By Dan Bacher / Daily Kos

If present trends continue, the majority of California’s imperiled native salmon, steelhead and trout are likely to be extinct within 100 years.

That was the alarming news unveiled by scientists and conservation group leaders in a press teleconference announcing the findings of a new report released by California Trout and the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences on Tuesday, May 16.

The report forecasts that 74 percent of the state’s native salmon, steelhead and trout are likely be extinct in the next 100 years — and 45 percent of these iconic fish in 50 years — if the current trends continue.   [Read more…]

By David Helvarg / OB Rag

President Trump signed an executive order Friday aimed at expanding offshore oil drilling in U.S. waters, including areas in the Atlantic and Arctic Ocean made off-limits by President Obama. For good measure, and no doubt as a poke in the eye to a state that voted overwhelmingly against him, his directive includes the possibility of new drilling leases off the California coast.

The idea, clearly, is to open up U.S. seas not yet tapped like the Gulf of Mexico — America’s energy sacrifice zone — as if the nation were a junkie searching for uncollapsed veins. Don’t blame me for that metaphor. It was George W. Bush who in early 2006 said, “America is addicted to oil.” Bush, his vice president and his national security advisor all had backgrounds in the oil sector. Now, President Trump’s secretary of State is the former CEO of Exxon Mobil, the world’s largest dealer of petroleum.   [Read more…]

President’s Executive Order Will Strip Public Lands To Allow For More Industrial Uses

Shaun Gonzalez / Mojave Desert Blog

We are all familiar with the swirl of controversy surrounding the designation of national monuments. People hear that all roads in a new monument will be closed. Recreation will be outlawed. That monuments are only created to protect wildlife. I wouldn’t support national monuments, either, if that were true.

I don’t just visit public lands to enjoy the wildlife that share the land with me. I need lonely dirt roads that stretch over the horizon. A remote campsite where I can relax with a beer in hand as the shadows of a mountain range creep across a wide valley at sunset. I need monuments to keep the lights of the city far away, so I can see the the millions of stars above that remind me of my own insignificance in this universe.   [Read more…]

By Tyson Siegele

You can now switch to 50% renewable energy with no increase to your electricity bill. Or you can opt for 100% renewable energy, which only costs an additional 1.5 cents per kilowatt-hour. That’s according to the latest prices from Arcadia Power, a nationwide clean energy supplier.

While roof mounted solar is the best way for an individual to help the planet and save money, that approach is not possible for everyone, including those of us who rent. Does your rooftop only face east/west? Is it mostly in the shade? Well then, you are also in the same clean energy boat as apartment dwellers. Enough with the problems though. Let’s take a look at how all of us can clean up the air and reduce serious medical issues such as high rates of childhood asthma.   [Read more…]

Urgent action needed to prevent $250 million in cuts to targeted NOAA grants and programs supporting coastal and marine management, research and education

By Richard Pilgrim/ Friends of San Diego Wildlife Refuges

Healthy estuaries defend against property and industry loss in disasters, sustain businesses, support recreational activities and improve water quality.

The Tijuana River Estuary, Southern California’s only National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) and a beloved San Diego recreational destination for decades, may be forced to shut its doors if President Trump’s proposed $250 million in cuts to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) grants and programs are enacted.   [Read more…]

By Mark Hughes, SanDiego350

Like it or not, the American President has a big megaphone and millions are letting him and his gang do their thinking for them. Imagine if, in this moment, there was no media besides state media. Fortunately, there is; it’s there for us to employ, and we can do just that. Here’s how:

This Saturday, April 29th, People’s Climate marches will be held across the country and around the world. The timing is roughly coincident with the end of Trump’s first 100 days. Marching is our megaphone, our way of speaking out for our values. Silence connotes agreement with environmental rollbacks, misogyny, and border walls; vocal opposition is pushback.   [Read more…]

By Mark Sumner / Daily Kos

Donald Trump’s next executive order could be monumental—and not in a good way. In the spirit of patriotic occupiers of wildlife habitat who don’t believe any place is so beautiful, historic, or ecologically significant that it couldn’t be improved by a Walmart and/or a strip mine, Trump wants to do in a few national monuments. And this time he’s not just stopping with rolling back Barack Obama.

That’s every monument named under Obama, every monument named under George W. Bush, and several named by Bill Clinton. That’s the islets of the California coast, the groves of Giant Sequoia, and over 6,000 archaeological sites at Canyon of the Ancients.   [Read more…]

SeaWorld has announced its Mission Bay theme park will not shoot off fireworks this summer. Fireworks will still go off during 3-day holiday weekends and a few other special events. Plus, SeaWorld will not disclose whether nightly fireworks are gone for good, only that they are on “hiatus for the foreseeable future.”

The “official story” is that SeaWorld is preparing for its new “Electric Ocean” a nighttime lighting display. In typical fashion, SeaWorld could not admit that maybe – in its effort to be more environmentally-sensitive – that the summertime tradition is halting due to public pressure.   [Read more…]