Feature Archives

In a letter to Chevron executives and shareholders (and to ExxonMobil, who meet the same day), Iraqi oil workers unions called on Chevron to end the occupation and stop pushing for the "Iraq Oil Theft Law." This message will be delivered by an alliance of environmental justice, human rights and international solidarity groups converging on Chevron's annual shareholder meeting, Wednesday, May 28th at 7:00AM at Chevron corporate headquarters in San Ramon.

June 2008 marks the 8th anniversary of the imprisonment of Jeffrey Free Luers. Each June for the past 8 years, a Day of Solidarity has been held to garner support for Jeff and other eco-prisoners. June 14, 2008 will mark the kickoff to a campaign to raise money to help Jeff with his education and living expenses upon his release, as well as call attention to the many eco-prisoners still facing time behind bars and repression by the state.

On May 13th, a huge mob of cyclists rolled peacefully through the streets of Santa Cruz after a 6pm convergence at the Clock Tower. Bikers spanned city blocks in the right lane of Mission Street to raise awareness about California Vehicle Code Section 21202, cyclists may use the full right lane when the lane "is too narrow for a bicycle to safely ride to the side of a motor vehicle." Many people wore yellow shirts with a figure of a bike and the words "MAY USE FULL LANE cvc 21202."

There is a story that the UCSC tour guides still occasionally tell about the founding UCSC Chancellor Dean McHenry: Allegedly, during initial construction in 1964, any tree on campus over 12 inches in diameter had to have the chancellor's personal approval before it could be cut. In the construction of the road to the small parking lot behind the main library, there was a spot where the road was squeezed between a second growth redwood and a steep bank. The construction crew and campus planners asked the chancellor for approval to cut the tree, and he allegedly refused and told them to find another way.

On May 5th, Foster Gamble and the Economic Action Team of the California Alliance to Stop the Spray (C.A.S.S.), released a forty page report on the economic impact to the state of California in response to the CDFA/USDA plan to spray multiple California counties with a micronized concoction of synthetic “pheromone” and chemicals to "eradicate" the Light Brown Apple Moth – a moth with zero history of causing crop damage anywhere in the world.

Thursday, May 15th is Bike to Work Day. It will also be a Spare the Air Day, as the Bay Area Air Quality Management District predicts high levels of ozone in the air. Public transit in the Bay Area will not be free, as it has often been on past Spare the Air Days, so people all over the Bay Area will choose two-wheeled transportation on that day. Several cities will have "Energizer" Stations with giveaways of items such as snacks and mussette and tote bags in the morning.

Bay Area environmental and social justice organizations are demanding a halt to San Francisco's proposed highly polluting Peaker Power Plant Project. Also known as the Combustion Turbine Project, the plant is proposed to be built in Southeast San Francisco, right next to the Bayview Hunters Point community that is already overburdened with pollution.