told before that you could use plastic for the refrigerator or storage, are you saying avoid plastics all together for food storage, and then the second question is water bottles, say for instance i have a case of like costco water in my trunk that i just keep, is it the heat that's leeching stuff into the water or is the sun breaking down the plastic, what is getting leaked into the water, is it the bpa or other toxins? >> these are great questions and they're kind of the same answer in a way. heat and light can both make plastic break down, either alone or in connection, i lived for a long time in arizona that if you leave your water in the car, it's cooking and getting exposed to light, but either one of those can lead chemicals

to leak into the plastic, with bpa, we know, for instance, that it's hundreds of times more is leaked in with high heat than with low heat, it's just the nature of plastics. but the chemicals in most food contacts like that and your water bottles are usually a number 1, the main chemical in most of those is usually relatively safe in the scheme of things, but then different companies will put different additives to give that plastic the property they want and so a study that came out in 2010 found that some of those additives can act like estrogen, so with the heat or with the uv light in particular, but even at room temperature, some of those additives that are estrogenic

can get into the water and cause for instance cells that are sensitive to estrogen to grow more quickly which many breast cancers are, so limiting use like in your car, get some stainless steel or aluminum water bottles, fill those with the water and you can leaf -- leave those in the car, you can have three or four so they're go and grab ready, plastics in the refrigerator, it's a personal decision, but sometimes i'll store stuff in plastic myself, but i kind of switched over to almost only glass just because it's easier to have one set of stuff ultimately. >> [inaudible]. >> obviously i'm not leaving it in there for months but i might leave a case in there, i might have that for a couple of weeks. >> studies they've done have usually been 72 to 108 hours,

so relatively short-term, but also somewhat higher heat exposure than what we probably get most of the time in san francisco, so conditions are really variable and then it's usually controlled rather than kind of normal. yeah? >> so, in general where possible, staying away from plastic water bottles is not only making your life a little bit healthier, it's decreasing our dependence on plastic which is more important as a broader environmental issue, but even water bottles, even if you leave them in a cold environment, you don't know where they've come from or they've been in ship holds which is really hot, just as a number one rule, if you smell something plastic don't drink out of it. >> that's good advice.

>> i have two questions, they're a little bit unrelated but the first one goes on the scheme of plastic, so plastic wrap, plastic bags, you know, it's great to say we should all use glass but we know what's used out there is plastic, and it's reusable, you can come up with all these ways to avoid it but there's plastic everywhere and it's accessible and cheap, so plastic wrap gets used a lot, there aren't that many alternatives that can do what plastic wrap does, i don't use a lot of it and it's harder to store things long-term and same question applies for the freezer, it's easier to put things in a freezer bag. >> so, a little tip for that is i do admit to using plastic bags, i reuse them and if something is not -- i don't use them for liquids and if

something isn't somehow already kind of like a solid or whatever, parchment paper around that and then use the plastic just as the thing that keeps it from leak-proof or if i'm taking soup to work, i have my soup in a glass jar but i will throw it in plastic because i don't want it all over my backpack and there's also more stainless steel options which are a little more expensive but that's a one-time investment, just don't lose it, so a box of plastic bags, it lasts me like three year, parchment paper, it's the layer that touches your food and then aluminum foil isn't really bad, but parchment paper is a good thing. >> plastics in kids toys and kids products, they're not

really labeled, i don't find the same symbol on them and i do a lot of the reuse and recycle, but mostly reusing things so we have hand-me-downs and all kinds of toys that have been through many generations and i sometimes think about it, i can only worry so much about what my son puts in his mouth, but when you talk about chemicals, where do you start, besides i know wooden toys are best and that was the plan originally, only wood in our house and glass and ceramics, that's all lovely in theory, it's not what happens unless you're a waldorf parent and you're strict and it's really your principle, so good will has a lot of plastic, so you know, anymore words on that, i realize it's a matter of what you can do, but --

>> i have not encountered some of those challenges because i'm not a parent but i have been around a lot of kids, important note is that in 2008, a law was passed that mra*s sites could not longer be used in kids toys , for right now, if you're buying new toys off the shelf, they're not going to have that particular compound, plus skish shi ones, they're not going to have that, i know you have a small child, is when they're at that mouthing stage of putting everything in their mouth, that maybe be the time to be most concerned about the specifics when they get to the older stage where, you know, there's some pretty nifty plastic toys out there, let's get real, and i like that i had legos as a

kid and those were plastic, you know, maybe that's when you loosen it up a little bit and make, you know, judicious decisions, but when they're putting everything in their mouths, you want to be the most careful about what that is, parents may have other added tips. >> [inaudible] because most of the toys for kids, we don't really check sometimes where they're made. >> it's for toys sold in the united states, so regardless of where the manufacturer is, if they're sold in the u.s., they have to comply with those standards, other countries could well have different laws on their shelves and my guess would be vary from laws that would be more health protective to less fighters to join us. >> i have two questions, i'll keep them brief.

