Feature Archives

On August 30th, the Mobilization for Climate Justice West marched in downtown San Francisco to the office buildings of Chevron, BP, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to demand accountability from "Big Oil." Near BP's San Francisco headquarters, at the intersection of Mission and New Montgomery, the march stopped and blocked traffic. Fourteen activists refused to leave the intersection and were arrested by police.

On August 30th, for the third straight morning, outraged Santa Cruz County residents gathered at the gates of Wellington Energy in Capitola, successfully blocking what they say is a forced installation of radiating 'smart' meters against the will of residents and nearly two dozen local governments throughout the Greater Bay Area.

Early morning on August 26th, outraged Santa Cruz County residents gathered at the gates of Wellington Energy at 38th and Portola in Capitola to protest what they say is a forced installation of radiating 'smart' meters against the will of residents and nearly two dozen local governments throughout the Greater Bay Area. Despite the fact that the $2.2 billion program is being funded by ratepayers, and the new meters installed on people’s homes, there has been virtually no public consultation in advance of what PG&E itself admits is one of the largest rollouts of technology in history.

Five people were arrested on August 20th for chaining themselves to bicycles and blocking an entrance to the Arco/BP gas station at the corner of Fell and Divisadero in San Francisco. Friday evening's action was the 11th since the group Fix Fell began demonstrations to demand that the city and the Department of Public Works take measures to make the street safe for bicyclists.

Early in the morning on August 17th, forest defenders set up a 60 ft. high road blockade to stop the active clear-cutting operations of Green Diamond Resource Company in the redwoods near Jacoby Creek Road north of Eureka in Humboldt County. These clear-cut logging plans represent a fraction of the ongoing clear-cut logging operations in Northern California. “We are not coming down voluntarily until the reckless logging in the Jacoby Creek watershed is stopped,” said Fly, one of the activists from atop the 60 ft. high hanging platform.

Despite opposition from the City of Scotts Valley and the County of Santa Cruz, PG&E continues to install inaccurate, potentially health damaging 'smart' meters onto homes and businesses. Some Scotts Valley residents have had enough. They are directing employees of Wellington Energy, local contractors for PG&E, to not install smart meters for their homes.

Responding to weeks of protests and direct action by the grassroots group Fix Fell, as well as lobbying efforts by other community groups, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency on August 3rd painted the bike lane on Fell Street between Scott and Baker Streets green. This is just one more small improvement that is being made to this stretch of Fell Street to improve safety for bicyclists and pedestrians and improve clarity for motorists.