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Orca Profiles in Captivity: No. 6 of the San Diego 10

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By Cara Wilson-Granat / OB Rag

(Sixth in a series)

This is the sixth in a series of ten in which we meet one of the San Diego 10 orcas and hear from an advocate who continues to be one of the voices of these imprisoned voiceless, never stopping until the whole world listens.

This week’s Advocate is Steve Christianson. After reading about Prisoner #6, Shouka, please scroll down this article and “meet” one of the top San Diego 10 Prisoner Advocates. [Here is Prisoner Orca Profile #1 and #2, #3 ,#4and #5 .]

Prisoner #6: Shouka

Age: 21

Imagine living in quiet desperation in solitary confinement for 10 YEARS. Pretty horrendous, right? The crime for such enforced aloneness? Nothing more than being held captive by those who considered her merely a source of entertainment and breeding opportunity for them. Nothing else. Just a money commodity. That’s Shouka’s story–the first orca to be born at Marineland in Antibes, France on February 25, 1993.

  [Read more…]

Ride through National Bike Month with These Local Events

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The SDFP is switching gears from National Poetry Month to National Bike Month. There are several events throughout the month of May for avid and amateur cyclists alike. If you know of an event not listed below, please add it in the comment section.   [Read more…]

San Diego Airport Is First in World to Be Certified LEED Platinum

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By Good News Network

San Diego International Airport became the first in the world to be awarded LEED Platinum — the highest environmental certification possible — for its new energy-efficient green terminal.

Sustainable features of the new terminal include a 3.3-megawatt solar array, low-flow water fixtures, drought-tolerant landscaping, energy-efficient or natural lighting, reflective roofs, storm drainage management and non-toxic interior construction materials and paints.   [Read more…]

How Cities Can Be Designed to Help—or Hinder—Sharing

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By Jay Walljasper/Yes!

Centuries before someone first uttered the words “sharing economy,” the steady rise of cities embodied both the principles and promise of that phrase. The reason more than half the people on earth now live in urban areas is the advantages that come from sharing resources, infrastructure, and lives with other people. Essential commons belonging to all of us, ranging from transportation systems to public health safeguards to plentiful social connections, are easier to create and maintain in a populated area.

Think about typical urban dwellers. They are more likely to reside in an apartment building, shared household, or compact living unit (saving on heating, utilities, original construction costs, and other expenses), walk or take transit (saving the environment as well as money), know a wide range of people (expanding their circle of friends and colleagues), and encounter new experiences (increasing their knowledge and skills).   [Read more…]

Highway to Hell – Report Documents the Current Course of Climate Change

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By Doug Porter

A  federally funded report on changing climate conditions released today warns of dire consequences throughout the United States in coming years unless significant actions are taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The National Climate Assessment, a 1,300-page report compiled by 300 leading scientists and experts, says the climate is changing in the United States almost without a doubt, and the warming of the past 50 years is primarily due to emissions of heat-trapping gases released by humans. By the end of the century the scientists forecast temperatures that could be up to 5 degrees higher if the nation acts aggressively to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from industry, or up to 10 degrees if emissions are high.

It warns that climate change poses devastating consequences across regions of the United States when it comes to the economy, public health, transportation, energy, water and agriculture attributable to increased heat waves and coastal flooding in the Northeast, decreased water availability in the Southeast, extreme heat waves in the Midwest, damage to agriculture in the Great Plains and wildfires and water scarcity in the Southwest.   [Read more…]

Extreme Weather Watch: April 2014 – Tornadoes, Flash Floods Pound US

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159 Tornadoes, 35 Deaths as Torrential Rain and Flash Floods Pound East, South and Midwest

By John Lawrence

The last week in April saw extreme weather over as much as half the nation. Over 20 states were affected. In some places a month’s worth of rain fell in a day. In New York City there was close to 5 inches of rain in one day. In Pensacola, FL there was over 20 inches of rain in 24 hours, 6 inches in one hour alone, more rain than Los Angeles saw all last year. More rain fell in Pensacola than during Hurricane Ivan. There were nearly 6000 lightning strikes in fifteen minutes. First responders rescued people in boats. Roads and bridges collapsed.

Two trillion gallons of water fell on the south and the east coast in just one day. Flooding was worse than after some hurricanes. Heavy rain led to the collapse of a retaining wall in a Baltimore neighborhood sending cars tumbling 75 feet down an embankment onto railroad tracks. These cars were not covered by insurance as the collapsing embankment was considered an “act of God.”  The Schuylkill River in Philadelphia crested higher than after Hurricane Irene and Super Storm Sandy. Philadelphia received more rain in a day than it usually gets in a month. Golf ball sized hail pummeled the country.   [Read more…]

Seduced and Reduced By The Weather

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By Bob Dorn

Aren’t we really just being chumps for weather reports?

