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Saving the Planet While Treasure Hunting in Hillcrest

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How do you protect the climate, save money, get exercise, have fun and give back to the community all at the same time?

I call it treasure hunting. Others call it “thrifting.”

Treasure hunting has become a fun hobby. I thank my daughter, the minimalist, for showing me the way.  I’ll admit to having been a bit of a snob about thrift stores. I was happy to donate my old stuff to them but I never thought to shop in them.

This changed when my daughter, who has been buying her clothes from thrift stores since her high school days, explained the ethical value of recycling. It’s not about whether or not you can afford new stuff; it’s about supporting the concept of recycling to help keep the planet cleaner by reducing waste and carbon emissions from manufacturing.   [Read more…]

Fight Back: An Ecopsychological Understanding of Depression

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 One human language is much too small
to convey the ever unfolding meanings at play in the world.

I am an environmental activist. I have depression. To be an activist with depression places me squarely in an irreconcilable dilemma: The destruction of the natural world creates stress which exacerbates depression. Cessation of the destruction of the natural world would alleviate the stress I feel and, therefore, alleviate the depression. However, acting to stop the destruction of the natural world exposes me to a great deal of stress which, again, exacerbates depression.

Either, the destruction persists, I am exposed to stress, and I remain depressed. Or, I join those resisting the destruction, I am exposed to stress, and I remain depressed.

Depressed if I do, depressed if I don’t. So, I fight back.   [Read more…]

Barrio Logan’s Community Garden

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By Jorge Gonzalez / Environmental Health Coalition

For a long time, Barrio Logan needed an open space to cultivate community and healthy living. After years of listening to community requests, Environmental Health Coalition worked with residents to plant and grow the Chicano Park Herb Garden.   [Read more…]

Community Choice Energy Myths Debunked, SDG&E Misdirection Exposed

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By Tyson Siegele / SanDiego350

SDG&E and its parent company Sempra have been misleading customers about their stance on Community Choice Energy (CCE).

Sempra promotes itself as an upstanding community participant with only the best intentions for its customers, but in conjunction with SDG&E, it charges exorbitant rates and fights tooth and nail behind the scenes to maintain its monopoly. It does so at the expense of electricity consumers.

By reviewing Sempra marketing material and comparing Sempra’s statements to its actions, a clear pattern of misdirection and exploitation emerges.   [Read more…]

10 Things You Can Do About Climate Change

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By Julie Whitney

According to NASA, “97 percent or more of actively publishing climate scientists agree: Climate-warming trends over the past century are very likely the result of human activities.”

Furthermore, the earth has unequivocally warmed dramatically since the 1950s, due in most part to human activities. In fact, during that time period, many of the observed changes are “unprecedented over decade to millennia.”

The earth is like a greenhouse. The technology we use, as well as normal human activity, have resulted in ever increasing amounts of gases being released into the atmosphere. The build-up of these greenhouse gases prevents heat from escaping the earth’s atmosphere.

This, in large part, leads to the current symptoms of climate change we have all experienced: warmer climate and ocean temperatures, more extreme weather events, a rising sea level, and dilution of the ocean’s salinity from melting glacial ice sheets to name a few.   [Read more…]

Pinyon-Juniper Forests, Pine Nuts, and True Sustainability

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A windmill blade knocks the head off a Cooper’s hawk interrupting the late afternoon peace in Spring Valley, just outside Ely, Nevada.

The blade tosses the hawk’s body onto yellow gravel the power company spread, over living soil, in circles around their windmills.

The ever-present Great Basin breeze, who usually whispers with a soothing tone through pinyon needles, juniper branches, and sage tops, becomes angry. Grazing cows pause their chewing and look up to consider the scene.   [Read more…]

Trump Against the Planet: Defending the Climate With Local Action

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An Indivisible Explainer

Editor’s note: The President’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement has dismayed activists all over the world. We’re reposting this document from Indivisible, whose mission is to fuel a progressive grassroots network to defeat the Trump agenda, to give people some ideas about what steps to take.

