Or if you want to look at it another way: San Francisco won a Sustainable Transport Award for the SFPark program's dynamic meter pricing and for replacing a citywide swath of parallel parking spaces with parklets. You know, depending on which side of the green fence you're on. The award is given by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (which is apparently an organization that conveniently fights emissions, poverty, and pollution all at once), and it recognizes San Francisco as an innovator of sorts in the area of sustainable transport. Also: we got bonus points for "embracing social media". more ›

In addition to having the filthiest streets in the nation, San Francisco has just been anointed the greenest city in the United States and Canada, according to a study by Siemens. The report assessed and compared "27 major U.S. and Canadian cities on environmental performance and policies across nine categories - CO2 emissions, energy, land use, buildings, transport, water, waste, air quality and environmental governance." more ›

In a continuing effort to reduce the city's carbon emissions -- while boosting the smugness of Prius owners, of course -- Mayor Ed Lee's office will announce the availability of free power for electric for cars in San Francisco and SFO. The no-cost charges will last until the end of 2013. Who's paying for this, you ask? Well, according to the Examiner: "The $300,000 bill for the new program is being footed by a combination of federal, state and local grants, including one from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District." Electric-car charging station locations will be as follows: more ›

While we (and you!) rock back and forth in a near-catatonic state of anticipation for Alice Waters' big announcement -- on Twitter, no less! -- we'll keep you saffron-infused-olive-oil-poached abreast of her updates throughout the day. According to David Prior, director of communications for the Chez Panisse Foundation, Waters is poised to make some sort of big announcement today. About what, exactly? No clue. However, we've got her (or her PR rep's) first-ever Tweet. It went live a little after 10 am. Behold: more ›

While you're stuffing your face with corned beef, beer, and/or rye during tomorrow's St. Patrick's Day festivities, remember to sport some green. If not, you might get pinched. (You also might get a sexual harassment lawsuit tossed your way, fellas, so keep your sausage fingers to yourself in the workplace.) Why do we pinch people for not wearing green on St. Patrick's Day? Good question. Here are a few answers we found on the glorious internet: more ›

In front of City Hall at a "green vehicle showcase," Mayor Gavin Newsom yesterday announced a partnership between San Francisco and Toyota to advertise their Prius plug-in hybrids. And, as with anything carrying the Green brand, Newsom gets exceptionally excited. And when Newsom gets exceptionally excited, his hands turn into politically-charged fists of fury. More so than usual. Look at him go! He looks like a older Eva Peron. more ›

According to a tipster, SF Greening Director Astrid Hayarti left her position today. Our tipster writes to us, saying, "Just heard another member of Gavin's team jumped ship. Astrid Hayarti, the so-called Greening Czar, who Gav stole away from Chicago but didn't give her a budget, staff or department to work with, quit recently. I'm hoping for her sake she went back to Chicago where they know what they're doing to green their intensely urban city." more ›

San Francisco launched a green product site, SFApproved.org, which recommends eco-holy cosmetics, hand sanitizers, computers, office supplies, batteries and other items. According to AP, "The recommendations are based on a review of the products' ingredients, recycled content and energy efficiency among other factors." Cool, right? The food section, however, recommends you to "AVOID butter, cream sauces, fried foods, chips, fries." So: grain of salt, folks. more ›

Mayor Newsom and the city's Greening Director Astrid Haryati came up with these nifty plant boxes to segment the long bench that stretches along the main library right off Civic Center Plaza. more ›

During a rare Northern California appearance on Monday, the increasingly bizarre and camera-whorish Sarah Palin opened her mouth, with self-consciously controversial results. It all happened at a media-banned logging conference in Redding, a town of 90,000 north of Sacramento, the former VP candidate "called studies supporting global climate change a 'bunch of snake oil science,'" reported Associated Press, who forked over $74 to attend the spectacle. more ›

Setting himself up for countless "hot air" punchlines, Gavin Newsom "is calling for windmills throughout the city," reports KCBS. An estimated 29 of them might pop up in SF sometime in the very near future. Or not. (Although he'd like to "streamline the permit process" to get them up ASAP.) Anyway, Newsom goes on to said that the wind turbines cold be put on historical landmarks. he also emotes, "wind is a rural or suburban phenomenon and not necessarily an urban phenomenon ... We believe wind needs to be part of the urban mix of renewables. Our goal is to have 50 megawatts of renewable energy being generated within the city and county of San Francisco over the next few decades." more ›

Today, the Obama Administration announced plans to fork over $6-plus million to AC Transit of Hayward, "to help reduce global warming, lessen America’s dependence on oil and create green jobs." The funds come from the Economic Recovery Act, and will be yet another boon to the growing eco-industry in the Bay Area. more ›

by Chris Jones more ›

Still hoping to ride his oppressively green platform all the way to Sacramento, SF Mayor Gavin Newsom has had solar panels installed at two housing projects: Hayes Valley North and South, and Plaza East. This makes said housing communities "some of the first" projects in the country to get them. It's all part of the Go Solar SF initiative, a program that offers incentives to SF residents and businesses (which could be anywhere from $2,000 to $4,000 for residents and up to $10,000 for businesses) who install solar power on their properties. more ›

Part of the plan to make San Francisco run exclusively on sunshine and eco-righteousness, the city plans on erecting 360 new Muni bus stops "that'll further the causes of both solar power and blanketed Wi-Fi at the same time." According to the September issue of Popular Mechanics, the stops will be kind of cool. Details are as follows: more ›

Ahem: @GavinNewsom "Just announced plan to build UN environmental center in SF to promote sustainable and clean technologies." Meanwhile, San Francisco is still poor. more ›

