Sierra Club

To the Arctic, Documentary on Polar Bears Dealing with Climate Change, Wins Awards; Coming Attraction: A Fierce Green Fire

To the Arctic, MacGillivray Freeman Films' breathtaking 3D IMAX documentary about living beings dealing with climate change at the top of the world, recently won two top prizes at the 2012 Giant Screen Cinema Association Achievement Awards.Produced and directed by the Laguna Beach company's co-found ... More >>

Cypress Trips the Car Electric

If the 75 or so cars that pulled into a massive Cypress parking lot Sunday seemed unusually quiet, that was by design. Electric car drivers, makers and enthusiasts gathered at the Mitsubishi Motors North America headquarters for Orange County's National Plug In Day celebration.

Santa Margarita Water District Sued Over its Lead Role in Mojave Groundwater Project

Environmental groups are suing Orange County's second largest retail water district over plans to pump water Mojave Desert groundwater. Santa Margarita Water District, which serves more than 155,000 residents and businesses in Mission Viejo, Coto de Caza, Las Flores, Ladera Ranch, Talega and its hom ... More >>

Newport Beach Film Festival News and Notes

Random notes, observations and stuff plucked off the cutting room floor from the Newport Beach Film Festival, which runs through Thursday night.The hierarchy of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion is the main antagonist in Macky Alston's excellent documentary Love Free or Die, which is a ... More >>

Santa Ana Sucker, Little Fish at Center of Water Agencies' Suit Against Feds, Gets a Legal Assist

​Inland water agencies may say they want to work with government regulators on a Santa Ana River habitat for a tiny fish known as the Santa Ana Sucker, but as long as the H2O providers press their lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, four conservation groups will press back. The Si ... More >>

Conservationists Hope Federal Dismissal is Final Nail in Coffin for Cleveland National Forest Dam Project

​Conservationists are not out of the woods (or watershed) yet, but they believe victory is near in a long battle to stop a dam and hydroelectric project proposed in Cleveland National Forest.The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) last week dismissed the Lake Elsinore Advanced Pumped S ... 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 >>

Flavia de la Fuente, Irvine DREAM Act Advocate, on NPR's Talk of the Nation

​My news story this week highlighted how Orange Countians have helped push the DREAM Act--which would create a pathway to citizenship for undocumented college students--to national prominence. One of them was Flavia de la Fuente, an Irvine native, UCLA's most-recent valedictorian, and currently in ... 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 >>

Conservationists Now Take Positive View of County Accepting Irvine Co. Land Gift

​Janet Wilson blogged here in September and did whatever it is they call it when something that had been blogged later appears in print here in November about Irvine Co. Chairman Donald Bren's "gift" to Orange County of 20,000 acres of rugged wild lands at the county's eastern edge.At first leery ... More >>

Sun Worshipping Takes On New Meaning at Anaheim Church

​There's no denying that at least one church in Anaheim is getting help from above.

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

OC Environmentalists Celebrate Momentous Decisions

Ancestor walks take on new meaning after efforts to carve a toll road through Pahne failed.​Holiday celebrating started early for local environmental groups.On Friday, a diverse coalition of allies marked the one-year anniversary of a U.S. Department of Commerce decision that effectively stopped t ... More >>

Wax On, Wax Off: Mammoth Mountain is a Northern Outpost of Southern California

Flickr user jcookfisherLast week's storms brought the mountains to life for snowboarders all over Southern California. With well over 14 inches at local spots like Baldy, Mountain High and Bear, people grabbed their boards and headed for higher altitudes. Mammoth Mountain, the southern part of ... More >>

Major Donor Pulls Funding, Leaves ACLU and Locals Scrambling

​An item the New York Times posted online Tuesday night that outed David Gelbaum as a major anonymous donor to the American Civil Liberties Union and reported the Newport Beach philanthropist was cutting off $19 million in yearly donations because of economic setbacks has left the ACLU scrambling, ... More >>

