Catch this: FishPhone Finds Ocean-Friendly Dining Options

You want to be ecologically correct, you really do, but you're also hungry for dinner. What to do at the seafood restaurant with a list of delicious-sounding options staring from the menu? If you order the shrimp, are you complicit in the destruction of underwater habitats? If you buy a bag of Trader Joe's frozen orange roughy, are you part of the problem, not the solution?

Help is a text-message away: the Blue Ocean Institute has launched the FishPhone, which brings sustainable seafood information straight to your cell phone or PDA. So the next time you're about to order, just text 30644 with the message "Fish" and the name of the fish in question and within seconds you'll get an environmental assessment of your choice of seafood.
Read about sustainable seafood options at www.blueocean.org/seafood

Pick It Up: April 5, May 3, et cetera

Mark your calendar! Come out on the first Saturday mornings of each month and be part of the real Laguna Beach by helping to keep it clean. Chip McDermott has created a monthly event with his Zero Trash Laguna: bright and early each first Saturday, caring folks come out and pick up the flotsam and jetsam of the increasingly urban atmosphere we live in. Then we weigh it and, just for grins, count the number of recyclables collected. Last pickup on March 1 before the Patriots' Day Parade ZTL collected 148 lbs. of trash and 78 recyclables. That's crap that mostly would have ended up in the ocean. Thanks, Chip. It's actually a fun early-rising thing to do with your sweetie, your kids or your doggie-buddy. Adopt a street and help make Laguna more lovely! www.zerotrashlaguna.org

Up with Art: Party with LOCA

Stuck for an idea for a unique birthday party -- for kids or grown-ups? It doesn't get any more "Laguna" than throwing a LOCA Art Party!

LOCA (Laguna Outreach for Community Arts) is a local non-profit that makes art an everyday, accessible occurrence. The organization, under guidance by prez Sean McCracken, is branching out in new, exciting ways, and art parties is one of them. Check it out: LOCA will send one or two professional artists (don't worry, they are fabulous and have LOTS of experience with kids) to your house with all the materials and media needed to guide each guest through a fun, high-quality art project. The take-home party favor is literally a work of art -- way better than throwaway plastic toys! LOCA provides this unusual, memorable service at their cost. Get in touch with Sean at 290-5317 or at sean@welivethedream.com.

Learn more about LOCA at www.locaarts.org.

Nirvana Ahead: 50 Percent off all food for 5 days!

This Saturday, March 15 the grand opening of Laguna's new Nirvana Grille, its second location, will benefit Friendship Shelter. Get a sneak peek a day before the "official" opening on the 16th!

Owners Lindsay Smith-Rosales, named one of the “Great Chefs of Orange County," and her husband, Luis Rosales, formerly of the Ritz Carlton and the Montage will present her signature hors d’oeuvres and a distinctive Nirvana cocktail created exclusively for the restaurant by sponsor Ketel One Vodka.

The city’s Chamber of Commerce will kick the event off with an official ribbon-cutting ceremony. Be part of the festivities -- call the shelter at 494-6928 for info.

And get this: the restaurant will offer 50 percent off all food and no corkage for the first five days (Sunday, March 16 to Thursday, March 20). Reservations are required.

From Jit Fong of the OC REGISTER: "I visited Nirvana Grille’s Mission Viejo restaurant in October 2006, shortly after it opened, and I was completely sold on its light, yet solidly flavored dishes. The strip mall location seemed too low-key for such a great kitchen, but that was part of the restaurant’s charm, too."
The new restaurant is located at 303 Broadway, Laguna Beach. 949-497-0027. Regular hours beginning on March 24 will be Tuesday-Thursday and Sunday 5-10 p.m., and Friday-Saturday 5 p.m.-11 p.m. Closed Mondays.
The existing restaurant is at 24031 Marguerite Parkway, #C, Mission Viejo. 949-380-0027.

Stuff

Resource extraction as it’s currently practiced is brutal business, but it’s only part of the people-using, planet-trashing picture. Take a look at this breezy, 20-minute little chalk talk on consumption, broken into chapters that make it extra easy to use. It’s hosted by Annie Leonard, a young and irreverent expert on sustainability who spent 10 years tracking the flow of stuff from the source to the factory to the dump and beyond. The Story of Stuff shows the connections between lifestyles and their impacts in an era of “changing climates and declining happiness.”

And the story ends on an upbeat note. As Leonard explains, “The good thing about such an all-invasive problem is there are so many points of intervention!”

http://www.storyofstuff.com

- From Peace x Peace newsletter 3/6/08

Peace is Patriotic

My friend Laurel of the Laguna Beach Peace Vigil called with a last-minute request for marchers in this Saturday's Patriots' Day Parade. It starts at 11 a.m., but Laurel said the group is slated at position #81 and you needn't show up until 11:45 (in the parking lot of the LBUSD on Blumont Street at Park Avenue). Or you can feel free to join from the sidelines if you want, or double-dip if you or your kids are marching with another group.

Laurel said she will have lots of various "approved" pro-peace signs you can carry. She asks that you please don't bring your own signs as the group is allowed to display only our own banners and a number of pro-peace signs (negotiated with and pre-approved by the parade committee).

Laurel would love to see lots of children and families participate. If you're a member of Veterans for Peace, MFSO, CODEPINK, etc. please wear your group's shirts, hats and insignia etc. to help let the community know the diversity and strength of our commitment to PEACE .

For further information, call Pat Cohee:(949) 494-6649 or e-mail: lagunapoets@mindspring.com
What could be more patriotic than peace?

From: OC To: Afghanistan

Here's a chance to make your compassion echo on the other side of the world. And you only need to drive to Huntington Beach on Saturday, Feb. 23 (or deliver items before then to a local bank)!

The details:
It's been a devastatingly cold winter in Afghanistan, according to Mary Urashima, who's heading up the Airlift for Afghan Children humanitarian effort. Warm clothing is desperately needed. Sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Huntington Beach, the Airlift is an effort to get blankets, children’s clothes, children’s shoes, infant care items, school supplies (crayons, coloring books, pencils) and stuffed animals (no hard toys) into the hands of people in great need. Items should be new or gently used - and clean, of course. Organizers ask that items are appropriate for Afghanistan -- no political or religious symbols or slogans. please. The Kiwanis will airlift collected items via U.S. military transport by February 29.

Date: Saturday, Feb. 23, 2008
11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Volunteers please arrive to help with packing by 10 a.m.
YMCA – Huntington Beach
19891 Beach Blvd. Suite 17, Huntington Beach, CA 92648
Questions: Volunteer Coordinator Sonali Fiske (949) 254-3538, Sonali.fiske@gmail.com

You can also drop items off during business hours at Independence Bank, 18101 Magnolia Street, Fountain Valley, CA 92708 before Feb. 23.
Questions about your donation? Contact Kiwanis liaison Mary Urashima, (714) 374-8360, Urashima@earthlink.net

DIRECTIONS to YMCA from the 405 Freeway:
Take the Ellis / Euclid exit and head west (toward ocean)
Left on Beach Boulevard
The YMCA warehouse (19891 Beach Blvd., Suite 17) is located on the west side of Beach Boulevard, between Adams Avenue and Yorktown Avenue