Climate Change, Despair, and Empowerment Roadshow
with Kelly Tudhope, coming to the west coast from New Zealand.

Multimedia presentations to help understand our role in a climate changed world and empower us with a renewed sense of commitment to the actions required to address global warming.

Sept. 6th, 7 pm
Trinity Cathedral, Great Hall, 2620 Capitol Ave. Sac.
$5 donation. Drinks/snacks.
Information: www.climate.net.au or Therapists for Social Responsibility 916/447-5706.

Climate change is the most serious issue facing humankind. The scientific community has released alarming evidence over the past 12 months with predicted increases in temperatures, sea level rises and the increase in frequency and intensity of storms.

These multi-media presentations will help communities to understand our role in a “climate changed” world and empower us with a renewed sense of commitment to the actions required to address global warming.

Climate Change, Despair & Empowerment Roadshow to make 18 presentations from Vancouver to San Francisco & Hawaii

Worldwide concern on climate change has lead the Rainforest Information Centre from Australia to take to the road to address the psychological impacts of global warming as well as the importance of grass roots response.

The ‘Climate Change Despair and Empowerment’ roadshow seeks to catalyse, invigorate and support grassroots study and action on climate change and encourages people to engage in social and political change.
Time: Thursday, September 6, 2007 - 7:00pm PST

Research Finds That Earth's Climate is Approaching 'Dangerous' Point

May 30, 2007

NASA and Columbia University Earth Institute research finds that human-made greenhouse gases have brought the Earth's climate close to critical tipping points, with potentially dangerous consequences for the planet.

How Can We Avoid Dangerous Human-Made Climate Change (#12281 ; 85 minutes; 3/26/2007 ) James Hansen, Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies addresses anthropogenic climate change and what we can do about it. He is followed by a panel discussing the potential impact of climate change on society and what options we have to slow greenhouse gas emissions.

Watch it now using RealPlayer.

Global Warming: Can We Avoid Dangerous Climate Change? (4.1 MB PDF). Slides for a presentation given Jan. 9, 2007, to "Operation Sierra Storm" Television Meteorologists Conference. Also available in PowerPoint (10 MB).

Global Warming: Changing CO2urse
International House, Davis will offer a four-session discussion class, Global Warming: Changing CO2urse, on the complexities of global warming and its challenges. Participants will have the opportunity to explore personal responses to climate change and why society has been slow to respond, learn about the history and science of global climate change and new strategies for addressing climate change. Class members will discuss our individual and collective power to shape an effective response to climate change, enabling future generations to meet their needs. The class is scheduled from 7:00-8:30 PM, Mondays, July 2 and 9, Wednesday, July 11, and Monday, July 16. The class is free, although there is a charge of $16 for the required class textbook. The books are available for purchase at I-House for those enrolled in the class. To enroll, call 753-5007, or email: ihouse@ucdavis.edu, or drop by International House, 10 College Park, Davis, during regular business hours.
Time: Monday, July 2, 2007 - 7:00pm PST

Hi all,

Here's the contact info for our Assemblymembers. Please contact them and ask them to support the Clean Car Discount bill. You can read more about it below.

Cheers,
Bill

Dave Jones (AD-09) (916) 319 - 2009
assemblymember.jones@assembly.ca.gov

Roger Niello (AD-05) (916) 319-2005
assemblymember.niello@assembly.ca.gov

Alan Nakanishi (AD-10) (916) 319-2010
assemblymember.nakanishi@assembly.ca.gov

The California Assembly is going to vote in the next two days on a bill that would make cleaner cars more affordable for California families. As you'd imagine, the automobile industry is up in arms over the idea of promoting cleaner cars -- so they're fighting this bill tooth and nail.

This law would be a great victory for cleaning our air and reducing global warming pollution but we need you to make a phone call to help make it a reality.

Please urge your state assemblymember to stand up to the auto industry and vote YES on Assembly Bill 493 - the Clean Car Discount bill.

