Environment

From Negligence to Malevolence: How the Climate Crisis has Gone Critical

July 21, 2021 by Source

By David Helvarg / The Progressive / July 20, 2021

In June, record heat waves hit Russia, Northern Europe, Canada, and the United States. When these increasingly common weather phenomena began killing hundreds of people, the U.S. media focused its coverage on a single record breaking 116-degree day in Portland, Oregon.

When unprecedented flooding in Germany and Western Europe had killed more than 100 people by July 16, I watched as three U.S. network news shows rolled that report into coverage of the West’s wildfires and California’s worst drought in 1,200 years. Yet, none of the three main TV news outlets—NBC, CBS, or ABC—mentioned climate change,

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OB’s Dog Beach ‘Wins’ Morning After Clean-Up With Most Trash

July 7, 2021 by Source

OB’s Dog Beach had the most trash during Surfrider’s “Morning After” annual clean-up of beaches on July 5th. It came in at 560 pounds. The OB Pier had 223 pounds. In comparison, Belmont Park weighed in with 317 pounds.

Here’s Surfrider’s report:

Surfrider Volunteers Remove 1,457 Pounds of Trash from San Diego’s beaches after 4th of July Holiday

More than 600 volunteers gathered at six popular beaches yesterday morning to assist with the Surfrider Foundation San Diego’s annual post-Fourth of July “Morning After” beach cleanup series. In only two hours, Surfrider volunteers had recovered more than 1,457 pounds of trash

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Senate Bill 10 Threatens Local Voters’ Right to Stop Housing Sprawl

July 7, 2021 by Source

by Peter Andersen / Times of San Diego / July 6, 2021

Senate Bill 10, which is making its way through the California legislature, is a blatantly anti-democratic measure masquerading as a housing bill. It could affect the voting rights and quality of life for every Californian.

Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, who is now listed as co-author of the bill and is the most powerful state senator in California, is the one person who can fix this bad bill before it becomes law.

Housing continues to be a top priority for policymakers in Sacramento, and rightly so. The health and humanitarian crisis facing the millions of Californians who struggle to afford housing must be addressed.

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Over 13,140 People Have Signed the Petition to Stop Nightly Fireworks at SeaWorld – Let’s Get to 15,000

July 7, 2021 by Source

As of this writing, over 13,140 people have signed the petition to stop SeaWorld’s nightly fireworks. The goal is to reach 15,000. Here is the petition.

From the petition statement:

SeaWorld is damaging the quality of life of hundreds of thousands of San Diegans on a nightly basis,every day for 3 months straight during the summer season alone. They are damaging the overall physical well-being of the citizens of San Diego who live within a 20 mile radius or larger.

The fireworks at SeaWorld constitute animal cruelty.

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Who Is Responsible for Oil Slicks on the Ocean?

July 6, 2021 by Source

By MacKenzie Elmer / Voice of San Diego / July 6, 2021

Around 11:50 a.m. on June 19, a whale watching tour captured drone footage of dolphins swimming through a 50-mile stretch of rainbow-colored oily mess about 70 miles from San Clemente Island, according to Gone Whale Watching Captain Domenic Biagini, who posted the video to his Instagram page.

That same day, only about an hour earlier, the Coast Guard had received another call reporting another slippery-looking sheen off Point Loma in San Diego

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San Diego Preparing Green Bins for Game-Changing Recycling Law

June 28, 2021 by Source

By David Garrick / San Diego Union-Tribune / June 22, 2021

San Diego is spending $15 million to buy 240,000 green recycling bins and kitchen pails so city residents can begin recycling food scraps to comply with a new state law that will fundamentally change recycling in California.

The new organics recycling law, SB 1383, forces residents and businesses to start separating out food waste and food-soiled paper products from their trash so that they can go in green bins for recycling.

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Ocean Industries Often More Polluting than Terrestrial Counterparts

June 10, 2021 by Source

Charting a Sustainable Course for the Blue Economy

By David Helvarg and Jason Scorse / The Nation / June 8, 2021

In 2008 the United Nations designated June 8 as World Oceans Day, “a day for humanity to celebrate the ocean.” Since then, it’s had about as much to do with the ecological economic and human rights disasters affecting our seas as Arbor Day has to do with global deforestation. Because it’s so vast and poorly regulated, the ocean sector of the global economy has been largely out of sight and out of mind.

