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The Day After the Day of the Dead

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It’s the day after the Day of the Dead, a Mexican holiday which traditionally is both a time of remembrance of lost loved ones and a moment when the dead mock the pretenses of the living.  Death is the leveler of rich and poor, proud and humble.  

It reminds us that, in the end, all our bones are equal.  

As Octavio Paz observes in “The Day of the Dead” from his classic book The Labyrinth of Solitude, “Death is a mirror which reflects the vain gesticulations of the living.  The whole motley confusion of acts, omissions, regrets and hopes which is the life of each of us finds in death, not meaning or explanation, but an end.”     [Read more…]

How TV Weather Reporters are Aiding and Abetting Climate Change Eco-collapse

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By Bill Adams /SanDiegoUrbdezine.com

On June 2, 2015, San Diego’s independent TV station KUSI set aside a segment of their weather report to editorialize about climate change.  The message: climate change is minimal and natural – not man made.  The message was delivered by Mark Mathis, KUSI’s weather reporter who has an A.S. degree in meteorology.  Mr. Mathis based his argument primarily on the two following assumptions:

1) That climate change science relies largely on recent weather events and that these events have historical precedent.

2) That there has been no climate change since 1998.

A quick fact-check rebuts Mathis’s claim regarding climate stasis since 1998, as discussed in Forbes, hardly a left-biased media outlet.  And of course, while recent weather events are consistent with climate change predictions, they do not form the basis for those predictions.  (See also Bill Moyer’s excellent Eight Pseudoscientific Climate Claims Debunked by Real Scientists.)   [Read more…]

L.A. Developer Awakens North County’s Sleeping Village by the Sea

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Lessons Learned by Rick Caruso, Elected Officials and Carlsbad Voters

By Richard Riehl / The Riehl World

Signatures have been validated on a referendum overturning Carlsbad’s city council approval of a shopping center on the shore of the Agua Hedionda Lagoon. It’s time to reflect on lessons learned from the developer’s failed attempt to bypass city voters, the normal review and approval process, and the California Environmental Quality Act.

When L.A. developer Rick Caruso approached city officials three years ago, they urged him to build community support for his plan. They must have assured him 48 acres of land adjacent to the pristine lagoon would be the perfect place for a shopping center.   [Read more…]

The Story of BikeSD : A Labor of Love

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By Sam Ollinger / BikeSD

In early 2009, three strangers met on a bicycle ride and began talking about the lack of a cohesive gathering space to talk about bicycling issues. These strangers (Will Karstens, Thom Bahde and me, Samantha Ollinger) went on to found BikeSD.org – a blog that would serve as a single source of news about bicycling in San Diego. Little did I know that BikeSD the blog would eventually turn into one of San Diego’s largest independent member based advocacy organizations.
  [Read more…]

Loving A Child, Protecting the Future

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By Will Falk

Not long ago, a few hours after his birth, I held a new-born baby to my chest in the hospital. The baby is my girlfriend’s nephew. We arrived at the hospital and crowded into a maternity room with my girlfriend’s sister, brother-in-law, little niece, and mother.

During the pregnancy, my girlfriend’s almost three year-old niece was asked what her little brother’s name should be. She answered, quickly, matter-of-factly, “Pineapple.” He has another name, but for this essay, he will be Pineapple.

Conversation revolved around what Pineapple would be like when he was older, the adventures his big sister and he would have, and what the relative ease of his birth might mean for his life. We were excited for what we might teach him, what he would teach us, and we made predictions about the milestones in his life.   [Read more…]

‘Pay Their Own Way’ Initiative Exposes Downtown Rifts

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By Doug Porter

You don’t have to know anything about Attorney Cory Briggs’ “Pay Their Own Way” proposal allowing voters a say in tourism taxes to understand how it much it upsets the established order downtown.

Simply put, it exposes the ugly reality underlying San Diego politics by going after both the money and political mechanisms used by the tourism industry and its affiliated real estate interests to direct government institutions to do their bidding.

The ultimate reaction came from San Diego Chargers counsel Mark Fabiani, who is still reviewing the 28 page initiative: “As a general matter, anything that reduces the iron grip of the hotel lobby on our Mayor and some of our City Council is good for San Diego’s future, and Mr. Briggs’ initiative would go a long way toward accomplishing that goal.”

Bingo.   [Read more…]

The Tijuana River Valley: An Interview with SD County Supervisor Greg Cox

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By Barbara Zaragoza / Part four of four

Visit the Tijuana River Valley and the area feels serene. Perhaps it’s even forgotten, with a total population of 42.

But attend a community meeting with groups such as the Tijuana River Valley Equestrian Association or WildCoast and you’ll experience the passionate pleas of equestrians, hikers, mountain bikers and conservationists who have a vision for this area.

