Environmental Issues and Protection

Reverend Billy and the Shopocalypse Comes to Long Beach!

With prosperity gospel preachers running amok, activist Bill Talen, better known as Reverend Billy, has spread the good news of life after shopping. For almost 15 years, no dark lair of crass consumerism has been safe from the educational antics of his firebrand-style of guerrilla street theater per ... More >>

3 OC Beaches Ranked Among Cleanest in U.S. by NRDC, But Dirty Doheny Gets Spanked Again

Three Orange County beaches are among the cleanest of 200 popular beaches around the country, according to a new report from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).However, the NRDC's "Testing the Waters" survey also identified three separate stretches of Doheny State Beach in Dana Point as be ... More >>

Santa Ana Set to Sizzle by Mid-Century, Says New Climate Change Report

The realities of global warming have just become a lot more local. "Mid-Century Warming in the Los Angeles Region," released yesterday just as summer begins, is touted as the first study to make unique regional and city climate change predictions. The research findings by UCLA's Institute of the Env ... More >>

Democracy Then, As Seen in 'The Island President'

A portrait of recently ousted Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed

OCTA Thanks Congress for Transportation Bill Language Friendly to Finishing Toll Road

​When one author praises another on a book jacket, and the second author then does the same on the first author's tome, that's logrolling. It's a practice that's also common among academics and movie critics. In politics, logrolling happens when political favors are exchanged, even among members o ... More >>

Environmentalists and Musicians Lobbying Against NAMM

​ Major environmental organizations have united with musicians in common cause as the NAMM Show in Anaheim commences. They are taking issue with the association's lobbying efforts in support of the RELIEF Act, which environmentalists argue would weaken regulations against illegal logging if passed ... More >>

[UPDATED with More Details:] OC's Largest Municipal Solar Energy Efficiency Project Shines Today

​UPDATE, JULY 21, 8:47 A.M.: Though the ribbon-cutting unveiling the largest municipal solar energy efficiency project in Orange County is this morning, the city of Brea is already reaping savings that have exceeded expectations. For the month of June, there was a 65% reduction in electricity cost ... More >>

Tim Minchin

Grove of Anaheim

[UPDATED with New Kern County Stink:] Courts Weigh Orange County Poop

​UPDATE, MAY 26, 12:42 P.M.: There's an interesting nugget about Orange County and the Carlyle Group in coverage of the ongoing court battle over human waste from Southern California spread atop farmland in Kern County.Anyone trying to put the Bush 43 years behind them may have forgotten about the ... More >>

Climate Scientists Turn to Making a Rap Video

​On the very serious issue of global warming, people in the United States are straight chillin', more so than in previous years. A Gallup poll last month revealed a 10 percent drop in the number of survey respondents in the U.S. who said that global warming was a "somewhat" or "very" serious t ... More >>

Entrepreneur Wants to Harness the Power of Waves Near San Onofre to Generate Electricity

WikipediaSan Onofre Nuclear Generating Station​The waters off the coast of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) are being considered for a massive renewable, green-energy science experiment. The group that was granted permission by the federal energy regulators hopes to one day build ... More >>

Riding Bikes With the DUtch

Art Theater

Al Gore, Please Pick Up the Newport Beach Courtesy Phone

​Those who come down with the sniffles whenever there are wide temperature fluctuations hopefully stayed out of Southern California the past couple weeks. On Sept. 27, a record was set for the hottest recorded day in 133 years. By Oct. 5, chilly rain blanketed the region. No where had a more radi ... More >>

Thank you, Global Warming: UCI-Led Study Shows Sea Levels Steadily Rising

​Frequent and extreme storms tied to global warming are causing more freshwater to flow into the Earth's oceans and sea levels to rise, concludes a team of researchers led by Jay Famiglietti, a UC Irvine Earth system science professor."All told, 18 percent more water fed into the world's oceans fr ... More >>

Sierra Club Appeals Ruling Limiting Public Access to Orange County Parcel Map System