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Killing Trees and Promising Parks

June 9, 2021 by Source

More ‘What’s Up With the Mayor’s App?’

By Colleen O’Connor

From Ted Talks to their own San Diego Government website, trees and parks are in vogue.

In fashion. In demand. In decay. And all over the internet. And popular photo op props in San Diego, too. The City’s Mayors (Faulconer and Gloria) have promised to plant trees. And even give them away free.

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The Wild Life of Ocean Beach

June 9, 2021 by Source

By Steve Tatro

Newport Avenue has plenty of wild life, especially on weekend nights, but another kind of wildlife lives in Ocean Beach, and not on the streets.

There are the parrots, of course, with their sleep-cancelling squawks, screeches and screams. They are Mexican Redheads, an endangered species from northeastern Mexico transplanted northwest by smugglers.

Then there are Red-Masked Parakeets, which look a lot like small parrots, but with longer tails.

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Park Advocates Demand Public Review Period for San Diego’s New Parks Master Plan

June 3, 2021 by Source

Parks and Recreation Coalition (PARC) was notified yesterday by city officials that a new Parks Master Plan would be released on June 2 with an aggressive schedule without sufficient time for public review of hundreds of pages of text and analysis impacting more than a billion dollars in future park fees.

PARC includes former city planners, landscape architects, architects, and community planners who reviewed the initial draft and helped defeat it last November at City Council. The initial plan laid out arbitrary standards that would not provide the parks needed by a growing population and without an understandable park land standard.

The new draft, being released without a strike-out, underline version to aid public review, is not addressing the key problem identified by PARC last November — the promotion of a confusing and untested “points” system to replace the easily understandable land standard in use today.

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June 2021 Events From the Ocean Beach Green Center

June 2, 2021 by Source

All events are online and free unless stated otherwise.

Every Saturday at 10:30 a.m. Climate Mobilization Coalition Zoom Meeting. June 5th. 12th, 19th, 26th

June 8th Tuesday to June 21st Monday 7 pm WFFSD Film Series: Sisters Rising

June 9th Wednesday 6 pm – 7 pm 20 Years of Helping Homeless Youth: A Doors of Change Anniversary Symposium
June 9th Wednesday 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm Immigration Updates Webinar

June 9th Wednesday 6 pm – 7 pm Electric Vehicle Association San Diego meeting
June 10th Thursday Super Power: Economically, Socially, and Environmentally Superior
June 10th Thursday 5:30 pm Introduction to Redistricting & Mapping Your Communities

June 12th Saturday 9 am – 1 pm 6th Annual Zero Waste Fair
June 13th Sunday 9:30 pm – 2 pm Post-Pandemic Hike & Picnic
June 13th Sunday 11:30 am – 2:30 pm Marcha de Silencio – Stand Up for Friendship Park

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Legacy of Fukushima Disaster Haunts Olympics

June 2, 2021 by Michael Steinberg

Nuclear Shutdown News for June 2021

By Michael Steinberg / Black Rain Press

Nuclear Shutdown News chronicles the decline and fall of the nuclear power industry in the US and beyond and highlights the efforts of those working to create a nuclear free world.

Legacy Of Fukushima Disaster Haunts Olympics

On March 25 CNN reported that the Olympic torch for this summer’s Olympic games in Japan was lit and then circulated by runners in Fukushima Prefecture, site of the March 20ll nuclear disaster.

Some of the runners were survivors of the catastrophe themselves, and some of those had lost family members back then.

The date of this event , almost 10 years to the day after the massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami, followed by the meltdown of three nuclear reactors

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Alaskan Engineer Plans to Recycle Ocean Garbage Into Plastic Lumber

May 20, 2021 by Source

By Liz Ruskin / Alaska Public Media / May 19, 2021

The cost of lumber and other building materials is sky-high, and it’s even more expensive when shipped to small coastal communities in Alaska.

