Feature Archives

George Cadman of Free Radio Santa Cruz 101.1 fm interviews Stephanie Seay of the Buffalo Field Campaign about the Montana state and the federal government practice of capturing wild buffalo on public lands and slaughtering them or transporting them hundreds of miles. In the last two weeks in Montana state and federal authorities planned to slaughter 300 wild buffalo, including calves and their mothers. In the last 7 years the government has trucked 2,000 wild buffalo to slaughter, 1,000 last year alone.

On May 30th members of Youth United for Community Action (YUCA), celebrated a California state order that will shut down large portions of a major hazardous waste handler located in East Palo Alto, ironically named Romic Environmental Technologies. For 43 years, Romic Environmental Technologies has operated a hazardous waste recycling facility in East Palo Alto.

On June 4th, convicted Green Scare/Operation Backfire defendant Daniel McGowan was sentenced to 7 years of prison with 3 years of supervised probation. He was the ninth of ten defendants to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken in the past two weeks. McGowan was one of only four defendants to refuse to name names and implicate others who took part in similar actions. Another non-cooperating co-defendant, Jonathan Paul, faces sentencing in the next few weeks.

On Wednesday, May 23, while the San Francisco Board of Supervisors reviewed the implementation plan of Community Choice Energy (CCE), the Green Guerrillas Against Greenwash staged a street theater performance outside City Hall. The performance included caricatures of Mayor Newsom and PiG&E being caught "in bed" by woman dressed as a giant windmill. Material distributed by the protesters highlighted Newsom's relationship with PG&E, including indirect campaign contributions totaling over $30,000 and his recent history of blowing off CCE events while publicly praising PG&E for their token "green" publicity events. CCE is the plan to run San Francisco on 51 percent renewable energies by 2017. It achieves this goal by dismantling PG&E's monopoly and allowing the city of San Francisco to bulk buy energy from independent producers.

Grey water activists and editors Laura Allen and Cleo Woelfle-Erskine celebrated the release of the book, Dam Nation: Dispatches From The Water Underground, and facilitated an interactive workshop, Future Water Solutions, on May 24th in Santa Cruz. People took a look at what individuals, communities, and municipalities are doing to reconnect to water cycles, and there was a discussion of local and global issues.

An Oakland judge on April 18 refused to back down from his earlier order to stop water exports from the South Delta until an incidental take permit for endangered fish is obtained. Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch ordered the agency to "cease and desist" from operation of the Harvey O. Banks Pumping Plant Operation until the agency has obtained authorization with regard to the Delta smelt, winter-run chinook salmon and spring-run chinook salmon.

On Friday, May 11th, Berkeley Critical Mass was stopped by a car that destroyed several bicycles. The cyclists had been through much of Berkeley, including a sojourn to Indian Rock, and were heading back down the Alameda. The riders entered an intersection on a green light, and several were struck by a car, which trapped three bicycles underneath it. They, along with dozens of others, had been participating in a monthly bicycle ride around Berkeley, promoting bicycling and the reduction of automobile and oil dependency. Police reportedly sided with the driver and denied the rights of the demonstrators.