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Talking Turkey About Climate Without Starting a Food Fight

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Via the Environmental Defense Fund

Climate change has become one of those divisive, polarizing issues that confound our political system. It’s often hard to even have a civil conversation with folks who disagree, even with close relatives or friends.

But it is clear that the climate crisis has arrived. And the key to solving it is educating those around us.

Chances are your friends and family fall into one of the following six categories:

Who Deserves Our Thanks for Truly American Food?

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Until 1492, Europeans had never tried potatoes, cranberries, corn, or turkey.

By  / OtherWords.org

What do turkey, sweet potatoes, and cranberries have in common?

Yes, you eat them on Thanksgiving. Additionally, they are all distinctly American foods. So are potatoes and the corn in your corn bread.

Believe it or not, the day that Columbus blundered into the Americas back in 1492, Europeans (and Asians and Africans) had none of those foods.

Thanksgiving is perhaps the one day a year when we Americans celebrate with truly American food.   [Read more…]

City of San Diego Threatens County With Draining of Lake Morena Despite Damage to Fish and Loss of Water to Fire Fighters

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There’s a battle brewing right now between the City and County of San Diego – a battle that may result in the draining of a major lake of the County. Interim Mayor Todd Gloria wants the County to give the city $1.7 million or else the City will drain Lake Morena, near Campo and the border.

If the lake is drained to the level that Gloria wants, the County Parks and Recreation warns that there could be a massive fish kill, algae blooms, and a damage to the local economy that thrives on the lake 46 miles east of San Diego. Lake Morena attracted 1600 overnight campers last year who lived within the City of San Diego, plus it served an estimated 10,000 visitors overall.

In addition, the lake serves fire fighters as it provides them with a ready and accessible body of water.

Miriam Raftery of the East County Magazine wrote extensively of the battle between two entities, and here is her report:
  [Read more…]

California Oil Company Fined for Illegally Discharging Fracking Fluid

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By Dan Bacher/Indybay

The oil industry in California has constantly claimed that fracking (hydraulic fracturing) for oil and natural gas is “safe” and doesn’t harm the environment.

“An honest appraisal of the science and common sense around hydraulic fracturing leads to a conclusion the technology we’ve used without harm in California for 60 plus years is safe and its benefits a blessing,” said Catherine Reheis-Boyd, President of the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), earlier this year.

“Oil drilling activities in California are strictly regulated by several agencies and the state’s oil producers are working closely with the government to develop even stronger protections to ensure the vast potential of the Monterey Shale can be realized,” she claimed.   [Read more…]

Global CO2 and Arctic Methane Release: An Environmental Disaster in the Making

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Part II: Awful Odds Global Warming Won’t Exceed 2 Degrees Celsius

by Frank Thomas / See Part 1 here

University of Utah Professor of Physics, Timothy J. Garrett is a climate scientist I admire for his original, remarkable research on climate warming.

It’s only disappointing this bright scientist seems to have thrown in the towel on the possibilities for effective, creative solutions to sharply mitigate climate warming (e.g., finding a way to remove CO2 from the atmosphere; developing advanced technology for storing excess CO2, using sun’s heat to increase the energy content of natural gas, lowering greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted and gas used).   [Read more…]

Average Car Costs $9,000 Annually; What Else Could You Buy With That Much Money?

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By John P. Anderson

In May my family moved to North Park and we promptly had our bicycles stolen from our garage, including the trailer we used to transport our young daughter.  Bummer, big time.  One plus side was the encouraging messages and help I received from many sources in San Diego, including the Free Press.

Although it’s not fun to have a bicycle stolen it’s some comfort that having bicycles has made it possible for us to avoid the costs of owning a second vehicle.  My bicycle cost about $650, which is a pretty nice bicycle, but I could buy 14 bicycles per year for the annual costs of one car.  This got me thinking, what else could I buy for the annual cost of a car?   [Read more…]

A State Capitol Awash In Oil Money

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Big Oil treated legislators to $13,000 dinner before fracking bill vote

By Dan Bacher/Indybay.org

The oil industry, the largest and most powerful corporate lobby in Sacramento, dumped millions of dollars into its successful lobbying efforts to eviscerate an already weak fracking bill, Senator Fran Pavley’s Senate Bill 4, at the end of the Legislative Session.