Patrick Simpson of Anchorage has an idea that might help. He wants to create artificial lumber from an abundant material no one wants: Plastic ocean debris.

Simpson, an engineer, began by considering the global blight of waste plastic in the marine environment. “As I thought about it, well, why can’t we convert it into something that locally could be usable?” Simpson said.

The EPA has given Patrick Simpson a $100,000 grant to develop his idea of a mobile plastic-waste recycler that could deploy to coastal communities in Alaska and produce building materials.

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Environmentalists Win Battle Over Fate of Campland in Mission Bay Park

May 14, 2021 by Source

RV park retreats from De Anza Point proposal after Coastal Commission raises concerns

By David Garrick / San Diego Union-Tribune / May 13, 2021

SAN DIEGO —Environmentalists won a battle over recreational vehicle owners Wednesday regarding the future of Mission Bay Park’s northeast corner, which is slated to become a combination of marshland and added park space. The ongoing battle over how the land will be divided among those two priorities took a potential turn toward marshland Wednesday, when opposition from the state Coastal Commission prompted a retreat by supporters of RV camping.

Environmentalists have harshly criticized a plan approved by the San Diego City Council in 2019 to allow the Campland on the Bay RV park to expand onto De Anza Point, site of a defunct mobile home park.

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‘GIMBY’ – Garden In My Back Yard

May 12, 2021 by Source

By Kathy Blavatt

“G” is a “Great” letter. So many “Good” words start with “G”. One of my favorites is “Green”.

The world is on the path to understanding that without GREENING, we will not be walking down a garden path to any livable future, which leads to my starring “G” word “Garden.”

Ocean Beach once again is getting its green on! The San Diego Floral Association is featuring the “Vistas and Verandahs: The Gardens of Ocean Beach Garden Tour,” The tour is Saturday, June 26, 2021, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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New York Shutters Its Last Indian Point Nuke Reactor

May 3, 2021 by Michael Steinberg

Nuclear Shutdown News for May 2021

By Michael Steinberg / Black Rain Press

Nuclear Shutdown News chronicles the decline and fall of the nuclear power industry in the US and beyond, and highlights the efforts of those working for a nuclear free future.

New York Nuke’s Shutdown Marks Historic Milestone

By the time you read this it may have already happened. On the last day of April this year, the third and final reactor at the unfortunately named Indian Point nuclear plant will be permanently shut down. This plant is located on the Hudson River, just 36 miles north of Midtown Manhattan. Almost all of NYC is within 59 miles of IP.

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Someone Has to Speak for the Trees.

April 30, 2021 by Source

Here’s how TreeWatch San Diego works to protect our urban forest.

By Carolyn Chase / San Diego Union-Tribune OpEd / April 26, 2021

While big events like the EarthFair in Balboa Park were delayed for the second April in a row by COVID-19, the annual observation of Earth Day still gave people time to look for what you can do the rest of the year to connect with nature and help protect it, such as help your local trees and parks.

In the city of San Diego, healthy trees 110 years old and in the public right-of-way have been cut down in violation of city policies and processes. These trees are the latest casualty in a disturbing trend of tree losses to development, disease, pests and neglect. California pepper trees were planted in 1910 in Kensington and about

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These Gorgeous Tiny Houses Can Operate Entirely Off the Grid

April 27, 2021 by Source

It can even generate its own water.

By Adele Peters / Fast Company / May 2019

In a factory in Nevada, a large 3D printer prints the pieces of new prefab tiny homes that can work fully off the grid. When complete, the houses will run on solar power, including heating and cooling. An optional system generates water from moisture in the outdoor air so it isn’t necessary to connect to a city water supply. In the bathroom, the home is among the first in the U.S. to use a new shower that cleans and recycles water.

The house, from a startup called PassivDom, is designed to use as few resources as possible.

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Why I Hate Living In My Tiny House

April 26, 2021 by Source

Small backyard houses get a lot of attention as a solution to the housing crisis, but it’s a different idea in theory than it is when you try to put it into practice.

