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‘Totally Schizophrenic’: Fossil Fuel Subsidies in the Age of Climate Crisis

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<By Lauren McCauley / Common Dreams

One of the greatest contradictions of our time is that while world leaders profess concern over a rapidly warming planet, they continue to spend hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars subsidizing the fossil fuel industries that are driving climate change.

In fact, according to a new report released on Monday by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)—a global forum on economic policy—the world’s richest nations spend roughly $160-200 billion each year supporting fossil fuel consumption and production.

“We’re totally schizophrenic,” said Angel Gurría, secretary-general of the Paris-based organization. “We’re trying to reduce emissions, and we subsidize the consumption of fossil fuels. These policies are not obsolete, they’re dangerous legacies of a bygone era when pollution was viewed as a tolerable side effect of economic growth. They should be erased from the books.”   [Read more…]

Now is the Time to Investigate Climate Change Deniers Under RICO

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By Doug Porter

A letter signed by twenty leading scientists sent to the Justice Department and White House asking for a RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) investigation of corporations and other organizations that have knowingly deceived the American people about the risks of climate change is getting renewed attention in light of last week’s disclosures about a decades-long effort to suppress important research.

Pulitzer Prize winning Inside Climate News published results of an investigation based on emails obtained by the Union of Concerned Scientists recently showing that Exxon’s own scientists warned company executives in 1977 about global warming caused by fossil fuels.     [Read more…]

Answering Earth’s Call: An Interfaith Forum on Climate Justice

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By Jim Miller

Drawing inspiration from Pope Francis’s encyclical, the San Diego Coalition to Preserve our Common Home (SDCPCH) is holding an interfaith forum on climate justice this Thursday, September 24th at 7:00 PM at St. Paul’s Cathedral.  

The SDCPCH is comprised of people from many faith traditions as well as activists from local environmental, labor, and social justice organizations including the Interfaith Center for Worker Justice, SanDiego350, St. James and St. Leo Parish, the California Nurses Association, the Environmental Health Coalition, Foothills Methodist Church, the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council Environmental Caucus, the Cleveland National Forest Foundation, the Climate Action Campaign, Palomar Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Peace and Justice Ministry, the Christian Fellowship Congregational Church, the Islamic Center of San Diego, the San Diego County Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, the American Federation of Teachers Local 1931, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 569, and more.  

We’re presenting this forum in the face of increasing opposition to climate action on the part of those linked to fossil fuel interests.  As Joe Romm recently pointed out in Climate Progress, Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell and his allies now “apparently believe the role of the ‘exceptional’ and ‘indispensable’ nation is to actively work to undermine the world’s best chance to save billions of people — including generations of Americans — from needless misery.”   [Read more…]

No ‘Bird’s Eye View’ of Nordy’s-On-The-Lagoon

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By Richard Riehl / The Riehl World

While paid signature gatherers raced through neighborhoods representing themselves as concerned citizens on a mission to save the Strawberry Fields, a glossy mailer appeared in my mailbox titled, A Bird’s Eye View of the Agua Hedionda 85/15 Plan, with a full color sketch of an aerial view of the site.

Birds apparently can’t see shopping centers. The verdant landscape is littered with thumbnail photos of a family at a picnic table, a man picking strawberries, a couple strolling down a path and a guy inexplicably carrying a surfboard, as he walks away from the waveless lagoon behind him. A small amphitheater is nestled amid the lush greenery.

Read the fine print to discover what’s missing from the sketch, the “outdoor retail, shopping, dining…promenade.” After the Carlsbad city council unanimously approved the plan, despite the promise of its title in the document filed with the city clerk on May 12, “INITIATIVE MEASURE TO BE SUBMITTED DIRECTLY TO THE VOTERS” (my emphasis), it’s become clear that birds were not the only ones who failed to see the entire developer’s plan.   [Read more…]

The Pope Isn’t Coming to San Diego – Don’t Let That Be Your Excuse for Doing Nothing

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By Doug Porter

Pope Francis is coming to the United States next week, and will bump the Trump off the top off the news pile. His message will be somewhat different than what Americans are used to hearing from the Catholic Church. Already Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) has written a letter saying he’ll be boycotting the Pope’s address to Congress because of “socialist talking points…presented to guilt people into leftist policies.”

While I’ve got plenty of issues with Catholic Church* doctrine and policies, this is one of those times when perfection can be the enemy of progress. Let’s seize the moment and use the occasion to take action towards making the world a better place…

Or you can sit and stew. Your choice.   [Read more…]

The Fight Against GMOs and Toxic Food

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While Other Countries Ban GMOs, US Congress Endorses Them

By John Lawrence

Scotland has banned genetically modified organisms (GMOs) within its country. “Scotland is known around the world for our beautiful natural environment—and banning growing genetically modified crops will protect and further enhance our clean, green status,” said rural affairs secretary Richard Lochhead. Here in the US the fight is just for the right to know that a food product should be labeled as GMO, and that’s not going so well.