UPDATED: The Irvine Co. Gift That Keeps on Giving

UPDATED WITH PHOTOS FROM THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS MEETING . . . Photo by Keith MayCounty Supervisor Bill Campbell, whose district includes the Irvine Co. land in question, is amused by a speaker at Tuesday's board meeting in Santa Ana.​He's got a gift. Donald Bren, the secretive, aging multi-billi ... 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 >>

Sexploitation Producer, Rocker Among Those Who Flood Rohrabacher Coffers

Dana Rohrabacher, Vietnam War, combat duty, House of Representatives, Huntington Beach, Wall Street, PACs, Debbie Cook, Sammy Hagar, Sierra Club, oil drilling, California, Robert F. Kennedy, assassination, R. Scott Moxley, OC Weekly, presidential candidate, Los Angeles hotel, Lloyd Kaufman, NSA

Who is Down on Measure R (and How Much Are They Down For)?

Shea and Choi: big anti-R funders Measure R on the Irvine ballot asks residents to approve what a great job the Irvine City Council is doing on planning the Great Park on the old El Toro Marine Corps base (or if the measure loses, one supposes, what a piss-poor job they are doing). The conflict-of- ... More >>

Dead/Not Dead

Tree Hugger's Ball

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 >>

YouTube Saves Trestles

The Save San Onofre Coalition really hopes the Coastal Commission is a buncha voyeurs. See, the SSOC (made up of Defenders of Wildlife, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Endangered Habitats League, Laguna Greenbelt, Surfrider Foundation, Audubon California, the California State Parks ... More >>

Hu-what?! Schwarzenegger gives toll road stamp of approval

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's neutral stance on the 241 toll road extension magically changed for the worse Tuesday, and the Los Angeles Times reports that he's now urging the California Coastal Commission to approve the much-opposed project. The people at the Transportation Corridor Agencies are pre ... More >>

Man-On-Tree Action

Third Annual Tree Huggers Ball

An Inconvenient Slope

Big Bears ski resorts are covered in snow despite a chronic lack of natural snowfall. So where are the crowds? Dont blame global warmingblame the media

Stephanie Pacheco

The president of the Environmental Coalition for the Great Park shares some of her favorite things

Something Stinks

You know how the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Environmental Protection Agency announced recently they are joining forces to clean up stinky Aliso Creek (finally), which spews its filth into South Laguna's Aliso Beach? Yeah, when have we heard that before? Oh, yeah, eight years ago. Anyway, you'd ... More >>

Troubled Waters

Normally, when a major clean-up effort for a polluted site is announced-- an effort which will bring to bear the resources of both the local and federal government-- environmentalists are happy. But this is Orange County, where the eco-friendly have often seen their green hopes fade to grey (and ... More >>

Toll Road Rage

Hey, Porter! New firm cashes in on bad toll-road PR

Not Paving Paradise

Second Annual Tree Hugger's Ball

Creative Type

Glann Hening

'Carpetbaggers, Thieves and Land-grabbers'

Toll road officials raise the dead in their war with local Native Americans

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 >>

New Poll Takes Its Toll

A public opinion survey released this fine Wednesday morning shows that 73% of Californians are opposed to extending a toll road through San Onofre State Beach. Last September, the Transportation Corridor Agencies commissioned their annual public opinion poll on how much we all love toll roads. The ... More >>

Environment and Sports

Environment & Sports

Toll Road Rage

Not So Easy Being Green

Toll Road Rage: Green(back) Alignment

Not So Easy Being Green

Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price

Local screenings

Eight Days

Oct. 6 - Oct. 13

The Closing Of The Orange County Frontier

A Win-Lose Solution

Say hello to more South County homes, adios to wilderness

Eight Days

One of us

The Blame Game

Hellooooooo, Mr. Wilson!

Enviros give pro-development supervisor the kid-glove treatment

The Visible Invisible Man

Waste Central

San Onofres nuclear waste aint going nowhere

Summer Beach & Beer Guide

Letters