By Adele Peters / Fast Company

When I moved from Brooklyn back to the Bay Area a few years ago, I thought, at first, that the apartment I found was charming. It’s also very small: At the end of a long driveway, inside a former garage, it’s 240 square feet, or roughly the size of one and a half parking spaces.

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Halt the Nightly Fireworks at SeaWorld – Sign the Petition

April 19, 2021 by Source

SeaWorld is damaging the quality of life of hundreds of thousands of San Diegans on a nightly basis,every day for 3 months straight during the summer season alone. They are damaging the overall physical well-being of the citizens of San Diego who live within a 20 mile radius or larger.

The fireworks at SeaWorld constitute animal cruelty. Dogs, cats, and other companion animals don’t understand that the terrifying loud bangs are a celebration. Sign the Petition – go here.

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‘There Is More Than Just Water in the Pacific Ocean Off Ocean Beach’

April 14, 2021 by Source

An Introduction To A “Trash Man”

By Judi Curry

Several weeks ago I met a very interesting resident of Ocean Beach and in the course of our getting to know Steve Tatro, I found out that he had a BA degree in journalism. I asked him if he had had anything published and he said a few small things. He realized that he could not make a living as a writer, so he left that field and went to work doing other things. Suffice it to say, he has been quite successful in his other endeavors.

As we continued talking, he told me that frequently he goes down to the beach to pick up trash.

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Use Mayor Gloria’s App to Prevent Fires

April 14, 2021 by Source

What’ Up With the Mayor’s App? Part III

By Colleen O’Connor

Guess what. California is headed for another drought.

The snowpack is below normal. The rainfall insufficient. And the reservoirs are catching mostly heatwave-driven snow-melt runoff.

“The 2020-2021 winter was the third driest on record, according to the California Department of Water Resources. The region’s reservoirs are beginning to see the impact and are at half their total capacity.” Sfgate.com

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April 2021 Events From the Ocean Beach Green Center

April 1, 2021 by Source

The Ocean Beach Green Center will be celebrating our 32nd Anniversary on Earth Day April 22nd. We can’t have our usual celebration this year but we will be open from 12:30 to 6:30 with Covid-19 protocols if you want to drop by and say hi! We will have a donation jar available if you are so inclined to make a small donation. Do not feel obligated as we know a lot of people are having a hard time. Your presence is our present. Happy Earth Day

A lot is happening this month. Because it is Earth Day Month environmental events dominate the calendar. Peace and Social Justice highlighted events are listed but check out our list of all P & SJ groups for more of their events. Go to http://www.oceanbeachgreencenter.org/get-involved.html for their links

April Events From the Ocean Beach Green Center

All events are online and free unless stated otherwise.

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SeaWorld Fireworks! Here We Go Again – But Why?

March 16, 2021 by Judi Curry

By Judi Curry

When you think of SeaWorld what do you think of? Shamu? Orcas? Dolphins? Seals? Sharks? Fish? What was the reason that Sea World started in the first place?

Let me give you some history:

“SeaWorld® opened its gates for the first time in 1964, founded by George Millay, Milt Shedd, Ken Norris and David DeMott. Originally planned as an underwater restaurant, the concept grew into a marine zoological park on 21 acres along the shore of Mission Bay in San Diego. With an initial investment of $1.5 million, 45 employees, several dolphins, sea lions, and two saltwater aquariums, SeaWorld drew more than 400,000 visitors its first year.

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San Diego Set to Build Pure Water Sewage Recycling System

March 12, 2021 by Source

Water & Wastes Digest / March 11, 2021

San Diego, California is ready to build the Pure Water sewage recycling system.

According to city officials, officials resolved litigation that delayed the project 18 months and increased its estimated cost to $5 billion.

The Pure Water sewage recycling system will recycle 83 million gallons of treated sewage into potable drinking water by 2035. The project consists of 10 projects in its Pure Water phase one.

Regulatory permits have been secured and construction bids are being opened and analyzed for the 10 projects. A large treatment facility is slated to open in 2025 near Miramar that will be connected to many miles of pipeline in the northern part of the city.

For phase two of Pure Water, a separate recycling facility near San Diego International Airport is slated to start operating in 2035.

