As an environmentalist, I'm excited to be writing this new column and getting to share my passion for the sustainable green future I see coming. One obstacle to getting there is disposable plastic water bottles, the subject of this week's opinion piece. Before I tell you about that, let me start with the tale of how I first came to know and love both Hermosa and living green.

It was Dency Nelson who introduced me to Hermosa Beach early in the 1980s.  Dency and his wife Moira bought a beach bungalow with a cracked foundation on Silverstrand Avenue and my wife, Debra, and I would eat dinner there with them using a repurposed giant wooden spool that once coiled industrial power lines as the table. But Dency had a vision of the energy efficient, earth-friendly house he and Moira would build there and he loved sharing every detail.

I learned all my early lessons on green building from Dency as he successfully built that house. In fact, I learned what a green, sustainable lifestyle was all about from the example Dency and Moira set as they led the way for the rest of us in using recycled products, taking reusable bags when shopping, using non-toxic cleaners, adding solar power, then an electric car, and so many other small and large steps.

As much as he was a green booster, Dency was just as big a promoter of Hermosa Beach, and so attending both Fiesta Hermosa events and celebrating Fourth of July and New Years Eve in Hermosa Beach all became regular part of our lives.

Last year Dency introduced me to Robert Fortunato who was planning the next leap in green building — a net-zero energy, zero-carbon house to replace his family's current Hermosa Beach home. Dency, Robert and I bonded as a group and I found myself spending even more time in Hermosa Beach as I learned about the Fortunato's Green Idea House and how much support and encouragement he was getting from the city.

It wasn't long before the three of us began talking about ways to help such an environmentally progressive city. We're all Italian-American and we dubbed ourselves "fratelli verde," green brothers. We talked about issues as big as becoming a carbon-neutral city and as small as getting rid of the disposable plastic water bottles at council meetings.

Some people think replacing those bottles is inconsequential, but I know that one billion of those plastic bottles are disposed of every year and that 80% of them go straight into landfills. And I know that bottled water costs 1000 times more than tap water.

So we've been bugging members of the City Council about those bottles and asking them to use their own refillable water bottles instead. Some did, some didn't, but the disposable plastic bottles remained. 

About a month ago we decided we'd help the council make the switch by buying and donating Brita water pitchers to filter tap water. And at last Tuesday's council meeting, Dency delivered them along with a year's supply of replacement filters.

I know that no one on the council appreciates being bugged about this issue and that they also didn't like being publically presented with the water pitchers or hearing our comments about them Tuesday night. I'm certainly not expecting any of them to say "thank you" or to think we did them any kind of service.

But I believe you lead by example and that being a more sustainable community — especially in a down economy when sustainable practices are the ones that cut waste and save money — means taking meaningful steps like this even when it's easier not to.

So I'll accept the response that comes with being considered an annoying pest on this subject and I'll keep at it until the day Hermosa Beach joins the many other cities, organizations and businesses that have already made the switch.