Then take a look at a map of the Tijuana River Valley and you’ll notice a head-spinning checkerboard of government agencies that own this land alongside a few private ranchers. The County of San Diego since the 1990s has become a primary land owner.   [Read more…]

South Bay’s Future Greenbelt: An Interview with San Diego County Supervisor Greg Cox

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By Barbara Zaragoza / Part Three of Four

The big new items that Supervisor Cox shared with me during his interview were three visions for the South Bay’s future:

  • A “barrio to barrio” bike path, which will link the Virginia Avenue Pedestrian entrance at the border (due to open in 2016) to the Bayshore Bikeway;
  • The Bayshore Bikeway completion within the next 5 years. This will become the major artery through the South Bay, linking North and South, East and West, to the Pacific Ocean to Otay Ranch. It will also link into the California Coastal Trail that spans up to the Oregon border;
  • The Sweetwater Reservoir will eventually have a completed loop for hikers, bikers and, most importantly, equestrians.

  [Read more…]

Geothermal: The Other California Renewable

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By Peg Mitchell / SanDiego350

Burning less coal, oil and gas is not only something we must do, but something we can do. Nature gives us a variety of renewable energy sources, and the technology to tap into them is getting better all the time.

Climate change makes the news often for a variety of reasons, from the multiple impacts we have been witnessing locally — drought, record-breaking temperatures, mudslides, fires — to the President’s issuance of the “Clean Power Plan” to the Pope’s encyclical. But ultimately climate change discussions must focus on economically viable solutions.

We are fortunate to live in a state that has ample natural non-fossil-fuel resources to provide electricity for our citizens. Not only do we have an abundance of sun to power solar generation, but we have a reliable steady-state resource right in our backyard: the Salton Sea Known Geothermal Resource Area in the Imperial Valley.

The geothermal fields near the Salton Sea are the hottest, most prolific resource in the U.S.   [Read more…]

Otay Ranch: An Interview with San Diego County Supervisor Greg Cox

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By Barbara Zaragoza / Part Two of Four

The largest reserve for open space in the South Bay will certainly become a vast area located in Otay Ranch. In Part 2 of my interview with San Diego County Board Supervisor, Greg Cox, he explains that the County hopes over 9,000 acres will be dedicated to open spaces in Chula Vista.

In particular, the Otay Valley Regional Park will eventually connect to the Otay Lakes County Park, which is located right next to the Olympic Training Center. That means residents and visitors will be able to hike or ride from the Bayshore Bikeway all the way to the Otay reservoir and dam. A vast stretch of open space for outdoor activities, this is particularly important to residents who are experiencing unprecedented residential expansion.

Supervisor Cox explains, “It’s one of the largest planned communities in California, if not the country.”   [Read more…]

Conservatives Rally Behind Exxon-Mobil’s ‘Right to Lie’

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By Doug Porter

Twin tales of scheming and misleading by Exxon-Mobil executives seeking to suppress evidence of climate change for decades have emerged in recent weeks. Drawing on completely separate archives, Pulitzer-prize winning reporters at Inside Climate News and another team with the Los Angeles Times have reached the same conclusion: that the company ignored and suppressed data at odds with the continued expansion of the fossil fuel business.

In September, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, along with 20 climate scientists, called for an investigation of fossil fuel companies under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. Last week, members of the House Oversight And Government Reform Committee sent their own letter asking the Department of Justice to “investigate ExxonMobil for organizing a sustained deception campaign disputing climate science and failing to disclose truthful information to investors and the public.”

Media Matters for America is reporting on what appears to be a concerted campaign in the right wing media to defend the “right” of fossil fuel companies to lie to the public. Assorted conservatives on Fox News, The Hill, The Blaze, Breitbart News, the Wall Street Journal and other media are claiming these calls for investigations amount to criminalization of policy differences.   [Read more…]

South Bay Rising: An Interview with San Diego County Supervisor Greg Cox

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By Barbara Zaragoza / Part One of Four

Media outlets are still buzzing with the news about Gross Domestic Product growth in the South Bay jumping by 37.6 % between 2010 to 2013. (That’s compared to 12.9 % for the entire County.) Community members within the region, however, might start to feel uneasy. Nobody wants to see unchecked growth, skyrocketing housing prices, increased traffic congestion and no place to breathe in fresh air.

This week I focus on parks and recreation within the South Bay. It’s not as sexy as, let’s say, craft beer or the Charger’s stadium. But parks and recreation touch upon issues of climate change, pollution, habitat preservation and neighborhood livability–to name only a few.

Turns out, the South Bay–within the next decade or so–will have some of the largest acreage dedicated to parks throughout San Diego. A primary reason is thanks to the efforts of the County government, which continues to buy land and dedicate space to habitat preservation as well as public recreation.   [Read more…]

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