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It’s Official: Rising Global Temperatures Set Record in 2015

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The numbers have been crunched, and the results are in: independent analyses by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) confirm Earth’s 2015 surface temperatures were the warmest since modern record-keeping began in 1880.

All in all, global temperatures in 2015 rose by 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit over the 20th-century average. Last year’s temperatures surpassed the 2014 record by a 0.23-degree margin. Only once before, in 1998, has the new record been greater than the old record by this much.

These observations were confirmed by scientists at Great Britain’s Met Office Hadley Centre and the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit.   [Read more…]

Caruso Overstates Lagoon Mall Benefits – Part 1

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Village Businesses at Risk

Carlsbad’s Voters Guide for the February 23 Special Election promises the city will benefit from a $2.6 million revenue windfall each year if a new shopping center is built near the Agua Hedionda Lagoon. But the projected bonanza omits the caveats contained in a report that bypassed state and city approvals normally required of such projects.The 9212 Report cites the analysis of RSG, a consulting firm hired by the city to examine the shopping center developer’s promises. It found projected revenues were, “not based on valid data sources, appear significantly overstated, and should not be used for budgeting purposes. The tourism-related fiscal revenues to the City, estimated at $3.0 to $5.2 million, (by Kosmont, billionaire developer Rick Caruso’s consulting firm) are not supported due to invalid assumptions.”

While that explains the city’s more conservative $2.6 million estimate, voters should keep in mind it’s an estimate only. The unexpected arrival of the 2008 Great Recession, together with the recent gloomy news from the stock market, prove high hopes are sometimes dashed by harsh reality. That’s especially true if they’re built on a shaky foundation of questionable facts, self-serving interests, and wishful thinking.   [Read more…]

Stone Fruit, Roses and the Wet Winter Garden

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By Susan Taylor

San Diego has had so much rain that while gardeners can continue to start cool weather crops we can also give the soil a break and think about other garden projects. The ground, beds and pots are all saturated so we can leave them alone for a bit.

This is the season to prune roses and stone fruit trees (plums, peaches and so on). AND, it is also time to plant new roses and fruit trees as well. Nurseries are flooded with bare root roses and trees. Bare root means that the plant was grown to be transplanted and is packed carefully for purchase and planting into your space!   [Read more…]

Boom! Sempra’s SoCal Gas Leak Gets More Dangerous by the Day

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The man made disaster in progress at Southern California Gas Co.’s Aliso Canyon underground facility is getting worse by the day. The company is a subsidiary of San Diego-based Sempra Energy.

According to the Environmental Defense Fund, the more than 80,000 tons of methane emissions since October 23rd have created the greenhouse gas equivalent on the Earth’s atmosphere of burning nearly 800 million gallons of gasoline.

Today’s Los Angeles Times says the attempts to plug the leaking natural gas well have created a crater 25 feet deep, 80 feet long and 30 feet wide, destabilizing the well-head and increasing the danger of a blowout.

Don’t Forget! Weekly Calendar of Progressive Events Inside   [Read more…]

Suburban Sprawl Continues Creep Across Desert

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By Shaun Gonzalez / Mojave Desert Blog

The revival of the housing market has renewed a perennial threat to desert wildlands – urban sprawl. Developers are considering plans for large new suburban developments across the southwest, years after such large developments mostly stalled when the housing industry began to in 2006. At a time when most of our efforts have been focused on protecting public lands from industrial-scale development, urban sprawl underscores the need for local efforts to protect open space under private ownership.

Along the Mojave River in California, the Tapestry project could result in the destruction of nearly 9 square miles of juniper woodland and chaparral habitat in the Summit Valley to make way for at least 16,196 homes. The area is popular for hiking, jogging, and mountain bike riding. During environmental surveys, biologists observed or detected western pond turtles, coastal horned lizards, bobcats, mule deer, mountain lion, the endangered Arroyo toad, and over 100 species of birds. The area also hosts many special status plant species, such as the San Bernardino Mountains owl’s-clover.   [Read more…]

No, Mayor Hall, What We See is Not What We’ll Get

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Carlsbad Braces for Special Election Vote on Lagoon Mall

By Richard Riehl / The Riehl World

As the February 23 special election approaches, Carlsbad voters may want to recall words spoken by Mayor Matt Hall and Councilmember Mark Packard at the November 17 meeting of the City Council.