​After losing a ruling in Orange County Superior Court, the Sierra Club is turning to the California Court of Appeal in an attempt to win no- or low-cost access to the County of Orange's Landbase parcel map system, which the public must currently pay thousands of dollars to get to.The lower court ... More >>

Grand Jury Lauds County Departments for Eco-friendly Practices

​The Orange County Grand Jury in the past has issued reports critical of projects intended to improve our environment, including light rail, cleaning up Aliso Creek and, most recently, the Orange County Great Park.Today, the grand jury issued a report titled "Orange County Goes Green" that lauds t ... More >>

Wal-Mart's Toxic Waste Dumping in Foothill Ranch Cited in Settlement

Something's rotten in Denmark and Foothill Ranch.​Toxic fertilizer dumped behind the Foothill Ranch Wal-Mart store was cited in today's announcement that Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. agreed to a $20 million-plus settlement with 20 prosecutorial agencies, including the Orange County District Attorney's O ... More >>

"Green" Company to Pay $15 Million for Polluting

​Safety-Kleen System Inc. is a national distributor of cleaning solvents. Their products have names like Ecopower motor oil, Icebreaker windshield washer fluid, Khameleon antifreeze and KleenMist II wastewater treatment. They say they are green, well, they better be made of it, because they owe $1 ... More >>

Utility Giant, Texas Oil Companies Fight Back With California Voter Initiatives

​An anti-tax group and a coalition of businesses quietly led by Texas oil companies have launched a signature drive for a November ballot initiative that would suspend California's pioneering law to combat global warming.Meanwhile, a Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E)-bankrolled measure that cons ... More >>

Tale of Three Port of Long Beach Realities

​"Ports Celebrate Clean Truck Program Anniversary"Long Beach Press Telegram"Port Trucking Company Fights Economy, Environmental Fee"89.3 KPCC"Backroom Deal Leaves Long Beach Truck Program in Hands of Polluting Industry"Natural Resources Defense Council and Sierra Club via PR Newswire

Anti-Global Warming Event In OC Will Prevent You From Sleeping In

Oct. 24 marks the International Day of Climate Action. This is a big deal, at least according to the slickly wordless video below: (Sidenote: Isn't the style of the video eerily similar to the one introducing the brand new and hilarious GOP.com? Something tells me this aesthetic just jumped the sha ... More >>

Please Recycle, Pre-cycle, Free-cycle, Up-cycle, Down-cycle, E-cycle

​Just when you finally figured out that the three point-chasing-the-tail arrows means "recycle" along comes a whole bunch more terms without the helpful arrows. They are (drum roll):  pre-cycle, free-cycle, up-cycle, down-cycle and e-cycle.What does it all mean? California News Service's Lori ... More >>

More Federal Brownfields Cleanup Funds Coming Long Beach's Way

EPA.govMiller's Childrens Hospital in Long Beach previously received federal brownfields cleanup funds.​A proposed Long Beach job training resource has been awarded a chunk of nearly $2 billion in federal grant money aimed at cleaning up contaminated sites in California known as "brownfields," the ... More >>

Earth Day Gets the Shorts at Newport Beach Film Fest

Blue Gold: World Water WarsEarth Day is Wednesday, but the Newport Beach Film Festival (NBFF), in partnership with the Newport Bay Naturalists and Friends and the Orange County Parks Department, celebrates Sunday, April 26. A program of Earth Day-appropriate short films, curated by the festival's co ... More >>

Magic Johnson Dribbles Into Irvine for Earth Day Chat

Earvin "Magic" Johnson will be among the speakers participating in an Earth Day Summit in Irvine.Sodexo, a global food services company that runs chow lines everywhere from military bases to UC campuses, is bringing together local farmers, leaders and "forward thinkers" Wednesday, April 22, at Park ... More >>

Go Get Drunk with Eco-Geeks Tomorrow in Fullerton

I've cleaned up after meetings of OC Green Drinks, and let me tell you: if you haven't gone, you're missing out on cute girls, nerdy guys, a lot of talk about how to save the planet, and unlimited booze and snacks, usually of the organic kind. They meet monthly, and March's incarnation will happen t ... More >>