Last week was hell. I tuned in every night to the weather forecasts, and that for me IS hell; all that almost-innocent T&A, witless humor and mirthless studio laughter, chartreuse simulations of doppler radar defining drizzle somewhere I don’t live, the pictures of puppies being sprayed in the back yard… these people get paid to do this stuff.

(I’ll bet the guys who managed to choose ‘lectric chartreuse don’t get paid as much as the on-air hooters and hootees do.)

These people are all over the map, without a weather map.   [Read more…]

The Unist’ot’en Camp – Preparation: Home, Language, Self

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By Will Falk

It is almost time to go.

I am going to the Unist’ot’en Camp in northern British Columbia. The Unist’ot’en Camp is a resistance camp built by the Wet’suwet’en people on the path of seven proposed pipelines from the Tar Sands Gigaproject and where corporations are extracting liquid natural gas from the Horn River Basin Fracturing Projects.

I am nervous. I am excited. I am scared. Mostly, I just want to get started. Writing helps me organize my thoughts, sift through my emotions, and steel my heart, so I offer this up as my trip approaches.   [Read more…]

Orca Profiles in Captivity: No. 5 of The San Diego 10

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By Cara Wilson-Granat / OB Rag

This is the fifth in a series of ten in which we meet one of the San Diego 10 orcas and hear from an advocate who continues to be one of the voices of these imprisoned voiceless, never stopping until the whole world listens.

This week’s Prisoner Advocate is Doni Lantow. (After reading about Prisoner #5, Keet, please scroll down this article and “meet” one of the top San Diego 10 Prisoner Advocates.) [Here is Prisoner Orca Profile #1 and #2, #3 and #4.]

Prisoner #5: Keet

Age: 21

Born on February 2, 1993, at Sea World San Antonio, Keet (his name is Tlingit Indian for “orca”) is known for being the grandbaby of Shamu, and also for being one of the most heavily transported orcas in captive history. It’s amazing this beautiful orca has such a gentle nature considering how disruptive his entire life has been.

Barely 18 months old when he was separated from his mother, Kalina, Keet was left behind when she was moved away from him to Sea World Orlando, pregnant with another calf. Remember, in the wild, orcas generally live in close-knit family pods consisting of several females, calves, one or more males and/or juveniles.   [Read more…]

Take Back the Alley!

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by Avital Aboody

Alleyways are a defining feature of older urban neighborhoods. Such extensive networks of passageways and open spaces that offer easy access to homes and businesses with minimal car interference should be celebrated and utilized. Yet rather than developing alleys for the benefit of the community, they have become the forgotten public spaces.

Years of neglect have turned alleys into prime locations for dumping, tagging, drug dealing, sexual activity, physical assault, loitering, and almost every other type of criminal activity you could imagine. The excessive trash, lack of adequate lighting, and poor maintenance contribute to an environment that is unsanitary and unsafe for residents, business owners, and employees that live and work around alleyways.

It is bad enough that alleys are public health and safety hazards, but when you take into account the fact that low-income urban neighborhoods are also severely lacking in parks and public gathering places, improving alley conditions becomes even more essential.   [Read more…]

May is National Bike Month

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By Staff

SDFP editors, contributors and readers include a sizable group that is passionate about bike riding and bikes. Some of our most popular posts have been on this topic. Here in San Diego we have Bike San Diego and the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition. Check out the Bike Fiesta planned for May 10.

This interest means that there are stories to share about where you bike and why you bike.   [Read more…]

Orca Profiles in Captivity: No. 4 of the San Diego 10

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By Cara Wilson-Granat

(Fourth in a series)

“In the wild, they don’t solve their problems aggressively. It’s not normal. Killer whales travel in kinship groups or clans and they don’t have those aggressive interactions. If other whales come along from a different group, they just avoid each other. Obviously, you can’t do that in a tank.”
– Researcher, Kenneth Balcomb, regarding aggression with captive orcas

This is the fourth in a series of ten in which we meet one of the San Diego 10 orcas and hear from an advocate who continues to be one of the voices of these imprisoned voiceless, never stopping until the whole world listens.
After reading about Prisoner #4, Orkid, please scroll down this and “meet” one of the top San Diego 10 Prisoner Advocates. This week’s Advocate is Pamela Slater-Price, former San Diego County Supervisor.

Prisoner #4: Orkid

Age: 26

Born on September 23, 1988, during a live Shamu show at Sea World San Diego, Orkid made her debut in front of thousands of spectators. Of course, a natural orca birth in the wild wouldn’t be bombarded with the noise and cameras and invasion of such a personal entrance into the world as this baby experienced.

But Orkid was a captive being—50 percent Icelandic (from her mother, Kandu V) and 50 percent Northern Resident/Canadian (from her father, Orky) – born into the prison world of enforced performance in the name of entertainment.   [Read more…]

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