Feature Archives

With royal fanfare, British Petroleum just donated big money in research funds for UC Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore Laboratories, and the University of Illinois to develop new sources of energy—primarily biotechnology to produce biofuel crops. This comes on the anniversary of Berkeley’s hapless research deal with seed giant Novartis ten years ago. However, at 500 million dollars, the BP grant dwarfs Novartis’ investment by a factor of ten. The graphics of the announcement were unmistakable: BP’s corporate logo is perfectly aligned with the flags of the Nation, the State, and the University.

Walking around San Francisco, you might have noticed bright green ads featuring cutesy witticisms about what “green is,” sponsored by the local utility monopoly PG&E. My favorite ad prominently displays a piece of cow dung with the quote “Green isn’t always pretty.” Here, PG&E isn’t too far off; for them, green is… a lie.

1. The Quiet Apocalypse of Rising Tides Climate change is everywhere, and the somewhat momentous report released February 3 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirms that climate change is man-made, and unstoppable. The 21-page report, described as conservative by the IPCC itself, says man-made emissions of greenhouse gases are to blame for heat waves, floods and heavy rains, droughts and stronger storms (particularly in the Atlantic Ocean), melting ice-caps and raising sea-levels.

Animal rights and welfare groups have joined Stockton residents in opposing the development of a massive egg factory farm. "The last thing that the Stockton area needs is another factory farm poisoning our community, polluting our environment and abusing animals," stated resident Karen Courtemanche. Despite numerous past complaints against Olivera, the San Joaquin County Planning Department is planning to grant the approval for the farm without an Environmental Impact Report.

A land owner is threatening a community garden at Fulton and Stanyan Streets in San Francisco. The 1,300 sq foot plot is home to a variety of locally grown vegetables and fruit. After three months of building the garden, local residents are trying to save it from the land owner’s threats.

On March 27th, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed the nation's first ban on the use of non-biodegradable plastic bags. The ban will apply to 54 grocery stores in the city as well as large pharmacies. San Francisco currently consumes 1000 tons of plastic bags each year.

The American River parkway in Sacramento includes a bike trail along the river that is a 24 mile stretch from downtown Sacramento to the Folsom dam. The bike trail runs directly through and under the elevated 300 foot long railroad trestle near the REI store and the Sacramento Fair grounds. The fire started today around 5:30. The trestle is made of creosote soaked wood. The cause of the fire is unknown at the time of this reporting. Between the sign and the smoke in the first picture in the newswire post is the Capital City freeway, which came to a near stand still due to drivers observing the fire.