C.W. "Phone It In" Nevius is complaining about one of his favorite topics in today's Chronicle: "recycling rustlers." How many columns can one guy write about industrious homeless people prying discarded fine recyclables out of neighborhood blue bins? Why is it such an issue for people in this city? Personally, this writer is grateful for the rag picking variety of the underclass. Whenever some random hipster is forced to evacuate a unit in his building, thus dumping boxes of irony rich clothing, books, and assorted tschokes on the sidewalk, the shopping cart set can always be counted on to fetch the lot of it before sundown. No fuss, no muss. These people provide a valuable service to the community! more ›

Thank God for garbage disposals. Seriously. On your knees. Because Mayor Gavin Newsom just signed a ruling calling on all San Franciscans to compost their eggshells, coffee grounds, apple peels, dead roses and other food rubbish and garden clippings. While city officials will give residents time to adjust to storing their waste in a green bin, they "could eventually start levying fines of $100 on rubbish recidivists." (Thankfully, many residents are now too cash-strapped to afford real, non-prepackaged food, so many of you don't have to worry. Yay, hunger!) If you recall, the Board of Supes OK'd the country's toughest composting law earlier this month. more ›

Current TV has asked us to plug an interview their doing with Newsom right this very second. For better or for worse, the chat will be about not trashing your coffee grounds (which we did this morning, then laughed) or tossing your SF Examiner in a garbage can on the sidewalk (which we might or might not do every afternoon after lunch). Green stuff, you know. They're going to ask Gav "some of the most popular questions asked by the Current Green community" -- e.g., "What's the thing you can really transform?," "What's your take on the proposal to close 220 state parks?," and "Which areas of California are most suitable for wind farms?" Watch it if you have a free minute or two. (But what SFist wants is a filmed Nathan Ballard interview. It's high time for Newsom's spokesperson to shine. Because he's funny and charming as all heck. Seriously, we're a breath away from getting all Gypsy-end-of-Act-I on him. He's got star quality, that one.) more ›

Current invited the public to submit and vote on questions for Mayor Gavin Newsom regarding his run for governor and his green platform. Six of the questions will be chosen alongside picks from editors at Treehugger, Grist, Huffington Post Green, Chelsea Green, and Good Magazine. The interview will be streamed live on Current at Noon tomorrow. more ›

Because being a native San Franciscan isn't adorably dorky in and of itself, Mission Mission first broke news that Mission High School students held a "green prom" over the weekend, complete with environmentally-friendly trimmings. more ›

You just can't top this one, Gavin Newsom. United Nations Environment Programme promises to plant a tree for every person who follows them on Twitter. Check it: "UNEPandYou: Remember, UNEP will plant one tree for every twitterer who follows @UNEPandYou by 5 June, World Environment Day. 3 days to go!" Gimmicky? Very. Legit? Um, let's hope. So far, as of 3:35 p.m., they have 4,446 followers. Might you be one more? more ›

According to a White House report, "Energy Secretary Steven Chu today offered a $535 million loan guarantee for Solyndra, Inc. to support the company’s construction of a commercial-scale manufacturing plant for its proprietary cylindrical solar photovoltaic panels. The company expects to create thousands of new jobs in the U.S. while deploying its solar panels across the U.S. and around the world." more ›

Concerned about your right to feel toasty, Duraflame has filed a lawsuit against the Bay Area Air Quality Management District for their 'Spare the Air' days, which bans the burning combustible materials (i.e., Duraflame logs) on days brimming with notably unhealthy air. The lawsuit claims that the air quality district failed to prove the region's need to limit the use of their logs. Duraflame spokesman Chris Caron said, "The district has failed to follow procedures to define why fire logs should be included in the solid fuel wood category with firewood, and nor did they make an adequate attempt to quantify the effectiveness of the new control measures." We can't imagine this lawsuit will help the company in any way whatsoever, other than making them look like a greedy and anti-green company. But there you have it. Eight 'Spare the Air' days have been called since the winter season started. more ›

Oh wow. We need to get in on this racket. See, San Francisco International Airport plans on installing carbon-offset kiosks, so guilt-ridden travelers can donate to saving the Earth and stuff. It works like this: Travelers enter their flight info at the green kiosk, which figures out how many puppies and kittens will die as a result from the carbon dioxide emitted from their flight. A cost for offsetting your environment-crippling flight plans will then be deducted from your credit card, then sent to one of several carbon-reducing projects. While this sounds like an inspired idea, it could have corruption written all over it. more ›

We've become more and more hippie-ish in our near eight years living in San Francisco. We've mostly dwelled in compost-practicing households here, where it was a convenient process and just as easy to do as tossing waste in the trash. We now live in a large apartment building with around 30 units with no current compost option, although a few of us tenants are interested in setting one up. more ›

Dear those of you who write addendums on posters, signs, and sticker: more ›

In case you don't know, today is Earth Day. (Please go stick a sapling in the ground, or whatever.) And more than any other day, really, today is San Francisco's day to bask in its green, self-righteous, CO2-reducing glory. more ›

Better than a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow or a bowl brimming with Lucky Charms, crack retailers in Marietta, Ohio, dyed their cocaine rocks a festive green for St. Patrick's Day this year. OMG, fun! The Smoking Gun has the full report and mugshots galore, going on to say: more ›

Lust, greed, and murder, it seems, are a thing of the past, according to the Vatican. Drug use and life-saving genetic experimentation are what's hot, at least according to the updated thou-shall-not list, which Pope Benedict XVI has modernized for today's lifestyle. The Associated Press tells us that among this season's newest sins, environmental sustainability, or lack thereof, made the list. more ›