Environment
Santa Cruz Farmers’ Market Expands. Is the Drum Circle Finally Over?
Apr 21st
Wednesday, April 21st was the first day of the expanded Farmers’ Market in downtown Santa Cruz.
While I was finishing lunch in a nearby restaurant, I heard the owner speaking with one of her employees about the expansion of the market, and she was not happy about it. She said that the increased amount of goods and services now being offered each Wednesday at the Farmers’ Market will have a negative impact on her restaurant and other downtown businesses. The feelings expressed by this longtime owner of a downtown restaurant do not correspond with an announcement from the Farmers’ Market which states, “The plans for the new Downtown Market have engendered excitement and full support from downtown businesses located adjacent to the market.”
The Farmers’ Market was also strangely quiet compared to previous weeks. Notably absent was the weekly drum circle and the crowd it attracts. And a vendor was selling artisan bread where for years, Food Not Bombs had been distributing free meals to anyone. Read More and View Photos
Thousands Attend the International Cannabis and Hemp Expo at the Cow Palace
Apr 20th
The International Cannabis and Hemp Exposition took place at the Cow Palace in Daly City on April 17th and 18th. The expo, which had the first permitted area for the use of medical marijuana, was the largest event of its kind to hit Northern California.
Established activist organizations dished out information to prospective members, and hundreds of vendors pitched their freshest accessories to thousands of medical marijuana patients and connoisseurs. At the same time, prominent members of the cannabis community discussed a wide-range of topics, including marijuana cultivation, medication and prohibition. However the main buzz, on and off stage, was the initiative to “legalize, control, and tax cannabis in California,” which is to be decided by voters in the state during the November 2010 elections. Read More and View Photos
March in Santa Cruz for the Global Day of Climate Action
Oct 26th
The website 350.org reports that on October 24th, people in 181 countries came together for the most widespread day of environmental action in the planet’s history. At over 5,200 events around the world, people gathered to call for strong action and bold leadership on the climate crisis.
Numerous events took place in Santa Cruz, CA, including a march which began at the wharf and went up the sidewalk of Pacific Avenue. The march ended at the clock tower where there was a rally and a mock trial of the private automobile, the largest contributing source of CO2 in California and Santa Cruz County. The trial was presided over by the honorable Fred Keeley, a former member of the California State Assembly and currently the Treasurer of Santa Cruz County. Read More and View Photos
Demonstration in front of Chevron to Protest New Oil Drilling Off Central Coast
Jul 23rd
On July 23rd, as the California budget bill moves to the state legislature, local residents, some dressed as jelly fish and a sea anemone, held an afternoon demonstration in front of the Chevron on Ocean St. in Santa Cruz to oppose a plan to open the Central Coast to new drilling for the first time in 40 years. Demonstrators, including the staff of Save Our Shores, a non-profit organization based in Santa Cruz working since 1978 to prevent oil drilling in the Monterey Bay, are calling on the legislature to oppose new drilling off the California Coast, and instead pass an oil severance tax which would reportedly raise $1 billion a year from existing leases. Read More and View Photos
Rally at Natural Bridges to Save State Parks & Beaches
Jun 1st
If approved by the state legislature, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget plan will close 220 of 279 State Parks and Beaches, including each and every State Park and Beach in Santa Cruz County.
The proposed Santa Cruz County State Park and Beach closures are Big Basin Redwoods State Park, Castle Rock State Park, Castro Adobe State Historic Park, Coast Dairies State Park, Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, Lighthouse Field State Beach, Manresa State Beach, Manresa Uplands State Park, Natural Bridges State Beach, New Brighton State Beach, Palm State Beach, Rio Del Mar State Beach, Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park, Seabright State Beach, Seacliff State Beach, Sunset State Beach, The Forest of Nisene Marks, Twin Lakes State Beach and Wilder Ranch State Park.
A rally to save State Parks and Beaches took place on June 1st at Natural Bridges State Beach. On June 2nd, Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks took a bus to Sacramento for the only public hearing on this proposal before the Legislative Budget Conference Committee. Read More and View Photos