we can't control where our fire houses are and our fire house is a block off the freeway, we do replace our h fact filters every five mother and is they're jet black when we replace them every three months, it is a big concern, how do we reduce our exposure when we're a block right off the freeway, we're bumper to bump traffic, and there are some fire houses that are literally underneath the freeway so how do we reduce that exposure, air filters, if so, what kind of air filters? >> you're getting beyond our technical knowledge of our filtration, but you know, it might be somebody to consult with somebody with expertise in air filtration for indoor air of course, maybe replacing those filters more often, you know, some very basic things and again, i'm not an engineer,

but wiping down surfaces with moistures rather than a rag captures that better, otherwise you're containing it better, thinking about some of the basic things you do in the home, i would consult someone who has experience in air filters. >> [inaudible]. >> [inaudible] and my husband tells me they mop the apparatus floors every day because it's a diesel dust, i'm not sure if it's a common practice in fire houses, i was told someone in the fire department had developed cancer and they thought it was partly due to the diesel dust so they mop

down every day, i know they probably sweep it but i don't know if mopping down is what 9 does, i don't know if this is company policy because i haven't been there. it is? okay. >> i have a question. my question is unrelated, talking about -- going back to the radiation and how bad it is for your body, so why do they recommend it as a treatment if someone has had cancer of various sorts? >> kind of because it can be toxic to cells and -- so, if you target it, right, and then you're directing it to those very cancer cells that are growing very rapidly and are in a very focal area, then you are, you know, -- and it's at a higher dose than you're exposed

to when you're screening, you're killing those cells and you're stopping their growth, so they're leveraging that particular feature of the radiation just as they do with chemotherapy which is drugs that we won't have to take unless we're needing to kill those cancer cells. >> [inaudible] radiation? >> it is very focused >> even though the [inaudible] i was talking about, if it's focused, why does everybody leave the room? >> they're spending their 8 hour work day, and even if it's focused and there's a little bit of spread, radiation, as i understand, i'm not a physicist either, does reduce in its power the further away you get from it, right, that there's still, you know, if you're spending 8, 9 hours a day, you

don't want that little bit added, they're getting better and better at in medical radiation when they're using it as a treatment, directing that ray to a more specific and localized area, but, you know, we do see in kids who are treated with radiation early -- for earlier childhood cancers that they can develop later life cancers as a result, now what's your trade-off there, the 20, 30 years of life they may have and maybe it's a treatable cancer they might get later, but if you're an adult and getting na, you're weighing the costs and benefits. >> i just wanted to say one thing about the -- a couple of things about the diesel fuel, christine brings a great thing about where your fire house is located but what are our practices in the fire house, and are your extractors plugged

in when the rigs are on or they're plugged in and blowing into the apparatus floor and with some of our standing orders with the ambulances, i know for sure they're supposed to stay on all the time at a scene, you're at a house in an hour and your rig is supposed to be on outside, that's addressing some of those policies within our department, it's like, well, we're told you have to leave the rig running to keep the power up or something, well, come on now, you know, can't that not be changed a little bit, so i think that that is, you know, it's the diesel fuel we know is something cancer-causing, the other thing that came up with me is not a question but a comment with fire houses that i know and just starting to look and there's been some talk in our department, why do we have cell towers on our fire houses and there are some fire houses

that have them and they're in places where it's exposing right where we sleep, why do -- why do we have that and is it a cost benefit thing, and just to start to ask some of those questions of our administration really, so that was it. >> so, i think that we are out of time, but this was wonderful, thank you for the rich questions and your attention and for bringing so many of you in here. >> i would like to thank bonnie and the breast cancer fund for coming and all of the local co-op that uses local ingredients, we practice what we preach.

>> what if you could make a memorial that is more about information and you are never fixed and it can go wherever it wants to go? everyone who has donated to it could use it, host it, share it. >> for quite a great deal of team she was hired in 2005, she struggled with finding the correct and appropriate visual expression. >> it was a bench at one point. it was a darkened room at another point. but the theme always was a theme of how do we call people's attention to the issue of speci species extinction.

>> many exhibits do make long detailed explanations about species decline and biology of birds and that is very useful for lots of purposes. but i think it is also important to try to pull at the strings inside people. >> missing is not just about specific extinct or endangered species. it is about absence and a more fundamental level of not knowing what we are losing and we need to link species loss to habitat loss and really focuses much on the habitat. >> of course the overall mission of the academy has to do with two really fundamental and important questions. one of which is the nature of life. how did we get here? the second is the challenge of sustainability. if we are here how are we going to find a way to stay?

these questions resonated very strongly with maya. >> on average a species disappears every 20 minutes. this is the only media work that i have done. i might never do another one because i'm not a media artist per se but i have used the medium because it seemed to be the one that could allow me to convey the sounds and images here. memorials to me are different from artworks. they are artistic, but memorials have a function. >> it is a beautiful scupltural objective made with bronze and lined with red wood from water tanks in clear lake. that is the scupltural form that gives expression to maya's project.

