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Our Fall Convergence is Around the Corner!
Our Fall Convergence will be here in less than 3 weeks! Tell your friends, post it on facebook and get people excited, because you’re in for a nice post-Halloween treat! Derrick Jensen, a prolific author on environmental and social justice issues, will be our keynote speaker! And Tony Gamboa (UBUNTU!) will be our student keynote to bring all us sustainabilibuddies together. Ready to join us yet!?
>> REGISTER NOW! <<
Chile’s Commander Camila, The Student Who Can Shut Down a City
Camila Vallejo’s call for better and cheaper education has seen student protests transform into a two-day nationwide shutdown. Her press conferences can lead to the sacking of a minister. The street marches she leads shut down sections of the Chilean capital. She has the government on the run, and now even has police protection after receiving death threats.
Student Organizer Opportunities!
We are currently seeking to assemble a diverse team of 8 student Coordinators to assist our Campaign Director and Graduate Student Researcher to work on this campaign. Stipends are available, $500/quarter or $750/semester, with a 1-year commitment. Read more to find out about the different opportunities available!
Tim Galarneau receives 2011 UC Sustainability Champion Award
Tim Galarneau, UCSC’s Food Systems working group coordinator, is known for his far-ranging vision and his ability to advance the sustainable foods movement on campus and beyond. Now, Galarneau – described in a 2009 Mother Jones magazine profile as “the Alice Waters of a burgeoning movement of campus foodies”, is getting systemwide recognition.
Banning Corporate Personhood: How Communities Are Taking the Law Back from Big Companies
This is the story of individuals speaking up when the gas corporations are attempting to control their hometowns and of individual becoming increasingly involved in their local government, collaborating with each other as they face drilling throughout the area.
Andrew Chang, Campaign Director
UC Santa Barbara, 2011
I lead and organize the California community of higher education to create a cohesive statewide movement that will help us end our dependence on coal. In addition, I work with the Board of Directors on fundraising for CSSC as well as provide support, mentoring, and assistance in making student-run CSSC programs and campaigns run effectively.
Join the Activist Network! Intern with Greenpeace
Do you want to join the fight for climate justice with the world’s largest independent environmental organization? Greenpeace has several incredible volunteer internships available in San Francisco! You’ll get the chance to work on the most pressing issues of our time – saving ancient rainforests, protecting our oceans, stopping toxic threats, and launching a clean energy revolution.
CSSC Hiring Now!
The CSSC is positioned to develop and launch a campaign to mobilize student leaders and the California system of higher education to eliminate our dependence on coal. We are currently looking to fill 2 PAID positions, a Campaign Director and Graduate Research Assistant. Read more to look at the job descriptions and apply.
Tim DeChristopher found guilty, shows power of nonviolent civil disobedience
Climate activist Tim DeChristopher, who was put on trial in Salt Lake City, Utah, this week for his interference with an oil and gas auction held at the end of the Bush administration, on Thursday was found guilty by a jury. He faces a sentence of up to 10 years, to be determined by a [...]
Al Gore to Deliver Keynote to 10,000 Young Environmental Leaders at Power Shift 2011
Former Vice President and Nobel Laureate Al Gore will join 10,000 youth activists at Power Shift 2011 as the opening keynote speaker on April 15, 2011.
Gore, who is chairman of the Alliance for Climate Protection, will be speaking about climate change and how we can take action to solve the climate crisis.
For four days, [...]
Environmentalists stand up to Obama, win big
Under intense pressure from green groups and their members, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) announced Friday that Republican proposals to gut the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act were off the table in budget negotiations.
“Neither the White House nor Senate Leaders is going to accept any EPA riders,” Reid
Our Chance to Get Clean Energy Right
It’s springtime and birders, rock climbers, wildflower lovers and maybe even some long-lost U2 fans are flocking to the boulder-strewn desert wilderness just east of Palm Springs. But unless we act quickly to curb climate disruption, soon the one thing they won’t be able to find in Joshua Tree National Park is an actual Joshua [...]
Koch-Funded Climate Skeptic’s Own Data Confirms Warming
This week, a climate hearing was held in the US House of Reps. Six ‘experts’ on climate were brought in, but only three were scientists. And it turns out that one of the GOP’s star witnesses — a scientist who’s been vocal in his skepticism of global temperature records, the physicist Richard Muller, of University [...]