Toll-Road Dissing NOAA Now Fights to Protect Local Steelhead

Perhaps environmentally sensitive locals should withhold sending support to the Sierra Club, the Surfrider Foundation and the Natural Resources Defense Council and instead cut checks to the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It was, after all, the NOAA tha ... More >>

To Do Tonight 4/30

World-Class Beer Tasting Wednesdays, 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. Enjoy the frites (we prefer them avec mayonnaise) and learn to love something other than Budweiser. Price: $14 Per Person KIMERA 19530 Jamboree Rd. Irvine, CA 92612 949-261-1222 It’s Too Darn Hot: Climate Change Panel, 7 p.m. Special gues ... More >>

The Governor's New Warts

Did Arnie's lawn suddenly sprout itchy red bumps? No, it's only volunteers from Sierra Club, Friends of the Foothills and Surfrider - all members of the Save San Onofre Coalition. Each red tent on the lawn represents one of the campsites the Transportation Corridor Agencies would destroy by building ... More >>

Beach Break: Five Outta Six Aint Bad

The results are in and Long Beach is the winner with five of the six most polluted beaches in Los Angeles County, says the National Resources Defense Council in its annual "Testing the Waters" guide. Mother's Beach lead the charge with violations of state health standards 59 percent of the time. T ... More >>

NEWSFLASH! Ahnuld Terminates Hummers!

It says right here that our Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger has sold his eight Hummers after converting to the cause to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. You'll recall that then-action star Schwarzenegger was the one who convinced Hummer's manufacturer to sell the all-terrain military vehicles to ci ... More >>

"Intersex" inside the Beltway

If you've ever shaken your head over news coming out of the nation's capital, and muttered "It must be something in the drinking water there", it turns out you may have been more correct than you knew. The Associated Press reports: Scientists say abnormal "intersex" fish, with both male and female ... More >>

Dancing around a great problem at The Great Park

The El Toro Shuffle? The Great Park Gavotte? The Irvine Ranch Water District Toxic Waltz? We should come up a name for the little dance. It's a simple four step dance, and very familiar one. Scientists point out a looming environmental threat and call for government action. The Bush administration, ... More >>

At the Movies

After a corrupt Congressional electoral committee declared Republican Rutherford B. Hayes the winner of the 1876 presidential election, Samuel Tilden, the Democratic candidate and the actual winner of the election, left politics and, as Gore Vidal delicately put it, "retired to private life and to t ... More >>

TCA Sued Not Once, Not Twice, but THRICE!

Today, Attorney General Bill Lockyer sued the Transportation Corridor Agencies. Read the complaint HERE. Lockyer is none too keen on their plan to build a toll road through San Onofre State Beach, impacting surfing resources, the San Mateo Campground, Native American sites, and engandered species. ... More >>

The Foothills in your Headlights: The Extension approved

Yesterday, the board members of the Foothills/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency voted 12-3 to approve the $875 million Foothills South (241) extension, which will cut through both San Onofre State Beach and the Donna O'Neill Land Conservancy. But that ominous rumbling you hear in the distance i ... More >>

We Answer Register Letters Because They Wont

A Win-Lose Solution

Say hello to more South County homes, adios to wilderness

Letters

Dont Call Him an Environmentalist

Assemblyman Ken Maddox just doesnt want his kid swimming in feces

240 Million Gallons a Day

What could be badder and assier than OCs daily sewage stat?

We Missed On This One

A county committee established to clean up the beaches produces a law that excuses polluters

Christine Todd Witless

Bushs EPA pick has much to learn

Waste Central

San Onofres nuclear waste aint going nowhere

Heal the SUV

Ford's partnership with Heal the Bay not as weird as it sounds

Every Day Is Earth Day

And why wont GM release a car powered by rock & roll?!

Earth & Mirth

Talking Shit

Words speak louder than action in cleaning OC beaches

Monster In a Box

New evidence that school really can make you sick

Bring on da Noise

El Toro Airport Watch No. 101