Here's a sample message you can leave:

Have Java installed on your PC? Click the pic for timelapse video

Via theoildrum.com KAC/UCF [University of Central Florida] and Chuck Watson are forecasting, based on their damage models, that the Qalhat (Sur) [Oman] LNG terminal will be out for 20-30 days and the Mina al Fahal [Oman] oil terminal will be down for 10-15 days--all of this assuming they are built to US standards.

Stratfor.com

A Category 5 cyclone with winds of up to 195 mph is heading toward one of the world’s most productive energy basins, threatening local devastation and global disruption at a point at which oil prices are already flirting with record highs. For once, the region in question is not the Gulf of Mexico. There is cause for concern; Cyclone Gonu is headed directly for the Strait of Hormuz.

The cyclone is rotating counterclockwise — as it would in the Gulf of Mexico — meaning that, should it enter the Persian Gulf, the gulf’s west coast would suffer the most serious damage. Along the west coast, low-lying areas are the norm, and there are few barrier islands like the ones that line the Gulf of Mexico to absorb much of the storm surge that could therefore penetrate miles inland.

Like all weather phenomena, hurricanes and cyclones are notoriously fickle, so there is (thankfully) no guarantee Gonu will enter the Persian Gulf, much less wreck it. But there are two facilities that bear specific mention: the Ras Tanura and Ras al-Juaymah oil loading platforms in Saudi Arabia. So far, the chances of either of these facilities suffering a direct hit are very slim — Gonu is still 750 miles away from those export points — but they collectively pump nearly 10 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude. These facilities, while critical to global energy supplies and — due to their size — largely immune to terrorist attacks, are not particularly hurricane resistant. After all, they were built in an area where such storms are almost unheard of. Other (hardly insignificant) energy installations dot the region in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates — most of them on the west coast. Luckily, there is little offshore production in the Persian Gulf — unlike in the Gulf of Mexico — so there is unlikely to be much permanent damage to the oil production facilities themselves.

Help us stop the auto companies from blocking groundbreaking legislation that would reduce global warming emissions from vehicles in the state of California. We have a right to cost-effective technologies that reduce global warming-causing pollution and create a healthier environment.

Join Rainforest Action Network, Global Exchange and Ruckus Society in Sacramento tomorrow, May 31 for a creative and fun rally as we challenge the automakers to put their money where their mouth is and drop the lawsuit against the state of California.

Join us in front of the Alliance of Auto Manufactures (AAM)
Tomorrow, May 31st at 11:00am
925 L Street, Suite 825
Sacramento, CA 95814

For more information, contact Nile Malloy, nile@ran.org or 415-659-0315.
Time: Thursday, May 31, 2007 - 11:00am PST

ATTENTION! June SfD meeting start-time moved to 6:30pm!

Don't forget to RSVP: http://www.dfalink.com/event.php?id=20494

And vote for your 3 favorite healthcare questions, submitted by SfD members (ends June 6th @ noon): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SacramentoForDemocracy/surveys?id=2513782

The voting database is based on the email addresses on our yahoogroups list. If you are not on our yahoogroups email list (all email subject lines begin with [Sac4Dem]) then send me an email (sac4democracy@hotmail.com) and I'll add your email address to the "registered" voter database.

We have a full agenda with a potluck, discussion, the showing of Kilowatt Ours, and the filming of our healthcare questions to the candidates. We'll be starting the potluck at 6:30 to make time for discussion of recent events, detailed below. Please be sure to come early so we'll have our plates filled and we're all ready to start promptly at 7:00.

If you haven't emailed Roanna Costa to tell her what you're bringing to the potluck, please take a moment to do so! Email her at roanna1@aim.com or call her at 916-730-9044.

