Photo of Expo protest courtesy Organic Consumers Association

Cell phone and pocket cameras whirred and clicked as a group of about a dozen protesters got the Natural Products Expo off to a raucous start Friday at the Anaheim Convention Center.

“If it doesn’t have a seal, it ain’t the real deal,” the protesters chanted over a loudspeaker, as well as, “Expo Panic! These brands are not organic.”

They also held up 5-foot signs mocking shampoo bottles of several brands.

The group, from the Organic Consumers Association, contends that shampoo, makeup and other personal care products — some on display inside the convention hall — lack a seal from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that would certify them as organic.

But even as the protesters attracted the attention of convention-goers, mostly retailers checking out new products they could potentially offer for sale on store shelves, they attracted the attention of the police as well.

The group’s national director, Ronnie Cummins, said he was cited by Anaheim police for a misdemeanor involving illegal use of a sound system — and his portable sound system was taken away. He was given an April 28 court date to face the charge.

“We’re the police over organic standards in the organic industry,” Cummins said later. “We’re making headway; a bunch of companies have reformulated their products. But there’s still some of what we call organic imposters, waiting till they’re forced absolutely to change.”

Food labeled as organic generally is, he said, but standards lag among some personal-care product makers.

Others, including Fred Linder, president of New Hope Media which is running the event, said there are differences of opinion about which standards such companies should meet, but that the presence of the protesters shows the trade show is “alive and well.”

It is open only to businesses, not the general public, and is expected to draw 50,000 people by its close on Sunday. Some 1,700 companies are displaying their wares, including more than 70 Orange County companies. Check out the video to see what goes on inside.

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Protesters say panic, products aren’t organic is a post from: Green OC

Register photo of trade show preparations by Michael Goulding

Anaheim plays host this week to the Natural Products Expo, in which businesses will show off their healthy foods, organic shampoos and a dizzying variety of other items to retailers. The general public isn’t invited, although the trendier products could soon end up on local store shelves.

On Friday, the first day of the trade show, a small group of demonstrators — some dressed as shampoo bottles — will appear outside the Anaheim Convention Center to protest what they believe are insufficient standards for judging which shampoos, makeup and other personal care products are truly organic.

Delilah Snell, owner of a green store in Santa Ana called The Road Less Traveled, said she loves the show and attends every year. But she’s noticed at least one trend she doesn’t like: big corporations trying to cash in on the market for natural and “green” products.

“These companies are really just buying up all these little businesses,” she said.

Still, she said, she’s urging her friend in the green business to go.

Read an O.C. Register preview of the Expo.

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Volunteers will hand out the condom packages – each carrying an image of one of six endangered species along with catchy slogans – in bars, public events such as concerts, supermarkets, college campuses and other locations.

Among the images on the condom packages, which are free, is a polar bear with the slogan, “Wrap with care, save the polar bear,” along with five other threatened or endangered species: the jaguar, American burying beetle, snail darter, coqui guajon rock frog and spotted owl.

About 30 volunteers will pass out the condoms in Orange County. Cities include Anaheim, Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach, Laguna Niguel, Lake Forest, Newport Beach, Orange, Tustin, Yorba Linda and possibly other cities, said Randy Serraglio, a conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity in Tucson.

The activist group, best known for filing lawsuits and taking other action to block development of natural habitat, also works to devise attention-getting public campaigns, such as offering downloadable endangered-species ring tones.

“All of the major threats to the earth’s biodiversity – sprawl, logging, mining, dams, pollution, and climate change – are driven by human overpopulation,” Serraglio said Thursday in a statement on the launching of the campaign. “Our endangered species condoms are designed to capture peoples’ attention, get them laughing, and get them talking about the impact of overpopulation on our small and fragile planet.”

The effort did indeed get attention — in fact, the center’s staff was overwhelmed with volunteers to hand them out.

The center had hoped for 100 volunteers, but more than 3,000 signed up, outpacing the center’s first run of 100,000 condoms. A second batch of 100,000 will follow, Serraglio said.

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Poll: Endangered-species condoms in O.C.? is a post from: Green OC

The Center for Biological Diversity, based in Tucson, says it will distribute the condoms in Orange County and elsewhere around the country. Images of six endangered species will appear on the condom packages.

For now, they are saying little else, keeping details — including which species they’ve chosen — under wraps until the big launch next week.

“Now we’re trying to stuff tons of these things into boxes, trying to get them all out by Monday,” said Randy Serraglio, a conservation advocate at the Center. “We’ll see if that actually happens.”

The activist group is best known for filing lawsuits and taking other action to stop development of  habitat for threatened and endangered species. But it has struck a chord with the public in recent years with innovative publicity efforts, such as offering downloadable endangered-species ring tones.

And the point of distributing condoms? Increasing human population is threatening many species, both by erasing their habitat and, with rising greenhouse gas emissions, driving climate change, which could further shrink native ecosystems, Serraglio said.

“It’s really a problem that can easily be addressed,” he said. “Nearly half of all the pregnancies in the United States are unintended. A lot of people don’t realize, that’s a lot of irresponsible reproduction.

“The condoms are there to highlight the consequences of personal choices. These little things go a long way toward protecting whatever endangered species lives in your neighborhood.”

The Center has been involved over the years in fights over many species, from the jaguar to the threatened California gnatcatcher, once the subject of bitter disputes over development in Orange County.

The condoms could be distributed at public events, on campuses, perhaps even in shopping malls; Serraglio told the group’s members to use their imaginations.

But he says we’ll have to wait till next week to learn which species, gnatcatchers, jaguars or otherwise, will be on the packages.