After signatures were ratified on a successful citizens-led referendum, the Council could either rescind its decision to allow a billionaire LA developer to build a shopping mall on the shores of the city’s pristine Agua Hedionda Lagoon, put the issue up to voters in a special election, or put it on the ballot of the General Election.

The Council decided to spend $600 thousand on a special election. As on August 25, the vote was unanimous. The regular absence of split votes by this group on contentious issues suggests either unusually unified thinking or a careless observance of the Brown Act. If it’s the former, a disregard of constituent diversity of opinion is a matter for voters to think about in the next election. If it’s the latter, it’s time for someone on the inside to be a whistleblower.   [Read more…]

Calls for Michigan Gov. Snyder’s Arrest as Flint Poisoning Scandal Implicates Top Staffers

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‘To poison all the children in an historic American city is no small feat’

By Sarah Lazare / Common Dreams

Calls for Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s ouster—and arrest—are growing after internal emails showed that his high-level staffers were aware of lead poisoning in Flint’s public water supply six months before the administration declared a state of emergency.   [Read more…]

Geo-Poetic Spaces: Wildfire Rain

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Rain gnaws away earth
Uncovers thirty foot flames
Scent of moist ashes   [Read more…]

Hundreds Brave El Niño Weather on the Streets of Downtown San Diego

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Jeez…the weather. Can you believe it? I spent 90 minutes getting home yesterday after hunkering down in the basement of a building at UCSD as all hell broke lose. Rain –then hail– came down sideways, trees flopped back and forth like rag dolls, and then we saw the eerie greenish glow of the sky associated with tornado events…

…At least I wasn’t homeless in San Diego. El Niño’s arrival has ripped off the tarp local politicians had thrown over our homeless problem.

KPBS reported that there were 800 people in downtown San Diego hunkered down in tents and under plastic tarp. City Beat tells us that 91 people died from various causes on the streets of our city last year and the back-up foul weather shelter plan announced by the mayor earlier this year amounts to “an unfunded, re-wrapped package of Father Joe’s longstanding practice of opening its dining halls.”   [Read more…]

City Heights’ First Road Diet: Fairmount Avenue

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By Bike San Diego

About a month ago, City Heights got its first road diet. We’ve had a drought of road diets in this city since the 4th and 5th Avenue buffered bike lanes were installed in 2014 so this has been a welcome change. The status quo as you can see was just awful and dangerous, and in a school zone to boot!   [Read more…]

Free Sand and Sand Bag Distribution January 7 at Qualcomm Stadium

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By Staff

More storms are expected to move into San Diego through the end of the week—and beyond. San Diego City Councilman Scott Sherman’s office in partnership with Superior Ready Mix and the Urban Corp will be providing free sand and sand bags for residents to help protect their properties from flooding.

This is good news for impacted residents who do not live close to the beach distribution centers.   [Read more…]

Darth Niño Wreaks Havoc on San Diego

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A little less than two months ago, the San Diego City Council declared a ‘state of emergency in advance’, based on predictions of an unusually intense El Niño weather pattern.

What this meant in practice was the potential for more immediate access to State and Federal emergency funding. And now it’s looking like those funds will be needed. A procession of storms is coming through the area and the city’s already poorly maintained infrastructure is proving to be unable to handle the stress.

Scattered bands of showers turned into intense downpours on Tuesday afternoon. Roads throughout the region were closed by flooding. Lifeguards and fire rescue teams responded to 75 emergency calls in the late afternoon, most of them dealing with vehicles stranded in flooded intersections.   [Read more…]

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