Feature Archives

On July 21, outraged climate justice activists descended on Governor Gavin Newsom's office, demanding that he stop caving to big oil and block a new offshore drilling pipeline and expanded onshore drilling in California. Texas oil company Sable Offshore Corp. has been moving to restart the corroded offshore drilling pipeline that caused the disastrous 2015 Refugio oil spill in Santa Barbara County that fouled miles of California coast.

A new study published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry documents a mass mortality event of monarch butterflies near one of California’s most iconic overwintering sites and links the deaths to pesticide contamination. In late January 2024, hundreds of monarchs were found dead or dying on a private property near the trees of Pacific Grove Monarch Sanctuary, where they typically cluster during the winter.

Scientists have confirmed a dead gray whale that washed up in Richmond died as a result of blunt force trauma due to a suspected vessel strike. The news comes as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released a revised population estimate showing continued decline in eastern north Pacific gray whale numbers, some 13,000 individuals, the lowest since the 1970’s.

On July 23, activists blocked the entryways of the global headquarters of Wells Fargo in San Francisco, shutting down the building. As part of Stop Billionaires Summer, the action was organized due to Wells Fargo's investments that have contributed to climate destruction, Israel’s genocide in Gaza, the funding of Palantir and deportations, the privatization of the US Post Office, and the funding of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

The Never Again Moss Landing (NAML) stakeholder group has released a new report detailing the findings of their 120-day investigation into how and why the Vistra Energy lithium-ion battery facility at the Moss Landing Power Plant caught fire and destroyed itself during the period of January 16-22. The report is highly critical of Vistra's design of the facility, as well as the California PUC's role in regulating the plant.

Kayakers brought the fight for liberation to the rivers, disrupting what they call "the shroud of ignorance" that is held there. The South Fork of the American River is the busiest section of whitewater in the Western U.S., and July 4th weekend is the busiest weekend for it. Understanding this, protesters ensured that commercial rafters weren’t able to ignore the message that the planet and its people are under attack by Donald Trump.

In an inexplicable move, the National Marine Fisheries Service has allowed a little known fishery that targets bottom-dwelling sablefish to expand into federally designated habitat for critically endangered Pacific leatherback turtles off the coasts of Oregon and California. The fishery's lines can wrap around sea turtles’ necks or front flippers, anchoring them to heavy pots on the seafloor, resulting in injuries and deaths.