Chevron, the Western States Petroleum Association and Aera Energy LLC spent the most money lobbying legislators in the third quarter of 2013, according to California Secretary of State documents.

Chevron spent $1,696,477, the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) spent $1,269,478 and Aera Energy LLC spent $1,015,534. That’s a total of $3,981,489 just between July 1 and September 30, 2013. In the first three quarters of 2013, WSPA alone spent a total of $3,578,266 on lobbying legislators.

In a classic example of the “pay to play” and “wine and dine” corruption that infests California politics, nearly $13,000 of the Western States Petroleum Association’s third quarter spending went toward hosting a dinner for 12 lawmakers and two staff members in September.   [Read more…]

California Sea Otters Targeted in Defense Authorization Bill

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By Michael Jasny/Switchboard

The Senate will shortly be considering a provision that would allow the U.S. Navy to injure and kill California sea otters, without complying with the core wildlife statutes protecting this threatened species.

Recently, the House added language to this year’s defense authorization bill that outright exempts the Navy from two federal laws, the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act, for any harm it causes sea otters off its Southern California bases.  The effect would be to thwart conservation efforts there, relieving the military of its basic legal obligation to minimize impacts on this species to the extent practicable.  Senator Reid says the new authorization bill, which is now before the Senate, will come to a floor vote by Thanksgiving.
  [Read more…]

Big Food Crushes Consumer Rights in Washington State

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Corporate foes of a genetic labeling measure outspent grassroots supporters by a 3-1 margin.

By Jill Richardson/ Otherwords

When you look at the numbers, how could Washington State’s ballot initiative to require the labeling of foods made with genetically engineered ingredients ever stand a chance?

I’m not talking about poll numbers. I’m talking about money.   [Read more…]

Barrio Logan’s Resistance to Maritime Industry’s Referendum Has Begun

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Activists, Artists and Residents Meet to Discuss Actions

By Brent E. Beltrán

On a beautiful Tuesday evening a dozen individuals involved with the Barrio Logan community gathered at Bread & Salt in Logan Heights to plot out a strategy to take on polluting maritime industry’s anti-resident referendums.

Having not gotten their way during a five year Barrio Logan community plan update process maritime industry and their suppliers and surrogates have decided to take this local neighborhood issue out of the hands of Barrio Logan and put it to a citywide vote even though the San Diego City Council twice voted 5-4 to approve the community plan.   [Read more…]

Global Warming: How to Kick the Fossil Fuel Habit – Part 1

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By John Lawrence

This article is based on an excellent book by Tom Rand: “Kick the Fossil Fuel Habit – 10 Clean Technologies to Save Our World.” It contains great information at a reading level that even an elementary school child can comprehend. And there are many superb pictures too. It is a wonderful resource in the numerous technologies that are in the process of ridding the world of fossil fuels – some of them hardly known to the literate public. At least I wasn’t aware of them, and I consider myself somewhat knowledgeable about global warming and what we can do about it. He identifies ten different technologies. We will devote an article to each of them. Part 1 will deal with solar.

Most everyone is aware of solar panels. The sun provides the earth with an enormous amount of energy which we are learning how to convert into energy to power our cars and our homes. A square yard of desert absorbs as much energy over a year as you can get out of a barrel of oil. In fact a barrel of oil contains energy from the sun that was absorbed millenia ago and stored as fossils. An area of desert the size of the state of Connecticut absorbs enough energy to replace the entire oil output of the OPEC countries. The technology to convert this energy to power output useful to humans is available today.   [Read more…]

What to Do with Your Leftover Halloween Candy

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If you are like me and purchased your Halloween candy at CostCo, and not wanting to run out in case your gremlins were going to trick you so you bought two GIANT bags, you probably are wondering what to do with the left-over candy.  After all, how many pieces of candy can YOU eat before you say “enough!”

I’ve got the answer for you! While listening to the news the other night I heard that a group of dentists were collecting the left-over candy to send to our troops overseas.  At first I started laughing, because who would expect a dentist to collect candy for any reason?  

But after meeting Dr. Ana Simerlein and her office manager Kathi, I have some answers to pass on to you.   [Read more…]

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