The health and safety of Americans and their families is just a game to Donald Trump. On June 1, 2017, he announced—with a televised, grand reveal in the White House Rose Garden—that the U.S. would withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement. By doing so, Trump hopes to fulfill one of his devastating campaign promises to roll back critical climate and health protections, at the expense of the American public and of generations to come. Trump announced the U.S. will withdraw from Paris despite widespread opposition to pulling out by the American public, the business community, advocates, and even political leaders from both parties.   [Read more…]

Storms Brewing Over the Future of Mission Bay

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There are gray storms brewing over Mission Bay – or rather over the future of Mission Bay. And in particular, over the future of the northeast corner of Mission Bay, the largest aquatic park on the West Coast.

In a nutshell, there are conflicting visions over what should happen to the area at issue between the City of San Diego’s development plans versus what is envisioned by environmentalists, led by the San Diego Audubon Society.

Because of a confluence of changes to the northeast corner of Mission Bay, the future uses and development of it are now up for grabs. In some sense, it’s an all-too-familiar classic stand-off between the forces fighting to develop every corner of available land with those trying to preserve and enlarge the natural sections.   [Read more…]

What the Heck? The Story of My Randomly Sounding Fire Alarms

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Editor Note: San Diego Free Press turns 5 this month! We are dipping into our archives for memorable examples of citizen journalism that we have published since 2012. Judi Curry’s 2013 mysterious fire alarms story continues to be one of our most popular articles. Congratulations Judi!

My dog Buddy and I were awakened early this morning by the smoke alarm going off in our bedroom. (Yes, Buddy and I sleep in the same room – although not in the same bed.)  He freaked out because the high pitched noise hurts his ears, and he quickly ran into the other part of the house to hide.

Approximately one half hour later, one of the  two smoke detectors in the hallway began to beep and Buddy ran outside.  Being only 5’3”, I could not reach the two detectors to remove the batteries, and, having a broken shoulder, did not want to take the chance of using a ladder. I  waited until 9am before I texted my neighbor Mark – who is well over 6’4”, – to ask for his help in replacing the batteries.
  [Read more…]

Downtown Protest Set in Response to Expected Trump Decision to Abandon Climate Agreement

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Grassroots climate advocacy group SanDiego350 is calling for people to protest President Trump’s widely expected decision to pull the U.S. out of the international Paris Climate Agreement.

A demonstration is set for 5:30-7pm today (Thursday, June 1) at the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building (880 Front Street) in downtown San Diego.

Pulling out of the Paris Agreement, according to organizers, will set back global climate leadership and condemn Americans to increasingly devastating climate impacts, poorer health outcomes, and loss of jobs and prosperity – which affect the poor, communities of color, and Indigenous people first and worst.   [Read more…]

SANDAG is Ailing; Assembly Bill 805 Could Be the Cure

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By Lisa Wellens/ SanDiego350

Tired of stalled progress from San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG)? Frustrated with its failure to address San Diego’s poor air quality and lack of transportation options in overburdened communities? Outraged at it’s latest scandal – hiding financing shortfalls and misleading voters about how much money Measure A would raise?

Wishing this planning organization would do the work to bring about a holistic, connected, transportation system that reduces greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with state targets? Assembly Bill 805, introduced by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher could be just what’s needed – kicking the agency into gear with better representation, accountability, transparency, and an eye towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

What has been holding SANDAG back?   [Read more…]

Park City, Depression, and the Compulsion to Write

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Three coincidences converge to make me wonder if I am crazy: I live in Park City, Utah. I live with major depressive disorder. And, I live with a compulsion to write about the natural world, a world being murdered.

Park City is a place of obscene privilege. It is built on tourism brought by the ski resort industry. Close to 80% of the population is white, while the median property value is $868,100. The median household income is over $105,000 per year, which is almost double the national average, in the wealthiest nation on Earth.   [Read more…]

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