It’s Not Easy Being Green, But it's Fun in Hermosa

My column last week on Fourth of July fireworks and their environmental impact had an explosive impact of its own, as my back-and-forth with a right wing blogger in the comments section helped make it the most popular article on Hermosa Beach | Patch for five straight days.

The truth is, the one-day-a-year environmental problems caused by Independence Day fireworks is a miniscule issue compared to the damage we cause every day using fossil fuels to power our transportation, as well as electricity and heat.

But a larger issue emerged from the reaction to my fireworks article, and my tough stance on those who practice a deadly business-as-usual approach to climate change at the expense of our younger generations and the future.

a charge I will happily cop to – although I prefer Eco Sheriff, because their badges are cooler.  Eco Ranger is copasetic with me too since I dig both their badges and hats.

Personally, I like police officers and sheriff's deputies. I find no insult in being called one. There are few things more fun than a very public "perp walk" when law enforcement frog-marches an evildoer in handcuffs into the station. I can't wait until a BP executive gets his turn.

But when it comes to letting the good times roll, I'm a disciple of the BIF philosophy, Believe In Fun. My motto is, "If it's not fun then don't do it and if you have to do it, then make it fun."

I've had more than my share of joy over the last 30 years working in the entertainment, art and toy businesses, and making a very good living as a writer, creative director and commentator.

But the most fun I've had has been as an environmentalist, speaking unfiltered truth to power and getting right in the faces of anti-green predators. Before I was lucky enough to move to Southern California right after high school, I was born and raised in the low-income neighborhoods of Brooklyn, N.Y., so I love a righteous David verses Goliath fight and being on the side of the little guy with the slingshot. 

Exposing the phonies who lie and cheat on behalf of the greenhouse gassing-goliaths in the oil, coal and gas industries is my idea of a totally endorphin-filled time.  And doing so on behalf of children currently in school, or the young people just starting their own careers, helps keep me feeling young.

Because I love to see miraculous change happen with my help, I also groove on getting my hands dirty doing beach and neighborhood cleanups, or installing solar PV systems for free on behalf of GRID Alternatives in low-income neighborhoods.

The camaraderie of doing this work with other like-minded environmentalists is heartwarming. Perhaps the greatest fun I've had was with 1,300 of my friends last October in Manhattan Beach staging the biggest climate action ever held in Southern California in the form of the Amazing Waving Human Tide Line. 

Nobody has a better time than me volunteering for the South Bay Environmental Services Center and talking to diverse people in the area about how they can save money, energy and water while improving their quality of life. 

When people find out that I cut my household's electricity bill from $125 each month to $42 a month with easy conservation and efficiency changes, they want to join in that fun too, and I'm always more than happy to help them.

During the last three years, I've had more fun than should be allowed traveling the state, learning the latest about electric cars, the coming smart grid, California's AB 811 solar financing laws, AB 920 solar feed-in tariffs, carbon-neutral cities, and then sharing this information with Hermosa Beach and throughout the South Bay.

The fact that I'm helping to fight the biggest threat to ever face our civilization makes it all even more pleasurable for a guy like me who relishes being the underdog overcoming all odds.

Just try and have more fun than that.  

Joe Galliani is a member of the Hermosa Beach Carbon Neutral City Committee and writes a weekly column about local environmental issues for Hermosa Beach | Patch.