if you think about a cone or a bull horn, they are used to get the attention of the crowd, often to communicate an important message. this project has a very important message and it is about our earth and what we are losing and what we are missing and what we don't even know is gone. >> so, what is missing is starting with an idea of loss, but in a funny way the shape of this cone is, whether you want to call it like the r.c.a. victor dog, it is listen to the earth and what if we could create a portal that could look at the past, the present and the future? >> you can change what is then missing by changing the software, by changing what is projected and missing. so, missing isn't a static installation. it is an installation that is going to grow and change over time. and she has worked to bring all of this information together from laboratory after laboratory including, fortunately, our great fwroup of researche e-- g

researchers at the california academy. >> this couldn't have been more site specific to this place and we think just visually in terms of its scupltural form it really holds its own against the architectural largest and grandeur of the building. it is an unusual compelling object. we think it will draw people out on the terrace, they will see the big cone and say what is that. then as they approach the cone tell hear these very unusual sounds that were obtained from the cornell orinthology lab. >> we have the largest recording of birds, mammals, frogs and insects and a huge library of videos. so this is an absolutely perfect opportunity for us to team up with a world renown, very creative inspirational artist and put the sounds and sights of the animals that we study into a brand-new context, a context

that really allows people to appreciate an esthetic way of the idea that we might live in the world without these sounds or sites. >> in the scientific realm it is shifting baselines. we get used to less and less, diminished expectations of what it was. >> when i came along lobsters six feet long and oysters 12 inches within they days all the oyster beds in new york, manhattan, the harbor would clean the water. so, just getting people to wake up to what was just literally there 200 years ago, 150 years ago. you see the object and say what is that. you come out and hear these intriguing sounds, sounds like i have never heard in my life. and then you step closer and you almost have a very intimate experience. >> we could link to different institutions around the globe,

maybe one per continent, maybe two or three in this country, then once they are all networked, they begin to communicate with one another and share information. in 2010 the website will launch, but it will be what you would call an informational website and then we are going to try to, by 2011, invite people to add a memory. so in a funny way the member rely grows and there is something organic about how this memorial begins to have legs so to speak. so we don't know quite where it will go but i promise to keep on it 10 years. my goal is to raise awareness and then either protect forests from being cut down or reforest in ways that promote biodiversity. >> biodiverse city often argued to be important for the world's human populations because all of the medicinal plants and uses

that we can put to it and fiber that it gives us and food that it gives us. while these are vital and important and worth literally hundreds of billions of dollars, the part that we also have to be able to communicate is the more spiritual sense of how important it is that we get to live side by side with all of these forms that have three billion years of history behind them and how tragic it would be not commercially and not in a utilitarian way but an emotio l emotional, psychological, spiritual way if we watch them one by one disappear. >> this is sort of a merger between art and science and advocacy in a funny way getting people to wake unand realize what is going on -- wake up and realize what is going on. so it is a memborial trying to get us to interpret history and look to the past. they have always been about lacking at the past so we proceed forward and maybe don't

commit the same mistakes. >> here we are at the embarcadero. we are standing at one of locations for the street artists. can you tell me about this particular location, the program? >> this location is very significant. this was the very first and only

location granted by the board of supervisors for the street artist when the program began in 1972. how does a person become a street artist? there are two major tenants. you must make the work yourself and you must sell the work yourself. a street artist, the license, then submitting the work to a committee of artists. this committee actually watches them make the work in front of them so that we can verify that it is all their own work. >> what happened during the holiday to make this an exciting location? >> this would be a magic time of year. you would probably see this place is jammed with street artists. as the no, there is a lottery held at 6 in the morning. that is how sought after the spaces are.

you might get as many as 150 street artists to show up for 50 spaces. >> what other areas can a licensed street artist go to? >> they can go to the fisherman's wharf area. they can go in and around union square. we have space is now up in the castro, in fact. >> how many are there? >> we have about 420. >> are they here all year round? >> out of the 420, i know 150 to sell all year round. i mean like five-seven days a week. >> are they making their living of of this? >> this is their sole source of income for many. >> how long have you been with this program. how much has it changed? >> i have been with the program since it began 37 and a half

years ago but i have seen changes in the trend. fashion comes and goes. >> i think that you can still find plenty of titis perhaps. >> this is because the 60's is retro for a lot of people. i have seen that come back, yes. >> people still think of this city as the birth of that movement. great, thank you for talking about the background of the program. i'm excited to go shopping. >> i would like you to meet two street artists. this is linda and jeremy. >> night said to me to print them -- nice to meet you. >> can you talk to me about a variety of products that use

cell? >> we have these lovely constructed platters. we make these wonderful powder bowls. they can have a lot of color. >> york also using your license. -- you are also using your license. >> this means that i can register with the city. this makes sure that our family participated in making all of these. >> this comes by licensed artists. the person selling it is the person that made it. there is nothing better than the people that made it. >> i would like you to meet

michael johnson. he has been in the program for over 8 years. >> nice to me you. what inspired your photography? >> i am inspired everything that i see. the greatest thing about being a photographer is being able to show other people what i see. i have mostly worked in cuba and work that i shot here in san francisco. >> what is it about being a street artist that you particularly like? >> i liked it to the first day that i did it. i like talking to mentum people. talking about art or anything that comes to our minds. there is more visibility than i would see in any store front. this would c