento is underutilized? Ever thought it could be improved? Now is your chance to make a difference. LivinginUrbanSac has been doing a lot of legwork in putting together a public meeting on Fremont Park improvements. The meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 11th, 6pm at William Land Elementary School, 2120 12th Street [Map, Event Flyer].

The park has a great children’s playground and several good establishments within a stone’s throw of the park (Mochii Yogurt, Naked Lounge, Nishiki, R15 / Cafe Bernardo, Starbucks, Uncle Vitos, Pronto, etc.). Those of you that are familiar with the park know that it is underutilized, but has great potential. I lived a block from the park when I first moved to Sacramento and now live about 3 blocks away. I mostly use it as a cut through when going to/from Cafe Bernardo. The only other times I’ve gone to the park to actually do something there was for the Chalk It Up Fesitval (which I absolutely love) and the Farmer’s Market. Otherwise, there’s just not been much appeal, probably because nearby Capitol Park and McKinley Park are just fantastic. I do agree with LivinginUrbanSac that the park has amazing potential and I’m excited to see what will happen at this meeting. Councilmember Fong, representatives from CADA and the City, business owners, and neighborhood residents will be attending the meeting. I hope to see you at the meeting and please invite others as well. You can visit LivinginUrbanSac for more info about the meeting or you can continue reading after the jump for more info as well… >>Continue Reading This Article>>

Category: Urban Living •• Region: Sacramento •• Comments

Saturday: A Sneak Peek at LJ Urban's Revolutionary Good Project

Eric Fredericks • Thursday May 22, 2008

LJ Urban, the revolutionary eco-urban development company based here in Sacramento, is opening their Good Project this Saturday (5/24) for a sneak peek. The project is open from 10-2 at 4th and B Streets in West Sacramento.

I think it’s fair to call what they’re doing revolutionary because it’s unlike any project undertaken before. Sure, eco-friendly and green building is the new vogue. And yes, this isn’t the first urban project to go up in the redeveloping waterfront of West Sacramento. But, it’s probably the first project in the country that with each house sold trains a new Burkina Faso mason to build houses for families that need them. They are also cutting edge in the sustainable development world as one of the first LEED-ND certified projects completed in the country. And, they are not going to do the traditional billboard and media advertising like most companies do, nor will they have an on-site salesperson. They are going to host educational dinners, community movie nights, blogging, and the other events they’ve already been doing, rather successfully in my opinion.

I really hope this works for them and they have continued success. There’s probably no company that deserves it more.

This is also a big event because of the recent passing of Jason Presley, their marketing guru and friend of mine. I’ve been in contact with LJ Urban owner Levi Benkert and he’s told me it’s been a really emotional time for him because everywhere he looks, Jason is there. This is not the only traumatic event that Levi’s been through recently. I don’t want to spoil it, so you can read Levi’s heart-wrenching stories here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. The stories are definitely worth your time to read. There are some shocking things to read in this, even if you’ve never met Levi before.

You can get more information on the sneak peak and the Good Project by watching the video above, visiting LJ Urban’s website, or continuing to read this article (after the jump). Did I mention that there’s food and live music involved?
>>Continue Reading This Article>>

Category: Urban Living •• Region: Sacramento •• Comments [1]

Amazing Street Reclamation in Wodonga, Victoria

Eric Fredericks • Monday May 12, 2008

David Engwicht is truly a magician, as this excellent Streetfilm by Clarence Eckerson Jr. demonstrates. If you’re never seen him speak before—he’s quite good and very entertaining. I guarantee you’ve never seen anything like him and probably never will again. In a good way!

Wodonga, Victoria in Australia, is just across the Murray River from Albury, New South Wales. Albury is perhaps more glamorous than its sister city across the river, but they are both pretty much like your typical smaller Midwestern cities from what I recall of my brief visit there in 2002. That’s what makes what they’re doing in Wodonga so special: any place in the world can do what they’ve accomplished. It just takes some willpower. Many cities and towns do something like this once per year. Lucky ones can accomplish this once per month. Why not strive for once per week in your community like Wodonga does?