Feature Archives

EarthVision 2008, which marks ten years of inspiring environmental films, will be held March 3rd – 8th in Watsonville and Santa Cruz. The festival will be screening films from 13 countries, including 7 produced in the Monterey Bay area. The films are powerful educational tools for Santa Cruz, as entries are shown throughout the year on Community TV.

The re-sentencing hearing for Jeffrey Luers took place on February 28th in Lane County Circuit Court in Eugene, Oregon in front of Judge Billings. This followed an Oregon court of appeals ruling in February 2007 that Luers' original sentence of 22 years 8 months by Judge Lyle Velure was illegal, and the appeals court remanded the case back to Lane County Circuit Court for re-sentencing. Following the appeals court decision, negotiations have resulted in the decision to reduce Luers sentence to 10 years, bringing his release date to late December 2009.

Aerial spraying of pesticides in Monterey and Santa Cruz is set to continue and soon will come to the Bay Area. Pesticide opponents say, "This supposed 'emergency' is the presence of the light brown apple moth in Bay Area counties, but like all toxic dumping by the agriculture industry, it is likely more about industry profits." While pro-environment organizations are calling on officials to use sticky traps instead of sprays, aerial treatments are scheduled to begin June 1st in the infested areas of Monterey and Santa Cruz counties, with subsequent aerial treatments expected to begin August 1st in San Francisco, Daly City, Colma, Oakland, Piedmont, Emeryville, Albany, El Cerrito, El Sobrante, Tiburon and Belvedere.

Jeff Muskrat writes, "With the fall of the Bear Mountain tree-sit in Victoria, BC, it seems like this is a very crucial time for activists in the trees up and down the west coast. There are two campus trees-sits, one under attack right now at UC Berkeley and one at UC Santa Cruz. These actions are opposing the unnecessary development of greenspace."

GARDINER & WEST YELLOWSTONE, MT: 290 wild buffalo have been slaughtered by the National Park Service in Yellowstone since February 8th. These actions are being taken to appease Montana's cattle interests, who claim they fear the spread of brucellosis from wild bison to cattle. George Cadman of Free Radio Santa Cruz 101.1 FM spoke with Stephany Seay of the Buffalo Field Campaign about the real reasons behind the slaughter, what they are doing to fight it and how people can get involved.

On February 4th, lawyers representing Jennifer Charles requested that the University of California's lawsuit attempting to stifle her free speech be dismissed. Charles, a UC Santa Cruz alumnus, has been acting as the media contact for tree sitters at UCSC protesting the University's plan to destroy 120 acres of forest. The tree sitters have been protecting groves of redwoods since November 7th, when hundreds of people rallied in opposition to the increased University construction.

On February 7th, the Australian Government released graphic photos of whales being slaughtered by a Japanese whaling fleet to the media. The Australian Government has also extended the mission of the Oceanic Viking in documenting the whale slaughter in preparation for an international legal case against Japanese whaling. The graphic images apparently show a mother minke whale and its calf being winched aboard a Japanese vessel after being shot with explosive tipped harpoons.