(Photo of gnatcatcher from Register files. Photo of crowded beach courtesy Center for Biological Diversity.)

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Orange County residents can bring their old television sets, computers, cell phones, printers and other electronics to Ladera Ranch Elementary, 29551 Sienna Pkwy.,  now until 4 p.m.

People who recycle their electronics will receive free lift tickets to the Mt. Baldy ski area.

Next on the list: the fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, where a recycling event will be held during the same hours on Saturday and Sunday.

The wave of electronics recycling events are the work of All Green Electronics Recycling. Organizers say the events, held around the county for about the past year, are proving to be enormously successful.

And more are planned next month in Mission Viejo and Fullerton. Visit the company’s Web site for a complete schedule.

(Photo courtesy All Green Electronics Recycling.)

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The program, meant to reduce air pollution from wood smoke, proved so popular that it sold out in December after 5,000 people used it to convert their fireplaces.

The program was recently expanded by the South Coast Air Quality Management District to cover an additional 2,500 homeowners.

Prices for such conversion sets vary, but $125 covers most or all of the installation cost, said air district spokesman Sam Atwood.

Residents of Orange County and parts of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties can go to the Healthy Hearths Initiative Web page, find out if they live in a qualifying Zip code, and locate a fireplace dealer nearby.

The $125 is taken off the purchase and installation price at the time of sale.

Wood smoke produces fine-particle pollution, which can work its way deeply into lungs and cause a variety of health problems.

Such pollution from sources including wood-burning fireplaces has been linked to 6,200 premature deaths in California every year, according to the California Air Resources Board.

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The Expo, billed as “the nation’s premier green business and sustainable lifestyle show,” runs Jan. 22-24 at the Los Angeles Convention Center; last year’s drew about 10,000 people.

While Friday is reserved for business-to-business exhibition, Saturday and Sunday are open to the public. The price: $10 for adults, kids under 12 free.

The exhibitors include Amped Bikes from Santa Ana, which sells kits to convert any bicycle into an electric, motorized version.

The company acknowledges that non-motorized bikes might be considered greener than anything with a motor on it.

“We do get a lot of that,” said employee Chris Ray. “It’s not always just about that. We’re trying to build a commuter-type thing.”

In that case, an “e-bike” would be much more environmentally friendly than a car. The converted bikes can go 20-25 miles on a charge, depending on how much pedaling you do, Ray said, and plug right into a home wall socket for a 4-5 hour charge.

Their full kit, with battery, sells for $475.

Then there’s Zen’s Purple Garden in Irvine, named for owner Zen Honeycutt. She sells a variety of lavender products, from pillows to candles, meant to help people get to sleep.

“It used to take me like 45 minutes to an hour and a half to go to sleep,” Honeycutt said. Then she saw a TV news segment on lavender as a sleep aid.

“Now it takes me five to 10 minutes to go to sleep,” she said. “Lavender has changed my whole life. I’ve created a whole company around it.”

BuyGreen.com of Irvine, which sells a variety of “green” products online, also will be exhibiting, along with Aliso Electric from Laguna Hills and Lab Clean of Santa Ana, which sells environmentally friendly cleaning products.

Other exhibitors will be promoting products in the realm of electronics, recycling, food, beauty and transportation, among other categories. There will be speeches by Ed Begley Jr., Mariel Hemingway and other celebrities in the green community, plus a job fair, and, of course, high-performance, “green” cars such as the Tesla Roadster.

(Photo of converted electric bike courtesy Amped Bikes; photo of lavender pillow courtesy, Zen Honeycutt)

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An Irvine recreational vehicle dealer is offering the “EverGreen Ever-Lite” travel trailer, billed as an “environmentally conscious RV.” Conscious or not, the vehicles are made from composite materials, are recyclable and greatly reduce the use of a hardwood veneer that depletes old-growth tropical forests.

“They use recyclable plastic bottles to make the mattresses,” said Jerry Baird, owner of Family RV in Irvine and Ontario. “It’s kind of interesting. We’ve only had them for about 45 days and we’ve sold three of them already.”

The use of composites also cuts the use of formaldehyde and other materials that lead to “outgassing” of volatile organic compounds — a problem in other kinds of trailers.

It still must be towed, of course, but even that burden has been lightened — by 1,000 to 2,000 pounds, its promoters say.

That means it can be towed with smaller vehicles, such as a sport utility vehicle or station wagon, than other trailers in its class, and will result in less fuel being burned to haul them.

The trailers sell for $20,000 to $40,000, Baird said.

“They’re expensive,” he said. “But the people who have money don’t really care.”

(Photo courtesy Evergreen RV.)

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'Eco-friendly' trailers go on sale in Irvine is a post from: Green OC

It’s the sometimes-ridiculed idea that the planet’s oil fields will reach a peak of production, then begin an downward slide from there. The Register’s auto writer Matt Degen has the full story on his Auto Motion blog.

Toyota exec talks hybrids, “peak oil” is a post from: Green OC

The conservancy manages nearly 40,000 acres of coastal sage scrub, chaparral, oak woodlands and other native plant communities with many miles of trails. The properties have been designated as Natural Landmarks by both the federal and state governments.

Beneath a logo that includes a slowly panning series of panoramic pictures of wild landscapes, the site offers perhaps its most innovative feature:  a large, interactive map. Scrolling over, say, Irvine Lake or Black Star Canyon reveals a photo, a brief description of the property and a quick sign-up feature for hikes and other programs there.

The site also offers quick links to the Web sites of the conservancy’s partners, among them OC Parks, State Parks, Newport Beach and local naturalist organizations.

People wishing to volunteer on the land also can find a quick sign-up function.

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