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10 Facts You Didn’t Know About Hummingbirds

March 10, 2021 by Frank Gormlie

We’ve had two hummingbird feeders on our deck for years and have come to enjoy watching and knowing about the 2 most common hummingbirds in our area: Anna’s and Costa’s. Recently, a Rufus or Rufous hummingbird showed up, a rare occasion for us.

10 Facts You (Probably) Didn’t Know About Hummingbirds

1. They are the smallest migrating bird. They don’t migrate in flocks like other species, and they typically travel alone for up to 500 miles at a time.

2. The name, hummingbird, comes from the humming noise their wings make as they beat so fast.

3. Hummingbirds are the only birds that can fly backwards.

4. Hummingbirds have no sense of smell.

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Dying OB Palm Trees Make the News – Thanks to the Palm Weevil

March 9, 2021 by Source

Dying palm trees in Ocean Beach made the news Monday. Sadly.

The San Diego U-T had a spread on Monday that focused on OB and Point Loma at its start:

Ocean Beach and Point Loma have both reported dead palm trees due to the palm weevil. In Ocean Beach, diseased palms can be seen along Santa Monica Avenue, according to Mark Winkie, President of the Ocean Beach Town Council. And in Point Loma, the trees that line Catalina Boulevard are showing signs of infestation, according to Mike McCurdy, chairman of the Point Loma Association.

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San Diego’s Master Plan for Parks Will Mean Less Parks for San Diego

March 3, 2021 by Source

There’s a group out there who firmly believe San Diego is heading the wrong way in its current Master Plan for parks. The group – Parks And Recreation Coalition (PARC) – is made up of a network of volunteers who are highly critical of the city’s Parks Master Plan. They’ve been going around lately and giving presentations to local planning boards and other civic groups, called “Parks for All”.

For instance, they’ve given presentations at the Midway planners and the Peninsula planners.

But their point – in a nutshell – is that the master plan – the first one in 50 years – is wrong, and will actually translate into fewer parkland for this growing city. So, here is an introduction of PARC and their concerns – from their powerpoint presentation.

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March 2021 Events From the Ocean Beach Green Center

March 2, 2021 by Source

From the Ocean Beach Green Center

All events are online and free unless stated otherwise.

* Every Saturday at 10:30 a.m. Climate Mobilization Coalition Zoom Meeting. March 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th.
* Month of March People’s Budget Panel Events by Community Budget Alliance
* March 3rd – Ocean Beach Planning Board Annual Election;
* March 3rd Wednesday 6 pm – 8 pm Nat Talk Climate Series: A 27-Year Wildflower Journey
* March 3rd Wednesday 4 pm California Outdoor Recreation Town Hall with Special Guest Congressman Mike Levin
* March 3rd Wednesday 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm Building Electrification Community Workshop
* March 4th Thursday 6 pm – 7:30 pm Miseducation and Racism in America: A Review of the Education System
* March 4th Thursday 6:30 pm – 7:45 pm Public Comment Training Event by San Diego Green New Deal Alliance
* March 4th Thursday 9 pm Film showing of “The Kitchenistas” on KPBS Filmmakers,

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Deep Freeze Shut Down Texas Nuke

March 1, 2021 by Michael Steinberg

Nuclear Shutdown News chronicles the decline and fall of the nuclear power industry in the US and beyond and highlights the efforts of those working to create a nuclear free world.

By Michael Steinberg / Black Rain Press

Deep Freeze Shuts Down Texas Nuke

On February 15 the South Texas Project nuclear plant shut down after arctic weather descended on the region, Arctic Insights reported. A spokesperson for the plant said 1350 Megawatt reactor #1 shut down at 5:37 a.m.. The shutdown “resulted from a loss of feedwater attributed to cold-weather related failure of pressure sensing lines to feedwater pumps causing a false signal, which in turn caused the feedwater pump to trip (shut down).”

According to a February 16 Nuclear Regulatory Commission report, the shutdown was due to “low steam generator levels. The low levels in turn were due to loss of Feedwater pumps 11 and 13 (cause unknown).”

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