Last month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1599, the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015. This is BS, of course, since the bill’s real purpose is to preempt the rights of state and local governments to pass laws requiring the mandatory labeling of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), to overturn GMO labeling laws already in place in several states, and to prevent the passage of any federal mandatory GMO labeling law in the future. So there is no free speech insofar as knowing what’s in something we are eating is concerned. The law’s attempt is to suppress truth in labeling.

GMOs were developed primarily to be resistant to Monsanto’s Roundup so that Roundup could be sprayed directly on crops and only the weeds would die. So whether or not GMO corn and soybeans are good or bad for you, the presence of poison sprayed on them can’t be too good for human consumers when they eat such crops. Especially crops such as grapes and apples which have very thin skins and are vulnerable to soaking up the herbicides and pesticides sprayed on them.   [Read more…]

Big Oil Rejoices Over the Gutting of Senate Bill 350

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By Dan Bacher

Oil industry representatives celebrated the gutting of California Senate Bill 350, the Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act of 2015, Wednesday night after they mounted an intense campaign for months to defeat the legislation.

Before being amended, Senate Bill 350 called for a 50 percent percent reduction in petroleum use in cars and trucks, a 50 percent increase in energy efficiency in buildings, and a goal of 50 percent of state utilities’ power coming from renewable energy, all by 2030.

However, Governor Jerry Brown and legislative leaders held a press conference on September 9 to announce the removal of the provision in the bill calling for a 50 percent reduction in petroleum use in cars and trucks. The other provisions remain.   [Read more…]

Carlsbad City Council Backs Caruso Bogus Claims

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Strawberry Fields Not Threatened by Vote

By Richard Riehl

Caruso Affiliated’s latest glossy mailer features the smiling faces of the five city Council members who voted unanimously to approve the developer’s plan to build a Strawberry Fields mall. Directly below the beaming politicians is the plea, Don’t let outside interests end the Strawberry Fields and take away what’s ours, followed by the command, DON’T SIGN THE PETITION. You’re invited to “get the facts” from a link to Caruso’s corporate marketing campaign.

You’d think our public officials would refer us to the city’s website, where you can find unbiased documents related to the developer’s plan, like Prop D, passed by the voters in 2006, and the entire Agua Hedionda South Shore Specific Plan (AH-SP). So I went to the city’s website, where I found this. “The City of Carlsbad did not sponsor the initiative and, by law, no public resources may be used to advocate for or against an initiative or referendum.”   [Read more…]

North Park – San Diego’s Weak Excuse for a Bike Friendly Place

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By John P. Anderson

North Park is an urban neighborhood in San Diego.  It is often cited as the “hipster” area of town and is generally known for being one of the more walkable areas in San Diego.  North Park is home to the only 2 parklets in San Diego, the majority of the bike corrals in the city, and it is not uncommon to see people biking on the streets.

If there is anywhere in San Diego you would expect to find good bicycle infrastructure North Park would be high on the list, perhaps along with East Village, Downtown, Little Italy, or a beach community like Ocean Beach or Pacific Beach.  The reality on the ground is far from good.  The reality is a near absolute lack of any bicycle infrastructure.   [Read more…]

Escondido Can’t Afford the Safari Highlands Ranch Development

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By Don Greene / Escondido Democrats

In 2012, after a number of years in planning and design, the residents of Escondido approved an update to our city’s General Plan. The General Plan is the guide to how the community wants to see our city grow. Included within the General Plan are different “elements” which address a variety of different yet related aspects of how we will grow our city. One of these elements governs land use. 

The Land Use Element of the General Plan addresses allowable land uses and the specific zonings. It also addresses a number of areas within the city that either will or could be developed for commercial, residential and multi-purpose use. Included in the Land Use Element are also “Land Use and Community Form Goals and Policies.” These set the tone and feel for all the future development within the city.    [Read more…]

California Lawmakers Seek Local Oversight of Downtown Planning

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Murtaza H. Baxamusa, Ph.D., AICP / San Diego UrbDeZine

“Downtown is for people” wrote legendary urban planner Jane Jacobs in 1958, in response to building-centric redevelopment that was a byproduct of politics and economics seeking to rebuild cities across America. During her lifetime, she advocated for citizens to decide what end results they wanted, pioneering concepts like “social capital,” and advocating for planners to steer the rebuilding machinery to serve the community.

Yet, even today, downtown San Diego is being built as a collection of projects, with an approval process that consistently favors developers. Today, the large-block redevelopment is back in full force. The older, affordable housing stock is being demolished, and replaced with luxury high-rises. Economic development agreements are benefiting projects that do not pay living wages to the workforce. And taxpayers across the city are subsiding the mitigation of environmental impacts of downtown projects.   [Read more…]

A Journey Through the Otay Valley Regional Park

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By Barbara Zaragoza / South Bay Compass

Hiking or biking in Otay Valley Regional Park is not only exercise, but an activist statement. We want parks for our communities. We want to repair our environment. We want a healthy place for our kids to live and play.

Open spaces haven’t always been a priority in the South Bay.   [Read more…]

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