Students gather at UCSC for food and justice summit
With journalists like Michael Pollan and books like “Fast Food Nation” bringing national attention to nutrition and food justice, it’s no wonder that 300 students from 40 California campuses gathered at UC Santa Cruz Saturday for the fifth annual “Real Food Challenge.”
The conference, founded in 2007 with the intention of educating students about the complex [...]
The (Koch) Empire Strikes Back
On Sunday [January 29th], nearly 2,000 citizens converged on the resort town of Rancho Mirage, California to confront a secretive meeting of billionaires meeting behind closed doors. Sunday was NOT about liberals versus conservatives. Sunday was about We the People. It was about rebuilding a democracy of We the People – a country where you don’t need to have millions of dollars to have your voice heard.
Students Rally Against Prop 23 Supporters in Rancho Mirage
UCSD was one of several universities represented at a rally against oil company executives held on Jan. 30 in Rancho Mirage, where a secret meeting was held by energy conglomerate Koch Industries and Tea Party members.
The rally was organized by the California Student Sustainability Coalition, an organization that works with universities across the state to [...]
Thousands Converge on Koch Brothers Billionaire’s Caucus; 25 Arrested
Twenty-five protesters were arrested in Rancho Mirage, California today, at a protest in front of the Rancho Las Palmas resort, site of the “Billionaire’s Caucus,” an annual meeting put on by the Koch Brothers and other corporate entities and conservative movement operators.
Riverside Sheriff’s deputy Melissa Nieburger said that the sheriff’s department did have contacts with [...]
Let’s replace We the Corporations with We the People
Most Americans know that Washington is broken and is no longer working in the best interests of We the People. But, members of the Corporate Elite – spearheaded by the Koch Brothers (tied for the 9th richest people in America) – are plotting how to continue undermining our democratic system for private profit.
Strengthening the Roots Convergence 2011
Held at UC Santa Cruz Feb. 18-20, this year’s fourth annual Strengthening the Roots Convergence is going to be bigger than ever. Thanks to the help of partner organizations throughout the region, this year’s STR will strengthen the roots of our movement for just and sustainable food by bringing 450+ students and allies together for workshops, [...]
Young voters lead decisive victory against Big Oil’s Prop 23
Young voters celebrated a decisive victory against Big Oil by defeating a deceptive ballot measure, Prop 23. The initiative, funded with millions of dollars from oil corporations sought to wreck California’s clean energy economy and effectively repeal the state’s landmark clean air and clean energy laws.
Study: California’s Prop 26 undermines green, health laws
A little-noticed California ballot initiative would “erect significant barriers” to funding state environmental and public health laws, according to a new study.
Proposition 26 “could have substantial and wide-ranging impacts on implementation of the state’s health, safety and environmental laws,” according to a Tuesday analysis by the UCLA School of Law.
Prop 26 would expand [...]
Greens Vs. Big Oil and Prop. 23
To save California’s global-warming law, a 23-year-old finds his rage — and 60,000 friends Read more
Charles Koch Refuses to Accept Debate Challenge In-Person
Yesterday, Gabe Elsner, CSSC’s Power Vote Campaign Director accompanied Joel Francis to Koch Industries’ headquarters to deliver his debate challenge in person to CEO Charles Koch. Last week, Joel delivered his challenge through a highly publicized online video. Here is our video update from Wichita – Please share with everyone you know!
Obama: No on Prop. 23 and ‘corporate polluters’
Arnold Schwarzenegger, George Shultz, Robert Redford, Bill Gates, James Cameron, Leonardo Di Caprio and Al Gore have all weighed in to oppose California’s Proposition 23, a November ballot initiative. Now comes the uber-endorsement for the No on 23 campaign: President Obama. Read more
Will Texas oil companies pay for their support of Prop 23?
