Environment RSS feed for this section

The Student Environmental Center’s 11th Annual Campus Earth Summit at UCSC

Published on March 4, 2012 in Education, Environment

On March 3rd, the Student Environmental Center at UCSC hosted the 11th Annual Campus Earth Summit in the College 9/10 Multipurpose Room at UC Santa Cruz. This year’s Campus Earth Summit included student-led workshops on a wide-variety of subjects, live performances by the North Pacific String Band and spoken word poets, keynote talks by Santa Cruz Mayor Don Lane and Eric Holt-Giménez of Food First, organizations doing outreach and delicious vegetarian food.

Continue Reading →

Santa Cruz Co. Mobilizes for “California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act”

Published on February 19, 2012 in Environment, Government

On February 18th, dozens of trained signature gathering volunteers held a launch event for the “California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act” at the Santa Cruz Live Oak Green Grange. The event was hosted by GMO-Free Right to Know! Santa Cruz, the organizing group for trained signature gathering volunteers throughout Santa Cruz County, and one of the most active groups in the state working to pass this historic ballot initiative.

Mayor of the City of Santa Cruz, Don Lane, kicked things off by stressing the importance of the ballot initiative and knowing which of the foods we eat are made with genetically modified ingredients. Lane said he was taking time away from being with his grandchildren who were visiting from out of the area, but felt they would understand because their health would benefit by the labeling of genetically modified foods.

Continue Reading →

March to Santa Cruz City Hall to Save the Knoll

Published on August 25, 2011 in Environment, Race

It has been over three weeks since KB Home contractors unearthed the skeletal remains of a young Ohlone child at the Branciforte Creek construction site in Santa Cruz. The City Council has yet to meaningfully address this situation or take action to honor Ohlone requests to protect the area by halting KB Home’s planned development.

On August 25th, 75 people marched in downtown Santa Cruz from Laurel and Pacific to City Hall on Center Street in an action organized by the Save the Knoll Coalition. One person maintained an indigenous chant throughout the march, many people carried signs and banners, and several distributed educational flyers.

The march was urgently organized for 10am on a Thursday because the Santa Cruz City Council was holding a special closed meeting, but the Branciforte Creek development was not on their agenda. However, prior to the closed meeting, twenty minutes were allocated for public comments about the pending Branciforte Creek development. Read More and View Photos

photo gallery >>

Continue Reading →

Stop the Dirty Energy Proposition: Vote No on Prop 23

Published on October 10, 2010 in Environment, Government

On October 10th, a day of global action to work on the climate crisis, Santa Cruz residents rallied next to a Valero gas station on Highway 1 / Mission Street urging people to vote no on California’s proposition 23. If it passes on November 2nd, it will suspend California’s Assembly Bill 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. AB 32 requires that by 2020 the state’s greenhouse gas emissions be reduced to 1990 levels, a roughly 25% reduction under business as usual estimates. Read More and View Photos

photo gallery >>

Continue Reading →

Santa Cruz Farmers’ Market Expands. Is the Drum Circle Finally Over?

Published on April 21, 2010 in Arts & Creation, Environment

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

photo gallery >>

Thousands Attend the International Cannabis and Hemp Expo at the Cow Palace

Published on April 20, 2010 in Drug War, Environment, Solidarity & Outreach

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

photo gallery >>