Note from Karen Bernal, regarding recent events:

We will devote half of the general meeting to a discussion on the state of affairs regarding the following three topics; all of which are interrelated: the controversy that occurred at the CA Dem Convention in San Diego, the Great Dem Cave-In on the Iraq War vote, and Cindy Sheehan's departure from the public scene of the anti-war movement. For California progressive Dems, all three have added up to a terribly distasteful and jarring time. The pain and frustration is visceral. It is not an understatement to say that many of us are doing a lot of soul searching and thinking as to what the next steps should be. Clearly, there are very few venues where we can come together to commiserate and figure out what can be done. We want everyone to consider a Sacramento for Democracy meeting as one of the places they can go to find people of like minds and who are not afraid to have the kind of discussions that need to be had. This can only be healthy and as far as we're concerned, extremely necessary, if we are to keep our sanity. Please come and be a part of that important conversation!

Vote on Healthcare Questions:

Your healthcare questions have been submitted and you can now vote for your 3 favorite questions. As a reminder, we will be videotaping the top 3 questions at the meeting/potluck and then submitting them to DFA. They will then pick some questions from all of the nationwide submissions and send them to the presidential candidates. DFA will release a video with the questions and responses from the candidates. This is a great way to have our voices heard! Voting will end at noon on Wednesday, June 6th.

You can vote here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SacramentoForDemocracy/surveys?id=2513782

What: Sacramento for Democracy June Meeting/Potluck
When: Wednesday, June 6th, 6:30pm
Where: Arden-Dimick Library
891 Watt Avenue, Sacramento, 95864
Time: Wednesday, June 6, 2007 - 6:30pm PST

Flooding, a drop in tomato yield and the spread of terrorism are all big concerns for Woodland. They are also expected outcomes of climate change. Too often, concern for climate change is written off as a liberal, Davis kind of worry. Yet, we are urged to action by groups as diverse as the Pope and dozens of other evangelical and mainstream churches, General Motors and General Sullivan (retired Army Chief of Staff), and Ducks Unlimited. Of course, the Mayor of Berkeley backs has stepped up, but so have the mayors of less-liberal places like West Sacramento, Sacramento, Stockton, Tulare, Vallejo, and Fresno.

You are invited to join us for a live slideshow and discussion of a Yolo County specific version of An Inconvenient Truth. We can talk about what this means to our town and our children's future, this Friday, May 18th, in the Public Library's Leake Room, from 7:00 to 8:15.,
Time: Friday, May 18, 2007 - 7:00pm PST

Tahoe water clarity stabilizing

By Mike Taugher
MediaNews
Article Launched: 04/20/2007 01:44:15 AM PDT

People have gazed into the mesmerizing blue waters of Lake Tahoe for decades and lamented its steady loss of clarity.

But now lake clarity, a key indicator of the region's overall health, appears to be stabilizing and perhaps getting better.

The lake still suffers from murky runoff from roads, building and other development around its shores, but the Lake Tahoe region's environmental health has improved markedly in the past 20 years, according to a new report.

Half of the goals used to measure the quality of Tahoe's air and water, its forests, wildlife, fisheries, recreation and scenery, among other assets, have been met or nearly met.

But some of the other goals could take decades to achieve, including the most anxiously watched indicator of the lake's health: its clarity.

Hello all,

We will show a screening of "Kilowatt Ours" (http://www.kilowattours.org/) on Saturday, April 21st and then have a discussion on how to reduce our carbon footprint. With Al Gore turning up the heat (pun intended) on the global warming issue, there is no better time to find out what we can do to help.

Michael from the Coffee Garden has been nice enough to get a projector so we can watch it at his cafe (2904 Franklin Blvd. in Curtis Park). We'll meet at 7:30 and show the film at 8 PM. It is a 60 minute film. Map and directions are here:
http://midtowngrid.com/CoffeeGarden/coffeeGarden.shtml

You can RSVP here: http://www.dfalink.com/event.php?id=19277

Kilowatt Ours is an advocacy documentary film produced by Jeff Barrie and the Southern Energy Conservation Initiative. The film demonstrates the connections between a homeowner's energy use and mountain top removal, coal mining, global warming, and nuclear power. A key aspect of the film is that it demonstrates actions that apartment renters, homeowners, schools, and governments can do to save energy and reduce demand for unsustainable energy.
Time: Saturday, April 21, 2007 - 8:30pm PST