Snap! The Texas oil companies that are the chief backers of Prop 23′s bid to scrap climate regulations in California are now facing shareholder scrutiny of their political spending. Shareholders of Los Angeles-based Occidental Oil also filed a resolution demanding that the company evaluate the costs and benefits of that company’s controversial political spending. Read more
CSULA Student Challenges Koch Brothers to Debate
Cal State Los Angeles Senior Joel Francis issued this debate challenge to billionaire CEO Charles Koch, of Koch Industries today. Joel emphasized that if Koch Industries wants to spend millions of dollars in our state, the CEO ought to have the courage to debate Prop 23 in person. Mr. Koch has donated at least $1 million to the Proposition to suspend our state’s clean energy and climate change laws.
Investor groups balk at oil companies’ support of Prop. 23
Shareholder organizations are expected to offer resolutions challenging L.A.’s Occidental Petroleum and two Texas firms over their contributions to the campaign to suspend California’s emissions law. Read the full story
Global Work Party, 10/10/10
Today is 350.org’s Global Work Party as a way to tell our legislators “We’re getting to work, what about you?”
There are events going on in over 180 countries–that means that almost every country in the world is partaking in a grassroots movement to push for serious action on climate change. This year, organizers and participants [...]
Van Jones Slams Koch Industries’ Role In Prop 23
Well before the conglomerate Koch Industries plunged $1 million into Prop 23 — a ballot initiative in California to essentially repeal the state’s revolutionary clean energy climate change law AB 32 — the Wonk Room revealed that front groups controlled by Koch had been working to promote Prop 23. Americans for Prosperity, the front group founded and financed by Koch Industries’ executive David Koch, had organized Tea Party rallies in favor of Prop 23 and produced online ads distorting California clean energy. Read more
Power Vote California takes on Big Oil
This election we face a major attack on California’s clean energy and global warming policy – Big Oil is pushing Proposition 23, a ballot measure to gut California’s landmark Global Warming Solutions Act. The California Student Sustainability Coalition, and young people across the state are mobilizing behind Power Vote California to defeat Prop 23. We [...]
California’s Climate Battle Heats Up
As temperatures reached a record-breaking 113 degrees in downtown Los Angeles Tuesday — it was so hot, a National Weather Service thermometer stopped working — the fight for California’s climate future is also heating up. Come election day, California voters are in danger of undoing “one of the most progressive pieces of environmental legislation ever enacted,” thanks to a ballot measure pushed by handful of big out-of-state oil companies to kill California’s landmark global warming law. Read more
Arnold Lashes Out at Valero, Prop 23
Proposition 23, the initiative that would suspend California’s greenhouse gas laws, is not about saving jobs. It is about greed, said California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Speaking at a Commonwealth Club event in Santa Clara, the governor lashed out at the companies–particularly Valero, Koch Industries and Tesoro–trying to effectively get rid of the state’s carbon regulation law, known by its bill name AB 32. Technically, Prop 23 would suspend AB 23 until employment falls below 5.5 percent, something that has occured only sporadically in the last few decades. Read more
U.C. Proxy Voting Skirts Review Guidelines, Documents Show
The UC Responsible Investments Campaign (RIC) is a push for UC’s to invest ethically, and to listen to the student’s concerns. The RIC has worked with the CSSC closely for some time now, and the movement has gone national, featuring in a new article in The New York Times! D’Artagnan Scorza and Becky Miller, both CSSC Board Members, have been actively involved in this campaign.
Lynsey Sammons, Council Co-Chair
CSU Chico, 2012
I help promote CSSC events and campaigns among other Northern California CSUs, UCs, and Community Colleges. I also provide them with resources on how to start their own programs on their home campuses.
Save the Date: Governors’ Global Climate Summit 3
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and other subnational leaders, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme and United Nations Environment Programme, is hosting the Governors’ Global Climate Summit 3. This summit will take place November 15-16, 2010 at the Mondavi Center on the campus of the University of California, Davis.
Join global experts from government, business, non-profits, [...]
Report Unveils Greater Threat to Drinking Water from Coal Ash
Now nearly 140 coal ash sites have proven water pollution problems
Knowledge is king, and now we know more about the extent of damage coal ash sites across the country are causing to our drinking water. A new report issued today by Earthjustice, the Environmental Integrity Project and Sierra Club offers data that documents water [...]
