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LEED Certifies 10,000th Project
In the midst of ongoing discussions on the program’s merit, the Green Building Certification Institute announced that the 10,000th commercial project has been LEED-certified, according to the U.S. Green Building Council.
The Live Oak Family Resource Center in Santa Cruz, Calif. was awarded LEED Platinum by the institute, — a community center providing families with [...]
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.
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.
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.
Fuel-efficient vehicles could save $7.2 billion annually in California health costs
May 10, 2011
Susan Carpenter, LA Times
California could save $7.2 billion in healthcare costs — and prevent more than 400 premature deaths — annually if the state adopts a 64 miles- per-gallon equivalent fuel economy standard, according to a report released Tuesday by the American Lung Assn. in California.
The Road to Clean Air study estimates a [...]
Why I Lived With My Garbage For a Year
From Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2010, I saved every piece of my garbage.
No, I’m not homeless, and I didn’t lose my mind. I decided to save my trash—in my bedroom—because I started to realize how living in a consumer culture like ours means using a lot of “disposable” products.
We buy things, use them, then [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]
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
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
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
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
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
Convergence in T-Minus 17 Days!
Happy Tuesday everyone!
The convergence is less than THREE weeks away and we here at UCSB are excitedly getting our campus ready for all your shining faces and brilliant minds!
Get ready for a weekend in beautiful Santa Barbara that is at once intense and relaxing, inspiring and energizing. There will be amazing farm-fresh local food, great [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Who Killed the Climate Bill?
This is how a climate bill dies. On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced the bad news: “We don’t have the votes.” Without a single Republican backing the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, the Senate’s version of a comprehensive energy bill, there was no point taking it to the floor, he explained. [...]
AB32 to face 2 challenges on November ballot
Californians will vote twice in November on the state’s groundbreaking law to reduce emissions that contribute to global warming – once on an oil company-backed initiative to put the law on hold indefinitely, and once in the governor’s race, where Republican Meg Whitman has promised to suspend the rules for a year.
Governors are normally [...]
The Story of Cosmetics
Watch the film (along with other Story of Stuff videos) at the site http://storyofstuff.org/cosmetics/
This film was inspired by major loopholes in US federal law that allow the $50 billion beauty industry to put unlimited amounts of chemicals into personal care products.
The seven-minute film, hosted by Annie Leonard, reveals the implications for consumer and worker health [...]
Activists Close Down BP Station
BP petrol stations in central London have been shut down by environmental activists.
Campaign group Greenpeace claimed it had shut off the fuel supplies to all stations in the area. The oil company said about 12 had been closed.
BP said activists stopped the flow of fuel by flipping safety switches, then removing them to prevent the [...]
OurEarth.org Summer Internship – Application Due 5/21
OurEarth.org’s 2010 Summer Internship Program is a chance to work on a number of diverse environmental projects, be in a team with students from other colleges, and earn course credit. Because OurEarth.org is still a young organization, this is also an opportunity to join on the ground floor of an up-and-coming initiative. This means that [...]
The danger of Props. 16 and 17 (Editorial)
The problem here is not just two awful laws – it’s the idea that a single company, with loads of cash, can utterly subvert the basic premise of Democracy.
The California Democratic Party voted at its statewide convention April 17 to oppose Propositions 16 and 17. The San Francisco Chronicle — no friend of public power [...]
CA Higher Education Sustainability Conference
9th Annual CA Higher Education Sustainability Conference
June 20th-23rd, 2010
Hosted by Los Angeles Community College District
At Los Angeles Trade Technical College
Learn proven solutions from your peers
Discuss best practices designed for California campuses
Meet student leaders creating change
Meet green business leaders at the exhibitor show
Meet the decision-makers from the three higher education systems
For more information, [...]
Leadership Training in Colorado
Our generation’s calling is clear: If we are going to build a “Movement of movements” that is broad and connected enough to address the system-wide problems we are facing, we have to rally our entire generation to collective action, moving from apathy to engagement, powerlessness to empowerment, and connecting our individual efforts up within the [...]
2010 Spring Convergence Photo Contest
We saw you! You were taking awesome pictures at the Convergence. We want the best of the best Convergence photos. So, we’ve created a contest. Pick your ten best photos that you took of the Convergence. The Operating Team will then select the top three submitted photos that best campture the [...]
Are You Interested In Joining CSSC’s Statewide Leadership? Tell Us About It!
CSSC is very active right now and we need your help to keep going strong. We are dependent entirely on student and alumni volunteers to accomplish our work. Joining CSSC’s leadership is an excellent way to take your work to the next level, build your resume, cultivate your leadership skils, and meet lifelong [...]
Screening & Discussion of LA MISSION Tuesday 5/11
Join the San Rafael community this Tuesday, May 11th, including partners such as Marin Peace and Justice Coalition and Teens Turning Green for a special screening of the new film LA MISSION, a film which captures the essence of the struggles of humanity on a personal, social and political level. Following the film, there [...]
Apply for the Young Activist Award today!
The Mario Savio Memorial Lecture & Young Activist Award invites you to nominate a candidate for the 13th annual Young Activist Award. The award this year carries a cash prize of $6000, divided equally between the prize-winner and his or her organization. This award is presented to a young person (or persons) with a deep [...]