Wind Tunnel Footbridge

From the man who brought you the Wind Shaped Pavilion and the Transformation House, comes the Wind Tunnel Footbridge. It's a design proposal by Michael Jantzen for a new kind of wind activated footbridge made of steel and aluminum. As the wind blows, the five wind turbine wheels turn at different speeds around the people who are walking through to reach the other side. Three of the five wheels turn in one direction while the other two turn in the opposite direction. As the wind driven wheels turn in different directions and at different speeds, they can produce different electronic corresponding sounds. The Wind tunnel Footbridge was designed to be constructed in various types of public venues as an architectural attraction. The wheels also produce and store electrical energy much like a windmill. :: Wind Tunnel Footbridge

More here

Pics here

Sign a note to your representatives, so that Al can take our messages to Washington in March and present them to Congress. It only takes a minute to add your voice. Just click here.

Tell Congress:
Now is the time to act on global warming.

Former vice president Al Gore announced on Thursday a collection of concerts over seven continents on July 7, adopting the "Live 8" event formula to further spread the word of the threat of climate change.
Time: Saturday, July 7, 2007 - 12:00pm PST

Al Gore's big "announcement" with Leonardo DiCaprio & acceptance speech as well as Melissa Etheridge's acceptance speech and performance of her song "I Need to Wake Up". Click each picture to open up a window and watch the video.



Sign the petition at DraftGore.com

DraftGore2008.org

    

Global Warming: Changing CO2urse
International House, Davis will offer a four-session discussion class, Global Warming: Changing CO2urse, on the complexities of global warming and its challenges. Participants will have the opportunity to explore personal responses to climate change and why society has been slow to respond, learn about the history and science of global climate change and new strategies for addressing climate change. Class members will discuss our individual and collective power to shape an effective response to climate change, enabling future generations to meet their needs. The class is scheduled for the noon hour on Fridays, February 23 – March 16. A brief orientation will be held on Friday, February 16 at noon at I-House, when the class curriculum books will be available for purchase.
Time: Friday, February 23, 2007 - 12:00pm PST

Orcas on the Edge

SEEING KILLER WHALES ply the waters of Washington State’s Puget Sound has long been a great thrill for Seattle-area residents. No other U.S. urban community can boast of resident orcas a few miles from downtown. Whale watching there is a multi-million-dollar tourist draw. As one orca expert puts it, “Everybody wants a kiss from a killer whale.”

But the thrill may soon be gone.

Boxer to Focus on Global Warming
By SAMANTHA YOUNG: Associated Press
http://www.forbes.com/infoimaging/feeds/ap/2006/11/09/ap3161866.html

Sen. Barbara Boxer on Thursday promised major policy shifts on global warming, air quality and toxic-waste cleanup as she prepares to lead the U.S. Senate's environmental committee.

Charlie Brown, Democrat, to debate John Doolittle (R) in Rocklin tonight wednesday, October 11, 7:30pm to 9:30pm Local cable, channel 4 Starstream in Lincoln/Rocklin/Granite Bay/Loomis area.
Also to be live streamed on the web by newschannel 10, http://www.news10.net
Doolittle gave very short notice, don't miss this if possible.

INVEST IN AMERICA: BUY A CONGRESSMAN
LOYAL TO BIG OIL BRIBES REPRESENTATIVE DOOLITTLE FOR HANDOUTS

“BILLIONAIRES” ATTEND FUNDRAISER TO THANK
REPRESENTATIVE DOOLITTLE AND PRESIDENT BUSH

WHAT: LOYAL TO BIG OIL DEMONSTRATION - “BILLIONAIRES” DRIVING A HUMMER THANKING BUSH FOR OIL INDUSTRY SUPPORT – SIGNS, BANNERS, COSTUMES
WHEN: 9AM TO 12:30PM. [BEST TO PICK ONE MEDIA TIME!]
WHERE:CORNER OF SERRANO PARKWAY AND EL DORADO HILLS BOULEVARD

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Humm baby, Schwarzenegger keeping his Hummers

So what's with that Drudge Report item that says Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ditching his beloved fleet of Hummers?