‘The Majestic Plastic Bag’ A Nature Mockumentary
With the California Senate preparing to vote on AB 1998 — a bill that would ban plastic bags statewide — Heal the Bay has released a hilarious mockumentary in the vein of a BBC nature film, following the travels of “one of the most clever and illustrious creatures: the plastic bag.”
Narrated by Academy Award-winning [...]
Floods, fire, and fiddling
Legend has it that Nero fiddled while Rome burned. These days, Congress fiddles while the world burns.
More precisely, it’s Russia that’s burning at the moment, with a record heat wave and forest fires being blamed for as many as 15,000 deaths so far. Also troubling is the drought, which prompted the Russian government to ban [...]
Strong public support for climate law, but battle brews
Despite a whole lot of brouhaha over AB 32 and the proposition to derail it, two-thirds of California residents continue to back it — a percent unchanged from last year. So says a poll conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California.
But the results don’t put the climate law in the clear in November. Pollsters [...]
Paved with Good Intentions: Fiscal Politics, Freeways and the 20th Century American City
Stuck in traffic in Washington, DC in 1959, President Eisenhower was shocked to learn that the delay was being caused by Interstate Highway construction. Surely the Interstates were being built between cities, not in them. The President demanded to know who was responsible for this state of affairs, only to be told that he was; [...]
Ensuring Food Security Means Protecting Pavlovsk Seed Bank
Riddle me this: What’s more valuable, global food security or a batch of luxury homes? I know, seems like kind of a no-brainer. Keeping the world fed should obviously come before some new McMansions. But apparently a Russian court thinks otherwise.
SIGN THE PETITION
Yesterday, a Russian court declared that the Russian Federal Fund of Residential Real [...]
Crabs provide evidence oil tainting Gulf food web
To assess how heavy a blow the BP oil spill has dealt the Gulf of Mexico, researchers are closely watching a staple of the seafood industry and primary indicator of the ecosystem’s health: the blue crab.
Weeks ago, before engineers pumped in mud and cement to plug the gusher, scientists began finding specks of oil in [...]
New ocean garbage patch discovered
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a mess of trash and plastic that moves around the north Pacific Ocean and is roughly the size of Texas. It has a high concentration of plastics and chemical sludge. Photos from the patch of trapped sea turtles and tires will snare the attention of even the most stone-hearted [...]
PowerVote 2010
Empowered. Connected. Strong. That’s how I felt after spending this past weekend in Chicago meeting and working with fellow youth activists from across the nation. The connections I made there are deep-seated and lifelong, and I am honored to call each and every one of them my friends. They are working on projects ranging from [...]
More Oiled Birds Than Ever Being Found
More than three weeks after BP capped its gushing oil well, skimming operations have all but stopped and federal scientists say just a quarter of the oil remains in the Gulf of Mexico.
But wildlife officials are rounding up more oiled birds than ever as fledgling birds get stuck in the residual goo and rescuers make [...]
Real Food Challenge Summer Leadership Training Aug. 26-29
The West Coast Summer Leadership training will be held in Atascadero, CA (near San Luis Obispo) this summer to help students share their experiences and build organizational skills. Only 25-30 students are accepted for the training, and spots are filling up! This is a great way to learn from fellow students and devise strategies to [...]
China says ocean cleared of oil 10 days after spill
Chinese officials said Monday that an oil slick in coastal waters has been cleaned up 10 days after a massive explosion sent an estimated 1,500 tons of crude into the Yellow Sea along the northeastern port city of Dalian.
But beaches along Dalian’s long shoreline remain closed indefinitely, with oil covering rocks and pebbles on the [...]
Scientists Confirm Underwater Plumes Are From Spill
Credit: Katherine BourgFlorida researchers said Friday that they had for the first time conclusively linked vast plumes of microscopic oil droplets drifting in the Gulf of Mexico to the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
The scientists, from the University of South Florida, matched samples taken from the plumes with oil from the leaking well provided by BP. The [...]
350 Goal Will Never Be Achieved With Kerry-Lieberman
The details have finally emerged on the American Power Act, the climate and energy legislation rolled out Wednesday by Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT). More telling than the details, however, is a number not mentioned in the bill – 350.
You remember 350, don’t you?
Environmental activist Bill McKibben and thousands of volunteers organized [...]